//------------------------------// // Bonus 1: New Roots // Story: My Little Mages: Onset of Resolution // by Foxhelm //------------------------------// Silverstream was flying at the fastest she’s ever flown. Faster even as she kept pace with Rainbow Dash as her teacher was in her Wonderbolt flight suit. The two zoomed and through the sky performing various flight maneuvers. The two then landed in Magiville. Rainbow took off her goggles and patted Silverstream on the shoulder, “Congrats, Silver!” she cheered. “You're officially the first non-Skyborn Wonderbolt!” the elementalist appalled the aasmir. Silverstream blushed as a smile grew on her face that would rival Pinkie, “Really?!” she asked in disbelief. “That is such an honor! I don't know how to thank you, Professor Dash!” she said as she hugged Rainbow. Rainbow was able to get out of the hug, “Easy!” she stated. “You're kicking off our show right now! So get up there and make me proud!” she declared and whooshed back into the air as she left Silver on the ground in utter shock. After about a second her mind fathomed what she just heard, “Wait!” she shouted as Rainbow left her range of vision. “I don't have my uniform!” Just Ocellus dressed in the scholar’s cloak and cap noting that she was about to graduate ran up to Silverstream. “Silverstream! Somehow, I missed a class all year, and the final is today!” the elf panicked as she took hold of both of Silver’s shoulders and shook the aasimar. “If I don't pass, I can't graduate!” Ocellus screamed as she was about to break down. The two then fell silent as they heard a familiar scream. They looked up and saw Yona falling. The two rushed up into the air and quickly matched Yona’s plummeting speed and brought her safely to the ground. Yona sighed in relief and pulled the two into a hug. Once she finished the hug. “Whoa. That was weird.” Ocellus said as she rubbed her chin. “And that's even weirder.” Silver said as she pointed to her right. Everyone turned to see Smolder dressed in a blue ‘princess’ dress with a tiara and sipping tea. Smolder sighed happily until she spotted the other three. She blew fire on the dress incarnating it and threw everything else away. “That wasn't mine!” she shouted as her cheeks flushed embarrassed that her secret was revealed. Before the three could say anything they heard the screams of Gallus. “Make it stop! Make it stop!” They turned to see a trapped Gallus as the walls and roof was closing in on him. Silverstream bolted and managed to extract him as the harpy could only hyperventilate. Once he saw that he was free he saw his rescuer. Without saying a word Gallus took Silverstream by her shoulders and kissed her right on her lips, “Oh thank Ziz!” he said as he finished the kiss and hugged her. Silverstream returned the hug as she blushed happily. “Gallus and Silver sitting in a tree…” Smolder sang and broke the mode between the two and had a chuckle before she was elbowed by Ocellus. This got Gallus and Silver to end their hug. However, Silver did place a kiss on the harpy’s check. After everyone else had a small laugh they spotted Sandbar looking a what seemed to be a vending machine at least two stories high and four meters wide. He was panicking at the site. “Seriously, that’s what constitutes a nightmare to him.” This got Sandbar’s attention. “Um, what are you guys doing in my dream?” he asked almost obliviously. “Wait you mean this isn’t just my dream?” Silver asked. “Why would it? Because Ocellus is the only one who knows I like tea parties and none of you have seen me in that dress… or any… thing like it.” Smolder exposed. Just then what could be described as a small white ball-shaped light appeared in front of the six, “Good. You have all answered my summons.” the light said in what sounded like Headmistress Twilight’s voice. “Wait, is that you, Headmistress Twilight?” Silver asked. “No,” the light said, “I am not Princess Twilight Sparkle. We have met before.” “The Tree of Harmony!” the six said together as they finally caught on. “Hurry.” the light said as sent a beam to the ground. That beam then broke into six other beams that entered the six students. A light blue light went into Gallus, orange into Yona, pink into Silverstream, purple into Sandbar, white into Smolder and yellow into Ocellus. The six then gasped awake. A couple of days later in Princess Twilight’s School of Friendship, Spike, Twilight, the rest of teachers, including the substitute teachers Rockfoot, Trixie, Spitfire and Maud and Starlight. “Well, it looks like everything is ready, “Thank you for being willing to be a substitute again, Spitfire,” Twilight said. “Hey if Crash can teach these kids, they can learn a lot more from me.” Spitfire boasted. “Um, which Crash?” Flash Sentry asked, “Because Dash and I got the same nickname.” “The one almost called Trash.” Spitfire clarified. “Ha, ha, very funny boss.” Rainbow groaned. “So we got the school ready, and one week to go. Even after the whole orange highlighter thing.” Everyone sans Twilight (and Maud) had a laugh. Twilight groaned, “As headmistress, I have to make sure everyone can optimize their notes, how can they color-code with only twenty and they are of the same color, orange?” she asked. Just then the front doors swung open as Sandbar et al came running in. They all stopped and panted just before they collided with the teachers. “Looks like they got their rocks on for school,” Maud said in her typical monotone voice. Everyone looked at her utterly at a lost, sans Pinkie who started to snicker. Twilight shook her head and turned to the six students, “What are you doing here so early?” She then gasped in panic. “Did I send out the wrong back-to-school date?!” the demigod then started to panic. Smolder blew some fire that stopped Twilight’s pacing. Once the fire went out, “We’re not here for the school.” the dragon informed. “We had this strange dream and the Tree of Harmony called us.” “Do you remember when you had it?” Spike asked as all the adults froze as if horrified by something. “A couple of days ago.” Sandbar answered. Spike then turned to Twilight and the rest as the adults fell silent and could not but look at the ground in sadness. Gallus flew up to the teachers and placed a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder, “Don't feel bad it didn't reach out to you. We kinda have a special connection with it after last term.” the harpy seemed to want to both comfort and yet boost. This earned a bemused eye roll from everyone else (sans Maud). Rainbow then removed Gallus’ hand, “Listen, kid. Twilight, AJ, Rares, Pinkie, Flutters and me…” “And I.” Twilight cut Rainbow off. “'And I' is the correct way to list yourself when you are the subject.” “Whateve’, any we, we have a stronger connection to the tree then you can imagine, so what you meet its spirit and it pulled out of Cozy’s trap, do you know how many missions we’ve been on the map, which grew from the tree mind you, sent us? Do you know how many times we’ve used the Elements of Harmony? That we saved the tree by returning the Elements?” Rainbow asked rhetorically as her anger started to build. Gallus gulped but she didn’t let up as she was staring Gallus right in the face and getting extremely close. Almost as if, should Gallus make the wrong move, Rainbow would literally bite his head off. Gallus was silent as took a step back in fear. “I was there to save it from Discord’s plundervines, I was there when it presented the box that housed the Rainbow of Light. And I was there when Sombra murdered it. So don’t you dare think for a second that you’re all that special.” Gallus gave a small scared meep as beads of sweat started to form. Spitfire then pulled Rainbow back, “Easy there, Dash.” Rainbow then took a breath and stepped back. “Wait, the tree is… gone?” Sandbar asked in utter disbelief at what Rainbow said. Twilight sighed, “Sombra destroyed it, the Elements and caused the Rainbow of Light to disputes into the wind.” she informed with a tear in the corner of her eyes and everyone else's’. Before anyone could question her further. “The Everfree is still calm. The spirit of the Forest, Gaea, has already reached out to us and once Star Swirl teleported the Pillar’s old tower from the forest’s side of the border stone, everything went calm.” The six students looked to the floor with sad frowns and watery eyes starting to form at all this. “I do suppose visiting the Tree, or rather it remains, is in order. I’ll chaperone. You guys got the rest of the set up right?” she asked. “Yeah, we only need twenty orange highlighters.” Applejack said in a normal tone but brought a laugh among everyone else of the staff. Twilight groaned before she teleported herself and the six students out of the school. Once the seven arrived in the cave that housed the Tree, the students gasped in horror. Before anyone could ask, “Sombra tricked me, or rather I allowed myself to fall for his ruse. He followed my friends and I all the way back here and with our backs turned used his magic to shatter the Tree.” “But we heard the Tree in our dream. How can it talk if it’s really gone?” Silverstream asked as she pointed out the shared dream. “Maybe we can bring it back to life by focusing our positive thoughts into healing the Tree?” she asked. “That’s not going to work. The Tree grew from a Crystal seed with a piece of the souls of the Pillars. And with the Elements were returned to it, a piece of my friends and my souls also merged with the Tree. We all felt a part of ourselves erased.” Twilight informed. “It will take more than just positive thoughts,” she added. “So the Tree really is gone.” Ocellus said as she dropped to her knees in sorrow. Gallus took a breath and looked at the tree, “Then we need to do something to honor it!” he declared. Everyone then all nodded in agreement. Sandbar then paused and smiled, “Hey, maybe that's why the Tree called us! It must've used the last of its magic to make sure we'd come here and keep its memory alive!” he suggested as he seemed to understand why they were called by the tree. Ocellus then hugged and gave Sandbar a kiss on his cheek, “You’re a genius!” Just then Thorax in his more insectoid combat form arrived and landed with a thud. His nostrils flaring as he breathed angrily “Ocellus!” he shouted. The younger elf squeaked and transformed into a rock. Thorax was not fooled as he picked up the rock Ocellus changed into. “I am not in the mood.” he nearly growled. “Did you forget that the last time you ran off Caer Sith almost went to war!” he scolded the rock. Ocellus transformed back into her humanoid form, “I’m sorry, your Grace.” she quaked as she dipped her head in fright, “It was an emergency!” she tried to plea. Thorax took a deep breath and held it. He then slowly let it out. “Next time, let someone know before you run off. Now let’s go home!” he said as he took Ocellus’ hand and started to drag her behind him an angered parent does a child. Smolder flew in front of the two elves, “Wait! She can't leave!” she pleaded. “We have a…” she then started to find the right word to use as an adjective. “An atypical friendship quest.” Twilight offered. As Thorax looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “After King Sombra destroyed to Tree of Harmony, it’s spirit reach out to these six. Likely to find a way the Spirit can survive now that the Tree is gone.” Thorax released his hold on Ocellus’ hand. “It might take some time, so can we stay at the school until it’s done?” Sandbar offered as a solution. Thorax closed his eyes for a second in thought. Once he opened them, “Alright, but Ocellus you must get the approval of ten members of the hive. But the next time you run off like that, I’m sending Pharynx after you.” “That’s actually a good idea for everyone,” Twilight added after a couple of seconds of thought. Gallus then pulled out a set of eighteen copies of the school’s permission slips. “You want that permission in triplicate, or is one enough?” He asked. There was a solid second as everyone looked at the harpy. “What? I like to be prepared,” he replied. Each of six students returned home and each sought permission to return to school early. Sandbar was able to tell his family and his parents agreed with only his explanation. For Smolder, after she returned to the Dragonlands and simply sought permission, without mentioning the Tree. Ember simply had her prove her strength, which she did by beating Garble in a small brawl. For Silverstream, she and her family were on the shore, her father in his aasimar form, her mother and brother in their merfolk form. She had an easel with an easel pad which she used to show pictures of what happened to the Tree, her shared dream and that she and her friends need to do something for the tree. Her parents agreed to let her go. For Yona, she spoke with her family (in Orkish) about how the Spirit of the Tree of Harmony summoned her and her friends. Noticing the early season snow and that her mother was under the weather. Yona cleared the snow from the door of the hut, such that once her mother was over her cold she’d be able to take care of things. In addition, Yona went around their home performing the various tasks that her mother would have to do, mostly the longer term tasks. Once everything was done. Her parents spoke with the village’s shaman and the three agreed to let Yona leave for her quest and to stay there until school started. For Ocellus, she showed what happened to the Tree, the dream, etc, via changing into the respective person or thing, to the whole of Caer Sith. She then presented her case to go and to school early and King Thorax’ condition. She got all but two of the adults to say ‘yes’. Thorax abstained out of not wanting to present a conflict of interest and Pharynx just couldn’t care less about some crystal tree. For Gallus, he knocked on Grampa Gruff’s door and raised his hand as he prepared to speak. Gruff just held out a hand and crawled the fingers. Gallus pouted as he ended up parting with three bites. Gruff sighed the slip and slammed the door in Gallus’ face. With their permission slips signed, Ocellus, Silverstream, Yona, Gallus, and Smolder arrived at the cave that was the home of the late Tree of Harmony. There they were shocked to see not only Sandbar but their six main teachers and the Pillars. Before anyone could speak, “While Sandbar wanted to take the initiative, we felt it more prudent that we all get involved as we all were connected to the Tree.” “I thought it was a good idea that a little cleanup, while you guys were gone, would be a good thing and get a head start.” Sandbar protested. Everyone else rolled their eyes, “You were gonna clear out the remains of the Tree and plant a normal tree here.” Flash Magnus said. Which earned glares direct to Sandbar by Smolder, Ocellus, Gallus and Silverstream. Before anyone could say anything, “Sandbar heart in right place.” Yona said as she walked up and placed a hand on Sandbar’s shoulder. “Yona understands, Orks know things not forever. That's why smash and rebuild.” “So now that, ya’ll are here, what do six younging’s gonna do?” Applejack asked. “Wait, what?” Gallus asked in confusion. Flash Magnus walked up and placed a hand on the harpy’s shoulder, “You six wanted to do something for the Tree, you have to come up with the plan. We’re here to help.” “Well, we all can agree that just planting a normal tree ain’t gonna do it,” Smolder said as she flew towards the shattered trunk. “The Tree is a huge part of Mystican history. If we're gonna honor it, we need to do better than that.” Everyone knew to what she was referring to. Which brought a blush of embarrassment to Sandbar’s checks. Silverstream then spoke up, “Like with lots of artwork that represents the symbolism and deep emotions of the Tree!” “How?” Somnabula asked. “Impressionism!” Silverstream answered. Pinkie then skipped over to Silverstream, “Silver, like the idea, but not everyone is gonna get the impression that you want them to have.” she pointed out. Gallus then spoke up, “It should be a museum with all the Tree's history and artifacts.” the harpy counter-offered. “Not a bad idea,” Flash Magnus said cautiously. “We can charge two bits a visit,” Gallus said as he rubbed his chin. Rainbow groaned, “We’re not charging people to see this place. Also, what are you gonna put in?” she asked. Gallus raised his hand then after a second of thought brought it back down. Smolder huffed, “It should be a really big and imposing monument, so everyone knows how powerful the Tree was!” the dragon declared with a massive smirk. Mistmane looked at the remains of the Tree, “I think something to recall the Tree’s beauty and have it be shown to others that haven’t seen it before its' end.” Mistmane contributed. Rarity then stepped up with an unsure smile, “That might be a great idea, but ...” she then pointed to the cave. “You might want to think about how it would actually be visible.” Smolder raised a talon to counter but fell silent as she realized that she really didn’t have anything. Ocellus then spoke up after a few seconds of thought, “We should turn this cave into a place for everyone to reflect on the Tree's true gift – the Elements of Harmony.” Meadowbrook smiled, “That’s a wonderful idea, Cheeri.” Fluttershy, however, shook her head, “But are the Elements the Tree’s true gift. Sure the Elements up with the run-in with Discord when he was bad, reformed Nightmare Moon back into Luna, just to list a few, but they were only tools. The real gift of the Tree would be how Mystica is following the Tree’s planting.” Fluttershy pointed out the flawed understanding of the Tree that Ocellus seemed to have processed. “And that can be reflected on anywhere.” the druid added. Applejack and Rockfoot then turned to the one student that remained silent, “What’s your thoughts lass?” the giant of a man asked. Yona sighed as she looked to the floor of the cave, “Yona like when friends not argue.” she stated. The paladin placed her hand on the young ork’s shoulder reassuring, “That’s why we’re here, Sugarcube. We’re the adults in the room to help yall come to an agreement.” This brought a cautious smile to Yona’s face. “Go one, we’re all listening.” Yona took a breath, “Yona think friends doing this the wrong way.” she started. This brought clear expressions of confusion from everyone else. “Yona thinks all remembering Tree of Harmony for what Tree was,” she continued as she emphasized the word ‘was’. She then paused before she continued, “not what Tree is!” she declared as she put the most weight on the word ‘is’. The other students didn’t seem to get it. “Tree not here here,” she said as she pointed towards the whole cave. She then brought her right hand to her heart, “Tree here. In hearts. Tree made friendship even closer.” Twilight then gasped in realization, “Yona, you’re right!” she declared. “You all ran away to the Castle of the Two Sisters, which is above this cave, the Tree also saved you from Cozy’s trap and allowed you to stop her spell and it called you six here.” The demigoddess pointed out. “And the Tree did test and showed us that we make a great team.” Sandbar added. The six bearers and Pillars all then turned to the younger Earthborn. “Oh, yeah, that’s how we connected with the Tree.” he gave a weak laugh as the twelve other just blinked. Silverstream then gasped, “The Tree lives on in our friendship!” the aasimar shouted as she and every one of the other six started to get what Yona was saying. Gallus had a small chuckle, “I just got schooled by an ork.” he retorted, which earned him a slap on the back of his head from Rainbow and Flash Magnus. “Ouch,” he exclaimed as he rubbed the point of impact. “It was a joke! Shsh you Mysticans are so sensitive.” Yona however just went to Gallus, placed her hand on his shoulder and with a closed eye smile, “Yona said before, orks know things not forever. That's why smash and rebuild.” “Well Sombra did the smashing for us,” Applejack commented, “What do you want to build?” Yona looked at everyone else there then to remains of the Tree. She looked around as if she was trying to find a word, “Yona still not good with Mystican, and no phrase in orkish that means same thing.” she continued to search her limited Mystican vocabulary. “Team… home?” she asked. Everyone looked at each other confused, then Sandbar gasped, “You mean a clubhouse!” he declared. “Or more specifically a treehouse.” He then stepped into the center of the cave, “I can see it now, we can a small meditation garden, like Ocellus thought, a room that we use to show dioramas showing the history of the Tree, a museum wing like Gallus suggested. We can also have a wall or two dedicated to the impressionist painting idea Silver gave. And since we will be using the remains of the tree, it will memorize the tree and maybe a small place where we can plant a replacement tree.” He said he explained his vision. Ocellus then gasped as she covered her mouth, “That’s a great idea!” she declared as she looked to the other students.”She then focused on Yona, “You’re genius, Yona!” If Sandbar felt insulted he showed no signs. After a few seconds of thought, Smolder spoke, “I think the Tree would like that.” Star Swirl walked up to and whispered into Twilight’s ear so that only she could hear him, “The lad might not always think things beyond the moment, but he does possess intuition.” Applejack then picked up a piece of the Tree’s remains, “Well, everyone let’s get working.” After what seemed to be a couple of hours the eighteen were mostly drenched in sweat, with tears in the corners of their eyes and a few others had a couple of cuts that were recently bandaged. During the process, Mistmane used her magic to have some of the Tree absorb the powdered remains of the Elements of Harmony. Sandbar then spoke up, “Well? What do you think?” Sandar asked as he wiped the sweat off his brow. They all looked at the site and lo, the treehouse looked more like a poorly maintained shack. Just then one of the walls fell from the house. Everyone was quiet for a few seconds, Ocellus was the first to speak, “It, uh... kinda messy…” she weakly at the sight. Everyone gave nervous smiles, “Yeah... like a bunch of different parts all smushed together.” Smolder added cautiously. “It's just like us!” Silver shouted in cheer as she tried to look on the brighter side of things. Before anyone could say anything else there was a rumbling in the cavern. Before anyone could say anything else there was a rumbling in the cavern. “EVERYONE OUT!” Twilight shouted as she teleported everyone out of the gave to the outside of the Castle of the Two Sisters. Once they were all at what Twilight deemed to be a safe distance, from the ground a large light blue and white crystalline tree grew at an alarming rate, growing to stand just a few meters short of what the Castle of The Two Sisters did at its greatest point. The tree had what seemed to be light purple leaves and what seemed to be a three-story treehouse that looked like some sort of small open palace that was built around and into the tree. The twelve adults each shock for a second, as if something that was removed had been reattached. Everyone was left with gaping mouths until a small light seemed to appear in front of the trunk. The light morphed to look like Twilight, but her skin and hair was glittering and was dressed in a white robe. “Thank you all.” the light that took on Twilight’s image said in an echo-like voice. “It is good to finally be able to talk to, Star Swirl, Mistmane, Rockfoot, Flash Magnus, Somnabula, Meadowbrook,” she said as she addressed each of her ‘parents’. “Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow, Princess Twilight.” she addressed the bearers. “Your sorcery, magic, beauty, generosity, strength, honesty, hope, laughter, healing, kindness, bravery and loyalty live on in me. Thanks to these six.” Everyone’s focus turned to the six students. “Sandbar, your intuition to want to plant new life to carry on my legacy and combine the ideas of everyone and to show the best of everything.” This prompted Twilight and Star Swirl to each place a hand on Sandbar’s shoulders. The light turned to Smolder, “Your charity, Smolder, your want to suffer with the Mysticans with this loss and to ease theirs by making a monument,” Rarity and Mistmane both smiled upon Smolder. The spirit turned to Ocellus, “Your compassion and understanding, Ocellus,” Fluttershy and Meadowbrook mimicked Star Swirl and Twilight on the elf’s shoulders. The spirit turned to Gallus, “I can’t ignore your devotion, Gallus.” The spirit then giggled, “But please don’t charge others two bites,” the spirit joked which caused Gallus to grown. Both Rainbow and Flash Magnus patted the harpy on his back. The spirit then turned to Silverstream, “Nor your optimism, Silverstream.” Silverstream was pulled into a hug by both Somnambula and Pinkie. The Spirit finally turned to Yona, “And most importantly, your integrity, Yona.” she told the ork. Applejack and Rockfoot both smiled in pride at Yona. The spirit then returned its focus to everyone there, “I would have perished without your selfless deeds and caring. And I am not the only one you saved.” The spirit pointed to the tree, there from what they all could tell was deep within the Tree, the Elements of Harmony flashed briefly and the Rainbow of Light glittered in the trunk. “And we have been joined, thanks to you.” The spirit said, just as the images of the six artifacts that the Students each held flashed in the trunk. The spirit smiled, “Your friendship, and the friendship of future generations, will always be safe within these walls.” The spirit then vanished. Everyone was silent for a solid second, “Well, the Tree continues to amaze.” Star Swirl stated and had a light laugh. “I think we should explore the Tree’s correction of our mess.” the old wizard said as he started to the Tree, “And perhaps we can get started with Gallus’ museum, Silverstream’s art gallery, Ocellus’ meditation garden, Smolder’s memorial, and plant Sandbar’s tree.”