Smoulder could instantly detect something not quite being right the moment she became aware of her surroundings. First a giant yak had plummeted out of the sky for no obvious reason, stopping seconds before being reduced to paste, and then Silverstream and Ocellus had appeared. The former seemed to be fairly normal, which was to say rather hyper, but the latter was in a graduation gown despite the fact they were only second year students on a three year course.
Smoulder sat on the side of a giant bowl seemingly filled with processed waste, based on the awful brown colour. A cup of the stuff had appeared in her claw, and it had turned out to be the worst tea she had ever tasted. "Ugh. Somecreature needs to brush up on their brewing skills."
"Erm, Smoulder?" Silverstream asked. "That's not your usual attire, is it?"
Smoulder suddenly noticed she was wearing the blue dress and crown from the test all those months ago, and promptly pulled said dress over her head and tossed it into a nearby river, which also removed the tiara and lipstick she had on. "Oh! This isn't mine."
There was suddenly a loud scream from nearby, and a door began to creak shut. Silverstream, Smoulder and Ocellus charged over to see Gallus hidden behind the door, wedged into a tiny space. If they didn't stop the door, he'd be flattened like a pancake. "Make it stop!" he yelled at them.
Ocellus pointed to the others. She wedged her body into place to jam the door mechanism, whilst Silverstream and Smoulder flew upwards to the motor and gears that were powering the door mechanism. The gears were connected to the motor by a rod. Smoulder grabbed this rod and tore it free using brute force.
This caused the gears to stop turning. The dragon and the hippogriff, with considerable grunts of effort, pushed the door open despite how stiff the gearing was.
Silverstream looked at Smoulder. "That was like something out of Nightmare Moon on Elm Street!"
"Or Saw," Smoulder countered.
"I hope there aren't any references to The Ling around here," Ocellus sighed. "That film's caused quite enough damage to our reputation."
Sure enough, they came across Sandbar, looking at a giant mountain of cupcakes. He seemingly couldn't decide between them, but was distracted when a bright purple light flashed in. The ghostly Twilight they had encountered under the school appeared before them.
"Good. You have all answered my summons," it said.
"I thought this was my dream!" Silverstream said, confused.
"Maybe it's a collective dream," Smoulder suggested. "Every minute we're here feels like another moment from a bad fantasy movie."
"I'd call nearly being squished by a giant door a nightmare," Gallus shuddered. And he shuddered some more for good measure.
"Or those cupcakes! Which one do I pick?" Sandbar added.
"Really?" Smoulder said, incredulously. "That's your idea of a nightmare?"
"I may have eaten too much cheese last night."
Ocellus, however, was the one who asked the question on everycreature's mind. "But why did you bring us here, Headmare Twilight?"
The sparkly entity spoke again. "I am not Twilight. I am merely the messenger. You all must hurry. The Tree of Harmony needs you." And then she vanished.
Sandbar stood on the platform at Ponyville railway station and waited for an oncoming train. As it was early September (feel free to make Earth, Wind and Fire jokes), the station was still fairly quiet despite being an important rail junction, but that was because the annual deluge of students was yet to happen. Sandbar didn't have far to travel, as he lived in Ponyville, so he felt sorry for those who had to haul baggage and personal effects many hundreds of miles.
"Attention all passengers, the train now approaching the platform is 7:45 from Hive Junction calling at Ponyville and Canterlot only. I repeat, the train now approaching the platform is 7:45 from Hive Junction calling at Ponyville and Canterlot only. Please stand clear of the platform edge to allow passengers to disembark."
At last, the train from the Changeling Kingdoms rattled into the platform and stopped, hissing steam as the driver prepared the engine to depart.
"This is Ponyville! This is Ponyville! Change for Dodge City, Klugetown and Mount Aris!"
Sandbar was looking for one particular face, and saw it as Ocellus piled off the train. "There you are! I was worried you'd never arrive!"
"The train had to content with engineering works," Ocellus replied. "Where are the others?"
"They've already arrived. Silverstream got here ridiculously early, Gallus and Smoulder got here next (Smoulder had to fly as the Dragonlands railway got taken out by a lava flow), and Yona arrived last night."
"I don't like holding everycreature else up," Ocellus said nervously. "Let's go."
"Sure thing." The pair set off for the School as the train set off once more, its bell ringing as it got underway.
After a quick chat with Twilight, the six friends were taken to the chamber where the Tree of Harmony resided. They were presented with a scene of utter devastation that looked like a bomb had gone off in there. Mountains of destroyed rubble littered the ground, and fragments of broken crystal lay everywhere.
Gallus gasped in shock. "How could this happen?!" he exclaimed.
"Somebody blew it up?" Smoulder suggested. "Stuff tends to get destroyed for a reason. There's no such thing as spontaneous explosion."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"This isn't exactly helping, guys," Sandbar replied.
Ocellus looked especially upset. "If only we hadn't gone home for summer break," she whispered. "Maybe we could've saved the Tree."
"I wish that Sombra guy was still around, so we could teach him a lesson!" Smoulder snapped.
"Sombra's dead, according to what Twilight said," countered Silverstream.
"That not bring back Tree. Or Elements of Harmony." Yona's words brought them all back to their senses.
"And without the Elements, we're defenseless," Sandbar added. He looked defeated and broken.
Silverstream suddenly had an idea. "Wait! We all saw and heard the Tree in our dream, right?" she asked.
"Where are you going with this?" Smoulder asked.
"I haven't finished," Silverstream replied. "How could it talk to us if it was really gone? Maybe if we close our eyes and think really strong friendship thoughts, the Tree will get better!"
"That's actually not half bad," Gallus admitted.
Smoulder shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, I've heard worse suggestions."
So, they all joined limbs and thought.
Nothing happened.
Sandbar opened his eyes after a minute. "Erm, is anything happening?" he asked.
"No," Yona flatly replied.
Ocellus went back to looking defeated. "I guess the Tree really is gone."
Gallus suddenly had a brainwave. "Then we need to do something to honor it!"
"Good idea, Gallus!" Smoulder smiled. "Very quick thinking."
Sandbar realised what the dream was all about. "We're connected to the Tree on a core magical level, right? That's why the tree called us! It used its dying breath to call us here to create a memorial to it."
Ocellus nodded. "It did say it needed us."
Unfortunately, an unwanted prescense made itself known.
"OCELLUS!"
The blue Changeling immediately switched forms to a rock as a very big, very green, and very angry Thorax approached.
"There you are!" the Changeling King snapped. "What in Equestria were you thinking? Why did you leave without telling us? Your parents have been worried sick, as have the rest of us! The last time you lot pulled a stunt like this, it nearly brought the world to the brink of war!"
"May I point out it was a pony who attempted to trigger that war on a Changeling's orders?" Gallus pointed out.
Thorax glared at him. Gallus took the hint and shut up.
Ocellus switched back to normal form, visibly shaking in fear. "Uh, sorry, Thorax! It was an emergency!"
"Wait a minute," Sandbar asked. "How did you know we were here?"
Thorax said nothing, but switched forms. In his place was the engine that had been pulling the train Ocellus had travelled on.
"Is there anything Changelings cannot turn into?"
Thorax returned to normal, and his tone suddenly softened, realising he'd been too aggressive. "Well, next time, ask before you run off. Now, come on. Let's go home."
"Wait!" Smoulder called. "She can't go! See this pile of rubble? This used to be the Tree of Harmony, and it summoned us here to built a memorial to it."
"And we might be here a while," Sandbar explained.
"If that's the case, then you may need to get permission from your respective leaders," Thorax continued. "Ocellus, you have mine." His voice dropped quieter. "Sorry for snapping at you. It's just that things are extremely tense at the moment, with the threat of war looming, and my subjects suddenly vanishing does little to ease my nerves."
"Yeah, I'm sorry too," Ocellus replied.
Securing the go ahead of their respective leaders proved to be easier said than done, but the Young Six got clearance to partake in their grand memorial construction project. Once all was said and done, they gathered about to discuss their plan.
"I propose that we construct a museum," began Gallus, putting forward his proposal. "We can fill it with lots of artefacts and interpretive signs to explain what everything is and what it all did."
"Why not built a big and impressive monument?" Smoulder suggested. "We could make a very big and very imposing statue, rather like the Wallace monument we saw in Scotland. That statue is so big it can be seen for miles around, and if we did the same, creatures will see the structure and ask 'what is that'?"
"That seems a bit bombastic," Ocellus said.
"What bombastic?" Yona asked.
"Something that looks grand and impressive but in reality carries little meaning," Ocellus explained.
"That wasn't very subtle," Smoulder grumbled.
"Neither is your proposed monument," Ocellus replied.
"Do you have a counter proposal?" Gallus asked.
"We could create a reflection pool, to give the creatures of the world an opportunity to reflect on the Tree and what it gave us. The Elements of Harmony."
"Interesting," Gallus said to himself.
"I have an idea!" Silverstream said.
"Fire away!" Sandbar answered.
"I was going to suggest artwork that allows people to discover the symbolism of the tree and reflect upon its true meaning."
"That's basically the same as Ocellus' idea," Smoulder groaned. "That leaves Sandbar. What about you?"
"I was thinking we could plant a new tree as a symbol of what used to stand here."
Yona, who had been mostly silent throughout the whole discussion, spoke up. "Why not combine all ideas into one? Have tree at entrance, then museum after that. Once through museum, ponies go to monument with statue and interpretive art, as well as reflection pool. How that for idea?"
"Yona, you're a genius!" Sandbar smiled.
"No, Yona a Yak."
With a mass of construction equipment the Young Six got to work building the combined monument and museum, which was so large they had to use the entire cavern space to complete it. Then they had to haul all of the equipment used to build it out.
But once it was built, it looked absolutely marvellous. It was suitably impressive, but at the same time not excessively pompous and overblown.
And to cap it all off, the ghostly Twilight, which the spirit of the Tree used, appeared and signalled her approval with a simple nod of her head.
A good job done, overall.