//------------------------------// // I knew what I had done // Story: Sugar Hoof the Wizard Colt // by Furenstein //------------------------------// The guilt was overwhelming as the spot where the tree of harmony once stood, smoldered. I covered my mouth with a hoof as I took a shuddering breath. "I just ... I didn't think ... the tree. It wasn't meant to absorb ..." I couldn't finish my sentence as I closed my eyes tightly. My magic had only grown stronger as I sat there, trying to control my emotions. This tree had sat here for generations, a beacon of harmony, a battery pack for those trinkets. It was gone now, I killed it, and took it's magic with me. I was the tree of harmony, and I knew I wasn't fit for this task. No amount of creatures were fit for harmony incarnate. No spell I knew could fix this ... no healing spell could repair this damage. With my heightened magic, I could feel something happening south, in the direction of Appleloosa. My horn glowed an emerald shade, revealing an image of the town and I saw what it was. Ponies and treants dead on the ground, the town in ruin, shadowmancy tainted the once pristine soil. I shook my head in dismay, more of my doing, more of my mistakes. Innocent ponies ... dead, because of me. Over an idol in Griffonstone, I didn't even know where Griffonstone was! I smashed my hoof into my face before I remembered the day I resurrected the rest of my team back when I learned shadowmancy. Realization hit me as I looked back into the picture of the ruins of Appleloosa I couldn't fix the tree ... but the damage I caused to Appleloosa, that I could fix. A ball of light swirled in the town square, causing everybody to look on in wonder. Perhaps they could feel the harmony magic radiate inside of me and thought I was someone else. The mounting relief was replaced by fear and hate the second they saw me. "FOUL BEAST! LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO MY PONIES!" Shouted a tall mare with white fur and rainbow mane. I could see the pain and grief in her eyes, it was clear she'd been crying recently. By the crown on her head, I assumed she was Princess Celestia. I didn't know what to say, no words could convince her, and I had no right to even be here after what I'd done. "I can ..." I cleared my throat to wash the guilt from my throat and spoke up. "I can bring them back!" She misunderstood, "NECROMANCER! KILLING THEM WASN'T ENOUGH!? YOU MUST DESECRATE THEM TOO!?" Her horn shined like the sun as a beam of concentrated solar magic shot straight for me. Despite her incredible power, the combined might of my enhanced life magic and the harmony magic I had stolen were more than a match for her. I summoned a shield around myself that shined a clear and sparkling white, stopping her attack easily. Fear grew on her face as she knew. "That ... That's harmony magic." She sat down on the ground with a thud. "The elements... By Faust, what have you done..." I took her moment of weakness and levitated myself into the air above the ruined town. Looking below me, I saw the bodies of ponies I had never met, yet now through the tree, knew by name. Braeburn was missing half of his body, Sheriff Silverstar's head was crushed open. I almost vomited from the sight of them. Cherry Berry, Shoeshine, Lemon Hearts, Lyra Heartstrings, Sassaflash, Caramel, Amethyst Maresbury, Star Spur, Fetter Keys, Lucky Clover, and Rare Find, all innocents. My horn glowed brightly as harmony, shadow, and life worked together as many tri-colored tendrils entered every corpse. Bones were mended, skin was repaired, blood began pumping, and all throughout the town, the dead shot awake as if their death was a bad dream. Gasps of life ascended to me as I surrounded the town with magic and began creating the building materials needed to repair the town I had destroyed. Planks, nails, and paint flew through the sky and one by one, buildings rose. From the saloon to the sheriff's office, I made right. I even build Braeburn a bigger house, nothing too big, but he could live comfortably now. With the damage I'd done to Appleloosa repaired, I descended back to the ground and sat silently. The golden hooves of the Princess were the first to approach. I couldn't bring myself to look at her, but I was ready to accept whatever punishment she deemed fit. "The elements..." I heard her say with anger, "Where are they?" I said nothing for a while before relenting. "They're inside of me ... Their magic." "You absorbed them into you?!" I could feel her stare on my head grow hotter. "I was just trying to analyze them ... I wanted to learn their magic, not absorb it into me." Even now, my magic grew stronger, I didn't know why. I heard the princess take a breath and let it out slowly. "What's your name?" She asked, calmer, but still furious. "Sugar Hoof." She gestured for some ponies in golden armor to surround me before saying, "Sugar Hoof, you are under arrest for ponyslaughter and crimes against harmony." I did nothing as my hooves were bound in chains. Princess Celestia stood at the crater where the tree of harmony once stood. "You really did it, didn't you? Nothing's even left." She looked sullen at the sight. "Princess Celestia, without the tree or the elements ..." Twilight Sparkle stopped at the thought. "Equestria's greatest defense is gone." The princess replied. "There has to be something we can do! Couldn't we plant another tree of harmony?" Rainbow Dash suggested. "The tree of harmony was planted by Star-Swirl the Bearded, and he's been missing for centuries." I could feel eyes on me, though I refused to look up. "What about him?" Fluttershy asked, "The elements aren't lost, they're just in him." "Maybe we can get them back out of him?" Applejack offered. "He clearly feels guilty about it, why else would he come back and fix everything?" Fluttershy said. I heard the sound of a hoof striking another hoof. "Let him pay for his crimes by using the power of the elements to defend Equestria" Said Twilight. Voices of agreement resounded as I looked up. Repaying my debt by defending their home seemed like a good idea. Princess Celestia walked over to me and for the first time, I had the courage to look her in the eye. Her eyes bored into me like knives as she seemed to scan my very soul. "You will stay in Canterlot under constant watch. Every second of every day, you will be watched, and if you are even a second late when we tell you to be somewhere, I will not hesitate to lock you into Tartarus, and throw away the key." She glared with the hatred of a mother staring back at the one who murdered her children. "Yes, Princess." I said, bowing my head.