//------------------------------//
// Restoring in Remembrance Pt. 2 
// Story: Destiny Sparkle 
// by Spirit Guide 
//------------------------------//

A low rumbling sound reached my ears and I felt them prick up at it. The noise was coming from the other side of the house, from somewhere along the street. It was a sound I remember hearing from mine and Steven's few but memorable excursions; sounds that came from the streets and roads wherever we went.

Vrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmm

The sound got louder and louder. Already imagining what it was, I rushed back into the house, up the stairs and stood up against the corridor window. Looking down into the street, I could see a pickup truck parked right outside the house, its bed loaded with potted plants and an assortment of small pacakges. As I watched, Steven climbed out of the truck, followed by fellow fans Iron Buck and Pachy Sandra. I'd expected to see Pachy, since she was the florist who probably sold all the stuff in the truck, but Iron née Daniel was a nice, unanticipated surprise.

What's he doing here? I wondered as the three humans began unloading the truck and carrying the many supplies around the house to the dug-up backyard. They talked as they schlepped but I couldn't hear them very well, watching from the window as quiet as a mouse.

When they were done, Pachy and Iron piled back into the pickup, Steven standing on the curb and waving farewell as they drove off. Once the coast was clear and Steven started back to the yard, I hurried back downstairs and joined him. "Shopping go well?" I asked him.

"Immensely."

"I can see that." Looking around the backyard, it looked as though Steven had purchased Pachy's entire shop: tree seedlings and shrubs in pots, packets of seeds in long boxes, short vines supported on sticks and sacks of compost. "I take it you know where you want everything?"

"For certain." Steven knelt beside the many gardening goods all laid neatly in the middle of the yard. "The flowers and smaller shrubs will sit in the central holes, the bushes and medium plants will go in on the sides, and the vines and young trees will go at the back. It'll look fantastic when they're all grown."

Tree. That word sent a shiver down my spine. That tree. Immediately, I leaped up on Steven like Winona would on Applejack. "Steven, Steven, Steven, Steven," I clamored.

He was quick to give me his attention. "What? What's the matter, Twilight?"

I sat down and pointed a hoof at the enigma. "What's that tree?"

Steven looked up at the bare towering giant and a smile splayed out on his face. "That, Twilight, is my family's Aesculus hippocastanum, and it's been here at least since the house was built five generations ago. It's shaded a lot of social events, parties and the like; I've even enjoyed climbing it when I was younger. This species is also called the conker tree or horse-chestnut."

I could feel my mind rejoice at the first mystery being solved. But that still left a question: why did I feel strange towards the tree? Is it merely because it's called horse-chestnut? That's stupid. "So," I said, hoping to get away from the conundrum for a while, "are we ready to plant?"

"Absolutely." Steven bent over the box of seeds and began leafing through them. "Oh wow, I feel so young and childish right now. Look at all these: Bluebells, Hibiscus, Chrysanthemums, Peonies—"

"Did you say 'ponies'?" I interrupted, not fully believing my ears for a moment.

"No no, Twilight: 'Pee-a-nee'. It's a plant with large, colorful flowers. I've always wanted one."

"Not because it sounds ever-so slightly like 'ponies'?" I jested.

Steven picked out a seed packet. "Huh. Never thought of it like that, and no."

We fell into awkward silence after that, Steven unpacking the rest of the supplies and I moving them to their designated spots. As we worked, a thought came to me and I decided to voice it. "So, uh, Steven."

"Hm?"

"All these plants; they're different species and genera, from different places around the world. So unless plants in your world work differently, don't some of them need a particular kind of habitat and climate? Sure, a couple of these plants could grow in most places, but ones like the pansies don't do so well in hot weather. And don't hydrangeas require constant watering if they get too heated?"

"Good question, one to which the answer is firmly rooted in my home." Steven sat down cross-legged next to the dirt pile I had dug up. He motioned for me and I joined him, curling up on the mound beside him. "It wasn't for no reason my great-great-grandfather built the house all the way out here. Both the soil and air contain special qualities that promote the growth of all and any plant life. It benefits from the geography of the area being so diverse, with mountainous regions and the seashore not too far away."

For a seemingly non-magical world, it sure has a lot of strange things in it. "That sounds too good to be true," I said plainly.

"It sounds too good to be true, Twilight, because it is too good to be true. But I assure you, it's true."

"So the soil and air make for a perfect uni-climate?"

"That's right," Steven confirmed. "My mom had planted tons of different plants in her line of work and all of them flourished as they would in their preferred environment."

"Wow..." I glanced at the seedlings and packets, trying to imagine what the garden would like like in full bloom. "It is magical."

"Just a marvel of nature, really." Steven got onto his knees and and picked up a lilac shrub. "This will look great when it's in full bloom."

I walked to his side and looked at the small, adolescent plant. "Yeah, probably. But with my magic, I could make it grow in a heartbeat. Then we could bring back the garden really quick."

"No, Twilight."

"What?" I looked at Steven, shocked. "Why not? Don't you want your mom's garden back to how it was? I can bring it all back, instantly! I know I can!"

"I know you can too," Steven said, putting an arm around my shoulders, "but this garden is more than just a memory of my mother; it's a result of her diligent work. No matter the weather, be it sun, snow, wind or rain, she would kneel down among the plants and make sure they were content and healthy. That's what we're trying to recreate and as such, we will do it the same way she did, no offense to your magic abilities."

I wasn't offended, but I was disappointed that I wouldn't get to see exactly what the garden looked like in full bloom as soon as I'd thought. Ultimately, I was happy for Steven, happy he had clarified on what he wanted. "I'm happy if you're happy," I said, truly feeling that way, and Steven smiled. "Let's get to planting."

And so we spent the next three hours replanting Steven's backyard, seeking to return it to its former glory. I busied myself near the wall with the vines and small trees, coaxing them out of their plastic pots, while Steven inserted flower seeds and seedlings into the small holes I'd dug. Thanks to my accurate calculations, each plant had more than enough space for its roots and potting soil. We buried the plant roots and seeds with mixtures of compost and earth from the holes and sprinkled them with water. It was a lot of work but it was all straightforward, and fun to do together with Steven.

After a lunch break, we returned to the garden and cleaned up, putting away the tools and throwing away the empty plant packets. I had to admit the garden looked pretty cool, with its small plants and lumps of soil that marked the freshly-planted seeds. The vines clung to the frame against the wall and the tiny bushes stood sturdy in their packed holes. Overall, I felt our work was well done, except for one little thing.

"Steven, what about the horse-chestnut?"

He looked at me with a puzzled look. "What about it?"

"Will it grow new leaves and nuts eventually?"

Steven stared at the tree with its bare spindly branches. "I hope so. It was so nice to sit under its shade, the base always littered with fallen nuts. I'd end up gathering them up and carrying them around, throwing them at unsuspecting classmates as a joke, though I had to be careful not to actually hurt them."

"In magic school, I would sit under such trees, doing my best to ignore the other ponies who pelted each other with nuts. Sometimes they would hit me and I'd stare them down until they left me alone," I said, recalling the many afternoons where it would happened. "Once, I was so angry when I was interrupted from my levitation practice, I lifted all the nuts from the floor and dropped them on the other foals. They were fine, though."

"I guess there're still some similarities between our worlds we haven't compared yet," Steven noted.

"We're bound to find them all eventually," I insisted, leaning my head against his leg.

"Yep."

We stood there in front of the tree, looking up at its empty branches. I felt the same urge as before, the urge to use my magic and grow the tree back into its previous splendor, but with Steven there beside me I was reminded of his wish to tend the garden at its natural pace, just like his mother had.

Still, I wish I could show him, just for a moment...

"Twilight?"

"Hm?"

Steven fell down on one knee, holding his hand out. His lightly-glowing hand. "Teach me how to restore the horse-chestnut."

I felt my heartbeat quicken and my excitement exploded out of me, resulting in a small firework of sparks shooting from my horn. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy. "Do you mean it? I thought you wanted to remake your mom's garden as she did."

"The tree's more than just my mom's. My grandfather and even his grandfather before him had a hand in it too. Like I said, it's been around for as long as the house, maybe even before that. My whole family has taken charge of tending the tree, pruning and watering it. Now, it's time for this generation to take care of her, in our way.

"So please, Twilight, teach me the magic of Equestria."

The prospect of teaching Steven drove me to prance in place, my body no longer able to contain the joy I felt. With a happy shout, I led him back inside and gave him a quick run-through on channeling magic into objects, particularly living organisms. We used a potted fern on the window sill as a test subject and after fifteen minutes, it grew rapidly under Steven's magic.

"Perfect!" I congratulated, hungrily eyeing the new frond.

"No way did I learn enough to make the old tree grow back," Steven guessed.

"No, but combined with my magic, it should be more than enough to do the job."

"Then let's try it."

We returned to the garden, not surprised at finding nothing to have changed, and directed our attention and energy to the tree. I took up my stance and raised my horn, while Steven moved one leg back and held out his arms. We called upon our magic, mine magenta and Steven's now a light blue, and released it into the tree. The colored tendrils sank into the trunk, revitalizing the tree. We continued to channel our magic into the horse-chestnut, sweat starting to appear on our faces, but it wasn't until several minutes had passed did progress make its appearance.

"Twilight, look!"

Steven's excited whisper drew my eyes up to the tree's branches. On the closest limb, a tiny green bud slipped out of the thin bark, slowly growing in size until it opened into a leaf. All along the branches, more buds appeared and grew, slowly covering the tree with a thin layer of green.

"It's working," I breathed, even more in awe of the sight than I'd originally expected. "It's working!"

Our flow of magic intensified. Leaves popped onto the tree like balloons at Pinkie's parties. Layer after layer of green began to hide the once-bare branches from our sight. Tiny nut-like seeds grew among the leaves, steadily growing into spiky-looking conkers. Within minutes, the old horse-chestnut had become a leafy titan, with a crown spread at least twenty feet. The sight was breathtaking and I felt my rump connect with the dirt as I sat down in awe.

Steven reacted quite differently. He stepped towards the tree, as though in a trance, and bowed his head against the trunk. After a moment, he leapt up suddenly and furiously began climbing, using lower branches to swing himself higher. I drew nearer to the trunk as he agilely climbed high into the tree's new growth, curious as to why he was doing it.

"What's up, Steven?"

Steven stopped climbing. Carefully, he inched himself onto a wider bough hanging above me, one hand rummaging through the leaves, and looked down with a huge grin on his face. "Me."

Woosh

"Waah!"

A quickly conjured barrier blocked the thrown chestnut before it could brain me. I squinted up into the tree to find Steven perched on the bough, one hand overflowing with conkers and the grin on his face wider than before.

"Don't you dare," I warned him.

"Can't resist. My childhood demands it."

Couldn't argue with that. I tensed up my legs and fired up my muscles as a barrage of newly-grown nuts rained down on me like hailstones. Steven had them coming at me at a rate of about one conker per 1.21 seconds, taking deadly accuracy in a blink and hurling the projectile. Fortunately, my life in Ponyville had led me to numerous occasions calling for running (as well as screaming) and I wasn't out of practice in the least. Before long, conkers littered the ground, I was out of breath and Steven was out of reachable ammo.

Panting, I called up to him. "Are you.... satisfied? Has your... childhood been... uh.... relived?"

"Hmmmm," Steven mused, dangling one arm from the wide bough upon which he was perched, like a large jungle cat. "Yes, I suppose." Gripping the thinner part of the bough, he swung himself over the side and leapt to the ground, landing hunched with a thump beside me. "Though I do believe any time spent with you will be worth reliving as well."

"Awwww." I hugged his leg as he stood up.

Steven ruffled my mane, his grin prominent. "Silliness aside, we're all done, Twilight. The garden's planted and the ancient horse chestnut has been restored to its full glory. The day's goal has been achieved and it looks great."

I looked around, finding it impossible to disagree. Plant life now painted the previously dead backyard, green stems and tiny mounds of dirt paving the way for a rainbow of flora. The tree was undoubtedly the grandest sight of them all, and more than a little useful with the shade it supplied. I felt super proud of Steven and myself, for together we had planted the beautiful garden that lay before us.

"Yes. The day's goal is complete."

Steven wiped his hands of the dirt and soil. "How about we celebrate with some couch time?"

I literally felt the excitement bloom inside me like a flower in the yard. With a cheer, I raced back into the house, Steven metaphorically on my tail, and scrambled on the sofa until we'd achieved our favorite position: Steven sitting up, me laying across his lap, mane brushed by hand. We sat there for a few minutes, the only movement being the rising and falling of our chests and Steven's soil-smelling hand running through my hair. 

"So, Twilight," Steven finally said, "did you enjoy gardening, or did you just enjoy us gardening together."

"Mmm hmhm. Both."

"That's a pretty weaselly answer for you, Twilight."

I stuck out my tongue. "Tease."

"Tease, huh?"

I readied myself instantly at his words. It was a cliche I'd picked up on from watching cartoon shows; the repetition of words that sounded almost like accepting a dare, to be followed by just the meaning. I heightened my senses and watched carefully for any motion from Steven aside from his stroking my mane.

Nothing happened. Except for the brushing, of course; he'd have to keep his hand there to prevent me from noticing anything, if he was indeed trying to keep me from catching on. But the more I watched and waited, the more it seemed like time dragged on and Steven was doing nothing else besides brushing my mane. I couldn't understand it; had the TV lied to me?

Then I realized I wasn't resting on Steven's lap anymore. Rather, I was four feet above it, cradled in a silhouette of blue sparks, my mane being handled by a cluster of light particles. Reaction was immediate.

"WHOA!"

My legs cartwheeled round and round, but found no surface or friction to move me. The blue sparks held me up the air, supporting my body, while the cluster continued to stroke my mane just as Steven was a moment ago. Looking down, I saw a similar cluster of blue sparks dancing around Steven's hand; the same hand that had just been brushing my hair.

"Steven!"

"Yes?"

"That's .... a really good trick."

Steven smiled up at me. "I learned it from the best." He moved his hand like a scanner and slowly brought me back down to rest in his lap, though the magic brushing my hair continued.

"Don't be ridiculous. I didn't teach you that."

"You taught me the basics," he insisted, bending over and kissing the top of my head. "And as far as I can tell, the rest of magic is all feeling."

I swung my head around and glared at him. "I studied magic for years since I was a little filly. It most certainly isn't 'all feeling'!"

"Neither is this." Steven burrowed his left arm under me and flipped me onto my back. Like an overturned stretched-out hedgehog, my belly was unprotected and the predatory fingers struck. I was helpless in seconds, melting at Steven's touch as his hands rummaged through my soft fur, while his magic still brushed my mane.

"Uwaaaa....."

"That doesn't sound very scholarly at all," he commented.

I waved a hoof aimlessly overhead. "Mmmm.... can argue about the mechanics of magic later...."

"I'm not going to learn anything while I'm rubbing your belly, am I?"

"Mm mm."

We left it at that. There was nothing more to say and I was catatonic anyway, so we continued with our couch position, letting the rest of the day tick by. The only sounds were that of brushed hair and rubbed fur, with an occasional sigh or hum. Steven and I had been working most of that day and were enjoying our well-deserved rest.

After some time (I couldn't bother myself to look at the grandfather clock), I spoke up. "When I think about it, I guess magic is some part feeling."

"Hm?" Steven held me upright and re-positioned me so that I was sitting in his lap, whereupon he set about massaging my shoulders. "How does that fit in with your 'years of studying'?"

"It's both. Most unicorns use their magic for their respective talents, and their feelings and thoughts contribute to the resulting magic. For unicorns like me, who specialize in magic as a whole, studying different styles and spells lead us to a deeper understanding of magic and how to use it. You, Steven, as an individual who discovered magic recently, would have to feel to use it."

"So I was right."

"Yes, you were. Don't let it go to your head, though."

Steven put a hand on his scalp. "It's a nice noggin. Not nearly as nice as yours, but adequate for sure."

"Oh stop it," I said, giving him a nudge in the chest. Taking idioms and phrases seriously are one of the things that drive me crazy. I mean, somepony tries to get a message across and their conversation partner just goes stupid on them. But Steven was Steven and I wasn't about to hold grudges. Besides, I was getting hungry and the garden wasn't ready to be grazed. "Let's go eat."

"Want me to order a pizza?"

"Your world has deliveries too?" The small, less important similarities between mine and his just kept coming.

"That doesn't answer my question," Steven said with a wry smile.

"Yes."

A short while later (part of which I spent watching the delivery man on the doorstep from the shadows of the bedroom window), Steven and I were back on the couch, joined by a fresh pizza. The two of us enjoying the cheesy tomato flatbread reminded me of our first real dinner together, right after I had recovered from pneighmonia. I glanced sideways at the drum in the corner of the room, covered in a thin layer of dust and filled with a hardening broth of my own bile.

"Are you ever going to throw that out?" I asked, pointing at the drum. "I mean, I know what it meant to you at the time, but now that you have me here through and through..."

"Where would I put it, a radioactive dumpsite? That may be puke, Twilight, but it could very well be magical puke and could lead to unwanted outcomes."

"Heh, I guess so. I've watched enough TV to know that much."

Steven scratched my ear. "I'm sure will find something to do with it in the future, whether it's throwing it away somewhere safe or using it as a plot device. Who knows? It may just save us from the next magically-tampered natural disaster."

The mentioning of the windigo-induced hurricane sent my thoughts racing on the matter. How did the windigos get into this world? Did they get through it with me? Did I leave some sort of hole in Space that's letting in monsters from Equestria?

"Twilight?"

Steven's voice pulled me away from my thoughts. "Yes?"

"I know that look and I know what you're thinking. You can't worry about things like that now because we can't solve them; no one here can. We have no reason to assume you were responsible for drawing the windigos here. Maybe they were just born from all the hate in the world. It may be the first case of them ever existing here, but it's still a possibility."

That's my human friend; always trying to make me feel better. Works pretty well, too. "Thanks, Steven," I said, snuggling up against him. "But you do remember the five beams of light Iron, Pachy and the others saw."

"I've been thinking of those too," he admitted. "It seems too good to be true, but they're the only bronies I know of in town. And they match up with the other five Elements pretty darn well."

"They must have activated the lights, even without their knowing. They called upon the magic of friendship that exists between you all!"

Steven smiled warmly, as though enjoying the very thought. "So the five of them are the Elements of Harmony here? Iron for Honesty, Pachy on Generosity, Loyalty for Sprint, Laughter with Cobalt and Tranquil to Kindness. Who's Magic, then?"

"You," I said immediately.

"Ah, but I'm nothing to Magic without you," he replied, tickling my belly. "The two of us, together; that is the Element of Magic."

My ear twitched instinctively as his other hand rested beside it on my head. "Do you think so? Can two individuals share an Element of Harmony?"

"Fans have been coming up with theories about the Elements," Steven said, glancing sideways at the computer. "Though I don't see how anypony else could have had a go at them after Luna's banishment; they should have still been connected to Celestia and without her sister, they would be stuck halfway and unless Celestia was... 'removed', let's say, they wouldn't connect to anypony else."

"Did you just come up with that now?" I questioned.

Steven shrugged. "We all have our headcanons."

"Mmmm... Back to our new Elements, something must have come about that activated them here. The question is: what exactly activated them and set them on the windigos? How did their magic start?"

"A collective wish for the end of the storm, raising their resolve and boosting their Element trait, activating each respective Element to come aid us."

"Cliche."

"Cliches happen. But it could also have been an automatic response," Steven suggested, not deterred by my shooting down his first possibly-joke theory. "When you and your friends all got your cutie marks at the same time, Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom tied it all together. In our case, maybe it's going backwards; the magic collects itself into a rainbow instead of dispersing itself. A strangely-colored rainbow, but a rainbow nonetheless."

"Could be." I lifted my head, feeling serious and eager. "There's studying to be done on magic in this world. Sure, my magic and the windigos work as normal, but possible human magic working the opposite way from what I know is leaving questions unanswered."

Steven wrapped an arm around my body and pulled me closer. "Well, if anyone's gonna do it, it'll be you, Twilight."

With his other hand, he took another slice of pizza and held it in front of me. I gingerly took a bite from it, enjoying the feeling that came with being cared for and looked after as he had for so long now. I had come to like many things in the strange world I've been thrown into, but by-and-by the things I loved most were anything I took part in with Steven. Today we had replanted his mother's prized garden and started on the path to understanding the magic of friendship in this world, a subject which would certainly challenge us in the near future.

But with Steven watching over me, I was sure that I would be comfortable studying, living and learning in his world, however long it may be.