Chapter Four: The Two Trees
Chapter Four: The Two Trees
Despite the rain and clouds having cleared, making way for the noonday sun, the path to Zecora’s house stretched onward in relative gloom. The dense canopy above everypony’s heads seemed to press down on them, smothering like a humid, stagnant night. Howls filled their ears, insects buzzed around their heads, and unusual flora grew just off the path. Although Zecora warned them to stick together as they walked, one of the younger foals wandered too close to the edge, consequently screaming as a tatzltrap plant waved its tentacles in her face.
Everypony huddled together much closer after that.
Before too long, a bulky tree came into view. Zecora led them forward to her door, then stopped at the entrance and turned to her cautious followers. “My little ponies, today I welcome you to my domain. Follow these rules, and among the living you will remain.”
While Zecora informed the class about the Everfree’s many dangers, Liberty Belle quietly ducked away and wandered over to a spot near the battered mangrove. As she drew close to a circle of stones, she felt a familiar tingle in her horn, drawing her to rub its base. The tingle increased to a faint pulse when she stepped inside the circle, and rescinded when she stepped back out.
This is unexpected. I must ask Zecora if she can explain.
“Excuse me, young filly?”
Liberty stiffened, turned to the mare strolling toward her, and swallowed the thumping heart that had jumped into her throat. “Oh, hello, Missus Turner.” She sagged and exhaled, smiling.
“Miss Belle, is it?”
Liberty nodded.
“I remember your mother from her foalhood years,” Cheerilee continued. “She, too, was fond of wandering off into potential mischief.”
“Yes, she has told me a few tales… no doubt you could tell me a few more, had we both the time.”
Cheerilee smiled too. “In any case, it seems you have inherited her natural curiosity. I know I am not your teacher, but might I suggest rejoining my class and listening to Zecora’s briefing? The Everfree can be very dangerous, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
“Thank you for your concern, Missus Turner,” Liberty said. “It is logical that you would suggest such a thing. However, I am more than aware of the dangers within this realm and how to avoid or confront them, as I have been home-schooled by my mother and father under Queen Twilight’s supervision. Please, spare no worry for me.”
“Well…” Cheerilee took a step back and checked over the others. “I-if you’re sure, Miss Belle, although I must insist that you please stay within sight and earshot at all times. Surely you can understand how Queen Sparkle would... react, were something to happen to you in here?”
“I understand. To ease your mind, I shall return to the group. I promise I will do my best to not interfere with your students’ lessons. I have my own research to conduct, after all. ”
“All right.”
Cheerilee motioned over her shoulder with her head, and together they walked back to the class. As they neared, Ambrosia waved, though at Cheerilee’s look she dropped her grin and quickly fixed her attention back on Zecora.
“…Lastly, the trees play host to star spiders who seem creepy and vicious, yet you may rest assured that they find ponykind far from delicious. But, it is better to admire their webs from a distance, for anything that disturbs their silken traps will be taken down without resistance.”
Zecora ended her spiel and looked over the herd. “Now you know which creatures and plants you had best not seek. To be wary of such dangers does not make one meek.”
“Great advice, Zecora,” Cheerilee said. “Being brave doesn’t mean you have to go looking for trouble. Now, class, I want you all to stay close to each other and listen to everything Zecora and I say. You are already being brave by simply entering this forest. There is no need to try to prove yourselves while we are here. Is that clear, Wild Seed?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Wild said, averting her gaze.
“Can we all just please get on with whatever we’re s’posed to be learnin’?” Ambrosia asked. “I’d rather not spend any more time in here than I have to.”
“Right you are, Ambrosia dear. It it wise not to linger here,” Zecora said. “Now, enter my home therein, and your first lessons will begin.”
She held a hoof toward her door. Ambrosia and Liberty led the way, passing into the tree hut without hesitation. The other foals all stared at the various tribal decorations hanging along Zecora’s dilapidated home; some shivered as they eyed the dreamcatcher above the door before proceeding through.
Once Cheerilee closed the door behind her, Zecora set about pressing the bellows under her cauldron. Embers danced with new life and the cauldron’s contents began to stir.
“I have warned you of the dangers that lie deep within my home,” Zecora said. She pursed her lips and blew upon the liquid’s surface. “Now it is time to reveal where, in safety, you may roam.”
The foals watched as she wandered through a side door—presumably her private chamber—and emerged soon after, bearing a tied-up scroll in her mouth. She spat it onto a low wooden table on the cauldron’s other side and set about unraveling it. When she finished, Liberty’s eyes widened.
A detailed map of Everfree lay before the class. Clumps of brown and green featured most prominently, though there were some thin, bunched-up contour lines near the middle of the map, accompanied by a winding blue line. Red lines snaked from end to end, some with many bends, others fairly straight by comparison. Slimmer lines branched off from the main ones, which headed into more densely depicted green woodland. On the top side of the river, stone ruins were depicted with the caption: Castle of the Two Sisters.
“Into two groups, the fourteen of us will separate. Some will head north-east, others south-east, then return and congregate. Those who accompany myself shall investigate the native fauna, while Missus Turner leads her group to examine Everfree’s flora.”
Zecora picked up the map so everypony could see it. She pointed in specific places along the thick red lines. “These dotted points along the path are your sanctuary: within the stone circles located there, consider your fears imaginary. With the queen’s aid, I have purified such areas completely. If it took one’s fancy, one could sleep inside sweetly.”
A loud pop sounded from the cauldron, and all heads turned to the source as an unusual smell permeated the air. Ambrosia took a whiff and shared a tilted-head glance with Liberty. Golden Circlet coughed and gagged. By contrast, Toffee Swirl and the twins breathed the scent in deep as they could, their mouths watering.
“The final safety measure I have prepared for you all today, is a potion that will scream to the forest, ‘Keep away!’ This curious concoction, made with rare fungi and a dash of magic, will ensures your visit’s outcome is anything but tragic.”
“Why does it smell so gross, though?” asked Ornate Jade, her voice muffled as she covered her nose. “There’s no way I’m drinking that slop. It’s worse than rotting compost!”
“You’re crazy, Jade,” Wild said. “That stuff smells like my idea of heaven—freshly cut hay in late spring.”
“You two are both outta your minds!” Ambrosia piped up. “It smells like apple pie, just how my mama makes it.”
“Well—” the class all turned to Cheerilee, having forgotten she was there “—it smells to me like cider that has sat for too long in the cellar, uncovered: musky, and slightly unpleasant.” She lifted an eyebrow at the bubbling goop, then eyed Zecora. “Are we all going insane, or does this… solution really smell different to each of us?”
“Such is the property of Trickster’s Allure,” Zecora said as she grabbed an empty vial from one of her shelves. “How it smells, one can never be sure. For example, I find it sometimes rancid, sometimes plain, other times like rotten eggs, yet now, like fresh wheat grain.”
“Fascinating.” Liberty reached into her bag with her magic and extracted her notebook and a pencil. “A rare fungus that smells like something different every time it’s prepared,” she muttered as she scribbled the information down. “And you say that this brew will help protect us from the forest?”
“Indeed, Miss Belle—you will be quite safe. All you need take is one little taste.”
Zecora grasped a ladle in her teeth and lowered it to the surface. A thick dribble flowed slowly into the scoop. “A single sip will render you immune to most perils, be they plant or animal,” she continued after setting the vial on the table. “Combined with my purified spaces, its protection will prove most valuable.”
“Uh, Miss Zecora?” Ambrosia raised a hoof. “How much o’this stuff do we gotta drink, exactly?”
“As I said, daughter of Apple Bloom, a single mouthful you must consume. An hour’s protection it will bestow, yet caution you ought still not forego.”
“All right! Are we getting on with it or what?” Wild Seed snorted and stamped his hoof. “I don’t care if I only need a mouthful—I want to drink the whole dang pot!” He marched up toward the cauldron, reared up, placed his forehooves on the rim and made to dunk his head into the depths.
“Wait, young Seed! Listen, please—”
Wild ignored Zecora and slurped up a whole mouthful of his heavenly hay-drink. His eyes bulged and, with a hefty effort, he thrust himself back out of the cauldron and spat his mouthful forcibly on the ground next to him.
“Ach! Bleh!” He coughed loud and long while his classmates fell to the floor and rolled around in hysterics. “What the? Gyahh! How can something smell so good yet taste so… ugh!”
“If you had listened and not been a fool, you would have known to swallow your drool,” Zecora stated, a smirk crinkling her cheeks. “Like Trickster’s Allure’s deceptive, shifting scent, its taste may bring you joy, or discontent.”
“You couldn’t have… mentioned that before, maybe?” Wild asked, still lolling his tongue around outside his mouth while the laughter persisted. “Eugh…”
* * * * *
“Follow me to the heart of the wood. Remain close at all times, you should.”
Choosing sides had been a no-brainer for Ambrosia; Zecora was a family friend, her mother’s ex-mentor. Liberty trotted right up to Ambrosia’s side. Wild was equally as fervent about remaining near his cousin, and Ambrosia deigned to keep an eye on the troublemaker. Snow Flurry and Heat Wave had both grasped Toffee Swirl in their hooves and fluttered over Ambrosia’s head, where they dangled her rigid body before dropping her neatly into the centre of them all. Jade, Circlet, and the others went with Cheerilee.
The six followed Zecora down a darkened pathway twisting north-east, while Cheerilee’s group headed off along the south-eastern pathway. Bird calls clashed with other odd twitterings that seemed to come from rope-thick webs above their heads. Every now and then, a howl reached their ears, although Zecora was quick to reassure them that the timberwolves’ cries could be heard from miles away.
Ambrosia could not help but bring up the memory of how her protection potion had tasted. Sometimes she remembered it as sickly sweet, like a creamy triple-chocolate cake, while other times she could only recall wanting to vomit up the foul taste of cattle feces.
“Gotta say, I’m really not a fan o’that ‘Tricky Lure’ stuff we had to drink,” she whispered to Liberty. “But I can’t stop thinkin’ ’bout it, ’cause my memory of it keeps changin’.”
Liberty perked up her left ear, although she made no other sign she’d even heard Ambrosia while she scribbled line after line in her notebook, her pencil a green blur as she walked. “It is Trickster’s Allure, Ambi, and Zecora did say in her strange way that memory fluctuations are a possible side-effect of consumption,” she said after poking a period into the page. “She also said it will subside soon, which indicates that the potion’s effects have worn off.”
Next to Ambrosia, Wild examined the dense vegetation off the forest trail. Flowers and berries of all colours grew on his left. Beyond that, just a few body lengths from where the herd walked, shadow covered the land in defiance of the midday sunlight that illuminated the exposed path. To his right, mossy rocks surrounded a small pond with murky brown water and dark green lily pads. Wild swallowed when he saw one of the lily pads move.
A solid thunk to his side diverted his attention.
“Ow!” Wild glared down and rubbed his ribs. “What was that for, Toffee?”
“Almost getting us eaten by that... thing in there,” Toffee Swirl said, pointing to the mottled rock-looking things in the pond. “I told you to get back from the water’s edge when I saw the bubbles, but no, you said ‘they’re probably just little fish.’”
“I said I was sorry! Anyway, you didn’t have to blunder in after me.”
“Then who would have screamed? Who would have come to rescue you, huh? Not Miss Zecora. No, you’d be lunch by now, so I can remind you that I saved your flank whenever I want.”
“Guys!”
Toffee and Wild turned their glares toward Snow Flurry as he flapped down between them. “Calm your farms and get a move on. You can have at it later, either once we’re out of the forest or in a safe zone. Now keep up!”
Grumbling among themselves, Toffee and Wild followed Snow back to the herd, already twenty paces ahead of them. Snow rejoined Heat Wave, walking next to Zecora.
“My little ponies, ten minutes we have walked. The safe zone ahead marks our place to stop and talked,” Zecora said. “Sit yourselves in that circle of stones, and listen to more of my dulcet tones.”
Liberty and Ambrosia galloped into the ring first, though Ambrosia yelped and jumped backward after setting hoof inside. “Ah! What was that?” She lifted a tingling hoof and rubbed it against her chest. “Why’re my hooves feelin’ all funny?”
“I feel it too, Ambi,” Liberty said as she raised a hoof to her forehead. “There is a mild tingle in the base of my horn. It happened first when I neared the forest’s entrance, and again when I approached a similar circle to this one out the front of Miss Zecora’s house.”
“We’ve got it, too,” Snow said.
“Except it’s in our wing joints,” Heat added.
Wild strode next to Ambrosia and placed a hoof inside the circle. “Wow, you weren’t kidding,” he said, withdrawing the hoof and waving it around. “Must be some kind of freaky magic.”
“I-I don’t like this, oh no, no I don’t like this at all…” Toffee backed away from the others, shaking her head.
Liberty looked from Toffee, to the twins, to Ambrosia, then finally to Zecora. “Perhaps some kind of explanation would be prudent, Miss Zecora?”
The herd stared as Zecora simply closed her eyes, sat, and chuckled.
“Hey, what gives?” Ambrosia asked.
Zecora lifted her head and ceased her laugh, though the wide smile remained. “The way is lit, the path is shown. Pieces assemble, and hope regrows.”
“Pieces? Hope? What’ya mean?”
A single deep blue eye opened. “You feel the circle’s magic in your horns, your hooves, and your wings, my dears. By confirming my theories, you have alleviated my fears. There is something that I should share with you now—in time, perhaps even a tyrant will be made to bow.”
“Uh, that sounds great, and stuff,” Wild said, “but what does that have to do with what’s happening to us? I feel like I’ve got constant pins and needles in my hooves.”
“Wait…”
Everypony look at Liberty. “Miss Zecora… is this happening to the other ponies with Missus Turner? I recall nopony else saying a single thing about any strange tingles.”
Zecora inhaled and exhaled deeply before answering. “Only ponies with magic in their veins can detect it in the air. Of those, you six are all I have met, after three decades, anywhere.”
“Well, sure, we have magic. That’s why we can fly when the other pegasi can’t,” Snow pointed out.
“And my cousin and I are two of the strongest ponies ’round town,” Ambrosia said. “Even stronger than my mama and papa, they say, even though we’re still young.”
“I have studied and developed magic under the supervision of my mother and Queen Twilight. According to Her Majesty, Mother and I are the only two unicorns in all of Canterlot with any true semblance of power,” Liberty said.
All eyes turned on Toffee, still sitting just outside the circle. She turned her head and stared at the ground.
“Toffee Swirl?”
Zecora vacated the boundary and placed a hoof on the trembling filly. “You have magic too. Do not fear. We are all in the same boat here.”
Toffee looked up into Zecora’s wrinkled face and hiccuped. “I… I tried to use magic once. But… it didn’t end well. My mother—hic—made me swear to keep it hidden from everypony until she could teach me how to use it, since it kinda just—hic—went everywhere all at once and made me real sleepy after.”
“Wow. I have never heard of that before, Toffee. It sounds like you have potential to become quite an adept spellcaster.” Liberty broke the circle and placed a hoof to Toffee’s stomach. “Come and sit with us, please? It feels a little funny, I know, but there is nothing to fear. Besides—” she inclined her head “—Miss Zecora’s claims intrigue me. Surely you wish to know more, too?”
“Okay.”
Once Toffee and Liberty rejoined the circle, Zecora hummed a long note.
“Tell us, Miss Zecora. Please.”
With all eyes on her, Zecora stood. “The answers you seek, I shall gladly present. Follow me, little ponies—let’s begin our descent.”
She walked further ahead out of the circle. The others followed, remarking how the tingle had left their bodies. When Zecora stopped ahead of them, she stepped to the side and swung her lame leg outward.
“Wowee,” Ambrosia breathed.
A great chasm stretched ahead of the herd. A broken bridge drooped on each side, only a few slats of wood remaining on the frayed ropes. Across the chasm stood some crumbled remains.
“That is the castle depicted on the map, yes?” Liberty asked, turning to Zecora. At the nod, she turned back and squinted. “I assume it was once a place of great importance.”
“You are correct, Miss Belle. Your instincts serve you well.” Zecora bowed her head and motioned to the side. “Yet those ruins sit atop something of far greater import. Down these steps, all of you I will now escort. Follow me, young ones, to a secret, forbidden place. Tread carefully at all times—do not rush your pace.”
“Follow you… d-down there?”
Toffee peered over the edge of the cliff and gulped at the steep descent. “I’m not sure sure I wanna—eek!” She almost overbalanced as a wing brushed her back from behind. After she finished padding her hooves upon the ground, she whipped her head around and glared at Heat Wave. “Hey! I could have fallen, you know!”
Heat snorted. “Hardly. I was actually offering you my wing for stability. I won’t let you fall.”
“Oh.” Toffee looked down again. “Um, yes, please do.”
“Okay, great—now can we get movin’ already?” Ambrosia asked. “That potion we drank ain’t gonna last forever, you know!”
“Ambrosia, dear, you are correct. Forty minutes remain, I expect,” Zecora said. “Our time is precious, like the bounty below. Yet just how much, until you see, you cannot know.”
* * * * *
After descending some hundred-or-so roughly hewn stone steps, the herd found themselves at the bottom of what the map called the Everfree Scar. What little sunlight they had faded bit by bit as they approached a gigantic pile of rubble. Nearby, a third circle of grey stones offered another peaceful respite.
“This is quite the rockslide, Miss Zecora.” Liberty examined the pile of boulders and frowned, rubbing her horn as she entered the circle. “The warding magic is stronger here than it was along the path. Why does this place warrant such special protection?”
“I wanna know, too,” Ambrosia said as she sidled next to Liberty. “Missus Turner never said nothin’ about us comin’ down here and meetin’ up at some big ol’ pile of rocks.”
“Ah, my dears, valid reasoning I have for this,” Zecora said. “Dear Cheerilee’s knowledge is… slightly remiss.”
“You mean... she doesn’t know we’re here right now?” Wild Seed asked. “How come? Would she have tried to stop us coming?”
“The fewer ponies know, the safer you will all be. Now I ask you—no, I implore you—to please, trust me.”
Toffee Swirl—Heat Wave’s wing still over her back—shuddered and leaned back into her escort. “W-why should we? Nopony knows we’re here, do they? What are you planning to d-do to us?”
Snow and Heat exchanged raised eyebrows, then both faced Zecora. Twelve eyes rested on the zebra. Seconds passed, and nopony moved.
At last, Zecora closed her eye and smiled. “Fate led you all here today. It was not I who chose your way.” She approached the rubble and touched a small stone, hidden among the larger ones. “Neither is this rockslide why we are here... but what it covers up is, my dears. Sit in the circle, and please calm down. Clear any bad thoughts, and lose those six frowns.”
One by one, everypony sat and breathed deeply. Wild approached Ambrosia and beckoned to Toffee, who hesitantly stepped up and settled next to him. On Ambrosia’s other side, Liberty dropped her bag and sat, the notepad still in her magical grasp while her pencil danced across it. Snow nodded at Heat, and together they planted themselves opposite the others.
“The way will open for us now. Proceed into its depths, we shall.”
Muttering in Zebrican, Zecora stepped back into the circle. The ground trembled beneath everypony’s hooves, and they huddled closer together. A crack like lightning sounded as a gash split the rockslide into two, and the rumbling increased as the two halves parted. Loose dirt from the hillside tumbled down, filling the air with clouds of dust.
When the rumbling subsided, and everypony finished coughing, they stared at the rockslide; rather, they stared at the gap where it had blocked their progress only seconds earlier. A new path led into the heart of the Scar, a barely perceptible blue glimmer illuminating the end. Some of the boulders formed an archway above the entrance. Mossy rocks glowed faintly inside.
“Cool!” the twins yelled, sharing a high wing with each other.
“I’ve never seen anythin’ like it,” Ambrosia said as she peered into the dark.
Liberty nodded next to her friend. “How is this possible? Never have I seen magic on this level except when Queen Twilight controls the weather.”
“That you recognise her work is unsurprising, Miss Belle.” Zecora stepped out of the circle and walked into the gaping entrance. “This cavern was sealed by Queen Twilight’s most intricate spell. Only when magical ponies invade will the seal reluctantly degrade.”
“In that case, I can only speculate on what the queen would keep so secretly hidden that she needs a magic spell to conceal it.”
“Maybe it’s treasure!”
Wild Seed’s face lit up. “Come on, everypony—let’s get in there!” He galloped through the entrance, passing Zecora. As he looked over his shoulder, he slowed to a canter, and then stopped. “What? Are you coming?”
“Does anythin’ ever get through that thick skull o’yours, Wild?” Ambrosia shook her head as she walked up to him and bopped him on the forehead. “What happened last time you went runnin’ off by yourself?”
“Uh…”
“Yeah. So hold your horses already and let’s go in together.”
Wild rubbed his head and nodded. “Yeah… I guess you’re right, cuz.”
“Your words are wise, Little Miss Bloom. As one group, we should conquer the gloom.”
Zecora stood between the two Apples and beheld the remaining foals. “Enter the cave, young ponies four. Secrets await, and so much more.”
The others looked at each other, shrugged, and walked next to Zecora. Wild led, followed by Toffee, then Liberty, then Heat and Snow, while Ambrosia and Zecora brought up the rear.
Rumbling filled the cave, and darkness encroached upon the party as the archway caved in of its own accord.
“Libby!” Ambrosia called. “Can y’all see fine up there?”
“Plenty of light ahead already, Ambi.” Liberty pointed to the side. “See those rocks? They are covered in luminescent phosphoric moss.” She walked next to a boulder and ran a hoof over it, her own ever-present green glow adding to the natural one. “I suppose the rocks absorbed light from outside while the archway was open. After sitting in darkness for so long, it would have been the equivalent of direct sunlight for them.”
“There’s that, too,” Snow said, pointing his wing forward. “Looks like there’s a bend in the path ahead. You see the blue light getting brighter?”
The party murmured their assent.
“You know what else is happening? Liberty, turn off your magic. Ambi, stop walking for a second.”
The three halted in their tracks, the others only a short way behind them.
“You feel that?” Snow asked.
“My horn…” Liberty tapped the base of her horn; green sparks shot out and touched the cavern ceiling. “I feel I am being… drawn to something. Attracted, even. My horn has never tingled this much before.”
“My legs feel all funny, now I think about it,” Ambrosia said, pacing on the spot. “It’s like they’re tryin’ to pull me forward.”
“It’s happening with our wings, too,” Heat said as he approached. “Toffee’s horn and Wild’s hooves are doing it as well. Something in here really wants us to find it… whatever it is.”
“Around the bend, destiny awaits. In its presence, we will congregate.”
At Zecora’s words, the herd stopped just before the corner. The blue light seemed brighter, lighting up the ground and the walls ahead. A silent consensus passed between everypony, and they all—after taking deep breaths—turned the corner as a group.
“You’ve gotta be sh—”
Ambrosia slapped a hoof over Wild’s mouth as her own fell open; Liberty stepped forward tentatively, whispering to herself; the twins ran ahead, wings flapping; and Toffee stood frozen next to Zecora.
“Hidden, untouched, and unloved for over thirty years, the gnarled husk of the Tree of Harmony has summoned you all here,” Zecora said, her eye closed.
“The Tree of Harmony?” everypony echoed.
“I always thought it was just an old pony’s tale,” Ambrosia said as she stepped closer to the withered blue trunk. “Mama told me about how my Auntie Applejack used to wear this magic necklace. It was proof that she was the ‘Element of Honesty,’ and that the jewel in her necklace grew from this tree.”
“You know, that sounds familiar,” Liberty added. “My own mother once told me a similar tale about my Aunt Rarity, except her necklace identified her as the ‘Element of Generosity’.”
“Oooh! We got this story, too!” Heat raised a hoof as he landed next to Liberty. “Our mother tells us stories all the time about the coolest, most awesome pony that ever lived. She had one as well—I think it was for ‘Loyalty’.”
Heat stopped talking and took flight again. He and his brother both approached the tree and examined the markings on the trunk.
“There’s a sun here…”
“And a crescent moon, too…”
“And this big white star in the middle...”
The crystalline tree was not the only impressive feature in view. The cavern itself was a thing of beauty. The tree’s roots snaked along the ground and up the walls, enormous purple crystals jutting out from cracks that the roots made. Wispy ferns rose up from between an outcrop of rocks on either side, some of which also sported a plethora of pink flowers. The tree’s glow bounced off everything, appearing to fill the cavern with a glittering blue mist.
“Even in death, its radiance caresses us. Were she here, Miss Rarity would swoon and fuss.” Zecora chuckled, then sighed. “But among us, the bearers of old no longer tread. New ponies will inherit their legacy instead.”
Silence reigned.
“Those orbs in the branches…”
Liberty’s eyes widened as she cautiously approached the tree, her hoofsteps echoing with every fall. She stared for a moment, then lit her horn. Green surrounded a hexagonal purple gem, which floated off the tree and hovered in front of her. She flipped it around; it shined all over, but for a single dull chip off the bottom. Jewel in a firm grip, she faced Zecora. “They are, are they not?”
Zecora just nodded.
“And… the tree thinks that we are…?”
Another nod.
Liberty brought the gem to her chest and, hesitating briefly, held it with her hoof. Her glow faded while the others surrounded her, ogling it.
“In Mother’s story, the Element of Generosity resembled a perfectly cut diamond,” she said, turning it over and back again. “Exactly like my Aunt Rarity’s cutie mark.”
“Uh, what’s a ‘cutie mark’?” Toffee asked.
Before Liberty could even open her mouth, the gem flashed a brilliant white. Everypony looked away, shielding their eyes. When the light dimmed abruptly—almost as soon as it flashed—they lowered their hooves and turned their heads back to Liberty. The gem had vanished, but...
“Whoa.”
“No way.”
“What is that?”
While everypony gaped, Zecora let out a bark of laughter, unfortunately interrupted by a hacking fit.
“Miss Zecora? What is it?”
Zecora cleared her throat and shook her head, though the aged yellow smile lingered on her face. “You wish to know about cutie marks, you say? In that case, let me present...”
She pointed at Liberty’s flank.
“‘Exhibit A.’”
With this chapter, I had both an incredible time, and a teeth-pulling experience making Zecora rhyme.
Yeah, it's pretty hard. 
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one thitng that makes me think is if the tree easily disposed of tirek throug the element bearers, and tiwlight is probably barely more powerful than tirek at the end............ wouldn't the tree simply release the everfree to try to create balance once more?
think about it this way. the everfree wore down the tree when it was not full powre. the tree's full power was far beyond tirek even at his strongest, and more than the alicorn amulet could coneivably make a difference. meaning whatever lives in the forest........... kinda a scary thought.
IT BEGINS....
Awesome chapter!
I find it amusing that you posted this while I was in the process of reading the GDoc. I left plenty of commentary there for ya.
4910936
Yeah. I'll check that out later but I just wanted it out now. Had to dash to work or I'd be late
4910967
Oh well.
Maybe if you'd stop sending me messages two hours after I've left for work...
You'll find my suspicions and predictions, as always.
Well written Zecora. Writing rhyming speech is really hard, I hear, but this flows very nicely.
Excellent chapter. Thanks for continuing to entertain us.
She knows him quite well, it seems...
Wonder what Twilight will say about that...
That's what she said
Do you mean his gaze?
4925862
Nope. I meant her. It was Cheerilee's gaze he was averting.
4925903
Ah, terribly sorry. I didn't notice.
Can't wait for more!
5039658
Holy crap, you're quick!
5039676 I've been told that, a lot. Today I have read about 4 fics, with a rough estimate of 250k words, in about 5 hours. 50k/hr. That's 2500/3 minutes, about 833/1 min, which is about 14 words/second. That's really freaking fast.
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4925903 That should be 'avoided' then. Avert has a meaning similar to 'stop' so what you're saying is that Wild Seed stopped Cheerilee's gaze. It's not the exact same meaning, but the statement feels clumsy.
5095839
Fair enough. Fixt.
What is the extent of the de-magicking? How are Sweetie Belle and her daughter the only unicorns in Canterlot with magic? There are thousands of unicorns there, shouldn't more of them have been around to have been spared? I thought that this story's rule was that if ponies didn't have their cutie marks when Tirek took over, they retained whatever powers they had, hence why Apple Bloom can farm and Sweetie Belle can do magic. Also the rule that You can't honestly tell me that Sweetie Belle was the only blank flank unicorn not only in Ponyville, but in Canterlot? That makes no sense. And what about children born afterwards, some of whom might be thirty years old by now?