Super Effective
“Gloriosa!”
Gloriosa's sense of hearing returned first. She risked opening her eyes and saw her brother leaning over her.
“Timber? How did you get here so fast?”
Her brother breathed a sigh of relief. “Good to see you're back to your old self!” He helped her sit and hugged her. “As for how I got here, I used the chainsaw to cut a hole big enough to drive the Jeep through. Didn't take more than fifteen minutes.”
“Oh.” Gloriosa felt completely tapped out. She glanced down at her arms and legs, which had returned to the pale rose hue they'd been since birth. And instead of the green dress and thigh-high stockings, she was wearing shorts, her favorite yellow shirt, and tan wedge shoes. Bewildered, she took in her surroundings. Leaf-colored sparks drifted down toward her like fading fireworks. Some of them landed on her, feeling soothing on her skin.
Gloriosa remembered sprouting the thick, tall trees to fill the well-to-do neighborhood. Now most of the trees and shrubs were gone. In fact, Gloriosa was fairly certain that only the original trees remained, although they were still much larger than they'd been before she used her magic on them. All of the mansions appeared sound and undisturbed, and the wrought iron fences were straight and orderly. The rich denizens stood in a loose group, watching her.
The seven girls were still present, but their outfits had changed from regular teen clothes to some sort of military glam motif. Each wore a necklace the same color as one of the geodes.
A pang of loss and longing struck Gloriosa. Those were her geodes that she'd discovered and learned how to use on her own. And yet it was clear that they weren't hers anymore. They had changed to a disc shape with each girl's icon on them. They'd chosen new bearers. Ones they found more worthy, perhaps. Ones who didn't react with thoughtless violence.
Gloriosa looked into Sunset's eyes before dropping her gaze to the grass. “I'm truly sorry I tried to fight you, and I'm sorry for causing all this trouble. I let the power get to my head and I lashed out in anger. It was wrong.”
Sunset took Gloriosa's hands and lifted her to her feet. “Hey, I've been where you are. I think the geodes you found came from the Tree of Harmony in Equestria. They seem to have an affinity for the Elements of Harmony here.” She touched the scarlet pendant at her throat. “It seems like whenever someone uses an Element when they're not aligned to it, it corrupts their mind. It amplifies their desires and suppresses their awareness of the consequences of their actions. I can only base this on my personal experience and what I saw in you, but it would make sense.” The Hallowed One glanced over her shoulder at the purple girl, who nodded.
“You're right. That's how I felt when I was wearing them. I had more power than I could have ever hoped for and I abused it. Now I wish I'd never found them.” Tears pricked Gloriosa's eyes. “Maybe I deserve to lose Camp Everfree.” She gazed around and found Filthy Rich and his wife standing at a distance. “I'm so sorry for what I did to your home, Mr. Rich.”
Spoiled Rich moved in front of her husband. “Don't forget how you wrapped us up in your vines. Are you sorry for that too?”
“I am. I'm sorry for all of it. You're right, Filthy Rich: what I did to you was worse than what you did to me.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “You can build your s-spa there.”
Filthy stepped around Spoiled, moving closer to Gloriosa. “Well now, Sunset Shimmer and her associates seem to have put everything back in order, more or less,” he said, eyeing a towering beech tree. “We'll still have to examine our home to see if there's any damage, but as long as there's no harm done, I'll honor the deal I made with Timber Spruce.”
Gloriosa brushed the tears from her eyes. “Really?”
“That's if you can earn the money,” said Spoiled Rich, folding her arms. “Not many will want to do business with a freak who terrorized innocent people and almost destroyed their houses.”
“Hey, that's not fair,” said the girl with sky-blue skin and rainbow hair. “Sunset turned everyone at our school into mind-controlled zombies and tried to take over another world, and now she's treated like a goddess! If she deserves a second chance, so does Gloriosa.”
“Rainbow's right, Gloriosa,” said the yellow-skinned girl. “As long as they know you're sorry, they'll forgive you.”
“Absolutely. And you needn't worry about raising money for Camp Everfree,” said the pale girl with deep violet hair. “I'm sure we can help with that.”
“Yeah!” said Rainbow with a grin. “How about we travel around giving concerts to raise money like in that old movie, Soul Siblings?”
Timber rubbed the back of his head. “I appreciate the offer, really, but we already have a ComeFundThis account for Camp Everfree that's doing pretty well. If you could just tell your friends about it, that would be great.”
“Oh, well, that works too.”
At that moment, a man who looked to be in his seventies walked up to Mr. and Mrs. Rich. “Sir, madam, the house appears to be in order. The floors are all perfectly level and not one glass is cracked.”
“Thank you Randolph.” Rich peered at his mansion before nodding. “Very efficient as always. That's why I hired you.”
“Very good sir.”
“Hmph. I'd rather have a professional home appraiser look at it for my own peace of mind,” said Spoiled.
Filthy put his hand on her arm. “We will, honey. I'm sure everything will be fine.”
“Well,” said Timber, “we should probably head back to camp now. I kind of left our guests to fend for themselves. Most of them are adults, so I'm sure they're okay. It's just that it's bad practice not to have staff there.”
“Timber, I owe you an apology,” said Gloriosa, placing her hand on her brother's shoulder. “You had a good plan to save the camp and I wouldn't listen. I thought I was above the material world even though I was still so attached to the land, so I thought I could do anything I felt like without any regard for what you wanted.”
“Hearing you admit that you were wrong and I was right is all the apology I need,” said Timber with a playful grin. “And I know it won't happen again because your Precious is with people who can handle them better.”
“What are we s'posed to do with these anyhow?” asked the peach-skinned girl, holding up her citrine pendant in her thumb and pointer finger. “Sorta feels like we were handed somethin' we didn't earn.”
“Come on, Applejack,” said Rainbow. “We already saved the day a few times. Maybe this is like a late reward.”
“I do think we're supposed to have them, if these are pieces of the Elements of Harmony. As for what we should do with them, it's hard to say.” Sunset knitted her brow. “Princess Twilight is still learning about what the Elements can do in Equestria, so there's no telling what they can do here. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that they would enhance a specialized form of earth magic.”
“I think it would help if we went to the source, where Gloriosa found the geodes,” the lavender-skinned girl spoke up.
“Great idea Twilight. What do you say Gloriosa?” asked Sunset.
Gloriosa nodded. “If you have time tomorrow afternoon, you can come after the campers leave.”
“I'll clear a spot in my schedule. This is important,” said Sunset, turning to her friends. “Can you girls be there tomorrow?”
“Shoot, I've been wantin' to visit the camp this year anyway. And if y'all are understaffed, we could help out with whatever work ya need done while we're there,” added Applejack, smiling at Gloriosa and Timber.
“I like how you just volunteered us all to work there,” said Rainbow, rolling her eyes.
“Me too!” said the pink girl with poofy curls. There wasn't a trace of irony in her tone. “Maybe we could learn more about these Elements and work at the camp at the same time! Need any baking done, Gloriosa? That's kinda my thang.”
Gloriosa gave her a hesitant smile. “Thank you, but-”
“Don't say it!” said Timber.
She frowned at her brother. “I was going to say that we don't need help with baking, but if they'd like to volunteer at Camp Everfree, the kitchen is due for a thorough cleaning, and the dock needs some repairs if we have enough building materials.”
“Oh. That's good.” Timber shifted his weight. “Sorry I jumped on you.”
“That's okay. We really should get going now. I'm sure Gabby and the others are wondering what we're doing and when we're coming back.”
“Are you okay to drive?” Timber creased his brow in concern.
“I think I'm more okay now than I was on the way here. Oh, and Filthy Rich?” she turned toward the business owner.
“You can just call me Rich.”
“All right, Rich, I'll make sure you get your drone back.”
Rich nodded. “I'll hold you to that.”
Gloriosa's gaze traveled to Sunset and her companions. “By the way, I didn't catch all of your names.”
The palest girl waved her hand dismissively. “We can worry about introductions tomorrow. Why don't you go home and, um, get some rest.”
Around 3:30 that afternoon, Gloriosa and Timber arrived at the camp grounds. Gloriosa parked the truck just outside the vine wall and peered up at it, hating the sight. There was a gaping, jagged hole that Timber had sawed to drive through. She got out of her vehicle and stood facing the mass of woody stems.
Timber stopped his Jeep and jogged over to her. “You okay?”
Gloriosa sighed heavily. “Stop worrying about me, Timber.”
“I can't help it, after everything you've been through, and, well, done lately.”
“Look, I just want to see if I still have any control over plants.” She stretched out her arms toward the barrier and pulled at the energy stored within, intending to whither the vines. They resisted her, but the grass and flowers in front of them drooped, and their colors faded. Gloriosa felt a small amount of energy enter her body, as if she had just eaten a handful of trail mix after a long hike. And she sensed the vines holding out on her, so she took that as a good sign that her special connection to them was still there even though her command over them was nowhere near what it was when she'd had the geodes. Perhaps with time and effort she could regain some of what she'd lost.
Just then, Gabby flew through the opening in the wall. “Gloriosa? What happened to you?” She circled Gloriosa to view her from all sides.
Gloriosa smiled ruefully. “I lost my forest aspect magic. Or most of it, anyway.”
“Wait, are you sure that's what happened?” asked Mr. Gordon, flapping over to join his daughter. “I don't pretend to understand how magic works, but I didn't think you could just lose your aspect magic like a middle-aged man loses his hair.”
“You're right, Mr. Gordon. That's not exactly what happened.” Timber peered at Gloriosa, who nodded her silent permission to tell the truth. “You see, my sister and I haven't been completely honest with you.”
Timber searched Mr. Gordon's sharp blue eyes and saw his mind putting the pieces together. “So you're not really a forest aspect, Gloriosa?”
She hung her head. “No. It's kind of a long story.”
“Well, maybe you can tell me about it after we get back to the campsite. You guys locked the kitchen and some of us would really like to get some ice.”
“Oh, uh, sorry about that,” said Timber, fidgeting with his keys. “We're working on getting people to volunteer to help look after all the buildings and stuff. In fact, we have some people coming to visit tomorrow who are interested in helping us.”
“That's great!” said Gabby.
“I hope you didn't lie to them about being forest aspect,” said Mr. Gordon, landing on the ground next to Gloriosa.
“No, they know everything,” said Gloriosa, shaking her head. “You two can ride in my truck to the kitchen and I'll tell you the whole story.”
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Well, if you're gonna spawn an AU, the small differences make sense. Else, you got the Riches' butler's name wrong. It's Randolph, not Randall.
Seems a bit underwhelming...
A bit too much exposition and wordiness for a girl who you just blasted with Harmony and trying to work through their issues?
Other than those bits, this is pretty good?
Mr Gordon's priorities are funny!
7755551
Huh. I could've sworn DT was saying Randall in "Twilight Time."
She does say more later, though. Does that help?
I guess this is the result of trying to participate in NaNoWriMo while updating quickly. I should probably revisit this whole story in a week or so and see how I can improve it.
7755594
If you mean this, then yeah, I think it does?
***
If you do, I'll give it a re-read.
Hmm...
I'm going to have to think about this. Mostly because I hesitate to introduce the geode pendants on top of everything else. Still, a satisfying conclusion. I suppose Sunset's attack was Fire-type?
7757169 I can understand that.
8825843
That, a lot of it sounds unnatural, plus I just can't get behind Gloriosa having such instant and deep understanding of every facet of how her magic works.
8825909
Yeah, I can see that. Gloriosa was making assumptions about how her magic worked and presenting them as fact, but I should have made that more clear.
But what about prehistoric insects as they pretty big.
So a more limited beast Boy/Changeling (beast boy’s original name, not the mlp species.)
Quake
Emma Frost
And technically Marvel’s Spot...
7757169
...OK, I’m starting to see that my reasoning with you isn’t working or going to go anywhere with you, so let’s just forget this and move on.