Something odd is going on in the Treehouse of Harmony: earthquakes have rocked Ponyville, while strange sounds and mysterious lights have been appearing with no apparent cause. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's just a stress-induced hallucination shared between the most famous members of the first graduating class of the School of Friendship.
No creature believes that, of course.
Whether it's an unknown threat or strange natural disaster, the Young Six have learned how to work together and leverage the power of their Friendship. They will have to see if that is enough to face this new challenge.
Chapters (3)
It always makes me smile to see the Treehouse of Harmony used in a story. I feel it was massively underused by the writers.
Aww, that was a great story!
Was the creature the Young Six found based on the one from their window?
10098035
It was! I'm happy you caught that detail!
I see Gallus is asking the truly important questions here.
Wait. Sunburst reorganized the filing system. The filing system Twilight Sparkle no doubt organized originally. Because he apparently thought it not efficient enough.
...either Sunburst has very different ideas from Twi of what constitutes as "maximally efficient" or that's an inadvertent blow to Twilight's famed organizational skills.
I was kind of surprised Smolder's the leader. I mean, I don't have any issue with it, it's just...I would've betted on Gallus, personally.
Guess it's a good thing I didn't, eh?
All said, though, this was a great little tale. Nice little mystery, sufficiently high stakes without going to high, and a nice finale to wrap it all up with. Very satisfactory. And nice use of what few details we get on the Young 6's unseen adventures The Last Problem hinted towards.
Awesome story!
I loved that you created a story to explain the stained-glass window we briefly saw in the finale-epilogue episode. Also, bonus points for the reference to Doctor Who's library-pool!
I also like that you redefined the Elements of Harmony for the Students and didn't just reassign the Mane Six's Elements to them. I thought it was more than a bit forced and weakly set-up in the finale when they had the Student Six--Sans Sandbar--referencing one or more of the Elements in their speeches to their peoples. One of the reasons I found myself warming up to the Students was that they weren't just mini-me versions of the Mane Six. Yes, Ocellus was set up to be timid and shy like Fluttershy--but she was also academically minded like Twilight, for instance. It wasn't a Tiny Toons situation with one designated mentor-mentee relationship between the Mane and Student Six.
Also, I just adore Smolder/Ocellus as a couple. They are just adorable together. Great stuff!
10098349
I really appreciate the positive comments! And this, by the way, was my favorite line, so I'm really happy to have it called out specifically
10098600
I'm 100% in agreement that the Young Six aren't the exact same Elements. I mean, the Mane Six aren't the Pillars, right? Things change, even as they stay the same.
"...you said there was a swimming pool. And a library. And the swimming pool was in the library."
"Yeah, not sure where it's got to now. It'll turn up [in Equestria, apparently]."
I'm thrilled someone caught the reference!!
I very much enjoyed the hint at Gallbar there. Lovely work!
Adorable
This is really wonderful, Parker! I love the way that the treehouse is set up, with it basically having so many rooms that Gallus can't keep track. It's cool and I want to spend a bunch of time in it. Really comfy atmosphere during the parts where shit's not going down—it feels like an even blend of the how homey Golden Oaks feels and how regal and grand Twilight's Castle is.
Your interpretations of the Student Six's new elements are really refreshing to me, actually! I never would have pegged Smolder for a leader, but I like it! Ocellus as Grace, Gallus as Wisdom and Sandbar as Unity and so on, they all make a lot of sense. This is currently one of the more interesting, complete feeling Elements of Harmony derivations that I've seen for them.
One thing I was wanting more of was simply some longer scenes! I would have loved more interiority from the Student Six—to have the opportunity to get to know their states of mind as Graduation approaches and to see them reflect and to live their lives out a little more. Other than that, I was quite pleased with what you've given us.
I liked the reference to the stained glass window at the end, I liked all of the characters and I thought they had a pretty even amount of screentime, and the abilities of the different artifacts were cool
I think that the tone of this overall feels really show-like to me, and that's a good thing. I'm glad that you decided to publish this. As much as I adore your romance chops, your show-style/adventure writing is really pleasant and delightful when you decide to run with it. Great job, thanks for the story
Man this was great, loved al the little interaction they had with one enough. Though I’m not sure about Smolder being leadership, as Gallus is the colour of Twilight and I’ve always seen him as more of the leader type. Still love the fic though
When I saw the title, the first thing that popped into my head was, "Is this a Sabaton reference?"
Though I did doubt that this was a story about the Young Six battling the forces of darkness in tanks. Though that would be friggin' awesome...
I truly enjoyed this story. You weaved a solid adventure all while staying in basically the same place. It played well with the canon mythos of the Tree of Harmony, made excellent use of the artifacts from each culture, and each character's assigned Element fit nice and neatly... if not after a bit of pondering, as others have said. Also, the teasing shippy bits were just... *mwah* Perfection. Smolder and Ocellus are too adorable, and while I'm a ride-or-die member of the SS YonaBar, GallBar is an extremely close 2nd.
SO, yeah. Easily one of the better fics I've read in a while. Great job!
ALSO!!!
After pondering a bit, I had this nagging feeling that this was all very reminiscent of another story I read a few weeks ago about the Young Six using the exact same powers/artifacts to battle a giant spider, and it had GallBar in it. So, I checked through your story list, but i couldn't find it.
But upon checking your stories, I noticed that 10100410 had beta read a story for you in the past, and upon checking his story list, Lo and Behold...
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10223481
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I tried to keep the shippy bits light but impactful, so I'm glad they hit the mark.
10223523
To say I was inspired in part by Sem's story is 100% accurate. I wanted to know more about the artifacts and how the Student Six would use them. But I wanted to take it my own direction and do my own thing with it.
(oh noooo you've discovered the secret Gallbar conspiracy web!)10224695
You assume I love GallBar?
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Wherever...
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would you get...
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that idea...
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from?
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It's a mystery...
I loved this fic! I fell in love with the Young Six recently, and I'm glad I've found so many good fics about them.
Now, a question: did you intend to polyship them? Because I got definite poly vibes from all of them.
10326485
These six are the best! I actually did leave a bunch of poly/ omniship hints throughout, but I wanted to leave it vague enough that it was open to interpretation. Every reader gets to decide for themselves 😉
10329507
If that's so, then I'm totally shipping them! I'm a serial polyshipper, and these six got my little shipping heart beating with their interactions in canon.
Parker,
Which member of the Young 6 got which new Element?
11058990
Thanks for the question! (And apologies for taking so long to respond.)
The "new" Elements in this story are Conviction (Yona), Leadership (Smolder), Unity (Sandbar), Enthusiasm (Silverstream), Grace (Ocellus), and Wisdom (Gallus).
I tried to reflect on the evolution of the Elements and how each has changed from the Pillars to Twilight's friends to the Students:
Strength➡Honesty➡Conviction
Bravery➡Loyalty➡Leadership
Healing➡Kindness➡Unity
Hope➡Laughter➡Enthusiasm
Beauty➡Generosity➡Grace
Sorcery➡Magic➡Wisdom
11069464
Ok. Thank you for clearing that up for me. I just wanted to make sure I labeled them correctly.
10098426
I can see them now XD having a no-holds-barred organization battle royale.