3. Laziness Is Still A Vice
In the Castle of Friendship's Throne Room, Luster Dawn just finished a project meant to show the history of the Heroic Ten so far, while saying:
"The newest heroes of Equestria, the Heroic Ten, first got all together when Luster Dawn, biological daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle's first graduated student, Starlight Glimmer, was sent to Ponyville, and met nine creatures who became her best friends. They eventually graduated from the School of Friendship so soon, as they had proven to be able to learn friendship by themselves after they succeeded in saving every creature from Princess Twilight's former student Eclipse Instant, and reform her.
Then, they reformed another immoral creature, Shapeshifter, who did not want Eclipse to earn forgiveness because he himself did not get forgiveness. The reformed creatures then travelled all over the kingdom to fix their mistakes that affected every creature, and eventually returned on Hearth's Warming Eve to live with the Heroic Ten. Not so long after that, the Council of Friendship got petrified by an unusual, anti-social creature called a Stone Witch, whom every creature did not know, had created the Stone Mountain of Nothingness which the council was actually discovering whether it would be suitable for usage or not. Fortunately, the Heroic Ten managed to reform the Stone Witch named Roca, and got her to un-petrify every creature she petrified.
And not so long after that, during a school break, the Heroic Ten invited the creature heroes before them, the School of Friendship's graduated first group of six top students, to visit Roca in order to help hr meet more friends and learn to be more social. With help from Discord, who also needed to get on better terms with Roca after their previous encounter. Discord eventually decided to take a majority of the guests for a one-of-a-kind underwater adventure in a submarine he conjured up with his magic. During the expedition, the group met Droplet Tidal, a water dragon who told them about his kind, and the reason why they never showed up on land nor sky. Droplet and Smolder got closer together as they decided to get their kinds to be in peace, but jealous Ocellus sabotaged the plans, thinking that doing so would allow her to spend time with Smolder as the dragons would be separated.
When Ocellus admitted her wrongdoing out of guilt, Smolder was furious enough to disown her until she made amends by announcing her mistake to all the fire dragons and water dragons, bringing the two dragon kinds together and a new helpful friend for every creature as the water dragons were allowed to visit land and sky while providing us with water as our friends, while we share with them everything on land and sky that they never knew because of their more-than-a-millennium's time of being concealed underwater."
"Nice presentation," Nature Bloom commented.
"But unfortunately, it is missing a lot of facts and details!" Volcano complained.
"Sorry Volcano, this is the best I can think of at the moment." Luster apologised.
"Look, ever since the latest big change in Equestria and Beyond, there's a change in the education of its history!" Volcano reminded.
"That totally makes sense," Falcon Dive commented.
"History is what already happened after all," Evergreen added.
"The water dragons being part of Equestria and Beyond now means something new to add to the history! And as the heroes involved, we must try to help every creature know this history fresh in their heads!" Volcano announced.
"But we were not the only heroes involved!" Alkali reminded.
"Professors Smolder, Ocellus and Silverstream from the School of Friendship, Mr Sandbar and Mdm Yona, and Captain Gallus of the Royal Guards of Canterlot were heavily involved, too!" Krona reminded.
"Would Fire Dragon Lord Ember and Fire Dragon Lord Consort Garble count as involved, too?" Yellow Bright asked.
"Well...they did sign the peace treaty with Water Dragon Emperor Oceanic and Water Dragon Empress Mariana, which allowed the water dragons to visit Equestria and Beyond as friends of every creature..." Buffer stated, before being cut off by Alkali.
"So they are definitely involved! Have something to do with this!"
"I may be talented at writing about morality and what is right and what one should do, but history books?" Sunshine Rays asked.
"Just treat it like writing a narrative story or making a colourful scrap book to contain the important notes!" Alkali advised.
"Taking it easy is not the way to do it!" Volcano insisted,"Luster's presentation missed out so many details despite the art masterpiece, and Alkali also took out lots of important info just to summarise it!"
"But Volcano, my summaries always helped our students at Improvement Academy, remember?" Alkali asked.
"This is not being diligent enough!" Volcano announced.
"Now there's a level for diligence?" Falcon Dive asked.
"Every virtue does has its levels." Sunshine Rays informed.
"Volcano, we get it that you want our work about our team's history to be excellent for every creature to know, but seriously, you can't take it too seriously!" Luster tried to reason with him.
"If you all can't do it because you're not diligent enough then I believe that I got to harshly get you all to be diligent enough to do it!" Volcano claimed, causing all of his best friends to gasp in unison.
After the series' theme song played, the creatures still could not believe what their friend said recently.
"You can't be serious!" Alkali could not help but say.
"I am serious when I said it. You all must work on your diligence and get what should be done, done at the very best!" Volcano strictly declared.
"Just when I thought I was the only creature to be so strict," Sunshine Rays commented.
"Lacking on diligence, what's the big deal?" Falcon Dive asked.
"The big deal is diligence is a virtue, and lacking it means that you're not very virtuous!" Volcano informed.
"But isn't lack of diligence nothing compared to immorality?" Falcon Dive asked, "The lack of morality?"
"The opposite of diligence is laziness," Volcano reminded.
"Well, since laziness most likely means unwilling to do the work one should be doing, while immorality means not concerned whether something is right or wrong..." Sunshine Rays explained, "There are reasons to think that immorality is worse than laziness..."
"Don't think you can get away with this, because I see it coming. You are trying to avoid work and be lazy because you think that laziness is no big deal because there are vices, also known as bad values, worse than it!" Volcano confronted.
"Anything better than the worst!" Falcon Dive brushed off.
"Shouldn't you be the Element of Selflessness and think of others' good and help them when they are in need? Like, help getting them to know what they should know!" Volcano asked, handing over a book to the griffon.
"Let me guess, you're using another virtue to encourage the spirit of one virtue that is being lacked?" Sunshine Rays asked.
"Yes I am! Because we al know better that we can never have only one single virtue, we need a variety of them to be virtuous!" Volcano answered, before turning back to Falcon Dive, "Now, be selfless and think of every creature's knowledge sake and write the best history book about the Heroic Ten's history so far, which you must be good at because you're one of the characters yourself!"
"Right away! Whatever some creature else wants or needs!" Falcon Dive saluted, zipping off with th book in his claws.
"Are you sure you have to do things like that, Volcano?" Nature Bloom asked like Fluttershy would.
"Of course I have to do that! Work must be done, and he's not willing to do it until I did that!" Volcano answered.
"And matter-of-fact, there was no violence, no huge insulting, just a speech of motivation to get him to do the right thing. So it is most likely acceptable..." Sunshine Rays commented.
"And you know what is acceptable? Good books about our history made by us ourselves!" Volcano declared, before tossing a book to each one of his friends remaining in the Throne Room.
"Draw, write and arrange the details in the best and most effective ways you can, effective in the way that you yourselves remember everything important, no detail missed out, and let me see everything when you're done!" Volcano instructed.
"Wow, you sure are like our teacher now!" Yellow Bright commented.
"That's because I am your teacher that's teaching you how to do work diligently!" Volcano replied.
"Well, as Element of Listening, I better listen, especially when I can identify who is worth listening to..." Buffer commented, while preparing to leave the Throne Room to do his work on the book he received.
"Krona's got to try her best..." Krona talked like a yak as she prepared to leave the room with her book to work on as well.
"I suppose the nice thing to do is to help every creature know what they should know about our history," Nature Boom said, taking off with her book.
"I suppose I can take a break from writing non-narrative books and write one narrative book instead..." Sunshine Rays commented.
"You're being positive, Sunshine! By saying that you are looking on the positive side!" Yellow Bright informed, just before Volcano approached the earth pony.
"And here's something else to think positively about; work!"
"Work?! Oh, right! Work! The work! About our history so far...I'll get onto it...plus working can be interesting..." Yellow Bright quickly walked off with his book.
"As some creature patient, I accept this work," Evergreen politely said, levitating the book with her Kirin magic and walking off.
"I...got to scrapbook...even harder..." Alkali declared, packing up her scrapbooking materials and taking off.
"While I...have to redo mine..." Luster gloomily said, levitating her things and taking them away with her.
In the School of Friendship...
"Everything is looking ship-shaped and ready for the School Opening after the break!" Head-mare Starlight Glimmer cheerful commented.
"Indeed, the canteen, the classrooms, the hallways, all checked and cleaned!" Vice Head-stallion Sunburst informed.
"Shapeshifter and I tidied up the Dorms," Eclipse Instant informed.
"And cleaned them all," Shapeshifter added.
"Thank you for your help in the Castle, and the School, both of you." Starlight thanked the reformed creatures.
"Just happy to help others like friends would," Eclipse replied.
The next second Trixie, the School of Friendship's Guidance Counsellor showed up sneezing uncontrollably, as she said, "Sorry..Trixie's just...allergic to something..."
Upon knowing that Trixie was sneezing, Eclipse quickly casted a force field to protect her, Shapeshifter, and the Heads of the School from the sneezes.
"Thanks for the protective sheild, Eclipse." Sunburst thanked.
"Trixie, did you just went to the School's bathroom?" Starlight asked her Best Friend.
"Why yes, everything's clean as usual..." Trixie informed before sneezing once again.
"Was the bathroom cleaned by using anti-bacteria spray properly?!" Starlight asked.
"Well...I just sprayed a little of it at the entrance..." Trixie replied, before letting out another sneeze.
"That is not spraying it properly! Now look at yourself!" Starlight complained, "You should have been more diligent and take things seriously! In other words, properly spray each and every last corner of the bathroom to clear out the bacteria, germs and viruses so they cannot multiply all over so soon and get you nor any creature else sick so easily!"
"Didn't Volcano tell you anything about diligence when he interacted with you?" Sunburst added.
"What?!" Trixie asked, sneezing, "Diligence, diligence! That's his thing!"
"It should be every creature's thing, because it is one of the virtues?" Eclipse asked.
"You catching a cold won't even happen if you had been more diligent when you cleaned the bathroom!" Starlight insisted, "I'm afraid that you better be quarantined in your wagon until you are better, to stop your cold from spreading. We'll clean the place properly and diligently while you do so!" Starlight instructed, as she got her Best Friend out of the place.
"Volcano wants the best of the best of our work! And not just that, it's probably because as the newest heroes and the first ones to be this focused on virtues, we got to create the best works about our team's history because we ourselves should know best about our team's history!" Sunshine Rays talked to herself in her room, as she tried her best to diligently write about her team's history using her method.
In Luster Dawn's room, the room's owner was reviewing her summarised plan.
"First, the backstory of the team members, about how they ended up in the School of Friendship and met...then defeating Eclipse, then defeating Shapeshifter, big plans to benefit Equestria and Beyond...adventures that led to encountering with new creatures, or...old creatures who were not seen for a very long time like the Moles and the Water Dragons..."
"Those creatures, they should have known that it's just as simple as organising and keeping everything in chronological order," Volcano said to himself, while looking at his notebook that held his version of a history book about his team's interesting, full of important plot, history.
The very next second, Luster teleported into his room, telling him, "Volcano, I just received a letter from Princess Twilight! And it's very urgent since she's calling all ten of us!"
In Canterlot Throne Room, the ten creatures were soon down to business with their superior, the Ruler of Equestrian, Princess Twilight Sparkle.
"Thank you all for coming here as soon as you could," the alicorn thanked, "Especially when you all have another important task to do recently."
"Let me guess, that task is writing history books about our team..." Falcon Dive raised his claw.
"Yes, and that task is important since a lot has changed thanks to your contributions, and every creature has got to know about it. But back to the main point, the reason I summoned you is because there's something even more urgent, that I need you to sort out before you finish your history book writing." Princess Twilight explained.
"But, isn't it the Council of Friendship's duty to handle urgent things in Equestria and Beyond?" Krona asked.
"Yes, but the Council is currently busy with their other occupations right now, that is why I asked for you." Princess Twilight explained, "I just got words from Scootaloo's parents, Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood, that on their way home to Ponyville from far out of Equestria, they witnessed a river that was completely black in colour!"
The Heroic Ten immediately gasped upon hearing the last words in the sentence, followed by Volcano saying, "Only one thing can cause a river to have that condition; pollution!"
"We're so sorry you got to hear that, Sunshine..." Evergreen apologised, knowing the white pegasus' intense dislike towards anything that was not good, which obviously included pollution.
"Don't worry, those polluters aren't even here for me to be angry at!" Sunshine Rays declared.
"Maybe we should try to approach them nicely and ask them to stop polluting in a nice manner before we do something not so nice?" Nature Bloom politely suggested.
"Your mission is to fix the river and ensure that such pollution does not happen ever again!" Princess Twilight instructed.
"Don't worry Princess Twilight Sparkle, I am sure that we can handle it!" Luster bowed.
"But if we can't, we'll admit it for sure. I'm just saying this just in case we're making a promise that we thought we can keep, but actually can't!" Buffer finished.
"Thank you all," Princess Twilight Sparkle smiled.
The nex thing the creatures knew was the fliers Sunshine Rays, Volcano, Nature Bloom, Alkali and Falcon Dive were pulling the hot air balloon that their non-flier friends Luster Dawn, Yellow Bright, Evergreen, Buffer and Krona were in, like horses pulling a carriage. Every creature had backpacks on their backs, contains everything they needed during their mission, knowing the chances were, they would be there for more than one day.
"Are you sure we are going the right way?" Alkali asked..
"Of course we are! According to the map, we are almost there!" Volcano insisted, holding a map that had a black line drawn on it, to indicate the location of the river they were looking for.
"Are you sure the river is wide? Because if it is, we must have seen it by now!" Sunshine Rays asked, before unhappily muttering, "As well as those polluters by any chance!"
"Sunshine, please remember to be nice. You still remember what happened without when you completely forgot to be nice, do you?" Nature Bloom reminded.
"Yes...caused every creature I confronted to be so angry, and I had to make amends by giving a much nicer speech." Sunshine Rays plainly replied.
"Every creature, I spotted the black river! Dead ahead!" Falcon Dive announced, as the view showed the black river from down below, thousands of metres away from the sky where they were.
"That is one really black river!" Krona commented.
"On the bright side, we all know it's polluted and needs serious attention!" Yellow Bright added.
"And on the dark side, it totally proves that there are some no-good polluters who need some confrontation!" Sunshine Rays declared, causing Nature Bloom to face-hoof herself.
"Where should we land?" Evergreen asked.
"Right beside the river on that patch of grass, clear of trees!" Luster pointed, signalling the fliers to take the balloon down.
As soon as they landed, Yellow Bright the balloon to the nearest tree to prevent it from floating off without them.
"That settles it!" the earth pony chirped, after wrapping the rope around the tree's stem.
"Wait! That doesn't settle it!" Volcano marched forward, pointing at the rope around the tree stem, "This is not tied properly! Some creature so should have known to tie it better!"
"Sorry, Volcano..." Yellow Bright apologised.
"Sorry is not enough! You got to tie it very properly to ensure that the purpose of tying is achieved! In other words, the only reason you tie it is to ensure that the hot air balloon cannot float away while we're not around, and if you tie it so improperly, there are high chances that the rope will become loose, allow the balloon to float away, and then there's no purpose of tying!" Volcano ranted as he tied the rope diligently.
"Don't worry, I won't do that again..." Yellow Bright apologised.
"There! Tied up in the proper manner and order!" Volcano announced, presenting the very tight knot he had tied around the tree stem. "There's no way this will ever become loose by itself!"
"Thanks, Volcano. Now we really need to..." Luster began, before being interrupted by the dragon.
"Hold up! We got to make sure that the rope tied to the balloon is also totally secured and properly tied!"
"Volcano, what about the river?!" Sunshine Rays asked.
"We'll take care of that once I finished securing the balloon!" Volcano replied, tying the knot around the balloon even tighter.
"That is Volcano alright. Very serious and diligent. Ensuring things are done properly." Alkali commented, knowing the dragon well from working with him as teaching assistant and teacher.
"He just wanted to ensure things are done the right way...." Nature Bloom added.
"And what I want to ensure is that this river get cleaned right away, and no more pollution nor polluters!" Sunshine Rays declared.
"All done!" Volcano announced, "Sorry that I took up so much of your time, but it's worth it to make sure that we can all safely catch a ride home after we're done here." Volcano explained.
"If we ever get to get home. I mean, who knows how long we will be here to clean up the river, and ensure that this pollution never happens again!" Sunshine Rays dramatically complained.
"Sunshine really does not like pollution..." Buffer stated.
"Every creature knows that!" Krona responded.
"We don't like pollution, either." Evergreen informed.
"Think of all the organisms suffering from it!" Nature Bloom whimpered.
"As long as it's a threat to others, I'm doing everything I can to stop it!" Falcon Dive declared.
"We can start with taking at least a sample and observing it." Volcano said, approaching the black river with his back pack on his back before he took it off to grab a test tube from a small brown case containing chemistry apparatus inside the backpack.
"Does he always bring those things whenever we're on an adventure?" Krona asked.
"Most likely." Alkali replied.
After collecting the sample, Volcano took the microscope out of his backpack to take a deep look into the black water from his sample, before telling his best friends, "Yes, just as I thought. The water is black in colour because of pollution. There's lots of pollutants in it, and the pollutants are....organic waste."
"Organic waste?" Falcon Dive asked.
"You know, things that come from living things? Like plants, animals..." Alkali began.
"Organic things usually decompose. But it's better for them to decompose on land, buried deep in the soil, and not in the water. Because decomposition in the water most likely will pollute the water." Volcano explained.
"That's what the water dragons said, as the reason why they eat up dead animals and dead plants as soon as possible." Buffer stated.
"If a dead organism decomposes on land, it can become fertilisers for some species of plant, while organic waste like tissue paper, leftover food and dead leaves can become compost, one of the ingredients of soil." Volcano explained.
"But what happens if it's in the water?" Evergreen asked.
"If it is in the water, it usually causes pollution..." Volcano explained, "As it decomposes, it contaminates the water, which leads to said pollution."
"So if we remove all the...things that are decomposing, will it undo the pollution?" Yellow Bright asked.
"It only makes the situation a little bit better. It does not completely solve the problem because the water needs to be purified, and it is best to make sure whoever polluted it does not pollute it again, or any creature else for that matters." Volcano answered.
"Exactly!" Sunshine Rays agreed, expressing her dislike towards polluters.
"Sunshine, you know better that hatred is never a good thing!" Nature Bloom reminded, "If you want the polluters to stop, you should nicely try to reason with them, not lash out and use loud tone, confronting words."
"Sorry..." Sunshine Rays sighed, "You all know me, I really do not like pollution."
"Neither do we." Evergreen approached.
"And we are going to put an end to this if we can!" Luster declared.
"So, how are we going to find out who or what caused the pollution?" Falcon Dive asked.
"By asking some creature who lives around here?" Krona suggested.
"With pollution this bad, I don't think any creature lives around here." Evergreen frowned.
"Should we yell 'Does any creature live around here?' out loud?" Yellow Bright suggested.
"Reserve that for last." Luster replied, "We do not want to burst any creature's eardrums."
"Newcomers?" an unfamiliar female voice was heard asking.
An earth pony mare about the same age as the creatures showed up from the bushes, telling them, "Sorry if I startled you, it's just, very unusual to find healthy ponies since...ages ago."
"We can see why you said that." Sunshine Rays responded, giving a mere glare.
"Sorry, she just does not like pollution..." Nature Bloom apologised and explained.
"Wait, pollution?" the earth pony mare asked.
"You do not know what pollution is?!" Yellow Bright asked in shock.
"No pony ever used that word. I don't even know that word exists!" the mare replied.
A majority of the Heroic Ten gasped in unison, with the exception of Volcano who announced, "Of course you do not! I can identify that you do not have access to education like we do, because you live here, far out of Equestria, in the wilderness. No education, no knowledge of such things."
"Volcano, I will say 'It might be because you're far from Equestria in the wilderness, so you most likely do not have access to the education there.' Saying this will be.a lot nicer." Nature Bloom told the dragon.
"Sorry, I was a bit too focused on what I picked up through background information and observations." Volcano apologised.
"I have heard of Equestria, a kingdom of ponies, am I right?" the mare asked.
"Used to be, because now it's full of ponies and creatures alike!" Krona exclaimed.
"Who are you? And how come you are so not unaware of Equestria's current state?" Luster asked.
"I am Windflower." the earth pony mare introduced, "I'm from a settlement near this river, because my ancestors started a huge family that went down for generations here after getting lost in the wild, and they were missing from Equestria forever since then."
"Another long gone friend of Equestria's?" Falcon Dive asked.
"I may not know Equestria very well, but I heard it's a great pony place from my parents, who heard it from their parents and so on!" Windflower commented.
"Windflower, Equestria is still a great place, but it's not just a pony place anymore!" Evergreen informed.
"Like we said, it's a place for every creature!" Buffer added.
"Ever since Princess Twilight Sparkle became its ruler." Alkali finished.
"Wait...Princess Twilight Sparkle?" Windflower asked in confusion.
"Don't tell us that you don't even know that Princess Twilight Sparkle, chosen by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, to be their successor as ruler of Equestria, became Ruler of Equestria a generation ago!" Falcon Dive could not help but say.
"Sorry....it's just, my ancestors said that they knew Princess Celestia had ruled the kingdom for centuries since she did not biologically aged!" Windflower pointed out.
"Things change as time flies." Evergreen calmly said.
"But don't worry, we're from Equestria, and we help any creature in need!" Luster added.
"As true friends," Nature Bloom went on.
"And heroes!" Sunshine Rays finished.
"Thanks, but, I'm not so sure if you can help much. It's like every creature in my settlement is always sick!" Windflower commented.
"What?!" the creatures asked in unison.
Luster immediately casted a force field to separate her and her friends from Windflower, while asking, "If that's the case, why aren't you sick?!"
"Probably because I collect rainwater to drink and wash myself with." Windflower commented, "And I keep them in a hideout, a little distance away from my settlement."
"I am confused. Do you live in your settlement, or your hideout?" Yellow Bright asked.
"Hideout. Ever since I chose to sleep outside my settlement for the sake of my wellbeing." Windflower answered.
"But, what about every creature else?" Falcon Dive asked.
"There's nothing I can do for them....it felt like it's not worth it...that's why I moved out, but still live close by." Windflower explained.
"Can you please show us your hideout? So we can see what it has that makes it different from the settlement?" Luster asked.
"I'm not so sure...I don't have enough water to last all of you!" Windflower expressed uncertainties.
"Don't worry, we brought our own water!" Alkali took out her water bottle from her one of her saddlebags.
"I think she finds it hard to trust us with something important to her," Nature Bloom told her best friends.
"Yes...it is hard to entrust some pony...especially when the ponies back in my settlement my be my family because they are all descendants of my ancestors who started the place, but they...took my rainwater back when I lived with them..." Windflower admitted.
"So they don't collect their own water?" Buffer asked.
"I'm the one pony who ever did!" Windflower replied.
"So why will you do it?" Sunshine Rays asked.
"Because when I was little, I once went out of the settlement on a windy, cloudy day and found some clear water in a fallen leaf and curiously tasted it, before drinking it whole, finding it so good. Then it started raining, when the water in the leaf kept filling up, causing me to realise that it was rainwater. Wanting to collect the water, I used many leaves, but soon found them nearly dried up the next day. So I weaved the leaves together to make something to trap the rainwater I collected by covering it on all sides; a leaf-weaved ball that can be opened by unwrapping." Windflower explained, as she had a flashback of her filly self.
"Also, I earned my cutie mark from doing that," she added, looking a her mark, which was a blue water droplet, a leaf and a ball made of leaves like the one in the flashback.
"Wow, earth pony so creative!" Krona could not help but comment.
"Those are some very epic surviving skills!" Falcon Dive added.
"Windflower, if making things with leaves is your talent that earned you your cutie mark, why...I mean...how come your name..." Luster stuttered, trying her best not to make any creature feel uncomfortable.
"Names do not determine who you are..." Windflower responded, before stopping since she did not any of the creatures' names.
"I am Luster Dawn, a unicorn." Luster introduced.
"Sunshine Rays, a pegasus." Sunshine introduced.
"Yellow Bright, an earth pony." Yellow Bright introduced.
"Evergreen, a kirin," Evergreen introduced.
"Nature Bloom, a changeling." Nature introduced.
"Krona, a yak!" Krona proudly declared.
"Buffer, a buffalo." Buffer introduced.
"Falcon Dive, but I'm not really a falcon, I'm a griffon, half-lion half-eagle!" Falcon Dive said quickly.
"Alkali, a hippogriff named after soluble bases, alkalis." Alkali added a few details to her introduction.
"Volcano, a dragon named after volcanoes." Volcano ended.
"Wow, you're all from Equestria?" Windflower asked.
"Yes, we are." Later replied, "But right now, let's get back to the situation. About your hideout?"
"Sure...but I'm afraid that only ponies can fit through the entrance...I'm sorry...I just got to keep it hidden to feel safe..." Windflower uncomfortably informed the creatures.
"Don't worry, we can wait outside!" Buffer answered.
"While the ponies go in!" Krona added.
"Nature and I may not be ponies, but we are very similar to ponies in shape, and size!" Evergreen pointed out.
"And I think Falcon Dive can fit, too!" Yellow Bright figured.
"Sorry...but I don't think all of you can fit in my hideout just because you can fit through the entrance..." Windflower apologised.
The scene changed to Windflower showing the creatures her hideout; a hollow tree that was filled with balls made of leaves leaning against the tree bark while leaving only enough area for a pony to curl up to sleep in front.
"Wow, that is a lot of balls..." Nature Bloom gasped.
"Those are the ones storing the rainwater. Once I finished using the water, I leave them opened." Windflower showed a few opened leaf balls hidden at the sides.
"Why do you have to collect so much water? You're the only creature using it!" Falcon Dive asked.
"You can never be too sure when the next rain is." Windflower explained, "It is best to have more than enough to be safe."
"Looks like you got everything you need to survive." Yellow Bright commented.
"And since you're doing good, can we please see your old settlement?" Luster politely asked.
"I'm not so sure...I've become distant to my own family...not just the distant relatives!" Windflower voiced her thoughts out loud.
"Don't worry, we'll just go with you all the way!" Falcon Dive assured.
"But they can still be sick and coughing!" Windflower pointed out.
"I can just conjure up force fields to protect us!" Luster assured, activating her magic.
"Now can you please take us to your old settlement?" Nature Bloom asked.
"We are here to help!" Evergreen added.
Windflower looked at the creatures, before agreeing, "Alright, but you must be prepared fr anything."
The scene changed to the creatures gasping at the entrance of the settlement, finding it full of coughing ponies on the ground, being serious ill.
"I can never imagine this!" Luster could not help but say.
"Those poor ponies..." Nature Bloom added.
"We've seen creatures sick, but this?!" Falcon Dive asked.
"Is a whole new level!" Krona declared.
"I have a little feeling that this got something to do with the water..." Sunshine Rays commented.
"Let's talk about the water later, these ponies need serious healing!" Luster declared.
"Be careful, Luster!" Evergreen shouted at the unicorn who trotted into the settlement right away.
"Don't worry, I've already casted a protective force field shield!" Luster replied as she approached a sick earth pony about the same age as her biological age.
"Wait!" Windflower called, "There has never been a non-earth pony here before!"
"I'm an earth pony, so I can go in, right?!" Yellow Bright asked.
"In cases like diseases, the lesser the better. Most of us got to stay outside of the infected cluster." Sunshine Rays said.
"Every pony here met me before, so it is best that I go." Windflower declared.
"Agreed," Sunshine Rays nodded, before telling her best friends, "Let's wait over here every creature."
"Look on the bright side, at least we will be safe!" Yellow Bright pointed out.
"But we came here to help?" Falcon Dive reminded.
"Look at it this way; as long as we're not sick too, that's helping!" Yellow Bright insisted.
"Every pony, are you alright?!" Windflower called, before hearing a lot of coughing as a response, and a few weak 'no's.
"This is worse than I thought!" the worried earth pony mare said.
"Good thing that you got a magical unicorn who can cast magical protective force field shields to protect you from their sickness." Luster responded, "But...we still have to find out what can cure them, and what caused them to be sick...any ideas?"
"Well...all I know from once living with them is that they always use the river water for everything; washing, bathing, drinking, throwing trash in..." Windflower stated.
"Wait, they do what with the river water?!" Luster asked.
"Use it for everything; bathing, washing, drinking, throwing trash and unwanted things in..." Windflower repeated.
"Throwing trash and unwanted things in?!" Luster asked, "No wonder!"
"No wonder what?!" Windflower asked in confusion.
"No wonder the river is polluted! The trash and unwanted things are the things polluting it! In other words, making it unclean and not safe for usage!" Luster explained.
"How come it is not safe to use?!" Windflower asked, not knowing the science behind the situation.
"Because there are lots of things that should not be in the water, in the water..." Luster replied, saying the most basic hing she could think of.
"So...those things that should not be in the water, is making the water not safe to use?" Windflower asked.
"Exactly!" Luster answered, "Which is why we need to clear it right away!"
The unicorn galloped out of the settlement through the entrance she used, followed by the earth pony mare.
Outside the settlement, the other creatures were waiting for the unicorn and earth pony mares.
"So how did it go?" Krona asked.
"We figured out that the reason every pony is sick is because of the water pollution caused by the settlement's residents' trash that they threw into the river!" Luster answered.
"That is so what they get for polluting the water! The natural consequences!" Sunshine Rays announced.
"What Sunshine meant to say is; throwing trash into the water is not right, it pollutes the water and causes harm." Nature Bloom politely informed.
"But, why will the residents throw their trash in the water, in the first place?" Buffer questioned.
"Because that's their habit! They say that it saves their time by getting rid of unwanted things so quickly and easily! That is as far as I can remember..." Windflower stated.
"But, that is not the way to clear trash!" Evergreen responded.
"Yeah, back in Equestria, we throw the trash in garbage cans where they will be collected, sent to the dump, and burnt." Alkali added.
"My settlement never does that," Windflower replied.
"Then that means only one thing; your settlement's main problem is the residents are lazy!" Volcano announced.
"Volcano, can you use nicer words like, need to be diligent?" Nature Bloom asked.
"Sorry, but this is important." Volcano explained, "When some creature is lazy, that means they are unwilling to do what they are supposed to do. The settlement's residents are lazy because they did not clear trash the way it is supposed to be done! And as a result, they got themselves sick by throwing trash into the river, causing the pollution, and by using the polluted water, they faced the consequences."
"So you are saying, that their laziness caused this harm?!" Falcon Dive asked.
"Exactly! Now do you think that laziness is less harmful than the other vices?" Volcano asked.
"This situation obviously proves that laziness is really harmful..." Krona commented.
"More harmful than we thought...we're really sorry Volcano..." Falcon Dive apologised.
"For not appreciating your diligence standards, nor seeing why diligence is so important like you do..." Evergreen added.
"Apology accepted, but do you promise me to be more diligent, especially from now onwards?" Volcano asked.
"We promise!" the other creatures saluted in unison.
"Great, now who's up for purifying the river?" Volcano asked.
The scene changed to the Heroic Ten and their new friend Windflower at the riverbank, looking at the black river.
"The pollution is obviously terrible with the river this colour!" Buffer commented.
"But we can fix it, right?" Yellow Bright asked.
"We can, by using the simplest natural way to separate water from pollutants!" Luster declared.
"Filter out the insoluble solids from the mixture, separating the residue from the filtrate!" Alkali announced.
"For your information, after we filter the mixture, the insoluble solids are the residue, while the liquid, in this case, the water, is the filtrate." Evergreen told Windflower.
Every creature watched Luster use all her magical might to levitate the polluted water up into the sky, while levitating Volcano's filter paper and his filter paper, which she used a growing spell on to make them big enough to filter the mixture, trapping the residue in the filter paper, separating it from the liquid filtrate.
"Your friend is amazing..." Windflower watched in disbelief.
"She is talented, after all!" Nature Bloom commented.
"Luster, can I have my filter funnel back, normal size now?" Volcano asked.
"Sure...thing!" Luster responded, before shrinking the filter funnel, the filter paper and the residue all together, to levitate to Volcano's claw.
"Thanks," the dragon said, before taking the filter paper and residue out to burn with his dragon fire.
"Now we are going to heat things up!" Falcon Dive announced.
"Luster is going to use a super heat spell, to heat the water up so it can boil and turn into water vapour!" Alkali explained.
"That way, the water particles will be separated from anything that is dissolved in it, as the water changes from liquid to gas, it leaves behind the solids that dissolved in it." Buffer added.
"That is why you can separate salt from seawater by boiling the water, or you can just wait a super long time for it to evaporate, which is changing of state from liquid to gas at temperatures below the boiling point, which is a very slow process as evaporation only occurs at the liquid's surface while boiling, takes place throughout the liquid." Alkali added.
While they talked, Luster resisted her tiredness as she continued using her magic to heat the water to boil it into water vapour within seconds, until every last drop of polluted water is gone.
"Don't worry, the water is not really gone, it just changed its state from liquid to gas." Yellow Bright assured.
"And now she's going to change it back from gas to liquid!" Falcon Dive added.
"After we clear up all these soluble solids." Sunshine Rays reminded, pointing at the solids that remained in the river after the water turned into water vapour.
"I got this every creature!" Evergreen said, using her Kirin magic to levitate the solids away.
Once the Kirin was done, Luster used her unicorn magic with all her might, cooling down the surroundings to a frigid temperature, allowing the water vapour to condense very quickly, turning into water droplets and quickly rained into the river, making it clear as clear can be.
"The river's not black anymore!" Windflower gasped.
"That is because it is purified. All substances that contaminated it is removed." Volcano explained.
"But we still need to cure the poor ponies of the settlement!" Nature Bloom reminded.
"And ensure that they truly learnt their lesson and will never pollute the river ever again!" Sunshine Rays declared.
"That means never throw those things that should not be in the water, into the river ever again!" Buffer added.
"Perhaps they should burn their trash like we do?" Yellow Bright suggested.
"No way! They may risk causing wildfires here!" Volcano warned.
"So what are you suggesting?" Falcon Dive asked.
"I suggest that they compost their trash. Since this is a settlement that we are talking about, one that is made of wood, leaves and organic things, their trash is obviously organic. And organic things can decompose on land to become fertilisers for plants." Volcano explained.
"Just to be sure," Sunshine Rays began, before turning to Windflower, "Are there anything other than things from plants in your settlement?!"
"No....since everything is from plants..." Windflower answered.
"Then clearing your trash should be as easy as digging a hole in the soil and burying it since they are all organic things that can decompose!" Sunshine Rays responded.
"I do not know every creature, if the ponies were lazy to the point that they just throw unwanted things in the river all the time, how do you expect them to clear their trash the right way?" Luster asked.
"Should I become Moonshade Fright?" Sunshine Rays offered.
"Perhaps I should take care of it." Alkali approached.
Soon, after every pony in the settlement was cured by doctors from Equestrian and Beyond, who were summoned by the Heroic Ten, Alkali accompanied Windflower to the middle of the settlement for a speech.
"Every pony, I am glad that you are all better thanks to our new friends from Equestria and Beyond! But this speech is more focused on something else...we found out that the one reason you all were sick was because you were putting things that should not be in the water in the river; you kept throwing unwanted things into the river where ou get your water for everything from! Using the water that you dirtied caused you to get sick! You are very lucky that friendly, heroic creatures from Equestria cam to help, otherwise you would have been goners!" Windflower told her relatives.
"From now onwards, it is up to you to make sure that no creature dirties the river ever again!" Alkali took over, "If you want to get rid of thing you do not want, your trash, you should dig a hole and bury it so it can decompose and become fertilisers for the plants and the environment, instead of dirty every creature's important need, the water!"
"Our new friends even gave us tools to dig holes with! It may still take a little time and work, but it is still a lot better than being lazy and having to face the consequences soon!" Windflower continued.
From behind the crowd of residents of the settlement, Princess Twilight Sparkle told Luster Dawn, "You and your friends really are like me and my friends, willing to save any creature in need, like real friends of every creature!"
"It's just what we do, Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Luster responded.
"And every creature is benefitting, now that we have another new friend." Princess Twilight Sparkle added.
"Yeah, now that the ponies are our friends, we can visit them anytime!" Yellow Bright commented.
"Anytime we are available, that is." Evergreen reminded.
"And not just us, every creature can feel what it is like to be part of natural wildlife in their settlement!" Nature Bloom added.
"It will be a great field trip for every creature!" Krona declared.
"And best of all, thanks to this settlement's latest story, I bet every creature will finally be more aware that it is important to be diligent, because laziness is total harm and nothing good!" Volcano reminded.
"Right....about that..." Falcon Dive responded.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, through everything we went through to help these ponies, we learnt a really valuable lesson in life: There is no such thing as a vice less harmful than the other vices, as they are all equally harmful. Every reason we need to be virtuous and try our best not to lack any virtues. Only when we all are virtuous, we can truly protect all our friends, and every creature, from the harm we'd cause if we were to lack virtues." Luster told her mentor.
"That certainly is a valuable lesson in life," Princess Twilight Sparkle commented.
"And now that we know that all the vices are equally as harmful as each other, we really got to be a lot more careful not to give in to any of them!" Sunshine Rays announced, before gesturing to Volcano by looking at him.
"And we are going to start that by being diligent, and that means taking work seriously like we are supposed to! Starting with the work we already got to do!" Volcano declared, tossing the notebooks from earlier to each of his friends, signalling them to finish writing their team history like they were supposed to.
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Nice job, and important too.
Oh for the love of all the saints! Nature Bloom, Volcán only said that the inhabitants of the place were lazy (which is true) and you get angry about that, you need a lesson in self-esteem and stop thinking that the feelings and intelligence of the creatures are at the level of a 5-year-old child .