> Sugar Hoof the Wizard Colt
>  by Furenstein
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Colt in the Desert
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before I had even opened my eyes, I knew something bad had happened. I was too warm and I couldn't feel a good chunk of my body. The wind blew around me and carried the warmth furiously. Trying to open my eyes proved futile, as fire gracefully filled them anytime I tried.  I tried to stand up and immediately fell back down, my feet and hands were gone and only stumps remained. 

I was experimenting with sage and liquified anger, I didn't think that it was dangerous. Sage, liquified anger, mandrake, and a diamond. What had happened to cause such an extreme reaction? I've been doing alchemy since I was a child, I couldn't have done it wrong... I hoped. 

Despite my dismemberment, I could feel my magic inside, strong as ever. The ever-expanding green, infected with darkness, burnt, marked, and rotting from outside magic. Even without my hands, as long as my mind remained, my magic would hold.  

A tilt of my head, and the wind and heat stopped immediately as I conjured up a shield and guarded myself. Once I pulled myself over, I knew what I was sitting in and what was clogging my eyes, nose, mouth, and throat.

"San—" I coughed before I could finish. Sand poured from me as I used what remained of my arms to stand up. Now that I was standing up, I balanced on one hoof and used the other to wipe away sand from my eyes before I looked around.

Would you believe it, more sand? Miles and miles and miles of sand. After the confusion of where I was had subsided, I got my first look at the green thing in my peripheral vision. I had thought it was an insect at first, but I saw my arm when I went to clear my face. 

My arm was not dismembered, but transformed instead. A horse's hoof greeted me along with it's three brothers. I was covered in dirty, sand-covered, green fur, and my hair had turned into a lighter shade of green. With two small ears, a new tail, and a body ten times smaller than what I was previously used too, I hesitantly tried to stand up as a horse would, on all fours.

With the fear of looking stupid to a crowd that isn't there, I walked north with the magical shield following me closely. The crowd that wasn't there didn't laugh, so my walking on all fours couldn't have looked that bad.





"I thought deserts were s-supposed to be h-hot." I said as I shivered under the cold moon light. I had been walking for hours and it was now deep into the night, my only companion being the sand, and my shield keeping the sand and myself separate. It wasn't too long after I found a large rock structure jutting out of the sand. 

I gasped at it's size, it looked as though it was alive, with two large structures for it's arms, and the front looking almost like a face. "It's a lot bigger than the university grounds back home, with a little renovation, this place will serve as a perfect shelter until I can find out how to get home." 

I ran as fast as my horse legs would carry me, hoping to find a cave entrance, when I found none, I returned to the front, and decided to carve out my new home.

"You think a lack of an 'inside' will prevent me from living inside you, rock? You fool." 

The prospect of being out of the desert for a while was enough for me to forget about the cold in the air as I chose to focus on the work in front of me for now. There would be time for worry later.





By morning I had a decent sized room and a hallway, by the time night had arrived again, I had multiple rooms with a branching hallway. On and on I carved with my horn lit, the sound of chipping and cracking stone being the only companion to keep me company. 

"I could be here a while," I pondered out loud. My years of wealth had left me a tad spoiled for space, so despite only needing a small room, I carved out most of the rock into many rooms. 

What really struck me as odd was when I was half way through the cave, but managed to chip through it and back out into the desert. I thought that my calculations may have been wrong for a moment until I saw this open space room surrounded by rock walls.

"Oh, it's a--" My mind struggled to find the word. The top of the enclosed area was burnt and circular. "What even happened here." I asked no-one before I shot the remaining portions of roof off. This enclosed area was quite large and with a bit of time and magic could be of use to me. 





"I'm glad I figured out a way to manage my hunger and fatigue by absorbing my own magic, or I'd have been a goner." I said as I smoothed out the last of the walls. At least now I wouldn't have to worry about getting scratched by my own wall. 

"Now all I need is some lumber to build some proper flooring." I turned to head further into the cave before I had an idea.

My eyes narrowed and I stopped moving. "There's no lumber in the desert, but that doesn't mean I can't grow lumber." I said before looking back in the direction of the enclosed area.

"A shield spell with runes should be able to keep the sand off of it, a little terraforming to turn the sand to soil, and some enchantments to help seeds grow." I trotted back to the enclosed area and prepared myself for the spells.

My horn lit a deep green before the tip grew a dark purple. I could tell from the glow on my cheeks that my eyes were mimicking my horn, and a quick slam from my hoof released a deep THUUUUM sound from the soft sand below.

A bright green shield with deep purple swirls grew from the enclosure at the same time as the sand began to turn a dark brown, then a light green. I laid down extra runes for precaution, as I couldn't risk anything I intended to plant here dying. Before my magic was done, I forced more of it into my horn and overloaded the soil with life magic. Grass soon grew out of the soil, as my horn began to smoke.

In a moment of tiredness from having done so much in such little time, I laid down and hugged the magically infused soil. When an insect began crawling on me, I knew it was time to move on. Shaking myself off, I relit my horn and began gardening.

While I didn't need food to survive as long as I consumed my own magic supply, I was in a better situation now and began growing plenty of fruits and vegetables. 

"Apples, oranges, peaches, pears, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, lettuce, tomato, olives, potatoes, cherries, carrots, corn, wheat, and cocoa beans." I read off as I walked down the garden. "I'll be eating as a ... well not a king, but as someone befitting my status as a wizard."

An exiled wizard, I reminded myself mentally. The sun was setting, it had only been roughly a day and most of my plants were already fully grown. I pulled off a peach with my magic and held it in my hoof. It looked perfect, not a single blemish. It was soft, plump, and juicy looking so I went and took a bite only to promptly spit it out. 

It was the perfect peach, but it needed to be sweetened. "Blegh, needs sugar." 

Looking back over the garden, I said to myself, " I imagine all of you will need sweetened, accursed sweet tooth." Re-lighting my horn, I began sowing sugar cane seeds and as soon as I thought I was done, I began sowing more, then more, then more. 

"ok, that's got to be enough. Not even I can go through this much sugar in between harvests." The sugar cane was simply a small square when I first finished, but now it is a sprawling and branching mess, what land wasn't used for anything, became land for sugar. When compared to the land used for lumber, dyes, cotton, and even the alchemy ingredients, those fields were miniscule compared to the sugar.

With a belly full of fruits, vegetables, and sugar, I harvested the quick growing lumber and began to work on building proper flooring for my new home.
> Fishy Desert
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The only noise to be heard in my new home was the bubbling of a cauldron as I dumped fresh diced mandrake into it. 
The broth inside turned a light brown as I stirred it. 

I had been busy these past few days, it wasn't easy building everything I needed for day-to-day existence. Stools, chairs, tables, a bed, shelves, desks, and don't even get me started on the floors, the floors took two days alone. It was all worth it though, to hear that clippity clop noise as I walked on the hard grey lumber. 

My laboratory here wasn't as well equipped or as large as the one I had back at the university, but it was peaceful and quiet for my research. Once I was satisfied with the stirring, I hopped off the stool and made my way over to the cupboards. 

"Now where did I leave that rafflesia dust?" I said as I looked around my work area. I was supposed to use vampire skin instead, but I can't grow vampires so I had to make due. 

After I levitated the little salt shaker of rafflesia dust down, I sprinkled some into the broth. The room suddenly felt darker and the unmistakable scent of rotting flesh permeated the room. 

"Ok, diced mandrake, rafflesia dust, and..." A noise brought me out of my thoughts. No, not a noise, an intruder. Someone, something was here. 

"The potion ... oh what was that last ingredient, if ever there was a time for an invisibility potion, this is it." I trotted around the room, hoping something I saw would jog my memory. Thankfully it did.

"Blue bells!" I shouted as I jumped up onto the cupboard and threw three sprigs of blue bells into the broth. With all the grace a wizard could manage, the potion was complete, and just in time too.

There wasn't much time between turning invisible and the door opening slowly to reveal a horrid monster. Into my laboratory hesitantly lumbered a large blue fish man. He immediately covered his fish nostrils as he caught a direct whiff of the invisibility potion. 

"Ack, what is that stench!" A voice shouted from behind the fish man.

The fish man left the room in a hurry and said, "We need to get out of here, some evil witch lives here, she's cooking someone up in that room!"

"Surely a witch would have some treasure, though." I heard the other voice say.

"You can stay if you want, but I'm outta here!" He said before I heard the cave shaking as he ran away.

"Coward!" Shouted his friend, who I could see clearly now.

The best way I could describe him is an orange arachnid with snail-like eyes. His four legs skittered on my wooden flooring, puncturing small holes into them.

"Cur." I whispered. I know I didn't say it loudly, but it was enough for him to hear me. It didn't matter, he couldn't see me anyway as I moved to his back. 

"Who's there? You may scare Bulkul, but I will not be intimidated!" He drew what looked to be a well made spear from his back and held it, ready to strike.

I thought it'd be funny to scare him so I enchanted my throat to make my voice appear as if it was coming from every direction.

"You will pay, you're not welcome here, leave." His stance shifted slightly as he tried to pinpoint my location, so I quickly conjured up an illusion that looked just like Bulkul, the fish man.

At the sound of magic, he launched his spear into my illusion, piercing him, when I took control. I turned his eyes to mist and made him pale as he groaned.  

"B-bulkul..." The arachnid said as he stepped back to ready an escape.

In unison, hundreds of voices cried out from the fake Bulkul's mouth,  "You will pay, you're not welcome here, leave." 

The arachnid's eyes widened as he rushed as fast as his four legs could carry him. "I'm sorry, I'll leave, I swear!"

He ran directly into my freezer, and I followed him as Bulkul. He was running into the coldest room in my home, farthest from the exit, where all my food is stored, he can't leave anymore. If word gets out about my stockpile, I'll never have any peace. 





When I caught up to the arachnid, he was busy sifting through my many barrels, boxes, and bags of food. 

"There's enough food for everycreature in Klugetown to feast for a year in here. " Said the arachnid in amazement before he continued down the freezer.

Without making a sound, I didn't feel a need to continue toying with him. As I had mentioned, he can't leave, he'd tell everyone where I was and everyone would know about the food. I'd have who know how many fish and arachnids breaking down my doors. I simply reached into his body and shocked his heart at that point. He was dead before his body even hit the ground. After his death, I debated raising him as an undead thrall or simply forcing his body to consume itself into nonexistence. The act of which caused my body to become visible again.

"It isn't worth it." I said in a low voice before causing his body to consume and destroy itself. In merely a few seconds, the arachnid's corpse was long gone. 

This however made me aware of a very real problem. People will come, Bulkul may return for his friend, or he might tell someone about this when his arachnid friend didn't come back. Or someone could simply wander in whether friendly or hostile. I can't let that happen, and I can't guard this entire place 24/7 myself.

" The old guard must be reformed." I said as I walked into the garden. Among the eastern side of the field, some ironwood trees stood strong and tall as I infused them with magic. They shuddered and shook as they grey rapidly. Eyes and a mouth grew from their trunk as hands replaced branches, and legs replaced roots. The twenty treants yawned and stretched with life I had given them as their old stiff lumber grew easier to move. My eyes glowed a bright and powerful green, and the treant's eyes followed suit. 

"Treants! Hear me and obey! Stand guard over my home! Scare all who would arrive and kidnap all who would not be scared!" I shouted the command with magic in my voice as my tree thralls understood the command. Four at the entrance, two for my bedroom, four for the garden, and the other ten would patrol the halls.

I now had a home, food to sustain me, and guards to keep me safe. Which means I could return to my more scholarly pursuits. 





Sighing happily as I saw one of my tree guards start their first patrol, I entered back into my laboratory. The remaining invisibility potion broth sat in the now cold cauldron. 

"What? Oh, darn it, the fire went out." Potions left in cauldrons after the fire has gone out usually don't hold very long, that's why you're supposed to bottle it in clean glass bottles. "Maybe it's still good?" I asked with hope.

After jumping up onto my stool, I dipped my hoof into the dark and cold purple liquid and sampled it. Swishing it around in my mouth, it tasted unclean and did not return me to invisibility. 

"Curses," I lifted the cauldron with my magic and poured it's contents out. "Now I'll have to start all over!"
> Klugetown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Little pebbles assaulted my magic shield with a vengeance as I carved up two more rooms in my home. I had gotten better at this spell since I wound up here so it didn't take me too long for the rooms to start taking shape. If it wasn't for my shield, I'd likely be missing an eye right now, and who knows how many rocks would be stuck in my little hooves. The dirt and rock underneath me was riddled with cave slime so a light squelching noise took place when I moved on it. I couldn't wait to get some proper flooring down.

That could wait though, there was work to be done. The rooms were small but they weren't meant to hold many items. Just enough room to hold the map and some travelling gear, I can't remain here forever. I'll set up a mark and recall spell so I can easily get back, but  there is magic to be investigated and researched everywhere. Eventually, the chipping of stone gave way to a grinding noise as the walls were smoothed down.

The second room would be used for defense. Sure I had the treants, but they won't be able to handle every situation. They're not very strong on their own, especially since the only source of life magic is here, and we're surrounded by desert. In the center of the second room I set up an oval shaped fire pit before I began melting some rock in a magic bubble. In short order, I had what appeared to be a very primitive fireplace. Two rock columns to act as pillars, and one large one as a roof. That's what anyone who sees it would think if they didn't understand it's meaning. This is the shape needed to host a life font, a magical shield generator as it were. It never runs out of power and both it and the shield it generates are near indestructible. The only reason these never show up anymore is the lack of availability of the ingredients to activate it.

A bottle of unicorn tears, a fairy's wings, an emerald, and parsley. The emerald and parsley I could do easily, I think I have both in my lab, but a fairy's wings and a bottle of unicorn tears? It's a felony to rip out a fairy's wings and I'm not too eager to cry enough to fill up an entire bottle. Despite this, all students of life magic build them in their homes as it has become tradition.

After finishing the life font, I began to work on the room before it, the travel room. It was larger than the life font room since I'd be storing all my travelling gear in here. Well, when I get travelling gear, that is. Sitting down in the center of the room, I took out a large piece of paper and in my magic and prepared myself to scan the area around the desert. The way I figure it, the fish and the arachnid came from somewhere, and it had to be decently close by for them to know something was up with this place as quick as they did. 

With my back straight, I lit my horn and spread my magic underground like the roots of a tree. In all directions they ran, scanning everything that dared move near them. The treants I felt first, followed by scorpions and insects outside. That was all I could feel for a few miles until I hit far enough north to sense roughly a hundred things moving. Some matched the gait of the fish, some of the arachnid, and some others I could barely even sense. My magic quickly drew out a detailed map to this location as I continued my scanning. 

I did sense a few smaller communities scattered around in the desert, but that was it. I let my magic fade away as I opened my eyes and surveyed my map. Just a few miles north of my rock home was this town, Bulkul and the arachnid must've come from there. Luckily, the fish never saw me so wouldn't be able to place me if he saw me.

I galloped to my storage rooms and grabbed a few potions, some for healing, some for magic, and some for invisibility. Sticking them into a bag and then tying the bag around my torso, I walked out of my home and headed north. With a shield spell cast around myself to keep the sand off of me, I left the treants alone to guard.

"I hope the treants don't get lonely without me." I said.





"Klugetown, huh?" I said as I approached the town I had sensed from my scanning spell. It was a shanty-town basically. The entire town looked like it was held together with bubble gum. A mish-mash of themes and identities. As I walked in, I realized how much the architecture matched the aesthetic as I saw many different peoples going about their days. Moles, rats, fish, insects, cats, and a few ... deep ocean creatures moved all around. 

I walked past a bunch of peddlers hovering around the town entrance, desperate for someone to buy their wares. I had hoped to be left alone, but that is not how peddlers work. An old mole man called out to me behind his market stall where what appeared to be horns from all manner of creature.

"Ooh, you with the horn, you selling?" He said, wiggling his four fingers at the prospect of wares to add to his collection.

Knowing that I was in no real harm, I replied, "Depends, how much are you willing to pay?" 

He took down his hood and got a closer look at my horn before mumbling under his breathe. After a few seconds he shot back. "twenty storm bucks." 

Having no idea what a storm buck is, I took the deal and began twisting my horn with my magic. The man's eyes widened as he watched my horn shake and with a sickening crunch, separate from my head. Without my horn, I levitated the now bloody appendage onto his market stall.

He stood for a second with a shocked facial expression before tossing over a bag of strange black coins with a few blue lightning bolts on them. I easily snatched the bag from the air and emptied it's contents into the bag around my torso. 

The pig man didn't say anything as I walked away, but I did catch him poking my horn with one hand while the other was on his face.

After this, I went down into an empty alleyway where I sifted through my bag and counted out exactly how many 'storm bucks' I got. 

"1...2...3...4..." I expected the pig man to look as if he'd given me a bad deal, maybe I should've waited a few seconds to take off my horn so I could gauge his reaction and learn more about how much horns are worth. After all, it's not like I can't regrow it.

Life magic comes from the heart, horns are no different than wands and staffs. Just because a wizard loses his staff doesn't mean he's unable to access his magic. From my heart a burst of bright green life magic erupted and filled my body, I could feel the bone and flesh from where my horn once were regrow in short order.

"18...19...20. Yep, exactly as he promised." I said as I hung the bag on my back again and headed off to learn more about this strange location I have found myself in.
> Sugar Hoof, Klugetown's Newest Sugar Merchant
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two treants walked into Klugetown with me, much to the shock of many of the town's inhabitants. To be honest though, I'm not sure if they were shocked by the walking trees or the cart full of bags of sugar being wheeled into town by the trees. I paid them no mind, so the trees paid them no mind. The pig man was there again today too, he didn't seem as shocked as he was yesterday, so that was good. I couldn't help but sense his one good eye lingering on me though. As we walked along the path, we did see multiple banners out sharing the same markings as the storm bucks I had gotten. These banners however also had what looked to be a primitive satyr creature onto it with piercing blue eyes. 

We walked into the market square, where a whole bunch of other stalls were set up and merchants were already shouting their advertisements into a mostly uninterested crowd. It was good to see that there really was no competition here at all for me to worry about. I pulled up some rocks from the ground and fashioned myself a make-shift market stall out on the end of the road. The two treants delicately placed the sugar they were hauling beside me and then stood guard. They weren't very strong, but hopefully they'd help persuade these people that it isn't worth it to rob me.

I sighed lowly as I concentrated on my magic and began humming a soft and gentle melody. The tip of my horn turned a grim purple and my eyes followed suit. The town seemingly grew silent, at least to my ears they did. 

"Mmmmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmmmm-hmmm-hmmm-hmmmm." I hummed as the crowd of people going about their daily lives reached into their pockets to get their bags of storm bucks and walk over to see what was going on. 

The first one who reached my stall was a cat woman, "Howdy, could I interest you in some sugar?" I said, levitating up a bag from behind.

The cat woman shared the grim purple in her eyes as my spell aided my intentions for knowledge and wealth. "Yes, please, I'll take five bags." She said a bit sluggishly as I grinned.

"Of course, that'll be ten storm bucks." I said as I gathered five bags. She paid for them and took the bags as she wandered off. 

"You're selling bags of sugar for two storm bucks each?" The next customer, a mole asked incredulously.

"Of course, how much are they usually sold for?"I asked in kind, hoping to get more information about the sugar market.

"Bags of sugar need to be imported from other countries, so they're usually seven storm bucks a bag. They usually come in smaller bags than yours too." He said with a half frown.

"Woah, that's pretty expensive." I said, to which many in the crowd nodded. "Well you won't have to worry about that here, all my sugar is locally grown."

"How, the desert's too hot to grow much beyond cacti." Another customer said. 

Now they were asking questions about me, despite my lacking in the socializing departments, I needed to bring the conversation back in my favor. So I allowed more shadow magic to take my horn as the people of Klugetown were drawn deeper into my clutches. 

"well, because I'm your friend of course." That got many smiles from the crowd. "If those other sugar merchants want you to pay seven storm bucks a bag, then..." I made sure to increase my magic supply so they'd remember this next part.

"Don't buy your sugar from them. From now on, come buy your sugar from me." Loud talking fell over the crowd as many brainwashed people traded storm bucks for my near sugar bags. 

"Please, what's your name?!" Shouted a man from the back, I hadn't even gotten that far yet. I can't give them my real name, just in case someone here knows me, the university has spies everywhere.

"You all just call me Sugar Hoof, so it'll be easy to remember. If you need sugar, just come see your friend, Sugar Hoof."





Eventually the day wound down, and I ran out of bags of sugar. I could've teleported more, but I didn't think I'd get much more business today unless I forced it again. I was carrying five bags of storm bucks and one of my treants were carrying three more, so all in all, a successful day. By the time night fell proper, it was cold out and I could feel the shadows still in my horn grow ornery. 

I levitated myself into the wooden cart being pulled by the treant and let my magic fall. Thankfully there weren't any sand storms so I didn't need my shield. The second my magic fell though, I was racked with headaches. Clutching my head with my hooves did nothing as I groaned. All the minds of every creature I brainwashed assaulted my head at once, causing my head to throb violently. For a second, I feared my head would pop open at the pressure.

Unbeknownst to me, my two treants were watching me uncharacteristically.

"Do you think he's okay?" Came the gentle and deep voice of one.

"The master is hurt, there is nothing we can do though." Replied the other one.

This is why shadow magic is illegal among almost all places were magic is practiced and taught, it always has its price. While I was hurt, this isn't the kind of pain that can be healed or cured, all you can do against shadow magic is push through it and hope you survive. This wasn't my first bought with the forbidden arts, but it was my first time in my new body. The strain on my small horse head was great, greater than when I was human.

If I've recovered by tomorrow, I'd journey back into town and buy some stuff for travel and maybe some books and maps while I'm at it. I was feeling weak though, I'm sure the treants will wake me up when we arrive. I doubt they'll mind me taking a small nap.





I tucked the master into bed as we returned home, he was too tired to walk himself anymore. 

Balling up my fist did nothing to stop tree sap from filling my eye at the thought of the master being hurt. My brothers joined me close by, all feeling the same sorrow for the master as I am.

"I don't know what it was, but the second the master brought me into this world, I got to see that face..." I said as I placed my wooden hand on his door as I remembered him bringing me and my brothers into the world out in the garden.

"I knew I'd protect him until the end of my days." I said before tree sap finally broke through my defenses and I sniffled.

"And we will, all who would threaten the master will suffer the consequences." My brother replied.

"How do we protect the master from himself?" I said as I turned to meet my treant brothers. Nobody could answer, how could they? The master was master, we can't stop him from hurting himself if that's what he wishes.

I clutched my chest, where I can feel the magical imprint of the master keeping me alive. "I'd rather die than see him hurt again."
> Unexpected Treants
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I awoke expecting to still be in the cart, only to find that I was in bed. Instead of opening my eyes, I just turned over and lied on my stomach. I didn't teleport myself to bed this time, and the room felt perfect. It smelled and felt clean and warm. I ran my hoof across the cotton sheets and noted that it no longer felt like cotton. 

My eyes bolted open and I saw one of the treants standing over my bed. Was he watching me while I slept?

"Master, you're awake." He spoke? Thralls can't speak unless capable and ordered to. I hadn't woken up all the way until I felt magic in my body other than my own. I was being scanned by the treant. "Good, I see your head ache is gone." He said with a smile. I could not take this anymore so I rose from my bed and held the treant in the air with my magic.

"Who bid you to speak?" My voice was filled with magic as I was prepared to battle the wizard who has claimed my thralls for their own.

"I apologize if my speech is ill-timed, master. I was just guarding you while you slept to keep the pain from your shadowmancy to a minimum." He looked sad so I placed him back onto the ground hesitantly.

"Who gave you the capacity to speak?" I asked him.

"Yesterday, I think. I could feel a strange magic inside, and I knew words and speech." He replied as if it was a wonderful moment for him.

"Follow me to the laboratory, I'd like to examine you." I said as I jumped off the bed and trotted my way to the hallway.

"Yes, Master." The treant replied, At least he still seemed loyal.





My hoof collided with my forehead.

"Master, please don't do that." The treant was sitting on a small stool in the center of my laboratory as he sent out an apprentice level healing spell, something that should be beyond his comprehension. That's a big emphasis on should.

I should've done more research into this world's ambient magic field before I even contemplated semi-permanent conjuration. My treants acted as sponges and soaked up ambient magic from this place. No, not place, planet, these magical readings are unlike any other I've seen. This planet is somewhere I've never even heard of. What kind of things have to happen on a planet to make summons and thralls advance in intellect?

My thoughts were broken as I felt four wooden claws brushing my mane. "Master, you look stressed, maybe you should sit down."

Though his claws felt good, I moved forward ... after I enjoyed a brief few scratches. "D-don't do that." I ordered uncertainly. 

We both remained in silence as I contemplated what I should do. I could feel where his claws delicately scratched, it felt good, I felt my life magic warm up. Not in a romantic way, mind you, It felt like he was filling a piece of my heart that has long been empty. 

"Master, my brothers and sisters wait for you outside." The treant replied, standing up.

"What do you mean by 'sisters? I only created twenty treants." I asked, turning my head to look at him.

"By your decree my nineteen brothers and I guard the home and scare or kidnap all who would dare invade your land. Seeing you hurt yesterday, however, showed me that it isn't solely your land that needs protecting. A mere twenty treants were not enough to protect you and your home, so we began using the garden to create our own treants." 

My eyes widened as I sat down forcefully. I took multiple deep breaths as I thought of the implications this could mean, for me, for Klugetown, for the treants, my home, everything. Thralls given not only sentience, but the ability to learn magic, and reproduce in some cases. Everything I have learned from magic and everyone who has ever taught me magic has repeatedly stated that a summon or thrall cannot and will not create thralls and summons of it's own. 

"Show me." I ordered barely over a whisper. He went off into the hallway to lead me to his own summons, while I was still stuck sitting down.

"Master, I wouldn't mind carrying you if you would like." The warm and soft voice of my treant said from the hallway, removing me from my thoughts.

"No, no, I'm coming." I got up and trotted after him. 





I couldn't help but notice him watching me as he led me to the front of my home. "Do you have a name?" I asked my thrall. A thrall with a name, what a concept.

"I share the names of my brothers and sisters, we are 'Thrall', 'Treant' and 'Guard'. The names are interchangeable, Master." He said, stopping in the middle of the hallway for this conversation I had started.

Thrall, Treant, and Guard were what I have been calling them, so it's no wonder they think it's their names. "That may work for the other treants, but you need your own name." I replied to his shock.

The treant fell to one knee, and held his hands to his life heart. "Master, you honor me. Surely, I, one who allowed you to be hurt yesterday, am unworthy of such a gift."

"It's just a name, don't make a big deal out of it. I'll also need to potentially either make or buy some clothing for you so I can pick you out among the rest." I assumed the treant liked this idea as he gasped.

"A name and clothing, master, you are truly a kind and honorable soul, worthy of our complete loyalty." He was full on bowing now.

I had grown tired of him and his nonsense so I picked him up into the air with my magic and turned him toward the front of the home. "Don't make a big deal out of it, show me the thralls you've somehow managed to conjure." My displeasure was plain, I wanted him loyal, sure, but such devotion would only get in the way of my research and study.

After a few more seconds of walking, we walked out of the home and all I could hear was shouting. Were we being attacked?





"All Hail The Master!" I heard a treant cry out.

"Long Live Sugar Hoof!" My Klugetown name, what?

"All Hail Sugar Hoof!" The sun was blinding me out here, my eyes tried to adjust.

Long Live The Master!" My eyes adjusted and I wish they had not.

Thousands of treants stood outside my home, cheering and praising me, pledging loyalty. I turned my back to the crowd and rooted myself like a tree in order to spread out my magic and get a sense of roughly how many there are.

"1000 .... 2000 .... 3000 .... 4000 ...." I turned to look at the treant who led me here. "Where am I going to house all these treants, there isn't nearly enough space inside!" I growled.

"Master, we've been up all night carving out the underground and building large spans of cavern for us all." He replied softly, sensing my anger.

"How?! We're on sand!" I pointed to the sand with both hooves.

"Magic, we kept the top layer of sand as a disguise, but began replacing underneath with rock with our combined magic." He said, reaching out to me.

I jumped away as I continued sensing more and more treants. The treant who led me here held up his wooden hand and every other treant grew silent. 

"8000...9000..." My voice grew heavy as I realized how much difficulty this would bring. "10000 ....... 20000.......30000..." I could sense more being made every second. 

I paced angrily and fearfully in front of an army of treants. "Master, If we—" I cut him off.

"Shut ... just ... shut up..." He looked sad for a second before I said something else. "How did you manage to make this many so quickly, I didn't plant that many ironwood saplings."

"The caverns, master, we began growing more gardens like the one you grew, it's not as good as yours, but nobody is as good as you." My hoof collided with my head again, much to his anguish.

"Oh, oh that's good, y-you all can farm now. That's that's good... that's great..." I hung my head low.

My eyes glowed a bright green as I projected my will into the treants. "Treants! Hear me and obey! Return to the caverns and do not exit unless ordered!" I just needed them away from me. They all walked in fine single file to the underground caverns as I nursed my head, I could feel the headache coming back. The treant who led me outside followed with them before I stopped him.

"Come back here, I would name you." I declared as he returned to my side. 

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you have caused me by doing this?" I asked him and his smile and leafy brows fell.

"Master, I only wanted to keep you safe, and I knew just twenty of us would be unable to do it." He replied softly.

I looked at him with anger in my eyes, "I knew that, you weren't really meant to. I summoned the twenty of you so you could function as a home security system. If I felt anything happen to you, I would know something bad was happening and could fix it myself. But you, you've given me over thirty thousand treants. I could probably conquer the entire planet with that many!" 

"If that is what you wish, master. It would be an honor to die in service of you." The treant replied while kneeling, I just rolled my eyes.

"You are to inform the rest of the treants that there will be no bowing or kneeling before me anymore." I said, staring off at the rising sun, watching the treants enter the cavern. 

"Yes, Master." He replied and went to join his brothers and sisters.

"Wait."

He turned back around.

"Your name is Birch now." I said without care.

His mouth opened in a small gasp as he repeated his own name, "Birch. I am Birch. My name is Birch." He smiled brightly as he walked off, a little more pep in his step than before. 

I meanwhile, stood outside a bit longer, wondering how I was going to protect my home or myself at least from whatever king or queen claimed this land as theirs.
> The Green Underneath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All throughout the cavern, the sounds of treants working could be heard. Some mined out more caves, some sowed and harvested at the multiple gardens, some worked on production, all worked for me. I wish I knew what to do with them, I just needed the twenty treants to work as security. Treants aren't even supposed to be capable of such higher understanding. 

One thing needs to be said about them though, the bare cave has been decorated with flowers, vines, and forest green carpets. It isn't a big deal, but it does look better. My hoofs clopped emptily as I walked along the carpet and down the cavern stairs. All of them nodded silently as I walked by.

Birch walked behind me, now wearing a silk green robe. "Where did you get silk to make that robe?" I asked, pointing a hoof at him.

"From the garden, master. We started growing silk fungus as soon as we could." He replied softly.

"Silk fungus, that's a bit advanced for all of you, isn't it?"

"Multiple treants working in unison allowed the sowing, it was great labor, but worth it if it pleases you." Birch said, looking down at me.

I had not truly noticed him or his treants since I conjured them, as I've said, they were primarily meant to serve as security, not as people. Birch stood taller than his siblings with two large and long tree stumps for legs. His thick wooden arms gave way to four sharp and powerful claws, perfect for ripping open an assailant. His eyes were a bright green, like any summon of life, but him like his siblings, had irises. Most summons lack proper eyes due to their freewill being suppressed during the conjuring process. His hair and beard were matching sets of bright green leaves that flowed with the breeze.

He caught me staring too long, "Would you like a robe, master? We'd be honored to sew you one." He asked and I shook my head to say, 'no'.

"Okay, don't hesitate to tell us though, we're storing a large portion of silk down on floor B107." 

B107? Just how many floors are they building? "You mentioned having gardens down here, right?" I asked, having put my prior question away for now.

"Yes master, as per our dietary habits and reproductive needs, every floor is built around 5,000,000 acres of garden." The treant seemed unfazed by what exactly he had just said.

"Five million acres?! Birch, that's not a garden, that's a farm! A very, big farm, in fact. What are they even eating from them?" I asked incredulously.

"Your magical signature, master. Though the garden above ground is far better equipped with that, the lesser farms suffice." He said with a smile.

"Birch, what if the natives catch wind of what you're doing? You know there has to be magical powerhouses on this planet, what if they don't like it, and decide that destroying us all is the only way to maintain their rule!" I wasn't quite sure if I could beat whoever was from this planet so I would rather avoid confrontation.

Birch's claws grabbed hold of me and he lifted me up to his chest before wrapping his arms around me gently.

"It's okay, I won't let anyone hurt you." He said while scratching my mane.  I know I should've fought him off, it would've been easy to, after all. Just being here though, being held, having an itch I didn't know I had scratched. It just felt okay. 

One of the treants approached us and called out for me. "Master, a caravan of ten will be here in an hour."

"Caravan, merchants or performers?" I asked, still enjoying Birch's claws as they move up and down from my back to my head.

"Merchants, master. A lot of us have spread out across the desert in disguise to scout potential threats. We're still setting up patrols, but this caravan was comprised of merchants, we're certain. " The treant replied, he didn't seem to bothered by what Birch was doing.

"What are their wares?" I asked, my eyes closed as Birch scratched behind my equine ears.

"Ponies, as they're called here, master." Ponies, like smaller horses? Smaller like me?

"These ponies, do they share species characteristics with me?" I asked, jumping out of Birch's claws.

"Yes, master, They are ponies, similar to you, but far inferior as creatures." 

"Inferior, how so?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the treant.

"They are not you, master, all beings are inferior to you." I tried to face hoof, but birch stopped my hoof in mid air delicately.

"Please, don't hit yourself." He sounded sad as he said it.

Turning back to the treant, "What are their wares again?" I don't recall hearing him answer the first time.

"Ponies, master." Their wares are ponies?

"A slave caravan?" I asked with a grimace.

"Yes, master. It's likely they're heading to Klugetown to a slave auction." I didn't even know Klugetown had slave auctions, let alone slaves.

"You guys have to do anything and everything I tell you to do, right?" I asked, hatching a plan for the slave auction.

"Of course, master, it's an honor to serve you." Every treant in the vicinity said in unison.

"Fetch my travelling gear and storm bucks, I want fifty of you to sneak into Klugetown underground and prepare to attack on my command."

"Yes, Master." They lumbered off to carry out my will as Birch and I travelled back above ground.

"Master," Birch started. "Must it be you who goes? I don't like the idea of you being in danger."

"I won't be in any danger, Birch. I'm completely capable of defending myself, and besides, this could go very well for us." Birch looked confused as I finished talking.

"What do you plan on doing, master?" He asked, his wooden claws clamped together.

"We'll stage an attack on the auction house, kill the slavers and buyers, and imprison the slaves. Oh, have a few cells made, they likely won't open the auction until night fall." I ordered.

"But master, aren't you going to buy a slave?" Birch said, looking a bit frightful.

"No, no, I'm just pretending to be a buyer, have a dozen cages built, one big enough for me."

"You want us to put you in a cage?!" He screamed in fear.

"Temporarily! It will make it look like I'm not the one in charge here, the people of Klugetown need to believe that their dear friend, Sugar Hoof is another innocent victim in all this." I replied sternly.

Birch seemed relieved to an extent, but still looked unwary about my plan. "What do you intend to do with the slaves once we catch them?"

I took a breath and thought for a moment before replying, "I'll question all of them, learning more about where we are could be good, and I should do some research and experiments on them." 

"I thought you were supposed to be an innocent victim?" Birch reminded me.

"Oh, yeah ... guess I'll have to question them and experiment on them in disguise then."

Birch looked even more relieved knowing that nobody would know that it was me doing the experimenting. I wondered if he knew that by 'experimenting' there would likely be some dissection done as well.
> At the Auction
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun was nearly set as I walked down the roads of Klugetown to the slave auction. There must have been more than one caravan though, since I could see quite a few of similar looking travel carts looking as if they were hauling different species. I sat and scanned the area with my magic and was relieved to see my treants getting into position with multiple chains and cages.  As soon as I gave the signal, the slave auction would be finished. 

Upon arriving at the auction house, I could see that it had two doors for entering and exiting, as well as multiple windows on a second floor. I couldn't see any foundation capable of supporting a second floor, so I assumed it was just for those windows to let natural light into the room. The door into the building was locked, so I knocked instead, as a finely dressed mole man walked out.

"Oh, I wasn't aware any of the pony slaves escaped." He said, reaching out a hand to grab me.

His cold and fleshy talons were like ice against my fur as he grabbed me by the scruff of my neck. As he swung me around, I could see the rest of the people at the auction. It was much like Klugetown's population, moles, cats, fish, I even saw some thralls in the crowd. Some of them were finely dressed, some were wearing worker's garb. Some wore armor, and others were naked. All the creatures on stage were naked as well. I saw ponies, thralls, fish, and cats on stage. The only 'clothes' they wore were the chains binding them, which did nothing for modesty.

I was carelessly thrown into a cage on stage as my bag of storm bucks and potions were taken from me. I heard a gasp from a pony next to me as our eyes locked. She didn't look frightened, she looked more stressed as she saw me as tears flooded down her face. I wanted to comfort her. 

The thralls in the crowd and the thralls on stage was a very peculiar concept to me, thralls as masters and as as slaves. Well, I suppose technically Birch and his siblings are the masters of every treant they themselves create, if they hadn't turned them over to me, that is. The thralls were the same here, clearly griffon subclass, half bird, half lion. I've not studied illusion magic so I can't really do much with them, no, I've only studied five schools of magic.

As the auctioneer moved up to the stage, the same mole man who threw me in here, I was reminded of my school days. I've mastered life magic, with honors. I am a life wizard after all, it would be foolish if I didn't master my birth school. Fire magic and thunder magic though were not as easy. Thunder comes from the eyes while fire comes from the muscle, I never had much of either, but I was ... competent in them.

It was when I learned the other two that I began getting glares and whispers behind my back, necromancy and shadowmancy, both highly illegal in polite society. Necromancy comes from one's skull, and shadowmancy from nowhere, hence why nobody could properly control it. You must invite the shadow in if you want to use it. It's no doubt the strongest school of magic I know.

As the selling started, I let my life magic flare in my heart, giving the signal. In a quick flash, the windows and doors burst open as  treants poured in and began slaughtering the customers. Screams echoed through the building as some tried to flee, but were stopped by my thralls. The few who fought back it worse as they were beaten with the corpses of their fellow customers. 

I could just barely suppress a smile as the mole man who threw me into this cage was promptly gutted by treant claws. His wails grew violent and terrified to short breathed and whimpering, as the hall descended into chaos. Some of the slaves tried to break from their shackles, but were unable to as the treants grabbed them and forced them back onto the ground. The mare pony looked at me again, this time with terror in her eyes. I wouldn't hurt her, though I know it doesn't matter, she's of little value to me alive, I don't want to hurt her.

The fighting stopped as the buyers were all dead, the treants quickly began taking control of the slaves and hauling them away, I wish I had told the treants to loot the dead, as my bag of storm bucks lied on the ground, stained with mole blood. 





As per my orders, the treants had some make shift cages built in the caverns and placed all of us in our own cell. I was glad I at least remembered to tell them that part. Birch came over to my cell door as came to escort me away before the mare from earlier shouted out to him.

"No, please! He's just a foal, take me instead!" The mare was crying again, was this what she was crying for back at the auction house. Birch simply glared at her before rushing off to one of the upper levels.

"Bucking monsters.." I heard the mare say before falling onto her stomach. 

Once we grew far enough away from the slaves, Birch switched from holding me outward to clutching me tightly against his chest.

"Master, I'm so sorry for letting this happen, I should've gone in your place to the auction." Birch continued to ramble for a minute before I closed his mouth with my magic.

I was thankful that I was free again, despite knowing that I had everything under control. "It's okay, Birch, it was my idea." I said before nuzzling his wooden chest with my cheek.

Maybe it was the stresses of the day, waking up to find an army, learning of a secret underground cavern, attacking a slave auction, being thrown in a cell, but for some reason, I just wanted to be here right now.

Clutched in Birch's warm and magical wooden arms, I didn't feel like the monster everyone back at the university claimed I was, I didn't feel like a shadowmancer, I just felt like me. Not a master of treants, not a life wizard, but a ... foal, like the mare had said. 

I've never felt this way before, despite my magical prowess. Safety was never something I knew, I was always ready for a fight. Even back at university, I was often sent out to fight due to my skill in healing magic and I got used to sleeping with one eye open. Here though, I knew it was different, Birch would protect me if someone tried anything. I wrapped my tiny green hooves as far around him as I could as he hummed in confusion before smiling and holding me closer.

I didn't hear any noise as he began walking back above ground, as if every treant didn't dare make any. It didn't matter to me anymore, I was safe for once, and I was going to enjoy it for tonight. Tomorrow I could deal with the slaves, though I don't feel like dissection would be very nice. I don't think dissection would bear much fruit for knowledge, I'm certain bribery will prove a better method of interrogation. 

I fell asleep in Birch's arms that night, it would be the first of many times I would.
> Starvation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I awoke in Birch's arms. I should've been angry at such a display of affection, but I felt pretty comfy. There was work to be done though, so I sort of wiggled my way out his arms. He wasn't sleeping though, so once he noticed what I was doing, he let me go.

"Have you been up all night?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Do not worry, Trees do not require sleep." Birch said with a smile. 

"Right, beings composed of magic don't have the same needs as natural born creatures." I said, moving my dark green mane from my eyes. "We don't know how long the people in the cavern have been enslaved, make sure they get a big breakfast and a hot bath." I ordered.

"Yes, master." Birch said before walking off to carry out my orders. I don't even think they know how to cook, but hopefully the slaves will be fine with whatever the treants serve them. Slaves don't usually have a very high quality of life. I don't think the treants have built baths though, trees don't sweat so why would they need to bathe, and I've been using magic for personal hygiene.

My bedroom was much better looking than it was before, I figured the treants must've been working above ground. My cotton mattress had been swapped out with a green fungus slime mattress. Don't worry, the slime is wrapped up in a thick film, which is covered in green silk sheets. 

"I'm glad the treants knew what they were doing decoration wise." I said as I rubbed my hoof on my newly carpeted floors. "Green and brown, the colors of life." I sighed, pleased with my surroundings before I heard wood on wood knocking on my door.

Opening the door with my magic revealed one of the treants, it wasn't Birch, which was weird since he's usually the only one who I've ever interacted with outside of our master/thrall relationship. I could tell immediately that something was wrong by the way he looked. My thralls were conjured from ironwood, the strongest type of lumber I know, but this treant looked shaky and unwell. He got to his knees a bit more forcefully than usual and looked over at me.

"Master, forgive my intrusion, I would not dare bother you if it weren't important." He said in a soft voice. I know I told them not to kneel anymore, but this seemed important so I bit my tongue.

"Think nothing of it, what's happened? Is it to do with the slaves?" I asked.

"No, the slaves have remained in their cells. It's the treants, master, we're starving." He said, looking upset.

"Starving, but we're harvesting more food than ever, how could you be starving?" Our net gain in food has increased 100x due to the farm land underground, even with how many treants there are, they should have plenty to go around.

"Overseer Birch imbued the farms with his magic, his magic is far below yours, master." Overseer Birch? I never gave Birch any titles. "Without your magic, master, many are skipping meals, even more are simply going without."

"Why don't any of you eat the fruits and vegetables being grown? Sure, it lacks my magic, but it would still be filling." I said, beginning to walk off to the caverns.

As I left the comfort of my home, the sad state of my treants became known to me. Many stood guard outside on shaky tree trunks, some were so low on magic that they had to sit. I doubted they could even attack anyone if they had to.

"Cannibalism, master?" The treant replied, barely keeping up with my short-hooved trot. He grimaced, eyes closed, at the thought. "Plants should not eat plants, it isn't natural." 

"Since when did thralls have morals? Before I wound up in this desert, not a single thrall in history would think twice before eating anything, meat, plant, even humans."

He looked scared for a second. "Forgive me master, we will eat the plant spawn if it is your command." He looked like he was seconds away from vomiting at the thought.  

I rolled my eyes as the treant took a step back, "Take me to the farms, then. Picky thralls, who would have thought."

Despite his lack of food, he was quick to comply as his head hung low. "Yes, master." 





"Three griffons, two ponies, two cats, and three uh... 'diamond' dogs, right?" Birch said, writing down what he could about each of the slaves. Turning to his fellow treants, "Take the griffons, cats, and dogs off to the bathing chamber, we'll get them clean first."

"What of the ponies, Overseer?" Asked one of the treants as he began to tighten the manacles of one of the griffons for transport. 

"I have need of the ponies, take them to the private bath, guard the door, prevent them from leaving, but do not interact with them otherwise." Birch replied, narrowing his eyes at the ponies in thought. 'Two mares,' He thought. 'I'm positive the master can find use for them. As he is a wise and kind master, he would want us to treat them to a higher standard.'

"Yes, Overseer." Said the treants in Unison as the griffons, cats, and dogs were hauled off forcefully to carry out their duties as quickly and efficiently as possible; and as the two pony mares were delicately carried off to a private bath.

The two mares were grateful they were getting a better treatment than the others, but were afraid of what it could mean for them. 

"What do you think he'll do with us?" Whispered a mare with golden mane and a yellow fur.

The other mare, a blue furred mare with a cyan mane and wings began to tear up. "Oh Celestia, you don't think..." She sniffled.

"The colt?" Asked the first one.

"Private baths, he has 'need of use.' She began hyperventilating, "Rain, I'm t-too young to lose my virginity." Her lips quivered as more tears fell from her eyes.

Rain, the blue, winged pony, looked on as they were carried, trying to remain calm. "Everything will be alright, Goldie. I don't think trees even have those feelings." 





As far as my eyes could see, there was nothing but farm. The soil glowed a murky blue, Birch had only put the weakest fertilizer enchantment on them, no wonder so many were going hungry. The treant who led me here remained at my side, quiet and sullen.

"Treant, there have been many new advancements among your kind here, including the use of titles if you calling Birch, Overseer, is anything to go by. What of you, do you have a name?" I asked, pondering if I even should enhance Birch's spell.

"I am Burden, named for my existence as a valueless slug to you, master." His head hung lower as my hoof collided with my face in frustration, causing his head to hang lower in shame.

"The master hurts himself for my actions. Why do I make master suffer?!" His voice grew frantic as sap fell from his eyes. He clutched his wooden head in pain. "Please, make it stop, make it stop, make it stop, PLEASE MASTER, MAKE IT STOP!" 

I was at a loss for words, no thrall had ever behaved this way. "ALL I DO IS HURT AND DISAPPOINT YOU MASTER, MASTER IS TO BE DEFENDED, NOT HURT!" His wooden claws clutched his head tighter as I backed away to a safe distance.  "I AM THE ENEMY! I HURT THE MASTER! ALL WHO HARM THE MASTER MUST BE DESTROYED!" The treant shouted before jumping off the cavern's cliff down the who knows how many levels where the farms were hanging flawlessly on life magic. 

I looked down the cliff at the treant who had just killed himself until he faded from view. While I did not hear him impact, I could feel the magic inside of him fizzle out. 

"I... I just rolled my eyes and face hooved ... this ..." I sighed before falling onto my back. I stared at the ceiling of the cavern, unblinking as I remembered what I had said. 

"Picky Thralls... I insulted him, rolled my eyes at him, and face hooved at his apology, and he jumped off a cliff..." The cold cavern floor for some unnatural reason, felt even colder as the image of him impacting with the floor went on repeat.
> Birch and the Ponies / Sugar Hoof's Flank Tattoo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of my thralls had died. It wasn't new to me, hundreds of my thralls had died before. This time though, was different. The thralls acted more alive than before, since this world's ambient magic began to corrupt them, they were smarter, had more personality, and I had somehow gotten one to kill itself.

Staring back into the endless abyss of floating farms, he remembered the thralls from his time at the university. "You could throw a thrall into a volcano, and assuming it didn't die, it would come back out completely unconcerned with it's own well being. " I said to myself in a low whisper.

I narrowed my eyes at the farms and began to gather magic in my horn and heart. I can't truly stop them from simply doing what they want, they may call me master, but the second they decide to stop obeying me, they become free. Assuming they can decide to just stop obeying me. Thralls back home couldn't, but that didn't mean much anymore. 

"Master must be defended." Those were that treant's last words. A play on my command when I made the first treants, Defend my home? When I awoke from my headache, my twenty treants turned into roughly thirty thousand, and now they were running low on food. Point being, if they decide that conjuring millions is the best way to 'defend' me and my home, would they even listen to me if I told them not to conjure any more?

These caverns go on for miles, stretching so far, it would take days to even reach the end. It isn't like there wouldn't be enough room for them. With my magic on the farm, the food scarcity would no longer be an issue. I don't really want to watch my treants die off by the thousands, the very image of just one treant dying nearly makes me want to lose my lunch.

My horn grows brighter as small wisps of what appears to be butterflies begin flying around it in green and blue hues.





Overseer Birch walked to the private baths deep in thought. Despite being merely another thrall to the master, master saw something in him when he gave him his name. Birch, he had called him, and since he was the only one given a name, he took to his role as highest of the thralls as was befitting master's will.  He was entrusted with keeping all of the thralls in line, relaying master's orders, and ensuring that master is kept safe. Here though, were two ponies, the only two ponies Birch had ever met besides master. He tries his best to keep master safe, but how could he defend the master if he didn't know anything about him or his species?

As per his instructions, the door to the private baths were heavily guarded and the stone door was locked magically. 

"The two ponies await you inside, Overseer." One of the guards said.

"Thank you. Once I enter, two of you head to the kitchens and tell them to double the amount of food they plan serving to the ponies." I said before unlocking the door and stepping inside the private bath.





A bright, shining rainbow radiated off of my body as I continued to amass magic. It would take a great deal of power to enhance all these farms, far more than I had ever held, but I was eager to try nonetheless.

WIth my magic so bountiful, I could feel the ironwood trees below me, billions of them in rows. I couldn't know how many of these would be given life, or how many would make for building material, and even though I hadn't checked my store rooms in a few days, I was certain my supply of lumber was quite high.

I sighed audibly, alerting me to something being wrong as I heard my voice. "Wha.." The sound repeated over a thousand times over in a thousand different voices. "What dreadful curse befalls me now? Life comes from the heart, not the throat." Again, thousands of voices followed me in a choir. 

"I have spent years in study, research, and experimentation with life magic. Even going as far as having caused life magic itself to form from it's baser components of fire and lightning. In all books that mention me and my crimes I am referred to as master of life! Though it appears, not even I can claim to know all things related to life magic." The magic surrounding me grew as my eyes took on a forest green color, I did not know what was happening entirely, but I would face it regardless.





Birch could feel the master's presence all around him and could feel the cavern bending to his will. He smiled warmly and knew that he was doing a good job. The ponies however, looked frightened. 

"Don't be afraid, ponies, he is a wise and kind master." Birch said as he picked up the golden furred earth pony.

It hit the ponies at once, that the tree in front of them wasn't this 'master'. "I thought you were referring to yourself in the third person before, but, you're not the master, are you?" 

Birch grabbed a bar of soap and began scrubbing the pony down gently. The mare blushed and said, "Uh, I can wash myself, y'know. I promise not to try and run."

"You cannot run, even together you cannot open the door." Birch replied, getting behind the pony's ears. "Besides, I need practice."

"Practice? For taking a bath? I didn't think trees needed to bathe." She said before closing her eyes as Birch began washing her mane while giving her scalp a massage.

"Just in case the master requires one." Birch noticed the smile on her face as he massaged her scalp as if it was Sugar Hoof's. "Is this a pleasant experience, pony?"

"Please, call me Goldie. And yes, it's very nice, I wouldn't have expected wooden claws to be so good for a massage." 

"The rest of you needs massaged also." Birch said as he began to work on her torso. "You were that mare who cried out for t—." He paused, catching himself. "That small pony we took away last night."

"Uh-huh." Said the mare as her tongue lolled out of her head as her aching hooves were thoroughly washed and rubbed. 	

"Why did you care for him?" Birch said, stopping the massage.

The mare looked back, wishing the massage would continue, but remembering her being both a slave and a prisoner. "He's just a new born. What mare wouldn't be worried about a baby being thrown into a cage and carried off by talking trees?"

Birch thought of this for a moment. Master was older than every treant here, including himself. Come to think of it, Birch didn't actually know much about the master. Master is what all thralls call their summoner, and Sugar Hoof was a fake name he used for that town north of here. Who even is Master?

"How old would you say that colt is?" Birch said in a low voice.

"He couldn't have been any older than two years old, and even that might be too old." Said the mare, a look of worry on her face. "Where exactly is that colt anyway?" She remembered herself and asked shakily, "What do you plan on doing with all of us?"

Birch began massaging Goldie's body again, ensuring that every inch of her was clean for whatever the master planned.
The master has ordered you all be given a hot bath and a big breakfast, after that, I don't know what his plans for you are.





The force of my magic now has seeped into my surroundings, without even casting the spell, I have enhanced multiple farm layers and thoroughly converted the rocky cavern surrounding the farms into a lush and green cave, filled with plant life and green grass.

In a single jolt, the magic surrounding me was forced into my horn as it grew brighter than a lighthouse on a stormy night before I lowered my head and aggressively consumed the farm land below me in life magic. Row upon row and layer upon layer the farms surpassed the neon green I had grown accustomed to and branched off all throughout the underground caverns, filling it with more of the plant life. Grass grew, flowers bloomed, vines rose from the ground and every treant knew full stomachs this day.

I had also had a new experience, once my magic had done it's work and I was free to leave again, I looked behind me and saw a leaf on both sides of my flank. It was akin to a tattoo and I could not wipe it off no matter what spell I cast or how hard I scraped at it with my hooves. The image showed a bright green leaf, slightly rotted at the tip, as well as being scorched and tore by fire and lightning.

"Ugh, I hope that at least washes out." I said, far too tired to really care anymore.
> Breakfast with the Slaves and Tree Politics
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Please, we're full.." Groaned a griffon as a treant forced another chunk of watermelon down his throat.

"You must eat a big breakfast before the next stage." Replied the treant, reaching for more fruits.

All around the prison cells, the same thing was going on. While the slaves begged for the treants to stop, the treants pushed onward until they were sure the slaves were stuffed.

"I think I preferred the starvation." said one of the cats with a groan.

While the non-ponies were fed against their will, the two ponies, Rain and Goldie were seated in a clean and nice smelling room being served a feast. Golden platters overflowing with fruits and vegetables were brought out, golden cups filled with sparkling juices were served while golden jugs followed them. Multiple treants stood in the room with them, some to guard, some to serve. On the opposite side of the table, Birch continued to interrogate the ponies.

"Tell me more about this 'Equestria' place." Birch asked.

"Oh, it's the kingdom to the north beyond the desert." Beyond the desert? The treants I sent out only ever reported on the oceans to the east and west.

"Is Equestria across the ocean?" He remembered the air ships Klugetown had going in and out the first time they were there.

"No, it's just a long ways away northward." She waved her hoof to signify how far away it is.

"Who is master of Equestria?" Who dares claim dominion over what is rightfully Sugar Hoof's land.

"Well, we don't call them masters, but Equestria is ruled by Princess Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna, if that's what you meant." Said Rain before drinking from a golden cup.

"Please, tell me about these princesses." Birch said, getting out paper and some paint.





Another load of soap and water fell onto me as I tried to scrub this flank tattoo off. I never expected the magic of this world to randomly give it's inhabitants tattoos, and no matter how hard I scrubbed, I couldn't get even a few specks of it off.
Magic couldn't get it off, hot soapy water couldn't get it off. 

I picked up a knife that I had sharped before getting in here and began trying to scrape the tattoo off of my flanks to no avail.

I growled before throwing the knife in frustration and picking back up my wash cloth to continue scrubbing.





With multiple scrolls filled with knowledge about Equestria, the two alicorn sisters, and some pony anatomy and biology, Birch felt satisfied with what he has gained from the ponies. 

Gesturing over to one of the treants, he said, "Fit the pony cells with proper bedding, ponies shouldn't be left to sleep on the floor like the others."

The treant being ordered, glared at Birch before looking down and saying, "Yes, Overseer." 

Birch watched as he hurried off in the wrong direction, knowing full well that he was going to see the master instead of going to the store rooms to fetch the supplies for bedding. As the treants looked at Birch, some with glares, and some with loyalty, he stood up and spoke to them. "The master is a pony, much as these two ponies in this very room, does the master deserve to sleep on the floor?" 

All replied no in their own ways, some even added the word 'overseer' to the end. 

"Does the master deserve to be mistreated?" 

A louder, more firm, no resounded through the room.

"Then fetch them some proper bedding, the master shall thank you in kind!"

Many of the treants fled the room to carry out their overseer's orders, with few remaining behind.

"I was chosen by the master with name and cloth to lead in all things below him, as much as you disagree, you will do as the master commands." Birch said, glaring at the few remaining, only one spoke back to him.

"All of us shall serve the master until the end of our days, there is no higher honor for us. Until the master declares you as overseer with more than giving you a name and some clothes, you are no higher in status than any of us." He said with a growl.

"Your concerns shall be reported, but you know the cost of disobedience."

"Disobedience to the master, not to you." The two grew closer as the ponies shrunk back in their seats.

"I only do the master's will!" Birch screamed.

"Heresy! We've all seen you with the master! You hold him as if you were his master!" 

"I am his protector, his utmost guardian!" 

"A protector could stand guard at the door, he wouldn't nuzzle the master in his sleep!"

"The night holds many threats that would wish harm upon him!"

"You think we don't watch you through the roots? You think we cannot tell when one of our own grows too fond of their master?!"

"Oh, what, you think I wish to be mated to the master? We lack such desires the second we're conjured!"

"Oh, I'm positive you love him, not as a mate of course, but as a father loves his son."

Birch remembered holding the master throughout the night, how soft and warm the master was, his cute little snores, how small he was considering how powerful he was. The way the master wrapped his small hooves around Birch's wooden form, maybe the other treant had a point.

"The master shall be made aware of this," Birch said slowly, "Now, get the ponies back to their cells, the non-ponies have likely finished being bathed and fed by now, the master will know what to do with them next."

The other treant nodded before turning to the ponies, "Come along, we must get you back to your cells."

The two ponies whispered about what they had just witnessed all the way back to their cells.





Far to the north, past the wall separating the desert and Southern Equestria, beyond the dark and dangerous Everfree Forest, the ancient and powerful solar princess, Princess Celestia had a dreadful nightmare. A colt of power so intense that even nature bowed to his will marched an army of living trees marked with the same magic found in timberwolves tore covered the world in an unnatural green.

She shot up in her bed, panting at her vision before she prepared a letter, ink, and quill.
> Some Time Apart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sat at my desk in my bedroom and read the scrolls Birch and the treants had gotten for me when they interrogated the slaves. Birch and two other treants I had not named kneeled behind me, usually they would've left immediately, so I figure they wanted something.

"These reports are promising, a kingdom of ponies ruled by two wizards, one of solar magic, the other of lunar magic." I commended Birch and the treants for their work.

Solar, Lunar, and Celestial magic were advanced courses that never truly became their own schools. Practitioners did not brag of their exploits with them because there never were any exploits. Celestial magic could boost your magical output, lunar magic was good for shape-shifting. For raw power, nothing topped solar magic. These two princesses, though, Celestia and Luna, were so advanced in their respective schools that the sun and moon move at their behest. Such power was unheard of back home, as the sun and moon were stationary. 

"This Griffonstone place too, sounds promising, especially with this missing 'idol of boreas,' it mentions here that it holds great power, but didn't mention what that power is."

"This is all the griffon would tell us, master." Replied the treant.

I stared at the three of them for a moment before putting the paper back down onto the desk and jumping off of my seat. 

"What is it the three of you want?" I asked, now on the floor.

"Master, there are concerns among the treants that Birch is too loose with his interpretation of your orders." One of them said. Birch stayed still and silent as my eyes fell onto him.

"More accurately, his occasion for handing out orders without even asking you."

Birch had grown more free as of late, but I didn't doubt his loyalty to me. 

"The treants desire an answer, master. You gave Birch a name and clothing, but never outright stated that he's to be your Overseer." 

I looked at Birch, still dressed in the dark and light green robe he himself ordered to be made. 

"Birch," I stated, causing the treant's head to rise, "Tell me, what are the duties of an overseer?" I truly didn't know, thralls don't usually label themselves.

"An overseer manages the thralls, slaves, and servants of their master. Ensuring they all work hard for their master, as well as keeping them in line, and even relaying orders." Birch replied, never breaking eye contact.

I stared back at him, before looking at the other two treants beside him. The carpeted floor was interesting to look at all of a sudden as I thought of what to do next.

This idol of boreas is something I'd like to add to my collection of mystical trinkets and oddities, even though I no longer have access to the rest of said collection. I know I can't trust my treants with this task, which means I will have to leave home for a time. The treants are a loyal lot, if not particularly bright, I need someone in charge while I'm gone. Someone higher than a mere overseer. 

I looked back at the three treants, still kneeling. "What status do I hold?" I asked seriously, I knew they considered me their master since I was the one who conjured the first twenty.

"Master, you ... you're our master, our leader, our king, master of life, rightful ruler of all living things."

"What? I'm not ruler of all living things!" I said, a bit louder than I expected. I had enough on my plate just 'ruling' the trees.

"You are the master of life. All things blessed with life belong to you, master."

"I'm the master of life MAGIC, I've spent decades to life magic's practice and study, I may have brought you all to life, but the rest of the planet is independent from me!" 

The treants looked down the same way the tree who jumped off the cliff had done, so I said that I forgave them and that they simply didn't know any better. This got them to perk up a little.

"Besides, King Sugar Hoof is a ridiculous name. It sounds like something you'd read on a box of candy at the grocery store." I snickered.

The three of them said, "Yes, Master," In unison. 

"Anyway, is there anyone else fitting to be overseer, besides Birch?" I asked, causing Birch's head to fall back down again.

"Master, it would be an honor to serve as your overseer." Replied the one on the right of Birch a little too enthusiastically. 

"You believe you are capable of keeping the treants in line?" I asked.

"Yes, Master. I shall work them hard in your name!" He growled, I liked his spirit if nothing else.

"Fine, take Birch's robe, and from now on, your name is Elm." The treant shot up to his feet and thanked me aggressively. Birch grew more sullen with every word.

I walked closer to him until i was able to look up into his eyes. "Birch, I want you to be my second-in-command." Birch, Elm, and the other treant were shocked at this.

"Master, I have failed as your overseer, why would you honor me again?" He asked, confusion written on his face.

"You did not fail me, Birch. I plan to be away for a while, and I need you to watch my home while I'm away. The Idol of Boreas has intrigued me, and I'd like to study it first hoof.

"I can send a troop of treants to get it, master, you don't need to put yourself in harm's way."  Birch tried to dissuade me.

"No, I need to do this myself, and you can not try to stop me." I ordered to Birch's displeasure.

"Yes, master." He said.

"While I'm gone, no treant is to leave the immediate surrounding area. If someone shows up, capture them and hold them until I get back, three meals a day, one bath a day." 

"Yes, master." Birch had gotten out paper and quill as he wrote down what I ordered him to do.

Without me here, this place will be far weaker. Don't get me wrong, 50,000 treants are good, but I was always the power house here.

"While I'm away, You must continue to create treants, dig the cavern deeper and further, I intend to build an underground empire, and I'll need many treants to carry this out." 

"What number should we shoot for, master?" He asked, standing up and looking at me while writing.

"My magic is imbued into the farms and the caverns, stop making treants when you stop being able to feed them all." I said, knowing that even then, that would be a lot of treants.

"Yes, master." 

"You will need weapons and armor too." I said, thinking out loud.

"Master?" Birch said, stopping his writing.

"Weapons, I know you all have magic, but have some treants make some swords and armor. If none know how to forge weapons and armor, go to Klugetown, I'm sure you can find some blueprints to steal or trade for."

Birch wrote more stuff down quickly before he looked over at me. "We'll get it done, Is that all, master?"

"The scouts report of a wall separating the desert and the kingdom of Equestria, forty treants will escort us to this wall and let us all leave. This way, the slaves don't know who I am, and I can head off to Griffonstone."

"Master, this really doesn't seem safe." Birch said.

"I'll be fine, you worry about your work and defending my home, I'll be fine." I said, "Now, I must prepare, go fulfill your duties." I said, walking back over to my desk.

As the three treants walked out, Birch told Elm to wait.

Elm looked down, aware that if Birch ordered it, Elm's life would be forfeit. "Yes, Lord Birch?" He said with a frown.

"Overseer, have your best jewelers forge a golden crown, lined with emeralds forged for the master."

"Birch, I—" Elm started to say before he was cut off by Birch.

"You know the price of disobedience." Birch said, matter-of-factly. "If I am to be Lord, that would make Sugar Hoof a king. As much as he laughed at the prospect, you know it is true."

Elm looked sullen, but knew to obey, "Of course, Lord Birch." He said. "Long live the King." He said, slightly smiling.

"Long live King Sugar Hoof." Birch replied with a greater smile.
> Sugar Hoof's Ponycorn Adventure, yay!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of wooden wheels turning on the desert sand followed by the loud thud of treants stomping along both sides of the cart filled everyone's ears. The griffons, diamond dogs, cats, ponies, and myself sat in cages inside the cart. Some tried to get extra sleep for whatever hell they thought awaited them, some whispered comforts to each other, I however, was busy planning. 

I didn't have a map of Equestria nor Griffonstone, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, but I've made long treks before. From what I read in Birch's reports, it's a wonderful place filled with plenty of new magic to study. Even without my treants, and given my school of magic is the weakest when it came to combat, I was still a master at it, and could hold my own in a scrap. 

I was brought out of my thoughts by a hoof rubbing the back of my mane. My eyes shot open, I wasn't expecting physical contact, I knew we should've made these cages with less room in between the bars. Looking back, one of the prisoners, Goldie, I assumed, was giving me a weary smile.

"It'll be okay...I won't let anyone hurt you." She said as she began tearing up.

"Ma'am, I'm more than capable of defending myself." I said, glaring at her. 

Her hoof shrunk back as it was time for her eyes to widen. She gasped, "You can talk?" 

"What kind've wizard would I be if I could not speak?" I asked, scooting further away from her and going back to my thoughts.

At least this conversation was over, Goldie turned back and began talking with a blue pegasus, and I did not care for their speech.

"Just how far are they taking us, we're already nearing the Equestrian border." I heard a griffon say.

"How can you tell?" One of the cats asked.

"I can see the Macintosh Hills just a few miles north."

The Macintosh Hills? "That wall seperating Equestria and the desert is named The Macintosh Hills?" I asked, turning back to the griffon.

"Yeah, probably named after a member of the apple family." Said the griffon.

"Have you ever been to Equestria?" Goldie asked, turning back to me.

"No, I uh.." I tried to come up with a story to tell her, but before I could she stopped me.

"Hey, don't worry about it, do you have a name?" She spoke softly, as one would a frightened bunny.

"My name is Sugar Hoof." I said, looking back to her.

Rain whispered to Goldie, "Poor colt must've been born into slavery."

"Do you remember your parents?" Goldie asked.

My parents ... I am an 89 year old life wizard, and my parents were not of very good health even during my youth. Perhaps if my parents or sister had been born with my skill in magic, they'd still be around. Unfortunately, as far as I knew, I was the only member of my family with any capacity for even the most basic of spells.

"Of course, my mom was a baker, and my dad was a guardsman." I said, softly. I had not thought of my family in many years.

"Your mom was a baker," She looked gladdened at the prospect, "She named you Sugar."

Rain whispered to herself, "At least he wasn't named by whoever bought him."





The sun was setting by the time the cart stopped. With the Macintosh Hills in front of us, the treants began unloading the cart and releasing the slaves, myself included. 

"You're free to leave, all of you. leave, and never return." One of my treants said.

"You're just letting us go?" Asked Goldie.

"As the master commands." The treant replied, glaring at her.

With no reason to stall my journey, I began following the train tracks north into Southern Equestria. 

"Sugar Hoof, wait!" I heard Goldie yell with me, "Where do you think you're going? It's dangerous, especially for a foal."

Before I even knew what was going on, She had me on sitting on her back. "Hey, I'm capable of walking on my own."

"I know, you're a very smart and brave little colt, It's safer with us though." Rain said, flapping her wings behind Goldie.

I almost tried to force myself away from them before I thought a bit more about it. I don't know the distance between me and Griffonstone, but at least while she carries me, I'm getting closer without having to do anything. I laid down on her back where it was warm and soft. The smell of flowers radiated from her, most likely from the soap she bathed with back at base.

I heard her giggling for a second before she asked me, "Where were you going, anyway, you've never even been to Equestria?"

"I was going treasure hunting in a kingdom called Griffonstone." As soon as I said that, a blue hoof ruffled my mane. I did not much appreciate this, so I glared at Rain, causing her to laugh at my face.

The train tracks are spotless, no rust or dirt were on top of it. It was very strange, I wondered if it was magically maintained or if it was maintained by engineers. 

Goldie saw me looking at the tracks and decided to jump onto them.

"Chugga Chugga Chugga Chugga, Choo Choo!" Goldie cried out, I laughed at her foolishness. My laughter spurred Rain to drop onto the track and pretend to be a train as well, causing me to laugh even more.

Through panting breath, I said, "Faster, Goldie, faster." The three of us laughed as Goldie began to run northward. At this rate, I'd be away from the Macintosh Hills in no time.





Goldie and Rain were panting for breath as we reached the end of the hills, the two mares flopped onto the red dirt as I stepped off of Goldie's back. 

"That was fun." I said simply as the two mares continued fighting for breath.

As they panted, I sneaked from their side and used my magic to dig a hole for me to escape from. Neither mare even saw me sink into the dirt below.

"Hey, Rain?" Goldie said between pants?

"Yeah?" Rain replied, trying to stand back up.

"Did you tell Sugar Hoof my name? I don't think I told him."

"No." Rain's head shot up as she went to ask me a question.

Hey, Sug—" She stopped as she realized I was gone.
> No Work for Young Colts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I could feel something familar, and so foreign at the same time. Life, naturally formed, pure, seeped into my hooves from the ground. Spending so much time out in the desert with the only plant life being what I myself had made has caused me to become sensitive to these changes. I could feel the roots underneath me whisper their secrets as my magic was rejuvenated.

As I continued to follow the train tracks, I was made aware of a large density of apple trees through the roots. Too many apple trees to be natural, in fact. The way they were spaced apart in even rows made it a dead giveaway. These were crops, and where there are crops, there are people nearby to tend and eat the crops. With the sheer amount of apple trees taken into account, this isn't some station or border watch, it's a town. It's likely inhabited by ponies, meaning I will get to see first hoof what a pony town is.

Stepping off of the tracks, I channeled my magic into the ground and caused the soil to glow the same neon green as the farms back home. This time it was only a small circle into the ground, as I only intended to grow one thing, an apple tree, it seemed fitting given the over-abundance of them. My magic easily grew a seed under the earth and a light creaking noise filled the air as the tree grew from a seed to a full grown apple tree in merely a few minutes.

I ripped the tree from the earth and began slicing it into paper so I could write notes on my discoveries. By the time I had a full stack of paper, a new tree had grown. I wondered for a moment, how long it would take for someone to find this fast growing apple tree before following the train tracks to a new town, and hopefully some bags for all my paper.





Back in the desert, Birch stood in front of a crowd of over half a million treants. Many of them toiled away crafting, farming, and mining, even while Birch started his speech.

"The master has ordered more treants be created and they be armed and armored! Is it not clear what the master intends?!" He shouted to the crowd, causing the crowd to roar in kind.

"He plans to build his own kingdom here in this desert! As proof of his plans, he has left us here to aquire the mystical Idol of Boreas, a griffon relic known to allow unity or control for whoever wields it!"

The roars continued at the prospect of Sugar Hoof owning this idol.

"With the Idol of Boreas, our king shall not only have claim over us, but over all kingdoms, who could deny his right to rule then?!" 





A yellow pony wearing a brown hat and vest approached me slowly.

"Well howdy, young colt, what are you doin' out here all by yourself." His green eyes looked warmly into mine.

"I'm heading for Griffonstone, but I'm looking to do some odd jobs to earn some extra storm bucks for the road." 

The stallion looked down at me, mouth closed far too tightly, and his eyes looking a bit off.

"Young colt, where are your parents?" He asked.

I looked down sullenly, silently wishing these ponies would stop bringing up bad memories. He seemingly understood as I heard a grimace from him.

"You're all alone out here?" He asked me.

I didn't want to mention the treants back in the desert, so I just nodded an affirmative.

His smile reappeared, but I could that he was trying far too hard with it. "Why don't I take you down to the sheriff's office and we'll see about gettin' you somethin' to eat, you must be famished."

"I'm just looking for work, I doubt I could get one in law enforcement." I said, moving past the yellow pony.

This proved to not be a good idea however, as I felt myself being picked up and carried off.





"And you just found him along the train tracks?" A pony with a cowboy hat and a sheriff's badge asked to the yellow pony.

"Yeah, he was just following the tracks towards town, I asked him where his parents were and he just looked sad." The yellow pony seemed worried.

"Calm down Brae, we'll put in a missing foal report and let foal protective services know, he'll be alright." The sheriff said.

"Thanks, Silverstar." He said, calming down.

I was busy eating and analyzing a delicious apple dessert that the yellow pony, Brae, gave to me. It appears that some magic from the baker, Brae, and the ambient magic of the world combined to enhance the quality and flavor of the baked good. I began taking notes while Brae and Silverstar spoke so I could attempt to recreate it. Whenever I used apples in baking, the apples would end up spoiled by the time I wanted some, but the magic here seems to prevent food from spoiling by quite a large margin. 

Brae watched me as he went to leave.

"I don't think I ever asked you your name." He asked, walking over to me.

"Sugar Hoof, thanks for the dessert by the way." I said before taking another bite.

"Don't mention it, it's the least I can do with what you've been through," He started, giving a small smile, "What are you doing with all this paper though?"

"Oh, I'm taking notes about the magic inside your dessert so I can attempt to recreate it later." 

He laughed for a second, "You're pretty good with that horn of yours, huh?" 

"I've spent my entire life in practice and study, so i certainly hope I'm good at magic, at least to some degree." I said, continuing to write.

"How old are you, by the way." He asked as I remembered myself.

"Two." I said simply.

He looked at the paper I was writng on and saw that I was writing without a quill or ink. "You can write without writing materials?" He asked.

"Magical writing works just fine in short term," I said, taking another bite of the dessert, "I planned to buy some stuff if I could find some work." 

Sheriff Silverstar got up from his seat and said, "I'll head over to the saloon and see about renting a room for the colt."

Brae turned back at the sheriff, wide eyed, "Sheriff, a saloon ain't a place for a two-year-old colt."

"I can't just let him leave and he can't stay here. The saloon is the only place that has a room available."

Brae looked back at me as I drew out the magical runes I found in the dessert.

"He can spend the night with me." He said, causing me to look up from the paper.

"Brae," Silverstar started before brae continued.

"He has nowhere else to go until the ministry sends a representative over here. You and I both know they won't send someone till mornin', and you've been called out to the saloon before, you know how ponies get when they've got a bunch of salt goin' through 'em."

"Brae," Silverstar continued, to no avail.

"Now imagine a little colt in a saloon with a bunch of inebriated ponies, t'aint right, Sheriff."

"Brae! I wasn't disagreeing with you, just keep an eye on him until the morning."

So I'm to be settled with this pony for the night, I suppose it was getting a bit late. It's not like I brought anything with me so I'd just be sleeping under the stars. Maybe my journey could be halted for just one night, I'll sneak off before dawn and be right back on track.
> Foal among the Trees, Foal among the Tracks, Foal among the Throne.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brae brought me out to a small three room cabin surrounded by apple trees. The smell of apples and sweat permeated the air as we walked through the front door. A small kitchen, dining room, and living room, made up the first room. I could see what appeared to be a bedroom in the back and the third room I hoped was a bathroom. Though, perhaps ponies simply don't bathe and they all also use magic to keep themselves clean.

"Ah know it ain't much, but it's home." He said, waving a hoof as if to present his dwellings to me.

I didn't particularly care for this whole ministry of foals nonsense, and I planned on leaving once Brae was asleep. "As you recall, I was looking for work to acquire some spending money for travel. I was wondering if you needed any help with farming or building."

Brae patted me on the head, "This work seems a mite too big for ya, ya'll just rest in here." He said, walking back outside.

I did not remain in his house too long after he left, My appearance as a child was beginning to vex me, but I hoped to use my youthful appearance to make some spending money. He was off slamming his back legs into trees as I sneaked off back into the town proper.





"Sugar Hoof!" Goldie screamed. 

Rain flew above the clouds, hoping o find him. "Sugar Hoof, where'd you go, little buddy?"

Goldie was worried, they took their eyes off of him for less than thirty seconds, only for him to disappear without a trace. 

"Oh, where could he have gone?" Goldie muttered under her breath.

"He's probably following the train tracks," Rain shouted from above, "I doubt he'd wander off in a random direction!"

Goldie had to agree with her, Sugar Hoof was a lot smarter than the average toddler. Considering he was born into slavery, he spoke at a level equal to grown ponies. She remembered when she asked Sugar Hoof his name. He hesitated, but it didn't seem like he was afraid of telling her. When he hesitated, it felt like he just didn't want to tell her, or that he wasn't even using his real name.

She shook her head, "We still need to find him! A colt as young as him, out on his own, who knows what could happen to him."

Stopping in her tracks, Goldie put a hoof to her forehead. "He could get hurt out here, who knows what kind of ne'er-do-wells live out here, what if he gets foalnapped." She imagined either bandit ponies or diamond dogs keeping Sugar prisoner.

"Yeah, that'd be the thing, escape slavery just to be put back into chains." Rain agreed, flying back down to her friend. "We'll find him, Goldie, he's probably wandered into Appleloosa by now. We'll get there, he'll be completely fine and the three of us will go out for lunch." She said, rubbing her friend's back.

"It's almost sundown, it's too late for lunch." Goldie said.

Rain blew a raspberry at Goldie, "Dinner then, the three of us will go get dinner." 

Goldie had always been a bit of a worrier, only time she wasn't was when she was gardening. Even back when the two of them were in school, she would worry over the smallest things, but would never sweat the bigger ones, like tests. She'd worry if she remembered to water the plants before she left until after school, then once she was home, drown her flowers, and cry about it all night. 

Rain remembered the day the two of them got their cutie marks, Goldie was planting some petunias as Rain brought a rain cloud over and watered some of her plants. One of the seeds was a bit defective though, once she added water, the flower's petals convulsed into the shape of a large orange reptile that felt spongey to touch. The two of them looked at it before both burst out laughing. After they finished laughing, they stood back up and saw that they had both gotten their marks, a rain cloud and an orange petunia respectively. 

"Come on, let's keep going." Rain said.





Lord Birch sat next to a large golden throne, overlooking the caverns. The unified beating of hammer on metal wrung throughout their underground home. If the treants were capable of tiring out, they'd be exhausted from all the work they do. From sowing and harvesting the crops, to hauling goods to and from the many store rooms, to building and forging new works, such as furniture, weapons, and armor. The treants toiled from dawn till dusk for their master, all missed him, but none missed him more than Birch.

"I had this hall built specifically for you, master." He said to the empty hall. Green and blue lights shined brightly with life magic and reflected off of both the golden throne, and the golden crown sitting on the throne.

"Magic keeps it warm in here, the doors are nigh impregnable, and you'll have a whole battalion of the greatest treant warriors to guard you. Even now, they train for you." Birch stood up and walked over to one of the windows looking out into the caverns.

"The miners are working on carving out the desert, but three of the tunnels have been flooded by the ocean. We're working on a way to completely overlook the oceans entirely. Once we have everything in place, your nation won't stop at the ocean, your kingdom will span the entire planet." He stopped to admire the craftsmanship of the walls and floor. The stone was cut into triangles and the walls smoothed and fortified with golden accents.

Walking back over to the throne, Birch looked at it, wishing Sugar Hoof was there. He felt tree sap enter his eye as he imagined his master sitting on his throne, dressed in the finest silks as he would place the crown upon his head.

Birch fell to his knees as he clutched the throne, his wooden claws felt weak upon his master's throne.

"Please stay safe, master. Please come back to us." He whimpered.





One last train pulled into Appleloosa as I began setting up my stall. "Last stop, Appleloosa!" The conductor shouted as six mares and a dragon stepped off.

"Alright girls, we'll just have to spend the night here." Said the purple one.

The rainbow-maned pegasus groaned, "Twilight, What are we even doing again?"

The purple one replied, "I told you, Rainbow, Princess Celestia felt a magical surge from the desert, she wants us to check it out, and put a stop to it if it turns out that whatever is out there is dangerous."

The dragon scampered to the front of the crowd, carrying a large box, "That's why we brought the elements of harmony." He said with a grin.

"Mah cousin, Braeburn should be out buckin' trees right now, I'm sure he'd let us stay in his barn." An orange mare wearing a cowboy hat said.

A white mare with purple mane laughed hesitantly, "A barn, how very ..." She cleared her throat before continuing, "rustic."

"I didn't know Appleloosa started growing sugar." The pink one said as she bounced onto the dirt pathway at the center of town.

"They don't, at least, Braeburn's never mentioned growing any sugar." The pink one had faded from existence before the orange one could even start talking.

"Hey, how much for your sugar!" The pink one said energetically as she spontaneously appeared in front of me.

"You can have my entire stock for twenty..." Brae didn't seem to know what a storm buck was, "...you can have my entire stock for twenty of your currency." I told the mare as I regained my senses from her speedy movement.

She threw a bright pink bag that jingled with coins onto my stall before she began absorbing all my bags of sugar into her mouth like a vacuum. I didn't bother stopping her, she paid for it all, she can do with it as she likes.

Her body shook as she did this though,  her mouth watered like a faucet as her eyes shined a life magic green. Once the mare had swallowed all the sugar, bags included, she purred before floating upward slowly into the air.

I looked down at my notes and saw that I placed well over twenty food enhancement runes that I learned from Braeburn's dessert onto each bag of sugar. "Maybe I should've left it at one rune, instead." I mumbled softly, writing that down.

Hopping off of the rock I was using so I could see over the counter, I enveloped my stall in magic before forcing it to sink back underground before opening the bag the pink mare had given me and counting the golden coins I saw inside.

While the pink mare was grabbed by the rainbow-maned pegasus off of one of the roofs, the other four mares and dragon began walking over to me.
> Seven vs One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pink mare had paid me twenty bits for thirty bags of sugar, I hoped this would be enough to buy some travelling gear, or at least a bag for all my paper.

A yellow pegasus walked over to me with the gentleness of a butterfly. "Oh my," She said, with equal levels of gentleness, "Were you running this stall all by yourself?" 

"Yes, but I'm more than capable of running my own market stall." I said, tying the pink bag of gold coins to my torso. 

"Pardon me, but won't your parents be upset at ya for selling all that sugar for such a low price? Ah don't know exactly how much Pinkie Pie had, but ah know it wasn't much." The orange one replied, gesturing over to the pink one, which was being shaken by the rainbow-maned pegasus.

"I doubt they'd mind, they don't mind much of anything anymore. Besides, why would they have cared in the first place. It was my sugar, I can sell it for however much I want." I said, walking off to what appeared to be a hat store.

"I know darn well that sugar couldn't have been easy to get a hold of around here, it was likely shipped here from Las Pegasus." The orange pony said, getting closer.

Instead of answering, I instead forced a tree to grow from the soil around and cut off enough thin slices of wood from it to make a paper bag. The white, orange, and yellow ponies watched, and the purple one watched with her mouth open.

"Pinks, speak to me." The rainbow-maned one said while gently shaking the pink one.

"Isss  shooo... goooood" The pink one slurred out, mouth dripping with drool.

"What was even in that sugar, anyway?" The rainbow-maned mare said as she turned back to me.

"Too many food enhancement runes, it seems that she likes it, but maybe she likes it a little too much." I said, scrawling down more notes while I forced some sugar cane to grow. The soil began to glow a neon green and soon a fully grown sugar cane plant burst from the dirt.

With a flick of my horn, I harvested the sugar cane, refined it into sugar, enchanted the sugar only three times instead, and put it into the bag before entering the store.

A stallion stood at the counter and smiled as I walked in. He had numerous outfits in stock, all of which were western themed. "Howdy, young'in," He said to me, tipping his cowboy hat.

The door opened as the four of the mares entered behind me. The pink one burst through a window, a crazed look on her face as she reached for my newest bag of sugar. She grumbled something incoherent at me before I blasted her head with a dispel magic spell.

The purple one and the dragon remained outside, the mare was reading something as the drake wrote something down.

"Dear Princess Celestia, We found the creature using this green magic you warned me about. It turns out, the creature is just a young colt, and when I say young, I mean really young, he shouldn't even be able to walk or talk, let alone use magic." The mare dictated to the drake.

The two continued while I grabbed a set of bags, as well as a cool vest and hat. The white mare gushed as she saw me posing in the mirror with my new apparel. "Oh look at him, he's so precious."

"Rarity, that colt is the creature that Princess Celestia sent us after." Said the purple mare as she rejoined her friends, the drake stayed outside as he set a scroll aflame.

"Mmm, green dragon fire," I said, watching him before noticing a wisp of magic shoot into the sky from the flame. "No, not just dragon fire, a dragon fire delivery service?" I said to myself, rubbing the back of my head in confusion.

The bags served me well as I stuffed them with all my paper. The hat would keep the sun out of my eyes as I travelled, and the vest ... is stylish. I wasted money on the vest, I see that now. The six mares and drake were staring at me, I realized.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"That magical surge the Princesses felt from the desert beyond Equestria's border, was that you?" The purple mare asked.

I thought about it, and I couldn't think of anyone else who would be capable of causing a magical surge powerful enough to alert the rulers a country away to their presence. Hindsight is always 20/20, as they say. Who could've guessed enchanting a bunch of farms underground would be akin to ringing a dinner bell for other powerful wizards.

"Yes, I suppose it was me who did that." I said, straightening my new hat as the drake burped out a letter.

"So it is like a dragon fire delivery service, I'll need to look into that eventually." The possibility of safely transporting goods from one location to another without having to transport it had intrigued me.

"My faithful student, stay close to the colt, and don't let him leave Appleloosa, I'm on my way." Said the drake, reading the scroll out loud.

"The Princess is coming here?" The purple mare asked.

"Just because of a magical surge?" I asked, sitting down on the wooden store floor.

"You didn't just have a magical surge, you used a large quantity of a magic that nobody has ever even heard of." The purple mare replied.

"So I need to leave town then." I said, moving to the door of the shop, only to be stopped by the orange one.

"You ain't goin' nowhere." She said, blocking the exit.

I covered my eyes with my new black cowboy hat and knew that I could probably get away from them.

"Alright, I'll come quietly." I pretended to surrender as I felt myself being picked up in a purple magic field.

The six mares and the dragon brought me outside as I planned out potential escapes.
> Life and Shadow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You volunteered to watch over a baby pony, and you left him alone?!" Applejack yelled at her cousin, Braeburn. 

"I didn't know he was some dangerous magical oddity!" Braeburn shouted back.

"He's a newborn with a firm grasp on writing, talking, walking, and even advanced magic, land's sakes Braeburn, it was obvious!" I drank from a box of apple juice while the two of them bickered.

We awaited the solar princess in Braeburn's tiny house. It was not big enough to hold all of us so we all had to stay uncomfortably close. Many eyes shot over to me in random intervals, except for one, Twilight Sparkle, as I had come to learn her name was, refused to take her eyes off of me. 

My gaze met hers, "You can blink, you know." I told the mare.

"So you can teleport away? Not a chance." She said, refocusing her gaze.

I didn't tell her that I couldn't teleport, I knew a mark-and-recall spell, but that was about it. I think sorcerers can teleport at will, but the other six magic schools, zip. When you're a life wizard, you go into one of two professions, agriculture, or medicine. My youth was spent learning medicine, and I was good at it, so good in fact that I was made to do field work in hostile environments with a crack team of other wizards. Neither medicine or agriculture has any secrets for teleportation though.

Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus, watched me too. She held a different expression though, I couldn't quite tell what though. 

"Could we skip this nonsense?" I asked to the room. "This princess of yours sent you to find me because of my magical surge over in the desert. Given her skill in solar magic, she's likely being cautious of an unknown magical oddity." I didn't mention how it would likely be very easy for her to best me in a fight. 

"Um ... the Princesses just want to know if you're a danger to Equestria." Fluttershy replied.

"Have I done anything that makes me out as a danger to Equestria?" I asked Twilight.

She looked around, searching for an answer before she remembered the sugar incident.

"It's not even possible to add those spells onto food, that just happens naturally." She said, shaking a hoof.

"The ambient magic of the planet infuses itself into the food, much as it had my treants back home, all one must do is find out the spell, copy it, then add it to your object of choice." 

The room was silent, before Rainbow Dash asked, "What's a treant?"

"A treant is a life minion, conjured from raw life magic and a tree. The middle child of the life minion family." This only made things worse. 

"Explain this 'life magic'." Twilight said, levitating a scroll and quill to her dragon, Spike.

"You want a crash course on an entire school of magic?" I asked, wondering how I could even speak on such a subject, life magic as big as it is.

"A basics course, what was the last thing you learned?" Twilight asked.

"The last thing I learned about life magic... I haven't even been allowed in school since..." I remembered when it was, seventy years ago I was kicked out of college.

We were sent to a foreign country to find a rogue wizard who had gone mad after discovering something underground. She had found a secret bunker filled with lost knowledge of a long dead magic. Shadowmancy, a foul magic that was just as much in control of you as you were in control of it. She struck down my allies, and would've struck me down too if it wasn't for my skill in healing spells. I eventually beat her through sheer endurance, with her dead, and all my friends dead, I figured, what was the harm in just skimming over a few of those forbidden tomes.

A few turned into set, a set turned into three sets, three sets turned into a hundred, and pretty soon I had read every book and scroll in that dreaded place. I put what I learned to use, mixing life with shadow, into what I called, the resurrection spell. Necromancers could bring back the dead too, as skeletons, as zombies, ghosts, or wraiths, but they couldn't make a dead man alive again.

I heard gasps around me as I continued to remember that night.

My team had been returned to the living by my magic and for a while, my accomplishments were championed throughout the university, a cure for death. All was good until people began to talk about me, I looked different, my eyes more sunken in, my face darker, I looked weaker than the young man I used to be. A month later, my crime was discovered through the dean of the school doing a magical scan on me, and I was expelled and forbidden from returning.

The room had gotten darker and the fur on my body glowed a sickly dark green as my horn pulsed and throbbed with shadow magic, desperate for violence.

"I'm sorry, but I need to leave." I said, forcing my magic to expel into a combination of life and shadow, Braeburn's house didn't stand a chance. Wood and nails blew away in every direction and the apple trees in the surrounding orchard rose from their slumber and quickly subdued the ponies and dragon.

I had noticed something for the first time since these ponies arrived, the dragon wore a bag on his back, and from that bag radiated a magic signature that I had never seen. 

Taking the bag from the dragon, he began shouting and thrashing about, desperate to get loose, "Hey, give those back!" 

Emptying the bag's contents, I found five necklaces, a map, and a crown. Separate, the magic the necklaces and crown possessed was pitiful, but together as one, their magical signature rang stronger than even my own shadowmancy. 

"I left home looking for one magical artifact, instead I found another, a matching set no less." I would need to examine these later. "Take the ponies and dragon into town, when their princess arrives, demand a ransom of one thousand emeralds for their safe return." That should keep her busy for a few minutes at least. Maybe she'll even get a kick out of it. 

"Let us go!" I heard Applejack shout as she struggled to break free.

Rarity screamed as her fur was covered in dirt from the shadow treants.

I ran off north, using my shadow magic to move faster, my cool cowboy hat almost fell off of my head a few times while I ran, but I caught it everytime.

The fields of southern Equestria eventually gave way to dark forests as I was surrounded by a familiar magic in the forest, raw life magic.
> The Tree of Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun had just risen when I eventually came too. When I awoke, I was lying next to a tree in a forest filled with life magic, the trinkets I stole from Spike were still hanging on my back. 

"At least my hat survived." I said, giving it a soft pat.

I stood up and looked around, the magic here was forced and untamed. Either the life wizard who made it wanted it to look like this, or they were long dead and left nobody to maintain the place. The grass, bushes, and trees were tainted from saturation, so whoever it was that forced the magic to be here, has something around here that keeps filling the place with his / her's magic. 

There were no roads that I could see from this deep in, so I walked in any direction and hoped it wasn't the direction I came from. Poison was in the air, the natural creation of life magic left unchecked. Life's colors were green and brown, but it was equally red in tooth and claw when it had to be. 

I rooted myself onto the ground and branched my magic out to look around better and a few seconds into my spell, I saw it. A tree of magic that matched the trinkets I stole to a T rested in a cave, sheltered from the harsh magic of the forest. If there was anything that could tell me about the artifacts, it was by analyzing that tree.





The green and blue lanterns around the cavern shined onto the mountain of gold that the treants had mined out. Gems sat in similar piles around, too numerous to count.  

"Well over one hundred million, Lord Birch." Overseer Elm said, looking over his notes.

"You do have the miners still digging, right?" Lord Birch asked, dressed in his fine silk robes.

"Of course, the desert falls more under the master's control by the minute."  

"And the 'special' project, I had you look into?" Lord Birch asked.

"We've found a firm place in the caverns that would be perfect to build it, we're excavating it now." Overseer Elm replied, pulling out a blueprint for what appeared to be a magically infused sinkhole.

"The mantle and outer core have already been breached, but we need more treants to continue the mining." He requested.

"Have a farm built in the outer core solely for treant production." Lord Birch commanded.

"Yes, Lord Birch." Elm replied.

"Has the inner core been breached yet?" Birch asked.

Elm looked down for a moment as he remembered something. "Yes ... the inner core." He seemed deep in thought at it's mention.

"Has something been discovered in there?" Birch asked, curious of Elm's behavior.

"Well, we've ... the inner core is filled with natural fire magic, and some of the more magically inclined treants started thinking." 

Birch groaned lowly, acknowledging Elm.

"They think they have come up with a corruptive agent that could turn the fire magic into life magic." Elm said, shrinking back at the uncertainty of it. "Completely under the master's control, of course."

Birch thought of it, and the power it would give the master, he would be untouchable if the very core of the planet was under his control. Come to think of it, the master could use a group of treants to handle the more magical side of things, not even just magical things, but knowledgeable things, things that would normally be left to the master alone. 

"Have some chambers built in the outer core, and get those treants to work," Elm began writing, "And have some of the carrier and guard treants assist them . Should they need resources or test subjects, don't be afraid to steal them from the settlements above ground. It's high time the master has his own team of researchers."

With his own intelligence division, the master would never have to leave again, he could send them to do the dangerous work while he stayed safe. A smile grew on Birch's face at the thought.





The tree was made of crystal, and a harmonious hum rose from it as I approached. My horn lit as I began analyzing it and the trinkets. Millions of runes worked together in harmony to make up their strength. The crown stood out to me, the runes were solely related to magic and harmony. Magic to unite in harmony the other five trinkets respectively. 

"Magic to unite ... balloons, apples, diamonds, butterflies, and lightning, in harmony." I said to myself as I drew out a diagram of the runes.  "That doesn't make any sense."

I tried to activate the crown, only for it to dismiss my magic easily. Trying again didn't work either, but it did reveal to me an image of Twilight Sparkle back in Appleloosa. 

"Oh, they're linked to their owners, clever." I said, putting my paper down and lighting my horn up more. "Let's see if I can change who you think owns you." 

My magic enveloped the crown as the two of us struggled for control.





"Oh sweet Celestia..." Goldie said to herself as she surveyed the damage of Appleloosa. The small settler town had been destroyed, the corpses of pony and treant alike laid about the place, Princess Celestia and a dozen royal guards walked about searching for something.

"The treants ... attacked Appleloosa?" Rain said, descending to the ground beside Goldie. They both hesitantly walked forward into what remained of the town.

A sigh of relief came from the princess of the sun, "At least a few of my little ponies survived."  She said once she saw Goldie and Rain.





The crown fell from my magic as no matter what I tried, it would not change who it thought was it's owner. I cracked my neck in annoyance at it's stubbornnes.

"Whoever made these artifacts should be commended on their craftsmanship." I surveyed the area and my notes for a clue as to what to do. 

The cave itself was unassuming besides the crystal tree in the center and decided to move closer to it. I looked closer and saw six indents on the tree that looked like it could hold the necklaces and crown perfectly. 

Turning around, I looked back at the trinkets and realized. "It's not the trinkets who need to have their minds changed, it's the tree."

I let my magic fill the cave and knew that I'd have to put everything I had into the tree to convince it to let go of it's secrets.





A metal door, enchanted and guarded constantly stood between the inner core and the outer core, A treant in a blue cotton robe held a bubbling neon green liquid that made everyone around feel queasy. In no time at all, a small group of treants had created the compound from the master's magical signature. 

Birch looked at the door, feeling ill. "For the master." He said, everyone repeated the phrase as the door opened.

Burning fire filled the hall, if it wasn't for the life magic that radiates from the cavern, they'd have been burned to death. The treant researcher threw the corruptive agent into the fire and were blinded by the result.





Something had changed all of a sudden, I could feel it, my heart raced. Someone ... something ... my horn glowed brighter around the crystal tree as my magic expanded through unknown means. Every second that passed, my magic grew stronger.

The tree stood firm for only a minute before the first cracks formed. The magic inside wasn't built to enforce harmony, it WAS harmony, harmony made manifest. It burned brighter than the shadow magic within me, and I knew that I had to learn this magic

My horn and heart aligned with the tree to create a concentrated line of harmony and life. The runes inside of the tree became known to me, 

"Laughter ... Generosity ... Honesty ..." Branches from the tree cracked and feel to the ground below as the trinkets circled around me, humming with harmony magic. 

"Loyalty ... Kindness ... Magic ..." The tree shrunk as it was pulled into me, I tried to stop the spell, but couldn't, I was stuck in place.

"No ... stop!" I could not move my horn away from the line as I came to know an ancient magic for a second time.

"Sorcery ... Healing ... Bravery ..." Greater my magic grew as the tree and trinkets shrunk.

"Stoooop!" I groaned as new magic filled my being. "Strength ... Beauty ... Hope ..." 

The Tree of Harmony and the Elements of Harmony as I had come to learn of their names, turned to dust that soon rested inside of me.

I screamed as my magic grew, no human was meant to bear such power, these gifts were meant for the world, not for one to hold. Light filled the cave as I blacked out from the pain.
> I knew what I had done
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The guilt was overwhelming as the spot where the tree of harmony once stood, smoldered. I covered my mouth with a hoof as I took a shuddering breath.

"I just ... I didn't think ... the tree. It wasn't meant to absorb ..." I couldn't finish my sentence as I closed my eyes tightly.

My magic had only grown stronger as I sat there, trying to control my emotions. This tree had sat here for generations, a  beacon of harmony, a battery pack for those trinkets. It was gone now, I killed it, and took it's magic with me. I was the tree of harmony, and I knew I wasn't fit for this task. No amount of creatures were fit for harmony incarnate. No spell I knew could fix this ... no healing spell could repair this damage.

With my heightened magic, I could feel something happening south, in the direction of Appleloosa. My horn glowed an emerald shade, revealing an image of the town and I saw what it was.

Ponies and treants dead on the ground, the town in ruin, shadowmancy tainted the once pristine soil. 

I shook my head in dismay, more of my doing, more of my mistakes. Innocent ponies ... dead, because of me. Over an idol in Griffonstone, I didn't even know where Griffonstone was! I smashed my hoof into my face before I remembered the day I resurrected the rest of my team back when I learned shadowmancy. Realization hit me as I looked back into the picture of the ruins of Appleloosa

I couldn't fix the tree ... but the damage I caused to Appleloosa, that I could fix.





A ball of light swirled in the town square, causing everybody to look on in wonder. Perhaps they could feel the harmony magic radiate inside of me and thought I was someone else. 

The mounting relief was replaced by fear and hate the second they saw me. 

"FOUL BEAST! LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO MY PONIES!" Shouted a tall mare with white fur and rainbow mane. I could see the pain and grief in her eyes, it was clear she'd been crying recently. By the crown on her head, I assumed she was Princess Celestia.

I didn't know what to say, no words could convince her, and I had no right to even be here after what I'd done.

"I can ..." I cleared my throat to wash the guilt from my throat and spoke up. "I can bring them back!" 

She misunderstood, "NECROMANCER! KILLING THEM WASN'T ENOUGH!? YOU MUST DESECRATE THEM TOO!?" Her horn shined like the sun as a beam of concentrated solar magic shot straight for me.

Despite her incredible power, the combined might of my enhanced life magic and the harmony magic I had stolen were more than a match for her. I summoned a shield around myself that shined a clear and sparkling white, stopping her attack easily.

Fear grew on her face as she knew. "That ... That's harmony magic." She sat down on the ground with a thud. "The elements... By Faust, what have you done..." I took her moment of weakness and levitated myself into the air above the ruined town.

Looking below me, I saw the bodies of ponies I had never met, yet now through the tree, knew by name. Braeburn was missing half of his body, Sheriff Silverstar's head was crushed open. I almost vomited from the sight of them. Cherry Berry, Shoeshine, Lemon Hearts, Lyra Heartstrings, Sassaflash, Caramel, Amethyst Maresbury, Star Spur, Fetter Keys, Lucky Clover, and Rare Find, all innocents. 

My horn glowed brightly as harmony, shadow, and life worked together as many tri-colored tendrils entered every corpse. Bones were mended, skin was repaired, blood began pumping, and all throughout the town, the dead shot awake as if their death was a bad dream. Gasps of life ascended to me as I surrounded the town with magic and began creating the building materials needed to repair the town I had destroyed. 

Planks, nails, and paint flew through the sky and one by one, buildings rose. From the saloon to the sheriff's office, I made right. I even build Braeburn a bigger house, nothing too big, but he could live comfortably now.

With the damage I'd done to Appleloosa repaired, I descended back to the ground and sat silently.

The golden hooves of the Princess were the first to approach. I couldn't bring myself to look at her, but I was ready to accept whatever punishment she deemed fit.

"The elements..." I heard her say with anger, "Where are they?"

I said nothing for a while before relenting.

"They're inside of me ... Their magic." 

"You absorbed them into you?!" I could feel her stare on my head grow hotter.

"I was just trying to analyze them ... I wanted to learn their magic, not absorb it into me."

Even now, my magic grew stronger, I didn't know why.

I heard the princess take a breath and let it out slowly.

"What's your name?" She asked, calmer, but still furious.

"Sugar Hoof." 

She gestured for some ponies in golden armor to surround me before saying, "Sugar Hoof, you are under arrest for ponyslaughter and crimes against harmony." 

I did nothing as my hooves were bound in chains. 





Princess Celestia stood at the crater where the tree of harmony once stood. 

"You really did it, didn't you? Nothing's even left." She looked sullen at the sight.

"Princess Celestia, without the tree or the elements ..." Twilight Sparkle stopped at the thought.

"Equestria's greatest defense is gone." The princess replied.

"There has to be something we can do! Couldn't we plant another tree of harmony?" Rainbow Dash suggested.

"The tree of harmony was planted by Star-Swirl the Bearded, and he's been missing for centuries."

I could feel eyes on me, though I refused to look up. 

"What about him?" Fluttershy asked, "The elements aren't lost, they're just in him."

"Maybe we can get them back out of him?" Applejack offered.

"He clearly feels guilty about it, why else would he come back and fix everything?" Fluttershy said.

I heard the sound of a hoof striking another hoof. "Let him pay for his crimes by using the power of the elements to defend Equestria" Said Twilight.

Voices of agreement resounded as I looked up. Repaying my debt by defending their home seemed like a good idea.

Princess Celestia walked over to me and for the first time, I had the courage to look her in the eye. Her eyes bored into me like knives as she seemed to scan my very soul.

"You will stay in Canterlot under constant watch. Every second of every day, you will be watched, and if you are even a second late when we tell you to be somewhere, I will not hesitate to lock you into Tartarus, and throw away the key." She glared with the hatred of a mother staring back at the one who murdered her children. 

"Yes, Princess." I said, bowing my head.
> Canterlot Castle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The beautiful marble walls and floors of Princess Celestia's Castle greeted me with a kindness that the ponies inside did not. I did not deserve such kindness from the castle either, I did not truly understand the significance of what I had done to the tree, but I knew that the world was worse off.

The guards forced a ring on my horn that made it impossible to use, I didn't tell them about how life magic is from the heart and not the horn, I didn't plan on using my magic anyway. With such a vast influx of life magic, and harmony magic, which I'd never even heard used before inside of me, who knows how much damage I could do.

I was put into a dark room made of stone with Shining Armor, a white-furred unicorn stallion with a blue mane. Anti-magic enchantments had been placed on the walls and ceiling to prevent my escape. They were not strong enough to stop me though, even here, hours after I stole the tree's magic, I grew stronger. I lowered my head in both guilt and thought. The harmony magic has settled, it's my life magic that expands, is the harmony magic forcing my life magic to grow? 

"Your name is Shining Armor, right?" I asked to see if what the harmony magic told me about him was true.

"You held my little sister captive." He growled in response.

"Yes ... against my orders, the treants attacked the town." The treants were meant to stall, not attack. 

"Twily said you wanted one thousand emeralds for their return, why?" He wrote something down on some parchment.

"I didn't," I started, "I figured the Princess would think about it for a moment before laughing, then free them with her magic."

"Those creatures you created, what magic did you use?" 

"Theurgy and Shadowmancy, life magic and shadow magic respectively."

"How did someone as young as you come across shadow magic, let alone become competent enough to create thinking lifeforms?"

"I'm an eighty-nine-year-old wizard who's spent most of his life practicing life magic." I said as he put the quill down onto the table a bit too forcefully.

"If you aren't going to answer the questions truthfully, maybe we're better off with you in Tartarus." He warned.

I apologized and lied to him, "I found some books in the desert about them."

"You're a two-year-old colt who can walk, talk, and learn magic that even some alicorns can't figure out, and you somehow managed to absorb the magic in the tree of harmony." He glared at me.

"You like corndogs?" I asked, using my hoof to hold up my head. 

His eyes gave him away, he did in fact like corndogs.

"We're here to talk about you, not me." He said.

"The harmony tells me things. That's how I knew your name." He looked at me with a mix of anger and caution as he wrote down what I said.

"Where in the desert did you find these books?"





"The agent worked as intended, Lord Birch." Overseer Elm said, watching from one of the new observation chambers surrounding the planet's inner core.

Birch watched as the master's magic overtook the fire magic in the inner core, turning it from a molten yellow into an emerald green. A small ocean of burning magic, once it has taken the entire planet's core, no force on the planet would be able to stop him. 

"How long until the entire planet's core becomes his?" Birch asked.

"It would take years for his magic to take the center of it."

Birch asked, "Could we make more of the agent and use it to speed up the process?"

"Adding more of the agent wouldn't increase the speed, it's more likely to slow down the spread actually."

"A few years ..." He held his face in his wooden hand, "Someone should've gone with him. At least a handful."

"The master is a powerful and wise wizard, and even now, his power grows by the second with every inch of the planet's core that is converted." Elm replies, attempting to comfort Birch.





"Even now, his powers grow, my sister." Princess Luna said, "Were the elements truly so powerful?"

"The elements have intertwined with another form of magic inside of him. The harmony remains the same, it's this second magic that grows."

Princess Luna looked down, not sure what they could do if he were to try to escape. "We can't defeat him, can we?"

"Without the elements, I doubt anyone could defeat him." Princess Celestia looked sullen in return.

"What will we do, sister?" 

"He feels guilty for what he did, as he rightly should. He's already agreed to defend Equestria with the harmony magic to repay his debt to Equestria, so he'll be held in my room."

"I thought I saw some of your furnishings being carried out of there. Why not just stick him in the dungeons?" Luna asked.

"He has magic similar to the everfree forest, he needs to be kept as far away from the ground until we can build better relations." Celestia explained.

Luna nodded her head before processing that last part, "Build better relations? He's a criminal, not a noble."

"He's a young and powerful colt, from what those two mares in Appleloosa told me, he escaped from slavery and his parents are out of the picture. He's likely spent his life alone and scared." She drank some tea to wet her throat before continuing, "The best way to make sure he doesn't try to escape is by giving him something to stick around for, safety and friends."

"Ah, your student and her friends, of course." Luna said, before Celestia shook her head.

"Not yet, they must remain separate for the foreseeable future. We must get him into a better way of thinking first."

"Who then, surely you don't intend for either of us too?" 

"Gilded Spear would be perfect." Celestia said with a small grin.

"Who, sister?" Luna asked, looking up quizzically. 

"Gilded Spear is one of the new recruits for the royal guard, he isn't very strong or fast, but he's eager to please."

"You want an untrained recruit to watch over the potentially most dangerous criminal in Equestria's history?" Luna asked, believing that her sister had finally lost her mind.

"Of course not, I want Gilded Spear to befriend Sugar Hoof under the guise of being his warden."





I was carried up to the tallest tower in the castle where a wonderfully designed room sat vacant and empty for me. The walls were a freshly painted lavender color, and it was still wet in some places. The marble floors had clearly been polished recently.

"I thought I was being taken to my cell." I said to the guards, still pulling my chains along.

"This is your cell." One of them replied, as they unlocked my restraints.

"Uh ... I don't ..." I tried to say, before they began talking again.

"If you try to escape, we will find you, and lock you away in a place that makes this tower seem like a luxury resort." With no other word, they turned around and left.

I looked around my 'cell', It had a balcony of all things, who holds a prisoner in a room with a balcony? The clopping of my hooves on the marble floor was the only sound I could hear, not even the wind outside dared to make a noise. 

"A tall round room in the tallest tower of the Princess's Castle, four windows, two doors." I said to myself, "What game are they playing? I could break out of here easily, even before my magic began to grow.

Maybe that was it though, maybe they knew I wasn't going to try to escape. "Even then, they could've at least kept the restraints on me."
> The Happiness of Living and the Discomfort a Lie Provides
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had nothing to do and I didn't dare use my magic for fear of being thrown in Tartarus. I paced in a circle in my 'cell'. Sure they locked both doors, but really? A tower? 

The harmony swished around like a warm liquid in my heart, it was pleasant to feel, but I wished I knew how to get rid of it. I could grow a regular tree and try to force the harmony magic into it, but the tree of harmony was made of crystal, and bore magically infused crystal fruits to be used as weapons. I didn't know how to do such things.  The closest I had ever heard of crystal trees were blocks of ice cut into the shape of trees for exuberant dinner parties held by nobility. Despite my many years of magical study, Ice magic wasn't one of the schools I researched.

I stopped pacing as I thought of something, "Do I add harmony magic to the list of magics I know," I didn't know how to categorize harmony, "If shadowmancy is the magic outside the other fourteen and three, is harmony a collection of all seventeen schools?" I asked myself in a whisper. Nothing I had ever researched gave mention to harmony. 

Eighty nine years of study, and all I truly had to show for it was mastery in one, and competency in four. Well, seventy nine years, I didn't know I had magic until I was roughly ten, but still. Seventy nine years for a mastery in theurgy, and slightly above par skills in necromancy, pyromancy, divination, and shadowmancy.

"Sorcery to maintain balance, harmony to unite?" I rubbed the back of my head with a hoof, wishing I had some paper to write my theories down with. "Equilibrium and harmony, to maintain balance ..." I knew those three had to fit together somehow, I just didn't know exactly which way.

"One birthed the other—" My thoughts were halted as the door of my cell opened.





"Books once belonging to King Sombra somehow found their way into a desert trading town." Princess Celestia said, reading Shining Armor's report.

"An entire empire is banished, but of course, some of his wicked arts survived." Replied Princess Luna, rolling her eyes. "The desert belongs to The Storm King, sending guards would be viewed as a provocation. But we need those books, especially now that they've resurfaced enough for a foal to find them."

"If The Storm King found those books, war would be inevitable." Celestia said, looking down at the thought.

"We can't just send Twilight and her friends after them, without the elements, Faust only knows what would happen to them." Luna replied.

Taking a deep breath, Celestia prepared herself for what she'd need to do next.

"I've looked at your schedule, you aren't meeting any nobles until this evening." 

Princess Celestia walked out of the room with a practiced grace. "Come along, I'd like you with me."

Luna got out of her chair and followed after her sister, "Sister, what has gotten into you?"

"Breakfast with Sugar Hoof," Said the solar princess before adding on, "He's our only option." With a growl.





The Golden Oak's Library was in disarray, Twilight Sparkle frantically read every book she could, in hope of finding an answer. 

Twilight groaned as she slammed her face into a book. "None of these books mention anything about what to do if the elements get destroyed."

"They weren't destroyed," Rainbow Dash said, "That colt still has them inside of him." 

"That shouldn't even be possible! How does somepony just absorb magic into themselves like that?" Twilight replied, loudly.

Pinkie Pie hopped out of the space in-between the pages of one of Twilight's books, in the usual way, and said, "I wonder if Princess Celestia would let me borrow him so he could make some more of that uberdelicious sugar!"

Her friends looked at her, some with acceptance, some with confusion. "What, that sugar was really, really good." The Pink mare said after a second.

Twilight sighed, "I guess Equestria will just have to get along without the elements of harmony from now on."

"Ah thought Sugar Hoof was gonna help defend Equestria, with the elements inside of him an' all." Said Applejack.

"That's assuming he keeps his word, darling." Replied Rarity, moving closer to Applejack. 

"He wasn't lyin' when he said he'd defend Equestria." Applejack said before adding on, "And he did come back to Appleloosa to make things right."

"Yes, resurrection magic, another impossibility." Twilight said, slamming her face into the same book again.

"How's your cousin doing, Applejack." Fluttershy asked softly.

Applejack let out a sigh with a mix of annoyance and relief, "Trust me, you don't wanna know."

"Let me guess, they've all grown thirty-eight heads and have begun flying around town? Nothing would shock me at this point!" Twilight said, groaning again.

"No, they're ... happy." Everyone looked at Applejack, except for Pinkie Pie who still wanted more sugar.

"Well yes, I'd imagine they would be happy, having come back from the dead and all." Rarity said, throwing her mane in order to increase her physical beauty.

"Not like that ... Ah corn, how do I put it..." Applejack pushed her hat further onto her head with a hoof as she thought. "Have ya'll seen Lyra 'round town?" None had.

"She just seems happier, in general." Applejack said.

"Like, so happy that she walks into danger without caring?" Twilight asked.

"So happy that she's unable to show any other kind of emotion?" Fluttershy asked as well.

"So happy that she'll never want to go to another one of my parties ever again because they seem sad in comparion?!" Pinkie Pie shouted, looking ready to pull out her mane.

"No, they ... they're able to process their emotions proper. And they know what is and isn't safe to do ... the ponies Sugar Hoof brought back to life just seem like their happier now." Applejack said, finally.

"Even if it seems okay now, we should still let Princess Celestia know about it," She looked over to the stairs where Spike was picking up one of the many books that had been thrown around. "Spike, take a letter." Twilight said, causing Spike to pull out parchment and quill from nowhere.





A grey-furred pegasus stallion entered my room, Gilded Spear was his name. He wore the golden armor of the royal guard, but it was clear his set was a bit too big on him. His armor made noise constantly, causing the other guards to belittle him. 

I shook my head, trying to get harmony to stop telling me things about these ponies' lives.

"You're Sugar Hoof?" Gilded Spear asked with uncertainty.

"Yes, and you are Gilded Spear." I said while I thought up theories about how to stop harmony from giving me information.

"Oh, did the princesses tell you about me?" He asked with an uncomfortable grin on his face.

"I wish," I said before mumbling, "I hate hearing voices bubble from my heart."

He pulled out a piece of paper and read it quickly. "Well, if the Princess says so." He began taking off his armor.

"Woah, hold on, you need that armor, what If I attacked you?" I tried to convince him to keep it on.

He stopped and mulled it over before replying, "By order of the Princess, I'm to leave my armor in here." 

I scrunched up my eyes in disbelief before he walked over to me.

He dropped onto his belly gently, "Hop on," He said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"You want me ... on your back?" I said slowly. 

He gave a small smile, "By order of the Princess, I'm to carry you to the dining hall."

My jaw was slack in disbelief. "She wants me ... to sit on your back ... within hoof distance of your neck ..." 

"Please, just get on, I'm trying really hard to impress the Princess." He said.

I looked at him slack-jawed for a minute.

"Please?" He put his two front hooves together. 

"What kind of prison is this?" I said, gesturing to everything before continuing myself, "I'll tell you what kind of prison it is, not a very good one!"
> Breakfast with Princesses
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Dining Room was thankfully small, but still shows off the wealth of Equestria with it's beautiful room design and it's solid gold table. The table itself could roughly seat eight ponies. Gilded Spear walked over to the table, still carrying me on his back. I wanted to ask them why it was necessary to carry me, I was fine being bound and dragged, but I did not want to anger them. If they think humiliation is punishment enough, I'll grit my teeth and bear it.

"Sugar Hoof, good morning." Princess Celestia said with a smile. 

What is she happy about? I accidentally destroyed her nation's greatest defense. "Good morning, Princesses." 

"How do you like your room?" She asked, never taking her eyes off of me.

"It's certainly a lot different than what I was expecting." I said, evenly.

Gilded Spear got onto his stomach again and I jumped off, I was about to jump onto a chair myself when I felt Princess Celestia's magic circle around me.

"Here, let me..." She placed me gently onto a chair on the opposite side of the two royal sisters. 

"Thanks, but for future reference, I can move around fine on my own, and I have no intention of escape." I said gently but firmly, hoping that she would not be angered.

Celestia pretended to not hear me, and instead asked a different question, "How old are you, Sugar Hoof?" 

"I've been told I'm roughly two years old." I said, inwardly groaning.

Her smile was gone, so I added, "Despite my youth, I am still perfectly qualified to defend Equestria, as per our agreement." 

"Oh, I know you are." She said before forcing the smile back on her face.

Gilded Spear sat next to me a bit too closely, he smiled whenever I looked at him. It was like Celestia' smile, forced, nothing was funny, nobody was happy, they pretended they were. 

"You did not ask for me to attend breakfast just to smile at me awkwardly, did you?" I wish I was better at biting my tongue.

"When was the last time you were examined by a doctor?" She asked.

"I have spent my life studying healing magic, I've never needed a doctor since I myself am one." I replied too firmly.

The door opened and in walked a cream colored unicorn mare. 

"Sugar, this is Doctor Care, she's going to examine you before we eat." Celestia explained.

"Goodness ... you're a small one, aint'cha?" She said softly.

"Very," I started before looking her in the eye and saying, "What do you need me to do?" 

"Just sit still, my magic will take care o' the rest." I could feel her cream colored magic circle around me and into me before she ceased her examination hastily.

Her hoof went to her mouth as she said, "Oh my ..."

"Pray tell, what have you found, doctor?" Luna asked loudly.

"His heart is using everfree magic to contain the magic from the elements." The doctor explained, "And it looks like the everfree magic inside of him grows stronger by the second!" She said alarmingly.

The two sisters knew this already, "You're sure it is everfree magic containing harmony?" Celestia asked.

"His magic matches every example of everfree magic I've ever heard of. There's nothing else it could be." She replied.

"You're getting it backwards, the everfree forest is filled with life magic, the same magic I've spent my life mastering."

"You have experience with the magic in the everfree?" Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course," I explained, "Any life wizard could tell that the everfree forest is just the result of life magic left unchecked."

Celestia looked into my eyes and asked, "Seeing that you have experience in this regard, do you think it's possible to fix the everfree?"

I looked at the table in thought, "Of course, the forest just needs it's life magic levels balanced, and it needs a deep cleaning."

"A deep cleaning and it's life magic levels balanced," She lowered her head to better be eye level with me. She looked like she wanted me to continue.

"Life magic doesn't naturally do that unless there's just an infinite source of it spewing out more, and I'm sure that some creatures have taken refuge in the deepwoods." I said, explaining myself.

"After breakfast, you and Gilded Spear can get started on it," Said the solar princess before turning over to one of the other guards. "Have a chariot set up outside for them, and pack some lunch for them as well." The royal guard gave a salute and left the room.

Luna straightened her back and looked at Doctor Care, "What of his age, is he truly two?"

"This is no average colt, Princess. His bones, muscles, heart, and even his eyes radiate magic." She said, hiding her face behind her hair a bit.

"I asked of his age, doctor." Luna replied snarkily.

"I'd say ..." She looked at me, causing me to raise an eyebrow, "His body is well developed, but he's closer to a new-born than a two-year old."

The Princesses looked at me, shock in their eyes. "Is he truly that young, surely you jest?" Luna asked.

"He's as developed as a grown stallion, but he's only ... a week old? A week and a half?" The doctor replied.

"Impossible!" Luna shouted, "He speaks perfect Equestrian, and can understand and cast complex magic that some high level unicorns likely couldn't comprehend." 

The doctor began shaking a little.

It's been roughly two weeks since I wound up on this planet... Did it truly give me a new ... I stopped as I realized what that meant.

It wasn't a long range teleportation and transformation effect, it was a rebirth effect, and it used my human body as it's catalyst. When it exploded ... I'm dead ... My consciousness given new life on another planet. My head fell into my hoof as I thought of this.

"Thank you doctor." Celestia said. 

I'm just a new-born here... an infant, with the mind of an elder wizard... 

Celestia said something to one of the cooks in the next room but I wasn't paying attention. I could hear Gilded Spear walk away for a second, and when he came back, I saw a green baby bottle fill my vision. 

On instinct, I summoned a shield, informing my wardens of my ability to cast magic even without the use of my horn. 

The two princesses stood up and the guards got into a position that could be described as 'combat-ready'. 

I had no intention of drinking milk from a baby bottle, I may be in the body of a new-born, but I was still me! I wrenched the bottle from Gilded Spear's hoof and set it on the table with my magic before I hopped out of my seat and went to the door.

"Sugar Hoo—" Celestia started before I cut her off.

"I still plan to deal with the everfree," I said, looking over to Gilded Spear, now sitting down on the carpet. "I'll be waiting outside in the chariot for you, if you aren't there in thirty minutes, I'll climb down the mountain without you or the chariot." 

The door wasn't even locked as I left, and the guards didn't even try to stop me.





"Are you sure he's just a week old?" Gilded Spear asked, and the doctor just nodded.

"He's willing to put the everfree forest back to normal. We should be thankful for that." Celestia said as one of her staff brought out a plate of haycakes for Gilded Spear. His mouth watered at the sight of them.

"Eat well, you will need your energy for today." Celestia added.

"Right ... the everfree forest." Gilded Spear didn't like the idea of entering the most dangerous forest in Equestria, but ... the princess ordered him to, and he wouldn't let her down.

"Gilded Spear, I told them to pack lunch for both you and Sugar Hoof, but they will also pack some baby food as well." Said the solar princess.

"You know he won't eat any of it, sister." Luna added.

"While he works on the everfree, I want you to help him, not just with the everfree, but talk to him as a friend." Celestia ordered.

"What should I talk about, Princess?" He asked. 

"He knows a great deal about the magic in the everfree forest, and magic in general, try asking him about that." 

"Yes, ma'am." He saluted.

"Every hour he works, I want you to try to get him to take a break."

He looked uncertain, but nodded anyway.

"We need him to open up a little, and to do that, he needs to focus on something other than his magic and his work."
> Life Magic, Born of Fear
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gilded Spear and I stood outside the Everfree Forest and I wondered where I should start. 

"It'd probably be easier to peel off the life magic by the edges and work our way inward." I said, thinking over my plans. 

His legs shook slightly as he looked deeper into the forest, sweat formed on his brow. 

Walking closer to a tree so I could begin my work, I said, "If you were afraid of the forest, you should've mentioned something before we left."

He shook his head and said, "I-I'm not scared. I'm a member of the royal guard." 

Thunder rained down suddenly, and Gilded Spear jumped backwards. "AHH!" He screamed.

Looking up, I saw the two royal guards who flew us down here, still attached to the chariot, fly away from the storm cloud. They laughed and shouted, "Have fun, wimp!" Gilded Spear growled as they flew away. 

"Those two seem fun." I said, grabbing the first tree in my magic.

"Bunch of jerks." Gilded Spear grumbled, but he still remained a sizeable distance away from me.

"Shouldn't you be standing closer, in case I try to escape?" I asked.

"Uhhh..." He started, putting his hoof on the back of his head. "You could've escaped earlier... Yeah, the ring around your horn didn't even work, you could leave anytime you want." He said.

I looked at him with eyes that said, 'Are you serious?', and he finally moved a bit closer.

"Besides, I'm supposed to be defending Equestria, that includes you, I'd imagine."

He scoffed, "I don't need some baby pony to keep me safe." I glared at him and picked him up in my magic.

"Sugar! Sugar, I was just kidding, put me down!" He said frantically, trying to get away as I held him on the opposite side of me, further into the everfree forest.

"If you happen to see anything approaching, say something so I can handle it." I said, finally able to return to my work.





About an hour into the job, I looked back at my lack-luster progress. We were on the western side of the forest, and behind me, a line of trees stood out from the rest. The grass beneath looked ridiculous, as if a child had drawn it. The grass outside the Everfree was akin to a fern, while the grass inside the everfree was similar to killarney, and in the line with the trees I had cured, the grass was an emerald color.

"Hey Sugar Hoof, you feel like taking a break anytime soon?" Gilded Spear shouted over to me, still contained in a bubble of my magic. 

"Take a break? I've only just started." I explained before moving on to the next tree. 

It was more time-consuming than anything, I could've just ran through quickly and started changing everything, but I wanted this to last. Not the time working, mind you, but the forest. It had been so long since I had fulfilled my duty as a life wizard, instead of farming, instead of fighting, we created. 

The next tree's bark grew a healthy and light brown as the grass turned an emerald green. I was enjoying myself, doing simple labor that felt both natural and right was pleasant to experience. 

Gilded Spear noticed the small smile on my face and said, "At least you seem to be enjoying yourself."

"I haven't done this type of stuff since I was still in school." I said as I moved on to the next tree. 

"So this... 'life magic' stuff, is the same as everfree magic?" 

"Yes, I'd suspect that in the center of the forest, we'll find the source of all this life magic." 

"What do you think the source is?" He asked.

"Probably a tree or a well ... or a staff. It would have to be something stained with life magic after decades of use from a  practitioner to warrant all this." Another tree cured.

"And how come you can still cast magic even while you have a magic-nullifying ring on your horn?" 

I saw no reason to lie further, they already know from my blunder at breakfast. "Life magic comes from the heart, and a horn is just a naturally formed wand or staff. It helps with aiming one's magic, but has nothing to do with access to magic."

"How do you know all this?" 

"No, no, it's time for you to answer a question." I said, looking at him in the bubble, "Those two stallions, are they 'repeat offenders?" 

He sighed as he looked down, "It's not just those two, everypony at the barracks make fun of me for being weak or slow... or afraid."

I did notice that Gilded was a bit smaller than the other royal guards I had seen. "You're just a recruit still, you need to give it some time, practice, train, and move up in the ranks." I explained as I finished another tree.

"I know, it's just... what if I can't do it?" He said, his ears lowered at the thought.

"You can, I'm sure." If the other guards were any indication, being a royal guard didn't require much in the way of strength or intellect.

"You think I can?" He asked, ears raising.

"I know you can." I said and he smiled.

"Thanks, Sugar Hoof." 

We stayed in silence for a few more minutes after that.





Goldie and Rain stood before Princess Celestia in the throne room of Canterlot, she looked fearful in thought. "And you're sure, a few thousand of them?"

"The caverns were massive, your majesty, there must've been well over ten thousand of them down there." Rain said.

"I just wish I understood why he did it, Princess. Why free us while pretending to be a slave himself?" Goldie asked, remembering being moved in a cart surrounded by treants with the other slaves on their way to the macintosh hills.

"A good question, I will have to ask him about his exploits myself later." Said the solar Princess, as she levitated up a map and drew a circle at the exact spot where Rain and Goldie said the treant caverns were.
> A Taste of Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sugar Hoof, it's getting late." Gilded Spear called over to me from the bubble I had kept him in all day. 

"At this rate, I should be halfway done by sunrise." I called back, I had finished the outer layer a few hours ago, and was now slowly winding my way inside. 

"You plan on staying out in the everfree forest all night?" He asked, a hint of fear in his eyes.

"I told her I'd fix the forest, and that's what I'll do." Another tree done.

"The princesses expect you back in a few minutes, a chariot will be here soon." He explained.

"Oh, alright, I'm sure the forest will still be here tomorrow."

As I stepped away, Gilded Spear and I saw the chariot leaving Canterlot. "You hungry or thirsty? The princesses had lunch prepared for us." He said, looking over to me.

"I've been eating my own life magic to stay alive, but thanks anyway." His eyes widened at the concept.

Silence overtook us, and thankfully, the two pegasi guards only had snickers to let out. As we boarded the chariot, I thought about giving the two guards an illness, but thought better of it.





We returned to the castle, and Celestia seemed pleased with our progress with the forest. She gave an order both of us groaned at though, Gilded Spear was to give me a bath, Despite my ability to both bathe myself and use my magic for these hygiene needs.

We were sent to a room about as big as my 'cell' with a large pool of water in the middle. Some cupboards were nearby for storing cleaning supplies, but Princess Celestia had given Gilded Spear all the supplies he'd need.

He stuck his hoof into the water, one of the castle staff must've drawn the bath before we even got here. "At least it's warm." He said, setting his bags on the side of the pool before stepping in.

While he got in, I began snooping through the bag Celestia had given him. Soaps, rags, and towels filled it to the brim. 

"Come on, Sugar." He called to me, "The sooner we get you clean, the sooner we can hit the hay."

"If we're going to do this, we're going to do this properly." My horn glowed a bright green, with a beautiful rainbow surrounding it, and in a single blast, the bath water was engulfed in the magic.

The crystal blue water turned into a flowery scented clear green, small pink and yellow flowers rose from the water and up to the ceiling before exploding pitifully, filling the room with a flowery scent. Over top of the now green water, a rainbow grew at the edges, which quickly filled the pool and engulfed Gilded Spear instantly. The rainbows surrounded him and squeezed into his very being. From his mane to his hooves, nothing was left uncovered. 

"Gilded Spear, are you alright in there?" I called over the hum of harmony magic that filled the room. 

In an instant though, the rainbow retreated to the edge of the pool where it had first moved out of before fading from sight entirely. Gilded Spear stood in the pool, his neck low, eyes half closed and his wings half open. The smile on his face only made me more curious.

"Whatever you just did, you should do it more often." He said, as he sluggishly moved his front right hoof through the water. "This is nice ... the room smells good, the water smells good ... it's warm and peaceful." He began floating on his back.

I scrambled to pull out one of the towels so I could begin taking notes on my findings. "Could you describe how you feel right now, Gilded Spear?"

He looked over to me with that dreamy expression on his face. "Nice... I feel nice." He said unhelpfully.

I stepped closer to the water and sampled it. Swishing the life-magic-infused water in my mouth, It did taste a bit... nice.

The marble floor was soft underneath me as I laid down on my stomach, taking in the scene before me. Pretty flowers danced across the room and filled it with their pleasant aromas. My good friend Gilded Spear was relaxing in the water, floating peacefully as we both enjoyed the quiet night. The warm room, the good company, the peaceful quietness, and the pleasant flowery scent, I'm not sure which I liked more.

A few minutes of peaceful bliss later, I remembered what we were doing here and began laughing.

"Gilded Spear," I said in between laughs.

He grunted happily to reply.

"I completely forgot that I'm supposed to be giving you a bath." His eyes shot open as we both descended into laughter.  

I grabbed the soaps I would need to carry out the princess's orders and started by rubbing the soap all across Gilded Spear's fur with my magic. His body convulses with my magic, being pushed and pulled as the soap was forced between every single hair on his body. He looked more like a monster made of bubbles than a stallion. 

His mane and tail were next. A fancy bottle of shampoo and conditioner was opened and it's entire contents were pushed around in my magic. His scalp received a thorough massage via magic and his tail was cleaned from base to tip.

Levitating a mirror from the wall over to him, I said, "Now what's a bubble elemental doing here?" 

He looked into the mirror for a moment to process what he was looking at, before the laughter began anew. As we laughed, I used my magic to create a loop in the water and begin sending jets of water onto the soapy stallion.

Suds upon suds filled both the pool of water and the floor as I splashed water all around in order to get my friend clean. The room was trashed, water and soap littered the floor and began pooling out of the room and into the hallway. I felt like I should be avoiding the water at all cost, but with every drop of water that hit me, I just felt happier and more at peace.

"Now let's get you dry." I said, ruffling his fur with the towel I was already holding, it had some green letters written onto it that I thought might have been important, but I didn't care too much at the moment. After a few minutes, I had a fresh, clean, and ruffled up stallion sitting in front of another mirror on the wall.

"Hey, do you remember why I was supposed to give you a bath?" I asked.

"Uh... I don't remember exactly why... but Princess Celestia seemed to think it was important." He said, his face deep in thought.

"Well, I'd better go the extra mile then, huh? Wouldn't want the Princess to think we're slacking." I said as I levitated multiple brushes up and began brushing his mane, fur, and tail. 





He looked like a proper young gentleman when I was done, he smelled of flowers, was freshly washed and brushed, and had a peaceful and happy smile on his face.

"Thanks for doing this, Sugar Hoof." He said as he examined himself in the mirror.

"Hey, what are friends for?" I said, as he stood up and walked over to the door, but before he could open it, he remembered something.

"Wait, I'm supposed to tell the Princess what I learned about you today." He said frantically.

"What do you mean, I cleaned up some overrunning life magic, I gave you a bathe, what's there to tell?"

"No, I'm supposed to tell her everything you tell me about yourself and your magic." 

"Hmm... Alright, let's go then. We can report back to her, show her how clean you are now, and you can give her that report at the same time." We both left the room and made our way to the Throne Room.
> Anger of the Everfree
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With a flourish, another tree had been cured of it's overabundance of life magic. Gilded Spear stood a bit behind me, less scared of the forest after the events of last night.

The Princess laughed when she had learned that I gave my warden a bath instead of him giving me one. After that, it was time for bed, but instead of returning to the barracks to sleep with the rest of the recruits, Gilded Spear stayed with me in the tower. There still wasn't any furniture, so we both just slept on different parts of the floor.

As it turns out, harmony magic can be used to instill a sense of peace, safety, happiness, and friendship into those it is used on. Though, I didn't tell either of the princesses that I had used harmony magic last night. I wondered what must've been going through her head as she saw us. The event had changed something in us, something mentally. I didn't quite know what it was, but even though the effect wore off soon after the sun rose, I could tell we were closer. 

"What spell are you using to keep working like this? You've fixed twice as many trees as yesterday in half the time, and you're not even breaking a sweat." Gilded Spear said to me, carrying the saddlebags containing what I assumed to be lunch. My magic would suffice as far as food went, which was good, since all they provided me for nourishment was baby food.

I couldn't answer right away, I didn't really know how to explain it out loud. I enjoyed having Gilded Spear here, keeping me company. Every other person I met, I've always ended up in some sort of competition with. I can't remember the last time I had a...

I sat down on the emerald grass and tried desperately to remember... I don't think I've ever had friends. Sure I had that party phase where I would throw multiple parties a day at the local bar, but those weren't my friends. They were there for the drinks, and the illegal substances I had provided for them.

The headmaster was quite wealthy and offered me and my team hefty sums of gold if we would get stuff for him, illegally, I mean. I was better at this than my colleagues, ancient relics, priceless artifacts, objects of historical significance, usually the more dangerous it was to get, the more the headmaster would pay.

The others didn't like it, "Those items belong in a museum." They'd say. 

The first thing I did when I was still a pre-teen, was buy a bar. The alcohol and coke was expensive, especially for one as young as me, but with the headmaster's backing, nobody dared to stop me. Eventually I hit a snag in the 'treasure hunting' gig, my lifestyle was expensive, and funds grew low. The money went first, then the coke ran out, the drinks ran dry, and my 'friends' left not long after.

After that, I haven't touched drugs since. Beyond the occasional drink, I'm straight-edged, have been for well over sixty years.

Even after the headmaster's money began flowing back in, I knew better now than to waste my wealth on others. I bought farmland instead, and used my skill in life magic to grow food and medicine. I lived well after that until the shadowmancy incidient.

I turned back to Gilded Spear, "Oh it's no spell, It's just a... good day today." 

"Maybe we should take a break for a bit? You've been working yourself pretty hard, and you've already gotten more than enough work done for today." He looked at me pleadingly as he spoke.

"I know this work can't be too hard on you, I can still smell the flowers from your bath last night, so I know you're not sweating too hard." I said jokingly.

It was true though, the pleasing smell of flowers were having an awfully hard time fading from him. That's what I get for casting magic I don't completely understand yet. 

"No, it's just... I don't want you to work too hard. The citizens of Ponyville have already sent letters informing the Princess that the town feels safer now."

"That gives me more reason to keep working. The trees I've already fixed won't stay this way forever, eventually, whatever is spewing out more life magic will eventually take over again. So the sooner we get through these trees, the sooner I can remove whatever's causing this."

"I only meant that you should probably get something... non-magic related in you?" Gilded Spear said, uncertainty in his voice.

"I'm not drinking from those ridiculous bottles the princess insists on serving, my magic works just fine for sustenance, thank you very much." I said, curing another tree.

He stopped following me for a little while as he thought up a solution. Pulling out a green baby bottle, he looked at his reflection before trotting up behind me again.

"Y'know..." He started.

"No." I replied, resolute.

"I could probably convince Princess Celestia to put some furniture in your room." He said with a smile.

"But only if I drink from her confounded bottle." I grumbled out.

"Maybe she'd even let us put some decoration in there, you like plants, right? We could get some planters for the room and let you grow some flowers." He tried to convince me.

"It's a cell, it's not meant to look nice, it's already far nicer than it should be." I said as I cured another tree. "Who puts someone who destroyed your nation's super weapon in a beautifully designed tower, let alone one with a balcony?"

"Sugar Hoof, you're just a baby. Sure, you're a baby with incredible powers who's vastly more developed than you should be, but still, a baby pony. Besides, you basically turned yourself in, so we know you're not insanely evil."

"I'm eighty-nine! How many times must I repeat that?" I replied, accidentally putting too much magic into the trees around me. The trees that were in our immediate surroundings all were cured.

"It really wouldn't surprise me if you were eighty-nine," He said, causing me to look back at him in shock. "But I know that Princess Celestia is adamant about getting you to drink these because she thinks it's for the best. We don't know a lot about you, who you are, where you're from, who your parents are, where they even are, but we do know what a normal baby pony does. That's what you need in your life, Sugar, a bit of normalcy." He said, but he sounded... hurt while he said it.

I didn't say anything for a few seconds, we just looked at each other before I narrowed my eyes and said, "I'll get my own bed?" 

"Even if the Princess disallows it, you can sleep on me at night." He said, far too sure of himself.

"And the planters?" I asked.

He spread out his wings and said with a grin, "I'll fly them up to your room myself."

Another round of staring at each other came and went. 

I groaned, "Fine, let's... oh just hand me the bottle."

As I took the bottle from him, I immediately felt wrong. The bottle felt wrong to have, but I knew it meant a lot to Gilded.

I inched the bottle top closer to my mouth, feeling ill all the while while Gilded looked onward with a growing smile.





"The colt has grown bolder, he has started using the power of the elements for bathing of all things." Princess Luna said.

Princess Celestia stood at her desk and continued to re-read the green letters that were found on a towel in the bathroom Gilded Spear and Sugar Hoof were sent to. On the towel, there were a number of runes that neither of the two princesses had seen before, as well as the words:

The mixture of life and harmony magic creates a sanctuary-esque enchantment on the place it is cast. Likely temporary, those caught within range of the spell's effects feel safe, peaceful, and happy.  

"I didn't even know the elements could do such things." Celestia said. "But we must remember, he supposedly mixed his own magic with the elements, who knows what strange spells could be crafted from mixing magic types together."

"Assuming he can even control the harmony he has stolen." Replied the lunar princess.

Celestia's eyes widened, "You don't think he might be unknowingly spreading harmony magic every time he uses his magic?" 

"If his 'life magic' and the power of the elements are both being housed in his heart as Gilded Spear says, it would be difficult if not impossible to stop the two from mixing together." Luna said.





I leaned back on a log with Gilded Spear sitting beside me, pleased with himself.

"See, that wasn't so bad." He said. 

With a belly full of milk, I could only give a small burp in response, causing Gilded to laugh at me. He ran his hoof through my mane, causing my tongue to loll out of my mouth a tiny bit.

"Why don't you and I call it a day, you look like you could use a nap." He said as he picked me up and put me on his back.

Before he could start moving towards the nearest exit point of the forest, we heard something rustling in the brush behind us. 

Gilded froze in fear as I sat back up, the milk sitting heavy in my gullet, but my heart and horn lit all the same. A terrible crunch erupted from the brush as a large manticore roared at us in rage.
> Cat and Foal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The manticore lunged out of the brush at an alarming speed directly at the two of us. With Gilded being frozen in fear, I was closest to the large cat and started to conjure a shield. The dirt underneath him blew away from his speed and before my shield could cover the two of us entirely, his claws swiped directly into my face and launched me into a tree. The branch I was launched into broke away from the force my body hit it and I flew back into the next tree where I slammed my back into it, and fell with a sickening crunch.

"SUGAR!" I heard Gilded shout, followed by a loud thrumping noise hitting something that hummed in response. 

My body was in pain and my head was throbbing. a liquid ran down my face where the cat had scratched me, and as I wiped it away, I noticed the red streaks on my hoof. 

"That's what I get for lowering my guard. An attack can come from anywhere, even from nowhere." I mumbled as I rose to my hooves. My balance was off and I couldn't focus properly, but I was relieved when I noticed the watery-eyed gray pegasus staring back at me from inside a magic shield that shined the colors of life and harmony. At least he was safe, The manticore was getting nowhere by banging on the shield. 

I was lucky that life magic's greatest advantage was it's healing capabilities. I surrounded myself in life magic and in just a few seconds, was completely healed. After that, though, I was hit with a bit of an issue.

Life magic is a healing magic, meant for medicinal or agricultural purposes, not to say it couldn't be used to kill, but it was among the worst types of magic to use for that.

This is why I learned the other three schools, life is fine for keeping a team healed, but when you need to handle matters alone, you need something stronger, like death, fire, or storm. I wouldn't use shadowmancy after what It did in Appleloosa, so I went with storm.

My eyes changed purple as they filled with storm magic and I began conjuring storm clouds over the forest. Thunder rumbled through the clouds in a mixture of yellow and blue lights, before rain hammered down upon us. Gilded stared at me, unmoving as the water soaked myself and the cat, and my horn turned a solid purple.

The cat seemed unfazed by the thunder and rain as I marched over to it. My horn shined brighter as sparks of yellow lightning surrounded it. It continued to slam it's claws into my shield up until the point where I shot a lightning bolt into it's side. 

It roared in pain as the rain surrounding it only made it worse, it stopped trying to get to Gilded and focused on trying to get away from the storm. Due to the ground being wet, he slipped and fell as I shot him again through his leg. 

The wretched beast scrambled on the ground to get away, kicking up water and dirt all the while before he finally looked back and saw me standing behind him, he was remarkably intelligent for an aggressive creature, for the second he saw my horn lit up, he knew I was the one who caused the lightning. He looked at the clouds above with fear before looking back down to me.

My horn charged further as I prepared to remove the creature that would threaten mine and Gilded's life. 

"FEEL THE POWER OF THE ST—" I started, before I was interrupted. 

"STOP!" I heard her voice before I saw her provide cover for the manticore. Fluttershy hovered overhead, mane matted down from the rain.

The storm clouds dissipate and my horn dulls, "What are you doing out here? I haven't even gotten half done with cleaning up the forest."

"Twilight told me what Princess Celestia was having you do, and when I saw storm clouds just appear randomly, I knew it had to be you." The butter-colored mare said, "You nearly killed Reginald!" She said with anger in her eyes.

"We were about to call it a day when the manticore attacked, If I hadn't healed myself and put a shield around Gilded Spear, we'd be dead by now!" I replied with equal anger.

She looked back at the manticore, Reginald, I guessed. "Is that true, Reginald?" She asked.

The cat meowed loudly to her and she turned back to me. "Reginald attacked because he'd seen you moving around and doing something to the trees, he's worried he'll be forced to leave his home soon." She said, flying over to the manticore and petting him.

"As far as I can tell, 'Reginald' is not made of life magic nor under it's influence, so I've no reason to get rid of him beyond his excessive violence."

"He was just scared about the new changes, that's all." She said, softly.

"If I were not a healer, I'd be blind in one eye." I warned.

I groaned as I watched the mare and the manticore, Gilded watched as the events unfolded, still contained in my shield.

"We will get nowhere if every tom, richard, and harry tries to attack us while we work." I said, filling my horn with life magic.

"Wait, he's sorry for attacking you." Fluttershy said.

"It's fine, I would've attacked me too. I'm going to fix the forest in one large explosion of life magic, and Gilded and I will just have to search for the focal point the old fashioned way." In an instant, I tapped into my newly expanded reserves of life magic and began attempting to contain it futilely. 

The shield containing Gilded Spear disappeared, freeing the gray pegasus. All he could so was watch as the ever expanding ball of bright green with traces of rainbow grow out of my control. As the ball grew, the water on the ground faded and the trees around were cleaned of their overabundant life magic. 

Instead of attempting to aim it, I just let it go, my horn dimmed as I used my heart instead. Fluttershy and Gilded Spear looked on at me as the magic convulsed into me from the pressure until I stopped trying to control it all together.

The entire forest was engulfed in this concoction of life magic and harmony magic. The gnarled and dark trees were healed and replaced with healthy trees, the grass went from it's dark green to an emerald color instead, and the water that flowed from the everfree became clean from all magics that could do harm. 

The manticore who attacked us and all other everfree inhabitants felt life and harmony flow through their very being and knew a peace they had never known. Enemy became friend, and a harmonious relationship between what was once predator and prey was adopted. The carnivores of the forest suddenly found their biology change and learned that they no longer desired meat, but would far prefer vegetables and fruit. Their bodies changed to a more peaceful nature, becoming smaller, more colorful, and less harmful. Peace became the doctrine of the everfree.

Fruits and vegetables grew from the trees and soil, there was enough for every creature to live off of. I fell to the ground, and the force of my spell, the stress of that fight, and the milk that still sat heavily in my stomach drove me to sleep on the emerald green grass of the forest floor.
> Admiring one's handiwork
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I awoke before nightfall in my tower cell and true to Gilded's word, there was a new bed and some planters inside. Gilded sat beside me on the bed as Princess Celestia and a few of her royal guards watched me, ready for an attack.

"Oh hey, the everfree should be clear now... unless something went wrong of course, but even if it didn't, Gilded and I still need to go and look for the epicenter of the forest and stop it from contaminating the forest again." I said, quickly sitting up on the bed.

She looked unfazed, "Fluttershy told me you were using a type of lightning magic."

"Yes, divination. I learned some spells from there when I was still young." I replied, unknowing what she was asking.

"How many schools of magic do you know, exactly?" She asked as a white-furred pony got some parchment and a quill.

"I have mastered theurgy, and I'm competent with divination, pyromancy, necromancy—" 

"Necromancy? You actually are a necromancer?" She asked, alarmed.

I tried to find a reasonable response, "I... I dabbled." I shrugged.

What wizard doesn't wonder about his opposite school of magic. Turns out necromancy, like theurgy, can be used to heal someone, but instead of using the magic to cast a healing spell, a necromancy must use their magic to steal the life essence from someone else. Doing this enough will of course, lead to death. Once they're dead though, just reanimate them into a ghoul or skeleton. 

"Ok, your life magic, pyro... fire magic, lightning magic, necromancy." She paused in thought. "We already know about the shadow magic and harmony magic. Are there any other types of magic you know?" Celestia asked me, exasperated. 

"I have spent my entire life studying magic, and I fully intend to spend the rest of my life doing the same." I said with determination.

"That's not what I asked, Sugar Hoof." She said through gritted teeth.

There are a few types of schools that simply aren't taught anymore, for whatever reason. Schools with no teachers, and only a few ancient textbooks written in a dead language for their entire legacy. I knew of them, but even from my experiments and research, I would barely classify myself as an apprentice of these magics. 

I did know one school, it's mostly worthless, as are it's brother and sister schools.

"Earth magic, a purely decorative school, I assure you." I explained, remembering my time stealing things for the headmaster.

She put her hooves on her head. "Why have you never mentioned any of these schools before?" 

"I never thought that it was important, I am a life wizard, a theurgist. Life magic is what I do, the other schools have their place, but I will always be a life wizard first." I said.

With one eye covered by her hoof, she looked at me in annoyance. "The same treants who attacked Appleloosa were the ones responsible for imprisoning, then freeing, you and numerous others from slavery south of Equestria. You set it all up to make yourself look innocent." 

I looked down in both shame and remembrance, all my treants were still there in the desert, waiting for me to return from my trip to Griffonstone.

"Yes, both instances were of my doing." I said, ashamed.

"The two mares you freed mentioned a few thousand there, is this true?" 

The order I gave them,  to produce more treants, I planned to build a city out in the desert where I'd be safe to do my research. 

	"While I'm away, You must continue to create treants, dig the cavern deeper and further, I intend to build an underground empire, and I'll need many treants to carry this out."

"My magic is imbued into the farms and the caverns, stop making treants when you stop being able to feed them all."

It then occurred to me that my magic hasn't stopped growing for a few days now, even now my life magic grew stronger by the very second... my farms are getting stronger... 

I covered my face with my right front hoof, alerting Princess Celestia.

My farms grow in magical strength as I grow in magical strength... he won't stop making treants until he runs out of food to sustain them... he'll never run out of food... oh what have I done?





"1.6 billion treants worldwide, and the number grows by the second." Overseer Elm said to Lord Birch with a smile.

"Wonderful news!" Shouted out Lord Birch with a great smile, knowing that he was doing good by following the master's orders. "No complications with the planetary elevator, I take it?"

"None that were not expected, with the ability to travel below the ocean floor, the mage's guild have started setting up elevators, decreasing travel time."

"Marvelous, all according to the master's plan." Birch said, slumping back into his smaller throne seated beside his master's own.

"There is another thing we would like to inform you of." Elm said, significantly less enthused. "Even with the teleporters,     treants are having to travel vast distances to get their next meal, so the mage's guild have come up with a solution." Elm opened the door to the make-shift throne room.

A treant in a dark green robe entered carrying a vial of liquid similar to what was thrown into the planet's inner core. 
"Using the same method we used to corrupt the inner core, we believe we can make new farm land the same way the master did." Elm said.

Birch thought of their solution for a moment and liked what he had heard. "Begin creating new farms with this method, we shall try it, if the entire planet is too be under King Sugar Hoof's control, we'll need to keep hollowing out the planet for more land to make more treants. We cannot disappoint the master in this regard."

The mage's guild member nodded and left to begin experimenting with her farmland solution. 

"Now, what's this I hear of new prisoners?" Birch asked.

"As we dug further into Equestria, we came across multiple species underground."

"As is to be expected," Birch replied, "We are growing rapidly, and with our population as low as it is, we cannot guard every pathway." He said before mumbling under his breath, "As if we needed more reason to keep making treants."

"As per the master's orders, we've been giving them three meals a day and bathing them once a day, but some of us feel as though they could prove more useful to the master." Elm explained with a slightly frightened smile.

"The master's word is law, have you forgotten?" Birch snapped.

"No, of course not! King Sugar Hoof cannot be wrong, we merely think that this way of thinking should not belong solely to us." Elm finished, causing Birch to rise from his seat and approach Elm.

Pulling out multiple books from his robe, he began displaying pages with notes from the prisoners. talking canines with a penchant for mining, shapeshifting insectoids, and large worm creatures were being carefully contained by use of magic in the many prisons the treants had built. 

"They've all been interrogated, and have no idea who Sugar Hoof even is, some even speak ill of the master." Elm said sadly, causing Birch to grimace.

"We cannot expect the rest of the world to be as wise as us. They have not seen the master, they know not the power of his magic, they've not tasted of his art!"

"Yes, let's give them a taste of his magic! That's what we're saying." Elm clicked his wooden claws together as he spoke. "Mild mind control should be enough... we can inject some fruits with his magical signature and force feed them to the prisoners. The mage's guild theorizes that after enough of the master's magical signature is ingested, it will induce changes to the prisoner's mentality."

"By eating the master's magic as we do, they'd come to know him as we do." Birch realized what Elm was getting at.

"Indeed, it may cause changes to their genetic makeup, but they will be far happier living their life in service to the master as we do." Elm said, putting his books back into his robe.

"Very well, begin the experiment, all shall hail to the king!" Birch shouted. 

Elm left to inform the mage's guild that they have the go-ahead.
> Unspoken Prince of the Desert
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A battalion of royal guards, myself, Princesses Celestia and Luna, and Gilded Spear travelled out to the desert north of Klugetown, back home. It was inconspicuous, as was intended, barely any signs of life above ground, but as soon as we touched down onto the sand below, I could feel my treants moving underground. There were more of them now, as per my orders, I should've told them to stop at a million.

"Sugar Hoof." Celestia said, seemingly put-off by the magic in the air that was completely invisible to the untrained eye. Both of the princesses eyed the direction of the caverns wearily. "How many treants did you make?"

"I made twenty, Princess. I awoke one morning to find my twenty had become thirty thousand." I explained, much to her shock.

"They can reproduce?" Celestia said, anger rising in her voice.

"Assuming the treant has enough magic to piggyback off of, and a tree strong enough to handle the strain of being given  bare mental faculties." I held my head down in thought. 

We trotted to the cavern on hoof, they prepared for a fight, and I wondered who's side I would even be on IF a fight did break out. 

"If the treants are only capable of the bare minimum intellect wise, they shouldn't be too much of a hassle." Luna said, a soft smile forming.

"Something happened to the treants after we had been here for a while, they are meant for self-defense, or dumb manual labor, but the ones I had made were competent enough to build, to learn magic, to think, to feel." I shook my head. "Thralls aren't meant to be like us, they're minions, simple-minded."

The cavern was lit beautifully in nice shades of blue and green. Magic thrummed in the air as butterflies flew about, and treants all over the cavern turned and knew that I had returned. 

"That's a lot more than thirty thousand." Princess Celestia whispered through a gritted-teeth smile.

"When I left, I told them to begin mass producing more treants."

"WHAT?!" Everyone screamed at me, much to the displeasure of the treants.

"I wanted to build a small kingdom underground, where I could practice and study in peace. When I left, it was to retrieve a magical artifact for studying." I explained, hoping to avoid a fight.

"The elements, that was no accident. You planned this from the beginning!" Luna stomped.

"No, I was going after the Idol of Boreas, In Griffonstone. Even If I was going after your elements, I would not destroy them, I would study them."

Luna narrowed her eyes at me as the guards stared out into the caverns and tried to count them all.

Suddenly, the door was blocked as vines covered the only entrance. Treants wearing armor that almost looked identical to their bark and leaves surrounded us.

Before things could get worse, I shouted, "STOP!"

The trees all halted their movement as Birch walked over to us. 

"Master, you have finally returned, and you've brought some soon-to-be friends." He said, kneeling.

"Birch, we need to go somewhere private." I whispered to him quickly.

"Of course, Master. We've had a throne room built in your absence."  

"A throne room? For me?" I asked to which Birch nodded happily.

"I told you I wasn't trying to be a king or anything!"

"Your humility is without end, master."

I groaned, "Just take us to the throne room then."

"Yes, Master, please follow me."

I nodded for the ponies to follow me as I trotted after Birch. Though uncertain, they followed after us slowly, ready in case the treants tried anything.





As we entered the throne room, I was amazed at how beautiful it was, It only had three things in it, despite it's sheer size. A big throne made of gold and lined with emeralds, and a smaller one, simply made of stone. Windows stained with green lined the wall, allowing us to look out into the caverns below. Inside the room, Overseer Elm and a treant I didn't know waited for us. They both kneeled as we entered.

I looked over to the new treant, she wore a dark green robe with vines printed on it. "Who are you supposed to be?" I asked.

"I am the leader of the mage's guild, master. I lead the guild and coordinate projects in your name." She said.

"I never created a mage's guild, and you all shouldn't have even felt the need for such a thing." 

"We were all hurt by your loss, master. We hated that you were out there, alone, likely in danger," She looked upset as she recalled the day I left. "So a few of us who were more magically inclined got together to form the guild, so we could handle any dangerous magic projects instead, while you remained safe."

I tried not to face hoof before turning around and saying, "Close the door, we have a lot to talk about." Two treants closed the throne room doors.

"I told you, Sister, he was up to no good." Luna said aggressively.

Celestia narrowed her gaze on me, "You never mentioned you had an army with the population of Manehattan."

I didn't know what Manehattan was, so instead I turned to Birch who stood beside Elm. "Roughly speaking, how many treants do we have now?"

"There's no need to speak roughly, we record every treant brought to life. We have 1.7 billion treants worldwide."

Only the treants were happy, the rest of us were shocked, the Princesses wore panicked expressions as I was unable to fathom what was said.

"What do you mean, 'worldwide', the caverns can't go that far, we're surrounded by water."

"We dug deeper into the earth, master, and began setting up teleportation systems to get around the caverns faster."

"How deep exactly?" I asked, not entirely wanting the answer.

"We reached the inner core a few days ago." He replied.

He caught me up on all that had happened since I left, much to the growing uncertainty and fear from the ponies. 

Princess Celestia looked at her royal guards and could see the fear radiate off of them, and the anger Luna felt. The treants stood happily, ready to protect Sugar Hoof and do whatever he ordered readily. She made a split second decision that she believed would keep her ponies safe.

Sugar Hoof, I would be honored  if your Kingdom would join with Equestria." She said, shocking all the ponies behind her, her sister included.

"I have watched you grow since the tree of harmony was destroyed." 

"Since he destroyed the tree of harmony." Luna said, much to her sister's displeasure.

"I would like to extend to you the title of Prince of Equestria, and welcome you and your treants as Equestrian citizens." 

Her smile was fake, her body language was fake, she was pretending and putting in all the effort she could to make it convincing. 

"You're serious?" I asked, not sensing a lie, but I could tell she was acting on the cuff. 

"You have already earned the respect and loyalty of your treants, I know you will be a kind and just ruler."

Did she not understand that I 'earned' their respect and loyalty because I am essentially their dad? I created them, it is my magic that keeps them alive. I was dumbfounded, I've never been a ruler, I'm just a wizard.

"What exactly do you expect from me?" I asked sheepishly.

"You and your treants can come and go as you wish, and you are expected to maintain order here in the desert." Well that didn't sound too bad, I thought.

"Since you still have the elements, we will still need you help defending Equestria."

"I've no political background nor understanding of royalty, are you certain this is wise?"

"I have never been more certain." Now that, was a lie.

"Do I need to stay here, or do I return to Canterlot?" I asked.

This time, she did not answer to me, and instead looked over to Birch. "You mentioned teleporter systems earlier, is there any way a teleporter could be set up for travel between here and Canterlot?"

Birch would not answer until I turned around and gave him a knowing nod. "Of course, all we need is to set the teleporter up in this 'Canterlot'."





In a day's time, I went from being King Sugar Hoof in the caverns to Prince Sugar Hoof, all the treants hated saying it. Now instead of a prisoner, I was a Prince, and not just like a random group in the desert Prince, but an official Prince. One of two in Equestria. 

By Princess Celestia's royal decree, I was to watch over the desert in Equestria's name, and bring all who would do harm to justice. My treants became more open, we were less secluded now, leading to rumors spreading across all the desert citizens. Some believed that I was the true ruler of the desert, others still remained loyal to the storm king. Though, his support was failing while mine only grew.

There was talk about him amassing troops on his island, preparing for a blood-letting, though none were afraid, as I brought harmony and life with me. 





"You make our strongest enemy a Prince?!" Shouted the lunar princess. 

"You think I wanted too? All it would take is for him to give the order, and..." She trailed off as she thought about the results. Ponies slain by treants, and the green would overtake the world. "We'd be slaughtered in a conflict."

"All this has done is invite war to us, the storm king ruled the desert, he will attack!"

"Yes, of course he will, he'll attack Sugar Hoof first. Either Equestria's greatest threat is destroyed, or our most technologically advanced enemy is destroyed."

"But still, a princehood, you've given him political power."

"He already had that, all he would have to do is take it. At least like this, hopefully he'll grow attached to our way of life and see us as friends instead of others to be conquered."

"If you intend to befriend him, perhaps leaving Gilded Spear with him would be a good idea."

"Just as I was thinking, dear sister."





"Master, surely you jest." Advisor Birch said, having been demoted since I became a prince.

"It's not that bad, Birch." I said, rolling my eyes as tailor treants took measurements of my body.

"You are the greatest being to ever live, and you are to be settled as the inferior to two pegacorns?" 

"Alicorns, and It's not my intention to live at the top, I just want the freedom to study magic as I please. If I keep the Crown's peace out here, I suspect they'll mostly leave me alone in time."

"Still though, it is them who are lesser than you, you are the rightful king!" Birch said, exasperated.

"I am just a wizard, a very talented wizard, yes, but just a wizard. It is through fear that they've given me a princehood, I suspect. Princess Celestia would not give me political power unless it was to placate me."

"Master?"

"She knows what I can do, and when she became aware of my army, she knew she had to do something to stop me from turning my army towards her ponies."

This reminded Birch of something, "Speaking of your army... my prince," he made a facial expression that made it seem like the word prince was poisonous. "We have some prisoners that we need your ruling on."

"Prisoners? From my order to imprison everyone who arrived here?" 

"Yes, as we dug around the globe, we found more and more invaders in your land."

"You mean you dug into someone else's underground home, declared it as mine, and imprisoned everyone who lived there?" I said with a glare.

"Yes, master." He said sheepishly, causing me to groan.

"Release the prisoners, they are free to leave." I ordered.

"My prince, they no longer want to leave."

"What, don't they want their freedom back?" I asked.

"They have forgone all freedom in exchange for being allowed the honor of serving you."

I sat down and face hoofed, causing the tailor treants to stop taking measurements.

"What have you done now, Birch?"





"I am to live with Sugar Hoof full time?" Gilded Spear said. He was thankful to be back in Canterlot, and thought that his job with Sugar Hoof was over.

"Yes, my little pony. I need you to keep doing what you've been doing, try to befriend him, and inform me of everything he does." 

"Won't it be a bit weird, him being a Prince and all?" Gilded asked, uncertainty in his eyes.

"I won't lie, it will be strange, having him as your superior. Follow your training, and try to keep him in line."

Gilded Spear saluted, "Yes, Princess."





"Commander Tempest, the new shipment of spears you requested have arrived." 

"Excellent, how long before we're ready to mobilize?" She replied, overlooking the preparations for war being carried out in the courtyard below.

"A few days now, ma'am."

The broken-horned pony breathed in the wet and stormy air of their constantly raining home. 

"This sugar rebellion will be over before it's even began."