Tree of Harmony gives a box?

by Uncle Knot

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Matilda, Gilda, Lightning Dust, Sunset Shimmer, Cranky Doodle Donkey
Length: 2086

When Twilight got her box from the Tree of Harmony, what did it really mean?

If you ask Applejack where do apples come from? She would tell you apple trees. And if you asked her what is in an apple? She would tell you ... what? So what is in the box that the tree of Harmony gave to Twilight?

Published 2014-03-30 05:30:06 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-30 05:30:06 UTC

Dusty and the Captain

From the cockpit of the airship, the junior officer scanned the horizon. This was not anything like what she had expected her destiny to be. Lightning Dust knew she was a great flyer. She was even better than Rainbow Dash, if only she hadn’t been so reckless. She scolded herself, life is full of “if only-ies”. Here she had a second chance; in fact if she hadn’t gotten kicked from the wonder bolts academy, she would not even be here. This wasn’t the life of adventure and glory she had hoped to achieve with the wonder bolts. This was very different type of adventure with little glory. Indeed, as a member of the E&E (eyes&ears), Dusty had felt so secure she was in the right. Lightning Dust’s function in the E&E (although sometimes Princess Luna calls us the E3) was that of a counter spy or spy hunter. She couldn’t really do that with a high profile and the showiness that the wonder bolts were known for. This job, no career, requires tack, subterfuge, and cunning, and maybe sometimes just a little more recklessness than most. It was the perfect home for ‘Dusty’.

“Dusty are we off course?”

“Yes, Captain” replied Dusty “I spotted our recon patrol returning and corrected course to intercept”

“That may not be wise. You know how she gets if she thought we making it easy for her”

“Yes, Captain, that’s why I only corrected course by 2 points”

“Understood”

Later in the Captain’s cabin

“Su … I mean Captain, recon patrol Gilda reporting”

Spike's comic book stash

Meanwhile in Ponyville

Button and Canoe knocked on the library door and were admitted by Spike.

“Twilight is not here, now, so let me get out my stash of comic books”

“We’re surprised she lets you keep so many”

“Yeah, she lightened up since I promised not to get any more books from the Enchanted Comic Book Store in Canterlot”

Button started into the stack Spike had brought out and Canoe was about to join in when he spotted a poster on the wall. Spike notice Canoe staring.

“That’s a diagram of the box, Twilight got as a gift from the tree of Harmony.”

Button took notice as well.

“What’s the tree of Harmony?”

“It’s a tree in the Everfree forest where the elements of Harmony come from”

“So this tree gave Twilight a box?”

“Yeah, Twilight has been doing all sorts of research, probing for the keys to the box”

“Excuse me Spike” said Canoe “don’t apples come from apple trees”

“Of course they do” piped in Button

“And what is inside an apple?”

“Sweet juicy fruit”

“And what else?”

“Seeds?”

“Elementary, my dear Button, this box isn’t a box; it is the fruit of the tree of Harmony, and inside is a seed”

Mrs Moose

At the home of Matilda and Cranky

“What’s wrong Doodle?”

“Nothing”

“Now that’s not true. You’ve been thinking too much lately. You didn’t stand next to me at Mayor Mare’s song feast today. Big Mac really sang well, and Rarity added some nice melody.”

“I’m just pondering something”

“See, you’ve been thinking too much. Why not share it with me?”

“I don’t think you will want to hear it”

“Doodle, I love you, but you’ve got a rough side, and sometimes you say things that are short and tack less, but I know you are not trying to hurt me, so please tell me what are you thinking about”

“I’ve been thinking about us. I went down to city hall to find out about getting hitched”

“Oh, Doodle, yes, that would be wonderful”

“I found out something else, too, something that hurt me. When were you going to tell me?”

“I didn’t see the need, Doodle. It was so long ago. But I guess you deserve to know. After our time together in Canterlot, I was on my way back to the old homestead when I got abducted by Buffaloes. They intended to feed me as a sacrifice to their white bear god of the north. But a moose talked them out of it and bought me as a slave.”

“And then you married him?”

“It wasn’t like that, Doodle. I worked as cook and laundry servant in the Moose’s logging camp. One day, Moose (as I called him) went out to do some logging and well, he just didn’t come back. I took his name when I came here to Ponyville to sound a little bit more respectable. Those were very hard times for a single filly. Being a widow gave me an edge.”

“Well, thank you for sharing, Mrs. Matilda Moose”

“Doodle, I do love you, and I’ll understand if you don’t want to go through with…

“Of course, I still want to get hitched. I just wanted you to tell me about the skeletons in your closet”

“Oh, like you don’t have skeletons”

“I’m not supposed to talk about it”

“Don’t kid me. What were you, some type of secret agent or something? Working covertly for Princess Celestia?”

“Well, yes”

“WAH, WHAT!?”

“I was a member of the E&E. We were investigators who kept watch for potential threats to Equestria”

“So you meet with Princess Celestia?”

“Well, no, I work under the supervision of the 4 stars”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, it as a great way to travel around and look for you. The E&E were also looking for you, except they were not looking for a ‘Mrs. Moose’.”

“Was it dangerous work?”

“Sometimes, but mostly I spent a lot of time just watching for stuff”

“What kind of stuff?”

“That’s classified, but stuff like the return of the Crystal Empire”

“You were involved with the Crystal Empire?”

“No, I retired before ‘It’ returned”

“’It’?”

“That was our special name for it. There was an ancient spell cast long ago, by King Sombra that was slowly destroying the memory of any pony who mentioned the Crystal Empire.”

“Do you miss those days of excitement? Is that what you’re pondering? Or are you still upset about Moose?”

“No, I understand that, it’s just that with all we’ve been through, what has it all come down too. We are not young anymore. We will fade away from this world soon. I just wish we could have left something behind.”

“You mean like children?”

“Yes, children and grandchildren”

Aunt Nought

Later in the airship captain’s cabin …

“Su … I mean Captain, recon patrol Gilda reporting”

“Yes, Gilda”

“All quiet in the north”

“Not unexpected, relax Gilda. We (meaning you, me and Dusty) have a very difficult assignment ahead.”

“Does that mean, we don’t have to call you ‘captain’, captain?”

“Yes, Dusty, I think we can make an exception to that rule, at least for the moment”

“Understood captain, I mean Sunset”

“It has been a long time since I heard that name”

“Because of the confusion it might cause?”

“Yes, Gilda, the Sunset Shimmer from this world went to another. I am the Sunset Shimmer from that world who has come to call Equestria and this airship home. And if I went about calling myself Sunset, which would certainly, cause a lot of confusion.”

“So if this airship is your new home, does that mean we’re family?”

“Like sisters?”

“No, more like spoiled nieces”

“Oh”

“Ha, ha, ha, we have an auntie Sunset”

“More like aunt not”

“No, call me Aunt Naught. So family, our next assignment is one of my own inventions. It will probably be unpleasant for all of us.”

“We can handle it captain, I’m the fastest flyer in Equestria, and Gilda is the toughest”

“We can take on any job Sunset”

“Even returning to Ponyville?” (Pause) “Eh?”

“That would be … messy”

“I know. Rainbow Dash and the other Elements of Harmony still live there. They will need our help. They just don’t know it yet.”

“That could be difficult; we didn’t exactly part on the best of terms”

“What will they need our help with?”

“The tree of Harmony has given a box to Twilight Sparkle, except it isn’t a box; it is the fruit of the tree and inside is a seed”

“So we could send her an amorous note, she doesn’t need to know it’s us”

”Yeah, send a note, problem solved”

“No, that isn’t all; we have to be willing to risk something so that she and the others will believe us. We are going to have to risk our pride.”

“So what is so important about a seed?”

, 2 super luscious icy creamy soda-rifics ice cream floats with sprinkles

Button and Canoe entered Sugar Cube Corner.

“Hi Button” said Pinky “two ice cream sodas on the way”

“Thanks Pinky”

“Ain’t it great Canoe, we figure out something that the great & powerful princess Twilight Sparkle didn’t figure out.”

“Too many negative in that”

“Huh?”

“And bad grammar”

“Here you go colts, 2 super luscious icy creamy soda-rifics ice cream floats with sprinkles”

“Race you to the bottom, Canoe”

“No way, don’t you remember what happen when you raced your filly friend to the bottom?”

“Sweety Belle isn’t my filly friend”

“Then why is your face red?”

“The cold soda turned my cheeks red. Oh, and like your don’t have the biggest crush this side of Equestria on Silver Spoon”

“It isn’t a crush, my feelings for Silver are true and noble, plus unlike you I can admit them, if she would only listen”

“Ha, ha, true and noble, you like her flank”

“Yeah, well, that too”

“So colts” said Pinky “will you be having another round? It is kind of like a rotunda, I learn that word in the Crystal Empire”

“Sure, extra chocolate this time. I got a sad story to tell my buddy Button”

“It isn’t about C&D”

“C&D?”

“Crush & Destroy”

“Worse, the tree of Harmony gave its fruit to Twilight because she thought her worthy to take her seed and care for it. I think the tree knows it is dying and wants Twilight to raise the tree’s child for her, because she will be gone soon”

“So?”

“The tree of harmony is dying”

“And that means what, Canoe?”

“I’m not sure. Button, it could mean the mountains run into the seas, the seas boil, and the clouds catch fire”

“Or?”

“End of story, period, the end, fin, no bits left, lost teeth, out of carrots, rotten apples, out of bucks, Twilight has a spell that fixes everything, Rarity commits a faux pas, Fluttershy becomes a carnivore, Pinky Pie is a diabetic, Applejack tells a lie, Rainbow Dash loses her cool”

“Stop, I don’t want to think about it. It is too terrible to imagine”

A question to the professor

At the Canterlot Magic Academy, Lt. O’Neigh entered the office of Professor P. The professor was looking over a copy of the poster that Twilight Sparkle had made of the box. She had sent a copy to the magic academy in the hope that some pony might notice something. The professor had indeed noticed something... Lt. O’Neigh waited patiently, he was quite familiar with the eccentrics of the professor, but decided to give a suggestive prompting.

“So do you know how to open it?”

“Open it? No, no, no. We must plant it”

“Plant the box?”

“Yes. I mean no, not the box. The seed or seeds within the box, I mean fruit.”

“Those seeds being within the fruit?”

“Yes, the elements of harmony that the tree lent to Celestia and Luna over a thousand years ago. Those elements acted as bees, collecting pollen for the flowers of the tree. Then when Twilight Sparkle returned them to the tree, the tree could bear fruit.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“Yes, in so much as the seeds for another tree are inside the fruit.”

“So why do I get a bad feeling about this?”

“The tree choose Twilight because of her memories of living in a tree house library. The tree saw the affinity Twilight has for trees and gave her the fruit of the tree for that purpose.”

“Thanks for the information, but what is the point?”

“The point? THE POINT! Because my dear fellow, the tree needed to GIVE the fruit. The seeds NEED to be planted SOON, at least from the tree’s concept of ‘soon’. We all know that Discord’s maleficent plants attack motivated the tree to call for the return of the elements. The tree did this because …