The truth behind the Tree of Harmonyby May i cut inChaptersHow it came to be (Prologue)What could possibly go wrong? (Chap 1)To rid of a Preston Garvey (Chap 2)Love backfiring (Chap 3)How it came to be (Prologue)~About 4000 Years ago. ~ Nate sat at the top of his watchtower which overlooked The Citadel. Being the new general of the Commonwealth Minutemen meant that he often had to spent time in the base, be it from training new recruits or responding to pleas of help from the citizens of the Commonwealth. Granted it was difficult and painful to build up the Minutemen to where they were now, most notably having to press the detonator to destroy the Institute and all traces of his son's work. But there were glorious achievements as well like taking on the Brotherhood of Steel and coming on top. 10 years had passed since those events and The Commonwealth is now a much more peaceful place. The number of raiders were dropping as the days go on and more and more synths under the guidance of The Railroad had found new lives among the people whom had finally learnt to accept them. He was now famous among the Commonwealth, the vault survivor whom survived 200 years, brining all the people together and making their world a safer place. Fathers would tell their children the story of how they had stormed the Institute with the general leading them to victory. Really, it seems like he had it all. A comfortable life as far as possible in the wasteland, fame and fortune. However there was a major downside to all these things. Namely one person. "General! I've just got word of a settlement that needs some help." Came the voice that he had heard for a millionth time. Nate closed his eyes and mumbled the following phrase to himself. Here. I'll mark it on your map. Drink "Here. I'll mark it on your map." Finished the person as he climbed the tower. "General, could you maybe move your office onto the ground floor instead of up here. It's dangerous to be up her in plain view of any raider snipers babe." Nate closed the trunk next to his table after grabbing a bottle of Bourbon. " What can I say Preston. I do like some peace and quiet every now and then." he cooly replied as he snapped open the bottle and drank a gulp. "Also I doubt any of the raiders would dare to approach 600 meters of the Castle." "Well. I wish that you would consider my suggestion." Preston Garvey finished. He turned to look out the watchtower. "Now about that settlement in need of hel-"" "Yah yah yah." Nate interrupted. " I'm going down there soon. I just don't get why can't we can't just send a group down to take care of the problem." "Well, we could but it would be best that as our general that you do it. It would certainly show the Commonwealth people how serious we are of as the protectors of the Commonwealth." Preston replied, shifting the Laser Musket in his hand. That same reason has been given many times but till now Nate hasn't found a way to be able to rebut that. One day, just one day I'll get you to go down there instead. Reluctantly, he went over to his X-01Mk.3 Power Armour completed with a jetpack module he fabricated himself. But right before he entered it, a bullet zipped right infront of him, the bullet pinging off the helmet of his power armour infront of him. In response, Nate quickly dived for cover. The sound of a musket being fired broke the stillness of the afternoon air."Raiders!" Preston called out. "Coming from the South West. Some in power armour and are those Deathclaws behind them?" he asked as he cranked his musket again for another shot. "Well. At least it's not raining.". By now, the minutemen in the fort were already running up to their guard posts to defend. Nate got into his power armour, pulled out his Gauss Rifle and began to start taking shots at the Deathclaws. This went on for a few minutes, but eventually there was only a few raiders and a Deathclaw left. Nate charged up his rifle to finish the beast off when he heard a very distinct whistle. Oh god. A mini-nuke coming! he thought to himself. Not wanting to headbutt a nuke, he quickly jumped off his sniping perch. The nuke collided with the back wall of his watchtower and went off but surprisingly the flimsy wooden and corroded steel structure remains intact. Hmm... Maybe I should just duck next time instead. Dramatic dodging was pointless. The sound of compressed gases being released broke his thoughts. Somehow Preston had managed to get his hands on a flamer and he was now burning a raider to death with it. Nate left him to it and traced the path of the projectile that hit the tower. "There you are. Nice try with the nuke." he mumbled to himself as he saw that raider reload the Fat Man he was carrying. He stowed his Gauss Rifle and brought out his own Fat Man that was brought in Diamond City. He loaded it and took aim. "Yo Dwag. I heard you like nukes. Have 12 of them!" he said as he squeezed the trigger. Two cluster nukes flew out. They sailed through the air with the very distinct whistle. At the peak of its' flight, they opened up and 6 mini nukes came out from each cluster nuke. The salvo started their descend and Nate anticipated the coming explosions. But then as his eyes followed the nukes down, he saw something that filled him with caused him to flinch. Preston Garvey had apparently decided to charge the raider with his flamer and the raider was aiming his loaded fat man at Preston. "Shi-" that was all he managed to say before the view was obstructed by a mini nuclear blast followed shortly by 12 more. The smoke finally cleared. Nate ran up, hoping that by some miracle that Preston had managed to survive the carpet nuking. But as he approached the blast site, he could not see any trace of that man. When he finally reached the area, there was nothing there at all save for a crystal shard the size of his hand where Preston had stood. Panic and denial started to set in at the fact that he just killed someone under his command but a second thought came to him. Wait a minute. This means Preston is finally dead! Oh god, it's over! It's finally over!!!. Those initial feeling were quickly overwritten by euphoria... The minutemen later on at night reportedly had a massive celebration ordered by their general. So much alcohol was brought just for the party that the Diamond City bar had to close down for a few days for them to replenish their stocks. Author's Note The tread idea that started this story: Link Also, Rip Preston Garvey. Or is he? What could possibly go wrong? (Chap 1)~Present day. Ponyville. The Friendship Castle~ Twilight waited in the map room of her crystal tree castle. Ever since Starlight Glimmer had managed to manipulate the table map, Twilight had wanted to study it to find out how it works. She had to wait for Starlight Glimmer though as she currently knew more about the map than her. The doors to the room were encased in a magical glow and they swung open to reveal the friend Twilight was waiting for. "Hi Twilight, sorry I took so long. Pinkie just won't let me go!" Starlight said with a smile. Ever since Twilight had offered to be her friend, Starlight Glimmer had been hanging out with the others and realised how much she had overreacted when her friend left. "It's good to see that you have been having a great time Starlight. This is what making new friends is about. You got to learn to make new connections." Twilight said as she closed the book she was reading. "Yeah. Looking back, I guess you could say I over reacted. Making a village and removing everypony's cutie marks? What was I thinking?" Starlight replied. "Well as long as you learn from your past endeavours, I'm sure you won't repeat again. A fall in the pit, a gain in experience." Twilight answered. "Ok Starlight, I guess we can start with the table map. How did you managed to use the map?" "Well, I broke into your palace once before the lecture and spent some time trying to find the strongest source of magic in your castle. I found it coming from the middle of the map. The raw magic coming from it is not like the normal ambient magic around us, rather it feels old and powerful. Something like the Solar or Lunar magic that the princesses use or the chaos magic that Discord throws around." Starlight paused for a moment. "I simply modified Starswirl's spell to direct the magic to be able to bend time, allowing me to travel back much further in time." "I see. From what you are saying, this magic in the map is old and unique. The fact that you are able to go back a few years in time suggests that the magic within is potent. Maybe even more powerful than the Princesses." Twilight climbed onto the map. "So you were saying that the source of it is coming from the centre of the table?" "Yes Twilight, but you may need to do some digging, it was coming somewhere from the base in the middle." Starlight pointed out. Twilight closed her eyes and focused on the magic emanating from the table map. Sure enough, her magic senses were able to sense the magic described by Starlight. She traced the magic to it's source. Wow, this magic is really potent. Only thing I know that could be this unique is the theorised magic by Starswirl that exists between dimensions. Soon, she found the source. It was coming from a shard slightly larger than the size of her hoof. Twilight mentally noted it's position and opened her eyes. "There's a shard in the table that is the source of that magic. I have to agree with you th at it is extremely strong magic. It could be the rumoured magic that exists between dimensions. Want to try to extract it?" Twilight asked. "If you want to, I'll be willing to help. But how are you going to get the shard without damaging the crystal." Starlight answered with a tone of skeptism. "Oh not to worry, the book there has a really interesting spell that allows the caster to turn certain parts of an object completely pass through-able. I'll use that spell and all you gotta do is to just grab the shard." Twilight replied. "You ready?" she asked as her horn lit up. "Oh, I'm ready." Starlight answered eagerly. "Lets do it Twilight." Twilight casted the spell onto the table. Sure enough, a transcluent tunnel formed. Starlight looked down the tunnel and saw the shard that Twilight mentioned. She grabbed it with her telekinesis and pulled it out. As soon as the shard was out of the table though, the landscape features on the table map disappeared, leaving a flat top table. "Ok Twilight. I got the shard." Starlight called out. Twilight in response nodded and powered down her spell. The transcluent tunnel immediately turned solid again. She looked at the shard that Starlight had laid on the table. It was a beautiful thing the shard was, faint colours of red and yellow pulsing softly within it. She then looked at the now plain table. So when the shard is removed, the map loses it's power? she observed. "Do you have a way to interact with it?" Starlight asked. "I'm not sure what it is. If it has a conscience, I can cast a mind merge spell to speak with it. But if it doesn't the only thing we can do is to conduct experiments with it." Twilight said after thinking a while. "I'm going to try to communicate with it. Could you ensure that no one disturbs me while I try it?" "Will do Twilight. Take as much time as you need, It's what I can do for you as a friend." Starlight said as she walked out of the map room. "I'll be outside if you need me." The doors closing behind her. ...... Twilight started the preparations for the merge spell. Closing her eyes after casting the spell within the spell circle she drew, she felt her self floating out of her body. Willing her conscious, she directed it to go into the crystal shard. 'Hello? Is anypony here?" She called out. No response. she tried again and was met with the same silence. Se tried a third time. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm the bearer of the element of magic and the princess of friendship. I would like to speak with you, the Tree of Harmony?" Finally a response. "A tree of what? Well. If it a consolation prize, I can't feel it if it is raining at least." A voice replied. "Err. Hi? May I know who you are?" Twilight asked. "I'm a Minutemen from the Commonwealth. The last thing I recall was fighting a raider who had a Fat Man." Fat Man? Minutemen? Commonwealth? What are all these? Is he an alien? Twilight wondered. "Are you an alien?" she asked. "Alien? No Babe. I'm a human. Name is Preston Garvey. Man, I don't know what you are, but your timing's impeccable. But right now there are some villages that are having trouble. Here, I'll mark it on a map for you." the voice replied. Right before Twilight could reply, she felt her mind being quickly pushed back into the body, the merge spell being quickly broken. ...... Starlight felt a surge of the unfamiliar magic coming from the map room. She quickly turned around and pushed open the door. Behind the door, she was greeted with trouble. The shard was hovering over the table brightly, white light coming from it. Twilight lay on the floor, slowly trying to stand up. The shard emitted more light and 4 limbs started to grow out from the centre. The top two limbs were slender and ended in a fashion similar to Spike's claws. The bottom 2 limbs were ended in a fashion similar to Spike's bottom legs but with smaller claws at the end. A separate rod of light appeared infront of the developing shape and began to change it shape. On one end of the rod, it became bent at an angle with a rectangular end. On the other end, the rod was lengthen and made thinner. After a while, the light started to fade away. Twilight could easily see the creature's feature. It's shape reminded her of her form over in Sunset's world. In the human's hand, there something that appears to be meshed together from various mechanical and electronic parts strapped to a regular wooden rifle stock. A clear glass cylinder was at the back of the various electronics attached to the wooden stock and it had a crank attached to the back. The human was wearing a long and dirty coat and had a colonial hat. He landed on the table map, it in response immediately showed the map of Equestria again. "Now, as I was saying" Preston started. " There's a settlement near the city of Appaloosa that has a friendship problem. Here, I'll mark it on the map." He pointed at a spot on the table map. Immediately, Twilight's cutie mark appeared and started to hover over the spot pointed by Garvey. At the same time, Twilight's cutie mark on her flanks also began to pulse. "Wha..." Twilight was shocked. Preston Garvey started to walked out the door. "Nice weather we are having today. Good luck Princess." Author's Note And it took 2,944 words to make a settlement joke. What should Twilight do now to escape the curse of Preston Garvey? To rid of a Preston Garvey (Chap 2)~A week later~ Cadence and Shining Armour woke up to the sound of a loud, frantic banging on their bedroom door. "Whom is it?" Shining mumbled from his pillow. Cadence got out the bed and went to the door. But as soon as she undid the lock, the door quickly burst opened. A certain purple alicorn ran in and quickly slammed the door, locking it and casting several spells on it. "Twilight! Sunshine suns-" Cadence started the usual greeting they do but Twilight interrupted her. "Can you all hide me please! I need to escape from this creature." she said frantically. "Hide from whom?" Shining Armour asked, now curious and slightly worried for his sister. Twilight had black circles under her eyes, a sign that she had not slept much. Her mane and tail was messy and had dirt trapped in places. Her cutie mark started to glow with that all too familiar pulse. "Oh no, He knows where I am. Please tell me he can't get in." Twilight said frantically. She began looking around their bedroom for possible escape routes. Shining Armour now was in protect-my-little-sis mode and he casted his strongest shield around the room. Cadence also prepared a stasis spell. Both Prince and Princess of the Crystal Empire all waited to intercept whatever that was troubling their sister/niece. The first indication of something that happening was when Shining Armour suddenly felt a huge magical strain on his shield spell. He tried to maintain the spell but whatever that was attacking the shield had a huge magical ability. The shield shattered and the magical feedback hit Shining Armour for a loop, stunning him. Next, an amber glow started to engulf the doors. Twilight's enchantments could be seen quickly fizzing out as they failed to stop whomever that was trying to open the door. The door's locking mechanism could be heard clicking open and they opened to reveal Preston Garvey. Cadence quickly fired off the stasis spell. The spell connected with the intruder and for a second it looks like it would work. But an amber transparent aura appeared around the intruder and the beam of energy Cadence fired was reflected back to her. The Princess of Love was struck by it and became frozen in place, just as the spell was designed to do. Twilight saw both her brother and her older sister were disabled and began to retreat towards the corner of the room. "Princess Twilight, there's a friendship problem at a town near the city of Fillydelphia. Here, I'll mark it on your map back at the castle..." He started, looking at Twilight. "No. No. Please, no more." Twilight begged. "Now, now princess. You're the Princess of Friendship right. Don't you think that you would be best suited to tackle the problems the other ponies face?" He focused briefly and both the frighten Twilight and Preston Garvey disappeared in a flash of light. ...... Shining Armour was the first to recover from the magic feedback. He blinked for a few second before looking around. "Twilight?" He called out, still disoriented. Looking around the room, he saw Cadence whom was frozen with a look of surprise on her face. The sound of hoofsteps could be heard coming down the hall leading to the bedroom. Two alicorns walked into the room, one with a dismayed look and the other worry. "Tis seems that we have came too late to stop ty' creature from the tree." Luna observed. "Princess Luna and Princess Celestia! You know what is bothering my sister?" Shining Armour asked. "Yes. It's was freed by your sister about a week ago. From what little we could hear and discover, it seems as she had taken a shard from the Tree of Harmony and somehow it transformed into that... unusual creature." Luna finished as she glanced at Celestia whom was trying to break the spell on Cadence. "We tried to stop it once. But it managed to overpower us, by a margin much larger than Discord. So far that being seems to not be malignant but it might change." Celestia said as she broke the stasis spell on Cadence, she whom upon being freed from her stationary pose fell backwards. "Is there any way for us to stop that thing?" Shining Armour asked as he helped his wife up. "My Twily looked so afraid of him." "We aren't sure. Direct magical attacks on it is pointless. Even Discord couldn't do anything to him, saying something bout that 'hum-an' being nothing but pure harmony magic." Celestia answered with an annoyed tone. "Well, we could try other ways instead of relying on raw magical strength." Cadence suggested. "Believe me my niece, we tried everything we could think of" Luna quickly answered with a tone of frustration... ~3 days ago~ Earlier on that day, it was a normal day as usual. Nobels bickering in court over some trival things or to try and win favours with the princess. She envied Luna whom spent the day sleeping while she had to get headaches everyday from the nobles. What would I give for something new to happen she sighed to herself. Well, apprently luck or fate decided to help her and a light-greyish unicorn came running into the throne room. "Princess! We need your help badly!" the "Who is this commoner? Might I ask why is she doing here when we are in the middle of our discussion. Where are the guards!" One nobel shouted. "The guards are 'trapped' at the moment but that is not important. Princess Twilight and I need your help!" she continued. "Did you say Twilight?" Celestia asked. When Starlight nodded in response, she looked at the group of nobles. "Today's court is adjourned. We will continue this tomorrow." "But your majesty. I must protest! We are just getting to the important details!" someone protested. "I said Court is adjourned. Unless you would prefer it to be held during my sister Luna's court?" she asked. The nobles upon hearing that, began to shift nervously. Taking part in Luna's court was dicey business, if they were 'utterly boring and naively bickering over 'trivial things' 'according to her, she would respond by throwing them out the window or the door. Keeping their 'valuable' discussions to Celestia's day court was a much successful and painless route. Celestia watched the nobles exit her throne room. She turned her attention to the unicorn. "So, who are you? And what trouble is Twilight Sparkle facing?" "My name is Starlight Glimmer. Twilight and I were trying to study how the table map back at her castle worked. We found some kind of shard in the middle of the table and extracted it." Starlight hesitated for a moment. "After that, Twilight told me to go out the room as she wanted to try a spell to try and communicate with the shard to see if it had a conscious. The next thing I knew was there was a huge wave of energy unique to the tree that came from her map room. I went in and saw a creature materialising from the shard. It was bipedal and carried some weird object in his fore-limbs. It called itself Preston Garvey and started doing that table-cutie mark magic thing before waltzing out the door." "So how is that creature causing trouble? It sounds to be harmless." Celestia asked puzzled. "Well we thought so too and Twilight went over to the location marked on the table map to solve some friendship problem? But when she returned, that creature started to mark even more locations on the map. This has been going on for the past few days and Twilight isn't able to get any rest. Every time she fixes the problem at a place, there will be another new one, some even taking place at the same previous locations! It's been going out of control and that creature even managed to do the same things to the other element bearers." "Can't Twilight just simply stop doing these quests given by the creature? It's not like it threatens them if they don't do it. Right?" Celestia pointed out. "Well you are correct in that manner but whenever they are summoned, their cutie marks won't stop pulsing till they go to the location and to make matters worse. If they try to hide, that creature would simply find them before forcibly teleporting them back to the castle. Even Twilight's friend, Pinkie Pie couldn't get away from him for more than a day." Starlight mumbled "That actually sounds a little worrisome. Could you tell me where could that creature be?" Celestia got off her throne and walked down the platform it was on. "I'm not sure, but before I left. I saw that Twilight was to be heading to the edge of the forests near Vanhoover." Starlight Glimmer offered helpfully. "Climb on me." Celestia said. "We are teleporting there." Starlight obeyed and Celestia began charging for the long distance teleport. A flash of light later, they were both above the forests near Vanhoover. Celestia began a fly-by of the forest to look for her student. She spotted a small settlement on the edge and decided to ask them if they had seen her. Upon landing, the small number of ponies living in the settlement whom noticed the solar princess landing immediately bowed. " You may rise. I like to seek any sightings of Princess Twilight if you had seen her?" "Oh. Princess Twilight visited earlier and helped us overcome a minor problem." One of the settlers helpfully replied. "She left a while ago." Celestia thanked the settler and teleported again. This time reappearing infront of Twilight's castle. Both the Solar princess and Starlight Glimmer walked into the main hall. They heard a familiar voice "Could you please stop sending me on these quests? I haven't slept since yesterday! This is getting boring and repetitive !" A familiar voice shouted. "I know princess, but those ponies need your help. If the Princess of Friendship couldn't do it, then who can?" A unfamiliar voice replied. "That's the creature Twilight accidentally summoned." Starlight whispered to Celestia. "I'll try to have a word with it. See if I could reason with it." Celestia said before she flew forward towards the map room. When she opened the door, she had her first look at the creature bothering Twilight. The clothes it wore reminded here of the clothes her subjects wore years before the Industrial Revolution occurred. It had a long slender object that vaguely reminded her of the basic muskets the minotaurs and griffons used. Except it had various electronics parts instead of a hollow metal rod. The bipedal creature stop it's interactions with Twilight to look at the newcomer. 'Hello Princess Celestia. My name is Preston Garvey, former general of the minutemen and the last minutemen from the Commonwealth. " How does it even know who I am? Celestia wondered. She looked at Preston, trying to recall if she had met him before. "Have I met you before?" she asked. "No. But I know you from the constant surveying of your kingdom. That's how I am able to know which of your citizens are in need of help." Garvey replied. "I see." Celestia based for a moment. "Well, could you lessen the amount of the quests you are sending the bearers on? I've heard it was becoming rather taxing for them." "Yes, but isn't it better for your citizens if they can live in perfect harmony? Some of you ponies still have troubles getting along, particularly in the major cities. What better way to spread the magic of friendship and harmony than with the physical embodiment of friendship. This is helping your citizens out as well isn't it. They would be able to live in perfect harmony." he pointed out. "Well yes but you can't just simply keep making the bearers do all the work! They are ponies too, they too need have lives. You can't just simply work them to exhaustion." Celestia replied, taking a step forward. She was starting to go into her motherly mode after realising that the thing did not realise how he was wearing out Twilight and her friends. "I have an objective to achieve. Ensure harmony throughout the lands. My old world was destroyed because people were fighting among each other. I do not wish to see the world relapse back to those times." Preston replied. Realising that he can't be reasoned with, Celestia fired a beam at him. The beam of energy collided with the intended target but somehow Preston Garvey showed no reaction to it as if the beam did not hurt him. "Oh, so you want to do this huh." Preston said as he grabbed the laser musket hanging on his back. Garvey started to crank the handle at the back of the gun. Celestia in response quickly fired another beam of magic this time with even more energy. But like the last one, it had no effect on him. By now Preston Garvey had cranked the handle six times already, the glass cylinder in front of the crank emitting a bright red glow. He took aim and pressed the trigger. An intense beam of red light came out of the end of the musket with a loud twang. Celestia ducked, the laser beam zipping over her head. She could feel the intense heat behind the beam. Although she was the solar Princess and couldn't get easily burnt by fire, she realised that the laser beam would leave a nasty scorch mark on her if it hit her directly. The laser beam hit the crystal walls of the tree castle, dissipating into the walls as it broke up into several smaller beams. Celestia tried to cast another spell. But it again fizzled out when it hit Preston. The last minuteman in response said: "I think we are done fighting, this does not help me at all." He raised his left hand, the hand glowing with an amber aura. With a brief gesture, he teleported Celestia back to Canterlot Castle while she was in mid charge. Celestia ended up crashing into the walls of her bedroom after she was teleported. Feeling a little disoriented from the headbutt with the wall, she got up. No matter what, she was going to try to stop that creature A few minutes later, she was in front of her sister's bedroom. Ignoring the 2 lunar guards posted at the doors, she opened the door and entered Luna's room. Luna had the curtains drawn and sleeping peacefully. A sound-proof bubble encased the bed. Luna always casted this spell as she was a light sleeper. This had it downsides though when the changelings invaded. "Luna, wake up. I need your help." Celestia started as soon as she entered the bubble. 'Ebh... wha." Luna mumbled. "Go away unless it's something importan... zzZ" "Luna, Twilight Sparkle needs our help." Celestia simply said. That got the night princess up. "Did you say Twilight Sparkle?" she asked, still sleepy. What happened?" "There this creature that she had accidentally released from the Tree of Harmony. It has been working Twilight and her friends to exhaustion if we don't stop him!" "Oh my. This sounds serious." Luna was wide awake now. "Where is that creature now? We shall defeat it and ensure it will never bother anypony else!" she exclaimed. "I hope we could." Celestia mumbled. ...... Both Celestia and Luna collasped onto the floor as soon as they returned to their castle. They were tired from straining themselves magically and some parts of their coat was singed from laser beams "Tis is impossible! What kind of creature could resist all the spells we threw at him? What is he even?" Luna moaned as she materalised some ice to sooth the areas where she was hit by the laser beam. "I don't know. I felt that he had lots of magical energy at his disposal." Celestia said with worry. "I don't want to think of it it there may be no way to stop it." Author's Note Some things I expected. 1.) You just made Preston Garvey OP. What a deus ex machina. Preston Garvey is the Tree of Harmony. Tree of Harmony overpowers Discord, who is stronger than both Celestia and Luna before they found the elements. Celestial and Luna control celestial bodies which Twilight and Cadence can't do. I'll let that sink in... As to why he is the tree? Wait for the next chap. I promise you it will be mind-blowing Love backfiring (Chap 3)~Back in the crystal empire~ "And we spent the next few days trying to get rid of him. From freezing him, banishment to Tartarus, petrification which even included us trying to use a cockatrice and sending it to the moon. The last attempt resulted in me having to spend an entire day trying to bring Luna back from the moon when the spell was deflected back to her." Celestia recounted. The lunar princess flinching upon hearing the part of the accidental banishment to the moon. "Tis wan't a pleasant experience thank you." Luna replied. "Could I give it a go?" Cadence asked. "I like to try my way." "What's your plan my niece?" Celestia asked. "Well, I noted that my aunts had been using all sorts of direct spells on it. But what if were to manipulate him instead of trying to overpower?" she suggested. And with that she outlined her idea, a smile playing on their lips as they realise Cadence plan could maybe work. After her plan was outlined, they were determined to put it into action. Only one small problem existed. They had no idea where that human is or what was he doing. ~Meanwhile~ Garvey stood on top of the hills near the Everfree forest. Having send the bearers to another bunch of different settlements across, he had some free time. He looked at the clear skies around him enjoying how that there wasn't a single raincloud in sight. Of course being stuck in that Tree of Harmony as the ponies called it gave him quite some power. Mostly in creating a perfect world. He turned towards the Everfree Forest. With a slight disapproval, he noted the black clouds over the tree horizons. Even with the little concept of time while stuck in the tree, Garvey remembered how the Everfree forest was unusually stubborn to his attempts to control the weather. But now that he was free, he could directly manipulate the weather. Preston raised his hand at the offending cloud and concentrated. The amber glow appeared around his hand and the clouds. With a poof, the clouds disappeared, revealing a clear sky. "Good. It won't be raining today!" he said to himself, admiring his work. A slight twitch went through him. It seems that there is another disturbance in harmony over at Cloudsdale. Where's that bearer called Rainbow Dash? Preston though to himself. He dusted the dirt from his coat and focused on a teleportation spell. This skill comes pretty handy for finding themhe noted to himself before disappearing in a flash of light. ~Back at the the Crystal Empire~ "So, any ideas as to where could that Preston Garvey be?" Luna asked. The 3 princesses were just looking at each other, each of them having no idea for the problem they faced. "Aunt? How did you and Aunt Luna know that Garvey will be at the Crystal Empire earlier today?" Cadence asked. "It was a stroke of luck. We were able to find Twilight Sparkle trying to run from the creature. So we followed her trail. It was too bad that it got to her first." Celestia answered. "I don't think it would be easy to find that creature again. The bearers are scattered everywhere across Equestria. It's not like there would be a giant beacon alerting us to where they are." Luna said, her patience starting to snap after days of frustration. It was then, a loud boom was heard. The sound made the 3 princesses turn towards the windows. Out of it, they could see a giant wave of rainbow spreading across the sky. "I think we may have found where that creature may be." Celestia said. Finally breaking the silence. No word was needed as the 3 princesses took flight towards the source of that Rainbow explosion. ...... "Oh Rainbow Dash!" Preston Garvey said while knocking on the door that led to her bathroom. "There's a settlement that needs your help." "No! Enough please! I don't want to do anymore of those quests again!" Rainbow Dash shouted through the door. The cyan pegasus had hastily pushed a stack of drawers and used it to block the door in a vain attempt to keep Preston Garvey out. "Oh Little Pony. Let me come in." Garvey said. Rainbow Dash shouted: "Never! Not by my mane I will let you in!" "Then I guess I'll have to shoot my way in." Garvey said. Pulling out his musket, he started to crank it and aimed the gun at the door. A laser came out, blasting a few chunks of the reinforced cloud door away. He reloaded his gun and shot the door again and again. Rainbow Dash flinched in fear when she heard the laser musket being fired. She was also a little scared upon seeing parts of the door disintegrate under the laser beams. (Ok, she was really scared). The hole in the wall grew bigger as more and more of the door was destroyed. By the time Preston Garvey stopped firing the musket, Rainbow Dash was genuinely afraid. She was even more spooked when Garvey stuck his head through the large gap in the broken door and said: "There's another settlement that needs your help. Here, I'll mark it on the table map." Rainbow Dash punched Garvey in the face, Garvey backing off in response to the sudden attack. He pulled out his musket and shot the door's lock off. The remaining half of the door swung open, revealing Rainbow Dash. Preston focused his magic, trapping Rainbow Dash before she could fly off (and cause another sonic boom). But before he could teleport both of them away, he felt a wave of emotions flowing through him. ...... "So your plan is to use your love magic on that creature to change it's feelings and influence it's decisions?" Luna asked. "How are you sure this would work." "Well I was thinking, since this creature you say is passive and all you have been using were direct spells. I feel that we should try some indirect spells." Cadence said while looking at Preston Garvey whom was currently under her signature love spell. "So far it seems to be working." True to the love princess's word, Preston Garvey was still stuck in his position as the spell worked it's way on him. Cadence finished casting the spell. "If all goes well, it should stop bugging the bearers with the quests." Candace said. Their metaphoric fingers were crossed as the creature finally got his bearings again. Preston Garvey shook his head to clear his head. He saw the three princesses standing at in the room. "Hello Mi Amore Cadenza, nice to see you babe. But Rainbow Dash and I must get going. That settlement won't wait." and with that said, Garvey teleported out the room along with a unwilling Rainbow Dash. After a while, a bewildered and slightly blushing Cadence asked: "Did he just called me babe?". This earned a snicker from the other princesses. Author's Note I ran out of ideas on things to write related to the chap title. Hence the short chapter. Sorry If you have ideas, do go ahead and fire them off in the comments.
How it came to be (Prologue)~About 4000 Years ago. ~ Nate sat at the top of his watchtower which overlooked The Citadel. Being the new general of the Commonwealth Minutemen meant that he often had to spent time in the base, be it from training new recruits or responding to pleas of help from the citizens of the Commonwealth. Granted it was difficult and painful to build up the Minutemen to where they were now, most notably having to press the detonator to destroy the Institute and all traces of his son's work. But there were glorious achievements as well like taking on the Brotherhood of Steel and coming on top. 10 years had passed since those events and The Commonwealth is now a much more peaceful place. The number of raiders were dropping as the days go on and more and more synths under the guidance of The Railroad had found new lives among the people whom had finally learnt to accept them. He was now famous among the Commonwealth, the vault survivor whom survived 200 years, brining all the people together and making their world a safer place. Fathers would tell their children the story of how they had stormed the Institute with the general leading them to victory. Really, it seems like he had it all. A comfortable life as far as possible in the wasteland, fame and fortune. However there was a major downside to all these things. Namely one person. "General! I've just got word of a settlement that needs some help." Came the voice that he had heard for a millionth time. Nate closed his eyes and mumbled the following phrase to himself. Here. I'll mark it on your map. Drink "Here. I'll mark it on your map." Finished the person as he climbed the tower. "General, could you maybe move your office onto the ground floor instead of up here. It's dangerous to be up her in plain view of any raider snipers babe." Nate closed the trunk next to his table after grabbing a bottle of Bourbon. " What can I say Preston. I do like some peace and quiet every now and then." he cooly replied as he snapped open the bottle and drank a gulp. "Also I doubt any of the raiders would dare to approach 600 meters of the Castle." "Well. I wish that you would consider my suggestion." Preston Garvey finished. He turned to look out the watchtower. "Now about that settlement in need of hel-"" "Yah yah yah." Nate interrupted. " I'm going down there soon. I just don't get why can't we can't just send a group down to take care of the problem." "Well, we could but it would be best that as our general that you do it. It would certainly show the Commonwealth people how serious we are of as the protectors of the Commonwealth." Preston replied, shifting the Laser Musket in his hand. That same reason has been given many times but till now Nate hasn't found a way to be able to rebut that. One day, just one day I'll get you to go down there instead. Reluctantly, he went over to his X-01Mk.3 Power Armour completed with a jetpack module he fabricated himself. But right before he entered it, a bullet zipped right infront of him, the bullet pinging off the helmet of his power armour infront of him. In response, Nate quickly dived for cover. The sound of a musket being fired broke the stillness of the afternoon air."Raiders!" Preston called out. "Coming from the South West. Some in power armour and are those Deathclaws behind them?" he asked as he cranked his musket again for another shot. "Well. At least it's not raining.". By now, the minutemen in the fort were already running up to their guard posts to defend. Nate got into his power armour, pulled out his Gauss Rifle and began to start taking shots at the Deathclaws. This went on for a few minutes, but eventually there was only a few raiders and a Deathclaw left. Nate charged up his rifle to finish the beast off when he heard a very distinct whistle. Oh god. A mini-nuke coming! he thought to himself. Not wanting to headbutt a nuke, he quickly jumped off his sniping perch. The nuke collided with the back wall of his watchtower and went off but surprisingly the flimsy wooden and corroded steel structure remains intact. Hmm... Maybe I should just duck next time instead. Dramatic dodging was pointless. The sound of compressed gases being released broke his thoughts. Somehow Preston had managed to get his hands on a flamer and he was now burning a raider to death with it. Nate left him to it and traced the path of the projectile that hit the tower. "There you are. Nice try with the nuke." he mumbled to himself as he saw that raider reload the Fat Man he was carrying. He stowed his Gauss Rifle and brought out his own Fat Man that was brought in Diamond City. He loaded it and took aim. "Yo Dwag. I heard you like nukes. Have 12 of them!" he said as he squeezed the trigger. Two cluster nukes flew out. They sailed through the air with the very distinct whistle. At the peak of its' flight, they opened up and 6 mini nukes came out from each cluster nuke. The salvo started their descend and Nate anticipated the coming explosions. But then as his eyes followed the nukes down, he saw something that filled him with caused him to flinch. Preston Garvey had apparently decided to charge the raider with his flamer and the raider was aiming his loaded fat man at Preston. "Shi-" that was all he managed to say before the view was obstructed by a mini nuclear blast followed shortly by 12 more. The smoke finally cleared. Nate ran up, hoping that by some miracle that Preston had managed to survive the carpet nuking. But as he approached the blast site, he could not see any trace of that man. When he finally reached the area, there was nothing there at all save for a crystal shard the size of his hand where Preston had stood. Panic and denial started to set in at the fact that he just killed someone under his command but a second thought came to him. Wait a minute. This means Preston is finally dead! Oh god, it's over! It's finally over!!!. Those initial feeling were quickly overwritten by euphoria... The minutemen later on at night reportedly had a massive celebration ordered by their general. So much alcohol was brought just for the party that the Diamond City bar had to close down for a few days for them to replenish their stocks. Author's Note The tread idea that started this story: Link Also, Rip Preston Garvey. Or is he?
What could possibly go wrong? (Chap 1)~Present day. Ponyville. The Friendship Castle~ Twilight waited in the map room of her crystal tree castle. Ever since Starlight Glimmer had managed to manipulate the table map, Twilight had wanted to study it to find out how it works. She had to wait for Starlight Glimmer though as she currently knew more about the map than her. The doors to the room were encased in a magical glow and they swung open to reveal the friend Twilight was waiting for. "Hi Twilight, sorry I took so long. Pinkie just won't let me go!" Starlight said with a smile. Ever since Twilight had offered to be her friend, Starlight Glimmer had been hanging out with the others and realised how much she had overreacted when her friend left. "It's good to see that you have been having a great time Starlight. This is what making new friends is about. You got to learn to make new connections." Twilight said as she closed the book she was reading. "Yeah. Looking back, I guess you could say I over reacted. Making a village and removing everypony's cutie marks? What was I thinking?" Starlight replied. "Well as long as you learn from your past endeavours, I'm sure you won't repeat again. A fall in the pit, a gain in experience." Twilight answered. "Ok Starlight, I guess we can start with the table map. How did you managed to use the map?" "Well, I broke into your palace once before the lecture and spent some time trying to find the strongest source of magic in your castle. I found it coming from the middle of the map. The raw magic coming from it is not like the normal ambient magic around us, rather it feels old and powerful. Something like the Solar or Lunar magic that the princesses use or the chaos magic that Discord throws around." Starlight paused for a moment. "I simply modified Starswirl's spell to direct the magic to be able to bend time, allowing me to travel back much further in time." "I see. From what you are saying, this magic in the map is old and unique. The fact that you are able to go back a few years in time suggests that the magic within is potent. Maybe even more powerful than the Princesses." Twilight climbed onto the map. "So you were saying that the source of it is coming from the centre of the table?" "Yes Twilight, but you may need to do some digging, it was coming somewhere from the base in the middle." Starlight pointed out. Twilight closed her eyes and focused on the magic emanating from the table map. Sure enough, her magic senses were able to sense the magic described by Starlight. She traced the magic to it's source. Wow, this magic is really potent. Only thing I know that could be this unique is the theorised magic by Starswirl that exists between dimensions. Soon, she found the source. It was coming from a shard slightly larger than the size of her hoof. Twilight mentally noted it's position and opened her eyes. "There's a shard in the table that is the source of that magic. I have to agree with you th at it is extremely strong magic. It could be the rumoured magic that exists between dimensions. Want to try to extract it?" Twilight asked. "If you want to, I'll be willing to help. But how are you going to get the shard without damaging the crystal." Starlight answered with a tone of skeptism. "Oh not to worry, the book there has a really interesting spell that allows the caster to turn certain parts of an object completely pass through-able. I'll use that spell and all you gotta do is to just grab the shard." Twilight replied. "You ready?" she asked as her horn lit up. "Oh, I'm ready." Starlight answered eagerly. "Lets do it Twilight." Twilight casted the spell onto the table. Sure enough, a transcluent tunnel formed. Starlight looked down the tunnel and saw the shard that Twilight mentioned. She grabbed it with her telekinesis and pulled it out. As soon as the shard was out of the table though, the landscape features on the table map disappeared, leaving a flat top table. "Ok Twilight. I got the shard." Starlight called out. Twilight in response nodded and powered down her spell. The transcluent tunnel immediately turned solid again. She looked at the shard that Starlight had laid on the table. It was a beautiful thing the shard was, faint colours of red and yellow pulsing softly within it. She then looked at the now plain table. So when the shard is removed, the map loses it's power? she observed. "Do you have a way to interact with it?" Starlight asked. "I'm not sure what it is. If it has a conscience, I can cast a mind merge spell to speak with it. But if it doesn't the only thing we can do is to conduct experiments with it." Twilight said after thinking a while. "I'm going to try to communicate with it. Could you ensure that no one disturbs me while I try it?" "Will do Twilight. Take as much time as you need, It's what I can do for you as a friend." Starlight said as she walked out of the map room. "I'll be outside if you need me." The doors closing behind her. ...... Twilight started the preparations for the merge spell. Closing her eyes after casting the spell within the spell circle she drew, she felt her self floating out of her body. Willing her conscious, she directed it to go into the crystal shard. 'Hello? Is anypony here?" She called out. No response. she tried again and was met with the same silence. Se tried a third time. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm the bearer of the element of magic and the princess of friendship. I would like to speak with you, the Tree of Harmony?" Finally a response. "A tree of what? Well. If it a consolation prize, I can't feel it if it is raining at least." A voice replied. "Err. Hi? May I know who you are?" Twilight asked. "I'm a Minutemen from the Commonwealth. The last thing I recall was fighting a raider who had a Fat Man." Fat Man? Minutemen? Commonwealth? What are all these? Is he an alien? Twilight wondered. "Are you an alien?" she asked. "Alien? No Babe. I'm a human. Name is Preston Garvey. Man, I don't know what you are, but your timing's impeccable. But right now there are some villages that are having trouble. Here, I'll mark it on a map for you." the voice replied. Right before Twilight could reply, she felt her mind being quickly pushed back into the body, the merge spell being quickly broken. ...... Starlight felt a surge of the unfamiliar magic coming from the map room. She quickly turned around and pushed open the door. Behind the door, she was greeted with trouble. The shard was hovering over the table brightly, white light coming from it. Twilight lay on the floor, slowly trying to stand up. The shard emitted more light and 4 limbs started to grow out from the centre. The top two limbs were slender and ended in a fashion similar to Spike's claws. The bottom 2 limbs were ended in a fashion similar to Spike's bottom legs but with smaller claws at the end. A separate rod of light appeared infront of the developing shape and began to change it shape. On one end of the rod, it became bent at an angle with a rectangular end. On the other end, the rod was lengthen and made thinner. After a while, the light started to fade away. Twilight could easily see the creature's feature. It's shape reminded her of her form over in Sunset's world. In the human's hand, there something that appears to be meshed together from various mechanical and electronic parts strapped to a regular wooden rifle stock. A clear glass cylinder was at the back of the various electronics attached to the wooden stock and it had a crank attached to the back. The human was wearing a long and dirty coat and had a colonial hat. He landed on the table map, it in response immediately showed the map of Equestria again. "Now, as I was saying" Preston started. " There's a settlement near the city of Appaloosa that has a friendship problem. Here, I'll mark it on the map." He pointed at a spot on the table map. Immediately, Twilight's cutie mark appeared and started to hover over the spot pointed by Garvey. At the same time, Twilight's cutie mark on her flanks also began to pulse. "Wha..." Twilight was shocked. Preston Garvey started to walked out the door. "Nice weather we are having today. Good luck Princess." Author's Note And it took 2,944 words to make a settlement joke. What should Twilight do now to escape the curse of Preston Garvey?
To rid of a Preston Garvey (Chap 2)~A week later~ Cadence and Shining Armour woke up to the sound of a loud, frantic banging on their bedroom door. "Whom is it?" Shining mumbled from his pillow. Cadence got out the bed and went to the door. But as soon as she undid the lock, the door quickly burst opened. A certain purple alicorn ran in and quickly slammed the door, locking it and casting several spells on it. "Twilight! Sunshine suns-" Cadence started the usual greeting they do but Twilight interrupted her. "Can you all hide me please! I need to escape from this creature." she said frantically. "Hide from whom?" Shining Armour asked, now curious and slightly worried for his sister. Twilight had black circles under her eyes, a sign that she had not slept much. Her mane and tail was messy and had dirt trapped in places. Her cutie mark started to glow with that all too familiar pulse. "Oh no, He knows where I am. Please tell me he can't get in." Twilight said frantically. She began looking around their bedroom for possible escape routes. Shining Armour now was in protect-my-little-sis mode and he casted his strongest shield around the room. Cadence also prepared a stasis spell. Both Prince and Princess of the Crystal Empire all waited to intercept whatever that was troubling their sister/niece. The first indication of something that happening was when Shining Armour suddenly felt a huge magical strain on his shield spell. He tried to maintain the spell but whatever that was attacking the shield had a huge magical ability. The shield shattered and the magical feedback hit Shining Armour for a loop, stunning him. Next, an amber glow started to engulf the doors. Twilight's enchantments could be seen quickly fizzing out as they failed to stop whomever that was trying to open the door. The door's locking mechanism could be heard clicking open and they opened to reveal Preston Garvey. Cadence quickly fired off the stasis spell. The spell connected with the intruder and for a second it looks like it would work. But an amber transparent aura appeared around the intruder and the beam of energy Cadence fired was reflected back to her. The Princess of Love was struck by it and became frozen in place, just as the spell was designed to do. Twilight saw both her brother and her older sister were disabled and began to retreat towards the corner of the room. "Princess Twilight, there's a friendship problem at a town near the city of Fillydelphia. Here, I'll mark it on your map back at the castle..." He started, looking at Twilight. "No. No. Please, no more." Twilight begged. "Now, now princess. You're the Princess of Friendship right. Don't you think that you would be best suited to tackle the problems the other ponies face?" He focused briefly and both the frighten Twilight and Preston Garvey disappeared in a flash of light. ...... Shining Armour was the first to recover from the magic feedback. He blinked for a few second before looking around. "Twilight?" He called out, still disoriented. Looking around the room, he saw Cadence whom was frozen with a look of surprise on her face. The sound of hoofsteps could be heard coming down the hall leading to the bedroom. Two alicorns walked into the room, one with a dismayed look and the other worry. "Tis seems that we have came too late to stop ty' creature from the tree." Luna observed. "Princess Luna and Princess Celestia! You know what is bothering my sister?" Shining Armour asked. "Yes. It's was freed by your sister about a week ago. From what little we could hear and discover, it seems as she had taken a shard from the Tree of Harmony and somehow it transformed into that... unusual creature." Luna finished as she glanced at Celestia whom was trying to break the spell on Cadence. "We tried to stop it once. But it managed to overpower us, by a margin much larger than Discord. So far that being seems to not be malignant but it might change." Celestia said as she broke the stasis spell on Cadence, she whom upon being freed from her stationary pose fell backwards. "Is there any way for us to stop that thing?" Shining Armour asked as he helped his wife up. "My Twily looked so afraid of him." "We aren't sure. Direct magical attacks on it is pointless. Even Discord couldn't do anything to him, saying something bout that 'hum-an' being nothing but pure harmony magic." Celestia answered with an annoyed tone. "Well, we could try other ways instead of relying on raw magical strength." Cadence suggested. "Believe me my niece, we tried everything we could think of" Luna quickly answered with a tone of frustration... ~3 days ago~ Earlier on that day, it was a normal day as usual. Nobels bickering in court over some trival things or to try and win favours with the princess. She envied Luna whom spent the day sleeping while she had to get headaches everyday from the nobles. What would I give for something new to happen she sighed to herself. Well, apprently luck or fate decided to help her and a light-greyish unicorn came running into the throne room. "Princess! We need your help badly!" the "Who is this commoner? Might I ask why is she doing here when we are in the middle of our discussion. Where are the guards!" One nobel shouted. "The guards are 'trapped' at the moment but that is not important. Princess Twilight and I need your help!" she continued. "Did you say Twilight?" Celestia asked. When Starlight nodded in response, she looked at the group of nobles. "Today's court is adjourned. We will continue this tomorrow." "But your majesty. I must protest! We are just getting to the important details!" someone protested. "I said Court is adjourned. Unless you would prefer it to be held during my sister Luna's court?" she asked. The nobles upon hearing that, began to shift nervously. Taking part in Luna's court was dicey business, if they were 'utterly boring and naively bickering over 'trivial things' 'according to her, she would respond by throwing them out the window or the door. Keeping their 'valuable' discussions to Celestia's day court was a much successful and painless route. Celestia watched the nobles exit her throne room. She turned her attention to the unicorn. "So, who are you? And what trouble is Twilight Sparkle facing?" "My name is Starlight Glimmer. Twilight and I were trying to study how the table map back at her castle worked. We found some kind of shard in the middle of the table and extracted it." Starlight hesitated for a moment. "After that, Twilight told me to go out the room as she wanted to try a spell to try and communicate with the shard to see if it had a conscious. The next thing I knew was there was a huge wave of energy unique to the tree that came from her map room. I went in and saw a creature materialising from the shard. It was bipedal and carried some weird object in his fore-limbs. It called itself Preston Garvey and started doing that table-cutie mark magic thing before waltzing out the door." "So how is that creature causing trouble? It sounds to be harmless." Celestia asked puzzled. "Well we thought so too and Twilight went over to the location marked on the table map to solve some friendship problem? But when she returned, that creature started to mark even more locations on the map. This has been going on for the past few days and Twilight isn't able to get any rest. Every time she fixes the problem at a place, there will be another new one, some even taking place at the same previous locations! It's been going out of control and that creature even managed to do the same things to the other element bearers." "Can't Twilight just simply stop doing these quests given by the creature? It's not like it threatens them if they don't do it. Right?" Celestia pointed out. "Well you are correct in that manner but whenever they are summoned, their cutie marks won't stop pulsing till they go to the location and to make matters worse. If they try to hide, that creature would simply find them before forcibly teleporting them back to the castle. Even Twilight's friend, Pinkie Pie couldn't get away from him for more than a day." Starlight mumbled "That actually sounds a little worrisome. Could you tell me where could that creature be?" Celestia got off her throne and walked down the platform it was on. "I'm not sure, but before I left. I saw that Twilight was to be heading to the edge of the forests near Vanhoover." Starlight Glimmer offered helpfully. "Climb on me." Celestia said. "We are teleporting there." Starlight obeyed and Celestia began charging for the long distance teleport. A flash of light later, they were both above the forests near Vanhoover. Celestia began a fly-by of the forest to look for her student. She spotted a small settlement on the edge and decided to ask them if they had seen her. Upon landing, the small number of ponies living in the settlement whom noticed the solar princess landing immediately bowed. " You may rise. I like to seek any sightings of Princess Twilight if you had seen her?" "Oh. Princess Twilight visited earlier and helped us overcome a minor problem." One of the settlers helpfully replied. "She left a while ago." Celestia thanked the settler and teleported again. This time reappearing infront of Twilight's castle. Both the Solar princess and Starlight Glimmer walked into the main hall. They heard a familiar voice "Could you please stop sending me on these quests? I haven't slept since yesterday! This is getting boring and repetitive !" A familiar voice shouted. "I know princess, but those ponies need your help. If the Princess of Friendship couldn't do it, then who can?" A unfamiliar voice replied. "That's the creature Twilight accidentally summoned." Starlight whispered to Celestia. "I'll try to have a word with it. See if I could reason with it." Celestia said before she flew forward towards the map room. When she opened the door, she had her first look at the creature bothering Twilight. The clothes it wore reminded here of the clothes her subjects wore years before the Industrial Revolution occurred. It had a long slender object that vaguely reminded her of the basic muskets the minotaurs and griffons used. Except it had various electronics parts instead of a hollow metal rod. The bipedal creature stop it's interactions with Twilight to look at the newcomer. 'Hello Princess Celestia. My name is Preston Garvey, former general of the minutemen and the last minutemen from the Commonwealth. " How does it even know who I am? Celestia wondered. She looked at Preston, trying to recall if she had met him before. "Have I met you before?" she asked. "No. But I know you from the constant surveying of your kingdom. That's how I am able to know which of your citizens are in need of help." Garvey replied. "I see." Celestia based for a moment. "Well, could you lessen the amount of the quests you are sending the bearers on? I've heard it was becoming rather taxing for them." "Yes, but isn't it better for your citizens if they can live in perfect harmony? Some of you ponies still have troubles getting along, particularly in the major cities. What better way to spread the magic of friendship and harmony than with the physical embodiment of friendship. This is helping your citizens out as well isn't it. They would be able to live in perfect harmony." he pointed out. "Well yes but you can't just simply keep making the bearers do all the work! They are ponies too, they too need have lives. You can't just simply work them to exhaustion." Celestia replied, taking a step forward. She was starting to go into her motherly mode after realising that the thing did not realise how he was wearing out Twilight and her friends. "I have an objective to achieve. Ensure harmony throughout the lands. My old world was destroyed because people were fighting among each other. I do not wish to see the world relapse back to those times." Preston replied. Realising that he can't be reasoned with, Celestia fired a beam at him. The beam of energy collided with the intended target but somehow Preston Garvey showed no reaction to it as if the beam did not hurt him. "Oh, so you want to do this huh." Preston said as he grabbed the laser musket hanging on his back. Garvey started to crank the handle at the back of the gun. Celestia in response quickly fired another beam of magic this time with even more energy. But like the last one, it had no effect on him. By now Preston Garvey had cranked the handle six times already, the glass cylinder in front of the crank emitting a bright red glow. He took aim and pressed the trigger. An intense beam of red light came out of the end of the musket with a loud twang. Celestia ducked, the laser beam zipping over her head. She could feel the intense heat behind the beam. Although she was the solar Princess and couldn't get easily burnt by fire, she realised that the laser beam would leave a nasty scorch mark on her if it hit her directly. The laser beam hit the crystal walls of the tree castle, dissipating into the walls as it broke up into several smaller beams. Celestia tried to cast another spell. But it again fizzled out when it hit Preston. The last minuteman in response said: "I think we are done fighting, this does not help me at all." He raised his left hand, the hand glowing with an amber aura. With a brief gesture, he teleported Celestia back to Canterlot Castle while she was in mid charge. Celestia ended up crashing into the walls of her bedroom after she was teleported. Feeling a little disoriented from the headbutt with the wall, she got up. No matter what, she was going to try to stop that creature A few minutes later, she was in front of her sister's bedroom. Ignoring the 2 lunar guards posted at the doors, she opened the door and entered Luna's room. Luna had the curtains drawn and sleeping peacefully. A sound-proof bubble encased the bed. Luna always casted this spell as she was a light sleeper. This had it downsides though when the changelings invaded. "Luna, wake up. I need your help." Celestia started as soon as she entered the bubble. 'Ebh... wha." Luna mumbled. "Go away unless it's something importan... zzZ" "Luna, Twilight Sparkle needs our help." Celestia simply said. That got the night princess up. "Did you say Twilight Sparkle?" she asked, still sleepy. What happened?" "There this creature that she had accidentally released from the Tree of Harmony. It has been working Twilight and her friends to exhaustion if we don't stop him!" "Oh my. This sounds serious." Luna was wide awake now. "Where is that creature now? We shall defeat it and ensure it will never bother anypony else!" she exclaimed. "I hope we could." Celestia mumbled. ...... Both Celestia and Luna collasped onto the floor as soon as they returned to their castle. They were tired from straining themselves magically and some parts of their coat was singed from laser beams "Tis is impossible! What kind of creature could resist all the spells we threw at him? What is he even?" Luna moaned as she materalised some ice to sooth the areas where she was hit by the laser beam. "I don't know. I felt that he had lots of magical energy at his disposal." Celestia said with worry. "I don't want to think of it it there may be no way to stop it." Author's Note Some things I expected. 1.) You just made Preston Garvey OP. What a deus ex machina. Preston Garvey is the Tree of Harmony. Tree of Harmony overpowers Discord, who is stronger than both Celestia and Luna before they found the elements. Celestial and Luna control celestial bodies which Twilight and Cadence can't do. I'll let that sink in... As to why he is the tree? Wait for the next chap. I promise you it will be mind-blowing
Love backfiring (Chap 3)~Back in the crystal empire~ "And we spent the next few days trying to get rid of him. From freezing him, banishment to Tartarus, petrification which even included us trying to use a cockatrice and sending it to the moon. The last attempt resulted in me having to spend an entire day trying to bring Luna back from the moon when the spell was deflected back to her." Celestia recounted. The lunar princess flinching upon hearing the part of the accidental banishment to the moon. "Tis wan't a pleasant experience thank you." Luna replied. "Could I give it a go?" Cadence asked. "I like to try my way." "What's your plan my niece?" Celestia asked. "Well, I noted that my aunts had been using all sorts of direct spells on it. But what if were to manipulate him instead of trying to overpower?" she suggested. And with that she outlined her idea, a smile playing on their lips as they realise Cadence plan could maybe work. After her plan was outlined, they were determined to put it into action. Only one small problem existed. They had no idea where that human is or what was he doing. ~Meanwhile~ Garvey stood on top of the hills near the Everfree forest. Having send the bearers to another bunch of different settlements across, he had some free time. He looked at the clear skies around him enjoying how that there wasn't a single raincloud in sight. Of course being stuck in that Tree of Harmony as the ponies called it gave him quite some power. Mostly in creating a perfect world. He turned towards the Everfree Forest. With a slight disapproval, he noted the black clouds over the tree horizons. Even with the little concept of time while stuck in the tree, Garvey remembered how the Everfree forest was unusually stubborn to his attempts to control the weather. But now that he was free, he could directly manipulate the weather. Preston raised his hand at the offending cloud and concentrated. The amber glow appeared around his hand and the clouds. With a poof, the clouds disappeared, revealing a clear sky. "Good. It won't be raining today!" he said to himself, admiring his work. A slight twitch went through him. It seems that there is another disturbance in harmony over at Cloudsdale. Where's that bearer called Rainbow Dash? Preston though to himself. He dusted the dirt from his coat and focused on a teleportation spell. This skill comes pretty handy for finding themhe noted to himself before disappearing in a flash of light. ~Back at the the Crystal Empire~ "So, any ideas as to where could that Preston Garvey be?" Luna asked. The 3 princesses were just looking at each other, each of them having no idea for the problem they faced. "Aunt? How did you and Aunt Luna know that Garvey will be at the Crystal Empire earlier today?" Cadence asked. "It was a stroke of luck. We were able to find Twilight Sparkle trying to run from the creature. So we followed her trail. It was too bad that it got to her first." Celestia answered. "I don't think it would be easy to find that creature again. The bearers are scattered everywhere across Equestria. It's not like there would be a giant beacon alerting us to where they are." Luna said, her patience starting to snap after days of frustration. It was then, a loud boom was heard. The sound made the 3 princesses turn towards the windows. Out of it, they could see a giant wave of rainbow spreading across the sky. "I think we may have found where that creature may be." Celestia said. Finally breaking the silence. No word was needed as the 3 princesses took flight towards the source of that Rainbow explosion. ...... "Oh Rainbow Dash!" Preston Garvey said while knocking on the door that led to her bathroom. "There's a settlement that needs your help." "No! Enough please! I don't want to do anymore of those quests again!" Rainbow Dash shouted through the door. The cyan pegasus had hastily pushed a stack of drawers and used it to block the door in a vain attempt to keep Preston Garvey out. "Oh Little Pony. Let me come in." Garvey said. Rainbow Dash shouted: "Never! Not by my mane I will let you in!" "Then I guess I'll have to shoot my way in." Garvey said. Pulling out his musket, he started to crank it and aimed the gun at the door. A laser came out, blasting a few chunks of the reinforced cloud door away. He reloaded his gun and shot the door again and again. Rainbow Dash flinched in fear when she heard the laser musket being fired. She was also a little scared upon seeing parts of the door disintegrate under the laser beams. (Ok, she was really scared). The hole in the wall grew bigger as more and more of the door was destroyed. By the time Preston Garvey stopped firing the musket, Rainbow Dash was genuinely afraid. She was even more spooked when Garvey stuck his head through the large gap in the broken door and said: "There's another settlement that needs your help. Here, I'll mark it on the table map." Rainbow Dash punched Garvey in the face, Garvey backing off in response to the sudden attack. He pulled out his musket and shot the door's lock off. The remaining half of the door swung open, revealing Rainbow Dash. Preston focused his magic, trapping Rainbow Dash before she could fly off (and cause another sonic boom). But before he could teleport both of them away, he felt a wave of emotions flowing through him. ...... "So your plan is to use your love magic on that creature to change it's feelings and influence it's decisions?" Luna asked. "How are you sure this would work." "Well I was thinking, since this creature you say is passive and all you have been using were direct spells. I feel that we should try some indirect spells." Cadence said while looking at Preston Garvey whom was currently under her signature love spell. "So far it seems to be working." True to the love princess's word, Preston Garvey was still stuck in his position as the spell worked it's way on him. Cadence finished casting the spell. "If all goes well, it should stop bugging the bearers with the quests." Candace said. Their metaphoric fingers were crossed as the creature finally got his bearings again. Preston Garvey shook his head to clear his head. He saw the three princesses standing at in the room. "Hello Mi Amore Cadenza, nice to see you babe. But Rainbow Dash and I must get going. That settlement won't wait." and with that said, Garvey teleported out the room along with a unwilling Rainbow Dash. After a while, a bewildered and slightly blushing Cadence asked: "Did he just called me babe?". This earned a snicker from the other princesses. Author's Note I ran out of ideas on things to write related to the chap title. Hence the short chapter. Sorry If you have ideas, do go ahead and fire them off in the comments.
