"That'll be ten bits," the cashier droned. Despite the supernatural nature of the seeds she was selling, she looked about as excited as a foal eating vegetables. Mistmane balked at the price, but pulled the coins out of her coin pouch.
"In my day, seed packets were a bit at most! Most of them were half a bit!" she grumbled.
The cashier did a double take. "Half a bit? Wait, what did you do to your mane?"
Mistmane sighed. "It's always been like this. Thank you for the seeds." With that, she left the nursery, ignoring the frantic calls of the cashier. Ever since Mistmane returned to Equestria, she'd gotten nonstop questions about her mane. The first few times, she told the asking ponies to find beauty in their own appearance instead of coveting what others had. But even the kindest of ponies can be worn down, and she was considering not even using the seeds in her telekinesis to beautify the town. Mistmane shook her head. "I must do this. Ponies will finally recognize me for something other than my mane!" With that, Mistmane marched to the Ponyville river and filled her collapsible watering can to the brim. She then spotted a bare patch of earth next to a typical house. Without hesitation, Mistmane planted a seed for a Tree of Harmony next to the house and watered it. "That's one down," she said, then paused to check how many seeds were left. "Nineteen to go!"
Nineteen seeds later, Mistmane dragged herself into Twilight's castle, where the other Pillars were staying for the time being. Meadowbrook welcomed her.
"Misty! Where have you been all day?" she asked.
Mistmane smiled. "I've been making this town more beautiful!"
"That sounds fun," Meadowbrook acknowledged, "but why not take a nap? I found a room where the sun is just strong enough for a warm bed. There's even two of them!" Mistmane nodded. She'd been working all day, and could use the rest.
***
"What did you do?" Starswirl shouted, waking Mistmane instantly.
She yawned. "What? Oh, I planted some seeds to make the town more beautiful..." With a stretch, Mistmane settled once more to get some sleep.
"Oh no you don't! I need your help to fix this!" Starswirl pulled her out of bed.
"Fix what?" Mistmane asked, confused. With a heavy sigh, Starswirl pointed to the window. There was a good view of town, including the glimmering lights of twenty small trees of harmony. "The streets look great! What's there to fix?"
Starswirl facehoofed. "We can't just give ponies the power to vanquish evil at random! They need to have a destiny, they need to feel like they've earned their place in Equestria's history!"
Mistmane turned on him. "So what you're saying is, the streets look amazing, more ponies will be able to fight evil, and that's a bad thing?
"There's not time to explain," Starswirl grumbled, and he left. Mistmane was awake now, so she left too, taking care to softly close the door on Meadowbrook, who was still asleep somehow.
***
Diamond Tiara was having a great day. Who wouldn't, when they had discovered magical trees on every corner, just waiting to bestow phenomenal cosmic power on anypony who woke up early enough to take it? She used to wake early to bully ponies when they were just waking up, but now she did it out of force of habit.
"Little pony, give back those artifacts at once!" said a tall, gray wizard.
Diamond Tiara glared at him. "No! They go great with my mane!" It was true. The rainbow of light created by the gems in her mane made her seem graceful, elegant, and powerful. It made her feel powerful too.
"You don't understand," the wizard said patronizingly, "these are dangerous and powerful gemstones far beyond the comprehension of a mere filly." The words had barely left his mouth before a rainbow of magic burst from Diamond Tiara's mane and blasted him.
She grinned. "I knew it! You use too many big words to be a good pony." Her grin faded as quickly as the rainbow, and the wizard remained. He looked a bit upset.
"You fool! The rainbows only hurt those who seek to do Equestria harm!" Suddenly, another rainbow smashed into him.
"Stay away from my friend!" Silver Spoon cried. She rushed over to Diamond Tiara. "Come on, let's get out of here!" The two rushed off, their glowing manes twinkling. Starswirl groaned.
"Mistmane, I hope you're happy with what you've unleashed," he mumbled as he straightened his hat.
***
"It's an eyesore, and I want it off my land!" Cranky yelled.
Mistmane nodded. "Of course. I'll just get one of my friends to help lift it." The it they were referring to was an inexplicably massive tree of harmony that had sprouted on the donkey's doorstep. The door was practically unusable due to the bright blocking bark.
Cranky scowled. "You'd better come back!" The mare trotted off.
***
Starswirl was quite smug. "I told you this was bad for the town. I'm glad you've finally seen the error of your ways."
Mistmane sighed heavily. "Just help me remove this tree, please." They combined their magical power and pulled the offending arbor out of the ground.
"Where are we putting this thing?" the wizard asked.
Cranky looked around. "Over there." He pointed to a spot by the mailbox. Not without some effort, the two pillars of Equestria placed the tree into the ground. Most of that effort came from digging a hole for it while still keeping it suspended in the air.
"So you didn't want it entirely removed?" Starswirl questioned.
"Nope. It was blocking my door, but it's grown on me a bit." Cranky confirmed. He glanced at the house, where a mule smiled through the window.
The wizard huffed. "Fine. So where are the other trees?"
***
Mistmane and Starswirl spent the rest of the day dealing with the trees of harmony. Many ponies simply wanted them moved, but there were some who found the trees gaudy. The extras were placed next to Twilight's castle, where they fit right in. The mayor declared a new town holiday: Harmonarbor Day, the celebration of new trees. Unfortunately, ponies still recognized her as "That pony with the mane," they just also recognized her as "That pony who planted those weird trees one time."
