'This is far harder than I thought it would be.' I grimaced as I watched Teria and Starlight sparring, I was kind of too strong now and ran the risk of overdoing it and actually seriously hurting anyone so I left them to figure it out all by themselves. It was pretty damn obvious that Starlight was the only one beside me who could fight Teria, as Minuette's and Lemon's punches simply did nothing while the young Centaur cheerfully cracked their bones with hers. Shine had even less success, Teria simply caught her projectile and ate it right in front of everyone while grinning as she did so. Apparently, the use of [Magical Drain] was much more instinctual for her than it was for Tirek, it wasn't a Spell anymore but an actual Ability that she had as a part of her being and therefore I wouldn't need to teach her how to do it. I had enough of a headache from teaching her how to shoot basic beams of Magic and the use of [Telekinesis], I spent the whole night doing so while girls decided to bunk in my house and I spent my time with my newly acquire 'daughter'.

I also let her tear through the Porings one more time, but this time using only Magic. This was kind of awesome as I watched her tear through them without much of a hassle, there was a minor hiccup when she ran out of Mana but it was solved by me simply firing a minor and heavily underpowered [Cero] at her so she could eat it and restore her reserves. For now, I limited the whole thing to just one run, I spent the rest of the night basically serving as her punching bag, while her attacks didn't exactly hurt I was making sure to retaliate in kind and actually dodge and block her strikes. Teria even tried to fire a beam at me several times, but I simply shrugged them off like nothing and kept going without slowing down and made sure to deliver a little bit more serious punch to her stomach when she stopped to gape at me simply ignoring her blast. I didn't want to actually hurt her, not seriously at least, but it would've been counterproductive for me to simply let her wail on me without any response so I fought back with a rather small effort. She now possessed a rather intimidating amount of physical prowess and could easily punch through a concrete wall, I was pretty sure that she would easily take on someone of her Level and snap them lick a twig without much of an effort.

I also got a couple of Cards for myself, only two Drops Cards but it was far better than nothing in the long run. [Physical Endurance] also grew steadily, even if a tad bit slowly due to me being very resistant to damage already and Teria's punches simply not being able to hit me hard enough to get to grow faster than that. Well, some progress was better than no progress at all so I just enjoyed the time I spent with the energetic Centaur that took any and all chances to attach herself to me like a barnacle and become a cuddle bug whenever we took a break. It was still hard to believe that this innocent and lovable little sweety came from that monster, the only resemblances were the horns and the species, but otherwise they were different and I could tell without any hesitation that she would never do something like that monster did when he was still alive. I watched her as she lay on my lap and was hugging me against the waist while burying her face into my stomach, as I slowly stroke the back of her head I couldn't help but smile a little at the rather childish display of affection. In the moments like these, I could truly say that I felt a tad be less negative about me coming to this World, but it also reminded me that I just got even more reasons to keep things as quiet as possible so nothing will disturb this peace.

I still needed to take care of Discord, and therefore I needed to boost my INT as much as I could in the near future. I now had the second Type of the Illusion Dungeon where, judging by the name, I would meet a bunch of giant grasshoppers that will try to kill me. They will be stronger than Porings, but I wasn't as worried as I probably should be at this point with how strong I was and how weak they should be by any logic applied. I still needed to get the girls into gear, as only Starlight knew what she was doing and how to do so with her own capabilities. Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts were working hard and I could tell that they were trying to grow with how much effort they put into their own training, but it wasn't enough just yet. I would need to make them put down the whole population of Porings sooner rather than later, and I was pretty sure that if I was to force their growth things could get ugly really fast with the simple reason being their Power. A growth of that caliber cannot be hidden, so any all progress that they would make will have to be somewhat explained and the backstory shouldn't be complicated so not to people asking questions. Me? I'm pretty sure that there is nothing I can do to hide my changes, but at the same time I didn't show my face to anyone just yet and therefore I would need far less explanation for my changes no matter how big they are.

"Well, you did a good job today girls!" I smiled at the three of them that were laying and groaning on the couch. "You surely made some serious progress."

"Yeah, I can feel it." Minuette mumbled sarcastically. "We sure made some progress with discovering just how painful the soreness can be after a workout with you."

"Don't forget that she made us all kill those Porings." Groaned Lemon. "I'm not sure that I can feel my legs right now."

Both were in a pretty rough shape, sweating bullets and their breathing was labored while they barely could move. Shine was already sleeping, as she collapsed after finishing her own Porings and just feel asleep before I was able to catch her, she didn't wake up since. At least Teria and Starlight were serious about their training and were still going at each other outside, I heard at least one building crumbling down not long ago. I was sure that Teria could take whatever Starry will throw at her, and Starlight could withstand the miniature Centaur's punches easily enough. It was kind of amusing that any Magical Attack that Starlight tried to throw at Teria was used to replenish the later's own Mana Pool as the red-skinned girl just ate everything made out of Mana that was thrown at her. There wasn't much going on in terms of a ranged combat with the exception of Teria shooting beams from time to time, she still didn't have any particular grasp on [Telekinesis] to actually try using it in combat efficiently so she didn't even bother.

"It's for your own good you know." I snorted at their groans. "There are things that you need to work on and Starlight is still trying to help you figure out your own brands of Magic that you can actually utilize in combat to upper your efficiency. So far, the only real progress was made with Shine, as she already knew something that could be used for battle beforehand and just altered it accordingly. You two..." I looked at Lemon and Minuette. "... have literally nothing in terms of Combat Magic, and therefore your progress is slower than it could have been. We will need to push you harder than before, and while working on your Magic is important there is the discipline of the body that you need to take into account too."

"Easy for you to say." Snarked Lemon. "You can literally topple over building with your insane strength, we're Unicorns and therefore don't have the luxury of our Magic aiding us like that!"

'Yeah, and you're the ones with some insane potential when it comes to Magic.' I groaned inwardly.

"Also, what were those Cards that fell out of the Mobs?" Asked Minuette.

"Oh, those?" I raised an eyebrow. "These were concentrated... I don't think there is a correct word for it, think of it as a Manifestation of Monster's Nature in a solid form. Basically, this thing lets you absorb some additional Power from the Monster and Increase your own body's capabilities with it, and I'm talking about a permanent growth here."

"... And why didn't you let us use them?" Growled Lemon. "We could've used something like that a long time ago!"

"Because I'm honestly not sure if they will work on you." I shrugged. "My body can withstand the infusions, yours? I'm not sure honestly, it can do some damage instead of actually helping. I wouldn't risk your health here, and as soon as I will figure out the safe way for you to use them I will instantly let you get some of those."

"... Why do you always have to twist things so that it's us who feels bad about you actions?" Grumbled Minuette. "It's not fair!"

"Life rarely is." I smirked at her whining. "But as I said, we can actually test something out right now. It's rather harmless and will help you in the long run, but with how it works out I'm not sure. The best option will be that it will work and that would mean that you would be able to actually grow even faster than before, or it will give you a severe migraine and do nothing and then we will need to find another way for you to grow."

"And what is this mysterious way to Power you're talking about?" Lemon quirked an eyebrow.

Without bothering with the explanation I pulled out a book from behind my back, from the Inventory actually but who cares about semantics? It was a Skill Book that fell out from the Mastering after Teria killed it, apparently these Mobs could drop something other than money and all Mini-Bosses were capable of this particular Skill in the Game. I was actually almost vibrating with excitement, the language that the book was written on wasn't' actually a language at all and more of an Arcane Code that was like a computer one that fully described the Technique of the Skill. God bless [Observe] for explaining it for me, as I honestly wasn't sure how these small scribbles were going to translate into anything as I sure as fuck couldn't understand them. The best part was? I didn't need to as it was literally a Skill Book to the core of its being, so if the tendency of how 'The Gamer' worked will remain the same I could theoretically let others use it...

"Well, as the third Magically strongest person around, I think Shine would be the most suited to try this out." I said as I reached out and shook the girl's shoulder. "Wake up, Shine. We need your help here, and I'm pretty sure you'll like where this will be going."

"... Wah?" She stirred and blinked, her bleary eyes opening slightly as she tried to take in the scenery around her. "What?"

"Wait a minute!" Minuette apparently caught onto my wording. "She's the third strongest?"

"Yep." I nodded, as the pink haired girl tried to blink away the sleepiness from her eyes. "I'm the first, Starlight is the second, Shine is the third, Lemon if the fourth, you're the fifth and Teria is the sixth."

"Hey, why am I so low?!" She actually pouted here.

"You don't exercise your Magic like Shine does." I shrugged. "Work on it, and then you'll be able to grow faster in that area. You're an actual Chronomancer in the making, I can tell you at least a dozen applications of your Magic in Combat from the top of my head right now and that's without browsing the books."

"Easier said than done, it's not like it's easy to make things work like that." She grumbled. "I'm still trying to figure out how to actually apply this Magic at all, the ideas behind it are insanely complex you know!"

"Well, here's your motivation for the future." I smirked and then turned to know mostly awake Twinkleshine. "Here, try to channel some Magic into it, it should do the trick."

I gave her the book and she took it, watching her looking at the tome was kind of amusing due to her blank stare as she was trying to figure out what the fuck was happening. Apparently, her trust in me overrode any logical question she may have had about doing something like that and her horn lit up as her Magical Aura enveloped the Skill Book. It took only a second before the book suddenly shattered into motes of golden light and they streamed into Shine's body, her eyes flew open in alarm as she stared with unseeing eyes at the spot where the book was just a moment ago.

"... Okay." Minuette stared at Shine. "What exactly just happened?"

"Well, it's a theory that I was actually working out for some time and I think I have an answer." I smiled. "This was Shine learning something from the background impression of the Mana that was forced into a physical form that she absorbed."

"... What?" Lemon stared at me like I grew a second head.

"It's a lot harder to explain than to simply show you." I shook my head. "Basically, the Monster that was killed learned how to teleport himself, but this knowledge was crystallized into a vessel that upon contact with Magic instantly was absorbed into its host."

"... What?" Both girls were now staring at me.

I grinned, this was going to be interesting to see how they will react to Twinkleshine now knowing how to teleport. It won't be such a big deal for her to know the Spell itself, but the fact that she learned it so freaking easily was probably mind-breaking for any normal person who knew how Magic worked. Celestia's School was kind of good like that, even if Magic itself wasn't their exact specialization they still were more than equipped to comprehend something like that. I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted as the wall near the door suddenly and rather violently exploded and a red and black blur shot past me and crashed into the wall on my left.

'De fuck?' I slowly turned and looked at the remains of the wall, suddenly a head of gray and black hair popped from the pile of broken wood and stone. Teria shook her head to remove the dust and climbed out from the debris, a grin on her face. She wasn't all that injured, I could see several bruises on her skin and a small trail of blood was leaking from her temple but a quick check with [Observe] showed me that the damage was cosmetic at best. Then her eyes fell on me.

"Hi, Mama!" Her grin became even more cheerful.

"What exactly just happened?" I asked her with an even tone.

"Well, Aunty Starry used one of her Spells to grab a lampost and then hit me with it." She answered as she skipped towards me. "Then I went flying and ended up here!"

"Aha." I nodded with a deadpan expression. "She sent you flying with a lampost."

"Yep." Teria gave me a hug and I absently ruffled her hair with my left hand, which earned my a tighter hold of her hands. "We were having so much fun! She's so strong and can use so many tasty Magic! I'm not sure how she did most of the things, but it was so cool!" I could actually see as her eyes sparkled as she looked up to me. "She made that big dome of Magic that stopped my own attacks, I couldn't break it with my fists and I had to eat through it because nothing else worked! She then kicked me and then I actually flew before she teleported above me and kicked me again and then I crashed into the ground!"

'Yeah, she's as resilient as I thought she will be.' I thought with a snort. Taking this much punishment from Starlight and shrugging it off was something that not everyone could do, I know that she was holding back for the sake of keeping it a fair fight against Teria but still. I was really impressed right now, Teria was sure as hell up to the course with some of more prominent members of the civilians here and then some more. Sure, she had no freaking chance of taking on someone who actually mattered and I was pretty sure that it will remain like that for some time until she will grow stronger. Starlight wasn't a slouch either and if I was to bet she could grow pretty fucking impressive results if she would desire so, she was mostly reading books right now to get herself some of so much needed ideas about what we will need to learn later on.

"Sorry about that, Moony." Starlight walked through the hole in the all with a sheepish expression. "I think we got a bit carried away with our spar and I lost the control a bit."

"Nah, no problem." I waved her off, noting how she didn't even look winded. "It's inside the Illusion Barrier, so there is no trouble at all when I will drop it."

"Cool." She then looked at the trio on the couch who was still looking at Teria with blank looks. "Did I miss something?"

"As a matter of fact..." I smirked.

"... Why do you hate reality?" Groaned Lemon as she watched Twinkleshine teleport from place to place with a big smile on her face. "That's not even how it suppose to work, the direct infusion of information to such a precise degree doesn't simply happen without some sort of negative consequences. She shouldn't be even able to comprehend it, much less use it to literally pull out something like this out of her ass!"

"I think it's awesome!" Grinned Minuette. "Damn it, I really think we should upper our effort on cleaning these Porings out if this will be the result!"

"I'm still not sure what exactly happened, but I'm pretty sure that questioning it would earn me a headache." Muttered Starlight as she also was trying to follow the erratic pattern of Shine's teleports. "She now knows how to properly teleport, that's a big plus with now three of us capable of such a thing and it will also get us much more mobility. How many others you can take with you if you push it?"

The last question was directed at me.

"Honestly?" I shrugged. "I have no clue, I never pushed myself quite like that and therefore even theoretically... I'm not sure."

"We'll need to test it sooner or later, it may be useful if you would be able to relocate more than a dozen people at once." She hummed. "What was the plan for today?"

"Well, I was planning on introducing you all to Zecora actually." It was a spur of the moment decision, but with Shine successfully learning from a Skill Book I now had a good outlet on how to upgrade them faster than before. "She will be delighted to meet you lot."

"The Zebra?" Lemon blinked and looked at me. "Isn't she living in the Everfree?"

"Well, yeah." I nodded. "Something the matter?"

"No, it's just that I heard some really nasty rumors about it from the others and I'm still unsure how she managed to survive there." She shrugged. "She's either really lucky, really smart or really strong to pull something like that off."

"If you'll start rambling about how Everfree is 'unnatural' I'll kick you." My deadpanned voice made her raise an eyebrow. "What Ponies do is unnatural, the animals that live by their instincts and the weather that is controlled by no one but Nature is how the World have to work. Really, other Nations doesn't have Pegasi to managed weather and they never complain, Equestria looks more like a Nation that is populated with control-freaks rather than anything else." I huffed. "It's like Magic is supposed to be the answer to anything and everything, which is kind of stupid altogether considering that most of the times it makes thing worse rather than better."

"You really don't like the whole thing?" Lemon frowned questioningly at me. "What brought this up anyway?"

"Honestly? I read some books about the lands where they don't bend weather to their whims and still live good." I shrugged. "The grass is greener on the other side I guess? It's like finally finding that the only thing you knew and thought was right actually wasn't the only one and wasn't the best at fucking all." I ignored her slight twitch from me cursing. "There are things that wouldn't work as well for someone without looking at the alternatives, I'm simply finding the different ways more suited for my tastes now that I'm aware of their existence."

With a flash of Magic Shine appeared right in front of me, and far faster than I thought she was capable of locked her arms around my neck in a tight hug. Yeah, I was being glomped by her again in the last hour, the first time happened when she actually came out of her stupor and then realized that I just gifted her with a Spell directly downloaded into her mind. Fuck, it was kind of awesome seeing someone enjoying their progress so much, but even then she was bouncing off the wall from the fact that I basically cheated and let her overcome all the needed time of studying that would be required to pull something like that off. Well, if you're not cheating that only means that you aren't trying, and I wasn't above trying to make things as easy for me and others as possible.

"When are we leaving?" Teria asked from behind me, after cleaning herself and addressing the wound on her head she was good to go. "I really want to meet the Zebra that Mommy spoke about, it's sounds really interesting!"

"Everything is interesting to you." I snorted with a small smile. "And we're leaving as soon as everyone will be ready, I'm up to snuff with my own Magic and will be able to carry you lot directly towards the Everfree."

"Yay!" Teria pumped her small fist into the air in victory.

"I'm ready." Shugged Lemon.

"No objections from me." Starlight adjusted her shirt. "I'm really interested in meeting this Zecora, someone who can survive in the Everfree for so long should be pretty cool."

"To the Everfree we go!" Shine cheered, still a little hipper from her earlier outburst.

"... This is going to be a bumpy ride, wouldn't it?" Minuette groaned but still smiled a little.

"We will see." I smirked and triggered the Skill.

One one hand I should've thought these things through a lot more before trying something like this, sure I had Mana in spades and [Teleportation] wasn't all that hard to use now that I Leveled it up and properly got used to it, but still. I actually felt the drain from the use as we appeared near the bottom of the mountain that housed Canterlot, it was actually quite substantial if put into numerical form but not as bad when put into the percentage of my actual reserves. It was a good thing that I had a good memory of the route when I took it by train and therefore could simply 'jump' down the railroad with my passengers without the care in the world about losing the direction or missing the mark.

In another flash of Mana we appeared on the railroad, I was making sure not to make the jumps too big for me to lose focus or run out of juice. There literally wasn't much to be said about the whole thing, I knew that, in theory, I should be able to cover the distance without much trouble by myself but I had no clue how much it will take out of me to drag them all along with me. Better safe than sorry, as they say. I wasn't going to take any chances here, there was no chance of actually 'splicing' like in the World that Rowling created but simply appearing somewhere between your point of departure and your destination could be hazardous too. Imagine materializing in the air without Mana or the ability to fly? Or if there are numerous sharp spikes at the bottom of the gorge that you suddenly popped over? Yeah, that would be the dumbest way to die, and probably one of the most embarrassing for anyone who at least learned the first five safety rules of this Spell. Who didn't bother to? Well, they can die for all I care so not to pollute the gene pool with their stupidity.

It was a good thing that I had a lot of Mana, and, even by normal standards, I won't be able to simply run out of juice due to other Skill lowering the cost that my Skills had upon use. I was still nowhere close to the likes of Discord, Celestia, Nightmare Moon, Luna or even Chrysalis, but it was a good feeling to at least get up from the bottom. Now if only I was able to keep going with the same progress as before...

"This is different from what I actually expected." Lemon looked at Zecora's hut with a raised eyebrow. "Neat, but still rather weird in its own way."

"I think it's cool, she has an awesome and scary house here without any backdoor backstory with it!" Minuette added. "I mean, I know all these tales about some haunted mansions that are told to foals before sleep, but this is both kickass and rather new."

"Oh, you saw nothing yet." I smirked and dropped the Illusion Barrier.

Without even turning around I instantly raised my right hand to grab the end of a wooden staff that was aimed at my temple. It was a good thing that I kept my [Magical Sense] going without restraining it when we entered the Everfree, I instantly sense Zecora right behind me and heard the whistling sound of the weapon being aimed right at my head. It wasn't as easy as you may imagine, I wouldn't have been able to pull this off if not for my rather good peripherical vision and pure dumb luck giving me some slack and not having to test whatever the Zebra Shaman had prepared for the unwelcomed intruders.

"I must apologize for my sudden attack~, but you appeared right behind my back~." Zecora said from behind me as I let go of her weapon that she tried to use to bash my brains out. "Excellent reflexes you demonstrated~, your reaction wasn't belated~!"

I turned around and looked at the smiling form of Zecora, who twirled her staff and then hit the ground with one of its ends. Oh, she wasn't all that apologetic because she knew that I would understand her reasons, but at the same time she was being polite and I could only smile at the reclusive young woman that led a rather lonely lifestyle till now. Whatever Canon intended for her can go and fuck itself, I liked what I found out from our conversation and what [Observe] told me about her, so there was no way I was going to just leave her to rot here.

"Sure, no problem." I smiled.

Others just now managed to get out of their stupor, Starlight's horn dimmed as she saw just who attacked me and Teria dispelled the ball of Magic hovering between her horns. Others weren't as good off as these two, they simply didn't have the capability to react like that, Starlight's training and Teria's instincts were rather good and sharp respectably and only the fact that a blow like that wouldn't have really hurt me stopped them from shooting first and asking questions never.

"So, you're Zecora I presume?" Starlight looked at the Shaman with a raised eyebrow. "Well, damn, you have things here going rather good I can see."

"I cannot really complain~, but still living here is rather plain~." The white and black haired woman smiled. "This forest holds many mysteries that even a lifetime won't be enough to uncover~, and each turn I given something new to discover~."

"Have to agree with you here." Lemon shugged. "I'm Lemon Hearts, Moony said that she met you no long ago and decided it was a good idea to introduce us."

"Hi! I'm Minuette." The Chronomancer in training smiled. "Nice to meet ya!"

"Starlight Glimmer, it's rather surprising to find someone who would actually decide to live in a place like this one." Former cult-leader gave a wave.

"Ah, I'm Twinkleshine." The pink-haired girl introduced herself. "I'm happy to meet someone new here."

"Hi!" Teria didn't bother with such small things as personal space or tact, as she just trotted forward and stared Zecora right into the eyes with a grin on her face. "I'm Teria! Mommy said that you can make potions, is that true?"

I'm pretty sure that Zebra's mind short-circuited just a moment there as she laid her eyes on the Centaur. It was probably the first time in her life that she was able to see someone like that, and I didn't blame her for stumbling slightly upon the introduction. At least she managed to snap out of her stupor only after a couple of seconds and put on a rather pleasant smile.

"Hello to you too child~ and the claim wasn't mild~. I indeed know how to brew many different mixes~, it is unknown just what situations would require which fixes~." Zecora's broad grin spoke volumes about how happy she was for our visit. "Why would you like to know~? I'm pretty sure that it's not for a simple show~."

'Cutie Mark Crusaders' earlier addition, life isn't fair.' I groaned inwardly, this was going to be rather painful for me in the long run.

'Well, what do you know, these little shits are back.' I grinned when I saw several Timberwolves sniffing around the clearing, I managed to sense them earlier and just went to check them out, but with five of them being present... It would be a nice little snack for me, and I literally had nothing to lose from simply trying out the new Skill on these buggers. If it will fail I always could simply kill them off, they weren't strong enough to actually threaten me anyway now and if push comes to shove I could fucking fly and they couldn't. With these thoughts I jumped from the branch and landed on the clearing, making five pairs of acid yellow eyes instantly home on me with all of the Timberwolves tensing and preparing to jump me now.

[Magical Drain]

I didn't give them the chance, as I felt my own Magic hooking up to theirs and forcefully pulling it out towards me I finally understood just what Tirek actually did with his own little trip to Power. My own Magic was too powerful to actually resist and therefore they literally had no chance to escape or fight back as the literal threads of their Magic was being pulled out of their bodies and into my own. I could feel the Mana settling in, adding itself to my already vast reserves but not actually permanently increasing them as far as I could say, only temporary right up until I will use up all the additional fuel. It ended far faster than I thought it would as a feeling of five small something far denser than Mana slipping down my throat and the flood ended and I closed my mouth with almost a satisfaction purr while leaking my lips. The feeling I got from doing this was fantastic, my body felt energized and at its full capacity and even beyond that at the moment, the taste of a fresh salad with just the right amount of spices to make all the better. The please was almost sexual and arousing, and I swear that if I had any less control over myself I would've been tempted to tease myself right about now.

Gained 2,170 EXP.

Your Level has Increased by 1.

Gained 2,170 EXP.

Gained 2,170 EXP.

Gained 2,170 EXP.

Gained 2,170 EXP.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your STR has Increased by 5.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your STR has Increased by 5.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your STR has Increased by 5.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your STR has Increased by 5.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your STR has Increased by 5.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your VIT has Increased by 2.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your VIT has Increased by 2.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your VIT has Increased by 2.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your VIT has Increased by 2.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your VIT has Increased by 2.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your DEX has Increased by 3.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your DEX has Increased by 3.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your DEX has Increased by 3.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your DEX has Increased by 3.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your DEX has Increased by 3.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your INT has Increased by 2.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your INT has Increased by 2.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your INT has Increased by 2.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your INT has Increased by 2.

The Skill [Supreme Magic] has been Created through the INT rising above 250.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your INT has Increased by 2.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your WIS has Increased by 1.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your WIS has Increased by 1.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your WIS has Increased by 1.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your WIS has Increased by 1.

Through the Absorption of the Essence of [Timberwolf] your WIS has Increased by 1.

I could feel as my Mana Pool expanded once more, it was still mostly weird to feel it doing so but oh so welcomed. The Skill that I gained even before throwing all my Stats into INT was fantastic, just what I needed right now, it made my Magic of so much stronger and also let me gain even more INT basically for free. With a slight hesitation, I suppressed my slightly euphoric feelings with [Gamer's Mind] and shook off the slight daze I was in from devouring the Magic of Timberwolves, no wonder Tirek loved to do it so much if each time it literally gave him a boner for his efforts. Or maybe it was just me? I shrugged and walked towards the places where the Loot from the wolves was laying, some Bits and a Skill Book that I honestly wasn't sure what to do with as I took it in my hand.

This is a Skill Book [Summon Lowest Nature Spirit].
Would you like to Learn this Skill?

'Is it like Jee-Han's [Summon Lowest Elemental]?' I actually wasn't sure if I really needed something like this, as far as I was concerned there really wasn't all that much I would gain as my specialization was more in terms me facing my opponents alone so not to worry about the consequences and risking hurting someone with my Power. This may be beneficial in the long run, but in the same time it would be kind of useful to have another pair of eyes and ears wherever I go and by the Element of it I could see several interesting possibilities. There weren't much to do and I don't think anyone in my group would benefit from it due to their own capabilities or Styles of Combat, the only ones who would probably be able to pull this off would be Starlight and Twinkleshine and the second one would almost keel over from the strain and I'm not sure if she would be able to sustain one for more than a short periods of time. But it was only if the drain will be as big as it was in the Manhwa, and it would be me guessing things and not actually knowing them for sure.

And it will be better not to risk it, and I will literally not lose anything if I would try this just once. Skills can't actually harm me, or at least I hope they can't as it will be a pretty fucking stupid death to go down from. I reached out and Accepted the Skill, the Skill Book instantly burst into glowing golden particles and flowed into my body as the knowledge flooded my mind. Apparently, I gained a significantly altered version of what Han Jee-Han had and, in some ways, it was better while in the others it was weaker and less promising at a first glance. The Window appeared in front of me and I read it just to make sure.

[Summon Lowest Nature Spirit(Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00%]
Summons the Most Basic Spirit of Nature.
Nature was always aware of what was happening around it and the Men knew of its Power. Spirits of Nature were one of the Manifestations of its Will and with the help of Men they were able to step into the World as more than just Phantoms of the Flora around. Summoning Spirit means binding it to you for all your life as it will be supported into the World by you own Power, they will grow and flourish with time and your Bond will also grow.
The Spirit's Attributes will change as Caster's INT and Skill Level grows, it will also allow it to Evolve into a Stronger Form with time.
Passively Decrease Mana Cost by 1%

Well, I actually couldn't Summon more than one and it will be permanent because as long as I live it will be able to simply reform its material form making it almost immortal. There really wasn't a good way of saying this, but, in some ways, it was a very good boon while in the other it was limiting due to me not having the same versatility as it would've been with the Elemental. Well, I still gained something and it was kind of better than nothing at this point, maybe I would even find some use for whatever Spirit I would be able to call out for myself. In contrast to Elementals Spirits really didn't need any actual Ceremony, complex Invocation or even a Ritual to Summon as they actually wanted to be called out and step into the Material Plane. All I needed was the Catalyst, which was the Everfree Forest itself here as I wasn't going to cut angles on this one, and enough Mana to let one actually materialize fully. The problem was that I was honestly sure that the Spirits didn't actually exist in this World, there simply wasn't anything even approaching them with the exception of Discord and he was more of an Exception than a Rule with how his Nature was Chaos.

However, there was a very good possibility that there was one Spirit present that would fit the bill just fine and will be eager enough to answer my Call. Everfree Forest itself could be called self-aware due to how it resisted the totalitarian control that Ponies were trying to force upon Nature and if my theory was right then I would gain an ally and will give the whole Equestria a middle finger. This actually made me grin evilly, one of the things that I actually disliked about the show was the fact that Ponies were displayed as some superior race and even the World needed to bend over backward for them with their control-freakishness. Having Nature itself rebel against them would be kind of fun, but, at the same time, it will be a dangerous line to cross with them possibly not being able to sustain themselves anymore. I wasn't going to simply kill them for the sake of proving a point, but it didn't mean that my good heart won't let me screw with them for the sake of some lolz.

I outstretched my hand and prepared for the worst.

[Summon Lowest Nature Spirit]

I let out a grunt as about seventy-five percents of my Mana left me, it felt remarkably as a punch right into the guts that also pushed most of the air out of my lungs. I could feel as the tendrils of my Magic reached out and grasped the only presence that actually could be considered fitting for my Summoning and pulled it out from the forest around me. I could feel confusion, it wasn't aware enough to actually be even remotely sentient in a regular definition of the word, but it had enough of a mind to understand that it was being pulled out from its usual place of habitat. There was some resistance, but the whispers of my Power promising a Form and an actual Mind turned it into eager acceptance that let the Spirit follow the flow of Mana and into the clearing where I was. I could feel it... her taking shape as the form started emerging from the ground right in front of me, unlike Gnome who literally burst from the ground the Spirit was taking her time to slowly slither her way out as if a plant growing at a higher pace than normal.

The strange nagging feeling in my mind and the fact that her face was very recognizable for anyone who watched a certain Anime told me that once again the Skill decided to borrow something from my memories for the sake of familiarity. I was honestly feeling kind of annoyed and also happy, it wasn't as bad as it could've been but it also left me with at least some idea of what to call the newly formed Material Spirit that finally fully emerged from the grassy clearing. Her hair seemed to be made of leaves, and her arms and legs were plant-like appendages that look like wood, I could see wines with leaves coming from the back of her head that was covered in hair that was actually just a big pile of leaves too. Her blue eyes were staring at me with small red outlines on their outer sides and small leaves for eyebrows. I could see two vines going over her shoulders and providing two big leaves to cover her breasts to preserve at least some modesty while her crotch was covered with soft tree bark. Basically? I just produce Kii from the 'Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou' into this World and me sure as hell wasn't really all the what the fuck I should do with her.

She looked at me with innocent sparkling eyes, and for a moment I wasn't sure what she was about to do as something shifted in her gaze and a happy smile appeared on her face.

"Mama!" And then I was glomped by a Spiritual Dryad of the Everfree Forest with the battlecry that made my stomach drop.

'Oh, fuck! Not again!' I could feel the drain on my Mana that supported her existence and the sheer flood of joy and happiness and pure warm love that she was pouring through the bond almost made me choke. This was the second time that I was involuntarily branded into motherhood and I was starting to see the pattern here, and it scared me almost as much as the chance of being discovered by Celestia or Luna. This was going to suck so fucking much.

'Well, at least there is some progress going on.' I shrugged as I sat on the improvised wooden chair in Zecora's hut. Kii, and yes I did name the Spiritual Dryad that, was currently having fun with Teria outside as they played and bonded with both of them basically being technically sisters in some very strange way. The small Dryad was mostly calling up veins from the ground with her eyes coming aglow with brilliant green light each time she used Magic, it was kind cool watching them play and chat but my attention was mostly on the several pairs of eyes that were staring at me with deadpan half-lidded glares.

"What... happened?" Asked Lemon with dead cold voice.

"I... kind of Bonded with the Spirit of the Everfree Forest?" I scratched the back of my head. "Apparently all the Magic and the unique nature of the land here rendered the place Quasi-Sentient and therefore let me pull her out with little to no actual effort."

"Everfree Forest was..." She blinked. "... sentient?"

"Almost, she needed only a small nudge that I provided." I nodded.

"And you... pulled her out?" Another blink.

"Yeah." I answered with a shrug. "I was actually thinking about where Timberwolves came from and then I figured out that maybe they were mostly just parts of something much more. Apparently, and I'm only guessing here now, Kii was trying to defend herself somehow but had no actual idea or how to do so or possessed enough awareness to actually think about the whole thing and she literally came up with them. Well, more like she tried to defend herself and they popped out by accident or something like that, but I don't have enough evidence to support either theory as she doesn't have any actual memories from before me Summoning her due to her not actually being able to think properly. Sensations? Impressions? Sure! But not actual memories."

"And now you're her... mommy?" I think Lemon wasn't breathing by this point.

"Well, I'm the first one she saw, I'm supplying her with Mana for her existence and I was the one who gave her an ability to think and actually live instead of simply existing." I smiled. "So, it's kind of fits, at least I think it does."

After several seconds of rather tense silence Minuette burst into laughter, she was actually clutching her sides as she roared with laughter with tears in her eyes. Lemon simply took a sip of her tea and stared at me with a strange look of fascination as if I just grew several heads that barfed out gold and different jewels. Shine simply sat there, her eyes glazed over as she twitched occasionally as if she was suffering from some sort of a nervous disease. Starlight just facepalmed and groaned, she was probably already trying to come up with things to list about another impossible thing I did without taking into account the Laws of Magic and World.

"I fascinated how you can wield an Arcane Art~, you even make the limit of possibility part~." Zecora said with a broad smile. "I must comment that calling out the Heart of the Forest is a fit~, I find the fuse of my curiosity coming alit~."

"It's not like I actually was expecting it to happen, you know." I snorted. "It just happens to me from time to time, if you have some complaint about the Everfree Forest being like that then you can take it to King Aspen and his crappy brew. I'm pretty sure that they are responsible for the sole fact that this place was borderline alive and all but taking its first breath."

"The Deers' concoction may be a Magic in its own way~, but in a matter of True Life it has no actual say~." She shook her head. "The Great King may possess the Power to rise a new grass~, but your little miracles him managed to surpass~."

"Well, then it will suck to be him in the near future." I smirked. "Because the Everfree Forest now have a voice of its own, and a pretty loud one too. I'm not sure if he can tell the difference between before and now, but soon enough there will be some serious changes going on here with Kii taking the helm of this place."

"And what changes are you planning to instill~?" Zeocra raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't you the one that enjoyed the Forest's Free Will~?"

"Oh, I'm planning on keeping it and more." I smirked. "It's just that I'm more inclined to ward off any and all dangers that may threaten the place, and I'm not talking about Ponies alone here. Not long ago I came upon information that some of the local soil was suffering from the infestation of the Plunderseeds, it won't be such a big concern for me if not for the fact that they will go wild pretty damn soon. I'm going to ask Kii to scout around and find them so nobody would be in danger from the Chaos Magic they possess."

"... Does anyone feel left out here, or is it just me?" Asked Lemon with a deadpan expression.

"Nope, I can see what you mean." Minuette finally managed to get her laughing fit under control. "I'm pretty sure that about a half of what was said here right now was literally out of context for us with how little we actually know right now."

"It's not that you missed much." I said to them, Shine was still kind of twitchy and I'm pretty sure that she didn't blink for the whole time. "If you're confused about King Aspen, then think of a Deer that has Magical Water that can make plants grow under his control. Basically, he and his whole band are living inside the Everfree Forest and preaching about the fragile balance of the local ecosystem while defending the whole place from the outsiders and invaders. He's a friend of Celestia and makes it a point to whine about everything bad that happens to the Forest, I heard he has a son now that as much of a Drama Queen as his pops is." I looked at Zecora. "What was the brat's name? Bamble? Brable?"

"The name of the Prince of the Thicket is Bramble if memory serves me right~, I see that your opinion on their Kingdome isn't very bright~." She took a sip of her tea and raised an eyebrow. "May I inquire why in such a negative light you see Deers~? They are a Noble and Kind peers~."

"Not exactly for what I'm going here." I shook my head. "They all good in my books, the problem here is that they are too stuck upon protecting the Forest by the very weird means, like making it grow bigger if it would be cut down instead of making the ones cutting down the Forest back away with a very real threat of having their asses handed to them by weed. They need to learn to use at least some common sense before I would be able to take their opinion seriously without a pinch of black pepper for a proper comprehension."

"Well, at least there are some citizens inside this Forest that are concerned about it." Starlight shugged. "From what I was able to gather about this place, there are literally not many things capable of breaching the whole thing without some serious firepower backing them up. With how many dangerous critters lives here I'm more surprised that anyone actually lives near it at all, this Aspen fella sounds like he has the backbone of steel to actually support a whole damn City here."

"Not that surprising actually, he's the King and he respects the place more so than the Ponies do." I answered with a thoughtful expression. "Most of them fear it due to things not working out as they please and I'm pretty sure that at least half of them are trying to find a way to authorize its destruction. With Aspen having his antennas pressed against the jugular of the settlements around the whole thing there is literally no way Celestia will agree to it, leaving the Thicket alone is the best choice of action that will leave everyone happy here."

"They aren't that bad, are they?" Lemon looked at me with raised eyebrow.

"Oh, no." I waved her concerns off. "Aspen is a decent guy, has the heart of gold and all that jazz, but he's also a King of his Kingdome and therefore will defend it to the best of his abilities when push will come to shove. I'm pretty sure with their Magic alone they would be able to strike back with enough force to literally turn a huge chunk of the surrounding area green including Canterlot."

«Mama! I found some strange black seeds that are growing in the ground, they feel funny and Big Sis drained one of its Magic and said that they tasted funny too.» I blinked as I heard Kii's voice inside my head.

«Just let Teria destroy them after draining them.» I sent back through the Bond. «I'll even give you both a little suprise at home if you manage to find them all!»

«Ah, Teria wants a cake.» I almost facepalmed here.

«She'll get one if you'll find all of the seeds like this.» I answered. If the image that I got from Kii was any indication then the Plunderseeds won't be a problem for long, but just to make sure that it won't be much of a problem at a later date... «Kii, also make sure to it and assimilate one for the future use, these things will let you drain Magic and create some very powerful vines with spikes on them. It will be useful if you'll be able to produce them on demand, even if you probably won't be strong enough to get a lot of them going at the start.»

«Alight!» There was a pause. «Ewww! They taste bad, like sour and sweet and bland and the Magic makes my tummy feel funny!»

I could feel the Chaos Magic from the Plunderseed trying to grasp the Magic that Kii possessed, but with me backing her up and her being directly produced by the Skill there literally was no chance for it to do anything. The Magic in Kii's body surged and retaliated while literally digesting the seed and making it melt while breaking down its structure and assimilating the traits into itself for future use. This was a very good thing, and even if Kii won't be able to supply a big enough patch of them, at least one relatively strong foe won't be able to get away or actually do anything against the onslaught of them coming from the ground. I really hoped that there won't be much of backlash from this one, I basically left the Tree of Harmony without the Elements because without the Plunderseeds the mess from 'Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1' and 'Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2' simply won't happen. Well, no Magical Castle of Friendship for Twilight, not that many would miss that monstrosity anyway, and therefore no Map to send her to deal with problems around Equestria that can be solved via a simple application of a fist and logic.

"Something the matter?" Starlight asked, her concerned expression snapped out of my thoughts. "You just blanked out there."

"Sorry, Kii just informed me that she found the Plunderseeds." I smirked. "Apparently the last of Discord's little mines soon will be fully disabled, and I'm all for a small celebration at a later date." I looked at Zecora. "You don't mind if I will leave Kii and Teria here for the night? They will be searching for Plunderseeds and it will take them some time to find every one of these things, and I'm pretty sure there are many more than what they will manage to gather in the Everfree."

"It won't be a bother for me to let them stay~, to ensure the destruction of the vile weed they a going a long way~." Zecora nodded. "If you want to you also stay the night~, to separate a mother from her children just isn't right~."

I could see the merry twinkling in her eyes, Zecora of all people was teasing me here and that was both refreshing and honestly groan-inducing with how fast she jumped the bandwagon. Was it something in the water here? It wasn't like I was against the idea of spending the night here, nothing I could thnk of would be able to get pass me and Kii with us not needing to actually sleep. Well, it will be rude to not at least try to just for one night as the Zebra was offering us a roof over our heads out of the kindness of her heart with a little bit of selfish desire not to be alone anymore. Eh, what the worst that could happen?

Author's Notes:

A/N: Well, here it is, without much of an irony and with some of it being literally pulled out on a spot! Please make sure to read the whole thing very thoughtfully so not to miss anything, there are some hidden Tokens of Respect and References for the most attentive to find and point out!

CHALLAENGE: As a Rule, I never write an OMAKE for my own Stories, so if anyone would be able to write one and it will actually be good then I will post it as a Separated Chapter!
THEME: An AU for 'Bridle Gossip' where Lemon Hearts, Minuette, Starlight Glimmer and Twinkleshine visit Ponyville during the Episode and calls the citizens out on their Bullshit-treatment of Zecora and that she's their friend.
RULES: 1,000 Words Minimum; No Crack; No Plot-Twists for the sake of Canon-Complicity.