Beauties Refuse To Die
The tiny tree stood in the grass, alone.
The tree was very small, only about a foot high. Tiny little branches spread out from the trunk of the tree, and tiny little leaves hung from the branches. Tiny little roots dug into the soil, and a tiny little breeze blew through its tiny little self.
The tree was alone, at least, alone of other trees. A few animals did live in the boughs of this minute plant. A small mouse lived in a tiny burrow at the very base, where it feasted on some small grubs that wriggled in the dirt nearby, and also enjoyed the small fruits the tree had to bear from time to time. Some small crickets lived in the grass, and a small family of small lizards lived on the branches above. A few feet away from the tree was a small ant-hill, where a colony of small ants marched about.
The grass was somewhat tall, about six inches in height. It had not grown for a while, but none of the animals payed any attention to that. Instead, they focused on living in their small ecosystem, day after day, night after night.
On that day, they heard a sound that was all too familiar. It was the sound of hooves slowly and softly approaching them, getting ever closer to their tree. The crickets went silent, the mouse stopped gnawing on a fruit, and the lizards ceased their tongue-flicking.
The hoof noises stopped, and there was another noise that the animals knew and loved. It was the sound of water. Water sprinkled from the sky, lightly, and it dampened the tiny tree. The little green leaves were dappled with water, and the small lizards began to flick their tongue out again, happily enjoying the water that was being given to them. The mouse lapped at a rivulet of water that was cascading down the tiny trunk towards him, and the grubs in the earth began to wriggle around happily as they were moistened. Even the crickets leapt towards the tree to get in on the wonderful water.
The deluge stopped after a few moments, and there was a another sound as a watering can was set down onto the grass. The animals all went about, consuming as much water as they could, all the while the originator of the sounds and water looked down at them in love.
“Oh my, you sure are all very thirsty today,” she said. She was a yellow pegasus by the name of Fluttershy, with a pink mane that flowed softly with each gentle gust of wind. On her back, a saddlebag rested, and in it were several tools. Around her throat, a golden choker hugged her, with a small pink butterfly that lay just above her chest. She missed butterflies.
After watching the animals enjoy their drink, she reached into her saddlebag with her mouth, and pulled out a small pair of clippers. Bending down over the plant, she began to snip the leaves and branches very carefully, making sure that the longer ones were attended too, and the shorter ones were given room to grow. The lizards retreated to the base of the tree as Fluttershy did this, and droplets of water fell to the ground off of the tree as she did so.
After finishing her job, she sighed, and took the watering can up in her mouth. Tipping it so that the water began to fall from it again, she slowly paced around the tiny tree, watering the grass that surrounded the small plant.
Turning back to the tree, she softly called out to its inhabitants. “Come out, little mouse! Come out, little lizards! Come out crickets and ants! I have brought food...”
The mouse slowly rose from its warren, and the lizards climbed off of the tree. The crickets, who had been exploring the dampened blades of grass, bounced over to her, and the ants made tiny little rows as they proceeded over towards her.
Fluttershy smiled. “There we go.” Reaching into her pack once more, she pulled out half of a somewhat bruised apple. The mouse smiled, and extended its tiny paw-hands up towards the apple. Fluttershy slowly lowered it down to him, and he gratefully accepted it.
Fluttershy reached into her pack, and returned with a few leaves, beginning to brown, but still somewhat fresh, in her mouth. Setting them down in front of the crickets, they began to chirp happily, and swarmed the foliage. She giggled softly. “I spent a good long time looking for those.”
Once again, she was in her pack, and once again she returned with something in her mouth. This time, however, she held in her mouth a small cup, with a bit of white sugar at the bottom.
“This was especially hard to find,” she told the ants as she emptied out the sugar onto the ground, and poured a bit of water onto it so that it became a little gooey mess. The ants all scurried over towards the sugar water, and Fluttershy smiled as they began to return to their hive, and back to the sugar water in small little rows.
“Haven’t forgotten about you, of course,” Fluttershy told the lizards, and she produced two very large, very dead moths. The lizards smiled scaly smiles at Fluttershy, who smiled back at them. The reptiles took the moths, and climbed up to the higher recesses of the tree to enjoy it.
Fluttershy watched happily as her little ecosystem worked smoothly, the animals enjoying the foods bestowed to them. “I’ve got someone new for you all,” she said, and reaching into her pack, she pulled a small bird’s nest. Inside was a tiny grey bird, the left half of its body scorched. Its left wing was bandaged, and the left eye was unblinking. She set the nest down on the top of the tiny tree, and reached back into her pack, giving the bird a few slimy night crawlers.
“I hope you like it here with your new friends,” Fluttershy said. “I’ll be around to take care of your wing, of course.” The bird chirped, and shifted a bit it its nest, revealing tiny blue and green speckled eggs incubated underneath her.
Fluttershy grinned as the bird devoured her night crawlers. After a few moments, she turned her gaze on the tree itself.
“Well, I’m back,” she said. The tree sat there, unmoving, untalking, for it was a tree. Fluttershy did not care, however; she always felt in tune with nature throughout her entire life, and even if the plant couldn’t actually answer her, she still felt as though she was communicating with it.
“I hope all of my little animal friends are treating you well,” she said, kicked her left hoof a bit at the grass. “I’m doing my best to keep you happy as well, with the pruning and such...”
The tree was silent as ever, but one of the lizards did make a high pitched noise. Fluttershy had imagined something in her head for the tree to say, and chuckled.
“Well, I’m glad. I’ll keep coming back best I can, but it’s hard, you know?” The tree’s branches rustled a bit as a small breeze wafted past the area.
Fluttershy fell silent for a moment as well, and then opened her mouth to speak again. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever told you this, but I’d like to be a tree. Sitting with my roots in the soil, peacefully letting water trickle down me, my leaves open to the sunshine, the warm breeze wrapping all around me, rustling my branches, small animals and insects keeping me company...”
Fluttershy fell silent again. Sitting down, she stared at the little ecosystem, and how it functioned, working perfectly in tune with each other. The grubs worked away at the soil and fallen leaves from the tree, the mouse ate the grubs, the ants took care of the mouse’s dropping, and the lizards helped themselves to the ants. The crickets all the while hid out in the grass, gnawing away at it, while soon they would be providing food for the birds. It was quite marvelous, to see how nature worked.
Fluttershy leaned back, laying down in the grass. Her head brushed up against the brown grass, the dying grass that lay apart from the green, watered grass. From somewhere beyond it, a fat brown cockroach crawled past Fluttershy meandering its way towards the tree. Of course, cockroaches survived everything. Well, except for lizards, and soon one lizard was much happier than a certain cockroach.
Fluttershy sat up, and blew a bit of hair out of her eyes. Sighing, she looked away from her beautiful little biome, a tear in her eye. Turning her head, she looked out at where she had come from— the grey ashes still falling from the sky as if snow. There were the twisted and burnt remains of a cottage; her cottage. The Everfree, once a brilliant and abundant place of life, was now nothing more then grey stalks, burnt reminders of what had once been. Laying in the other direction was the smoldering ruins of a place once called Ponyville, but Fluttershy wasn’t ready to look in that direction. Not yet.
Slowly, she got to her hooves, and waved a hoof in farewell to the animals and her tree. The mouse waved a paw-hand back, a cricket lifted a leg in goodbye, and the lizards clicked their tongues.
She smiled, and turned back to walk the way she had come here. Stepping out onto the ashy, ruined earth, she trotted away from the little patch of life in this dead, dead world. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she passed by five wooden markers, each with a trinket of brilliant gold inlaid with a gem of some sort in a certain shape hanging from the top.
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You're really churning these out, aren't you?
And to think I'm only just finishing my second.
This was quite nice.
Nice job, mate.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Dang.
How did it have 6 likes before it had any views?
3311460 One day, I'm going to see that you forgot your signature, and I'm going to freak out.
3311518
Hah. Never going to happen.
~Skeeter The Lurker
you regidid a good job
3311623 dat pun
3311494 I'm the god damn batman
Wow! Great story! I really can't find anything wrong with it except a few minor grammar mistakes.
Sorry, kind of a habit of mine to spot mistakes.
"all"
"Fluttershy"
3311919 aight, fixed
Regibest
Bestdar
Regultimate
Ultimatedar
3311919
All Fluttershy?
gyazo.com/d6c8bf7dbb7ad65f3a0f2dd5c0bd7985.png
Well done, man.
Well done.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Cool.
GET THAT SHIT FEATURED, MAN! GET THAT SHIT FEATURED!
I was wondering why it was labelled "sad". I like how you kept the focus in the small ecosystem (or smecosystem, as I got from my dream [long story]), for the final reveal of everything else being burnt to cinders. Sort of like focusing on a small, vibrant square of a painting, then zooming out to see the entirety of the gray wasteland that surrounds it. Shows how perspective changes a lot.
3313178 That's what I was going for, glad to see I succeeded! Thanks for the feedback.
Excellent writing and descriptions of the animals. Emphasis on the word "small" sticks out in mind.
I also like that you don't really explain the world around her, but just suggest it. It lets your own interpretation do all the work.
Caught off guard by the ending, but still pretty nice.
I was a bit disappointed that the initial "watering" wasn't tears.
Well.... didn't see that ending coming. Was still a nice-ish story though.. kudos.
WAT.
I saw "Sad" in the tags and was like "oh, someone dies?" and then it's like "EVERYONE ALREADY DIED."
Well ok then.
3313182
You got featured again, you sexy bastard.
*reads the last paragraphs*
Wha... Buh.. Huh?
This...
Why...
They're all dead...
Don't do this to me, Regi. It's too feelsy for me to take.
i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/3225062912/h3D8BF166/
WHY CAN'T I CONTAIN ALL THESE TEARS? This is a deserved feature, my friend.
Hmm... I (think I) get what you were going for, and the execution is indeed superb. The ending, however, kind of falls short...
It's not that we don't need the contrast, but it could have been more subtle. Perhaps it could have been present the whole time, in the background, as opposed to just putting a big "DUN DUN DUN"-moment at the end...
Otherwise, good work!
I can't say that I really got any feels off of the story, but it was still quite beautifully written. Thank you for sharing.
Once in a while, I like to look for these simpler stories. Usually they are a treat to read, and this one fit that description perfectly. The way you described the ecosystem as a whole was well done.
I sensed the ending, as there was nothing notably sad until the last couple paragraphs. To echo what another person commented, the ending could of been more subtle. Although I did understand what you wanted to get across at the end, it felt over dramatic for a story which wasn't so until that very point.
Other than this, very well done.
DJRD
...Now I know why this isn't a Slice of Life.
...There is a large red print in the shape of a feel beginning to take form on my face.
Also,
'abover', eh?
Only one problem:
I guess you actually meant "The tree sat there".
Aside from that this is the best story of yours I've read so far, kinda saw the ending coming but it still worked and it made me feel sorry for Fluttershy and all Equestria. It also reminded me of this:
Great story. I loved that, despite all of the pleasant imagery for Fluttershy's ecosystem, there was always this lingering sense that something was wrong. The tiny hints thrown in, such as Fluttershy's comment about the sugar being "especially hard to find" really gave it that mood.
I especially liked the part where you described the cockroach. It was really subtle, but it set up the "big reveal" perfectly. I was like, "Survived? Survived what?" and then when you showed us the ruins of Ponyville and Everfree, I was like, "Ohhh. That." It was a very nice touch.
The only thing I'd say in terms of criticism is what a few others have already said about the ending being a little heavy-handed. However, I do think the contrast between the in-your-faceness of the ending and the subtlety of the rest of the story works well, and I think you had the right idea.
Pretty damn good.
Motherfucker, I'm depressed now.
3311908
static2.fjcdn.com/comments/+we+would+talk+with+girls+we+evolved+past+that+_b1565347a74e170f425654b93ed304ed.png
Here come the feels...
Its so sad
I loved it
Beautifully excellent little story
Definitely deserved the featured spot
All linked together after finishing the final part. Just a few almost dead leaves, sugar were so hard to find ? Even apple O.O? Things got burned, her cottage got burned, the bird almost died from burning, ruined Ponyvile.
Why 
Fluttershy must work dam hard to feed those animals, and herself
Why
Hmm. Very nice. Could've existed entirely independently of the ending, and wouldn't really have lost any of it's power.
That said, I kind of revel in the idea of a sugarbowl apocalypse, so that obvious attempt at a kick in the feels at the end was somewhat misplaced amongst thoughts of unstoppable monsters, glorious last stands and maybe a smidgeon of maniacal laughter.
Mayhaps you were aiming at a less jaded reader?
What? My favorite pony and my favorite hobby together in the feature box? Hooray!
i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll40/JazzEx022/131483703449.gif
Oh. There's that empty spot in my insides again.
I got the sense that something bad had happened quickly but that got sooo sad sooo fast
3314622 I was basically trying to be as melodramatic as fuck, but I hear your criticisms. I shall implement them for future use.
3315090 Whoops, I shall fix that.
3315211 That too. Also, my favorite Sigur Rós song and one of my all-time favorite music videos.
I can't believe that I wrote this story WITHOUT that reference intentionally in mind.
3315236 Thank you very much! As stated in previous comment, I was trying to be melodramatic as fuck, as I am someone who enjoys sharp contrasts and sucker-punch moments in fanfiction.
3315676 Thank you!
3315944 We may never know.
3316051 >Sugarbowl apocalypse
explain yourself.
That aside, the only reason this was "sad" was because of the sharp contrast at the end, whereas I may one day expand this fic into a bigger story. I coulda gone with "dark", but that wouldn't have left people with the right feeling, and sad fits just as well.
3317948
Oh, sorry, I forgot to put this link in.
Dammit i was fooled again! I saw the sad tag but I ignored it and then the story flips and... and... *sniffle sniffle* dammit...
I like all those little clues... I haven't noticed the lack of sugar and apples, but I was wondering, why Fluttershy wears her element while watering the tree (and that "she missed butterflies" line - what happened to butterflies?). Then cockroaches started to ring a bell, but still the ending caught me off guard...
3322621 Yeah, I wanted to try my hand at something like this, and judging by comments such as yours, I succeeded! Glad you liked it.