The Sapling

The sky is dark, filled with black clouds that are ready to burst open with water. I sit on the hard stone back patio of a house staring out into the fields ahead of me. Mind blank, body non-responsive as my eyes fixate on a lonely sapling with its beautiful green leaves perched on its dark smooth looking branch and small trunk sitting on the hilltop in the distance. The air is thick and hard to breath, it smelled of wet stone and grass. The sounds of small droplets smacking against the ground fill my ears. I start to feel wet as my body begins to be pounded by the large rain drops. I’m sitting up with my back straight but my forward legs begin to weaken. The rain drops grow and the pelting begins to speed up.

My mane is drenched and now I’m soaking wet. My forward legs lower and I fall onto my left side hitting the ground with a hard thud. I lay like a boulder in a storm that is only going to intensify, but the lonely sapling that has only begun to enjoy its new life is weaker. With my eyes still staring at the pour new born, it rides at out the storm the best it can as it bends and the leaves it once held dear are violently ripped off its one and only branch. I can feel the abnormally large raindrops pound my right side as my left stayed dry.

Gaining some control back over my body I looked to my right to see small rivers flow out of the cracks and crevices in the stone patio out into the field. I moved my head and looked to my left to see a small five plant garden being soaked from the rain. Each of the plants reaching for the sky, wanting more water so they can rehydrate themselves and grow their seeds. My body had enough and put my head back down right where it was before, staring at the sapling on the hilltop. In the distance I can hear young ponies splashing about and trying to enjoy the last of their fun in the rain before the storm got worst. The sapling was bent over and holding on for dear life as its roots were showing through the darkness.

My body returned to my control as I got up off my left side and stood up on all fours staring at the sapling out on the hilltop past the open field and next to a forest. The grass on the open field tried its best to stand up straight but the wind made it wave like the sea on a stormy night. My eyes locked onto the sapling and my hooves began to move. The wind pounded against me like a tsunami of water each time it nearly pushed me over. I stood firm each chance I got when the wind decided to test me. My right side felt like it was getting pelted by rocks but my eyes refused to move and my legs refused to stop.

Each step became harder; the light was starting to dwindle from the house. My legs felt frozen like each time they moved they first had to break the ice that covered them. My eyes still stared at the sapling with an unwavering persistence as it felt like tears flowed from my eyes. The dirt I stepped on turned to mud and each step was followed by a small slip, like walking on ice itself. My hooves were covered in mud but it didn’t stop me. The only sound was the crashing of branches in the forest ahead of me and the splashing of large heavy raindrops to the ground.

My body was freezing up and my hooves went numb just as I got to the hill. There was mud flows like rivers going down the sides of the hill; water ran off so much that the grass was carried off as well. My heart beat pounded in my chest my breath was heavy but I could still see the sapling being bombarded by heavy winds to the point of pulling it out of the ground. My legs kicked it up a notch and my climb up the hill began again.

It was slippery, the mud flowing off with the rain fall made it extremely hard to get solid hoofing. But each step made it just a little farther though they were small steps. The wind blasted me hard again and I nearly lost my footing but I slid a little back down the hill. The rain intensified and began to hit me more with even bigger drops. The mud slides grew bigger and the sapling was nearly pulled out of the ground. I stood firm, with deep and heavy breathing I said to myself, "I'll climb up this hill."

As I climbed to the summit it felt like the rain and wind turned on me, pelting me from the front. My eyes began to water as the wind dried them out. I shut my eyes but kept climbing until for a moment everything stopped. The rain stopped, the wind disappeared, and there was light. I opened my eyes to see a small sapling bent over in front of me. The thing was no bigger than me, and was almost bent completely over. I looked up to see a small hole in the sky just big enough for me and the very top of this hill to fit in.

My left hoof moved to push the sapling back to straight up then I curled around it with my left side facing the wind and closed my eyes. The light vanished, and the rain took its place, the wind soon followed as all of it pelted my left side. My head was next to the sapling only occasionally hit by water. I felt a welcoming warmth come from the sapling which made me want to sleep. But as I began to sleep I felt a warm body cover my left side; it sealed the deal, I fell right asleep.

With light shining in my face I opened my eyes slowly and blinking heavily saw the sapling. It stood triumphantly straight with a few leaves left on its one small branch. I heard hoof steps to my left so I looked over in curiosity. It was a cyan colored pegasus with its wings fully extended dripping with water. The pegasus’s pink eyes gave her away. I whispered out of sleepy surprise, “Rainbow Dash?”

The pegasus stuck out her hoof to help me get up and said, “Come on you goofball.”