Ace woke up early to pull some of the big weeds that had been growing within the yard. After some minor excavation around the tallest thorny nuisance, He clenched the root in his mouth and tried to yank it up, yet it did not budge.
After taking a moment to recover, he started pulling again. This time with all of his might.
“Here, let me help you with that!” Ace heard from behind him.
Before he could look to see who it was, he heard a popping noise and Ace flew backward; landing flat on his back .
For a moment, aimlessly flailing his hooves to get up on all fours again.
“What was that for! Wait, Splash Sprout? Is that you?” Cried Ace as he righted himself, and brushed himself off.
“Oops my bad. I know of a spell that causes weeds to pop out, root and all. Allow me to be of service.”
A high pitched frequency started to build up and increase in intensity until a dozen of the pesky weeds popped up one by one. Then Splash used his levitation abilities to organize the weeds into a small pile.
Ace inspected the pile, he found the entire root was still intact. “Impressive, your unicorn magic worked.”
“You're quite welcome. What are neighbors for? I’m just trying to be a good neighbor.” Splash’s forced smile made Ace suspicious, but Splash continued. “How has your new position as Drought Manager been? It has been two months hasn’t it?
“Indeed! It has been two months, and I have personally interviewed a hundred ponies to fill over a dozen drought related conservation positions to implement Princess Celestia’s Royal decree. The strangest hire involved paying a Unicorn Wizard from the Crystal Empire to teach a group of talented Unicorns to perform advanced spells like 'Aqua Damnum.' It can identify and track properties that have water leaks. So that the Pegasi could hand deliver a notice for repair to the property owners.”
“Wow, you sure do some incredible things for this city. If any pony can stave off running out of water, it’s surely is you young chap,” said Splash as he pat him on the back along with an eerie laugh which made Ace uncomfortable.
In that moment, Ace decided it was time to slice through the surface talk and dive into Splash’s true intentions, “You can’t fool me. I have read all of your published articles that made it’s way into the Franciscolt Chronicle’s Opinion section. I know what you want,. As you know, I recently hired a team of Pegasi to patrol the skies to encourage compliance, and ensure water security for the entire city. Did by any chance one of our new Pegasi find you ignoring the watering recommendations?”
The veil of niceties that Splash had been holding up abruptly shattered.
Splash fell to his knees and started begging, “I have made a living, and achieved a great level of prestige, not only in this city, but also Equestria at large. I am really sorry that I once mocked your wife’s unique artistic landscape. I really am, and you know that gardening is not just a hobby for me; it is my livelyhood. My very identity. I know that we are all in a drought, but can’t you please allow your crew to get off my back, and let just a small part of my lawn return to its former glory?”
Ace took pity on him, “I am sorry, but a well-manicured lawn that requires an abundance of water to maintain is now an irrelevant concern. Our immediate priority is ensuring we can hold out long enough while ensuring that our essential needs are met.”
Splash’s yellow coat began to turn a light shade of red. “Why do you have to pick on me? If you were truly concerned with saving water, you would stuff your nosy tendencies and finger pointing to those water hog farmers! They will bleed our reservoirs dry if we let them. And so you know, I have a lot of influence! You’ll soon see what strings I can pull.” Splash started spitting after every syllable. “I hope you have a great day because you just ruined mine!”
Splash Sprout stormed out like a high horse. He turned the corner and became out of sight. However, the emotional effects it had on Ace ensured it would not be out of his mind anytime soon.
When Ace realized the time, he had to rush to work without his lunch to arrive on time.
Ace spent the day meeting with the city’s Park and Recreation staff to figure out ways to drastically reduce water usage for the public parks. It was tough having to prioritize which fields would stay and which would would be left to wallow and die.
Since the conservation program is just now beginning to hit its stride in reducing the city’s water consumption, it was hard to figure out the projected savings for their efforts, but luckily as a Pegasus, Ace had a perspective from the sky that gave him an idea of the overall effectiveness of the program.
On his way back home, he would count the number of lawns throughout San Franciscolt that were changing color from a vibrant green to a crispy yellow which what was referred to as, “The new Californeigh Gold” because the water saved was as good as gold.
Ace was so consumed with the counting game that it took him awhile to notice that half of the neighborhood had gathered. Then he was petrified when he he realized they were in front of his home.
Shocked and scared that he was about to witness a riot instigated by Splash Sprout, he accelerated as fast as he could. Multiple worst case scenarios were flying through his mind even faster than the speed that his wings could carry him.
Anxious and jittery, Ace landed hard in the front yard. His senses were heightened as he assessed the situation.
He then heard a female unicorn with a light blue mane and coat ask: “Wow! So, you're saying that the water from your shower and laundry goes through a filtration system and then you use it to irrigate your landscape?”
Tree Hugger nodded, “Yeah, if you use the right detergents, why let our lightly used ‘grey’ water be wasted feeding the drain when it can like, be transfigured to feed life,” she said with a calm demeanor.
The whole group was intrigued and growing in their curiosity.
He felt less anxious upon realizing it was just a calm discussion among neighbors, but the adrenaline was still pumping through his veins.
With tension in his voice. Ace whispered to his wife, “Why did you invite them all? What’s going on here?”
She looked back and responded saying: “Oh hi dear, I was answering a few questions that about our garden with one of neighbors, then two. Then the entirety of the block anointed us with their presence.”
He looked around to see that the grass and flowers of his wife’s garden had blossomed; nearly every shade of color was represented in an organized arrangement of wild flowers, trees and shrubs. The abundance of plant life was a stout contrast with the strained and dying plants of the neighbors that plagued the city since the drought restrictions began.
“You might be wondering why your own plants have been wilting while ours have been thriving? Am I right?” said Tree Hugger; stating the obvious.
The crowd smiled and nodded. They leaned in to hear her secret. Tree Hugger picked off a dead flower out of neighbor’s lawn, “You see this plant?” She lifted it up over her head for all to see. “These species of plant does not belong in this land, its soul resides in a land beyond Equestria. She then nuzzled the flower with her cheeks. Her mood changed to sadness, “I can hear it lamenting a song about the stress of being so far from home, and it’s losing the will to live.”
“Can you hear their sad, sad song?"
The crowd looked at one another. Some giggled, but most managed to bite their lips to hold back their laughter.
Tree Hugger placed her hoof under a vibrant purple rose in her garden and asked the crowd, “How long has your family lived in San Franciscolt?”
“One year.” “My whole life.” “It’s been five generations,” Shouted multiple ponies from the crowd.
“Five generations? Did I hear that right?” she asked. The pony nodded in agreement.
Treehugger pointed toward the garden. “I personally choose every one of the plants you see before you. I even designed the layout of the landscape myself. I chose these plants because they have called this region home long before Equestria was created. Can you feel the good ‘vibes’ they radiate? They are so happy that they dance in the wind knowing it is exactly where it is supposed to be. Will you dance with them too?”
The wind picked up and Tree Hugger found her groove. She then started dancing to the music made by all the wind chimes that hung from the front porch.
Upon her display of dancing, the group seemed to get bired so they decided to head back to their home. Some were giggling and gossiping on the way out.
Ace made a sigh of satisfaction. “Wow, it sure was a pleasant surprise to thinking there might be a riot to seeing that our neighbors are now intrigued by our urban landscape” said Ace. “I just have one thing.”
She looked at him and stopped dancing to hear what he had to say. “And what’s that be my dear?”
“You could have just said that the neighbor’s plants had adapted to a wetter type of climate so they require much more water than what the local precipitation can provide. Whereas the native plants have adapted to the region we live in so it thrives solely on the existing rain without much added water. Making them more drought resistant.”
Tree Hugger took a second to think about it. “I guess I could have, but I still like my explanation more.”
They exchanged looks and started laughing. The two finally embraced and began exchanging kisses, That was until they both realized they were not alone in their garden.
At the corner of their eyes, they spotted Splash Spout patiently leaning on their fence avoiding eye contact with them.
Tree Hugger blushed. “I didn’t see you there, you have a most quiet and mellow energy” she said politely.”
“Hi Ace Steward, I wanted to apologize for my angry outburst this morning. Maybe I have put too much of identify on my own aesthetic preferences. Speaking of aesthetic preferences,” said Splash sporting an embarrassed grin while rubbing the back of his head grin.
He straightened up and switched his gaze. “Hey Tree Hugger, you actually designed your own garden? You seem to be very knowledgeable with having such a beautiful garden even during times of a severe drought. While I don’t believe in this whole ‘vibe’ thing you have with the flowers and stuff. However, I am beginning to see that there could be great value by incorporating native plants where exotic plants once stood. So was wondering if I could hire you to redesign and revitalize part of my garden to look similar to yours?” he asked.
“Righteous! Said Tree Hugger with her eyes closed and a big smile, I would but it’s just a hobby of mine, it’s not like I do this for a living or anything,”. Then a jolt of electricity seemed to ignite inside her mind.
“What I mean is Yes! Yes, I can. I am totally open for business. We will talk soon.”
When Splash was out of sight, Ace began celebrating the prospect of his wife being an entrepreneur and they quickly began to formulate a business and marketing plan.
His job was to help the city kick the habit of wasteful water usage. However, if Tree Hugger’s business is a success, then it has the potential to provide a viable alternative that would lead to his ultimate goal: creating a new normal.