//------------------------------//
// 12: Cherry Tree 
// Story: Wood and Steel 
// by CodenameOne 
//------------------------------//

"Trimmy, honey, did ya'll wanna help mommy today?"

"Mother, I asked you not to call me that. But of course I'll help you.





The sound of breathing was the only sound permeating the air in Trimmer's room, Axle sitting on the bed next to the lithe Unicorn. The binder that had been on the bed was between them, open, revealing that it was a photo album. Trimmer stared down at it, each photo completely covered in clear tape, securing and shielding them. From spills, from rain.

From tears.

Axle could do nothing but sit and watch awkwardly, silently, as Trimmer quietly sobbed and stared at the pictures of the beautiful matron, forever frozen in place in the photos. Smiling, laughing, swimming, gardening, sunbathing, splitting logs, felling trees. She was happy, lively, loving.

Gone.

It was surreal, looking at somepony's life as told through picture. Seeing them with their foals, seeing them doing the things they loved doing, knowing they had long since passed away. Axle knew that mare would never see her foals again, her foals would never see her again. She'd never tend the greenhouse again, never fell trees again, never hold the two dashing colts she called sons again.

"I-I-It was hard, losing her. She was everything a mother should be. I love her. We love her" Trimmer said quietly, never once taking his gaze away from the open photo album. "I m-miss her."

Axle nodded, letting Trimmer do what he needed. He could only imagine what the younger colt was feeling. Over half a decade and he was crying like it happened yesterday. It was his mother, 'course he's torn up still. He shifted around on the bed, waiting for Trimmer to continue.

"You-- You think I look bad now, you shoulda seen Willow when..." Trimmer's lip quivered, his eyes squeezed shut as he looked away. "When..." he closed up, bringing his forehooves up to his head. He began rocking back and forth as he wailed, tears streaming down his face.

"When she passed..." Axle whispered, though he knew Trimmer wouldn't hear it.

"She...she...she... She was in the forest..." Trimmer choked out. He shakily reached out with a hoof, turning a page to the next set of photos. More of the colts' mother enjoying life. "I-- I went out with her, that day."





"Trimmy, mommy needs help with these oaks, they're a real pain. Did you finish up with your trees for today?"

"I've got one more, mother. After that I'll be more than happy to help you."

"OK, sweet tree!"

"Ugh, mother, please do not call me that, that pun is detestable."





Trimmer was quiet again, his wails reduced to sniffles, but his eyes still wet as they remained transfixed on the photo album in front of him. He turned page after page of photos, skipping the ones that contained pictures of only his brother and father.

"She was beautiful" Axle commented. "I wish I could've met her."

"Real beauty comes from within" Trimmer replied flatly, stopping to look up at Axle. The first time he'd torn his gaze away from the photo album since the conductor stallion had entered the room, his expression stern, making Axle nod and turn away.

"Of course. I'm sorry."

Trimmer's expression melted away, replaced by that of anguish and remorse. "Forgive me" he whispered. "It's... Forgive me."

Axle reached out with a hoof and put it on Trimmer's shoulder, making the Unicorn flinch and look up in surprise, a look of bewilderment in his eyes. Axle was about to apologize and pull away when Trimmer grabbed his hoof, keeping it against his shoulder. He stared at the train buck's firm hoof, his own grip tightening as he reached down to the photo album with his free hoof, turning the page.

"I need this. Please."

Axle nodded. "It's alright. Take your time."

Turning his attention back to the album Trimmer stared at the photos on the pages before him, smiling and even giggling on occasion, but mostly he remained quiet, tears falling to the pages below and running down to the bed sheets. Trimmer began rubbing Axle's hoof to calm himself, a fresh wave of tears quickly coming. "You... You'd figure, after this long, I'd have gotten over it" Trimmer said.

"She was your mother, Trimmer. S'only natural" Axle replied, inching closer to the Unicorn to ease some of the burden on his now-sore hoof. Trimmer seemed to appreciate the older buck's comforting touch, the closeness. He smiled, and Axle smiled back.

"Of course."





"Oh, hold on, Trimmy. Mommy needs to lash up the tree so it falls in the direction we want it to."

"OK, mother. While you're doing that I can get started on sawing."

"Thank you! Such a good colt."

"Mother, I'm 17. That hardly makes me a colt, still. I'm more of a buck."

"Mm, and what a handsome young buck you've grown up to be!"

"Mooom..."





"Willow never got to say goodbye. Daddy never got to say goodbye. She never got to say goodbye to them. I was the last pony she saw" Trimmer quietly stated, his hoof having fallen away from Axle's, still resting on the Unicorn's shoulder. They were nearing the end of the photo album, the stack of pages growing thin. "If I could only see her again. Tell her how much I love her, how much we appreciated her."

"She knows" Axle said with a smile.

Trimmer shot a look at the conductor pony, his eyes dark. "Does she?" he spat. "She may love them still, but how could she love me still, when... When I..." Trimmer stopped, covering his face with a hoof as he began to cry again. "Nopony could forgive me. I can't forgive myself."

"I forgive you" Axle assured him.

"YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! YOU WOULD NEVER FORGIVE ME IF YOU ONLY KNEW WHAT HAPPENED!! NONE WOULD DARE TO EVEN LOOK AT ME IF THEY KNEW!" Trimmer screamed, pushing Axle's hoof off his shoulder. "Only... Only my family knows what happened."

"And they forgive you, don't they?" Axle asked, earning only a nod in response. "Of course they do, they're your family. Your brother, your father, they both forgive you, love you. They don't think any lesser of you."

"Me" Trimmer whispered.

Axle blinked, confused. He moved closer to Trimmer carefully, wanting to give the distraught buck space. "I'm sorry?"

"Me. It should've been me" Trimmer declared through gritted teeth, desperately trying and failing to fight back the pain, the tears. "ME, Axle Box. It should've been ME! I should've been the one who died! Not her! WHY couldn't it have been me? HUH?! WHY couldn't it have been ME! WHY COULDN'T I SAVE HER!?!"

Axle had nothing to offer.

"ANSWER ME! WHY COULDN'T I SAVE HER, LIKE YOUR BROTHER SAVED WILLOW?! WHY WASN'T I MORE CAREFUL!? WHY WAS I SUCH A LAZY MORON, SO AS TO CARELESSLY CUT THE TREE WHILE SHE LASHED IT?! WHY DID SHE TELL ME IT WAS OK!? IT WAS STUPID!" Trimmer shouted, his face contorted in a mix of sorrow and anger. "Wh-- Why... Why did she have to die like that...?"





Birds singing, leaves rustling, critters climbing trees, cicadas chirping. The sounds of the forest, sullied by the sawing of the tree as Limb Trimmer worked the saw back and forth in his magic, idly staring at the blade as it sank deeper into the bark, the smell of wood burning from the friction tickling his nose as the scent overpowered the odors of the forest. The grass, the dew. the wildlife.

An unnatural rustling as Trimmer's mother lashed the tree, throwing the rope up high so it came around the tree, caught on a branch as to prevent it from sliding down. A shuffling in the grass as she grabbed the other end of the rope and began carrying it back to where she was going to stand.

Trimmer looked up at the tree as he sawed through it, watching the oak as it began listing to the side, losing support as its base lost wood. Trimmer stepped back, the saw nearly three quarters of the way through the trunk. It was nearly ready to be felled, and Trimmer looked back over his shoulder to see where he left his shaver.

*CRACK*

Trimmed whipped his head around and saw the tree leaning dangerously to the right, the branches rustling, a few loose leaves slowly drifting to the ground below. "How did that happen?" Trimmer asked himself, cautiously eyeing the tree. It was staying where it was, and Trimmer began to saw again.

*CRR--AAA-CKK*

The tree snapped at the base as it fell over, the last thread of wood keeping it secured to the trunk snapping and cracking as it began to fall. Trimmer looked in confusion and alarm as it began racing towards the ground, right where his mother was standing. She had been pulling on the rope to make sure it was taut, not knowing the tree was almost about to finish being sawed.

"MOM!" Trimmer screamed, igniting his horn to grab the tree, but it was too heavy, and he could only slow it down.

"Yes, hon--"

*WHAM!*





Silence reigned over Trimmer's bedroom once again, the air heavy with sorrow, the silence uncomfortable. Trimmer's head was hung in shame, unwilling to look Axle in the eye. Unwilling to see the judgment in his eyes.

"My magic only slowed the tree. Instead of being instantly killed, she lived her last moments in agony, fear, confusion" Trimmer whispered after a long while. He smiled; a troubled, sorrowful smile. "I accidentally caused her death, and I accidentally caused her to suffer during it. How awful is that?"

Axle looked away, his expression grim.

"After the burial, I cried for days. I cried so much I became dehydrated. I couldn't drink, I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. I...punished myself. I worked the mill alone, I did all the house chores alone, I lashed out at my father and brother for trying to help me, I got up hours before they did to fell the trees. I was about to start carting the logs into Baltimare myself when daddy finally knocked sense back in to me" Trimmer explained. "After that, I shut down. No more tears, no more overworking, no more starving myself. I bottled up all of my emotions and buried them somewhere deep and dark. I became a robot. Unfeeling, unthinking, I suffered in silence for the past six years, knowing that I was responsible for my mother's death."

Axle was silent.

"Her last words to me were 'mommy loves'... She couldn't finish--" Trimmer choked up, his breath hitching, the memory too painful. "How can somepony live with that? How can somepony live knowing they're responsible for the accidental death of a loved one? How can they function, live life, and move on, knowing that?" Trimmer asked. "How... How can I be normal again...?"

"With help. From family, from friends" Axle answered.

Trimmer nodded, but didn't look all that convinced. He turned to the last page of the photo album, a note taped to it in place of any photos. On the opposite page, there was a single massive picture of Trimmer's family; his brother, his father.

His mother.

As he read the note, Trimmer began crying again. A quiet, soft sobbing as he read the words written down.

To my beautiful family, and my dashing Unicorn buck. May the light from your horn guide the family in times of need, to show them the way back to happiness. To show them what life is really all about: family, laughter.

Love.

From my heart, to yours,

-Mom.

~Cherry Tree~

Trimmer was quiet again as his hoof traced the edges of the note, his touch gentle and respectful. "I need somepony to guide me..." he whispered, so low that Axle almost didn't catch it.

Axle put his hoof on Trimmer's shoulder once again, and the younger colt looked up at him, eyes red and dry from all the crying, his cheeks stained. Axle smiled at Trimmer. A comforting, warm smile. To say, even in spite of the pain, that everything will be OK. A smile to show solidarity, support, in the young Unicorn stallion's time of need.

And Trimmer smiled back.