Celestia sighed. How did she get here?
It's been two days since she foolishly accepted the Wanderer's proposal to be a 'leaf.' Since then, the two have been walking. Just walking! No talking, nothing interesting, really. The only thing that broke up all the trotting was the eating and the sleeping. Now, after two days of such a tiresome journey, the two found themselves in front of a small village. Normally, Celestia would be ecstatic, civilization! Except, the town looked like it was on its last legs. Rotting wood, several ruins already, a poor looking orchard, miserable looking ponies. She supposed that living next to the Everfree forest didn't help.
"Wanderer, why...wait! Hey!" While she was 'admiring' the view, he had just kept on going, beelining towards the unfortunate village. She sped up to catch up. "Wanderer, why are we here?"
"No reason."
"...what?"
"Should I need a reason to help these ponies?"
"We're helping these ponies? I thought you were a wanderer!"
"I am."
"Then...what!?" Princess Celestia was confused. And annoyed. Definitely annoyed.
The Wanderer ignored her protests and entered the town. The ponies living there gave the two several side glances, many of which looked somewhat violent. The dead look in their eyes gave Celestia the shivers. She didn't like this place.
"Travellers, what brings ya 'ere?" A mean looking mare trotted out of a nicer looking house, but it still didn't look its finest.
"The wind brought us. Now that the wind has died down, may I offer our services?" Celestia was taken aback. She couldn't recall ever allowing her 'services' allowed to be used!
"Ah didn't git half of what ya just said, but if yer offerin', then ya'll can start hauling dem bushweed out over yonder. The roots are messin' with the trees."
"Consider it done, fair...?" The Wanderer looked up with a questioning look.
"Ah'm the mayor, so ya can call me as such."
"Fair enough, Mayor. In return, may we have some lodging?"
"Sure. Pick a ruin."
"Mighty kind of you." The Wanderer headed off at a brisk pace. Celestia had to almost gallop to trot along side him.
"Hey! Who said my services were available? And what does this got to do with your weird wind or leaves!"
"How cold of you, Princess." The Wanderer grinned, before ducking down and grabbed a bushweed by the stem and hauling it out with his wings. "The road we were travelling on happened to come across this fine settlement, and the settlers are in need of some assistance. So I lent them ours. That's what it means to be a leaf on the wind."
"..." Celestia plopped down on the earth with a frustrated groan. "You are a terrible pony. You had me going, thinking this idea of yours was some spiritual trip. I bet you're not even 600 years old!"
"I'm not. I said I was nearing my 600th, I never said I was 600."
"Details!" She threw up her hooves. "This has been a huge waste of time. I'm going home."
"Then go home."
"...you're not going to stop me?"
"Why should I? It's not like I know you or anything. If you wish to fall to the ground, then be my guest. Be anyone's guest, really. You are the Princess, you can literally do that."
"What does that mean?"
"What does anything mean?" The Wanderer finally pulled up the bushweed, complete with intact roots, dumped it to the side, and moved on to the next one.
"I'm serious!"
"So am I."
Celestia stared at him angrily. He was the most frustrating stallion she had ever known. Constantly talking in metaphors, probably a liar too. Can't believe she spent 13 days looking for this insufferable ingrate. She wanted to fly away so badly, to go back to Canterlot, but found herself unable to do so.
"Alright, Wanderer. I'm listening. My own body refuses to cooperate with me."
"How about listening, you pull out some bushweed. And make sure you pull out the roots as well! Leaving the roots mean the bushweed can grow back. Can't have that, it would cause more problems for the villagers."
Celestia sighed and trotted over to such a plant. "Alright, how does one do that?"
"By taking it one tug at a time. Each bushweed is slightly different. Some have more resistance than others and it's important to account for that. You need to slowly extract it out of the ground, instead of one massive pull, so as to test the waters. Slight movements so when something wrong might happen, you can compensate properly Like so." The Wanderer then proceeded to caress, shimmy, and slowly but surely, pull out the entire bushweed in full, roots intact.
"Alright." Since Celestia was disguised as a pegasus, magic was a no go. So, instead, she tried it the Wanderer's way. By wrapping her two wings around the stem and pulling.
By the fifth bushweed, Celestia managed to get the hang of it. By the ninth, she was starting to enjoy the process. By the 17th, she was grinning. By the 34th, it was over. Behind them, sat a large pile of bushweeds. The majority of them were taken out by the Wanderer, but Celestia didn't care. She was proud of what she had accomplished.
"Come, night approaches, it is time for bed."
"But I'm fine...woah!" Celestia tipped over, and nearly fell over were it not for a tree to catch her before she fully collapsed. "Yeah, bed would be good."
"It would also wise to lower the sun, Princess."
"Right."
The two took a short trot towards an abandoned house. The roof looked somewhat intact, and only one wall had collapsed. The Wanderer placed sleeping bags on the ground and pulled up a curtain to make a makeshift room. After that was set up, did Celestia shed her disguise and lit her horn. The effort of moving the celestial bodies was much more strenuous after all that physical labor.
"So, did you listen?"
"...what?" Celestia asked, completely exhausted. Her bones were beyond weary and even the hard ground looked appealing.
"You said earlier that you were going to listen. Did you listen?"
"What are you talking abo..." The Princess paused, her mouth still open. She did listen. She had listened to what each individual bushweed had to say with each tug and pull she tried. She slowly let her mouth close and pondered on what today was.
"I see you understand now. I'm turning in, g'night Celestia." The Wanderer rolled over and closed his eyes.
"...good night."
***
It was the next day and it was beautiful. The low sun casted a glorious spectacle over the Everfree Forest. The now cleaned up orchard made the view just that much better, and it was all because of her with her own hooves. Well, the Wanderer helped, but she helped. She actually helped. Celestia couldn't help but smile.
"Ah can't believe ya two mad hares actually did it. Ah thought yer was pullin' mah leg, but nah, ya actually pulled out ev'ry single bushweed. We might be able to get a good harvest this year! We won't forget this, how can we repay y'all?"
"No payment necessary, Mayor. It would be a shame if this town collapsed, so maybe that could be our payment." The Wanderer smiled. "To keep this town alive."
The Mayor sniffed slightly, a quivering smile gracing her lips. "Aye."
"Now, is there anything else we can do for you?"
"Nah, we couldn't possibly..."
"We insist." Princess Celestia butted in. She blinked, surprised by her own intervention.
"...oh, alright, if y'all insist. Our town is too small for the likes of the mail office, if y'all could just bring our letters over yonder to the next town and bring 'em to the office, that would just be the cherry on the cake."
"You can count on us." Celestia smiled brightly.
"Ah swear, yer gonna make a grown mare cry." The Mayor grinned, tears already streaming down her face. "Now git 'fore ah lose all of mah dignity. Go tell everybody that yer collectin' letters. Mayor's orders." She chuckled before lumbering away.
"Well, Princess. It seems the wind has picked up. Time to drift."