The Tree

by Corvo

Prologue

I am an old tree. I stand high atop a hill, and I’ve stood here for an uncountable number of years. I have a story, about how this little town, and orchard around me came to be, and what I have experienced year after year, as I stood here.

Before I tell you of that, let me tell you about trees. Trees can become very old, certain hardwoods grow and stand for decades, and centuries. The older trees, like me, see it all. We watch as other life changes, grows and is destroyed. I have witnessed an immense amount of history.

When I was but a sapling, there was one other life form here, before ponies. They were large bipedal creatures. They could build towers of stone and glass. They cut down my brothers, but left me. I watched, as each day, more and more creatures wandered around the small field they had left me in. The creatures stayed for a few years, and as they stayed, I grew. I think I was, here, 25 years old.

Then the world ended for them. It happened in a bright flash of light. One of the great glass towers fell, and encased me in stone for days and days. Then I decided to move the stones, so I grew. I grew and my branches pushed away the rocks, and once they fell I felt the outside again. It had been dark within the rocks, only small rays of light would hit my leaves. I thought I would die, but I didn’t.

I stood there for so long, the rest of the large towers broke and crumbled away. The rocks that were left behind, were pounded on by rain, and wind. Then the sun would heat them up, and the clouds would cool them off, and over the course of many years, the rocks crumbled to dust. Then the dust blew away.

I would have crumbled to dust too. But the rocks protected me from the bad light that had destroyed the bipeds. I was sad that they were gone. The bipeds. I remember one of them, a little girl, would always sit under my shadow, and look at books. One year she came with another person. A boy. They carved their names into my trunk. It hurt at first, but I didn’t mind. The girl said this was her favorite spot. That made me happy.

“Come on, Andrew!” She said.

“I’m coming!”

“Right here we are! My favorite spot! Under this tree.”

The boy looked up at my branches...

“Nice place for a picnic.”

“Yeah I know. I love this tree, I read under it a lot.”

I love this tree, she’d said. That was nice of her. But she went away when the bad light came. I don’t think she was saved by the rocks like I was.

After the rocks turned to dust and blew away, more trees began growing. Their roots met mine sometimes. Then we would talk. I told them stories about the bipeds. They called me the Heart of the forest.

That is the highest honor among us. The Heart is the center, the leader. The Heart doesn't have to be in the literal center though. He or she has to be the spiritual center. Normally the oldest tree is the Heart. That must have been why they picked me.

We stayed like that for a long time, just a big forest. I lost a few branches and a bird decided to make his home in my branches. I liked the bird, he spoke of far, far away places. He gave me even more stories to tell my brothers and sisters.

Then there was a fire. Many of my trees died, my kingdom burned for days. During that time, I was somehow safe. Very lucky for a tree.

After my kingdom was in ruins I mourned and shed my leaves. For years I did that, growing back the leaves only to shed them once more. Then, the bird’s daughter returned. She bore news of an old forest, one that had been part of mine. She said they still called me their Heart. That made me happy, and my mourning ended.

I stayed like that for many years. As time passed, the ground shifted, and what was once a field turned into the hill I stand on now. A few more years passed and, in this time, odd things began happening...

The rain changed. Originally it was water, clear and pure, but then it became the milk of cows, tainted by sugar and the dead cooked seeds of cacao plants. The clouds’ feel shifted as well. They turned from pure water to sugary fluff. Many corn plants began dying, their seeds popping before they could sew them into the ground.

The chaos continued like this for a few months. Plants began starving from lack of real rain, animals began dying because we, trees, could not do our duty and make food. The world slowly declined. I remember one point I heard of a clearing in the forest. A clearing! Clearings are formed when a part of a forest can’t support itself! Clearings are mass murder, and, at that point, I knew this phenomenon was not natural. I felt so angry that I wished to take action. I am a Heart, the most powerful being on the planet! I could erase this disharmony in a moment! Alas, I was young and, as the ponies say, foalish.

I thought taking action was unnatural, so I resisted the urge, for I am a tree, and we are sedimentary. Our job is to watch, and watch I did. As I did, my prayers were answered. A new race arrived to save this land. Ponies.

There were two of them, both were winged and horned. They harnessed an ancient power, a fusion of the bipeds’ old technology and their magic. They used these powerful items to encase the creature that was causing the chaos in stone.

It reminded me of the light and the bipeds. I began feeling unhappy, but the alicorns, as they were called, cheered me up. After they sealed the creature away, one of them, the one who claimed to rule the night, made a deal with me.

She said that, as long as we provided food, and as long as we never took action against their subjects, they would care for us as their own. They made promises of fresh water once a week and fertile soil for us to grow in. I agreed to the deal, but I made sure she left the ancient forest alone. It was a sacred place. It should not be changed. I also made sure that only ponies of the earth retained a magical connection with the land. Ponies of the earth are the most sturdy, their bodies could handle the immense power that came with becoming close to nature itself.

Luna kept her promise. She built an entire city in the sky to bring water to the trees and plants. They dubbed it ‘Cloudsdale’. Under the ponies’ rule, the land outside the forest began to prosper. New cities were built, water and food was given to all.

New forms of life took shape inside the Everfree, as my forest was called. Flora and fauna evolved together. I remember hearing about one specific plant, Poison Joke. It had magically changed its pollen to prank the ones that came in contact with it. The plants became infamous among the zebras.

A few hundred years later, the alicorn, Celestia returned, bearing sad news. The older alicorn told me her sister had been corrupted due to being neglected by her subjects. She asked me and the other trees to take action and grant her sister a boon to save her. She asked us to cure her of her spite. I refused. The trees do not take action for the benefit of only one creature...

The older sister asked me what she was to do, and so I told her a prophecy; I can bend the rules a bit for a friend.

“But, old tree, what am I to do? If you and the trees will not take action, how will I go on?”

“I... will... tell you... a prophecy.”

She looked up into my branches with hope.

“Luna...has become... the Mare in the Moon.”

I summoned the powers of the forest and looked far into the future. I watched as ponies, six of them, saved the night mare from herself. But that is not the only time line I saw, the others showed the great nation falling to eternal night and other horrors I dare not say.

“On the longest day... of the thousandth year... the stars will aid in her escape... and she will bring about... night time eternal.” ‘Or not.’ I added to myself.

I would have told her that, but I am a tree, I am supposed to sound mystical and ancient. I have an image to retain, you know. But Celestia accepted what I said, and so she went and waited.

I continued my life. I stood tall and listened to the stories that the birds would bring from the other trees. They would tell stories of hunts and chases that animals would get into, and tell me about how the carnivores would starve one day, but feast the next.

Years passed like this, until Celestia came back again. She came asking for the land on the outskirts of my forest. But she did not come alone, she came with ponies, and she bore so many gifts. She was so formal and nervous when asking. I wasn’t very surprised by the display though, I am the Heart of a forest that is older and more powerful that her. Even if a small forest, like the Whitetail Wood, took action, they would be able to overwhelm her easily.

But I am the Heart of the Everfree. I am the most powerful being on the planet. I think she was just nervous about angering me, and yet I consider her my closest friend.

“O Great Heart of the forest. I ask a favour of thee! Please allow my little ponies to make their home on your fair lands. In retur-”

I started chuckling at her unnecessary speech.

“...Are- are you laughing at me?” The white alicorn responded after a few seconds of silence, completely caught off-guard.

“Of course! You...are...my oldest friend! It would be... an honour... to allow your ponies... to stay here! Hah! No gifts... are necessary, your display was... more than enough!”

As I said this, her face lit up bright red in embarrassment.

“I-um, thank you.”

I just continued laughing.

Slowly I calmed down, and reached out my mind.

“Please... take the land... but, be wary of... the forest.”

Celestia nodded and turned to her subjects.

“Come with me, my little ponies,”

I watched as she trotted away, still chuckling at her antics...

I haven't the slightest idea where this is going; when you are insane, like me, you need an outlet for your insanity. This is my outlet and so I present to you, The Tree!