• Published 4th Apr 2019
  • 363 Views, 8 Comments

Road Trip - MisterNick



Tom and Harmony are on vacation. Just how much trouble can a sentient rock and the Tree of Harmony get into?

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Harmony Takes Fillydelphia

At some point during the train ride Harmony fell asleep. While Tom never really needed to rest the tree did find the occasional nap to be helpful. After all even the tree noted that sitting in a cave most of the time did become a dreadfully dull experience. It only made sense to spend periods of that time unconscious.

Harmony awoke with a start and noticed that the train was no longer moving. The tree stretched its limbs, muttered and asked if they were in Fillydelphia yet. However, when the tree got no response its gaze drifted in the direction of where it had last seen Tom. The boulder however, was gone and in its place sat a note.

Harmony quickly slid over to the note and speared it with its branches. How the boulder had managed to learn the fundamentals of writing without any limbs was beyond the tree's comprehension. Regardless Harmony read the note:



Harmony,

Sorry I didn't wake you up. It would have been impossible anyway . For a tree you snore unusually loud. How you do that is something I'll never understand.

Anyway, these weirdoes in tie-dye showed up while you were asleep. I don't think they were bankers because they didn't want a piece of me. That's a good thing. Anyway I'm going to be at their place near Take On Me Creek Park. Chances are you'll find it pretty easily.

Sincerely,

Tom

PS: Come quickly and bring pizza and chips. They might distract them.



Harmony felt several of its smaller branches twitch. Tom couldn't be serious. It was daytime. How could a tree simply waltz down the streets of a city and go unnoticed? What the heck were pizza and chips? Finally, and most importantly just how much trouble might Tom actually be in and where was this park?

The tree shook its upper branches in frustration. Then it focused on what it needed first and foremost. It needed a disguise. Harmony glanced about the boxcar quickly and formed the only plan it could under the circumstances. After several minutes of tearing and fixing pieces of its fallen brethren together, Harmony created what it considered the ultimate in sneakology. It was a large fragile cardboard box.

With its new getup the tree slunk out of the boxcar and wound its way past the work ponies. Its sight was limited to the small holes cut in the sides that various branches poked from and the direction it was going. Yet, in spite of the difficulty in visibility the tree made very slow and steady progress across the yard.

As it moved, Harmony silently cursed Tom. How dare that rock leave it alone in the car. It could have just as easily avoided detection behind one of the packages onboard . Now Tom could be in trouble, something that caused a sinking feeling in the trunk of the tree.

"Hey," shouted a gruff voice that froze Harmony in its place. If the tree could have gulped and then held its breath it would have. Instead it waited as a blue pegasus slowly flapped down in front of it, a newspaper in its mouth. "Winky did you see the news?"

From off to the side a more timid voice responded, "No I didn't have time to get the paper."

"Check it out, " said the gruff voiced pony, "Parasite Packing Princess Too Friendly For Own Good. I guess that friendship princess gets around eh?"

"Well, it says at the bottom that she denies the claim," replied Winky a slight yellow earth pony.

"Of course she does. She don't want it to get out that she likes a dude in Baltimare," said the gruff pegasus.

The conversation between the two ponies continued longer than Harmony would have liked. The entire time they spoke the tree's mind whirred as various uneasy feelings welled up within its trunk. This trip was a mistake. It knew that now. "Hey who left this box here," said the gruff pony as it swatted Harmony's flimsy cardboard disguise.

"I haven't the slightest," said Winky.

"Well, get a jack and get it outta here before the boss sees."

Winky muttered something about how the gruff pony should stay by it until he got back. The gruff pony simply snorted in response and said, "It's not like it's gonna walk off, besides I've gotta hit the head. We'll talk later."

Once they were gone Harmony wasted no time in propelling itself out of the train yard as fast as it could. What it found outside of the yard was more gray and rock than it had ever seen before. Fillydelphia may have been a large city but pretty it wasn't.

In the distance several smoke stacks peppered the horizon and belched out a blackish gray haze. No matter which way the tree looked it saw nothing but ponies hurrying to and fro, none smiling and some swearing under their breath at unseen others who in their minds had wronged them. Harmony felt ill. It needed to get away.

Quickly the tree in its box shuffled down the graffiti laden sidewalk. Desperation slowly began to leak through its bark and onto the box. The rapid slapping and sliding of Harmony's roots on the pavement were loud as the tree propelled itself forward toward the most awful sound it could imagine. It sounded like someone rhyming but to an off kilter and horrific beat. No sooner had the tree turned the corner that it plowed into what was making the sound and those that accompanied it.

"What the eff," shouted an angry voice.

Harmony stopped in its tracks and slowly turned about. In front of it stood five angry ponies. None of them looked particularly clean with their matted and ratty manes of multiple colors. Their vests and shirts were torn and grimy. The leader wore a bandana and glared at it with rage. "That was our tunes. We're taking it out of you right here and now!" The leader then pulled a large knife from his vest while the lackeys grabbed some bats and chains they'd left near the building.

"You're dead meat jerk weed," chimed in one of the goons.

It was an accident. Harmony knew it and if it were possible it would have explained it to them. Heck it might have even offered to fix the player. Yet, in that moment something shifted within the tree. Somewhere deep within it a flame began to burn. 'I am no weed. How dare they,' thought the tree. Tom could be in serious trouble, this city clearly hadn't even made the slightest attempt at being harmonious and these street tuffs were going to try and hurt that which had held back the Everfree and done what it could to facilitate a better world on its ill-advised vacation? It could not stand.

The tree reached down with its branches and lifted the front of the flimsy box disguise that quickly fell apart in its branches as it tugged. Bits of cardboard clung to the tree's branches as its elements shimmered with an angry glow in the direction of the thugs. The hidden element of magic slowly emerged from the tree's trunk and joined in.

The thugs stood dumbstruck. They quickly dropped their weaponry and began to back away quickly. "Hey no problem here buddy," said the leader as a satchel fell from one of his lackey's belts.

Dude my bits," he whined as the leader pushed him back.

"Leave them," shouted the leader as he bolted and dragged the lackey with him.

The glow quickly left Harmony as it examined the various objects left by the thugs, most importantly the bits bag. The tree had developed a working knowledge of what bits were after listening in on the various conversations of students at Twilight's school. The question of how much things cost however escaped the tree as it counted the coins.

It wasn't long before the tree felt as if it were being watched. It jerked its upper branches up away from the satchel and noticed that there was a rather sizable number of ponies staring at it with looks of both awe and concern. Harmony was in the open.

The tree couldn't run from these ponies. It certainly couldn't hide so it did the only thing it could think of and pointed at the broken music player that had previously pumped out the horrible noises, "Not harmonious."

The ponies looked about unsure as to what to do before the tree raised one of its branches, "I need a ride."

A pony dressed like some sort of office worker quickly ran to a yellow coach and threw open the door, "G-get in," she said after some argument with the driver.

"Thank you small pony," said the tree as it climbed into the cab and dropped the bits on the driver, "Take On Me Park and quick."

With a whinny they and some squealing tires they were off.


When the cab dropped Harmony off at the park it was clearly a bit away from where ultimately the tree wanted to be. Therefore Harmony trudged around the park's forest until it saw a large grassy clearing. The tree muttered to itself about the entire situation as it gazed at the homes from the edge of the park's forest.

The appropriate house was easy enough to find. Sitting in front of the entrance of one of the dilapidated buildings were two tie-dye clad ponies. One of them was staring up at the roof's overhang with his mouth open. The other was busy amusing himself with a trash can lid by spinning it. He whooped, hollered and clapped his hooves together as if it were the greatest thing he'd ever seen.

They didn't seem to pose too much of a threat however, one thing did. While the tree watched the pair more than one police vehicle passed by very slowly as if looking for something. There wasn't a doubt in the tree's mind that they were looking for it.

Whether it was the scene with the punks on the corner or the fact that it was a wandering tree and chances were no pony had ever seen a walking tree before were both very likely answers. Then again, it could have also been because maybe the tree had smacked one of the passing police vehicles with one of its branches for trying to pull them over which led to a six cart pile up. When Harmony thought about it that was the most likely reason.

The tree grumbled to itself about the situation and waited for the vehicle to pass. Tom may have started the trouble but the tree knew that it had made things much worse. At some point it would have to apologize and explain itself to the ponies of Fillydelphia. Maybe they'd understand.

For a moment Harmony felt itself relax and thought that it might be easy enough to reason with these odd ponies at the house. Yet, that moment passed when it saw a pony with a scruffy beard carrying a sledgehammer start to walk by. "Hey guys I got the hammer! Now we can smash 'em a good one," he shouted before entering the building. The two tie-dye clad ponies cheered.

There was no time for Harmony to think, it just acted. From across the large green field the tree charged the house. Tom was in trouble there was no doubting it. It cleared the distance in a matter of seconds and with a swing smacked the pony who had been staring upward.

"Hey," protested the trashcan lid pony feebly as the tree rushed by followed by an, "Oh ... okay go on."

Harmony charged through the house as its limbs flailed wildly knocking ponies left and right. It saw a statue of a prone pewter pony and it smashed it with a swing. When an odd orange metal thing waltzed it's way Harmony growled and zapped it with its elemental magic.

"Aw dude," whined one of the ponies, "It broke the princess dude!"

It was then Harmony saw the pony with the scruffy beard as it attempted to hide behind a lamp. "Where is the boulder you took from the train," demanded the tree.

The pony meekly pointed in the direction of the backdoor. Harmony turned about and looked out the large glass door and saw Tom sitting rather quietly next to a gray pony with lavender hair dressed in a rather conservative dress. Next to it was the largest piece of metal Harmony had ever seen and yet Tom wasn't attacking it.

Harmony was taken aback. There was no way that was Tom. "What in the..."

"Dude just like go out there or something," muttered the scruffy one, "He won't shut up about anything."

That sounded like Tom.

Harmony opened the backdoor and slid outside and heard Tom's voice. It was cheerful and not sarcastic. Something had to be wrong. "Tom," called out Harmony, "What in the actual..."

"Hey Harm," said Tom, "This is Maud. You know ... from the song."

"The rock said that he was building something big and I guessed a ship," said Maud, "I was half right."

"Okay first it can't build anything and ... the rock? Its name's Tom," replied Harmony.

Maud looked over at Tom, blinked once and said in an even tone, "Oh," that neither indicated acceptance or disappointment.

"We need to get out of here Tom they are going to smash you with a sledgehammer," said Harmony as it wrapped its branches about the boulder.

"No they're not," said Tom as it wiggled from the tree's grasp over to a large wooden bin of fruit, "It's for the watermelons. They're going to smash them at the party they're throwing. Some sort of harmony thing or something to try and get the city to be more ... you know friendly."

"Woah dude," called out a female voice from the house, "What ... who smashed the robot princess and the pewter duder?"

"Who ...," began Harmony.

"Tree Hugger is back," said Maud flatly, "I'll tell her what's up."

Harmony sat dumbstruck in the backyard as Maud headed back inside the house. Tom asked the tree what had happened but Harmony just stood in place unsure of what to do next. It wasn't long before Maud led a green earth pony outside.

It was obvious to Harmony that this was Tree Hugger. The green earth pony wore a flowery bandana and sported a faded red and orange mane. There was something about the pony that reminded the tree of dirt but it couldn't place what exactly. As she approached a small frown set on her muzzle, obviously unhappy as to what had happened within the house. Before Harmony could say anything the pony asked both it and Tom a question, "Like how do you two talk like us?"

"Friendship magic," replied Harmony.

"Chaos magic," said Tom adding, "Seems pretty obvious."

Tree Hugger nodded some, "You rock dude have an aura similar to Discord. Like you need to work on you chakras and find a center." She then turned to Harmony and cocked her head to the side a bit. The pony gently put its hooves on the tree's bark and hummed a bit. "You're not all here are you," she finally said.

Harmony pulled away from Tree Hugger while the others looked on at the tree. After several awkward moments of silence Harmony finally answered, "It really was the only way I could get away."

"What's that mean," asked Tom.

"Her aura is split in two it's almost as if...," Tree Hugger's voice trailed off and her eyes widened, "Whoa dude that's way not cool."

"What is it," asked Maud.

"I created a doppelganger of myself and left it below ground in the cave. It sits and sort of acts like I would for the most part but with a percentage of the power," said the tree quietly.

"I told you to just uproot yourself," grumbled Tom, "You can never completely get away from work can you?"

"If the ponies needed me I wanted to be available for them," replied Harmony as it dug at the ground sadly, "Instead I watched a ship sink, apparently caused a scandal, broke a music box thing, caused a six cart pile up involving law enforcement ..."

"And the house," chimed in Maud flatly.

"I thought Tom was in danger okay," rumbled Harmony, "How was I supposed to know that hammer was for watermelons?"

Tree Hugger raised a hoof. "Dude I get it. You thought your friend was in danger. You were willing to do what it took to save him. I can respect that."

"Really," asked Harmony.

"Of course," replied Maud as she reached into one of the pockets of her dress and pulled out a rock of her own, "I'd do anything for Boulder. He's my foundation. Sometimes I wish I could be as steady as him."

"You may have smashed up some things and done some damage but, things can be replaced. Good friends can't," said Tree Hugger as she put a foreleg around Harmony's trunk, "I totally get it dude."

If it were possible for Harmony to get misty eyed it would have done so. In that moment with sun starting to lower itself on the horizon the tree felt a universal acceptance that it hadn't felt since the trip began. It was even about to say something when a series of sirens echoed in the distance and some flashing lights started to flood the neighborhood.

"Uh-oh," said Maud in her usual flat tone, "I think today's events are about to come to a head."

"What do we do," asked Tom, "I mean I can make like a garden piece but they're gonna notice Harmony."

"Yeah, she is pretty unique," agreed Tree Hugger.

"Quick," said Maud as she opened the back of the cannon deftly, "You two get into the cannon."

The tree and rock stood still unconvinced for a moment. "Do it guys it's not like they're going to be too patient here," said Tree Hugger, "We'll stall as long as we can."

Tom, not needing anymore encouragement rolled into the cannon. "But, what about your house and all the damage I did," said Harmony, "Shouldn't I ..."

Tree Hugger raised a hoof, "It can be fixed. The spirits can be realigned and in time everyone will move on from this. Do good in this world Harmony. That's the best way to make today right."

The tree nodded and climbed in to the end of the cannon. Maud promptly closed the back of it and grabbed the rope for it. She then tugged it and with a concussive blast the boulder and the tree shot into the evening sky.

"How far do you think they'll go," asked Tree Hugger.

"Pinkie says this cannon could blast something to the Dragonlands," said Maud evenly, "In any case they're clear."

"Yeah. Okay let's go talk to the police. Maybe they'd like some watermelon."