The Only Tree in the Forest

by Hap

Chapter 16

I wonder why she disguised herself. I suppose the other ponies must know her, or at least her appearance. She is older than the rest, I know, and taller. She is every kind of them all at once. She is one of them, but different. I know a squirrel will hide from hawks, but so will a bobcat hide from its own prey. I wonder which she is.

A few minutes later, she emerges from the general store and trots back to me. Her bags are full, and an apple pie rests on her back. In a blink, she transforms back into her usual self. I have seen eight ponies share an apple pie, but she eats the entire thing in a few ravenous bites.

She uses her horn to move the pile of wood chips out from under my branches, then focuses a beam of magic on it until flames appear. As the fire grows, she pulls a scrap of cloth out of her bags and magicks it into a different shape. This she wraps over her muzzle, and ties the loose ends around the back of her head before picking up the axe in the crook of one hoof and hobbling back into my trunk.

She chops, she tears, she pulls chunks of rotten wood out of me and throws them on the fire. The moist wood steams and smokes before catching fire, but once it does, it burns hot and fast. I hear the worms popping as the fire grows ever larger.

I can't tell what she is doing inside. She has passed the part of me that is alive, and now works inside a cavern of dripping, crawling rot. I sense her work with something that is between hearing and feeling. Her work continues into the night, with only one small break for her to watch the sun set.

The last of the embers die down as she flies away. Except for the doorway she carved, she has not cut into my living wood. The bulk of the rot is gone, but the last remaining bits still coat my interior. I do not know what will happen next; whether the fungus will dry out and die, or if the exposure to air will invigorate it. Will the worms disappear, or will they burrow into my live sapwood?

The cold night air stings.

Comments

[alamais]

Mmmm, pie.

[Maidenhill]

Wow Somebrony is writing about the Life of the Oak Library.That's a new look at something else to think about I like it.Also is this going to be a sad story?

[Hap]

9884197
I can't promise it won't make you cry. But it's not just sad things that can make you cry.