Where to begin, for such a simple story ? It happened so long ago, in a time most ponies do not only remember, or even know existed. In a time ponies struggled to survive, because winters were harsh, food was scarce and the sun had just begun to shine over a newly founded Equestria.
At the center of this story was a pony, a stallion amongst so many others. As his small house was very cold and he himself was coughing a bit, he went looking for wood to make a fire and bring light and heat to his life.
He very logically headed to the wood next to the town he was living in, armed with his axe and the will to survive the winter by chopping down a few trees.
But when he arrived, and before he could put his axe at work, a mare came to him and asked him to resist the urge to harm the trees.
“Please, good sir.” said the mare. “I know you’re cold, and in need of firewood. We all are. But the forest cannot provide enough wood for everypony and if we cut too many trees, then the forest will disappear, the animals will lose their homes and nopony will ever get any wood there anymore.”
The stallion stopped, coughed and thought about what the mare had told him. He needed the wood, of course, but he couldn’t stand the idea of being part of the destruction of the forest. It was just morally wrong.
Therefore, he put down his axe and promised not to harm would it be just one tree.
The mare smiled and both felt comfort in the idea that they were doing the right thing.
But the other ponies needed wood too and none other listened to the mare’s plea for restrain. They cut every single tree from the forest under the stallion’s nostrils and took the wood back to their homes, as reserves for the whole winter, ensured to have light and heating for months to come.
The stallion looked at where the forest was, but the other ponies had taken even the roots of the trees with them and there was no more wood to gather anymore. He sighed, coughed and accepted the situation with calm. It had been his decision to try and save the forest, so he would accept his failure and just find some peace in knowing he had made the morally right choice.
As he was bringing his unused axe back home, his stomach growled, reminding him he was very hungry, just as most ponies were at the time. He had some hay in reserve, barely enough for one meal, but still something to eat.
Then, his look laid down on a pack of carrots just standing there, on the edge of a window, without anypony to look out for them.
Immediately, he thought of taking them and eating them. A whole pack of carrots would make a great addition to the bit of hay he was going to have for dinner. It wasn’t his fault the owner was careless enough to let them lay around like that for anypony to take them.
But the stallion chased the thought away. He was a better pony than that. The bit of hay would do.
A guard passed nearby and he went to him to say that the pack of carrot could easily be stolen by an ill-advised pony, so the guard should make sure it was safe.
“Nopony is going to steal those carrots.” replied the guard. “Stop worrying about such things.”
The stallion accepted the answer, coughed again and thought his duty had been done. But as soon as the guard had disappeared, another pony came and took the pack of carrot from the window. Recognizing one of his neighbors, therefore being certain the pony didn’t live there and the carrots weren’t his, the stallion intervened by telling the carrots were somepony else’s property.
“So what?” asked the neighbor. “They aren’t yours either and I’m hungry. If you wanted to take them, you should have done it when you had the opportunity to. But you can always complain to the guards if you want to.”
The neighbor went away with the carrots and the stallion went to seek the guard he had been talking to just beforehand. He found him and said the carrots had been stolen and that he knew who the thief was.
“Those are just a few carrots.” the guard replied. “Don’t make a big deal out of it. Beside, you have no proof it was who you say it was that did it. It’s just your word against your neighbor’s word. In fact, what tells me you didn’t steal the carrots and are trying to blame somepony else for your crime?”
Understanding he would get in trouble if he insisted, the stallion coughed and gave up. That neighbor of him would go away freely with the carrots, he himself would only have a bit of hay to eat for supper, but at least he knew he had made the morally right choice.
On his way back home, he passed before the pharmacy, where he saw a medicine for his coughing for six bits. Having been coughing a lot lately, and concerned it might become serious, he resolved to go take the bits he had at home and buy the medicine.
He came home, looked in his drawer and found nine bits laying there. He took them and began to head out of his home when he heard somepony knock on the door.
Curious, the pony opened and saw a beautiful mare with a desperate look standing before him.
“Please, don’t close your door on me. You’re my last hope.” the mare said. “I tried every single other house in the town and they all refused to help me. But my daughter is very ill and I don’t have enough to pay the doctor to save her. I need ten bits or I don’t know what might become of my daughter. Please help me, I beg of you!”
The stallion turned the mare down. He needed the bits himself, didn’t have enough bits anyway and couldn’t know if the mare was honest with him or just trying to scam him for his money.
The eyes of the mare emptied themselves when she heard the stallion’s words of refusal. She stood stun for a second or two, incapable of reacting, and tears formed at the top of her cheeks. But still, she found the strength to face the situation and thanked the stallion to have listened to her, which was more than some others had done for her that day. She then began to leave, slowly, to a future made of uncertainty and probable sadness.
“Wait!” the stallion told her.
And hastily, he took out his bits, counted them, and without thinking one more second, gave them to the mare.
Her face first lit up with infinite joy and hope. But she then realized there were only nine bits from the ten she needed.
She exchanged a silent look with the stallion. Her eyes were saying: “Can’t you spare one more?” and his were saying “I’m sorry, this is all I possess.”.
Understanding he was doing everything in his power to help her, she gave him a smile to hide how uncertain she was that it would be enough.
“Thank you very much.” she told him. “I’m sure I’ll be able to work out something with the doctor. I would do anything to save my daughter. I’ll be forever grateful to you.”
He nodded in silence, knowing very well it was mostly lies, as none of them could know if it would be sufficient for the doctor to accept to help, or if the doctor could save the filly anyway, and even more, the stallion knew that gratefulness wasn’t a lasting matter.
Still, as he was looking at the mare running away with his money, he found comfort in the thought that he had made the morally right choice.
That night, the stallion went to bed in his very cold house, having eaten very little, forgetting how powerless he probably had been to help the mare and coughing so much he almost couldn’t close his eyes.
As was to be expected from anypony who goes to sleep, he woke up eventually, under the warmth and brightness of a magnificent and glorious sunlight. Also, somepony else was there, in his bedroom, just at his side.
He gasped as he had recognized princess Luna, the princess of the night.
“Your majesty?” he asked in a bit of fear, as he couldn’t understand what an alicorn could want with him.
“Do not worry, dear subject.” Luna replied. “I come to you as the bearer of good news. You shouldn’t feel alarmed at all.”
The stallion calmed down. The presence of the princess, her words, the great sight of the sun and the all around quietness of that moment were making him feel relax. Or more than relax to say the least.
He wasn’t feeling anything at all anymore, neither the cold, nor the pain his in throat that was making him cough before.
“You will be pleased to know that the forest you decided to protect is being replanted as we speak.” Luna told him. “And from now on, nopony will be allowed to cut more trees than the forest can provide.”
The stallion smiled.
“Also, my night guards are arresting your neighbor for the theft of food.” Luna continued. “No crime will be overlooked anymore.”
The stallion smiled even more, as all those news were pleasing him.
“Finally, I want to personally thank you for the help you provided to a mother and her daughter.” Luna told the stallion with a grateful smile. “They are both safe now, mostly due to you and I think she will come visit you soon to tell you herself of thankful she is. For the time being, and as a token of my gratitude, please accept this little gift.”
And saying those words, Luna showed a coffer filled with thousands of bits.
“Your majesty… I can’t accept…” said the stallion, incapable of imagining himself having become so rich so suddenly.
“You will have all the time to think about that in the morning good sir.” Luna replied. “For the moment, it is time for you to go back to sleep as tomorrow will bring you a new world way better than what you knew upon now.”
Luna put one of her hoof on the stallion’s face and as he was feeling tired and cradled by the words of his princess, he let her close his eyes. As he was losing consciousness, he let one last smile appear on his face in prevision of the better days that were awaiting.
Soon, only Luna remained in the freezing dark bedroom. She took her hoof back, sighed and found only comfort in hoping she had made the morally right choice.
There was nothing left to do, but say the words she had told each time she had found herself in such a situation:
“Sleep well, good sir. I may only be able to bring you peace for now, but I swear one day I shall bring you justice too.”
And that promise, she was bound to kept, for the better, or, as some would qualify it, for the worst…
[THE END]
