It sat there, a singed mess. The top was gone, and the wood was blacker than night on a winter evening. What used to be known as the Golden Oaks Library was now destroyed, mauled beyond recognition. Twilight tried to remove it, but it was soon reerected as a sort of landmark.
Twilight had since moved on, and was now living elsewhere, somewhere that was far away from Ponyville, but yet, her and her friends had waning memories stationed in the small city. Fewer and fewer ponies were caring about Twilight, and there was talk of just tearing down the library to expand.
This talk reached a lumberjack on the edge of the Everfree, one who had long admired the Elements of Harmony, and he didn’t want to have any of it.
He took his axe, and cut down a single tree.
He chopped it down even further, and he took a walk with a single log, all he could carry.
He took a walk to Ponyville, and further to the Golden Oaks library. In front of the library, there were a couple of ponies, one bespectacled, one looking at some blueprints.
They took a look at the lumberjack, then at each other.
“So, Redwood, was it? I’m not exactly, well, familiar with our outside industry,” the bespectacled one said, after receiving a nod from Redwood, she continued. “You do know that this site is scheduled for demolition soon? Like, in an hour soon?”
Redwood said nothing, all he did was place the log in a hole near the ground. He stroked his bushy beard, before he said, ”I’ll be back tomorrow.”
He then left.
The pony examining the blueprints turned to his white-pelted employer, ”We’re still demolishing this, right?”
He received a nod in reply. “Yes, Steel Girder, we are.”
What was left of the Golden Oaks Library was swiftly torn down that day. As he promised, Redwood returned the following day, only to find that the tree was completely gone.
He left, dejected.
Redwood returned the very next day with a seed that he’d collected, it was for an oak tree. He returned to that very same demolition site, and planted it.
The next day, he stopped by to water the tree, and when that had concluded, he went home.
The next day, he did the same.
So on, and so forth.
One day, he managed to run into the bespectacled pony and her subordinate, Steel Girder, who was decked out in a high-vis vest.
The white mare took a good look at Redwood, ”We’re building something here, expanding Ponyville. Did you not get the news? That’s why we tore down the old library, nopony really cared for it anyways.”
“I cared, and I’m building a building, too,” Redwood explained.
“You’re growing a tree. Even if you were building a building, you don’t have a permit for that.”
Redwood stopped dead in his tracks, his muscular body suddenly struck by reality. He asked an intense question, “I’ll do things for you if you let me grow this tree.”
The mare thought about it, “Sure, you can build a couple buildings. Still, that tree of your will be in the way, we might have to remove it regardless.”
Redwood nodded, it’d buy him some time.
The next day, he took a single log, all he could carry, and put it facing diagonally towards the seed.
The bespectacled mare looked Redwood dead in the eyes when she arrived. “A single log? You expect me to take this?”
“It’s all I can carry,” was Redwood’s only response.
The mare sighed, and pushed her hoof under her glasses to rub her eyes, “I’ll get you a wagon, just build more.”
The mare, whom Redwood later learned was called First Class, did indeed give him a wagon. True to his word, Redwood kept building. He’d finished multiple buildings for First Class in the five years since he had planted the seed, and he’d continued watering the sapling every day, except when he didn’t need to because the pegasi were nice.
First Class had walked up to him multiple times, and today was no different.
“Redwood, why are you building another building facing the tree at an angle instead of a normal straight road like everypony with any sense?” she’d complain.
“Well, it’s because the tree won’t be in the way, you said that’d be a problem,” Redwood responded.
“I asked you to build some buildings.”
“You never said where.”
First Class let out a long, annoyed sigh, “You’re a bigger headache than everypony who’s ever worked for me, but Steel Girder quite, and you’re a decently competent builder, so have at it. However! I’ll be watching you.”
First Class and Redwood stared at each other intensely. Then, they both left, never to speak of the day again.
Redwood started building his buildings like normal ponies, according to his white-pelted employer, but he kept a watchful eye on the oak tree. First Class was out of the picture, so Redwood figured he could just do his normal job of delivering wood for other ponies across Equestria to use.
However, very few attempts had been made to cut down the new Golden Oaks. New residents said it added greatly to the area and that they didn’t want to see it be chopped down yet.
He continued tending for the tree, but he was getting old. The tree was, however, fully grown, and Redwood finally took a step back and looked at it.
“I’d better get this thing carved out before I’m so immobile I can’t anymore,” he said to nopony else, he was on the stree alone, presently.
Redwood went back home that day, and gathered his axe.
He carved out the tree one step at a time, taking the axe, and trying to hack through the wood as much as possible. It took the better part of a decade, but he managed to finally make enough space to actually carry books. Outside, he had nailed in a sign outside that said, “The new Golden Oaks Library, dedicated to Twilight Sparkle.”
However, Redwood was getting weak, and he was getting tired. He didn’t have any books, nor did he have enough energy to carve any more space out. He figured he’d go to the bookstore and pick up some books tomorrow, where he could then be the librarian for the library until he peacefully went.
Exhausted, Redwood staggered to his cabin on the edge of the Everfree, he collapsed into his bed, and he fell asleep.
Author's Note
I told myself I’d work on The Butterfly Effect today, get a head start for when I upload the chapter next month. But, then I read Paradise Inn and I thought up this story.
How does a story about one making a difference by himself come from a story about stories, love, loss, and loss of oneself? I have no idea. However, Paradise Inn was such a fantastic story, and I felt like this story was apt to pay homage to it.
Do I like the story? I think I do. Could be a little longer, but I didn’t really have much else to say. I felt like this story captured what I wanted to say, and it’s a whole lot different from what it was originally supposed to be, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Still, I hope you enjoyed! Constructive criticism is allowed and encouraged!
Influences: Keyslam (totally not The Major Techie), Soul, Paradise Inn, The Only Tree In the Forest
