"Okay, we have one cart, one hitching rig, one shovel, and one oak tree sapling. That all comes to two hundred bits sir."
The pony looked at the stallion and gave a nod. Reaching into a saddlebag, the stallion customer produced a pouch containing the agreed upon amount of bits; having visited the establishment several times before had allowed him to correctly guess how much total money he would need to make this purchase. After double checking the amount, he placed the bag on the counter for the gardener pony.
The gardener pony took the pouch and counted the bits again. Satisfied that the agreed upon amount was there, he emptied the contents into his sales register and gave the pouch back to its owner. With a gentle tug of his muzzle, the stallion removed the customer copy portion of a sales slip he'd written up for the sale and gave it to the pony buying the items.
"Here's your copy of the sales slip" he told the customer. "Remember, use your hooves on the burlap covering the roots and not the trunk of the sapling itself. The biggest mistake I see ponies make is thinking the saplings are stronger than what they really are. Also, watch out for the root flare; that's another rookie mistake that ends up costing my customers their hard earned bits and the life of the sapling that could've grown into a strong and healthy tree. Lastly, don't cut the burlap on the root ball until you're absolutely sure the sapling is in the correct place. If any of this is confusing for you, then I have no problem helping you plant it once my shift here is over."
The stallion customer gave a smile but shook his head. "That won't be necessary" he told the gardener pony. "It's not the first sapling I've ever planted."
"Well, if you're sure you know what you're doing" the gardener pony responded. "Just don't be afraid to ask. Oh, and please do come again."
"I will" replied the customer, who took his sapling and placed it into the cart, along with his shovel. After rigging the harness up to the cart, he bid the pony well and left for his destination just outside of the town.
Trottingham was as good a place as any for a pony to live. The greenery made for picturesque scenery, and the climate was good for growing things. That's why there were some rather healthy forests around the town, and several plant-related businesses were among the most successful ones in the area.
Moving through the town square, the pony who bought the small tree was going to the location where he felt it would be the best for it in the long run. Said location was a large open field outside of town. One edge had been worn down from hoof travel to produce a road that went onward towards the horizon and eventually found its way to Canterlot. For the sapling, the journey wouldn't quite be going that far.
After traveling down the road for a few more minutes, the stallion decided to turn his cart and travel out into the field. The grasses in some parts were up almost to his barrel, and various wildflowers grew amongst them. The field itself was spread across a few low hills, which provided gently shifting terrain.
The stallion eventually got past these hills and came to a stop in a large flat section bordered on all but one side by forest. Looking around, the stallion saw no pony or animal nearby. Looking up, he found no pegasus ponies flying through the air either. For all intents and purposes, he was by himself.
"Finally" he said in relief as he was suddenly enveloped in green flames. A moment later, and standing where the stallion had been was a chitin covered equine creature known as a changeling. A hard, shell-like skin covered its whole body, with several large and unusual holes through each of its four legs.
"I hate having to hold that form for so long" he confessed to the open air. "It drains so much from me."
Rolling his neck around, he unhitches himself from the cart and grabs the shovel he recently purchased. Looking around, he settles on a spot in the field where he was certain would be a perfect location for the sapling. With the shovel, he digs out a hole big enough for the tree to fit into without being too deep; he took the advice the pony gave him about the tree to heart.
Satisfied with the digging, he went back to the cart and got the tree. Carefully rolling it as he had been instructed, the changeling brought the tree to the hole and carefully set it into place. Looking over all of the details the gardener had given him, he found that he had done a good job and was now ready to cut open the burlap holding the roots.
Holding the sapling steady, he used a quick flash of magic to burn away the twine holding the burlap in place and allowed the material to fall away, giving the roots of the sapling the freedom to take root in its new home. The changeling then took the shovel and proceeded to bury the now exposed roots in the dirt. Once they were buried, he examined his work.
The sapling sat in a small circle of dirt, the few small branches it had grown covered in some small leaves. The changeling smiled, happy to see the plant in its new home, where he hoped it would grow to be large enough to offer somepony, or some changeling, a spot of shade to rest in. Looking over the now completed task, he took the time to reflect on his life up to this point.
The stallion, who was known to Trottingham as Viridian Vine, was actually a changeling named Arbor. He hailed from the hive of Queen Carnation, which was located deep in one of the forests outside Trottingham. Unlike other changeling queens, Carnation had a more positive view on ponies, which meant she saw them as more than just a quick meal of love. In fact, she rather aggressively protected her territory from other intruding changelings in order to protect the ponies of Trottingham from the worst her kind had to offer.
Because of her more benevolent nature, Carnation's subjects were granted a greater deal of freedom than drones in other hives would; they were allowed to pursue their own interests, and the only stipulation was that they not reveal their kind or the location of the hive to anypony. For Arbor, this meant that he could travel across Equestria and do his favorite thing: planting trees. It brought him great joy to go from place to place and leave a sapling somewhere that it could grow and provide another creature with either a home or just some simple shade.
A distant rumbling caught Arbor's attention. Turning, he saw some dark clouds far off on the horizon. Surrounding those clouds were small specks that looked as though they were pushing the clouds around. He immediately recognized them as pegasus ponies, which made him curse inwardly at himself.
Getting up from his spot, Arbor hitched into his cart and made for the treeline furthest from the incoming pegasus weather team. The clouds they were bringing were a rainstorm that was meant for the coming night. They were partly the reason why he had got a sapling and planted it when he did.
Once he was safely inside the treeline, Arbor adopted his Viridian Vine appearance once again. Looking back to make sure he wasn't followed, Arbor made his way through the forest and onto the road. He would follow the path back towards Trottingham so he could return the cart and then head back to the hive before they sealed the entrances to prevent the storm from flooding it.
As he walked, Arbor wondered to himself what the tree would look like in twenty or thirty years time, when should be grown enough to provide some ample shade and limbs that would be suitable for a bird's nest. The thought made him smile, and already he was making plans on where he would plant his next tree.
Maybe he would put one in that town called Ponyville.
Author's Note
Happy Earth Day to everyone. I cooked this up in the span of less than twelve hours as a little something to celebrate the occasion.
