The mother was coming from the field with a pack of herbs on her back. There was a small colt trotting next to her,with a small flower behind his ear and an old hat that seemed to be a bit too big for him. When he accidentally hit his hoof against a root of a tree, he pushed his head in his mother‘s mane, which caught a few tears as if searching for a cuddle. But he only had to touch his mother and everything was alright again.
They were going through a extravagant forest, with white birches, tall spruces, dark pines, small aspens. There were flowers hiding under the bushes and the bird songs could be heard throughout all of the forest. In that forest was a tree that had some magic in it: anypony who touched it turned into a tree. From their hooves would grow roots and their heads would spawn branches. Nopony knew where this tree was, so it was impossible to guard yourself against it. One found it on the edge of the forest, but another ran into it in the middle. Sometimes, it was some kind of blooming bush from which fillies picked the flowers. Old stallions turned into white birches, young fillies into beautiful bird-cherry trees and ponies who trotted past the old forest into appletree to honor their dead mothers. With each year the soul forest grew. Small foals turned into rose bushes and it was told that the old oak on the top of the mountain used to be an old earth pony king.
But there was no sadness in this forest. A pony who was walking through the forest happily listened to the sough of the leaves and the songs of the shepherds from the edge. Nopony thought that to him could happen what happened to the others. And who was lost here easily forgot that.
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The mother had spent all evening searching for herbs, literally crawling and listening to whether there were any timber wolves coming her way. Now, in her face was peace but she was so tired that she could barely carry the the heavy pack.
As if sensing danger, she didn’t want to go through the forest but the night was almost here and couldn’t walk all the way around to get home. She walked so slowly that a snail on the path could give her way. By a long root that stretched across the path, she fell and tried to grab something to hold on to.Her saddlebags fell off and the strong-scented herbs on the ground. She got up, and as if searching for support, pressed against the white trunk of the birch. In that moment she felt herself start to grow into the tree.
‘’Mom, mom!’’ the colt shouted,and with weak arms she pulled him to her.
‘’Mom, let’s go!’’ the colt said, wanting to run from the spell, but in the place of his mothers back hooves were only white, smooth birch stumps.
The scared little colt looked in his mothers face. It was so tired and filled with pain. He opened his little saddlebag and poured a few berries in his mothers right hoof. She raised it to her mouth but her hoof fell back to the ground and the berries dropped on the moss.
‘’Drink!’’ She demanded with dry lips.
The colt ran to the spring a few metres from the birch and scooped the water in his hat which poured on his hooves as he went back to his mother. He raised the hat to his mother's face, but her lips only trembled and drops of water fell to the ground.
With dying eyes she looked somewhere in the far and said in a sad tone. ‘’The old timber wolf has an axe that breaks the spell, but you,my dear shan’t go after that axe. Don’t go, I beg you, my son!’’
But the colt trotted into the depths of the forest to find the timber wolves’ lair.
‘’Where are you running to like that?’’ a bird asked in a known voice.
‘’I’m running to the timber wolf after the magic axe,’’ the colt answered.
‘’Don’t go, the timber wolf will swallow you whole!’’ the bird shouted and flapped its wings.
But the colt went without looking back. The branches and thorns almost ripped his eyes out. He finally arrived in the deepest part of the forest where it was as dark as the darkest night.
The timber wolf was sitting in front of its cave, and in the darkness, only his shining eyes could be seen.
‘’Timber wolf, could you give me the axe that can break the trees spell. My mother has grown into the tree.
‘’I don’t have the axe, little colt,’’ the timber wolf said ‘’ I have heard that the sun princess has it. But once she gave it to the chaos god and once in his anger, he threw it somewhere in the world. He has forgotten where it is ,and now it is lost.’’
The despaired colt ran back to his mother.
He hugged the birch trunk and cried.
‘’Hug me mommy, hug me!’’ he screamed.
“I can’t hug you; I no longer have hooves, I have only branches.’’ his mother silently whispered.
He pushed his cheek against his mother's chest, which was still outside the tree and listened to whether her heart was still beating.
‘’Do you love me, mommy?’’ the colt asked while hugging her tightly, not noticing that in his hooves, there was only white birch trunk.
‘’I can’t love anymore. I don’t have a heart anymore, just a wooden core,’’ she whispered, and the colt screamed in pain and fell on the wilting pile of herbs.
When he looked up again, he didn't see his mothers face anymore.
Silently swinging its branches above him towered an old, sad birch.
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When the small red colt came back the next day searching for his mother, he didn't find the birch anymore. There were a lot of identical trees, and he looked around, but couldn't tell where his mother had disappeared.
He went up to one of the trees ,and stroked the hard bark. Then he fell on his knees and chanted a prayer for the whole forest.
