Florid Deal (My Little Pony Fanfiction)

Chapter 10: Harvest

The sun was still high when Evening arrived at the orchards. She walked in calmly whilst looking around at the peaceful fruit trees. The Pear orchard had always had the charm of the sweet smell of pears everywhere you turned. Eve had always liked pears better than apples, so most of her sponsorship had gone to them.

Grand Pear warmly greeted her. 

-"Why, thanks for coming, Miss Primrose! We're worried about this year's harvest, some trees not looking all that happy..." He took off his hat and bowed, "But now that you're here, you can check them out, doc!"

Evening chuckled, "No problem, glad I can help. Now, where are these troublemakers?"

They walked the path on the farm to the proud orchard. They talked along the way about what to expect from that year's harvest and the next few. 

-"I'd keep up to date with the weather. I reckon this winter will be harsh, or so I overheard when I went to Cloudsdale. Luckily there will be enough rain to sustain the orchard until spring arrives. I'll ensure the trees don't need more food or fertilizer before I head home. I'm my feelings are right, they'll only need some TLC after winter,"

He chuckled, "Tender, loving care? Well, whatever you say. You probably know best!"

-"I hope so," they arrived at the batch of trees that felt a little dry for the season.

She was not perfect, but she could feel what the trees felt if she tried. Her skill was good enough to diagnose a pest or nutrient deficiency, as well as know when plants needed a good prune or just more sunlight. 

As she bowed her horn to the ground, Grand Pear sighed while overlooking the orchard.

-"Little Pear Butter would have loved to come along..."

-"Who?" Eve wondered out loud while gently shaking the trunk of a tree, leaves rained around her, she studied one and nodded, "These guys need some bug repellent. They have leaf curl,"

Grand Pear glanced at the leaf Eve held on her hoof while she magically attempted to spot the beginning of the infestation, "Why, seems pretty early caught!"

-"Hard to miss," She scratched the dirt in thought and then violently kicked at the tree, "Dammnit!"

-"What?"

-"I might have to come back to manually remove the pest, it should take 'bout half an hour to completely clean all the infected trees and about forty to check for any others. The bang was supposed to knock 'em right off," 

-"Oh, don't worry. We'll take care of i-"

She kicked again, "No, I'm fixing this!"

Grand Pear looked around nervously, "Miss, you don't have to-"

-"I got this!"

-"Please-"

-"SCREW THIS!" Evening crossly shouted as her horn flowed with magic, "I WILL FIX THIS IF IT MEANS I USE ALL MY MAGIC, DAMMNIT!"

She shot a blast of magic into the ground, the sky darkened for a split second as bugs crawled out of the ground in panic, then burned down as they touched the green aura around the infected trees. Pears began to grow fast and the sick leaves were replaced with new shiny ones. The trunk of the trees even became a livelier color. 

She panted in exhaustion, her wings spread wide, "That should do it, hah-hah, let me know if you need anything else. You know where to find me..."

Grand Pear, who witnessed everything from the ground in terror, coughed, "It's alright, maybe you can help with the harvest?"

-"Yeah," She nodded and sighed, "Let me just... get some water..."

He guided her back to the barn and handed her some water while he counted baskets for the harvest a few months from then. She chugged the water in a matter of seconds and laid her head on the hay next to her. Eve snorted and rubbed her eyes. 

The spell she had used for the healing of the trees was of her own invention after an unsuccessful harvest of wheat several hundred years before. She rarely used it now because of how much power it actually took for over ten trees total. Maintaining the aura on the ground took most of her energy and was particularly tiring. 

After a while of counting and stacking in the farm as additional help, Eve returned to the forest and headed straight to her humble little hut. It wasn't much despite her impressive income and resources. She decided to make the foundation out of mud and the wall structure with bamboo. She covered it with banana leaves and monstera leaves for variation. She used cork for insulation and resorted to a bed of leaves and grass. However, she put some extra effort into her desk and dining area.

Without thinking, she threw herself on her bed and sleepily shut her eyes. Eve kicked off the dirt from her hooves and tucked her legs in, using her wings as a blanket. 

Despite her sleepiness, her mind kept wandering back to the pest in the Pear Orchard. 

How many years had it been since she had to use that spell? 200? 700? She couldn't remember the last time she had had to kill hundreds of insects just trying to live somehow. It wasn't like she felt bad, she didn't, but it felt weird that she somehow pitied the little non-sentient beings. 

-"Ugh, come on. I can't pity pests, they destroy plants and make them look ugly. They should find something better to do..." She rolled over and noticed a pink orb on her desk, she recognized it soon enough, "Oh, speak of the devil..."

She groggily stood up and looked down at the little demon fly, "How did you get in?"

The parasprite looked up at her with its wide green eyes and purred. She did not smile or flinch. She had known them long enough to not trust their slippery charms.

-"Get out," Evening firmly commanded, the parasprite ignored her as it looked for food, "Don't ignore me, get out!"

It began to fly and she blocked its way. It tried to fly around her, but she spread her wing out to block it again. Starting to get frustrated, it tried to fly over Evening's head. Which was a stupid thing to do, to say the least. The moment it reached Eve's ears she ignited her aura and grabbed it by the wings.

She walked out to the door, "I swear to all the star tulips and violets if I see one more of you trying to eat my food and leave me to starve, you will regret coming my way,"

It tried to make puppy eyes to get her to let it go. But instead, she opened the door and threw it back out to the forest. Then shut the door behind her.

Evening sighed, "I need a day off..."