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On the outskirts of Equestria's shining capital, away from all the changeling invasions, alicorn coronations, galas and grand exhibitions stood a park. It wasn't "the" park - after all, Canterlot was a big place - but as parks go, it was a nice one. Spacious, well-lit in the slowly-darkening evening of an early Autumn, before all the leaves have been shaken down, it was oddly empty for how nice the weather was, the mild air reminiscent of the fleeting summer.
{source: http://xinature.com/park-dusk-path-york-autumn-new-high-resolution/ }
The Rules:
1: No shitposting.
2: Seriously, no shitposting.
3: Keep it friendly, or at least nonviolent.
4: All species are welcome, canon and otherwise, but be mindful of others regardless.
//anyone could play?//
A white unicorn walked on the silent street. She's always loved watching the leaf's falling and the sunset.
//they sure can! Uhhh.... and I gotta think of a character to use now, hehe//
//a short rummage through my MLP folder, a design from 2014?//
//welp, time to think of a personality on the fly!//
From a short distance away, from one of the side paths, Retina could hear a fellow set of hooves approaching. And suddenly, they stopped, then started again.
The unicorn scared.
- Who the pony would decide to come here now? It's usually my 'alone-time'. - She thought about these things there she was listening the strangers from behind a tree.
"...mumbletyeightmumblemumbleow coveramumble..."
If Retina listened closely, she could hear the soft scratching of quill on paper, followed by a few hoofsteps, followed by more mumbling.
"What is it?" - She have finally decided to came out from her hiding place. "May other ponies come here to be in silence? Fine.." - Who's there? - she asked with a bit tremble in her voice, however she knows probably there's nothing to be afraid of.
And around the corner, she would see...
...a plain-looking cream-colored unicorn, hovering a clipboard as he wrote on it with his mouth, mumbling to himself as he went.
"....tree G eighty-five, good condition, medium coverage... oh?"
He raised his head from his figures and toward the voice, seeing.... a tastefully colorful unicorn.
"Good evening, miss!", he said cheerfully, stepping forward off the path to approach another tree.
- Oh, good evening - she said. "Silly me, what was I thinking? This unicorn just.. mm... examining the trees?"
- What are you doing here at that time? - she stepped towards the stallion. "Oh, I hope I wasn't too pry"
//I thought, I would write the said things with - and the thought things with " " May I write as you do, instead?//
// Hey, you do whatever works best for you! //
He squinted closer at the tree in front of him. "Minor bark damage... JK plus BR, looks fairly fresh." He scribbled another note in his notepad.
"Just a routine Falling Of The Leaves audit, miss," he said. "Don't mind me," he added, scribbling down some more.
//okay :)//
- Falling Of The Leaves audit... - she whispered to herself. She started to gazing the tree, from bottom to top. "What a beautiful great tree. Its bark's damaged?"
- What does JK plus BR means? - she asked curiously.
He nodded and pointed to a spot on the tree - sporting a crudely-carved heart with a pair of initials and an arrow through it. "It's fairly common in places like these. It's nothing serious, especially on older trees like these." He scribbled another little note on his pad. "Besides, it's nice to think that ten, twenty years from now, somepony will come back and reminisce. But in the meantime," he nodded, "the paperwork must be done."
- Ah, I see. JK and BR, huh? Anyway, what's the purpose of these tree descriptions? - the mane was getting interested about it.
The unicorn's ears perked up.
"Ah! Well."
He was a little conflicted. On one hand, he had a schedule to keep. On the other hand, he did love talking about his job. "You are familiar with the Running of the Leaves that takes place around this time of year, yes?"
- Well, I was running just once - I'm not so sporty - but yes, I guess. Why?
"Well, they work all fine and dandy in wide open spaces like forests and trails." He trotted over to another tree and started scribbling again. "Small, confined parks like this, not so much. But leaves still need to be shaken down."
- I see, but, how the writing and examining helps the leaves fall? - she walked closer to a tree with almost full of leaves and looked up - Shouldn't we try to find some other methods to make them fall? Like, I don't know, asking a pegasus to make wind, or something - She turned to him waiting for an answer.
He grinned. "Oh, somepony already found another method. Sure, hiring pegasi to blow the leaves away, or strong ponies to simply buck them down would be practical but... where's the *fun* in that?"
He cocked his head at her, a wry smile still on his face. "Now, what if you could get enough hoof stomping to bring the leaves down without all that running around?"
The mane was thinking. She didn't clearly understand. - Without running? Could it be possible? - "and if is, how?" she wondered such a things. "And how does he mean fun?"