Onceler sat up in bed and stretched. Here he was, finally on his own! He picked a quaint little village to live in and hopefully start up his own business. Oh, he had such plans! However, the only place he could find within his current means was a tiny cottage on the outskirts of town. But that could be seen as a blessing, he did, after all, want to invent a few things, and the nearby truffula trees were needed for many of these inventions. All in all, a pretty good situation. He glanced at his guitar, he would sing for money for now until he got his inventions underway, but he couldn't wait to get started. But first things first, he needed to get an ax. He quickly got changed, quickly had some breakfast, grabbed his guitar, and stepped out. He took a deep breath of the forest air. Mm, it felt good to be alive! He took another deep breath before heading into town. He played a few hours before taking a break for lunch and getting right back into playing some more. He went back home around dusk, had dinner, and went to bed. This became his routine for several weeks before he decided to take one week off to work solely on inventions. He took an ax, went to the closest truffula tree, and cut it down.
"Timber!" he called out as the tree fell. A few animals darted out from various hiding places in the path of the falling tree. Onceler began cutting down the tree into wood piles and stripped it of its feathery-like leaves.
"What are you doing?" Onceler jumped and yelped at the sound of the voice. He looked around, but couldn't seem to see anyone.
"Uh, was that my imagination?" He scratched his head.
"It most certainly was not," said the voice, sternly.
Onceler yelped. It sounded like it was closer. "But, but I can't see you! Where are you?" He screamed when eight fairies practically flew into his face.
"Does this help?" said the fairy in the lead, her hands on her hips She had blonde hair and was wearing blue, while each of the other fairies represented each of the colors of the rainbow.
"Uh, uh, uh . . . FAIRIES!"
The eight fairies clamped their hands over their ears, though the lead fairy glared at Onceler. "Yes, we're fairies, and we can hear you just fine! There's no need to shout!"
Onceler ran behind a tree. "Wh-what do you want with me?"
The lead fairy placed her hands on her hips. "You just cut down a truffula tree, and I need to know why."
"U-um, well, I, uh, I like inventing things." He shot her a sheepish grin.
She sighed and pinched the end of her nose. "Of course you do." She placed her hand back on her hip and looked at him intently. "And what, pray, are you inventing?" Onceler slowly explained what he was wanting to build as he slowly stepped closer to the fairies, though his main focus was on the thneed. It would be made from the truffula leaves and could be turned into anything the owner wanted, for the most part.
"Everybody needs a thneed! Well, that's what I'm thinking the slogan will be anyway," Onceler said before shooting the eight fairies a sheepish grin.
The red fairy groaned. "Really?"
The lead fairy glanced at him. "Ruby, hush." She turned back to the Onceler. "And how many of these . . . thneeds do you plan on making?"
"As many as I can! Or, at least need. Everyone is going to want one."
"And how many trees is that going to take?"
Onceler scratched his head. "Uh, I don't, I don't know." He shrugged and pointed at the truffula leaves. "I haven't even made one yet, so I couldn't tell you."
Ruby smacked his forehead. "Seriously?"
"Ruby, really," said the blue fairy. "Let the Enchantress handle this."
"Then why do we have to be here?" asked Ruby. The other five glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.
The Enchantress turned and looked at Ruby. "Because I asked you to come, it's your job to back me up if trouble arises."
Ruby crossed his arms. "I know that, but do we have to stay? He's obviously just a weirdo."
"Hey!"
The Enchantress chuckled. "Alright, Ruby, you may leave. And anyone else who wishes to leave may leave as well."
"Thank you Enchantress," said Ruby with a bow and a sigh. He immediately took off.
The blue fairy placed her hand on the Enchantress's shoulder. "I shall speak to Ruby, your majesty."
"Thank you Azura," said the Enchantress with a smile. Azura smiled and curtsied before taking off. One by one, the other fairies bowed or curtsied and flew away, leaving only the green fairy, the Enchantress, and Onceler. "You're not leaving, Emerald?"
"My goodness, no, your majesty! I want to find out more about this . . . thneed, is it?"
Onceler nodded. "Yes, a thneed." He tapped his fingers against each other. "Um, may I make the first thneeds for the both of you?"
The Enchantress held up a finger. "Provided that you take the seeds from this truffula tree you fell and plant them. And for any others should your business thrive."
Onceler gave her a salute. "Yes ma'am." He grinned. "And it definitely will! The thneed can be used for so many things! Need a fashionable purse for the ball? The thneed's your thing! Or a hat for a day in town. The thneed's got you covered!"
Emerald chuckled. "That's good!"
The Enchantress nodded. "That is very good. But remember, for every one you cut down, you must plant three more. That way, it keeps the balance. The truffula trees can only be found here, and we were assigned to watch over them by the Lorax."
Onceler's eyes widened as he gasped. "The Lorax? The Lorax?"
The Enchantress nodded. "That's right. And so it would be a good idea to not get on the Lorax's bad side."
Are you, are you kidding? The Lorax would pulverise me! There's a reason why his home is on the sun!"
The Enchantress chuckled. "You are absolutely right about that, Mr. Onceler. So, we have a deal?" She held out her hand.
Onceler took it gently, not wanting to squash her tiny hand in his big one. "We have a deal."
"Good. And now that you have cut down a tree, you must use every bit of it."
Onceler saluted her again. "Yes ma'am!"
"And, I hope you don't mind if I or any other fairies come every now and then to check up on you."
Onceler pressed his finger to his chin. "Well, I guess I can understand." He shrugged. "Wouldn't mind seeing you again." A slight blush came to his cheeks as he glanced specifically at Emerald.
Emerald chuckled. "Well, I wouldn't mind staying here a little bit longer to watch you make this thneed." She turned to the Enchantress. "Is that alright?"
The Enchantress smiled as she placed a hand on Emerald's shoulder. "I have no problem with it whatsoever, provided that you don't leave your post for too long."
Emerald nodded. "I promise."
"Very well. Then I shall take my leave, there are other matters I must attend to. Goodbye Mr. Onceler. I will see you soon, Emerald."
"Goodbye Enchantress!" chorused Emerald and Onceler with a wave. The Enchantress waved back before disappearing into the forest.
"Well, Miss Emerald, may I interest you in some pancakes while I work on the thneed?"
Emerald clasped her hands. "Ooh, pancakes sound yummy! Do you have any honey?"
"I might have a bit. We can find out." Emerald followed Onceler into his house where she did get some pancakes covered in honey while Onceler went to work making the very first thneed and tried to figure out exactly what to do with the rest of the truffula tree. Another invention, perhaps? Or firewood? But soon Onceler found that he could make two thneeds out of one truffula top, a regular human-sized one and a fairy-sized one. Emerald didn't know quite what to do with her thneed, so she left it at Onceler's for the time being, at least, until she could figure out what she would use it for.
