NOTE: Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 6: Apples and the Tinman
The trio walked down the road for a couple of hours, until they came to a beautiful wooded area. There were trees, rocks and bushes of different kinds as they walked by. Unknown to the three friends, Chrysalis was watching them from behind a tree, and she looked very angry.
'So, those newcomers picked up a new friend, eh?' she growled in her head. 'Well, making friends with the current owner of those slippers won't make getting them any easier. Drastic measures will have to be taken.'
The trio of friends continued onward through the woods, until Twilight's stomach started growling, which frightened their straw-filled companion.
"What was that?" Scarecrow asked, looking around frantically.
"It was just my stomach, Scarecrow," Twilight chuckled. "It's my stomach's way of alerting me that I'm getting hungry."
"I know the feeling" Spike agreed, after his stomach started growling as well.
"You guys get hungry?" Scarecrow chuckled. "I thought only crows got hungry."
"All living things have to eat" Twilight explained.
"But, since I don't need to eat, does that mean I'm not alive?" Scarecrow asked with worry.
"Oh, no, Scarecrow. You're the liveliest friend Spike and I ever had" Twilight answered.
"Twilight's right" Spike added kindly.
"Why, thank you," Scarecrow smiled, before taking out a handful of stuffing in his glove and offering it to Twilight. "And just for that, the two of you can eat as much of my straw as you like, and then you won't go hungry."
"Oh, we couldn't possibly do that..." Twilight grinned nervously.
"No, really it's okay," Scarecrow continued. "As long as my legs stay well stuffed, I can get to Oz no matter what my body from the waist up is shaped like."
"Uh, no offense, but Twilight and I don't...exactly...eat hay" Spike said.
Scarecrow paused before smiling again. "...Oh, well it's probably for the best, anyway. There's probably still a field mouse's nest in here, and he probably wouldn't want to be disturbed."
They continued on with their journey, until they came to a small orchard of apple trees, with nice, ripe, red apples all ready to eat.
"Oh, apples!" Twilight smiled.
"Apples...what are apples?" Scarecrow asked.
"In the trees" Spike panted hungrily.
The straw man looked at the red apples in the green leaves of the apple tree. "You mean those little red birds hanging upside down by one leg?"
"They're not birds, Scarecrow, they're apples," Twilight corrected him. "They're something you eat and they're really delicious."
The teenage girl went over to one of the
"Ow!" Twilight cried, as she tended to her stunned hand.
"What do you think you're doing?" the tree snapped.
"...Well, we were walking for ages, I was hungry, and—" Twilight suddenly stopped talking to make sure she wasn't seeing or hearing things. "Wait, did you just say something?"
"She's was hungry!" the tree mocked.
"She's was hungry!" a second tree also mocked.
"Well, how would like to have someone come along and pick something off of you to eat?" the first tree asked with anger.
Twilight turned to Spike and Scarecrow with shock. "Oh, I keep forgetting that I'm not in Equestria anymore."
"You and me both" Spike whimpered in agreement.
"Come along, Twilight. You wouldn't want any of those apples anyway!" Scarecrow spoke with a hint of "disgust".
"What do you mean she doesn't want any of my apples?" the tree asked. "Are you insisting that my apples aren't good enough for her, straw man?"
"Oh, no, it's just that she doesn't like apples with worms, caterpillars and rotten spots" Scarecrow cleverly fibbed, making all of the trees angry.
"How dare you insult my apples!" the tree barked with fury.
"I'll show ya how to get apples," Scarecrow whispered to Twilight, before turning back to the angered apple trees. "And let's not forget about the ugly maggots."
"That tears it! Take this!" the tree threw an apple right at the stuffed man's face, knocking him down.
The scarecrow rolled until he reached the road of yellow bricks, where Twilight helped him up. The stuffed man bent down and picked up the apples the trees threw, and put them into Twilight's backpack.
"How do you like them apples?" the second tree asked mockingly.
"We like them just fine, thank you" Scarecrow replied, having succeeded in getting some food for his companions.
At that moment, Twilight went off to pick up some more of the apples on the other side of the wooded area. While she bent down to pick up some of the red fruits, when a bright shine got her attention. She looked over and noticed a shiny light coming from behind some bushes. The teenage girl walked over, parted the bushes, and gasped with surprise. Standing in a small clearing was a man made entirely out of tin. Behind him, there was a small cottage that was made of logs, and seemed to look very cozy, but that wasn't really important at the time. His head and arms and legs were jointed upon his body, but he stood completely motionless. From Twilight's viewpoint, the face of the man seemed to resemble Flash Sentry from Equestria.
"Why, it's a man!" Twilight quickly got the attention of the puppy and straw man. "A man made out of tin!"
"You don't say!" Spike gasped, as he and Scarecrow walked up to inspect the man of metal, who at that moment, began to groan as if he was saying something.
"Did you say something?" Twilight asked, before the man groaned again. "I think he said 'oil-can'."
"Oil-can what?" Scarecrow asked, not really getting the concept.
Twilight looked around, before she soon spotted an oilcan sitting on a tree stump nearby, and she grabbed it.
"Oh, here it is!" Twilight said, as she quickly began to oil the metal man's mouth joints.
The tinman moved his now loose jaw back and forth, until he managed to get his mouth open for the first time in forever.
"M-m-my goodness!" the tinman spoke with a soft, but happy voice. "I can talk again! Oil my arms and my elbows, please."
The teenage girl and stuffed man oiled his arms and elbows, until they were free from rust.
Twilight grabbed the arm holding the axe, and pushed on it, until it dropped down with a loud squeak. "Did that hurt you?"
"No, it felt wonderful," Tinman sighed happily. "I've held that axe up for ages."
"My goodness, how did you ever get like this?" Twilight asked.
"Well, about a year ago, when I was made of flesh and blood like you, I fell in love with a beautiful maiden, whose mother hated me," Tinman began to explain. "So, to keep me from marrying her daughter, she asked Chrysalis, the wicked witch of the west to help prevent the marriage. So, Chrysalis put an evil curse on my axe, so when I went to chop down a tree, I ended up chopping off my right leg. But by good fortune, I knew a friendly tinsmith, and was able to make a new leg made out of tin, almost as good as the old one. But when I went back to chopping, you know what happened that time?"
"Something terrible, I'll bet" Twilight nodded.
"I swung my axe and chopped off my left leg" Tinman spoke.
"You should've gotten a new axe" Spike suggested.
Tinman nodded understandingly. "Maybe you're right, but I got a new leg instead and went back to work. I chopped off both of my arms the next time."
"Well, I can see how you chopped off one arm, but how did you manage to chop off the other one?" Scarecrow asked.
"I told you; the axe was enchanted" the man of metal answered.
"Oh, you see, Twilight? If I had a brain, I could've figured that one out by myself" the stuffed man pointed out.
"Sometimes I wished I hadn't gotten new arms from the tinsmith, because the next time I swung my axe was the worst time of all" Tinman carried on.
"Oh, I don't wanna hear this," Scarecrow covered his ears, before curiosity got the better of him. "What happened next?"
"I split myself right down the middle" Tinman answered.
"Oh, you poor thing!" Twilight gasped.
"I went back to the tinsmith, and he gave me a brand new head and body, but when I got close to home, it began to rain and then I rusted solid" Tinman continued.
"It just wasn't your day, was it?" Spike put a comfortingly paw on the man's metal boot.
"No, it wasn't. And I've been here ever since until you came along" Tinman concluded the story of his dark past.
"Well, you're perfect now" Twilight spoke.
"My neck, please oil my neck," Tinman kindly requested, as Twilight did so. "Perfect? Bang on my chest if you think I'm perfect. Go ahead, bang on it."
Scarecrow banged on the chest of the metal man, which produced a repeating echo.
"Beautiful! What an echo!" Scarecrow beamed.
"It's empty. The tinsmith forgot to give me a heart" Tinman spoke sadly.
"No heart?" the girl, puppy and stuffed man asked simultaneously.
"No heart. All hollow," Tinman shook his head sadly. "And, since I don't have a heart, I don't know if I will ever love my beautiful maiden again."
At that moment, three female bluebirds floated down onto the branch just above the travelers, and they began to sing with the man of metal.
[Female Bluebirds]
Said a Tinman, rattling his jibs
To a strawman, sad and weary eyed
[Tinman]
Oh, the smith gave me tin ribs
But forgot to put a heart inside
[Female Bluebirds]
Then he banged his hollow chest and cried
[Tinman]
When a man's an empty kettle
He should be on his mettle
And yet I'm torn apart
Just because I'm presumin'
That I could be a human
If I only had a heart
I'd be tender, I'd be gentle
And awful sentimental
Regarding love and art
I'd be friends with the sparrows
And the boy that shoots the arrows
If I only had a heart
Picture me a balcony
Above a voice sings low
[Female Bluebirds]
Wherefore art thou, Romeo?
[Tinman]
I hear a beat, how sweet!
Just to register emotion, jealousy, devotion
And really feel the part
I could stay young and chipper
And I'd lock it with a zipper
If I only had a heart
Twilight oiled Tinman's legs until he could move them again. The man of metal walked over to the yellow brick road and began to dance and flex his joints. Tinman banged his chest three times and a jet of steam came out of his funnel hat, sounding like the whistle of a train, before he began to sing again.
[Tinman]
Just to register emotion, jealousy, devotion
And really feel the part
I could stay young and chipper
And I'd lock it with a zipper
If I only had a heart
When Tinman concluded his song, he began to lose his balance, but Twilight and Scarecrow caught him just in time.
"Are you alright?" Twilight asked.
"I'm afraid I'm a little rusty yet" Tinman answered, while Twilight oiled his leg joints.
"You know, maybe you should come with us to the emerald city and ask the Wizard of Oz for a heart" Twilight happily suggested.
"But, suppose the wizard wouldn't give me a heart when we got there" Tinman spoke with concern.
"Oh, but he will! He must! We've come such a long way already" Twilight assured him.
Suddenly, a familiar cackle made them all jump and turn around to see Chrysalis standing on top of the cottage roof.
"You call that long? Why, you've just begun! Forgotten about me, eh? Well, I haven't forgotten about you!" Chrysalis mocked them.
Tinman pointed his finger angrily at the witch. "You! You're the one who put that spell on my axe!"
"Yes, and it certainly chopped you down to size, didn't it?" the witch laughed, before glaring at both Tinman and Scarecrow. "So, you're helping the little lady along, are you, my fine gentlemen? Well, stay away from her! Or I'll stuff a mattress with you, Scarecrow! And you, Tinman, I'll use you for a beehive!"
"I'm not afraid of you!" Scarecrow frowned at the witch, making her smile deviously at him.
"Then that just goes to show that you don't have a brain, doesn't it?" Chrysalis conjured up a small fireball in her hand. "Allow me to educate. Here, Scarecrow, wanna play ball?"
Chrysalis threw the ball of flames at the straw man, and he fell to the ground, while Twilight screamed in terror and the witch cackled again.
"Fire, fire, help, help me!" Scarecrow screamed in fear, as he kicked his legs rapidly, trying to get away from the fire close to his boots.
Tinman took off his funnel hat and put the fire out with it. Chrysalis pointed her broomstick at the scarecrow with a warning glare.
"Just remember, Scarecrow, helping Twilight reach the emerald city may be your last burning ambition."
The wicked witch cackled again, until she disappeared in a cloud of red smoke. Twilight helped Scarecrow up, and Tinman put his hat back on.
"Well, I'm still not afraid of her!" Scarecrow said with confidence. "I'll see you get safely to the wizard now, whether I get a brain or not! Stuff a mattress with me! Hah!"
"I'll see you reach the Wizard, whether I get a heart of not," Tinman added. "Bee-hive, bah! Let her try and make a bee-hive out of me!"
"No, she could kill you!" Twilight cried. "I have the protection of the ruby slippers, but you..."
"Twilight, you don't think we're just gonna stand by and let her get away with fireballs and bees, do you?" Scarecrow asked.
"No, sir!" Tinman replied.
"No, sir!" Spike spoke next.
"No, sir!" Scarecrow finished.
"Then it's settled. To Oz?" Twilight asked.
"To Oz!" the three replied, before they all danced off down the yellow brick road.
[All Four]
We're off to see the Wizard
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
We hear he is a whiz of a wiz
If ever a wiz there was
If ever, oh ever a wiz there was
The Wizard of Oz is one because
Because, because, because, because, because
Because of the wonderful things he does
We're off to see the Wizard
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
They four companions took off through the woods, which would eventually take them through the dark forest.
Well there's the fourth chapter of the story. Catch you later!
