Chapter 6: If I Only Had a Heart

The duo of Applebloom and the Scarecrow went along the Yellow Brick Road, with Winona bringing up the rear. Unknown to anyone there, a black coated mare watched from the shadows before disappearing into the distance.
As the walk went on, they came across a wild apple orchard as Applebloom smiled.
"Oh, apples!" Applebloom said excitedly. She, like the rest of her family, always enjoyed apples for a snack. "Oh look!"
Applebloom went to pick one as the tree branch suddenly grabbed her hand, took the apple and flung it down.
"Ouch!" Applebloom said as the branch let go, stinging her hand.
"What do you think you're doing?" The tree asked.
"We were walkin' a long way, and I was hungry, and-" Applebloom began when she suddenly realized what she was doing. "Did you say somethin'?"
"She was hungry." The tree scoffed to the rest of the orchard who repeated what the tree had said. "Well, how would you like it if someone came along and picked something off of you?"
"Oh dear." Applebloom sighed. "I keep forgettin' I'm not in Ponyville."
"Come on now, Applebloom." Applejack said dismissively. "Ya don't want none of those apples."
"Are you eating my apples on what they ought to be?" The tree asked, seeming even angrier.
"Oh no." Scarecrow assured him. "It's just that she don't like little green worms."
"Why you-!" The tree began as it grabbed Applebloom, but Scarecrow quickly pulled her away, but stopped her from running away.
"Hush." Scarecrow whispered to her. "Don't ya wanna get some apples?"
The trees then proceeded to fling various apples at them as the two quickly grabbed them.
"Yee-ha!" Scarecrow called out. "I guess that did it. Help yourself."
The two went to collect the apples that rolled away as Applebloom followed one apple to a silver statue. Applebloom knocked on it, and it made a muffled bonging sound. It was made of tin. Applebloom then looked up to see that it was a statue of a mare with purple silk for hair.
"Why it's a mare." Applebloom said to herself. "A mare made outta tin!"
Scarecrow arrived, having heard Applebloom, and looking over the statue with her. As they looked over the figure, they heard a muttering.
"Did you say something?" Applebloom asked as the tin mare muttered again. "She said oil can."
"Oil can what?" Scarecrow asked.
"Oh!" Applebloom said as she looked down and grabbed an oil can. "Here it is. Where do ya wanna be oiled first?"
The tin mare muttered as Scarecrow listened hard.
"She said her mouth." Scarecrow said as she oiled the mouth as the tin mare moved her jaw and finally opened it.
"My goodness!" The tin mare gasped happily. "I can talk again! Oh, oil my legs please. Oil my knees."
Scarecrow did as she was told as the tin mare began to stiffly move her legs around as her joints squeaked badly when her left foreleg, which held an ax, was finally loose enough to come fully down, she sighed.
"Oh, does that hurt?" Applebloom asked.
"No." The tin mare said. "It feels wonderful. I've been holding that ax up for ages."
"Goodness!" Applebloom remarked as Scarecrow oiled the tin man's legs. "How did ya ever get like this?"
"Well," The tin mare began. "I was born as a normal pony. I got a job chopping trees for lumber. For some malicious reason I'll never know, the Wicked Witch of the East enchanted my ax so that it cut off my hind leg, but my father was a great tins stallion, so he made me a new leg of tin, but this didn't sit well with the witch at all, so she had the ax chop off more and more of me until my father eventually had to remake me into tin, keeping everything attached and moveable by means of joints. Then, about a year ago, I was chopping down that tree when suddenly it began to rain, and right in the middle of a chop, I rusted solid, and I've been that way ever since."
Tin Mare then began moving her legs, stumbling a little from having them much looser and movable than they'd been from the past year as Scarecrow and Applebloom helped steady him.
"Well, you're perfect now." Applebloom said cheerily.
"Perfect?" Tin Mare asked incredulously. "Bang on my chest if you think I'm perfect. Go ahead, bang on it!"
Applebloom banged on the chest as they heard the echo for a good minute or so.
"Beautiful!" Scarecrow remarked. "What an echo!"
"It's empty." Tin Mare remarked. "My father forgot to give me a heart."
"No heart?" Applebloom and Scarecrow asked.
"No heart." Tin Mare confirmed. "All hollow."
When a mare's an empty kettle,
She should be on her meddle,
And yet I'm torn apart.
Just because I'm presuming
That I could be equestrian
If I only had a heart.
I'd be tender; I'd be gentle
And awfully sentimental
Regarding love and heart.
I'd be friends with the sparrows
And the boy who shoots the arrows
If I only had a heart.
Picture me a balcony.
A lover's voice sings low.
"Where for art thou, Romeo?"
I hear a beat.
How sweet.
Just to register emotion.
Jealousy, devotion,
And really feel the part.
I would stay young and chipper,
And I'd lock it with a zipper
If I only had a heart.
Tin Mare then began moving around to loosen up her legs, with occasional doses of oil here and there from the duo as Scarecrow and Applebloom began whispering to each other about an idea they both got. Just then, Tin Mare lost her balance as the two caught her.
"Are ya alright?" Applebloom asked.
"I'm afraid I'm still a little rusty yet." Tin Mare confirmed.
"Oh dear." Applebloom remarked, imagining that standing outside for a year probably didn't help her original condition. "That was wonderful. Ya know, we were just wonderin' why ya couldn't come with us ta ask the Wizard of Oz for a heart."
"Well suppose the Wizard didn't give me one when we got there?" Tin Mare asked.
"Oh but he will!" Applebloom said optimistically. "He must! We've come such a long way already."
Just then, horribly familiar laughter occurred, and they turned to a shed that Applebloom presumed was where Tin Mare lived as Nightmare Moon was there.
"You call that long?" The witch asked with a scoff. "Why you've only just begun. Helping the little filly along are you my fine ladies? Well stay away from her."
The with then turned to Scarecrow.
"Or I'll stuff a mattress with you." The witch remarked before turning to Tin Mare. "And you, I'll use you for a beehive! Here Scarecrow, you wanna play ball?"
The witch then set out a fireball as she laughed and disappeared while Scarecrow quickly backed away while Tin Mare stamped it out. As the two sighed, they looked at a trembling Applebloom.
"I aint afraid a'her! I'll see ya get safely ta the Wizard now whether I get a brain or not!" Scarecrow said before addressing the area the witch was at. "Stuff a mattress with me. Pah."
"I'll see you to the Wizard whether I got a heart or not." Tin Mare agreed as he also addressed the witch's threat. "Beehive. Bah. Let her try and make a beehive out of me!"
Tin Mare then pointed to herself, knocking her finger into her head as it made a clink sound as she looked at it.
"Oh, you're the best friends anypony ever had." Applebloom said with a smile before she began wondering. "And it's funny, but I feel as if I've known ya all the time, but I couldn't have, could I?"
"I don't see how." Scarecrow pointed out. "Ya weren't around when I was stuffed and sown together, were ya?"
"And I was standing over there rusting for the longest time." Tin Mare agreed.
"Still, I wish I could remember, but I guess it doesn't matter anyway." Applebloom said as she and her friends began laughing. "We know each other now, don't we?"
"That's right, we do." The two agreed as Tin Mare and Scarecrow each took a side of Applebloom.
"Ta Oz?" Scarecrow asked.
"To Oz." Tin Mare agreed.
We're off to see the Wizard,
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!
You'll find she is the Wiz,
The Wiz if ever the Wiz there was!
If ever the Wonderful Wiz there was,
There is because, because, because, because...
Because of the wonderful things she does!
We're off to see the Wizard,
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!
The group then continued down the Yellow Brick Road, towards a forest, ready for anything.

Oh, this is going to be interesting when they get to that forest.