Timber Crash trotted through the Shadowdale Forest, his work harness securely fastened around his chest and back. He stopped at a dead tree he had found last week, and peered up at the family of squirrels still living in it. "I'm sorry, small friends," he said to them, sounding regretful, "but you're going to have to move. I have to pull this tree down, or it'll fall over by itself in the next big storm, and you could be hurt." The squirrels turned up their noses at him and went about their meal of nuts and berries. Either they didn't understand him properly, or they were simply being stubborn.<br/><br/>Sighing, Crash pulled a stick of blue chalk out of his saddlebags and marked a large blue X on the tree's trunk. He would come back to it later, maybe with a friend who could help the squirrels see sense.<br/><br/>He plodded on, letting his eyes adjust to the dim light under the forest canopy. As he passed each old-looking tree, he gave it a tap with a front hoof to gauge its health. After a few minutes of walking, he came to a large tree that still looked healthy to the untrained eye, but Crash could tell it was dying. He smiled. This was a good find - still alive enough to provide good wood for building and carving, but close to the end of its life, so it would not last much longer anyway. He drew a blue X on the trunk and got to work.<br/><br/>Over the course of an hour, Crash wrapped a series of ropes around the tree, fastening some of them into the ground and the others against his harness. He then drew a hatchet from his kit and severed some of the tree's roots, loosening its hold on the soil. Finally, he set his hooves against the ground and strained, muscles bunching in his powerful legs as he slowly walked away from the tree. Several minutes went by as he moved scant inches across the ground, until finally he heard the tree's remaining roots ripping out of the ground.<br/><br/>"TIMBER!" he shouted, more for his own enjoyment than to warn anypony else of the falling tree. He skittered out of the way as the tree crashed down, shaking the ground. He stood to admire his work for a moment, then busied himself at lopping off the tree's branches and bundling them up for transport, before dragging the fallen trunk back towards the Maneflow River.<br/><br/>Soon, he was perched atop the tree trunk as it floated downriver towards Maneflow town. He made sure the bundle of branches was securely lashed to the trunk, and then lay down for a snooze, opening his eyes briefly whenever the tree lodged against the riverbank. Finally, the tree trunk drifted into the vicinity of the town, and Crash stood up, waving excitedly to his friends in town whom he hadn't seen since his last visit, days ago. Come to think of it, wasn't something happening today? An important visitor? Crash couldn't quite remember, so he craned his neck as his tree floated through town, trying to see what was going on.