Crazy, Clever and Cunning

by Fresnor

Changing Seasons

The weeks following my little breakdown passed rather quickly. The diamond I had planted in Sunny Town reacted to something, yet the next day when I went the place was empty again. Knowing that it would take a while to figure out a pattern, if there was one, it didn’t bother me too much.

My trips to the castle were much more eventful though as the young filly had actually started talking to me more often now. I didn’t tell her much of what I learned beyond my belief that Twilight and her friends didn’t know about her at all. She still seemed scared of them so I mixed in stories about them with our other chat topics just to try and get her used to the idea of them.

I had even started exploring the town more as well as visiting some of the ponies I knew. I had forgotten about Rarity’s plans by this time so on the first occasion I visited her I was roped into trying on the dress she designed for me. While a hassle to do so, it was actually rather neat even though Rarity thought it still needed improvement. While I couldn’t begin to describe the design of it, the special function of it was of interest though.

It seems the white unicorn had the ability to not only create cloth, but even enchant them a bit for various colors. While it was normally relatively simple for her to do, according to her, she had somehow managed to imprint two different sets of colors in the dress she made for me. She stated that it took her a while to perfect it, and that each set of colors was for when my own colors changed, so basically one color set for winter and the other for the rest of the year. Needless to say I was impressed with her skills with fabrics.

My time with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash often ended up more physical than anything else. While the pranks were still off we did tend to get into snowball fights often enough when I showed up in town. This usually pulled in a few others that happened to be in the area, most often the Cutie Mark Crusaders and even Applejack who I’ve noticed gets really competitive with the cyan pegasus over just about anything.

Beyond those little scuffles I really didn’t interact much with Applejack. We’d exchange the occasional word when we saw each other, but we really didn’t have much reason to seek each other out. She did get me into contact with a major local businesspony, so I could unload anything that wouldn’t sell well in town, by the name of Filthy Rich or Mr. Rich as he prefers.

While he was shrewd in his dealings, he was also fair as well. This is especially so when he works with those that provide services that are very hard to replace. His family worked with the Apple Family since the founding of the town, and he does most of the work getting their apples out and about the country. Since they trust him so much I allowed him to handle the sale of the food items I had been saving, the kumquats and paprika, as well as asked him to try and see if there was a market with the guard for the rubies I had enchanted.

My time with Twilight and Fluttershy involved much of the same as usual, though Twilight often found ways to surprise me with what she manages to do to the gems she gets from me. I’ve actually had to slip Spike one of the rubies to help protect him from some of her experiments, though it led me to find that the protection it game only worked for physical and not magical attacks.

Lately though things have been slowly moving towards the end of winter and a holiday the town calls Winter Wrap-up Day. I am talking with Twilight about this as she is reading everything about it and nearly reaching Pinkie Pie levels of excitement. “So they clean up everything and start spring without using unicorn magic? Since it sounds like they still use pegasus magic with the earth pony magic.” Twilight pauses at my reasoning before going back to her reading. “Well of course they still use that magic, clearing up the weather and getting the birds back wouldn’t be possible otherwise.”

I just shake my head at this since in my travels I’ve been through area that doesn’t do any of these things and the seasons go along fine. I decide not to press the issue as it is how things are done here apparently. Listening to how each of the teams are split up I don’t notice anywhere that I would be able to put any talents to use, though I do have an idea on something that may allow me to help out, without having to worry about all that.

Leaving Twilight to her studies I head over to Sugarcube Corner to find one of the Cakes. Luckily the place is pretty empty right now so I am able to talk with Mrs. Cake while Mr. Cake runs things for a bit. After asking and finding out that nopony actually does this I explain my idea to her.

“Since I don’t think there is anywhere that I’d be able to help out, I thought that I could help with making sure everypony else stays at their best throughout the entire event. Keeping snacks, food, and drinks ready and sent out where it’s needed as well as any medical help that might be required. With so many ponies everywhere there are bound to be a potential for injuries, and having an area to stop at to quickly refresh would cut down on wasted time. I need to check with the hospital on parts of my idea though.”

Mrs. Cake thinks on the idea and gives a suggestion. “Well dearie I think you do have the right idea, but you should also check with the Mayor on this as well. She’ll want to know that you have this planned and will be working on getting it going.” This sounds like a good idea so I thank her before going to do just that.

Getting in to see the mayor takes a while, seeing as she is busy trying to make sure everything is going smoothly for the event in two days. Once I get in and explain the idea she gives her approval as she notes that injuries have happened before, and this was after they had Derpy doing something out of the way. From there I head to the hospital to check with if they had any plans and how they handle injuries during that day.

Once there I am able to meet with a Nurse Redheart who is currently running the desk while another is doing rounds. From her I was able to find out that they usually would just bring those that were injured in until a doctor could be found to help them. They agree to lend one to my efforts that day to help with the food and drink service, as well as a nurse, and send them out to any problems as they come up.

Thanking her for her time, I head out to a couple places in town to make orders for food and drinks to be ready by that day, while letting them know of the idea in case there are any volunteers. I even stop by and talk with Cheerilee about it so she can mention it to her students, as some could help there as they would be in the way elsewhere. Doing another check of everything to see if I missed anything I make my way home to prepare for tomorrow.

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The next day was spent preparing a vast majority of foodstuffs I had left over from the winter. Having the garden had really extended how long my supplies lasted that there was more than I needed even with feeding the filly and the occasional donation to Fluttershy. It took most of the day to get everything ready, though I swear I saw Pinkie Pie helping once and a while as things seemed to pile up faster than I felt I was making them. I had everything ready for the next day and even had time to make sure the last minute orders from the places around town would be on time.

Setting everything up the next morning took a while, but with the help of Nurse Redheart and a Doctor Stable, as well as all the colts and fillies from the school, everything was prepared well before anypony needed us. So to make things easier, especially when I noticed the Crusaders arguing with a pink filly and a grey filly, I started setting up barrels of the various drinks at different points around town and stationed some of the schoolchildren at each of them. This allowed me to keep the problematic ones far apart, on opposite ends of town in fact.

Around lunch time ponies started filtering in to the area we had set up all the food so much of my time was spent making sure that they stayed stocked up as much as possible. Things would have been harder without the all the help, but was much easier with it. Every so often either I or one of the two from the hospital would do a check of the barrels to see if they needed topping off, as well as to keep an eye on everypony to make sure that they weren’t straining themselves.

We didn’t have any medical emergencies until sometime after lunch. Apparently Twilight had been trying too hard and had caused an avalanche of snow, catching a few other ponies in the mess. Luckily there was nothing more serious than some muscle damage which was easily fixed by either me or the doctor. Nurse Redheart helped out in diagnosing the issues ahead of us so that we could fix the problem and move on to the next.

We had everything running smoothly on our part, yet the same couldn’t be said for the teams doing the cleanup. Things were at a point where they all needed different things, yet one couldn’t be done without the other. The arguing got the attention of the mayor to try and sort things out, but it wasn’t until Twilight showed up with her signature checklists that things started to progress again.

Things went extremely smoothly from then on, enough that I noticed that as winter was steadily put away for spring that my coat was shifting back to my usual color scheme with it. I got a few odd looks at the patchwork of colors I was sporting, and I decided to avoid Rarity as she’d probably freak out at it.

While everypony had to work late into the night, everything was finished by the following morning. I spent my time gathering up all the empty barrels and returning them to the owners while everypony else went to the town gathering. It was only afterwards that I learned how Twilight had been given a brand new vest for her work. I didn’t mind not getting any recognition though, as the personal thanks from various ponies felt more fulfilling anyways. Even Cheerilee complimented me on the idea as it helped keep the foals out from underfoot as well as made them feel like they were helping.

I contemplated collapsing in my bed once I finished cleaning up, but I had one last thing to prepare before I could. I was happy to notice that somepony had at least cleared out the winter section except for the small trees, and even had the other sections plowed up as well. I made a note to find out who did that and thank them for cutting down my time on dealing with it all. I spent a little extra time going through what I wanted to plant, trying to think of what is easily accessible in the area.

“I don’t want to cause any issues by growing something somepony else handles, though I’ll probably plant a little of some things for personal use.” My eyes settle on one item that gives me pause. “Huh, forgot I had stuff for this, rather hard to kill this stuff off once planted, and I’ll have to make sure it’s not misused but I think this will be good.” Grabbing the things I need to do so I set up a large portion of the garden for growing rhubarb.

Once finished with that I plant a few other things for my personal use before moving the emeralds from the winter gardens over to the new section and heading inside to sleep.

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The next few weeks passed by relatively quickly with only a few notable events during it all. I had been able to get a second hit on activity in Sunny Town, unfortunately it was during Hearts and Hooves Day and I was too busy avoiding Pinkie Pie to actually check it out. It did give me something useful that may let me predict when things start happening there, but I still need to confirm it with a third day.

Rarity also held a fashion show during this period which felt like she was showing off somepony else’s designs. Checking with her later I found that is exactly what happened, and made note to be very careful about any criticism on anything I get from her.

On a more hilarious note was Twilight’s attempt at understanding Pinkie Pie, specifically her Pinkie Sense. I would have warned her about what to expect, but I had found that Twilight seems to ignore what others say unless they have proof. I kept an eye on how things went for much of that day, and boggled at all the mishaps that she walked right into. I did help her out though when Derpy accidentally lost a bunch of things being airlifted around town, though seriously, who sends a piano by air?

Probably the high point of it all though was an event that happened while they were at some sort of competition for Rainbow Dash at Cloudsdale. After various events there she was able to pull off what they called a Sonic Rainboom. This was even visible in Ponyville and it brought my thoughts back to the books left by Trixie and made me itch to go through them to look into her fireworks.

I was even to hear from the disaster trio about some of their adventures, specifically when they stayed with Fluttershy for the night as well as a talent show they took part in. I was able to see the comedy routine they put on, but hearing the story behind it I noticed that they didn’t play to their strengths. Their time with Fluttershy though told me something about the pegasus that I didn’t know about before, which explained how she was able to get that dragon to back off that she once faced.

Thinking back on all this I couldn’t help but wonder at how much happened over such a short period. I put it all down to how little could really be done during the winter and ponies are just playing catch-up. Looking around me I take in the state of my home. “I should look into getting more of this place fixed up. With what I hear Applebloom did for that clubhouse of hers I might see if I can get her to help me with some things here. Convincing her shouldn’t be that hard, those three seem to do just about anything for sweets or hinting at a possible cutie mark, though I’ll avoid the latter one with this.”

Heading into my kitchen I remember my latest projects I had going. “Speaking of sweets, the stuff for that pie should be just about ready. Wonder what those three and Pinkie Pie will think about a sweet pie made with a vegetable.” I chuckle at this as I make the finishing touches on a couple rhubarb pies and pack them up for a trip into town.

I then head over to the other project I had and observe how it is currently going. “It looks like these have soaked for long enough, I’ll take a sample to Twilight later to see if it worked right though. I’ve heard some of the ponies in town complaining about pest problems on the farms and in gardens, and I think even Applejack wouldn’t mind a natural remedy for getting rid of them.” I gather up some of the rhubarb leaf extract in a vial to drop off with Twilight later before gathering everything into my packs.

The trip towards town is pleasant now that I don’t have to plow through the snow constantly so I take my time. As soon as I get into town though I notice that something is off. “Why does it look like everypony is hiding inside their homes? This is just like that time when Zecora first-“ I stop as I notice a pony wandering through town while looking at all the building and I can immediately guess what is going on this morning.

My face is immediately filled with a hoof at this. “Again with this? Didn’t they learn from the last time this happened? Twilight is going to have fun having to lecture the town yet again about not judging by appearance.” This it really makes me wary about revealing my true form even more. Sighing I wave to the wandering pony and make my way over.

As I near the pony I not that the dark grey pony is in fact a mare with a dark pink colored mane and tail. The things that stand out the most, and are probably what is keeping the town in hiding, are her cat shaped eyes, bat wings, and exposed fangs. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen a thestral around, you here for a while or just passing through?”

Author's Note:

And now winter is over and spring is here with a chance of bats. That was one thing that felt missing from the show and that's some sort of support group for Winter Wrap-up. With how many ponies there are moving all over the place, and all the heavy equipment there would bound to be a group ready to deal with fixing them up, and having everything stop just so ponies could go home to get food and drinks constantly would just be inefficient. Add in how underfoot the younger ones can get, especially the CMC, and it just makes having a support team being a good idea. That and we don't need two Twilights causing havoc with magic at the same time. Still accepting all complaints, comments and flames.

Comments

[Imperium Bedlam]

A benchwarmer....
Seriously? I mean, it's a brilliant idea and all, fantastic even, but you didn't need to tease it so much.
Meanie .
Anynoodles. great chapter again and that is definitely an interesting introduction at the end. Can't wait to see what they're like .

[Munro]

rhubarb pies

"checks translation"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA