I feel something prodding my shoulder, something flat, warm, and soft. I have a feeling it's early in the day; very early. I attempt to wait until the prodding goes away, but it doesn't. I continue feeling light pressure on my shoulder, then nothing, then the pressure again. Frowning a little, I turn onto my left side, face now pressing into the comfortable cloud couch I rest on, trying to escape the repeated taps. It stops for a moment, givng me some peace, and I begin settling back into the cloud furniture for some more sleep.
A light sensation begins in the middle of my back, between my folded wings on my now-exposed backside. It moves quickly up and down my spine, rubbing against it repeatedly. I am hit an uncontrollable feeling, and roll onto my back to escape the sensation. "Yaaah!" I half-mumble, half-exclaim as I roll over, trying to stifle laughter. God, I hate being tickled! I shift my shoulder blades around a little, trying to get rid of the tickling feeling in the middle of my back, and open my eyes, more awake than I want to be.
Glancing over, off the couch, I see Rainbow Dash standing there, quietly shaking with laughter. She looks awake, but tired, and her mane is still a little ruffled. Then again, it is almost always a little ruffled. I smile tiredly, partly in recognition but also in what is left of my laughter from the tickle torture. I notice something different about her appearance; I see it is due to a bright blue piece of clothing she is wearing. It seems to be a vest of some sort, since it only covers her chest and upper back, leaving holes for her forelegs. A matching wristband, or legband, covers a portion of her left foreleg; a white star emblazons the blue band. I decide to ask her about the strange getup at some point this morning.
Before doing so, I state the obvious to her. "That tickled." I attempt to frown, but can't help but continue to smile at the cyan mare.
She grins in response. "Well, you wouldn't wake up, so I had to tickle you," Rainbow explains. I wonder for a moment if all pegasi are ticklish between the wings, then store the thought away for later revenge-related use.
I snort, then ask, "What time is it?" A split second later I realize that the lack of clocks may make it hard for her to tell me.
"Time to get up," she responds cheerfully, still grinning.
I snort again, then begin rolling slowly off the couch, giving Dash time to step back. I land on the floor, rotating my head left and right to crack my neck before returning my gaze to her. I watch as she turns around, picking something up off the floor before turning back. In her teeth she holds a blue vest, identical to the one she wears, save for a larger size. She drops the vest on the fluffy white coffee table between the couches, then faces me again, smiling. I look at the vest, observing it for a moment as it rests on the table.
"Well, put it on!" Rainbow Dash says. I give her a questioning look, still confsued. "You know what today is, don't you?"
"Uhh..." I trail off, beginning to look upwards, racking my brain as to what is so special about the day.
"It's Winter Wrap-Up!" she exclaims to me. Really? Already? I delve into my thoughts for a minute, thinking about the date. Hearts and Hooves Day was about two weeks ago...no, exactly two weeks ago. Guess it is Winter Wrap-Up. Time seemed to go by quickly sometimes; not much had happened in that time, though, so I am a somewhat grateful for the change in schedule. The fact that the Wrap-Up starts on a Thursday, giving us the weekend, is an added bonus.
"Oh, yeah," I reply in remembrance. Glancing at the vest again, I quickly recall that the vests are worn in the Wrap-Up to designate a pony's team, the teams being the tan Animal team, the green Plant team, and the blue Weather team, which I seem to be on. "So, the Weather team?" I ask Rainbow.
"Yep! Hope you're ready for some flying," she tells me, grinning. "Don't worry, it's pretty easy. You just gotta follow me around, since I'm the team leader." She holds up her banded leg in display of her leadership status.
"Cool," I reply, smiling. I still feel tired. I look out the window, and notice the sky is a red-orange color; it's probably an hour or two before when I usually get up during the week. I turn back to the vest, skirting around the table before reaching the open bottom of the blue article of clothing. I lean down, pressing my head into the vest and table as I work my head inside the vest. I fumble with the cloth for a minute, having trouble getting my head through the upper hole of the vest. This would be a lot easier with some goddamn fingers...
I hear Dash chuckle; all I currently see is blue inside the vest. "Need some help?" she asks, sounding amused. I feel some embarassment, along with some amusement of my own upon thinking of how I must currently look.
"Yes, please," I say, standing there with a vest covering my head. She snorts, and a second later I feel a hoof rubbing the vest against my neck. The hoof withdraws, leaving a confused look on my face beneath the blue cloth.
"Um...can you lean down?" Rainbow Dash asks. I laugh and lean my head down, feeling the hoof resuming its work, pulling the vest down my head and neck. After a few seconds I can see again, and find myself staring at a white floor. I turn my head a little so that I can see the pegasus helping to dress me. I watch as she tugs on the vest with her teeth, bringing the piece of clothing fully into place around my neck. "There you go," Dash states, and I pull myself back to full height. I lift my forelegs, sticking them through the leg holes of the vest one by one. After another minute of fumbling, the blue vest rests neatly against the upper half of my black body.
I face Rainbow and smile, a little embarassed. "Thanks," I say. She nods, smiling.
"C'mon, we gotta hurry a little. The Mayor wants everypony at the town hall soon." She turns and trots down the stairs, me trailing a few steps behind her. As I follow her down and out into the kitchen, I hear her begin to hum. Or more, quietly sing.
"Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up!
Let's finish our holiday cheer."
I smile, listening as Rainbow sings to herself. Her voice is soft and smooth, lacking the scratchiness it usually holds. I also hear myself beginning to hum the song, recognizing and remembering it immediately.
"Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up!" she continues quietly, her voice accompanied by my octave-lower humming.
"'Cause tomorrow spring is here!" I join quietly, not being able to stifle myself. She turns upon hearing me join her in singing, but smiles and continues humming afterwards. I'll never get this song out of my head, I think, humming quietly on time with Rainbow Dash.
We quickly eat a breakfast of apples, then head outside to the last winter day until the next December. I feel as if I'll miss the winter season, it being my favorite, but am also ready for some warmer weather. Rainbow and I fly down directly to Ponyville's center. I see that most of the ponies of the town are surrounding one side of the town hall. We land on the outer edge of the group, and Dash turns to me.
"Okay, I've gotta get in position. See you soon!" she says before flying off again, heading over to an area a short distance from the crowd where two other ponies stand; I see that one is an orange mare with a blond mane covered by a cowboy hat, who is wearing a green vest--Applejack--and another pony I don't recognize, but who bears a tan vest. Rainbow Dash takes her place hovering above the other two ponies; I see her wave a leg in my direction, and I wave back before turning my attention to the town hall. The mayor of Ponyville stands before a small podium, and raises a hoof, silencing the chatter in the crowd I stand at the back of.
"Good morning, everypony!" the mayor says cheerfully. "As you all know, today is the day of the Winter Wrap-Up! I believe we are prepared and ready to make this the quickest Wrap-Up yet, so good luck out there, and let's bring in spring!" She pauses as the crowd cheers for a moment. What, am I the only one who's tired? I add in a "Wooo!" of my own for good measure. "And now, here is our official All-Team Organizer, Miss Twilight Sparkle!" I watch as a purple unicorn trots up from the front of the crowd, taking the mayor's place behind the podium. Twilight is wearing a tri-colored vest, a patchwork of the tan, green, and blue vests of each of the three teams.
"Okay, everypony," she begins. "Please go to your assigned team leader, who has the color of vest you have on. Ponies wearing blue vests go to the Weather team leader," I hear her say, watching as Rainbow Dash does a quick loop in the air to identify herself to the ponies in the crowd. "Ponies wearing green vests go to the Plant team leader, and ponies wearing tan vests go to the Animal team leader," finishes Twilight, Applejack and the leader of the Animal team waving their legs as she indicates them. She pauses for a moment, looking out into the crowd. "Any questions, anypony not have a vest or a team?" The group of colored ponies remains silent. "Alright, let's wrap up winter!" she cries, and another cheer erupts from the crowd.
The cluster of ponies, me within it, begins heading towards the three team leaders. As we near the three ponies, the group begins dissipating rapidly. I see pegasi beginning to lift off into the air, so I do the same, following them upwards and onto a large cloud. As I land on the fluffy surface of the cloud, I see a long line of pegasi stretched out along the length of it; Rainbow Dash stands in front of the midpoint of the forming line, watching as the mass of pegasi from Ponyville land on the big cloud. I touch down at the right end of the line, peering down it to see what has to be at least one hundred other winged ponies. I watch as Rainbow begins trotting towards the end of the line opposite me, speaking as she does.
"Okay, pegasi! We are the snow-clearers in the Winter Wrap-Up! Our job is to get all of the snow on the ground, then melt it away by clearing the clouds!" She pauses, her fairly distant cyan blue form turning around at the other end of the line. "First, I want everyone to clear off the houses, trees, and everything else! All of the snow needs to be on the ground! Then, when the Animal team is ready, we clear all of clouds and let the snow melt!" By this point she has reached me at the opposite end of the row of pegasi. Seeing me, she winks and smiles quickly before continuing, "Any questions?" The line of ponies remains silent as she stands a few feet ahead of me, waiting for any response. "Good! Let's go, everypony!"
The line of ponies on my left all begin lifting off, darting downwards and disappearing beneath the cloud layer. I am about to take off, but see Rainbow Dash about to speak up.
"Wanna help me out?" she asks, her smile warm enough to melt all the snow by itself. I smile an equally friendly smile.
"Sure," I say, spreading my wings out, preparing to fly. She spreads her own, then jumps into the air, flapping them steadily, and I follow suit, hovering beside her. Rainbow smiles again, then takes off as the other pegasi did, diving below the clouds. I follow her down, and we begin our work.
She takes us out to a group of trees surrounding Ponyville, all of them full of snow. I see other ponies in and around the town, pushing white snow off of the roofs of homes and businesses and bucking trees mid-air to make the snow fall off of them. Dash flies down in front of a tree, kicking it with all four legs. The snow on the tree instantly falls off, leaving it bare and hitting the ground with a whump. I fly down to the tree beside it, repeating her actions. My hooves make contact with the bark of the tree, and snow falls from its branches, adding to the powder coating the ground. A light coating of snow showers my head, and I can feel the snowflakes in my mane. I shake my head, whipping the snow out of my hair before moving to another snow-covered tree.
Rainbow Dash and I do this for some time, clearing all of the trees in the area within thirty minutes or so. She then takes me over to where many of the pegasi are clearing the snow: the Apple family farm. Despite the tediousness of the work, I'm still enjoying it; the fact that I get to work with Rainbow makes it all the better. We join the ten other pegasi that are clearing the many trees of the Apple farm, bucking the snow off of the branches of the bare apple trees. By the time we meet up with the other pegasi who have helped us clear the farm's trees, my legs and hooves are hurting from all the kicking I've been doing. I think about headbutting the trees to give my hooves a break, but Dash decides to take us into town instead. As I pass over Ponyville, flying alongside the rainbow-maned mare, I see other pegasi ponies clearing the snow off the roofs of houses, lampposts, and anything else in the town with snow on it.
Rainbow Dash swoops down every so often, asking the various pegasi how they are doing before continuing on. She must eventually decide we aren't needed in Ponyville, and we continue to fly out of the town towards one of the ponds surrounding the rural town. We drop down to one of them which is covered in ponies skating about its surface. I feel a little pride in the fact that I made some of the skates they are using. Rainbow begins flying alongside a pink pony with frizzy pink hair of a slightly darker color, who wears a blue vest as Dash and I do; she gracefully glides along the surface of the frozen pond, slicing a line into the ice as she moves along.
"Hey, Pinkie, how you guys doing down here?" asks Rainbow Dash.
"We're doing great, Dashie!" Pinkie Pie cries gleefully, obviously enjoying herself on the ice. I eyeball the ice and the skates, knowing I would not last all of five seconds if I attempted to skate. Being tall and somewhat uncoordinated makes it hard to keep one's balance on anything less than a bicycle or motorcycle, pony or not. "We're almost ready for you pegasus-us-us-es to turn these ponds into ice cubes, just one more after this one!" says the pink pony, changing direction and spraying a little ice with her skates.
"Awesome, keep it up," Dash responds, chuckling at Pinkie.
"Bye, Dashie! And hi, Ferrum!"
I smile, saying, "Hi, Pinkie."
"Bye, Ferrum!"
"Bye, Pinkie," I finish, chuckling at Pinkie's antics as well. I continue following Rainbow around the skies over Ponyville. The other pegasi seem to have cleared the snow off of the trees and buildings, creating irregular piles of snow about the ground. Seemingly satisfied, we loop back around and through Ponyville, Rainbow Dash calling out every so often and instructing the pegasi to return to where the Weather team had started. We travel back up to the large cloud above the town, me taking my original place near one edge of the cloud. After around ten minutes, all of the pegasi of Ponyville are back atop the cloud. Or at least, most of the pegasi; I don't see Forge anywhere, then notice I don't see any pony that shows signs of aging, nor any of the foals of the town. I assume that this is probably intentionally done, so that only the most able-bodied ponies are the ones participating in the Winter Wrap-Up. The line of ponies returns, me at the rightmost end again.
"Alright, everypony, awesome job out there!" begins Rainbow Dash, her scratchy voice raised so the group can hear. "We're gonna take a break, but when you hear the Animal team ring the bells to wake the animals, report back here for the snow and cloud-clearing part!" She turns back in my direction, pegasi lifting off and flying away around her as she trots towards me. A few pegasi remain behind on the large cloud, including myself and Rainbow. She sits down in front of me, stretching her wings and legs. I sit down as well, extending my wings and pulling them back against my sides, feeling the blue vest under them as I do.
"Liking the Wrap-Up so far?" Dash asks me.
"Yeah, this is really nice," I reply, smiling. "I only wish winter wasn't so short," I add.
She looks around at the cloud-and-pegasi-filled air, smiling. "Yeah. Winter's pretty awesome."
We sit in silence for a while, passing the time by stretching and looking around aimlessly. A few times our eyes lock on to one another's for a moment; we both end up turning away after a few seconds every time, continuing to gaze around. I want to keep looking into her large, friendly magenta eyes, but I realize I can't continue staring at her and turn away in embarassment. After some time I hear a faint jingling noise coming from below me, and feel a little relieved. I stand back up, watching as Rainbow Dash does the same. She moves back to her spot in the center of the cloud, awaiting the return of her team of pegasi. Only a few minutes later, every one of the colorful winged ponies is present on the cloud; it seems most of them didn't stray very far. Rainbow begins pacing down the line again, talking as she does.
"Okay, is everypony here? Good! I want everypony to follow me, double-file formation! Try to keep the same speed as everyone else. No pushing, getting out of line, or going ahead of everypony else, got it?" I see many of the pegasi in the line nod. Rainbow Dash begins counting at the other end of the line, stopping at the exact middle and beckoning the pony she stands in front of to follow her. She continues trotting towards my end of the line, now followed by half of the ponies present. She stops to my right front, turning back to face me as I stand behind her, a light green pony to my left and many ponies behind me. "Ready?" she says quietly to me, smiling. I nod and give a smile of my own in response.
Rainbow lifts off into the air, me and the pony beside me following her upwards. The group of pegasi flies up and up, gaining some height above the clouds, midday sun shining brightly, patiently waiting to melt the white snow covering Ponyville. The cyan pegasus in front of me stops, hovering in the air and waiting for the rest of the group to level out. After a few seconds of waiting, she spreads her wings out flat and tilts downwards, diving towards the clouds. I follow her, watching the pony beside me do the same; I make sure not to smack the pegasus with my wing by accident.
We descend in a group nosedive. I feel a familiar press of air on my body, welcoming it eagerly. We begin nearing the layer of clouds over Ponyville; I see Rainbow Dash lock her forelegs outstretched in front of her, and mimic her. I understand why she does this when I see her punch a pegasus-sized hole in the cloud with a cookie-cutter-like effect. I feel my own hooves make contact, tearing a hole in the cloud as I pass through it. We continue to dive towards Ponyville at a steady yet fast rate. I glance back at the other pegasi; it is a truly amazing sight, seeing every one of the ponies behind me popping through the holes made in the clouds, allowing gravity to take them over but still maintaining perfect formation. I also note that a streak of rainbow, created by Dash's tail and mane, glides through the center of the two lines of pegasi; I wonder what this would look like from the outside, then return my gaze forward, squinting against the wind.
Approaching the ground, Rainbow takes a sharp turn, leveling out with the ground. I follow her, momentarily hoping none of the pegasi behind me crash into the snow-covered ground only ten feet below me. Rainbow Dash takes our group through the streets of Ponyville, pulling snow off of the nooks and crannies unreachable otherwise, like a pegasus-powered vaccuum. We sweep through each of the main streets, bringing the snow out of hiding and onto the open streets as we do. The process takes all of five minutes. After passing through the final stretch of the town, Dash angles upwards again, heading towards the clouds. As we approach the blanket of snow clouds over Ponyville, she levels out the group again, slowly angling into the clouds. Like a drill, we pierce the thick clouds, hooves outstretched, ripping apart the fluffy objects. She takes a very methodical path, back and forth, up and down, side to side, cutting the clouds into smaller and smaller versions of themselves.
After we make our last cut through the now much smaller clouds, Rainbow raises up a few feet and stops, looking over the two rows of pegasi. "Let's break them up!" she shouts. The pegasi behind me disperse, heading for the sliced-and-diced clouds. I watch as they begin bucking the cloud fragments, throwing themselves into them, headbutting them, and even punching the small clouds, causing them to dissipate into the air as a fine mist of water. It looks like the most hardcore pinata party ever, only with clouds and ponies. Dash hovers into my field of view, and I turn to face her. "Well, come on, this is the best part!" she exclaims, flying down to begin beating the living hell out of some clouds. I smile and join the flying ponies.
Rainbow Dash is right, it is the best part. I have a good time annihilating the small clouds, making them scatter with a variety of punches, kicks, ninja chops, and even a few WWE-style elbow drops. After a few minutes of epic battle with the harmless groups of condensed water, I find myself worn out and panting, a smile on my face. Looking around, I see other pegasi in the same condition, along with no clouds in sight. Rainbow flies over to me, grinning, chest heaving as well. I grin back, my panting preventing me from saying anything. I think she knows I enjoyed the experience.
She flies up a little higher, directing her attention to the general mass of pegasi hovering in the air. "That was awesome, everypony! Nice job!" I hear a hundred cheers and even a "YEAH!" in response to Dash, and I give an excited shout as well. The pegasi disperse, returning to the Ponyville, job complete. She hovers back down to my level, still smiling and panting. She nods towards the ground, and we fly down to the outskirts of Ponyville.
As I reach the ground, I notice the snow already starting to melt under the hot early-afternoon sun. I let my wings hang loosely at my sides, sitting down as Rainbow Dash does on the ground, recovering my breath and resting. A few minutes of quiet panting pass as we sit on the ground, watching the snow turn to water. I am the first to break the silence.
"That was fun," I comment.
"Yeah, that was awesome," agrees the cyan blue pegasus sitting beside me.
We spend the next few hours recovering and trotting around a fairly empty Ponyville. We eventually end up at the Apple farm, where we see many earth ponies pulling plows and planting seeds. Twilight Sparkle and Applejack oversee them, watching patiently as the Plant team finishes the Winter Wrap-Up by planting new life in the ground. By the time the sun is setting, reddening the sky, the Winter Wrap-Up is complete. Everyone is called back to the town hall, and the mayor again addresses the large group of ponies.
"The Winter Wrap-Up is complete, just in time for spring! According to Twilight, we have finished in record-breaking time!" A cheer explodes from the crowd; I turn and smile at Rainbow Dash, seeing her do the same. "I am very proud of you ponies! You worked very hard, and got it all done. Happy spring!" the mayor finishes, smiling and waving goodbye before she turns and goes into the town hall. The crowd of happily chattering ponies begins to break apart, and Dash and I begin moving away from the crowd before flying off towards her home.
We land outside her door, then push inside. We decide on muffins for dinner, seeing as they can be grabbed and eaten more quickly than sandwiches. I hungrily devour my muffin, a banana flavored one, not missing a single crumb. Rainbow seems equally hungry, seeing as she eats her own muffin just as quickly. After eating, I start to feel tired, more physically than anything.
"Aw, hay, I'm feeling pretty sore," I tell Rainbow Dash, smiling but not joking. I feel a little proud of the fact I was able to throw in some pony lingo as well, something that had been giving me hell--er, hay.
"Oh, you big wuss," she jokes, grinning. Her grin dims to a tired smile. "Nah, I'm feeling sore, too. Call it a night?"
"Yeah," I agree. We begin trotting up the stairs as we have done for two and a half or so months, saying our goodnights before parting into separate floors of her cloud house. I take to the fluffy clouch, flopping down upon it, wings and legs splayed about. I groan a little in relaxation before tiredly closing my eyes.