//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Winter Wrap Up // Story: Rise of the Element Gang, Book 2: Friendship Adventures // by Power of Six //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Winter Wrap Up I sprung out of bed on the day I had marked on my calendar, eagerly downing a quick breakfast, wrapping my scarf around my neck, putting my gloves on my claws, jamming my trilby on my head, and dashed out of the door in time to see the sun breaking over the horizon. I always prided myself in being on time and I certainly wasn’t going to be late for this special occasion. Nearing the center of town, I spotted a large crowd of ponies already gathered there, as the Mayor took her place upon the wooden stage to make her address. Everypony was wearing the designated vests of the teams, assigning there them their roles…except for me and one other, who I spotted just arriving on the scene and galloped to join her. Her already excited smile grew even wider at the sight of me. “Dusk! On time as always.” she remarked happily. “Isn’t this exciting? It’s Winter Wrap Up day!” “It certainly is." I agreed. "I feel a little out of place without, you know, a vest, but I feel better knowing that, hopefully, we can both find our place.” “With our intellects combined, I'm sure we will.” she replied with a laugh. “Well, I’m glad…you two are so excited… It’s too early.” Spike yawned from Twilight’s back. “Oh, come on, Spike, try and get into the spirit of this.” I encouraged. “Yeah, yeah.” He yawned again. “I think Canterlot has the right idea for the seasons…you know how they do this, Dusk? It’s nuts!” “No magic, if I remember correctly.” I turned my attention back to Twilight. “This is going to be tough for you, I suppose.” “It will be a challenge, yes. But I like a challenge. Now, I wonder which vest I’ll be wearing.” I smiled and listened as the Mayor gave a bolstering speech, to do even better this year than last year and to make this the “best Winter Wrap Up ever,” which made everypony cheer. All the while, Twilight was bouncing up and down like a filly, trying to get somepony’s attention. Trying to hold in a laugh, I marveled at how excited she was about this. I was too, but she was really wanting to go that extra mile in whatever way she could. Spike was just watching tiredly, his eyelids drooping. After the Mayor had finished, the crowds dispersed to join their respective team leaders, leaving myself, Twilight, and Spike teamless. Me and Twilight proceeded to look rather helplessly towards the groups, trying to find somewhere that might suit our talents. “Oh, gosh, where should we go?” Twilight asked. “I admit, I feel at a loss too. For one thing, we don’t really know anything about the different roles.” “You’re right. What exactly does everypony do?” “I think we’re about to find out.” I looked towards our other friends as they began to sing. Rainbow was the first to start with her part. Three months of winter coolness, Then Shield. And awesome holidays. Then Pinkie. We’ve kept our hoovsies warm at home, Time off from work to play. Then AJ. But the food we’ve stored is runnin' out, Then Dog. And we can’t grow in this cold. And finally Rarity. And even though I love my boots, This fashion’s getting old. Twilight led the way, taking us towards a good spot, where we might see all of the respective teams going about their specific tasks, to learn about how we might fit into the process. The time has come to welcome spring, And all things warm and green, But it’s also time to say goodbye, It’s winter we must clean. I, feeling swept up the song, took over. How can we help? We’re new, you see. What does everypony do? How do we fit in without magic? We both then sang the last verse together. We haven’t got a clue! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! Let’s finish our holiday cheer! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! We both looked to the sky, to see the weather team going about their assigned roles, led by Rainbow Dash and Shield, breaking the clouds and letting the warm sun grace our skin after so long in winter. Rainbow started with the first verse… Bringing home the southern birds, A Pegasus' job begins, Then Shield with the second. And clearing all the gloomy skies, To let the sunshine in. Then they both took up with the last verse. We move the clouds, And we melt the white snow. When the sun comes up, Its warmth and beauty will glow! When everypony starts singing again, at one point at the end of the verse a large pile of snow came down on me, Twilight, and Spike. Popping our heads out of the snow, the three of us glared as it wasn’t very funny to drop snow on us and we looked above and saw Shield sitting on a branch with a smug that told us he did it on purpose. Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! Let's finish our holiday cheer! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here, 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! Looking down, I pointed to where I could see the animal team at work, Fluttershy and Leon among their number, but led by a pony I didn't know. They watched as returning birds flew happily around them, bringing a joyful smile to my features as one nestled in my hat briefly. Rarity took up with the first verse. Little critters hibernate, Under the snow and ice. Then Fluttershy with the second… We wake up all their sleepy heads, So quietly and nice. And Leon with the rest. We help them gather up their food, Fix their homes below. Then the three of them sang together just like Rainbow and Shield. We welcome back the southern birds, So their families can grow! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! Let’s finish our holiday cheer! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here, 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! Gazing off to the vast, open fields, we watched the plant team go to work, with strong stallions operating snow ploughs or raking up the snow, while others set to work planting the seeds they needed for food. Applejack led this team, as I knew she would. Applejack started off with the first verse. No easy task to clear the ground, Plant our tiny seeds. Then Dog with the second verse. With proper care and sunshine, Everyone it feeds. Then they sang together like the others. Apples, carrots, celery stalks, Colorful flowers too. We must work so very hard, It’s just so much to do! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! Let’s finish our holiday cheer! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here, 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! We had what we needed now: we knew about all of the roles that each team played, what they did to bring in spring. Now, as I sang the last few notes with Twilight, I had to find my place among it all, to do my very best to bring in spring. I took the first verse. Now that we know what they all do, We have to find our place, And help with all of our hearts, Tough task ahead we face. Twilight took the next verse. How will we do without our magic? Help the Earth pony way? We then sang together. We wanna belong so we must, Do our best today, Do our best today! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! Let’s finish our holiday cheer! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here, 'Cause tomorrow spring is here, 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! “Well,” I said, breaking the brief silence, “everpony has a place to belong, so let’s get started before they bring in spring without us.” “Hey, there goes Rainbow Dash!” Twilight pointed as a gust of wind swept past us. “Let’s see if we can help her!” “Twilight, wait, think for a moment.” She seemed to be getting a little too swept up in it. “The weather team are all Pegasus ponies for a reason. Unless you’re secretly an alicorn or can walk on clouds like Shield, I don’t think there’s much we can do there…not that I’m saying you’re stupid or anything…” “Oh, right, yeah.” She giggled a little. “It’s okay, Dusk, you make a good point. I know! Carousel Boutique isn’t too far from here. Maybe Rarity is doing something there.” Pleased that she hadn’t taken my statement negatively, we trotted off to the fashion store, shaking Spike awake as he tried to take a nap. We may have ruled out one team, but that still left plenty of others to choose from and find a place in, so I wasn’t disheartened. Twilight seemed to be a different story. I hoped that what I said hadn’t made her upset, but she did look sad that we couldn’t help with the weather. She wanted to do her part so badly, that I really felt for her. She always applied her best to everything she did and I was sure that she, at least, would find somewhere to fit in without her magical talents. “It’ll be okay, Twi.” I consoled. “Sure we can't move the clouds around, but there’s still so much to see. You’ll see, you and I will find somewhere. If not me, then you at least.” “Yeah…yeah, you’re right.” She smiled appreciatively at me as we neared our destination. “Thanks, Dusk, I needed that. You’ll find a place too, I’m sure of it.” “Nice to know you have confidence in me when I never do.” I replied. “Well, somepony has to.” We both chuckled as we halted before the fashion pony. “Rarity, please tell me there’s something, anything I…well, we can help you with.” she added, glancing at me. “We, eh?” Rarity's eyes seemed to twinkle for a moment before giving a smile. "Well, how would you two like to help create Ponyville’s finest bird’s nests?” “Bird’s nests?” “Why, yes.” She gestured to all of the materials around her, and to a completed nest. “When the weather team guides the birds back north for the spring, they’ll need a place to live and lay their eggs.” “That’s a fine nest, Rarity.” I remarked as she gave me a grateful smile. “But…I don’t think I can be much help here.” “Oh, Dusk, whatever makes you say that?” “I was never much good at arts and crafts. I can barely do anything with my magic, let alone my claws.” I inclined my head politely. “Thank you, but I’ll try something else…but I’m sure Twilight would love to help, right, Twi?” I said. “Well, if you’re sure.” She looked pityingly at me, before turning to her friend. “Well, Twilight? Would you like to try your hoof at a nest?” “Would I? Yes!” She gave me an appreciative look. “Where do I begin?” Me and Spike stood back and watched as Twilight was given the materials to get started. She organized them nicely and set to work, Rarity providing direction where she could. However, she had some difficulty with hoof dexterity, so that the finished result wasn’t exactly…well…neat. “There! It looks just like…yours.” Her face fell when she saw her’s and Rarity’s were in no way alike. “Oh, my…” “That nest needs to be condemned.” Spike decided at once. “Spike!” I snapped at him. “She tried her best. Nopony can fault her for that.” “Exactly, Dusk.” Despite her assurance, she didn’t exactly look too sure herself. “Besides, Spike, it's not so bad, ah, maybe birds can use it as a…” “An outhouse?" “Spike, stop that! You’re not helping!” I snapped again, feeling awful at how forlorn my friend looked. “Yes, Spike, really.” She gave him a disapproving look, then approached a flushed Twilight. “It’s just fine. It’s just a little rough around the edges. Let me lend you a hoof.” As Rarity set to work, attempting to repair the damage, I walked up to Twilight, who looked thoroughly ashamed of herself. Doing my best to cheer her up, I gave her a gentle nudge and my best smile, trying to say, without words, that she had done her best to try. She returned it weakly, grateful at my attempt. When it became clear that Rarity wasn’t going to be done quickly, we left her to it to try and find somewhere else to fit in. “Well, that could’ve gone better.” Spike said when we were away. “Spike, what did I say?” I turned to Twilight, who was hanging her head in shame. “It wasn’t that bad. It was…well, it was…” “A complete disaster.” She sighed, but smiled anyway. “It’s okay, Dusk, I’m fine now. I think I saw Pinkie at one of the lakes, let’s go and see what she's doing.” “Good idea. And…Twi?” She lifted her head up. “Okay, so neither of us are much good with nest making. At least you tried. Chin up, Twi, there’s a place for you here somewhere, I can feel it.” “Thank you, Dusk.” Giving me a smile that made me feel so warm I could probably melt the snow, we approached the frozen lake. As promised, there was our pink partying friend, wearing ice skates and dancing gracefully on the ice as easily as anypony else would be walking. At first, I didn’t see the point of this activity, but then I noticed that she was cutting lines in the ice in specific chunks. It didn't take me long to figure it out from there. “Hellooooooo, Twilight aaaaaaand Dusk! Wheeeeeeee!” She spanned in a rapid circle at this. “Wow, Pinkie Pie, you’re quite the skater. Probably the best skater I’ve ever seen.” Twilight praised. “No arguments from me.” I agreed. “You take to ice as easily as a Pegasus pony does to the sky, Miss Pie.” “Hey, that rhymed!” She giggled as she halted before us. “Thanks, guys. I’ve been doing this since I was an itty-bitty, little-wittle Twinkie-Pinkie. Just comes natural. Which is probably why they designated me the lake scorer. I…” “You use your skates to carve out chunks of the ice so they break along the lines, therefore making it easier for when the Pegasus ponies bring out the sun to melt the lakes.” I said at once. I then realized I’d cut her off and felt a little embarrassed. “How does he do that? He’s psychic, I tell you.” she murmured to Twilight, who sniggered. “It’s certainly a clever system, figured out by a clever pony.” I flushed as she giggled again. “Well you sure have a lot of work ahead of you, there’s quite a few lakes in Ponyville.” “Ha, tell me about it. Hey, Twilight, wanna help me out?” “Would I!” “Come on, put on those skates over there. I bet you’ll be a natural too.” “Okay. Wish me luck, Dusk.” She trotted over to the skates, leaving Pinkie with me. Pinkie seemed to suddenly remember me and looked apologetic when she saw I’d been left out. “Sorry, Dusky, I only have one spare pair of skates. Do you wanna take mine so you can try?” “It’s fine, Pinkie. I’d probably be terrible anyway. I’ll watch Twilight and you, offer moral sup-port.” I decided. “Okie-dokie-lokie.” She skated off again as Twilight finished putting on her own skates. As soon as she set hoof on the ice, however, her legs started to wobble like jelly, like she would collapse at any moment. But I had promised to be supportive, so I stayed close-by just in case I needed to stop her falling. “Uh…maybe on second thought…” She slipped a little as I caught and righted her. “Thanks.” “What are you talking about? You said you wanted to be helpful.” Spike pointed out. “Now get out there.” He moved to push her, but I held him back, gesturing that I should handle this. “He’s right, Twi. Just get out there and do your best. I’ll cheer you on…I might as well be slightly useful…” “Okay…okay… I can do this. Dusk, a little push please?” “Certainly… Good luck.” I gave her a gentle push, just enough to get her going. Watching from the edge of the ice, it became quite clear to me that Twilight wasn’t a great shakes at skating. Even though Pinkie tried her best to give pointers and I offered my best support, she had no control over her movements, skidding and swerving uncontrollably. The final nail in the coffin came when she skated rapidly towards Pinkie, crashed into her, and then both of them hit Spike, who had wandered onto the ice, causing them to crash in a heap by the side of the ice as I hurried over to help them. “Ha, ha, you are a natural, Twilight. A natural disaster.” Spike guffawed at the whole thing, but stopped when I gave him a sharp rap with my claw, proceeding to lift Twilight to her hooves. “Twilight, you did a great job your first time around.” Pinkie said, shaking herself down. “I'm sure my first time was just as wobbly and bobbly and crasheriffic as yours!” “Really?” Pinkie looked unsurely before admitting: “No.” She realized how sad Twilight looked and put on a bright grin. “But did I make you feel better?” “Mm-hmm, yeah, I guess.” Twilight said. “I think you’ll be super awesome at something that keeps your hoofs on the ground. You too, Dusky." she added. “I know! Fluttershy and Leon could probably use your help with the critters.” “Well…I’m pretty good with little animals.” She looked more hopeful, turning to face me with a smile. “Dusk, you are too. We could find our place there!” “I, er…I suppose I am, yes…yes, let’s go and help them. Whoa, watch it!” I caught her again as Twilight started to slide off again. Helping her out of her skates before she crashed again, we proceeded to where all of the animal burrows in Ponyville were, hearing the pleasant sound of a ringing bell as we approached. For the first time, I felt confident about this Winter Wrap Up business. I had, after all, helped Fluttershy put these animals in hibernation in the first place. I was sure I would be a dab-hoof at waking them up as well. From what I could see, it looked simple enough. We saw Fluttershy with her head down one of the burrows, stepping back as a pair of hedgehogs yawned and awoke, waddling out into the open. It was an adorable sight to see them awake again from their long sleep. “Awww, how cute.” Twilight cooed. “Aren’t they?” Fluttershy looked after them like a caring mother. “This is my favorite task the whole season, when I get to see all my little animal friends again.” “Uh, what’s ‘hibernation’?” Spike asked curiously. “It’s a natural stage of animals in winter.” I explained. “They go into a non-active state by sleeping to conserve energy because there’s so little food growing in winter. By eating less by sleeping, they can keep the energy they have to keep their bodily functions going until, of course, they wake up in spring.” “Hey…I definitely like the idea of hibernation, uh, except for the ‘eat less food’ part.” “You would.” I chuckled. “Anyway, can Twilight and I lend a hoof, Fluttershy? We need to find our places in Winter Wrap Up and you do have a lot of warrens and dens to clear by the look of it.” “Oh, yes, that would be wonderful!” She gave us a pair of bells to get started. “Just ring them to wake up the animals, and coax them out…gently though.” Splitting up to take seperated dens, I approached my first and rang my bell over the entrance, the sound echoing down below. Hoping that would be enough, I peered inside as something stirred. “Wakey, wakey, down there.” I called out. “Spring is here, so shake a leg.” I stepped back as a family of fluffy white rabbits hopped out, stretching and yawning. When they finished, they gave little smiles at me, which I returned with a tip of my hat, and hopped off to find some food. “Not bad for a fire spitter.” Leon said as he walked over. “Thanks, Leon.” I said to him. “Looks like I found my own way to help out.” I’d done it. I’d actually helped and it worked! This was definitely my task in Winter Wrap Up, waking up the critters. It was so easy and so rewarding, seeing their little faces. Twilight would manage this as well, so we could both join in with it. “If the job is like this, then I’m sure Twilight would like this too.” I said. “So both you and Twilight are trying this?” Leon asked. “Yeah.” I said. “I wondered how she’s…” “AGH! SNAKES! SNAKES!” We both whipped around to see her backing away from the yawning reptiles. “Twilight, look out!" I warned her too late as she backed into a burrow. Screaming again, she was chased out by a flock of screeching bats, which made me kinda took a step back as I was a little spooked from those bats before shaking that fear off, and galloped head first into a tree. A beehive was dislodged from the impact, landing on her head as she ran around blindly. I rushed forward to try and help, but she ran straight into another den, waking up the skunks that had been sleeping inside. I heard her groan in pain from inside. “Oh! Right in a skunk den.” Leon winced as he came over with me. “Spike, get back to the library and get some tomato soup and some baking soda.” I ordered, peering into the warren. “Odd time to be thinking about eating, isn’t it?” Spike asked. “Believe me, I have no intention of eating it.” Hoping the bees weren’t still angry, I ventured down to pull out my friend. Back at the library, we proceeded to treat Twilight for her injuries. After removing the bee stings, I had applied baking soda to the wounds, as well as some for myself. There had still been a few of the stinging insects left when I’d pulled her out. Spike and I then placed her in a wooden bath with tomato soup in it, a remedy that would at least mask the smell of the skunk spray. We would have to apply a different treatment later, possibly a spell, to cancel out the stench, which was so strong both me and Spike had clothes pegs on our noses. Even then, my eyes were watering from the smell. “Oh, all this Winter Wrap Up stuff is a lot harder than it looks.” Twilight commented as Spike brushed her mane. “Right, because there’s no magic.” Spike pointed out. “Why don’t you just use magic, Twilight, and get it done the right way?” “No, Spike, I have to do it the traditional way.” she insisted firmly. “Ponyville has never needed magic to wrap up winter.” “Well, they never had you here before, either. Think how much quicker they could wrap up winter with your magic.” “Spike, drop it.” I said. “We need to do this their way, by their rules. Twilight respects that and so do I.” “Precisely. I’m gonna find some other way that I can help out if it kills me!” She turned to me. “Besides, you seem to have found a place just fine. Fluttershy and Leon said you weren’t even scared by the snakes.” “Well…there was no reason to be, they were harmless. But still…do you really think I fitted in there?” “Of course, you were great with the animals.” she praised. “I told you that you would, didn’t I? Now that you’ve found your place here, I’m sure to find mine!” “That’s the spirit, Twilight!” I grinned, scrubbing her ears. “There’s still the plant team to go to. You can head there…once we’re done getting rid of Odor Le Skunk. It really doesn’t suit you.” “I didn’t think so.” she laughed in spite of herself. “You don’t have to worry about me. Just go and get your vest once we’re done.” “Okay. I didn’t want to feel like I was leaving you alone.” “You won’t be. You found your place and I’m proud of you. You’ll be a great addition to the animal team, I know it.” “Thanks, Twi… Sorry that you can’t join me.” “Don’t be. It’s no problem.” “When you two are done, can we get this over with?” Spike said irritably. “This peg is hurting my nose.” I chuckled a little, returning to cleaning up my friend with a little bit of a blush to my cheeks now. It took us a full half hour to get rid of the stench, even then there was a little bit left. Waving goodbye to my fellow librarians, I found the leader of the animal team, proudly donned my own tan vest, took a bell, and worked with Fluttershy and Leon to awaken the animals. I could at least do it with pleasant company. “I’m so glad that you’re helping us here, Dusk.” she said happily. “And that you fit in some-where.” “Me too, Fluttershy.” I replied. “I just hope Twilight can find her place.” “Don’t worry, I’m sure she will. She’s very clever, so she’s bound to.” “Yes, she will.” I grinned at her.” “Now then, these animals aren’t going to wake themselves. Let’s get to it!” “Right. Come on, this way.” It was a very pleasant activity as I did my best to wake up all of the critters, including raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, bats, and many, many more, as well as leaving baskets of food out for them and fixing up their homes, but I preferred just waking them up. I also tried to keep calm with the bats. Leon even had to help me with that, especially when one landed on me. Despite Fluttershy’s assurances, I couldn’t help but be concerned for Twilight. The only tasks that remained were with the plant team, which required strength and stamina…something she didn’t really have. But she was quite determined to help out in anyway, so I had faith in her. She would succeed…she had to. But it seemed that, no matter how quickly we were moving, there always seemed to be more warrens, more animals to rouse from their sleep. I feared that we wouldn’t get them all done in time for the rest of the teams…and I was right. We got a signal from a Pegasus pony, meaning that it was time for them to clear the clouds so the sun could melt the snow. Fluttershy, Leon, and I, knowing that we weren’t ready yet, hurried back towards town to stop Rainbow leading her team off before it was too late. Thankfully, we made it. “Rainbow Dash, y’all on the weather team need to melt the rest of the snow here on the ground and the trees pronto.” Dog was saying. “Got it!" She was about to fly off when… “Stop, no!” Leon shouted. “We’re not ready yet!” I shouted. “They’re right. My poor little animals’ homes will get flooded if the snow melts too fast.” Fluttershy warned. “Got it?” I breathed a sigh of relief, until... “We’re tellin’ ya, Rainbow, ya gotta melt that snow now.” Applejack said to the Pegasus. “No! You simply must wait.” Fluttershy cried. “Okay.” Rainbow and her team were starting to look confused. Pretty soon, it descended into chaos. “Go!” “Stop!” “Go!” “Stop!” “GO!” “STOP!” “Ugh! Make up your minds!” She yelled in frustration. “Oh! What in Equestria are all you arguing about?” The Mayor had realized what was going on, and looked furious. “This sort of silliness is why we were late for spring last year, and the year before that, and the year before that!” “Hold on, what did you just say?” Leon said, shocked to hear that. “My ears are ringing!” Shield as he came over, just as shocked as Leon. “You guys were what?” “Is this true?” Dog said as he spoke to the Mayor, feeling the same as his fellow elementals. “Has Ponyville been late for spring…for the past years?” “Unfortunately, yes. For the past few years now, we haven’t been able to bring spring in on time.” The Mayor said as she then explained. “I was hoping my amazingly inspirational speech would urge everyone to do better than last year, but now it looks like we're going to be later than ever. I mean just look at this catastrophe!” I could only watch as the full extent of the disaster hit us as she described it, the first being the ice chunks were too big. “The ice scorers made the ice chunks too big to melt.” Next was Rarity as she was behind on nest-making. “The nest designer is horrendously behind. We need several hundred and she’s only made one.” And just pretty much everything else. “And don't get me started on all the clouds in the sky, the icicles on the trees… This isn’t good, not at all!” “And it’s gonna be all to pieces disastrous if we can’t get our seeds all planted.” Dog said, talking about all the plant seeds in the wagons that the plant team still needed to plant in the ground. “Chillax, Dog.” Shield said to him. “We’re busting our chops as fast as we can.” “No, not fast.” Leon said, reminding them that there were still sleeping animals the animal team needed to wake up. “We have to wake animals slowly.” “Well, can’t y’all at least move a little faster?” Dog angrily said to Leon, making the white stallion take a step back. What was going on with the hibernating animals was part of the problem: the animal team was going too slowly to get all the animals out before the weather team begin the melt. Though things were starting to get worse when Big Mac, with worried expression, came around with a stallion who looked just as worried. “Uh…AJ?” Big Mac said to his little sister as she turned to him. “Oh, good gravy!” Applejack said in frustration. “Caramel lost the grass seeds again, didn’t he?” “Eeyup.” Big Mac said as the pony, who I guess was Caramel, hanged his head in shame. Then a Pegasus mare came in and said “Ditzy Doo accidentally went north to get the southern birds!” “Oh, that featherbrain!” Rainbow groaned in frustration. “Didn’t she learn her lesson last year when she went west?” This whole thing started a whole argument with all the teams. “Stop this at once!” the Mayor said as she tried to stop the fighting. “We don’t have time to argue!” She was right. It was close to sundown. At this rate, spring would be late again. Setting my mind to work, I began to think, drowning out the arguing ponies around me. It was complete and utter chaos, we needed organization, efficiency, direction. We needed…we needed… “Of course, that’s it!” I shouted aloud, which caused everypony stopped arguing and looked at me like I’d gone mad. “Uh…what’s it?” Dog asked unsurely. “We can’t afford to argue! We don’t have the time! We need somepony to organize us, some-pony who can use her skills to make sure we can work together to bring in spring on time. We need Twilight Sparkle! Quick, we need to find her! Who last saw her?” “Right here.” There she stood, Spike by her side with a quill and checklist. “Great minds think alike, it seems.” “Indeed.” I looked around at them, trotting over to me. “You want to listen to anypony, listen to her. Go ahead, Miss Sparkle.” “Thank you, Dusk.” she said as I took my place by her side. “I know you all want to complete your jobs on time, but arguing is no way to go about it. Dusk is right. What you need is organization and I’m just the pony for the job.” Feeling even more bolstered than when the Mayor gave her speech, I set to work with whatever modifications that Twilight made to the process…and she did not disappoint. With her in charge, the tasks went ahead a lot more smoothly. Rarity was able to catch up on the nests that she had failed to make with assistance from everypony else on the animal team, the ice scorers were able to cut the ice into much more manageable chunks for the it to be melted when the sun came up, and the snow cleaners worked in sync with the seed planters, ensuring quicker planting of their food. We also implemented a much more efficient waking system, whereby several bells could be rung at once to wake up multiple critters at the same time. It worked extremely well as I proudly rang one of the bell systems in place. I tipped my hat to a few snakes that slithered by, one of them politely bowing in return. Twilight, however, ran to hide up a tree until they passed. I even used a color flash of my own to signal the weather team to move the clouds. They did this in seconds, even managing to sweep away some more snow in a wind cyclone they created, allowing the sun to stream down over Ponyville. As the snow and ice began to melt, I was reassigned to the plant team, as was everypony else on the animal team, to help plant the remaining seeds and water those already planted as well as transporting food around. While doing this, I caught Twilight’s eye in the midst of it all, the two of us exchanging proud smiles with one another. By the time the rest of the weather team returned with the southern birds, everything was ready. The rivers were flowing again, animals were at play, the bird nests had been completed, and everything that was green had returned to the land. We had done it. Spring was here on time. I was standing beside Twilight, gazing over the town at all of our hard work, as the Mayor joined them, along with everypony else in town. “I can’t believe it! Spring is here on time! And we have you to thank for it.” she said proudly. “If it weren’t for your organizing skills we would still be arguing. It seems your friend Dusk’s faith wasn’t misplaced.” “Eeyup.” Big Macintosh said, making everypony laugh. “It was a team effort.” Twilight reminded them. “And since you helped every team, we have an official vest for you. We give you the title the ‘All-Team Organizer’!” A vest with every team color was presented to her by Rarity as she glowed with pride. “Gosh, I don’t even know what to say. Thank you, everypony. Especially you, Dusk. You never lost faith in me.” “Not once.” I said truthfully. “After all, somepony has to.” “And hereby I declare that winter is wrapped up on time!” The townsponies cheered at the declaration as me and Twilight shared a hoof-pound and a smile. “Spike’s sure gonna be in for a hog-sized surprised when that last piece of ice melts.” Applejack pointed out, seeing him asleep in the middle of a lake, sparking more laughter. When the crowd dispersed, it was just me and Twilight left, still wearing our team vests, as well as still feeling proud. “Well, Twi, we did it. Even me.” I said proudly. “Once again, I’m in a job in which you’re in charge, as is the natural order.” She giggled at that. “I’m proud of you and you did it without magic.” “I’m proud of you too, Dusk.” she said sincerely. “Two Canterlot ponies finding their place in Winter Wrap Up. Not bad, I’d say. Do you think we should wake Spike up?” “I don’t know…he did make all of those jibes at you and I’ve not quite forgiven him yet.” I said slyly. “Besides, a little water never hurt anypony.” “If you say so.” she giggled. “I want you to come back to the library when he wakes up, I want you to hear my report to the Princess.” “I’d be glad to. My holiday’s over anyway.” “So it is. That means it’s back to work now, so I expect you tomorrow on time.” she ordered in a mock authoritative tone. “You know me, Twi.” I replied smartly. “I’ll be there on time…just like spring this year.” I gazed proudly up at the clear blue sky, as the sun streamed on my face, happy and satisfied that I had played my part in wrapping up winter, along with all of my friends. Spring was here, a new beginning… Time to see what it held in store for me.