"NEEEEEEEEERROOOOOOO!!!!!"
Nero's eyes shot open as he felt someone hopping up and down on top of him. He craned his neck to see Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down on his bed, yelling at the top of her lungs for him to wake up.
Please, God, don't do this to me. Just let me sleep for once.
"NERO!!! COME ON!!! IT'S WINTER WRAP-UP DAY!!! IT'S WINTER WRAP-UP DAY!!!" She screamed in excitement.
"Uh huh, sure... just give me five more minutes... or five more hours..." Nero yawned as he turned back over, tucking himself further under the covers. Pinkie yanked them off barely a second later, much to his chagrin.
"No sleeping in today, Mr. Grumpy Pants! We've gotta get up bright and early for Winter Wrap-Up!" Pinkie denied the devil hunter his peace. He'd been on another late job last night and didn't get home until 2:00 a.m, so he wasn't exactly in the mood for Pinkie's antics. If the clock on his bedside dresser was correct, it was currently 6:00 a.m.
"I'm afraid Pinkie Pie is right. While I do agree that beauty sleep is important, we cannot afford to waste any time if we wish to clean up Winter by the end of the day." Hearing another familiar voice, Nero turned to see that Rarity was also here to wake him up. The difference between her and Pinkie was that Rarity stood in the doorway to his room like a normal person, as opposed to leaping on him as soon as she entered. It was then that Nero noticed the two of them were wearing some kind of vests. Rarity wore a tan vest while Pinkie wore a blue vest.
"Wait, 'clean up Winter'? What does that mean?" He asked, understandably confused. Before Rarity could provide a calm and normal response, Pinkie let out one of her long, dramatic gasps.
"OH MY GOODNESS THAT'S RIGHT HOW COULD I FORGET!?! This is your first Winter Wrap-Up Day, isn't it!?" Pinkie pulled Nero close, staring straight into his eyes as she pressed her face against his.
"You still haven't answered my question." Nero rolled his eyes.
"You see, darling, Winter Wrap Up-Day is a local tradition here in Ponyville." Rarity stepped in, pulling Pinkie away with her magic and giving Nero some space. "Since Ponyville had originally been founded by earth ponies hundreds of years ago, they've never used magic to clean up Winter like all the other ponies in Equestria. It's been a tradition ever since then."
"Sounds interesting. You two have fun with that." Nero used his magic to levitate his blanket back onto him and got comfortable in his bed again. Rarity relinquished the blanket from him once more with her own magic. The half-demon groaned as he turned over in his bed, his back facing the two mares.
"I'm sorry, Nero, but we could all really use your help." The fashionista gave Nero an apologetic look as she walked over to the other side of his bed, her eyes meeting his own. "Every year, Ponyville ends up being late when it comes to wrapping up Winter in time for Spring. Having somepony of your talents would surely help us finish by the deadline. The mayor is specifically requesting your help on the matter! You will, of course, be compensated for your efforts."
Nero took the time to consider the proposition. It was true that he needed money badly. He was so low on cash that he hadn't been able to afford his heating bill all Winter. Thankfully, the piece of Gorgon had come in handy keeping him warm. There wasn't anything hotter than the fires of Hell. Still, having actual heating in the building would have been preferable as opposed to keeping a chunk of a dead demon near him at all times. Since it sounded like Winter would be coming to a close after today, he wouldn't need the heating as badly anymore, but that didn't change the fact that he desperately needed money.
The devil hunter sighed as he crawled out of bed. "Alright, fine, I'll pitch in."
"WOOHOO!!! Nero's gonna help with Winter Wrap-Up! This is gonna be so much fun!" Pinkie cheered, wrapping her hooves around Nero in a bear hug.
"Yeah, cuz nothing says 'fun' like spending the day shoveling snow." Nero muttered.
It wasn't long before Nero found himself standing amongst the crowd of Ponyville's citizens outside of the town hall, his hooves slightly buried in the snow. Everyone wore vests similar to the ones Rarity and Pinkie Pie had worn. Rarity had explained to him that each color vest represented a different team in charge of specific tasks. Blue vests were for the weather team, green vests were for the plant team, and tan vests were for the animal team. Apparently, the fashionista had designed the vests herself.
The mayor had been hoping Nero would do his best to assist all of the teams, so he hadn't been given a specific vest. However, the mayor did recommend that he focus the majority of his efforts on helping the plant team, since their job mostly involved strength and hard labor, something he excelled at accomplishing. In all honesty, Nero was just fine with not getting a vest. He preferred his jacket anyway. Soon, the mayor herself stepped up to the town hall's podium to give her speech.
"Thank you, everypony, for being here bright and early. We need every single pony's help to wrap up Winter and bring in Spring!" She addressed the crowd. "Now, all of you have your vests, and have been assigned to your teams, so let's do even better than last year, and have the quickest Winter Wrap-Up ever!" The audience cheered in response, feeling motivated to work extra hard and get Winter wrapped up before the day's end.
"Oh, this is so exciting!" Hearing a familiar voice, Nero turned to his left to see that Twilight had apparently been standing next to him the entire time. Spike, looking just as tired as Nero was, sat on her back. Nero also noticed that Twilight wasn't wearing a vest like all the other ponies.
When did she get here? And how do these ponies keep sneaking up behind me without me noticing?
"Alright, everypony. find your team leader, and let's get galloping!" The mayor concluded her speech, and the crowd quickly parted, everypony joining their respective teams. The only pony that remained besides Nero was Twilight, who's gaze anxiously shifted between each of the groups.
"Oh Gosh, where should I go? I'm not sure where I'd fit in. What exactly does everypony do?" The purple unicorn seemed to be pretty worked up over the issue.
"Relax, Twilight, I'm sure you'll find something." After hearing the devil hunter's voice, Twilight finally realized that Nero had been standing next to her the entire time.
"Oh, Good Morning Nero! I didn't see you there." The purple unicorn turned to fully face him. "I'm a little surprised to see you helping out with Winter Wrap-Up. Knowing you, I figured you would've just slept in or something."
Sheesh, she makes it sound like I'm lazy. I'm not normally so eager to sleep all day, but I've got a lot of sleep I need to catch up on after being so busy.
"Well, that had been the plan, but the mayor said they could use my help with the work today. Pinkie and Rarity stopped by to ask if I would be willing, so I figured I might as well pitch in." Nero shrugged.
"Let me guess, you're only helping because you're being paid?"
"Is it that obvious?" He chuckled.
"Well at least you're getting something out of it. I was having a great dream before I got woken up for this. It's way too early..." Spike yawned from Twilight's back. Understanding his pain, Nero's heart went out to the poor baby dragon.
"So, what team are you on?" Twilight asked, changing the subject.
"No team in particular, they just wanted me to go around and help out everyone the best I can. From the sound of it, you don't really have a team either. Why is that?"
"Everypony already belongs to a team. My talent has always involved magic, but it's Ponyville tradition to clean up Winter without using magic. I have no idea where I would fit in! What should I do? Where should I go?"
Ah, I see the problem. Now it makes sense why she was so worked up about this.
Nero brought a hoof to his chin. "...Tell you what, since I'm gonna be checking on all of the teams, how 'bout you come with me, and we'll find out what each of the teams do together. Maybe you'll surprise yourself and find something you're good at without needing magic."
"Really? That sounds like a great plan! Let's do it!" Twilight's worried look disappeared as she gave a confident nod. Together, they began trotting through Ponyville to see what each of the teams were in charge of doing. Just as soon as they started, Nero heard a familiar sound that filled his soul with dread.
The familar sound... of music.
Nero had learned that when it came to this world, that could only mean one thing.
Somepony was about to start singing.
"Three months of Winter coolness, and awesome holidays~!" Nero was surprised to hear Rainbow Dash start singing first.
"We've kept our hoovsies warm at home, time off from work to play~!" Nero was significantly less surprised to hear Pinkie sing next.
"But the food we've stored is runnin' out, and we can't grow in this cold~!" Applejack started singing after Pinkie.
"And even though I love my boots, this fashion's getting oooold~!" Rarity was the fourth pony to begin singing.
"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~!" Even Twilight was singing now!? "How can I help~? I'm new, you see~. What does everypony do~? How do I fit in without magic, I haven't got a cluuueeee~!"
"Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! Let's finish our holiday cheer~!" The fact that the other girls besides Pinkie had started singing was surprising enough, but then Nero was shocked again to see that every single pony helping with Winter Wrap-Up had joined the singing as a chorus. "Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here, 'cause tomorrow Spring is here~!"
Rainbow Dash continued the song as she flew overhead, followed by several other pegasi. "Bringing home the southern birds, a pegasus' job begins in clearing all the gloomy skies to let the sunshine in~! We move the clouds, and we melt the white snow~; When the sun comes up, it's warmth and beauty will gloooooow~!"
"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~!" The chorus repeated as they pulled carts of supplies through the streets.
"Little critters hibernate under the snow and ice~!" Rarity began the next verse before Fluttershy picked it up.
"We wake up all the sleepyheads, so quietly and nice~!" Fluttershy and several other ponies wearing tan vests gently woke up several critters that had been burrowed in small holes for the Winter. They then handed the critters baskets of vegetables and cleaned their tiny homes.
"We help them gather up their food, fix their homes below~!"
"We welcome back the Southern birds~..."
"So their families can groooooow~!" Rarity and Fluttershy sang in unison.
"Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! Let's finish our holiday cheer~! Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here~!" The chorus repeated once again before Nero, Twilight, and Spike all found themselves buried under a mound of snow. Annoyed, the three of them looked up to see the source of their displeasure had been Rainbow Dash, who knocked a large clump of snow off of a tree branch and onto them. "Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here, 'cause tomorrow Spring is here~!"
"No easy task to clear the ground, plant our tiny seeds~. With proper care and sunshine, everyone it feeds~!" Applejack sang as ponies raked and plowed the snow off the ground, planting seeds in the dirt. "Apples, carrots, celery stalks, colorful flowers too~! We must work so very hard, it's just so much to doooooo~!"
"Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! Let's finish our holiday cheer~! Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here~!" Several pegasi used snow shovels to knock the snow off of the rooftops as they sang. "Winter Wrap-Up, Winter Wrap-Up~! 'Cause tomorrow Spring is here, 'cause tomorrow Spring is here~!"
The music seemed to tone down as Twilight continued to sing again. "Now that I know what they all do, I have to find my place~! And help with all of my heart, tough task ahead I face~." As if everypony spontaneously breaking out into song wasn't odd enough, Twilight decided to make it more dramatic by standing at the peak of a steep hill while she sang. "How will I do without my magic, help the earth pony way~? I wanna belong so I must, do my best today~! Do my best tooodaaaaaay~!"
The music picked back up as the chorus looped one final time. "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 heeeeeeeeeeere~!" Twilight finished the last bit of the chorus, and the music began to fade out as the song finally came to an end.
Yup, still not used to that.
After the unprompted musical number, Nero, Twilight, and Spike continued on through the town streets. They were stopped in their tracks, however, when a familiar rainbow blur sped by them.
"Alright, team! You're cleared for takeoff!" Rainbow Dash, wearing a blue weather team vest, signaled to a few other pegasi wearing the same vests. On Rainbow's signal, they flew off to take care of... whatever assignment they were ordered to take care of. As for what that assignment was, the three of them were about to find out as Twilight got Rainbow's attention. "Oh, hey guys! What's up?"
"What are you doing?" Twilight started with a straightforward question.
"Sending off one of my flight crews to retrieve the birds that have flown south for the Winter." She simply stated, keeping her focus on the sky.
Since when do birds need help flying back North once Winter is over? Don't they normally fly back in flocks on their own? Man, Equestria logic is weird.
"Ooh, can I help? How about if I clear out the clouds?" After Twilight's suggestion, Rainbow, Nero, and Spike all looked at her with an 'are you serious?' expression. To point out the problem with the purple unicorn's idea, Rainbow gave a flap of her wings. "Oh, right, no wings..."
"Sorry, Twilight." That was the only sentiment Rainbow showed before taking off into the sky, joining the other pegasi. Twilight watched with just a slight bit of annoyance as her friend left with barely a word.
"Great. Now what do we do?" Twilight turned her head to look back at Nero and Spike... only to see Spike missing. The two of them took a quick glance around before spotting the baby dragon making himself comfortable in a bush.
"I don't know about you, but I'm gonna be napping." Spike declared before laying back into the bush. His loud snoring gave away that he had already managed to pass out.
This kid's got the right idea. If I wasn't being paid to help out, I'd join him. It is way too early for all this.
"Come on, Spike! This is serious business!" Twilight nudged the baby dragon to no avail. "Winter needs to be wrapped up, and I'm determined to do my part! ...Somehow."
Noticing Twilight's drop in spirit, Nero stepped in. "Oh, come on, we just started. I doubt we we're gonna find something for you on the first try. If it helps, I don't have wings either, so I'm kinda in the same boat."
"...Yeah, I suppose you're right. I'm sure we can find plenty of other opportunities." With renewed confidence, Twilight gave up on trying to wake Spike up for now and levitated him onto her back. "Let's stop by Rarity's shop next. I'm sure she can find something for us to do." With that, the trio set off for Carousel Boutique, hoping to find a way for Twilight to fit in for Winter Wrap-Up.
I doubt it'll be anything too difficult. As long as she doesn't want us to try on any more ridiculous outfits, we should be fine.
When the trio arrived at Carousel Boutique, they quickly caught sight of Rarity working at a table outside of her shop. There were several bundles of sticks and hay next to her, as well as an entire basket of arts and crafts supplies. Twilight quickly got the dress maker's attention as they approached. "Rarity, please tell me there's something, anything I can help you with!"
"Well, how would you like to help create Ponyville's finest bird's nests?" Rarity offered.
"Bird's nests?" Both Twilight and Nero asked in unison.
"Why yes! When the weather team guides the birds back North for the Spring, they'll need a place to live and lay their eggs." She explained. Twilight seemed to be satisfied by the answer, but Nero was a bit more skeptical.
"Alright, I'm willing to accept birds needing help flying back North for Spring, but they need help making their nests too?" He voiced his confusion.
"Why of course they do, Nero! They're already busy taking care of their families, the least we can do is provide them with a home." Rarity asserted.
"They never had any trouble with it back on Earth, but alright, if you say so." Nero shrugged before switching his attention to the bird's nest currently sitting on the table. Several colorful ribbons had been interwoven with the nest, while the nest itself was perfectly pristine and symmetrical, with not a single twig out of place. It even had a flashy red bow tied to it. "It's nice, but it looks more like a bowl than a bird's nest if I'm being honest. Pretty sure birds don't care if their home has this much pizazz."
Rarity 'harumphed' at Nero's critique while Twilight just sent him a small glare. "Well, I think it looks really beautiful, Rarity!"
"Oh, why thank you most sincerely, Twilight! At least somepony here has manners. Say, would the two of you like to try your hoof at a nest?"
"Would I?! Yes! Where do I begin?" Twilight enthusiastically jumped at the opportunity to help out.
"Eh, why not?" Nero simply shrugged.
Rarity levitated two baskets filled with arts and crafts supplies over to their side of the table before dumping the contents in front of the pair. "Okay, now, take some of that straw and hay over there, and a little bit of branch..." Nero had looked away for only a second to hear Rarity's instructions. When he looked back, he had to do a double take, unsure if what he was seeing was real. In the short second that he had looked away, Twilight had already managed to neatly organize all of her supplies into different categories.
"Huh... I take it she's a bit of a neat freak?" The devil hunter whispered to Spike, who had a similar bug-eyed expression.
"I think she prefers the term 'organized'." The baby dragon whispered back.
Both Nero and Twilight began the process of making their own bird's nests. Rarity tried to provide input where she could, though from the sound of her voice, the dress maker was probably regretting her decision to let them handle the task. "Now, weave them through there. Yes! Uh, take some ribbon, yes- oh, no, n-not there. Ooh, uh, y-yes, uh, tuck it in... over there, but be careful not to... no, no, no, I, uh, guess that will do... oh dear..."
Nero and Twilight took a step back to examine their finished products. Compared to Rarity's, the quality was... questionable, to say the least. Unlike Rarity's art piece, Twilight and Nero's bird's nests looked like a pair of jumbled up hay and sticks mushed together, with a few bits of ribbon sticking out of them.
"There! It looks just like-!" Twilight went from excited to downtrodden when she looked over at Rarity's nest, quickly noticing the obvious difference in quality. "...yours...oh my."
"Now these look more like authentic bird's nests." Nero said, a lot prouder of his work than Twilight. The devil hunter hadn't even been trying to replicate Rarity's design. He'd just mashed a bunch of stuff together at random and hoped for the best.
"Those nests need to be condemned!" Spike commented with the bluntness of a sledgehammer.
"Oh, come now, Spike. I-It's not so bad! Maybe the birds can use them as an...uh..." Rarity tapped her chin, trying and failing to think of something.
"An outhouse?" Spike deadpanned, maintaining his streak of bluntness.
"Spike, they're just fine. They're just a little rough around the edges. Here, let me lend you a hoof." Rarity stepped in for the two, attempting to fix the abominations they had created. "Let's just untie this ribbon, and if we take out these sticks here, reshape this..."
"I think we lost her..." Spike whispered to Nero and Twilight as they all watched Rarity take apart the entirety of their nests. Twilight let out a sigh and hung her head low, moping away from the boutique. Nero and Spike shared concerned glances as they followed after the purple unicorn. "Hey, cheer up, Twilight! Maybe this didn't work out as well as you'd hoped, but I'm sure we can still find something else you'll be good at!"
In return for Spike's words of encouragement, Twilight gave the baby dragon a smile before reasserting herself. "You're right, Spike! We've still got a long way to go. I'm sure we'll find something!"
The trio were nearing one of the lakes near and around Ponyville. During the warmer seasons, ponies would sometimes stop by one of Ponyville's many lakes, either to go swimming or just to enjoy the sun. As of right now though, the lake had been frozen over by a thick layer of ice during the Winter. On the lake itself, the group spotted Pinkie Pie ice skating across the frozen body of water.
"Hellooooo, you guys!" Pinkie waved to them as she skated by. Twilight was quickly found herself enraptured by the pink pony's skill.
"Wow, Pinkie Pie, you're quite the skater! Probably the best skater I've ever seen!" She complemented as they got closer. Pinkie drifted on the ice before coming to a stop in front of them.
"Thanks, Twilight! I've been doing this since I was an itty-bitty, little-little, Twinkie Pinkie! Just comes naturally!" Pinkie pushed off the ice, performing several stylish hops and flips around the lake, showing off both grace and elegance. "Which is probably why they designated me the lake scorer!"
"Lake scorer? What's that?" Nero asked as Pinkie did another lap around the lake.
"Basically, I cut lines in the lake with my skates. That way, when the rest of the weather team comes here to break the ice, it'll be easy as pie!"
"How clever. When the thick ice begins to melt, it'll break along the lines." Twilight marveled at the brilliance of the plan.
Nero scratched his chin as he began to realize the large scale of such a task. "You take care of this all by yourself? There's quite a few lakes around Ponyville, last I checked. That's a lot of work for just one person."
"Huh! Tell me about it!" Pinkie huffed before suddenly stopping in front of the small group. A bright smile found its way onto her face as an idea popped in her head. "Hey, do you guys wanna help me out?"
"Would we!? Yes, we'd love to!" Twilight answered before Nero could.
I'd prefer it if you let me speak for myself, Twilight.
"That sounds great, but I'm pretty sure I could just melt the lake instantly with this." Nero took the chunk of Gorgon out from his pocket and showed it to the others. They all felt the heat emanating from the chunk almost instantly.
"What's that?" Twilight studied the piece with curiosity, trying to examine every angle of it.
"This is part of a demon I defeated over by Galloping Gorge. I couldn't afford the heating bill, so I used this to keep warm during the Winter. Since it's literally hot as hell, I'm sure it could take care of the ice no problem."
"WHAT!? Nero, you can't use magic!!! That would be going against tradition!!!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Technically, this isn't magic. It's demonic energy."
"Well, did the earth ponies who founded Ponyville use demonic energy to help clean up Winter?" Pinkie asked in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I'm not exactly an expert on Ponyville's history, so I can't say for sure-"
"They didn't! So that means no demonic energy either, buster!" Pinkie declared, pointing a hoof in Nero's face. The devil hunter simply rolled his eyes.
"Alright, alright, whatever you say." Nero stuffed the Gorgon piece back under his coat. "So, how exactly are we supposed to help then? We don't have any skates of our own."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that! I've got a bunch of spares over there!" Pinkie pointed her hoof over to their left. Following Pinkie's hoof, they spotted a bunch of conveniently placed ice skates nearby.
Oh, well that's convenient.
"...Wait, if you're in charge of handling this job alone, why'd you bring so many skates?" Nero couldn't help but ask.
"It's always better to be prepared for anything!" Pinkie answered vaguely. "C'mon! I bet the two of you will be naturals just like me!"
The two of them gave Pinkie a nod before slipping on the spare skates. Not long after, Nero found himself skating along the ice with ease, even doing a couple of stylish flips to show off.
"Wow, you're absolutely amazing at this, Nero! Have you had some practice?" Pinkie complemented.
"Nah, this is actually my first time, actually. Kyrie and I did want to try it out the next time Christmas rolls around, though."
"Oh my goodness that's so romantic!!! I bet you two will have loads of fun!" The pink pony gushed. It was about then that Nero realized he had yet to see Twilight skating around. He looked back at the edge of the lake and saw the purple unicorn, her hooves wobbling as she struggled to keep her balance.
"Uh...maybe on second thought- WHOA!" Twilight's sentence was cut off when she slipped and face-planted onto the ice. She managed to stand back up, though it was clear the hit to the face had made her dizzy.
"What are you talking about? You said you wanted to be helpful, now get out there!" Spike gave Twilight a push, sending her sliding onto the ice, much to Twilight's fear.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Twilight frantically tried to gain control, but found little success. She spun around haphazardly and out of control. She even almost hit Nero, if he hadn't front flipped over her.
"Twilight! Steer! Steer!" Pinkie tried to help direct her friend, but this also had little success. The party pony's eyes widened as Twilight came careening towards her. Unfortunately, Pinkie wasn't as agile as Nero, and found herself unable to dodge the oncoming unicorn. "Oh, boy- OOF!"
Nero watched with concern and slight amusement as the pair of ponies slid uncontrollably across the ice before crashing into Spike, then crashing into a pile of snow. In cartoonish fashion, the trio crashed into the snow in a position that made them look like a snowman. After getting their bearings, the three of them shook the snow off as Nero made his way over, quickly helping them all get off of the ground. "You three alright?"
"Yes, I think so." Twilight nodded.
"Ha ha! You are a natural, Twilight! A natural disaster! HA HA HA!" Spike giggled.
"Twilight, you did a great job your first time around! I'm sure my first time was just as wobbly and bobbly and crasherrific as yours!" Unlike Spike, Pinkie tried to provide encouragement to her friend.
"Really?"
"...No." Encouragement that lasted all of two seconds. Twilight looked down at the ground, once again looking depressed. "...But did I make you feel better?"
"...Y-Yeah, I guess." Twilight chuckled a bit, but it was clear she was still upset about it.
"I bet you'll be super awesome at something that keeps your hooves on the ground." Pinkie tapped her chin before getting another idea. "I know! Fluttershy could probably use your help with the critters!"
"Well, I am pretty good with little animals." Twilight surmised.
"You are?" Nero gave her a questioning look, to which Twilight responded with a deadpan look of her own. He turned to address Pinkie, "It sounds like a plan either way. We'll start heading over there now." Nero then caught a glimpse of Twilight beside him, who had slipped on the skates again and ended up on the ice once more before crashing. "...Eventually."
The next stop for Nero, Twilight, and Spike was the meadow near Fluttershy's Cottage. Normally it would be a gorgeous field with a few trees here and there, but now it was currently buried in mounds of snow. Once they reached the meadow, they found Fluttershy poking her head inside a small burrow, ringing a small bell to wake up whatever critters were inside.
"Wake up, little sleepyheads. I hope you had some wonderful dreams and restful hibernation, but it's time to get up now. Spring is coming!" In response to Fluttershy's voice, a few porcupines began making their way out of the burrow, rubbing the sleepiness out of their eyes before skittering off elsewhere.
"Aww, how cute!" Twilight gushed as the critters passed by.
"Aren't they? This is my favorite task of the whole season, when I get to see all my little animal friends again." Fluttershy gave a bright smile.
"Uh, what's hibernation?" Spike asked.
"It's like a long sleep." Fluttershy took the bell and approached another burrow, repeating the same process she used with the last burrow to wake up the animals in this one. "Animals often hibernate through the Winter to save their energy and eat less food."
At least someone's getting a healthy amount of sleep.
"I definitely like the idea of hibernation! Well, except for the 'eat less food' part." Spike said as another family of porcupines emerged from the burrow.
"Oh, but just look at all these warrens and dens. I'm worried that I won't be able to wake up every animal before Spring comes." The shy pegasus gave a worried glance to the rest of the meadow, seeing dozens upon dozens of burrows.
"Well, we'd be willing to help, Fluttershy!" Twilight jumped at the chance to help out, as well as nominating Nero to help once again.
"Not sure how good I'd be with little animals, but I'll give it a shot." Nero shrugged.
"Oh, you will? Oh, that would be wonderful!" Fluttershy then handed the pair their own bells to use before they all split up to cover different parts of the meadow. It didn't take long for Nero to find a burrow that looked like a good starting point. Ducking down, he held the bell in front of the burrow before giving it a ring.
"Alright little guys, up and at 'em. I know being woken up from a good nap isn't the best feeling, but Spring is on the way. Let's go, chop chop." Nero called into the burrow. For a second, he thought he was successful in waking up the critters as a few bunnies started to emerge from the burrow, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. The second they laid eyes on the devil hunter, however, they screeched before bolting back into the burrow.
Okay... not the reaction I was expecting.
"Is everything alright, Nero?" Nero looked over his shoulder to see Fluttershy approaching, probably having heard the bunnies' screeches of terror.
"The bunnies seem scared for some reason, but I couldn't tell you why. Maybe you could try talking to them?" At Nero's suggestion, Fluttershy leaned down towards the burrow and called to the bunnies. One of them nervously poked their head out before conversing with the shy pegasus. Without possessing the ability to speak to animals, Nero was forced to awkwardly stand there while Fluttershy communicated with the little critter.
"Uh huh... I see... Oh my! Mr. Rabbit, you shouldn't say such rude things about him like that! I know you're scared, but I promise he doesn't intend to harm you or your friends. He's actually very nice!" Nero could only understand Fluttershy's half of the conversation, but he had a feeling they were talking about him. After a bit, Fluttershy managed to convince the bunnies to leave the burrow. They gave Nero a few nervous glances before hopping away.
"Soooo... any idea what that was about?" Nero scratched the back of his head.
"Well, they said you were the 'scary pony with the giant glowing demon hand', and they were worried that you might try to gobble them up. I think they remember you from the bunny census a while back." Fluttershy gave the half-demon an apologetic look.
Oh yeah, I did scare the pants off of them with my spectral arm way back when, didn't I? Figures that would come back to bite me.
"Oh well, it is what it is. I'm sure I'll have better luck with the other-"
"AGH!!! SNAKES!!! SNAAAKES!!!" Nero's reply was cut off by the sound of Twilight shouting. He and Fluttershy looked over at the section of the meadow that Twilight had started in, where they saw the purple unicorn fearfully backing away from one of the burrows, which had several hissing snakes slithering out of it. In her desperate attempt to put some distance between herself and the snakes, Twilight backed up into another, much larger burrow. A second later, she came running out screaming as a flock of bats chased after her.
"AAAAAAAH!!!" As she fled from the bats, Twilight failed to see the tree in front of her before slamming face first into it. The impact shook the tree, causing a beehive that had been hanging from the tree to fall and land directly on Twilight's head. Twilight's shrieks of terror were muffled by the beehive as she started running blind. Her chaotic sprint came to an end when she crashed into another burrow. The skunks that crawled out of that burrow seconds later made it clear that Twilight was probably going to need a bath.
Nero and Fluttershy joined up with Spike as the three of them approached the burrow, passing by the skunks as they did. Spike pinched his nose shut as they passed while Fluttershy greeted them from their hibernation. "You hangin' in there, Twilight?" Nero called to the purple unicorn still in the burrow. The only response he got from her was a groan of pain.
Nero had a feeling their search to find Twilight a job wasn't over just yet.
Nero, Twilight, and Spike had reconvened at the Golden Oaks Library, where Twilight was getting a much-needed tomato juice bath. On top of the unbearable stench, Twilight had several bee stings on her face from the beehive. "All this Winter Wrap-Up stuff is a lot harder than it looks..." Twilight groaned as Spike scrubbed her with a brush. Both he and Nero were wearing nose plugs to spare themselves from the smell.
"Right! Because there's no magic! Why don't you just use magic, Twilight, and get it done the right way?" Spike asked as he continued to scrub. His voice sounded a bit funny due to the nose plug.
"No, Spike. I have to do it the traditional way. Ponyville has never needed magic to wrap up Winter." Twilight asserted.
"But they never had you before, either. Think of how much quicker they could wrap up Winter with your magic!" Spike insisted.
"No, no, no! I'm gonna find some other way that I can help out, even if it kills me!" Twilight shot back, stomping a hoof in the tomato juice.
"Alright, alright, settle down, you two." Nero finally decided to intervene. Just like with Spike, the nose plug made his voice sound a little funny. "Twilight, I get that you're eager to help out, but finding something to do even if it kills you is a bit of an overreaction. It's not the end of the world, so there's no need to fret over it this much."
Nero then turned his attention over to Spike. "And Spike, while I agree that using magic would make things a lot easier, the whole town considers it tradition to not use magic for Winter Wrap-Up. Breaking their tradition without their go-ahead would be a bit of a dick move."
"Language." Twilight muttered.
Nero rolled his eyes, ignoring Twilight's comment. "My point is, we don't have to go doing anything rash. If we keep at it, I'm sure we'll find a job for Twilight eventually. Sound good?"
Twilight let out a sigh before responding. "...I suppose you're right. I shouldn't be getting so worked up over this. We could try checking in with Applejack next, I'm sure she'll have something I could help with."
"There ya go, that's the spirit." Nero smiled. "But how about we finish washing off that stench first?"
On cue, Spike poured another can of tomato juice on Twilight's head. She let out an annoyed groan as Spike resumed scrubbing her down.
As they had expected, the trio found Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres. The farm pony was busy managing the dozens of strong ponies in charge of plowing the snow off of the crop fields. "Keep pushin', Caramel! That's it, Bumpkin! I know it's hard work, but you guys're doin' great! Yeehaw!"
"Hey Applejack! How's everything going?" Twilight greeted AJ as they approached.
"Oh, just dandy. A little slow startin', but peachy all the same." Applejack answered before turning to look at the fields. "There's a lot of ground to clear, ya hear? We can't even start the plantin' and the waterin' until we get all this heap of snow hightailed out of here."
"Well, we'd like to help." Twilight gave a confident smile.
Applejack was... surprised, to say the least. Twilight's request to help with such tough labor clearly caught the farm pony off guard. AJ knew that Nero wasn't a stranger to heavy lifting, so she wasn't too worried about him. Twilight on the other hand was a different story. She may have been great when it came to magic, but she wasn't exactly known for her muscle. The snowplows that the other ponies were pushing didn't look very light, either. "Well, I-... I don't know, Twilight..."
"Just give me a chance! Please?" Twilight begged.
"Well, I never turn down a hard worker, but-" Before Applejack could finish, Twilight took it as her cue to step into one of the empty plows and prepare herself to start pushing.
"Eh, don't worry about it, AJ. Worst case scenario, she can't push it, and that's that." Nero reassured the farm pony as he moved to another empty plow.
"If ya say so..." Applejack replied, though she couldn't shake the feeling this wasn't going to end well.
The plow itself was shaped like a small green carriage, with two large wagon wheels in the back, the actual plow in the front, and a sunroof on top. There was a handlebar in the front to push the plow, but Nero wasn't quite sure how to use it without hands to grab it. He paid a glance over to Twilight and saw her walking into the handlebar chest-first. She wasn't getting very far, but it reminded him that they were horses, so they had to push things like horses.
Following Twilight's example, Nero walked into the handlebar with his chest and soon found himself moving with little trouble. He could tell the plow was heavy by human/pony standards, but for a half-demon like himself, pushing the plow was a breeze.
"This isn't so hard, right Twilight?" Nero looked to his left where he thought Twilight was plowing alongside him, only to see that the purple unicorn wasn't there. Thinking she must have fallen behind, Nero looked behind him to try and spot the mare. Upon seeing her, he realized she had fallen behind quite a bit. In fact, Twilight hadn't moved an inch from where they started. It appeared that the plow truly was too heavy for her. For a second, Nero felt a bit sympathetic for her...
...Until Twilight suddenly started pushing the plow forward with practically no effort, not even breaking a sweat.
What the heck?
Nero watched with bewilderment as Twilight passed him, moving at a brisk trot and pushing the plow faster than all the other ponies currently plowing. The other plowers were just as shocked, seeing Twilight outpace them with ease.
...Okay, something's fishy about this.
With his demonic strength, Nero was able to push his own plow at a speed that matched Twilight's. It didn't take him long to catch up to the mare, plowing side-by-side with her. It was when he paid her a glance that he noticed a faint magenta glow around Twilight's horn, as well as a similar glow surrounding her snowplow. It took him a second, but Nero quickly put two and two together.
"You're using magic!?" Nero whispered so none of the other ponies would hear.
"I'm sorry, but I had to try something! I couldn't think of any other-!" Whatever else Twilight was going to say died on her lips when she noticed the plow was starting to move faster than her. She tried to pick up her own pace to match the plow, but it proved to be too fast for her as it began dragging her along, accelerating at an uncontrollable speed. "Uh-oh! Slow down! SLOW DOWN!"
This can't be good...
Several other ponies had to halt their plows to avoid getting hit by Twilight's plow as it raced across the crop fields. The snow that Twilight's plow was gathering began to build up, piling into a giant snowball. Applejack and Spike went wide-eyed as the plow headed straight towards them, the snowball crashing straight into them.
"What's goin' on!? What'd you do?! Ya used magic, didn't you!?" AJ yelled as the snowball carried both her and Spike along for the chaotic ride.
Gotta stop this before it gets any worse!
Nero leapt out of his own plow and sprinted towards the Twilight and the others, revving Red Queen as he did. The devil hunter got in front of the plow and slashed his sword through the snowball, the fire from the sword melting it instantly. No longer trapped in the snowball, Applejack and Spike tumbled to the ground, rolling out of the plow's way. Without wasting a second, Nero pivoted on his hoof and bucked straight into the plow, bringing it to a halt. Whatever spell Twilight cast on the plow was still trying to push past Nero, but it was no match for the half-demon's strength.
Once the plow had come to a stop, Twilight immediately deactivated the spell, and the plow stopped moving. Nero let out a breath of relief as he removed his hoof from the front of the plow. His attention shifted to Applejack and Spike as they caught up with Nero and Twilight. "You two alright?"
"Yeah, we're fine." Spike answered. AJ, on the other hand, had her full focus on Twilight. Seeing the furious glare on the farm pony's face, Nero had a feeling she was a little upset.
"Nuts, Twilight! You used magic!!!" AJ exclaimed.
"The nerve! Can you believe her?" Spike added.
"Weren't you the one who suggested she use magic?" Nero called Spike out, to which the baby dragon just chuckled nervously.
"That's not how we do it 'round here, Twilight. And especially not on my farm!" Applejack continued to lecture Twilight about her magic usage. As for Twilight herself, she seemed to be on the verge of tears. Clearly, the purple unicorn wasn't proud of what she did.
"W-Well, see, I-I just wanted to-...to-..." Twilight found herself unable to speak as her eyes watered. Before any of them could stop her, Twilight ran off crying. Silence hung over Nero, Applejack, and Spike as the three of them watched Twilight leave. Eventually, Applejack was the first to break the silence.
"...I think that mighta been a bit harsh of me." She sighed, clear regret in her voice.
"Don't worry about it, you didn't mean to hurt her feelings. We'll go talk to her and try to cheer her up. C'mon, Spike." Nero gestured to the baby dragon, who gave a firm nod in response. Spike hopped on Nero's back before the devil hunter took off after Twilight.
It took a little over an hour, but Nero and Spike eventually found Twilight in the town square, hiding herself in a bush just outside of Town Hall. While the two of them had been lucky enough to find Twilight, they weren't having as much luck convincing her to leave the bush. "Come on, Twilight, come on out."
"I'm a Winter mess-up..." Twilight moaned from within the bush.
"Oh, that's not true. You're good at a lot of things! Just not nest making... ice skating... animal waking... snow clearing-"
"Spike, I don't think that's helping." Nero cut the dragon off.
"Oh, thanks a lot for making me feel soooo much better." Twilight groaned. Unfortunately, Spike didn't seem to pick up on the sarcasm.
"That's what I'm here for, sister! Heh, and you thought I wasn't helping." Spike gave Nero a smug grin, to which the devil hunter just rolled his eyes. Not only had it taken them over an hour just to find Twilight, but they'd been standing her for almost 30 minutes trying to get her to leave the bush. There had to be something they could do to convince her!
Nero huddled Spike close so the two of them could come up with a plan. "Alright, let's think; Twilight's upset that she can't find any jobs she's good at, so we just need to find a job that she would be good at. Besides magic, what talents does Twilight have?"
"Hmm... Well, she's always great at organizing stuff. She loves reorganizing the library practically every week!" Spike suggested.
Huh... now that I think about it, back when we were making the bird nests, Twilight had organized all her supplies in record time. But I can't think of any jobs that require organization to clean up Winter. Unless some convenient miracle job that requires a pony who's good at organizing stuff shows up, there's no way we're gonna-
"Rainbow Dash, y'all on the weather team need to melt the rest of this snow here on the ground, and the trees, pronto!" Both Nero and Spike perked up when they heard Applejack's voice from behind them. They turned around to see the farm pony talking with Rainbow Dash a few feet away, along with the rest of the pegasi on the weather team hovering above them.
"Got it!" Rainbow saluted. She was about to fly off and do as AJ asked, only to be stopped by Fluttershy.
"You can't! My poor little animals' homes will get flooded if the snow melts too fast!" The meek pony explained.
"Got it." Rainbow replied. She was about to fly off again, only to be stopped a second time, this time by Applejack.
"I'm telling ya, Rainbow, ya gotta melt that snow now!" Applejack ordered. Rainbow nodded and took to the sky, only to be stopped from flying off once again by Fluttershy.
"No! You simply must wait!" Fluttershy pleaded.
"Ok-!" Rainbow was stopped yet again by Applejack.
"Go!" AJ demanded.
"Stop!" Fluttershy demanded.
"GO!"
"STOP!"
"GO!!!"
"STOP!!!"
"UGH, MAKE UP YOUR MINDS!!!" Rainbow yelled. Nero and Spike shared glances as they watched the squabble ensue.
"Oh, what in Equestria are you all arguing about?" Nero and Spike watched as the mayor approached, not at all amused by the debacle. "This sort of silliness is why we were late for Spring last year, and the year before that, and the year before that!"
"Did she say... late?" Nero and Spike looked back to see Twilight had poked her head out of the bush, the commotion having gotten her attention as well.
"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!" The mayor gestured to several places around town. "The Ice scorer made the ice chunks too big to melt! The nest designer's horrendously behind, we need several hundred, and she's only made one! And don't get me started on all the clouds still in the sky, the icicles on the trees, oh 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." Applejack added.
"Chillax, Applejack! We're busting our chops as fast as we can!" Rainbow rebutted.
"No! Not fast. You have to wake animals slowly." Fluttershy insisted.
"Uh... AJ?" Everyone turned to see Applejack's brother, Big Macintosh, approaching with an orange earth pony stallion. Upon seeing the stallion, AJ smacked a hoof against her face.
"Oh, good gravy. Caramel lost the grass seeds again, didn't he?" Applejack gave an annoyed groan, and the stallion, 'Caramel', winced at the reaction.
"Ayep." Big Mac simply answered.
Just then, another pegasus from the weather team flew over, clearly paniced about something. "Ditzy Doo accidentally went North to get the Southern birds!"
"Oh, that featherbrain! Didn't she learn her lesson last year when she went West!?" Rainbow exclaimed in frustration. Things continued on like this for a bit. All of the ponies crowded around the Town Hall, yelling, complaining, and arguing about something or other. It was complete chaos.
Yeesh, what a shit show.
"Stop this at once! We don't have time to argue!" The mayor declared. "It's almost sundown, and Spring is going to be late again! Another year of scandal and shame! If only we could be more organized..."
...Did-...Did she say 'organized'?
Nero and Spike looked back at Twilight, who now had a bright smile on her face. It seemed they had finally found a job for her.
Wow. That convenient miracle job turned up after all. How 'bout that.
"Spike, get my checklist and clipboard, stat!" Twilight said as she hopped out of the bush. Spike gave a salute before rushing back to the library. Nero and Twilight approached the bickering crowd, and Twilight tried to get their attention. "Stop, everypony! Stop!"
Unfortunately, everyone was too caught up in the arguing that none of them could hear Twilight. Getting an idea, Nero whipped out Blue Rose and fired into the air twice, instantly silencing the crowd and getting their attention. "EVERYONE LISTEN UP!" He yelled before turning the attention to Twilight. She thanked him before addressing everypony present.
"I know you all want to complete your jobs on time, but arguing is no way to go about it. What you need is..." Partway through Twilight's sentence, Spike came back holding a quill, clipboard, and checklist. "Organization! And I'm just the pony for the job!"
Twilight had gotten to work instantly, planning out the quickest and most effective methods to clean up Winter. For the nest making, supplies were properly separated and organized, and extra ponies were assigned to help build the nests themselves. For the ice scoring, measurements of the lake were made to show the ice skaters where to skate, creating evenly spaced cuts in the ice and keeping the ice chunks from being too big.
At Sweet Apple Acres, the ponies in charge of plowing the snow were tailed by ponies in charge of planting seeds. This allowed them to plow the field and plant the seeds at the same time, saving them much needed time to take care of other tasks. In the meadow where the critters were hibernating, bells were set up outside all of the burrows, all of them connected by ropes that were tied together. When they were finished, they pulled the rope to ring all of the bells at once, waking up all the critters at the same time. After that, the weather team was given the signal to clear away the clouds and melt away the snow.
Everypony continued on like this, working at a quick and steady pace. They planted grass and flowers, helping the birds return from migration, so on and so forth. They continued to work even through the night, and by the time morning came, everyone stood outside of Ponyville, overlooking the town. The sun was shining, birds were singing, flowers were blooming, the grass was green, and the rivers flowed evenly.
Spring was finally here, and it was a gorgeous sight.
Nero, Twilight, and the mayor all stood at the top of a small hill overlooking the town, the rest of ponyville's citizens crowded behind them. Spike was asleep on Nero's back, having been exhausted from all the hard work. The baby dragon was lucky Nero had found him when he did. Spike had been napping on a chunk of ice in the lake that was close to melting. If Nero hadn't grabbed him, Spike would've been in for quite the surprise when the ice finally melted. With how worn-out Nero was at the moment, he was actually pretty jealous of the baby dragon.
"I can't believe it... Spring is here! On time!" The mayor gazed upon the result of everyone's work with joyful disbelief before turning to Twilight and Nero. "And we have you to thank for it, Twilight Sparkle. If it weren't for your organizing skills, we would still be arguing." She then turned to Nero. "I also want to thank you for providing your assistance with this year's Winter Wrap-Up, Nero. With your strength and speed contributing to the work, we were able to get things done twice as fast!"
Technically I didn't do much until after Twilight stepped up to help organize things, but I probably shouldn't mention that if I want to get paid.
"All in a day's work." Nero shrugged.
"It was a team effort." Twilight smiled.
"Ms. Sparkle, since you helped organize every team, we have an official vest for you." As the mayor said this, Rarity walked up beside her, levitating a vest similar to all the other team vests. What made this one stand out was that it had colors from all three teams, blue, green, and tan. "We give you the title: All-Team Organizer!"
"Gosh... I don't even know what to say. Thank you, everypony!" Twilight admired the vest as she put it on. The mayor then turned to address the crowd.
"And hereby I declare that Winter is... wrapped up on time!" The crowd of ponies cheered at the mayor's declaration, clopping their hooves in applause.
"Welp, glad we got everything sorted out. If you don't mind, I'm gonna head back to Devil May Cry." Nero levitated the slumbering Spike onto Twilight's back.
"Leaving already? Don't you want to celebrate?" Twilight gave him a confused look.
"Oh, I plan to celebrate, alright. I'll be celebrating the same way Spike is: with a nice, long, nap. I just stayed up for over 24 hours while only running on 4 hours of sleep. 'Tired' doesn't even begin to describe how I feel." With that, Nero turned on his hoof and left, dragging his hooves as he did.
"Oh. Well, I hope you enjoy your nap then!" Twilight called out to the devil hunter, to which he gave her a wave back. As Nero made his way back to Devil May Cry, he took in the sights around him. The blooming flowers, the singing birds, he had to admit it was a beautiful sight. As tired as he was, he'd be lying if he said he didn't have a good time wrapping up Winter.
For Nero's first Winter Wrap-Up, it wasn't half bad.