WINTER WRAP UP
“Oh come on! Wait you blasted chicken! No,no! Don't eat that you blasted rabbit!” Ericka exclaimed in frustration as she ran about Fluttershy's back yard now only to trip over a stray branch on the ground and hit the ground face first with a face-full of snow.
“Ugh, how does she do it?!” Ericka thought to herself dramatically as Fluttershy walked past her and up the the rabbits.
“Now, now, Lets not eat things we shouldn't now little ones. We don't want to get an upset tummy do we?” Fluttershy asked aloud kindly at which point the rabbits stopped gnawing on the roses in Fluttershy's yard. The yellow Pegasus then turned to look at the chickens.
“Now, Now. Lets all be good little chickens and get back into your coop.” The yellow Pegasus said with a soft smile to which the chickens obeyed without question.
“How do you do it? They don't seem to listen to me worth a dang.” Ericka remarked aloud in awe at how easily Fluttershy had managed to get the animals to do what she said.
“It just takes a kind hoof is all.” Fluttershy replied modestly then turned to look at her. “Thank you very much for helping me with the animals today Cloudkicker.” Fluttershy said with a warm smile.
“It was no problem at all. Though I don't see how much of a help I was. I seemed to make more problems than helping.” Ericka replied with a sigh.
“Oh no, if you weren't here I don't know how I could have managed all these animals. What with winter wrap up starting in a few hours and all.” Fluttershy replied looking back to the animals whom were now all in their proper places.
“Now she's just being too kind.” Ericka thought to herself dismally as she made a facehoofing gesture then looked up at her. “What's winter wrap-up?” Ericka asked curiously.
“Oh dear, I forgot you have amnesia! I'm such a featherbrain!” Fluttershy exclaimed out loud guiltily.
“Hey, hey, don't beat yourself up Fluttershy.” Ericka replied with a sheepish smile now. If there was any time that her ploy made her felt guiltily, seeing this shy and thoughtful pony beating herself up over something that was nothing more than a lie to cover her own flank was it.
“Oh but I am! I should have remembered!” Fluttershy continued looking as if she felt so ashamed for being so thoughtless and at the same time twisting the proverbial guilt knife deeper into Ericka's chest.
“Hey, hey, just tell me what winter wrap-up is and all is forgiven, how's that sound?” Ericka asked curiously.
The look on Fluttershy's face as she smiled at her now made Ericka wonder for a brief moment if that much cute and adorableness was deadly as she suddenly just wanted to hug her as if she was a stuffed teddy bear but resisted the urge.
“Well, um, winter wrap-up is when we clear out the snow and ice to make way for spring. And we each have our own jobs that we do each year.” Fluttershy said as she looked at her now.
“Okay then, well I should go and get ready myself then shouldn't I. So I'll catch you later.” Ericka replied as she quickly took off to the skies and towards a certain pink mare's house.
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“Opsie...” Pinkie Pie remarked with a guilty smile as Ericka fumed at her over not telling her about Winter Wrap-up and when it was. “Well as a Pegasus, your job will most likely be either helping the summer birds find their way back here or clearing the clouds out of the skies.” Pinkie Pie replied with a smile.
“Well we both know that helping the birds is out of the question then as the only place in Equestria that I barely know how to navigate is Ponyville.” Ericka replied followed by a groan as she sat on her rump.
“What's wrong?” The pink mare asked curiously as Ericka sighed.
“There's still so much about Equestria that I don't know about. The only place I knew existed up till I found out from Twilight when I first got here was Ponyville and I didn't even get the town's name down for the first month.” Ericka remarked dismally.
“Hearths warming eve taught you something didn't it? We all went to Canterlot as we do every year.” Pinkie Pie said in the most comforting tone she could muster.
“I volunteered to look after the library remember? I wasn't too keen on seeing the royal sisters again so soon after my last encounter. Remember, they know about me too.” Ericka replied to which Pinkie Pie frowned slightly before her eyes lit up.
“Hey, I got it! How about you ask Rainbow Dash to take you to Cloudsdale?” The pink mare suggested with a grin.
“That's not a bad idea Pinkie. I can get in touch with my roots. Most Pegasus' come from Cloudsdale after all right?” Ericka replied feeling her depression be replaced with joy at the mere thought of this.
“Yep! And I'm sure Rainbow Dash would be more than happy to show you around! She after all does work at the cloud factory.” Pinkie Pie replied as she walked past her and towards the door, stopped, and turned around to look at Ericka once more. “You should talk to Twilight, she's the one who organizes everything every year. Since this is your first Winter Wrap-Up, I'm sure she won't give you anything too hard.” Pinkie Pie remarked just before she ran out the door.
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“You three focus on plowing the fields, you five get those clouds moved, and you two start planting the the apple and hay seeds.” The purple unicorn ordered as ponies moved about town clearing snow off the trees, homes, and ground as Ericka walked up to her.
“Hey Twilight, got anything for me to do?” Ericka asked in a chipper tone with an eagerness to help.
“One moment Cloudkicker, I said the daisies go in the town square gardens, not the crop fields!” Twilight exclaimed in an annoyed tone as she ran off leaving the dark blue Pegasus alone.
“Wow, and I thought the library was stressful for her.” Ericka remarked stunned as the unicorn ran off.
It was at this point and time the dark blue Pegasus caught sight of Rainbow Dash whom was currently pushing clouds along the skies and took off from the ground to meet her.
“Sorry Cloudkicker, no lessons today, I got my hooves full with Winter Wrap-Up.” The cyan blue Pegasus replied before Ericka could even say anything.
“No, no, you misunderstand. I want to help.” Ericka replied with a eager expression.
“You want to help?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously to which the dark blue Pegasus nodded so fast she could have swore for a moment she was looking at a dark blue version of Pinkie Pie. “Heh, you're really eager to help aren't ya? Alright then, help me push this snow cloud then.” The cyan blue Pegasus replied to which Ericka flew beside her and placed her hooves on the cloud.
“Okay, now we got to be careful because if we push too hard then- wait!” Rainbow Dash began to say casually only for Ericka to just start shoving the cloud without listening at which point a flood of snow fell from it and coated the crops below them.
“Rainbow Dash! What the hay are ya doin up thar?!” Applejack exclaimed from the ground angrily as she shook snow off her head and glared at her.
“Hey, don't look at me! Cloudkicker here was the one who shoved the cloud too hard!” The cyan blue Pegasus countered with a glare of her own before looking back at Cloudkicker whom wore a sheepish yet guilty expression now. “Maybe you should try to do something else. It's not that I don't want your help, it's just that with you having amnesia and all, you don't really know how to move winter clouds.” Rainbow Dash said followed by a sigh and resumed pushing the clouds on her own leaving Ericka with her ears flat and a frown on her face.
“Well that was a bust.” Ericka remarked with a scowl until she caught sight of Applejack and Big Macintosh pushing plows on the ground, dived down and landed next to them.
“Howdy thar, Cloudkicker.” Applejack greeted as she pulled the plow.
“Anything I can do to help?” Ericka asked with an eager expression.
“Hmm...nah.” Applejack replied as she tapped her hoof on her chin for a few moments before she resumed pulling the plow.
“Oh come on! There has to be something I can do! You saw me up there, I can't push the clouds without causing a mess!” Ericka replied in a desperate tone.
“Why am ah havin a sense of deja-vu?” Applejack asked aloud with a worried expression before she shook her head as if to cast away the thought. “Well, ah reckon ya could possibly help with pullin the plows, course being a Pegasus and all ya might have a tough time and all since leg strength ain't your strong point and all.” Applejack replied with a friendly smile.
“Oh don't worry about it, I'm stronger than I look!” Ericka reassured the farm pony.
“Well get your flank over thar and get to pullin that plow on the eastern quarter of the crops and we'll see how ya fair.” Applejack replied at which point Ericka darted over to the plow, put the harness around her, and began to try and pull the plow.
Unfortunately for Ericka though, just as the farm pony said, her legs were not her strong point and she was struggling to even move an inch at the moment. “Oh for peat's sake! I can bench press three hundred pounds with my legs! This should be cake!” Ericka thought to herself in a pissed off tone as she continued to strain her legs in order to move the plow.
No matter how much the dark blue Pegasus tried however, the plow just wouldn't budge. “Ugh! This is stupid! How hard is it to move one of these things?! Come on Ericka, think!” The dark blue Pegasus exclaimed in a whisper to herself.
“You okay thar Cloudkicker?” Applejack called out from a distance away as she pulled her plow.
“Y-Yeah! I'm just preparing myself is all!” Ericka called back and growled to herself. “Come on, move!” Ericka exclaimed in frustration and without realizing it began to flap her wings which actually did move the plow. “H-Hey! I got it!” Ericka exclaimed joyfully as she began to use her wings to pull the plow now as she flapped along with the plow not far behind her.
“Uh, sis. Ah think we aught to tell Cloudkicker to slow down thar.” The large red stallion remarked in an worried tone as he pointed a hoof over to Ericka whom unknown to her had amassed a large ball of snow
“Please don't let this beh Deja-vu...” Applejack remarked aloud to herself as she took the harness off herself and ran over to Cloudkicker
“Hey, Uh, ya might wanna slow down thar partner!” Applejack exclaimed in a worried tone which caused Ericka to halt herself completely.
This turned out to be a very bad idea.
“Whaaah!” Ericka shrieked as the ball of snow seemed to consume her and rolled towards the farm pony who's ears flattened and sighed dejectedly.
“Yep, Deja-vu...” The farm pony remarked dismally just before the ball of snow grabbed her and rolled along the crop field and come to a messy halt on the other side of the field in a pile of snow and moments later Ericka and Applejack's heads popped out of the pile.
“Ah don't think plowin the fields is such a good idea for ya surgarcube.” Applejack remarked aloud with the best smile should could muster.
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Ericka now sat in the middle of town square and sighed dejectedly as ponies ran about doing their usual tasks when Twilight stepped up to her and sat next to her.
“I heard about your attempts to help Rainbow Dash and Applejack.” Twilight remarked doing her best to not sound condemning as she spoke.
“Yeah, I made matters worse for the both of them.” Ericka replied and gave another sigh at which point the purple unicorn giggled which caused her to look at her. “What's so funny?” The dark blue Pegasus asked curiously.
“You remind me of my first time during Winter Wrap-up.” Twilight replied as she looked up to the sky now.
“You couldn't have done any worse than me.” Ericka replied to which Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder and grinned.
“Are you kidding me? I caused Pinkie Pie and myself to go flying into a pile of snow, ruined the crops, butchered a bird's nest, and caused Fluttershy's animals to go on a rampage in my frantic scramble to run from some harmless snakes.” Twilight replied with a giggle which caused the dark blue Pegasus's mouth to drop in shock.
“Wow, and I thought I had it bad.” Ericka replied after a few moments as a smile washed over her face now with a slight chuckle.
“No matter how much you seem to screw things up, just remember that there's always something you can do to contribute to Winter Wrap-Up.” Twilight said in a reassuring tone.
“What do you suggest then?” Ericka asked curiously.
“Well, you did a great job of organizing things with the library, so how about you help me with assigning jobs?” Twilight asked with a warm smile.
“That sounds great! I just have one question...” Ericka asked curiously.
“Oh? What's that?” Twilight replied as she stood up as did Ericka.
“Can you teach me what the jobs are and what each pony needs to do?” the dark blue Pegasus asked sheepishly to which Twilight giggled.
“Of course, Cloudkicker. Now lets start with the order in which the clouds need to be cleared and the animals being woken up..."