//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Spring Ahead // Story: Earth to Twilight // by terrycloth //------------------------------// Winter Wrap Up came and went like one of the whirlwinds used to clear the snow from the less populated areas. Twilight managed to throw together a plan at the last second, just like everypony knew she would, and for the most part Trixie’s improvements didn’t interfere with the well-practiced rituals the Ponyville ponies looked forward to all year. Everything seemed to go better than ever – they finished the last of the wrap up two hours after dark, instead of having to work through the night like they had the past few years, and everypony showed up for the big fireworks show / awards ceremony where Twilight counted up the score for each small team of ponies, and Trixie handed out the prizes alongside a magic trick or two to keep the whole thing from being boring and dry. When the sun rose, it was a town full of tired but happy ponies that walked slowly home to rest after a night of celebration, enjoying the bright sun, green grass, colorful flowers, and warm spring breezes that they’d all worked so hard to bring back to the world. Once the glow had worn off, though, some of the problems started to surface. Patches of unmelted ice on some of the lesser lakes, dead grass in fields where nopony had remembered to plant new seeds, bits of cloud-cover that the sonic rainbooms had tossed around instead of dispersing, and even one secluded forest valley full to the brim with snow, where the icy air numbed your skin and the bright green leaves that shaded the scene from the sun, and obscured it from patrolling pegasi, were already starting to wilt from the cold. Apparently, the promise of prizes had led some teams to get a little over-eager to call in complete. It was the fastest Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville history, but also the sloppiest. “Maybe next year we can bring in Flim and Flam to have a giant, magic-operated snow throwing machine dump all our snow cover on Fillydelphia,” Twilight grumbled. “You’re just jealous that you will never have the amazing organizational powers of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” said the showmare, before blinding everypony with a flash of light and galloping off. She didn’t come back. “I guess she left for her show tour early,” Rainbow Dash said, a couple days later, as Twilight and her friends, and Cherry Berry, and Cherry Berry’s friends were having a picnic in the park. “She should swing back by Ponyville in a month or so.” “And none of you are going with her this time?” “Winter break’s over, dear,” Rarity said, looking over from her chat with Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops. “We have our own businesses to attend to.” Twilight wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Eventually, she decided it was none of her business – her friends would grow apart from Trixie, or not, and all Twilight had to do about the situation was document it for posterity, and check the outcome against her models. And spring was the perfect time for not worrying about things, especially if you were a student. Even more so if one of your fields of study was so ill-defined that you could rationalize hanging out in the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres with Rainbow Dash as ‘relaxation practice’. In a small fig leaf to responsibility, and to distinguish the time from simple slacking off, Twilight left all her books at home. She spotted a sky-blue hind leg dangling from the canopy of a large apple tree, and curled up near the trunk, shifting around until she was comfortable, letting the breeze run through her mane, while her hoof scraped idly at a gnarled root. She closed her eyes, and imagined her spirit soaking into the ground, linking her to the web of life that made up the orchard – grass and trees, mice and snakes, and the slow steady progress of the other ponies working the land. At some point, she must have dozed off, because she woke with a start as something slammed into the trunk of the tree, and a sprawling, feathery mass of pegasus landed on her back. The two of them looked up at the scowling orange farmpony. “Not you too,” Applejack grumbled, fixing her eyes on Twilight in particular. “And this where we run away,” Rainbow Dash said, “before she makes us help with her chores.” So they ran off, laughing, as Applejack shook her head at the pair of them and didn’t bother chasing. “It was getting pretty late anyway,” Twilight said once they’d shaken off their lack of pursuit, eyeing the sun on its downward arc. “Want to head home and start the book club meeting early?” “I think I’ll practice a few tricks,” Rainbow Dash said, fluttering up into the sky, as if dragged by an invisible magnet. “No sense wasting daylight.” “I’ll bake another evening batch then,” Twilight said. “I’m in the right frame of mind for it. Maybe this time it’ll even be edible!” “Uh… yeah…” Rainbow Dash said, in a tone that was trying desperately to pass for politeness and flailing. “I know, I know,” Twilight said with an easy laugh. “Don’t save room.” That night wasn’t the batch where she finally figured out the intricacies of baking either, but afterwards she and Spike choked down the bitter, sticky, blackened things, making their best guess as to whether she’d gone ‘high’ or ‘low’ on each ingredient, and then matching it to the predictions she’d made at the time using her intuition and that Spike had made using her formulas. The results were still random, but if nothing else, only baking at certain times each day kept her from obsessively trying over and over until she’d worked herself into a panic and destroyed the kitchen. Eventually Rainbow Dash came over for the book club meeting. She was back to being the only member; Rarity begged off more often than not (tonight’s excuse was that she had a big order and needed to brainstorm) and of course Ditto and Seaside were long gone. They’d finished Changelings of Canterlot – or, rather, Twilight had finished it, and Rainbow Dash only had a few more pages so she read them while Twilight waited. “What the hay?” Rainbow Dash said, as she read the last lines. “Quite a twist, wasn’t it?” Twilight said, laughing. “I have to admit I didn’t see that coming.” Rainbow Dash threw the book down on the table. “It ruined the whole book! I mean, the whole time you’re rooting for the changelings and the rebels and then it turns out it was all a trick just to get her to convert?” “There were hints,” Twilight said. “I mean, in retrospect… at the time I thought it was just poor writing. I wonder what they’re going to do for the sequel?” Rainbow Dash snorted. “I’m not sure I care.” “Well…” Twilight said, walking over to the fiction section and looking over the books there. “The next Daring Do isn’t out yet, let me see what we’ve got.” She skimmed the titles, making a mental list of likely candidates. Finding something that would hold Rainbow’s interest was not a trivial matter. “Do you think they were just using us?” Rainbow Dash asked, snapping Twilight back to reality. “A quick snack, and maybe they’ll trick us into converting, then when it’s obvious they’ve gotten all they can, poof.” It was pretty obvious who she was talking about. Both of them had been glancing anxiously at the door all night, hoping that a pair of… well, of probably unfamiliar faces would show up. Twilight considered it for a bit, then shook her head. “Friendship lesson 23. Always expect the best from your friends, and never assume the worst. Rest assured that a good friend always has your best interests at heart.” Rainbow Dash stared at her. Twilight stared back, nervously. “What?” “You memorized them?” “Er… heh heh,” Twilight said, flattening her ears. “After the trouble with Discord…” Rainbow Dash laughed. “You did! You studied your own friendship reports!” “It’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do!” “Egghead!” “Trixie studied them too!” “You are such a nerd!” “Rainbow!” And they laughed into the night, because it was good to be home.