//------------------------------// // That Time of Year... // Story: Comet and Aqua's Winter Wrap-up // by CometandAqua //------------------------------// It was the day before the first day of spring, Winter Wrap-up day. Two pegasi sat on a bench, one white with blue markings and a fish tail, the other a mare with gray fur and covered in blankets. "Comet! Why won't you work this year?!" Aqua, the white mare pleaded her best friend. "No, I haven't don't it yet, and I won't. I have a two year streak going," Comet, the gray mare replied. "Do it for me at least! I just moved here a few months ago! I want this to be the best Winter Wrap-up ever!" Aqua pleaded. "That's what you said about Hearths Warming Eve. I did the silly play, so lay off the pleading," Comet huffed. "If you won't do it willingly, I'll make you!!" Aqua said, grabbing the blanket around Comet and flying up into the air with her. "Whoa! Sheesh, I can fly myself!" Comet yelled, flying out of the blanket. "But you wouldn't willingly." Aqua said, crossing her hooves. "Touché," Comet said. "Okay, what first?" "You'll do it?! Awesome!! First, let's try out the Plant Team!!" Aqua squeed, pulling her friend behind her. "The Plant Team?!" Comet screamed. "No!!" "And y'all want to join the Plant Team?" AppleJack asked the two mares, one beaming happily, the other staring at the former with doubt in her eyes. "Of course! Tell us what to do and we'll get it done!" Aqua said happily. Comet merely shrugged. "Alright then, just take these here seeds and place 'em in the holes behind the ponies plowin' the fields. Simple enough?" AppleJack said to the two pegasi, handing them bags of seeds. "Start over there," AppleJack instructed, gesturing towards the field with several ponies pulling plows. The two pegasi flew behind two of the plows, and dropped down. They began to carefully dropping the seeds into the tracks. A pony behind them watered the plants as they went on. "Hey Cloudkicker, over here!" A voice said above them. Two pegasi flew above them, clearing out clouds from the sky. Comet gazed up at them, and the pony behind her walked right into her, spilling the water and seeds and wetting them both. "Oops, sorry," Comet sighed. "Maybe you should find something else to do," the yellow pony said, it was CarrotTop. "Maybe that is a good idea, let's go Comet." Aqua sighed. She helped her friend up and they flew off to find another team. "Let's try the Animal Team." "What?!" "So you want to join the Animal Team?" Sparkler, a purple unicorn, asked. "Yeah, we didn't do so well with the Plant Team." Aqua sighed. "Yeah, two ponies got soaked," Comet grunted. "One of which happened to be me." "Well then, let's start you off with waking up the animals," Sparkler said, handing the mares a bell each. "Ring this for the animals gently to wake them up." "I thought Twilight Sparkle made a system of bells that woke all the animals up at once?" Comet asked. "She did, but it broke as we were setting it up and we don't have time to replace it," Sparkler sighed. "Let's go!" Aqua said, pushing Comet to the burrows. "Wake up little creatures," she whispered as she rang the bell at the entrance to one of the burrows. Comet trotted over to a different burrow, and carefully rang the bell. A few snakes slithered out, and Comet just backed up. Aqua caught sight of the snakes, and leapt up into the tree above. "Maybe this won't work," Sparkler said, noticing Comet's futile attempts to persuade her friend out the tree. "How about we try nest weaving. Rarity will show you what to do," she said, gesturing to the table where Rarity was weaving nests. "I think I can do that," Aqua said quietly, hovering towards Rarity's table and above the snakes. When they arrived, Rarity was busy with another nest, weaving ribbons into the delicately made structure. "Over here darlings, I'll help you get started," the ivory unicorn called to the pegasi. They walked over to the table and sat down in front of a pile of supplies. "First you must take the straw," Rarity began, as she guided them through the process of weaving a nest. "Like this?" Aqua asked, holding up her finished creation. "Exactly, great job." Rarity replied with a smile. "Um, help?" Comet called to the other ponies. She had become caught up in the straw and ribbons, and looked almost like a scarecrow dressed in ribbons. "Should we try the Weather Team?" Aqua asked her entangled partner. Rarity proceded to untangle Comet out of the mess, only using magic when hooves couldnt cut it, and the two pegasi flew off to the Weather Team. "So you think you've got what it takes to join the Weather Team?" Rainbow Dash asked the mares. She eyed both of them up and down. "Yeah, the other teams don't really work well for us." Comet explained. "Well then, strap on some ice skates and help Pinkie with breaking the ice." Rainbow said, tossing them a pair of skates each. Once they were strapped on securely, the two flew off to the last frozen lake in Ponyville. "I'll bet Rainbow sent you to help out!! Super! Just follow in the pattern like the rest of us and you'll be fine!" Pinkie Pie said as she jumped up to meet the mares. The three of them and the other group of ponies lines up on all sides of the pond and began to skate in a straight line. Aqua used her wings and tail to balance her skating, executing a perfectly straight line. Comet, on the other hoof, could not for Equis stay balanced. She kept slipping on the ice, and ended up causing 8 ponies to crash. "Maybe you should try working with the weather instead," Pinkie Pie said as she slid on her stomach across the pond. "Good idea," Comet replied weerily, carefully hovering up and over to the snow bank, where she and Aqua removed the skates. "One more try, then I'm done." The two flew up to Rainbow Dash on a cloud, and retold the incident on the ice. "And so all we can do now is the weather! Please let us!" Aqua begged the cyan pony. "Okay then, let's see what you got. Clear those clouds up there," Rainbow Dash challenged, pointing to the clouds above them. The two mares zoomed up to them, and quickly began to buck each cloud. After 2 minutes, the entire sky above them was clear. "Nice job, now help the rest of us clear the rest of the sky," Rainbow said. The three flew to the giant cluster of pegasi. Rainbow Dash blew a whistle, and all of the ponies began to fly in a spiral, bringing the clouds along with them. This is what I've needed to be doing all day, Comet thought as she flew in the torrent of pegasi. The sky was clear in mere minutes, the bright sun shining down on the snow and ice. The snow began to melt, and the ice with it. "Great job pegasi! Let's get back to town square!" Rainbow Dash yelled out above the crowd. Everypony was giving bro-hoofs, and hugging each other. "Great job you two, you should try doing this again next year," Rainbow Dash said to Comet and Aqua, patting them on the back. "You know, I think I might." Comet said, and Aqua just hugged her best friend, who hugged back.