//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Spring // Story: Retirement Blues // by Alaborn //------------------------------// Retirement Blues By Alaborn Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein. Chapter 7: Spring Gold Watch sighed as he poured the last of the coffee into his grinder. It wouldn’t be enough to make a cup worth drinking. He dug around his pantry, hoping to find a forgotten bag of coffee beans. Instead, he found the chest Green Tea had given him. He had stored it away a month ago. Seeing it brought up bad memories of a breakfast with his daughter on the third Monday of February. “So how did you celebrate Hearts and Hooves Day?” she asked. “Oh? I didn’t have any plans. Figured I’d leave the day to younger ponies.” Colgate looked at him crossly. “You’ve spent a lot of time with Green Tea. Don’t you think she would have liked to spend the day with you?” Gold Watch shrugged. It was the wrong thing to do. Colgate blew up. “How can you treat her so callously? She doesn’t deserve to be ignored on such a special day.” “And I’m sure you spent the day with that optometrist.” “He’s a professional colleague!” The rest of that breakfast consisted mostly of angry stares and silence. Gold Watch sighed. She was so stubborn. And he knew exactly where she got her stubbornness from. But she was right. He should have paid Green Tea a visit. He retreated to his bedroom, and looked at a portrait on the wall. It was from his twentieth wedding anniversary. He looked so young in the portrait, still having color in his mane. And Blue Opal.... Blue Opal always understood. Gold Watch intuitively sensed every day on the calendar. He knew when the day was a holiday, a birthday, or an anniversary. But he didn’t get to choose the calendar of Gold Watch, the police officer. Blue Opal understood. The special days became all those they could spend together. The days spent with little Minuette were rarer still. And his feelings, the ones he had trouble putting into words... Blue Opal understood those, too. He had told himself that he just didn’t need coffee. That waving to Green Tea in passing was enough friendly interaction. He regretted the missed opportunity. He was no longer tied to a calendar of somepony else’s making, but he failed to take advantage of his freedom. It took Gold Watch three days to realize that Colgate was right. And then, it took three weeks, two days, and nine hours for him to do something about it. It was time to stallion up. Off in the distance, the Ponyville clock tower sounded the hour. Make that three weeks, two days, and ten hours. A thick blanket of snow covered Ponyville. Gold Watch hated walking through the snow. He missed how the ponies of Canterlot kept the street shoveled. He hadn’t needed to walk through the snow to see Green Tea. The weather ponies had brought in warm weather around Hearts and Hooves Day, melting the snow. There were several clear days before the snowstorms that would keep the streets covered with snow until spring. He could have visited her then. Gold Watch looked up at Green Tea’s familiar shop. But he bypassed it and headed to the marketplace first. He told himself that since he needed to visit both places, it didn’t matter in what order he went there. The winter marketplace was... well, it just wasn’t the same. With the colder weather, ponies were less than thrilled to be outside. The sellers, forced to stay in the cold for hours, were always a bit curter in their interactions. And the selection, especially this time of year, was dismal. He wanted fruits and vegetables fresh from the tree or garden, not retrieved from barrels in some farmer’s cellar. He looked between Big McIntosh’s apple cart and Golden Grain’s carrot cart. Both foods kept well in the cellar, but Gold Watch had another reason driving his decision to purchase carrots. As he paid his bits and levitated two bundles of carrots into his saddlebags, he asked Golden Grain “How long have you been married?” “About five years,” he replied. “How did you meet?” “It was family, you know? My family knew her family, and they said ‘Golden, there’s this mare we think you’d like.’ So I went to Ponyville, we hit it off, and after harvest, we were married.” “That seems rather fast,” Gold Watch observed. “If you know something’s right, why wait?” “Then how did you know it was right? That she was the one?” “Coming to Ponyville, the first thing I did was trot over to my wife’s farm. I saw her in the fields. She was facing away from me, picking carrots. And that was one sight I could see myself returning to again and again.” He nudged Gold Watch with his hoof. Gold Watch was glad he wasn’t drinking at that moment, as he would likely have choked. It was one thing to know intellectually that unicorns tended to be more reserved about their private lives, and Canterlot unicorns especially so. It was another thing entirely to hear this Ponyville earth pony casually talk about his wife’s plot. “You wondering if somepony’s the one?” Gold Watch’s musings on the differences between ponies was interrupted by Golden Grain’s blunt question. He stared off toward the horizon. “Twenty-six years, three months, eleven days,” he stated. “Huh?” Golden Grain replied. “I had my ‘one’. We were married that long.” “Wow. Wish I could help you there. But if you ask me, there could be another one. Mi Amore Cadenza is the princess of love, not the princess of math.” Gold Watch chuckled. “Princess of math? Now that would be a sight to see. Actually, there’s somepony who I could see in that position.” “Don’t give Princess Celestia any ideas.” “Thanks for talking to me, Golden Grain. I’ve got some more shopping to do.” “Good luck!” Golden Grain said. Gold Watch took a deep breath and pulled open the door to Green Tea’s shop. He kicked the snow and mud off his hooves, perhaps a bit more thoroughly than he normally did, before entering. “Oh, hi, Gold Watch! I missed you! I mean, I have some new coffee for my best customer!” Gold Watch walked by the coffee section, but skipped his browsing and went to the counter. “I missed you too. I should have stopped by even if I didn’t need coffee.” “That day... it brings up memories, doesn’t it?” “We never cared about the day itself. Back when... we were together, I’d often be forced to work on a holiday. But then I’d have a day off to spend with Blue Opal, we’d look at each other, and we just understood that this was our personal holiday.” “That’s very sweet. You miss her, don’t you?” Gold Watch looked down. “Oh, sweet Celestia above, I miss her.” He didn’t know how long he was staring at his hooves, but a pleasant aroma caught his attention. He looked at the steaming teacup. “Mint tea. It’s good for soothing the throat” Gold Watch nodded and sipped the tea. His throat was a bit sore, and not because of the weather. “For me, most holidays are like any other day, a day to sell tea and coffee. To be honest, Gold Watch, I’m happy to see you no matter what the calendar says.” Green Tea smiled. “But if there’s a day I’d most like to share with somepony, it’s Winter Wrap-Up.” “I’m looking forward to the end of winter as well, but what’s so special about the start of spring?” “What? Oh, you’ve lived in Canterlot all your life,” Green Tea observed. “In Ponyville, we wrap up winter in the earth pony way. Everypony comes together and spends the day working to bring in spring. Although recently, it’s taken two days....” “I’m sure Princess Celestia would share her magic to help. Especially now that Princess Luna has returned.” “I’m sure she would as well, but this is tradition. Don’t you have spring traditions?” “A long time ago, maybe.” He recalled his foalhood, watching as Celestia’s magic brought warm weather to drive away the snow. His parents forced him to stay indoors until the snow had melted enough to reveal the grass of his lawn. He watched with anticipation, and dashed out the door the moment he saw the first browned blade. “I guess they haven’t been as important to me.” “Then start a new tradition! Why don’t you join me for Winter Wrap-Up? I’m with the part of the plant team that tends to the Whitetail Wood.” “Sounds good to me,” he replied, pleasant thoughts of working together with the citizens of Ponyville filling his mind. “But first I should find out what I’m getting myself into.” “Actually, first, shouldn’t you be buying some coffee?” Gold Watch smacked his head. “Yes. Of course.” Coffee finally in hoof, Gold Watch departed, and walked through town. He saw a few mentions of Winter Wrap-Up around town hall, but no real organization. It looked like another one of those activities where, somehow, ponies would know what to do. But that didn’t sit well with the stallion’s years of training. He wanted information. And there was one pony who would best understand coming into Winter Wrap-Up for the first time. “Are you ready for Winter Wrap-Up?” Colgate asked Sharp Eye. “I was thinking of joining the weather team,” he replied as he secured his tools. “That’s mostly pegasus work. Personally, I enjoy the animal team.” “Actually, what I want to do is ice skating. That’s on the weather team, right?” Colgate nodded. “So what do you do?” Sharp Eye asked. “I help clean the animals’ dens, make them ready for their return after hibernation.” “It’s probably best I don’t join you, then. I’m mildly allergic to cats. I have no idea what other animals would trigger my allergies.” “That’s too bad. Cats are so cute.” Sharp Eye considered the smile on Colgate’s face to be a much more welcome sight. It was a shame he would have to ruin it. “Did you notice your visitor outside?” Colgate glanced outside, seeing her father waiting on a nearby bench. There were many benches in the vicinity of her office. But this one was in position to see into Sharp Eye’s office. She stepped back. “In any case, I wanted to make sure you were prepared for Winter Wrap-Up. I guess I shouldn’t have worried.” “Maybe our paths will cross at some point during the day,” Sharp Eye said. “I’d like that. But I had best be going. I have a few things to talk about with my father, and I might be a while.” Colgate returned to her office, cleaning her tools and storing them away. She made sure to be thorough, and finished five minutes after the time she estimated Sharp Eye would depart. She then headed out the front door and walked over to her father. “Hi, Dad,” she said, without much enthusiasm. “Hi, dear,” he replied. He got off the bench carefully and embraced her. “It’s been a while.” “Too long.” She nodded in agreement. It was one occasion where the exact time that had passed was less correct than the vague descriptor. “So I talked to Green Tea, and she wants me to join her on the plant team for Winter Wrap-Up. Just what am I agreeing to?” “Funny, I was just talking to Sharp Eye about that; it seems he’s got matters well in hoof,” Colgate noted. “Anyway, it’s an interesting tradition. Here in Ponyville, we bring in spring without magic, by which I mean without unicorn magic. Nopony cares that the pegasi clear the skies with their weather magic; I guess that’s considered part of the earth pony way.” “Interesting, but I mean, will I be okay helping out?” “You might be a little sore. Just be prepared for a long day.” “How long?” Gold Watch asked “You know that feeling where everypony gets together, and you feel a song in your heart, and the feeling of cooperation flows?” “Yeah. I’ve felt that here.” “Well, it’s one of the most beautiful songs in Ponyville. The feeling lasts for an hour. The problem is, Winter Wrap-Up runs from dawn to dusk, and then into the night. And the last couple of years, Ponyville hasn’t even wrapped up winter on time.” “Is tradition more important than finishing on time?” Gold Watch asked. “What do you think?” She frowned. “But enough about that. If you decide you don’t want to be on the plant team, you could join me in waking up the animals.” “You’re working with animals? Is this all because I wouldn’t let you have a kitten when you were eight?” “Of course not,” Colgate replied. She felt her father’s withering gaze. “Um, maybe?” Gold Watch shook his head. “You’re a grown mare, and if you want a pet, you can have a pet.” “I don’t have the time to devote to a pet.” “That’s what I thought back when an eager filly promised she’d take good care of a pet.” He shook his head. “But this is a silly argument to have so many years later. Since we’re not going to be crossing paths, do you want to meet for breakfast before starting our work?” “That sounds wonderful,” Colgate said. The knock at Gold Watch’s door came at precisely 6:30 AM. He opened it, finding his daughter there, wearing her beige vest, a scarf, and boots. Gold Watch was similarly attired, save for having a green vest. “Ready to go?” he asked. “Sure, but first, did you put your clothes without magic?” “What?” Gold Watch interjected. “It’s tradition. And I take it by your response the answer is no,” Colgate responded. “I haven’t dressed myself with my hooves and mouth in more than 50 years,” Gold Watch protested. Colgate concentrated, and the scarf unwound from around her father’s neck, followed by the vest. “Just give it a try.” “And what about the magic you just used, Colgate?” “That’s different!” she sputtered. Gold Watch just shrugged and picked up his vest. He struggled to put it on, the fabric being caught on the rough edges of his hooves when it wasn’t simply falling to the ground. When he finally got it secured, putting on his scarf was a lot easier. But he felt tiny threads of yarn sticking to his lips and tongue. He was reminded exactly why unicorns didn’t manipulate objects by mouth. “I definitely need something to drink after that.” “Agreed. I know Sugarcube Corner does a brisk business this morning, but strictly take-out.” Sugarcube Corner had large stacks of muffins and scones prepared, though with less variety than normal. The crowd was greater than normal, but Pinkie Pie easily skated through the crowd, delivering pastries and beverages. Then Gold Watch noticed something about the mare. She didn’t just appear to be skating. “Are you wearing ice skates, Miss Pie?” “Yes indeedy! I’m just so excited about getting out there and breaking up the ice that I woke up and got dressed super early!” She hummed cheerily and skated off. “How is she doing that?” Gold Watch asked Colgate. “It’s Pinkie Pie. Don’t ask,” she replied. Gold Watch and Colgate took their blueberry muffins and orange juice outside and joined the gathering crowd. Though still before dawn, most of the town had already gathered by the town hall. “The mayor is going to declare the start of Winter Wrap-Up,” Colgate explained. Gold Watch looked at the empty stage. “I suspected as much.” He went back to his breakfast. Just as the first rays of dawn peeked over the horizon, Mayor Mare strode to the stage. Gold Watch found the crowd much more interesting than the mayor’s banal speech. It was quite unusual to see everypony dressed like this. From listening to the crowd, he determined the vests were a new creation, made by Rarity. He wondered how, or if, the teams identified themselves in previous years. Gold Watch then noticed one pony without a vest. Surprisingly, it was Princess Celestia’s student. Just like him, she was new to town But how come she didn’t find a team already? He felt a nudge. “Good morning, Gold Watch,” a familiar voice said. “It’s never a good morning until I’ve had my coffee,” he replied. Green Tea laughed. “And whose fault is that?” “I’m guessing the mayor, or whoever decided to start this thing so early.” “It’s just so much to do,” Green Tea said. She started bobbing her head, and Gold Watch soon felt it as well. They began humming the melody that filled their hearts, and soon joined in on the most beautiful song Gold Watch had ever experienced. “I’m ready to work, even though I’m not exactly sure what we’re doing,” Gold Watch said once the song was complete. “Come along. I’ll show you.” Green Tea still had a bounce in her step, even when carrying a large cart with shovels and other tools in it. She led a group of six ponies away from the main plant team and to a familiar wood. This place once got the better of Gold Watch. It wouldn’t get him today. “Are we going to clear the entire Whitetail Wood?” he asked. “Not the whole thing, just the edge. We let plants grow naturally here, including what goes into the many herbal teas I sell, but we do need to clear the snow away first.” Gold Watch surveyed the area. “Which snow?” “We need to clear the snow banks that have accumulated on the ground, then brush the snow off the bushes.” “Wouldn’t it be better to clear the bushes first, then the ground?” Gold Watch suggested. “We’re going to have to come back anyway, once the snow comes off the trees,” Green Tea said. Gold Watch looked up. There was a lot of snow sitting in the branches. “This could certainly be done better.” In his years on the police force, he had mastered doing his job efficiently. As a patrol officer, he identified multiple patrol routes that covered the most ground in the shortest time. And even when at his desk, he had a paper filing system that minimized the time required, for filing and searching in total. Everypony else called it the teetering pile method, but by Celestia, it worked. “I’m just happy to help,” Green Tea said. “Now, let’s get shoveling!” Colgate trotted up to Amethyst Star, the animal team lead. “Ready to wake the animals!” she called. “Don’t let Fluttershy hear you yell like that,” she replied. “She hates to see her animal friends awoken by shouting.” “I’m surprised she’s not the one leading the team,” Colgate observed. “More time planning means less time with the animals,” Amethyst Star noted. “But she’ll be the first to take command if anything might hurt them. Anyway, you know what to do.” She picked up a feather duster and bell and passed them to Colgate. Sharp Eye walked across the snowy landscape. He didn’t need excellent eyesight to spot the mare he was seeking; her pink mane and coat were obvious against the pristine snow and ice. She was already at work, skating artfully along the surface of one of the frozen lakes. “Hi, Sharp Eye!” she called. “Need some sharp skates?” “That I do,” he replied. Pinkie Pie dove into a big pile of skates, and popped up with a pair on her head. “These should fit!” she chirped. “Now, do you know how to skate?” “I skated as a colt,” he replied as he swapped his boots for skates. “That’s good. You never forget how to skate!” Sharp Eye nodded and stepped onto the ice. He promptly felt four legs flail in four different directions, and ended up sprawled on the ice. “Or was it you never forget how to slip?” Pinkie Pie wondered. “I always forget how that goes.” Her tail twitched, and she looked toward Ponyville. “My friend is coming to help! Gotta go. Keep skating, Sharp Eye!” “Sure thing,” Sharp Eye said as he tried to regain his balance. Gold Watch counted the hours pass. They were making progress, he noted. And Green Tea was lecturing him on the proper balance of water and sunlight for the various plants they encountered, and more. It was clearly a mistake to suggest that he was planning on starting a garden this year. Following clearing another snow bank, Green Tea planted her shovel in the ground. She closed her eyes and sighed contentedly. “This is what it’s all about.” “What?” Gold Watch asked. “The feeling of new life, coming through the earth under my hooves.” Gold Watch shrugged. He didn’t expect to feel that connection as a unicorn. Perhaps, had he grown up in Ponyville, he could have appreciated the feeling of the land, but Canterlot had a distinctly unnatural feel to it. He had heard that from a number of earth ponies who had moved to Canterlot. “Well, I’m famished,” Green Tea said. “I think it’s time to break for lunch.” “I couldn’t agree more,” Gold Watch said. From her position deep amid the animal warrens, Colgate didn’t notice the sour stench at first. But when she came out, she knew something had gone wrong. She wrinkled her muzzle. Somepony had upset an animal, specifically one of the skunks. She was surprised to see the pony who was walking away, head lowered, with everypony else keeping a wide birth—Twilight Sparkle. Amethyst Star trotted up to her. “We’re breaking for lunch early. I recommend eating far away from here. Roseluck is going to come back after lunch with some perfumed cloths to help mask the stench. “Good,” Colgate said. Colgate headed back to town. Much like for other events, the ponies who stayed in town contributed by making lunch. It wouldn’t be anything special, but she was hungry. “So how’s it going?” Colgate smiled as Sharp Eye joined her. “Pretty good on my end. But every year, there seems to be more warrens. And we’re going to be delayed even more since Twilight Sparkle got sprayed by a skunk.” “She got sprayed by a skunk and stung by bees? No wonder she looked so upset!” “Bees?” Colgate wondered. “I saw her from a distance as I was heading back. I noticed the bump of a bee sting—several bee stings,” he said. “Wow. Hopefully, your day went better.” “I slipped and fell a few times, and I’ll probably feel it tomorrow,” Sharp Eye said. “I think I’m used to skates again. But I’m wondering if what I’ve done is going to work.” “Why do you say that?” “Well, Pinkie Pie was very encouraging, but she never really explained how to score the ice so that it melts.” Colgate looked up at the cloudy sky. “If the sky doesn’t clear soon, then it really won’t matter.” “That’s about all we can do,” Green Tea announced. Gold Watch and the others working the Whitetail Wood had cleared the snow off the ground, dumping it in an area where it would melt into the stream. But he noticed the thick blanket of snow still in the trees above. “Didn’t you say something about the snow coming off the trees?” Green Tea sighed. “I was hoping the sky would have been cleared by now, so that the pegasi would have been freed to help here. Maybe it will happen tomorrow.” “Tomorrow? Wouldn’t that make the town late?” Gold Watch asked. “It wouldn’t be the first time,” Green Tea responded. “No sense in worrying. Let’s get some dinner, and hopefully we’ll be able to finish this evening.” Passing by the farms on the outskirt of Ponyville, Gold Watch noticed the conditions of the fields. Something went very wrong with the plowing. “What happened there?” he asked. “I don’t know. Looks like some of the snow from the hill fell over the fields.” The Whitetail Wood team headed back to Ponyville. Once they got there, they ran into a fight among all three teams, with the mayor at the center. A large flock of pegasi hovered in the air, watching the back and forth. “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,” the mayor said. “I mean, just look at this catastrophe. The ice scorers made the ice chunks too big to melt. The nest designer is horrendously behind; we need several hundred, and she’s only made one. 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!” “Did the mayor just admit to screwing up?” Gold Watch asked Green Tea. “I did say it’s taken two days,” she replied. They turned to watch the argument proceed. “And it’s gonna be all to pieces disastrous if we can’t get our seeds all planted,” Applejack argued. “Chillax, Applejack, we’re busting our chops as fast as we can,” Rainbow Dash retorted. “No, not fast, we have to wake animals slowly,” said Fluttershy. “Uh, AJ?” Big McIntosh said hesitantly. “Oh, good gravy, Caramel lost the grass seeds again, didn’t he?” “Eeyup.” The caramel-colored stallion next to him hung his head in shame. “Ditzy Doo accidentally went north to get the southern birds!” one of the pegasi shouted. “Oh, that featherbrain. Didn’t she learn her lesson last year when she went west?” Rainbow Dash said. As ponies argued and bickered, Mayor Mare attempted to bring order. “Stop this at once. We don’t have time to argue. It’s almost sundown. Spring is going to be late again. Another year of scandal and shame. If only we could be more organized.” “That’s what I said,” Gold Watch said. The arguing was interrupted by the trill of an unnaturally loud birdsong. Everypony looked to Twilight Sparkle. “Sorry. I know you all want to complete your jobs on time, but arguing is no way to go about it. What you need is organization, and I’m just the pony for the job.” Gold Watch shrugged. “If she can stop an Ursa Minor, then maybe she can handle this.” The ponies in Ponyville shared a quick dinner while Twilight Sparkle worked on her plans. The mare was working furiously, filling paper scrolls and even some blueprints. Nopony seemed to mind that she was using her horn to write. Sharp Eye found Colgate in the crowd. “Hey, do you want to help out with the ice?” he asked. “I guess, but shouldn’t I find out what the animal team is doing first?” “Twilight Sparkle just sent some engineers and construction workers out to your part of the woods; I’m not sure why. All I know is you should be free for a little while. And she just came up with a blueprint for the correct method to score the ice. Problem is, it requires a lot more ponies.” “I’m not the best at skating, but sure, I’ll help,” Colgate said. “But are there enough ice skates?” “Of course, silly!” Pinkie Pie chirped from a position Colgate was sure she hadn’t occupied a second ago. “I keep ice skates stashed all around Ponyville, for ice skating emergencies. And this one is a doozy!” “Okay, I’ll skate,” Colgate said. She reasoned that once on the ice, she wouldn’t be thinking of Pinkie Pie’s antics. A large group of ponies gathered by the closest lake and donned ice skates. Pinkie Pie looked over a blueprint that Twilight Sparkle held flat against a rock. She listened to Twilight Sparkle’s plan and nodded. “Okay, everypony!” she shouted. “We need to make cuts in a tight grid formation! So stay extra close to your skating buddy, and try to make one big gouge with all four of your skates!” The ponies at the edge of the ice nodded and moved close together. Colgate reacted to a bump from her left by shifting to the right, where she brushed against Sharp Eye’s flank. Their eyes met; she spotted red on his face. She stepped away and turned her head, trying to conceal her own blush. “Everypony, ready, set, go!” With Pinkie Pie’s announcement, Colgate stepped onto the ice. She found her balance and skated forward, in unison with her fellow ponies. And once across the lake, they awkwardly walked on their skates to the other side of the lake, and made a perpendicular stroke across the lake. Surveying their work, Colgate saw the grid markings and smiled. “Now, on to the next lake!” Pinkie Pie said. Colgate returned to where the animals were hibernating. In the time she was gone, somepony had created a mad contraption of ropes, pulleys, and bells. Fluttershy and Amethyst Star inspected the setup and nodded. “The most important thing is to make sure all our little animal friends wake up,” Fluttershy said. “If some melting snow gets in their homes, then it won’t hurt them.” “All right, give it a ring!” Amethyst Star announced. Colgate watched as Fluttershy pulled the rope, ringing bells across the land. Creatures both furry and scaly awoke from their winter slumber and crawled out into the still chilly dusk air. Fluttershy nodded and winked to a bird resting in her mane. The bird trilled, stirring Rainbow Dash, waiting in the clouds. The speedy pegasus signaled her team and took flight. Gold Watch waited with Green Tea’s team outside the Whitetail Wood. They watched the pegasi on the weather team take off, forming into a tight formation. They flew up, piercing the cloud cover. Then, the crowd on the ground heard it. It sounded like wind, but nothing like the wind that accompanied a rainstorm. It grew until it reached a crescendo the moment the pegasi burst through the clouds, scattering some and pulling the rest in their wake. They pulled warm air behind them with such a force that it blew the remaining snow off the trees. Gold Watch had seen the Wonderbolts perform many times, but even their aerobatic displays couldn’t compare to the force shown by these pegasi flying together. “That’s our sign,” Green Tea said. “Let’s get that snow off the ground!” “See, now that makes sense,” Gold Watch told her. “What?” “The pegasi did two things at once, clear the skies and clear the trees.” He looked up at the bare branches. “I’m kind of surprised they haven’t done that before. They handled final cleanup in the Running of the Leaves a lot like that, right?” “Good point. We’ll need to remember this for next year,” Green Tea said. Under the light of Luna’s moon, ponies labored to complete their tasks for Winter Wrap-Up. And once they finished, they all headed to the farms, to complete the essential planting. Again, Gold Watch saw organization at work. The plowponies worked in teams, the first plowing the snow, the second tilling the field with his plowshare, and the third planting crops. That’s not to say it covered all the planting needs. Gold Watch joined others in planting more seeds. He chuckled; he had thought about tending to a garden, and now he was getting plenty of planting experience. Finally, as the first rays of Celestia’s sun brightened the horizon, everypony gathered outside of town. In the grand tradition of politicians everywhere, Mayor Mare took the credit as she pronounced winter wrapped up on time. Gold Watch shook his head and looked to his daughter next to him. “How are you feeling, Dad?” Colgate asked him. “I really want to debate the mayor on the meaning what on time means, but I’m just so tired.” “I know. I’m just glad I have no appointments today.” “Why not?” Gold Watch asked. “I think everypony figured they’d still be wrapping up winter today.” “I think I’ll be wrapping myself up, in the blankets on my bed.” “That’s the best idea I’ve heard all spring,” Colgate joked. “Well, then, ‘goodnight’.” The speeches were done. Twilight Sparkle’s friends were busy celebrating her new position as all-team organizer. But for everypony else, sleep called. Gold Watch smiled weakly and waved at Green Tea, who looked similarly exhausted. Spring was a season for renewal, with promises of new life blooming, but for one day, spring could wait.