Today is Winter Wrap Up Day. On this day, all the folks in Ponyville clear the town from the snow of the winter and bring in the spring. For that everypony will be assigned to one of three teams: The plant team, the animal team, and the weather team
The plant team removes the snow from the fields and plants new seeds for the upcoming spring. The weather team moves the clouds away to let the sun melt the snow and lead the birds so that they can return from the south. And the animal team wakes up the hibernating animals and prepare their food.
This would normally not be too hard if you could use magic but since Ponyville was founded by earth ponies, magic was not allowed.
It is tradition to do it this way and even since unicorns moved to Ponyville, this tradition was untouched.
Like everypony Star Twinkle was on his way to the town center to get his vest, that would decide which team he was assigned to.
A green vest would mean the plant team, a blue one the weather team and a tan one the animal team. The mayor would decide the teams and their leaders but Star Twinkle was sure which he would fit in the most.
“I'll guess I will be in the animal team again.
Can't do much as an earth pony in the weather team.
And plant team sounds like way to much work,” he said.
He went to the town hall where a bunch of ponies were waiting for their vests. Star Twinkle was waiting in line and noticed how most of the ponies were already assigned to a team.
“Actually, it doesn't even matter which team I will be assigned to.
The leaders of the team will give me a job and I just do as they say nothing more,” he said while in secret he wished for the animal team.
It was finally his turn to get his vest. When the mayor was about to give him one a pony beside her stopped her and whispered something in her ear.
“Oh yes, that's right!” She said.
It was probably some kind of adviser or something, Star Twinkle wasn't sure but this little delay made him wonder.
“Alright here you go,” said the mayor handing him over a tan vest which made him sigh in relief.
“Thank you,” he replied.
Just as he thought, he was assigned to the animal team. He quickly put on the vest and looked for the team leader, who was indicated by a star on the vest, instead of a bunny, a leaf or a sun.
The mayor then thanked everypony for being there so early and advised them to go to their team leaders but Star Twinkle couldn't find his team leader in this crowd so he walked back a little to get a better view.
“That's better now where's my team leader,” he said while scanning through the crowd of ponies.
Meanwhile, a group of ponies gathered around him. They were all wearing a tan vest so they were all on the animal team, just like him. None of them had a star on their vests so none of them was the team leader. But they all looked at him, which confused him.
“Are you looking for our team leader too?” He asked.
They all looked confused at each other until one of them spoke up.
“Not anymore,” said on of the mares.
Star Twinkle didn't know what she meant by that but then suddenly a really bad thought crossed his mind. To confirm his thought he took a close look at his vest. And what he saw on the emblem shocked him. It was a star, which could only mean one thing.
“What!? I am the team leader!?” He said in shock.
No wonder why they were staring at him like that. They were waiting for instructions. Meanwhile, the group of ponies still waited for him to give some orders, making him even more nervous.
“Well what should we do?” Said one of the mares.
I don't know, is what he was about to say. But he obviously couldn't say that out loud.
“Wait here I have to talk to the mayor for a moment,” he said marching towards the mayor again.
He thought that this was all part of a bad joke and wanted the mayor to explain, why he was decided to be the leader.
“It's kinda ironic to have a star on my vest,” he thought practically making fun of himself.
He then approached the mayor to get an explanation.
“Not to sound ungrateful or anything but don't you want to rethink your choice of making me the leader of the animal team?” He said, trying to not sound too annoyed, it was the mayor after all.
“Why should I?” She calmly replied.
“You got recommended by some ponies and I believe that they were telling the truth,” she said in confidence.
"Recommended?" He thought.
"Who would recommend me as a leader? You got to be kidding me," he thought in frustration.
“Is something wrong?” Said Fluttershy in concern while she approached Star Twinkle.
She was accompanied by Rarity. They both were on the animal team judging from the color of their vests.
“Ah darling, you have been assigned to be the team leader,” Rarity proudly said.
“A perfect choice if you ask me,” Fluttershy happily said.
"A perfect choice?" He thought confused.
There was nothing perfect about this at all. He doesn't like to be in a position of leadership and more importantly, he doesn't know how to guide or order other ponies around. If some of them make a mistake, it's all his fault. There is no way that he can handle that pressure.
While still complaining in his thoughts, he noticed how the rest of the animal team was still standing in the back, waiting for instructions.
“Oh no I completely forgot!” He said while rushing back to his team, making Fluttershy and Rarity follow him.
For him it felt like their eyes were piercing him, slowly waiting for him to say something wrong. Despite that, he was slowly calming down and thought to himself that he somehow can manage this situation. How hard can it be to order some ponies around?
“Okay! Let's go and wake some animals!” He confidently said.
“Who?” One pony replied.
“What?” He asked in confusion.
“Who of us should wake the animals?”
“Yes and who of us should clean their homes,” said another one of them.
“And who of us should make the birds nests?” Said another one.
"Are they doing that on purpose? If they know what they should do, then why are they waiting for me to decide?" He thought in annoyance.
"How should I know? Who is fit for which activity? They haven't even started to work and I am already frustrated!"
“Alright!” He shouted, trying to make himself sound confident.
“Fluttershy, since you are good with animals, you will wake them,” he said, while she approved in
confidence.
“You, you, you and you, will clean the homes of the animals,” he said pointing at some random ponies.
“Rarity, your fashion sense will be needed for creating the bird nests,” he ordered, to which she happily saluted.
“The rest of you will gather food for the animals,”
After that everypony went to their assigned task, causing Star Twinkle to let out a huge sigh of relief after all that was done.
“That was easier than I thought,” he said in relief.
Some hours have passed and it seemed like everything was going according to plan. There were no complaints, everypony was doing their job and nopony was questioning Star Twinkles decisions. But that didn't stop him from checking up on everything, to make sure that it would stay this way. Most of the time Star Twinkle was helping out at some points, helping them with their tasks. But he was actually making sure that nopony would make a mistake so that nopony would blame him. To his surprise, everything went well.
While making sure that everything went well, he was visiting Rarity to look how many birds nests were ready.
“How are things turning out here?” he asked while having a surprisingly good mood.
“Well, take a look for yourself,” she said presenting him a beautifully made bird nest.
“Yeah looks good if you ask me. So where did you place the finished ones?” he asked.
“Right over there,” she said while pointing to the single bird nest, that she showed him a moment ago.
“Um, Rarity?” He asked in concern.
“Yes, darling?” She replied casually.
“How many bird nests have you completed this far?” He asked wishing to not hear the answer that he was thinking about.
“One,” she calmly replied.
This made his ear twitch for a moment. There was no way that Rarity only finished one bird nest in, this time, he thought.
“But we were working for a few hours now!” He said in frustration.
“Well, you just can't expect me to left a nest unfinished,” she replied not seeing that she was at fault at all.
"Where are the birds suppose to lay their eggs if the weather team brings them back? We can't just present them one nest!" Star Twinkle thought in frustration.
"The mayor is gonna-"
But before he could finish his thought Twilight and Spike appeared, making him forget about his troubles.
Twilight looked happy but Spike seemed a little tired.
Both of their behaviors were confusing Star Twinkle.
“Hey guys,” she greeted them.
She then noticed right away that Star Twinkle was the team leader because of the star and his band that he was starting to wear for a while now.
“So you are the team leader Star Twinkle?
Congratulation,” she proudly said.
Star Twinkle was slowly starting to think that he was the only one who thought that this was a bad decision.
“Please tell me that there is something I can help you with,” she desperately asked.
Star Twinkle thought that this was perfect. If Twilight helps out Rarity, then they may catch up some work, he thought. But before he was starting to beg for help a voice in the distance was calling out his name.
“Star Twinkle!” Somepony shouted.
He turned around to see who it was coming from. It was a mare with a pink or almost reddish coat, a yellow mane and a cherry as a Cutie Mark. It was one of the ponies he sent to clean the homes of the animals.
“We have some problems, we need your help,” she said in concern.
Of course, this was the exact opposite what Star Twinkle wanted to hear from one member of his team.
“I'm coming,” he said while preparing for the worst.
Before he followed the pony, he turned around to Twilight to give her some orders. But because he was panicking his words were maybe not too accurate for her.
“You. Help. Bird nests. Many! Have to go,” he said following the other pony of his team.
Twilight was confused by Star Twinkles behavior, making a confused face.
“What is up with him?” she asked Rarity.
“I don't know,” she replied shrugging her shoulders.
Meanwhile, Star Twinkle arrived at where the pony was leading him.
“So what is the problem?” He asked the mare.
“Look!” She said while pointing at a group of ponies who were sitting together without doing anything.
“Why isn't anypony working? Didn't I send you here to clean the animal homes?” He asked in confusion to the group of ponies.
“Yes, we were,” one of them replied.
“But now we have no more animal homes that we can clean because most of them are still asleep,”
she said in boredom.
“And what stops you to simply wake them?” He asked in frustration.
She then pointed to Fluttershy who had her head inside in on of the holes, probably waking the animals inside.
“Uh, Fluttershy...” he said annoyed.
He approached her while she was getting her head outside of the hole, before noticing him approaching her.
“What's the problem here, Fluttershy?”, he asked
“There is no problem at all,” she replied.
“I heard that most animals are still asleep, so would you mind to wake them up faster?” He asked.
“No, you have to wake up animals slowly. There are very sensitive after hibernation, so we must wake them with the utmost caution,” she explained.
Star Twinkle kinda got what she was trying to say but it was a fact that they were already behind. Rarity is already behind so he could send some ponies to her if things are finished elsewhere. But if things slow down here too, then there will be some problems.
“Alright, Everypony, change of plans!” He said to the group of ponies who had nothing to do.
“All of you will help to wake up the animals-”
“Slowly,” Fluttershy added, interrupting Star Twinkle.
“Slowly...,” he repeated.
“And THEN clean up their homes and provide their food after they are all awake!”
The ponies did as they were told and Star Twinkle was sure that he defused the situation. But then he was approached by another pony who informed him about another problem.
Turns out that the weather team is letting the sun out too early, making the snow melt faster which meant that some of the animal holes were in danger to be flooded so Star Twinkle had to talk with Rainbow Dash about this because she is the leader of the weather team.
He quickly found her flying in the air, ordering some ponies around. It looked so easy for her, making Star Twinkle feel even more pressured. He approached her to talk about the situation.
“Rainbow Dash!” He shouted.
After noticing him, she dived down to the ground so that they didn't have to shout. She quickly noticed the star on Star Twinkles vest and of course had to make a comment about it.
“So you're the team leader huh?
Wouldn't expect anything less,” she said while smiling proudly.
At this moment, Star Twinkle would usually think about why everypony is thinking like that but he didn't have time for that. He quickly got to the point and discussed the matter with Rainbow Dash.
“Listen. Our team is terrible behind and we need some more time so could you please slow down the “letting out the sun thing” a little?” He asked without trying to sound too desperate.
Rainbow Dash thought a moment about Star Twinkles request but she decided to do it.
“Alright, Star but next time you better take actions in your own hoof,” she said almost scolding him.
"Didn't I just do that?" He thought.
Even if they wouldn't have messed up so much, if the weather team gets in their way, then there is no way that he can fix things on his own. It normally wouldn't even bother him that much if any of the other teams were messing up but if any of their mistakes is interfering with his team, then he needs to do something. As long as nopony is pointing at him because of some mistakes everything is okay.
“Star Twinkle!” shouted a voice from afar.
It was one of his team members. She didn't look too happy so Star Twinkle was preparing himself for the worst.
“Ugh, what is it now?” He asked in frustration.
“We are short of food for the animals,” she said.
“How did that happen?” He replied.
“The snow is holding some ponies back. It would be easier if the snow was gone,” she said being unaware of Star Twinkles frustration, that is starting to grow again.
“But I just told Rainbow Dash to slow down with the snow melting,” he said frustrated.
“Well, you're the team leader so I'm sure you find a solution,” she said.
This is the last thing Star Twinkle wanted to hear right now. Rainbow Dash was already gone so he had to find her again. But even if he would find her again, she probably already told her team to slow down. She probably wouldn't like to hear that she has to change plans again. And if she did then the animal homes would be flooded again.
Frustration was growing more and more in Star Twinkles head. He knew that this day was going to be bad since the moment he was chosen as the leader but this was just too much for him.
While thinking about numerous solutions to his problems a Pegasus with a gray coat and a yellow mane was approaching him.
She looked confused and tried to get Star Twinkles attention.
“Um, hello,” she asked but Star Twinkle was too caught up in his thoughts and didn't notice her.
“Do you know which direction is south?” she asked without noticing that Star Twinkle wasn't noticing her.
“Um, excuse me?” She asked once again.
“What?” said Star Twinkle while still thinking and not really paying attention to the Pegasus.
“Oh yeah, this way I guess,” he said while pointing in some random direction.
“Thank you!” she politely replied while flying to the direction where Star Twinkle was pointing to.
“Yeah, whatever,” he replied while still being in deep thoughts.
“Who was that? Sounded familiar” he mumbled to himself.
He then decided to go back to the animal holes. There were some animals running around in a panic but Star Twinkles reaction to that was just a deep sigh. It's like he wasn't even caring anymore. He didn't even want to know what happened anymore. He just wanted this day to end as quickly as possible, avoiding as much trouble as possible.
After a little while, Star Twinkle was informed by one of his team members that the mayor wanted to see him. Star Twinkle was not really thrilled to hear that but after literally, everything else went wrong today it was just a matter of time until he would be confronted by the mayor.
He was on his way to the town hall preparing himself to face the consequences for his mess ups. But on his way, he noticed how Spike was talking with a bush which he thought was really strange. Spike then noticed Star Twinkle and approached him.
“Hey, Star Twinkle, you have to talk with her,” he asked.
“With who?” He replied.
Star Twinkle then noticed that Twilight was hiding inside of the bush. She looked sad and since he thought he was the only one who had a real reason to be down right now, he decided to talk with her.
“What's Wrong, Twilight?” He asked.
At first, she was avoiding eye contact as much as possible but then she calmed herself down and talked to him.
“I just wanted to help everypony. But as it turns out, I am totally useless,”
Maybe it was because Star Twinkle felt the same right now but seeing Twilight like that made him feel like he should say something to comfort her.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I tried to find out which team would fit me the most but every time when I tried to help, everything went wrong," she said in a sad voice.
This kinda sounded familiar to Star Twinkle.
“Hey, you tried to help and did your best. Nopony could expect anything more from you,” he said in a comforting voice.
“Yeah, but my best was just not enough. I'm a Winter Mess Up,” she said in a sad voice.
“YOU'RE are Winter Mess Up?” He replied.
“I am the leader of the animal team. Everypony is expecting from me to make the right choices. But everything I did wasn't helping at all, even though I tried so hard,” he said making him feel bad now.
There was a short silence after Star Twinkle said those words. Both of them were looking at the ground. Star Twinkle didn't know what was going through Twilight's head but he knew what he was thinking right now.
“You're not a mess up,” he said proudly.
Twilight was not used to hear him speak like that looked at him confused.
“You're not a mess up,”
"unlike me," he thought.
“You tried to help because you wanted to,”
"unlike me," he thought.
“And you're smart so you'll find something out. That's what I believe,” he said happily.
Twilight was looking a little better now after Star Twinkles words. He decided to leave her and walked to the mayor, who was waiting in front of the town hall. He believed that he heard a soft thank you from her but now he was more worried about what the mayor was saying.
“Now if I just manage to cheer myself up...” he mumbled while walking to the front of the town hall.
He noticed how Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the leaders of the other teams were also there. Fluttershy was also there, they seem to argue about something. After getting a little closer, he kinda figured out what was going on. Applejack was asking Rainbow Dash if her team could melt the snow faster. But Fluttershy wanted Rainbow Dash to slow down so that the animal holes won't be flooded.
This, of course, was driving Rainbow Dash insane because they couldn't decide, leading the mayor to step in into the picture.
“What in Equestria are all you arguing about? This sort of silliness is why we were late for spring last year, and the year before that, and the year before that,” she 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,”
Star Twinkle completely forgot about the nests and was surprised to hear this number.
“Ugh, Rarity,” he mumbled in frustration.
“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!“ She said getting more and more frustrated in the process.
Meanwhile, Big McIntosh arrived and told Applejack that some of her team members lost some seeds. After that, one of Rainbow Dash's team members arrived and told her that on of the Pegasus was flying in the wrong direction to get the southern birds.
And here Star Twinkle thought he was the only pony who messed up. It didn't make the situation any better but he was kinda relieved to hear that the other teams had problems too.
“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,” said the mayor.
Star Twinkle didn't really care about any scandals or shame but he also wished that this trouble would end soon. He was feeling really uncomfortable in this group and he didn't want to argue at all so he was stepping back slowly until he heard a long bird chirp, which also stopped the conversation of the other ponies.
It was Twilight who used a bird as a whistle with her magic to which she apologized right away. It managed to get the attention of everypony.
“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,” she said being in a completely different mood than before.
She looked confident just as Star Twinkle would have expected from her. Everypony was out of options so they might as well listened to what Twilight was planning.
The teams continued with their work, doing exactly what Twilight ordered them to do. Star Twinkle didn't know exactly what she said to the other teams but they all looked way more organized than before. Even his team managed to catch up their work which seemed impossible for him.
Star Twinkle did exactly what Twilight ordered him, pretty much passing on her orders to his team which was much more to his liking. He was even helping out the other teams on her behalf.
It was a long exhausting day but at the end, every team was finished with their work.
Winter was cleaned up and spring is finally here on time.
It was like a miracle for everypony to be on time for the last years.
After Twilight's work the mayor praised her for her organization skills and prepared an official vest for her along with the title “All-Team Organizer””
After this day, everypony was on good terms again. They were all just relieved that spring was on time this year. Star Twinkle would be lying if he said that he didn't care but he was also relieved that after this day everything somehow worked out well.
Later...
Star Twinkle and his friends were meeting at Sugar cube Corner after everything was done to celebrate a little.
“Thanks to you everything went out well Twilight,” said Fluttershy.
“Yes, it was a little close until you helped out every team,” said Applejack.
Twilight was blushing after so much praising but was also grateful for their words.
“Thanks, girls but you did as much as I did to help out,” she modestly replied.
But after some time together Star Twinkle decided to go home. Of course, his friends tried to convince him to stay but they also were understanding that he may be a little tired so they let him go. After exiting Sugar Cube Corner thought, Twilight was approaching him.
“Wait,” she shouted.
He turned around and wondered why she was following him but he wasn't bothered by it. She said that she wanted to go home as well and followed him on his way home. They didn't talk as much like usual until eventually, Twilight broke the silence.
“I didn't have the chance to thank you for before,” she said happily.
“For what?” He asked in confusion.
“For cheering me up when I was depressed,” she replied.
“Oh, that. No problem,” he said.
“You believed in me when I was doubting myself. That gave me strength to continue,” she said smiling at Star Twinkle.
“I said that because I knew you could do it. That is all,” he replied.
It was silent once again as they continued their walk. And once again Twilight broke the silence.
“You should believe in yourself too,” she said sounding kinda sad.
Star Twinkle was surprised to hear that. Maybe because he knows that it was true. Or because he wasn't used to hearing somepony say that in his face.
“Maybe,” he quietly replied.
“No. Not maybe,” she demanded.
“What?” he asked surprised.
“I know that you always struggle with what you can or can't do but remember what you said to me? You tried to help and did your best. Nopony could expect anything more from you,” she repeated.
Star Twinkle wasn't sure if he liked having his own words used against him. He knows that what Twilight is trying to say is true but it was hard for him to believe those words.
“Before doubting yourself next time, just try to do your best okay?” she said.
"Was she expecting so much from me? Why is it so important for her?"
For him believing in yourself and trying to do your best are two different things. He always tries to do his best. But if his best isn't good enough, then there is nothing that he can do about it.
“Okay, I'll try,” he halfhearted replied.
This answer seemed to be enough for Twilight, even though Star Twinkle wasn't really believing those words.
They both parted after they reached Star Twinkles house. After saying goodbye to Twilight he went inside and prepared himself to go to sleep.
While he laid in his bed, he thought about Twilight's or rather his words.
“Try your best.
Nopony could expect anything else,” he repeated to himself.
“I should not throw around words that I don't believe in myself...” he mumbled.
But those words didn't bother him too much and he fell asleep real quick.