A New Hero

by Alex The Lone Wolf

Winter Wrap Up

Episode 11 – Winter Wrap Up

A loud and rapid knocking noise startled me out of bed; in fact, it made me fall out of bed. I slowly stood up, exhaling a heavy breath . I walked over to my front door and opened it to see Twilight smiling brightly and excitedly. I could see Spike asleep on her back.

"Twilight?" I questioned.

"Hi, Alex! It's Winter Wrap Up Day!" She responded.

I looked beside her and noticed the snow outside.

"Oh… yeah…" I said softly, still a little tired.

"C'mon! They're starting to pick teams, let's go!"

"Huh?"

She grabbed my hoof and pulled me towards her. Then, she had me walking behind her as she hurried over to the gathered crowd in town, her legs shifting in place hastily, but in rhythm. "Those must be the team vests Rarity designed. Blue for the weather team, green for the plant team, and tan for the animal team. I wonder which team vest I'll be wearing."

"I'll take a blue vest, same color as my blanket," Spike spoke, sleepily. "which I think I hear calling my name. 'Spike! Spike! Come to bed!' Ugh, it's too early."

I caught up with Twilight when she stopped in the crowd.

"Thank you everypony, for being here bright and early." The mayor announced. "We need every single pony's help to wrap up winter, and bring in spring."

The whole crowd of ponies cheered.

"Now, all of you have your vests, and have been assigned to your teams, so let's do even better than last year, and have the quickest Winter Wrap Up ever!"

I don't have a vest…but I was too tired to say anything.

"Oh, this is so exciting." Twilight told me as Spike looked at her, grumpy.

"Alright everypony, find your team leader, and let's get galloping!" The mayor pointed to a field, where Rainbow Dash was the blue team leader, Applejack was the green team leader, and another pony I did not know was the tan team leader.

"Oh gosh, where should I go?" Twilight looked around. "I'm not sure where I fit in. What exactly does everypony do?" Twilight looked worried. I was about to help Twilight, but everypony began their Winter Wrap Up.

"Three months of winter coolness

And awesome holidays…" Rainbow Dash began singing with a determined yet mournful tone.

"We've kept our hoovsies warm at home

Time off from work to play" Pinkie Pie added, hopping joyfully..

"But the food we've stored is runnin' out

And we can't grow in this cold" Applejack joined, emphasizing the need for our confidence and togetherness .

"And even though I love my boots

This fashion's getting old" Rarity finished, adding more of an opinion, but still motivated the persuasion of increasing the morale in a very secretive way.

Twilight began walking through the snow as I followed her. She took a turn in the song as well...

"The time has come to welcome spring

And all things warm and green

But it's also time to say goodbye

It's winter we must clean…"

Her voice gave me a sudden feeling of...warmness... the kind of warm that can even pierce through the temperature of the friendly snow. She looked around at the scenery, observing the work that was to be done, and then looked at me.

"How can I help? I'm new, you see

What does everypony do?" She looked back up towards the sky, reaching into her thoughts for the plan she hoped to come up with.

"How do I fit in without magic?

I haven't got a clue!"

The ponies near us all sang in harmony, including Fluttershy, Rarity, and another pony that was on the green team.

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

Let's finish our holiday cheer!

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

-Applejack sang-

'Cause tomorrow spring–

-Rainbow dash flew by her, finishing her sentence-

–is here!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here!"

Rainbow Dash sang as the other ponies cleared the skies.

"Bringing home the southern birds

A Pegasus' job begins

And clearing all the gloomy skies

To let the sunshine in

We move the clouds

And we melt the white snow"

Pinkie Pie joined in.

"When the sun comes up

Its warmth and beauty will glow!"

The sun's rays shined on Twilight and me, providing not only warmth, but a high sense of hope.

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

Let's finish our holiday cheer

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

'Cause tomorrow spring is here!"

Rarity began singing as the tan team rung bells and woke the animals from hibernation.

"Little critters hibernate

Under the snow and ice"

Then… I heard Fluttershy's amazing soft and sweet voice…

"We wake up all their sleepy heads

So quietly and nice"

"We help them gather up their food

Fix their homes below"

"We welcome back the southern birds

So their families can grow"

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

Let's finish our holiday cheer

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!" We stood in amazement as we watched all the ponies sing in unison and clear the snow, however a pile of snow tumbled on us. We looked up to see Rainbow Dash smiling as she continued singing.

"'Cause tomorrow spring is here

'Cause tomorrow spring is here!"

"No easy task to clear the ground" Applejack began, lightly tapping the box of seeds near her.

"Plant our tiny seeds

With proper care and sunshine

Everyone it feeds

Apples, carrots, celery stalks

Colorful flowers too

We must work so very hard"

Two other ponies joined.

"It's just so much to do! "

Little ponies were skipping and hopping with the bunnies while the blue team ponies shoveled snow off the rooftops.

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

Let's finish our holiday cheer

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here"

Pinkie Pie sang as she skated on the frozen lake.

'Cause tomorrow spring is here!"

Twilight resumed singing as she walked gloomily through the snow and her thoughts. Seeing her sing like this made me feel a little sad in the inside… I wanted to help her out…

"Now that I know what they all do –She looked towards me-

I have to find my place – She looked back at all the other teams of ponies working-

And help with all of my heart

Tough task ahead I face

How will I do without my magic

Help the Earth pony way

I want to belong so I must

Do my best today

Do my best today" Twilight sustained the note as the other ponies continued to sing.

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

Let's finish our holiday cheer

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!"All the ponies of the three different teams gathered together and sang in unison, providing hope to everypony into getting the job done.

"'Cause tomorrow spring is here

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

'Cause tomorrow spring is here!" Twilight finished, keeping the note for a while until she looked out at the other team of ponies, still unable to decide what to do. "Everypony belongs to a team." She said as she looked over at me. "What should I do? Where should I go?"

I was about to open my mouth to offer some advice, but Rainbow Dash interrupted me when she ordered her team above us.

"Alright team, you're clear for takeoff!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called.

"Oh, hey Twilight, what's up?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"What are you doing?"

"Sending off one of my flight crews to retrieve the birds that have flown south for the winter."

"Oh, can I help? How about if I help clear out the clouds?"

"Um..." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings.

"Right. No wings…"

"Sorry Twilight." Rainbow Dash sped away towards her teammates.

"Great, now what do we do…?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm gonna be nappin'." Spike responded over at a bush where he began snoring at.

Twilight pressed a hoof at his cheek. "Come on Spike, this is serious business. Winter needs to be wrapped up, and I'm determined to do my part. Somehow…"

"Twilight…" I called. She looked over to me."Maybe you don't need to be in a team… I know this is your first Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville, but maybe you can do something any other pony can't do?"

"That's just it…" She responded. "I don't know what IT is…"

"I'm a hundred percent sure you'll find out Twilight. I know there's something you can do..."

"Thanks, Alex." She smiled. "Well, what are you going to do?"

I thought about Fluttershy. "I think I'll just head over to the tan team…"

"Oh, Alright. I guess I'll just try to help the other teams and see what I can do."

"I can stay and help you, if you want."

"Oh, no. Thanks for the offer, but you should go and do your own thing. I'll be okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Mm-hm."

"Alright… well good luck then, Twilight."

"You too."

I began walking over to where Fluttershy was helping the animals as Twilight grabbed Spike off the bush and headed to Rarity, who was fixing the nests.

Fluttershy had a bell in her mouth. She was ringing it to wake up the animals as she softly spoke to them. After she finished evacuating the home, she turned around to walk to another one. However, she bumped herself in front of me.

"Oh, excuse me." Fluttershy apologized. She looked up to recognize it was me. "Oh!" She blushed. "Hi, Alex. I didn't see you there...Where's your vest?" She asked, after noticing I wasn't wearing one.

"Oh… uh… I don't have one… but I thought I could just come over and help you with the animals." I responded.

"That's nice of you…" She looked away. "Well of course you can help me; I'm just waking up the little critters." She gave me a spare bell. "Just gently poke your head in their homes and call them."

"Alright. Got it." I walked over to another hole. Grabbing the bell with my mouth, I rang it several times and gently called them to get up. A couple of baby bunnies walked out, yawning and stretching their arms.

I continued doing this for a moment until I met up with Fluttershy again. She had just finished another home. "How did you do Alex?" She asked.

"Pretty good I guess… they woke up fine." I responded.

"That's fantastic!" Fluttershy smiled. She walked over to another home and poked her head inside. "Wake up little sleepy heads. Hope you had some wonderful dreams and restful hibernation, but it's time to get up now, spring is coming."

A couple of hedgehogs walked out, yawning.

"Awww, how cute." I heard Twilight say. I didn't know she had stopped by.

"Aren't they? This is my favorite task the whole season, when I get to see all my little animal friends again." Fluttershy replied.

"Uh, what's 'hibernation'?" Spike asked, looking fully awake now.

"It's like a long sleep." Fluttershy walked over to another home.

"Long sleep?"

"Yes." She rung the bell. "Wake up little porcupines." She called inside the home. She turned back to Spike. "Animals often hibernate through the winter to save their energy and eat less food."

"I definitely like the idea of hibernation, uh, except for the 'eat less food' part." Spike responded.

The porcupines yawned and poked each other when they hugged.

"Oh, would you just look at all these warrens and dens; I'm worried that Alex and I won't be able to wake up every animal before spring comes."

"Well, I'll help, Fluttershy!" Twilight announced, gladly.

"You will? Oh, that would be wonderful." Fluttershy gave her bell to Spike and looked towards me. "Let's go wake up the critters over here."

I nodded and called over to Twilight. "Just be careful of certain dens, Twilight..."

"Gotcha!" She yelled back.

I began walking with Fluttershy towards the other dens.

"So...Fluttershy..." I started.

"Yes, Alex?" Fluttershy, keeping her head facing in front of her but moving her eyes to the corner to see me, asked while she smiled.

"I was just wondering..." My eyes moved uneasy; I wanted to know what she truly meant when she brought up the Grand Galloping Gala last time... but I was feeling a bit anxious. "About the Grand Galloping Gala...what did you-

"Waaa! Snakes! Snakes!" Twilight screamed.

We turned around to see Twilight backing away, quickly, from a group of snakes into another den. She ran out with bats speeding outside the cave. Twilight bumped herself into a tree and a bee's nest fell on top of her. She continued to run and scream straight into another den.

A pair of skunks walked outside the den Twilight ran into. "Good morning friends." Fluttershy greeted them warmly.

We heard Twilight groan inside. After a while, she came out with bee stings all over her face and smelled badly.

"Whoa, Twilight! You stink!" Spike announced.

Twilight looked at him, angrily. "Thanks… I didn't know that…" She said, sarcastically.

"Looks like you need to bathe in Tomato juice, Twilight…" Fluttershy advised.

Twilight sighed. "I know…" She responded in a very disappointed and even depressed tone. She began to walk off with Spike trailing behind her while he held his nose. I was starting to feel really bad for Twilight.

"Poor Twilight…" Fluttershy said.

"Yeah…" I agreed.

A moment of silence passed.

"So... what was it you wanted to ask me about the Grand Galloping Gala, Alex?" Fluttershy asked, looking bright.

I lowered my head, stared at the snowy ground, at felt a little red. "Never mind..."

After continuously waking up more animals from their hibernation, Fluttershy and I decided to take a break.

"We should go check up on how the other teams are doing." Fluttershy offered to me.

"Sure." I accepted.

On the way, we stopped by to see Rarity, who was supposed to be working on the nests. She was mumbling many things about nest-making while she was fixing up a nest that...well... wasn't as great as hers in comparison.

"Hi, Rarity." Fluttershy greeted as she walked over to the table where she was working on. "How is it going with making the nests?"

"Oh...I...um..." Rarity continued pulling out things from the nest. "I'm okay..."

"How many have you made?" I questioned.

Rarity halted and remained silent for a moment. "...one..."

Fluttershy and I were shocked.

"Rarity... you've only made one...?" Fluttershy asked, worried.

"Yes... but... these things take time with such grace! But I promise you... I'll create enough in time for Spring!"

Fluttershy and I both looked at each other.

"Do you need any help...?" I asked Rarity.

She looked at the nest she was fixing up and quickly looked back at me, laughing nervously. "Oh, no, no, no! I'm fine! Really!"

"Alright..."

Fluttershy and I left... but we still felt a little doubtful in our minds...

We walked towards town to see the other teams doing their jobs.

"Rainbow Dash, y'all on the weather team need to melt the rest of the snow here on the ground and the trees, pronto." Applejack ordered Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy heard this and quickly rushed over to Rainbow Dash.

"Got it." Rainbow Dash was just about to fly off until Fluttershy stopped her.

"Wait. My poor little animals' homes will get flooded if the snow melts too fast."

"Got it."

"I'm tellin' you Rainbow, you gotta melt that snow NOW." Applejack counterattacked.

"No, you simply must wait." Fluttershy defended.

"Okay." Rainbow Dash flew up, annoyed.

However, Fluttershy and Applejack continued to argue for the order.

"Go."

"Stop."

"Go."

"Stop.

"GO!"

"STOP!"

"Ugh! Make up your minds!" Rainbow Dash responded, irritably.

"Oh! 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." The mayor intervened. "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. 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!"

"And it's gonna be all to pieces disastrous if we can't get our seeds all planted." Applejack included.

"Chillax Applejack, we're bustin' our chops as fast as we can." Rainbow Dash replied.

"No, not fast, we have to wake animals slowly." Fluttershy warned.

"Uh, AJ?" Big Macintosh had come over to Applejack.

"Oh good gravy, Caramel lost the grass seeds again, didn't he?"

"Ai-yup."

One of the Pegasus ponies flew over here to lodge another complaint. "Ditzy Doo accidentally went north to get the southern birds!"

"Oh that featherbrain. Didn't she learn her lesson last year when she went west?" Rainbow Dash reacted.

All the ponies began grumbling and complaining.

"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."

Something finally clicked in my mind. That's it! That's how Twilight can help with the Winter Wrap Up! She's great at organizing! I was just about to go look for her when she came up to the crowd instead.

"Stop everypony." The ponies continued to argue. "Stop!" She used her magic to make the bird near her chirp loudly enough to gain the attention of everypony. "Sorry." She apologized to the bird. "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."

Twilight's organization skills quickly took effect. She had every pony follow her plan. While I was with Fluttershy, she had an idea of having bells at each den, and with a shake of a single rope, the bells rang at each den, waking up every critter. When the snakes came out, we saw Twilight on top of tree, shaking. Fluttershy nodded at the bird on top of her and the bird released a fierce chirp, ordering the sky team to form into a tornado that cleared all the skies and snow a lot faster than independently, which then caused the ice to melt over at the lake.

By the time night fell, everypony, including me, was plowing the grass and planting seeds. Morning rose and everypony released the birds which headed towards their nests. We had all finally finished as we looked over at our completed work.

"I can't believe it. Spring is here! On time!" The mayor looked over at Twilight. "And we have you to thank for it. If it weren't for your organizing skills we would still be arguing."

"Ai-yup." Big Macintosh stated.

Everypony laughed, joyously.

"It was a team effort." Twilight said.

"And since you helped every team…" The mayor announced." We have an official vest for you. We give you the title, 'All-Team Organizer'!"

The vest had all three colors of the vest teams.

"Gosh, I don't even know what to say. Thank you everypony."

"And hereby I declare that winter is... wrapped up on time."

All of the ponies cheered.

Twilight walked over to me and smiled. "You were right, Alex."

"Eh… you were the one who found out by yourself…"

She giggled a little. "When Spike and I get back home, this is the letter I'm going to write." Twilight cleared her throat. "Dear Princess Celestia, Winter Wrap Up was one of the most special things I've ever been a part of here in Ponyville. It helped me to learn we all have hidden talents, and if we're patient and diligent, we're sure to find them, and as always, with good friendship and teamwork, ponies can accomplish anything." She looked over at me. "How was that?"

"It was great... That's a really good letter..." I responded. Every time I heard one of Twilight's letters... it warmed my heart.

She smiled. "Thanks. Well I better get Spike and take him to bed, we've been up forever."

"Alright, bye Twilight."

"Bye!" She walked off to find Spike.

My eyes were beginning to close by themselves from working overnight. Fluttershy walked over to me and smiled while her eyes looked sleepy. "I'll see you later…" She departed towards her home. She must have felt the same way I did… too sleepy to talk…

I walked home.

When I entered, I immediately traveled to the bed and threw myself on it, falling asleep instantly.

Comments

[Tesla Moon]

Well I wasn't as impressed with this chapter but it was still on key with the show so good job /)

[F14m3rz]

Gasp!... So you call her Ditzy Doo? Makes sense, I mean, how else would her daughter be Dinky Doo?

[Lord_01010000]

5182875
It was in the episode. That's ware that name came from.

[Truthseeker]

You know, almost all of the grammatical errors are gone now. If you just went back through and changed his name and a few other things, this would be pretty good. For the first time, the OC does not always fix every problem.

[shadoweclips908]

5182875
Well that is her name. Most fans call her Derpy Hooves.

[D1killi4]

My concern is what kind of job does he have to keep up the payments on his house?

[Helgast19987]

I always seem to read Alex's parts like he's out of breath