The MMC-verse

by Persona22

Rating: everyone
Tags: Spike, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Other, Original Character
Length: 24729

How are the everyday lives different for Twilight and her friends in a world where their cutie marks are telling them something different?

How are the everyday lives different for Twilight and her friends in a world where their cutie marks are telling them something different?

Where Applejack is a fashionista, Rarity is the weather captain of Ponyville, Pinkie Pie works at Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy likes to joke around and works at Sugarcube Corner, and Rainbow Dash takes care of animals in her cottage next to the Everfree Forest?

The MMC-verse is a universe based on the episode Magical Mystery Cure. A what if? universe where we can see how life turned out had their destinies been different.

Each "chapter" is meant to be a "full episode" so they are auto conclusive. I don't intend to make every single episode of the actual series into this universe because there are a couple of them that are kind of not possible to happen. And I also plan on making some "only happened in the MMC-verse" kind of episodes.

Thanks to RainbowJune for letting me use the cover picture for this.

Published 2014-09-10 20:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2017-12-23 23:29:39 UTC

Sisterhooves Social

Applejack slept peacefully on her bed, when suddenly she felt some movement on it. This caused her to frown as she kept her eyes closed. “Winona, it’s too early to play right now… maybe later.”

“SURPRISE!” two voices shouted from the other side of the bed.

“WHOA!” Applejack was startled and fell out of bed as she heard that, her hooves getting tangled with her sleeping robe. She fell on her back and quickly opened her eyes to look upwards.

“Good morning Applejack!” said a smiling Applebloom as she looked down at Applejack.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” said Pinkie Pie, also looking down at the orange mare. She was wearing an apron.

Applejack slowly got up and looked at the two ponies in her room, “Applebloom? Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here? What time is it?”

“We made you breakfast, so you can eat in bed!” said Applebloom happily.

Pinkie Pie produced a tray with warm pancakes and a glass of juice. “We made you some apple Pancakes with freshly made apple juice.”

“Ah helped!” exclaimed Applebloom.

“Well, that’s very nice of you two. But what’s the occasion?” Applejack removed the sleeping robe she was wearing, revealing her orange coat and the three diamonds on her flanks which made up her cutie mark.

Pinkie Pie removed her apron after she placed the tray on Applejack’s bed. Revealing the three (well, technically six) red apples that made up her cutie mark. “Nothing special. I just wanted to bring Applebloom here before taking off.” Then she looked seriously at Applejack, “Wait, you didn’t forget your Pinkie Promise, right?”

Applejack thought for a minute, then her eyes widened, “You mean that the farmer’s expo was today?”

Pinkie Pie nodded, “Indeed it is! Granny Smith is visiting Uncle Apple Strudel, and me and Big Mac need to go to the farmers expo for the day, so Applebloom will stay with you for the day, isn’t it great!” exclaimed the pink pony.

Applejack walked across the room, “But today I have such a busy schedule… well, not a problem. Spending time with my little sister will just have to be a part of it.” She said to herself as she calmed herself down.

Applebloom quickly ran over to Applejack and hugged her with her forelegs, “We’re gonna have tha best day ever!” Applejack gave her a nervous smile.

“Well, Ah have to go now. Have fun you two.” Said Pinkie Pie as she walked out of the room.

Applejack looked at Applebloom, “Well, first things first. Let’s eat breakfast.” Applejack walked over to her bed where Pinkie Pie had left the tray with apple pancakes and apple juice. She then noticed that it was a portion for just one pony, “Aren’t you going to eat breakfast too, Applebloom?”

The yellow filly shook her head, “Nah, Ah already had breakfast when I woke up earlier.”

Earlier? But it was barely an hour after sunrise! Then Applejack remembered of her short time as a filly living at the farm, and how she used to wake up very early, before sunrise. It was one of the many things she really did not miss… well, she didn’t miss it anymore, that is.

Suddenly Pinkie Pie appeared on the window of Applejack’s bedroom, again startling Applejack “Applebloom! Ah almost forgot! Be sure to not get too tired today, remember that tomorrow is Sisterhooves Social day at the farm!”

“Ah promise Pinkie Pie!” exclaimed Applebloom, “Cross mah heart, hope tha fly, stick an apple in mah eye!”

And as quickly as she had appeared, Pinkie Pie was gone once again.

Now, maybe, Applejack would be able to have her breakfast in peace.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Applejack carried the dirty dishes and tray downstairs as Applebloom followed her. Say what you want about Pinkie Pie, she sure knew how to cook. That breakfast had been delicious, and she wasn’t a bad cook herself.

She also noticed that, while Pinkie Pie must have had time to make breakfast, she certainly hadn’t have the time to clean the cooking utensils. The kitchen wasn’t a mess of course, but it did need to be cleaned.

“Okay Applebloom, I’m going to clean the dishes. Could you be a dear and take out the garbage over there?” said Applejack, pointing to a small wooden waste container on the side of the kitchen.

“No problem! Ah’ll make mahself useful.” Applebloom smiled and nodded, as she started to push the waste container out of the kitchen.

Applebloom pushed the waste container out of the kitchen and was about to walk out the door when she noticed that there were some more wooden containers in the ante-room leading to the front of Carrousel Boutique. Wanting to be really helpful to Applejack, so they would have more time to play later, she decided to take out that garbage as well.

The little filly made it just in time for the garbage ponies to pass, and they took away the trash, dumping the contents of the wooden containers into the wooden wagons they pulled filled with all of Ponyville’s garbage.

As Applebloom walked back inside, she saw Applejack walking out of the kitchen an towards the front of the store. “Well, I’m done with the dishes. Now it’s time to get to work! I have a lot of orders to complete today and… hum, Applebloom?”

“Yes Applejack?”

“Did you see some wooden crates over here when you passed through?”

“Ah sure did!” exclaimed Applebloom, “But don’t worry, Ah took out all the garbage so you don’t have to anymore. Surprised?”

Applejack opened her eyes wide and screamed as she ran out the door.

“Applejack? What’s wrong?” the yellow filly chased her sister out as well.

Applejack caught up with the garbage ponies, “That wasn’t garbage Applebloom!”

Applebloom also caught up with the garbage ponies. They had all stopped now, as Applejack was looking through the garbage, dreading what she might find there. “It wasn’t? But the wooden containers looked just like the garbage bin in the kitchen! What was it then?”

“They were custom made fabrics I had spent ALL DAY yesterday to finish! And it was for a VERY important order for a VERY important client!” She finally found them. Three fabric rolls, with beautiful patterns of flowers hoof sewed into them… and now they were also covered in filth, horrible, sticky, smelling filth.

Applebloom looked down and played with her hooves, “Hum… sorry.”

Applejack looked at the dirty rolls of fabric, clenched her teeth, took a deep breath, and smiled. “That’s okay. I’ll just wash this, hang them up to dry and they’ll be good as new.”

Applejack, carrying the dirty custom made fabric rolls, walked back to Carrousel Boutique, “Well, now back to work.” She looked back at Applebloom sternly, “And stay out of trouble. Okay? Please?”

Applebloom pouted as she walked back, talking too lightly for Applejack to hear her. “Ah just wanted to do something nice for mah sister.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It had been over an hour since Applejack had taken the fabric into the laundry room to clean up the rolls… and Applebloom was bored out of her mind.

She laid down on the floor, dragged herself across the room just using her rear legs, and other things to keep herself entertained. “Ah’m so bored! When is Applejack gonna be done?"

Every time she wanted to do something, ANYTHING, to keep herself from dying from boredom she recalled Applejack’s words from earlier: Stay out of trouble.

Finally, she looked out the window and saw what a mess the rear lawn of the boutique was, plants were badly tended and looked like they had been walked over, the grass had holes here and there… most likely Winona’s work. That dog was a real handful and overly active if Applejack didn’t take her out for a walk often.

Applebloom smiled as she saw the gardening tools right outside, “Ah never got mahself in trouble for doin’ some gardening.” The little filly walked outside.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It had taken a lot of meticulous work to remove all the filth and smell of garbage from the custom made fabric rolls, but all of Applejack’s hard work had finally paid off and she had hung them to dry inside. She couldn’t place them outside since the fabric was too delicate and the sun would damage it, and Winona was particularly restless this past few days, and Applejack couldn’t risk having them getting dirty again by that dog’s shenanigans.

As Applejack walked out of the laundry room and into the main room of the boutique, she noticed two things. The first was that Applebloom was standing there, happily, and all of her hooves were covered in mud. “Howdy Applejack, Ah made something special for you in the lawn-“

“Aaaah!” screamed Applejack, because the second things she noticed was that there were mud prints the size of Applebloom’s hooves all over the floor!

“Applebloom! What did you do!?”

Applebloom looked dejected again, “Well… Ah was bored and went outside to-“

“The whole place is covered in muddy hoof prints… YOU are covered in mud too!” exclaimed Applejack, “Oh, Applebloom, what am I going to DO with you?”

Applebloom looked up with a happy expression, “Oh, we can make grape juice, run a race, go applebucking, pillow fight…”

“That’s not what I meant!” said Applejack, sternly.

“Oh.” Applebloom looked down again.

Applejack took out a bottle of carpet cleaner, “And I ran out of carpet cleaner, now I have to go out to the store and buy more!”

Applejack looked up again, “Ah’ll go out with you and help!”

“NO!” exclaimed Applejack, then she saw how sad Applebloom looked and, calming down, tried it again, “No, thank you, Applebloom. You can help by taking a bath and cleaning yourself up. And please find something to do that does not create some mess for me to clean up!”

Applebloom walked, sulking, to the bathroom as Applejack walked out of the boutique. “Can’t Ah do anything right?”

A little while later, Applebloom walked out of the bathroom, clean as a whistle. She walked into another room next to the bathroom that had the door open, and saw that it was Applejack’s studio. And it was a mess. Rolls of fabric were sprawled over the ground, drawings with designs of different shapes and sizes were posted on the walls, the desk, the floor; different scissors and measuring tapes were on the ground, so were the sewing needles and also ribbons. Suddenly she got an idea of how she could make up for all the problems she, unintentionally, had caused for her big sister Applejack.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Half an hour later, Applejack was back from the store, carrying a paper bag that had a bottle of carpet cleaner inside. “Applebloom! I’m back. Applebloom?”

She walked inside her studio. And gasped in shock. What had happened here?

Applebloom jumped from behind some neatly and perfectly folded piles of fabric, organized by colors. “Surprise!”

Applejack looked around, the whole studio… everything was NOT where she left it! The drawings, the unfinished dresses, the sewing tools! Everything was neatly organized IN A WAY THAT SHE NEVER HAD PLACED THEM!

“My- ee- bleh- My inspiration room! What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?” yelled Applejack as she was now right in front of Applebloom. The orange mare seemed like she was on the brink of losing it.

“When… when Ah saw the big mess in the room, Ah though Ah’d clean it up for you.” Said Applebloom, looking sad at the floor again.

“This wasn't a mess! It was organized chaos! I was just about finished planning my new fashion line, and, and you, you, you went and, and you– and you put everything away!”

“But every time Ah made a mess, you got upset with me.”

“But this was MY mess. In MY house! And now I have to start from scratch.”

“But, Ah thought this would make you happy.” said Applebloom, almost in tears.

“Happy? HAPPY!” Applejack started to grind her teeth, then she calmed herself down before she blew a fuse. “I just need some alone time.” and then she turned her back to Applebloom.

The yellow filly almost broke down crying when Applejack said that, but was able to hold it in. She turned around and, sadly, walked out the front door.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Applebloom walked through Ponyville, gloomy and pouting.

“How are you doing Applebloom?”

Applebloom looked up, and noticed the yellow Pegasus flying right in front of her just a few inches off the ground, she was carrying a small package of pastries, and three balloons for a cutie mark.

“Hi there, Fluttershy… Ah’m just dandy.” Said Applebloom with a weak smile.

“Really? Well, you certainly don’t look like it… let’s turn that frown upside down.” Fluttershy flapped her wings until she was flying upside down in front of Applebloom. “There, that’s much better.”

Seeing Fluttershy flying upside down caused Applebloom to giggle.

“I knew there was a smile in there somewhere.” Said Fluttershy happily as she again turned herself correctly and landed on the ground on three hooves while holding the package with the fourth. “Now, why don’t you tell me what had you so sad before?”

“It’s just that… today was supposed to be the big day where Ah could finally spend time with Applejack. Ah mean, she would write to us when she was living in Manehattan, and she sent me those neat dolls she made and all… but we had never spent any time together.”

Fluttershy nodded, “Yes, spending time together with your sister is very important.”

“Ah know its important. But it seems like all Ah end up doing is causing trouble and making her angry at me.”

Fluttershy kept nodding, “Righ, causing trouble for your sister is definitely a bad thing.”

“And Ah don’t want to cause trouble… It just feels like we’re just a couple of strangers, that’s all.” Applebloom was pouting again.

Fluttershy was still nodding, “I see, your sister is the last pony you would like to see as a stranger.”

“Ah know, and Ah wanted to change that. Ah was going to ask her to come to the Sisterhooves Social with me at the farm tomorrow.”

Fluttershy kept nodding, “Yes, yes, asking her to the Sisterhooves Social sounds like a very good idea.”

“It is a good idea! But Ah’m afraid of what Applejack might say now.” Applebloom looked unsure.

Fluttershy was still nodding, “Right, right, being afraid is never good.”

“Of course being afraid aint not good! In fact, Ah shouldn’t be afraid! Ah’m gonna go back to Applejack’s and ask her to go to the Sisterhooves Social with me! Bye Fluttershy!” Applebloom turned around and walked back towards Carrousel Boutique.

Fluttershy smiled as she saw Applebloom walk away, “Always works.”

She then flapped her wings and took to the air again, carrying the package. She had to make it to Derpy’s house. The dozen muffins she ordered from Sugarcube Corner were not going to deliver themselves.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“The Sisterhooves Social? That sounds like a terrible idea!” said Applejack to Appleboom’s proposal, while she kept working on the dress she was making.

Applebloom passed from having the biggest grin in history, to a pouty face in just a moment. “What? But why!?”

“Well, first of all, I’m running late with this order as it is. I need to use as much time as possible in it if I’m going to finish it. I have never been late with an order for any of my customers. Ever. And I’m not planning on starting now.” Replied Applejack, “And besides, I thought you were going to do that with Pinkie Pie.”

“Yes, but Ah do it with her every year, and she also invites her sisters and competes in some events with them. But Pinkie Pie is my sister in law, Ah wanted to do the Sisterhooves Social with my sister-sister, like she does.” explained Applebloom, looking very determined.

“Well, that’s nice for you to offer, but I just don’t have time for silly little games.” replied Applejack.

Applebloom could feel tears forming in her eyes, and she had to struggle to keep them at bay, barely. Silly little games? The big thing Applebloom had been looking forward with doing with Applejack was nothing but silly little games to her big sister? She knew she was busy and all, but couldn’t she just make some time for her family? Even if Applejack didn’t work at the farm, she was still an Apple, she was still family!

“Okay, then… Ah’ll… Ah’ll go to the Sisterhooves Social without mah sister.” She got angrier as the words left her mouth, “Ah’ll go the rest of MAH LIFE without mah sister!”

Applejack stopped working and turned around, surprised and upset at Applebloom’s sudden outburst, “Oh, so I’m the one ruining your life? Did you take a look around here? I’m the one who would be better off without YOU!”

Applebloom angrily looked at Applejack in her eyes, “Well, we finally can see eye to eye on somethin’. Neither of us wants to have a sister!”

“Fine!”

“FINE! Goodbye NOT-sister!” Applebloom turned away from Applejack. While Applejack looked angrily at her as she did.

Applebloom ran away again from Carousel Boutique, slamming the door behind her. Applejack just looked at her, angry still, and turned her head away a look of disdain on her face. “Humph!”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Applebloom walked towards Sweet Apple Acres, still angry but more sad with every step she took. The farm was empty now, and she wasn’t supposed to be alone without supervision from a grown up (which was why Pinkie Pie and Big Mac left her at Applejack’s to begin with), but she didn’t have anywhere to go and she couldn’t go back to Applejack’s now.

Then she heard somepony humming a melody at the other side of the orchard, but who could that be? As she got closer, she saw that the one doing the humming was a white unicorn mare with a rainbow lightning cutie mark, as she looked how a small raincloud was raining on one specific patch of dirt, creating a puddle of water which was getting bigger every minute. And a smaller white unicorn watching the scene in awe.

“Rarity? Sweetie Belle?” said Applebloom, surprised, “What are you doing here?”

Sweetie Belle turned around and happily greeted Applebloom, “Hello Applebloom!”

Rarity stopped humming the song, and turned her head to look at the newcomer. “Oh, Applebloom. Hello. I’m here for a favor to Pinkie Pie. Before she left, she asked me to come here and make some mud to be used for the events at the Sisterhooves Social tomorrow.”

“Pinkie Pie asked you to make mud?” asked Applebloom.

“Well, I believe that she specifically said to make the ‘muddiest mud to ever mud’ so, since I finished with the weather arrangements for the day, I came here with this rain clouds, see?” Rarity pointed to other unused rain clouds that were floating idly some distance away, over the trees of the orchard.

“And I watched! I have been watching Rarity handling the weather the whole day!” exclaimed an excited Sweetie Belle.

Rarity smiled at her little sister. She had to watch her for the week while her parents were out for vacation, so a quick walk-on-clouds spell and her little sister was ready to spend the next days sleeping in the spare room in the cloud house she lived in right on the outskirts of Ponyville. While a she tended to be a handful sometimes, the white unicorn filly also practically worshipped the ground Rarity stepped in. She spent as much time as possible with her, as she painted the sky in beautiful weather patterns, it didn’t matter to Sweetie Belle what she was doing, a sunny lit sky, a rainy day, a snowstorm, for the unicorn filly having Rarity as her big sister was the greatest thing to ever happen to her.

“You should have seen her Applebloom! She moves the clouds, and then the sun comes out, and then she did some wind, and then... then… She’s AMAZING!” Sweetie Belle hugged Rarity tightly with her forehooves.

“Ah wish mah sister was amazing too.” said Applebloom with a pout, as she kicked a small pebble on the ground.

Rarity immediately noticed Applebloom’s tone, and remembered that the yellow filly was supposed to be with Applejack today. “What’s wrong Applebloom? Something wrong with you little stay at Applejack’s?” asked the weather unicorn.

“Everything! Ah was messing everything up, and then tried to make it up to her, and then Ah made even more messes, then Ah yelled at her, and then she yelled at meh and we had a big fight!” said Applebloom, waving her hooves around.

“Oh, I’m sure it sounds bad now, Applebloom, but just give Applejack some time. She’ll come around. Sisters always do.” said Rarity as she hugged Sweetie Belle even closer to her.

“Not sisters like Applejack.” replied Applebloom with a pout.

Rarity moved the raincloud she was using to make the big puddle of water for the mud, and walked closer to Applebloom. “I know that Applejack’s antics can be… frustrating sometimes. I know she’s obsessed with her work, obsessed about staying clean, and goes to the spa more times than Fluttershy and me combined. But under all that she’s a very good friend, and I’m sure she cares deeply about you. Tell you what, why don’t you spend the rest of your day with me and Sweetie Belle? It will give Applejack some time to calm down, what do you say?”

“Really?” asked Applebloom, looking up.

“Of course, it’s no problem at all. Right Sweetie Belle?” Rarity turned around, but Sweetie Belle wasn’t there. “Sweetie Belle?”

“Up here!” Sweetie Belle was standing on a branch on one of the apple trees next to the water puddle. She then jumped down and on the water, splashing it all over Rarity. Applebloom was shielded from the water since was Rarity was in front of her. Sweetie Belle laughed as she stood in the water puddle.

A very wet Rarity looked at her little sister, “Sweetie Belle…” she jumped towards the little white unicorn.

“Rarity, wait! She didn’t mean to-“

But all Rarity did was some roughhousing with Sweetie Belle around the muddy water, laughing as she and her sister were having fun. “Hahahaha! Rarity! Wait! That tickles! Hahahahah!”

“Applejack would never play in the mud with me…” Applebloom looked depressed again.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Back at Carousel boutique, Applejack was working on the dress for a very important client, the one she had hoof sewed those custom patterns on the fabric rolls, the ones that Applebloom had thrown away mistaking them with garbage.

Every time she needed to use a needle, or find a ribbon, they were all neatly organized and in an easy to reach place.

“Okay, now a ribbon over here and… there! It’s perfect.” Applejack looked at the clock, “and in record time too! Everything I needed was organized just right and easy to find, and it was all thanks to Applebloom cleaning this place and…” Applejack caught herself at saying that, and had to actually remind herself that she was mad at her little sister. “… and she still shouldn’t have touched my things without my permission. Humph!”

+++++++++++++++

Rarity and Sweetie Belle were standing under a rain cloud that Rarity had started up with her magic just for the two of them. Playing in the mud was all nice and fun, but they couldn’t go back to Ponyville covered in it.

After the rain water cleaned them both, Rarity moved the cloud away, and started up some warm summer wind to dry both of them.

“First mud, now rain… Applejack would call the hairdresser police if Ah got water anywhere near her mane!” said Applebloom.

“Oh, well. I must admit that I’m not fond of getting my mane wet unnecessarily either, Applebloom.” said Rarity, “But even if I’m a lady, I am also an artist and a weather pony. Painters sometimes get paint on their coats when painting, and as a weather pony, I just can’t expect to be in this line of work without getting my mane a little wet.”

“Very wet.” said Sweetie Belle, who really enjoyed playing in the rain every day Rarity scheduled that for Ponyville’s monthly weather plan.

“A little wet.” replied Rarity.

“Very wet!”

Rarity then made a smug smile, and her horn glowed. Immediately another rain cloud floated up right over Sweetie Bell. And dropped all of its water at once over the white filly, soaking her up from the tip of her horn to the bottom of her hooves. “You were saying?” asked Rarity, smiling.

Sweetie Belle spitted some water out of her mouth, “Okay… a little wet is fine.”

Rarity smiled, then started to laugh. And even if Sweetie Belle started at her for a couple of seconds, she started laughing as well. Rarity moved the rain cloud away again, and started up the warm summer wind to dry up her little sister.

“Wow. They get along so well… It's as if they were just one pony.” said Applebloom, too low for Rarity or Sweetie Belle to hear her.

Rarity stopped the wind as her horn stopped glowing, then looked at all the mud the constant rainwater had produced by now. “Well, I think this will be enough mud for tomorrow. Don’t you think so Applebloom?”

Applebloom nodded happily, “It sure is Rarity, its perfect.”

Rarity smiled and nodded, “Okay then, time to round up the clouds and take them back to Ponyville.”

Sweetie Belle grinned, “Round up the clouds!? Oh, Rarity, can you do that thing you do sometimes?”

“Oh, Sweetie Belle, I don’t know if now it’s the right time for…”

“Oh, please Rarity. It’ll be fun! And Applebloom can come with us too. Please? Pleasepleaseplease!” Sweetie Belle gave Rarity a puppy dog eye attack.

Rarity conceded, what choice did she have? “Oh, alright Sweetie Belle. Wait right here you two, I’ll be right back.”

“What’s so special about rounding up the clouds?” asked Applebloom.

“Usually, not much. But there’s this thing Rarity does sometimes… remember that manega from Neighpon that Scootaloo likes?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“You mean Dragon Egg Z?”

“That’s the one! Well, you see, Rarity, she… Oh, wait! She’s back. You’ll see for yourself. Don’t worry, it’ll be fun!”

Rarity trotted back to where Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were waiting for her. Her horn glowing as the two dozen clouds she had brought over to Sweet Apple Acres were floating behind her. She then stopped in front of the two fillies, and with a small motion of her neck, three of the clouds descended until they were just some inches from the ground. One in front of her, one in front of Sweetie Belle and one in front of Applebloom.

“Yeeey!” Sweetie Belle jumped up and on one of the clouds, and to Applebloom’s surprise, she didn’t fall down from it, walking on it safly like if she were a pegasus instead of a unicorn.

“That’s amazing! How’d you do that?” asked the Earth Pony filly.

“You try it Applebloom.” said Sweetie Belle.

Applebloom jumped to the cloud that was in front of her, but she fell down on the ground. “Ouch! Hey, what gives!?”

“You see, Applebloom, only those ponies that are pure of heart can ride the Flying Nimbus.” said Sweetie Belle.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle, don’t tease her.” Rarity walked over to Applebloom, “It’s actually a simple cloud walking spell. It was one of the first things I learned while I was at the weather school in Cloudsdale. It lasts for several days, and I cast it on myself every week. And I casted in on Sweetie Belle this morning when my parents dropped her off at my place. Since I live in a house made of clouds, it’s an essential thing to know.” Rarity then moved closer to Applebloom and lowered her horn. “Now just hold still, dear. I’m going to cast it on you.”

Applebloom was bathed by a soft light from Rarity’s horn, and then it was gone… she didn’t feel any different, but maybe... “Is it done?”

Rarity nodded, “Go ahead now.”

Applebloom again jumped, and this time landed on the cloud like if she were a Pegasus instead of an Earth Pony. “It worked!”

Rarity then jumped on her own little cloud, and then turned and looked at the two fillies. “Okay Sweetie Belle, you know the rules but I’m going to repeat them for Applebloom’s sake.” she said in a very serious voice, “Four hooves remain firmly on the cloud at all times, no jumping and no rocking the cloud. I know this is fun, but it is also dangerous if not done responsibly. Is that clear?”

“Yes ma’am.” said Applebloom.

“Yes Rarity.” said Sweetie Belle.

“Very well.” Rarity smiled again, “And here we… goooooo!”

“Weee!” said Sweetie Belle happily. “Woah!” said Applebloom, surprised.

Rarity’s horn glowed as she moved the three clouds she, her sister, and Applebloom were riding, along with the rest of the clouds she had brought over to Sweet Apple Acres. She moved the clouds they were riding all over the sky, keeping an eye on the two fillies.

“Look Applebloom! I’m Son Gocolt, whoohoo!” yelled Sweetie Belle, happily.

Applebloom looked in awe as she flew over Ponyville on the cloud, being expertly controlled by Rarity a few feet behind her. “This is AMAZING!” said the yellow Earth Pony.

“Go Flying Nimbus! Yahoo!” added Sweetie Belle.

The three of them, along with the clouds, sped quickly across the sky, laughing in joy.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Applejack, having finished the dress for her important client, walked downstairs to the main part of her store to put the dress with the others that she had finished.

“Hm, this place certainly looks clean after I finished cleaning up the carpet. I guess this place needed some cleaning, even before Applebloom got everything dirty with her muddy hooves.” then, almost forcing herself, she regained her stern look about the situation. “And she should be happy that this thoughtless mishap turned out all right. Hm!”

When she finished putting the dress away so it would be ready to give to her client when it came to the store, she noticed a roll of measuring tape on the floor.

“Huh? How did that get here?” Applejack moved towards it to pick it up, when suddenly a bown blur passed in front of her and towards the measuring tape.

“Woof!” the white and brown dog barked with the measuring tape in her mouth.

“Winona!? How did you get in here? Did you jump in through one of the windows again?” said Applejack.

“Woof!” Winona ran away and towards the back door.

Oh, that dog! Applejack loved Winona, but that dog could be quite a handful, and sometimes she wondered if she wouldn’t be happy living in a farm or something. “Winona! You come back here with that! That is not a toy!” Applejack ran after her dog that jumped out a window that led to the backyard. “Don’t you dare bury that in the backyard!”

Applejack ran out the door, to catch up to her dog. She took the measuring tape, after a little struggle, from Winona, and flinched when she noticed that it was dirty with drool. “Hugh… okay, now let’s get this cleaned up and… huh?”

Just then, Applejack saw something. She remembered how, before she snapped at her for getting the boutique dirty with her muddy hooves, Applebloom was trying to tell her something about a surprise in the lawn. Now she saw it. The flowers next to the house had been perfectly arranged, and she saw that it had her initials, AJ made with orange flowers, next to a heart made up of red flowers, and Applebloom’s initials, AB made with yellow flowers, on the other side of the heart.

Applejack dropped the measuring tape, which Winona quickly picked up and ran away with. Applejack placed a hoof on her mouth, as she felt tears forming in her eyes.

“Oh, Applebloom! My sweet little sister! What have I done? All this time we could have spent together, and I just wasted it complaining and driving you away from me! I’m so sorry…” she then looked determined and picked herself up, “No! I must get her back. I must! As Celestia is my witness, I shall never be sisterless again!”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Right outside of Rarity’s cloud cottage, on the outskirts of Ponyville, Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, were roasting marshmallows on a stick over a fire. Rarity was holding a couple of gram crackers and a chocolate bar with her magic, and then floated one of the toasted marshmallows from one of the stick to place it over the chocolate bar.

“Then you place one marshmallow on the top of the chocolate, making sure it's centered that's critical, and then carefully put another perfectly square graham cracker on the top.” Rarity expertly manipulated the two gram crackers, the chocolate bar and the toasted marshmallow into a S’more. “And done. Ta-da! The perfect S’more!”

“Yeah! And now, we eat it.” said Sweetie Belle. Before Rarity could put down the S’more with her magic, her little sister swallowed the floating S’more in one bite. “Hmmmm!”

Applebloom giggled at Sweetie Belle’s little display.

Just then Applejack found them and walked towards the three, “Oh, Applebloom! There you are. I have been galloping all over Ponyville looking for you. I…”

Applebloom turned to look at Applejack, and frowned. “Oh, hello, Not-Sister. Better be careful, you might get dirty of somethin’.”

“Applebloom… little sister… I want to apologize. I was wrong, I’m not better off without a little sister.” said Applejack in an apologetic tone.

Applebloom wasn’t moved, “Yeah, so?”

“So, why don’t you come back with me? I swear I’ll spend time with you! How about if I teach you how to better style your mane, or wear something more stylish than that pink bow all the time? Hm?” said Applejack, hopeful.

“Oh, Ah see. You want me to go with ya, so Ah’ll be more like YOU?” Applebloom turned around and pointed an accusing hoof towards Applejack.

Applejack looked at Applebloom and smiled awkwardly. “Hum… yes?”

“Ah can’t believe Ah actually was looking forward to spending the day with you this morning! Pinkie Pie has been more of a big sister to me than you were!” Applebloom cried out, waving her hooves.

“Oh, Applebloom, please…” Applejack tried again.

“No!” Applebloom interrupted, “Ah spent all day with Rarity and Sweetie Belle, and even if they don’t always see eye to eye, at least they put HARD WORK into their relationship as sisters! At least they COMPROMISE!” Applebloom then turned around and walked away without looking back.

Applejack looked at Applebloom walking away, she reached out with her hoof towards her, but she was at a loss for words. She looked down and could feel the tears coming out of her eyes.

Sweetie Belle and Rarity had stayed out of the feud between Applejack and Applebloom, but now Rarity knew that Applejack needed her, as a shoulder to cry on if nothing else. She started walking towards the orange fashion mare, when she felt a small hoof stopping her. She turned her head to look at a worried Sweetie Belle.

“Hum, Rarity?”

“Yes, Sweetie Belle?” asked Rarity.

“We… hum, I know you already said yes, but we don’t have to participate in the Sisterhooves Social tomorrow if you don’t want to.” said the little white unicorn.

“Whatever do you mean, Sweetie Belle?”

“It’s just that we always do what I want to do, and I don’t want to be selfish.” Sweetie Belle looked up at her sister.

“Oh, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity hugged her sister, “I said yes because I like spending time with you. You’re my little sister and I love you.”

Sweetie Belle smiled and hugged her back, “I love you too Rarity.”

“And besides, we do the things I like plenty of times too.” added Rarity, “you come with me when I make the weather in Ponyville, and an artist always loves to have an audience.”

Rarity’s horn glowed, and some clouds moved from the door to her cloud cottage floating several feet up, and the ground, forming a set of stairs made out of clouds. “Okay now, it’s time for bed, so go inside and don’t forget to brush your teeth. I’ll be there in a minute, I just need to talk to Applejack.”

Sweetie Belle nodded happily and obeyed her sister, walking on the stairs and into the cloud cottage thanks to the cloud walking spell that was still in effect.

Rarity walked towards Applejack, who had dried the tears from her eyes. “Are you okay Applejack?”

“No.” replied the orange mare, then she looked at Rarity, "Well, that apology went swimmingly... Rarity, why do you have to be the perfect big sister and make me look like… well, not so perfect?”

Rarity giggled, “Hehehe… Oh, Applejack. Again you are thinking about yourself. You have to be more generous. You see, being a good sister is like… rainbows!”

“Rainbows?”

Rarity nodded, "Yes, rainbows! You can have a lot of sunlight, or a lot of rain, but only together you can have a beautiful rainbow."

Applejack looked up in thought, "But apart, all we are is just a bunch of falling water and some dry heat...” Applejack gasped in sudden realization, “I know what I need to do! I just hope it isn't too late!"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The next day, was time for the Sisterhooves Social at Sweet Apple Acres.

Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Pinkie Pie were walking around, looking at the different events taking place around the farm.

“Well, I must say, Pinkie Pie, that the whole place looks amazing this year.” commented Rarity.

“Thank you Rarity,” replied Pinkie Pie, “me and Big Mac worked super-duper hard this morning.”

“Your sisters didn’t come?” asked Rarity.

Pinkie Pie shook her head, “No. My family is actually organizing their own version of the Sisterhooves Social on the rock farm, so they are very busy today. They are going to have a rock tossing contest, and rock finding contest, and a rock obstacle course, and rock candy eating contest, and…”

“Yes, yes, Pinkie Pie, I get the idea.” said Rarity, before the pink farmer pony could go into an unstoppable super long talking fit.

“Well,” said Applebloom, “Ah guess it’s a good thing Applejack isn’t here. She would be freakin’ out about getting dust on her coat right now.”

Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked at each other a little worried at Applebloom’s comments. The filly had been saying things like that all day.

“Oh, wow! Look at that pig!” said Sweetie Belle, pointing over to the pigpen, trying to take Applebloom’s mind away from the subject.

The four of them walked over to the pigpen. “He sure is a cutie.” commented Pinkie Pie.

“That’s the last word Applejack would use!” exclaimed Applebloom. Then she started to emulate Applejack’s mannerisms and demeanor in a mocking manner, “Oh my, what a repulsive monstrosity! This pig needs a total makeover!”

Again Pinkie Pie and Rarity exchanged a worried look. Then Pinkie Pie noticed the time. “Hey, come on! It’s almost time for the big race!”

“Yeah! The Sisterhooves Social Sister’s Race! Let’s go Rarity!” said Sweetie Belle as she went as fast as her hooves could take her to where the event was taking place.

“You won’t beat us this year, Pinkie Pie.” said Rarity, as she ran after Sweetie Belle.

“Ha! We’ll just see about that! Let’s go Applebloom.” said Pinkie Pie to her sister in law.

“Okay. It’s not like Ah’m sad that Applejack is not here or anything.” she said to nopony in particular, as she contained tears from coming out of her eyes.

Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Pinkie Pie and Applebloom approached the stage where Granny Smith and Big Mac were standing at the moment.

“Is this thing on?” said Granny Smith, talking on the wrong end of the megaphone on the small stage. She turned to look at Big Mac, “I don’t think this thing is on.”

Big Mac whispered something in Granny Smith’s ear.

“What? Oh, why didn’t you say so? Confangled modern doohickeys!” Granny Smith turned the megaphone the right way, “Okay, now it’s time for the event you’ve all been waiting fer! The Sister Soci… The Socialhooves… Oh, dabnabbit, you know, the big race! We have five teams this year fer the event! So y’all head on up to the finish line, y’hear?”

Again Big Mac whispered something in Granny Smith’s ear.

“Eh? Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean the START line! Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Every team, consisting of two sisters each, walked over to the start line of the big race of the Sisterhooves Social. Rarity noticed a pair of familiar unicorns next to her and Sweetie Belle.

“Sparkler! It’s good to see you were able to make it today all the way from Canterlot.” said the white weather unicorn. She knew Sparkler and her little sister Dinky through her mother, Derpy, which Rarity, as Ponyville’s weather manager, had to be extra careful when it was the gray pegasus turn to help with the weather arrangements.

“Oh, hi Rarity! Yes, I received a letter in the mail about how a certain little filly really wanted her big sister to be here for this.” said the unicorn as she messed up her little sister’s mane.

“And my mommy came to see us!” said a very happy looking Dinky, then turned to look at the stands where Derpy was watching them. “Hi mom!” Dinky waved with her hoof. At the stand, Derpy waved back.

“Well then, good luck.” said Rarity to Sparkler.

“Thank you. You too.” replied Sparkler.

Applebloom, next to Pinkie Pie, looked sad at the ground, which the pink pony quickly noticed. “Applebloom? Why are you so gloomy-gloom?”

Applebloom sighed and looked away, “It’s nuthin’.”

On the stage, Granny Smith talked through the megaphone as she sat on her rocking chair. “And now, may the best sisters win! On your marks… get set…” she rocked too hard on her rocking chair and ended up hitting her eyes on the megaphone “Gooooo!” she screamed, painfully.
All the teams started galloping, first was the mudholes, filled with the mud Rarity had prepared for the farm with her rainclouds the day before.

As she was crossing the mudhole, Pinkie Pie seemed like she tripped on something and fell inside. A figure emerged a moment later, all covered from head to hooves in mud.

Applebloom stopped and turned around, “You okay Pinkie Pie?”

The mare covered in mud nodded her head, and she and Applebloom started galloping again.
They passed easily through the wooden buckets, then they reached the first pile of boxes. The mare covered in mud made it to the top easily, but Applebloom had problems climbing them.

“Pinkie Pie! Help me!” said Applebloom, reaching out with her hoof.

The mare covered in mud turned around and looked at Applebloom’s predicament. She quickly reached down with her hoof and, grabbing Applebloom’s, she pulled the yellow filly up.
The two of them quickly reached the next part of the race, pie eating, which they quickly finished leaving Sparkler and Dinky behind. Then came the part to push the big stacks of hay, which they finished really quickly, leaving another team behind.

After that, the mud covered mare helped the yellow filly jump into a big wooden vat filled with grapes, which Applebloom quickly stomped. When the glass jar was filled with grape juice the pair quickly galloped to the next section of the race, catching up with Cloud Kicker and her little sister.

This new section of the race consisted on picking apples by tossing them from a bench into a wooden bucket being held by the other sister up ahead.

“We can do it Pinkie Pie!” said a happy Applebloom, as she quickly picked the wooden bucket and ran the required distance away from the bench with the pile of apples.

The mare covered in mud jumped over one side of the bench and tossed up the apples all at once. With skill that only comes from years of doing the same job at the apple orchard, Applebloom was able to collect all the apples at once in the wooden bucket, leaving the two Pegasi sisters behind.

Applebloom and her racing partner made quick work at the chicken pen, filling out one basket with a dozen eggs, by only balancing them on their muzzle as it was required by the rules of the race, and having completed the last part of the race all that was left was dash towards the finish line.

The two of them were first, but they heard galloping behind them and turned their heads to look.

“We are going to win this year!” said Rarity, catching up to the yellow filly and the mud covered mare.

“Yeah!” added Sweetie Belle happily.

As the finish line got closer and closer, with the ponies on the stand cheering on, the two sister teams were neck to neck. A few feet from the finish line, the four competitors leaped towards it and landed in a cloud of dust.

When the dust settled, it showed that it was Applebloom and her mud covered partner the ones that crossed the line ahead of Rarity and Sweetie Belle, that had landed behind them and the finish line.

“Oh, we were so close!” lamented Rarity as she picked herself up and dusted herself off.

“It’s okay Rarity, you were amazing! I don’t even care that we didn’t win. This was so much fun!” Sweetie Belle happily hugged her big sister.

Applebloom was jumping up and down happily, “We won! We won!” Then she stopped and looked sadly at the ground.

“What’s wrong Applebloom? Aren’t you happy you won? Wasn’t the race fun?” asked Sweetie Belle, approaching her friend.

“Of course the race was fun! It’s just that, Ah wished Applejack had done it with meh.” replied the yellow filly. “No offense, to you Pinkie Pie.” said Applebloom, looking at the mare covered in mud in front of her.

“Why would Ah be offended?” came Pinkie Pie’s voice, from BEHIND Applebloom.

Surprised, Applebloom turned around to see that Pinkie Pie was standing there, half covered in mud as she used a towel to clean the filth from her. “Ah have to hand it to you Rarity, Ah asked for the muddiest mud to ever mud, and you didn’t disappoint me.”

“Hum… thank you Pinkie Pie, I guess?” replied Rarity to the compliment.

“Pinkie Pie? But if you are here, who is…” Applebloom turned to look at the mud covered mare that she had competed in the race with.

“It’s me Applebloom.” replied the mud covered mare in Applejack’s voice.

“Applejack?” asked a bewildered Applebloom.

Rarity’s horn glowed and a little cloud came down and placed herself over the mud covered Applejack, and then it started to rain, cleaning all the mud off, revealing the yellow mane, orange coat and three diamond cutie mark.

“What happened? Ah’m sure that Pinkie Pie was the one standing with me at the starting line.” said Applebloom looking back and forth between Pinkie Pie and Applejack.

“We switched places at the very first mudhole.” replied Pinkie Pie.

Applebloom looked at Applejack, “So, we did the whole competition… together?”

“Yes we did, little sister. Well, except for the start line.”

“But you finished together!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle happily. Rarity nodded in agreement.

Applebloom looked between Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Sweetie Belle. “You mean… you all were in on it?”

“Mm-hmm.” Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Sweetie Belle replied in unison.

Applebloom again looked at Applejack, “You did all this for me?”

“For us, Applebloom. I did it for us. Do you forgive me?” asked Applejack tentatively.

Applebloom let out tears of joy and hugged her big sister, who happily returned her hug, letting out tears of joy of her own.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle looked at the scene, and put a hoof around each other. Pinkie Pie also watched, feeling a sudden urge to be with her sisters at that moment.

“See, we ARE a rainbow!” exclaimed Applejack.

“Huh?” asked Applebloom.

“Hum… I’ll explain later.” replied Applejack, “For now, I think we all deserve a celebration!”

“Woo Hoo!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

“Where?” asked Applebloom.

“The spa, of course.” replied Applejack.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Pinkie Pie started to laugh. Rarity just looked at Applejack with a knowing smile, but she did feel like laughing as well.

“No, no… I’m serious.” said Applejack in reply.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Later that day, Applejack and Applebloom were sitting together looking at the sunset on a hill near Sweet Apple Acres. Spike was next to them, he had brought with him paper and a quill. The Apple sisters had asked Twilight for Spike’s help to write a letter to Princess Celestia.

“Very well then, what should we write to the Princess?” asked Applejack.

“Ah’ll start.” replied Applebloom. “Having a big sister is great. But it isn’t easy.”

“I agree that having a little sister is wonderful, but it requires an honest effort. Sometimes it’s about compromising. Sometimes it’s about accepting each other’s differences. Sometimes is about making the time for family. But the most important part is to have fun together, and to honestly loving each other.” said Applejack.

“Signed, Applebloom and Applejack, the Apple sisters.” finished Applebloom.

With that, Spike rolled up the paper into a scroll, and used his magical fire to send it.

Hurricane Fluttershy

Rarity galloped all around Ponyville, holding a stack of fliers in a saddlebag and giving one to each pegasus she encountered on her way using her magic.

“Attention all pegasi! Meeting tonight at the library!” Rarity passed next to Cloudchaser and Flitter, floating a flier for each one of them with her magic as she did so. “Every pegasus of age to handle weather, regardless of experience, needs to attend!”

Rarity saw Fluttershy, carrying a box of pastries, and Rainbow Dash, carrying a bag of an assortment of vegetables, walking down the street. She galloped towards them.

“Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash!” Rarity called out to her friends.

“Rarity? What’s up?” asked Rainbow Dash. A little worried at seeing Rarity so worked up.

“Hello Rarity!” waved Fluttershy with one of her wings, “Beautiful weather we're having. I love a sunny spring day. The birds chirpin’ and the flowers bloomin’.” Said the happy-go-lucky pegasus.

“Thank you. But I don’t have time to talk about my handiwork, darlin’” replied Rarity, “I received a very important message from Cloudsdale today, and it is of utmost importance that every pegasus pony in the age range to qualify for weather duty in Ponyville comes to this meeting tonight.” Rarity’s horn glowed and two fliers floated out of her saddlebags, she moved one to Fluttershy and the other to Rainbow Dash.

“The details will be discussed in the meeting. Tonight at the town library. I’ll be expecting you.” said Rarity as she galloped away.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash read the flier that Rarity gave them. It didn’t say much, only the hour that the meeting was to take place, that it was going to take place in the library, and that it was for some official weather business so only pegasi that weren’t too old or too young was asked to attend.

The two pegasi looked at each other, both wondering silently what could be so important that Rarity was calling up any pegasus that could handle weather. Even two with such little experience as the two of them in the matter.

=======================================

That night, at the library, Rarity was at the door welcoming each and every pegasus that came to the meeting. Next to her Spike was holding a list with the names of every pegasus in Ponyville that was supposed to show up at the meeting which Rarity had provided him with earlier, and was doing a checkmark next to the name of each pegasus as they showed up.

“That’s Flitter and Cloudchaser, that’s Thunderlane, that’s Blossomforth, that’s Silverspeed…” said Rarity to Spike as each pegasus walked into the library.

“Gee, Rarity, you are amazing for remembering the names of every pegasus in Ponyville.” said Spike, looking up at Rarity in love and admiration, as he did a checkmark next to the name of the pegasus ponies Rarity mentioned.

“Why thank you, Spike. But as the weather captain of Ponyville, it is my job to know such things, darlin’.” replied the white unicorn with the rainbow lightning cutie mark. She then looked inside the library, “So, is anypony missing Spike?” asked Rarity.

Spike looked at the list, “Just Fluttershy.” replied the purple dragon.

“I’m here!” said Fluttershy, as she walked towards the library. “I’m sorry I’m late, Rarity,” said the yellow pegasus with the three balloons cutie mark, “But the Cakes needed some help to put Pound and Pumpkin to bed, Pumpkin doesn’t get magic surges so often now, but Pound still tends to fly around if nopony is watching him.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it Fluttershy, just go right in and find a seat.” said Rarity with a smile.

Fluttershy walked in and Rarity followed her. “As soon as everypony is ready, turn off the lights and start the movie. Okay, Spike?”

Spike nodded his head in the affirmative, “You got it Rarity.”

Fluttershy happily made her way through the crowd of ponies in the library, looking around, until she finally saw the cyan pegasus with the three pink butterflies for a cutie mark that was her foalhood friend. “Rainbow Dash, there you are!” said Fluttershy as she trotted over to stand next to Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, heh… Hi Fluttershy.” said Rainbow Dash, uneasy.

Fluttershy immediately noticed that her friend was feeling nervous, “What’s wrong Rainbow Dash?”

“It’s just this meeting… what could it be that Rarity of all ponies needs all the pegasi in Ponyville to do something?” replied Rainbow Dash, looking away from Fluttershy to hide her nervousness, and failing, “You know I haven’t handled anything related to weather since flight camp!”

“I have the perfect solution for your problem.” said Fluttershy.

“Oh, yeah? And what is… it?” Rainbow Dash turned to look at Fluttershy, and was stunned at what she saw.

Fluttershy was wearing a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses with attached eyebrows, a large plastic nose and a bushy moustache. “Feeling better?” asked the yellow pegasus.

Rainbow Dash giggled, then laughed, then laughed some more. “Yes, Fluttershy, I’m feeling better. Thank you, you’re a good friend.”

“Always a pleasure.” replied Fluttershy. Just then, the lights came out and a big white screen was unfurled on the front of the library. A film projector was turned on and a film started.

The narrator of the film started talking, as images showed what he was narrating over some old sounding music “Every living thing depends on the life-giving nourishment of rainwater, and it is up to Cloudsdale to provide rain-filled clouds to every corner of Equestria. But how, one pony might ask, does Cloudsdale gather all this extra water? Tornado power! That's right, Pegasi-driven tornado power. A team of Pegasi combine their wing power to create a jumbo tornado, powerful enough to pull water out of the local reservoir and funnel it all the way up to Cloudsdale. Remember, Pegasi, your jumbo tornado must reach a minimum of 800 wing power to lift that water up to Cloudsdale. So, the next time you're wondering ‘Where does all that extra rainwater come from?’, just remem-”

The narrator and music come suddenly to a halt as the film stops.

Every pony in the library turns to look at the projector on the back, where Spike was operating it. The purple dragon has one of the film rolls unfurled and wrapped around him, “Heh heh… Hum… Intermission?” said Spike.

“Okay, everypony, I’m pretty sure that by now you can all guess what this meeting is about.” said Rarity as she walked up front of the crowd of pegasus, and on a small platform that had been set up for the occasion, so that every pony in the library was able to see her. “This morning I received a very important message from Cloudsdale’s central weather office. The message said that this year, Ponyville’s highland reservoir was chosen as a source of the rainwater they need for all of Equestria.”

Rarity paced around the platform, looking very serious as she did. “This is, by far, the most important task the Ponyville weather team has been given since I became its captain, and by Celestia’s mane, I am not going to fail at it. This is so important that officials from Cloudsdale are going to come to Ponyville to oversee the water transfer and record our top tornado windspeed.”

Rarity stopped pacing and turned to look at all the pegasi in the library, “That is why I am going to make sure that everything goes on without any unexpected problems. So I want each and every one of you to show up tomorrow at the oval running track, to measure the wingpower of every pegasus in Ponyville and make sure that it is enough to reach the 800 wingpower necessary to make the giant tornado.”

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof, “Hum, Rarity?”

Rarity looked at the rainbow maned pegasus, “Yes, Rainbow Dash?”

“Hum, I’ve seen you make a tornado before. Do you really need us to help you with it?” asked the cyan pegasus, a little nervous once again.

“Well, yes, I am capable of making a tornado just like a pegasus, Rainbow Dash, but even I have limits. There is no way I could make a tornado with the equivalence of 800 wingpower all by myself.” replied Rarity, very seriously. “Any other questions?”

A black stallion coughed among the crowd of ponies.

Rarity immediately turned to look, “Thunderlane? Better get that coughing checked out. I’m going to need each and every one of you to be on top condition!”

“YEAH!” came an excited yell from a muscular white pegasus.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm, Bulk Biceps,” said Rarity, “But this is going to require more than just enthusiasm to work out. To make this tornado, I’m going to need each and every one of you to be strong.”

“Yeah!” said every pegasus in the library, excitedly.

Rarity continued, “I’m going to need each and every one of you to be fast!”

“Yeah!” said every pegasus in the library again.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened wide in worry, “*GULP* Did… did she just say fast?” She crouched down and placed her forehooves over her head, “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no…”

Fluttershy again noticed that her friend was worried, “Rainbow Dash?”

“I… I have to go!” Rainbow Dash turned around and galloped out of the library. Among the cheering cries of the rest of the pegasi.

Fluttershy was startled by this reaction, and could only watch as Rainbow Dash ran away.

====================================

The pegasi of Ponyville were at Ponyville’s track and field court, Twilight and Spike were setting up a strange looking fan-like device at the side of the track.

“So, what exactly does this machine do?” asked Cloudchaser. Flitter standing next to her.

“This is an anemometer.” explained Twilight. “It measures your accelerative velocity and translates it into wingpower, thus gauging your cumulative H2O anti-gravitational potential. Any other questions?”

“Yeah.” said Flitter, then turned to look at Spike. “What exactly does this machine do?”

“It tells you how fast you’re flying and how strong your wings are.” explained the baby dragon.

“Ohhh… Okay…” said Flitter and Cloudchaser in unison.

Twilight frowned.

On the other side of the track, Rainbow Dash was looking around nervously, and Fluttershy standing next to her. “What’s wrong Rainbow Dash?” asked the yellow pegasus, “You have been on edge since you left your cottage this morning.”

“Me? Oh, I’m fine. Really, just fine!” said Rainbow Dash with a demeanor that showed that she was not fine at all, “Why would I be worried? This is just flying! Yeah, I fly all the time. Flying, flying, flying, its what pegasus ponies do.” Rainbow Dash said anxiously, “Wait a minute, did I feed Tank before I left? I don’t think I fed Tank before I left! I have to go back to my cottage!”

Rainbow Dash turned around and was ready to gallop away, but instead just fell to the ground as something pulled from her tail. “WHOA!” said the cyan pegasus as she fell down.

Fluttershy lifted her hoof from the ground, where she had been stepping on Rainbow Dash’s tail. “Okay Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy as she calmly walked over to stand in front of the fallen Rainbow Dash, “What’s going on? You have been like this since the meeting at the library.”

Rainbow Dash stood back up, and sighed in defeat, “Okay Fluttershy… it’s just that… I can’t fly fast!”

Fluttershy blinked in confusion, “Huh? What are you talking about Rainbow Dash? I am pretty sure I have seen you flying fast several times.”

Rainbow Dash looked devastated, “Do you remember flight camp? Do you remember what the other colts and fillies called me?”

It broke Fluttershy’s heart to see her friend like that, especially because she knew exactly what she meant, “Rainbow Crash?” replied the yellow pegasus.

“That’s right! Rainbow CRASH. It’s not that I CAN’T fly fast… it’s just that I suck at it!” explained the rainbow maned pegasus. “Every time I fly fast, I always lose control and crash someplace.”

Fluttershy smiled at Rainbow Dash, a caring smile, no mockery could be found in the pegasus’ smile, “Oh, Rainbow Dash. Ponies can sometimes be mean when they are young, I got mocked all the time at flight camp. Every time I failed at something every filly and colt would start singing a song… ‘Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly’ and they would laugh at me. But I didn’t let that bother me! I just grinned and bared it, and laughed it off. Sometimes that’s all you can do, because you can’t let those memories ruin your life.” Fluttershy was almost going to remind Rainbow Dash of the time she saved her from falling during that fateful race when they were fillies, but decided not to since she wasn’t sure it was the best thing to say at the time. Sure, Rainbow Dash had saved her, but she had lost control in the dive (knocking both of them down in the process) which didn’t help the whole “Rainbow Crash” thing...

Rainbow Dash felt bad since she did remember that Fluttershy did get mocked even more than she did at Flightcamp, and still managed to go through life with a smile, regardless of what others thought of her. And she was so kind that she would put the happiness of other ponies before her own. “You’re right Fluttershy… but it’s not just that. It’s this whole tornado business. It seems to be very important to Rarity, and I don’t want to be the one that messes it up for her! What if I lose control midflight and I crash and I mess up the tornado?”

Before Fluttershy could reply, the sound of a whistle made everypony on the track and field court go quiet, and turn at its source. Rarity was walking towards the crowd of pegasi, she was wearing a whistle around her neck and a hat that read ‘Weather Captain’ on the front. “Okay everypony, this is how we are going to do this.” explained the white unicorn, “You are going to take turns, and one by one you are going to fly as fast as you can next to that anemometer that Twilight did the favor of brining over for this test. As it measures your wingpower, Spike is going to write it down. And now… Huh?” Rarity was interrupted as she felt something pulling down at her tail.

Rarity turned around to see a small white pegasus colt looking up at her.

“Rumble?” asked the white unicorn, “What are you doing here? You’re too young for tornado duty.” She then looked up and around, “And where is your brother? Where is Thunderlane?”

“He told me to come here and say that he can’t make it, Miss Rarity.” said the colt, “He told me to tell you that he went to the Doctor this morning, to get his coughing checked like you said, and the Doctor said that he had the feather flu. He won’t recover in time for the day of the tornado.”

“What!?” said a worried Rarity. “No, this can’t be! He’s one of the best fliers in Ponyville! I really needed him…” Rarity noticed that Rumble was startled by her sudden outburst, and forced herself to calm down, “I’m sorry about that, Rumble. Thank you for coming to tell me this and tell your brother that I’m sorry he’s sick and hope he gets better soon.”

Rumble nodded, “Okay Miss Rarity, goodbye.” He turned around and left.

“Okay Rarity,” she said to herself, “Calm down, I am sure that we’re still going to have enough ponies to reach the 800 wingpower minimum. Yes, that’s the spirit!”

She then turned to look at the rest of the pegasi, “Okay, everypony, let’s get started. Cloud Kicker, you go first.”

“Okay.” said a pale blue pegasus with an amber mane as she stepped up to the starting line of the track and field court. Cloud Kicker flapped her wings and flew as fast as she could, passing next to the anemometer. The device registered her wingpower, “5.5 wingpower.” said Twilight as she looked at the anemometer’s meter, and Spike wrote down the result next to Cloud Kicker’s name on the list.

“Very good, Cloud Kicker. Helia, you are next.” said Rarity.

One by one each peagasus walked up to the starting line, and each one flew as fast as they could next to the anemometer without incident. Well, except for Blossomforth coughing and Rarity asking her to go straight to the Doctor and getting that checked out right after the white pegasus tested her wingpower with the anemometer.

As each pegasus tested his or her wingpower, Rainbow Dash looked nervously as her turn was going to come up sooner or later.

Finally it happened, “Rainbow Dash, it’s your turn.” said Rarity.

“Wish me luck, Fluttershy.” said the cyan pegasus as she nervously walked over to the start line and flapped her wings as she flew towards the anemometer… very slowly.

“Come on Rainbow Dash! I know you can do better than that!” said Rarity from the other side.

“*GULP* Here goes…” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings faster, and she soon reached a very high speed. She flew next to the anemometer, raising a gust of wind, “16.5 wingpower!” said an enthusiastic Twilight.

“I can’t stop! Whoa!” Rainbow Dash passed the end of the track and field track, she tried to turn but went into an uncontrolled spin and finally crashed against a tree.

Some pegasi looked dumbfounded at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash stood up, cleaned the dust off her mane, and looked at the other pegasi, blushing and feeling very embarrassed.

“Hey everypony! Now it’s my turn!” Fluttershy caught the attention of everyone as she stepped over to the starting line, before Rarity even called her up, and flew as fast as she could. But then she seemed to trip on something, which was odd since she was in midflight (almost like if she did it on purpose). She rolled around on the ground, until she finally fell down and slid all the way up to the finish line and next to the anemometer. “Heh heh heh… oops?” she said as she looked up, her face covered in dirt.

Every pegasus immediately forgot about Rainbow crashing against the tree, and started laughing at what happened with Fluttershy.

The yellow pegasus stood up and laughed too, and without anypony noticing she looked over at Rainbow Dash and winked an eye. Rainbow Dash understood, Fluttershy had just done a little slapstick comedy at her own expense to save Rainbow Dash from her embarrassing crash landing. Fluttershy was such a kind and good friend, Rainbow Dash felt so lucky to have her.

Again the sound of Rarity’s whistle broke the moment. “Okay everypony. Let’s take a little break before we continue.” the white unicorn walked over to Rainbow Dash, she had noticed something; the above average, very high wingpower that Rainbow Dash had made before she lost control and crashed. By now Fluttershy had gotten up and was also next to Rainbow Dash to check on her friend.

“Are you okay Rainbow Dash?” asked Rarity.

“What? Oh, yeah. I’m fine, thanks.” replied the rainbow maned pegasus.

“Great! I’ll be looking forward to having your excellent score of 16.5 wingpower in the giant tornado.” said the white unicorn.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened wide. “What? The tornado? Oh, you know what? Now that I’m really feeling that fall, I think I hurt my wing.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

Rainbow Dash moved her wing a little and made a wincing face, “Ouch! It really hurts. And I was SO looking forward of helping with the tornado. Oh! Woe is me!”

Rarity’s horn glowed under her hat, and a small raincloud appeared behind Rainbow Dash, and a lighting bolt struck down, doing a loud sound.

“WOAH!” Rainbow Dash was scared from the loud sound of the thunder and leaped in the air, flying.

“Hurt wing, huh?” said Rarity. Rainbow Dash blushed in embarrassment and landed back down.

“You know, Rarity, I think that…” started Fluttershy.

“No, Fluttershy, stop covering up for Rainbow Dash.” said the white unicorn to the yellow pegasus, then turned again to look at the cyan pegasus, “Rainbow Dash, from the numbers of everypony I’m pretty sure we can reach the required 800 wingpower for the tornado. But I want to make sure this works perfectly, and I’m going to need all the wingpower I can get for that. So, please, tell me what’s wrong.”

Rainbow Dash looked down, then at Fluttershy, then at Rarity, “Look, Rarity, you are my friend and I want to help you… but I can’t do this! If I try and fly at the tornado, I’m going to lose control and ruin everything! I’m going to crash.” she looked down, “Because I’m Rainbow Crash…”

Rarity suddenly understood what was going on, “Is this because of that stupid nickname the other colts and fillies had for you at Flightcamp?”

“It’s not that, Rarity. I want to help you, I really do, but I don’t think me taking part in that tornado is really the best idea.” said Rainbow Dash, looking up back at Rarity.

“So practice. You have time until the day of the tornado. I’m not saying you practice every flight movement in Equestria, just practice doing a tornado.” replied Rarity.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head with her hoof, feeling uneasy, “I don’t know…”

“Come on Rainbow Dash!” exclaimed Rarity, “So you got mocked when you were a filly. You can’t let that run your entire life! You have to step up and prove that they were wrong about you, about what they thought of you!”

“So, that’s what this is about, isn’t it Rarity?” asked Fluttershy.

Rarity, surprised at Fluttershy’s question, turned to look at the yellow pegasus, “What? What do you mean Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy smiled, a peaceful, friendly smile. “Everypony has issues from their foalhood, Rarity, and we all cope with them differently. Rainbow Dash got mocked because she always crashed, I got laughed at because I could hardly fly, and I remember the stories of how some of the pegasi treated you in Cloudsdale, a unicorn filly that could control the weather with magic, how they tripped you, or said that you should go back to the ground where you belonged…”

Rarity looked away.

“Is that why you are taking this so seriously Rarity? It’s more than just providing the rainwater to Cloudsdale, isn’t it. You want to prove to all those pegasi that mistreated you when you were younger that you are a good weather pony.”

“I don’t think its just random chance that I’m repeatedly left being the only pony on staff of the weather of Ponyville more than once. Other members being pulled away to other tasks, even if they don’t want to by the higher ups at Cloudsdale. There are several days and I’m left as the only pony on duty, but I keep at it, always making the best day I can possibly can, for everypony in Ponyville.” said Rarity.

“And your skies ARE beautiful Rarity,” commented Fluttershy, wanting to make her friend smile again, “We know it, you know it, everypony in Ponyville knows it! So what if a bunch of old opinionated pegasus in Cloudsdale thinks that a pegasus should be in charge of the weather instead of a unicorn. Just forget about them, and enjoy your work like you always do. You have been treating this tornado thing like some sort of chore or military drill… that’s not how you do things Rarity.”

Rarity again turned to look at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, “Thank you Fluttershy… and you are right. I don’t usually treat weather duty like some sort of chore, but this is different.” explained the weather unicorn, “I always get the feeling that they WANT me to fail, that they do things PURPOSELY so I would fail. Tornado duty is something that is usually given to big cities with a big weather team, like Fillydelphia. A small town like Ponyville could get it, but it’s the exception, not the norm. Remember that I said at the meeting yesterday that officials from Cloudsdale are going to come to Ponyville to oversee the water transfer and record our top tornado windspeed?”

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash nodded.

Rarity continued, “Well, there will be two officials. One is going to be Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, who is going to be in charge of recording the tornado’s windspeed. Normally it would have been just her, but the other official, who requested to come especially to Ponyville to oversee everything goes smoothly, is Gray Cloud.”

“Gray Cloud? Why does that name sounds familiar?” asked Rainbow Dash out loud.

“Wasn’t he one of the weather teachers in Flightcamp? One of the really strict ones?” commented Fluttershy.

“Oh, yeah! That’s right. He could be a real jerk.” added Rainbow Dash.

“He was one of my teachers in Cloudsdale. He never said it out loud, but it was clear that he was unhappy with the idea of a unicorn weather pony. He would sometimes give me the hardest tests, ones that he was sure I would not pass. But I passed them anyway, and ended up a better weather pony afterwards. Now he’s one of the high officials of the central weather department in Cloudsale. And I’m pretty sure the only reason he wants to be here on the day of the tornado is just so he can see me fail at it.”

“You are not going to fail Rarity.” reassured Fluttershy, “It’s not just you, just look at those ponies behind you.”

Rarity did, she saw all the pegasi in Ponyville talking and stretching for the wingpower test. The ones that had already taken the test were helping doing stretches to the ones that hadn’t taken the test yet.

“They are here because they know you are a great weather pony, and a great weather captain. They are here because they support you and respect you, Rarity. As a weather captain AND as a pony.” finished Fluttershy.

“You are right. Thank you Fluttershy.” said the unicorn, then looked at Rainbow Dash, “But I still believe that Rainbow Dash shouldn’t let what happened when she was younger run her life now. I am not going to force her to perform tornado duty if she really believes she is unfit for it. But I still think all she needs is to practice.”

“Thank you Rarity, you are a good friend.” said Rainbow Dash, “I’ll… I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Okay Rainbow Dash. Now why don’t you go back to your cottage. Twilight already recorded your wingpower, and I wouldn’t want to keep you from taking care of your animal friends.” said Rarity.

Rainbow Dash nodded and took to the air in the direction of her cottage next to the Everfree Forest.

Fluttershy was about to leave too, but Rarity stopped her. “You stay here Fluttershy. We still need to record your wingpower, you fell down before you passed the anemometer that time. So get back in line with the others, and remember, no falling down.” said Rarity as she walked away and towards the rest.

“Awww… but I’m so good at it!” replied Fluttershy in a mock fake-unhappy tone which made Rarity giggle.

========================================

Rainbow Dash walked into her cottage and closed the door behind her. Once inside, she lowered her head and let out a sigh.

The rainbow maned pegasus saw Tank standing right in front of her, staring at her with his usual calm demeanor.

“Hi there Tank, was it busy here while I was gone?” said Rainbow Dash.

Tank blinked slowly.

“Me? Oh, I’m fine, just fine. Yeah, nothing to worry about.” said Rainbow Dash nervously.

Tank blinked slowly.

“That obvious, huh?” said Rainbow Dash, “Yeah, I didn’t do that well. I mean, I think I got a pretty nice speed, but I lost control and crashed… like always.”

Tank blinked slowly.

“Oh, yeah. Rarity was really supporting and understanding.” said Rainbow Dash, “She said that I don’t have to take part in the tornado if I don’t want to.”

Tank blinked slowly.

“Of course! It’s not that I DON’T want to, it’s just that I KNOW that I’m going to screw it up! It was like that at flight camp, and it’s like that now… if I fly too fast, I end up crashing.” said Rainbow Dash.

Tank blinked slowly.

“Of course I don’t want to just be afraid of flying fast for the rest of my life! That’s not it at all!” replied Rainbow Dash. “You think I LIKE feeling completely insecure the moment I start flapping my wings a little faster than usual?”

Tank blinked slowly.

“Hey! Don’t get that tone with me, mister!” said Rainbow Dash angrily.

Tank blinked slowly.

Rainbow Dash calmed down, “You’re right… I’m sorry I yelled at you Tank. But, what do you suggest?”

Tank blinked slowly.

“Yeah, Rarity said the same thing… I guess I could practice in making a tornado without crashing…” said Rainbow Dash, then took a deep breath and a determined look on her face. “Okay. Let’s do this!”

Tank blinked slowly.

A few minutes later, Rainbow Dash was outside of her cottage with Tank and the rest of the animals that she took care of. “Okay guys. I’m going to try and make a small tornado on my own.” said the cyan pegasus looking at her animal friends, “You guys keep an eye on me, and make sure I don’t hurt myself when I crash.”

Tank blinked slowly, Rainbow Dash turned to look at the turtle. “You’re right Tank. I meant IF. If I crash.” she said with a confident smile.

Rainbow Dash took to the air, she looked worried but then shook her head and became more determined. The cyan pegasus started going faster and faster as she flew in a round pattern. Slowly but surely she built up speed until she was getting closer to enough speed for an individual tornado. Finally, she reached the needed speed as a small tornado formed.

“Hey. This isn’t so bad! I’m doing it! I’m totally doing it!” said Rainbow Dash happily. But it didn’t last long, a second later the small tornado got out of control, spiraling Rainbow Dash out of control and she crashed on the ground, getting a face full of grass and dirt. The tornado dissipated after a moment.

Rainbow Dash got up, spitting out a mouthful of grass, “*cough* Owww…” she rubbed her forehead with one hoof as Tank walked over to her. The turtle blinked slowly.

“Yes Tank, I’m okay. Just a Little dizzy.” said Rainbow Dash, “But I’m not giving up! This will be the end of Rainbow ‘Crash’ forever!” again Rainbow Dash took to the air and attempted to do a small tornado again.

And crashed on the ground a moment later, again. “I just hope I have enough time to improve before the day of the tornado comes.” said the cyan pegasus, lying upside down with her back against the tree. Tank standing next to her.

Rainbow Dash kept practicing, and crashing, until finally the day of the tornado came.

================================

It was the day the Ponyville weather team had to create the giant tornado to provide rainwater for Cloudsdale. Rarity, along with every pegasus fit for weather duty had gathered at the Ponyville’s highland water reservoir. Twilight and Spike were also there, next to a giant anemometer that Spitfire was going to use to record Ponyville’s weather team tornado speed. Every member of the Ponyville weather team were wearing safety goggles, except for Rarity.

Sweetie Belle had wanted to come to see the tornado and cheer on her sister. But Rarity had convinced her little sister that the tornado was going to be very powerful and that it wasn’t safe for a filly to be there. Sad, but understanding, Sweetie Belle had remained at home, after Rarity had promised that she would tell her everything that happened with as much details as possible.

Rarity looked up as two pegasi arrived soon. One was Spitfire, wearing her Wonderbolts uniform. The other was an older, big and burly stallion, he had a dark gray coat and silver mane, his cutie mark was a raincloud.

“Hello, I am Rarity, captain of Ponyville’s weather team.” said the white unicorn as she walked over to the two newcomers.

“Oh, so you’re Rairty, the unicorn that controls the weather? Nice to meet you, I’m Spitfire. I’ve heard a lot about you.” said Spitfire, as she shook Rarity’s hoof.

Rarity smiled at that, “Oh my, why thank you, Miss Spitfire. It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Please, just Spitfire is fine.” replied the leader of the Wonderbolts.

The dark gray stallion stepped up, his face was stern and his eyes were harsh, “Hello, Miss Rarity. So, we meet again.”

Rarity looked at him, trying to ignore the judgmental stare the stallion was giving her as he towered over her, “Yes we do, Gray Cloud.”

“That is Mr. Cloud to you, Miss Rarity.” corrected the Stallion harshly, “You may be the weather captain here, but as an official representative from Cloudsdale I still outrank you.”

Rarity kept herself in check. The nerve of him! He hadn’t changed a bit since he was her teacher at Cloudsdale when she was learning to handle weather. She was sure that he wouldn’t talk to her like that if she had a pair of wings on her back instead of a horn on her forehead. “Yes, Mr. Cloud. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful.” Rarity finally replied.

“So, that is your team? It looks rather small, you do know that you will need at least 800 wingpower to get the water to Cloudsdale’s weather factory, right Miss Rarity?” said Gray Cloud as he looked at the pegasi of Ponyville doing warm up exercises next to the water reservoir.

Was he treating her for a fool!? Rarity thought as she still kept herself in check, starting an argument right here would benefit nopony, “Yes, Mr. Cloud. I did all the research on tornadoes since I learned of Ponyville’s weather team assignment, and I also took the time to measure the wingpower of all the pegasi in Ponyville fit for tornado duty to make sure we’ll reach the 800 minimum.” she replied.

Rarity knew that Ponyville’s weather team total was 832.5 wingpower after the measurement of everypony’s wing power with Twilight’s anemomenter. Even if Rainbow Dash wasn’t going to participate, the 800 minimum would still be reached.

“Yes, well, we’ll see. So, is your team ready to begin, Miss Rarity?” asked Grey Cloud in a condescending manner. Now even Spitfire was looking at Gray Cloud, taken aback by the harshness of how the stallion was treating Ponyville’s weather captain.

“Yes, we are.” said Rarity, her teeth clenched but still keeping herself in check from lashing out at Grey Cloud. “Now, if you’ll both excuse me, I have to go.” the white unicorn mare turned around and walked over to Twilight and Spike next to the giant anemometer.

“The nerve of that stallion, who does he think he is?” said Rarity when she was out of earshot from the dark gray stallion. “So, Spike, Twilight? Are all the pegasi here?”

Twilight and Spike had been talking with each other worriedly before Rarity came, and when they saw her they stopped talking and turned to address her, “Well, Rarity, there seems to be a problem.” said Twilight.

Rarity looked worried, “A problem? What problem?”

“Well, as you know Thunderlane had feather flu, and now he’s at the Ponyville Hospital.” said Twilight. “Spike was checking how many pegasi showed up, and, well, there were several others that didn’t came.”

Spike showed Rarity the name list they had made for the day, and there were eight pegasi that were absent. “We asked around and it turns out that they are all the the Ponyville Hospital, and all of them have the feather flu.” said Spike.

“What!?” Rarity exclaimed, now she was really worried. “But how!?”

“Well, apparently Blossomforth caught it from Thunderlane the day of the meeting at the library, and then the other pegasi caught it from Blossomforth the day that everypony was getting their wingpower measured.” replied Twilight.

Rarity’s eyes went wide. It was all her fault! Sure, Thunderlane didn’t even know he had the feather flu when the meeting at the library took place. But she had been the one who arranged that meeting, and the one that had everypony go to the sports track to get their wingpower measured. If she hadn’t been treating the whole tornado business like some sort of military drill, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Or maybe it would, but that wasn’t the point. This ponies were her weather team, she was their weather captain, her responsibility!

Rarity looked at Twilight and Spike, “Are they going to be okay?” asked the white unicorn.

“Yes, they just need plenty of bed rest.” replied Twilight, “But there is something else… you see, with those eight ponies at the Hospital… well…”

Rarity put a hoof over her mouth, “Twilight… please don’t tell me that we don’t have enough pegasi to reach the 800 wingpower minimum.”

Twilight gave Rarity a nervous smile, “Okay, I won’t tell you that.”

Rarity’s eyes went wide. Of all the things that could have happened! THIS WAS THE! WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!

Just then Rarity heard hoofsteps coming over to her from behind her.

“Is there something wrong, Miss Rarity?” the white unicorn heard Gray Cloud say behind her.

Rarity turned around, keeping her nervousness in check, “Yes, everything is fine! We’ll have that water up at Cloudsdale in no time!” replied Rarity, then turned around again and trotted over to the rest of the weather team.

Okay, so maybe there wasn’t enough wingpower from the pegasi to reach the 800 minimum. But maybe she could make it up for it with her magic! She could start up the tornado with her magic and help the rest of the pegasi reach the 800 minimum! Yes! That had to work, It just HAD to. She just hoped she had enough in her to compensate for all the missing pegasi…

“Okay, everypony!” said Rarity as she addressed the pegasi that had showed up for weather duty. Fluttershy was among them, but not Rainbow Dash. “Are you all ready!?” said the white unicorn.

The pegasi gave a cheer.

“Great! Now, a small change of plans. When the horn sounds, I will first start up the tornado with my magic, and then the rest of you take off and join it. Okay? Good! Now let’s give it our all!” said Rarity.

Again all the pegasi gave a cheer, louder this time.

Rarity looked at Twilight and Spike and pointed with her hoof.

Seeing Rarity’s signal, Twilight tapped the big anemometer, as Spitfire stood next to it to record the top tornado speed for the Cloudsdale record’s archive. Spike, meanwhile, took a deep breath and blew into the big horn next to the anemometer.

At the sound of the horn, Rarity stood firmly on the ground and her horn started to glow. Soon a small tornado formed over the water, about as big as the tornado a single well trained pegasus would make. As soon as the small tornado was at full speed, the rest of the pegasi of Ponyville flew up and around it, joining the tornado and getting it bigger and bigger with each passing second.

“Rarity will be able to do it! I’m sure she will!” yelled Spike over the loud noise of the tornado.

“I sure hope so!” yelled Twilight as she looked at the giant anemometer, “150 wingpower… 250 wingpower… 500 wingpower!” Twilight grabbed the anemometer with her hooves, the wind was so strong.

The water inside the reservoir started to churn and being lifted by the massive tornado. The pegasi were going even faster, Rarity’s horn glowed even more as she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth.

“They are going to make it! They are going to make it!” cheered Spike, as she hanged over the anemometer to keep himself from being blown away.

“750 wingpower!” yelled Twilight.

“Twilight!”

Twilight turned to look at the pony that had called out to her, it was Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus was struggling to stay on the ground and not being flown away by the wind from the gigantic tornado.

“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing down here and not up there?” asked Twilight.

“I had been training all this days, but I wasn’t able to fly too fast without losing control and crashing!” replied Rainbow Dash, yelling over the noise of the wind, “So I figured that if I couldn’t help Rarity with the tornado, at least I could offer moral support!”

“She could sure use it!” replied Twilight, “Eight pegasi are sick with the feather flu over at Ponyville Hospital!”

“What!? That’s terrible!” said Rainbow Dash.

Suddenly, the pegasi inside the tornado just couldn’t keep up anymore, they had been flying as fast as their wings would take them, but it just wasn’t enough. Rarity was sweating buckets, and finally her horn stopped glowing as she just couldn’t keep up with her magic. With that the tornado finally went out of control and all the pegasi went flying around, falling down in various places.

Rarity looked around, she had the mother of all hornaches, but she was more concerned from seeing all the pegasi standing up wearily from the impact of the various crashes. She sighed with relief when she saw that nopony was hurt.

Fluttershy had fallen right in front of the giant anemometer, she picked herself up, and looked around dizzily.

“Fluttershy! Are you okay?” Rainbow Dash rushed next to her friend.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash.” said Fluttershy, her eyes spinning, “I’m fine. Absolutely fine. Say… since when there’s three of you?” the yellow pegasus fell back down.

Rarity also walked over to the giant anemometer with Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Spitfire next to the big machine. “It seems that everypony is okay, thank Celestia.” commented Rarity.

“You were very close to the 800 wingpower minimum… I’m sorry, Rarity.” said Twilight.

“But… they can try again!” exclaimed Spike, not liking to see Rarity fail at something.

“Why? She already pushed her team to the limit already.” replied Twilight.

“But…” Spike started.

“No, Twilight’s right Spike.” said Rarity, looking down, “We were lucky this time, but if the tornado breaks apart again, somepony could get hurt. It’s just not safe to try again like this.”

“Well, well, well… it seems like you failed, Miss Rarity.” came the voice of Gray Cloud, as he approached the group. A smug smile on his face. “It’s just like I thought, never send a unicorn to do a pegasus’ job.”

Rarity looked away, the worst part about it was that she really didn’t have a way to refute that after what had happened.

“You can be sure that I’ll write about this performance in your next annual evaluation, Miss Rarity.” said Gray Cloud, then he turned to look at Spitfire, “Miss Spitfire, get back to Cloudsdale and get your crew to come here since they are the backup team in the case the Ponyville weather team failed.”

“Wait a minute Gray Cloud,” said Spitfire, “Why don’t we let her try again?” said the leader of the Wonderbolts.

Rarity was surprised that Spitfire had come at her defense, “Spitfire… thank you for your confidence. But I am afraid there really is nothing else we can do.”

“Yes you can, Rarity.” everypony turned to look at Rainbow Dash when she said that. “Because this time I am going to be part of that tornado.” Rainbow Dash grabbed a pair of safety goggles, a very determined look on her face.

Rarity was both surprised and joyful at Rainbow Dash’s statement, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” said the rainbow maned pony, “What kind of friend would I be if I leave you alone when you need me?” said the bearer of the Element of Loyalty.

“And you are?” asked a skeptical Gray Cloud.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash.” replied the cyan pegasus.

“Rainbow Dash… Rainbow Dash…” said Gray Cloud deep in thought, “Oh yeah! I remember you from flight camp all those years ago. I was an instructor. You are that filly with the record of most crashes!”

Rainbow Dash glared at the stallion.

Fluttershy, who had already recovered, placed a hoof on her safety goggles as she looked at Gray Cloud. “Wow… my scouter readings say that your grumpiness level it’s off the chart… its over 9000!”

Everypony laughed at Fluttershy’s joke at Gray Cloud's expense, as the dark gray stallion glared at the yellow pegasus. “Okay, fine! Try to do the tornado again. But I’m warning you, if anypony gets injured, I’ll make sure that you’ll never handle the weather anywhere ever again!” said Gray Cloud pointing a hoof at Rarity, then he turned around and walked away once again.

“Thank you for that Fluttershy,” said Rarity to the happy-go-lucky pegasus with a smile, then she turned to look at Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow Dash, are you really sure about this?”

“I’ll do it if you want me to Rarity… I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been practicing this last few days… but I kept crashing every time. If you still want my help, I’ll do it.”

“If we fail again the tornado will collapse and everypony will crash anyway.” commented Rarity, “So I’m willing to take a chance that we might fail if you are in the tornado over failing because you aren’t in it.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and put on her safety goggles.

“But the risk is not mine to take. It’s everypony’s. And I will do it if they want to. I’m not going to force them, that’s not how I do things.” said Rarity, looking at Fluttershy, remembering what the yellow pegasus had told her the day everypony had measured their individual wingpower at the track and field court.

Fluttershy smiled and nodded.

Rarity turned to look at the pegasi of Ponyville, that by now had already picked themselves up and cleaned the dust off. “Okay everpony… I want to thank you all for your effort. We have one more chance to try and make this tornado happen. And I know that it might be dangerous if you all lose control again. So, it is up to you. Do we pack up and go home? Or do we try again?”

“Are you kidding, Rarity!?” yelled one of the pegasus, “Of course we’re going to try again!”

“If we’re going down, we’re going down flying!” yelled another.

“You’re the best weather captain we could possibly have!” said another pegasus.

“We are not going to fail you this time Rarity!” said another one.

“YEAH!” yelled Bulk Biceps.

“Rarity! Rarity! Rarity! Rarity!” cheered all the pegasi in unison.

Rarity could feel tears forming in her eyes, but she kept herself from crying. “Thank you everypony! Now let’s make this happen!”

The pegasi cheered.

As every pegasus was walking to get into position, Rarity whispered something in Fluttershy’s ear. “Fluttershy, I know that Rainbow Dash is going to be nervous up there. Can I count on you to help her keep calm?”

Fluttershy did a small salute, “Aye aye, captain.” then she took to the air.

Rarity giggled. Then made another signal at Twilight and Spike. Again Twilight tapped the anemometer, and Spike blew on the big horn.

Rarity’s horn glowed again as she started up the tornado. Pretty soon the rest of the pegasi flew inside it, including Rainbow Dash.

Twilight looked at the anemometer, “Okay, here we go… 100 wingpower! 200 wingpower! 500 wingpower!”

The tornado kept getting bigger and bigger, the water in the reservoir started to churn and raise, little by little.

“600 wingpower! 750 wingpower!” yelled Twilight.

“Didn’t they fell apart right after this!?” asked Spike.

“Yes! The readings are stuck at 790 wingpower! They are so close!” yelled Twilight.

“I’m too nervous to look!” yelled Spike.

Rarity could see the water trying to funnel trough. Her horn ached like never before in her life, but she bit down and endured it. She had to put more of her magic into it! She had to! Rarity pumped more and more of her magic into the tornado, reaching and then surpassing her limit. It hurt, a lot. Rarity screamed in pain as the ache in her horn went down her spine. But she didn’t stop! Her horn kept glowing!

Inside the tornado the pegasi were giving everything they could, all of them were at their limit. Rainbow Dash was going fast but she was too afraid, and too nervous to go any faster than what she was going.

Fluttershy looked around, seeing all the ponies around her doing their best, she knew that if the tornado didn’t reach 800 wingpower soon, they were going to collapse, because she was ready to collapse too. Then she saw Rarity screaming in pain outside the tornado, and knew that they needed to do something soon.

“Come on everypony!” yelled Fluttershy as she flew in between the different pegasi, “You know what you have to do when life gets you down!?” Fluttershy started to sing, “Just keep flying, just keep flying, just keep flying, flying flying!”

Fluttershy kept encouraging everypony, and was again next to Rainbow Dash, “So what are we going to do!? Fly, fly, fly. Just keep flying, just keep flying! Come on, all together now!”

“Just keep flying! Just keep flying!” said all the pegasi inside the tornado. “Just keep flying! Just keep flying!”

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash, “Come on Rainbow Dash! I know you’re faster than this!”

“But… but I might crash!” said Rainbow Dash.

“You wont know unless you try, Rainbow Dash!” encouraged Fluttershy, “Do it for Equestria! Do it for Rarity! But most importantly, do it for yourself!” again Fluttershy flew away from Rainbow Dash and kept everypony encouraged to keep their wings flapping.

Rainbow Dash looked around herself, she saw Fluttershy trying her best to keep the morale of everypony up, even if she knew that the yellow pegasus was having the hardest time of everypony else flying as fast as she was. She saw all the pegasi in Ponyville pushing their wings to their limits, doing everything they could and then some to keep the tornado going. And she saw Rarity outside the Tornado, her features twisted in unbearable pain as she pushed the limits of her magic to the max, and kept on going.

A look of determination on her face, Rainbow Dash started flapping her wings faster and faster.

“Look! It’s moving!” said Twilight, “797… 798… 799… 800 wingpower!”

“She did it!” yelled Spike.

“They all did it!” yelled Spitfire.

Grey Cloud’s jaw dropped.

The anemometer started to beep as the tornado reached the 800 wingpower mark.

As the tornado reached the 800 wingpower mark, the water in the reservoir suddenly flew up and across the sky, reaching Cloudsdale’s weather factory’s rain water deposit.

The tornado dissipated and everypony landed. Rarity collapsed on the ground.

Fluttershy, Twilight and Spike rushed towards the white unicorn mare.

“Rarity! Are you okay? Say something!”

The mare slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the two ponies and one baby dragon looking down at her in worry, “Did… did it work?” she asked.

“It worked. You did it Rarity!” said Spike.

Rarity got up and looked around, all the pegasi stomped their hooves on the ground in joy as they cheered.

Spitfire walked over to Rarity, “Well, Rarity. Your team didn’t set any great records, but they showed a lot of guts. I have to congratulate you on a job well done.”

“And me too,” said Gray Cloud as he walked over to Rarity, “I may be an old fashioned pegasus, Miss Rarity, but even I can admit when I was wrong. You are a good weather captain, even if you aren’t a pegasus.”

“Thank you.” said Rarity, surprised at Gray Cloud's change in attitude, “I may be a unicorn, but I am also a weather pony. And I’m very proud of being one.” she extended her hoof towards Gray Cloud, “I learned from Equestria’s finest, after all.”

Gray Cloud also smiled and shook Rarity’s hoof, “And I’ll make sure to write that down in your next annual report.” then he looked around, “I should also talk with that mare, Rainbow Dash, she sure has improved a lot since I last saw her flying as a filly.”

“Hey, where IS Rainbow Dash?” asked Twilight as she looked around.

“Over here!”

They all turned to where they heard Rainbow Dash’s voice.

The cyan pegasus was stuck in a tree trunk, she had crashed and made a hole right through it. “Guess it’s still too early to celebrate my flying skills?”

Rainbow Dash started to laugh and was soon joined by everypony else.

=======================================

Later, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were writing a letter to Princess Celestia together.

“Dear Princess Celestia, it’s a harsh truth to bare, but sometimes little colts and fillies get teased and bullied by their classmates.” said Rainbow Dash as Spike wrote it down.

“But the important thing is that you shouldn’t let your past be the reason why you don’t enjoy your present.” said Fluttershy.

“And most importantly, never let those memories make you doubt your true worth and skills.” said Rarity.

“If you just keep your head high,” said Fluttershy.

“Do your best.” said Rarity.

“And believe in yourself,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Anything is possible.” said the three mares.

Spike rolled the scroll and blew fire at it to send it to the Princess.

In the distance, Cloudsdale’s raincloud maker section of the weather factory was chugging as the rainclouds were coming out of it.

Winter Wrap Up

Twilight quickly woke up with a smile, and moved towards Spike, trying to shake him awake.

“Spike, wake up! It’s winter wrap up day!” said the purple unicorn.

“Huh?” said Spike, still half asleep.

“Winter Wrap Up!” exclaimed Twilight.

Spike just laid back down to go back to sleep.

Twilight was having none of it, “Spike, the first day of spring is tomorrow! So everypony in Ponyville needs to clean up winter. Now help me get ready!” she said as she jumped on her boots.

“Clean up winter?” said Spike, getting up, “Don’t they just use magic to change the seasons like we do at Canterlot?”

“No Spike,” said twilight as she was putting on a winter saddle, “Ponyville was founded by Earth Ponies, so for hundreds of years they never used magic to clean up winter. Its traditional.”

“It’s ridiculous,” said Spike, again laying down to try and get more sleep, “No magic… hmf.”

Twilight put on her scarf, “Okay let’s see,” she said checking her morning checklist, “Scarf, check. Saddle, check. Boots, check. Spike refusing to get up and going back to sleep, check. It’s a good thing I’m so organized. I’m ready!” she said full of determination.

Twilight quickly went over to open the door to the library, “Bright and early!”

But a quick glance outside made it clear that the sun had not even come up yet, and everyone in Ponyville was still asleep. “Oh, maybe a little too early.” she said to herself, feeling a little embarrassed.

===========================================

Now up at the appropriate time, with the sun up in the sky, Twilight ran over towards Ponyville’s town hall. Spike was still half asleep, sitting on her back. “Those must be the team vests Applejack made for everyone!” exclaimed Twilight when she saw the blue, brown and green vests that everyone in Ponyville was wearing. Applejack’s style could be clearly seen on them as they were not only fashionable, but sturdy and practical, perfect to do all kinds of heavy work while wearing them.

“Blue for the weather team, green for the plant team, and brown for the animal team.” explained Twilight. “I wonder which team will let me help them.”

“Just take a blue vest… that’s the same color as my blanket,” said a sleepy Spike, “Which I think I can hear calling out my name. Spike, Spike… come back to bed. Augh… it’s so EARLY.”

As every pony in Ponyville gathered at the town hall, Mayor Mare walked up in front of everyone, “Thank you everypony,” said Mayor Mare to every pony present, “for being here bright and early. We need every single pony’s help to wrap up winter, and bring in spring!”

Every pony around town hall started to cheer happily.

“Now, we just finished handing out everypony’s vests and assigning everypony to a team.” continued the Mayor of Ponyville, “So let’s do even better than last year, and have the quickest Winter Wrap Up ever!”

Again every pony around the town hall cheered happily. “Oh, this is so exciting.” Exclaimed Twilight happily.

“Alright everypony,” Mayor Mare continued, “find your team leaders.” she said as she pointed a hoof at three ponies waiting over at the side, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Big Mac. They were wearing the same vests as everypony else, but they were also wearing hoofbands that marked them as team leaders. Rarity was the leader of the weather team, Rainbow Dash the leader of the animal team, and Big Mac the leader of the plant team. The three ponies happily waved at every pony else.

“And now let’s get galloping!” said Mayor Mare, finishing her address to every pony. The ponies of Ponyville started going over towards the leader of each of their assigned teams.
“Oh, gosh… where should I go! I’m not sure where I would fit in.” said Twilight, getting worried, “What exactly does everypony do?”

As if in answer to Twilight’s question, every pony in Ponyville started singing a song about Winter Wrap up. Which Twilight joined from time to time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAemYgwNCBo

“Everypony belongs in a team, but what should I do,” said Twilight to Spike and herself, “where do I go?”

“Okay team,” said Rarity as she walked over to a group of pegasi, “Does every pony had a copy of the scrolls I made with the special work schedule for today?”

All the pegasi nodded, talking out a small scroll from inside their vests.

“Excellent,” said Rarity, “Every pony has a task and I expect every pony to complete it without trouble. You are all fine ponies and I am proud of being your team leader. I’ll be coordinating everything from down here, so please do not hesitate to ask any questions if you have any doubts. So, every pony ready?”

“Yes Rarity!” said all the pegasi in unison.

“Great, now let’s get started!” said Rarity as all the pegasi flew up and away.

“Rarity!” exclaimed Twilight, walking over to the white unicorn with the cloud and thunder-rainbow cutie mark.

“Oh, hello there Twilight dear,” said Rarity looking away from the pegasi and towards Twilight, “Can I help you with something?”

“What are you doing?” inquired the purple unicorn.

“Oh, I’m just coordinating everyone in the weather team. I AM the most experienced pony on weather in Ponyville, after all.” said Rarity proudly. “I spent all night making a schedule for every single pony that I knew was going to be in my team, which is tasked with getting the sky cleared of winter clouds and getting the birds to migrate back to Ponyville. That last one was the most challenging part, but Rainbow Dash gave me some pointers.”

“Oh, can I help?” asked Twilight.

Before Rairty could answer, she heard a sound of some pony crashing onto something, Rarity quickly turned her head back up and saw that Derpy had crashed on her way to get the birds with Thunderlane who was clearing some clouds.

“Oh, I can’t take my eyes away from even a minute or everything falls apart,” exclaimed an exasperated Rairty, “Derpy, you seem distracted… I need you to do your absolute best today. You aren’t on weather duty today, just getting the birds. Your experience as a mail mare makes you perfect for this task which is why I assigned you to the group for gathering the birds. So please, pay more attention.”

“I’m sorry Rarity,” said Depry, who did look distracted about something else, like if her mind wasn’t 100% with the task at hand, “I’ll do my best, don’t worry.” she said, more determined but clearly worried about something, and flew off and away from Ponyville, following the rest of the pegasi that were getting the birds back.

“And Thunderlane,” said Rarity, “You and Raindrops are the most experienced pegasus when it comes to weather handling, I need you to stay focused and do your best. While I’m down here I’m relying on you to keep the rest of the team together and in order.”

“I know Rarity, I’m sorry… I’ll try harder.” said Thunderlane in an apologetic tone, and went back to work.

Rarity sighed, while Thunderlane WAS the most experienced pegasus, along with Raindrops, when it came to handling the weather, he was STILL not as experienced as Rarity was. Even more, Thunderlane and Raindrops’ experience was more on handling the weather, not managing it. They were good workers, but had never had to lead a team. Usually Rarity did that, but she did that with a hands on approach, by using her rare weather magic to move the clouds and other weather duties. But now, on Winter Wrap Up, she had to let everyone do the work while she just looked, coordinated and hoped for the best. She couldn’t correct mistakes herself, she had to give directions so others could do it.

“I’m sorry Twilight but I really have my hooves full here,” said Rarity, “And, if I may, if you have no wings, and no weather experience, then I don’t really see how you could help out in the weather team.”

“Oh, right,” said Twilight, a little disappointed, “I’ll try to help some of the other teams. Hum, before I go, perhaps you can answer something for me.”

“I’ll be happy to, darlin’, just make it snappy.” said Rarity, talking to Twilight but keeping an eye on every pony flying above her.

“If tradition dictates that magic isn’t used in Winter Wrap Up, why do pegasi get to use their weather control abilities?” asked the purple unicorn.

“Oh, that?” said Rarity, “You see, while true that the Earth Ponies that founded ponyville did all the work by hoof, they really couldn’t fly to clear the skies. So they usually would pay a team of pegasi from out of town, usually from Cloudsdale, to come over and clear the skies for them. When Ponyville began getting more pegasi immigrants, the tradition of hiring out of town pegasi changed to letting the pegasi that were living in Ponyville do the job instead.”

“Oh, I see. I couldn’t find any books about that, thanks for clearing that for me Rarity.” said Twilight as she walked away.

“It was my pleasure, darling.” said Rarity, “Blossomforth, no, no, the Stratocumulus go over there and the Altocumulus go over there, not the other way around!”

Blossomforth looked down, “Huh? What? Rarity did you say something!?”

Rarity began to scream since Blossomforth was too high up to hear her otherwise, “I said you are getting the Sratocumulus and the Altocumuls mixed up!”

Twilight quickly left, as she didn’t want to be in Rarity’s way, she clearly was having trouble with her team. Odd, considering how well she handled everything on any other day… then again, on those days she could use her magic, but not today, not on Winter Wrap Up, it was tradition after all.

“Now what should I do…” said Twilight.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m going to take a nap.” said Spike, as he closed his eyes while lying down on Twilight’s back and began to snore.

“Come on Spike! This is serious! Winter needs to be wrapped up, and I am determined to do my part…” she said looking very determined, “… somehow.” she finished, looking not so determined.

=====================================

Applejack, wearing a brown vest, was at a work bench she set up in front of Carousel Boutique, with straw, sticks and strings on top of the work bench.

“Hello Applejack, is there anything I can help you with?” asked Twilight hopefully as she approached the orange pony with the three diamods cutie mark.

“Well, how would you like to make Ponyville’s bird nests?” asked Applejack.

“Bird nests?” asked Twilight.

“Of course,” replied Applejack, “While the weather team guides the birds back for the spring, they need a home to live in, and lay their little eggs.” said the orange pony fashionista, as she gestured to a finished nest on the table. It was simple, yet sturdy, the straw and sticks held together in a simple, yet refined pattern, as the strings held it all together. It had a rustic, yet artistic feel to it, like folk art.

“Wow, Applejack, that one looks very good. Beautiful and simple all at once.” exclaimed Twilight.

“Why, thank you Twilight, I must admit I had been practicing. Every year I think I get a little better.” said Applejack in response. “Would you like to try your hoof at making one?”

“Would I!?” exclaimed an exited Twilight, “Yes, where do I begin?”

Applejack pushed a bunch of string, twigs and straw towards Twilight, the purple pegasus quickly organized everything neatly on the table. “Now, first you take some of that staw, and sticks and arrange them like this,” said Applejack as she started making another nest, to show Twilight how to do it, “Then weave the string between the straw and sticks, like this.” Twilight tried to follow, but she seemed to be having trouble.

“No, not there,” said Applejack, “No, you need to tuck it in over there, not there, but be careful not to… no, wait, not there… oh, my…”

“There!” exclaimed Twilight, “It looks just like… yours.” said Twilight, as she compared Applejacks’ perfectly made nest with the… nest shaped mess of string, sticks and straw she made.

“That nest needs to be condemned.” exclaimed Spike.

“I’m sorry Twilight, but to be honest I have to agree with Spike.” said Applejack, “You are a very talented pony when it comes to magic and books, but I don’t think bird nest making is something you can help with.”

“Oh, no, please Applejack, it doesn’t look THAT bad… right?” said Twilight hopefully, “Maybe the birds can still use it for…”

“An outhouse.” stated Spike, simply.

“Now Twilight, don’t worry, I’m sure there are plenty of other things you can help out with. Just… not with this.” said Applejack.

“Yes… okay, I’ll be going now.” said Twilight, looking defeated. She started to walk away as Applejack disassembled to mess Twilight did and started building the entire nest from scratch.

============================================

Twilight and Spike approached a frozen lake near Ponyville. They saw Fluttershy there, wearing a blue vest.

The yellow pegasus with the three balloons cutie mark was ice skating on the lake, with white ice skating shoes on her hooves. Fluttershy had all four hooves on the ice, while she used her wings to propel herself forwards. “Hello there Twilight!” greeted Fluttershy from the distance.

“Fluttershy? I didn’t know you ice skated.” said Twilight.

“Are you kidding? Ice skating is comedy gold!” exclaimed Fluttershy as she approached Twilight and came to stop at the edge of the frozen lake. “I first started to learn when I saw those old slapstick comedy routines by classic comedians when they tried to skate and then pretend to fall and get up and fall over and over.”

“Oh, you mean you use ice skating to do one of your slapstick comedy routines?” asked Twilight.

“Exactly, more precisely, ice slapstick comedy routines. I call them, the Winter Fluttershy Slapstick Special.” replied Fluttershy, making a grand gesture with her front hooves as she said that last part, “But now is not the time for comedy, I’m afraid, knowing of my skills in ice skating, Rarity gave me the task of being the Lake Scorer.” as Fluttershy said this she took out one of the scrolls written by Rairty for the weather team.

“Lake Scorer?” asked Twilight.

“Yes, I cut lines in the lakes with my skates. That way, when the rest of the weather team comes here to break the ice, it'll be easy peasy lemon squeezy.” explained Fluttershy.

“Ah, that’s clever.” commented Twilight, “When the thick ice begins to melt, it'll break along the lines. Well, you sure have a lot of work ahead of you, there's quite a few lakes in Ponyville.”

“Oh, yeah, you can say that again.” said Fluttershy, “So, Twilight, want to help me out?”
Twilight’s eyes lit up in joy, “Would I?”

“Alright! Here, put on this skates and get on the ice.” said Fluttershy, handing Twilight another set of ice skates.

“Okay, thank you.” replied Twilight, as she took the ice skates from Fluttershy and put them on as Fluttershy went back to her task of ice skating over the lake.

The purple unicorn slowly got on the ice on tentative steps, trying to get a steady standing position. Her legs trembled and started to move appart. “Uh… maybe on second thought…” said a worried Twilight.

“What are you talking about Twilight, you said you wanted to be helpful.” said Spike to Twilight, “You’ll never get anything done, or learn how to do it, by staying here. Now get out there.” Spike started to push Twilight deeper and faster into the ice.

A look of worry filled Twilight’s face as she started to speed up on the ice surface of the frozen lake, and she quickly lost control. “Whoa… whoa… WHOA!”

Having no control, Twilight spun around and started going in the opposite direction, as she headed towards Spike at full speed, she crashed into the dragon and they both slammed into a bank of snow and getting completely covered by it.

“Owww…” said Twilight slowly getting up.

“On second thought… I guess I shouldn’t have pushed you.” said Spike, also getting up slowly and cleaning the snow off himself.

“Oh, you think?” said Twilight, frowning at Spike as she also started cleaning the snow off of herself.

“Twilight, that was amazing!” exclaimed Fluttershy as she approached Twilight and Spike.
“It was?” said Spike.

“Of course! I remember my first time, and it wasn’t even half as wobbly and bobbly and crasheriffic as yours.” said Fluttershy, “The spin, the moves, the crashing. It was all perfect! Do you mind me incorporating some of your moves into my routines for next year’s winter?”

Twilight giggled a little, “Yes, no problem.”

Fluttershy smiled too, happy to have made Twilight happy again.

“And don’t worry Twilight, I’m sure there is something great that you can help with, something that keeps your hooves on solid ground.” said Fluttershy, then her eyes lit up with an idea, “Oh, I know, why don’t you go and help Rainbow Dash? I’m sure she could use some help with the critters.”

“Well... I'm pretty good with little animals.” said Twilight, taking off the ice skates and giving them back to Fluttershy, “Yeah, I'll go help her.”

==============================================

Twilight, with Spike riding on her back, approached Rainbow Dash. The light blue pegasus with the three pink butterflies cutie mark was busy coordinating everyone in the animal team.

“Rainbow Dash, I just finished waking up all the otters.” said Sparkler as she approached Rainbow Dash.

“Good work Sparkler,” replied Rainbow Dash, “now start working on waking up the beavers.”
“If you don’t mind, I need to check on Dinky. With my mom busy helping bringing back the birds, she asked me to keep an eye on her.” said Sparkler.

Rainbow Dash nodded, “Sure, no problem Sparkler. Just make sure you get to waking up the beavers as soon as you get back.”

“I will, I promise.” said Sparkler as she started to trot away, “Thanks Rainbow Dash.” she said, waving.

“Hello Rainbow Dash, how is it going?” said Twilight as she reached Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, hello Twilight, hello Spike.” greeted Rainbow Dash, “All of my team is working around the clock to get all the animals that were hibernating to wake up for spring. They assigned more ponies to the weather and plant team this year, so we are a little short hoofed... But we’ll manage, it’s a good thing I know how to multitask.”

“What’s hibernation?” asked a confused Spike.

“It’s like a long sleep.” said Rainbow Dash. “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.” replied Spike.

“You know, Rainbow Dash, if you need more ponies to help you, I’m not doing anything right now, do you need me to do anything?” said Twilight.

“Really? That would be great!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, “With all the warrens and dens I must admit I was starting to get worried we weren’t going to be able to wake up all the animals before spring comes.”

Rainbow Dash took out a small bell and gave it to Twilight who took it. “Take this bell, and start waking up any animal you find.”

“I’ll get right on it.” said Twilight, sounding determined.

Twilight walked over to one of the many holes on the ground where animals were hibernating, she poked her head inside and started ringing the bell. “Hello? Wake up little friends, wherever you are. Spring is coming. I wonder which cute little furry creatures I've awoken.” said the purple unicorn to herself.

However, what came out of the hole was snakes. Big, scaly snakes. The reptiles started hissing as soon as they emerged.

“Aaaah! Snakes! SNAKES!” yelled Twilight, scared. She started to back away as quickly as possible. However, this made her run into a cave.

She ran out of the cave as fast as possible being followed by several bats inside. “Aaaah! Bats! BATS!” Twilight, not looking at where she was going, crashed on a tree and a bee hive fell from a branch and on her head. Again she yelled in panic as she ran, blindly into another small hole on the ground.

A terrible odor emerged from it as a family of skunks, startled from being awoken so suddenly and noisily, sprayed Twilight, then slowly started to walk outside.

Rainbow Dash, attracted from all the noise, quickly walked over, just in time to see the skunks walk out of their hole. “Ah, good morning there fellas. Good to see you up, spring is almost here.” said Rainbow Dash as she the skunks walked by her.

Twilight, groaning, started to walk out of the den of the skunks. Covered in bee stings and smelling bad.

“Great job Twilight, you woke up the skunks and from what I heard, also the bats and snakes.” Said Rainbow Dash, “You really helped us out here.” said the grateful rainbow maned pony.

“Owww… you’re welcome Rainbow Dash… but I don’t think helping waking up animals is the job for me in this Winter Wrap Up.” said Twilight wearily.

================================================

Back at the library, Spike was helping Twilight getting the smell washed out as the purple pegasus was taking a bath in a vat filled with tomato juice.

“All this Winter Wrap Up stuff is a lot harder than it looks.” said Twilight, sighing sadly.

“Right, because there's no magic. Why don't you just use magic, Twilight, and get it done the right way?” said Spike. The little dragon had a clothespin on his nose to keep the smell away.

“No, Spike, it’s a Ponyville tradition to do it without magic.” said Twilight, “All the other unicorns aren’t using their magic, and neither will I.” said Twilight.

“Which is just ridiculous when you think about it.” replied Spike, “I mean, I get that Ponyville has this tradition, but Rarity is this town’s Weather Manager, a job that would traditionally be assigned to a Pegasus. And she is a unicorn.”

“Well, yes, but Rarity was also not using her magic.” commented Twilight.

“Yes, and she looked miserable and overworked.” added Spike, “I understand that the town was founded by Earth Ponies, and they didn’t use magic back then. But that was back then, now Ponyville has unicorns, not just you. Why can’t they use their magic to help out as members of Ponyville, like Rarity does every day… except today.”

“Well, even then. I am going to find some other way to help out without magic, you’ll see.” said a determined Twilight as Spike poured more tomato juice on her mane.

=================================

A while later, down at Sweet Apple Acres, Big Mac standing atop a hill overlooking how some of the stronger members of the plant team were pushing the snow away from the fields with a plow on wheels.

Pinkie Pie, also wearing a green vest of the plant team, was going around the field with a platter filled with apple juice and apple fritters, making sure that all the working ponies weren’t either thirsty or hungry from all the work.

“Good job there, Caramel, keep it up.” said Pinkie pie as she handed a mug of apple juice to the light brown stallion as he was taking a small break from removing the snow with the plow.

“Thank you Pinkie Pie.” replied Caramel as he took the mug and started to drink.

“Hello Pinkie Pie, how is everything going?” asked Twilight, now smell free, with Spike in tow as they casually walked towards the pink pony with the three apples cutie mark.

“Oh, hi there Twilight, everything just dandy.” replied the pink farmer pony, “A little slow startin’ but good all the same. There’s a lot of ground the clear up, and before Big Mac can start assigning what goes planted were we need to get rid of all the snow.”

“Oh, I see.” replied Twilight, “And what are you doing?”

“Oh, Ah’m on relief duty, making sure everyone is happy and not too exhausted to do the work,” explained Pinkie Pie as they continued to walk down the snow covered fields. “In fact, Ah spent all of yesterday’s afternoon squeezing apple juice and Ah got up extra early today to make apple fritters, so they would be nice and warm for everyone. Big Mac told me making sure everyone was in good condition to work was a very important job.”
Pinkie Pie’s eyes started to gloss over and her mouth turned into a dreamy smile, “Oh, Pinkie Pie, you did such a good job, Ah’m so proud of ya.” she said imitating Big Mac’s voice, “Oh, Big Mac, thank you, I did it all for you.” she said in her normal voice, “You’re such a wonderful wife, come here.” again in Big Mac’s voice, “Oh, Big Mac, please, not in front of everyone.” she said in her normal voice.

“Uh… should I leave you and your imagination alone, Pinkie Pie?” asked Twilight.

Pinkie Pie was pulled back into reality as she heard Twilight. The pink farmer pony immediately started to blush, “Well *ahem* so Twilight, want to help me out?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up, “Of course, what do you want me to do?” asked the unicorn.

“Just go over that table over there, pick up a tray, some apple juice mugs and plates of apple fritters, and start handing them over to any pony that looks too tired.” replied Pinkie Pie.

“I’ll do it right away.” replied Twilight, she quickly galloped to the table, picked up a tray, apple fritters and apple juice, and walked back towards the field.

“Well, this looks simple, and safe, enough for you Twilight.” commented Spike.

“See Spike? I told you that I could find something to help with at Winter Wrap Up.” commented Twilight proudly.

Spike was going to comment something about her wasting her talent on this when suddenly Twilight tripped over a rock that was hidden by all the snow.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Twilight, as the tray with the apple juice and apple fritters went flying up. “Oh, no the tray!” said Twilight, as she saw how it was going to hit one of the working ponies pushing one of the plows through the field clearing the snow.

“Watch out!” exclaimed Twilight, the pony pulling the plow heard her and turned his head, but was not going to be able to step away in time, he braced himself to get hit with a tray full of apple juice and apple fritters.

As if on automatic reflexes, Twilight’s horn started to glow and she shot a beam at the tray. The tray stopped in midair, and slowly began to set itself down on the floor, the apple juice flew back into the mugs and the apple fritters floated safely on the plate, and everything settled down on the tray safe and sound.

“Twilight! What happened? Are you alright?” said Pinkie Pie as she ran towards Twilight.

“I’m okay, I just tripped, that’s all. And don’t worry about the apple juice and apple fritters, I saved them just in time, so everything is okay.” replied Twilight.

“Nnope.” came Big Mac’s voice as he walked over towards Twilight, Spike and Pinkie Pie, the red stallion looked upset.

“What? You mean everything is not okay?” commented Pinkie Pie, “Is it because Twilight used magic?”

“Eeyup.” replied Big Mac, looking at Twilight and frowning.

“Oh, I’m sorry… I was… I just wanted to help.” said Twilight, feeling worried.

“Nnope.” exclaimed Big Mac.

“Ah’m sorry Twilight, I’m sure you were just trying to help, but Big Mac is very strict when it comes to the Apple family farm. We don’t use magic for Winter Wrap Up around these parts.” explained Pinkie Pie.

“Eeyup.” said Big Mac.

Twilight’s eyes began to get watery with tears, “I’m sorry… I’m really sorry.” and with that the purple unicorn began to gallop away.

======================================

When Spike finally found Twilight after looking around all over Ponyville, he found her hiding behind some bushes.

“Come on, Twilight, come out.” said Spike encouragingly.

“No, I’m a Winter Mess Up.” came Twilight’s voice from behind the bushes.

“Don’t say that Twilight, you are good at a lot of things. Just… not the things that you tried to do so far.” replied Spike.

“No, no, how many times do I have to tell you, the clouds need to go higher up!” came Rarity’s yell as she was still struggling to keep her weather team doing the job properly.
Pinkie Pie approached the white unicorn, “Rarity, Big Mac wanted me to tell you that he needs the snow melted as fast as possible.”

“Oh, okay, Pinkie Pie, I’ll try but I have my hooves full as it is.” replied Rarity.

“Woah, woah, woah!” came Rainbow Dash’s voice as she flew down and walked towards Rarity and Pinkie Pie. “You can’t melt the snow too fast! All the animal’s homes will be flooded if you do that.”

“Okay, but I really have…” started Rarity.

“But Big Mac said the snow needs to be melted now.” said Pinkie Pie.

“And I’m saying that the snow melting has to wait for later.” countered Rainbow Dash.

“Now.” said Pinkie Pie.

“Later.” said Rainbow Dash.

“Now!” said Pinkie Pie.

“Later!” said Rainbow Dash.

“NOW!” said Pinkie Pie.

“LATER!” said Rainbow Dash.

“QUIET!” said Rarity, taking both ponies by surprise, “I have to coordinate an entire weather team in one of the biggest jobs of the year, from the ground, WITHOUT USING MY MAGIC!” she cried out, “I can’t do that AND hear both of you unable to make up your minds at the same time!”

Both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were surprised at hearing the outburst by the usually very polite pony.

“I’m sorry Rarity, I shouldn’t have done that.” said Rainbow Dash.

“And Ah’m sorry too Rarity.” said Pinkie Pie.

Rarity calmed down and sighed, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped out like that… it’s just that the whole weather arrangement is running late as it is and I’m under a lot of stress.”

Just then Sparkler came galloping over towards them, she looked quite worried, “Rarity, have you seen Dinky?” said Sparkler.

“Uh, Sparkler, no I haven’t seen her.” said Rarity, “Why, is something wrong?”

“Well, my mom was worried about her this morning, why with being Winter Wrap Up and Dinky being a unicorn and all. She still remembers how out of place I felt during Winter Wrap Up when I was Dinky’s age, and she wanted me to make sure Dinky was okay.”

Rarity suddenly realized why Derpy looked so worried this morning.

“So, I asked Rainbow Dash permission to check on her, but now I can’t find her anywhere! I asked almost everyone that knows her and nopony has seen her.” said a worried Sparkler.

“What? Oh, my! We can’t have that! I’ll see if I can have some of the weather team fly around Ponyville to look for her.” said Rarity.

“I’m here…” came Dinky’s voice, sounding rather small, from behind everyone. They turned around to see Dinky along with Sweetie Bell.

“I found her hiding behind the school.” said Sweetie Bell.

“Oh, Dinky, you had me worried!” said Sparkler as she rushed towards her sister and hugged her. “Why did you run off like that?”

“I’m sorry Sparkler,” said Dinky, apologizing to her big sister, “I was having trouble using the shovel to push out the snow from the streets, and this two Earth Pony fillies started to mock me from being too weak.”

From that simple description Sweetie Bell knew that Dinky was talking about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the two fillies thought that because their families were the wealthiest in Ponyville they could get away with anything.

“I just learned how to hold things with my horn, why can’t I do it?” said Dinky in a sad tone of voice.

“Because its tradition to not use magic during Winter Wrap Up,” said Apple Bloom as she walked over towards the group, “Right Pinkie Pie?”

“Apple Bloom? Why are you here?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“My brother wanted me to see what was taking you so long.” replied Apple Bloom as she reached Pinkie Pie.

“Well, that sounds silly if you ask me.” said Sweetie Bell.

“Hey, traditions aren’t silly!” retorted Apple Bloom.

“Well, it is! Ponyville is full of unicorns, but once every year in Ponyvillle its like we should be ashamed of ourselves just for being who we are,” replied Sweetie Bell.

“It’s not meant to make you feel ashamed, it’s just a tradition, it’s how we’ve always been doing things.” said Apple Bloom.

“Well, maybe things needs to change.” replied Sweetie Bell, “Just look at my sister. She’s the weather manager of Poyville AND she’s a unicorn. You have any idea how many pegasi she had to convince she could do this job?”

“Yes, and we are all very happy with the job she does every day, all we are asking is for one day for her not to use magic while doing it to honor a tradition, Ah don’t think it’s all that hard to do.” retorted Apple Bloom.

“Girls please, there’s no need to fight over this.” said Rarity.

“Yes, come on, Winter Wrap Up is about working together, not fighting among ourselves.” said Pinkie Pie.

Just then they all realized that their little exchange had attracted a lot of attention as several ponies, some were Earth Ponies, some were Peagsi and some were Unicorns, and were all now gathered around them. Among them was Twilight and Spike, the purple unicorn having emerged from behind the bushes.

“What is going on here!” said Mayor Mare as she also approached the gathering of ponies,

“We have no time to lose, look at all the clouds in the sky, and the icicles on the branches and all the snow still around. The only thing that seems to be going on schedule is the nest making! This won’t do at all! If this keeps up Winter Wrap Up is going to be late AGAIN this year too.”

“I’m sorry Mayor Mare,” said Sparkler, “my little sister was just upset because she felt left out without being allowed to use her magic for the day.”

“And I was saying that she shouldn’t feel upset because its just for one day, and its tradition.” said Apple Bloom.

“Eeyup.” added Big Mac, who had also come over.

“Well, you have to admit that it is kind of upsetting,” said Bon Bon, one of the many ponies that had gathered around, “I mean we Earth ponies have a natural talent for the plant and animal teams, and pegasi are naturals for the weather team, but unicorns are part of the Ponyille community too, and they have to hide what they are naturally inclined to do during Winter Wrap Up. Right Lyra?” she asked to the unicorn standing next to her.

“Well, it IS kind of unfair when you think about it.” replied Lyra.

“I agree.” said the pegasus Rainbowshine, as she flew down to the ground, “Rarity is an amazing weather manager, and we could be doing our jobs so much faster if they would allow her to do her job the same way she always does it, with her horn.”

“Ah… Ah agree too.”

Everyone was surprised about this statement because it came from Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie Pie? You think so too?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Well, Apple Bloom, I think that is important to have traditions, but if Ah had only followed my family’s traditions then Ah would never would have married Big Mac and become an Apple. My family has always been traditionally rock farmers, but now I’m an apple farmer, and my parents and my sisters are all happy for me. Ah feel like honoring a tradition is important, but Ah also think that making sure my friends are happy is important too.”

“She’s right,” said Granny Smith, who had also come over when everyone started gathering around, “Ah’m sure we all remember how spending Hearth’s Warming Eve with Pinkie’s family was like, don’t ya!”

Apple Bloom and Big Mac did remember. They found Pinkie’s family’s traditions kind of weird the first time they went to the Rock Farm, and the Pies felt the same way when they visited Sweet Apple Acres the following year… well, maybe not Maud, but Big Mac and Apple Bloom still had a lot of trouble trying to read what their sister in law was thinking half of the time. But eventually they found points in common, and the Apple family started incorporating some of the Pie’s traditions while the Pie’s started incorporating some of the Apple family traditions in their celebrations of Heath’s Warming Eve.

Granny Smith also remembered how she and Grand Pear had reacted when they found out that Bright Mac and Pear Butter wanted to get married. In fact, that was one of the main reasons she didn’t discourage Big Mac in any way from marrying Pinkie Pie. She wondered where Grand Pear was now…

“I see,” said Mayor Mare as she had heard everyone, “Well, then, does anypony have any objections about allowing the unicorns of Ponyville to use their magic to work during Winter Wrap Up from now on?”

None of the ponies said anything.

“Then, as Mayor of Ponyville, I now declare that now unicorns can use their magic during Winter Wrap Up day.” said Mayor Mare happily.

Every pony present cheered.

“Ah’m sorry I was so stubborn.” said Apple Bloom to Sweetie Bell, as the rest of the ponies started to scatter around to continue their work.

“And I’m sorry I called traditions silly.” said Sweetie Bell.

Apple Bloom walked over to Sparkler and Dinky, “What do you say I help ya clean up the snow, and you can show meh how you use that horn of yours to do it.” she said to Dinky.
“Okay,” replied Dinky happily.

“Want tah come with us?” asked Apple Bloom to Sweetie Bell.

“Okay,” replied Sweetie Bell.

The three fillies began to walk away, with Sparkler following but leaving the fillies their space.

“Ah’m sure Ah’ve seen yah at school plenty of times, right?” she said to Sweetie Bell, “Ah’m Apple Bloom, and you?” asked the yellow filly.

“I’m Sweetie Bell. Nice meeting you.” replied the little unicorn.

For her part, Rarity’s weather team was surrounding the white unicorn. “So, Rarity, think you can help us with all these clouds?” asked Thunderlane.

Rarity nodded, “Okay team, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but if we do it together, I’m sure we’ll be finished before Winter Wrap Up day is over. Now let’s get moving.”

All the pegasus nodded and flew up and away. Rarity moved a cloud with her magic closer to the ground, then cast a Cloud Walking Spell on herself and stepped on it, and used her magic to move the cloud back up, high in the sky.

“So, Twilight, what do you say? Want to help us clear up the snow at Sweet Apple Acres?” said Pinkie Pie, happily as she approached Twilight, “With your magic knowledge I’m sure you will be able to find a way that we can melt the snow fast, while also not getting all the animal lairs flooded at the same time.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up, “Yes, I have a few ideas! Come on, I’ll explain on the way.”

Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Big Mac and Granny Smith, started to walk over to Sweet Apple Acres. Spike nudged Twilight on the side, “See, Twilight? What did I tell you?”

===================================================

Now that the unicorns could fully help the rest of the ponies of Ponyville, Winter Wrap Up started to go on much faster and smoother.

The nests Applejack had made were quickly floated up to the branches, without the need to use stools or step ladders to reach them.

Rarity and her team easily cleared the skies of clouds in time for the rest of the weather team to come back with the birds. Derpy was upset at Dinky for having ran off and worrying her sister like that, but was happy to see that everything had worked out in the end and her filly was now feeling a lot better when compared at how she was this morning.

At Sweet Apple Acres, the Earth ponie of the plant team were making quick work of clearing the snow and planting seeds, while Twilight and other unicorns were doing a coordinated effort of lifting a magic barrier that kept the melting snow from floodin the section where Rainbow Dash and the rest of the animal team were working. Twilight even had come up with an idea to arrange the magic barriers around the melted snow in a way that it would irrigate the fields, saving the plant team a lot of precious time.

The time that the plant team saved allowed them to spare a few of their members to the animal team. Rainbow Dash quickly put them all to work, and they were able to wake up all the animals in time.

All the ponies continued to work through the night, even Spike had helped, and by the time the sun rose on the very first day of spring all the clouds had been cleared, all the snow and ice had been melted, all the animals have been woken up and all the fields were planted and irrigated.

All the ponies of Ponyville gathered around the city hall, as they looked at a job well done.

“I can’t believe it, spring is here, and its ON TIME.” said Mayor Mare happily.

“That irrigation idea of yours was excellent Twilight, pretty impressive use of magic.” said Pinkie Pie to her friend.

“Eeyup.” added Big Mac.

Twilight blushd, "Thank you."

Mayor Mare continued, “And to mark this special occasion, I have another announcement to make.” she turned to look at Applejack who was inside the city hall, “Bring them out Applejack.”

Applejack nodded and pushed out a small cart, filled with red vests. She had plenty of time to make them after she had finished her task for Winter Wrap Up of making all the nests.

“From next year, a new team will be joining the Animal Team, Weather Team and Plant Team… the Magic Team!” declared Mayor Mare as she held up one of the vests to show it to everypony.

“And since we all saw how well Twilight handled all her magical tasks, I think it is only fair to name her Ponyville’s leader for Magic Team for next year’s Winter Wrap Up.” said Mayor Mare.

Twilight was surprised at this, she stepped up towards Mayor Mare who gave her the red vest. Twilight picked it up with her magic and put it on easily. All the ponies of Ponyville stomped their hooves on the ground as they cheered.

“Gosh, I don't even know what to say. Thank you, everypony.” said Twilight.

Mayor Mare addressed the crowd once more, “And hereby I declare that winter is... wrapped up on time.”

Again, all the ponies of Ponyville cheered.

========================================

Later that day, back at the library, Twilight was dictating a letter to Spike.

“Dear Princess Celestia,” said Twilight, “traditions are important. It helps us remind us who we are and where we come from. But who we are is something that is always changing, towns come and go as new ponies move in and out of them. As new ponies move into old towns, old ideas and traditions mix with new ideas and traditions, and that’s how societies grow. By acknowledging who we are, remembering who we were and embracing who we are becoming, new traditions appear among the old ones, traditions that we can all feel proud of being a part of, and never feel left out. In accepting each other’s differences, while also celebrating what makes us equal, is how good friendships can grow.” Twilight finished dictating.

With that, Spike put down the quill, rolled up the parchment, and used his magic green fire to send the letter to the Princess.