It was the morning of Ponyville’s Winter Wrap-Up day. The whole town woke up early (but not before sunrise), and preparations were being made. Colour coded vests were ready to be worn, and the team captains were due to meet with Twilight to go over the schedule. They were hoping to break last year’s record this time around. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were flying to Sweet Apple Acres to collect Applejack.

“Almost done breakfast, y’all,” she told the two pegasi.

“If you’d just had a big dinner last night like me, you wouldn’t have had to bother with breakfast,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Well, not everypony can fuel up with just coffee,” said Applejack.

“Huh. I haven’t even had one yet,” Rainbow Dash couldn’t stop smiling.

“You’re looking forward to seeing Tank again, aren’t you?” asked Fluttershy.

“Of course I am! I hate having to leave him every winter.”

“Well, you took it a lot better this winter,” said Apple Bloom.

“Eeeyup,” nodded Big Mac. “It’s nice that you can enjoy the season without him.”

“It’s just one of those things you gotta deal with sometimes,” sighed Rainbow Dash.

Applejack swallowed her last hoofful of cereal. “Alright! Let’s go see Twilight and get the details!”

And the three team captains raced away.

Twilight saw them coming towards her front door.

“Right on time! Well done. Now, where do we begin?”

“There,” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy pointed to Applejack, whose cutie mark was glowing and buzzing.

“A friendship mission!” cried Twilight. “Come on!”

She turned around and quickly entered the castle, flanked by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. When they arrived at the throne room, Applejack’s cutie mark started circling above the map at once.

“Looks like it’s another solo mission,” said Twilight.

“Now where am I goin?” wondered Applejack.

The three red apples settled down and orbited above a large lake.

“Loch Azure!” exclaimed Twilight. “You get to go to Loch Azure today, Applejack! That’s wonderful!”

“You weren’t this excited when I told you I was going there to supervise their weather team’s tornado,” frowned Rainbow Dash.

“That was just an ordinary day,” said Twilight. “But today is really special.”

“Yeah. Winter Wrap…”

“Not there. It’s one of the eight northern towns that doesn’t wrap up winter until a day after the rest of Equestria does. They have another special day the day before their Winter Wrap-Up day,” Twilight explained. “Today, they’re celebrating Prose Night.”

As Rainbow was dreading, Twilight had a book about Loch Azure’s Prose Night, which she quickly fetched and showed Applejack.

“It’s held on the late great poet Flourish Prose’s birthday. He was one of the most talented writers of his time, and he lived in Loch Azure all his life. He was inspired by the legends of Azurey and the lake he called his home,” Twilight smiled fondly. “And the favourite tradition for the Loch Azure ponies is partaking in Flourish Prose’s favourite food. Garlic cheese toast garnished with diced green onions.”

“Sounds dandy,” said Applejack. “I guess they must be having trouble with their celebrations if I gotta go there and solve a friendship problem.”

“And it’s still early,” said Rainbow Dash. “Somepony must have sabotaged the preparations last night.”

“Maybe, but we shouldn’t prejudge the issue,” said Twilight.

Fluttershy rolled her eyes.

“It’s all up to Applejack to find the problem and help resolve it,” Twilight went on. “I guess we’ll have to get another pony to lead the planting team.”

“Already taken care of,” Applejack told her. “My cutie mark started glowin as soon as I left the barn. Big Mac saw me and told me he had me covered.”

“Sounds like he takes your place a lot when you go on a map mission,” chuckled Rainbow Dash, remembering Orchard Blossom.

At that moment, another reminder of the previous Sisterhooves Social presented itself.

“Big Mac said you gotta go away!” Apple Bloom stomped into the throne room.

“That’s right, I do,” said Applejack, bracing herself for an earful.

“I wanna come with you,” insisted Apple Bloom. “I’m getting sick of that map taking you away from me on special occasions. You hear me, map?! You’re not stealing my big sister from me this time!”

“Apple Bloom,” Twilight began, “this isn’t…”

“Rarity took Sweetie Belle with her on her last mission,” interrupted Apple Bloom. “And she was a big help to her. I could be a big help to you, Applejack.”

“Oh, alright. You can come along,” sighed Applejack.

“Are you sure about this?” asked Twilight as Apple Bloom leapt for joy.

“I ain’t got time to argue,” Applejack put on her saddlebags. “I have work to do.”

“Sorry you’ll miss out on our Winter Wrap-Up,” said Fluttershy. “You too, Apple Bloom.”

“It’ll be worth it if I can help my big sister solve a friendship problem,” beamed Apple Bloom.

One train ride later, Applejack and Apple Bloom could tell just by looking out of their coach window that all was not well in Loch Azure.

“Is that a hole in the lake?” asked Apple Bloom.

“What’s that ruckus?” Applejack perked up her ears towards the front of the train.

There was a great deal of noise on the station platform as the train arrived. Two voices stood out in particular.

“If you don’t like it, you can’t be here!”

“You can’t make me leave just because I refuse to go along with this town’s ridiculous tradition!”

“You want to leave! We all know you want to leave! Otherwise, you’d be using your magic to stop us!”

Once the train came to a stop, Applejack and Apple Bloom attempted to leave their seats and exit the coach. But they were obstructed as a unicorn was shoved aboard the train.

“Yeah, you’re right! I do want to leave!” she barked.

“You shoulda just done it and left us out of it!” shouted the frontrunner of the angry mob.

“I proved my point! I’m done here!” the unicorn growled.

Before Applejack could ask what was happening, the unicorn’s horn lit up. Next second, a suitcase materialised next to her.

“So long, Tundra!” was the last thing she and the Apple sisters heard before she magiced the door shut.

“Excuse me,” said Applejack. “What’s goin on? Are you bein thrown outta town?”

“Sorta,” frowned Tundra. “But it’s not like I like it here. This town’s gotta weird fixation on stupid traditions and superstitions. There’s that stupid Loch Azure Monster, let’s get that outta the way…”

Apple Bloom attempted to point out that the monster turned out to be real, but Applejack cut her off… with her leg.

“Then when that windbag Lactic tries to stop those gullible jokers from diving down and trying to find that monster, he casts the Basiliscus spell on the surface and keeps it on there just because everypony likes walking on water,” Tundra went on complaining. “And the worst of it is that every year, I have to listen to non-stop worship of that talentless hack Flourish Prose!”

“Huh. I heard he was one of the greatest poets of his time,” said Applejack.

“Well his time is long gone. His work is well and truly out-dated,” chuckled Tundra. “And yet everypony in this twisted town treats him like a genius even though by now, so few of the ponies that grew up in this town have even read or been told any of his poems. I just opened their eyes for them, and now they’re chucking me out. I’m not gonna miss em, I can tell you that.”

“What do ya mean you opened their eyes?” asked Applejack. “What’d you do?”

“Go out and have a look,” Tundra waved her hoof at the coach door. “I’m really quite proud of it.”

So Applejack and Apple Bloom opened the door and stepped off the train. As they were in Loch Azure, neither of them were surprised to see that the frontrunner of the angry mob was Lightning Dust.

“Hey, you’re Applejack and Apple Bloom,” her eyes went wide, and then she scowled. “Oh, you’re not gonna try and figure out Tundra’s maze, are you? We already had one outta-towner try it and she ended up just like the rest of them. Why should you be any different?”

Applejack explained to Lightning Dust that she was in town on official business, and so the irate pegasus led her and her sister away from the station.

“Turns out our good friend Tundra has been laughing at us behind our backs for celebrating a beloved public figure,” frowned Lightning Dust.

Applejack looked back at the sound of the locomotive’s whistle blowing. She wondered if she should attempt to keep the train from leaving, but it looked like somepony was going to beat her to it.

“Don’t kick her out, you jerks!” cried a pegasus as she zoomed over Applejack’s head and towards the departing train.

“Forget it, Updraft! She’s history!” Lightning Dust looked back with a look of contempt.

Applejack looked back as well. Lightning Dust was far from the only one in town who wanted to do away with Tundra. The crowd on the platform was cheering. Updraft was flying alongside the carriages shouting, being drowned out by the happy crowd.

“My friend Updraft is Tundra’s stepsister,” groaned Lightning Dust. “She’s not gonna be happy with me. Come on, Apples. Let’s get to the lake quickly.”

Applejack and Apple Bloom couldn’t keep up with the former Wonderbolt Academy cadet, but Updraft overtook them and managed to catch Lightning Dust… by shoving her onto the ground.

“You of all ponies have the nerve to kick her out?!” she growled. “You are such a hypocrite!”

Lightning Dust got back to her hooves. “I guess there’s always a good reason ponies get kicked outta places, Updraft. And if this doesn’t call for exile, then…”

“You endangered lives! Tundra wouldn’t do that!”

“She might if we’re not careful,” Lightning Dust wasn’t yelling. She wasn’t looking at Updraft’s enraged face either.

Applejack and Apple Bloom listened intently as they approached.

“Did the map know this was gonna happen?” Apple Bloom wondered.

“No, no. It sent us… I mean, me here because of something Tundra did,” said Applejack. “And I’m still sure it’s something to do with that weird whirlpool in the lake there.”

No sooner had she said that when two ponies emerged from the hole in the lake and walked glumly along the jinxed lake surface towards the shore.

“Any luck?” Updraft asked them.

“Of course not!” scoffed Lightning Dust. “I’ve gotten the farthest. Nopony’s gonna…”

“You may like to push your boundaries,” interrupted Updraft, “but you’re to poetry what Professor Lactic is to relaxation.”

Lightning Dust smirked. “Thanks to Tundra, he’s gonna be doing a lot of that late…”

“Tundra would never do something like that to the professor!” snapped Updraft. “I’m sure she just used his illness as an opportunity. They’re the two most magically talented ponies in town. Without them, there’s no one to take the spell off the lake.”

“She’d never,” Lightning Dust shook her head. “We’ll need outside help.”

She glanced at Applejack and Apple Bloom.

“Though Princess Twilight’s map thing sent us a pair of earth ponies for some reason,” she sneered. “What can they do?”

“Well, we ain’t gonna do nothin until we know what this whirlpool thing is. So spit it out, Lightning,” demanded Applejack.

Lightning Dust took off.

“Hey!” Applejack barked.

“She refuses to say what was down there,” sighed Updraft. “And she’s not the only one.”

The two ponies the Apples had seen emerge from the whirlpool hadn’t stuck around to make their report.

“Every pony who tries to beat Tundra’s game ends up coming out barely ten minutes after they start,” said Updraft glumly.

“OK, so what’s Tundra’s game?” asked Applejack.

Author's Note

Just so you know, Burns Night isn't the only holiday I based this story on. There are others linked with poetry that I drew inspiration from. Robert Burns was certainly a talented writer.