Dylan gradually awoke to the smell of food, making him smile. He scrambled out of bed before falling onto the floor with a thud, groaning in slight pain. It was another winter day, another blanket of snow covering the ground outside.

He then remembered what day it was. Today was Winter Wrap Up. Applejack and Applebloom talked about it constantly during the last few days. His job was to help clear the snow so they could plant seeds. It struck him as as bit odd with ponies controlling the seasons and all, but nothing really made sense anymore. He got up and made his bed before heading downstairs to eat.

As Dylan sat down at the kitchen table with the rest of the Apple family, he noticed Applejack with a frying pan, holding the handle in her mouth as she flipped pancakes.

"How do you do that?" Dylan asked, watching in amazement at Applejack's skills. She set down the pan back onto the stove before turning toward Dylan with a smile.

"It's nothin' special," Applejack replied. "I've been able to do it ever since I was a little filly." She turned off the stove and slid the hot pancake onto a huge stack of them. "I could teach ya later this week if ya want," she offered.

"Sure," confirmed Dylan as Applejack put two pancakes on his plate. She placed four on Big Mac's plate, and two on Apple Bloom's plate. Dylan noticed something was missing. No, not something, but someone.

"Where's Granny?" Dylan asked.

"She went out earlier," Applejack answered. "Said she needed to do somethin'." Dylan frowned. It was the eleventh time she had gone out early this month, and with no explanation.

She would always come back with slightly red eyes, as if she'd been crying, and whenever Applejack asked about it, Granny would claim it was her allergies. It wasn't enough to convince Dylan, though. He couldn't help but wonder where she had been going. Today, he was determined to find out.

"I'll be back soon," Dylan announced as he got up from the table. He went out the front door and immediately saw the hoofprints in the snow. Bracing himself for the cold, he trudged his way through the soft ice, doing his best to ignore its stinging chill.

The tracks led him deep into the orchard, so deep that he began to question whether he should turn back before the hoofprints were covered by the falling snow. He had never been in this part of the orchard before. On some of the trees, there were no apples. Instead, there were pears.

He did his best to keep going, his bones becoming chilly as he trotted through unfamiliar territory. Soon though, he caught a glimpse of green in the distance. It was Granny! He picked up the pace and cried out to her, but she didn't seem to hear him. Her back was turned to him, and it looked like she was just sitting there in the cold.

As he eventually reached her, he noticed what she had been looking at. His eyes widened to take in a glorious view. In front of him and Granny were two trees, their bases twisting around each other, their branches curling into the shape of a heart, both apples and pears hanging from them.

What Dylan couldn't help but notice however, was that the twisted beauty had all its leaves, all of them a bright green, while the rest of the orchard had lost theirs to the winter cold, as if the tree were defying everything the winter had to throw at it. A tear rolled down Dylan's cheek as he took in the marvelous sight.

"It's beautiful, ain't it?" Granny commented, breaking the silence. "Their love could withstand anything."

"Whose love?" Dylan asked, his gaze still set on the tree.

"Bright Mac and Pear Butter," Granny answered. "Even though she was from a rival family, he sought after her like bees sought after flowers."

Dylan stayed quiet, staring at the testament of true love. Eventually he spoke. "Do you know what happened? I mean... what really happened? Applebloom said they vanished."

Granny nodded, her eyes staring off into the distance. "They were on their way home after pitching ideas to the mayor of Fillydelphia. They wanted to expand the Apple family's reach by delivering our quality apples to the stores to be sold."

Dylan looked at her curiously as she continued. "When they didn't come back, I went out to look for them and found the apple cart with one of its wheels broken off."

Dylan looked at Granny with a worried look on his face. "Was there any other sign of them?"

"Not even hoofprints. The snowstorm had covered them up. The only thing left was Bright Mac's hat..." Tears flowed down Granny Smiths face, and her accent began to thicken. "Ah should've gone withem..."

Dylan placed a forehoof on Granny's back. "You couldn't have known..." They stood there for what seemed like hours, when in reality, it was only a few minutes. Granny dried her tears, and they turned to head back home.

Later that morning...

"Alright! Is everypony ready for Winter Wrap up?" Twilight Sparkle asked the crowd, which caused them to cheer and holler. Dylan had been given a green vest, which showed that he was on the plant team, and he wore it with pride. After the speech was given, and all the ponies trotted to their designated areas, Dylan followed Applejack and the rest of the family.

"This is so excitin', Dylan! Yer first Winter Wrap Up!" Applebloom exclaimed, bouncing with joy.

As they walked, Dylan looked up to see Rainbow Dash and several other pegasi clearing away the gray clouds. "I still don't understand how ponies can control the seasons. It ain't like that back where I'm from."

"It's always been that way here," Applejack answered. "Without us, the seasons wouldn't change at all, and we'd be stuck in one climate." Dylan looked to his left where he saw a yellow pony with a pink mane. All around her were various kinds of animals, and she seemed to be in tune with nature itself.

"Who's that?" Dylan asked, pointing to the yellow pony.

Applejack smiled as she looked to see her. "That's Fluttershy! She's in charge of the animal team. They help to wake up all the critters from hibernation."

"That's... odd," Dylan whispered, wondering why they'd need to wake up animals in the first place. "Where I'm from, the animals all just wake up on their own."

"That's pretty strange," Applejack commented. "Aren't they ever late for spring?"

"I dunno," Dylan replied. "They just wake up. I'm guessin' it's just instinct."

"Huh..." Applejack looked at the animals a bit more before turned her head back forward to see where she was going. "Sounds like it'd be nice if ours did that. But the last time the animals slept in, they slept through the entire spring season."

This made Dylan feel more curious. Why were the animals in Equestria different from the ones back at home? Soon, the thoughts he had were cleared away when they reached a large area of land covered in snow. Plowing through the snow were several ponys, all lined up side by side.

"So we just grab a plow and push all the snow out of the way?" Dylan trotted over to a snowplow.

"Yup! Giddyup, y'all! Let's get a move on!" Applejack cheered.

Soon, the entire Apple family was plowing the fields, clearing the way for other ponies to plant seeds. Dylan had a little difficulty keeping up, but he kept going, not stopping for a moment.

The singing actually helped, and Dylan seemed to somehow know the words to it, even though he'd never heard it.

"Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wrap up. 'Cause tomorrow spring is here! 'Cause tomorrow spring is here!"

"No easy task to clear the ground.

"Plant our tiny seeds."

"With proper care and sunshine."

"Everyone it feeds."

"Apples Carrots, Celery Stalks,"

"Colorful flowers, too."

"We must work so very hard."

"It's just so much to do!"

With the song being sung, the work seemed to go faster, almost as if by some sort of magic. Soon, their work was done, and there was nothing left to do but to wait for the other teams to finish.

"Ya worked really hard today, Dylan. I'm proud!" Applejack pulled him close and ruffled up his mane. Dylan smiled and tried to pull away, but she was too strong.

"Hey, Applejack, Dylan!" Applebloom cried out. "Check it out! They're giving away free food to everyone who participated!"

"C'mon, Dylan. Let's go get some grub," said Applejack as she let go of him. They ate, and soon Winter Wrap Up was over. They headed home and called it a day.

Someplace unknown...

"Is he awake?"

"Not yet. I'd prefer we keep it that way. But for now, we need to talk about the... Apples."

"You don't honestly think they're a threat now, do you, Sir? We took care of that problem years ago!"

"It's just a feeling I've got... call it my special talent. I've always had a nose for competition."

Author's Note

It's finally spring! I hope you guys have a good SPRIIIIIIIIIIING!~