Doing all that work sucked, anyway
Rainbow Dash took a swig of cider. "Another year, another Wrap-Up."
She'd cleared the skies in record time, as she was known to do. She went out exactly the way she wanted. The year Rainbow Dash failed to break her own record would never happen. Part of the weight lifted from her shoulders with that thought.
"Rainbow, you're supposed to clink glasses before you take a drink," said Applejack.
"Oh. Right." Rainbow Dash performed the ritual with Applejack, then downed her cider. It brought her back to reality. There wasn't any feeling quite like much deserved cider after a long day's work.
"How many years has it been now?" asked Rainbow Dash. "How many times have we wrapped up around Ponyville?"
Applejack thought for a moment. "At least twenty, right? Probably more than that."
"Jeez," said Rainbow. The bartender took her sweet time filling up her empty glass, which left her with nothing but her thoughts. She wouldn't get a chance to Wrap-Up around Ponyville again. She and Applejack had already been pushing their luck, coming back every year to lend their labor to the cause. The two of them hadn't lived there in so long, but the annual Wrap Up was a tradition they didn't want to leave behind. With the way things were going, though…
A full glass of cider appeared before Rainbow Dash, and she mentally thanked the bartender for helping her not finish that thought.
"It gets easier every time," said Applejack. "I really got in a nice rhythm with the plows. When all the snow was gone I was disappointed. I still had so much energy left in me."
Rainbow scoffed. "That's nothing. I busted more clouds than the rest of the weather team put together."
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Really? You, personally, dealt with more clouds than a hundred ponies combined?"
"Yep." That's what it had felt like, at least, with everypony else's slow pace. It was hardly any work at all to beat them.
"You certainly earned those ciders," Applejack said with a measured voice.
"No kidding." She downed another one, then turned her attention to the bartender. "Need a refill over here!"
"You know," said Applejack, "when I was a filly I didn't like Winter Wrap Up at all. If my younger self could see me now, moping that it's over, well, I don't know what she'd think of me."
That's a thought Rainbow Dash had had herself, on occasion. What would the little pegasus think of how she turned out, if she had the chance?
Obviously, she'd be impressed. A member of the Wonderbolts, married to the mare of her dreams, not to mention the fact she'd saved the world so many times she lost count. Really, her life had turned out exactly how she wanted it to. No complaints.
Except that there'd never be another Winter Wrap Up again.
Rainbow grasped for a glass, and found a full one. She took a long sip.
"Three hundred and twenty seven."
"What?" asked Applejack.
"I dealt with three hundred and twenty seven clouds this year. Not a bad number to go out on, but… I could have done better. I didn't get enough sleep last night, and forgot to eat breakfast. Maybe if I'd been in top shape, I could have gotten more."
Applejack shifted on her barstool. "Maybe. It's still a good number to go out on, though. You'll be the best at Winter Wrap Up for the end of time."
Rainbow Dash looked at her reflection in the cider. It was what she wanted, right? To be the best? No one would ever get the chance to beat her, now that the last Wrap Up had happened. She'd forever be the best pegasus to ever clear the skies over Ponyville.
Her stomach churned. She finished her drink, even though that made it worse.
"Things will be better," said Rainbow Dash, mostly to herself. "Winter Wrap Up was always so much work. It'll be nice for ponies to not have to worry about it anymore."
"Well… here's the thing," said Applejack, leaning toward Rainbow. "I don't like it. I can't think of a single good reason why we should make ponies bust their backs every year now that Twilight's figured out how to cast that global spell to change the weather, but it's stuck in my craw anyway. I mean, it was a lot of work to clean up the snow, but it was the kind of work that made sense, that a pony could take pride in. We wouldn't have come back to do it every year if it meant nothing. But now… I don't know, it's like we've been wasting our time. Like we're fools. It just…" Applejack took a deep sip from her cup.
On some level, Rainbow Dash agreed with her wife, but of course she couldn't say so. It only made sense that everyone would support the weather spell. Less work for ponies was a good thing. It meant they could focus on what they really cared about.
Applejack, Rainbow knew, really cared about the satisfaction of a job well done. She could see it in her eyes, the fear that ponies of the future would have that feeling stripped away. Sure, work sucked, but there was something magical about it, too, that comfortable ache after pushing yourself all day long made you know that you achieved something, to know for a fact that, without you, it wouldn't have happened.
Twilight had made some significant strides with what she called 'macro-magic.' She'd tested the weather changing in isolated groups, and next year would try it on the entire world. Knowing Twilight, Rainbow had the feeling it would work. Maybe a few hiccups would happen here or there, but in the end, Twilight would get her way.
Like she always did.
Rainbow was surprised to find her glass empty. She didn't remember drinking it. She ordered another one.
She talked with Applejack about the details of the day. How cold it had been, how many plows they needed, what sort of weather they planned for tomorrow. An intricate system of ponies coming together to make something beautiful happen. The cyclical nature had always pleased Rainbow. The fact that she could count on Winter Wrap Up anchored her, in some sense. Now that the captain had reeled it up, she felt adrift at sea.
They were in the middle of discussing the finer points of snow dispersal when a pony shouted from the other end of the bar.
"But what's the point? Why do we even bother?"
Her friends calmed her down and walked her outside.
Rainbow ignored her. "When you get the technique down, you get into a rhythm, like a dance, kind of. Maybe it's like—"
"But what is the point?" asked Applejack.
Rainbow blinked. "Huh?"
"I mean, Twilight's never understood the value of work. She always had her fancy spells to do whatever she wanted. But for us, for my family, for the rest of Ponyville… it was… I don't know, it was something special. And we don't have it anymore."
"But it makes sense," said Rainbow. "I mean, it's so much work to clean up winter every year. Now ponies have that time free to do other stuff."
"What if I want to do the work? What if it's a part of my life? What if I'm worse off without it? What if ponies a hundred years from now won't even know what Winter Wrap Up is?"
Rainbow shrugged. "Then good for them. It's a pain in the ass, dealing with all that snow. If Twilight can just magic it away for them, then what's the problem?"
"I just.. maybe.. but… I don't know." Applejack took a drink.
Truth be told, as much as Rainbow liked to slack off, she understood where her wife was coming from. There was something about the whole town joining together to change the seasons that filled her with the warm fuzzies. But that feeling wasn't worth all the effort. She could get just as much camaraderie from going bowling or singing karaoke. It wasn't a big loss.
It still felt like one, though. It didn't make any sense. She'd spent her whole life complaining about Winter Wrap Up, dreading the work every year. Yet she always came back to help, even though she hadn't lived in Ponyville for years.
Why?
From experience, Rainbow knew she was terrible at answering that question. Twilight was right, as always. Applejack said she didn't understand hard work, but nothing could be further from the truth. Twilight worked hard, just not in a way that Applejack approved of.
And the fruits of her labor paid off. It just made sense to relieve everypony from this yearly chore. Rainbow Dash was sure she'd come around to it someday. If anyone could see the wisdom in doing less work, it should be her.
Still, it felt like something had been ripped out of her body.
She shook her head. It was probably nothing.
"Things will be better," said Rainbow Dash. "Doing all that work sucked, anyway."
Applejack didn't respond. She looked at the bar counter like it had something interesting written on it.
"You're probably right," she sighed. "but it's bittersweet. I have a lot of great memories with it over the years. I guess I just don't like the fact that no one can make those memories ever again. That's probably just me being a curmudgeon."
"We can be old mares together."
She smiled at Rainbow.
"And that is why I married you."
"Because I'm fun to get drunk with?"
Applejack laughed.
"Among other things."
Rainbow went in for a kiss. Her wife let her. It lasted longer than usual.
"We'll have more time for the important stuff," said Rainbow.
"I guess it depends on what you consider the important stuff to be."
"Well, it's you, obviously."
"I suppose so."
It worked for the moment, but Rainbow didn't really have an answer to that question. What was the important stuff?
Looking at her wife, tired from a hard day's work, clearly in need of a snuggle buddy... she pushed the thought from her mind. Rainbow Dash could figure it out later.
Or she could just stop thinking about it, like she always did.
