With a pink and orange hue dawn broke over the Seaddle wasteland, the western mountains silhouetted by the early morning light. Across the land ponies began to stir, starting another day in the coastal city. On one particular homestead, at the edge of the city, the day began with a small white and pink blur launching itself onto a pair of sleeping ponies. The blur, a white alicorn filly with a pink mane, landed with a thud on the smaller of the ponies that were sleeping in the large bed that dominated the master bedroom. The filly’s excited impact elicited a grunt as she wriggled her way under the blankets to hug the pony. Before she could, the larger of the two ponies pulled the filly into a wing hug and used the tips of their wings to tickle the filly, filling the room with giggles as the filly tried to squirm away.
“Mom—stop— please!” The filly gasped out. Her mother’s tickling slowed to a stop before she lovingly nuzzled the filly.
“Good morning my little Angel,” the filly’s mother said as she released Angel.
The filly promptly latched on to her father, the smaller pony in the bed, and gave him a squeezing hug. Despite the covers limiting his mobility the stallion, who’s white coat matched his daughter’s, embraced her in a loving hug and nuzzled her mane.
“Good morning my energetic filly, ready for another day in our little slice of heaven?” He asked as Angel squirmed under his doting affection.
With an “Mmhmm” the filly managed to squirm out of his grasp and hop off the bed, “Come on daddy, the sun’s up and it’s time for breakfast!”
As Angel took off towards the kitchen the unicorn stallion lifted the covers off of him and his wife and rolled over to give her a kiss. His wife, a beautiful green alicorn with a misty-gray mane pulled him into a hug as she returned the kiss. They enjoyed the closeness for a moment before acquiescing to the calls of their daughter from the kitchen. The stallion stretched and got up, heading to the kitchen while his wife headed to their bathroom.
Seeing Angel bouncing around the kitchen ready to help with the cooking brought a smile to her father’s face. Sweeping his beautiful daughter onto his back in a field of yellow magic, she giggled and rested her head on his, pressing down his white-streaked blue mane so that she could watch him work. Angel wasn’t allowed to use the stove yet but she helped where she could and made suggestions when she couldn’t. As her father pulled out the cookware and utensils Angel hummed to herself, thinking about what they should have for breakfast. When her dad finally prompted her for ideas, she said the first thing that came to mind, “Cram and eggs daddy, with hash browns!”
Her dad chuckled below her, “Alright sweetie, your favourite it is.”
With that her dad lit his horn pulling out a spark battery and, after giving it a quick jolt with a charging spell, attached it to the stove with a set of power cables. The stovetop came to life with a hum, which was followed by the clink of a pan being set on top of the front burner, and the clicking of the control dial for said burner. Seven rad-chicken eggs and brahmin butter were levitated out from a restored refrigerator and joined by two cans of cram from the overhead cabinets, plus half a dozen tatos from the pantry. Angel watched with awe as her father employed precise telekinesis; greasing the pan with the brahmin butter, opening and dicing the cram, cracking the eggs into a bowl, and shredding the tatos.
As her father added the cram to the pan, Angel lit her horn with a golden-yellow glow, taking an improvised whisk into her magic to begin whisking the eggs. As the filly whisked the eggs, her father added brahmin milk to the bowl until the mix was the perfect consistency. With the eggs ready, Angel’s dad took hold of the bowl and poured the mix into the pan; stirring slowly so the eggs and cram could cook into a wonderful scramble. While this was happening a second pan was added to the stovetop and a second burner was turned on. More brahmin butter was used to oil the new pan and, after a minute or so, Angel’s dad added the shredded tatos to the pan.
The wonderful smell of cooking breakfast drew the third member of the house out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. Watching from the doorway, Angel’s mother smiled at the duo as they worked to prepare breakfast and in a matter of a few minutes, plates were floating out of the cabinets. The food was quickly divvied up and the plates were placed at the table, allowing the family to sit down for a wonderful breakfast to start the day.
After breakfast Angel’s mother swept up their dishes in her white magic, heading to the kitchen as Angel followed her father out of the dining room. The house was quickly filled with the sound of a string quartet emanating from an old pre-war radio that sat on the living room windowsill. Soon however, the gentle music slowed and eventually stopped only to be replaced by the local DJ.
“Good Morning Seaddle! This is your host with the roast, Java Jive! It’s another cold morning here in the city, but the coffee’s flowing and things are looking up fillies and gentlecolts. The wild weather we’ve had for the last month has finally dissipated, the icicles are dripping and the first caravan from Central Equestria arrived earlier this morning. You know what that means folks! Spring is coming and it’s time for us to do our part to clean up winter. So, let’s get our Winter Wrap Up kicked off right with an old-world jingle!
Three months of winter coolness and awesome holidays,
We've kept our hoovsies warm at home, Time off from work to play,
But the food we've stored is runnin' out and we can't grow in this cold,
And even though I love my boots, this fashion's getting old,
The time has come to welcome spring and all things warm and green,
But it's also time to say goodbye, it's winter we must clean…”
The voices on the radio were joined by two more, each coming from one of Angel’s parents. Their voices harmonized as they met under the archway between the dining area and living room. In concert their horns blazed to life and cold weather gear floated into the living room, Angel was quickly bundled up with four booties, a reflective vest and a scarf. As her parents sang, they bundled themselves up in a similar manner, although her father put on a heavier coat since he isn’t an alicorn. They continued singing as Angel was lifted onto her father’s back while they headed outside.
A good foot of snow covered the ground around their house and icicles hung from the edges of the roof but the sun’s warm glow helped push back the cold. Angel’s parents trotted over to a storage shed as they continued to sing.
“Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! Let's finish our holiday cheer!
Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up! 'Cause tomorrow spring Is here!
'Cause tomorrow spring is here!”
From the back of the shed Angel’s mother carefully retrieved a unicorn sized—pony powered—snow plow cart; after getting his wife’s help to get hooked up to the cart, Angel’s dad began to use the plow to clear the snow from the area around the house, shed, greenhouse and his workshop. Angel cheered as she rode on her dad’s back while her mother pulled a shovel from the shed and took to the sky to clear the roofs of snow. Working together, Angel's parents quickly cleared the buildings of snow and ice, before moving onto the homestead’s fields. Working like a well-oiled machine, the family sang, and cheered and worked throughout the morning and well into the afternoon, stopping only for a quick lunch. By the time they were done, dinner was fast approaching and the youngest of them was clearly worn out.
“Power Flow, Emerald Dawn, and little Angel too!” A voice called out as the family approached their house. Coming up the recently cleared driveway was a small caravan of hunters, each dressed in camouflage patterned leather barding and wielding some kind of hunting weapon. At the head of the caravan was a particularly tall Pegasus, his wild black mane and brown coat offset his shiny cybernetic wings; his cutie mark was a wing crossed with a butcher’s knife.
“Hey Cross Chop!” Angel’s dad—Power Flow—called back as he changed course to meet the lanky Pegasus. Angel herself perked up from her spot on Emerald Dawn—her mother’s—back and waved to the group of ponies and zebras. In amongst the caravanners was a brahmin pulling a custom-built refrigeration cart; said cart was opened once Power Flow and Cross Chop had reached each other. Angel and her mother offered suggestions as to what kinds of meats to pick up, as Power Flow looked over what Cross Chop had in stock.
Once he was sure of what to get, Angel’s dad pulled out a bag of caps from his heavy coat and began bartering for the meat, “We’ll take the four pounds of brahmin steaks, the two Yao Guai rib racks, two pounds of Laketank meat, and any Laketank eggs you have. I also have the better battery you asked about last time, I can install that in exchange for half the cost of the meat, and pay the rest in caps.”
“You’ve never steered me wrong when it comes to tech for our cart,” Cross Chop replied, “So long as you keep us in mind when the first harvest comes, you’ve got a deal.” He offered his brown hoof to Power Flow, who took it with his own white hoof and shook
“Agreed,” with that Power Flow directed Cross Chop to lead the brahmin to a large out building while Emerald Dawn and Angel levitated the family’s purchases towards the house. The other hunters settled down around a fire pit on the house end of the driveway, starting a fire with wood from the fire wood box nearby.
Once the cart was in his workshop, Power Flow set to work on swapping the batteries out. As he worked Cross Chop looked at the various devices and oddities that were hanging on the walls. From cattle prods to cobbled together laser saws, the walls were covered in a wonder of wonky looking tools. In the back, however was a cage where a large number of odd looking weapons were stored; battle saddles with railgun like magical energy powered laser rifles mounted to sit on a pony’s back and fire above their heads; plasma and laser hybrid Magical Energy Weapons; even a stacked barrel pistol that looked like it was designed to shoot plasma and lead at the same time.
“For being a humble homesteader, you sure have a lot of specialized firepower.” Cross Chop said with a whistle.
Power Flow laughed as he lugged the old battery out of its bracket, “You know I work with the NCR. They love the weapons I produce, especially for their rangers. The last order for custom weapons I got before winter was for a squad’s worth of special sniper rifles. They wanted the works; reinforced frames, two mode scopes, large mags, battle-saddle connectors. By the time I was done I was sure that the rifles were better than any pre-war weapon, not to mention that they were fitted for fifty-caliber and had attachable silencers.”
Cross Chop trotted back over to his cart as he spoke, “Last time I spoke to him, Hookah mentioned that he had seen the rangers headed off on some kind of important mission. That was mid-winter though.”
Power Flow finished attaching the wires to the battery and tightened down the brackets that held it in place, “That ought to do it. Give her a try and then you can tell me if Hookah happened to see which way they were headed.”
Cross Chop flipped a lever on the side of the cart and the cooling unit hummed to life. After a minute of listening to it, the taller stallion nodded and turned to Power Flow, “Thank you Power. Living up to your name, the power’s flowing better than ever. It’s not even making that hitching noise it used to do each time I started it up. For a job well done, let’s say the rest of your order is fifty caps.”
Power Flow nodded with a smile and counted out fifty caps, “Very generous of you, Cross Chop.”
Cross Chop shot a smile back at him, “Having an expert tinkerer like you helping me get the best equipment for my crew more than makes up for it. As for the rangers, Hookah said they were headed east, to what end we can only guess.”
Power Flow’s smile faded to a contemplative look for a moment before he nodded and smiled again, “It’s probably nothing we need to worry about anyway.
With the work done and debts settled the two stallions headed out of the workshop, parting ways at the door with a pleasant goodbye. Upon stepping into the house after a quick trot over from the workshop, Power Flow was tackle-hugged by Angel. Having expected it, Power swept her up in his hooves and spun on his hind legs while hugging her. The two of them giggled, laughed and spun until they were both too dizzy to stay upright. Together they tumbled down carefree, laughing and smiling while Emerald Dawn giggled at the sight from the stove where she was tending to dinner. Even though he was still dizzy, Power pulled his beautiful daughter in close for a hug and nuzzle. Angel giggled happily under the affection of her father as she snuggled closer to him.
All too soon however they had to get up as dinner was ready. As they sat around the table enjoying their dinner of pan-fried Laketank, roasted veggies, and mashed tatos, Power Flow told Angel about the one hunting trip that he went on with Cross Chop and Hookah. He recounted his blunders as the two hunters did their best to teach him the skill, including how he ended up hanging from a tree by his hind hooves in a snare trap. Power gave an animated example of how his hooves flailed while he was dangling upside down, getting giggles and laughs from his wife and daughter. The couple shared a few other stories that got their daughter to smile and laugh throughout the meal until their plates were finished and the sun had begun to set.
With their dinner done Power Flow began to clean up the table and kitchen while Emerald Dawn started a fire in the living room fireplace. Angel had already taken her place on the large rug that lay on in the center of the living room, when her dad trotted out of the dining room and joined her. Once the fire was crackling and popping Emerald Dawn joined her lover and daughter on the floor and turned the radio on, filling the room with soft music as they snuggled up together. A large blanket covered them courtesy of Power’s magic and together they listened to the radio, enjoying the peaceful comfort of their home as spring once again arrived in the wasteland.
