The Ordinary Ponies

Chapter 14: A New Year

Autumn had passed and winter had arrived, and Ponyville had ushered resting and recuperating.

Unlike the bleak scenery presented in winter, the ponies would spend the busiest three months: the end of a year of production, almost all of which were used to enjoy life, including snowball fights, skiing, making snow pony, family dinners...Festivals were also full of joy, and Hearth’s Warming was the most prominent and important festival during this period.

On Hearth’s Warming, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, and some ponies were invited to Canterlot to reenact the founding history of Equestria, which was also part of Canterlot Parade.

Mr. Miracle and the three girls also followed along, even though they had a bad impression of those upper-class, it didn’t affect their expectations for the festival and activities. They enjoyed the performance and had dinner with each other, and the year was coming to an end.

In another month or two, Winter Wrap-Up was coming. This was the exclusive festival of Ponyville, because they would send away winter by themselves, instead of using magic or waiting for natural changes like other places.

Twilight had been eagerly anticipating this unique festival for a long time. This was her first time participating in such an event and she was determined to devote herself wholeheartedly. However, at the beginning, she wasn’t confident in her role.

Fortunately, she remembered that she wasn’t the only one who came to Ponyville - Mr. Miracle was too. When she found him, he was pasting something in his cozy suburban barracks (which he had been expanding and renovating whenever he had free time).

There were two long-red papers vertically pasted on both sides of the entrance, the red paper pasted above the door was much shorter, and the red paper pasted in the center of the door was angular.

All the edges of them were embroidered with golden silk thread, but the content was written by unknown texts.

Twilight stepped forward, curious about these texts. “Mr. Miracle, what are you doing?” she asked.

“This is the custom of Spring Festival in my homeland. Although I’m not sure if it can correspond to the calendar of Ponyville, the theme of these two festivals were similar - sending off winter and welcoming spring, tidying up emotions, and starting a new year's work.” Mr. Miracle paused for a moment, seeming to hesitate whether to tell Twilight everything.

“What are these red papers?”

“How can I explain?” Mr. Miracle touched his chin with one hoof and paced back and forth thinking for a long time. “This is called 'Spring Couplet', consisting of three parts: the upper, the lower, and the horizontal. Both couplets and horizontal inscriptions should be read from the right side because in ancient times, writing was done from right to left and from top to bottom. The one in the middle of the door is ‘Fu’, representing the arrival of happiness.”

“That's really interesting. What do you write in this set of 'Spring Couplets'?”

“This is our language, which is difficult to translate into 'pony’s language'. It is mainly composed of auspicious poems, expressing our beautiful wishes. The couplets should be neatly matched - whether they are similar or opposite, but not absolutely. Matching is a major literary requirement.”

“Spike, have you seen it? These characters have a peculiar form and look very powerful.” Twilight burst out of scholarly thought again, scrutinizing these characters back and forth.

Spike leaned in and couldn't understand at all.

Twilight smiled at him and continued to ask Mr. Miracle, “Is your homeland like Ponyville where ponies send away winter by themselves?”

“That's not the case. It's like Everfree Forest, where the sun and moon alternate, plants grow, and seasons change...everything happens naturally. Very few lands can be as prosperous as Equestria. In the past, productivity wasn’t high enough, and winters were usually tough, so when winter passed, my ancestors would celebrate for having endured another winter, summoning the courage to continue living. Therefore, this festival is very important to us; of course, life quality has improved now, so joy and happiness are the biggest themes of this festival.”

“This is truly a meaningful festival. So, what will you all do on this festival?”

“Many. The most important thing is to have dinner with relatives on the eve...no matter how far away we are, we will come to reunite...” Mr. Miracle's voice gradually lowered until he remained silent, and a faint sadness began to appear on his face.

“Oh...I think you must be missing your home, right?”

“Of course.” Mr. Miracle sniffled and eased his emotions. “Anyone who wanders outside will miss home, won't they?”

To be honest, only in Ponyville could he be truly happy; But overall, he kept caring his parents. For a long time, he had been avoiding this topic, but when he had to think about it, that sadness followed him like a shadow.

“That's true, but my parents and brother are both in Canterlot. I can write to and visit them anytime, so I won't be upset,” Twilight said, suddenly having an idea and proposing, “Maybe I can accompany you to back your home? Anyway, Ponyville don't need me much.”

“What?” Mr. Miracle was a little shocked, but considering that she knew very little about his situation, which was normal, he explained, “I’m grateful that you’re willing to do it for me; but my hometown is far, far...far away.”

“Can't even the train get there?”

“Even the train can’t pass get there.”

“Well... I'm sorry,” Twilight didn't know how to comfort him, so she changed the topic and said, “Do you want to participate in Winter Wrap-Up? We can find a suitable task together.”

“Sure.” Mr. Miracle wiped away the barely visible tears and responded decisively. “First of all, I want to advise you be patient. You will eventually find your place.”

“It seems that you have already foreseen it,” Twilight sighed and said. “But what can I do? No team needs my help...I don't know anything.”

Mr. Miracle smiled and said, “You're just not used to their way. Maybe you should follow your own pace.”

“My own pace” Twilight fell into contemplation. “Are you saying using magic?”

“Of course not! Magic is not your only specialty.”

“Then I need to think carefully.”

So the two of them, including Spike, went back to Ponyville together and worked hard to find what they could do for the town.

The first stop was the bird's nest workstation, where Rarity was responsible for weaving comfortable and warm nests for the returning birds. As the most skilled tailor in Ponyville, she wasn’t ambiguous when making bird nests. In the words of Mr. Miracle, it was "high-end and elegant, low-key and luxurious with connotation" - exactly matching.

“Thank you for this compliment. Would you like to give it a try?” asked Rarity.

“Me? Mr. Miracle, have you done it before?” Twilight turned to Mr. Miracle, obviously wanting some guidance.

“No. As I said, the birds in my homeland go back to the north and make their own nests.”

“Well...okay, I'll have a try myself. Rarity, what should I do?”

“You just need some hay, branches, and ribbons…Oh, um, what you made, Twilight...I think that's okay too - oh, my goodness…”

Under the euphemistic words of Rarity, Twilight made up a bird's nest - of course, compared to what Rarity made up, it was the "difference between clouds and mud".

Spike, who had always been straightforward, bluntly said, “That bird's nest looks hopeless!”

Mr. Miracle smiled and said, “Believe it or not, the bird's nest in our area is like this.”

“No need to comfort me…”

“This is true! Well, of course not all birds are like this. Some species of birds are born architects...Well, we’d better switch to another activity.” So the three continued to shift their focus and left Rarity to make up Twilight’s work. Mr. Miracle advised Rarity not to dwell on that nest before leaving, but she didn't listen and focused solely on "fixing" it.

Next, they arrived at the lake, where a pink figure was leisurely skating on the surface of the lake. As she walked, scratches appeared one by one on the ice surface.

“Hello!” Pinkie greeted.

She explained that this was cutting the ice surface with ice skates, so that the ice would break along the scratch. Obviously, this job was not easy because Ponyville had more than one lake.

“Do you want to help?” asked Pinkie.

“Of course!” Twilight readily agreed, without considering whether she could skate or not.

“Uh...I don't know how to skate,” Mr. Miracle blurted out, having a clear understanding of himself. “After all, when I first came to Ponyville, I was still learning to walk.”

“Oh, don't worry, it's very easy,” Pinkie said confidently. “I believe you must also be geniuses.”

However, it turned out they weren’t, skating was difficult for them, very difficult, and their attempt ended after the collision. So Pinkie introduced them to help Fluttershy.

When they arrived at the destination, they saw Fluttershy waking up animals one by one.

Her voice and movements were as gentle as possible to avoid startling them. The cost of doing so was incredibly slow efficiency, and she worried about not being able to wake up all the animals in a timely manner.

“Let's help you!” suggested Twilight.

“That's really great,” Fluttershy said, giving the bell to Twilight.

“Let's get started, just pick that cave.” Twilight picked up the bell and was about to enter the nearest cave.

Mr. Miracle immediately reminded, “I suggest you switch to another cave.”

“Because the small animals inside might scare me? Come on, they're all cute, how could that be –” she said as she crawled into the cave, then suddenly shouted, “Ah! Snakes!”

Mr. Miracle shook his head and said to Spike, “Prepare the tomato sauces, we need to thoroughly remove the odor for her.”

“Removing the odor? But she hasn't –”

Then Twilight was startled several groups of animals, including bats and bees, before finally being knocked out by skunks.

“Now I understand.” Spike covered his mouth and chuckled.

During the cleaning process, Spike was still persuading Twilight to use magic, but she insisted on being native. Mr. Miracle also agreed. After cleaning up the odor, the three arrived at the vast wilderness.

Applejack was leading a large number of earth ponies to clear snow and sow seeds.

“We can only start watering and sowing when all the snow is cleared,” explained Applejack.

“That looks like there's still a lot of snow,” Twilight said.

Mr. Miracle seemed to have something to say, but in the end, he stopped and chose to follow Applejack's instructions. But she didn't seem very willing to accept their “help”.

Twilight strongly demanded an opportunity and started pushing the snow shovel. Her strength was clearly insufficient, and the snowplow remained motionless. Before she used magic, Mr. Miracle helped her push from behind, but the speed was still much slower than the other ponies. Finally, Applejack gently asked them to go somewhere else to see if there were any more suitable jobs.

“Alas, the ponies were all wholeheartedly devoted to the festival, while I can't do anything...” Twilight sighed as she walked.

“You can do a lot of things, just except making bird nests, skating, waking up animals, and clear the snow.” Spike tried to comfort her, but his words were obviously not.

“If I say 'I can’t do anything either', will you feel better?” Mr. Miracle said. Then he looked up at the front and changed his mind, "Actually, I don't need to comfort you anymore.”

“What?” Twilight asked.

“See for yourself,” Mr. Miracle pointed ahead. On the town square, Applejack and Fluttershy were debating whether to melt the snow or not, making Rainbow Dash confused.

Immediately after, Mayor Mare came out to point out the various mistakes accumulated so far - spring would be late again like before, and the ponies began to blame each other.

“Did she just say 'late'?” Twilight couldn't believe it.

“Yes, so it's time for you to play at your own pace,” Mr. Miracle said, blinking at her.

Twilight quickly ran over and asked Spike to bring her writing board. She announced to the ponies, "I know everyone wants spring to come in time, but arguing won't solve problems. You just need a little 'organization' - leave this to me, please.”

Thus, a new round of Winter Wrap-Up began, but before officially starting work, Twilight felt it necessary to seek some advices from Mr. Miracle. He had long shown extraordinary intelligence and wit, perhaps he had a way to make the whole process faster.

Mr. Miracle began to explain the original driving force behind natural changes – the heat. If the snow melted into water, then the fields wouldn’t need clearing the snow or watering; If the small animals were awakened by the heat, there was no need to actively wake them up...

According to Twilight's original plan, all tasks were isolated from each other, and completed one by one. It would indeed be very organized, but also be discount in efficiency; If they focused on the changes caused by the heat, then they only need to slightly adjust the order of work to achieve “twice the result with half the effort”.

First, clear some of the clouds to gradually warm up the ground, while starting to cut through the ice surface; After the small animals wake up, continue to clear the clouds and accelerate the heating rate while clearing the ice cones and snow in dangerous areas.

The snow in other areas will naturally melt; In the weaving of bird nests, reduce the number of processes and enhance practicality; No need to wait for all the snow to melt before plowing and sowing. It's best to turn the deep soil to the surface. Fluffy snow also helps with insulation...

In this way, Ponyville successfully sent away winter and welcomed spring without being late for the first time.

……

While anxiously sending off winter and welcoming spring in Ponyville, Princess Luna in Canterlot Royal Palace also had her job. In the new year, she aimed to upgrade the entire defense system of Equestria.

She didn't want to repeat the mistakes she saw on the 'computer' in the future, and she must prove the strength of herself, her sister, and all the royal guards.

She made a long list like Twilight, with everything she thought needed to be changed - armors, weapons, trainings, formations, reaction systems, and so on. Before, she didn't think there was anything wrong with royal guards, but after Mr. Miracle reminded her, she now felt that royal guards with empty hooves not using weapons was stupid.

Not only that, but hearing that the future guards will be trained by Flash Magnus also made her feel the guards need reform. It was not about Flash Magnus himself, after all, he was one of the ancient heroes; The key was that his tactics, philosophy, and training methods were all from ancient times.

If she let him train later, wouldn't it mean their current level was far inferior to ancient times?

For this reason, she specially invited Shining Armor, the captain of royal guards, to discuss reforms.

“I have always felt that royal guards’ military equipment is lax, and we should reform it as soon as possible and intensify training!” Princess Celestia wasn’t there, so it was Princess Luna who summoned Shining Armor in the main hall.

“Er, Royal Highness Princess...Is this Princess Celestia’s command?”

“No, but it doesn't mean it's not important. We will face many crises in the future, and we need to be prepared now.”

“Alright then, I'll go and give them orders now,” said Shining Armor, wanting to leave. Princess Luna immediately called out to him.

“Wait, I haven’t said how to change it, why did you just leave?” Princess Luna was a little confused.

Shining Armor showed an awkward yet polite smile and said, “Well, usually Princess Celestia just needed to tell us what to do, and the specific method would be studied by us - professional royal guards.”

Upon hearing the word “professional”, Princess Luna immediately burst into laughter. If in the past, she wouldn't have been so impolite, but since hearing about the "great achievements" of royal guards, she couldn’t longer face these armored ponies.

"Your Highness Princess, why are you laughing?"

“I remembered happy things." Princess Luna tried to suppress her laughter and it took her a while to regain her dignified appearance. “Well, I'm a princess, right? My sister also asked me to rule Equestria with her, didn't she?”

"Yes, that's true."

“Then you should listen to my opinion,” said Princess Luna, expanding her list and startling him. “First is the weapons. As far as I know, the guards have spears, but I have never seen them use.”

“That's true.”

“As far as I know, during the period of pegasuses’ past, the pegasuses had a weapon called the 'lance'.”

“That's true.”

“As far as I know, Prince Hisan used some kind of chariot, which was carved on the mural.”

“That's true.”

“As far as I know, there is an ice-arrow competition at Equestria Games, and those ice-arrows can freeze any object in an instant, but we have never used them as weapons.”

“That's true.”

Princess Luna spread her hooves and asked, “See?”

“Your Highness, see what?”

“Weapons! There are so many kinds of weapons, but the guards have never used any one of them.”

Shining Armor suddenly realized, and then said awkwardly, "These weapons...are a bit 'violent'? Princess Celestia is afraid of the negative impact.”

“What negative impact? I don’t ask you always equip them, just take them out when the crisis come. At least we need some training, right?”

“Yes, yes, you’re right.”

Princess Luna looked down and said, "Royal guards are composed of earth ponies, pegasuses, and unicorns, right?”

“Right.”

“But why do you all rush up in a swarm when practice? Even though pegasuses can attack from the air, and unicorns can use magic.”

“Uh...” Shining Armor was sweating profusely. For a long time, guards have been trained in this way, and when he was a guard, the previous captain also taught him the same way. He had never thought about the issue of leveraging their advantages.

Princess Luna shook her head and continued, "There are always only visible sentries, not hidden ones, right?”

"Your Highness, what are 'secret sentries'?"

“What can be seen by other ponies is called 'visible sentries'; what can’t be seen and hide in the dark is called 'secret sentries'.”

“I don't understand. Isn't guarding meant to deter intruders? If you can't see them, how can you be deterred?”

Princess Luna covered her face with hoof and explained helplessly, “Guardians do have this function, which is why they need to be paired with visible and secret sentries. The main task of sentinels is to detect intruders, and if they observe in the dark, intruders can easily relax their vigilance.”

“Understood.” Shining Armor finally thought that Princess Luna was serious, and quickly used magic to fetch a pen and paper to start recording.

Princess Luna had a speechless expression on her face. It seemed that the reform was indeed urgent.