*Knock knock* "Kid," I shifted side to side in front of her door, "Time to get up," No answer, "Kid, I'm comin in," I slowly pushed the door open, "Kid? Kid!?" She was nowhere to be seen, "Jesus...KID!?" I turned and went into the hall, "Truffle where the hell are ya!?"

"Dad!?"

"Jesus.....Kid where the hell are ya!"

"Outside!"

"Man...." I made my way out the back door, there she was, boots hastily tied and a saddled skewed on her back, "Kid why the hell are you outside!?"

"I woke up early...are you mad at me?" She said flinching away from me.

"...no...I'm not mad...ya shoulda told me you were going out....scared the hell outta me," I stepped out into the slush that was quickly turned to mud underfoot, "What are you doing out here?"

"Practicing my magic, I've been throwing rocks into the woods....so you're really not mad," She trotted over to me.

"No I'm not mad....so....how it coming along," She gave a quick grin and turned towards the woods, A stone glowed faintly before being hurled into the woods.

"Ive got force down, now I just need endurance and precision!" She threw another stone.

"You sure know a lot about this stuff," I took a seat on my porch, "Good to see you actually practicing," A strange thought ran through my head, "....kid how you feel about going to work with me today?" She was caught off guard and lauched a rock extremely high.

"Really!? But you said-"

"I know...I decided to stop the logging until I figure out what happened, figure that'll give the boys a chance to put in some time at the mill and wait until we get a new skidder," She just smile, "...you have no idea what I'm talkin about do ya?"

"Not really but it sounds pretty cool!" I set my hand on my head and cradled my face in my arm.

"...Christ kid.....if anyone at school asks, you were sick....and come here, your clothes are all bunched up," She trotted over and I quickly fixed her saddle and double knotted her boots, "Next thing you gotta learn is how to tie a knot...."

"Atleast I can...I mean...like ear-"

"With the hooves yeah I get it," I stood up and stepped off my porch, "Well...come on...Stay close!"

"Alright....geez," We started off down the path to the logging camp.

"Hey boss...what's with the kid?" A man yelled from atop a log.

"Ok boys...after some dileberation I decided to stop logging for the day," There was a quick volly of groans and questions, "Listen! Yall can head down the the mill if ya still need to get some work done, Ventulan you're in charge. Miter, Birch I'm gonna need yall to stick around," There was a quick bustle before people started filing out, Miter and Birch quickly met me, "Ok...Miter I need a full report on what you saw yesterday, get that to my by tomorrow, Birch I need you do two things: set an order for a new skidder and get a crew to salvage the old one, got it?"

"Yes sir,"

"Yep!"

"Good...enjoy the day off," I hurried off towards the site of yesterdays problems.

"Who were they," Truffle ran up next to me.

"The brown one's our lookout, names Miter. The other one runs the skidder crews they move the logs once their cut,"

"What's a skidder?"

"....I- actually...there's still the broken one out there..." I said sidestepping a puddle.

"Then lets hurry," She started to run only for me to catch her by the saddle.

"Kid don't be runnin, you could trip or fall on something you really don't want to fall on..." I set her down next to me.

"Like what?"

"Like an axe....these dumb asses tend to forget their tools out here," She looked slightly confused.

"How do you forget an axe?"

"...a very good question...I don't know,"

"oh...."

"Yep...so just watch your step," He kept on down the barely carved path.

"Boss! Hey boss!" That was Miter.

"Miter? Whats going on?" He quickly glided down to me.

"Almost forgot...letter came in for you," He handed me a sealed letter, "Kinda important....thats all," He quickly took off again.

"Wow...he could be a wonderbolt!" Truffle gawked as I looked the letter over.

"What the hell's winter wrap up....doesn't matter, I'll read it later," I stuffed the note in my pocket, "Come on"

"Wow....their so tall..." She said looking at the canopy.

"Kid watch your step..." She quickly looked back down, "Whelp....here we are," A stump, a log, and a broken skidder, "Go look at the skidder if you want, just stay in the area,"

"Sure," She quickly trotted over to look at the device while I went to examine the stump.

"Let's see...." I knelt down to look at the hinge, I could tell immediately it was a horrid angle. The cut was sloppy as well. I looked over at he skidder, laying under the center of the tree, "Musta...." I line my arm up with where the cut was meant to go and slowly lowered it to where it was, "Yep......cut shifted and the entire thing went way off course....no safety lines.....that fuckin fool,"

"Hey dad what is this?" Truffle ran over levitating a small piece of metal, "I found it next to the thing."

I took it from her, it was part of the tags I gave Miter, "Ah....this here is how we mark which trees to cut, it's a little metal tag with a chain," I pocketed it, "Good eyes kid," She gave a wide smile and looked at the stump.

"It's not supposed to look like that is it?" She pointed to the extremely frayed side.

"Nope....sure aint," I stood up, "So how's the skidder look?"

"Broken,"

"Really? I had no idea," She scrunched her muzzle up in agitation, "easy kid, I'm just pushing yer buttons," We walked over to the skidder, the limbers had sunken into the mud and the right wheel had caved outward, "....damn..."

"There were ponies in this weren't there?"

"Yep.....all along the limbers....." I pointed up and down the limbers.

"Are they ok?"

"Yeah....got em all to the hospital,"

"...you were...blood...yesterday," I looked over towards the now cut branches.

"Yeah.....one a my boys caught a branch through his leg....he should be fine though....I hope," I stood up, "You don't want details...come on, lets get back...ain't much to say about this..."

"So...what now?"

"Well...you're supposed to be at school...you wanna learn something?" She nodded frantically, "follow me," I hurried back to the logging camp.

"Ok.....first we survey the area, make sure theirs room for the tree to fall," I lead her around the site, "See anything wrong," She looked around.

"What about that thing?" She pointed to a large boulder thirty feet away.

"Right, so we cut away from it...next step, I make the boys tie lines to the top of the tree, not required but if things go bad it gives people time to get clear," I set my tools down and got ready to climb up. A few minutes later their was two lines tied towards the cut.

"So....if it falls....like that," She pointed to the left of the ropes, "It...catches it?"

"Yeah, it doesn't last long but it's enough time to realize things are wrong and get away safe, next...we make our first cut," I pulled my chainsaw over, "Get nice and clear kid," Once she was a safe distance I cut the hinge out. Once I shut the saw down she trotted cautiously over.

"You wanna get the right angle, and make it strait, you do it right it'll fall perfectly strait." She ran her hoof along the cut, "Next we cut a bore out," She cleared out again and I cut the main bore through it. I quickly found a wedge and jammed it between the tree and the stump, "Kid this is it, one more quick cut and it'll fall," She looked over the gap and tapped the wedge, "careful kid, you knock that hard enough the thing could fall early," She jerked her hoof back.

"So...this is it?"

"Almost....get far back, real far," She galloped off hiding next to he boulder. I started up the saw and cut the final bit of the bore. The tree slowly fell forward landing right between the tied lines. I looked back to see her eyes wide, watching the tree slam into the ground.

"Whoa..." She ran over once the tree was at full stop, "That was cool!" She ran her hoof along the cut, "When can I do that!?"

"When you can use a chainsaw," I hoisted the rest of my tools, "Come on....lets get lunch,"

"Bucky's?"

"....eh...why not Bucky's sounds good," We started off back to town. Bucky's was a decent if slightly greasy fast food place. It would be a nice change from sitting out in the cold.

"Greasy....." Truffle moaned in delight, "Hay fries are sooo good," I rolled my eyes and dug my hand into my pocket.

I unfolded the letter from earlier, "To the owner of Harper woodwork's.....assistance is requested.....replanting on sweetapple acers...."

"Wait....for Winter Wrap Up!?"

"...looks like it..."

"Oh you're taking me with you for that!"

"What is it?"

"This big thing were they clean up winter and wake up all the animals!"

"Alright...it says they'll explain it when we get there....wait..." I looked at the date, "Oh god dammit....it's tomorrow, this letters a week late!"

"Awesome...two day's off school in a row..."

"Christ.....I need to post a bulletin," I stood from the table, "Let's get back home,"

"But-"

"Finish your food quick," I cleared the table except for her food, "I need to move some stuff around..."