Chapter XI

I yawned slightly as my eyes slowly opened deep in the night, and looked around to see Rainbow fast asleep next to me, and Rex was mumbling to himself as he walked in, and stretched while speaking quietly. "Hey, Ethan, Merry Winter Wrap-Up Day."

I gave a silent chuckle as he scratched his ear, and fell backwards, eyes closed as he began snoring, which earned another chuckle from me, and I got to my hooves. I stretched out a bit, then glanced over at Rainbow who had her foreleg over the spot I was sleeping on, which made me smile and kiss her on the forehead, which earned a blush on her cheeks as she tried to find my body through her sleep.

I then trotted over to Rex and tapped his nose, causing him to crack his eyes open slightly. "Mommy?"

I held back a laugh. "No, but we need to get ready."

He grumbled and rolled onto his face, letting out a mumble. "You're not mommy."

I held back another laugh. "Rex, the first day of Spring is tomorrow, so everypony in Ponyville needs to clean up winter. It might help us get ready with a few stuff."

Rex pushed himself to a sitting position, and rubbed his eyes. "I'd rather sleep in for once, I'm tired. Plus, cleaning up winter? Who cleans up winter? Didn't you say it has the power to control itself and the such? Or maybe use magic to change the seasons like our days in Canterlot?"

I chuckled lightly. "No, Rex. Ponyville was started by Earth Ponies." I slid on a long duster and also a long black shirt and pants on, then slid on some boots. "So for hundreds of years, they've never used magic to clean up winter." I slid on the metal back piece to cover up the hole of the duster. "Call it tradition."

He gave a grunt, and looked at a nearby apple. "Never heard of a town not using magic on that stuff."

I gave a shrug in response, and slid on my Stormchaser Hat. "Come on, Rex, didn't you always want to try something new like this?"

Rex grabbed the apple and bit into it. "Maybe, though I don't really see how I can help." He then looked at me. "Hey, why was there an Apple in your room?"

I nodded to Rainbow. "She brings up snacks for if she missed dinner or something, must've forgot one."

Rex slowly nodded as he took another bite, then felt a hoof slap the apple out of his claws. This made him look to see a Rainbow who was sleepwalking. He got to his feet and grabbed the apple again, only for her to slap it away as well. They glared daggers at each other (well Rex did, Rainbow was still asleep). They then both darted for the apple, and began fighting each other, until Rainbow flew out of range, rubbed her eyes, and glared at Rex, then raised an eyebrow. "Hey! Where did that stallion that took my trophy go?!"

Rex growled at her. "You were dreaming, dumbass, and it was an apple that I was trying to eat before you slapped it away."

She blushed heavily at that. "Whoops... hehe..."

I lifted up a list. "Let's see, everything here that explains what is needed for this tradition is right here, so let's go over it. Protective Clothing, check. Boots, check. Supplies..." I looked at my Pip-Boy, which showed a flamethrower and stuff. "Check." I then popped the door open, causing the sun to shine down on us, which made me smirk. "Looks like we're right on time."

...

I trotted up into the crowd outside of the Carousel Boutique with Rex and Rainbow next to me, and ED-E floating above us. I then noticed something. "Hmm... team color vests, huh?" I examined the ones with wings. "Blue for weather team, i guess." I glanced at another group. "Green for the plant team." Then spotted tan. "And tan for the... um... animal team?" I then groaned. "Please don't tell me I'll be wearing a vest."

Rex folded his arms in response. "I'll take a green vest, the animals here are jackasses to me."

I rolled my eyes at him as ED-E floated up to me. *Beep.*

I gave a nod. "Don't worry, ED-E, you can just be painted for the team, then I'll paint you back to normal."

*Beep!*

I chuckled as we soon heard Mayor Mare speak. "Thank you, everypony, for being here bright and early. We need every single pony's help to wrap up winter and bring in spring." Everypony cheered in response. "Now, all of you have your vests and have been assigned to your teams, so let's do even better than last year and have the quickest winter wrap-up ever."

Everypony began to cheer in excitement, while Rainbow snuggled up to my side. "Man... I am tired."

I gave a small smile and wrapped my wing around her, making her feel the warmth of the wing which made her sigh contently. Mayor Mare then spoke some more. "All right, everypony, find your team leader and let's get galloping."

Everypony headed off to their leaders, while Rainbow spoke. "I'll catch you later, Ethan, I need to get my team ready."

I nodded as she flew off, then looked at Rex, who slid on a green vest. "Which team should I join, Rex?"

He dusted himself off as he headed for Applejack. "Choose whichever you want, I just wanna get this over with."

I gave a nod to him, and looked over the three teams, thinking a bit. Let's see, the plant team would be dealing with growing plants, the weather team would be dealing with the clouds, and the animal team would be dealing with the suggested name. Hmm... I gave a shrug, and began trotting along the teams as they sung for some reason, which I fail to see why exactly, then felt a pile of snow dump onto me. I pulled my head up and looked up to see Rainbow fly down to me, a blush on her cheeks, then she kissed me before flying off.

I rolled my eyes at this, and looked over at Applejack, who was dealing with moving the snow and planting the seeds. This made me raise an eyebrow and noticed what all of them do, and hummed slightly, seeing that I could easily do all three. I tapped my hoof slightly, then looked at Rainbow as she was nearby. "Hey, Rainbow!"

She glanced over, smiled and trotted over, making us nuzzle each other as she spoke. "Hey, Ethan. What's up?"

I let my wings spread out slightly. "Need any help?"

She smiled. "Sure, could you clear out the clouds?"

I nodded as my wings expanded, beating almost Celestia's wingspan, and flew up into the air, taking out cloud after cloud. It was rather easy, and I soon had almost all of the clouds gone, before Rainbow called out. "Hey, Ethan!" I looked down at her. "That's enough, leave some for us, please?"

I gave a nod and glided down to her, before giving a playful wink. "Sure thing, Rainbow, if you need any help with anything else, just call."

She blushed at that as thoughts other then the work crossed her mind. "Um... sure, hehe." She then flew off.

...

I trotted over to Rarity as she finished putting a bow on a bowl, which made me smile and speak. "Hey, Rarity, need any help?"

She gave a smile. "Well, how would you like to help create Ponyville's finest bird's nests?"

I looked down at what I'm now guessing to be nests. "Sounds interesting, why though?"

She gave a smile. "When the weather team guides the birds back north for the Spring, they'll need a place to live and lay their eggs."

I looked at the nest, and raised an eyebrow. "Looks easy, give me some materials and I'll get to work."

She nodded and dumped one of the baskets full of stuff onto the table. "Okay, now, take this straw, leaves, and branches, and begin weaving them through there." I did so. "Yes! Take some ribbon. Yes, ooh! That would do splendidly, oh my, that looks amazing right there. Yes! Oh, Ethan, it looks absolutely beautiful!"

My nest was, well, from the looks of it, kind of looked like a bird sized castle. It fit the description pretty much, and the ribbons were used as miniature flags on the tips of the spires.

I examined it with a thoughtful look, until I heard Rarity speak. "Darling, this will do wonderfully for a few bird families. You have amazed me. Now, I suppose you could help by making five more of those, then I think that will be enough for a good amount of birds."

I gave a nod as I went to work.

...

Later

...

I trotted calmly through the snowy mountain like area, until I heard Pinkie across the way. "Hello, Ethan!" She was skating along the frozen lake, and was having much fun, which made me smile. "Wow, Pinkie Pie, you're quite the skater." I trotted down to her as I noticed ED-E sliding along the ice, and bobbed back into the air, then shot a laser at part of the ice, and traced it along until he stopped, and there was now a carved out face of Princess Celestia. I looked back at Pinkie. "Probably the best skater I've ever seen. But not the best sculptor since ED-E just took that title."

Pinkie slid up to me. "Thanks, Ethan. I've been doing this since I was a itty-bitty, little, little twinkie Pinkie. Just comes naturally" She then hopped up, and landed with grace. "Which is probably why they designated me the lake scorer. I cut lines in the lake with my skates. That way, when the rest of the weather team comes here to break the ice, it'll be easy as pie."

I rolled my eyes. "Easy as pie, something only some cooks can say." I then placed a hoof on my chin. "Clever actually, because when the thick ice begins to melt, it'll break along the lines." I smiled. "Well, you sure have a lot of work ahead of you. There's quite a few lakes in Ponyville now that I think about it." I placed a hoof against my chin again, deep in thought.

Pinkie gave a nod. "Tell me about it!" She then looked at me. "Hey, Ethan, want to help me out?"

i gave a small smile. "Sure thing, Pinkie."

She pointed over to a nearby spot. "Come on, put on those skates over there. I bet you'll be a natural too."

I gulped slightly. "Um... maybe... I don't think a natural would be the best words though."

I slipped on the skates, and hopped onto the lake, which made me gulp and try to hold my balance, then took a deep breath, and began to skate along the ice. It slowly began to get easy to do, albite slowly, and I could hear Pinkie instructing me to keep from doing something wrong.

After a bit of skating, I calmed myself as I stopped near Pinkie, and spoke. "So... how did I do?"

Pinkie smiled and pointed at the lake, making me look over, and go wide eyed at seeing a very detailed image of Canterlot. (Luck 10/10)

I stuttered as I pointed a hoof at it. "H-H-How did I d-d-d-do that?"

Pinkie smiled at me. "You were so busy watching your movements, that you must have missed it! Good job!"

I was still very confused as to how though. "B-B-But I w-w-was there... then I w-w-was there... a-a-and what?"

Pinkie simply giggled at me, and waved at me. "I gotta go and do the other lakes now. Why don't you see if Fluttershy needs any help? I'm sure she'd love some."

I slowly nodded, looked at the thing I couldn't have possibly done, and sighed as I trotted off, sadly not receiving an answer.

...

I spotted Fluttershy looking in a log, and ringing a bell as she spoke. "Wake up, little sleepyheads. Hope you had some wonderful dreams and restful hibernation, but it's time to get up now. Spring is coming."

The small hedgehogs yawned and stretched out a bit as they climbed out, and began heading off to do the things they did before hibernation, which made me smile. "They look rather cute this morning."

Fluttershy smiled in response. "Aren't they? This is my favorite task of the whole season, when I get to see all my little animal friends again." She then trotted over to another hole. "Wake up, little porcupines."

I gave a soft smile. "The term is Hedgehog, I think."

She shrugged as she looked at the small ones who had bigger spikes then the hedgehogs, which made me think a minute. They hugged each other, and yelped upon getting the little hairs stuck in their little arms and chests, which made Fluttershy sigh. "Oh, but just look at all these warrens and dens. I'm worried that I won't be able to wake up every animal before Spring comes."

I gave a soft smile. "Maybe I can help."

Fluttershy smiled. "You will? Oh, that would be wonderful."

She handed me a bell, which made me smile and take it with my magic, before waving goodbye, and trotted over to one of the little homes. I gently shook the bell. "Wake up, little guys, it's time to wake up and welcome Spring." Snakes crawled out of the little homes, and hissed slightly, which made me smirk, and pulled out a small flute. I began to play soft tunes, which made the snakes stop hissing, and began to dance silently along with the music.

I smiled as the snakes let out soft hissing noises, before slithering out for the day, while I headed to another cave, and softly woke up the bats. That is until I heard a small crack, looked up, and saw a bee hive falling down, this made me catch it with my magic, and slowly sat it back in it's position. I then trotted over to a nearby home, and softly woke up the skunks, which crawled out, and certainly held that stench, which made me cover my nose as they walked by.

...

I yawned as I trotted along the snowy fields and spotted Applejack up ahead, which made me smile as I stopped next to her. "Hey, Applejack, how's everything going?"

She smiled with that usual smile. "Oh, just dandy. little slow starting, but peachy, all the same. There's a lot of ground to clear, ya hear? We can't even start the plantin' and the waterin' until we get all this heap of snow hightailed out of here."

I gave a smile as I did the other times, and spread out my wings. "How about some extra help?" I then felt the metal attachments began to shift over the wings, and now they were like those shovels. "Been wanting to test this prototype out for a while now."

Applejack was wide eyed at the prototype, then shrugged. "Well, Ah don't know, Ethan, but y'all look like ya can do it. Go ahead."

I gave a nod, and trotted over to the ground, before placing the tips of the wings together, which completed the massive shovel, and I began trotting forward, which made it begin to push through the snow, which was quite easy given the metallic attachments to my bones, as well as the hardened skin. And I soon had finished a good five rows.

"Alright, Ethan! That should be enough now, we could get the rest done ourselves!"

I gave a nod and removed my wings, leaving the large stretch of dirt uncovered by the snow. I then trotted over to Applejack as the armor subtracted back into the metal back I added that morning. "That should be good, right?"

Applejack gave a nod. "Sure is, Sugarcube. Thanks fer the help, now it should be a bit easier."

I nodded and waved at her as I began trotting away. "See you later, Applejack."

She waved back. "Ah reckin' so, Ethan!"

...

I yawned as I looked around, before I heard Applejack nearby. "Rainbow Dash! Y'all on the weather team need to melt the rest of this snow here on the ground and the trees pronto"

Rainbow nodded. "Got it!"

She sped forward, before Fluttershy got in her way. "You can't. My poor little animals' homes will get flooded if the snow melts too fast."

Rainbow nodded. "Got it."

Applejack stopped her at that. "Ah'm tellin' you, Rainbow, you got to melt that snow now."

Fluttershy shook her head. "No! You simply must wait."

I trotted in before they could push forward. "Okay!"

I spoke before the other two could speak. "Hold on, she can't do both you two, so think of a way to compromise."

They looked between each other and began yelling 'Go' and 'Stop' which made me groan slightly while Mayor Mare spoke. "Oh, what in Equestria are all you arguing about? This sort of silliness is why we were late for Spring last year, and the year before that, and the year before that!"

I looked at her. "Did you say, late?"

Mayor Mare sighed. "I was hoping my amazingly inspirational speech would urge everypony to do better than last year, but now it looks like we're going to be later than ever! I mean, just look at this catastrophe! The ice scorers made the ice chunks too big to melt... except that one. The nest designer's horrendously behind... except for those five big ones. We need several hundred, and she's only made one. And don't get me started on all the clouds still in the sky, the icicles in the trees. This isn't good. Not at all!"

Applejack spoke at that. "And it's gonna be all-to-pieces disastrous if we can't get our seeds all planted."

Rainbow leaned away at that. "Chillax, Applejack! We're busting our chops as fast as we can."

"No, not fast." We looked at Fluttershy. "You have to wake animals slowly."

Big Mac then trotted over. "Uh, A.J.?"

Applejack hoofpalmed. "Caramel lost the grass seeds again, didn't he?"

Caramel whimpered as Big Mac answered. "Uh-Eeyup."

A pegasus then flew over. "Ditzy Doo accidentally went north to get the southern birds."

Rainbow sighed. "Oh, that featherbrain! Didn't she learn her lesson last year when she went west?"

Everypony began to argue with each other now, which made me growl slightly, and Mayor Mare spoke up. "Stop this at once! We don't have time to argue! It's almost sundown. Spring is going to be late again. Another year of scandal and shame! If only we could be more organized."

I rolled my eyes at them. "Alright, EVERYPONY SHUT IT!!!" They went silent and all looked at me. "Given that everypony gets by easier with magic in other towns and the such, the least I should do is organize everything before you all begin to panic!" I then looked at Rex. "Go get a clipboard and some paper."

Rex gave a mock salute and ran off to the library , while I had them begin doing well, all the while checking off each thing that was completed once Rex returned. I then checked off the nest, then the ice when I had them carve out blocks, then the seeds when I had them go rows at a time, and finally the bells when Fluttershy used the long rope that held bells over all the holes, causing all the critters to jump out, then finally checked off the final thing when Rainbow and the others got rid of the last of the clouds, using a kind of tornado trick that dragged all the snow off the ground and trees too.

Everything was now going smoothly as I sat there with Rex next to me, checking off anything else we missed, and ED-E bobbing around while playing music. But soon night fell among us, though I kept with the group and helped with planting seeds and carrying hay.

The next morning all of the birds from up south began to flood the sky, and settled in the new nests, and even the castle nests, and water was being dragged around as well, leaving Rex to check off another part of the list, before feeling Nurse Redheart kiss him on the cheek, earning a heavy blush from him.

All in all, everything went smoothly, allowing me to let out a soft sigh at seeing that Spring had finally arrived. Mayor Mare then trotted over to me. "I can't believe it! Spring is here on time!" I smirked slightly as Rainbow trotted up to my side. "And we have you to thank for it. If it weren't for your organizing skills, we would still be arguing."

Big Mac gave a nod. "Eeyup."

Everypony began laughing at his response, while I simply gave a shrug. "I'd thank my old home for that, since I had to organize quite a bit there. So I really learned it all from there."

Mayor Mare nodded with a smile. "And since you helped every team, we have an official vest for you." I gulped as the tan, green, and blue vest floated up to me. "We give you the title All-Team Organizer."

They sealed the vest around my black duster, making it look less then appealing, though it seemed to satisfy the others. "Wow... um... I don't know what to say." I chuckled nervously, not liking the vest one bit. Thanks, uh... everypony."

Mayor Mare looked at the rest. "And hereby I declare that winter is wrapped up on time!" Everypony cheered in response, while I grunted slightly. I then heard Applejack speak. "Rex is sure gonna be in for one Hog-sized surprise when that last piece of ice melts."

I went wide eyed while everypony was laughing, and looked at the lake to see Rex fast asleep on a block of ice, and floating in the middle of the lake, which made me wince slightly. Hopefully he won't be too mad.

"HOLY SHIT!!!"

*SPLASH*

He's going to kill me when he gets out.