This morning, I slept in. I did not get up at the crack of dawn. I did not make breakfast. I did not play smooth jazz, or orchestra, or music of any kind. I did not set a pleasant atmosphere, nor did I create ambiance. I did no such things, and instead opted to stay in bed until Rarity delivered a knock on my door.

"Griffin, are you coming for breakfast?"

The reason for my moping was because of what day it was. It was the day before Winter Wrap Up. Now, it's not like I have anything against the holiday, in fact, I've always been this way, around this time of year.

"Yeah, I'm coming."

Before I knew that it was Winter Wrap Up the day after, before I knew MLP, before becoming a Brony, this day was special to me. It was a very special, especially special day, with the speciality of being quite possibly my least, and most, favored day of the year. It was a day that would make me full of anger and misery, one that I would intentionally spend it alone, and use to vent those very feelings, leaving me calm the next day, which I would spend relaxing.

I ate breakfast quietly, a meager meal of an omelette and toast, prepared by Rarity. She didn't ask any questions. I had already told her that I wouldn't be taking part in the festivities tomorrow, and to not grill me about it, so she respectfully kept out of it, and my mood came at no surprise.

After eating, she went downstairs to work straight away. She apparently had a mass order of dresses, the theme being last year's 'King and Queen of the Prom' being Aoi and Rainbow Dash, and with Winter Wrap Up tomorrow, she was short on time.

I heard the door open from upstairs, and what sounded like the prismatic mare's voice. They chatted for a bit before Dash asked, "Are we alone?"

"I can leave if you want..." I called down the stairs, to which Rarity gave a bit of an annoyed reply, indeed asking me to leave. I didn't mind, after all, I had intended to spend the day blowing off steam, and I couldn't do that indoors without blowing off the roof.

I flew out the window, not bothering to change form to go down the stairs and use the door like a proper person, making sure to shut the glass pane after me to keep out the cold, then flew off to where I intended to spend my day. Someplace I could let it all out without worrying about who else might be nearby.

"Ghastly Gorge." Normally, a long, but comparatively shallow canyon, the river beneath was frozen into a slick of ice, and giant snow piles perched precariously on the edge of the ravine. Massive, meter wide icicles hung down from the outcrops on the cliff face. All in all it was eerily beautiful, like an empty castle, haunted by an ice maiden who would lure travelers with her siren song. I felt a slight chill from the cold wind blowing on me from up on my perch and shuddered slightly. I narrowed my eyes, grit my teeth, and jumped off the edge.

Using the momentum of the fall to my advantage, I leveled out right above the frozen river, I began the now familiar process of pooling air into little balls under my wings, compressing them as best I could.

"Condense Ventus... You always had to work... You weren't there....Mother." I dropped and skated along the river, my talons acting like neat little blades while I used the pads on my rear paws for propulsion, and pushed my way through the windy tunnel, using the great gusts to push the condensation in the air balls even further.

"Klepto Ignis... You were there, but you were always drunk. May as well not have been....Father." The heat was pulled from the spheres, aided by the cool wind, pushing the pressure even further. They began to become visible under my wings.

"Perfectum circus... Claustra...You threw me away when I didn't fit in. Friends. John, Allen, Dane, Mary, Alexis... Some friends you were." I continued skating, building the pressure until it reached it's breaking point, right before the field of snow covered cacti, each needle covered in a thick layer of ice.

"Reverti..." I continued pushing forwards as the air spheres became alight with flame, leaving small luminescent trails behind each of them as I slogged on, straining to keep the mini bombs under my wings under control. I slammed my wings together in front of me and combined the spheres into one large one, a liquid core beginning to form in it as all the cactus bits where tossed away and burned by the flaming wind ram in front of me, clearing a path through them as my velocity slowed to a crawl, forced to spend almost all of my strength keeping the mini nuke in front of me from going off.

"I DON'T NEED YOU ANYMORE!" I kicked the ground, spinning myself so I was facing back the way I came, and screamed to the heavens. "I HAVE NEW FRIENDS! A NEW LIFE! My past...." I narrowed my eyes at the glistening, shimmering orb in front of me. "I'LL BURN IT ALL! RAMEX!"

In that instant, the shot went off with a small sonic boom, (not nearly so large as the one over Canterlot mind you), shaking the icicles from their lofty heights and tearing through the cacti, turning them all to ash. I widened the release, so instead of a far reaching shot, it was a wide gust of burning wind. At the same time, the opposite force of the detonation sent me careening through the quarray eel nesting area, causing a few of them to groggily poke their heads out to find the cause of the commotion, having been awoken from hibernation a day early. Mid acceleration, I turned my body forwards again, spreading my wings out like sails to make the most of the thrust as a cone began forming around my head.

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I roared into the oncoming breeze as I rocketed through the gorge. The rock pile that had fallen when Rainbow Dash had done her pet race through here was still in place, though the fallen snow and ice had turned it into a nice little ramp, allowing a certain high speed griffin to go flying off it, up, and out of the canyon.

The rise in altitude, as well as the diminishing thrust from the burst lowered my velocity considerably, allowing me to come to a reasonable stop in mid air. I looked around to survey the area. Snow piles had fallen from the top of the cliffs, icicles crashed down onto the ground as the heat from the burning cacti rose and melted them. Rising air currents mixed with falling frost and made the smoke twist and swirl in tiny cyclones, dust devils and the like. I slowly lowered myself down, landing at the edge of a cliff. I cleared an area out, used magic to set a flame in the center, and let out a deep breath. as I began to sing.

"Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday dear Griffin, happy birthday to me."

I looked out over the burning gorge...

Just like candles on a snow frosted cake.

... and I smiled.

I sat in the warmth of my magic flame and relaxed, waiting for the blazing cacti to go out before dousing my own flame. The gorge has gone back to it's eerie beauty, thought it was a little less haunting than before, as much of the snow and ice had melted, bringing spring to that area early . By that point, it was well into the afternoon, so I decided to return to Carousel boutique. When I arrived, I grabbed hold of the outside of the building, shook the loose snow from my feathers, then climbed through the window like it was a hole in a birdhouse.

"You're back." Rarity remarked, stating the obvious. She looked at me quizzically when she saw the grin on my beak.

"Yes, I am, and you know what? I've changed my mind."

"About what?"

"If it's not too late, I'd like to take part in Winter Wrap Up, that is, if you'll have me."

She smiled and put a hoof on my shoulder.

"Of course we will."

Author's Notes:

Quarray Eels. That's what they're called. I actually had to look it up. That pun is on par with 'Fruit Bats' ,bats made of fruit. In case anyone didn't know, a quarry is a place where rocks are dug up.