/NHNB/ Unwrapping The Winter

 

 

Rainbowshine landed on a cloud, with a an audible "puff". She reared and raised her front legs, to chase away a fluffy cloudlet, blocking the window she wanted to get access to. She felt warmth with her back. The Princess has been raising the Sun and at this height the incandescent rays been showering everything and everyone already, while the land below still lied in a shade of the early dawn.

"Dash! Dash! Get up!" Rainbowshine called, leaning into the now open window. The golden light pouring through lit up the collection of Wonderbolts posters on the wall of the room, with a few Daring Do ones in between. There was no answer.

"Dash! For Celestia's sake!" She kept insisting, sticking through the window into the room.

"Wha- What the buck?", Rainbow Dash jumped up on her cloud mattress. Groggily she turned her head, looking around. In the corner, Tank peeked out of his shell, alerted by the commotion.

Seeing Rainbowshine, Dash rubbed her eyes with her wingtip.

"Yeah... What's happened?",

"Sunshower Raindrops sprained her wing! Very badly. She can't fly today."

Dash froze, looking at the fellow weather team member, processing the information. After a moment, her eyes went wide.

"No bucking way!" She swiftly rolled out of the bed. The cloud mattress made a small 'puff'.

In one strike of her wings Dash leaped into the air. Rainbowshine quickly stepped away. Rainbow flew up, out of the window, and hovered near her.

"I cannot believe! Now we are one pegasus short!"

"Yup." Rainbowshine agreed.

"No way we will be able to distribute the snow in time! And no snow in time means-", Dash stopped herself, coughed and then continued: "You and others, fly to the factory. Try to get first in line for clouds. I'll fly... think of something."

With that, Dash darted down. Rainbowshine wanted to say something but Dash already been far away. With a shrug Rainbow shine set her course towards the greater Cloudsdale, which, in the morning light, looked like an enormous flying mound of gold.

 

***

 

"She surely found the best bucking time to get into something." Dash murmured, flying over the Ponyville outskirts. She knew all the landmarks to the T, and been only occasionally glancing down with a half-eye. Soon enough she spotted Fluttershy's cottage.

Rainbow landed on the doorstep with a loud 'thud'.

"Shy? Shy! Hello!" She shouted, hammering the door with her hoof. After a moment the door opened.

"Hey, Flut-" Dash began, but stammered, seeing that there was no one to speak to in the doorframe. She looked down and saw a raccoon, holding the door and looking at her warily.

"Mister Raccoon, who's that?", a usual quiet, mellow voice asked from the depths of the cottage, "Is that Rainbow Dash?"

"Yeah, Flutts, that's me!" Dash shouted.

"Oh. Let her in, Mister Raccoon."

The raccoon stepped aside and Dash trotted in. She was greeted with a small, but steady murmur of many non-equine voices. The cottage was full of critters. Mainly raccoons, hedgehogs, squirrels, bunnies and such. Some of them been busy sorting up mounds of dried fruits, others helped each other to fill small linen sacks with grain. Fluttershy stood in the center of all this, holding a pencil in her teeth. She's been writing something on small paper labels. Angel Bunny was taking the labels, stringing them on a piece of twine and tieing around blocks of salt, hoarded in a huge pillar, going up to the ceiling.

"Eh... Shy, hello!" Rainbow called. Fluttershy turned to her and spat the pencil out.

"Good morning, Dash. Aren't you supposed to do the snow seeding over the fields?"

"Yeah... About that..." Dash smiled sheepishly and made a motion with her ears, "About that..."

"Oh my, has something happened?"

"Well, Sunshower Raindrops sprained her wing and we are short on wingpower. So, I wanted to ask, can you step in for her?"

Fluttershy dropped her ears a bit, considering Dash's offer for a few moments.

"I- I'm sorry Dash. I can't." She answered in a quiet tone, "I have to prepare food packs for all the woodland critters around." Fluttershy extended her wing, pointing across the room. "And also salt licks. I need to organize them too."

Dash opened her mouth to say something, but Fluttershy shook her head.

"N-no. I'm very sorry."

Angel Bunny tugged on her tail, pointing at a group of gesticulating mice.

"Yes, of course," Fluttershy answered him and turned back to Rainbow, "I need to keep on, sorry. But you, you are the best weather team administrator! I believe in you!"

With that, she returned to her busy critters.

"OK, Shy. That's alright. Later."

 

Rainbow Dash sighed and walked out of the cottage. Once outdoors, she leaped into the air.

"Well, darn," She said to herself, taking course to Ponyville. "Still been worth a try. It's a bucking wonder, how hard she's convinced herself she is a worthless flier. Myself, I wouldn't-", at that her stomach traitorously grumbled.

"Oh, my Celestia. I totally forgot about breakfast!"

A few wingbeats later she added: "And I also forgot money. Great!"

Dash's face soured. Flying back to her cloud home would take time. Time better spend elsewhere. She has already been above the Ponyville. Suddenly, Dash sniffed the air and then took a deep whiff.

"However...", she said, quickly realigning herself and zoomed down, to the colorful roof of Sugarcube Corner below.

She landed near the garish confection shop, ignored the "Closed" tab on the door and went in. The whole shop area was barricaded with loads and loafs of baked splendors of different kinds. Muffins, tarts, cakes, cobblers, something that she didn't know the name of, rock candies, mounds of regular candies. All prepared for the Winter Unwrap festival in the evening. Dash staggered, looking for a way to the kitchen or at least to the counter. Meanwhile, Pinkie bounced out of the depth of the confectionary, carrying another batch of goods.

"Hey, Pinkie!" Dash waved her hoof at Pinkie Pie, trying to not kick anything over.

"Hi, Dashie!" Pinkie answered in kind, her hoof-wave being thrice as energetic. "You're late and you forgot your breakfast."

She hasn't been asking, she stated.

"Mhm." Dash looked around and gulped. "Say, Pinkie, can you spare a-"

Pinkie plugged her mouth with something sweet and oily. "Here, have a Neighpoli cake." She said, never stopping to unload the tray, somehow holding it with her mane.

Dash chewed the treat down. "Wow, that's really delicious!" And it wasn't only delicious: Rainbow immediately felt like she has eaten a three course meal, no less. "Filling too!"

"Thank Mrs. Cake, she knows a few tweaks for this recipe. You can say this is the Neighpoli cake of Cakes. Have this also." A cup of hot cocoa appeared from somewhere on the counter. Dash slowboated there, reared and leaned on the counter, grabbing the cup with her forehooves.

"A lot of work, eh?" She asked Pinkie conversationally, sipping the drink.

"Yep! Ponies and others need a good hearty meal to appreciate the cold season better!"

"Right." Dash took a couple more sips.

"Sorry I can't help with the clouds, though. I cannot fly. But I'm sure that with your absolutely faaaaaaaaantastic flying you'll make the snow in time to not have to-"

Dash almost spit the cocoa and coughed. Pinkie set the tray aside and gave her a firm slap on the back, right between the wings.

"Argh. Well, gotta go! Thanks Pinkie!"

"Not at all! See ya!"

 

Rainbow exited the shop, still bewildered. "How in Celestia's name does Ponk do that?!" She murmured. "Phew! That cake sure made me heavy. I'd better-" She looked up, at the position of the Sun. "Well, the others probably still stand in line for clouds. I totally can take a little stroll!" Dash took a few steps forward, but walking past the fence of the Sugarcube's storage area she noticed Strawberry Sunrise, unloading a cart full of strawberries.

Dash's ears stood up. She rubbed her chin with her wingtip. "I wonder..." She whispered and took a step towards the storage yard.

"Hey, Strawberry!" Rainbow called out.

The scarlet-yellow mare turned around. "Rainbow Dash?" Strawberry raised her eyebrows, "Hello. But hey, shouldn't you be delivering snow?"

Dash coughed. "I kinda working on it. By the way, wanna help us? Imagine how awesome it would be if Ponyville set a record for delivering snow in t- errr, I mean ahead of time?"

Strawberry's face adopted an indefinite expression. "Sorry, Dash. I have work to do."

"You would be commended as part of the weather team!" Dash opened her wings wide, probably to illustrate how big of a honor she offered.

"Thanks, I'm good. No offence." Strawberry answered in a completely even tone, continuing to unload the cart.

Rainbow fell silent for a moment, wagering her next move. After a bit she spoke again: "Well, truth be told, Sunshower Raindrops sprained her wing and we are a bit short on ponypower."

"Indeed? What a pity."

"Yeah. So, if you would join-"

"Dash, I think that a flyer as powerful and talented as you can work for several regular pegasi." Strawberry said, with emphasis on 'work'.

Dash opened her mouth, but quickly closed it back.

"Y-yeah, you're right! Totally!" She pawed the ground, to hide her disappointment mixed with embarrassment, "Well, I'd better be going!"

"Later, Dash."

Rainbow turned around and went her way. Strawberry Sunrise sighed.

 

***

 

Dash was going through the marketplace, mumbling under her nose.

"Bucking buck! Bucking cutie marks unrelated to the sky and groundbound pegasi! What's the point in being a pegasus at all, like that?! No ambitions whatsoever!"

The marketplace around her was bursting with activity. Market stands, changed from different hues of yellow, ochre, orange and red into white and blue -- from fall to winter themed decorations. Loads of late autumn goods been laying on display. The ponies been loading the whole carts with cabbage, cucumbers and eggplants, to make preserves at home. Everypony around were greeting and calling each other, drowning the square in a steady hum of cheerful chatter.

Scanning the crowd, Rainbow Dash noticed Scootaloo. The filly was standing near the caramel booth, alone, without the other two. She looked lonely and sulking. Dash's heart sunk a bit at that site and she felt an urge to go greet her.

"Hey, Squirt! What's up?" She bumped Scootaloo in the side with her nose. Scootaloo jumped, surprised.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash! Hi! Have you already delivered all the snow to the fields?!", she reared and quickly clapped her front hooves. "That's awesome!" She concluded, without waiting for any clarification from Rainbow.

Dash smiled sheepishly and rubbed back of her head with her wing. "Erm... Yeah. Almost. But, what are you up to? Where are the other fillies?"

Scootaloo sighed. "They're helping their folks with the festival stuff."

"You don't wanna join them?" Dash raised her eybrows.

"Eh, more like I don't wanna be a third wing. I'm useless at the sewing stuff and Apple Bloom's chores require a lot more hauling than I'm ready to do."

"You could go to Fluttershy's," Rainbow shrugged, "They doing... stuff there. Could be fun."

"Yep, maybe." Scootaloo rotated her ears, considering, "Oh, but anyway, why are you down here, Dash?"

Dash felt uneasy. "Oh, just a lunch break, y'know." She glanced at Scootaloo's small, underdeveloped wings and winced internally.

"And you'll return to the others?" Scootaloo pointed up with her nose. Rainbow looked in the sky as well. There, up high, she saw a huge snow cloud, being hauled to the outskirts. From below, the Ponyville Weather Team pegasi around it seemed like a scattering of multicolored stars in a massive cold nebulae. "Oh, they've got a good one."Dash whispered to herself. "Yep, we still have work to do." She said out loud, preparing to dart upwards.

"Dang, that's so cool!" Scotaloo exclaimed with dreamy expression, "Being able to make current this strong! Control a cloud that big!" She flared her tiny buzzers, subconsiuosly.

Meanwhile, skywards, pegasi broke formation for a short moment and the cloud released a bit of snow.

"Wha-?! You buc-... argh! You birds! What are they thinking! Well, later, Squirt! I knew they would ruin something or other without me!"

"Bye, Dash! Some day, when I'll grow up I'll help too! I'll get an awesome flying cutie mark and I'll be your wingmare!" A bit of snow fell onto her nose. "Some day..."

Dash, already leaping up, felt like if she suddenly had an anvil tied to her tail. She gritted her teeth and tried to concentrate on the flight. Yet, her eyes as if against her will kept gravitating towards the small pegasus standing on the ground, looking hopefully in the blue vastness above.

Rainbow stopped, hovering in place, alternating glances between the sky and Scootaloo. 'And those who can still choose not to!' Dash thought with a tinge of anger.

"Arrrrrrrgh, buck it!" She exclaimed finally and darted up. There, she caught a small stray cloud in the power current of her wings and chased it all the way down.

Scootaloo has been looking at her with puzzled expression.

Rainbow caught Scootaloo with her teeth, yanked up and plopped on the cloud. Rainbow fidgeted with the cloud a bit, making a part of it into a likeness of a safety belt and tied Scootaloo around the barrel with it.

"Saddle up, Scoots, we're going snowing!"

With that, she pushed cloud up, along with the hollering, excited filly.

 

***

 

"Rainbow Dash! About time you showed up." Spring Melody greeted. Then she saw Scootaloo and raised her eyebrows. Other pegasi exchanged glances too. Rainbowshine silently brought her forehoof to her mouth.

"Which cloud is it so far?" Dash asked.

"The first."

Dash winced. "OK, let's do this! Drag and squeeze!" She half closed her eyes, concentrating, synchronizing her wingbeat with others. The magic of the air around the flock, which flowed through their wings, became stronger with Dash joining in.

The snow cloud picked up the pace. The current caught up Scootaloo's cloudlet as well, dragging her along. Scootaloo gulped. Even if the little filly been afraid, she kept her face, not wanting to embarrass herself in front of her idol. But Rainbow wasn't going to abandon her honorary little sister.

"Scoots, do you feel it?" Dash asked the filly.

"Uh... Something? I-I'm not sure."

"Open your wings. Don't worry, the cloud holds you."

Scootaloo tentatively opened her small wings and immediately tried to flap. Her cloud reacted by slowing. The filly uttered a frustrated growl.

"No," Rainbow Dash objected, "not like that. Ignore the lift. Do not care about it. The cloud holds you, this is your lift. Just spread your wings, let the air flow through them. Feel the current, feel the power. Whatever you have felt closer to the earth can't compare at all."

Scootaloo stopped flapping and spread her tiny wings as wide as she could. Her cloud immediately went faster. Scootaloo looked around, fascinated.

"Thaaaaaat's my filly!" Rainbow endorsed her, "You feel the air magic around, it flows through your wings and you can lean on it. The size of wings helps somewhat, that's true, but it's not enough. Some pegasi..." Dash trailed off.

'Like Fluttershy.' She thought, but didn't say that out loud.

"...Focus on lift so much, they miss the power current flow and fall through it. You need to learn how to lean on it, like... like swimming! You swam, right, Scoots?"

"Yeah! In the pond!"

"Right. So, imagine you just lying on the water. Only, do not just lie. Command it!"

Even if anyone from the Weather Team around had anything to say about Young Flyer Course amidst the professional task being performed, they decided to not to.

Scootaloo kept her little flappers spread. The wind rustled her feathers. She's been feeling the air current, but along with it something else as well. Like Dash have said, she's been feeling something powerful, ethereal, something that tied her, the cloud, the pegasi around her together. She tried to imagine herself swimming through it. Tried to imagined a pond, perfectly still. But the wind, howling around, been shattering that illusion relentlessly. And Scootaloo thought of waves. She thought how a wave catches you up at first, then drags a bit and then you balance for a moment in the highest point before being dropped, moving faster and faster. The thought of sliding down the crest of the wave made her switch her thoughts and she thought about a slide. A slide from a hill. About how it's fun to zoom down the slope, especially if the wind blows into your back.

As soon as she imagined that, she immediately felt herself moving a little bit faster. Scootaloo gasped. She looked around herself with disbelief.

Rainbow Dash, flying in front of her, turned her head back and smirked.

"I felt that, Squirt! We're going steadily. Now, try to affect the big cloud a bit."

"How?"

"Feel the others around, push, when they are pushing!"

"The others around... They're like those waves! Aren't they?"

"Huh? The waves? Weeell..." Rainbow wasn't getting the metaphor immediately.

"You told about the swimming herself, Dash!"

Dash's expression became even more puzzled, but after a moment her face went 'Aha!'.

"Oh. I get it! Yep, like the waves. Be one of them!"

Now, Scootaloo herself felt like a wave. And the big cloud was like a raft, she, Bloom and Sweetie had once built. Scootaloo now been moving with the other waves, dragging and pushing the cloud, squeezing the snow in a steady stream.

"That's it! Hold it like that, Squirt!" Dash praised Scootaloo.

Underneath them, the naked, darkened trees, the fields, the roofs -- all was being painted white as the pegasi-driven cloud "raft" went further and further, seeding the designated grid with the snow. Earth ponies, looking like tiny dots of color from that far, were using huge rakes to make sure the snow covers the fields in an appropriate thickness.

At that time, the cloud they have been pushing became much smaller and whiter.

"I'll go get the next one!" Dash announced and glided to the side, "Are they parked in the usual spot?"

"Yes, at the third bay. We left Derpy to watch over them." Said Rainbowshine.

"Oh, b- Be right back! Scoots, stand in for me!" Dash winked at the filly and dived down to take some speed. Then she began to ascend at a dull angle, pushing herself with energetic flaps, flying away.

It took all the Scootaloo's strength to not foalishly squee with glee.

 

***

 

By the day the ponies, who weren't taking part in the more specific winter preparations, have been decorating Ponyville with the thematic paraphernalia. The Town Hall been dressed into the light blue fabric with frosty ornaments, Sugarcube Corner got white frosting over the roof, foals were making paper snowflakes and sticking them to window glass.

At the evening the whole village went to the festival grounds. Applejack and Pinkie, who were largely in charge of the culinary side of the festives did their best. Numerous tables and pavilions were waiting for guests, loaded with food and drinks.

There were whole cauldrons of hot cocoa, soups and stews, mountains of pies and other hearty baked goods. Surrounded by the barrels like it was a keep wall, Applejack was distributing warmed up cider, both mild and hard. In the opposite side of the square Berry Punch was selling glintwein. There also were low to the ground wooden platforms, where numerous woodland critters, also invited to celebrate the upcoming winter, were having a feast along with the ponies. Fluttershy have been taking care about them, with the help of her trusty raccoons. The animals were free to eat to their heart's content and in addition every single critter and every family received a food pack to ease the burden of the winter season.

The Ponyville Orchestra was playing cheerful songs. Ponies were dancing and singing around.

Rainbow Dash was sitting at the table, stuffing herself with pies. Three already empty mugs of cider and a half full glass of glintwein near her.

The weather team finished the snow seeding quite late. Rainbow and others hung a dedicated cloud over the town and then quickly went to their homes to change into more festive attire than their vests. Dash also had to haul Scootaloo back.

Applejack told Big Mac to substitute her at the cider stand and went to Rainbow.

"Hey, Dash!" She called, tapping the pegasus with her hoof.

"Urgh. Gulp." Answered Dash, "Yeah, what is it?"

"Ah must say that was some mighty "according to the timetable" seeding. The Princess have already lowered Her sun and you were seeding and seeding still."

"We had technical difficulties, AJ."

"Yeah, I sure saw how you did spend half a day strolling through Ponyville!" Applejack giggled.

"Sunshower Raindrops sprained her wing." Dash stated flatly.

"Ahm sorry, I hope she will be OK shortly." Applejack's tone wasn't as playful anymore. "Still, a bet is a bet."

"Yeah, of course." Dash fetched a stack of bits from her saddlebag and gave them to Applejack.

Applejack took the money and looked intently at Rainbow. "Is something happened, Dash?" She asked in a hushed tone.

"Nah, no more than I've already told. Why?" Rainbow Dash answered, looking away. Among the crowd of foals she noticed Cutie Mark Crusaders. Scootaloo was speaking a mile per second, accompanying her speech with eloquent gestures, surely related to flight. Bloom and Sweetie were listening with their mouths agape. Scootaloo shined like star with happiness and enthusiasm.

"Well, usually you are much more vocal after losing a bet." Applejack shrugged.

"I don't care." Dash smiled.