My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship (MLP remake with male OC added)

95. Winter is Coming

Just like every year, at the same time, the annual Running of Leaves Races was held in Ponyville to celebrate the jump from fall to winter. In order to make the last leave fall from the trees, many ponies took care of the race.

One of them was Star Twinkle, who took part in this race as well and was actually pretty close to win it. In the last year he actually managed to win the race but this time it looked a little bit closer. He was not in the lead but really close to the ones in front of him. Of course, winning the race was not the most important thing in all of this. The most important thing was to take care of all the leaves but if he decided to take part in this race, then he might as well get a good placement.

But in the end, it was not enough and he didn't win like last year. He managed to get seventh place though, which he thought was well enough.

"I did it!" Star Twinkle said happily but also heavily exhausted. He started to pant heavily after the race was finished.

Everypony else seemed to be happy that the race was over as well and looked back at the forest where the race took place. Star Twinkle did the same and was happy to see that all leaves were gone. Shortly after everypony left, Twilight was walking towards the stallion with a water bottle hovering above her head.

"Hey good job, Star Twinkle," Twilight said as she walked over to the stallion offering him a water bottle after this successful race.

"Thanks, Twilight," he replied before he wasted no time drinking a healthy amount of water.

"I was wondering something for a while now..." Twilight started while the stallion was still drinking. "Why is it that this race is so important to you? You looked really determined while racing. Is there a reason for that?" She asked.

Star Twinkle had to think about this question. He noticed too that the Running of the Leaves Race was causing him to get really motivated for some reason. And it wasn't like as if he was forced to participate or anything. Normally Star Twinkle would avoid anything that would cause him to sweat or workout but when it came to this race, he simply couldn't ignore it for some reason.

He could only give one answer. "I don't know..." he simply said while he shrugs his shoulders.

Twilight was not sure how to take this answer but then again, it wasn't too important to her either so she just accepted it. Her eyes wandered to the forest behind her. She began to smile after she saw how all the leaves were gone. "It looks like we are right in time to welcome winter," she said before she looked at something in the distance far in the sky. "And Cloudsdale is here as well which means that Ponyville is next up for winter,"

Star Twinkle was aware that Cloudsdale was responsible for every town to get their winter. For that, the whole town moved closer to Ponyville. They probably got most of their preparations done and were just waiting to bring winter to the little town.

"Are you excited for winter?" Twilight asked towards Star Twinkle.

"I sure am!" Twilight got as an answer. But it wasn't Star Twinkle who replied. It was Rainbow Dash who just appeared next to the stallion out of nowhere, much to his surprise. "The most exciting time of the year is right around the corner! Extreme sledding! Horse Hockey! So many things to do!" She said excitedly. "And the best thing is that I can do all those things for the very first time with the most awesome pet ever who is just as excited about all of this like I am! Right Tank!?" She asked before she turned towards her pet tortoise.

But Tank was not too excited it seemed like. The little guy was yawning loudly and could barely keep his eyes open as he was flying around with his little propeller device strapped on his shell.