Juniper woke up, stretching her wings and legs with a yawn. She rolled out of bed with a sigh, hoping silently that there wouldn't be any rude customers today. Just because the shop and its owner were well-respected in the community did not mean everypony was nice to them. So, after making breakfast and taking some time to admire the sunrise, she got to her hooves and trotted off towards her workplace.
As she got closer to the shop, though, she noticed worried glances in her direction and sheepish waves from the shopkeepers she knew. This was a bad sign, and any peace she felt was quickly replaced by the single thought of 'What is it this time?'
"Good morning, Juniper! How's my favorite apprentice this morning?" Arca bounded over happily, a few potions shaking and mixing in his magical grasp. "The front door of the shop is stuck shut. But don't worry! I'm fixing this problem as fast as I can!"
Juniper facehooved. "Boss, it's not just the door."
"Yeah, but if we can get the door unstuck, we can open up the shop and fix the rest later! All I need to do is find what I dropped in my lab and I can undo all this."
"You froze the shop solid, Boss!" Juniper threw her hooves up in protest. "Everything is covered in bucking ice!"
"Hey, I didn't freeze the shop! All I did was drop the temperature in the shop to negative 35 degrees marenheit. It moisture in the air flash-froze on own!" He turned and snorted. "Seriously, who would freeze their own shop? You'd have to be out of your bucking mind to do that."
"But you- you know what, Boss? This isn't worth arguing over. Instead, why don't you explain WHY you felt the need to drop the temperature that low? And moreover, I know you have enough magic to undo this, so why not just melt the ice?"
"Oh, that. So, I was bringing in some special supplies from the store that needed to be kept frozen, some ice element beads and frost leaves. But then I dropped them, and the ice beads rolled all over the store! If they melt, I'll need to get more, so instead of going back to the store I decided to just drop the temperature until I found them all." Arca rubbed his head with a hoof, an embarrassed expression on his face. "But when I ran to my house to get my emergency winter labcoat," he gestured to his fur-lined gear, "the whole shop froze solid and now the door is shut! So no we're stuck out here until I can get the damn door open."
Arca sat on his haunches and harumphed loudly, hoping that somepony would offer to help out. The townsponies paid the pair no mind, though, as events like this were both commonplace and highly likely to get sorted out by sundown without outside help. It also didn't help that Ice element beads were incredibly cheap, being just balls of ice with runes engraved on them for frost magic, so all in all Arca's reasoning for such drastic measures wasn't exactly sound... or sane.
"Well, I suppose we can't work until the building thaws, so I guess I'll try and unstick the door." Juniper flew over to the front door to investigate. "Geez, Boss! It's freezing over here! No wonder this ice is holding fast," she remarked, tugging at the door with a wing.
Arca trudged up to his apprentice. "Ugh, do I have to do everything myself?! Move, watch and learn!" Deciding that the best course of action was excessive force, he grabbed onto the metal door handle with his mouth, gripped the door with his magic, and pulled as hard as he could...
CRACK
...and promptly sent himself and the door flying backwards into the street, the brittle frozen door shattering into splinters on impact.
"Boss! Are you alright? Wait, of course you are. This shit barely even fazes him," Juniper mumbled to herself as she casually hovered over. "Well, great job opening the door, Boss, but it's too cold to go inside."
Arca got to his hooves, clearly displeased with the door handle now frozen to his lips. A few ponies nearby stifled chuckles. "I thoff of dat. Where did I- ah!" He levitated a vial of bright orange liquid into view. "Ere is a potion I made to keef you warm. Dwink."
Deciding drinking the cold-resist potion was better than joining the chortles, Juniper grasped the vial and downed it, wiping her mouth with a wing. "Oof, kinda spicy. But I feel warmer already. That was a strong potion, Boss. Thanks!" She paused a moment, sweat forming on her brow. "Uh... Boss? I think it's a tad TOO hot..."
Arca leaned in close. "Huh. Maybe using wava an dwacovian deff peffer as da main ingwedients wasn't my best idea..."
"Wait. Lava? Dracovian death peppers? Are you insaaaAAAAAA-" a massive burst of flame spewed forth from Juniper's mouth, not unlike a dragon's breath, instantly defrosting the handle from Arca's face while simultaneously burning her mentor. Not that that was an issue, as he got singed at least five times a week, but regardless Juniper began galloping away toward the nearest water source to try and stop the flames. Naturally, Arca pursued as fast as his legs could carry him, all the while calling out to his pupil.
"Juniper! Wait, wait turn around! We can use that to melt the ice and open for the day!"
"Juniper, the shop is THAT WAY! It's just a little fire! Slow down!"
"JUNIPER!"