//------------------------------// // Chapter three: Canterlot // Story: A Snowflake in the Blizzard // by lillytheomegawolf //------------------------------// A slightly fried young mare files along, enjoying the breeze rippling along her healing body. She fills her lungs with crisp winter air, enjoying the cooling chill that accompanies it. Looking down once more she checks her progress, spotting the solo road that leads toward her final destination. The icebound world below looks so peaceful and calm, it fills the young pegasus and she closes her eyes, relishing the moment. But soon, minutes of nothing but the flapping of tiny wings drives the young filly to search for something to keep herself entertained. She spots upcoming clouds, stark white against the cold blue sky. 'Okay, this pace is boring. Let’s test these frosty things out!' She starts with a loose loop, then begins ducking and diving between fluffy clouds, colliding clumsily with them, as her wings start to strain because of their first serious use since the storm. She allows her wild imagination to take over, continuing to push herself, showing off to the sky as if she were in a competition back home. Home. Rogue thoughts invade her consciousness and a grin fills her face. 'I can't wait to see the look on those two fillies’ faces when I get back and show them my cutie mark! This cutie mark is really awesome. I’ve got a cutie mark, I’ve got a cutie mark!' She enters into a corkscrew dive, plummeting toward the path below as glorious thoughts of victory run through her head. Her right wing buckles under the strain and she spins out of control. "Eeeeeeeeee!" The petrified cry of the frosty filly rings out as she fights for control over gravity. Wind tears at her folded wing, forcing it to remain pressed up against her body as she spins in a tight circle towards certain death below. A look of annoyance crosses her strained expression. She partially closes her other wing, focusing on her crumpled appendage, trying to gain full control. Hauling one final breath she exerts all her remaining strength, channeling it into her failed wing. The frosty appendage opens, shocking the wing back to life. She zig-zags out of control, clipping the tops of a few trees before finally coming to a shaky stop a short distance from the ground. Her wings give in and the young mare collapses in a heap upon the grass. She gazes at her surroundings, delight filling her as she spots nopony else in the vicinity. 'That tree looks like a great place for a nap. Time to rest these wings. I'll keep going after a short rest.' She plonks herself down in the shade of the tree and allows the serenity of the surrounds to fill her. The ultra cool snow releases the built up tension in her body and she smiles lightly. Expelling a sigh of relief she rests her head between her hooves and allows her eye's to flutter shut. "Mmmm…. What-was-that?" The pink pony springs to her hooves, dusting the intruding snow off her snout. Upon contact with the soft earth, her groggy mind fails to keep her balance and she topples against the tree. 'Where am I? Oh that's right…' Her sleep clouded thoughts disperse as she remembers settling down for a quick nap and then clearly falling asleep. It is at this point, the young mare notices how low the sun is in the sky. "Oh no you don't." She quietly reproaches Celestia's sun. "I'm coming, Canterlot." She quietly announces as she unsteadily takes off into the late afternoon sky. The very shy filly touches down heavily upon the outer road of Canterlot. She lets her tired wings sink to her sides in complete exhaustion. The young mare feels glad she hadn’t flown all the way from the Cloudsdale Colosseum. Long distance flight has left her feeling far more tired than she imagined possible from such a normally fun activity. She runs a hoof through her still frizzy mane and sighs, ‘I want you back, mane of awesomeness...’ The moment is broken by an approaching grey unicorn. His presence startles the young mare but she conceals her alarm, wearing an excited look upon her face. She does her best to ignore him, eyes to the front, mane frizzly and tummy full of butterflies. She paces past the stallion, allowing a passing glance to drift in his direction. 'Oh good, snooty guy's just walking by. For a moment there I thought I had to socialise.' She wanders into the city, sadly gazing around at the sights. Ponies everywhere, bustling about, going about their day wearing aura's of importance about them. Everypony well dressed and ignoring the under dressed newcomer as if she weren't there at all. The teenage mare starts to feel out of place. A small group look down their noses at her, aiding in her growing discontent. 'These ponies are weird. I sure hope its not too far to the Princess’ palace thingie. I gotta check her out.' She ducks her head and does her best to look invisible in the crowd. Her skittish eye's scan ponies as she moves along, hoping to herself that none decide she is worth conversing with. Her courage picks up as the rich ponies continue to pay her no heed and she enters into a gallop, after all, walking is boring. Despite the absence of her big mane, she enjoys the feel of hoof on pavement as she runs along drinking in the sights and sounds of the big city. She breathes deeply, relishing the moment. 'Pity there are so many ponies around. I could almost get used to this.' Her eyes close as she allows herself to fall into the feeling of the moment. 'Now there's nopony around.' This causes a smile to caress her young face and she increases the pace allowing the sound of her hooves on the road to fill her. Clop clop, clop clop. Smack! Head spinning with unwanted stars, Snowflake opens her eyes, finding herself sprawled out upon the ground looking up into the blue eyes of a surprised bright red earth pony. The high-class mare picks herself up off the stunned pink pegasus, dusting off her flowing crimson mane and matching attire. "I say, watch where you're going young filly. You're going to do yourself an injury at this rate." "I've already done that," her smart mouth speaks before her brain has time to react. Realising her position, the snowy pony shrinks back behind the remnants of her charred mane, blushing. "Hmph… commoner." The high society equine storms off in a huff. 'Okay. She has problems.' Snowflake sits herself up on her haunches watching the receding swish of her crash buddies tail as it disappears into the crowd. 'Celestia. Here I come.' The sun is sinking below the horizon as a lost filly wanders the streets of Equestria's capital city. She feels no closer to achieving her objective than she had hours ago. Despite reaching her goal of Canterlot, part two still eludes her. 'Oh wait, silly me. I have these!' She extends her wings feeling annoyance at her foolish self for missing the obvious. A few flaps of her feathery appendages sends the big silly to a comfortable altitude over the posh cityscape. She quickly spots the palace and pushes her still worn out wings into action. The beautiful structure glistens in the evening sun. Like an amazing dream it beckons to her and she answers its call with haste. She smiles to herself as the wind whips through her damaged mane, flicking it into her eyes. She passes over the guards below donating them a cheeky grin. 'Now, nopony will stop me.' The trespasser continues past the wall, easily gracing the inner boundaries with her presence. She grins to herself. Getting to meet the princess is now in easy hoofs reach. She swoops down into the rear courtyard and prepares to land with all the grace of- Thump, tumble, Crash! "Hey!" Snowflake finds herself pinned underneath a pair of stunning violet orbs. The other teenaged mare extracts herself from the younger Snowflake. She takes a dazed moment, regaining herself. The lavender unicorn is busy retrieving her books from where they lay scattered across the pathway with her magic. A baby purple dragon rushes to the unicorns side. "Twilight! Are you alright?" "I'm fine thanks, Spike." The cute unicorn replies to the lighter purple dragon "S-sorry," mutters Snowflake, backing away and attempting to blend in the the pathway. Remembering the intruders presence, the older pony turns to Snowflake, a searching look upon her face. "Who are you, and what are you doing inside palace grounds?" At the accusations, the frizzly pegasus tries to make herself even smaller again. "Um… I'm… J-just here to s-see the princess." The pink filly doesn't meet the older ponies gaze. "Okay. Well why didn't you just try the front door? I'm trying to study for an important exam here." "Sorry." Offering a final apology, Snowflake gallops clumsy off leaving the young unicorn behind in stunned silence. Twilight summons her study material out of her bag once more. "Um, Twilight? Shouldn't we try and stop her?" "Oh I'm sure the guards will stop her…" The studious filly falls into her own world becoming ensnared by her reading material once more. Her charge sighs to himself and reigns to following faithfully once more as she wanders along. "Hey. Stop there!" cries out one of the royal guard, blocking the path of the young intruder. The light pink plush ball soars over his head wearing an impudent look upon her face. She crashes to the ground, hooves skittering over the polished floor in desperate search for traction. The young mare finds her footing as the guards turn on her spotting burned snow-white tail vanishing around the corner. In a blind panic, the direction blind filly charges around. Her eyes are wide with both fear and admiration as she seeks to take in the marvellous sights while evading capture. At the sound of hooves gaining on her, the sacred youngster pushes herself to greater speeds, taking wing. Feathers brush against priceless ornaments as she flies berserkly round, hoping to find the royal Alicorn. She dives into a room that looks important and cannons face first into a white unicorn stallion. The impact throws the pair onto the well polished floor below. The stranger recovers first and Snowflake feels her body levitating. She freaks out, and begins kicking and squirming, attempting to free herself from the magical bonds. "Ah, Shining. It's good to see you've caught our intruder!" The voice of one of her pursuers rings out along the hallway as the guards slow to a stop, meeting their captain and his captive.