//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: The Family of the Season // by CartoonNerd12 //------------------------------// Hearth's Warming Eve was fast approaching. It was now the day before the show, and the kids had managed to memorize all of their lines and steps. Now it was dress rehearsals and the kids acted out the entire play. Cotton watched on with pride as Screw Ball would occasionally wink to her when she used a movement that her cousin thought of, which was perfect for a scene she was in. They were now at the cave scene as Whirl said his lines. "Great. Now there's no way out. We're trapped!" Gemstone said, "You two deserve this horrible fate. You've done nothing but argue and fight with each other!" Whirl pointed, "You've been fighting too, Your Highness!" Screw Ball motioned, "Yeah, worse. I haven't been fighting nearly as much as you!" "How ridiculous! A unicorn never stoops to fighting!" "That's just 'cause you wimpy unicorns know you'd never win. Earth ponies are numbskulls!" "Pegasi are brutes!" "Unicorns are snobs!" Suddenly, in the audience, Snow Pea felt a tickle in her nose and started to begin sneezing, unaware of a bright blue glow coming from her horn. When she sneezed, the glow shot out a blast of ice and instantly, it hit Whirl Wind, Gemstone, and Screw Ball, causing them to be frozen. Everyone gasped at the sight. "Gemstone!" Rarity rushed on stage, followed by her husband and son. "Screwy!" both Fluttershy and Discord shouted out and went to their daughter. "Whirl!" Rainbow and Soarin' flew in to see their popsicle of a son. The frozen ponies tried calling out for help, but the ice around them made it pointless. Snow Pea was horrified that how her cousins got frozen because of her powers. While everyone was too busy with the ice-covered kids, she ran out of the room. "Don't worry, sweetie!" Rarity shouted. "We'll get you out of there!" "And I know just how to do it!" Discord proclaimed as he popped on a heat jumpsuit with a heat mask on and started using a blow-torch. "DISCORD!" the adults yelled in protest. "Absolutely not! That's far too dangerous!" Fluttershy firmly pointed. He got rid of his attire and the torch, "Humph. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time." "What I want to know is how exactly did this happen?" Twilight said. Sweetie Belle looked back, but saw that one of her daughters was missing, "Snow Pea? Snow Pea?! Has anyone seen Snow Pea?!" Sunset gasped, "She must have accidently cast a freezing spell on the kids and now she probably thinks it's her fault and has run away!" Twilight frowned, "We got to find her, and fast." Moments later, the family was searching high and low along with a few guards Shining Armor recruited. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow were the only ones who didn't join the search as they kept close to their children, finding ways to break them free from their icy prisons. Sunset was with Sweetie Belle and Button as Sweetie started to fret more. "What if we'll never find her?!" Button wrapped his hoof around his wife, "We will." They started heading outside, looking around the snow-covered gardens, when Sunset heard faint sniffling. "You two look over there. I'll look here." They nodded as they went on and Sunset was getting closer to the sniffling. She saw a tree and slowly went around it. To her luck, she found the filly she was looking for. "Oh, Snowy…" Snow Pea gasped and jumped back, "Stay away from me, Aunt Sunset! I told you I was dangerous! I was right!" "Just what happened that caused the freezing spell?" "I sneezed." "You sneezed?" "Mm-hmm. Now you know I'm right." "Snowy, that was just an accident." "Everything is an accident with me! I'm the princess of disaster!" "You're just beginning to control your powers… You'll see in time that training you is a good idea." "Tell that to Screw Ball, Whirl Wind, and Gemstone… After this, they'll never forgive me!" "Snowy, we really need you back in the theatre. Only you can lift the freezing spell." "What?" "Yes. Only you have the power to free your cousins from the ice." "But how?!" "Don't worry. Twilight and Grandma Tia will help…" Snow still felt unsure, but she followed her aunt back to the castle. Once Twilight and Celestia were summoned, Snow Pea hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry. I never wanted this to happen… Please believe me…" A tear fell down her cheek. Celestia spoke, "Of course we do, my darling Snow… You would never intentionally hurt your cousins." The ponies in the ice-blocks mumbled something as if agreeing with that statement. "How can she reverse the spell, Mom?" Sunset asked. Celestia instructed the filly, "She must stand in front of those frozen and think with all her might that the ice will melt." "Alright, kiddo. You ready?" Sunset asked Snowy. Snow gave a timid nod and looked at her cousins once before closing her eyes, thinking, Please… let the ice be gone and my cousins be free… She felt a strange sensation coming from her head. The adults watched as the ice slowly began to go away and the kids were able to move again. The ice then was all gone. Snow Pea opened her eyes to see her cousins smiling back at her. "You did it, Snowy!" Twilight exclaimed and everyone around them cheered. Snow Pea could hardly believe it! Her eyes grew wide with excitement, "I… I did… I did it! I really did it!" "See?" pointed Sunset. "This is what happens when you have training. You can control your powers." Snow Pea was still smiling just as her parents came into the room. She rushed to them, giving them a huge hug. Button and Sweetie exchanged surprised looks. It had been a while since Snowy last embraced them. Sunset winked at them. When everyone came back in the theatre, the cousins gathered around each other. "I'm really sorry I freezed you!" Snowy told the three. "It's okay. It's not your fault." said Screw Ball. Whirl and Gem nodded. "Still think of yourself as a monster?" LB asked her sister. "Only if you don't think I am…" "Never!" she squeezed her older sis. Snowy squeezed back. She felt so happy to embrace her family again. The cousins joined in and it was one big group hug. The adults gushed at the sight. Twilight then took center-stage and announced, "Alright, every pony. Tomorrow night is the big show. Despite minor bumps in the rehearsals, I'm proud to say that we're set for tomorrow!" Every pony cheered. "I think this is one of the best shows we've put on!" Rainbow yelled out, "You say that every year!" Twilight replied, "And it helped every single one of our shows go smoothly!" Applejack shrugged, "She's got a point." "Let's go get some dinner and then get plenty of rest. We got a busy day ahead of us." On that final note, they left the room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The theatre was filling up with ponies, and Cotton poked her head out from the curtain to see the large audience gathering to take their seats. She rushed backstage to see her cousins, parents, and aunts and uncles getting dressed. Screw Ball was wearing the Chancellor Puddinghead costume as she snickered at her father's costume, which consisted of a nightshirt and cap. He also wore a grey wig and reading glasses. Her mother was next to him, wearing a beautiful dark green gown. Gemstone was wearing her purple cape and crown as she watched her mother apply her father's stage make-up by making him as ghastly and ghostly as possible. They then placed the rubber chains around him. Fire Spark had his narrator outfit on and Starling had her Clover the Clever attire on. Apple Jewel had Smart Cookie's costume on, and Zoo-Zoo and Whirl Wind had their matching armor on. Cotton joined the pegasi, "We got a lot of ponies out there!" "We do…?" Zoo-Zoo gulped. "Don't worry! You're going to do great! And just think: once you finish the pageant tonight, you get to have presents the next morning!" "You mean present." "Huh?" Cotton furrowed. "Huh?" Whirl did the same thing. Zoo-Zoo explained, "You see, my parents run an animal shelter and we don't get a lot of money… So every Hearth's Warming, I get at least one present." Cotton and Whirl exchanged looks. Never had they heard something like that. But when one grew up in a castle and had so many family members around giving one gifts, one never had to. Twilight then came up with her checklist, which was held by her magic. "This is it, every pony! The big night! We got a lot of ponies waiting for us! So let's get out there and put on the best pageant and holiday showcase!" Everyone cheered.