Chapter 2
Pre-reader/editor: MrJoshy
***
Fancy Pants, followed closely by Fleur de Lys and a group of twenty or so ponies slowly made his way through the snow covered streets of Canterlot, heading for the castle. He was prepared to face a great number of situations, but magic that was rendered useless against a heavy blizzard wasn't one of them. Seeking advice from the Princess seemed to be the most reasonable thing to do.
There were two guards blocking the entrance to the castle - two bulky pegasi, faces unreadable. When Fancy Pants approached they opened the door of the castle but refused to let Fleur and the others follow him inside, simply shaking their head “no.”
Well, that was to be expected.
Apart from big occasions - like the Grand Galloping Gala - the castle wasn't opened to anypony. You had to be a very important pony to be allowed inside. Fortunately, Fancy Pants was just that.
"We will wait for you here," Fleur de Lys said. "I'll try and calm them down," she added softly with a nod towards the agitated crowd of aristocrats behind them.
"All right dear. Thank you."
Fancy Pants entered the castle and the doors closed behind him, shutting down the voices of the others and letting him walk in silence. He made his way to the throne room that was also watched over by two guards who let him pass without saying a word. The Princess was standing next to one of the windows of the room, a heavily armored earth pony whispering something in her ear, to which her only answer was a nod.
"Princess," Fancy Pants said with a bow, obtaining the attention of Celestia who looked at him in her ever benevolent manner. "I imagine you are aware of the situation our city found itself in since this morning?"
"Yes, and I trust it is the reason of your visit? It has been a very long time since you last had to come to me for advice."
Fancy Pants bowed once more.
"That is true, Princess. I have to admit feeling rather...inconvenient, today. Have you ever heard of such ordeal? Snow that isn't reacting to our magic!"
He joined the Princess by the window and peered outside.
"I do not know what to tell them," he said as they watched the small dots that formed ponies on the streets below. "What should we do, Princess? I thought about looking for the chief of the team in charge of wrapping winter, but it will most probably not be of any help. If we can't use magic to remove the snow, then neither can any of the team. And there's still the question of from where does all this snow comes from?"
He looked sideways to the Princess who kept silent for a moment before responding quietly.
"I cannot provide you any answer. This is as much a mystery to me than it is to all of you."
"Then what should we do? The rest of Equestria is already in spring..."
"We will get rid of the snow, like everywhere else."
"But...how? We can't remove it with our magic."
Celestia chuckled lightly.
"There is another way, Fancy Pants."
He remained silent, thinking while she kept looking at him, her small smile never faltering. Then it dawned on him and he recoiled a bit.
"Princess, you can't mean..."
But her amused look told him that it was exactly what she was meaning.
"I'm sure you will all manage. I have faith in every single pony of this city to do what is best for Canterlot."
Fancy Pants forced a smile upon his lips. He wasn't sure he shared her faith.
*****
**
Ooh, what am I going to do? Photo Finish is going to kill me!
Hairspray had tried everything but she simply wasn't coming closer to getting out of her house. The front door was definitely not a possibility - it was entirely blocked by a mountain of snow. The windows of the kitchen and the living room were in no better state, threatening to spill snow from outside if she even tried opening them a bit.
Hairspray paced in the room, her mind in turmoil. Photo Finish was most likely at the studio, fuming about her tardiness, and there were few worse things in the world. An angry Photo Finish wasn't one you wanted to come near to, unless you had some masochistic tendencies.
She let out a big sigh, ears flattened against her head as the only thing that seems left to do was to resign herself for having a good chance to be screamed at by her employer - if not worse.
And what am I supposed to do, now? Did anypony even noticed my house was surrounded by snow?! They should have come already, why –
Scritch
...What was that?
Her ears perked up and she tried distinguishing the muffled noise.
Scritch
Scritch
There it was again. She rose and stopped by the door, in front of the wall of snow where the strange noise seemed to come from. She put her cheek against the snow blocking the path and listened very closely. Yes, it was coming from here. And not only that: it seemed to be coming closer…
What could it – AH!
She only had time to jump back before a portion of snow was suddenly expelled inside the house, leaving in its place a hole that was slowly growing larger as the head of a shovel made its way through. It took Hairspray a few seconds to realize what was happening.
Somepony’s coming for me!
Almost shaking out of excitement and relief, she watched as more and more snow fell inside her house as the shovel pushed again and again through the cold matter until a fair coated muzzle could be seen holding the handle of the shovel. A very familiar face soon followed and Hairspray couldn’t help but jump like a filly as Powder Rouge let go of the shovel she was holding in her mouth and finally made her way outside the tunnel she had dug. The hairdresser threw herself at her friend as soon as she had her hooves inside the house.
“Powder Rouge, I’m so glad to see you!”
“Obviously,” the make-up artist managed to say in a strangled tone as Hairspray’s forelegs held her in a tight grip.
Hairspray finally let go of her friend and took in her quite disheveled appearance: Powder Rouge’s coat was soaked and her mane covered by some patches of snow here and there. The small, red scarf around her neck had offered no real protection against the cold while she was digging her way through the snow. Hairspray ran in her bedroom and returned with a cover that she quickly wrapped around Powder Rouge whose shivering decreased after a few moments.
“What happened?” Hairspray finally asked, pointing at the partially holed wall of snow still blocking the path outside. “I woke up this morning and just found out I couldn’t get out! How can there be snow out there today?!”
“I have no idea. When I got out this morning the streets were covered in snow, everywhere… I came here to see how you were doing and saw that you’d have some trouble getting out. I took the shovel and ran back here. All the houses near the gardens are entirely covered under snow.”
Powder Rouge shivered again and clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering.
“Do you want some tea?" Hairspray asked. "You’re completely frozen…”
“I’ll be fine. Let’s just wait a few minutes before going outside. Snow and ice everywhere when we’re supposed to be in spring already…” Powder Rouge said with a sigh.
“How is that even possible? Something must’ve gone terribly wrong with Winter Wrap Up…”
“Indeed.”
Hairspray slowly made her way to the doorway, taking a peek inside the snow tunnel Powder Rouge had dug. It was quite narrow, with only enough room for a lean pony to fit in. Wanting to see for herself what was happening outside, she braced herself and started crawling inside the tunnel, her entire body shaking as the cold hit her. The tunnel was just a few meters long, going slightly upwards, and it only took her a couple of minutes to reach the opposite opening. She blinked a few times when the sunrays blinded her as she got out the tunnel, finally finding herself outside.
Hairspray blinked once more, this time out of bewilderment at what she was seeing. She almost couldn’t recognize the street she’d been living on for years. Snow everywhere, almost entirely covering her house and those of her closest neighbors. The branches of the trees in the Canterlot gardens threatened to break under its weight. Hairspray took a look left and right, saw the ponies shivering and trying to make their way through the impracticable streets and knew exactly what she had to do.
She crawled back inside the tunnel and was back inside her house in a minute, almost bumping her head against Powder Rouge who had been standing at the opposite opening.
“I have a suggestion to make,” Hairspray said as she brushed the snowflakes out of her pink mane.
“Please do tell.”
“I suggest we stay here for the day - or rather, we stay here until they found out what happened and until things are back to normal.”
“Good idea,” Powder Rouge said with a nod, sounding relieved. “I’m pretty sure I caught a cold already.”
Hairspray smiled sheepishly, feeling a bit ashamed. She really did owe one to Powder Rouge for coming to her help.
“I’m sorry you had to go through this. I don’t know what I’d do without you…”
“You wouldn’t survive very long, obviously.”
“…Let’s leave it at that. Are you still cold?”
“No,” the make-up artist answered as she slowly took off the cover Hairspray had put around her. “So…we stay here until everything gets better outside?”
“Do you have any other idea?”
Hairspray really hoped her friend wouldn’t change her mind. She’d seen enough to know exactly what she wanted to do: stay in her house and let the others decide what to do amidst this chaos. She let out a sigh of relief when her co-worker nodded her assent.
“I guess there’s nothing else we can really do,” Powder Rouge said.
“And Photo Finish will understand that we can in no way show up for work today.”
“I guess she can.”
They kept silent for a moment, trying to decide what they could do now that they were to stay hidden inside for Celestia knew how long. They could have a nice cup of tea or a hot chocolate, open one of their favorite magazine and comment on it like two gossipers. They could –
“Dere you are!”
They both jumped a few inches in the air as a loud, familiar voice was suddenly heard and they turned to the door, heart beating fast in their chest. Photo Finish’s head appeared through the opening of the tunnel.
“Hairspray! Powder Rouge! Move your lazy flanks out of dere! Now!”
And then she was gone, as swiftly as she had come. Hairspray and Powder Rouge looked at each other, stunned, until the make-up artist finally voiced what appeared to be inevitable.
“Well… Looks like we’ll be working today after all.”
Hairspray said nothing at first, still trying to get her mind around the situation. Powder Rouge sighed and pushed her forward, forcing her to start walking. As they entered the snow tunnel, Hairspray finally found her voice back.
“…She knows where I live?!”
******
Photo Finish lead the way in one of the main streets of the city, looking very much displeased. Well, actually, her face wore the same neutral expression as always, but Hairpsray had worked with her long enough to notice subtle details that betrayed her boss's inner state of mind. The photographer was perched on her usual pedestal, held up by two stallions who carried her around. It seemed a bit more of a delicate feat than usual, though; the stallions took careful steps to ensure they wouldn't slip on a patch of ice and, forced as they were to keep their gaze lowered, their walk was hesitant and wobbly, threatening to throw Photo Finish off and send her sprawled on the ground.
Maybe that's why she looks tensed, Hairspray thought.
Hairspray and Powder Rouge were following, a few steps behind. Hairspray was completely baffled by the state of the city and she asked her friend how she had made it outside and to her place.
"I couldn't get out through the door, so I went upstairs and jumped from the window,” Powder Rouge said. "There was enough snow outside to land without hurting myself."
"Tell me about it, I've never seen so much in my entire life."
They joined a large group of ponies near the castle's entry where several groups of ponies were reunited, talking to each other and complaining about their situation. All of them fell silent though when the doors of the castle slowly opened and Fancy Pants appeared.
***
*****
He had no idea how to tell them. Fancy Pants was fairly certain there was no way to make his annoucement without chaos erupting among the aristocrats. He looked at them, noticing that others had come during his time with the Princess. Donut Joe had joined the group, just like Hoity Toity who managed to look very displeased even with almost half his face hidden behing his usual glasses. He also spotted Photo Finish a bit on the left, standing on some sort of pedestal, carried by two stallions. Most of Canterlot's citizens were here, actually - except maybe those who where still probably stuck inside their houses. He barely kept himself from sighing audibly, feeling almost tired already; he knew those ponies, they had grown up being told they shall never have to make any effort to gain what they wanted and most of them despised hard labour.
They weren't ready for what he was about to say.
But it has to be said nonetheless.
Fleur de Lys approached, as if sensing his distress.
"Did you meet the Princess, dear?"
"Yes, and she was most... useful."
Van Vendington joined them, nearly bumping into the couple's personal space.
"What did the Princess say?"
"Well..."
Fancy Pants hesitated as the whole crowd's attention was on him.
"Please, dear," Fleur de Lys encouraged her husband who seemed stuck. "Tell us what she said."
She was supported by a chorus of approval coming from the aristocrats.
"Princess Celestia is as much at loss than we are," Fancy Pants finally said. "But she suggested that we all work together to find a solution and bring back spring."
"So...what should be done?" Jet Set asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We shall wrap winter up ourselves."
"...Ourselves?"
"Yes, ourselves."
At this point Jet Set wasn't the only pony who looked perplexed.
"But... Magic isn't working!" Swan Dive objected with despair.
Fancy Pants cringed, fearing his next words' impact.
"Indeed, our magic won't be of any help. That is why we are going to wrap winter..."
He braced himself.
"...earth pony way."
One of the most dreadful silence he ever witnessed followed his declaration. A few, very long seconds passed by painfully slowly until he could hear a small whimper - and then the distinct sound of somepony fainting in the assistance. Then everypony bursted in loud complaining, their voices quickly joining in an indisctinct blur.
"You cannot be serious!"
"You can't be actually considering the possibility that...that..."
"This is a disaster, an absolute disaster!"
"Never! I shall never work like a low earth pony!"
"Hey, watch your mouth, I'm an earth pony and –"
"Honey, let's go home and pack, we're leaving for Manehattan!"
Deciding whatever he'd say in the next ten minutes wouldn't make things any better, Fancy Pants chose to let them vent and stood slightly outside their circle, noticing that nopony was paying any attention to the mare who had fainted just a few moments ago and who still laid on the ground. Fleur joined him, a light frown on her fair face.
"Did the Princess really suggested we remove the snow ourselves?"
He nodded.
"But...but we have no idea how to...we've never..."
She stopped, not even managing to put words on their situation. Fancy Pants couldn't blame her; he wasn't exactly thrilled himself at the prospect of spending his what-should-have-been first day of spring removing snow from the streets, but he knew they had no choice.
Around them, the ponies kept complaining.
"Why, why did it have to happen like this?!" shouted a unicorn mare whose dress was already half soaked by the snow.
"I've heard the train is stuck somewhere between Ponyville and Canterlot, we can't even go away!"
"Maybe you should say something," Fleur suggested as the discontentment grew.
"Let them talk, they're simply getting rid of the stress induced by a very unusual situation. We can't blame them," Fancy Pants said as they kept watching the crowd vent.
"I demand an audience with the Princess!"
"Shut your muzzle, earth pony, why don't you start working right away?"
"We will never be able to do it!"
"You see my hoof? You see it? I'm going to smash it on your horn if you keep –"
Fancy Pants recoiled slightly as the venting got a bit too vicious for his taste.
"Erm...You're right, Fleur. Maybe I should."
He climbed the few stairs leading to the entry of the castle, finding himself slightly above the others.
"Your attention, please..."
Somewhere in the back of the crowd, Hoity Toity had found Photo Finish and both were quarrelling rather vehemently, the photographer bending from over her pedestal to spit venomous words to the grey stallion's face. From what he could hear, Fancy Pants was pretty sure their fight had nothing to do with the current situation.
He cleared his throat loudly but nopony paid any attention.
"Everypony, listen to me please..."
Still nothing.
"Everypony!" he exclaimed much louder this time, and actually managed to catch the attention of the aristocrats on the first row of the crowded place. "Better," he let out under his breath before starting again, speaking loud enough to keep eyes on him. "Please, my friends, be reasonable. I have faith in you and in your capacity to do what is best for our beautiful city. The Princess is watching us… Let us show her that her subjects know how to behave accordingly when they are facing adversity, be it in the shape of a malevolent snow."
It seemed his little inspirational speech had worked - to some extent. Most of the ponies were now listening, though their expressions were still somber. He was about to continue when they could hear some noise coming from inside the castle, behind the closed doors. There was a muffled scream ("But...but auntie, I don't want to!") and then some ruckus as somepony was obviously being dragged around while resisting quite fiercely. The doors of the castle suddenly opened and Princess Luna appeared in the doorway, followed by two pegasi guards who were pushing forward a very panicked Prince Blueblood. He was forcefully thrown outside and immediately tried getting by the guards to go back inside the castle, but the pegasi simply opened their wings and blocked the path.
"Citizens of Canterlot", Princess Luna started, ignoring her nephew's antics behind her. "You have seen the doom that has befallen on our city. Princess Celestia and I are currently investigating to discover the reasons of this tragic fate. Answers will come, but in the meanwhile we shall all try and rid Canterlot of the snow. We have faith in your dedication to help getting the city back as it should be."
"Princess," Fancy Pants started with a slight bow. "We were already preparing our course of action for the next few hours. We are quite motivated to make Canterlot go back to its original - and rightful - state."
He shot a warning look over his shoulder. Jet Set had seemed ready to protest - almost reflexively - but he shut his mouth as soon as Fancy Pants gazed in his direction.
"Very well," Princess Luna said. "We know we can count on you."
"Of course, Princess."
"We will leave you to it then. The Prince will stay to help as well. We will come back as soon as we have more information on what has happened."
Luna turned her back on the crowd only to have Blueblood almost plunging at her hooves.
"But auntie, why do I have to stay here?!"
"Because you are the Prince and must show support to your people," the Princess declared sternly.
"But...but..."
The ruler of the night turned and headed back inside the castle. Blueblood tried to follow her and almost made it past the guards but then his entire body was suddenly grasped in a dark blue glowing light as the Princess used magic to drag him back and sent him flying in the middle of the aristocrats, letting him land face first in the snow.
The doors closed and Fancy Pants decided to take advantage of the Princess's words to further motivate the others. Even their self-centered nature wouldn't allow them to dare defy one of their ruler's order.
"Well everypony, it seems very clear now. The Princesses are both expecting us to help our fellow citizens who are unable to get outside their houses. And this is precisely what we are going to do."
None dared protest this time, but all faces were somber and some heads hung low.
Right at this moment, the mare who had fainted a few minutes ago slowly rose on shaky legs and brought a hoof to her forehead, still looking quite dizzy.
"Ooh...I had the worst dream ever... There was still snow and we were asked to work to get it away..."
Nopony seemed to have the heart of telling her the truth. Swan Dive even laid a comforting hoof over her shoulder to show her she shared her pain.
Fancy Pants turned as he felt Fleur leaning lightly against him.
"Do you think we are up to the task?" she asked with a worried expression.
"My dear, I am absolutely certain we will make wonders and get Canterlot back to its original state in a very short time."
He tried to ignore the sounds coming from behind him - it seemed there was a bit of a scuffle between some earth ponies and unicorns.
"Now..." he went on. "May I suggest you go back to our place and change your boots? I'm not sure these will keep you warm enough."
"Always the gentlecolt," Fleur said with a chuckle.
"Why of course, dear."
He watched her go after a last nuzzle, and then turned his attention back to the large crowd. He furrowed his brow at the ponies who were back to violently complaining now that the aura of obedience following the Princess' appearance had been dissipating.
At least they were still there.
Now let us pray to Celestia that nothing else goes wrong.
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It updated! Finally! A flood of antics this way comes
2581859
Yep, finally!
Hope it won't take me so long to publish the next chapter... Nah, it's gonna be alright!
Finally, this tjhings does something, well shenanigans will ensue, and a lot of funny things
1729847
23 weeks later and I get another second chapter!
Feels like I won the lottery, man.
Why do I feel Windigoes are the reason this storm has hit? As much as they keep Hearthwarming Eve something intense and happy.. the Nobility squabble a lot..and some of the nobles there have shown something of contempt and minor hate.
Unicorn magic isn't working on it.
Pegasi can't seem to handle the clouds of this storm or if they do, they're having a hard time of it.
The evidence does give some effect that this is Windigo.
Pshaw, real life is allowed to get in the way. This fic is worth waiting for
I love Photo Finish suddenly appearing, that almost knocked me off my chair
2582423
Well, I sure hope it will be funny
I must admit it's my first real try with comedy-fics though, we'll see how it goes!
2582551
Hope it was worth the wait
2582554
Windigoes? Maybe!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter :)
2582652
Thanks a lot
Well, what did you expect, she's Photo Finish, she only could make such an entrance
I'm glad you liked it :)