Sheer Cold

by James Rednok

Chapter the Second: Barber Shop Blues

Twilight Sparkle trotted briskly along Ponyville's town square. Continuing along her path: she regretted her decision to not wear a scarf. Even though it was the first day of winter the difference in temperature from that morning and the day before was astounding. She reveled in the small patches of sunlight that crossed her path, as even the small bit of warmth that they provided was very welcome. She saw her destination in the distance and picked up her pace, anxious to claim some relief from the bitter cold. For some reason the cold and light snow seemed much more biting than usual. Icicles had begun to form on the various rooftops and rain gutters. Though hardly any snow fell at all and the thermometers read only one degree below freezing, it felt more like one hundred below. She snapped out of her thoughts to notice that she was only a few steps away from ramming into the door of Clean Shave's Barber shop. She skidded slightly on the lightly frosted grass; stopping just before the door. She sighed as her face relaxed out of relief for avoiding the collision. Her face was then contorted to one of smushed confusion and pain as the door slammed open, squashing her between it and the shop window beside it. The young unicorns Snips and Snails galloped out of the building at full pelt.

"TAG! You're it!" cries Snips as he just barely manages to poke Snails in the flank with his horn. Immediately he took off in the opposite direction with Snails in hot pursuit. Twilight let out an exasperated grunt as she peeled herself of the shop window. Simultaneously the owner, Clean Shave, burst through the door; re-pinning her to the front window.

"Ms. Sparkle! I'm so sorry for what my son has done!" he cried, offering a hoof to help her down, which she accepted. Regaining her balance, she raises a single eyebrow at him. "And ... I guess I've just done the exact same thing." he chuckled apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck. "Heh heh; uh, sorry ... Ms. Sparkle." he said quietly, lowering his head in shame.

"Don't worry about it." said Twilight comfortingly, "I know it was an accident."

"Thank you Ms. Sparkle, I appreciate that." he said, relieved. "I'll let you be on your way then."

"You can call me Twilight," she responded, "and I actually came to see you."

"Oh really?" asked the male unicorn. "Well in that case, come in; come in!" He eagerly held the door for her as she stepped inside.

"Thank you." she said, looking around once inside. It was a quaint little barber shop; and nothing like Rarity's salon. No shelves of assorted lotions and dyes. No colorful machinery, tools, or bottles. All the furnishings were carved from a very dark wood, with the exceptions of the barber stools which were stainless steel with black leather cushions. The wall was comprised of a very heavy-feeling deep green wallpaper, and the baseboards were of that same dark wood with the trims painted gold. Three mirrors and seats were positioned along the left side of the shop, one of which was occupied by an older colt with half his face obstructed by shaving cream. A few chairs were set in front of the large front window facing the rest of the shop. Two more stallions inhabited these chairs one with a lit cigar and the other with a puffing pipe. A dark wooden coffee table stood in front of them, littered with various magazines including, Twilight noticed with a slight blush, a few issues of Playcolt. The smoke added to the vibe of the whole space and, although Twilight let out a few small coughs at first, the overall effect was quite pleasant.

"So how can I help you Ms. Twilight?" Clean Shave asked politely, using his telekinesis to continue smoothly shaving the colt with all the cream on his face.

Twilight giggled. "Just Twilight is fine. Or Twilight Sparkle if you really must. But I was wondering if you could give a slight trim. My friend Rarity is sick, and she usually does it."

"Mmm, that's my wife's department, I only serve stallions you see. You can find her in the basement with her sister." Clean Shave said, gesturing to a door in the back of the room.

"Thank you Mr. Shave." The unicorn nodded at the two waiting stallions and they returned the gesture by politely raising their hats. She then tentatively continued to the door, eyeing it suspiciously.

"Don't worry Ms. Sparkle," said the barber with a smile, forgetting not to refer to Twilight so formally, "I hardly think that door will crush you as well."

Twilight smiled and proceeded to the door, where it promptly flew open and mashed Twilight against the wall. Ditzy Doo the delivery mare had thrown open the door in her rush to leave, clearly distressed and spilling mail out of her bag.

"My goodness! Twilight!" cried a panicked Clean Shave, dropping the straight razor he was magically wielding and rushing to help the poor lavender unicorn down from her mangled place on the wall.

"Ugh ... did you all plan this?" she groaned as she fell on top of the barber pony.

"What!? No, no, of course not. I'm so sorry Twilight! Let my wife know that whatever it is you need is on the house."

"Oh Mr. Shave, I couldn't possibly..."

"No no, I insist; I'll feel bad if you don't."

"Well in that case, thank you for your generosity Mr. Shave!" said Twilight, just a bit light-headed from the recent impact. She walked down the stairs and found Clean Shave's pegasus wife, Snazy Doo, sweeping up a broken vase with her wing. The mane-dresser noticed her new company and looked up.

"Oh! Hello dearie! You'rrrreeee Twilight. Aren't you?" asked the pegasus, struggling for a moment to remember her guest's name. She finished sweeping up the shards of glass and ceramic vases as well as the water that had filled them.

"Yes I am Mrs. Shave!" said the unicorn brightly, then gesturing to the mess she asked, "Is there anything I can do to help out?"

"What's that? Oh no, it's quite alright dearie. My sister's just a little clumsy is all. She always gets really upset when she knocks something over or breaks something." sighed the stylist.

"I could tell." said Twilight sheepishly, rubbing her still aching nose where it was hit three times.

"MMM ... Now, what is it that I can do for you?" she asked, suddenly adopting a more business-like tone.

"Just a little trim," replied the unicorn, as she sat in a salon chair; indicating what she'd like with her hoof.

"Hmm..." mused Snazy-Doo, tapping a hoof to her chin. "You know, I could definitely do something with this." she mused; running a hoof through Twilight's mane. "How'd you like me to give you a signature Snazy-Doo snazy new do!?" The amber-colored pegasus inquired excitedly.

"Oh, thank you kindly, but I'm quite content with my current ... um ... do." smiled Twilight.

"Oh nonsense! Everyone needs a new look every now and again! I'll tell you what: let me do my thing, and if you don't like it: I'll give you a FULL refund!" said Snazy-Doo, gesturing her hoof into the air for emphasis.

"That won't be necessary Honey-Bunches." said Clean Shave who suddenly appeared as he trotted down the staircase. "She'll be getting whatever you give her for free."

"Why's that?" asked his wife curiously.

"Because our son and you sister both did their best to turn our friend Twilight here into the proverbial pancake by way of our doors." responded her husband, levitating a spare bottle of aftershave from the closet, then making his way back up the stairs. "So I gave her a free visit."

"Oh my! You're not hurt are you dear?" asked the pegasus, genuinely concerned for her customer's well-being.

"Quite alright Mrs. Shave, thank you." answered Twilight with a smile.

"Well let's get started then!" said the pegasus excitedly. "I'll show you that you don't have to be a unicorn to make magic!" Her smile evaporated as she suddenly took on a very business-like and calculating face, grasping Twilight's face with a hoof to each temple; turning it this way and that, trying to see the unicorn's mane from every possible angle. Twilight was reminded heavily of Rarity trying to think up a new dress idea. An epiphany seemed to hit the amber hairdresser as her face lit up. She began to hold her hooves to her face, looking through the small rectangle they made to simulate peeking through a camera. "Alright! Let's get to it!" She approached Twilight, raising her wings, but paused just before starting. "Have you ever had your mane cut by a pegasus before?" she inquired.

"Well, no.." answered Twilight truthfully, "This will be my first time experi..." her sentence was cut off as a yellow blur flashed in front of her eyes. She heard what sounded like the *SHING* of a sword and saw a small bit of her mane drift slowly down in front of her nose.

"It's something; huh?" the pegasus asked with an all-too-understanding smile. "Oh dear, are you alright?" Twilight's eyes were open wide, her mouth agape in shock. She looked back at Snazy Doo, closed her mouth and gulped deeply, then nodded slowly. "Don't worry," smiled the pegasus, "you'll get used to it; and you may even like it." She raised her wings again and continued.

'I don't think I'll ever get used to this...' thought Twilight as more of her mane began to fall around her. But as the treatment continued, the unicorn found herself becoming more and more relaxed. Eventually, the two began chatting animatedly. Before either knew it: the two were three hours later in the day, too lost in the conversation to notice as the time whittled itself away.

"Ponies always called her 'Derpy' in flight school." Snazy-Doo went on, the topic of the conversation having fallen again on her sister. "The moniker never really bothered her; for some reason. She was actually quite fond of it to tell the truth; insisting that all her friends call her by it. In fact she's been thinking of legally changing her name to it. Don't ask me why though. If you ask me, I think being a postal worker is driving her a bit, well, postal. She tries her best though, and we love her for it..." the pegasus's voice trailed off as mor voices and footsteps were heard descending the staircase.

FlutterShy followed by two other mares: Bon-Bon and Junebug were descending the staircase. As Twilight Sparkle turned her head to watch the newcomers she noticed, with a sudden stone to her stomach, that the cream-colored pegasus that was one of her best friends was crying. "FlutterShy!" she exclaimed, leaping up from the chair. "What's wrong!? Did something happen!? Is somepony hurt!? Or one of your animals!?" FlutterShy's face was screwed up, trying to supress her sobs.

"She was just telling us about something she saw last night." explained JuneBug, guiding the weeping mare to a chair and sitting her down. "She said ... Well to be honest I don't really know what she said," she lowered her voice a bit, "she was a bit hard to completely understand, you know, being so upset."

Twilight looked down at her distraught friend. She lowered herself so that she was eye-level with her pegasus friend. She rested a hoof on her friend's knee and waited until her sobs subsided to small whimpers. "FlutterShy? FlutterShy..." said Twilight in little more than a whisper. The object of her attention quieted down enough to open her teary bloodshot eyes and look up at the unicorn - Twilight always did have a special way of calming her. "FlutterShy..." the unicorn cooed, "What's the matter? What happened?"

The pegasus gulped down a few large pockets of air and looked around at her audience, she didn't really want anypony but her best friend to hear what she was about to say, but knew it would be far too rude and ... *gulp* ... confrontational to ask them to leave. "Well..." she finally managed to emit, her voice still wavering a bit. "It was exactly midnight..."

Interested yet? I do so hope so...

Comments

[Splatter8]

Nice buildup to the main plot, can't wait for the next chapter.

[Gypsy]

"interested yet?"

yeah

[Night06]

D:< i hate cliffhangers! But im tracking anyway

[ScootzTheRipper]

I meant to hit track, but i accidently hit 0 stars... please dont kill me

i love cliffhangers! I am intrigued by this story [in a fancypants voice] MOAR!!! +the stare