Standing Frozen

I thought it was a normal winter blizzard. Like any pegasi-caused snow.

But, I was wrong. Dead wrong.

The blizzard had been going on for three weeks, non-stop. All of my friends were having problems because of it. It was all over Equestria. Snowflake after Snowflake, everything was practically covered in snow. And I hated it.

Melody was trapped in Las Pegasus because of a meeting she had, and she can’t get home, Vinyl was stuck in Canterlot because she was hanging with Sapphire Shores, and Octavia was stuck here in Ponyville, meaning that she couldn’t get to Manehattan to play cello for the Bridleway opening of The Wicked Pony of the West. As for me, I had nowhere to go, but I wanted to be home. And it was a good thing. Twilight needed me desperately.

Twilight had me helping the ponies in town to make sure things were alright. My usual first stop was Rainbow Dash and the weather ponies. I asked Rainbow if she got any more of an idea of who was responsible for the blizzard.
And as usual, she shook her head.

“Sorry, Lala, but we just don’t know how this could be happening,” she said, looking disappointed.

“Do you think it could be caused by a pegasus?” I asked, hoping to narrow down the culprit.

“Not one that doesn’t have a horn. I think a blizzard like this could only be caused by either an alicorn or a VERY powerful unicorn.” Rainbow seemed very serious for once.

“Thanks, Rainbow. I’ll let you get back to work.” I said, and I walked off. Rainbow continued giving the weather ponies orders in the distance. I walked over to Sweet Apple Acres, hoping to find more food to take to the town hall. I walk to the barn to find Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo using the plant-growth potion that Zecora gave us. The only thing was, it looked like the threesome wasn’t using the right potion, because whenever they would try to make a plant grow, there would be fur in the pot.

“Uh, girls, can I see the potion bottle for a second?” I asked. Scootaloo held out the vial, and I levitated it over to me. I saw what the label said: Zecora’s Fur-Growth Potion. “I think I see your problem. This grows fur, not plants.”

“See? I told you there wasn’t a fur plant!” Apple Bloom said. I could tell, by the look on her face, that she was aiming that comment to Scootaloo.

“How was I supposed to know?” Scootaloo said. “I’m not a plant expert!”

“Well, we know something that won’t be your cutie mark.” Sweetie Belle said.

“Apple Bloom, where’s your sister?” I asked, remembering why I was there in the first place.

“Over there, using the correct potion to grow plants,” Apple Bloom said, answering my question.

“Thanks,” I said. I levitated my extra bottle of plant-growth potion out of my bag. “Here. This is the right potion for sure.” Sweetie Belle levitated it from me.

“Thank you.” Sweetie Belle said. I walked over to Applejack, lending her a hoof with the baskets of plants that she was carrying.

“Thank ya kindly, Lala,” Applejack said, both of us taking baskets of food to Big Mac’s near-full cart of other food baskets. I figured that he was taking them to town hall, not me. I had seen him do it a couple of times before, when I was heading to Octavia’s to visit.

“It isn’t a problem, AJ. How’s the food situation?” I asked.

“I’m glad to say that we have enough for all of Ponyville and then some, despite three little fillies using the wrong potion!” Applejack said. She looked over at Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, with them using the fresh vial of plant potion I had just given them.

“I said I was sorry!” Apple Bloom said, looking frustrated.

“But anyway, did ya find anything from Rainbow that could get ya one step closer to findin’ whoever’s behind this?” Applejack asked.

“Rainbow’s come to the conclusion that it can only be caused by an alicorn or a very powerful unicorn, but I think this has signs of alicorn magic all over it,” I said.

“Well, I just hope this is over soon. I don’t know how much more Equestria can take,” she said with a concerned look in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, AJ. Twilight and I are doing everything we can to help,” I said, assuring Applejack and calming her down.

“Alright, Lala. I’m trusting you here,” Applejack said. “I’ll leave ya to do what you need here.” I then left, and worked my way to Fluttershy's cottage to see how the animals were holding up. As usual, they were frightened, but they were happy to see me. I had been coming every day for three weeks. I think they could get used to me.

"Flutters, how are they?" I asked. I had been keeping my songbird, Harmony, with her, so she would be safer.

"Oh, Lala, they're great! Harmony is just a little sweetheart." Fluttershy said. "And she's getting along so well with Owlowiscious! Oh, things are great! I mean, besides the giant snowstorm outside."

"That's great, that things are going well." I said. "I'll let Twilight know that Owlowiscious is doing great. We are getting closer to stopping this."

"Great, because the bear over there wants some land without snow on it," Fluttershy said, pointing to a bear.

"I'll see you later, Flutters." I said. I walked over to the place where Harmony was. I gave her a little hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, Harmony." I left the cottage, and went back to Twilight's castle.Twilight was going insane, because she hadn’t slept in days.

“Geez, Twilight! You alright?” I asked. The room was covered in equipment, papers, used quills, and a pile of ice cream tubs that Spike had been eating.

“I’m not! I still can’t find the cause of this winter, and I promised Ponyville that I would!” Twilight said looking frustrated as she checked her chalkboard of traits. She created it to piece together the clues of the storm. She had tried, but she couldn’t find who was causing it.

“Well, Rainbow has come to the conclusion that this is most likely caused by a very powerful unicorn or an alicorn.” I said.

A spark of realization ignited in Twilight’s eyes. She gasped. “Of course!” she began. “Why didn’t I think of her before?!”

“Think of who, Twilight?” I said.

“Someone that I need to go through the mirror to talk to.” Twilight said.

“Who is it?” I asked, but I was almost certain who she was talking about.

“Sunset Shimmer.”