A Ponyville Hearth's Warming

Fortunately, Fluttershy was able to avoid the crowds by the castle's main entrance by simply slipping out a window. Before looking for Rainbow, Fluttershy went to check on the Fire of Friendship Twilight had showed her. It still burned behind the giant 'Welcome Celestia!' banner draped over the castle. Inspecting it closely, Fluttershy realized it had grown even smaller than when she had last seen it. The fiery purple heart now only burned at a size roughly the same as herself.

Fluttershy gazed deeply into the fire, wondering how the fire could become so small, when everypony was pouring their heart and soul into making the holiday perfect. She felt the chilly wind that heralded Jack Frost's appearance blow across her back. Startled, Fluttershy turned around to see the spirit roaring (or rather squeaking) with laughter.

"You!" Fluttershy pointed a hoof accusingly.

"Oh this is just too much fun!" Frost giggled in his impish voice. He bowed with a flourish and grinned. "Jack Frost, lord of winter, bringer of ice and snow, king of the windigos at your service."

"Why are you doing this?" Fluttershy pleaded. "You're ruining a holiday everypony cares about!"

Jack pulled out a chocolate ice cream cone and began licking it. "Oh really??" he asked. "Even before I did anything it didn't seem like the Fire of Friendship was too big at all."

"But... but..." Fluttershy tried to think a reply but couldn't. For some reason this year, the holiday spirit was already weak.

"It was so much better in the old days. Everypony hating and distrusting each other! And the windigos frolicked around, bringing winter galore to every land!"

"You don't have to cause bad feelings just to feed yourselves! If the changelings can become creatures of love, then so can you."

That made Jack laugh even harder. "Aww wouldn't that be sweet. The cheerful windigos spreading love and friendship every winter. HAHAHAHAHAHA." He leaned in close to her, his eyes glowing. "We don't HAVE to little pony... we WANT to!"

"I- I'll stop you!" Fluttershy made a halfhearted grab at Jack but he moved with the speed of the wind. In an instant he was behind her, still laughing squeakily.

"You little ponies have gotten braver over the centuries haven't you?" Frost said in a sinister voice. He raised a hoof and Fluttershy felt a force drag her toward him. The spirit lightly pressed his hoof on her forehead. "What if I were to freeze you right now little one? What would you do?"

Fluttershy shivered as her legs suddenly began to turn to ice. She tried to scream but couldn't find her voice. Then as quickly as it appeared, the ice melted away into a puddle of water.

Frost raised his eyebrows and put a hoof to his chin. "Hmm that's troublesome. Looks like the Fire of Friendship still has a little spark left! But don't worry, I'll fix that soon." He shimmered and disappeared.

Her teeth chattering from the cold water, Fluttershy managed to get to her hooves. She had barely avoided becoming an ice statue... but how? 'The Fire of Friendship still has a little spark left.' That meant it wasn't over! There was still time to stop Frost and save the holiday! "He's too fast for me, but I bet he can't outrun Rainbow Dash!" she exclaimed hopefully.

With a renewed spirit, Fluttershy took off toward the fluffy white clouds that hung over Ponyville. Just like last year, most of pegasi were moving the clouds around and creating powdery snow. It was a delicate balance, there had to be enough snow to add to the ambiance and holiday atmosphere, but not so much that it became an inconvenience. Besides the amount of snow, the pegasi had to worry about texture, consistency and color. Nopony wanted slushy and muddy streets... especially when the Princess was arriving. Usually Fluttershy would volunteer to help with cloud positioning, but this year the mayor had only entrusted professional weatherponies with the job, as she wanted Ponyville's weather to be as perfect as can be.

When it came to weather, Rainbow Dash was definitely a natural. Fluttershy watched as Rainbow jumped from cloud to cloud, making snow flurries lightly rain from each one. Rainbow created weather with such grace and speed that she was able to manage her own patch of clouds. Despite her natural talent at weather making, Rainbow seemed especially frustrated. She kept rearranging the clouds, adjusting them this way and that shaking her head at each arrangement. Fluttershy batted aside a small cloud and flew over to join her friend.

"Hey Fluttershy! What's ugh! Up ugh!" With each word Rainbow bounced up and down on top a particularly large cloud. "How's ugh. Hearth's Warming?" She asked with effort. Before Fluttershy could answer, Rainbow groaned loudly. "No that doesn't look good either. I wish Rarity could fly, then she could do the arranging and all I'd have to do is create some awesome snow!"

"Rainbow listen, there's an emergency I need your help with." Fluttershy said, cutting to the chase. She didn't want to risk Rainbow running out on her too.

"An ugh. Emergency?" Rainbow asked, multi tasking between several clouds. "Like what? Twilight's counting on me to get this cloud arrangement just right... and it wouldn't be very nice if I just ditched it."

"But that's the thing, it's a real emergen-" she was cut off as Rainbow did a backflip onto another cloud, and accidentally sprayed snow in Fluttershy's face.

"Oops! Sorry Fluttershy!" Rainbow said with a sheepish grin.

Fluttershy wiped away the snow and tried again. "This is serious! There's a-" This time Fluttershy was interrupted by a howling wind.

"What was that?!" Rainbow yelled over the gale. Fluttershy tried to answer, but the gale only got bigger. She looked toward the direction it came from, and sure enough, Jack Frost was whistling loudly a few feet away. He grinned at Fluttershy and then pointed at Rainbow's clouds. One by one the clouds grew in size, unleashing torrents of snow on the ground below. "THAT'S WAY TOO MUCH!" Rainbow panicked. "The clouds've gone wild! Sorry Fluttershy but I gotta get the other weather ponies before this gets out of control!" She flew off toward the other pegasi as the wild clouds rampaged behind her.

"Did you see that?! Best. Entrance. Ever!" Jack chortled. He blew a small kiss toward Fluttershy, which turned into a massive wind. She barely managed to stay in the air as Jack's air current passed.

"You'll never get away with this!" Fluttershy said desperately.

"But I will. Even with all the speed in the world, you'd never see me coming!" Frost taunted. "Well seeya round! Got lots more Hearth's Warming to ruin!" He vanished in a flurry of snow.

"Oh he's right! If he keeps popping in and out like that, I'll never catch him because I never know where he's going to be. I need to be able to predict his next move..." Fluttershy racked her brain. "Who's good at predicting stuff?"