All that Glitters...
...Falls like Snow
Rarity hummed, the stage was getting close to done. Yet her mind couldn't help but comparing it to the vision she had, and what sat before her was quite lacking in comparison. The sound of shuffling from behind snapped her out of her reverie and caused her to turn her head.
"You know, you could help out with this," she called out.
The light smirk resting on Sunset's face told her that she'd be getting no further help with her decorating.
"Nah," Sunset started while putting down the final crate containing the school's Hearth's Warming decorations. "I'm more liable to set the place on fire or ruin your vision than actually helping."
Rarity frowned, that was the obnoxious part about Sunset; she knew her well enough to know when she was right. The last few times she'd asked for her help with artistic projects had almost been as big of a disaster as when she'd asked Rainbow Dash to model for her new dress.
She sighed. "I suppose so."
Sunset smiled and walked up to her. "Don't worry, you got this. The Hearth's Warming party isn't until tomorrow evening; there's plenty of time left."
"It's not time I'm worried about dear," she glanced around the school gym. "It's if I can actually get this drab gym to be fabulous enough to match my vision!"
"I'm sure you'll do fine," a soft spoken voice rang out behind her. When had Fluttershy managed to sneak up on her? "I'm sure the Winter Fest will be just as wonderfully decorated as the parties Pinkie Pie have managed."
"Speaking of which," Sunset butted in. "Why isn't Pinkie Pie handling this?"
She thought back to when she had first had the idea. "Well, I wanted to get a chance of hosting a large party at some point," a small smile grazed her lips. "This is our last year at CHS, after all. I'm afraid that once we graduate I'll never really get the opportunity again."
"I think that sounds wonderful," Fluttershy chimed in.
Sunset shrugged "Well, take advantage of the time we have left and all that," she chuckled awkwardly.
That's right, Sunset still didn't have any good plans for after graduation, did she? Well, she wouldn't ruin the mood by bringing that up right before the holidays.
"Yes, well-"
She didn't get to finish her sentence before the doors to the gym slammed open. Wait, weren't they already open?
"Rarity, we got a problem!" Pinkie Pie all but yelled.
She suppressed a sigh as she turned to her excitable friend. "What's wrong Pinkie?"
"Limestone just called, they can't get the truck out due to the weather," Pinkie continued while anxiously pacing back and forth. "Which means that we can't get those gems you ordered here tonight!"
Rarity blinked a few times before letting out a loud groan. It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it?
It was snowing, a lot. Rarity's eyes twitched as she stared out the front door of CHS. Not only was it snowing a lot, it was also quite windy, one might even say that there was a snowstorm raging about outside.
"Ah, there you are Rarity," a voice called from behind.
Turning around revealed what she already suspected from the voice; the school's Vice Principal had snuck up on her. In fact, they seemed to be quite adept at doing that sort of thing.
"Miss Luna, how can I assist?"
The middle-age lady was clearly wearing a scowl on her face. "I was worried you'd already headed out to brave the weather, thankfully that's not the case. We are gathering any of the remaining students up at the cafeteria. So if you wouldn't mind?" Luna gestured with her hand in the general direction.
Gathering the students, but why? The only ones who'd still be around where those who had after school activities or clubs. She gave a nod and followed Luna towards what would hopefully be some answers.
Well at the cafeteria she plopped down at the table her other friends had already taken. Her friends had all offered to stay behind and help with the preparation work for the school arranged Hearth's Warming party: The Winter Fest. Glancing about the room revealed a few other stragglers that had remained. In total they were probably just shy of thirty.
Luna cleared her throat. "Now I understand all of you are eager to head home-" lots of calls of affirmation rang out in the room. "-but due to the weather that is raging outside, all public transportation have been cancelled."
You could hear the groans ringing out in the room. "Again? The weather isn't that bad!" someone on the other side of the room yelled.
"Yes, well," Luna continued. "Normally this wouldn't be a concern, but in case you haven't look outside within the last hour, the weather is getting quite bad. CHS, just like most schools, are responsible for your safety both on the way to and from school. With the weather being expected to get even worse this evening we can't in good conscious send you out to walk home in this storm."
"Ugh, figures," Rainbow Dash said while crossing her arms.
"For those of you who have parents that can pick you up or your own vehicle with snow tires, you may make arrangements to depart at your own leisure. For anyone else you're welcome to stay overnight. Principle Celestia is currently retrieving the emergency sleeping bags from storage. I'll myself, shortly, start preparing dinner for those who remain," Luna glanced over the room and meeting the eyes of the students. "That is all."
As if a switch had been turned, everyone started talking all at once.
"I'll see if they have any vegetarian options," Fluttershy said with a smile as she got up.
"Um, are you okay Rarity?"
She let out a sigh and stopped rubbing her forehead. "I'm fine Twilight."
"I'm sure my dad can drop you off at home if you need a ride, it wouldn't be that big of a divergence."
Rarity smiled and meet Twilight's gaze. "While I do appreciate the offer dear, I was already planning on staying late anyway; what with the preparations."
"But-"
"She's probably just worried about her decorations not arriving," Sunset helpfully chimed in as she walked up to them. The amber girl being decked out in full winter outfit and helmet that she'd retrieved from her locker.
"Something like that..." She admitted.
"Don't tell me you're driving home on your bike in this weather?!?" Twilight questioned.
"Eh, I've had worse," Sunset smirked and patted Twilight on the shoulder before pushing open the door and heading off towards the entrance.
Twilight just stared at Sunset's retreating form, her eye twitching.
"Sheesh, can you believe some people?" Pinkie Pie said.
"I'm almost afraid to ask," Rarity said while turning to face Pinkie, the girl usually operating on an entirely different level from everyone else.
"She's ditching the slumber party!"
"Of course," Rarity said putting her hand to her forehead. "More importantly," she turned towards Rainbow Dash who was idly twirling a pen with a bored expression on her face. "Rainbow, could you be a dear and fetch my order from the Pie family's quarry?"
"Pfft, no," Rainbow glanced towards her.
"It's really important," she pleaded.
Rainbow leaned forward and placed the pen on the table. "Dragging a crated with me while running fast? That isn't something that is easy to do even if it was sunny outside, and have you seen the weather?"
"Please," she attempted her best puppy dog eyes.
"I'm not dashing through the snow for you Rarity," Rainbow huffed.
Rarity groaned and face planted the table. She'd never get the decorations she needed and have time to set it up before tomorrow evening at this rate.
"Yeah, I mean, it would be much easier if you could just fly," Pinkie Pie said.
Rarity blinked a few times before turning her head to face Pinkie. "You're a genius."
"I know!" Pinkie Pie giggled.
"Rainbow, quick, let's head over to the music room and pony up, then you can just fly over and get the crate!" She stood up fist clenched and ready.
"Hate brake your bubble Rares," Applejack started. "But you do know that we don't keep that transformation for very long, especially if we aren't playing, right?"
"Er-"
"Yeah, we can't exactly bring the instruments with us either," Rainbow added.
She slowly slumped back down into her seat. "Okay, so maybe that's not the best of ideas," she sighed.
"Well, there is no reason to give up just yet, right?" Twilight offered. "I mean, you still got your own magic you could try."
Rarity hummed, her eyes narrowing as she thought over the possibility.
Rarity all but slammed the door to CHS closed as she entered again, a frustrated groan leaving her lips.
"I take it things didn't go so well?" Applejack asked. If she didn't know better, then she could swear there was a smug expression on her face.
"No," she said with icy venom while dusting off all the snow from her coat. "I tried everything from shields to improve skies and nothing seems to work, I just keep getting blown back by the wind."
"It does seem to be picking up," Rainbow Dash said while gesturing out the window to across the street. You could make out a figure trying in vain to shovel the increasing amounts of snow off of their roof.
All of them winced as they saw the person fall over the edge and into the mountain of snow below.
"Uh, should we call-" Rainbow started.
"You could always fly," Pinkie interrupted.
All eyes turned to face Pinkie. "We already ruled out that possibility darling."
Pinkie shrugged. "Oh well, I should probably head back to the kitchen before even more things get burnt," the pink girl turned around on the spot and rushed off.
Rarity sighed and slumped against the wall. "At this point I'm ready to-"
"No wait, she's got a point, that's brilliant!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I'm not going to like this, am I?" She whispered to Applejack.
Applejack just shook her head.
"I must say, I did have my doubts about this, but it seems liked it worked out in the end," Rarity said to Twilight while watching Limestone lift the second crate into the improv sleigh that she'd conjured with her geode.
"I know," Twilight pushed her glasses further up her nose. "Because it's a magical construct, it's much easier for me to manipulate with my levitation."
The two sipped on cups of hot cocoa that Maud had kindly provided.
"Yes, as long as you can manage to keep it level we-"
"And no mentioning of the fact that I crashed us to any of our friends, got it?" Twilight glared at her with a stern expression.
"Got it," she gulped.
"Hey!" Limestone yelled. "If you got enough energy to blabber then you got enough energy to help me load these crates."
Rarity and Twilight glanced at each other. "How about another cup of hot cocoa before we go?"
"Another cup sounds lovely," Rarity agreed.
"You know, I'm surprised we never tried this earlier," Rarity said while watching over the edge of the sleigh. Canterlot really was pretty from the sky, what with all the snow and holiday lights.
"I guess it never came up. Plus, Rainbow Dash usually prefers to do all the flying when we are dealing with some out of control magic."
The two of them were sitting hunched in the makeshift crystal sleigh as it soared across the snowing sky.
"Yes, I suppose," she turned and flashed Twilight a smile.
Twilight returned the smile. Slowly though, their expression morphed into one of panic. "Rarity?"
"Yes?"
"Are there stop lights for planes?"
She blinked a couple of times at the absurd question before turning her head towards the direction they were traveling. Some distance away in the snow storm was a glowing red light... one that was quickly approaching!
Both girls screamed as their collision course sent them crashing into another flying object. Rarity almost lost control of her magic sleigh as she tumbled over the edge and crashed onto something else.
"Rarity, are you okay?!"
She groaned as she clambered onto a standing position. "Yeah, I think so." She could hear Twilight let out a sigh in relief. It took her a moment to shake off her daze enough to realize that she was standing in what appeared to be a proper sleigh, one that was red with green detailing painted on.
One that was floating several hundred meters up in the air.
"Oh, isn't this a surprise?" A cheery voice called out. Turning around to face the front of the sleigh revealed... well, Rarity's first thought was a pony; she had visited Equestria once or twice, after all. Yet while the big eyes and general shape matched that notion, the rest of their build spoke of something else.
Twilight, who had been flying their own sleigh over to be perpendicular, let out a gasp. "Are you a reindeer?"
The white coated creature giggled. "Got it in one! I'm a bit surprised to see humans up here though, I didn't expect anyone else to be out flying today."
Rarity could hear Twilight squeal, and it wasn't as if she couldn't draw the connection herself. But surely Twilight wouldn't be excited about the notion that maybe Santa was real?
"I have so many question about your magic! How do you fly? Better yet, how do you keep the sleigh flying?!" A manic grin had grown on Twilight's face. "There are so many possibilities," she whispered.
"Twilight dear," Rarity said with a flat expression. "Let's not bother the nice reindeer more than we already have," she turned to face them. "Sorry that we crashed into you mister...?"
The reindeer giggled. "Gloria," she glanced to Twilight. "And to answer one of your questions, I pull it with my enchanted reins," Gloria lifted part of them with her front leg for effect.
"Oh," Rarity remarked. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's alright," Gloria flashed her a smile. "You're not the only one who makes that mistake," she lightly tapped her horns.
"How can you not know the female reindeers have horns?" Twilight said while climbing over into the proper sleigh.
"Wah, I'll have you know that not everyone have read every single book in the library Twilight," Rarity huffed.
"That's not-"
"Hey," Gloria interrupted. "I don't get to see humans very often, especially not ones that are magically touched and can see me. Where are you heading, maybe I can offer a lift?"
Rarity and Twilight glanced at each other. "Well, we are just heading back to CHS," catching herself she let out an ah. "That's the-"
"-Local high school, I know. Don't worry, I know my landmarks," Gloria grinned.
"We've got some important packages we need to deliver though," Twilight said.
"Oh I know all about those kind of things," Gloria's horns lit up with a red glow as she floated over their crates from their makeshift crystal sleigh into her own.
With a shrug the two girls let go of their magic.
"Was that the red light we saw?" Twilight asked.
"Yep! I need to use a bit of magic to see ahead in the snow," with a quick turn the reindeer took off, galloping on empty air with sparkles shooting from her hooves with every step.
The two of them sat down and got comfortable in the sleigh. It was quite large with a big storage container behind the seat.
"What are you doing out here anyway?" Rarity eventually asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"Practicing for the big night," Gloria yelled back over the wind. "It's only a week or so away now, after all!"
"So it's true then? The gift giving tales?" Rarity asked, she had to know now.
"Of course! Every reindeer has to help out and do their part to make sure everyone in need get their gifts for Hearth's Warming. It's an important job, so most of us are out in advance doing practice runs over our respective regions."
"But wait," Twilight interjected. "If there is a bunch of reindeer flying around, wouldn't people have seen you?"
Rarity thought she could make out a giggle over the wind.
"Only those touched with magic can see us, so I guess Canterlot will have an interesting Hearth's Warming this year."
Twilight's cheeks grew red in response, and Rarity could have sworn that the reindeer had turned around and winked at them. She didn't get time to think about it though before they lurched downwards at high speed.
"Wait, we're not at CHS yet!" Twilight yelled.
"We got a soul in need my dear passengers, in fact, I believe it's someone you both know quite well."
They came to a stop on top of the snow covered road. In the snow filled ditch rested a half buried motorbike with it's driver not far off.
"Sunset!" Twilight yelled.
"And so that's how we got a ride back to CHS from a reindeer," Rarity finished telling the others.
"Suuuure you did," Rainbow said, the tone of her voice making it clear she didn't believe them in the slightest.
Rarity smirked. "Twilight, why don't you show the others the selfie we took?"
Twilight returned her smirk and brought up her phone, on it was a picture of Twilight, Rarity, an barely conscious Sunset, and of course, Gloria.
Rainbow's mouth dropped. "No way!"
Applejack whistled. "Knew those stories were true, granny ain't a liar."
"Girls, I got some bad news," Pinkie said as she approached the table, taking a brief glance at Twilight's phone. "Oh hey, you met Gloria, hope you said hi from me, it's been a while."
"Does everyone except me know that there are magical reindeer in town?" Rainbow questioned.
Pinkie just shrugged. "What happened to Sunset?" She gestured over towards said girl who was cradling a mug of hot cocoa.
Leaning in Rarity could make out that she was whispering to herself.
"My past is not today, my past is not today, my past is not today-"
A frown spread on Rarity's face. "She had a run in with the snow, I'm afraid I don't know the details."
"What was the bad news?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, that?" Pinkie's smile turned strained in mere moments. "Dinner is ready, I hope you like burnt meatloaf with a side of burnt baked potatoes."
Everyone at the table grimaced at the idea.
"Yeah, I know, I tried to save the cooking, but not even I could hold back Vice Principle Luna."
With a light hum Fluttershy approached and sat down at the table with a bowl full of salad. "Oh, you're back Rarity, thank goodness, I was a bit worried what with the weather."
"Yes, well, we managed to retrieve the decoration supplies with a little help. But more importantly Fluttershy, where did you get that and is there any more?"
"Oh, this?" She gestured to her food. "Since no one else wanted vegetarian, Vice Principle Luna just let me prepare my own serving, wasn't that nice?"
"So... there isn't any more?" Twilight questioned in desperation.
"No...?" Fluttershy glanced at the others at the table who groaned in reply.
"Well," Rarity said as she got up. "I think I'll take my chances with the snack machine later. For now," a manic grin spread across her face. "It's time to decorate!"
Author's Note
Happy hearth's warming!
