In a flash of light, Santa Christ was now in the center of Ponyville. Snow was falling from the night sky, and an absence of street lamps meant that only the white of the snowflakes stood out in the darkness. The citizens of the town all seemed blissfully unaware of the enemy that was threatening the holiday. All of them were enjoying the festivities in a way that only pure Christmas spirit would allow. Each pony was bundled up tightly to keep themselves warm, with hats and boots. Even the most exposed pony in the crowd was still wearing a yellow scarf.
Of course, all of this changed when they noticed the human in their mist. Once they were aware of this fact, they ran in terror, hiding in their homes. Except for one purple unicorn and her little dragon, who was approaching Santa Christ. “You must be Santa Christ. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike. My brother sent a note that you would be coming our way. Come, let’s go back to the library. My friends are already there, and we’re ready to counter strike against Sombra.”
The two of them started walking, and Santa Christ noticed how attentive Twilight was. “You seem very organized. A very good trait to have, especially when you need to keep tabs on everyone in the world.”
Spike stood up on Twilight’s back. “You have no idea. It’s good to be organized, but she borders on obsessive. No wait, ‘borders’ is the wrong word. ‘Off the deep end’ is more fitting. And she makes me do all the writing for her.”
“Spike, your writing is so much better than mine. And without being my personal scribe, what other number one assistant duties would you have? You’d just be my mail department.”
Spike crossed his arms. “Well, at least I’d be able to get a job with Derpy. I could get some delicious muffins out of that deal.”
While the two of them were bickering, the library came into sight. Twilight used her magic to open the door, and the three of them were out of the snowfall. Santa Christ noticed the five other ponies sitting in the main room of the library. Twilight walked in front of him, and introduced them. “Girls, this is Santa Christ. He’s the one my brother sent to help us stop Sombra. Santa Christ, these are my friends. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. Together, we are the Elements of Harmony, Equestria’s heroes.”
All the ponies came up to introduce themselves individually, except for Fluttershy, who was still sitting in the same spot, stunned. Once formalities were out of the way, Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, did you come up with any attack plans while I was out?”
Applejack answered instead. “No, she didn’t. She spent the whole time complaining about how complicated you were making this. She just kept suggesting that we just shoot him.”
Rainbow threw her hooves up in the air. “Well, it’s a good idea! Think about how much easier our previous fights would be if we just took that approach. Discord? Boom. Changelings? Boom. Plus, Sombra is a well established wimp.”
Twilight seemed to take offense to that. “You think the king that terrorized the Crystal Empire is a wimp? Do you remember how much trouble he caused for us? And if Shining Armor couldn’t beat him, then what does that make him?”
“Yeah yeah, he scared some ponies. But all he did was stand there and hiss at us. Maybe I’m alone on this, but I don’t find hissing scary. And all we did to beat him was use the power of love. Seriously, what kind of lame power is ‘heart’, anyway?”
When the other ponies nodded in agreement, Twilight just backed down from the argument. “Alright, so maybe he didn’t cause as much trouble as Discord did, but you forgot something important. He has a helper this time, one we don’t know anything about. It could easily be a quick fight if we prepare wrong. The only thing we know is that they’ve reportedly been hiding in the mountain outside of town.”
Spike stood up and held a hand in the air. “Dragon Mountain!”
Twilight turned to him. “No, for the last time Spike, we’re not calling it Dragon Mountain!”
Spike crossed his arms again. “Come on, it’s where that dragon that almost covered us in smoke was! It’s where I went on my rampage! The only relevance it’s had on any of our lives was when it had a dragon on it!”
“Well, we’re not the Mountain Naming Committee, it’s not our job to assign nomenclature to the mountains.”
Pinkie Pie jumped into the conversation. As in, jumped halfway across the room to be in the conversation. “Is there an actual committee for naming mountains? That could be fun! I’d give them all funny names, like ‘Gumdrop Mountain’!”
Twilight let out an exasperated sigh. “Pinkie, I was making a joke.”
Pinkie’s hyper excitement died down. “Oh. Well, it wasn’t a funny joke.” She walked back to her previous spot.
Twilight was quiet for a few seconds, waiting to see if anypony else would interrupt. When she had their attention, she continued. “So, as I was saying, they’re in the mountain. We need to go up there and find them. We don’t have the Crystal Heart, so we’ll have to see if the Elements of Harmony will do the trick. Any objections?”
All the ponies shook their heads. Applejack then remembered that Santa Christ was there. “You alright, sugarcube? You haven’t said a word.”
“Nothing to worry about, Applejack. I was expecting some plan about spreading cheer to remind the ponies what the holiday is truly about. It’s been the subject of so many Christmas movies that I jumped to a conclusion.”
Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out. “Ugh! That sounds boring! But an actual physical fight, doesn’t that sound more fun?”
Santa Christ was still happy about the plan. “But of course! There’s always enjoyment in just taking the direct approach. I can guess that’s what you always like to do, Rainbow Dash.”
“Well, obviously. Thinking things out is for eggheads. No offense, Twilight.” Twilight looked angry, indicating that she did take offense. “So I say we get out there, and just finish this now! We’re on a time limit, remember?”
Twilight sighed again. “Well, yes. We need to save Hearth’s Warming Day before midnight, or else it will be too late. And considering it will probably take around two hours to get up the mountain, that leaves an hour to foil their schemes. So we probably should get moving. Are we all ready?”
Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash all indicated their approval by putting their front legs in the air and cheering, while Fluttershy just squeaked out a yes. Santa Christ opened the door. “So let’s get going, this holiday must be saved!”
All eight of them began to walk out, before Twilight stopped Spike. “Spike, you need to stay here. Watch over the house.” Spike, who had learned not to argue with the most talented unicorn in Equestria, accepted his job reluctantly. Once he was firmly back inside, the group of seven made their way to the mountain.
Up on the mountaintop, King Sombra was looking down on Ponyville. “What a pathetic group. Taking out this holiday will show them who’s in charge, and how worthless their ideals are.” He turned to the human that was standing next to him. “I am very glad you see correctly, Nerd. Your immense knowledge and pure rage will be a valuable asset.”
He held up his right hand, covered by a glove. “Alright, first off, I’m not ‘The Nerd’. I’m the (bleep) Nerd.” He stopped when he realized he had been censored. “(Censored)…hole? (Inappropriate). Why can’t I swear?”
Sombra only scoffed. “Such language. It has no acceptance in this world, and laws of nature prevent you from saying these words.”
The Nerd got angry. “(Nope). Even if I can’t swear, I can still knock those ponies down, and that should be enough. They’re just so (naughty) happy all the time, it (can’t be written) me off!”
Sombra laughed. “You truly are the perfect man for the job, Nerd. We shall make a great team, one that will be revered throughout the ages, under my rule!”
The Nerd put the scope on his headgear over his eye, and reached behind his cape to pull out his much larger gun, this one more shaped like a bazooka. “Let’s rock and roll.”