• Published 29th Apr 2012
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A Ghost Story - Elemist



A human's insubstantial adventures in Equestria.

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Chapter 19 - Making Christmas

“Making Christmas, making Christmas, is so fine. It’s ours this time and won’t the children be surprised, it’s ours this time.” I hefted a small brown sack in my ghostly tendrils a few times as I floated through the early morning air that permeated Ponyville’s marketplace.

I glanced around at all of the sleepy eyed vendors as they set up shop, and I thanked my lucky stars that none of them could hear me singing my heart out in the middle of town, that would be embarrassing. The crunching of snow beneath hooves alerted me to a very tired looking vendor as she trotted past towards her stall, and I could only shake my head in amusement as it became apparent that she hadn’t seen my little money bag floating a few feet above head level for a pony.

I estimated I had almost fifty bits left out of the hundred that I had “borrowed” from the jar on top of the fridge. I figured I had at least earned that much from all of the money Lyra had gotten from our poker outing.

A part of those bits had gone to Ditzy, to cover postage and other expenses. That Pegasus had been a life saver for me; some of these ponies were really hard to buy for and she was always willing to help. At least she was easy; I’m just going to bake a big basket of muffins for her.

I peered through the merchandise that was on display, and I was sadly disappointed since I was left wanting due to the poor selection available during winter. After fifteen minutes of wandering, I came upon a stand run by a light brown Unicorn stallion with a chisel and saw for a Cutie-Mark.

Seeing exactly what I was looking for sitting amongst his inventory, I pick it up, and the Stallion’s eyes widen in surprise. Ignoring him, I find a price tag, count out the appropriate bits, and dump them on the stall in front of him. The stallion stares at the bits and looks around wildly as I make my way back to Lyra’s house.

The various noises of confused ponies follow me as I make my way out of the marketplace and down one of the streets packed with stores. A gasp and a whimper catch my attention as I pass by an unfortunately familiar store.

I look down at a light brown stallion, curled up in the fetal position in front of the door, and a discarded key on the welcome mat. Davenport had his tail up between his forelegs, and he was staring straight at the floating objects in front of him. He began to stroke his tail and muttering, “It’s all in my head, I’m just imagining it, it’s all in my head, I’m just imagining it…Oh sweet Celestia, why me?”

Oh God, now I feel even worse than when I first…startled him. I mean, it isn’t my fault that his store was the best place in town to get quills, ink and parchment, and it definitely wasn’t my fault that he wouldchoose the moment that I was leaving the bits on his countertop to come in to the shop. It just may have been my fault that I had decided to visit his lovely shop during the middle of the night, and it may have also been my fault for setting off his magical alarm system when I opened a window to bring in my bag of bits. I do think we both kind of share blame for what followed. Since he so courteously held the door open for me I had decided to rush past him with my “purchases” trailing behind me. I will also admit that a bunch of parchment and quills rushing towards your face could be rather traumatizing, but did he really have to scream and run off in the dark.

Well, the one good thing to come from that encounter was the fact that he basically gave Twilight a year’s supply of stationary, telling her he wanted to concentrate on his furniture business.

Feeling horrible, I left the quivering stallion in front of his shop and continued towards Lyra’s. Man, all these gifts are turning out to be more trouble than their worth. At least Davenport was only one pony; Spike’s gift had brought about a change to a whole society.

Spike, in all honesty, was incredibly hard to shop for. So, like the idiot I am, I had decided to go to the fields outside of town and “borrow” some gems from the local Diamond Dogs. How was I supposed to know that they had a shaman that could apparently see me? Well, after some screaming, some running, some threats, and a conversation involving a lot of broken sentences, I was able to leave with a gift for Spike and left them with a change in perspective.

By the time I finished my musings I had made my way back to Lyra’s and after letting myself in I started on my last gift. As I was wrapping and putting on the finishing touches I heard the front door slam. Looking up from the festive wrapping paper in front of me, I see Lyra removing a scarf from around her neck as she lowers her Lyre onto the sofa.

“Hay Lyra, how did your little show in the park go today?”

“Hmm?” Lyra looks over to the kitchen as she picks her Lyre back up. “Oh, it went ok, played a few seasonal songs, made a few bits, got a few smiles, overall it was alright. I just wish I could get a big gig like Octavia gets all the time.” She sighs and sits down on the other side of the kitchen table. She raises an eyebrow at the stack of wrapped gifts in front of me. “What’s all this?”

“These? This is phase two of my master plan to take over Equestria! BWAHAHAHAHA!”

Lyra just raises her other eyebrow and scrunches up her muzzle to show her annoyance. “What are they really for?”

“Hehe, I can’t get anything past you nowadays. Well, I think it would be obvious, they’re Hearth’s Warming Gifts.”

“Okay, and where did you get the money for all of this.”

The slight frown that appeared on Lyra’s face alerted me to the fact that she had seen my eye flick to the jar on top of the fridge. Lyra’s sigh seemed to move through her whole body as her shoulder sank and her head dropped. “What am I going to do with you?” She muttered while shaking her head slowly.

“Hmmmm, find a good exorcist?” I say with a shrug of my shoulders.

She snorts at that. “You are ridiculous, which is exactly why I can’t stay mad at you.”

“Oh good, I was worried for a second that you would sic Zecora on me. Sooo, you and Bon Bon are going to be able to make it to the party tomorrow right?”

“Yeah Yeah, we’ll be there with bells on.”

“Excellent, I can’t wait. Now I’m going to go watch the students do their play at the school so I probably won’t see you till tomorrow…Oh, and no peeking at the gifts.” I pull one of my carefully wrapped gifts from Lyra’s grasp as it looked like she was about to shake it to hear what was inside.

“Toodles, I’ll see you in the morning.” I quickly floated through the door as Lyra pouted in front of the pile of gifts on the kitchen table.

~*~*~

The next evening saw Lyra and Bon Bon walking towards the library with a number of packages floated behind them. Thankfully, the sun had already set so there weren’t too many prying eyes out and about.

The pony couple that I was accompanying were walking shoulder to shoulder with each other and it took all my willpower not to make a snarky lesbian comment, I figured that would be part of Lyra’s gift for Hearth’s Warming.

Lyra raps her hoof on the front door to the library a few times and we wait patiently for someone to answer the door. I float there contemplating the fact that this was one of the few times since coming to Equestria that I actually had to wait for someone to let me in to their house instead of just floating through their walls…wow, I really had turned into a creeper hadn’t I?

I’m roused from my rather depressing train of thought as the front door opens to reveal Spike wearing a bright green and red sweater and I grin at the adorable sight.

“Lyra, Bon Bon you made it, come on in and I’ll get you something to drink.”

We made our way into the tree and my face breaks into a huge smile at the sight of my pony friends enjoying themselves amidst the festive holiday decorations adorning the walls around the main room. I chuckle slightly at the sight of a trio of familiar fillies who were attempting to poor themselves some hot cider to only be stopped by Applejack. I would bet that there was some alcohol mixed into the spiced beverage and my smile grows somewhat sad as I’m reminded of how much I missed my Grandmother at Christmas time. Boy she had made the best Eggnog, of course by the time she was done with it the beverage was more brandy then anything but that’s what I loved about her.

With a sigh, I maneuver my cargo of various packages and a single envelope through the door. As I close the door behind me, the Crusaders look to the entryway and their eyes widen as they immediately rush towards the door. As they gaze up at my gifts for everyone and vocalize their amazement I can only chuckle. They follow me towards a table that was set up in the back that already had numerous packages set atop it. The crusaders stayed behind, staring at the gifts with barely contained joy, as I float around the room trying to find Trixie or Twilight.

Not finding either of the dynamic duo I make my way over to Lyra who has Bon Bon trapped under a piece of Mistletoe.

“Huh, I didn’t know you ponies had the same tradition of trying to eat each other’s faces while under piece of parasitic vine.”

Lyra snorts and almost drops Bon Bon who just looks up at her with a look of frustrated amusement on her face.

“Spooky?” Asks Bon Bon.

“Spooky.” Lyra replies.

“Now that you’re done trying to suck out your marefriends tonsils, could you see if you can find out where Twilight and Trixie are?”

“You are just as bad as a foal sometimes, you know that right?”

“No, I’m worse than a foal because you can punish a foal if they’re being bad.”

Lyra just grunts in annoyance and begins scanning the room for the two Unicorns in question. Not finding them either she trots over to Applejack who has just set out a dish of sugared apple slices onto an already groaning table covered with various foodstuffs.

“Well, a Happy Hearth’s Warming to yah, Sugarcube, can I get yah anything while I’m here?” Applejack says with a smile.

“Oh boy, those apple slices look delicious. I’ll have some of those, and maybe some of those cinnamon rolls, oh and that pudding looks really good also…”

I grunt in frustration and flick Lyra on the nose with one of my tendrils which stops her abruptly in the middle of her buffet order. Applejack looks up from a plate that was already overflowing with delectable treats with a raised eyebrow.

“Y’all ok there Lyra?”

“Yeah…Umm, Spooky was wondering if you knew where Twilight and Trixie are.”

“Well shucks, is that all. Twi and Trixie have been locked in tha basement since aye got ‘ere.”

Well, that explained it. Even on the holiday’s those two couldn’t stop working on whatever it was down in the basement.

We thank Applejack and I carry Lyra’s mountain of food for her back to Bon Bon. The next ten minutes or so was spent chatting about the holiday season intermixed with intervals of frenzied snacking.

The numerous conversations around the room ground to an immediate halt as a loud bang was heard from the basement. A few seconds later the door is thrown open releasing a large cloud of acrid smoke into the common room before two coughing mares tumble onto the floor.

The room remains silent for a few seconds after Twilight and Trixie stop trying to hack up their own lungs. I try to hold in a snort of laughter but Lyra and Dash start giggling which sets me off.

“Love the new look there Twilight.” Dash comments while rolling around on the floor. I start chuckling again when I see that both Twilight’s and Trixie’s manes are blown backwards and both of their faces are covered in black soot.

Rarity came to the two mares rescue by pulling a Pinkie Pie by producing a brush and a washcloth from seemingly nowhere and proceeding to fuss over them. Trixie spent the whole process with her front hooves crossed and grumbling under her breath.

After snorting out a small cloud of soot from her nostrils, Twilight looks up at me with sad puppy dog eyes. “I-I’m sorry Spooky, I’m afraid we won’t be able to get your surprise done for Hearths Warming. Trixie and I have had a few small setbacks.”

Trixie rolls her eyes and nudges Twilight who gives her a sheepish look before continuing. “Ok, some big setbacks.” She hangs her head but a few seconds later she looks back up at me with a gleam in her eyes. “However, we have been able to arrange a sort of gift for you.”

I give Twilight a smile, in all honesty I was fine with just hanging out with them, but I would be lying if I wasn’t curious as to what those two had cooked up.

Twilight clears her throat to gather everyone’s attention but she has to repeat the action a few times to get the message across to Pinkie who had been happily chatting with Bon Bon about something or other.

“Alright everypony, I think now is as good a time as any for gift exchanges. I would like to start with Spooky’s gift so I need all of you to gather round.” Twilight exclaims excitedly.

The excited chatter picks up once again as everyone gathers in a semi-circle around Twilight and Trixie.

Twilight steps forward with a smile. “Ok, now Lyra I need you to step to the side for this.”

As Lyra steps to one side of the group I raise an eyebrow. “Ok, Sparkle-butt, what do you have planned here?” I ask her.

Twilight gives me a grin as Trixie’s and her horn light up. “Simple…We modified Trixie’s spell.” With that, purple and blue tendrils of magic combine into a ball in front of the two unicorns. The ball flashes once before it splits into numerous beams that strike all of the ponies and one baby dragon squarely between the eyes. There are a few grunts of surprise around the room before their eyes flash a grayish color before returning to normal.

A few groans of discomfort are heard from around the room as a few of my pony friends rub at their temples before this is interrupted by three high pitched gasps. I look over to see the Crusaders looking directly at me with their eyes close to the size of dinner plates with grins that threatened to break their faces in two. Following where they are looking, every other set of eyes in the room slowly turn to face me followed by more gasps and exclamations of shock.

I turn to Twilight who had a grin on her face similar to what the Crusaders were sporting. “They can see me now?” I ask with partial disbelief. By the power of Greyskull, this could be fantastic.

“And hear you too.” Her grin gets toothier as she turns to the group of staring ponies. “Well everypony, allow me to officially introduce you to our friend Spooky.”

With that the Crusaders and Spike immediately rush forward and start rushing about underneath me, looking me over and waving their appendages through my legs and giggling as they pass through. I laugh and pick them up with my tendrils and they all giggle with delight.

Slowly, Bon Bon begins to approach me. “Spooky? Is that really you.”

I grin down at her. “Indeed it is. You like what you see?” I wiggle my eyebrows a few times at her.

“Yep, that’s definitely Spooky.” She announces to the rest of the assembly.

With that, everyone else approaches, first of which being Fluttershy of all ponies.

“Oh my, it’s really nice to finally be able to see you Spooky.” She gives me a soft smile which I gladly return.

“I agree whole heartedly. It is a pleasure to finally have a true introduction darling.” Rarity says as she steps up next to Shy.

“The pleasure is all mine Rarity.”

“Oh, I simple adore that ensemble you are wearing. The slacks go very well with that shirt dear.”

“Thanks Rarity. This was just some of my everyday school clothes though, they aren’t anything special.”

“Well, they certainly seem like some fancy duds ta me Sugarcube.” Applejack says as she takes the otherside of Shy. She extends one of her hooves towards me. “It’s nice ta finally meet ya face ta face.”

I grin and concentrate as I grab ahold of her hoof to give her a proper shake. “Definitely AJ.”

A blast of wind almost dislodges her hat from her head as I find myself face to face with Dash. We stare into each other’s eyes for a few seconds before she speaks up. “You don’t look all that scary.” She states matter of factly.

I humph and fold my arms. “I’ll have you know that I can be very intimidating when I want to be, thank you very much.” I say as I put on a pout.

Dash laughs at that before extending her own hoof. “Yeah, I’ll give you that one. I guess you’re ok in my book though.”

I simply extend my fist and bump it against her hoof as Pinkie pops up next to her and exclaims. “You know that this means right, we have to have a PARTY!”

I shake my head and chuckle at her. “But Pinkie, we’re already having a party.”

“Oh right, silly me. Well, now that we’ve got re-re-introduction’s over with, let’s get back to the PRESENTS!”

I chuckle again and I can heartily agree with the mares priorities. Twilight steps forward again. “How about you all give Spooky your gifts now?”

My eyes grow wide at this as I turn back to the group. “You all got me presents?” I’m only greeted with nods as various parcels are produced from the gift table and laid in front of me. I look them over and then back up to my friends. “I…I don’t know what to say.”

“Then don’t say anything and just open them Silly Spooky.” Pinkie chirps from in front of an impressively large box. I just shrug my shoulders and begin to tear the wrapping paper from the various packages, my grin grow wider with each revealed gift. By the end of my wrapping paper massacre, I’m surrounded by a pile of various board and card games. Including my own set of playing cards, a copy of what looks like a home-made version of Apples-to-Apples (from Applejack of course) and a set of gaming dice that came with what look suspiciously like a ponified version of Dungeons and Dragons handbooks that Pinkie had gotten me.

I look up at the smiling group of ponies and I wrap each of them in a tendril as I give them all them closest thing to a hug I can get. “Thank you, all of you. These are just perfect.” As I set them down I pick up one of the handbooks that Pinkie had given me. “And we are totally playing as soon as I read through these rulebooks.”

The gift exchange continues as I just sit back and enjoy the happiness that permeates the room. We finally come to the end of the line with only my gifts remaining and I begin to pass them out one by one.

I began with Twilight as I handed her a book shaped package. I loved how her eyes twinkled with excitement as she ripped off the paper to reveal a stack of papers held together by three metal rings. “Twi, I know how much you love books, especially seeing how a majority of the gifts you got tonight were books, so I decided to get you a more personalized one.”

“Is this what I think it is?” She asks with a hint of passion in her voice.

“Yeah, I wrote you a story Twilight. It’s a novella about Bennett Greengem, a gnome Illusionist. I hope you enjoy it.”

“Gnome?” She asks with a tilt of her head.

“You’ll just have to read it to find out Twi.”

I then hand a small package to Rarity that was about half the size of my fist. With a polite nod she unwrapped it to reveal a small object made of red and green felt. “Rarity, I’m not very good at sewing but I was at least able to make you a new pincushion, at least this way you don’t have to keep using Spike.” At this Spike blushes as Rarity thanks me for my tomato shaped present.

I then hand Trixie another squishy object which she unwraps to reveal a simple purple and blue scarf. “Once again, not very good at sewing but I could knit you a scarf Trixie.”

She smiles and looks up at me with slightly glistening eyes. “Trixie thanks you Spooky…This is one of the nicest things anypony has ever done for her.”

I give her a sad grin as I take the scarf from her hooves and wrap it around her neck. She returns my smile and gives me a nod.

After that, I hand Pinkie another vaguely book shaped package which has the wrapping paper immediately torn off of it before it has even left my tendril. Her eyes grow wide at the stack of papers very similar to what Twilight had. “There you go Pinkie, a collection of the various recipes I know. Of course they’re not exactly precise but they should be close enough for you.” Pinkie immediately begins hopping around the room exclaiming how great it was.

I smile as I hand a box to Spike who shakes it a few times next to his ear to reveal a rattling sound within. His eyes grow wide as he opens the box to reveal different colored gemstones resting within. “Now don’t go eating all those at once and give yourself a stomach ache ok? Oh, and if any of you run into the diamond dogs out in the fields just let them know you have ‘The Ghost Kings’ blessing and they should leave you alone.” I grin at the look Twilight gives me at that announcement but just move onto my next gift.

I then gently lift up a small box and let Applejack know to be careful while opening it. She carefully removes the paper with her teeth and opens the box to reveal a small sapling. Her eyes grow wide as she looks closely at the base of the plant to see the difference in the bark between the bottom of the small apple tree and the top of it. “I noticed that most of your apple trees had their original root system, so I grafted you a Golden Delicious with a dwarfing rootstock.” She grins and thanks me. She then looks done at the little tree and named it “Little Goldie” right on the spot.

I then move onto to Dash who rips open her gift to reveal a pair of new flight goggles which she immediately dons before putting on a cocking grin and simply saying, “Awesome.”

I then hand a third book shaped object to Shy who had been sitting quietly in the corner for most of the gift exchange. She smiles softly before gently unfolding the wrapping paper to reveal a small brown book entitled “Arachnophobia, and How To Deal With It.” She blushes slightly as she reads the cover and I gently pat her head with a tendril.

“Don’t worry Shy, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Personally I’m kind of creeped out by centipedes.” Her blush slowly fades which is replaced by a more confident smile as she quietly thanks me.

I then give Bon Bon a long thin package and tell her. “You know you are kind of tough to buy for, so I fell back to a staple of mine…Chocolate.” As I say that she opens it to reveal a box filled with various chocolate covered treats. She then has to smack away Lyra’s reaching hoof as she went to swipe a few from her.

I chuckle as I produce three identical rectangular packages and give them to the crusaders. Scootaloo immediately rips the paper off while Sweetie and Applebloom take their time removing it. When they all have finished removing the paper their grins widen as they realize they all of them have a framed copy of the photo that Pinkie took that I had signed for each of them. They each squeal before showing the photo to everyone else in the room.

Finally I turn to Lyra, who has been getting rather impatient throughout all of this. “And last but not least, Lyra.” I say as I pull out a simple envelope and float it over to her.

She takes it and her brow wrinkles. “Is this it?” She asks with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

I roll my eyes at her. “Just open it, will you.”

She shrugs and then opens the envelope with a wisp of magic and pulls out a small square of white paper that has gold filigree around the outside. She immediately begins reading aloud. “Dear Lyra Heartstrings, We would like to cordially invite you to perform at this Springs Grand Galloping Gala. Attached you will find a sheet of pertinent information. Please RSVP when you have the time. Sincerely, HRM’s Princess Celestia & Princess Luna”

Her eyebrows disappear into her mane as she quickly rereads it before turning to me. “I…Wha…How…How did you get thi?” she stutters.

“Well, I simply wrote the Princess an anonymous letter letting her know about a very talented musician whose dream it was to perform at the Gala, and then I simply had Ditzy give me her response. Turns out, all I needed to do was ask.”

Lyra looks up at me, not even bothering to hide the tears now slowly leaking from the corner of her eyes. “Thank you Spooky, from the bottom of my heart. I can never repay you for this.”

“Lyra, you never need to repay me for anything. I love you all very much, and these gifts were simply my way of showing you all that I care.”

At that, Lyra completely breaks down and Bon Bon has to wrap her in a hug to get her to calm down as a few other tears are shed around the room.

As the waterworks die down, I look around the room at all of the smiling faces. “Well, this has certainly turned out to be a great Hearth’s Warming Eve, but there’s one small thing missing.”

I then pick up Sweetie Bell and whisper into her ear. She smiles and then turns back to the room and with a slightly cracking voice she announces, “Celestia bless us, everypony!”

As the sound of everyone either cheering or d’awwing in the room enters my ears, I think that there was nothing that could have ended the happiness that filled my heart at this moment.

That is, until I catch a glimpse of a small green figure phasing out of the room through the corner of my eye.

Author's Note:

Hay everyone,

First of all MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Secondly, since it is Christmas my editor's are busy (understandably), so this will be unedited for the time being.

Lastly, apologies for the lateness of the chapter. Let's just say that my Muse has been a little fickle lately, but hopefully I will be able to update at least once every week to two weeks from now on.

So, have a Happy New Year, everyone.