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// Chapter 3: The Night Before 
// Story: Holiday Hijinks 
// by Bahamut0 
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	"You know, I don't think I've ever had this much fun before!", Steel said as he chatted with his friends. "First time we're all under one roof besides school."

"I think your dad is trying to beat mine in arm wrestling.", Rainbow Dash said as she pointed to her dad and Steel's. "So who do you think's gonna win?" Both of their dads then fell to the floor from the sheer force of one push!

"...I'd call this a tie." Meanwhile, Burst, Inferno  and Gold were watching their dads fail epically at karaoke.

"I am SO putting this on YouTube.", Inferno said with a smirk as he recorded the whole scene unfolding.

"At least it's a memorable performance?", Burst said while trying to stifle his laughter.

"We certainly won't be forgetting it any time soon.", Gold added. "Man. I don't think I've seen dad have so much fun before. I can't say I've had this much fun being around my friends either."

"Yeah. This is pretty nice.", Burst said. "Hm. I wonder what time it is?" Burst got out his phone and looked at the time. "Wow. It's eleven o'clock already. Time really does go by fast when you're having fun. I think all of us should each head home." Burst was about to tell the others when he felt a surge of energy flow through everything! "What the?!" Burst then looked all around him. His friends were just fine, but their families were frozen still! In fact, it looked like everything else but them was frozen in time! "What the heck happened?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this...", Inferno said as their friends gathered. Inferno then looked at the time on his phone. "Huh? Why isn't time moving forward? It's just stuck at this exact time!"

"Same thing with all of our phones!", Sunset said as she looked at her phone. "Time's completely still!"

"Anyone willing to bet that weird energy we felt is the cause of this?", Steel suggested. "Maybe we should call up Ace and the others. See if they're going through the same thing..." Burst dialed up Ace's number, and got a reply almost instantly.

"Burst? You won't believe what happened! It's like time just-"

"Froze solid. The same thing happened over here with us. Get your brothers, Venus, Fang, their girlfriends. Get. EVERYONE. We've got to find out just what happened. And find out how to fix it before things get worse." Ace and the others showed up as quick as they could. "Good. Now that we're all here, let's go over what we know."

"First of all, time's come to a complete stop.", Twilight said. "And in addition, everything around us seems to be stuck in their current position."

"And there was some weird surge of energy that caused it.", Starlight added. "And for some reason, we're still able to move. Not that I'm complaining."

"So that leaves the big question. What caused this and how do we fix it?", Sunset asked. Soon a portal opened up, and a voice came through.

"I believe I can help give you the answers you need." Soon a figure wearing goggles and a red suit came through. Burst and the others were in awe! "I am called Nicholas.", the figure said as he pulled off his goggles. "But you all know me better as, Santa Claus."