//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: A Royal Christmas Parade // by Creativa-Artly01 //------------------------------// It's a beautiful winter day on the week before the big Royal Christmas Parade. "Sister," says Luna as she enters the room, "we need to go look over the Royal Guard Band's practice." "Coming," responds Celestia as she flies over and lands at Luna's side. The two then exit the main hall and go to the courtyard where they watch the Royal Guard Band practice all the Christmas music for the parade. "Hello, Princesses," says the conductor as he turns around to face them, "glad you could make our rehearsal." "We'd never miss it for the world," replies Luna with a smile. The conductor then turns around and begins to conduct the band. It starts with the trumpets followed by the drums then the rest of the instruments join in. As they play, Celestia and Luna bob their heads and hum along. After watching an hour of their practice, the two return to the castle where they watch the Unicorn Quartet group perform their Christmas numbers. "Wow! Both of these groups are impressive!" says Luna to her big sister. "Who else is performing in the Royal Christmas Parade?" "We also have booked Songbird Serenade, Countess Coloratura, the Ponytones, The CMC are doing a number alongside the rest of the school foals, even Twilight, and Applejack have agreed to sing in the parade." "Oh, goody!" responds Luna as she excitedly gets onto her back hooves and hoovers slightly in the air. She then lands back down beside her sister. "What else is going to be in the parade?" "Well, we have several floats and balloons. We have a Santa Pony and a Mrs. Claus Pony," responds Celestia. "What do you have in terms of the floats and balloons? You don't have a Nightmare Moon balloon do you?" "We don't have a Nightmare Moon balloon anymore. We retired that balloon after your return. We have a balloon of Daring Do, Power Ponies, and floats of the Crystal Heart, the Apple Farm, Twilight's Castle. Heck, we even still have a Starswirl balloon we use in the parade." "But he returned," responds Luna. "I know, but he never comes to our Christmas event, so we use the balloon of him instead. It makes it feel like he's there, ya know." "I guess," responds Luna. The two sisters then fly off to check on the floats and balloons. In the storage building, the two fly in and turn on the lights. There, they are greeted by all the floats and balloons. "Wow!" says Luna, jaw dropped. "I haven't been here in ages!" "Yeah, things have changed, a lot," responds Celestia with a small smile on her face. "Do you remember when we hosted the first Royal Christmas Parade, all those years ago?" asks Luna turning to Celestia. "Yes, that one was fun. It was not long after we first started ruling Equestria," responds Celestia with a smile. Celestia then turns out and the two leave the storage building and return to the castle. Once back at the castle, the two go off into Celestia's private study where they enjoy some sister bonding time. They enjoy sandwiches, share stories from their childhood, and even sing a lullaby from their childhood together. Once they're done with their hour-long lunch, the two go and recheck on the practices of the Royal Guard Band and the Unicorn Quartet. Once they see everything is going smoothly, the two fly to Ponyville and ask Pinkie to provide the food for the festivities next week. "Sure, I'd love to provide the food," says Pinkie with a smile. "What would you like?" "A holiday mint chocolate cake with mint frosting topped with a Christmas tree," says Celestia, "along with cupcakes of whatever flavor you want, your famous Cheery Cherry Christmas pie, and your three cheese mac n cheese along with whatever other food and sweets you wanna make." "Okee Dokey Loki," responds Pinkie with a giggle and a smile. "It'll be ready to go by the start of next week." "That's great," responds Celestia with a soft sigh and a smile. She and Luna then thank Pinkie and fly out and back towards Canterlot but not before stopping by the farm and Twilight's castle. Meanwhile, the Equestrian Thespian Troupe is busy perfecting their skit for the Royal Christmas Parade. They're doing a skit of part of their newest production: Holiday Spirit-A Christmas Love Story. They are thrilled that the princesses okayed their performance to be in the parade, so they're upping their game and using their costumes for the show. A few days later, they go to the castle and practice the skit once again for the princesses in person, and the princesses are pleased and delighted at their performance as they watch with smiles spread across the length of their faces. "Keep up the good work," says Luna to the Equestrian Thespian Troupe. "You've got a real show stopper there." "I agree with my sister," responds Celestia, "we can't wait to see you perform it in the Royal Christmas Parade." "Glad you liked it," responded their leader, Jaques A'trade. He and his troupe then exit the main hall and return to their cart and head to their hotel where they soon turn in for the night. Back at the hotel, Jaques congratulates his troupe on their stunning performance in front of the princesses. "The ponies are sure to like it considering their leaders approve and you know a princess's approval means absolutely everything." After a nice hot dinner downstairs, the mares and stallions of the troupe turn into their separate four rooms for the night where they fall fast asleep. Jaques, however, stays up and continues to practice despite his girlfriend's pleading and begging for him to turn in along with the rest of them. Around midnight, he finally falls asleep on the pull out couch in his hotel room. Meanwhile, back at the castle, Celestia turns in for the night herself, while Luna goes up and down the halls of the castle and changes the lavender in their sconces. She sighs as she pulls each old one down and puts up each new one. "I can't wait until the parade," she sighs to herself. "I can't believe it's almost here. I'm just glad I get to be a part of it again. I really and truly am." She then finishes up and then goes to her room after dumping the old lavender in the dumpster. Once in her room, she uses her dreamwalking spell to enter the dreams of the ponies. Most of the dreams are about the upcoming parade. Others are about the ponies favorite things. As she walks through the dreams, Luna can't help but smile. Soon enough she'll be enjoying the parade right along with them and to her, that means the world.