//------------------------------// // BONUS CHAPTER: Merry Christmas Witches!! // Story: The Witches of Moonlight Lake // by Phoenix Heart 27 //------------------------------// The snow fell gracefully as the streets of Moonlight City, Neigh Jersey were filled with ponies bustling to and fro from place to place and shop to shop, preparing for Christmas. Everywhere it seemed was all wrapped up in the Christmas spirit! From businesses to residential areas, even city parks were decked out in holiday fashions. Though some of the best would be from the residential areas. A pony couldn't walk around neighborhoods without seeing some form of holiday decorations up on somepony’s lawn. Yes this time of year was a time of peace. To slow down and reflect on what a pony had and to be grateful for any of it. Even so nopony knew this better than a certain trio of mares living in a stylish high-rise loft apartment in midtown. Each of them loved the Christmas season for various reasons and showed it in very different ways. “Apollo James Star, You get your little hide back here and…” A voice rang out in frustration as the mare attached to said voice, Solange, ran after her 3-year-old son in an attempt to get him clean “...Get. In. This. TUB!”, She cried out as she once again narrowly missed her cunning toddler. Said foal was busy giggling as he levitated his stuffed animals and began an assault strike on his mother. Pelting her with soft stuffed creatures (and an accidental voodoo doll). “Okay, seeing as I was just watering my plants and then I was thrown halfway across my greenhouse, I’m gonna guess Apollo ‘accidentally’ threw my doll. Now as to how this kid got my doll from it's heavily locked cabinet with the other two is a mystery.”, Terra said as she grabbed her voodoo doll up from the floor and with a pop, placed it back in its fortified cabinet. Making sure to add extra protection wards around the cabinet. Turning back to the chaotic scene between mother and foal she sighed and shook her head. “Alright little star, apologize to your auntie. Now!”, Solange scolded her son gently. “Sowwy ‘Auntie Rhea’. But I don't wanna take a bath!! Why I gotta take a bath?!?”, Apollo said/complained as his mother picked him up by the back of his neck with her blood red magic and half-dragged him back to the bathroom to resume his nighttime bath. “Because all good little colts and fillies take baths every night. Plus it's Christmas Eve. Do you really want me to report to St. Nicholas’s helper elf that a certain unicorn colt was being naughty and refusing to take his bath, plus attacking his poor, defenseless mommy with a battalion of stuffed animals?”, Solange explained to her son, while also good-naturedly threatening him with no St. Nicholas visit. That seemed to do the trick as Apollo quieted down and took his bath without more complaint. As this was going on, Terra Nova simply chuckled as she went back to her greenhouse. With a quick glance around, she lit her horn and the small planter full of daisies suddenly transformed into a patch of deadly nightshade. The rows of posies turned into foal’s breath. The large Weeping Willow turned into a large cross with a dummy tied to it. Her bushes of marigolds and rows of sunflowers quickly melted away to briar bushes and rows of wolfsbane, desert roses and lilies of the valley. Finally, her many rows of roses only half transformed. One half remained roses and the rest turned into rows of varying plants and flowers including: stinkweed, wild carrot, young larkspur, foxglove and (her favorites) fire lilies. With a content sigh she resumed her work of watering her precious plants. Afterwards, she lit her horn once again and produced a ring of smooth pinewood that she crafted before taking a bit of everyone of her plants into her magic and began to carefully weave them around the wooden ring until they resembled a wreath. Satisfied with her work, she replaced the glamour charm back on her garden of death and left her homemade greenhouse. “Okay! The final wreath is finally done! Let's get it put up….somewhere…”, Terra’s voice fell off as she realized there really wasn't that many places she could put the new wreath. Just as she was about to set it aside and figure it out later, the front door burst open and in walked a (very) snowy Amaris with bags laden with gifts and food supplies strewn across her back and in her onyx magic aura. “How now and can somepony help me before my back breaks?!”, Amaris shouted as her legs shook like a failing support beam. Seeing her ‘sister’ nearly about to keel over, Terra strode over and helped remove some of the bags of presents. “I see you had a time and a half at the mall. Then went to the grocery store and picked up some more ingredients for tomorrow's dinner.”, Terra analyzed. “That's exactly what I did. Plus I couldn't resist stopping in the toy store and getting Apollo some more stuff!”, Amaris shrugged as she unpacked the food and put it away with her magic. “Oooh! I just thought of the perfect place for this last protector wreath!”, Terra exclaimed as she walked over to the near empty front door and hung the wreath above the peephole. Glancing down at the doorknob, she straightened the door knob hangers until each was straight. After all, in her mindset if the bones were crooked or tangled up, they couldn't do their job the right way. Quickly placing a timed glamour charm on the door to make it look like any ordinary Christmas decorated door with bells on the door and a regular wreath, Terra went back inside and took a look around. Solange had since gotten Apollo out of the tub and into pajamas (with Amaris quickly wrapping and hiding the presents she got beforehoof) and he was now playing with his favorite stuffed animal, a little ursa major which he (with help from her) figured out a spell that could illuminate the toy creature to look like it's astral counterpart. The apartment looked completely decked out for Christmas. Big tree was in the center of the living room. Stockings hung with care above the lit fireplace. The enchanted snow globes snowfall eternal with the small versions of St. Nicholas’s workshop, The Nutcracker king and the courageous ballerina in their lovers’ pas de deux, finally their favorite snow globe of the three of them around a cauldron making a potion caught her eye immediately. Smiling, she dusted that one off before teleporting the two presents she made herself from her room. Making sure they were ok, she sent them back to her room before sitting back down in her favorite spot in the living room: her stained cedar rocking chair. “So ladies, is everything prepared for tonight's activities?”, Solange asked in a chipper, but clearly tired tone. “Yep! Everything's in place. All that needs to happen is us waiting until moonrise before heading out. Oh and of course making sure Apollo is really asleep before we leave.”, Amaris replied. Her voice instantly going serious. “Excellent. Now as far as getting him to sleep, that's the easy part. Keeping him asleep is even easier than that! I see no issues on that matter.”, Solange replied as she looked on at her son as he played. Walking into the kitchenette, Solange produced a sippy cup and filled it with milk before placing it in a pan filled with boiling water on the stove. Letting it heat to an appropriate temperature for toddlers, she quickly rummaged through a cabinet and produced a vial of a clear liquid with a crescent moon on the outside. Pouring the contents into the sippy cup and stirring it up til it dissolved, Solange screwed the top back on before heading back to the living room and giving her son his nighttime cup of warm milk, standing aside and watching to make sure he finished the whole cup. Once he did this, Solange picked him up and carried him to his room for bed. “Do I gotta *yawn* go to bed now?”, Apollo whined as he yawned a big yawn. “Yes. Besides, if you don't go to sleep, how do you expect St. Nicholas to come and visit? You know he sees you when you sleep and knows when you awake.”, his mother asked and answered. “Okay...goodnight...mama. H-H...Have...good….sleep…”, Apollo said as his words slipped off and he fell into a deep sleep. Gently kissing her little colt on the head, Solange tucked him and his ursa major in tightish before turning on the nightlight and closing the door behind her. (A few hours later…) The moon was now at its highest peak. Snow lightly falling in some spots and clear sky in others. Standing on the roof of their building, the trio of witches summoned their brooms to their hooves. “RISE!!”, The trio cried out as they were each deposited onto their brooms and took off into the night sky. When the got close enough to a residential area without being seen, Amaris began to sing a spell: Come, little children I'll take thee away Into a land Of enchantment Come, little children The time's come to play Here in my garden Of shadows Follow, sweet children I'll show thee the way Through all the pain and The sorrows Weep not, poor children For life is this way Murdering beauty and Passions Hush now, dear children It must be this way To weary of life and Deceptions Rest now, my children For soon we'll away Into the calm and The quiet As she sang, hundreds of foals of varying ages suddenly became entranced and left the comfort of their homes. Their parents or guardians blissfully unaware of their young ones disappearing into the cold winter night. The magic became strong enough for Solange and Terra to be able to keep the children airborne for an extended period of time. The trio had one destination in mind: Saddle Mountain. As they reached their destination, Amaris finished up her song. Come, little children I'll take thee away Into a land Of enchantment Come, little children The time's come to play Here in my garden Of shadows When they all touched down, the witches were first to step hoof onto the highest point of the mountain and set up a rune that would form into a direct portal to Tartarus. Once this was complete, the trio turned to the crowd of over 1,400 foals and amassed them into a magical corral. They then simultaneously began the spoken spell that would open the portal as their horns glowed in their respective aura colors. Tenebrosi exhibito dominos inferi digneris. Haec humili fetus McCracken sacrificia ut mitteret. Haec itaque erit omne tempus est! The runes glowed a brilliant red and where once was an empty place, now stood a literal gateway to Tartarus. Silently the witches used their magic to send the entranced foals through in groups of 10. Once the last group entered the gates of Tartarus, the runes closed the portal and the witches looked on in satisfaction. “I'm glad we do this twice a year! Aren't you ladies?”, Amaris asked in glee as she pulled out two presents from her robe. “Absolutely! I mean, yeah the one in June is fine and ponies are easier to catch when it's hot out. Yet the one in December is my favorite because foals are so innocent and they're especially so when it's around the holidays! When they all try their hardest to stay on St. Nicholas’s ‘nice list’ and become absolute angels. Oh how they are so easily swayed! I love it all!”, Solange cheered as the runes disappeared and their work done. Summoning their broomsticks, the trio flew up high into the night sky and back towards their apartment. (The Next Morning…) News reports surrounding the disappearance of ⅓ of the population of foals in the city blew up on all outlets that, seemingly not-so-peaceful Christmas morning. None of the coven members were paying attention to the almost white noise of the tv as the 7 adults and 4 foals clamoured around a large-ish dining table filled with an astounding breakfast of everypony’s favorites. Once breakfast was eaten and the foals were playing with their new toys, the adults were sitting on the warm terrace (courtesy of Amaris and a simple temperature control bubble spell cast upon the area) discussing the events of the previous night. “So tell me again what was the enchantment you used on the poor helpless idiots of foals? I simply have to know how you guys do it every year!”, Sabrina asked as she sipped on her juice. “Oh a simple spell to catch them in a trance, disguised as a calming lullaby. I don't have an actual name for this spell so I just get told to ‘do the thing’ by either Solange or Terra...usually Terra though.”, Amaris explained to the pegasus while she took a small sip of her wine. “Well however it came to be, I know the Dark Lord is pleased with our sacrifices of last night. However are any of you concerned about the fact that ponies will start looking for foals immediately?”, Zelda asked before taking a bite out of her piece of rum cake. “Oh I wouldn't worry about that. A easy amnesia spell and those ponies won't even remember which one's are missing.”, Terra answered through bites of blueberry pie. “Well then, I must say Merry Christmas to us! Our task for the end of this year is complete and I can assure you ladies and gentlecolts that the Dark Lord is most pleased with our efforts. All while thankfully sparing our own young ones from the witches’ curse to Tartarus. To our highest mages!”, Zeus toasted and everypony followed his example. Marking the end of another successful Christmas.