Dual and The lonely wolf ran around The North Pole following Virtus' lead, passing by a ton of buildings and climbing up some steps. They then stopped to catch their breaths as Dual looks around.
"I think we're lost..." The colt said, he then heard some music coming from a window and he looked into it, seeing lots of vinyl players playing music, but what caught Dual's attention was the record playing 'Silver Bells' that was skipping and just repeatedly saying 'ring-a-ling' over and over again.
"Yeah...Yeah, I can hear the bell!" Virtus exclaimed, The other wolf nodding.
"Yeah, I think I hear it too."
Dual looked at them with a raised eyebrow, he knows that they could hear the record skipping too, so he just shakes his head. "I don't hear anything..."
Virtus pointed forward towards some steps in front of them. "It's down here..."
"Are you sure?"
The female wolf stopped in her tracks like she always did whenever Dual said those words, looking at the turquoise colt, and gave a single nod towards him. "Absolutely..."
She continued down the steps as the lonely wolf followed her along with Dual after he sighed.
The kids walked down the stairs and saw a banister in front of them, Dual giving out a bit of a groan. "Why can't I hear anything?"
Vitus put her finger up towards her muzzle. "Shh...get down and be very quiet..." The boys followed her lead and looked over the banister.
They saw lots of TVs piled up along with, machines, a huge globe, a long roller with big paper, and something that looked like a tube system in the far left. But what caught their attention the most were 6 small tiny ponies in red clothing, there were elves in the room they found.
"What is this place?" asked the male pup, looking at Virtus.
"I think this is where Santa watches creatures all over the world...to check if they're either naughty or nice..." Virtus replied, Dual pointed at the huge roller with the big long paper.
"So that must be the list huh?"
The female wolf nodded. "Yep...songs always say he checks that list twice..." They stop talking and begin to overhear what the elves were saying.
One of the elves had a red pirate looking hat on his head and he looked a little taller than the rest of the elves. He must be the chief of the elves. "So...any more gifts need wrapping?"
"Uh...just one boss..." A blue male elf replied. "It's a pretty big present...we wrapped it with black wrapping paper with white snowflakes and raindeers with red scarves on them."
"Good and where's it heading?"
"It's heading for...Hooflyn, Neigh York..." Dual gave a small gasp, looking at the lonely male wolf.
"Aren't we both from Neigh York?" The wolf shrugged in response before the chief shouted again.
"Alright everyone... let's shut it down, that's it for this year... let's go!!" The elves got up from their workstations and the chief grabbed a big candy cane, pointing it to the left. "Left face....aaaand March!!" The elves marched to the left as a pink mare elf asked.
"Hey, sir...are we taking the pneumatic?"
"Of course we're taking the pneumatic...it's the only way for us to get the square on time!" They kept marching over to the pneumatic which was the tube thing that the kids saw on the left.
"Come on..." Virtus led Dual and The other wolf down some stairs as the elves got into the seats the tube provided in a skinny cab and the chief pushed a button in front of him, the tube cab then closed fast and launched the elves into the system.
The kids walked up the stairs to the pneumatic and they saw another tube cab pull up and open its doors for the next passengers and it was gonna be them.
"Alright, guys...get in..." Virtus said a bit shakily, Dual looked at her.
"Do we really have to take this thing?"
"You heard what the elf said...this thing is the only way to get to the square on time...we might actually get back to the ceremony before it even starts." Virtus got into the cab's front seat. "Or better yet...before The Conductor even realizes we're gone..."
The lonely wolf pup liked the sound of that and climbed into the cab too, sitting behind Virtus. Dual was still a bit hesitant but sighed and climbed in, sitting behind the lonely wolf. "I still don't know about this..."
"It'll be fine...now uh...which button did the elf push?"
"Can't you use your demon powers to find out which one?"
"I can't..."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm still trying to get the hang of my powers...the only thing I can do sadly... is teleporting a few feet away..."
"Great..." Dual said sarcastically.
"Hm...how about this one?" Virtus pushed the middle button and the cab immediately closed quickly and shot them off into the system.
The system was going so fast that the kids' cheeks were jiggling as the tube went fast in the system, going around bends and turning upside down a few times.
The system then stopped and opened up the doors, the kids climbed out slightly dizzy and woozy from the fast ride that could easily rival the roller coaster track the train went down on the way to The North Pole.
They looked around and saw lots of rollers that had a lot of big colorful paper on all of them...by a few observations, it's safe to say they found the wrapping room.
"I don't hear anything..." Virtus suddenly said.
"Me neither..." The lonely wolf replied, agreeing with her. Dual looked down the railing and saw yellow arrows pointing forward on a black track that looked like some kind of conveyor belt, so he pointed to them.
"Maybe we should follow those arrows...?" The turquoise colt led both wolves down some metal steps and went on to the conveyor belt, which was actually pretty bouncy. They bounced on each arrow as they went to the end of the room, entering another room that was just a bunch of more conveyor belts but this time with switches and gears.
Dual stuttered a bit. "I...I thought that would be the way out..."
Virtus sighs. "We're gonna miss everything..." The kids then heard a loud beep and the conveyor belt started to move, making them lose their balance a bit. The kids quickly went onto a nearby platform and heard something drop onto the belt. It was a box that had black wrapping paper with white snowflakes and raindeers with red scarves on them. It must've been the present the elves were talking about.
"Hey...that's the gift that's going to Neigh York..." Dual said as the gift passed by them slowly. "To someone named 'Dark'..."
The lonely male pup's ears perked up. "My name is Dark..."
Virtus continued reading the box tag. "It's going to 2004 Cavern Ave...Hooflyn, Neigh York."
Dark smiled. "That's my address!" They kept watching the present keep going forward on the conveyor belt. "Where's it going?"
Dual and Virtus both shrugged, the female wolf saying. "Maybe to be added with the rest of the presents in Santa's bag?"
"But..." Dark got excited. "I really want to find out what it is!" The male wolf then ran to the gift and pounced, landing on his stomach and grabbing the box, but then he went through some black strip curtains.
"Dark!! Come on, Dual!!" Virtus yelled, running on the conveyor belt and landing on her butt so she could go through the strips too. Dual immediately followed and landed on his belly, going through the strips too. When he saw what was in front of him, his pupils turned into pinpricks...it was some kind of gigantic steep swirly slide.
"Oh, crap..."
Dual rode down the fast slide on his stomach, screaming his lungs out as his mane flew around everywhere in the wind along with his pants legs. He quickly caught up with Virtus and Dark and heard the male wolf was screaming just as much as the colt was, but Virtus was actually laughing loudly than screaming.
The slide had a couple of twists and turns as the kids swirled down it, still screaming (except Virtus whose laughing) as their hair moved around in the wind that was picking up from the slide's speed. The slide finally finished up and they start gliding around a whirlpool shaped part of the slide, which felt fun to them a bit except for the giant hole they were gonna go into.
The colt and two wolves dropped down the hole and found themselves landing on top of a gigantic pile of presents. Virtus and Dual pushed a couple of presents off of them as Dark continued to hold onto the present that belonged to him, smiling brightly as he showed the other grey wolf and the turquoise colt.
"Look!" Dark beamed with happiness, his friends both smiled as Virtus read a card that was on the gift.
"It says 'Happy Hearths Warming, Dark...From Mr. C [Mr. Claus]' "
Dark shook the perfectly wrapped package. "I think I know what it is!! I wanted one of these my whole life!!" The happy pup then lifted his paw and his wolf talons came out of his fingers.
He was getting ready to rip the paper to shreds before Dual grabbed his wrist. "Wait Wait Wait, Dark! You can't open it!" The male pup looked at him.
"Why not?"
"Look..." Dual pointed to the box and showed Dark and Virtus there was a tag on it that read 'Do Not Open until Hearths Warming Day'.
Dark was disappointed. "B-But...I r-really want to..."
"Sorry Dark...looks like you'll have to wait till daylight."
Dark whimpered like a sad puppy.