//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Night of Lights // by Dante24 //------------------------------// It was around 7:30pm when the Sparkle family left home. Twilight and Shining Armor wondered just where it was their father was taking them. Of course asking Velvet wouldn't do them any good as she wouldn't say anything, but least the drive through the city was nice; mostly for Spike and Twilight since they don't usually get the chance to see the city at night. A few more minutes have passed before the family came upon a long line of cars. The line was moving a bit, but not by much. "I didn't expect to see this many people here." said Velvet. "Well, most of them are our age; wanting their kids to experience the same thing we did when we were young." Night Light explained. Twilight, sitting behind her dad, looked out the window at the many cars that passed by before turning towards the middle of the backseat where her 1 year old brother, Spike, was happily cooing in his little car seat while Shining Armor was just simply looking out his side of the window; enjoying the Christmas music that was playing on the radio. The line continued to move until finally the family was about to approach the entrance gate. Night Light took this time to unbuckle his seat belt and reach into his pocket to grab his wallet right before moving the car forward. A crossing gate came down just as the family's car pulled up and was greeted by a woman in an elf costume. "Welcome to the Night of Lights." she said. "$10 please." As Night Light started to pay, both Twilight and Shining looked straight ahead of them and saw a tunnel with many white stars inside. "Oh, I should let you know that you might want to keep your windows up at all times." the lady said. "Unless you want to be pummeled with snowballs by the Grinch." "Did you say, the Grinch?" asked Velvet. "Yes. He's been causing a lot of trouble for us." she explained. "In fact, he could show up at anytime to attack. That's why it's best to keep your windows up at all times, just in case you run into him." "Thanks for the warning." Night Light said as the gate bar rose. The family started to make their way inside the tunnel where Twilight and Spike's eyes widen as they watched the stars on the walls light up and flash with different colors. After making a right turn, the family went straight before having to make a left where the exit was. Exiting the tunnel, they family found themselves on a road where on each side were large houses decorated with many Christmas lights. It wasn't just the houses that were decorated, but the trees as well. The entire area gave off the feeling of being transported to another world. "Spike, you gotta see this." Twilight said before moving to unbuckle him from his seat. A gasp came from Velvet as she caught her daughter taking Spike out of his seat. "Twilight, don't take him out of there." she said. "But Mommy, he can't see anything." she begged. "Don't worry, Velvet, it'll be alright." Night Light reassured. "Besides, it looks as though the line's about stop." As the car came to a slow stop, little Twilight took this time to hold Spike up to the window. The one year old's eyes widen as the first thing he saw was a large house covered in all white lights with many cartoon cutout of children surrounding Frosty the snowman. Spike's little hand began tapping on the window; letting Twilight know that he wanted to go over to it, but unfortunately for Spike, that was not an option. While the kids were taking in the sights, the line was starting to move once again, albeit, slowly. It's not like they were in a hurry or anything, in fact, to tell the truth, it was nice to just sit back and enjoy their surroundings. As Shining Armor looked out the decorations on his side, the 13 year old noticed something moving from behind one of the houses. At first, he thought it was one of the organizers attempting to hurry to fix something, but upon further inspection, it clearly was someone in a costume. Could it be the Grinch? It wasn't long before the line stopped once again, and Night Light noticed Shining looking intensely out the window. "Something wrong, kiddo?" he asked. "No, just thought I something moving in the bushes back there." he answered. Hearing this instantly caught Twilight's attention as she remembered the lady from earlier warning them about the Grinch. She started to become worried that the green monster would try to ruin their trip, or worse, scare Spike. Well, she wasn't gonna let the overgrown green monster scare her little brother and get away with it. Thankfully, she had her trusty toy wand with her she could use to beat him away. Spike continued to tap at the window while looking out at all the pretty lights; especially the house right across from them that had gingerbread men and houses throughout the front yard. Once again, the line started to move and Twilight was now on the lookout for the Grinch while holding Spike close. They soon approached six massively large trees, three on each side of the road, draped in all white lights with angels hanging from them. This caught everyone's attention, especially as they drove right under them. The many bright lights along with the angels made it look like they were inside a dome of some kind. Spike squealed with excitement as his tiny hands continued to hit the window. "How did they do this?" Velvet asked. "Couldn't have been easy." Night Light replied. Driving through the dome-like area, the family came out on the other side where they saw a rows of giant candy canes with lights not only wrapped around them, but also going over head; resembling that of a tunnel. The path they were on caused them to make a left turn where they had to stop as right in front of them was a railroad crossing with it's lights flashing. The car in front of them managed to make it through right before the gate came down and the sound of an train approaching increased. "Did they seriously put a train here?" Shining asked. As the train started to pass them, it remined Shining of the one at Everfree Zoo in the next city over. The train itself was covered an many garlands and lights. Aside from the driver, the train has no passengers on it and was moving at about 5mph. Before long, the train finally passed and the family was allowed to continue on; once again passing through the candy cane trail until they came upon two people dressed as elves directing them to make another left turn which brought them to another tunnel entrance, only this time, the tunnel looked like it was made of snow. Velvet looked looked out the window and pointed out a sign to her children. "Looks like we're about to enter the North Pole." she announced. Twilight gasped in excitement at the thought of being at the North Pole which could only mean one thing. As they entered the snow tunnel, Twilight's excitement only grew as she bounced in her seat with Spike in her arms. Unlike that last tunnel, this wasn't as long and the family made it through pretty quickly. Upon exiting, they were now in an area surrounded by fake snow and many statutes of penguins, polar bears, and candy canes. There were two turns they had to make, first a right turn, where they went straight for a while, then finally a left turn where they met up with the rest of the cars they were separated from due to the train. Up a head of them was a toll gate that was letting the cars through one by one. Eventually, the family made it to the gate where they were greeted by someone dressed as an elf. He smiled at them before handing them a box; something he was giving every family that passed. "What is it?" asked Shining. Velvet gasped at the gift. It was a 4 piece coffee mug Christmas set. Each mug had a picture of either Santa Claus, a Christmas tree, a snowman, and a reindeer. The elf wished the family a merry Christmas before sending them on their way. Driving through, the family were now in a village that was surrounded by snow, lights, candy canes, and even more people dressed as elves acting as though they were getting ready for the holiday season. Of course, Twilight, seeing as how young she is, truly believed they were transported to the North Pole, and Shining didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise. It wasn't until the family made it to the middle of the village when Shining once again noticed something moving in the background behind the houses. "Dad, roll up the windows!" he said. "Why, what's wrong?" Night Light asked. Before Shining could answer, a big green monster came from behind one of the houses and started throwing snowballs at one of the cars. "Is that the Grinch?!" asked Night Light. Twilight's excitement quickly went away and anger set it. The Grinch was no good and only served to ruin things, not to mention, he's scary. She grabbed her wand and prepared to fight him off in order to protect Spike. The family could hear the screams of the people in the car ahead of them as the green monster pummeled them with snowballs. Eventually, he turned his attention towards them, to which, Night Light quickly rolled his window up, but rolled everyone else's down. "Night Light, NO!" Velvet yelled. Seconds later, she was hit with a snowball; loud screams ensued. Night Light's laughter grew even louder once Shining Armor was hit as well. Both mother and son tried their best to shield themselves while Twilight used her body to cover Spike as the snowballs kept coming. Suddenly, the attacks stopped, and the Grinch started to make his way around the car to the other side. Twilight rose her head up and looked around only to come face to face with the creature when he poked his head inside. "HE'S TRYING TO EAT SPIKE!" she yelled. With wand in hand, she swung and struck him in the face. Over and over she attacked; trying her best to protect her baby brother who she held close. Eventually, the Grinch pulled away, but Twilight wasn't done yet. She placed Spike back in his seat, unhooked her seatbelt, and opened the door; leaping out and chasing after him with a war cry. "T-TWILIGHT!" Night Light yelled. Twilight proceeded to assault to the Grinch with multiples swings of her wand. Seeing that he was being attacked by a little girl, the Grinch played along and fell to the ground. Twilight took it up a notch; dropping the wand and just throwing haymaker after haymaker with her little fists. The other families and even the organizers couldn't help but laugh at the situation; especially when Night Light came out of the car and picked up his daughter and her wand. Twilight thrashed around as he proclaimed that he won't eat her little brother. The people around thought that it was cute that she would go to great lengths to protect her sibling. Night Light placed Twilight back in the car before getting in himself and driving off. The Grinch slowly got up; pretending to be unable to stand up straight as two elven police officers took him away; unable to stay in character due to laughing so much. Inside the car, Twilight quickly grabbed Spike and planted small kisses on his forehead. "It's okay, Spike, the can't hurt you anymore." Spike responded by blowing his tongue at her; not understanding what just happened. "I can't believe you just did that." scolded Night Light. "But Daddy, he was gonna eat Spike." she defended. "N-No he wasn't." he replied. "How would you know? You were busy laughing at Mommy and Shining to see him." she argued. "She's got a point." Shining added. "Oh don't you start." he said to his son. "You know how overprotective Twilight gets when it comes to Spike." he said. "Are you really surprised she tried to "murder" the Grinch?" Velvet tried to not giggle at her son's choice of words, but knew what Twilight did was not only wrong, but dangerous. When they got home, she would have to sit her down and have a long talk about her actions tonight; no matter how justified she felt it was. Up ahead, three cars came to a stop once the lights from the railroad signals went off. The bars came down and passing them up was the train from earlier. It didn't take long for it to pass and the cars continued on their way out of the village and onto a path with walls of snow on each side. The path itself wasn't that long as they found themselves making a right turn and seeing a large red building just up ahead. The family's car came to a stop now entering another long line right next to a sign Shining noticed. "So that's Santa's Workshop, huh." he said. Almost immediately, a loud gasp from Twilight could be heard as she tried her best to see up ahead while Spike looked around wondering where all the pretty lights went. The line started to move, not but not by much; almost stopping as soon as it started. Night Light and Velvet could see that the staff were letting the cars in one by one, and by the looks of it, they were expected to drive through the red building. Now that they were a bit closer, Night Light, Velvet, and Shining could see that the red building looked to be a barn that was renovated for this special occasion. As they started to get closer, Twilight continued bouncing in her seat while holding Spike. In mere moments, she's gonna see Santa Claus. "Hey, calm down, Twilight." said Velvet. "We'll get there soon enough." Twilight was also told to calm down by Spike who tapped her on the nose with his little hand. After what felt like and eternity, only to Twilight, the family were now next in line to be let in. All they had to do now was wait for the go ahead. The entrance to the barn had candy canes covered in lights along the drive way with three elves holding check lists. As the car inside started to drive off, one of the elves instructed Night Light to go on ahead. This was it, Twilight was finally going to see Santa. As the family entered, they saw many elves moving around as quickly as they could in order to get ready for the season, many toys on display in order help parents with their Christmas shopping, Christmas lights and all kinds of decorations displayed throughout the building, and last but not least, high on the second level overlooking everything, was none other than Santa Clause himself. "It's Santa!" Twilight squeaked with excitement. Unfortunately, she barely got a good look at him since he was Shining's side of the car. "Alright, you two, come here." Shining chuckled. He reached over and grabbed Spike before Twilight came over to sit on his lap. Together, the two younger siblings were able to see the jolly old man. The car came to a stop right in the middle of the area where they were approached by one of the elves holding something in her hand. "Merry Christmas." she said as Night Light received the gift. It was a large tray of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. The scent of it instantly caught Spike's attention and the one year old attempted to move from his brother's grip to his hands on the tasty treats, but alas, Shining's grip on him was just too much. As Velvet took the tray from her husband, she noticed Spike reaching out to it. "Oh, does mommy's little man want a cookie?" she said. Spike responded by grunting and squirming around; trying his best to get free. Velvet set the tray on the dashboard, and unhooked her seatbelt so that she could take Spike from Shining. The one year old kicked happily in his mother's arms before turning his attention towards his prize; the cookies. Velvet took one out and broke it into small pieces, before blowing on it and giving it to him. Spike kicked happily as he reached for another piece. Twilight waved her hands to get Santa's attention and right as the car started to move, he noticed her and waved back. This was clearly the highlight of the whole night for her. Leaving Santa's workshop, the family were on a path where they made a right turn and came upon an exit gate where two elves waved and thanked them for coming. "Alright Twilight, back in your seat." said Night light. Twilight hurried back and buckled herself in before Velvet moved to sit Spike in his car seat and gave him his bottle to wash the cookie down. With all that done, the family were now on there way back home. "So tell me, how was it?" Night Light asked. "That was amazing, let's go again!" Twilight said excitedly. "Maybe next time, right now it's pass all of your bedtimes." he said. Night Light turned up the radio a bit and which allowed the family to enjoy whatever Christmas music that played as they made the journey home. END.