North Pole
December 24th, 2022
0000hrs
Rudolph and the reindeer pulled the sleigh through the air over the North Pole, going as fast as they could. Sparkler, in the sleigh itself, was taking deep breaths, calming herself down from the exhilaration of going as fast as they were. “Ok this is faster than I thought.” She commented, making a mental note to brace herself every time the rest of the mission. Once she calmed down enough to focus, she addressed Flappy. “Alright Flappy, Where to first?” She asked.
She saw her Glasses HUD light up with a map, on one side and the list on the other. “Griffonia in Griffonstone.” Flappy responded.
“Right. Let’s see if they’re ready on the Kringle–” Sparkler was cut off when something slammed into the sleigh and knocked it to the side. The resulting explosion knocked the sleigh off course and temporarily spun out of control. “What the?!” Sparkler gripped the reins tight and she and a startled Rudolph struggled to regain control, which they did in a few moments.
“What the hay was that?!” Rudolph called out.
“Warning! Two incoming bogeys at 2 o’clock!” Flappy responded.
Sparkler glanced back in the direction Flappy called out, and her eyes widened when she saw what was coming, or rather, WHO was coming. “Are you freaking kidding me right now?!” She exclaimed.
“Two bogies are converging on Santa Spark!” An Elf called out as Alex, Sunset and Twilight dashed into the control room. Not even 2 minutes after Sparkler left did the alarms go off.
“Two minutes in and we already have a problem, on screen!” Alex responded.
The screen lit up, and everyone saw the sleigh being attacked by two familiar people. Sunset and Twilight couldn’t believe it. “You have got to be KIDDING me!” Sunset said.
“We left them in an exploding base at the bottom of the Lunar Trench!” Twilight said as they watched SUNDOWN SHIMMER AND MIDNIGHT SPARKLE attack Sparkler.
“Apparently these girls are like cockroaches.” Said Daydream through a com system. A viewer showed her flying towards the action. “How much time do we have to deal with this before Sparkler falls behind schedule?” She asked.
“There’s an hour of buffer time total worked into the plan.” Cornelius responded. “However, realistically I say about 5 minutes MAX.”
“Roger that.” Daydream responded.
Back in the air, Sparkler and Rudolph worked together to dodge out of the line of fire whenever they could, with Midnight and Sundown chasing after the sleigh and firing wildly at it. “Sweet Kribble Krabble! I think they’re angry.” Rudolph commented.
“Gee, Ya think?!” Sparkler responded.
Soon, Midnight caught up to the sleigh and peered into the seat. “Well if it isn’t–WHAT?!” She exclaimed when she saw Sparkler, totally not what she thought she’d see. “YOU!” She growled.
“Yes. It’s me.” Sparkler responded as she aimed her watch and fired lasers at Midnight, who shielded herself.
“We WERE going to destroy Santa Claus and cancel Christmas forever.” Midnight said. “But I’ll GLADLY take you instead!”
Sundown flew on the other side of the sleigh and saw Sparkler. “You?!” She asked, shocked. “You’re not Santa!”
“And YOU’RE not supposed to be here.” Sparkler retorted as Clear-Cut roared and breathed fire on Sundown, Midnight and Sundown were forced away some. “Zora, Cortana, could use a hand here!” Sparkler called.
“Copy that Sparkler.” Zora responded as she and Cortana undocked from their pylons and went after Midnight and Sundown, firing lasers at them.
Daydream meanwhile caught up to the Sleigh and flew alongside it. “These girls are cockroaches. They just don’t die.” She said.
“Yeah. Any ideas?” Sparkler responded.
“I do actually have one.” Daydream responded. She contacted the control room. “Is the Kringle Bridge primed?” She asked.
“Primed and ready, but we can’t open a vortex when they can fly through it after Sparkler.” Cornelius responded.
“What if we tricked them into flying through it INSTEAD of Sparkler? And send them to the south pole on the opposite side of the planet?” Daydream asked.
“Will that even work? This isn’t a movie.” Cornelius responded.
“They aim to destroy the sleigh right? So they’re likely to follow her anywhere. If she pulls away at the last second, that will give them no time to react.” Daydream reasoned.
“And since they’ll be on the opposite side of the world, we shouldn’t hear from them again.” Sparkler added.
“Worth a shot I guess.” Cornelius responded. “Setting vortex coordinates. Shall I dump them in a cave?”
“Absolutely.” Sparkler responded.
“Actually, I just had a better idea.” Daydream chimed in, a better thought coming to her. “If the Kringle Bridge can reach as far, let’s dump them on the moon. Banish them like Celestia banished Nightmare Moon a thousand year ago.”
“The Moon?” Sparkler asked.
“Where they won’t be bothering us again for a very good while at least.” Daydream reasoned.
“I second that.” Sunset said over coms.
“The Kringle Bridge CAN reach that far. Alright, I’ll dial in the vortex coordinates. Tell me when to open.” Cornelius said.
Sparkler nodded. “Rudolph! Straight ahead. And get ready to pull up on my signal!” She called.
“Roger that Sparkler!” Rudolph responded as he steered the sleigh into a straight line.
Sparkler smiled and contacted Zora and Cortana. “Zora, Cortana, break off and regroup with the sleigh. We’re pulling a fast one on those demons.” She said.
“Copy that, circling back around.” Zora responded as she and Cortana flew back to the sleigh.
Sparkler glanced at Clear-Cut. “Wanna grow giant and tail whip them through the vortex?” She asked.
Clear-Cut roared in response and flared his wings. Hopping off Sparkler’s shoulder and diving down from the sleigh, He glowed and started growing to the size of the giant dragon that he was when he first emerged from the pendant.
Sundown and Midnight in the meanwhile chased down Zora and Cortana, blasting away at the drones. Zora and Cortana dodged each shot with ease and made it to the Sleigh, docking backup on their pylons. Daydream smirked as she took shots at Midnight and Sundown, wanting to make sure they chased after them. “You demons must be really slow if you haven’t managed to stay on the sleigh’s tail this whole time!” She taunted.
“Oh we’ll show you slow!” Sundown growled as she and Midnight blasted towards them, not seeing what Clear-Cut was doing.
Sparkler glanced back at the incoming demons. “That’s it, closer, closer…” She eyed where Clear-Cut was, and when she saw Clear-Cut grow, she smiled. “Open the Vortex NOW!” She instructed.
Seconds later, the vortex opened up, and Sparkler gripped the reins, she waited for as long as she could, before she yanked hard on the reins. “Climb climb climb!” She called.
Rudolph arced up and led the reindeer and the sleigh to climb in altitude at a sharp angle, exposing the demons to the vacuum of the vortex, which they were caught in before they could react.
Sundown and Midnight gasped as they immediately did a u-turn and flapped their wings as hard as they could to try and escape. “No! It will NOT end like this!” Midnight growled. “We’ll be back!”
Clear-Cut, who was now full sized, roared loudly and proceeded to whip his tail at them, Sundown saw it coming and deadpanned. “Not again.” She said as she and Midnight were smacked into the vortex by the tail.
The Moon…
A vortex opened on the moon, and after a second, Midnight and Sundown were spat out of it and they crashed onto the surface. They came to and got up as the vortex closed, effectively trapping them on the smaller planetoid.
Due to them being magical beings, they didn’t suffocate from lack of oxygen, but they DID see the earth from their position, and after a few moments of silence, Midnight let out a terrifying scream. “Grah! When we get back to Earth, they will PAY for this!” She growled.
“IF we ever get back.” Sundown commented. “They actually pulled a Nightmare Moon on us…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but clever thinking.” She admitted.
Meanwhile, back over the North Pole, Sparkler watched the Vortex close, and trap Midnight and Sundown on the Moon. “And THAT ladies and gentlemen, is how you deal with cockroach Grinches and Scrooges.” She said.
“You can say that again.” Daydream responded.
In the control room, the elves were cheering in celebration while Twilight and Sunset hugged each other, their eyes watering. “Finally. They’re really gone.” Sunset said.
“For a great while at least.” Twilight responded. “Hopefully they don’t return in our lifetime.”
Alex smiled as he and Cornelius fist bumped each other. “We should limit the range of the Kringle Bridge.” Alex said. “Just to make sure it can’t go that far again.”
“On my todo list.” Cornelius responded. “For now, priming the Kringle Bridge to take Santa Spark to Griffonstone.” He said.
Out in the north pole, Daydream smiled as Clear-Cut shrunk back down and took his seat next to Sparkler. “You really are Santa Spark.” She said. “You just helped to give the world the greatest gift of all, safety from a pair of lunatics.” She said.
“Couldn’t have done it alone.” Sparkler responded.
“Sparkler, Prepare to Kringle Bridge to Griffonstone.” Cornelius told her.
“Acknowledged.” Sparkler responded. She glanced back at Daydream. “See you back at the North Pole?” She asked.
“See you in 24 hours.” Daydream responded as she made a U-turn, right as the vortex opened up in front of the sleigh.
Sparkler smiled as she called out to Rudolph. “Ready to get back on track Rudolph?” She asked.
“Ready when you are, Santa.” Rudolph responded.
“Then by all means, Dash away.” Sparkler said as they flew through the vortex.
To be continued…