//------------------------------// // Creating a New Holiday // Story: Twilight Tries... // by Peni Parker //------------------------------// Hi, everypony, and welcome to another episode of Twilight Tries! *SQUEE* Sorry if I seem a bit over-enthusiastic about today’s episode, but I’m just so, so excited for it! In fact, I think this might be the most excited I’ve felt to do an episode of my vlog to date! In today’s episode, I’m going to try…creating a new holiday! *SQUEE* . . Very funny, Starlight. But I highly doubt that I’m squeeing so loudly that they can hear me over at the School of Friendship. . . Okay, okay. I’ll try and keep the squeeing to a low volume so that you and Trixie can practice your magic act in peace. Or at least what constitutes peace whenever Trixie is around. . . Yep, you have fun too! . Now then, where was I? Oh, right. So at this point you may be asking yourselves how it is I decided to try and create a new holiday, and the story behind that is actually kind of funny. You see, I was feeling a little exhausted yesterday after finishing a three-day summit with the other princesses in the Crystal Empire and decided to do a little bit of light reading to help me unwind. So I went into the castle library and picked up a copy of the Compendium of Equestrian Laws Volume 4, and after getting about 150 pages into that book I discovered a rather interesting fact: princesses have the authority to create and implement new holidays as they wish! *SQUEE* Oh, I just love holidays! The friends, the festivities, the food; everything about them is just so wonderful! And so to have the ability to bring a new holiday into existence that brings these wonderful things to ponies an extra day each year, it just…it makes me really happy. But of course, creating a new holiday isn’t as simple as clopping my hooves and magically pulling one out of thin air. There are a lot of elements that need to be considered in order to create a successful and inveterate holiday, and those are the things we’re going to go through together in this episode. So enough small talk, let’s get to it! Okay, the first thing we need to figure out is what this new holiday will be all about. Now we all know that holidays are days of festivity or recreation, but festivity or recreation alone does not a holiday make. The vast majority of Equestrian holidays are celebrated in either remembrance of something/somepony or in the spirit of something, so it would probably be best if this new holiday followed suit. But what exactly is it that should be remembered or celebrated? Hmm. . Maybe…Starswirl the Bearded? I mean, he is the father of the amniomorphic spell and one of the most accomplished unicorns in Equestrian history, but I don’t know. I feel that most ponies would treat Starswirl the Bearded Day as one of those holidays that’s nothing more than an excuse to have a day off from work or school. They just wouldn’t take the day to actually remember or celebrate him, you know? Which would be a real shame for more reasons than one. How about instead we try something like…Friendship Day, perhaps? It would make sense for the Princess of Friendship to create a holiday centered around friendship, but I admit I have my doubts about this one too. It just seems like Friendship Day would be a little too…pedestrian, like one of those holidays that isn’t really even celebrated. And I definitely don’t want my holiday to end up like Barbershop Quartet Day or Teddy Bears' Picnic Day - which, before you ask, are indeed very real holidays. *SIGH* This is turning out to be a bit more difficult than I’d expected. What would be a good holiday that everypony would really love and want to celebrate? . . Trixie Day? Yeah, I don’t think so. Wait, who said that? . . TRIXIE?! What are you doing here?! . . Okay, well, kindly grab your Cloak of Mystery that Starlight left in here and go. I’m in the middle of recording an episode for my vlog. . . Thank you. . So sorry for that little interruption just now, everypony. But now that Trixie has retrieved her cloak and left we can get back on track with creating this new holiday. Now what can we come up with? . Magic Day, maybe? Nah. That feels like it’d be a holiday just for unicorns. . Earth Day? No. That one sounds too much like something spawned from a PSA campaign. . . Trixie Day isn’t happening, Trixie! Now will you please go back outside! Oy vey. . Okay, now that I’ve locked the door so that Trixie can’t get back in here we can continue uninterrupted. Though honestly, I don’t think having some peace and quiet is going to make much of a difference. So far every idea I’ve come up with for a new holiday has been pretty subpar, and frankly I’m not sure if I can come up with anything better than I already have. *SIGH* It just feels like all the good holidays already exist. I mean, we’ve got Hearth’s Warming to remember the founding of Equestria, Hearts and Hooves Day to celebrate love, Nightmare Night to commemorate the defeat of Nightmare Moon – and celebrate general spookiness – the Summer Sun Celebration to celebrate summertime, Winter Wrap Up to – wait! The Summer Sun Celebration, and Winter Wrap Up. Oh my gosh…I think I’ve got it! *SQUEE* I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner! How did I not realize this as soon as I decided to create a new holiday?! . Oh…I should probably explain my abrupt outburst, shouldn’t I? S-Sorry for the sudden excitement, everypony, but as I was talking about all of the Equestrian holidays that already exist I realized something rather intriguing; we have a holiday to celebrate each of the four seasons except winter. We have Winter Wrap Up for spring, the Summer Sun Celebration for summer, the Running of the Leaves for autumn, but nothing for winter. Weird, right? And yes, I know that Hearth’s Warming takes place in winter, but it’s not a celebration of winter like the other holidays I just mentioned. So with that in mind, I think creating a holiday centered on winter and all things winter-like would be a good direction to go in. After all, winter deserves just as much love as the other seasons, don’t you think? I think so. Without winter we wouldn’t have snow. Okay, now what should we call this new winter holiday? Hmm. . Something with ‘winter’ in the name would be good, so how about Winter…Celebration Day? No. That sounds to generic. Maybe…Winter Wonder Day? Oof. That one doesn't sound too good either. How about…Winter Wishmas? . Okay, I’m not even sure where that one came from. What even is a ‘Wishmas’? You know what? Why don’t we just call it ‘Winter Solstice’ and have it coincide with the day when one of the Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It would not only help solve the name problem but it would also help ensure that the date of the holiday doesn’t change too much from year-to-year. Oh, and if we coincide it with the solstice we could probably get Princess Luna involved with it! You know, since the solstice is the longest night of the year! I’m sure she’d be more than willing to help out! She could be the…the bearer of ceremonies! Oh, I like the sound of that! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! This is all just so exciting! *SQUEE* *LOUD KNOCKING* That’s probably Trixie again. For the last time, Trixie, I’m not making Trixie Day a thing! So will you please just rejoin Starlight outside and - oh, Yona. So sorry about all that, I thought you were Starlight’s friend. Is there something I can help you with? . . Y-You came here to ask me to stop all my squeeing because it’s disturbing your study session? Huh. Starlight was right; they could hear me over at the school. Um, m-my sincere apologies for bothering you. You won’t hear anymore squeeing from me today, I promise. . Well, everypony, since I seem to be squeeing so loud that it’s disturbing my students I think I’m going to end this episode here. But rest assured, this doesn’t mean that Winter Solstice won’t be happening. By next winter I guarantee you that we’ll all be celebrating it together and creating lots of new holiday memories. So as always, thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time on Twilight Tries! Ooh, maybe I should try writing some carols to go with this new holiday. I’m sure everypony would love singing solstice carols.