Equestria Noir
Christmas Special
“The Giver”
Written by: Jacoboby1
Prologue
Do not withhold good from where it’s due, when it is in your power to do it
Proverbs 3:27
Perspective: Tailspin
“Move it a little more to the left, Rumble. No, your other left. No, my left!”
“Will you make up your mind, Tailspin?” Rumble complained, as he tried to pin the Hearth’s Warming wreath on the classroom wall.
“All right,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Just stick it up there.”
I looked around at the rest of the classroom. It was one of the last days of school before we had to head home for winter break. Originally we were going to decorate for the Autumn semi-formal, but that was cancelled a few weeks ago, due to an early and furious snowstorm. The dance committee decided to delay it until after we got back from winter break. So it had become a winter semi-formal instead.
I was a little disappointed but, on the bright side, it gave me more time to come up with ideas on how to dance with Scootaloo. So far the only good idea I came up with was replacing my legs with cyber enhanced ones, but that kind of stuff only happens on TV.
Rumble pinned the wreath on the wall and fluttered back down to the floor. I looked around and spotted Pip at his desk, a small brightly wrapped package with a ribbon in front of him. I rolled over to my pinto friend and smirked at him. “Gift for Dinky?” I asked, teasingly.
“Tailspin!” Pip exclaimed. He obviously hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings until I spoke up. Yep, he was thinking of her all right. He tried to hide the package inside his desk, but I gave him a look. Sighing he showed me the present and explained, “It’s a hair ribbon she's wanted for a long time; I spent most of my allowance to get it.”
“I bet she’ll love it,” I encouraged my friend. “Who knows, you might get another kiss out of it!”
Pip turned a deep shade of scarlet and looked over at Dinky. She was decorating our classroom tree with some of the other fillies. He then looked down at his gift with a sullen expression. “I just get so nervous around her lately. Ever since the mansion I’m worried she’ll laugh at me when I say something stupid.”
I rolled my eyes and gave my best friend a playful shove. “You took on a huge monster, this isn’t any scarier than that.”
“I guess you’re right.” Pip said, putting the present inside his desk. “I’ll give it to her after school is out.”
Everypony heard the door open and returned to their desks. Miss Cheerilee entered the room and smiled at the results of all our hard work decorating the classroom. “Wonderful children, you’ve really outdone yourselves again this year!” she exclaimed proudly.
“Crusaders, check your flanks!” Applebloom called. Scootaloo looked at her flank and frowned with disappointment, Applebloom soon followed. No cutie marks in decoration I guess.
I looked down at my own flank, still blank as well. Like the rest of the crusaders I tried all manner of things to get the darn thing to pop up. There’s only so much you can do when you can’t fly or walk, however.
That wasn't going to dampen my spirits this year though. I’d be spending Hearth’s Warming with Private, and my Dad.
“I’m sorry, girls,” Cherilee said, noticing their disappointed faces. “Maybe you’ll get your cutie marks in shoveling snow!” she added, gestured outside at the huge blizzard we’d been having. The pegasi apparently had a surplus of snowflakes this year and they had to get rid of them. Sadly they chose our town to dump it all onto.
Diamond snickered but she shut up when Cherilee gave her a glare. The teacher went on, “Now if you will turn your textbook-”
Suddenly all the lights went out. I looked around, but the room was covered in near darkness. The only light came from the windows; the skies beyond them were a dark gray, however. Some of the other foals chattered about what happened to the power. Cherilee blew her whistle causing us all to quiet down. “It’s probably just due to the snow; I’ll go have a look,” she said, heading towards the door. Before she walked out she looked at us and admonished, “Try and find some way to occupy your time, quietly until I get back.”
“Yes, Miss Cherilee,” we all chanted in unison. She left the room with a smile on her face.
Sweetie Belle looked outside at the mounting snow, and exclaimed, “I haven’t seen a snow storm this bad since I was a little filly!”
Rumble noticed the room getting a little cooler and announced, “With the power out the heat is gone as well.”
“Let’s just all try to stay warm,” I said, taking the initiative. “Everypony get in their snow gear, if the power doesn’t come back on we may be dismissed early.”
“We may be dismissed early,” Scootaloo agreed, looking outside, “but I doubt we’ll be able to walk home in all that snow.”
“This stinks!” Diamond complained, wrapping her scarf around her neck. “How will I get all my presents if daddy can’t even get here?”
All of us, minus Silver Spoon, rolled our eyes at Diamond. She always bragged about the fact that she got a mountain of presents every year for Hearth’s Warming. Some ponies are spoiled like that.
_____________________________________________________
Nearly an hour had passed and Cherilee still hadn’t come back. I hoped nothing was wrong as I sat with the others around the Hearth’s Warming tree. The lights that once adorned it were out but it still somehow seemed to shine a little with the light from outside the window. Right now we were talking about how we planned to spend Hearth’s Warming Eve.
“It’s always a huge family get together,” Applebloom said happily. “All mah cousins come over and the barn is turned inta one giant party.”
“Rainbow Dash is going to show me how to fly in the snow,” Scootaloo bragged. “She said if you can fly in the snow,” she added, fluttering her wings in excitement. “You can fly anywhere.”
“What about you, Tailspin?” Dinky asked.
I smiled. “Dad is going to come from Manehattan and spend Hearth’s Warming with Private and I. I can’t wait until he comes.”
“If we can get out of here,” Snips pointed out. “Miss Cherilee has been gone for a long time.”
“I’m bored,” Diamond moaned. “When’s she going to get back?”
“I hope that she comes soon,” Rumble said, his teeth chattering. “I don’t like the cold at all.”
“What should we do to pass the time?” Pip asked. “Miss Cherilee isn’t going to be back for a while.”
“Yeah,” Dinky spoke out “Mommy is going to get worried if we’re stuck here forever!”
I had an idea. “Hey, I know how we can pass the time!”
Everypony in the room turned to look at me, I blushed a little at the attention. I gave a small smile. “I could tell you guys a story.”
“What kinda story?” Applebloom asked.
“Why we give gifts on Hearth’s Warming.” I said.
“Yeah,” said Sweetie Belle, looking off in thought. “That play didn’t really explain why we do that.”
“Well,” I said, entering storyteller mode. “Private told me this story when I was a little kid. It all started a few years after Equestria’s founding…”