//------------------------------// // 5th Wish // Story: 12 Wishes for a Shimmering Christmas // by Kamen Rider SEGADash //------------------------------// Sunset had simply looked at her song book, knowing their upcoming performance would be soon, and she was really hoping that her song would be a great one. “Hey there,” Vinyl’s voice said, as the bluenette approached Sunset. “Oh, hey Vinyl.  What’s up?” Sunset replied, waving. “Party and Prep sent me to check on the song you’re writing,” Vinyl informed. “...party and prep?” “It’s a nickname I have for Pinkie.” “Oh… I see… well… it’s coming along really good.” Sunset informed, showing her the book, which Vinyl looked over and smiled, “I call it ‘Let’s Rock Some Jingle Bells’.” “The title sounds like a longer version of ‘Jingle Bell Rock’, but I can’t wait to see the lyrics and hear how it sounds.” Sunset giggled a bit, taking the notebook before simply looking at it in thought. She began to walk off, heading back to Fluttershy’s home. “So… we’ve managed to complete Number 10 on Sunset’s list…” Fluttershy stated, talking with Rainbow and the others via Sraife. -Yep. So, that’s four items on the list finished.- Rainbow commented, checking off Number Ten on the list. -That’s good.  So, what’s next?- Rarity asked, as she looked over the list. -Me and Pinkie we’re gonna do some Christmas baking. Maybe we can invite Sunset?- AJ shrugged. “That’d work.  It’s number 4 on her list, so I’ll be sure to let her know,” Fluttershy smiled. The next day at school, Sunset looked at a calender, seeing the date was the 12th, and there were 5 school days until the Winter Break. “Well… it won’t be long now…” she muttered to herself, as she looked to her song notes, which were finished, “Can’t wait…” “Afternoon,” AJ smiled, walking over to Sunset. “Oh, good afternoon, AJ,” Sunset smiled. “How’s today treatin’ ya?” AJ asked, sitting down by her. “Pretty good. I finished the song for our upcoming performance.” Sunset informed, “We can practice it later, okay?” “Sounds good ta me Sugahcube,” Applejack smiled, “Say, Ah was wondrin’ if’n ya’ll could… do some bakin’ with me and mah cousin after school today?” “...that sounds like fun,” Sunset smiled, “I’d be happy to help,” Sunset soon arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, meeting up with AJ soon afterwards. “So, where’s your cousin?” Sunset asked. “She’s already inside, playin’ with Applebloom,” AJ figured as they walked in to see Pinkie playing with a yellow skinned, red-haired girl with a large pink bow tying up her ponytail, orange eyes, and was wearing a green t-shirt, blue jeans, and orange cowgirl boots. “Heya Applebloom,” Sunset waved. “Oh? Hiya Sunset,” Applebloom giggled, going over to hug Sunset, which she willfully accepted, hugging Applebloom back. “Nice ta see ya’ll two are friends,” Applejack smiled. “Nice to see you too, Applebloom,” Sunset smiled, “Are the other Crusaders here?” “Actually, yea,” Applebloom answered, pointing to a girl with light gray (near white) skin with lavender and pink hair and green eyes wearing a pink and white striped shirt, a magenta jacket with matching boots, and a yellow skirt as well as an orange skinned girl with magenta hair, purple eyes, and currently wearing a black hoodie and boots as well as green shorts. “Ah still wanna know where you came up with ‘Crusaders’,” Applejack admitted. “Well… um… Ah don’t remember…” Applebloom admitted, with the other two shrugging. “Oh well, I’m sure we can figure that out later,” the magenta-haired girl shrugged, “So Sunset, what are you doing here?” “Well, Applejack invited me here because she and her cousin were going to bake some Christmas goodies, and I wanted to help. So… now we need to wait for her cousin. But Pinkie… why are you here?” “Oh, didn’t ya know?  I’m AJ’s cousin!” Pinkie smiled, hugging AJ. “Oh, really?” “Well… she’s technically my fourth-cousin-twice-removed,” “I don’t get how that removal stuff works…” Sunset admitted. “Neither do we,” Applebloom and the Crusaders admitted as well, “So I often call her another sister of mine.” “Okay,” Sunset shrugged before the three young girls walked off, leaving Sunset, Pinkie and AJ. “So… what are we making?” Sunset asked, seeing Pinkie mix up some batter. “Well, we’re starting off with making some gingerbread men, some sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies topped with tasty Coco’s Heart, and even make gingerbread to be used in making gingerbread houses!” Pinkie giggled as AJ wrote those out and got some of the needed ingredients. “Hey uh… there’s a recipe that Princess Celestia used to make for Hearth’s Warming Eve every year… do you mind if I try to make it… I remember by heart…” Sunset giggled. “Hearth’s Warming Eve?” AJ and Pinkie blinked in confusion. “Oh. That’s Equestria’s version of Christmas,” Sunset clarified. “Oh.  Okay,” they nodded as they began to get the ingredients and began to make the gingerbread men. “So what is Hearth’s Warming Eve like? Is there someone who goes around delivering toys to good ponies?” Pinkie asked. “Well… it’s similar to Christmas in style, there’s tree decorating, cookies and the like… but every year, there’s a play put on about how the holiday was founded.” “What’s the story like?” AJ asked curiously. “Well… hmm… how do I put this… it begins in a time before Equestria. There wasn’t a leader to the ponies, and the three different kinds of ponies were Earth Pony, Pegasi and Unicorn. The Unicorns controlled the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the Earth Ponies tended to the land and grew the crops for the rest of Ponykind, and the pegasi controlled the weather. Unfortunately… none of them got along. And that led to creatures known as the Windigoes to begin to spread cold all over their land, and as such, each of the leaders had to take their tribes to find a new place to call home. So they headed off and found land… unfortunately for them… it was the exact same land.” Sunset started, “And so, they began to argue again about how to handle the situation, only to find out that the Windigoes followed them there. They began to spread the cold around due to their arguing…” “Sorta like the Sirens using their magic to spread anger and the like,” AJ commented. “Yea, almost. Anyway, the leaders of the tribes and their advisors fled, realizing the Windigoes were still on their way, but the three leaders just continued to argue, and they were eventually frozen over. But their advisors didn’t argue, and through it, discovered something called the ‘Fire of Friendship’, and thus used it to unfreeze the tribe leaders and scare off the Windigoes. They all eventually came together, and formed Equestria. We celebrate what they did for us and express our friendship and love for one another,” Sunset concluded. “That’s an interesting tale there,” Applejack admitted, as she and Pinkie finished putting some details on the gingerbread men they had started to decorate and had finished already. “Oh! Before I forget,” Pinkie giggled, as she took out her phone and started a song, which started with a graceful piano melody and had a bit of a holiday like feel to it. “This is a nice song…” Sunset giggled, as she had started to help Applejack make some cookies. “Of course. It’s the best song from the best video game ever,” Pinkie smiled, “And people who don’t play it, are bad people.” “I don’t know what game this is from…” Sunset stated. “You’re an exception to that. And I’m only kidding when I say they’re bad people, but I would insist non-stop they play it,” Pinkie informed, as she began to pour some sugar into some bowls. “Ah would vouch for her comment there… she pestered me for almost a month…” Applejack stated. “I see…” Sunset blinked. After they had finished the cookies and gingerbread men and walls for a gingerbread house, Sunset had begun to make a recipe that had apples, marshmallows and some chocolate chips in it. “So what’s this recipe supposed to be exactly?” Applejack asked. “Looks tasty,” Pinkie noted. “She called it the ‘Heart of Hearth’s Warming Eve’, it’s like a cookie, but really sweet and it was made with these items, and some cookie material. Do you mind if I have some time alone to work on it? And when I’m done… is it okay if you make sure it stays cool until Christmas?” Sunset asked AJ. “Uh… sure, Ah guess… why would you need it to be like that, exactly?” AJ asked, confused. “I just want to make sure I get it right… and I want to surprise you all with it on Christmas. Don’t tell anyone, okay?” “Okay,” AJ nodded. Sunset soon finished the treat and she handed it to Applejack so she could put it away. “So let’s see… store it in the fridge?” AJ checked with Sunset. “Yea,” Sunset nodded, and unknown to Sunset, Pinkie took out her phone and checked off Number 4 as AJ stuck the cookies in the fridge. ‘Seven more to go,’ Pinkie thought to herself, giggling a bit. “How have you two been?” Sunset asked Lightning and Coco via Sraife. -We’re doing just fine, Sunset,- Lightning assured, -What about you?- “I’m fine. I kinda miss you two…” Sunset admitted. -We miss you, too, Sunset,- Coco added, -But Miss Rarity and Sweetie Belle have been treating me like family. And they read me a lovely book last night, it was called The Polar Express.- “Wow, that’s sweet.  What about you, Lightning?” -Rainbow and her little buddy are really nice. Gotta admit, while Rainbow and I are rivals, when I’m with her friend… I feel like I’m part of a family.- Lightning smiled, -What about you Sunset? You make any new friends or something?- “Well… yea.  I’ve actually made a new friend recently, and I’m going to ask Rarity for some help to make her a Christmas present.” Sunset informed. -Do you want me to go and get her?- Coco asked. “Hmm… go ahead.” Sunset informed, and thus, Coco headed away from the computer for a moment, when Posey walked on over to Sunset. -Oh? Hi Fluttershy,- Lightning waved, -Nice haircut.- “Huh?  Oh, that’s not Fluttershy, Lightning; this is her cousin, Posey,” Sunset responded, with Posey waving to Lightning. -Oh… my bad.- Lightning apologized. “Don’t worry, I get that a lot,” Posey informed. -Still, it’s nice to meet you.- Lightning smiled as Coco walked on over with Rarity. -Hello Sunset. Coco told me you wanted to talk to me.- “Yea. I wanted to make a friend a Christmas present, is it okay if I ask you for some help?” -Of course, Darling. Meet me over here after school tomorrow so we can get started.- Rarity told Sunset. “Gotcha,” Sunset nodded as Rarity noticed Posey. -Posey, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?- Rarity smiled. “It certainly has, Rarity,” Posey smiled, the other three looking surprised that Rarity knew it wasn’t Fluttershy. -Oh, I’m sorry.  I forgot to mention I met Posey once before.- “It was when Itoko-chan and Rarity-san went to the spa. I kinda tagged along and got to know Rarity-san a bit,” Posey informed. “I see…” Sunset smiled, “Well… I’ll see you tomorrow Rarity.” -Until then, Posey, Sunset.- Rarity smiled, as Sunset walked off. “So… you said you’d have something to help me sleep better at night?” Sunset asked Fluttershy later that evening, and Fluttershy handed her something wrapped up and with some holes in it. “It’s a bit early, I know… but Merry Christmas Sunset,” Fluttershy smiled, showing Sunset it was a jar filled with fireflies, acting as a natural nightlight, Sunset gawking at their beauty. “This… this is amazing! Fireflies are so beautiful…” Sunset giggled, “Thank you so, SO much, Fluttershy!” “Anything to help you…” Fluttershy giggled, blushing, and Sunset blushed herself. ‘She’s so innocent and sweet… I’m glad I can help make her Christmas special. Maybe make it… more special than she’d hope for,’ Fluttershy thought to herself, giggling. Sunset happily set the jar of fireflies up on the nightstand and smiled, “Thank you so much Butterfly-er… Fluttershy,” “...how do you know my original name?” Fluttershy asked. “...you kinda shouldn’t have it on your stocking…” Sunset informed. “My parents gave it to me when I was younger… I’ve always used it. But… please, can you not tell anyone my actual name?” Fluttershy asked. “I won’t.  Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Sunset answered, with Fluttershy hugging her, and Sunset began to blush. ‘Fluttershy is just so kind… and beautiful… I’m so glad that I’m staying with her this holiday. If only I could tell her how I feel...’ Sunset thought. ‘She’s so sweet… she’s easy to please, but sweet still… I’m glad she’s here… and pretty. Wait a minute… am I… am I… in love with Sunset?’ Fluttershy thought to herself, blushing a bit. “Hey Fluttershy… thank you so much for this gift… I’ll be sure to cherish it…” Sunset giggled, hugging Fluttershy, making the shy girl blush and smile before Sunset yawned and got into the bed Fluttershy was letting her sleep in. ‘So cute… I look forward to seeing how much she’ll smile when it’s Christmas day… oh my… I am in love with Sunset...’ Fluttershy thought.