//------------------------------// // CH6: Long Day's End // Story: Sunset Helpers // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// Sunset stared on in confusion as Pinkie continued to play with the colorful plastic balls in the large ball pit near the back of the store. So far, instead of giving Sunset any useful advice, Pinkie had just gone from aisle to aisle examining some toys as possible gifts, and just plain playing around with others. Half the time, Sunset had even lost sight of the girl and wandered around on her own before locating her again. “Pinkie,” she sighed, rubbing her temple, “what are you doing?” Pinkie popped her head out near the back of the ball pit with a particularly large one in her hands. Pinkie then squinted at it skeptically and, with the scrutiny of a diamond inspector, proceeded to turn it this way and that. Apparently not satisfied, she shook her head and dove back in. “I’m testing the ballyness of these balls, duh!” she said, her voice sounding muffled. After a second, Pinkie popped back up in a completely different section of the pit. “I need to hurry, they told me I only have one more hour!!” Sunset wasn’t impressed. “Yes, I see that, but why? What does this have to do with teaching me how to buy gifts?” Pinkie immediately popped out of the pit directly in front of Sunset. Leaning out, Pinkie pressed her nose against Sunset’s. “It has everything to do with buying gifts!” she said, staring at her with wide eyes and small pupils. Sunset took a step back. “And why is that? You still haven't told me anything specific.” As if she was insistent on having their faces touch, Pinkie climbed out of the pit and pressed her nose against Sunset’s once more. “Isn’t it obvious?” she asked, smiling innocently. Sunset frowned in annoyance and decided to not make this a pattern by moving back again. “Well we’re in a toy store so I’m guessing we’re buying toys. But why toys, and for whom?” Pinkie moved her face away and began spinning merrily down the hall, yelling, “For everyone!” “Everyone?” asked Sunset, looking at Pinkie like she was crazy. But then she thought about it. “Everyone…?” she muttered to herself. Honestly, it never occurred to Sunset to buy the same sort of gift for everyone. Getting a different toy to suit each of her friends sounded like a viable option for once. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Pinkie popped back up in front of her. “See, now you’re getting it!” Sunset’s mood finally seemed to shift towards something more positive. “I think I am,” she smiled. “Everyone uses toys and games, and even if I don’t get one they like, it still has use. It’s perfect! Thank you, Pinkie.” Now it was Pinkie’s turn to look at her like she was crazy. “Well maybe you’re not getting it.” Pinkie somehow grabbed all her many bags with a single arm from next to the ball bin, made her way back over to her friend, and threw the other arm around Sunset’s shoulder. Sunset momentarily sagged due to the extra weight. She recovered when Pinkie began leading her down the central store pathway. “Listen here. Auntie Pinkie’s gonna teach you everything you need to know about how to buy gifts for people.” She turned down an aisle filled with board games, card games and other group oriented games. “The best gifts to buy people are things that everyone enjoys. Especially at parties! Then when they open it, they can share their first experience with everyone, and that’s what makes it special.” Pinkie stopped in the middle of the aisle and waved her arm majestically. “Just imagine you at a Christmas party, opening up a brand new game in front of your fellow party goers. Everyone tells you how cool it is and how they wish they could have one. Bam! Christmas miracle and you’re all playing with it together!” “Pinkie! Pinkie! Too tight!” Sunset coughed out. Snapping out of her daydream, Pinkie realized that she now had the poor girl in a headlock. Giggling, she let go. “Anyway, did you see it?” Sunset leaned against a shelf and caught her breath while leering at Pinkie. “If you mean the blackness slowly closing in around my vision, then yes.” “Sorry,” Pinkie said shamefully. After a few seconds, Sunset recovered and stood up to her full height. “But I get what you mean. You say the best gifts are gifts that everyone can play with together, rather than tailored to each one individually.” “Egggsactly!” she cheered. “That way nobody is jealous of each others’ presents.” Sunset gave her an odd look. “Is… Is that a regular problem in this world?” Pinkie gasped with wide eyes. “Of course! When I was a little bitty twinkie Pinkie, my little sister Limey would get so jelly of my presents. We all only got one each and she always felt that mine was better than hers. So I came up with this idea that we all get one thing we could all have fun with. Marbly was mad but she came around eventually.” Sunset thought about it, while it did seem weird to her, she couldn’t find any fault in the intention. However, it did present another problem. “How am I going to find a single present that everyone enjoys?” she asked, bring her concern to Pinkie’s attention. “I feel like that would be harder than finding them all individual things.” Pinkie waved her concern off immediately. “That’s easy. In fact I’ll show you!” Sunset gave her the raised eyebrow of inquisitiveness. Pinkie looked around suspiciously before inching closer and whispering in Sunset’s ear. “But you have to Pinkie Promise you won’t tell anyone. Alright?” Sunset rolled her eyes. Of course by now she knew what a Pinkie Promise was, she just thought that it was stupid. All it was is a few motions and a silly rhyme. Though she was pretty curious as to why every single one of her friends except Coco gave her a scared look when she asked what would happen if she broke it. Nevertheless, she performed the ritual. “I Pinkie Promise,” she droned. Immediately, Pinkie took her by the arm and bolted to the other side of the large store. “This way!” Eventually, the duo stopped in front of a large sky blue circular trampoline with a net surrounding the air above the base. Pinkie waved her hand up at it dramatically. “This is what I wanna get Rainbow Dash this year!” she announced. Sunset just had to stare at it. “Wow,” was the only thing she could say. It was at least jumbo sized, at least 17 feet long and wide if the large card sitting in front of it meant anything. Pinkie nodded in understanding of her amazement. “Yeah, I got the idea from the Fall For—Since the time she got wings!” She nervously looked at Sunset to see if she noticed her slip up, but luckily, she was still engrossed in the trampoline’s size. “I wanted to get her a bounce house,” continued Pinkie, “but Rainbow figured it out a few months back and told me that she didn’t like bounce houses. I also thought about toy planes and wings.” Pinkie opened the net and hopped in, gleefully bouncing as high as she could. “But then I found this thing!” she cried gleefully. Sunset circled it curiously, soon enough her face broke out into a large smile. “It’s perfect! It’s so big we could all fit in it and bounce around together!” she squealed. With a jump that would’ve made any cheerleader jealous, Pinkie bounced clear over the safety net and stuck a landing right next to Sunset. “Yup! Sucks that I can’t afford it.” Sunset’s grin disappeared. “What?” Pinkie shrugged and shook her head dejectedly. “What? I’m not made of money.“ She reached over and brought the price tag in front of Sunset’s face. “I mean look at this!” She read it aloud. “Jumbo Eagle Trampoline Set.” Her eyes widened at the price and she took the tag into her own hands. “750 dollars?!” she nearly yelled. She looked back up at the large toy and frowned sadly. “Yeah,” she sighed. “I guess that makes sense.” “I really really wanna get it for Rainbow though!” Pinkie groaned. Sunset joined in, still staring sadly at the price tag. “It’s the perfect gift...” Pinkie brought Sunset into a tearful embrace. “It really is!” she cried. They stood there in silence for a few seconds before Pinkie let go of her and turned around. “Oh well! Let’s find something else.” Sunset frowned and tossed the card back towards the trampoline, “Meh, can’t do anything about it I guess.” She turned and followed Pinkie. “Why did I have to Pinkie promise then?” she said, catching up to her. Pinkie rolled her eyes as she lead Sunset out of the toy store and back out into the mall proper. “Because, I’m going to save up my money and buy it for her next year,” she smiled. “So don’t tell anyone.” Sunset shrugged. “So what now—oof!” All of a sudden, Pinkie frantically threw her hand over Sunset’s mouth and began forcefully dragging the girl away. The two backed into a nearby bookstore, much to the confusement of the cashier. After dragging her all the way behind a bookshelf, Pinkie released her. Sunset immediately turned on her in a rage. “What in Equestria—” Pinkie quickly shushed her and pointed outside the door. Glowering, Sunset peaked out from behind the bookshelf. Outside the entrance she noticed Coco and Rarity gleefully talking with each other while passing by. They appeared to be heading towards the toy store they just exited. Sunset glanced back at Pinkie curiously. “So what, why are we—?” She stopped when Pinkie motioned for her to speak more quietly. Sunset groaned… quietly. “So why are we hiding from them?” Pinkie spoke at the same volume. “I have Rarity’s present! I can’t let her see it.” She held up one of the bags she had been carrying with her. Sunset rolled her eyes. “Well then don’t tell her you have it.” Pinkie shook her head and gave Sunset a serious look. “Rarity can sniff out these things. I can’t even be near her.” She looked past her and gasped when the duo suddenly turned around. She grabbed Sunset, who was still unaware of this new development, and panicked. “I gotta go. They can’t know I’m here!” Pinkie shook her frantically. “Well, why am I special?” asked Sunset, trying to stop being shaken. Pinkie giggled quietly. “Well duh, I haven't gotten yours yet. I gotta go, you need to distract them! Don’t tell them I’m in the mall at all.” Sunset recovered enough to look at her with further confusion. “I need to do what?” “Sunset! There you are, darling.” Sunset spun around to see Rarity and Coco standing behind her. She turned back quickly, ready to say something, only to see that Pinkie was no longer there. She opened her mouth, closed it, then turned back around to the two girls who were now giving her odd looks. “Hey…” she greeted. Rarity wore a stylish royal coat, with a matching purse. Coco, meanwhile continued to wear the sweater from last time. Coco examined the store around them. “Sunset I thought you said this place didn’t have any good book stores.” Sunset looked around and frowned. “It doesn't. These are all silly folk tales and occult manuals. Nothing particularly interesting.” She flinched when she noticed Pinkie poke her head up from behind the girls in front of her, wink, and zoom out of the store. Coco’s eyes lit up, “I love ghosts!” she squealed. Running past the two, Coco picked out a book and began reading. Rarity rolled her eyes good naturedly. “Yes, well while I could understand her desire, I do wonder why you’re here, dear.” Then she gasped and leaned over to whisper in her ear, taking care to make sure Coco wasn't listening. “Were you trying to buy her something? I am so very sorry, darling!” It took Sunset a full second to take all of the recent information in. She promptly facepalmed, realizing she was in the perfect present buying area. “No… no you're fine. Why are you here?” Rarity suddenly began to look nervous by avoiding eye contact. “Well… to be honest, Coco pointed it out. We were hoping to get something for you here. I’m glad we didn’t.” She brightened and turned her gaze back to Sunset. “In fact, Coco did mention the trouble you two were having. If you want, I can offer you the same advice I gave her.” Sunset thought on it, so far she had gotten advice from pretty much everyone. While some seemed to help, none of them really provided an answer that she prefered. “Why not,” she shrugged. Rarity reached into her purse and pulled out a small orange box. “Alright, but you need to promise me that you won’t tell Fluttershy. This is her present this year and it’s the perfect example of my gifting methods.” One more set of Pinkie Promise motions later, Rarity nodded and opened the box. Inside, surrounded by white padding, was a small intricate glass sculpture of a butterfly. “Behold!” she said dramatically. “Le Petit Papillon.” Sunset stared at it in clear astonishment. “It’s beautiful. There are even patterns on the wings,” she observed, looking closer at the tiny but complicated engravings and bulgings on both of the wings. More impressive was that both wings had identical patterns. “That must have taken incredible talent to do without magic,” she muttered, more to herself than to Rarity. “The intention is that Fluttershy will always treasure this beauty. She will value it for what it is and who gave it to her. Not only that, but she will always think of me when she looks at it. It is the quintessential gift for her.” Still gazing at it, Sunset took this information into consideration with the others. Immediately, one issue sprung up in her mind. While it did coincide with Fluttershy’s ‘from the heart’ opinion, it directly contradicted both Pinkie’s and Applejack’s advice on getting something everyone can have fun with, and something the recipient finds useful. Rarity closed the box and put it back into her bags. “Well anyway, It was nice seeing you here. I need to return home soon. You two can can continue to look for presents. While I thought it will be a futile effort, Coco and I were just about to look at the nearby toy store for Pinkie before I leave.” Sunset chuckled. “Trust me, it will be.” Reaching into her pocket, Sunset pulled out her phone and looked at the time. “I think we’ll head home too. Coco, are you ready?” She turned around and realized the the girl was no longer reading a book behind them. “Coco?” Both girls looked around for their friend. Eventually, they found her at the checkout desk with nearly two dozen books on ghosts spectres and other occult nonsense. Luckily, the two stopped her before she could spend all of her money. After convincing Coco to only buy three tomes, the trio made their way out of the mall. Upon opening the doors, the girls were instantly alerted to two important things. One; it was raining. Two; it was freezing cold. “Oh, What!” groaned Sunset, looking up at the sky. She immediately wrapped her arms around herself and once again cursed her human skin. Her thick coat seemingly had no effect in keeping her warm. “No one told me that it was going to rain today!” She longed for the days where she had pegasi to reliably control the weather. These so-called weathermen that were on T.V. clearly didn’t know anything. “Oh dear,” muttered Rarity pulling out an umbrella from her purse. “From the feel of it we’re going to have quite the chilly winter.” She turned to Sunset with a mischievous grin. “I hope you know what that means,” she said, handing it over. Sunset looked confused for a second, but but a sudden groan seemed to mark her understanding. Though, Coco still held on to her confused look. “What? What does it mean?” Sunset seemed to ignore her as she took and opened the, surprisingly large, umbrella. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s go home, we’ll share this one.” “But what about...” Coco looked back at Rarity and trailed off when she saw the girl already pulling out a second shield. She smiled a cheeky smile. “Dear, you know full well that I always carry a second umbrella in case someone needs it.” Coco returned her smile, well aware of her friend’s seemingly endless generosity. She made her way over and huddled close to Sunset, who was also grinning. “Maybe I’ll get you another one as a present,” she joked. With that stunning one-liner, Sunset walked out into the rain, thankfully missing Rarity’s retort. Her grin disappeared afterwards as she reflected on her situation. Even with the abundance of help she received, she still felt like she was no closer to figuring it out. ‘Something useful? None of them seem to really be missing anything they desperately need. Something fun for everyone? I’d have to narrow that down, but I think Pinkie has that area covered for all of us. Something from the heart? They’re my friends… my first friends, nothing I give them would correctly express how I feel. Something that can be remembered? I don’t fully understand what Rarity meant by that, though it is an interesting idea. Something that…what exactly was Rainbow’s way again? Something tailored to the individual, I think?’ Sunset sighed. ‘Looks like I need to give this some more time and thought.’ Sunset was snapped out of her reverie by a slight tug on her arm. She looked over at Coco who was looking up at her in concern. “Are you alright?” asked Coco. Sunset turned back around. “Just cold. I hate Winter, it’s too complicated,” she said cryptically. Coco smiled and wrapped her arm around Sunset’s, huddling even closer in order to warm her up. Unbeknownst to her, Sunset blushed from the sudden embrace. Pulling her along, Coco had them walking again. “Oh don’t be such a Grinch,” she giggled. “It’s just snow and presents, you’ll figure it out.” They then made their way home, warm in each others embrace.