//------------------------------// // CH7: Out of the Cooler and into the Ice // Story: Sunset Helpers // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// ~Two Weeks Later~ Holding onto a plate with Sunset’s lunch on it, Coco cheerfully made her way down the hall towards her friend’s room. To Sunset’s immense jealousy and frustration, the pale skinned girl still didn’t seem to mind the cold. Even though the temperature had rapidly decreased in recent days, the only difference the city girl made to her wardrobe were socks and a longer pair of shorts. Though, to her, Sunset was the odd one. Coco just couldn’t understand it. Even without her pony coat she should’ve been fine in this weather. She chuckled as she thought about the increasingly thicker clothes that Sunset had been wearing recently. Nevertheless, since the snow started to fall on Monday, Sunset had completely abandoned her search for the perfect gifts, which she had only made little progress on anyway, in favor of staying inside her room and only leaving for warm showers, coffee, and school. The latter two she only did so she could rush right back to bed afterwards. The poor girl had been slightly upset that Sunset refused to spend time with her or the others. Especially since she had really wanted to play in the snow with her. Having lived in Manehatten, she had never seen the really thick snow that this town got. Most of the cold there came from the freezing cold winds. But today was Saturday morning and it seemed to be going well so she hoped there would be a change in her friend’s attitude. Maybe she would even consider coming outside. “No!” Coco jumped in surprise, stopping right outside Sunset’s door. “I don’t care!” she heard Sunset grumble, her voice muffled by the cocoon of blankets Coco knew she was still wrapped up in. “Take Coco. I’m not getting up.” Hearing her name, the girl in question poked her head into the room. Like she expected, Sunset was currently lying on her bed, rolled up in her impenetrable fortress of warmth. From what Coco could tell, she was talking on the phone. “Take me where?” she asked, walking inside. “Is this about that thing you all are keeping from me? Do I finally get to know what it is?” she said excitedly. For the past week since the snow began, the girls had been hinting at something big but everytime Coco asked about it, they all just smiled and told her not to worry about it. Trusting in her friends, she eagerly waited until they were ready to surprise her. After all, today was her birthday. Sunset peaked out from her shield with a narrow gaze. “Sure, go meet Applejack at Sugarcube Corner. Slipping her phone out onto the bed, Sunset covered herself back up and rolled over. “Take that with you.” “Sunset? Sunset you pick up this gosh darned phone right this instant, ya hear!” Coco looked down at the phone. Setting the plate down on a nearby dresser Coco reached over, cautiously picked it up, and put it to her ear. “A-Applejack is that you?” “Coco? Finally. Alrighty then, if she wants’ta be stubborn then fine. I need you ta’ do somethin’ for me.” The next half hour was the worst half hour of Sunset’s life. She honestly didn’t know which was the worst part, forcibly being exposed to the cold, forcibly, being dressed, wrapped back up in her own bed sheets, or Coco apologizing the whole time. As Coco carried the Sunset Burrito down the snowy street, she glanced around with curiosity. “The town feels empty for some reason,” she observed. “How come no one’s playing in the snow today?” She looked down at the glorious white blanket underneath her. Just in the paved sidewalk the snow came halfway up to her calves. Sunset, who had long since given up, accepted her fate by slumping over in her wrap. “They’re all probably getting ready,” she answered listlessly. Coco smiled excitedly. “Getting ready for what?” “Take me home and I’ll tell you,” she deadpanned. Coco’s smile disappeared and she glanced back sadly. “I’m really really sorry, Sunset. I can’t. Applejack said this would be good for you and your relationship with the others. I don’t know what she meant but it must be important.” Sunset groaned and blew away a strand of hair that fell out from her orange winter cap. “Yeah whatever…” Coco smiled and rolled her eyes. Stopping, she leaned down and set Sunset’s feet back on the ground. She unwrapped her friend to reveal the yellow coat Sunset was wearing. In addition to a turtleneck sweater under that and a thick shirt under that. Complete with red gloves, and black legwarmers over her jeans and boots, she was completely dressed for cold weather in the arctic. Even so Sunset still shivered. “I take it back, wrap me up! Wrap me up!” she cried. Coco giggled and took her hand. “Oh, it’s not that bad. Come on.” With the bed sheets in one arm and their previous occupant in the other, Coco continued on her way down the seemingly deserted street. Taking care not to slip on any ice along the way. Little did they know they were being watched and targeted by several groups. If they listened closely they would probably even have made out the whispers in the dark. ~~~ Carefully opening the door to Sugarcube Corner, Coco addressed the rest of her friends. “We’re here!” She was immediately greeted by celebratory cheers by all five of her friends, especially when they saw Sunset lagging behind her. Pinkie herself bounded over and glomped the both of them in a wide hug. “Sunny! You made it!” she cheered. Sunset said nothing, instead she sent a glare past her directly towards Applejack. Meanwhile, Coco sat the blanket down by the door and took a look around. Oddly enough, the entire shop was completely empty except for her friends who, she noticed, had been sitting at a table in the very middle of the store. Even the windows had the blinds down. It was almost as if the store was closed. But then again… it matched the rest of the town at least. Fluttershy gave the two a kind smile. “I’m glad you two made it.” Coco noticed that she was wearing a rather thick yellow coat, black leggings and yellow boots. Applejack leaned back in her chair and tipped her hat with a smug grin. She had on a long beige trench coat with jeans and her usual boots. “Well Ah’m glad ya changed yer mind there, sugarcube.” Sunset’s glare hardened. Rarity, seeing the sparks flying between them, quickly cleared her throat to get their attention. “Well then, I’m glad you both made it,” she began, hoping to start up a new, less volatile conversation. Coco noticed that she was wearing an odd looking white and violet camo jacket and a hat with grass and twigs sticking out of it. “Please, come sit with us. Rainbow chuckled and, like AJ, leaned back in her seat. In addition to black jeans and her usual boots she was wearing a simple hoodie with a red hat and mirrored goggles. “Yeah, we were just talking about you two.” Coco tilted her head curiously. “You were?” Suddenly, she felt herself being pulled along and noticed that both she and Sunset were being led towards the table by Pinkie. Oddly enough, Pinkie wore little to no pink in her outfit. Aside from her pink tinted goggles, it was mostly all white or light blue. She wore a light blue hat, white scarf, and a white vest. Further down she was wearing a light blue skirt over white leggings and large white snow boots… Or were they moonboots? Coco wasn't quite sure. It was then that Coco realized that Pinkie was rambling as she was leading them on. She internally berated herself for not listening. “--and then we all realized that you two were probably still having trouble so we all got into this debate on the best way to help you while we wait!” she finished, sitting down in her seat. Coco and Sunset sat in the two available seats between Pinkie and Rarity. Sunset leaned forward on the table and sat her head on her palm. “Guys it’s fine. I’ll figure something out.” She paused for a second and looked around the table. “But still… thank you for all of your help,” she added, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks. Rainbow waved her off. “Don’t mention it. I’m just glad you went and took my advice.” Coco chuckled when Rarity let out a slightly unlady-like scoff. “Rainbow, darling, telling someone to buy something for yourself and act like it’s a meaningful gift isn’t exactly sound advice.” Rainbow opened her mouth to respond but stopped when she heard Applejack’s and Sunset’s muffled snickering. Luckily, Fluttershy jumped in to save her. “Now girls, that’s not nice. Remember, it’s the thought that counts. Rainbow tries hard to buy things that she knows both she and the recipient have in common. I don’t think that’s wrong.” The giggling session ceased and all of them thought on Fluttershy’s words. Pinkie, however, nodded excitedly. “Exactly! The best gift is something everyone can enjoy together.” Rarity gave her a confused look. “But Pinkie, if you buy a single gift for everyone then no one feels special. The true recipient may feel as if he or she isn't really receiving anything. I know it’s the feeling of giving that really matters but a gift is meant to show the recipient how special they are to you. Therefore, every gift has to be unique and meaningful. You understand?” Pinkie sat back in her chair with the most confused look on her face any of them had ever seen. She looked as if someone had tried to explain something to her in three combined languages. “B-but, what about the party?” she whimpered quietly. Applejack nervously looked at Rarity than back at Pinkie. “Err… what about it?” Then she burst. “If everyone gets different presents that we can’t all play with them together and if we all can’t play with them together then someone feels left out and if someone feels left out then the whole thing is ruined and if the whole thing is ruined then Christmas is ruined and we’ll all get jealous and stop being friends and--” Pinkie began hyperventilating heavily, unable to bear her own thoughts. Acting quickly, Coco and Fluttershy worked to calm the girl down. Fluttershy moved closer to her and slowly patted her back, while Coco ran to get a cupcake from behind the abandoned counter. She left the required money on top. “Pinkie,” soothed Fluttershy, “It’s alright. Just think about it, we all get different things from different people but we’re still friends right,” she smiled. “She’s right,” Coco added, handing her the emergency pastry. “There’s nothing wrong with everyone getting something different.” Pinkie stopped her exaggerated breathing and began to quietly nibble on her comfort food. “I know that we all get different things… I just thought that since I always kept everyone together by sharing a present nothing ever went wrong. But I guess you’re right.” Rainbow scoffed. “Well duh, that’s the best part of Christmas.” Sunset, who until that moment had her head face down on the table, glanced up at her curiously. “What? Presents?” Rainbow nodded. “Yeah.” AJ stared at her. “No it ain’t.” Rainbow glared at her. “Yes it is.” Rarity stepped in. “She’s right, you know.” Rainbow turned to her. “Me?” Rarity shook her head. “No, Applejack.” AJ nodded affirmatively. Rarity continued. “The holidays are about the wonderful foods one could make, the celebration, the very feel of the festive air around you.” Applejack stopped nodding. Rarity began waving her hand dramatically. “The decorating of the tree and home, the allure of wearing white and red, and the wonderful time you have wrapping fabulous gifts for others!” Everyone around the table looked at her stupidly. “What?” she asked, dumbfounded. Pinkie popped up behind her, apparently finished with her food. “Silly Rarity, the day is all about the fun! We all have fun opening our presents together, playing with them and just being friends together.” Applejack thought on that for a second. “Well, Pinkie, ya ain’t wrong, but it’s more about the fact that we’re all together. The holidays are all a time to be thankful for what we got in life.” Fluttershy fiddled with her fingers. “I like to think that Christmas is about the feeling of doing good for other people. Even if you don’t know them you could still share something with them. I always give money and presents to the homeless shelter in Manehatten.” Coco turned to Sunset, who had started to pay more attention to the debate going on around her. “Sunset told me that, in Equestria, the holidays were a time for ponies to come together to celebrate their history and founding.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, we have that too, it’s called founders day.” She turned to Applejack. “I’m telling you guys the best thing about Christmas is getting, and giving, awesome stuff to people.” Applejack put a hand to her head and shook both sadly. “Rainbow... ya ain't seeing the point then. It’s not just about presents. You can have a holiday where ya don’t get something.” Rainbow Dash gave her a flat stare. Then she raised her hand and began to count on her fingers. “Christmas: Presents. Thanksgiving: Huge dinner. Halloween: Candy. Valentine’s Day: Chocolate and other mushy love stuff. Easter: Again, chocolate and other egg shaped candy. Do I even need to mention birthdays?” “What about Groundhog Day?” asked Fluttershy. Rainbow gave her a completely befuddled look. “...What’s that?” In a rare moment of frustration… Fluttershy frowned. Rainbow continued. “Anyway, what I mean is that the holidays are all about giving and receiving.” She was repaid with either looks of confusion by three of her friends, one frown, and two disappointed head shakes. “What…? What?!” she asked. “Rainbow…” sighed Rarity, “darling, when this is all over, we need to have a long talk about the real meaning of each holiday.” “Well…” began Sunset, finally leaning upright in her chair, “regardless of what the real meaning of the day is, I’m glad to be sharing it with you guys this year. It’s… what in a week from now I think?” Pinkie held up her hand and pointed to a watch that hadn’t been there before. “One week, two days, 11 hours and 55 minutes from now. Just three days after the start of Winter Break!” she cheered. “Aren’t you all excited!” Sunset rolled her eyes. “Moving right along. How much longer do we have to wait?” Excitement began to well up into well up inside of Coco, she had almost forgotten in the midst of the, rather interesting, conversation. “Oh that’s right, why are we here.” Pinkie looked back at her watch, that was apparently here to stay. “We have five minutes left,” she told them. Rainbow nodded. “I guess we can tell her now,” she grinned. AJ rolled her eyes and turned to Coco. “Sorry ‘bout hidin’ it from ya, sugarcube. Rainbow here thought it’d be funny to just spring it on ya.” Coco nodded. “N-no it’s alright. I’ve only gotten more excited! So what are we doing today?” Applejack opened her mouth but at the moment there were several thumps against the front window. Fluttershy flinched in response but everyone else turned to see Soarin burst through the door with a frantic expression on his face. “Rainbow! The Crusaders have launched a surprise attack!” he announced Rainbow Dash stood up and gave a wide grin. “I guess we’re starting early then.” Rainbow turned to Coco who looked even more confused than before. “Sunset, tell Coco what’s up and meet us outside. You know the plan. Fluttershy protect the base, the rest of you, come on.” Everyone stood up and followed Rainbow out the door while Coco looked around frantically. “Who? What? Why?” While she was freaking out there were a dozen more thumps against the walls and windows surrounding them, which caused Fluttershy to shy away. Sunset poked Coco to get her attention. “Hey… calm down,” she droned. Coco, not one to adapt to sudden change well, turned to her with a wide eyed look. “What’s happening.” “Alright, basically the entire town’s engaged in a huge snowball war. It goes on all weekend and there are 4 flags. We have one over there.” Sunset pointed over to the back of the store to where a 6 inch tall red flag sat. “Whoever collects all four or at least three by the end of the weekend, wins.” “A-alright,” answered Coco, drinking in the information. She began to calm down a bit. “What do we do? Do we protect the flag?” Sunset shrugged, still looking bored. “If you want.” She leaned back down onto the table. “I, personally, would rather stay here than go out there and get pelted with frozen water and rocks.” Fluttershy finally came back up from under the table and offered a shy but nervous smile. “It’s alright girls, you two can go outside, we have this place protected.” “Nahh.” Sunset waved her off and looked towards the kitchen. “Maybe I’ll go take a nap next to the oven.” “We?” asked Coco. Sunset pointed back to the back of the store near the flag. Coco strained her eyes but in the faint shadows of the store she could make out the outlines of several small figures, all hiding in the corners of the store around the flag. Sunset chuckled lightly. “Yeah, Fluttershy’s not defending this place alone. Not like anyone would even make it this far.” Fluttershy instantly cheered up despite several more, rather loud, thumps. “Oh, of course. My animal friends love to play. Thankfully, Mr. and Ms. Cake said they could help as long as they don’t go anywhere near the kitchen.” At that moment there was a quiet thump behind the counter. When they turned their head, all three of them saw a white rabbit wearing a camo outfit hopping out from the kitchen door. In his paws he held aloft several small desserts. Fluttershy gasped in surprise and immediately ran over to the little thief. “Angel Lucifer Bunny! How could you?!” she cried. “You know what Mr. Cake told us.” While Fluttershy lectured Angel, Coco turned back to the front of the store. From what she could hear, there was a lot of yelling and thumping going on outside. She could see the silhouettes of several people running around and throwing things. Slowly, a wide smile grew on her face. Sunset, having sat her head back down on the table, felt the other girl nudge her shoulder. She glanced up to see her greatest fear: Coco’s wide sparkling eyes. The sheer amount of excitement and giddiness she radiated nearly blinded the poor bacon-haired girl. “Sunset, let’s go outside!” she begged. Though with those eyes, it may as well been a demand. Summoning her will, Sunset put her head back down to avoid the gaze. “Noooooo,” she cried, voice muffled by her jacket. “I’m a pony... let me hibernate like one.” Coco began gently shaking her. “Ponies don’t hibernate, Sunset.” “Unicorns do!” she spat out, refusing to move. Coco ignored her and continued pleading. “Pleeeaassse come outside. I don’t wanna go alone!” Sunset groaned, unable to endure the girl’s pleading tone any longer. She loud out a muffled sigh and, wordlessly, she stood up to walk towards the door. Excited, Coco got up and followed her. Sunset stopped with her hand on the door. She stood there for a second, hesitating, before turning back to Coco. “Remind me… Why do you wanna go out there? No doubt The Crusaders are aiming for us again.” Coco nervously fiddled with her hands. “Well even though it was really cold in Manehatten, it was really mostly a chilly cold caused by harsh winds. We didn’t really get much snow. But, in this town, just on Monday morning it snowed almost a full inch. Then it stopped and started almost randomly the whole week. It was amazing. "And…” she hesitated for a moment, a slight blush forming on her face, “To be honest, I’ve never been in a real snowball fight before. I saw some kids doing it earlier this week but I’d love to share my first experience with you all.” Sunset simply raised an eyebrow and turned back to the door. She took a deep breath and let out a sigh of reluctance. “Well... I guess I have no choice then.” Finally applying some force to the door, Sunset and Coco stepped into--. Immediately, a snowball slammed into Sunset’s forehead and knocked her a few steps back. “Sunset!” cried Coco, looking back Sunset wiped the snow off of her face and frowned. “This is gonna be a long day.” Grabbing Coco’s arm she valiantly ran out the door and into the warzone.