//------------------------------// // CH12: Missing Pieces // Story: Sunset Helpers // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// “Agh!” Sunset hissed, glaring at the bandage on her middle finger. Obviously, sewing needed to be left to the pros, or so she had learned the previous day. For now, however, she faced another dilemma. Namely, getting her snow boots onto her foot without pinching her injured fingers. Sitting at the edge of her bed, Sunset carefully slid her foot down into the shoe, when it finally slid on, she let out a small sigh. Surprisingly, she felt a little disappointed, and almost considered taking it back off. Even so, she knew in her heart that wasting time wouldn’t put off what was going to happen when she was fully dressed. After all, Sunset knew that today an important piece of her, admittedly still fragile, life was about to go away for a while. At least that’s how it felt to her. She knew that Coco would be back in half a moon, but it still felt like she was losing a friend. Her grey thoughts were interrupted with a rather large yawn. Stretching, she fell back on her bed and silently stared at the bright azure ceiling that she had grown so very used to. Thinking back, she realized that she missed looking at it in the morning during her stay in the school library. A small nostalgic smile formed on Sunset’s lips, and she realized that she had really grown fond of this room. She especially loved it during winter days when the actual sky was covered by the dreary gray snow clouds. Sunset loved the bright sky the same way she loved the actual sunset. Honestly, she loved the sky in general. Its stunning appearance, its ever expansive horizon, and the fact that, as the day progresses, it only grows in its fervent artistry. If she could, Sunset would’ve painted a few white splotches in various places to simulate clouds. Of course, she knew that motionless white spots could never come close to capturing the ever changing—nay—the ever evolving quality that actual clouds brought to her favorite canvas. In the end, Sunset decided that filling in the unpainted mural with mental clouds brought more realism to her room, as ironic as that was. She frowned suddenly, a darker grey thought re-entering her otherwise cleared up mental sky. “Is this what I do when Coco’s not around?” she wondered. Hopping up off of her bed, she quickly made her way to her closet to grab her jacket. She briefly considered grabbing a pair of legwarmers to go over her socks, but thought better of it. Instead she grabbed a pair of orange gloves. No sense worrying or tipping off the others. “Coco, are you all ready?” she called out, turning to walk out the door. ~~~ “Darling, we’ll miss you so much,” said Rarity, squeezing Coco as hard as she could. Behind her, the other girls calmly waited their turn to say goodbye to their new friend, though the widening grin on Pinkie’s face showed there was a fast approaching time limit till her turn. Each one of them were clad in their typical winter clothing. Aside from Sunset, each one of them wore a bag or backpack. In front of them all sat the train Coco would be taking. While the train wasn’t set to leave for an hour, Rarity had insisted they arrive early. In fact, the sun itself was barely pushing past the clouds, creating divided rays of sunlight that poked down on the snow below. Rarity took a deep breath and released the shorter girl from her embrace. Looking her in the eyes, Rarity felt the intense urge to hug her once more. But knowing that time would be of the essence, she refrained. “I really hope you have an amazing time with your family.” Coco met Rarity’s eyes with her own teary ones. “I will, I promise. I really hope you can come over someday, my parents actually still remember you.” “Is that so,” she gasped, bringing a hand to her chest. “Well I know where I’ll be going on vacation then this summer. With their permission of course.” Sunset called from behind them, her confused expression shared by the other girls. “You know her parents?” Rarity turned around to face them and waved her hand dismissively. “Oh it was years ago, I was only a child visiting Manehatten with my parents. But nevermind that for right now.” Rarity turned around a took a step away from Coco. To both her and Sunset’s confusion, the other girls simultaneously reached into their bags. “Now, Coco, I know that you’re still a tad bit down about not spending Christmas with us. So…” Coco gasped when all five girls stepped in front of her and held out presents. “Merry Christmas!” they cheered. Coco reeled back in shock at first, but then froze completely. As she looked down at all of their gifts, then back up at their faces, her eyes began to shine with glistening tears, and a smile stretched across her face. Sunset stood back, smiling herself as Coco jumped into a group hug with her other friends. After wiping her face, her arm now moist with tears of joy and happiness, she opened Rarity’s gift first. It was wrapped in an elegant royal blue ribbon, hand-tied of course, over a plain white box. Upon gently untying the ribbon, the side of the box fell open to reveal a sparkling pale blue bracelet decorated with six snowflakes. On each of the snowflakes was one part of a set of initials: “AJ,” “FS,” “PP,” “R,” “RD,” and “SS.” “It’s beautiful,” she gasped, nearly speechless. Rarity nodded. “Indeed. Each snowflake refers to one of us.” She playfully rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know friendship bracelets are old, but I thought you‘d love it regardless.” Coco quickly shook her head. “No It’s perfect! Thank you.” Rarity smiled and moved out of the way as Applejack took her place to present her own gift. To Coco’s surprise, Applejack shoved her box back into her bag. Seeing her confused look, Applejack explained it with a shameful grin. “Yeah, the box is empty. Rarity wanted us all to look the same an’ all. This ‘ere’s my gift!” In one swift motion, Applejack pulled out an object and sat it on Coco’s head. The girl flinched and closed her eyes as her friend adjusted the hat. When she opened her eyes, AJ had taken a step back to admire her work. She nodded, muttering, “Ah admit, it was a long shot, but Ah guess Rares was right.” Behind her, Rarity huffed and crossed her arms. At Sunset’s questioning gaze, she quietly explained. “Applejack asked me what kind of hat would look best on Coco. I suggested something exotic to go with her unique appearance.” Sunset nodded. “Ahhh.” Rarity examined the behatted girl. “I must say… even without any further assistance, Applejack made a rather interesting choice. I wonder where she got it stitched, it’s beautifully done.” Beside her, Fluttershy blushed and shied away. Gently, Coco took the hat off and brought it down to her face to examine. It was a pale blue rounded fur hat. Coco turned it this way and that examining it like she would any new piece of clothing. She found, sewn onto the side, was the image of a light purple chapeau, the same symbol that graced her own various handmade designs. She looked back up to Applejack and grinned sheepishly, a light blush coloring her cheeks. “I’m a little embarrassed that I don’t know… but what kind of hat is this?” Rarity opened her mouth to answer, but with a tip of her own hat, Applejack beat her to it, “That right there, sugarcube, is a custom-stitched fake fur cossack hat.” “H-how did you know that?” asked Rarity, raising a skeptical look. AJ glanced back at her with a smug grin. “Trust me… Ah know my hats,” she said, taking hold of the brim of her own stetson. Next up was Fluttershy, who handed over a slightly larger box in pink butterfly wrapping paper and tied with a yellow premade bow. “I hope you like it.” Carefully, Coco took off the bow and cleanly unwrapped the paper. Upon revealing the object inside she let out an extremely adorable squeal of glee. Without a second thought she gripped the book close to her chest. “Ohhhhh, I love it! I love it!” Fluttershy’s smile grew wider at her reaction. “Rarity told me you would.” Sunset moved closer to get a better look. “What is it?!” Coco instantly thrust the book into Sunset’s face. “It’s a first edition Paranormal Encyclopedia!” Sunset examined the cover of the book. It vaguely resembled the desperate looking screaming faces that decorated the cover of a certain other book that Sunset definitely didn’t peek into during her time with Princess Celestia. Gently moving the book out of her face, Sunset addressed Coco herself. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, but what’s up with you and ghosts?” Fluttershy nodded, adding, “I’m curious too.” She hesitantly looked down at the cover and flinched back, moving closer towards Sunset. “I always thought ghouls were scary things.” Coco’s grin turned melancholy and she peered back down at the book. “Well… I know it’s not hard to believe but I was bullied a bit when I was younger. I had pale skin and rarely left my house so a few kids that lived around my house started calling me a ghost.” She chuckled. “It didn’t help that my house was colored white too actually. Anyway, I didn’t know what a ghost was back then so I looked it up. I know that some people think ghosts and stuff are scary but I think they're pretty cool.” She pushed the book back up to Fluttershy’s and Sunset’s faces. Sunset just flinched back but Fluttershy eeped and back peddled towards the rest of the group. Next up was Pinkie who made a show of presenting her gift with a twirl and a flourish, ending with one knee on the ground and the present held above her head. “Merry Christmas!” Coco just looked down at her, unsure how to respond to the display, or worse, the present. Pinkie’s gift was a long pink box wrapped with multiple layers of criss-crossing confetti streamers with a small blue balloon tethered to the ribbon. When Coco failed to react, Pinkie bounced the box a few times, causing the balloon to bop around. Getting the hint, she tentatively picked the box up. Unable to figure out a way of unwrapping the haphazard bundle, she simply tore it open. Inside was something she hadn’t seen in awhile. Coco giggled and held up the board game for all to see. “Horsopoly?” Pinkie hopped to both feet and threw her hands up. “Of course! You’re going to have fun with your family right? There’s not a better game in the world that's more perfect than Horsopoly!” Sunset, having moved back with the other girls, shrugged. “Can’t fault her logic on that one.” Pinkie Pie reached deep into her rather large backpack bag once again. “If you don’t like that game I have more. Let’s see… TOYSЯUS had a sale, so I’ve got Connect Horse, Horsenga Battlehorses Ponies and Ladders, Dungeons & Horses, Hungry Hungry Ponies… Oh! And Cards Against Equestria!” Everyone looked at Pinkie in confusion. The girl in question simply whipped her head around mirroring their look back at them. “What?” Coco gave her a hug regardless. “No, this is great by itself. I probably wouldn’t be able to take all of them with me anyway.” Pinkie hopped back to her position and Everyone looked towards Sunset who shook her head. “We’ve already exchanged gifts at home,” she said waving it off. Rarity looked at her, eyes batting at her suggestively. “Exchanging gifts in private? How romantic.” Sunset rolled her eyes and ignored her. Coco meanwhile blushed at the implication. “So what did you give her?” asked Pinkie, still bouncing happily. Sunset shook her head, a mischievous grin pasted onto her face. “Sorry but that one’s a secret.”  She and Coco shared a brief glance between them that only fueled Rarity’s growing interest. Rainbow strut forward. “Well alright then!” she announced, confidence exuding from her in waves. Standing in front of Coco, Rainbow spun around to face the others. “You all had some pretty cool stuff, I guess”—she held up her own gift, a book-shaped box in light blue wrapping with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt sticker sealing it—“but I have the best one,” she said tilting it back and forth. Applejack glanced down at her watch. “Train leaves in like six minutes, wrap it up there sugarcube.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and turned around, handing the gift over. It didn’t take long for Coco to unwrap the gift. Her jaw fell as she beheld the case in front of her. As it did, Rainbow’s grin only grew wider. Coco looked back up at Rainbow, wide eyed and hesitant. “I-is this?” Rainbow nodded. “Eyup!” Coco shook her head. “But isn’t this is your—” Rainbow sat a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine, don’t worry, I owe you.” “What is it already!” screeched Pinkie, unknowingly voicing everyone’s thoughts. Coco turned the case over to reveal a video game with Daring Do jumping over a crocodile while holding a sapphire relic gracing the cover. She opened it to show the disk that had Daring’s signature on it. Sunset squinted her eyes for a second, examining the object from where she was. “Is that a signed ‘Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone’ video game? Where did you even get that?!” Applejack scratched the back of her head, her brow crinkled slightly. “Wasn’t that the thing you saved up for, like, three whole summers to buy some few years back?” Sunset’s eyes nearly flew out of her head as she and the other girls who also didn’t know turned back to Rainbow. None of them could believe that their friend would give up such a treasured item. Rainbow turned to them and nervously rubbed her arm, a light blush on her face. “Seriously, it’s not a big deal,” she muttered. “Coco busted her back making our costumes. Not to mention that she even didn’t get a signed book out of it.” Rainbow shrugged. “I just felt like she deserves it alri—oof!” Coco glomped her from behind, and before Rainbow could respond, all of her other friends also joined in with the group hug. “Dashie, you do know the meaning of Christmas!” cheered Pinkie. AJ affectionately rubbed Rainbow’s hair. “Looks like this girl’s little ol’ heart grew three sizes today.” Fluttershy gently squeezed her part of Rainbow. “I’m really proud of you!” After the group finally separated, Coco once again thanked each of her friends before finally boarding the train. The engine roared as it woke up completely. As it prepared to depart, each one of them waved, Pinkie’s wave being the most excited as she used both arms and jumped repeatedly for extra altitude. “See you next year!” she screamed. “See you when you return,” Rarity called out, cupping a hand beside her mouth. Rainbow cupped both hands around hers. “Hurry back so we can play that game together!” Fluttershy nervously waved both hands looking almost jazzy as she did. As usual, her voice didn’t carry very far, but anyone who knew her knew what she might’ve said. “We’ll miss you.” Applejack removed her hat and saluted with it. “Later!” she said simply. Sunset chuckled silently while she also waved. Looking over at the other girls, she came to a silent revelation. Just because one gorgeous cloud in her sky is gone, it doesn't mean she couldn't enjoy the rest of beautiful images the others created. Coco, sitting in her seat on the train, looked out the window and waved back at them. With a loud whistle, the train began chugging off. As the group passed from her view Coco relaxed, easing deep into her chair. While the majority of her bags and gifts were safely stored into the compartment above her, there was one bag that she held next to her. Carefully, she reached into her bag and brought out Sunset’s gift. She looked at for a second before hugging it tightly. It wasn’t long before she drifted off to sleep, curled up in her seat with a small pony plush of herself snuggled in her grip.