//------------------------------// // CH14: The Only Gift That Matters // Story: Sunset Helpers // by Spirit Shift //------------------------------// Only after Rainbow Dash was forced onto the ground and locked into a classic camel clutch hold, did she finally tap out and allow the group to clean up the mess they made. Meanwhile, Rarity had returned and was sipping tea alongside Fluttershy near the door. Pushing the couch back into place, Sunset heaved a sigh of relief. “Well that was certainly interesting.” Rainbow, who had the job of re-shelving the books the two had knocked off the bookshelf, leaned back and stretched. She let out an audible groan as she felt her back pop. “I swear she only beats me because she practices on pigs all day.” Applejack fell back on the couch and began fanning herself with her hat. “Well… it’s about the same either way.” Rainbow turned and leveled a harsh, yet slightly confused, glare. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Please, no more fighting,” pleaded Sunset, also sitting back on the couch. “I don’t think Coco’s house could take it.” Fluttershy nodded in agreement. “So what do we do now?” Fluttershy glanced around the room. “Well usually we play games and or tell funny stories. But… where did Pinkie Pie go?” Swallowing her tea, Rarity pointed out of the room and up the stairs. “I believe she said that she wanted to see the rest of the house. Though I’m not quite sure—” Suddenly a door on the side of the stairs burst open and startled everyone. Jumping out, Pinkie ran into the living room and grabbed Applejack’s hand. “Applejack, I need your help, come on!” she blurted, almost too fast for anyone else to understand. “Wha—” before she could respond Pinkie literally proceeded to drag her out of her seat, and out of the house. Rushing to the door, Sunset and Rainbow threw their head out only to see the two already halfway down the street. Sunset could hear Applejack’s yells fading into the distance. “Umm… What?” asked Rainbow, flabbergasted. “I think it’s a good thing you wrestled Applejack and not Pinkie,” Sunset said to Dash before turning to Rarity. “I thought you said she was upstairs?” The girl could only shrug in response. “That’s where I saw her go.” Rarity gestured back to where Pinkie had emerged from. “Frankly, I wasn’t even aware you had a crawl space.” Sunset opened her mouth to respond but found that words seemed to fail her. Glancing at the stairs, only one thought surfaced. “Neither was I, actually,” she muttered. Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy all followed Sunset as she cautiously made their way towards the door. The door was the same color as the stairs, blending in perfectly when closed and the only leverage being a crevice to fit a hand into. Ironically, Fluttershy began feeling a bit excited at the sight. “This reminds me of a book that I once read.“ Rarity looked up at her, brow raised. “Which one?” “Oh, it’s... umm nothing,” she muttered, glancing at Sunset. “Just a story about a kid with magic powers.” She quickly averted her look, face flushed, when Sunset looked back at her. Sunset shrugged, smiling patiently. “I guess I’ll have to read it with you later. I love learning about this world's perception of magic.” Fluttershy beamed and clapped happily. “Oh that’s wonderful. It’s a bit long but you can join my Fuzzy Friends Book Club and we can all—” “Yeah yeah,” interrupted Rainbow reaching for the handle. “We’ll talk about that later. I wanna see what’s in there.” Moving in front of Sunset, Rainbow pulled open the door. Almost instantly, Rarity covered her mouth, fearful of any dust or grime. Surprisingly, there was none. The group looked down to see a set of stairs leading further in. The light was still on and they could see the bottom step, but the discovery of it was still shocking. “It’s not a crawlspace,” gasped Rarity. “It’s a basement…” Sunset finished, slackjawed. Rainbow just looked at her, amazed to see such a bewildered expression on her friend’s face. “How long have you lived here?” She pointed down into the pit. “How did you not know you had one?” Sunset pointed alongside her, eyes wide in shock. “I never looked here! Plus, it’s not like I was searching the place like a thief. I just needed a place to stay… I don’t actually own the place. I just snuck in and hoped the owners wouldn’t show up for a while,” she muttered, crossing her arms and blushing shyly. “Now calm down you two,” soothed Rarity. “Did Coco not mention having a basement at all?” Sunset’s eyes darted around, her mind clearly racing to remember any indication or mention. “N-no, I don’t think so. I mean… maybe she might have mentioned it offhandedly; I’m not sure.” Fluttershy placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled calmly. “It’s alright. Nobody knows every single detail of their own house. I, for example, still have no idea where the entrance to our attic is.” “Speaking of which,” Rainbow muttered, looking up at the ceiling, “do you have an attic too?” All at once, the girls glanced upwards, wondering the same thing. After a second, Sunset let out a light hearted chuckle and shrugged. “One room at a time, Rainbow.” She began descending the stairs. “One room at a time.” One by one, the girls followed her down. Rainbow followed behind Sunset, and Fluttershy, though hesitant, followed closely behind her. Ever the cautious one, Rarity followed her down with her head low. As she descended, her gaze remained directed upwards in search for possible cobwebs or other basement denizens. “Woah,” gasped Sunset, reaching the bottom of the room. In the dimly lit area, illuminated only by a single hanging bulb, Sunset looked over the multitude of boxes, both large and small. “Oh it’s just storage,” observed Rainbow. I guess Coco’s folks must have left this stuff here on purpose.” “Oh my,” said Rarity, her eyes shining in excitement. “I wonder what’s in them.” Sunset rubbed her arm nervously. “I… don’t think I feel comfortable going through Coco’s stuff. I’ve done more than enough snooping in my life already.” Rainbow shrugged and pointed to a group of nearby boxes that had recently been rummaged through and hastily reclosed. “Well it looks like Pinkie did it for you. Let’s at least see what made her so excited.” Sunset looked between her and the box, then grimaced. “Fine, but just the one’s she already opened. I don’t want to open anything else.” Sunset walked over the box and leaned down on her knees to inspect it. She glanced back at the others. “Honestly, I still feel kinda bad for crashing here for the last few years without Coco or her family knowing.” Fluttershy moved to lean down next to her, a patient smile on her face. “It’s not your fault. You needed a place to stay, and with no identification or money… well I don’t know what you could've done.” Sunset chuckled and opened the top of the box. “Well money wasn’t a problem but... Wait, what’s this?” Her face scrunched up in confusion as she gazed down at the odd looking green object. To her it seemed like a two layered platform with a hole in the middle and a large basin on the bottom. With a grunt she lifted the heavy object, and turned it around. There were five screws twisted out from the sides, all of which had red handles on the ends. “What are you doing?” asked Rainbow. Sunset held up the stand to them. “Trying to figure out what this is. It’s a stand of some sort, probably to hold something in place, but I don’t know what it’s for specifically.” The three girls shared a glance before Rainbow, looking at her curiously, leaned down next to her. “It’s a treestand, you know, for standing Christmas trees in so you can decorate them.” Sunset just looked at her, head tilted quizzically. “Why would you cut down a tree just to put it back on a stand?” While Fluttershy nodded in agreement, Rainbow rolled her eyes. “No, look.” She took the Stand from Sunset and opened another box full of decorations and ornaments. “You put it up in your house and you decorate it with others. You know, put up pictures of family and other stuff. And afterwards you put something fun on top like a lightning bolt.” “Darling, I believe most families use a star,” said Raritty, crossing her arms and raising a single brow. Rainbow shrugged with a smirk. “Eh, most families aren’t as awesome as mine.” Sunset, still slightly confused nodded and stood up. “Alright… but that doesn't answer my question. Why do you have to cut a tree down and put it in your house? Why not just decorate one outside. In fact, wouldn’t it be easier just to have one large tree in the middle of town that everyone can decorate together?” “I thought the exact same way,” agreed Fluttershy. “But my parents told me that not everyone celebrates the holidays the same way. Some people like to decorate the tree differently and some just don’t want to decorate at all.” Rarity, coming up behind Sunset, startled the girl by grabbing her shoulders and leaning on her. “Not to mention, when you decorate your tree with people close to you it fills you with such wonderful feelings,” she crooned. “But the best part is you put gifts under the tree when you’re done!” cheered Rainbow Dash. Rarity playfully rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t say that’s the best part. But I’m fairly sure this is why Pinkie Pie left. If I were to guess I’d say that you don’t have a tree anywhere, do you, darling?” Sunset, still supporting Rarity shook her head. “N-no, I don’t think we ever really thought about it. You know... since Coco wasn’t going to be here and all,” she said, trailing off. “You don’t think they’ll bring in an apple tree do you?” asked Fluttershy, “I don’t think she’d want to part with one of her farm’s trees.” “An apple tree for Christmas?” scoffed Dash. “No way. I bet Pinkie just picked AJ because they have that old pickup truck. They're probably gonna hit up that Christmas tree farm near Sweet Apple Acres.” Suddenly, Rarity hopped off and clapped her hands, squealing gleefully. “I knew it! Quickly! Knowing Pinkie Pie, she’ll be back very soon. And knowing dear Applejack, they’ll have the perfect tree with them." Rarity pointed from the boxes to the stairs. "We need to move the boxes with the decorations upstairs before they return.” Saluting, Rainbow Dash handed Sunset the stand back and grabbed two of the larger boxes. “Wait, is that what we’re doing now?” asked Fluttershy, taking a small box that Rarity handed her. “Of course, darling. This will be Sunset’s first real Christmas. And not only that, but this’ll be the first tree decoration we’ve all done together.” Sunset placed the stand back in its box and took it in her arms. “You’ve never decorated a tree all together?” Rarity shook her head, and, ignoring Rainbow’s glare for being empty handed, followed the girls upstairs. “Unfortunately not. Like we said, decorating the tree is something that most families do together early in the season. Most of us have already done up out trees at home. As Fluttershy exited the basement and followed Rainbow into the living room, she glanced back at her friend. “Umm, Sunset If I could ask. How do Equestrian ponies celebrate… Hearth's Warming, was it? I mean, you told us about it, but what do you do for decoration?” Grunting, Sunset sat the box with the others. “Well most of what we do there is the same as here. We hang lights and ribbons and bells. We wish people happy holidays and good will. We raise a flag to remember the founding of Equestria.” Her face slowly lit up with a bright smile as she remembered her own experiences. “We all play in the snow and have snowball fights. We make and hang Hearth's Warming dolls up on our mantels.” Rainbow, who had began clearing out a corner of the room for the tree, turned to face her. “Wait, what are Hearth's Warming dolls?” “Right, you guys us stockings here,” Sunset muttered, crossing her arms. “Well as a show of goodwill, ponies in the same house make dolls of each other to put on the wall or mantle. Of course you could make dolls of your friends as well.” “Oh that’s adorable!” gushed Rarity, clasping her hand over her mouth. “Oh I so wish I knew what I looked like as a pony. Oh I bet I’d be beyond beautiful.” Sunset flinched and turned back to Rainbow Dash. “S-so what kind of tree are we supposed to decorate if not an apple tree?” Rainbow chuckled and leaned against the couch. “Welp, assuming they don’t decide to steal one of the farm’s apple trees after all, they're supposed to get a—” Suddenly the door slammed open and Pinkie’s wide smiling face popped through the frame. “We’re back!” she sang. “And we brought foliage!” Moving in backwards, she revealed that, along with Applejack, the two were hefting a fairly large pine tree into the house. The tree itself was wrapped up in a plastic net, holding the branches close together. “Yeah, right from mah farm,” scowled AJ. With every grunt and deep breath it was evident that even though Pinkie had a hold of the top, Applejack, who was holding the root ball on the bottom, was putting forth more effort. Grabbing the stand from the box, Rainbow placed it down in her cleared corner. Next to the pile of odds and ends that used to be in that corner. As Pinkie began to lift the tree upright, Applejack pulled back, halting her. “Now hold on there. Fluttershy, can you go get us a pot of water that we can put this in.” She gestured her head towards the stand that Rainbow had placed. Gasping, Fluttershy instantly got the message and nodded happily. Sunset spied the cloth covered ball in Applejack’s grip and her face broke out in a wide grin. “Oh I get it. Come on.” Grabbing her arm, Sunset led Fluttershy into the kitchen. Meanwhile, everyone else stood around, looking at Applejack with confuzzled looks. “Umm… Why do we need water?” questioned Rainbow, voicing the obvious. Applejack sighed and gave her a flat look. “Because, unlike you all, the Apple family actually replants the trees we use.” Soon enough, Fluttershy and Sunset returned with the largest pot they could find and set it down. Together, they lifted the pot up and carefully poured all of the water into the basin at the bottom of the stand. Once the basin was about halfway full the group gathered together to set the tree inside. Once the tree was secure, Pinkie pulled out a pair a scissors and gleefully cut off the plastic, letting the tree flare out in all of its glory. Once free, the tree immediately resumed its natural pyramid shape, its healthy pines glistening in the light. “My word,” gasped Rarity. “That’s a beautiful tree.” Rainbow, eyes narrowed, staring the foliage down. “Nevermind that, how’d you get it here from the farm so fast?” she said, glancing at Pinkie. Pinkie winked. “Just think of it as a holiday miracle!” Applejack smirked and rolled her eyes. “We basically ran outside until Ah managed to stop Pinkie an’ get her to explain what was goin’ on.” “Jackie why~” cried Pinkie. “Why you gotta ruin the mystery? Applejack continued. “Then Ah called up Big Mac. He threw a spare tree in the truck and drove up here in about ten minutes.” “Why do you have spare trees?” asked Sunset. Applejack crossed her arms and lifted her head proudly. “The Apple family don’t just grow apples. We also rent out Christmas trees in the off season. Ah say rent because you can return an’ replant ‘em.” Sunset nodded. “I love that idea.” Rainbow's eyes narrowed in her direction and she stubbernly crossed her arms. “Huh, don’t you get, like, a lot of competition with that other Christmas tree farm near you?” she asked. Applejack just gave her a flat look. “Dash, that’s our Christmas tree farm.” “Let me guess, too busy doing something ‘awesome’ to notice?” asked Sunset. Dash nodded proudly, clearly oblivious to the sarcasm dripping from Sunset’s tone. “You know it! AJ’s got a great snowboarding hill right there!” Sunset just smiled and rolled her eyes at her. “So what do we do first?” she said, turning towards the tree. Pinkie Pie threw open one of the boxes and pulled out several strings of lights. “We decorate it of course!” “Agreed,” said Rarity. “Fluttershy and I will handle the fragile bulbs and ornaments. They aren't ours so we don’t want any of them breaking now do we? Now Rainbow narrowed her eyes at Rarity. “Why do I feel like I was insulted just now?” she muttered. If Rarity had heard, she didn’t react. Instead, she turned and pointed at Sunset and Pinkie. “You two will handle the lights and Rainbow and Applejack will handle other decorations such as garland ropes.” She clapped her hands. “Hurry up everyone, the day's almost over.” Scoffing, Rainbow reluctantly leaned down and opened the box with the leafy green ropes inside. “Jeez, who put her in charge?” Applejack chuckled and bent down to help her. “Poor Sweetie and their family must’ve gone through this every year.” Setting a box next to them Fluttershy chimed in with her two cents. “She’s not that bad, she’s just as excited as the rest of—” “Pinkie Pie, no!” Rarity screeched. The three girls turned to face Rarity who had gone over to instruct the other two. While Sunset untangled the lights Pinkie had already began trying to decorate the tree with the lights that weren't tangled. However, Rarity had moved in to stop her the second she started. Currently, she was clutching the lights to her chest, eyes wide in horror. “You absolutely do not just throw the ropes over a tree! You delicately weave them through the branches, alternating the pulsing and static lights; like so.” With the precision of an expert needle threader, Rarity began slowly and deliberately moving the lights between the pins and branches. “You start from the bottom, making every effort to place each light specifically,” she instructed. Like she described, Rarity leaned down and carefully worked her way around the base, wrapping the light above under and in between each and every individual branch until she returned to her previous position. “You see,” she said proudly. “If I had my blueprints I’d be able to weave a flower of light with the flowers like I did last—” “Ohhh, this one’s so pretty,” gushed Pinkie, having stopped listening in favor of helping Fluttershy who, like everyone else, had stopped paying her attention in favor of joining Pinkie in admiring the pretty bulbs. Rarity scowled for a second before Sunset moved over to her, the knotted cord still her hands. “Don’t worry about it, Rarity. I agree with you. But as long as nothing’s broken isn’t whatever fine?” she asked with a shrug. Rarity’s jaw fell and she began stammering. “I… b-but the tree? Don’t you want it to look the best for your first time?” Sunset simply smiled and shook her head. “I think… I just love having friends to share it with.  She looked over at Pinkie and Fluttershy who had both found a beautiful pink ball with light blue snowflakes, and at Applejack who was playing with the garland by making it into a pseudo lasso. “Honestly,” she continued, looking back to Rarity. “I’m already having fun and I would hate to ask for anything more than this.” Sunset held out the tangled cord. Looking between her smiling face and the cord, Rarity sighed and took it into her hands. “Oh alright then. Let’s throw style and caution to the wind and decorate willy-nilly, I suppose.” Sharing a smile, Rarity began working with Sunset to untangle the lights while the other three opened and gathered the rest of the decorations from the other boxes. In addition to various ornaments and garland ropes, they also found a variety of small dolls and toys. Fluttershy discovered cute little reindeer and sleighs, while Pinkie got her hands on glitter covered mini presents. But to everyone’s delight, Rainbow Dash opened a box to find a glittering snow-white mat to place around the tree. Soon enough, the group started to actually decorate the tree. Bulbs were hung and lights were strung. Rarity, despite Sunset’s urge to relax, continued to fuss over the placements of the decorations. Unfortunately, her efforts did nothing to prevent the girls from hanging objects on a whim, her fussing only serving to amuse them further. To everyone’s horror, Pinkie at one point had thought it necessary to climb up high on the tree to place a particularly pretty bulb. Luckily, she was able to hop off safely and share a laugh with everyone before something terrible happened. Unfortunately, Dash’s plan to drop ornaments onto the tree from the second floor was met with a completely opposite reaction. Slowly, with every object lovingly hung wherever they liked, the tree began to come to life until finally, everyone took a step back. “Woah,” muttered Sunset, almost completely speechless. “It looks lovely,” gushed Fluttershy, gazing at the tree with wide eyes. Applejack lifted up her, looked at the tree up and down, and nodded proudly. “Looks down right pretty to me!” “Well…” sighed Rarity, crossing her arms and examining it, “it was a tad unorthodox… using the lights as a lasso, topping it with a rainbow, adding origami cranes, and tying helium-filled snowflake balloons to the branches. But In the end, I think I looks exquisite.” Her brows furrowing, Rarity tilted her head and let her gaze hone in on the balloons exclusively. “Where did Pinkie get the helium?” Rarity mumbled to herself. “Does she carry tanks of it everywhere she goes?” “We’re not done yet!” announced Rainbow. Alerted, everyone turned to face Rainbow who had the last two cords, unconnected, in her hands. Behind her, Pinkie stood by the light switch to the room. “Merry Christmas!” yelled Pinkie. With mirroring excitement, she shut the light off and threw the group into temporary darkness. With a click, bright multicolored light filled the room. Everyone turned back to see that the beauty of the tree had increased tenfold. Red and blue lights danced around the tree, pulsing rhythmically and throwing Sunset’s already wonder-filled look into a complete hypnotic gaze. The lights, shining brightly on the glass bulbs allowed them to glisten and shine as they reflected the lights, the clear ones even seemingly changing color along with the lights. “It’s beautiful,” Sunset muttered breathlessly. Coming up next to her, Rarity sat a hand on her shoulder. “You see, not only that, but did you have fun decorating it with us?” Feeling her eyes water, Sunset quickly wiped them before turning around to face the others. She nodded, though her eyes were still downcast and a sad smile was on her face. “You were right, I did have a lot of fun doing this all with you. I think the only other thing I’d wish was that Coco was here to do this with us,” she said, her voice low and melancholic. Rainbow was quick to shrug it off. “Oh don’t worry about it, when she gets back you two can have fun with each other while you take all of this stuff off the—OW.” Rainbow, rubbing the sore part of her head, looked up at Applejack, who was glaring at her. Pinkie popped up next to Sunset and pointed at the couch where her laptop was sitting, aimed right at them. “It’s a good thing I’ve been recording the whole thing! Now she can watch it later!” “Pinkie that’s a brilliant idea!” praised Rarity. Pinkie blushed and grinned proudly. Mood considerably brightened, she looked around at her friends. “You know what? Hold on a sec,’ and keep recording.” Suddenly, Sunset turned and rushed up the stairs. Everyone except Pinkie Pie shared a glance of confusion. Pinkie Pie herself, having a twitching pinkie finger seemed to know exactly what was coming next. Everyone else soon caught on when Sunset came downstairs with five matching cream colored boxes, each with a uniquely colored ribbon tied around them. One by one, Sunset handed each of them boxes with their matching colors and, nervously, stood back. “I couldn’t wait…” she muttered, her face flushing. She motioned them to start opening their boxes. Cautiously, and in one case meticulously, the girls opened their boxes. In universal shows of surprise, all of them either gasped, or squee’d upon seeing what was inside. In each of the boxes, there was a large-sized plush doll of each of the girls as Equestrian ponies. All of them were clearly hand-stitched and designed specifically for each girl. Applejack’s pony even had on her trademark hat. Fluttershy nearly exploded from the sheer adorableness of her own ponified doll. “Oh my goodness, it’s amazing! I love it! Are these wings?! They’re so cute!” she gushed, examining each part of the doll then hugging little Fluttershy to her chest. “Awww yeah!” yelled Dash. She quickly found that when she opened her doll’s wings, they stayed open. Immediately, she turned into a five year old and began flying herself around the room. “OH! EM! GOODNESS!” Pinkie squealed, her voice as shrill as it could be. “There’s a pocket… in my pony’s mane!” True to her word, there was a zipper sewn right into the Pinkie pony doll’s mane that could be covered by a flap of fabric. She reached inside and nearly died when she found cotton candy bubblegum inside. “Sunset,” breathed Rarity, staring into her own doll’s blue eyes, “how did know? And what are these marks?” she asked, looking at the dolls flanks. Sunset, her face completely red. “It came to the two of us, Coco and I, yesterday and we spent the day putting them together. I saw your transformations back at the, uh… Fall Formal so that’s how I know what tribes you’d be. Or at least which of you would be pegasi, I had to guess between unicorn and earth pony for the rest of you. The marks on their flanks are called Cutie Marks. They represent your special talents.” She let out a soft chuckle. “Those weren’t hard either seeing as everyone in this world still wears that symbol somewhere on their clothes.” Applejack nodded and whistled, impressed. “Golly, looks like you all found the right present afterall. Did’ja make one ‘fer yerself and Coco?” Sunset nodded. “Yeah. I made hers and she made mine. Then, this morning, we swapped presents.” Sunset looked across the room, at everyone’s smiling faces. Slowly, her own face fell, and her smile grew sadder and sadder. “You know…” Everyone slowed to a slowed to a stop, taking notice of Sunset’s remorseful look. “In my world,” she began, “Hearth's Warming is a time to look back to how we all came to be, how we became who we are now. But… when I look back, all I see are regrets and bad choices. I was gifted and blessed with talent and opportunity, but I wasted them both.” “Sunset,” whispered Fluttershy, getting ready to comfort her. But Sunset continued. “But because of my hubris I decided I wanted more. Even when I came to this world and I had another chance to change, I didn’t. The people were so nice, but I didn't care. I continued to make bad choices, all of which are still affecting me.” Sunset paused for a second, and took a deep breath. Exhaling, she gave the girls a bright smile, her eyes shining and filled with determination. “But now, Twilight’s given me a third chance, and this time, I’m going to take it. I’ve started making good decisions now, and I plan to keep making them.” One by one, Sunset met each of their eyes. “I know who I used to be, and what I used to be. But I also know who I am now. And right now, I’m the one that nobody in school likes very much. But that’s fine. I may not be able to make them forget who I was, but I know that can can at least try to show them who I am now. Starting this year, I’ll do everything I can to make it up to everyone in the school, one by one. "I… I know that it’d be selfish to ask you guys to help with my problems, especially since I caused a lot for you as well, but will you all help me?” Before anyone else could respond, Rainbow Dash threw an arm around her. “Of course! Why wouldn’t we. I spent a lot of time getting you to stop moping around the library you know. I’m not gonna leave you hanging now.” Smiling widely, Sunset leaned into her embrace, holding onto the arm Rainbow had put around her. “One of my very first right choices was letting you in.” Next, Pinkie hopped over and grabbed them both in a big hug. “Well duh! We all know you’re all sunny again! And I Pinkie Promise that by the time I’m done, everyone will know it too.” Applejack shrugged and joined in. “Shucks, ya didn’t even hafta ask us, sugarcube.” Fluttershy was the fourth one to join the hug. “If you’re genuine in your feelings, they’ll be sure to reach the people around you. Don’t you worry about anything.” Finally, Rarity stepped up and looked Sunset in the eyes. “Sunset, in this world, Christmas is a time to count your blessings. It’s a time so look back, but it’s also a time to move forward with what it gave you. This year is nearly over, but look at what you have now. Of course we’ll help.” With no more words said, Rarity joined in the hug. Tears now falling freely down Sunset’s face she returned their embrace. After a second, she opened her teary eyes and looked straight at the laptop behind the girls. Knowing that Coco would be watching this too, she gave the camera a bright smile. “This year, I got six amazing presents.” ~~~ Later that night, sitting on her bed in her room, Coco opened up her own laptop. It was a brand new light blue model that her grandmother had given her earlier that day. Unfortunately, due to catching up with the rest of her family, Coco hadn’t gotten past setting up the device. Opening her email, she was pleasantly surprised to find that Sunset had sent her a letter containing a link to a video. With a smile, she glanced over at the edge of her bed where a stuffed plush of her sat, snuggled up next to a smaller, secretly made, pony plush of Sunset. With no shortage of excitement, she opened up the video.