The little lavender filly shivered, her tiny striped scarf whipping in the wind. It would have been odd, seeing such a young foal by herself in the cold. Surely somepony could have noticed, right?
But this was no normal filly. This filly had suddenly appeared one night, last night to be exact. The little earth pony seemed to have a light blue glow around her, despite not being a unicorn. She hoofed at the ground, trying to make a small bed for herself. As she looked up into the sky, she saw the snow gently falling, and- a bright flash of light?
“Wheeeeee!” The mint-colored blur screamed cheerfully, dashing around until it saw the filly, coming to a stop. “Hey there, kid!” The pony said, slowly descending towards the half frightened filly.
The pony was a mint green mare, with a pink mane and purple eyes that seemed to glitter with happiness. “What are you doing out here, little filly?” the mare chirped. “It’s Christmas Eve!”
“I don’t really know…” the filly stuttered, looking at the magical flying earth mare nervously. “I just kinda appeared out here… I don’t have a mummy or dad.”
“Oh.” the mint colored pony sighed, nodding grimly. “I’m Minty, by the way. I ate some magical candy cane stuff and now I can fly!”
“I’m…” the filly trailed off, realizing that she didn’t have a name. She looked up at the sky, remembering how Minty’s bright blur looked, and finally said, “I’m Northern Lights.”
“Cool!” Minty smiled. “Wanna come to Ponyville? Looks awfully cold out here…”
“Sure!” North smiled as Minty held out her hoof. Taking it, the two of them flew through the night sky, and towards Ponyville.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I can’t believe she really left!” Sunny Daze said to her friends. The ponies were sitting in the Cotton Candy Cafe, drinking hot cocoa, and the ponies were beginning to get worried. “I mean, she can be a total ditz sometimes, but she just up and left! Again!”
“Totally.” Sparkleworks nodded, but a loud crash made them look up.
“Hey there! I’m baa-aack!” Minty smiled, causing Cotton Candy to groan at the fact that her door was now in shambles. But as Minty entered, they saw a small lavender filly nervously trot out from behind the minty mare.
“Hey there.” the filly said nervously. “I’m Northern Lights.”
Pinkie Pie was the first to react. “Minty, what is this? You fly away after eating a bunch of magic candy cane pieces, and you come back with a filly!” The mare glared at her friend.
“No, that’s not-” Minty started, trying to explain, but realizing that nopony was going to believe that a foal just magically appeared in the middle of nowhere. Despite her ditzyiness, Minty realized the futility in arguing, and trotted out with North in tow.
The town was bustling with activity as usual, and what with it being Christmas Eve, ponies placed wrapped presents under the giant tree in the center of town, or placing them in the branches.
"Ohhhh, this town is so pretty! I can't believe you all put up so many amazing decorations!" Northern Lights squealed in delight, looking around at all of the lights and colors in amazement. "It must be so awesome to live here, especially during the holidays!"
"Yeah, most of the time. Unless you're the town klutz." Minty said sadly, looking down at the ground. "Sometimes I think most ponies would be glad if I just up and, *poof* disappeared."
"But why?" Northern Lights asked, shocked to hear such a seemingly cheerful mare sound so down. "Aren't your friends happy to spend time with you during the holidays?"
"Oh, I'm sure they are! My friends would do anything for me, even fly all the way to the North Pole to find me." Minty inwardly grinned, remembering a particular time with her friends. "But I really don't think they like having me around when they're trying to do something like putting up decorations, I always manage to mess stuff up."
"Well that's just silly, all ponies mess things up, and are klutzy sometimes." Northern Lights told her with a giggle. "Sometimes ponies say or do when they're mad, that they don't really mean. You should give them some time,and I'm sure they will be nice to you again!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Looking around, Minty noticed the great Christmas tree in the center of town. "Hey, I know! Lets put a few extra decorations on the great Christmas tree, and trot over to cotton Candy's for some hot coca."
"Ohh, I've never put decorations on a tree before!" The little filly exclaimed, hopping around with delight. "That sounds like a whole lot of fun!"
Minty retrieved a box of ornaments from her house, and the two earth ponies scurried about the tree, hanging them. Tinsel and ribbons, bulbs and garland. Both girls added their own special touches to the tree, making the already pretty decorations even more beautiful.
Hey
"Ohhh, that candy cane at the top looks sooo tasty!" Northern Lights drooled, licking her lips as she stared at the giant sweet. "Why don't we go up and have a lick?"
"Uhhh, no. That's not really a good idea." Minty replied nervously, shaking her head. "I've learned from too many experiences NOT to mess with the here-comes-Christmas-candy-cane."
"Sounds like somebody has learned their lesson." Sunny Daze came trotting up, a regretful look on her face. "Minty, Sparkleworks and I are sorry about the things we said when you floated away. You can really get on our nerves sometimes, but we really think you're an awesome friend."
"Thanks Sunny, you're the best!" Minty replied, trotting over towards where the beach mare stood. "Hey, Northern Lights and I were gonna trot over to Cotton Candy's place, and get some warm Coca, you wanna come with us?"
"Sounds great Mints." Sunny replied with a smile. "But who's Northern Lights?"
But when Minty turned around to introduce her new friend... but there was no trace of the little filly anywhere.
"But... she was just...." Minty stuttered, dumbfounded.
And it was then, that Minty realized that strange and amazing miracles can happen at Christmas time. And wither it was an actual foal, or the spirit of a little filly who loves Christmas from the time of the Princess of friendship, or wither it was the spirit of the Aurora Borealis itself trying to cheer her up, really didn't matter. Because Minty learned that Christmas was indeed a magical night, and it was a night whose kindness and warmth should be shared all throughout the year.
"Merry Christmas, everyone!" Minty exclaimed, as she trotted into the Cotton Candy Cafe, where all of her friends raised their hot coca mugs to her in greeting. "And a happy new year!"