//------------------------------//
// The Nutcracker Shriek 
// Story: Equestria Girls Holiday Special: Wrath of the Krampus 
// by EquineAvenger 
//------------------------------//

	Sunset Shimmer sat underneath a freeway bridge weeping. She had been walking for a long time and her legs were aching. She had been crying for almost a half hour since she stopped to rest.
“I should’ve known this day would come.” Sunset said sadly to herself. “I never should’ve left Equestria.” She then put her head down and tried to get a little rest while curling up to try and stay as warm as possible.

Elsewhere, Lyra Heartstrings and Bon-Bon were exploring a dark, empty park looking for Sunset. 
“We’ve looked everywhere and have found no sign of her.” Lyra said to her friend.
“We haven’t looked down this way.” Bon-Bon pointed toward a path that didn’t look familiar. They walked down the path until they came to a frozen pond. 
“Well, this is unfortunate.” Lyra said seeing no sign of Sunset anywhere in the area.
“Hang on, I need to make a call.” Bon-Bon said pulling out her phone and dialing a few numbers. “Hello, Sandalwood?” she asked holding the phone to her ear.
“Hey, Bon-Bon!” Sandalwood’s voice was heard. “How’s the search going?”
“Not good I’m afraid. We’ve looked all over and still haven’t found Sunset.”
“Oh, that’s a real bummer. We’ve been looking everywhere as well. We’ve been walking up and down this block and can’t find a single soul.”
“Hey Sandalwood, look! I see someone!” Bon-Bon heard a female voice and what sounded like a ringing bell from her phone. 
“Oh sweet!” Sandalwood said. “We just found one of those charity workers dressed in a raggy Santa suit.”
“Excuse me sir.” Bon-Bon heard Sandalwood's female companion.
“We’ll ask him if he’s seen any sign of Sun-.” But before Sandalwood could finish, a snarling noise like a vicious animal and a girl scream was heard from the phone. “OH MY GOD!” was the last thing Bon-Bon heard Sandalwood say and then the call suddenly ended.
“Sandalwood? Sandalwood?!” Bon-Bon tried calling back, her voice was sounding more anxious. Suddenly, lights came on around the frozen pond startling Lyra and Bon-Bon. 
“What’s going on?” Lyra asked scared and confused. But before she could receive an answer to her question, music started playing. They recognized the music as the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy tune from ‘The Nutcracker.’
Then some mysterious figures dressed in Nutcracker-themed ballet outfits and wearing masks appeared and started dancing gracefully on the ice. Both Lyra and Bon-Bon were confused as they watched the strange ballet dancers perform on the ice, but for who? There was no audience except themselves. As the spectacle continued, the dancers seemed to be moving closer to where Lyra and Bon-Bon were standing. They were so fixated on the performance that they failed to notice a shadowy figure, shaped like a giant nutcracker, creep up behind them. Then they heard something and slowly turned around to see a giant monstrous nutcracker with sharp teeth and menacing eyes standing right behind them. 
Both girls screamed at the hideous beast and ran out onto the ice. However, this proved to be a bad idea. The ice dancers turned their attention to the girls and removed their masks to reveal inhuman demonic faces. Suddenly, the music changed to the Russian Dance (Trepak) as the monstrous dancers chased the two frightened girls across the ice. It was hard for Lyra and Bon-Bon to run on the slippery ice but the demonic dancers weren’t having trouble at all. 
As the girls struggled to get away from their pursuers, the ice beneath Lyra’s feet broke and she fell into the dark cold water. Bon-Bon struggled desperately to pull her friend out of the water but the ice was too slippery and she fell into the water with her. Both girls were now under the ice and sinking deeper in the dark, freezing water. They were struggling to swim back up to the hole in the ice but they were losing air fast and the water was so cold they were losing consciousness. Both could feel their visions getting blurry, in less than a minute they would drown. But then, two arms entered the water through the hole in the ice, grabbed both girls, and pulled them up to the surface. Lyra and Bon-Bon coughed as they gasped for air. When their visions became clear again, their feelings of relief turned once again to fear as they stared at their ‘saviors.’ The monstrous ballet dancers had just pulled them out of the freezing water and had sinister grins on their faces, the giant nutcracker had the biggest smile out of all of them. Lyra and Bon-Bon felt like they just survived a horrible fate only to be condemned to a much worse fate.

Somewhere else, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, the Humane Five, and the Crusaders were exploring another part of downtown when Rainbow Dash’s cellphone rang. 
“Hello?” Rainbow asked answering her phone. “Oh, Vice Principal Luna, find anything at school that might help in the search?”
“I don’t think so, but I did find something that I thought you might need to know.” Luna’s voice was heard. “We found some secret compartments in Sunset’s locker and in some janitor’s closets and there were bags of wrapped presents.”
“Bags of presents?! That’s odd.” Rainbow said confused, then turned to the Crusaders. “Were you three also trying to frame her for stealing gifts?”
“No, we did nothing like that, honest!” Sweetie Belle said defensively.
“The Crusaders say they had nothing to do with it.” Rainbow said to Luna. “Who are the gifts addressed to?”
“Some of the gifts are addressed to Applejack, some are for Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and you, Rainbow Dash. There are even some for the Crusaders. And they’re all from Sunset Shimmer.” Luna answered.
“What?!” Rainbow exclaimed in surprise.
“I think all these gifts are from Sunset to all of you. I figured it might be something you all might need to know.”
“How many?”
“A little over twenty. Is anything else I can do?”
“No, that’s okay. Thanks.” Rainbow said glumly and hung up her phone. 
“What was it, Dash?” Rarity asked curious about the call.
“Vice Principal Luna found over twenty gifts hidden around the school. All of them to us from Sunset, there were even some for the Crusaders.”
“What?! Over twenty presents?! How much did Sunset spend on us?!”
“She must’ve been saving them for Christmas Day.” Pinkie Pie concluded.
“She got us so many presents and we were so mean to her!” Fluttershy said in utter remorse.
“Come on y’all. We have ta keep lookin’.” Applejack said, although she was also looking very sad by this new revelation. With this news, they all were beginning to doubt if they would be able get their friend back at all.

Meanwhile, Principal Celestia was walking down a freeway sidewalk looking for her missing student.
“Sunset! Sunset!” she called out. Then she came to bridge and stopped halfway across. Little did she know was that the person she was looking for was napping right under the bridge she was standing on. Celestia looked out at the land next to the freeway and prepared to a big call. “SUN-!”
HONK! A loud truck horn sounded waking Sunset and drowning out Celestia’s call.
“Stupid noisy cars. I knew it was a bad idea to nap under a freeway bridge.” Sunset complained rubbing her ears.
Instead of calling again, Celestia assumed no one was out there and continued on her way across the bridge. Sunset, deciding to move on climbed up to the freeway sidewalk. Now she and Celestia were standing on opposite ends of the bridge with their backs turned to each other. Both sadly continued on their separate ways in opposite directions and would never know how close they were to finding each other.