Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Spike, Principal Celestia, the Humane Five, and the Crusaders stood inside the log cabin with looks of fear on their faces. They had just received a disturbing phone call in which mysterious people forced a scared Derpy Muffins to read a threatening message warning them of a creature called the Krampus.
“Krampus? What’s a Krampus?” Rarity asked both nervous and confused.
“Ah’ve never heard of such a thing.” Applejack said.
“Me neither.” Fluttershy added fearfully.
“Twilight, do you know anything about this Krampus?” Celestia asked the young princess.
“Sorry, I’ve never heard of it.” Twilight answered.
“I have.” Pinkie Pie announced in a rather soft and nervous tone that caught everyone’s attention. “My family told stories about the Krampus when I used to live on their farm.”
“How come we’ve never heard of any stories about it?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“It’s not like all the jolly and heartwarming holiday tales we’re all familiar with. It’s a tale meant to strike fear in the hearts of naughty children. He is the Anti-Claus. You see, while Santa delivers gifts to all the good girls and boys, Krampus snatches up the naughty ones and inflicts all sorts of brutal and merciless punishments on them.” This made everyone in the room gasp in fear. “It was said that those who commit absolutely despicable acts, particularly ones that cause others to lose their holiday spirit, during the season will bring the merciless wrath of him and his helpers down on all responsible.” Pinkie looked absolutely terrified, even Fluttershy never looked that scared. “We all have a special spot on the naughty list for what we did.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Rainbow said in disbelief. “An evil Santa Claus?! Come on Pinkie, you’ve gotta be kidding us.” But the pink party girl’s face was etched with fear and seriousness, she wasn’t joking at all.
“Ah don’t think she’s kiddin’, Dash.” Applejack said.
“You mean…? Oh crap!” Rainbow nervously exclaimed realizing the once goofy Pie was dead serious about what she was saying.
“What’ll we do?” Fluttershy asked fearfully.
“Well, I say we show this Krampus fellow that, after all the things we’ve faced in the past, we will not go down without a fight. Now who’s with me, darlings?” Rarity turned to the others with determination. All the other girls started cheering in agreement, except for Pinkie. “All we need to do is use the Magic of Friendship and-”
“No, Rarity!” Pinkie yelled. “It won’t work.”
“Then how do we fight this creature?”
“We can’t! You can’t fight Krampus! He’s like the king of Christmas karma and you can’t stop that! No one’s getting presents, no one’s roasting chestnuts, no one’s singing carols, and no one’s going to spend happy times with their families! Besides, the Magic of Friendship won’t work without all our friends.” Pinkie said casting a glance at Sunset. “It’s over.” With that, Pinkie buried her face in her hands and cried at the hopelessness of their situation. All the others bowed their heads in despair.
“No, this isn’t what we wanted!” Sweetie Belle sobbed.
“The holiday season is ruined.” Scootaloo said sadly.
“And it’s all our fault!” Apple Bloom cried.
Sunset and Twilight watched as everyone else fell into despair. Sunset couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. Despite the mistreatment she received from them, she didn’t think they deserved whatever fate this Krampus had in store for them. “There must be a way to stop this thing.” Sunset said. “Do you have any ideas, Twilight?”
“I’m sorry, if I had a better understanding of this creature’s abilities I might be able to form a plan.” Twilight replied sadly.
Suddenly, there was a knocking at the front door. Everyone fearfully turned their attention in the direction the sound came from. Could Krampus be here already? This terrible question flowed through their minds as they stared at the door waiting for something else to happen.
“Deck the halls with boughs of holly. Fa la la la la, la la la la.” came a group of voices that sounded like happy children. “‘Tis the season to be jolly. Fa la la la la, la la la la.”
“It’s just a group of lovely young carolers.” Rarity said with a smile of relief. She began walking over to the door to greet them.
“Don we now our gay apparel. Fa la la, la la la, la la la.”
“Rarity, wait!” Pinkie whispered desperately to her friend, but it was too late. Rarity had already opened the door.
“Troll the ancient Yuletide carol. Fa la la la, la la la.”
Rarity’s happy and welcoming expression suddenly turned to absolute horror when she opened the door. Instead of cute, young carolers; she found hideous and twisted-looking Christmas elves wearing raggy and tattered green clothes with antlered reindeer pelts, red eyes, and sinister smiles filled with lots of razor-sharp teeth.
“Boo!” said the elf at the front.
Rarity let out a scream of fright before slamming the door shut and locking it. “Girls, they’re here!” she cried and then jumped when she felt a sudden banging on the door.
“Quick, out the back door!” AJ said heading into the kitchen and to the other door. But when she opened it, she was greeted with a group of evil-looking live snowmen. “They’re everywhere!” the cowgirl cried slamming the door.
“Everyone calm down.” Celestia said taking charge. “Rainbow Dash, take the Crusaders someplace safe for them to hide. The rest of us will fortify this place. If any of these monsters try to get in, they will surely have a hard time doing so.” The others cheered in agreement and determination.
Rainbow Dash walked the three younger girls up the stairs and passed a few rooms till they reached a small door on the ceiling with a short rope hanging from it. Rainbow pulled the rope which opened the door and down slid a ladder. The three little girls each climbed up the ladder and into the attic. Dash stopped halfway up the ladder.
“Here.” Dash said handing Apple Bloom a flashlight. “Now whatever happens, stay here and be quiet.” With that, she closed the door to the attic and left.
For a moment, the Crusaders sat in nervous silence when they heard a rustling noise behind a few large boxes. Apple Bloom turned on the flashlight and took a peek behind the boxes. She discovered that the rustling sound was coming from a group of colorfully wrapped holiday presents that were shaking as if there were living things inside them.
Back in the living room, all the older girls were arming themselves with anything they could find: pokers, brooms, umbrellas, anything they could swing.
“All right, girls.” Applejack announced with determination. “Let’s give these holiday hooligans some season’s greetin’s.”
Then Pinkie heard a noise coming from the kitchen so she went in to check it out. When she entered, she noticed that the cookie container she had placed on the counter was open and empty. Then she heard the sound of a door slam right behind her. She turned around fast and the first thing that caught her attention was the refridgerator. Pinkie cautiously approached the fridge and slowly opened it. The light into temporarily blinded her for just a moment, but when her sight returned, her face became one of shock and terror. Inside the refridgerator were lots of little living gingerbread men with evil smiles and cackling wickedly. Two of them held a can of whipped cream and aimed it at their pink victim. One of them pressed the top of the can and a stream of whipped cream sprayed into Pinkie’s face knocking her down. Then the fiendish cookies giggled as they started jumping out of the fridge and onto the girl with candy canes in their hands.