The First Willowbrook Christmas

by Starscribe

Merry

Firefly didn't usually take the stairs up to her apartment anymore. It wasn't just that the climb was long and inconvenient, though it certainly was. But the instant she learned how to fly, why would she ever waste her time trudging up step after step.

She had a painful reminder of just how miserable that process could be, now that she had heavy bags weighing her down.

There was simply no chance she could fly with that much weight. As she got higher in her building, even the apartment seemed to struggle to hold up her weight.

Nothing in Willowbrook was quite ordinary—much of the city's ponies huddled in old stone construction from before the fall of Nightmare Moon. Those that didn't ended up in places like her father's apartment building.

There was no building code, no attempt at anything approaching meaningful safety standards. Instead, with each floor Firefly climbed, the old building grew more precarious. Each floor was grafted to the ones beneath it, and somehow they had to expect it all to stay standing.

Firefly was a pegasus filly—light enough that she could land on the upper branches of trees without much difficulty. But the weight of a Christmas feast was enough to make her worry. The building didn't usually groan so loudly on her way up the stairs.

Eventually she reached her front door, and the several locks she had to open to get inside. Once she thought that Dust Storm was just being paranoid—but after months in Willowbrook, she now knew that everyone acted that way.

She had to use her mouth for most of it, though she was decently good at using her wings for lightweight tasks. She couldn't put much force on anything, but locks didn't need it.

The lights were off inside, as usual. Her dad used them about as much as a bat pony. At least they had finally finished moving his furniture collection.

That was the charitable way to think of it. Technically speaking, he was probably just a hoarder. Now thanks to her, he could be a “recovering” hoarder. Dusty wasn't like those struggling people who got made into TLC shows. All he needed was a little outside perspective to remind him of what a normal person kept in their house.

She could walk all the way into the kitchen without having to fly over stuff. Good thing, since she couldn't fly. "Dad! I've got a delivery coming in a few minutes. Hope that's not a problem..."

There was no reply. Both of their bedrooms were off of the dining room, and she peeked towards his. Her own was open, and the space beyond clean and orderly. Not a single item of Dad's furniture collection imposed on her space.

The kitchen and dining room were mostly clear now too, except for a large pile of expensive, mismatched chairs in one corner, all stacked on each other. Dad wouldn't get rid of them no matter how many times she pointed out that their different colors would never work together in any coherent room.

"Dad!" She raised her voice, spreading her various bags out onto the kitchen counter. "I'm gonna decorate like you said I could! I got the, uh... Hearth's Warming... stuff!"

Again, there was no answer. Not completely unexpected. The stallion worked a strange job, salvaging from the ever shifting ruins of sky buildings that found their way over Willowbrook in Equestria's air-currents. When somepony spotted an interesting building, he had to go up, no matter how inconvenient the hour.

That's for the best. He can't tell me no if I'm already doing it.

She wouldn't have much time to work with, so she would have to use it wisely.

From the growing gloom on the horizon, she guessed she had an hour at most before her dad returned home. By the time he did, he would find a much improved version of holiday festivities. Lilac was right about one thing: why should they have to settle?

She was already doing such a good job just enduring the new life in Equestria! Not many others could adapt to a new body, make some new friends, and keep from completely losing their minds in the process. She deserved some credit!

She started by dumping the contents of her bags out into the room. Only the single tourist shop near the train had anything that even resembled proper holiday decorations, so she had to get most of that at a fabric shop. Rolls of sparkly stuff with lots of tassels kinda sorta resembled tinsel. She wasn't exactly sure what the balls were for, but once they were painted they would serve as adequate ornaments.

At least Equestria had candy-canes. In the last six months, Firefly had a crash course in learning to cook. Her adoptive father was useless, and also not terribly interested in eating the results.

She added the bags of flour, confectioner's sugar, and sprinkles to the kitchen, along with a carton of real eggs. They looked like horses, and maybe they shared some genetic heritage—but they still cooked in much the same way that she remembered. The recipes Firefly was gathering from across Willowbrook—and from the visitors she got to talk to—cooked basically the same way she expected.

By the time she had her first batch of cookies ready to go, she heard a knocking on the balcony door, and she scurried out to meet them. The delivery-ponies looked confused and a little annoyed with the order, but it wasn't like they could refuse.

"One pine tree, and stand," said one, his voice a gruff bark. "You want our help to get it inside, little filly?"

The stallion landed beside the tree, looking over her.

It didn't matter how many months she spent living in Equestria, Firefly would never just adapt to how insanely big everyone was. Part of her still thought like she was tall, strong, and confident. Nopony would mess with her old self. But then this pony glanced in at the open doorway behind her, tail smacking into the railing. "Who else is here, filly?"

"Whole family," she snapped, backing away from him. "Don't bother bringing the tree in. My dad will take care of it. I'll go get him now. Dad!"

She snapped the sliding door shut in his face, then turned to stomp purposefully away. "Dad, the tree's here!" She vanished around the corner, but kept yelling. "Yeah, I told them to leave it out on the balcony!"

There was no lock on that door—or none that would mean anything. If they wanted to, a pegasus could easily pry it off the wall. Her dad had salvaged it from a ruin, meaning the wood was light enough to last on a sky building. Just like so much that they owned.

Then the pegasi took off, and her heart stopped pounding. I'm not alone. That's right, you don't want to come in.

Lilac Empathy was one of the wealthiest little fillies in Willowbrook. She lived in a mansion that was almost a castle, with servants who loved her after saving Little Risk's life.

Firefly lived downtown, where ponies’ teeth fell out, and dark shapes skulked about in corners and alleys once the sun went down. She should do better to remember that.

She wasn't going to let a little scare ruin her night, no matter how rational it might be. She went back to cooking, decorating, and preparing. She mixed cookie dough, hung garlands of real tree branches wherever she could find a place for them. She arranged candles wherever she thought they'd be safe, but didn't actually light any. They would have to wait until the next day, when Lilac arrived for the festivities.

She was not going to appreciate the climb.

Eventually Firefly dared to return to the balcony door, and peek through the wooden slats. The sky overhead was fully dark. That meant most pegasi wouldn't want to be in the air, including herself. Her eyes were excellent when she had sunlight to see by, but became far weaker once that illumination was gone.

Even in Willowbrook, there were few exceptions to that. A pony needed to see where they were going to find their way around.

One of those landed on the railing as Firefly emerged, daring to step out into the opening. But this was far from the half-dozen swarthy delivery stallions. This was a filly her age, and she was alone.

"Thought I'd stop by," Velvet Moon said, hopping down off the railing and landing at her head level. "Why do you have a baby tree?"

"It's called a—" She tried to say exactly what it was called, and failed. Because of course, nothing could ever be simple. She could do everything to prepare for a holiday, but not actually say its name.

"An important decoration." She straightened it on its stand, looking in approval. The tree was freshly felled, with little patches of spider web on one side. Loose needles tumbled around it, because of course the ones she bought it from had no machines to shake them loose.

If Christmas trees existed in Equestria, they weren't in Willowbrook. The locals didn't seem to know the tradition even existed. "Help me carry it inside?"

"You want a tree inside?" The filly obeyed anyway, joining her on the other side of the tree. She didn't seem to notice or care about the webs that Firefly was avoiding—at least that made one of them.

"Yes. It's a special tree, and since you're here you can help me move it. I already cleared a space."

Like her, the bat pony wasn't terribly strong—even by little pony standards, pegasi weren't physically gifted. But she was fast, and that was even more important.

They had to drag it some of the way—but that was fine, even if it meant tearing off a few branches and damaging the needles on one side. She turned that part facing the wall, then settled back, breathing heavily.

"And... it's in. Perfect."

Velvet was quiet too, recovering just as she did. But she was apparently stronger, because she had her voice back while Firefly was still overwhelmed. "You gonna tell me what this has to do with Hearth's Warming? Is it part of your wind altar?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, it's not. It's... something we decorate." She stood up, then gestured at the table. "I painted some ornaments. You could help me hang them up, maybe."

The bat looked from her to the painted balls, then back again. "This other stuff—it's Hearth’s Warming too? The socks and colorful string and pieces of trees..."

"Yes," she said flatly. "Almost. Where I come from, we called it something else. But I like my version a little better. It's less... creepy and weird. Now help me."

Velvet did. She carried over a tray of painted ornaments, hovering along beside Firefly to offer them one at a time. She didn't seem confident enough to place very many of them herself, though Firefly couldn't guess at why that might be. It was just a tree; they weren't going to break it.

"Ponies don't seem to care for it much around here," Velvet said, as soon as she set the empty tray down. "Everypony is so afraid. I don't know why—they act like we're about to get attacked. But if we got attacked every year, there wouldn't be any town left."

Firefly giggled. "Yeah, I guess not. You wanna help me decorate some cookies? I plan on having them tomorrow with my family, but you can take a few home."

The bat backed away, spreading both wings. "Nah. I should... probably fly home now. You let me know how it goes, though! You look like you know what you're doing."

"Every year since I was a kid," she said, glancing around the little apartment in satisfaction. In terms of holiday preparations, she could do worse. Maybe the ponies who lived in the rest of Equestria had an easier time, without a cult that hated Christmas running their towns.

But with what Firefly had, this was a pretty good start. And she would get to spend it with the only other pony in Equestria who ever knew what that meant.

Comments

[Dravkwn]

Keeping an eye on this for later when I'm in more holly jolly mood.