Collab Cage Mini-Monthly December -- Secret Santa Hooves

by The Collab Cage

Twilight Sparkle -- Gives To -- Gilda

Written by: DarkPhoenix

It was a wonderful snowy evening outside the Golden Oaks Library. The fat, white flakes falling gently down to coat the world in a sheet of white and the moonlight filtering through the clouds gave the whole thing a wondrous beauty. Princess Luna and the pegasi must have cooperated to get everything this perfect.

Yet all of this was lost on the current occupant of the library. Twilight Sparkle was pacing back and forth across the floor, her mane askew and her mind running in a million different directions at once.

“Oh, what am I going to do?” she said aloud. She gave another glance at the gift wrapped box sitting on the table. It taunted her, reminding her of what she needed to do. Normally, procrastination wasn’t her thing, but this time she had been unsure of herself and unable to convince herself to take action.

When Princess Celestia had suggested a Secret Santa gift exchange, Twilight was all for it. She had assumed it would simply be the Princesses, her friends, and maybe a few others. Everypony was to write their name on a piece of parchment and mail it to Canterlot Castle. There, Princess Celestia would shuffle the entries and mail them back to new people. She would only ensure that no one received their own name back. Other than that, not even she knew who was assigned whom.

Yet it seemed that more than just a few people had entered, because the name that Twilight got back was one which was completely unexpected. Even now, the seemingly innocuous piece of parchment was tied into the ribbon around the gift, the name screaming out at her in its sloppy writing.

“Gilda. Why, out of everypony who entered did I have to get Gilda?” Twilight was thankful that Spike was not in the library at the moment. The little dragon couldn’t know who she had, though he would probably at least be some help in calming her down.

She continued to pace back and forth. Tonight was Hearth’s Warming Eve, so her gift needed to be secretly delivered to Gilda now. Yet she had no idea how to proceed. She knew where Gilda lived, of course. She had found that out soon after she had been assigned the griffon. Getting to Cloudsdale wasn’t the issue either. The issue was whether she had picked out the perfect gift.

She had thought long and hard on what to get the griffon. Twilight had only met Gilda very briefly, but that one meeting did not make a very good impression. Gilda had terrorized Fluttershy, been rude to Pinkie Pie, and almost ruined a Pinkie party before storming out. According to Rainbow Dash, she had apologized via letter though.

The one thing that came through in that brief episode was that Gilda did have a love of pranks. Twilight had raided the local joke shop, putting together a box of everything she could find. The gift was simple enough, but she worried that it was too simple, or would appear too thoughtless to the griffon.

The clock on the wall chimed, drawing her attention to it. It was eight o’clock. If she wanted to get the gift delivered and get back in time to celebrate Hearth’s Warming Eve with her friends, she would have to leave now. With a sigh, she resigned herself to her fate and got ready to leave. Her balloon was already waiting for her out back. She had told her friends that she wanted to go on a moonlight balloon ride before the party to enjoy the evening. She hoped they bought the excuse.

Wrapping a scarf around her neck, she used her magic to quickly put on a hat and a warm coat. Opening the door, she was met with the frigid air outside. Without even thinking about it, she cast a quick warming spell on herself, taking the bite out of the air.

Twilight walked around the library to the balloon and climbed in the basket, levitating the gift beside her. She set the gift on the floor and untied the balloon from its moorings. It floated up and away from the library and Ponyville. She worked the burner to find an air current which heading in the direction of the cloud city.

Finding such a current, she settled in for the thirty minute journey, her thoughts nagging at her the entire time. As much as she wanted to let it go, her mind wouldn’t let that happen. It conjured up scenario after scenario, everything from Gilda hating the gift, to Gilda hating the gift and tracking down the giver. She shuddered at the thought of the griffon on her doorstep, box in hand to let her know exactly what she thought of the gift.

So wrapped up her thoughts and fantasies was she, that she almost flew right past Cloudsdale. Fortunately, the basket bumped into an outlying cloud, jarring her out of her thoughts. She settled the balloon onto a landing pad provided for just such a thing. She tied it to the moorings and was about to step out when she stopped herself.

She had nearly forgotten the cloud walking spell. Quickly casting it upon herself, she exited the basket and onto the pad. Her mind managed to focus long enough to recall the directions to Gilda’s house.

Setting off down the road, the gift once again levitating beside her, she tried her best to stay unseen. However, most ponies seemed to be either at home or at parties with friends, as the streets were empty.

She turned down Cirrus Avenue and spotted her target. It was a simple one story house, nothing fancy. A light was shining through a window, meaning someone was home. Cautiously, she crept up to the house, darting from shadow to shadow. She couldn’t risk teleporting as the flash of light and sound could give her away.

Making it to the window which had the light, she peeked up and inside. She saw a griffon, its back turned to the window. It--she couldn’t tell who it was or their gender--was sitting in a chair at a table inside what was the kitchen. A single front claw raised up to its head and then back down again.

Glancing around the house, Twilight didn’t see any sign of Hearth’s Warming decorations. No tree, no lights, nothing. She lowered her head and moved around the other side of the house. She found another window and glanced inside. This time it was a living room. Still she couldn’t see any decorations.

Testing the window, she found it unlocked. Carefully she opened the window, thankful that clouds never squeaked. She climbed in, gift in tow. Leaving the window open, she tried to figure out where to set the gift. The low table in the middle of the room seemed like a good enough place.

She levitated the gift over to the table and set it down gently. She turned around to leave when a sudden gust of wind blew the window shut, causing the glass set in it to rattle loudly. “What was that?” came a female voice from the direction of the kitchen and the light.

Twilight panicked. She could hear someone moving around. The griffon was about to come investigate, and her only exit was cut off. Looking around she picked the first thing which came to mind and dove behind the sofa.

She could see under the sofa and saw talons come into the room. “Is anyone there?” asked the voice which she now recognized as Gilda’s. The talons moved across the room over to the wall. One lifted up and she heard the window rattle. “Hmm. Must’ve been the wind.”

The talons turned around and a gasp reached her ears. “What?” She could see Gilda approach the table. “Where did this come from?” She heard the gift being picked up in a pair of talons. “It only has my name on it. Weird...”

Tearing paper filled the room and pieces of it fluttered into Twilight’s view. “It’s a box,” Gilda said. “Let’s see what’s inside.” More tearing and with a thunk the box landed on the table.

“Gags and pranking supplies? But who would...” She trailed off and was silent for a moment. “Wait, this has gotta be from that Secret Santa thing. But who would know what to get me?”

Twilight could only hope to herself that Gilda would leave soon. It was getting uncomfortable behind the sofa. And she really wanted to leave before Gilda found her.

“Well, whoever got this really knows me,” Gilda said with a chuckle. “Now if only I had someone to pull these pranks with.” Her voice had a tinge of sadness to it. “Oh well, better put these someplace else.” The talons moved off back towards the kitchen.

Twilight waited a moment to be sure the griffon was gone before extricating herself from the furniture. Quickly she opened the window again and moved out. This time she closed the portal behind her.

She moved back around the house and into the street, trotting to put some distance between herself and the house. As soon as she turned a corner, she teleported back to her balloon. She climbed in the basket and started the journey back to Ponyville.

Surprisingly, her thoughts were simultaneously at rest and working again. Her fears about Gilda not liking the gift were unfounded, but something new had taken its place. Gilda had seemed sad and alone. The fact that she was one of the few griffons living in Equestria meant she didn’t have many of her own kind to celebrate with. Considering the way that Gilda had acted when she visited Ponyville that one time, she may not have very many pony friends either.

As the balloon drifted towards her home, Twilight resolved herself to get Rainbow Dash to write a letter to Gilda tonight, inviting her back to Ponyville. If Rainbow was serious about the apology letter and if Gilda was willing, than Twilight was willing to try and be friends with the griffon. After all, nopony deserved to be alone for the holidays.

Her heart lifted by the gift and strengthened by the forthcoming offer of friendship, Twilight maneuvered the balloon towards home and the friends that waited for her there. If all went well, then they would have a new friend to celebrate the New Year with, and Rainbow would be able to reconnect with one of her old friends. And perhaps Princess Celestia was right--everypony deserved a second chance. Smiling to herself for the first time that evening, she made a second resolution: to write a letter to the Princess about what she learned tonight. But that could wait until tomorrow. For now, she had a party to get to and friends to see, and hopefully a new friend would show up.

Comments

[Rainbowdash896]

Very kind and heartwarming.