Sunset is feeling very lonely this holiday season, so now it's up to Fluttershy and her friends (EQG-verse) to help set things right for the former unicorn.
It's Christmastime at Canterlot High. After an assignment of Sunset is found by Fluttershy and the others, they'll do whatever it takes to make sure Sunset has a great Christmas. SunsetXFluttershy
It had been snowing by Canterlot High, and it was quite a nice walk to school for the Mane 5, Rarity admiring the decorations set up for the upcoming holiday, AJ was looking off what her farm was going to be selling for the holidays, Pinkie Pie was continually helping to set up the decorations for the holiday, Rainbow Dash was texting her buddy Lightning about a sleigh ride, while Fluttershy was… looking around for someone.
“Has anyone seen Sunset Shimmer?” Fluttershy asked.
“...Now that you mention it, no,” Dash admitted.
“I haven’t seen her either,” Rarity added.
“Same here,” AJ informed.
“I can’t see her with my Pinkie Sense,” Pinkie stated, as she felt a twitch, and moved Fluttershy out of the way of a snowball that was tossed from some kids playing nearby.
“Sorry,” one of the kids apologized, as they walked off.
“That was weird,” Dash admitted, as they headed by the school’s entrance, where Fluttershy saw Sunset Shimmer was at the statue that held a mirror that acted as a gateway back to where she came from. Sunset looked like she was cold, with Fluttershy noticing she wasn’t really dressed for winter time, shivering from the cold and sneezing.
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy gasped before going over to Sunset, the red and yellow haired girl seeing her because of the reflection the mirror casted.
“Oh… hi,” Sunset waved.
“What’re you doing here, Sunset? School won’t start for a little while and… why aren’t you dressed for this time of year?” Fluttershy asked with worry and concern.
“I… I-I-I-I… I just… didn’t have anything that would… fit,” she started, sneezing in between every few words. Sunset headed inside the building, while the five friends watched her in worry.
“Have any of you ever seen where Sunset lives?” Dash asked a bit later.
“Why bring that up?” Rarity responded in confusion.
“Just answer my question,”
“...Well, I don’t believe I did,” Rarity admitted.
“Nope,” Pinkie shrugged.
“Not really,” AJ added.
“U-Um… n-no,” Fluttershy answered.
“Well… try this. Maybe Sunset… doesn’t really live anywhere. What if she’s homeless and that also supports why she doesn’t have any winter clothing,” Dash figured.
“Quite the stretch seeing as she’s still able tah go tah school wit us,” AJ pointed out.
“Don’t schools have some sort of program or something that allows homeless people to still attend?” Dash added.
“I guess… but don’t you think she would’ve told us?” Rarity asked, when Pinkie felt something.
“Sunset’s on her way. Stop talking,” Pinkie whispered.
With that, the others stopped talking when the girl in question walked over, covered in a thick blanket. She sat down at her desk, and their teacher noticed she was bundled up like that.
“Sunset Shimmer… are you okay?” the teacher asked.
“S-Sorry Ms. Larson. But I-I didn’t have any extra clothes on me,” Sunset informed.
“Oh… I see…” Ms. Larson stated, as she shrugged, “Alright class. Today’s writing assignment is in the spirit of the holidays. You are to write down any 12 things that you would like for Christmas. They don’t have to be in any order, just be sure to list at least 12.”
With that, the students got to work, Sunset taking a moment longer to get out some paper and a pencil to start writing. Most of the students were listing off things that anyone would like, such as a the new cell phone model, a new video game or video game system, gift cards, cash, etc. However, Sunset was taking some time to carefully consider what it is she wanted for Christmas, while she did put down a traditional thing or two that kids would like, it was only due to her own curiosity.
‘Hmm… well… oh! Yea, that’s good,’ Sunset thought, writing down a few more ideas, before she looked at the twelfth and final slot, the only one not filled in. ‘Hmm… what would this one be… uh… hmm...’
“Okay class, I would like these before you leave class today. But please, take your time if you think you’ll need it. When you are done, please leave them up on my desk,” Ms. Larson told her class, with almost everyone heading up with their finished list.
‘...really? They’ve finished already? Well… it’s all probably shallow stuff… the usual things and-ara?’ Ms. Larson thought, noticing Sunset still working on her list ‘Hmm… heh. I always thought she’d have the most shallow things to write about this, and yet she’s taking the most time… hmm… Sunset’s changed.’
After ten minutes, Sunset finally finished and handed her list to Ms. Larson. She looked over it for a moment, before looking at Sunset curling up under the blanket she brought, and saw the looks of worry Fluttershy and her friends all had.
A bit later, class was about to end, when Ms. Larson asked to speak with Sunset.
“You wanted to see me, Ms. Larson?” Sunset asked in worry, before she sneezed, but made sure it was away from her teacher.
“You’re not in any trouble Sunset,” Ms. Larson informed.
“I’m not?”
Ms. Larson showed the assignment from that day, and Sunset saw it was her paper, and on it, was in red pen ‘100%. Great Work :)’.
“I’m sure you remember these, ‘1.‘Have a roof over my head for the holidays, 2. Decorate a Christmas Tree, 3. Go Christmas Caroling, 4. Bake cookies and other holiday sweets, 5. Get a plushie of a Luma from SMG, 6. Get a copy of Super Smash Bros for 3DS, 7. Get a 3DS, 8. Go on a sleigh ride, 9. Drink Hot Cocoa by the fireplace with friends, 10. Help out the less fortunate, 11. Have a candy Christmas Calendar, and 12. Have a mistletoe kiss with Fluttershy.’”
“Eh?! I… did good on this assignment?”
“Sunset… you’re a great person, and I always knew you would. Just remember that this holiday doesn’t mean what comes in a box, but what comes from the heart,” Ms. Larson told Sunset.
“...Th-Thank you, Ms. Larson.” Sunset smiled, as she took the paper and put it in her bag, smiling at the very first 100 she had gotten in a very long time.
Later, as Sunset was walking between classes, the paper with her list slipped out of her bag and fell to the ground, and Fluttershy noticed this, going over to get the paper before it was stepped on.
“Uh… Sunset,” she called out, but Sunset didn’t hear her, “Sunset! Come back! You dropped… and she can’t hear me…”
She sighed and picked up the paper that fell out of Sunset’s bag, simply wondering what it was…
“What’s goin’ on Fluttershy?” AJ asked, when Fluttershy had called a small meeting between the five of them, Fluttershy at the moment playing a game on her 3DS.
“Uh… w-w-well… remember that assignment from our English class today?” Fluttershy asked.
“I don’t get why we need to take English. I speak English good,” Pinkie replied, making Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack all sigh.
“Well… uh… Sunset dropped hers, and when I tried to get her attention to return it… I couldn’t,” Fluttershy stated, as she handed them the paper, with Fluttershy struggling to read it, “She’s from another word, and in said world, she has no hands, how can she write cursive so good?”
“Let me read it,” Rarity sighed, taking the paper and reading it, “Let’s see here… ‘1.‘Have a roof over my head for the holidays, 2. Decorate a Christmas Tree, 3. Go Christmas Caroling, 4. Bake cookies and other holiday sweets, 5. Get a plushie of a Luma from SMG, 6. Get a copy of Super Smash Bros for 3DS, 7. Get a 3DS, 8. Go on a sleigh ride, 9. Drink Hot Cocoa by the fireplace with friends, 10. Help out the less fortunate, 11. Have a candy Christmas Calendar, and’... uh… uh... ‘12. Have a mistletoe kiss with Fluttershy.’ Oh my...”
“Wait… what’s this mean, Fluttershy?” Dash wondered.
“...uh… uh…” Fluttershy stuttered.
“*gasp* Could this mean that Sunset has a crush on you, Fluttershy!?” Pinkie asked.
“Uh… uh…”
“That’s not important, Pinkie. What is is what else is on this list. It’s as if Sunset… never properly celebrated Christmas,” AJ realized.
“Well… she told me she doesn’t have Christmas where she’s from… she has a similar holiday… and it’s about being close to your loved ones… if I remember correctly…” Fluttershy informed, trying to remember what Sunset had told her.
“Ah… Ah see…”
“But what I do remember her saying, she never had a family to celebrate it with. Her adopted mother from there…” Fluttershy stated, as she pointed to the mirror that acted as a gateway back to Equestria, “Was almost always busy.”
“Ohmygosh! Do you think that her real parents didn’t want to have any children and just abandoned her, and she was found by someone super important from that world, only for her to feel neglected by said super important person and then, out of feelings of jealousy, hurt and sadness came over here?!” Pinkie gasped, making the others stare at her.
“Who knows?” they all shrugged, as Fluttershy looked to the list.
“Um… i-i-it may be the case. Demo… I think we should all do our best to give her the best Christmas every, and fufill every wish on this list,”
“I’m admittedly surprised that ‘reunite with adopted parent’ isn’t on the list,” Pinkie admitted, with Rainbow giving Pinkie a bonk on the head.
“That’s probably something sensitive to her,” Rainbow figured.
“And a crush isn’t?” Rarity responded.
“Um… th-th-the point is that I think is that, we should make it special for her.” Fluttershy smiled.
“Yea! We can help her by setting up the things on her list!” Pinkie smiled, as Rarity looked over the first one again.
“Sounds like she just wants a new home to live in,” Rarity figured.
“Wait… where does Sunset live?” Rainbow wondered.
“Applebloom once said she saw Sunset by Faust Ave. and Strong Blvd,” AJ informed.
“Isn’t that where an orphanage is?” Rarity asked, before it all dawned on them.
“Didn’t we have a discussion like this earlier today?” Rainbow asked.
“Not sure,” the others shrugged.
Sunset had walked slowly to the streets that her friends were just talking about, sighing as she turned down Faust Ave. and saw the orphanage where she had been living. Looking depressed, she just walked up and sat down on the steps, she tried to curl up in her blanket as best as she could, simply letting tears drip down from her eyes.
“U-Uh… S-Sunset?” she heard a voice speak up as she saw Fluttershy and Rarity.
“Hi…” she waved, trying to pretend that she didn’t live there.
“Are you okay, dear?” Rarity asked.
“Just trying to not be cold…” she responded, as Rarity glanced into a nearby window of the orphanage, noticing a familiar face, “Is that Coco?”
“Oh? You know her?”
“She’s my apprentice. You know her too?” Rarity responded.
“Yea… she’s… one of my few friends,” Sunset sighed, “Aside from you five anyway.”
“I see… but… why’s she here? Is she an orphan too?”
Sunset blinked, knowing that they knew where she lived, “Wait… how did you two find me?”
“Applebloom pointed us in the right direction,” Rarity informed.
“Why didn’t you ever tell us?” Fluttershy asked.
“I didn’t want you two making such a fuss…” Sunset sighed.
“Oh… w-w-well…” Fluttershy stuttered, as Sunset sniffled a little bit due to the cold, “W-Why don’t we get you some place warm?”
“Wh-Wh-Why?”
“Do you want to live there?” Rarity asked.
“...not really. It’s cold in there… and…” Sunset shivered before she looked and leaned in close, “The person in charge isn’t very nice…”
Rarity and Fluttershy gave a worried look to her, Fluttershy seemingly getting an idea and whispering it to Rarity.
“...do you think you can stay here for a few more days… we have a plan,” Rarity told Sunset.
“O...Okay,” Sunset sniffled, as Rarity and Fluttershy both smiled to her.
“Come on… smile, smile,” Fluttershy told Sunset, making her giggle a little.
“Since when were you laughter?” Sunset joked.
“They do sound similar,” Rarity added.
The three just started laughing in response.
Sunset soon walked inside, going into her room, which was fairly damaged, and had some paint peeling off, there were three sets of bunkbeds, and inside one of them was occupied by a girl with peach skin, light blue hair, matching eyes, and a pink topless shirt, a blue skirt, lavender jacket, red scarf, and lavender shoes.
“Hello Miss Sunset,” Coco smiled.
“Hey,” Sunset waved, “And please, just call me Sunset, no need for the ‘Miss’, Coco.”
“Sorry…” Coco sighed.
“You never told me you knew Rarity,” Sunset stated, making Coco raise an eyebrow.
“...You… you never asked,” Coco pointed out.
Sunset giggled a little, before sitting on the bunk that belonged to her, which Coco was currently sitting in.
“Sorry, was I… just trying to keep it warm for you, since you’re out most of the day,” Coco responded, going above Sunset’s bunk.
“It’s okay, Coco. Thanks,” Sunset smiled as she tried to relax a little, peeking at her bag, which she had set aside.
“Sup?” a new voice said, as a girl with orange hair and eyes, turquoise skin, and wearing a black t-shirt with a lightning bolt design, green shorts, green shoes and a green jacket with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.
“Hi Miss Lighting,” Coco waved.
“Just… Lightning,” the girl told Coco, walking up next to Sunset, simply smiling at her, “Sunset, how are you?”
“Been better,” she admitted, as Lightning took out a box of chocolate covered marshmallows and handed them to the two of them, “Thanks.”
“Took a lot of effort to sneak this in, I hope you enjoy it,” Lightning smiled.
Sunset just smiled, trying one, before she smiled happily.
Sunset simply tried to sleep that evening, but had some trouble, squirming under her thin covers, simply trying to keep warm.
‘...why’d I have to have such little control of my emotions? If I had just talked with Celestia… I’d still be at home… Twilight… come back soon’ Sunset thought, ‘I miss you… and I miss my mom as well.’
Sunset simply sat outside, school having been canceled that day due to the snow, but she didn’t have much to do. She had finished some chores and was simply sitting out in the snow, simply due to it being nice to sit in, due to the heavy snowfall having ended and the snow not being very cold.
“Hey,” someone waved to Sunset, revealing her to be a girl with electric blue hair, pale skin, a white and electric shirt, blue shorts, black glasses with purple lenses, and a blue jacket.
“Oh, hello Vinyl,” Sunset waved.
“What’s up?”
“Just enjoying the day off… I suppose,” Sunset shrugged.
“Oh, okay. So… I heard from somebody you live in an orphanage,” Vinyl replied, making Sunset gasped in surprise and shock.
“...yea…” Sunset nodded, sighing.
“Hey, don’t feel glum about it. You have friends there, don’t you?”
“Well… true…” Sunset nodded.
“You’re a nice person Sunset. I hope that you can have a Merry Christmas,” Vinyl smiled.
“...my caretaker hates Christmas…” Sunset sighed.
“What?! Why?”
“...I’ve never known why…”
“Sounds like a weird thing. Seems she could be a regular Ebenezer Scrooge.”
Sunset gave a small shrug, before Vinyl pulled her into a small hug, “Hey, chin up. Hmm… Rarity told me about your situation… and… well… we managed to pull some strings…”
Sunset gave a confused look to her, as Fluttershy walked on over next.
“We came up with an idea to slip you out of there and someplace that you would dub a ‘real home’. A sleepover… at… my place. Coco will stay with Rarity, and Lightning will stay with Rainbow. Does that sound good?”
“Uh… s-sure. I’ll… get my stuff,” Sunset whispered back, walking inside the orphanage to gather her belongings, before turning to where her caretaker was, noticing she wouldn’t really care if she, or anyone else, was gone.
Sunset and Fluttershy had walked up to her place, it looked almost Japanese like from the outside from the structure of the house to the gardens around it. Sunset was amazed by this, as Fluttershy led her in, when Sunset saw a woman in the kitchen, who happened to have white skin and gray hair while wearing a blue top, a white jacket, blue jeans and brown slippers.
After a moment, Sunset saw another girl playing a game on the Wii U, and this girl looked like she could be Fluttershy’s twin, they had the same skin, eye and hair color, but this girl had a shorter cut, and she was currently wearing a green shirt, pink pants with a triple tulip design.
“Uh… do you have a twin?”
“She’s my cousin,” Fluttershy informed, “People get us confused for each other and twins all the time. This is my cousin Posey.”
“Oh. You never said you were going to have other company,” Posey said, in a voice semi-similar to Rarity.
“Sorry Posey, but Vinyl helped set this up,” Fluttershy apologized.
“Wait… Vinyl? Why?”
“She doesn’t like seeing anyone unhappy during the holidays,” Fluttershy answered.
“...well… if I had to spend the holidays with anyone… it would be you,” Sunset smiled, making Fluttershy blush a tiny bit. Sunset walked off to explore a little bit, when Posey looked to Fluttershy.
“...do you two have a thing?” Posey asked.
This made Fluttershy blush before she walked over to her cousin, “No… but… we are close…”
“So… you live in an orphanage… and just saying… you said you’d like a roof over your head for Christmas…” Posey commented, as she was simply playing a game of Super Smash Bros for the Wii U in Classic Mode.
“Well… I don’t really consider that orphanage much a home… and in some parts of it, there is actually no roof,” Sunset informed, watching Posey play, “So… does playing games run in the family?”
“Oh? Oh, well… it’s more of a hobby for me…” Posey admitted, “So… where is my itoko, anyway?”
Sunset gave a confused blink to Posey, not sure what she had just ask.
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked for clarification.
“Oh… itoko is Japanese for cousin.”
“Oh. Fluttery said she was going to meet up with some friends,” Sunset informed, with Posey at first, not noticing the nickname that Sunset had called her cousin.
“Okay, I… wait… ‘Fluttery’?”
“Did I just say that out loud?” Sunset blushed nervously.
“Hai.”
Sunset just tried her best to hide her blush, with Posey simply not sure what to think or say.
“So, itoko said that we managed to get her first wish completed,” Fluttershy told her friends, everyone but Dash giving her a confused look, “I’ve told you all before, itoko is cousin…”
“Oh right. Sorry about that,” the others, bar Dash, nervously chuckled.
Fluttershy gave a small eye roll, as she looked at her phone, seeing that the date was 12/1/14, “Time sure does fly… can you believe it’s December 1st already?”
“Yea, it feels like it was only yesterday that it was the first day after Thanksgiving Break,” Pinkie giggled, “Anywho… what’s next on the list?”
“You know… there’s nothing saying we have to go in the order on the list…” Dash stated, “We could go in any order we want.”
“Well… I dunno, wouldn’t the order imply which she wanted more?” Pinkie countered.
“Well… the teacher did say we didn’t have to put it in any order,” AJ pointed out.
“True,” Rarity nodded.
“Hmm… so… I think me, my Obaa-chan, and my itoko-chan had yet to do our tree… so Sunset can help us out,” Fluttershy smiled.
“Sounds great!” Pinkie smiled.
“And I also made something to help us out,” Rarity informed, taking out her phone, and showing a sort of checklist that had everything on Sunset’s paper.
“So what’s this for?” Dash asked.
“In case we’re able to do anything with Sunset involving her list, we can check it off, and all five of us can access it.”
“That’s a good idea,” Applejack smiled.
“Well, me and my itaka here are going to go to the farm and prep some holiday plans,” Pinkie giggled, putting an arm around Applejack.
“It’s itoko… plus, isn’t there some sort of a removal?” Fluttershy responded.
Sunset had dozed off waiting for Fluttershy to come back, while Posey was busy playing a game on her 3DS, simply enjoying the game, before she stopped and saved.
“So… Obaa-chan? What do we do with her? There aren’t enough rooms for two guests…” Posey stated, “I was thinking of letting her have the guest room… but… I’m not sure…”
“Well… I guess we could talk with Fluttershy…” she commented.
“Hey… did you hear Sunset call itoko-chan ‘Fluttery’ earlier?” Posey asked.
“...No Posey-chan.”
Posey simply shrugged, before going over to sit down, seeing the place that the tree would be set up, before she saw the still asleep Sunset. She smiled at her, before she placed a blanket on the asleep girl.
“She’s so sweet… Sunset Shimmer-san,” Posey giggled, before noticing the alliteration.
Hearing this, Sunset squirmed on the couch a bit before she muttered, “Fluttery…” in her sleep.
‘There she goes again with that. What is it with her and calling itoko-chan that?’
Fluttershy and Posey soon came back from the basement with a box of a tree and they moved it into the living room, leaning it by the left part of the L shaped couch that Sunset was sleeping on.
“Me, my itoko-chan and my Obaa-san are going to set up our Christmas tree… do you wanna help?”
“Me? W-Well… uh… o-okay…” Sunset nodded, still surprised by this.
After Fluttershy and Posey got the base and the pole for the branches up, they all began to fluff the branches, Sunset having a bit of a nostalgia rush as she did this.
“...mom…” Sunset muttered, with Posey hearing her.
“Oh? You and your mom used to do this?” Posey asked.
“...yea. My mom was a really busy po- person, and the holidays was really the only time I could do something with her…” Sunset informed, “Even if it was something small, like decorate a tree…”
“I see… so… what was your mom like?” Posey asked.
“...she was a great woman… and I really miss her…” Sunset sighed.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
Sunset rubbed away a tear before she looked back at Fluttershy.
“So… what now?”
“We decorate the tree,” Fluttershy giggled, smiling.
Sunset just smiled on back, knowing this was part of her list, and happy Fluttershy could help with it.
The tree had been set up very beautifully, as Sunset noticed an ornament with a yellow pegasus by some butterflies.
“So… what’s that one?” Sunset asked.
“Oh? Dash’s mother is an ornament maker, so Dash asked me what I’d like, and she got her mom to make it. She made it for me not long after me and her became friends,” Fluttershy informed.
“It’s so beautiful…” Sunset giggled, ‘Like… you.’
“Thank you,” Fluttershy smiled, as Sunset smiled at her. After a moment, Fluttershy walked off, and Sunset noticed something out of the corner of her eye by the window, looking like someone in a blue jacket.
A bit later, the tree was fully decorated, and the girls couldn’t help but smile at their work. Sunset just smiled, remembering when she and Celestia used to decorate a tree every year, and a tear came to her eye again.
“Sunset? You alright?” Fluttershy asked.
“Sorry… I just… miss when I used to do this back… y’know where,” Sunset informed, wiping her tears away.
“Oh yea… well… it’s a bit of an early Christmas gift just for you…” Fluttershy informed, handing Sunset a small sort of poster like item, with 1-24 on it, and the 24 being almost door like.
“What’s this?” Sunset asked.
“It has everyday before Christmas Day, and every night before you go to bed, you eat the candy behind the door of the date,” Fluttershy informed, opening the door with the “1” on it, and behind it, was a small piece of chocolate, and when Sunset took it out, she saw a small wreath design was on the candy.
“Are they all wrapped like this?” Sunset asked.
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked a bit confused.
“I mean, do the candies come in these little shapes and wrapped like this?”
“Yea. Well, you’ll have to wait for each day…” Fluttershy told Sunset, before she walked off, slipping out her phone and checking off numbers 2 and 11 on the list, having seen Rarity had checked off 1. However, Fluttershy’s eyes landed on the twelfth thing on the list and blushed at the thought.
A bit later, after Sunset had showered and was given some pajamas that had been made for her by Rarity, she saw Fluttershy was waiting for her.
“Sunset… we don’t have much room for two guests… so… I was thinking… would you like to… share my room for while you stay here?” Fluttershy offered.
“Oh… um… o-okay,” Sunset nodded, a blush forming on her face, as she was lead to Fluttershy’s room, which had green wallpaper with pink butterfly decorations and a bunch of animal plushies scattered throughout it, some game character plushies, a small Christmas tree on it, a table with a desktop and a printer, a bed with pink sheets and a yellow crescent moons blanket on top, and by a bookshelf was what seemed to be another plushie.
“Cute little white rabbit plushie,” Sunset admitted until she saw the plushie’s ear twitch, “Uh… Fluttershy… that plushie moved…”
“Hmm? Oh, that’s no plushie. That’s my pet rabbit, Angel. I do occasionally lose him among him my stuffed animals and plushies,” Fluttershy admitted sheepishly, plucking the rabbit out of the plushies, “Angel, you should know better than that. Don’t scare me like that…”
“I remember when I tried to help you get him down that one time,” Sunset recalled.
“Oh yea… that’s right. But… I try to keep him in my room when Posey’s here, she’s actually allergic to rabbits.”
“Oh? So… mind me asking what your cousin does for a hobby?” Sunset inquired, looking around a little bit.
“She’s a photographer,” Fluttershy answered, “She’s usually the one responsible for taking all the family photos.”
Sunset smiled, noticing a picture of Fluttershy and Posey when they were a bit younger, “You two look so much like twins… huh? What are these?”
She reached down and took out a book from the bookshelf, seeing it was in Japanese “Bishojo Senshi Sera Moon”.
“What’s this?” Sunset asked.
“Oh?” Fluttershy blinked, before seeing it, “Those are my Sailor Moon Manga. It’s a book series that I loved when I was little… and I still enjoy it today.”
Sunset gave it a look, before putting it back and yawning a little bit. And Sunset was about to reach for the sleeping bag when Fluttershy stopped her.
“Huh?”
“You don’t have to sleep there, Sunset. You’re my guest,” Fluttershy told Sunset, with Sunset still being kinda confused, “I’ll sleep in the sleeping bag; you can sleep in my bed.”
“Eh?! Uh… why… are you…?” Sunset gawked.
“Like I said, you’re my guest, and you deserve a good night of rest,” Fluttershy smiled, with Sunset blushed a tiny bit.
“...Thank you,” Sunset smiled as Fluttershy got into the sleeping bag, and Sunset slipped into the bed, smiling at her friend as the pinkette fell asleep.
Sunset giggled a little bit, before she blew a small kiss to Fluttershy, and fell asleep herself.
Fluttershy heard something and began to wake up, before she turned to see Sunset was crying in her sleep.
“No… no… Celestia, no… please...” Sunset whimpered in her sleep. Fluttershy saw Sunset toss and turn in bed, before Fluttershy walked over to Sunset and after sighing a bit, she began to nudge Sunset a little bit.
“Sunset… please… wake up…” Fluttershy said, but she was so quiet, Sunset couldn’t hear her at first, before Fluttershy touched her on the shoulder and the red and yellow haired girl finally woke up, looking around nervously, before she hide under the covers.
“Don’t hurt me… how’d something like you follow me from Equestria…” Sunset said nervously.
“Sunset… it’s me,” Fluttershy informed, making Sunset look as her eyes began to adjust.
“Oh… oh. I’m sorry…” Sunset apologized.
“It’s okay. But… I couldn’t help but hear you saying things in your sleep…” Fluttershy informed.
“Just… had a bad dream was all…” Sunset responded.
“It sounded more like a nightmare… what happened?”
Sunset gave a small sigh, looking to Fluttershy before she figured it’d be good to tell someone, “...I got home to Equestria… and… it was almost just like Canterlot High a while back… nobody liked me… I got menacing glares, and everypony was saying mean things about me…”
“Oh well…”
“And Princess Celestia… told me to go away and never return…” Sunset added, tears starting to form again, “I just… feel so scared…”
Fluttershy pulled Sunset into a hug, which surprised Sunset, but she felt comforted.
“It’s okay. That wouldn’t happen… I just have a feeling it won’t…” Fluttershy informed, comforting Sunset, who smiled before hugging her back, “Now… about your comments after you woke up… what was that all about?”
“That? Oh… well… uh… well…”
“You… think there’s something out to get you hiding the shadows, dontcha?” Fluttershy figured, making Sunset’s eyes widen a bit before she got a bit nervous.
“What… n-no! Of course not! Only kids would be scared of that,” Sunset denied, looking a bit nervous.
Fluttershy simply stared at Sunset, raising an eyebrow in response to this, before she thought for a moment, and then, Sunset heard something moving, she couldn’t tell what it was due to there not being any lights, and she panicked and hid under the blankets.
“What is it now?” Fluttershy asked, before she looked to see it was only Angel walking around a bit.
“Leave me alone… just stop monster…” Sunset whimpered, Fluttershy walking over with the rabbit.
“Relax, Sunset. It’s just Angel. Poor thing snuck out of his cage again. Don’t worry… so.. you are scared?”
“...yes. I’m scared of there being some sort of monster lurking around…” Sunset sighed, peeking out from the blankets, seeing that it was indeed Angel walking around.
“I see… well… uh… mind me asking why?”
“...I’ve just… never been able to get over the fear…” Sunset sighed, “You… don’t think any less of me, do you?”
“No I don’t. Everyone is afraid of something…” Fluttershy responded, placing Angel back in his cage before walking back over to Sunset, “I have stage fright, both Rarity and Rainbow are scared of failure, Pinkie’s scared of being outdone and Applejack’s scared of lying and trickery. An important thing to being a bit more brave… is admitting your fears.”
“Really? W-Well… you’re the first person to know… I put up a bit of a brave image in front of Lightning and Coco so they don’t think of me to be a scaredy-cat…” Sunset admitted, “And… that’s because if I don’t… I’m worried I’ll be friendless again…”
Fluttershy gave Sunset another hug, making the yellow and red haired girl blush a bit before she hugged back.
“You wouldn’t be friendless… there’s everyone else, right? I know the others will still need to get used to you, but at the very least, you have me as a friend,” Fluttershy reminded Sunset, making Sunset blush a bit of a deep red, but Fluttershy didn’t notice this.
“Thank you, Fluttershy. I’m glad we’re friends,” Sunset giggled, as Fluttershy gave a thoughtful look for a moment, before smiling back at her friend and an idea came to her, “I have an idea so you won’t be so scared of the dark… but can it wait until tomorrow?”
“I’ll try and sleep…” Sunset nodded.
“Good. Good night,” Fluttershy replied as the two girls both went back to sleep, but Sunset took a bit longer to try and relax to sleep.
After school the next day, Fluttershy had hurried to the animal shelter that she worked at, eager to help take care of the little critters again, but today she had a bit of a plan in mind, which she was rather happy to get done.
“Okay, so first I have to do my job… and then get my idea for Sunset in motion…” Fluttershy muttered, as she reached the shelter and signed in to do her job.
Sunset meanwhile, was looking over a book she was writing down a song in for a Christmas performance the Rainbooms were asked to star in, which was a big deal for the group as it would be one of the bigger gigs they ever performed.
“Hmm… what’s something that rhymes with bell…” she wondered to herself, tapping her pencil on her chin, when she looked to see Rarity and Applejack carrying some boxes. Sunset put her notebook away before going over and helping the two of them, “Need some help?”
“Sure thing, Sunset. We could use the help,” AJ replied, with Sunset helping balance the boxes.
“So, whatcha two up to?” Sunset inquired.
“Helpin’ out a homeless shelter,” Applejack informed, as she and Sunset put the boxes down.
“Oh… that’s nice of you two.”
“Don’t you mean ‘nice of us three’? You’re helping out,” Rarity informed.
“Oh… y-yea, right. I forgot.” Sunset giggled, as she helped move a few more boxes.
After a bit, they finished unloading a truck and began to sort out gifts and food and various other things that had been donated.
“That was a lot to carry,” Sunset admitted, as she looked at some books that had been donated, simply separating them and making sure there wasn’t any damage in them.
“Well we had a lot of extra books and toys, darling,” Rarity replied, as she began to wrap some presents for some kids who likely weren’t going to get anything for Christmas.
“...I used to do something like this when I was younger…” Sunset admitted, feeling a little bit nostalgic.
“Really? Well then what’s it like… where you’re from?” Rarity asked curiously.
“Pretty similar, but a bit quicker…” Sunset responded, as she finished looking through the items and passed them over to Rarity, when Sunset noticed someone in a blue jacket sitting off in a corner by herself, “Wait… who’s that?”
“Not sure. We don’t know everyone’s name just yet… and yet… there’s something sort of… familiar about that girl there. Can’t put my finger on why…” Rarity stated, as she walked off to hide the gifts for a few weeks until Christmas day. While Rarity did that, Sunset walked over to the girl who was sitting off in a corner by herself.
“Uh… hi,” Sunset waved.
“Hello,” the girl responded, the voice ringing some bells in Sunset’s mind.
“...Um… have we met before… I think I know your voice from somewhere…” Sunset stated, sitting down by the girl.
“We have met before Sunset Shimmer,” the girl responded, taking off her hood, revealing her to have blue hair and dark blue streaks, magenta eyes, and had a bit of an innocent look on her face.
“...Sonata?” Sunset gawked.
“Yea… it’s me.”
“Wh-What… why are you… what are you doing here?” Sunset gawked.
“...I was ditched and taken in…” Sonata responded.
“Ditched? ...But why?”
“They saw me as the weak link… and here I am…”
Sunset blinked at Sonata for a moment, “Oh… Oh! I’m… sorry about that.”
“It’s alright. It does bug me… but… I’ll be fine… I can take care of myself… without a warm place… a soft comfy bed… or tasty… tacos… or someone to talk to…” Sonata stated, her eyes starting to tear up, “You’re not buying this for a second are you?”
“Nope,” Sunset responded bluntly.
“...Oh who am I kidding,” Sonata started before wailing, hugging Sunset’s legs, “I don’t want to be all alone… I’m scared… I’m cold… and hungry… and lonely…”
“...I’m… I’m sorry to hear that,” Sunset sighed, helping her up, “...But you don’t have to be alone. I thought I was alone for a long time… but I saw something wonderful.”
“What would that be?” Sonata asked.
“...the Magic of Friendship,” Sunset informed, “It doesn’t just exist in Equestria, it’s everywhere. And it can be shared by anyone. As such… would you like to be my friend?”
“Wh-what? Really?! After everything me and the other Dazzlers did to you?” Sonata gawked.
“...I’d be lying if I said that… I don’t have nightmares about what happened… but… if I had a second chance after what I did… I think you should too,” Sunset informed, bringing Sonata to tears of joy, before Sonata hugged Sunset.
“...thank you,” Sonata smiled, before Sunset hugged her back.
“You’re welcome,” Sunset smiled.
Sunset soon returned to Fluttershy’s home, seeing more decorations were set up, now with lights hanging from the outside, a blow up reindeer petting zoo of sorts, and inside there were more lights, garlands decorating the place, and there were stockings with names written on them, ‘Hinata’, ‘Posey’ and… ‘Butterfly’?
“Where’s Fluttershy’s… is there another relative?” Sunset wondered, as Fluttershy’s grandmother walked in, “Oh. Pardon my asking… is there another relative of yours visiting? Because Fluttershy’s stocking isn’t up.”
Fluttershy’s grandmother, Hinata, blinked for a moment, before turning to Sunset, “Oh. You must not know… Butterfly is Fluttershy’s birth name.”
“Really? Huh… I never knew that.”
“She had it changed… but you can ask her why yourself. Regardless, I didn’t have the time to get her a new stocking, so we’ve been using that every Christmas for as long as I can remember,” Hinata informed.
“Alright,” Sunset nodded, as she sat down and began to wait for Fluttershy, who entered through the door about five or so minutes later.
“Konbanwa, Obaa-chan,” Fluttershy smiled, “Oh. Konbanwa to you too Sunset,”
Sunset had simply looked at her song book, knowing their upcoming performance would be soon, and she was really hoping that her song would be a great one.
“Hey there,” Vinyl’s voice said, as the bluenette approached Sunset.
“Party and Prep sent me to check on the song you’re writing,” Vinyl informed.
“...party and prep?”
“It’s a nickname I have for Pinkie.”
“Oh… I see… well… it’s coming along really good.” Sunset informed, showing her the book, which Vinyl looked over and smiled, “I call it ‘Let’s Rock Some Jingle Bells’.”
“The title sounds like a longer version of ‘Jingle Bell Rock’, but I can’t wait to see the lyrics and hear how it sounds.”
Sunset giggled a bit, taking the notebook before simply looking at it in thought. She began to walk off, heading back to Fluttershy’s home.
“So… we’ve managed to complete Number 10 on Sunset’s list…” Fluttershy stated, talking with Rainbow and the others via Sraife.
-Yep. So, that’s four items on the list finished.- Rainbow commented, checking off Number Ten on the list.
-That’s good. So, what’s next?- Rarity asked, as she looked over the list.
-Me and Pinkie we’re gonna do some Christmas baking. Maybe we can invite Sunset?- AJ shrugged.
“That’d work. It’s number 4 on her list, so I’ll be sure to let her know,” Fluttershy smiled.
The next day at school, Sunset looked at a calender, seeing the date was the 12th, and there were 5 school days until the Winter Break.
“Well… it won’t be long now…” she muttered to herself, as she looked to her song notes, which were finished, “Can’t wait…”
“Afternoon,” AJ smiled, walking over to Sunset.
“Oh, good afternoon, AJ,” Sunset smiled.
“How’s today treatin’ ya?” AJ asked, sitting down by her.
“Pretty good. I finished the song for our upcoming performance.” Sunset informed, “We can practice it later, okay?”
“Sounds good ta me Sugahcube,” Applejack smiled, “Say, Ah was wondrin’ if’n ya’ll could… do some bakin’ with me and mah cousin after school today?”
“...that sounds like fun,” Sunset smiled, “I’d be happy to help,”
Sunset soon arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, meeting up with AJ soon afterwards.
“So, where’s your cousin?” Sunset asked.
“She’s already inside, playin’ with Applebloom,” AJ figured as they walked in to see Pinkie playing with a yellow skinned, red-haired girl with a large pink bow tying up her ponytail, orange eyes, and was wearing a green t-shirt, blue jeans, and orange cowgirl boots.
“Heya Applebloom,” Sunset waved.
“Oh? Hiya Sunset,” Applebloom giggled, going over to hug Sunset, which she willfully accepted, hugging Applebloom back.
“Nice ta see ya’ll two are friends,” Applejack smiled.
“Nice to see you too, Applebloom,” Sunset smiled, “Are the other Crusaders here?”
“Actually, yea,” Applebloom answered, pointing to a girl with light gray (near white) skin with lavender and pink hair and green eyes wearing a pink and white striped shirt, a magenta jacket with matching boots, and a yellow skirt as well as an orange skinned girl with magenta hair, purple eyes, and currently wearing a black hoodie and boots as well as green shorts.
“Ah still wanna know where you came up with ‘Crusaders’,” Applejack admitted.
“Well… um… Ah don’t remember…” Applebloom admitted, with the other two shrugging.
“Oh well, I’m sure we can figure that out later,” the magenta-haired girl shrugged, “So Sunset, what are you doing here?”
“Well, Applejack invited me here because she and her cousin were going to bake some Christmas goodies, and I wanted to help. So… now we need to wait for her cousin. But Pinkie… why are you here?”
“Oh, didn’t ya know? I’m AJ’s cousin!” Pinkie smiled, hugging AJ.
“Oh, really?”
“Well… she’s technically my fourth-cousin-twice-removed,”
“I don’t get how that removal stuff works…” Sunset admitted.
“Neither do we,” Applebloom and the Crusaders admitted as well, “So I often call her another sister of mine.”
“Okay,” Sunset shrugged before the three young girls walked off, leaving Sunset, Pinkie and AJ.
“So… what are we making?” Sunset asked, seeing Pinkie mix up some batter.
“Well, we’re starting off with making some gingerbread men, some sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies topped with tasty Coco’s Heart, and even make gingerbread to be used in making gingerbread houses!” Pinkie giggled as AJ wrote those out and got some of the needed ingredients.
“Hey uh… there’s a recipe that Princess Celestia used to make for Hearth’s Warming Eve every year… do you mind if I try to make it… I remember by heart…” Sunset giggled.
“Hearth’s Warming Eve?” AJ and Pinkie blinked in confusion.
“Oh. That’s Equestria’s version of Christmas,” Sunset clarified.
“Oh. Okay,” they nodded as they began to get the ingredients and began to make the gingerbread men.
“So what is Hearth’s Warming Eve like? Is there someone who goes around delivering toys to good ponies?” Pinkie asked.
“Well… it’s similar to Christmas in style, there’s tree decorating, cookies and the like… but every year, there’s a play put on about how the holiday was founded.”
“What’s the story like?” AJ asked curiously.
“Well… hmm… how do I put this… it begins in a time before Equestria. There wasn’t a leader to the ponies, and the three different kinds of ponies were Earth Pony, Pegasi and Unicorn. The Unicorns controlled the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the Earth Ponies tended to the land and grew the crops for the rest of Ponykind, and the pegasi controlled the weather. Unfortunately… none of them got along. And that led to creatures known as the Windigoes to begin to spread cold all over their land, and as such, each of the leaders had to take their tribes to find a new place to call home. So they headed off and found land… unfortunately for them… it was the exact same land.” Sunset started, “And so, they began to argue again about how to handle the situation, only to find out that the Windigoes followed them there. They began to spread the cold around due to their arguing…”
“Sorta like the Sirens using their magic to spread anger and the like,” AJ commented.
“Yea, almost. Anyway, the leaders of the tribes and their advisors fled, realizing the Windigoes were still on their way, but the three leaders just continued to argue, and they were eventually frozen over. But their advisors didn’t argue, and through it, discovered something called the ‘Fire of Friendship’, and thus used it to unfreeze the tribe leaders and scare off the Windigoes. They all eventually came together, and formed Equestria. We celebrate what they did for us and express our friendship and love for one another,” Sunset concluded.
“That’s an interesting tale there,” Applejack admitted, as she and Pinkie finished putting some details on the gingerbread men they had started to decorate and had finished already.
“Oh! Before I forget,” Pinkie giggled, as she took out her phone and started a song, which started with a graceful piano melody and had a bit of a holiday like feel to it.
“This is a nice song…” Sunset giggled, as she had started to help Applejack make some cookies.
“Of course. It’s the best song from the best video game ever,” Pinkie smiled, “And people who don’t play it, are bad people.”
“I don’t know what game this is from…” Sunset stated.
“You’re an exception to that. And I’m only kidding when I say they’re bad people, but I would insist non-stop they play it,” Pinkie informed, as she began to pour some sugar into some bowls.
“Ah would vouch for her comment there… she pestered me for almost a month…” Applejack stated.
“I see…” Sunset blinked.
After they had finished the cookies and gingerbread men and walls for a gingerbread house, Sunset had begun to make a recipe that had apples, marshmallows and some chocolate chips in it.
“So what’s this recipe supposed to be exactly?” Applejack asked.
“Looks tasty,” Pinkie noted.
“She called it the ‘Heart of Hearth’s Warming Eve’, it’s like a cookie, but really sweet and it was made with these items, and some cookie material. Do you mind if I have some time alone to work on it? And when I’m done… is it okay if you make sure it stays cool until Christmas?” Sunset asked AJ.
“Uh… sure, Ah guess… why would you need it to be like that, exactly?” AJ asked, confused.
“I just want to make sure I get it right… and I want to surprise you all with it on Christmas. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
“Okay,” AJ nodded.
Sunset soon finished the treat and she handed it to Applejack so she could put it away.
“So let’s see… store it in the fridge?” AJ checked with Sunset.
“Yea,” Sunset nodded, and unknown to Sunset, Pinkie took out her phone and checked off Number 4 as AJ stuck the cookies in the fridge.
‘Seven more to go,’ Pinkie thought to herself, giggling a bit.
“How have you two been?” Sunset asked Lightning and Coco via Sraife.
-We’re doing just fine, Sunset,- Lightning assured, -What about you?-
“I’m fine. I kinda miss you two…” Sunset admitted.
-We miss you, too, Sunset,- Coco added, -But Miss Rarity and Sweetie Belle have been treating me like family. And they read me a lovely book last night, it was called The Polar Express.-
“Wow, that’s sweet. What about you, Lightning?”
-Rainbow and her little buddy are really nice. Gotta admit, while Rainbow and I are rivals, when I’m with her friend… I feel like I’m part of a family.- Lightning smiled, -What about you Sunset? You make any new friends or something?-
“Well… yea. I’ve actually made a new friend recently, and I’m going to ask Rarity for some help to make her a Christmas present.” Sunset informed.
-Do you want me to go and get her?- Coco asked.
“Hmm… go ahead.” Sunset informed, and thus, Coco headed away from the computer for a moment, when Posey walked on over to Sunset.
-Oh? Hi Fluttershy,- Lightning waved, -Nice haircut.-
“Huh? Oh, that’s not Fluttershy, Lightning; this is her cousin, Posey,” Sunset responded, with Posey waving to Lightning.
-Oh… my bad.- Lightning apologized.
“Don’t worry, I get that a lot,” Posey informed.
-Still, it’s nice to meet you.- Lightning smiled as Coco walked on over with Rarity.
-Hello Sunset. Coco told me you wanted to talk to me.-
“Yea. I wanted to make a friend a Christmas present, is it okay if I ask you for some help?”
-Of course, Darling. Meet me over here after school tomorrow so we can get started.- Rarity told Sunset.
“Gotcha,” Sunset nodded as Rarity noticed Posey.
-Posey, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?- Rarity smiled.
“It certainly has, Rarity,” Posey smiled, the other three looking surprised that Rarity knew it wasn’t Fluttershy.
-Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to mention I met Posey once before.-
“It was when Itoko-chan and Rarity-san went to the spa. I kinda tagged along and got to know Rarity-san a bit,” Posey informed.
“I see…” Sunset smiled, “Well… I’ll see you tomorrow Rarity.”
-Until then, Posey, Sunset.- Rarity smiled, as Sunset walked off.
“So… you said you’d have something to help me sleep better at night?” Sunset asked Fluttershy later that evening, and Fluttershy handed her something wrapped up and with some holes in it.
“It’s a bit early, I know… but Merry Christmas Sunset,” Fluttershy smiled, showing Sunset it was a jar filled with fireflies, acting as a natural nightlight, Sunset gawking at their beauty.
“This… this is amazing! Fireflies are so beautiful…” Sunset giggled, “Thank you so, SO much, Fluttershy!”
“Anything to help you…” Fluttershy giggled, blushing, and Sunset blushed herself.
‘She’s so innocent and sweet… I’m glad I can help make her Christmas special. Maybe make it… more special than she’d hope for,’ Fluttershy thought to herself, giggling.
Sunset happily set the jar of fireflies up on the nightstand and smiled, “Thank you so much Butterfly-er… Fluttershy,”
“...how do you know my original name?” Fluttershy asked.
“...you kinda shouldn’t have it on your stocking…” Sunset informed.
“My parents gave it to me when I was younger… I’ve always used it. But… please, can you not tell anyone my actual name?” Fluttershy asked.
“I won’t. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Sunset answered, with Fluttershy hugging her, and Sunset began to blush.
‘Fluttershy is just so kind… and beautiful… I’m so glad that I’m staying with her this holiday. If only I could tell her how I feel...’ Sunset thought.
‘She’s so sweet… she’s easy to please, but sweet still… I’m glad she’s here… and pretty. Wait a minute… am I… am I… in love with Sunset?’ Fluttershy thought to herself, blushing a bit.
“Hey Fluttershy… thank you so much for this gift… I’ll be sure to cherish it…” Sunset giggled, hugging Fluttershy, making the shy girl blush and smile before Sunset yawned and got into the bed Fluttershy was letting her sleep in.
‘So cute… I look forward to seeing how much she’ll smile when it’s Christmas day… oh my… I am in love with Sunset...’ Fluttershy thought.
It was 6:15am, and Fluttershy had already woken up and snuck into the guest room to talk to Posey, who was just slowly waking up herself.
“Itoko? What’s up?” Posey asked.
“I… need some advice, and you have an advice column at your school,” Fluttershy stated, as she sat down.
“Yea. That’s the one thing I like about school,” Posey admitted, “That and my photography class. Anyway, what’s up?”
“...Well… I was wondering if… I could have some advice… on… um… romance…” Fluttershy said nervously.
“...Hmm… I guess I could try to help there.” Posey stated, as she took out a notepad and fiddled with a pencil, “So… tell me what’s up.”
“Well… you see… I uh… I… uh… well…”
“Go on, go on. What is it you need advice on?”
“I… h-h-ha-a-ave… a-a-a-a… a… c-c-cr-cru-crush…”
“Okay,” Posey nodded, writing it down, “So, who do you have a crush on?”
“Um… w-well… i-i-it’s on…” Fluttershy started, whispering the name so quietly Posey couldn’t hear her.
“Uh… I didn’t hear you…” Posey informed.
“Um… I-I… have a… a crush… on…” she repeated, whispering the name again.
“Fluttershy-itoko-chan… I can’t help you if you don’t tell me who it is…”
“Okay, it’s Sunset Shimmer, okay?!”
Posey dropped her pencil, not out of shock, but because it genuinely slipped out of her hand. But she looked at her cousin with a look of interest, before she reached for her pencil.
“Uh… okay this is interesting…” Posey admitted.
“It’s fine, I’m used to it. So… tell me about your crush…”
“Well… I doubt she knows of it yet, and it came up recently… and admittedly, I… never thought I’d love another girl… I’m new to the whole idea of loving someone outside my family, and yet… another girl… that’s just… interesting.”
“I see…” Posey nodded, writing in her notebook again, with Fluttershy looking at her cousin with a smile, “So… why are you crushing on someone who used to bully you?”
“She’s changed. She may have been a bully, but now… she’s a shy girl that feels out of place Plus she’s sweet… kind… and so… pretty…” Fluttershy informed.
“Well… that’s all the time we have for now Itoko-chan,” Posey informed, pointing to the clock, which read 6:45am, and school started at 7:15.
“Oh shoot! You’re right.”
Rarity had passed by Fluttershy’s home and saw the pinkette rushing out dressed and ready for school.
“Fluttershy, everything okay?” Rarity asked, pulling down her window.
“Yes, I’m fine. But we have twenty minutes to get to school on time!” Fluttershy informed.
“Hop on in,” Rarity informed, opening the door of her car, Fluttershy quickly hopping right in, and thus they headed off for the school.
Both were on time for class, and saw that the school was getting some Christmas decorations put up, with wreaths and lights all over the building.
“Hey girls,” Rainbow Dash waved as they arrived in class, “Glad you could make it.”
“How are you on time?” Rarity panted, “You’re normally a few minutes late.”
“I set an alarm today, and I didn’t sleep through it for once!”
“For once…” Applejack chuckled.
“That was certainly a surprise,” Pinkie added.
Rainbow simply gave an eye roll at that, as class begun for the day.
Soon after, the Rainbooms had allowed to go to the music room to practice a bit for their upcoming performance.
“Let’s rock some jingle bells, let’s rock some jingle bells. Oh. Oh. We’ve got Christmas tales to tell. Rockin’ round the block, got no time to waste we’ve got bells to rock!” Rainbow and Sunset sung together, as the Rainbooms practiced. As they played, all six gained pony ears, “Spreadin’ the glee around the tree, the holiday spirit o’ so free! Free! Free!”
“Okay everyone, that was great.” Sunset giggled, as the six reverted back to normal.
“Great song, Sunset,” Rainbow smiled, giving her a high five.
“Ah gotta say, ya outdid yerself with ‘Shine Like Rainbows’, but this is just as good, mahbe better,” AJ replied.
“Thanks,” Sunset smiled, as she looked over to Fluttershy who smiled at her.
After a bit more practice after school had ended, Rarity and Sunset arrived at Rarity’s car, when she saw Coco was there and had a paper in her hands.
“Uh… Ms. Rarity, someone gave you a ticket…” Coco informed, showing Rarity the piece of paper.
“A ticket?! OHMYGOSH! I can’t believe it! My parents are going to kill me! I’ve never gotten a ticket before in all of my life! This is the WORST possible thing ever! The! Worst! Possible! THING!” Rarity said in a panic before she began to sob over-dramatically.
Coco took a moment to look at the ticket before blinking, “Ms. Rarity… uh… I honestly don’t think you can get into too much trouble for getting a ticket for uh… ‘parking in wrong direction’...”
“Huh?” Rarity responded before looking at the ticket and sure enough it read ‘Parking in wrong direction’, “...Oh… uh… hmm… a two dollar fine… Uh… false alarm?”
“...Ya really need to stop overreactin’ like that, Rarity,” AJ sighed.
“Wait… you’re parked in the same direction!” Rarity noticed, and Applejack had no ticket in sight.
“No! Ah’m jus’ sayin’ ya don’t have to overreact over two dollars worth o’ fine,”
Rarity just rolled her eyes and got into her car, “Sunset, Coco, let’s just go…”
“Hey wait!” Sweetie Belle shouted, as she began to pant, “You almost forgot me… again. This is like… the fourth time… this month.”
“Sweetie? Where were you?”
“In the bathroom… I texted you,” Sweetie reminded.
“My phone’s battery died…”
Sweetie just sighed as she got into the car, soon followed by Coco, but Sunset gave the car a confused look, “Are you sure, Rarity?”
“Huh?” Rarity responded confused, “You said you wanted to do something for a friend, and you need my help. And you don’t know where my house is, do you?”
“...not a clue…” Sunset admitted sheepishly, making Rarity sigh before she opened a door.
“Just hop in for now.”
They soon arrived at Rarity and Sweetie Belle’s home, with Rarity guiding Sunset down to the basement which looked like a clothing store/model runway complete with a dressing room and the supplies needed.
“Wow… this is really nice…” Sunset gawked, as she looked at some dresses that Rarity had made for the Rainbooms during the Battle of the Bands. Sunset eyed Twilight’s dress for a moment, her mind trying to fight off a memory of a nightmare, before she looked and noticed another dress, which was in a container of sorts, but she could make out some red and yellow on it.
“Please… don’t look at that. It’s still in progress, and I don’t like it when people see outfits before they’re ready,” Rarity told Sunset.
“Oh! ...S-Sorry,” Sunset apologized before she moved on over to see some red and white sketches.
“I’m thinking of making us some outfits for our upcoming Christmas performance… and these are some very special outfits I’ve designs for us. So, shall we get to your idea for your friend?” Rarity told Sunset.
“I wanted it to be a scarf… specifically, I wanted it to be something with this in it,” Sunset informed, taking out a sketch that was given to her by this friend, which was colored magenta and it had the design of a pink heart with a jagged blue musical note over it.
“Really neat sketch… so, who is this for, mind me asking?”
“Well… it’s for someone from the homeless shelter,” Sunset explained.
“That’s nice of you. Guess my generosity is rubbing off on you…” Rarity giggled.
“Yea… I guess so,” Sunset shrugged, smiling a bit.
The two spent a while talking about the design of the scarf, and after a few hours Sunset realized she should get going.
“Well, I guess I’ll walk back to Fluttershy’s now,” Sunset stated, heading up.
“I can take you back,” Rarity informed.
“No no, it’s fine. I can find my way there,” Sunset assured, heading upstairs, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Sunset headed out, only to find out it was dark outside already, she gave a gulp and began on her way back to Fluttershy’s. As she started walking, though, she noticed that it was getting harder and harder to see.
She had been walking around for a little bit, when she heard something fall, she backed up a bit and looked around in fear. She kept up a pattern of walking a short distance followed by looking back to see what made the sound for about a few seconds, when she heard a rumble of some kind.
“...it’s chasing me… how’d it know that I’m here… outside…?” Sunset muttered in fear, before she heard whatever it was in the alley begin to approach her. Sunset began to run for it before managing to get some ground, before she heard she was being chased. Sunset continued to run until she bumped into a box.
“PLEASE DON’T HURT ME!” Sunset begged, hiding her face behind her arms
“Woah, you okay?” she heard, causing Sunset to open her eyes and see it was only Rainbow.
“Oh… I… didn’t know it was you…”
“What? You think some sort of creepy monster was chasing you?” Dash joked, but Sunset looked honestly nervous and nervous, “But in all seriousness, sorry for scaring you. I just parkour my way home… and I’m usually so good about not knocking anything over…”
“Oh… I… uh… alright,” Sunset nodded.
“Come on, I’ll get you to Fluttershy’s,” Dash told her, as she helped Sunset up before they walked off.
“Sunset should’ve been back by now…” Fluttershy said in worry, pacing around the living room a bit until she heard the door open, with Rainbow and Sunset standing by it, causing Fluttershy to gasp, “Rainbow? Sunset! I was so worried…”
“I got lost… I’m sorry for worrying you…” Sunset apologized.
“She said she got scared somethin’ fierce just because she thought some monster was chasing her, when it was just me doing parkour,” Dash told Fluttershy.
“...oh, really?” Fluttershy blinked.
“Yea…” Sunset shrugged.
“Oh my…”
“Well, see you later,” Dash waved, leaving Sunset and Fluttershy to talk.
“So… were you scared?”
“Not at first… but when I heard Dash knock something over… I got kinda nervous…”
“I see… and you thought it was… a monster?”
“...Y-Yea… but… when you can’t see a person, and you hear a rumble sound… that’s likely the first place your mind would turn to,” Sunset pointed out.
“True… I-I guess…” Fluttershy shrugged, as she pulled Sunset into a hug, “I was so scared… I thought that… something bad had happened to you…”
Sunset returned the hug and both began to get sort of teary eyed, the hugs both comforting the two, “I’m so sorry I scared you…”
“...It’s okay… what matters is that you’re safe now,” Fluttershy replied.
The following day, Sunset woke up and saw Fluttershy still asleep, the unicorn-turned-human smiling at the sleeping girl, simply seeing her friend asleep just relaxed her.
‘She’s so adorable… maybe one day soon I should ask her… wait… my worrying her may have ruined my chances… oh no… why did I try to find my way back on my own...’ Sunset thought, clearly panicking about this.
She looked at Fluttershy in worry, before Sunset began to cry a little bit, not sure if she ruined her chances of them becoming a couple. After a moment, she started crying a bit louder, causing Fluttershy to wake up.
“Sunset… are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, looking to her friend.
“Uh… I… uh… w-w-well… had a… bad dream… that what happened yesterday… made you not like me anymore…”
“...Really? Sunset… nothing could ever make me not like you…” Fluttershy assured, hugging her.
“Really?” Sunset replied, wiping her tears away.
“You’re my friend…” Fluttershy assured with a warm smile.
“Right… friend…” Sunset responded, as Fluttershy got up and hugged Sunset, ‘So… I’m stuck in the friendzone… it’s better than not being friends at all, I guess.’
“So… the caroling idea… on Sunset’s list,” Fluttershy stated, talking with the others, “I had a small idea… I saw this movie where the characters went caroling on a car. I had this silly idea that maybe… we could take our upcoming performance in a direction like that.”
“That sounds interesting to say the least,” Rainbow said with a smile, “All of the city can see how awesome my-er… our, band is.”
“Seriously, Rainbow? Yer still going on about this being ‘yer band’.”
“It just slipped out…”
“Ya sure ‘bout that?”
“I didn’t mean to say it’s my band, honest!” Dash responded, making the others just shrug, “So anyway… can you believe it’s almost the winter break?! It’s only 3 days away!”
“And we still have seven things left on Sunset’s list to do…” Pinkie pointed out.
“We’d better pick up the pace, then,” Fluttershy suggested, as she looked over the list, “Well… we’re going to do the caroling soon… and then the material items she wants, I think I can get them for her… the fireplace thing we can do soon… that would mean the only thing we have no plan for is…”
“Is what?” Dash asked.
“...the… the last…” she started before muttering the rest.
“Uh… we didn’t hear you dear,” Rarity informed.
“Deer, where?” Fluttershy gawked.
“Not what I meant, darling. I wanted you to speak up.” Rarity responded, making Fluttershy giggle, before she began to blush nervously.
“Well… what I was gonna say was… the only one left would be…” Fluttershy stated, before she whispered the number.
“Speak up, please,” Pinkie told Fluttershy, making her sigh.
“...n-Niijyugo,” Fluttershy answered.
Everyone gave her a confused blink.
“Say what now?” Dash asked.
Fluttershy didn’t respond, until Rarity noticed Fluttershy flash the numbers 10 and 2 on her fingers.
“Oh, do you mean number 12?” Rarity asked, with Fluttershy giving her a nod, “Oh, I see.”
“Me too! It must be such torture to have to kiss someone that you don’t like, once bullied you, only to later become our friend and while we’re friends, you don’t like her in that way an-” Pinkie blabbered, unknowingly striking a nerve on Fluttershy.
“Okay, I love her, okay, Pinkie?! NOW STOP TALKING ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!!!” Fluttershy blurted out, making the others’ jaws drop and eyes widen, Pinkie’s jaw slamming against the table.
“Fluttershy… shouting… my ears are actually kinda ringing from that…” Dash admitted, using her pinky to clean out her ear.
“...Did Ah just hear you like Sunset?” AJ asked.
“Correction from what you said… Fluttershy… did you just say you love her?” Rarity asked, making Fluttershy gasp and blush brightly before she began to try and duck her head under the table.
“Nuh-uh, Fluttershy. You’re not getting out of this that easy,” Dash informed, pulling Fluttershy up, “You said somethin’, now tell us.”
“I… I… *sighs* Okay… I… I… I have a crush on Sunset,” Fluttershy confessed.
In response to this, Pinkie just dramatically gasped, while everyone had a different look on their face, Rainbow’s was a look of shock, Rarity’s was interest and Applejack’s was rather neutral.
“...you don’t mind?”
“Well…” Dash started before Rarity helped Fluttershy up.
“I personally would support you and whoever you like,” Rarity informed.
“Really?” Fluttershy gawked, “And I thought that you would find a same-gender relationship… out there…”
“People change their minds,” Rarity informed.
“Me… well if yer happy, we should be happy fer ya,” AJ informed.
“Okay… what about you, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked, as Dash blinked in thought for a moment.
“...I… I… think that… uh… hmm… well… I’m not sure what to say,” Dash admitted.
“I’ll say… this crush was only recently formed… so… I’m not sure what to think of this myself,” Fluttershy admitted, with Sunset starting to walk on over.
“Hey girls, what’cha talking about?” they all heard someone ask, making them turn to see Sunset.
“Uh… our performance…” Fluttershy stated, her voice getting a bit squeaky.
“Oh yea, right! I almost forgot about that!” Rarity remembered, as Applejack and Dash begun to think about what to do so they could make their performance mobile.
“Hey, thanks for lettin’ us use your family's truck,” Dash smiled, as they had begun to put some of their instruments onto it.
“Nothin’ to it, girls,” AJ smiled, hooking up her bass, when she noticed a few people were already waiting for them to perform, among them were Posey, Vinyl, Coco, Lightning, Octavia, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Derpy, Flash and someone who none of them expected to see.
“Isn’t that Sonata?” Rainbow asked.
“Oh yea, it is!” Pinkie gawked.
“What’s she doing here?” Appeljack asked.
Fluttershy and Rarity gave a wave to her, with Sonata smiling.
“What are you doing here?” Rainbow asked, going over to the bluenette.
“Oh… Sunset invited me to see you play,” Sonata informed.
“Uh… oh…” they responded, with Fluttershy waving to Sonata, before Sunset walked over, now wearing a female Santa outfit.
“How do I look?” Sunset asked.
“Sunset, you’re amazing looking,” Sonata smiled, “Have fun out there, okay?”
“Sure,” Sunset nodded, before turning to her friends, “Rarity you outdid yourself with this one…”
“Well… thank you, darling.”
“You look great,” Rainbow smiled.
“Looks pretty spiffy on ya,” Applejack added.
“Super duperrific!” Pinkie smiled.
Fluttershy held her tambourine close to her heart, blushing a bit before Sunset walked over to her.
“Is something wrong, Fluttershy?” Sunset asked.
“A-a-ano… you look… you look… tenchi…” Fluttershy informed.
“Tenchi?” Sunset responded in confusion.
“Oh… um… it means, uh… how do I say it… um… well… uh… it means… h-he-heav… uh… heavenly…” Fluttershy informed, making Sunset blush a deep red that almost matched her hair.
“Oh, come now, Fluttershy. No need to be jealous. I made similar outfits for everyone,” Rarity informed, as she motioned for everyone to follow her, while Sunset waited.
“What was that moment all about?” Sonata asked, walking over to Sunset, “Do you two have a thing going on?”
“Huh? W-Well… I… I really don’t know…” Sunset admitted, “Uh… can we talk later? I gotta make sure everything’s set up…”
“Uh… sure,” Sonata nodded before she walked off, Sunset blushing a bit more, before shrugging it off.
A little bit later, the rest of the Rainbooms arrived at the start of their route with them performing by the school, all six girls dressed in Santa outfits.
“Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la, tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la.”
“We Wish You A Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Good tidings we bring, to you and your kin, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” The Rainbooms sung, now by Sugar Cube Corner.
They soon arrived by the Apple Family Farm, still singing.
“Joy to the World, the Lord has come. Let Earth~ receive~ her King~. Let every heart~ prepare him room~. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And he~ and heaven and nature sing,” they all sung, with Sunset feeling like it was like she was caroling back in Canterlot.
They passed by the library and began to sing their next song.
“Hark, the herald angels sing~. Glory to the newborn king! Peace on Earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Joyful all ye nations rise~. Join the triumph of the skies. With angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king!” they sang, people seeing them all pony-up, and the people cheered for them.
Sunset giggled as they moved to their final location for their final song, which was her new song.
“We all sound amazing…” Sunset giggled, “All of you are doing great… and Fluttershy, you sound pretty tenchi yourself,”
Fluttershy blushed at this and smiled, “Th-Thank you.”
They all un-ponified, and Sunset looked over to the library, half-expecting to see a certain friend of theirs there.
‘Twilight… heh, I’d imagine you’d be here… honestly. But I guess you’re off in Equestria celebrating Hearth’s Warming Eve,’ Sunset thought to herself with a smile before she saw a tree that was rather tall, reminding her of the tree she saw set up in Canterlot, but then Fluttershy tapped her on the shoulder and they smiled.
“You ready?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh… yea, right. Just kinda thinking… but I’m good to go,” Sunset replied as they got into position, “Alright… everyone, I’m glad you all came here. Thank you all for showing up to hear us preform. This is an original song that I wrote, called ‘Let’s Rock Some Jingle Bells’. I hope you all like it,”
“1, 2, 3, 4!” Pinkie stated, as they began to play it.
“Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey! It’s a great time of year, a time of cheer! Gather round with your friends really near. Play all day, every way, full of cheer!” Sunset began to sing first, her pony ears starting to appear.
“Let’s Rock Some Jingle Bells! Let’s Rock Some Jingle Bells! Let’s Rock Some Jingle Bells! Hey, hey, hey! For the time of year so swell, everyone so happy, I can tell…” Rainbow sung next, her wings soon sprouting and her hair extending.
“Let’s get out there and play in the snow…” Applejack sung next.
“As we play the day away, our heart’s will glow…” Rarity added.
“For the greatest time of the year! Even if the snow is low…” Applejack and Rarity sung together.
“The Fire of Friendship is all around…” Rainbow sung.
“Our cheer is all for you. Let it spread the whole year through,” Pinkie sung, the Rainbooms now all ponified.
“Our hearts are in everything we do, spreading Christmas cheer to you.” Pinkie and Rainbow sung.
“Friends and family around the warm fire,” Fluttershy sung.
“Our hearts unite so they can fly high and higher,” Sunset added, putting her arm around Fluttershy.
“So Let’s see where the passion and friendship take us someplace where our love can shine on everyone’s face,” they sung in unison.
“Let’s rock some jingle bells, let’s rock some jingle bells. Oh. Oh. We’ve got Christmas tales to tell. Rockin’ round the block, got no time to waste we’ve got bells to rock!” Rainbow and Sunset sung together, “Spreadin’ the glee around the tree, the holiday spirit o’ so free! Free! Free!”
“Are heart’s will light the way to holiday cheer!” Sunset sung, “So let’s spread friendship around all year!”
“Hey! Hey! Hey!” the other Rainbooms sung.
“Let’s Rock Some Jingle Bells, Let’s Rock Some Jingle Bells! Hey! Oh! Hey Oh! Let’s Rock Some Jingle Bells! Christmas Cheer is all over the world, tonight we all twirl,” Sunset sung, and they all spun around after Sunset said ‘twirl’.
“Let our song touch your hearts. We hope you enjoy Christmas lots,” Pinkie sung, “So we’ll spread our cheer to you all over the block,”
“Our love and friendship has no lock… and we will always rock.” Sunset sung.
“Let’s Rock Some Jingle Bells~!” they all sung, as they finished the song, getting a huge applause from the audience, with Vinyl, Posey, Lightning, Coco, and Sonata at the front of the crowd, cheering them all on happily.
“Encore!” someone shouted.
“No… that’s all the time we have…” Sunset informed, “But we’ll see you next time!”
“So… I guess Christmas Caroling is done…” Sunset giggled, “Hey… can I keep the outfit?”
“Of course you can, darling,” Rarity nodded.
“Sunset… your song was a lot of fun to sing…” Fluttershy admitted.
“Thanks,” Sunset smiled and blushed, as she hugged Fluttershy with a smile.
“Itoko-chan! You sounded amazing!” Posey giggled, walking over to her with Lightning, Coco, Vinyl, and Sonata.
“Thanks. We really practiced with all of our hearts,” Fluttershy smiled.
“...I wish I could still sing…” Sonata admitted.
“Ya sure ya don’t want it ‘cause yer singing would cause some problems, and ya’d use it ta do bad things?” AJ clarifed.
“What?! No! Adagio pressured me into being bad! I honestly want to sing for fun… heck, I could’ve used my powers to make people happy!” Sonata responded, making AJ think for a moment.
“...Ah guess Ah can kinda see yer point,” AJ figured, “So… yer a friend of Sunset’s?”
“She is now,” Sunset confirmed, pulling Sonata into a hug, the siren-turned-human smiling in response before Lightning, Posey, Coco and Vinyl joined in the hug, Fluttershy and her friends smiling in response.
Sunset looked to an Equestrian book that she had brought with her, simply dusting off the book, seeing it’s title ‘Children of the Night and Moon’. She traced the image on the cover, which was a picture of a moon plus a picture of Princess Luna before she opened up to the first page and begun to read it.
“Sunset? You did make sure you took everything from your locker at school, right?” Fluttershy asked.
“Almost, I’m double checking right now,” she responded, putting the book down and looking to another book, which had her Cutie Mark on it, smiling at it before she tucked it away and looked back to the other book.
“Just a couple books that I brought from home…” Sunset informed, “This one is my personal favorite.”
“‘Children of the Night and Moon’. Sounds… interesting,” Fluttershy admitted.
“It talks about the Princess of the Night, forming a hidden colony within the land of Equestria. I honestly never expect such a story to exist, but this is said to be an autobiography written by one of the kids. In all honesty… I’m not sure if this story is real or not… but it’s a beautiful story.” Sunset informed.
“What happens in it, beyond this Princess of the Night forming this hidden colony?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well… let me see… she wrote of how Luna decided to set up the colony after she and Celestia dealt with Discord, who is a monster that governs over chaos and such… and despite Celestia telling her little sister to not do it, Luna forms this colony out of orphans who lived in the capital of Canterlot. Heh… wish I was born by then…” Sunset admitted, making Fluttershy rather shaky looking.
“...you’re scared of the dark, and yet you’d want to live in a land that is eternal night?” Fluttershy asked.
“It’s never said it’s eternal night… but it does sound interesting at the very least. But if not for me being with Celestia… I wouldn’t know you…” Sunset responded with a smile.
“Aw…” Fluttershy smiled, hugging her friend, the two of them blushing.
A bit later, Fluttershy and Posey were out shopping, going to GameGo to look at a few games and checking the prices between the different 3DS models, prices being cut for the holiday time.
“Can you believe it’s December 18th already itoko-chan?” Fluttershy asked.
“It’s hard to believe myself,” Posey admitted, “I mean… it’s only felt like seven days.”
Fluttershy simply shrugged at her cousin’s comment, before finding a 3DS bundle priced at $250.25, and even saw that it came with a copy of Smash Bros & Mario & Luigi Dream Team pre-installed on it. “Itoko-chan… how much money do we have after shopping for everyone else?”
Taking a moment to look over their money, Posey saw they had $700 and smiled at this.
“With our amount of cash, we’ll end up with $449.75, which could be enough to get some extra games and even get her that one gift you were looking at while we were at the jewelry store while we were shopping for Rarity,” Posey smiled.
“Perfect!” Fluttershy smiled, as she giggled happily.
Sunset meanwhile, was at the park reading the ‘Children of the Night and Moon’ book.
“‘Our dear mother had finally lost her temper about her sister. She protected us, and pointed out how ponies like us awake during the night could be helpful despite what others said… she couldn’t keep her temper in check, and attacked her sister at the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. We don’t know what happened to her, but word from others still living in our aunt’s light said that mother was sent to the moon. We miss her very badly… we pray that one day mother will return to us…’ It’s really a shame this is the book’s final chapter…” Sunset sighed, “...I wonder what happened to this lost colony… I hope they’re okay…”
She traced over the front cover in thought, recalling something about Vice-Principal Luna having once spent a bit of time in jail, and then was released for good behavior, and there she was now.
“Hmm… I guess this world has more parallels to Equestria than I thought. And yet… there’s no alternate me… and there’s no alternate Twilight…” Sunset stated, as she pondered where those two were.
She then shrugged it off before placing the book back into her bag when she saw Applejack walk on by, and then waved at her before the farmer saw her.
“Howdy there Sunset,” Applejack waved, “How’re ya doin’?”
“Pretty good. Where are you off to?” Sunset asked.
“Um… I’m heading to a special Holiday Apple Family Reunion. First time Pinkie and her family are here fer it,” Applejack informed.
“Oh yea, because you only recently found out that Pinkie Pie is your fourth-cousin-twice-removed,” Sunset shrugged.
“Yea… that’s true,” Applejack nodded, “Hey… uh… Ah’ve invited all of mah friends over the years to these… do ya wanna come with me?”
“Really? Uh… sure,” Sunset nodded.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Posey had arrived at a jewelry store… or rather, re-arrived at it, with Fluttershy looking at a certain item in her hands.
“...Sunset… I really hope you like this…” Fluttershy smiled.
“Well… I hope she does too. And I’m not just saying that because this gift drained us of almost the last of our Christmas funds,” Posey informed, “So… what’s left for her?”
“Uh… oh! It’s an item on the list… ‘Number Five, Get a plushie of a Luma from SMG’.” Fluttershy informed.
“SMG? That’s… Super Mario Galaxy, right?” Posey checked.
“Yea. It was the first game she played.” Fluttershy informed as they headed outside.
“You know, I still honestly can’t believe you all snooped through her assignment… and all just to make her day better,” Posey replied.
“Sorry… but… I think we can give her the best Christmas ever if we do…” Fluttershy responded.
“Do you think she even knows?” Posey asked next, “And… just a curiosity’s sake question. Do they even celebrate Christmas over where she’s from? Have carols? Have turkey, ham, or other things for a Christmas dinner? Opening presents on the big day? Have stories like that of say… A Christmas Carol, Rudolph or The Polar Express? Have a Santa pony?”
“Okay… to the question of her knowing… I have no idea. Next, they do have carols, I don’t think they eat meat… they are ponies after all… they do have gifts, I don’t know about those tales… and I’m not sure about a Santa-pony…” Fluttershy responded.
“I see… so… do you know if Sunset thinks of me as part of her own little clique?” Posey asked.
“...Maybe… I’m not sure…” Fluttershy shrugged, “It’s possible that… if she has her own clique, it’d be you, Coco, Lightning, her, Vinyl and Sonata…”
Posey gave a shrug at that before she smiled and hugged her cousin.
Applejack and Sunset walked through the festivals, seeing there were a variety of apple treats being made, some games and even some rock-candy necklaces being sold.
“Pie Family?” Sunset asked.
“Most likely,” Applejack figured, when Sunset stopped and noticed one of those games where someone threw a ball at milk bottles, and among the prizes for this one, was a plushie of a Luma.
“...wow!” Sunset giggled, hurrying on over to it.
“You wanna go round at the game?” the stand vendor, Apple Fritter, asked before Sunset handed him a dollar, “Alright, just knock over more than five, and you win a prize!”
“Gotcha,” Sunset nodded, being handed three baseballs, before she threw one and knocked over two bottles, “At least four more to go.”
Next, she tossed another ball, knocking over three more bottles. She smirked and tightened her focus, before tossing and… missing.
“Oh… sorry kid. You can try again later,” Apple Fritter told her when Pinkie was skipping on over, followed by her sister.
“Oh… hi Pinkie, hi Maud,” Sunset waved.
“Hiya Sunny!” Pinkie waved.
“...Hi,” Maud answered in a monotone voice, as she placed a dollar bill for the game, “I’ll try…”
And then, with just one throw, she knocked over a total of 10 bottles! Sunset gawked at this, and then looked over to the Luma plushie.
“Maud… get the Luma plushie there!” Pinkie told her sister, who simply nodded and took it, before handing it to Pinkie, who in turn, handed it to Sunset, “This is for you.”
Sunset just gawked before she hugged the plushie and proceeded to hug Pinkie. As Sunset did that, Applejack quickly checked off number five on their list.
“Oh? They managed to get the Luma plushie… which means we can leave this store,” Fluttershy informed Posey, the two of them in a store purely meant for Nintendo merchandise.
“Thank you… I’m getting so sick of this song!” Posey shouted, as she dashed out.
“Yea… Super Mario 1 stage one theme… gets old after it’s been on an endless loop…” Fluttershy admitted.
And with that, they just left, happy to get out of the store before Posey took out her phone and dialed up Sunset.
-You won’t believe what just happened!- Sunset informed.
“Uh… what?” Posey asked.
-Pinkie’s sister won me a Luma Plushie over at the Apple Family Reunion.-
“Congrats.” Posey smiled, “Hey… I have something set up for you and itoko-chan… so be home by 8:30 tonight, okay?”
-Gotcha.-
Sunset and Fluttershy waited a bit, waiting outside the latter’s house when they heard some bells jingling.
“Santa? Wait… he’s early by 6 days,” Fluttershy pointed out when they looked and saw a horse-drawn sleigh.
“Fluttershy Koharu? Sunset Shimmer?” the sleigh-driver, who turned out to be a girl with pink skin, purple eyes, pink, purple, and yellow hair, and wearing a black sweater, black boots, and brown skirt asked, surprising the two before she smiled at them, “I was hired to give you two a sleigh ride from here to the Christmas tree in the center of town tonight. Hop on in.”
Both girls giggled, happily boarding the sleigh before the sleigh-driver cracked her whip and the horses took off, with Sunset and Fluttershy both smiling, enjoying the ride and their time with each-other. They watched as the lights went by them and Fluttershy took pictures of their ride.
Sunset couldn’t help but slip her hand into Fluttershy’s, the two blushing a bit as they enjoyed their ride.
Sunset looked back through the pictures she and Fluttershy took while on their sleigh ride, simply still happy about the ride. She smiled at the pictures, which showed her and Fluttershy smiling and posing in front of different locations throughout the city. Then, she handed the camera to Posey, who got to work printing them out, while also looking at a Japanese toy site.
“Whatcha looking at Posey?” Sunset asked.
“I don’t know… I don’t want to invade Fluttershy’s privacy…”
“Not like she hasn’t already snooped through your privacy…” Posey muttered.
“What was that?” Sunset asked.
“Nothing, nothing at all. Just… please? I’ll owe you anything…” Posey responded.
“Okay… but if I do this to help you, Posey, could you please help me get the one big thing I want for Christmas? I… I want to kiss Fluttershy under the mistletoe… can you please help me with that?” Sunset requested.
“...Sure thing. Anything for a friend,” Posey nodded, and with that, Sunset walked off to try and figure out what it is Fluttershy had on her wishlist.
Fluttershy looked over her own wishlist, which was comprised of mostly Japanese toys, and a few video games. After she looked over her list, she walked off to the bathroom, and after that, Sunset snuck over to the paper.
“Let’s see…” Sunset muttered, looking over the list “‘1. Lio Buster from Go-Busters. 2. Custom Visor from Go-Buster. 3. The Golden and Silver Ringo Lockseeds from Gaim. 3. DriveDriver from Drive. 4. Some Shift Cars from Drive. 5. Handle-ken from Drive. 6. Drive Lockseed and Type Fruit Shift Car Set from Movie War Full Throttle. 7. Kamen Rider Den-O Lockseed from Gaim. 8. Den-O Climax Form Lockseed from Gaim. 9. Wizard Infinity Lockseed from Gaim 10. Showa and Heisei Lockseeds from Gaim. 11. Spyro the Dragon for Playstation 1. 12. Super Smash Bros for Wii U. 13. Kamen Rider Battride War II for Wii U.’ And… oh... ‘14. A kiss with Sunset under the Mistletoe.’”
Sunset simply gawked at the final thing on the list, which was the last thing on her own personal list, her eyes widening as she blushed, having snapped a photo of the list on Posey’s phone, before she quickly left for Posey’s bedroom.
“How’d it go?” Posey inquired when Sunset arrived.
“Pretty well. Looks like you got almost everything on her list, but there were some things I noticed she has on here, too that I think you can still get,” Sunset answered, showing the phone to Posey.
“Thank you Sunset… and I’m sorry you had to snoop through someone else’s privacy…” Posey apologized.
“It’s okay. Looking at it now, I can’t wait to see how excited she’ll be when she gets everything on her wishlist.” Sunset giggled, as Posey blinked at the last thing on Fluttershy’s wish list.
“...She... she… wants to kiss you under the mistletoe?” Posey gawked.
Sunset simply had a bright red blush on her face, matching the red on her hair.
“Yea… I noticed…” Sunset admitted.
“So… both of you want the same thing for Christmas... don’t worry… I’ll help still,” Posey giggled, making Sunset smile.
“Thank you, Posey,” Sunset smiled, “You’re as kind as your cousin…”
Posey giggled a little, before she began to look for the other items on her cousin’s list.
-So… what are we going to do so we can get the last items on her list finished?- Rainbow wondered.
“Not sure…” Fluttershy shrugged.
-Ah’m not quite sure, either. But maybe ya’ll can have the hot cocoa tonight.- Applejack suggested.
“Sure… it’ll be perfect for it. I can’t wait to see how she enjoys it,” Fluttershy giggled, as she looked over a hot chocolate recipe that her mom had made and was passed down to her, “Can you all make it for this? I really want her to be super happy…”
-I think I can make it,- Dash figured.
-Yes/Sure thing.- came a unanimous response, making Fluttershy smile.
Later that day, Fluttershy, Posey, and Sunset were in the den of Fluttershy’s home with Rainbow, Rarity, AJ, and Pinkie when they heard a knock at the door.
“That must be our other guests,” Posey giggled.
“‘Other guests’?” Sunset asked in confusion as Posey answered the door revealing Lightning, Coco, Vinyl, and Sonata were all there, “Guys! You all made it…”
“We wouldn’t miss spending time with our best friend,” Lightning smiled.
“Yea! It may be early for the big get together, but we don’t care,” Vinyl added.
“I’d be honored to make your Christmas special Miss Sunset,” Coco smiled.
“Same here… I… I’m glad that I can spend the holidays with my friends...” Sonata giggled, as Posey and Fluttershy began to pass out the hot chocolates.
Sunset blushed and smiled at her friends, happy that she could spend this time with those who were really close to her. She even felt happier knowing she could have hot cocoa, which she held close to her heart, before she sat down by a lit fireplace.
“This is just wonderful, isn’t it?” Fluttershy asked Sunset, with the red and yellow hair girl leaning on Fluttershy’s shoulder.
“It sure is… and there’s only five days until the big day, right?” Sunset asked.
“Right,” Fluttershy nodded, “And I sure hope it’s going to be a very joyous one.”
The eleven girls all cuddled up by the fire and sipped their hot chocolate, simply enjoying the peace and the quiet. After a little while, everyone but Fluttershy and Sunset had gotten up, but the two girls were still sitting by the fire, even after almost an hour.
“Itoko-chan… uh…” Posey stated, when Sonata gave her a small “shh” and pointed to the fact the two girls had fallen asleep.
“Let them spend some time together…” Sonata whispered, with everyone else nodding in agreement.
Sunset simply looked at some of the games in a rack downstairs, however, she noticed a few of them were in Japanese, not English.
“Um… what the…?” she gawked, confused, as she attempted to read a few titles, before she sighed, one of the titles she saw as “Dairanto Sumasshu Burazazu” and gave an annoyed groan, “Fluttershy… Posey… can someone help me with these titles…”
Nobody responded, as Posey was typing at a tablet as quickly as she could, and so she took a moment to catch her breath and looked over at Sunset, “Oh… yes?”
“Can you help me figure out what some of these are?”
“Oh, those? Those are the Japanese versions of some games. That one in front of you being Super Smash Bros,” Posey informed.
“Oh…” Sunset shrugged, as she sat down, “So… what are some of these games?”
“Kid Icarus Uprising, Mario & Luigi Dream Team, Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, & Pokemon X & Y. But honestly… you wanna know the two games that itoko-chan wouldn’t dare leave without? Pokemon Art Academy and Mighty Switch Force,”
“Okay…” Sunset nodded, “Wait… Mighty Switch Force… I don’t think I heard of that game before. What kind of game is it?”
“It’s a Nintendo eShop exclusive puzzle-platformer where you play as this cyborg cop named Patty Wagon, who's out to recapture these escaped convicts known as the Hooligan Girls,” Posey answered, “I swear, Itoko-chan plays that game more than any other, and if she could, she would try and hunt down a 3DS with it pre-downloaded on it.”
“Why do I not sound surprised?” Sunset smiled, as she recalled there being a poster of the game in Fluttershy’s room.
A bit later, Fluttershy was back in her room and relaxing, while Sunset looked over at the pinkette’s 3DS, “Hey uh Fluttershy… what’s your favorite game on the 3DS?”
“Mighty Switch Force,” Fluttershy informed, “It’s my most played title.”
To prove her point, she went into her 3DS’ Actvitiy Log, went into rankings and showed her play time on it was 294:51.
“...Wow… that’s a long time.”
“Yea. Most of it was spent trying to beat the par times in the game.”
“So… what’s the game like overall in terms of play style…” Sunset inquired, trying to make some small talk.
“Basically, you have to get five girls hidden throughout the stages, or incidents as they’re called, and you do this by beating foes with your blaster, and switching in blocks that hide in the background to use as new platforms,” Fluttershy answered.
“Uh huh…” Sunset nodded, “Sounds a bit intense.”
“But it’s a lot of fun, you oughta try it some time.”
“If I get my hands on a 3DS, I might,” Sunset shrugged.
“Okay,” Fluttershys smiled before she gave a giggle, “When I get some more eShop points, I’ll be getting my hands on the sequel,”
Sunset gave a nod, and made a mental note about it.
“So… you want your Christmas gift for itoko-chan to be Mighty Switch Force 2?” Posey asked.
“Yea,” Sunset nodded.
“...You do realize that’s another eShop exclusive, right? In order for her to get it, you have to pay it for her, or pay for it with your money and install it onto her 3DS when she’s not looking. And trust me, it’s always on her person.”
“Seriously?” Sunset responded.
“Ever since she got it, she has never once left home without it,” Posey informed.
“You’re exaggerating…”
“Nope. Heck, if they didn’t already have a maximum of the play coins you get each day and overall, she might’ve passed it over a year ago.”
Sunset blinked for a moment before shaking her head.
“Well… I guess I have some money to spend… how much does it cost?” Sunset checked.
“$5.99,” Posey answered.
Sunset looked to how much money she had, which totaled to about $7.
“Yea, I have enough,” Sunset smiled.
“Now all you gotta do is sneak away itoko-chan’s 3DS… pay with a card whether it’s yours or a gift card, and then after putting the code of the card in, you can purchase the game.”
“...That’s gonna be tougher. I can get the card… maybe… but how can I get the 3DS…”
“Well, if you get it, congrats, but if not… well, it’s been nice knowing ya,” Posey joked, walking away. Sunset gave a small eye roll before she remembered the date… it was the 24th, and she had one day to get a gift for Fluttershy.
Sunset soon had a card with some points on it, and it was just enough to pay for the game, but now came the hard part, getting Fluttershy’s 3DS. She made sure she was dressed in dark colors to make sure Fluttershy couldn’t see her, and she saw Fluttershy’s 3DS laying on her nightstand. Sunset then slipped her hand onto the system and slowly moved it away.
“Oh…” Fluttershy muttered in her sleep, making Sunset nervous for a moment, “...Patty… arigatou… best game… ever…”
Sunset slowly crept out of the room and hid herself in the bathroom, shutting off the 3DS’ sound, but she could still hear Fluttershy muttering in her sleep.
“...Pinkie… this game is the best game… not your silly… Xenosword… whatever it is call…” Fluttershy muttered, “Oh… Xenoblade… right…”
Keeping her voice down, Sunset entered the eShop, redeemed the card code, and smiled as she searched for the game.
“Sunset-chan… you agree with me… right?” Fluttershy muttered, making Sunset blush a bit in nervousness, “You also... think that Mighty Switch Force... is the greatest game, ...and Patty’s the best cop?”
Keeping quiet, she found the game, purchased it, and decided to set the download for download later, so Fluttershy could do it herself. She slipped back into the room and made sure to try and match the exact spot where the 3DS was before hand, before quickly slipping back into her pajamas. She heard a very quiet knock on the bathroom door and got a bit nervous.
“Relax Sunset, it’s just me,” Posey whispered, allowing Sunset a quiet sigh of relief before she opened up the door and saw Posey with a scarf, which was the scarf that Sunset had asked Rarity to make for Sonata, “It just got here today. We can wrap it up super quick and get it to her,”
“Right,” Sunset nodded.
Later, Posey and Sunset found their way to the homeless shelter where Sonata was living, and they managed to get in and put the gift for her by a small tree, and quickly began their way back to the Koharu’s house unaware of someone else having quickly slipped in, and quickly slipped out without being noticed.
Sunset soon returned to Fluttershy’s room and sat back down in bed, seeing the clock currently read 12:45am. ‘Haven’t been up this last since that conversation with Twilight a couple months ago…’
“Sunset… what are you doing up?” Fluttershy asked, finally waking up.
“Oh uh… I… had a… bad dream, yea,” she informed.
“...Oh… that’s a shame… and on Christmas Eve, no less… what was it about?”
Sunset thought for a moment, and came up with the best idea she could, “Someone went online and posted gossip about you and the others, and framed me for it…”
“Oh… I see…”
Sunset sighed, having recalled she did once have a dream like that, and she remembered it was terrible. She cuddled up with the Luna plushie, before Fluttershy got up and took one of her plushies, before slipping into the bed with Sunset.
“What are you-” Sunset started
“I just wanted to stay warm with you,” Fluttershy informed.
“Uh… ok…” Sunset nodded, as she smiled a little before she dozed off, with Fluttershy smiling and giving her a small kiss on the cheek, bringing small blushes to their cheeks.
“Sleep tight… my friend…” Fluttershy whispered as she fell asleep herself.
Sunset and Fluttershy were still fast asleep, Sunset snoring a little bit as the sun began to shine, some of it’s light going in through the window, causing Fluttershy to stir a little bit.
“Good Morning Sunset…” Fluttershy smiled.
Hearing this, Sunset yawned before opening her eyes to meet those of Fluttershy’s.
“Morning, Fluttershy,” Sunset smiled, simply giggling a little bit, Sunset’s teal eyes meeting up with Fluttershy’s green eyes, the two simply smiled at each-other for a little bit before hugging each other, and then Fluttershy looked at the clock.
“Hmm… it’s a bit early… just perfect,” Fluttershy giggled as she got up.
“Whatcha up to?” Sunset asked.
“Every Christmas Day, I go into Obaa-san’s room and wake her up… just something I’ve always done…” Fluttershy informed.
“Okay then,” Sunset shrugged before Fluttershy walked off, leaving the yellow and red haired girl to think for a moment, before she gasped when she heard Fluttershy loudly exclaim “IT’S CHRISTMAS!”, likely to her grandmother.
“Okay, wakatta, Flutter-chan,” Sunset heard Fluttershy’s grandma respond before Sunset couldn’t help but giggle a tiny bit at this. Sunset got up and saw Fluttershy sneak into the guest room to wake up Posey.
‘She must be going to wake her cousin up,’ Sunset thought, when she heard Fluttershy shout again, and Posey soon walked on out of the guest room and headed downstairs.
Sunset just giggled at this before she headed on downstairs as well, the four gathering in the living room where the tree was set up, and Sunset gawked when she saw a huge pile of presents underneath the tree.
“Wow… that’s a lot of presents,” Sunset noticed.
“Yep, and we all took a lot of time to make sure everyone got something they really wanted,” Fluttershy informed.
“That’s good to hear,” Sunset smiled, as the three Koharus all looked to one-another in thought of who should open their gifts first.
“Why don’t we let our guest open a present first?” Fluttershy’s grandma suggested.
“...really?” Sunset gawked.
“Yes, that sounds like a great idea, Obaa-chan,” Posey agreed.
“Agreed,” Fluttershy nodded, handing Sunset the first present, which was a bit heavy, but nothing the former unicorn couldn’t handle, and so she opened the gift to reveal it was the 3DS with SSB4 and Mario & Luigi Dream Team that Fluttershy and Posey got a little while back.
“...Oh my gosh! These are just what I wanted! How’d you know?!” Sunset gawked, getting a giddy smile.
“Well, you see we…” Posey started before Fluttershy gave her cousin a look to stop talking.
After a moment, Fluttershy responded “It was a lucky guess.”
Sunset giggled a little, before hugging Fluttershy, making the girl smile and blush before she opened up the next gift, which was from Dash, turning out to be a copy of Pokemon Rumble Blast.
“Oh Rainbow… she tends to know just what to get me,” Fluttershy smiled, before handing a gift that was from Dash to Sunset.
Sunset then opened the box to reveal some new shoes.
“Um… okay…” Sunset muttered before simply putting them down, seeing a note in the box “‘Didn’t know what to get… I went with the best idea I had.- RD’. Oh, okay,”
“Here’s one for Posey,” Fluttershy replied, handing on to Posey, “And it’s from Obaa-chan,”
Posey giggled as she began to unwrap the gift, revealing the gift to be a brand new camera for her, “Aww… thank you so much…”
“No problem Posey-chan,” Fluttershy’s grandmother smiled, the two hugging it out.
After a while, they had opened just about every present, with a few ones left, but it was here Sunset knew it would be the right time to give Fluttershy her present, since she had finally put down the new tokusatsu toys, and was about to sit down for a moment to relax.
“Oh, Fluttershy. Could you check your 3DS, please?” Sunset asked, with the pinkette nodding and looking to see an icon wrapped up like a present on her 3DS.
“Ara? I don’t remember buying any new games on here,” Fluttershy muttered, confused before tapping the icon, causing the present to unwrap and reveal…
-MIGHTY SWITCH FORCE! 2!-
“Oh… oh… oh…” she gawked, “Oh my gosh! The sequel to one of my favorite 3DS games! How did this get on… wait…”
“...Surprise!” Sunset smiled, “...I downloaded it onto your 3DS and paid for it in full. I hope you like it,”
Fluttershy was in awe at this, smiling widely at her friend before giving her a huge hug.
“THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!” Fluttershy squealed before she looked and saw three more presents, “Hmm? Oh… there’s still one more present for me… and two for you it looks like.”
Fluttershy opened up the gift that said it was to her and from Sunset, before gawking when she saw it was a plushie of Patty from the Mighty Switch Force games.
“I… I didn’t know that they made these… thank you so much Sunset…” Fluttershy giggled, hugging Sunset.
“Yea… you're welcome,” Sunset smiled, knowing that it was Posey who bought it, but simply stuck her name on the tag. Sunset looked to the two gifts, before taking one up, and after she opened it, she gawked at it, it was a sweater with her, Twilight, the pony versions of their friends, along with Posey, Vinyl, Coco, Lightning and Sonata. She looked to see a note with the present before she read it “‘Dear Sunset Shimmer- I don’t mind if you write to me for advice when you need it, I’d be glad to help you however I can. Also, happy holidays… I asked one of my friends to make this for you… it’s of me, you, my friends, and then… five other ponies I saw with you in a dream I had once. I hope you like it. PS- Tell everyone there I miss them, and will visit when I can. Your friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle’... Twilight…” Sunset smiled, tears forming in her eyes, with Fluttershy looking at it in awe, before her eyes landed on the pony version of Sunset.
“So… that’s what you actually look like?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yea… that’s me,” Sunset smiled, noticing Fluttershy’s pony form was right next to her, “And there’s you next to me.”
“Wow… they all look so cute…” Fluttershy giggled, “So… could that gift be from Twilight too?”
“Let’s see the card…” Sunset stated, “Oh… oh my… ‘Dear Sunset Shimmer- I just wanted to let you know that I truly miss you. Princess Twilight told me that you’re doing fine, and showed me the message that you sent her a while back, and I am pleased to know that you are doing well and are indeed learning the Magic of Friendship. I may wish that you can return one day… I do know Twilight has found a way to open the portal so you can return… and when you do come back… know that I will be waiting by that mirror with open hooves… until then, I have sent this present to you in celebration of Hearth’s Warming Eve, or Christmas Day as it’s called there. I love and miss you… my little Sunny. Love, Princess Celestia’... Mom… she still loves me…”
“Princess Celestia?” Fluttershy asked a bit in confusion.
“It’s a long story,” Sunset told Fluttershy, simply hugging her, before she opened up the gift, which was a snowglobe with Princess Celestia and Sunset Shimmer, the two cuddling together, she gave it a small shake and saw the snow twinkle in it, before she noticed a little handle on the bottom, she turned it, and it began to play some music.
Sunset smiled at the music playing, tearing up a little bit.
“What is it?” Fluttershy asked.
“It’s the lullaby she sung to me when I was little…” Sunset informed, “...It’s very nice… I honestly miss hearing it… she must know that…”
A knock soon came from the door, causing Fluttershy to walk over to answer the door, seeing the rest of their friends, and Sunset’s friends were there too.
“Hey, I hope we’re not too early to spend some of our Christmas Day with you,” Dash smiled.
“Miss Sunset,” Coco giggled, going over to hug her, with Sunset carefully putting down the snow globe before hugging Coco.
“It’s great to see you, too, Coco. And need I remind you to call me Sunset, no ‘Miss’?” Sunset giggled, as Lightning walked on over next, “Lightning I missed you…”
“I missed you, too, Sunset,” Lightning smiled, joining the hug, with Vinyl and Posey both joining as well, and not long after them, Sonata walked over and joined in as well.
“I’m glad you all could join us today,” Sunset smiled, as she saw Fluttershy and her friends join in the hug, and internally, Sunset was so happy… and was thinking this was the best time of her life. ‘So… this is the Magic of Friendship… heh… I was so silly to think I didn’t need this. This is the best kind of magic.’
After the hug, Sunset looked to see her fireflies in their little jar, and they were all blinking in a form that looked like a smile, making Sunset giggle a little bit.
Near the end of the day, Sunset and Fluttershy were simply talking, the two of them by the fireplace.
“Hey Sunset… I wanted to give you a special gift… so… here,” she smiled, handing Sunset a small box that was nicely wrapped.
Curious, Sunset carefully opened the package before finding a necklace was in it, the necklace being gold and the pendant at the end being like Sunset’s Cutie Mark, the red and yellow haired girl gawked at this, slowly picking it up to take a look at it.
“It’s… it’s beautiful… thank you so much Fluttershy…” she smiled, with Fluttershy helping her put it on.
The two giggled and smiled at each-other, before Sunset noticed something above them, a peculiar small branch with white berries tied with a red bow.
“Say… isn’t that a mistletoe?” Sunset asked, as Fluttershy looked up and blushed at it before the two smiled at each other, staring into each other’s eyes as their faces slowly got closer, their blushes simply increased until they both kissed each other, very passionately, and unknown to them, someone snapped a picture of this.
The two remained in this kiss for a little while, not even noticing their friend staring at them, and they all smiled at this.
Fluttershy and Sunset soon parted, smiling happily at each other as they blushed a bit.
“Sunset… I… I love you,” Fluttershy confessed, with Sunset smiling back.
“I love you, too, Fluttershy,” Sunset smiled, as they hugged, “Hey… thanks for making sure everything on my list came true…”
“No problem and… wait…” Fluttershy started, when it registered in her mind what Sunset had just said, “How long have you known?”
“I’ve known for only a few weeks or so, thanks to your cousin,” Sunset informed, “But honestly… I don’t mind. You all did it because you wanted me to have a great Christmas… so… since Posey sent me to look at your wishlist… are we even?”
Fluttershy simply nodded, and the two girls hugged, making the others smile at the scene.
“...So… who’s hungry?” Sonata asked, with Sunset smiling as she got up and headed for the fridge, the special Hearth’s Warming Eve treat ready to be eaten, “Woah… what is this?”
“The Heart of Hearth’s Warming Eve… it’s something that I used to have every year around this time… would you guys like some?” Sunset smiled, as everyone gave a nod.
A bit later, everyone sat around the fire, having had a wonderful Christmas day, with the friends all smiling and relaxing.
“Even without the fire… I still feel warm when I’m around all of you…” Pinkie admitted.
“That’s the Fire of Friendship… a special kind of magic that is best shown at this time of year… when friendships are formed, kindled, and stay alive, even through the hardest of times” Sunset informed as they all looked into the fire to see it glow magenta before it took the shape of a heart, much to everyone’s surprise.
“Who knew friendship was so powerful?” Lightning added.
“It’s a truly rockin’ thing…” Vinyl smiled.
“One that can unite anyone… or anypony,” Posey giggled.
“And it can even touch someone who’s… never known what friendship is like,” Sonata added.
“Yea… Friendship truly is a magical thing,” Sunset smiled again, as she looked over to her book with a smile and began to think of what to write.
A little bit later, Sunset had taken a moment to think about what she was going to write down, and she knew what to write.
“Dear Princess Twilight- Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve, I hope your celebrations went great. Over here, Christmas has never been better. I managed to make new friends with Fluttershy’s cousin, Posey, and made a friend with, surprise surprise, one of the Dazzlings, Sonata. She seems like she honestly wants to to change… and since I sort of know where she’s coming from… I’m going to try and support her however I can. Anyway… I had a really magical holiday, and I hope yours was just as magical. Please say hi to Princess Celestia for me and let her know I miss her a lot. …”
“‘...It’s not everyday somepony special like me or you comes around. Oh… and can you tell her something for me? I’ll be back some day… and I’m truly learning the Magic of Friendship. But I don’t really think I should come back until I truly understand it… you understand, right Twilight? See you soon, I hope. Oh, before I forget, thank you so much for the presents… I love them both. Your Friend- Sunset Shimmer’,” the letter written by Sunset was read by Twilight Sparkle back in Equestria. She smiled happily at the letter, wiping away a single tear, before looking up to Princess Celestia who was levitating up a tissue to wipe away her tears.
“It’s wonderful to know she’s learning the best kind of magic there is,” Twilight smiled, letting Celestia look at the letter herself, “So… Princess Celestia, are you happy with your… uh… daughter?”
“Yes… very happy, Twilight,” Celestia confirmed, as she looked at the message again for a moment, “I’m so proud of you… my little Sunny…”
Both of them looked at the book again for a moment, before Twilight used her magic to close it for the time being…