Everyone has been very naughty. Now they have attracted HIM to their home. CHS must now prepare for some Yuletide fear.
Unable to take the cruel and wrongful accusations of her being the secret-posting blogger, Anon-a-Miss, by her former friends and the rest of the students of Canterlot High; Sunset Shimmer runs away vowing never to return. When the true identity of Anon-a-Miss is finally revealed, it is too late. The guilty and remorseful students of Canterlot High set out to find Sunset. Little do they know that their holiday season is about to get even worse. Their mistreatment of Sunset has attracted the legendary punisher of the naughty, the Krampus. Krampus and his helpers begin hunting the students one by one with the intent of giving them a Christmas in Hell. Can Sunset Shimmer find in her heart to forgive all who've wronged her and save them from a fate that is probably more than they truly deserve?
Sunset Shimmer burst through the front doors of Canterlot High and ran toward the tall horse statue that stood in the snowy front lawn of the school. The outside air was cold and she had left her winter coat in her locker, but she dared not go back in there. She had just escaped from an angry mob of students who ganged up on her to shout their hateful words and rants. In the past week, a mysterious internet blogger called “Anon-a-Miss” had been posting all sorts of embarrassing secrets of people at CHS. Soon everyone, including her five best friends, started believing her to be Anon-a-Miss and shunned her. Despite her desperate pleas of innocence not a single person would listen to her, they believed she had returned to being the cruel and manipulative bully she was in the past. Sunset had been working so hard to get people to see her as a new good person but it was no use. The only one who truly believed she was innocent was her one-time rival from Equestria turned friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Unfortunately Twilight was too busy with her duties in Equestria to come and help out, so she wrote to her in a magic journal “Sometimes, all you can do is stay strong. Stay yourself. And find your family.” But at this point it was too late; Sunset had already lost all hope.
After a few minutes of crying Sunset reached into her bag, pulled out her journal, and began writing an entry: Dear Princess Twilight,
I’m sorry, but I’m afraid it’s no use. I tried to follow your suggestions but I’m afraid there isn’t a single soul who will believe that I am innocent, or have changed at all for that matter. I could save this world hundreds of times and they still wouldn’t see me as anything but a monster. Whoever my family is they’re not here. I’d ask if I could return to Equestria but I doubt any pony would want me there either. I don’t understand why this had to happen. It’s not fair. All this pain, hatred, this holiday season, and Anon-a-Miss. I JUST WISH IT WOULD ALL GO AWAY! Sorry for that. I think the best thing to do right now is leave. I’m sure everything will be better without me; no one will probably notice I’m gone. Please don’t worry about me; you have more important things to worry about. And so with my last entry: I thank you and the others for showing me how good it is to have friends; it was fun while it lasted. Your Friend, Sunset Shimmer
With that, Sunset closed the journal and placed it on the statue base. She then began walking away from the school vowing never to return. She failed to notice that the sky had quickly changed from clear and bright to cloudy and dark, perhaps she was too sad and hurt to notice. However, she did notice the air suddenly got windy and colder and wrapped her arms around her body to protect herself from the cold.
Back in Equestria, Twilight had just read Sunset’s recent entry and was shocked and disturbed. “Spike! Get the portal ready, it’s an emergency!” the purple alicorn called to her young dragon assistant. There was no time to waste.
A half hour later, Twilight and Spike emerged from the statue base (which serves as the portal from that world to Equestria), the former in human form and the latter in puppy form.
“I hope we’re not too late.” Twilight said to her assistant.
“I’m afraid we might be, look!” Spike responded pointing his paw to the book sitting on top of the portal.
Twilight gasped in horror when she saw the journal. She grabbed it and stared at it with worry in her eyes. “It can’t be!” she exclaimed in fear. She knew the first thing to do was to clear Sunset’s name. She had to find the Humane Five and she had a good idea where they were at this time. “Come on, Spike!” she called to her pup companion as they started running down the sidewalk away from the school. Unbeknownst to them, three young girls with guilty looking faces had watched Twilight’s arrival and they knew where she was going and why.
The Humane Five: Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were all sitting at a table at the Sugarcube Café. They were all depressed over how bad the Anon-a-Miss issue had gotten, they still very convinced that their former friend, Sunset Shimmer, was the true culprit. Suddenly, someone they didn’t expect to see burst into the café huffing and puffing with exhaustion from running so much.
“Twilight?!” they all gasped together.
“What are you doing here?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“I know about Anon-a-Miss. Sunset told me everything. What have you all done?!” Twilight yelled at them.
“What do you mean ‘what have WE done’? Sunset’s the one responsible for this.” Rainbow Dash responded angrily.
“You’re wrong! Sunset is innocent, she’s been writing to me about her problems.” Twilight handed them Sunset’s journal. Fluttershy took the journal and began reading its contents. “Please ask yourselves: After all the time you’ve been together, why would the Sunset Shimmer you know, the REAL Sunset Shimmer, do something like this?” Twilight continued.
As the five read the sad entries Sunset had written they began to doubt themselves for thinking Sunset was Anon-a-Miss.
“Well if it wasn’t her, then who was it?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“It was us.” said a voice from behind Twilight. The six girls turned to see the Crusaders; Apple Bloom, Applejack’s younger sister, Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s younger sister, and Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash’s biggest fan; staring at them with extremely guilty looks on their faces.
“WHAT?!” the five older girls gasped when they heard this.
“Apple Bloom, how could you?!” AJ cried.
“We never wanted it to go this far.” Apple Bloom said.
“Then what did you want?” Twilight asked.
“Well ya see, ever since ya’ll became friends with Sunset, we’ve been seein’ our sisters less and less. Ah was jealous, so ah created Anon-a-Miss, posted that story about Applejack, and made it look like Sunset Shimmer did it.”
“Apple Bloom told me about it and I felt the same way.” Sweetie Belle confessed. “At Rarity’s, while you all were asleep, I downloaded the pictures on Sunset’s phone and posted them on the internet.”
Scootaloo was next. “Things got out of hand. People started sending other secrets to her, we posted everything.” Tears started forming in Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle’s eyes.
“Did any of you even think about how this would affect anyone? Why didn’t you just talk to your sisters about how you felt?” Twilight asked.
The three younger girls thought for moment. Then a mixture of shame and anxiety spread over their faces. “Ah… ah don’t know.” Apple Bloom answered softly and tearfully.
“Well now Sunset is gone. In her last entry, she told me that she had lost hope and decided to run away.” Twilight showed them the entry in the journal. “I came to stop her but I was too late.”
Horror and regret swept over the eight girls, particularly the five. They were wrong about Sunset Shimmer, she was innocent.
“Sunset was telling the truth all along!” Fluttershy said visibly disturbed.
“WHAT HAVE WE DONE?!” Pinkie cried and whipped out her cellphone and dialed Sunset’s number. “Oh please answer, please answer, please ANSWER!” But the sudden change in weather had made it impossible to reach her. “Something’s wrong, I can’t get through!”
“What are we going to do?” Rarity asked, she looked like she was about to panic.
“We need help.” Twilight told everyone and she knew where to get it.
Later that day, the school auditorium was filled with students all chanting with one another wondering why they were all called there. Finally Principal Celestia walked onto the stage with her sister, Vice Principal Luna, at her side and everyone quieted down and gave them their full attention.
“I know a lot of you are wondering why you were all called here.” Celestia began, “It’s because a few students have something important they would like to tell you all.” Celestia stepped back and motioned to the Crusaders who were standing in the back of the stage that it was their turn to come forward and speak. The three walked nervously to the microphone. Apple Bloom was the one who took the mike and began to speak.
“Now ah know some of you have had your most darkest secrets posted on the internet by Anon-a-Miss. A lot of you have come to believe that it is Sunset Shimmer who’s been doin’ that.” She paused for a moment then continued. “Well it’s not her it’s us, it’s always been us.”
A few students chuckled and laughed when they heard this. They didn’t believe them.
“Yeah right, Trixie doubts even you could pull this off.” Trixie said smugly.
Sweetie Belle took out her phone, held it up so she could get the other two in the picture, took the picture, tinkered with it for a minute, and then put her phone away. The audience started checking their phones and to everyone’s shock there was a new post for Anon-a-Miss’s blog which contained the picture Sweetie Belle had taken of herself and her friends with the words It was us in the message box.
Now the students believed them and they were very angry.
“You little troublemakers!” shouted an angry techie boy.
“How could you do this to us?” yelled an angry rocker girl.
“Wait, this means-“ Lyra Heartstrings said nervously to her friend Bon-Bon.
“Sunset was innocent all along!” Bon-Bon finish Lyra’s sentence, she looked just as nervous as her friend.
“Oh my god! I regret so much now!” an athlete boy said remorsefully.
Twilight and the other five were standing at the right side of the stage; the five girls were looking extremely remorseful for what they did to their friend. Then Twilight stepped on stage, she had something to say now. Apple Bloom handed Twilight the mike and she and the other two Crusaders walked off stage.
“So now you know the truth.” Twilight began. “I want you all to know that this isn’t just their fault. Some of you thought this was cool and contributed to this mess by sending secrets to Anon-a-Miss. Then you ruthlessly blamed Sunset Shimmer for everything even though she apologized for her past deeds, worked so hard to atone for them, and saved the entire school from the Dazzlings. Don’t you think this grudge against her has gone on long enough? Don’t you think it’s time to let it go? I’ve found it in my heart to forgive Sunset for her mistakes and she is one of my best friends, why can’t you?”
Twilight’s speech moved everyone in the room. They felt so ashamed of the way they had treated Sunset. She truly hadn’t done a single bad thing since the Fall Formal; in fact, she’s tried to do some rather nice things for people. A few students began to cry from the guilt they felt.
“Well, I believe each and every one of you owes Sunset Shimmer an apology!” Vice Principal Luna sternly told the crowd.
“Slight problem.” Rainbow Dash told Luna nervously.
“SHE’S RUN AWAY!” Pinkie said so loud that the entire audience heard it and gasped.
“WHAT?!” said Celestia.
“Is she nuts?! With this sudden change in weather it’s dangerous!” one of the techie boys, Micro Chips, said.
“Then we can’t waste any time.” Twilight announced. “We should gather whatever supplies we need and begin searching for her.”
Soon all the students started scrambling to their lockers grabbing coats, mittens, hats, scarves, and flashlights. Principal Celestia made her way to her office to grab her winter gear, she wasn’t going to sit by and leave everything to her students this time. Soon several groups of students were leaving the school to begin their search for Sunset. Twilight, Spike, the Humane Five, and the Crusaders were the last ones out.
“I’m gonna go to my house to tell Maud about this.” Pinkie said. “We may need her help.”
“Apple Bloom and ah will head home to tell Big Mac and Granny Smith.” AJ replied. “We may need all the help we can get.”
With that, the three girls headed in their own directions. The rest of the group stayed together.
“We should probably search the town. Odds are Sunset may be there.” Rarity suggested.
“You’re probably right.” Rainbow agreed.
“Come on girls, let’s go.” Twilight said leading the group in the direction of the town.
While they were walking, Fluttershy was still weeping pretty hard. She remembered the last time she spoke to Sunset she accused her of pretending to be their friend the whole time. Now that she knew the truth, she was consumed with regret over saying those cruel words. “Even if we find Sunset, it’ll be a miracle if she forgives us.” She tearfully said to herself.
Little did anyone know, was that they were all being watched. An image of them walking toward the town appeared in what looked like a crystal ball in a dark unknown place. Only it wasn’t a crystal ball, it was a snow globe. Then a large skinny grey-skinned hand with bony claw-like fingers and sharp fingernails emerged from the darkness and touched the snow globe.
“Oh, it will be a miracle my dear child.” said an ominous and threatening voice as it watched the girls through the globe. “If any of you survive what I have in store for YOU!” and the hand ran its sharp tipped fingers across the globe scratching the glass.
Pinkie Pie had arrived at her house and had told her older sister, Maud, about Anon-a-Miss and what she and the others had done to Sunset Shimmer. Needless to say, Maud wasn’t happy to hear this, not that anyone but Pinkie could tell.
“I’m very disappointed in you, Pinkie.” Maud said in her usual emotionless tone. Pinkie hung her head in shame. “I know you’ve told me how bad Sunset was in the past. But since you all became friends and had sleepovers together, I haven’t seen her do a single suspicious or bad thing. In fact, I actually grew to like her.”
“I know, Maud.” Pinkie said apologetically. “I wasn’t thinking, I should’ve known better than to treat her the way I did. Will you help us find her?”
“Of course I will. You’re my sister, and if any friend of yours is in need of help, Boulder and I will do whatever we can.” Maud said holding up her pet rock and giving Pinkie a warm and forgiving smile. Pinkie hugged her sister while shedding tears of happiness and hope.
Meanwhile, at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack and Apple Bloom had told Big Macintosh and Granny Smith the whole story. Neither of them took it well but they agreed to help look for Sunset. They were loading the truck with some supplies; Granny Smith came out carrying a crate full of thermoses.
“What’s that, Granny?” Applejack asked.
“They’re thermoses full of our special warm Apple family apple cider. That poor child’s probably freezin’ her bunions off and this stuff should warm her up good.” Granny Smith answered.
“Big Mac, am I in trouble?” Apple Bloom asked her elder brother.
“Nnope.” Big Mac answered.
“Am I in big trouble?”
“Eeeyup.”
Apple Bloom bit her lip nervously at the thought of what was coming to her, but whatever it was she knew she deserved it. AJ put her arm around her little sister in an attempt to comfort her; she wasn’t going to let her shoulder all the blame for this. “Well, let’s get movin’ y’all.” AJ said. The whole family hopped into the truck and drove off into the night to look for Sunset.
Elsewhere, Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch found themselves in a strange neighborhood while searching for Sunset. The place was dark and extremely quiet.
“Do you suppose she’s somewhere around here?” Octavia asked her partner. It was difficult for Vinyl to hear anything because she never took her headphones off, but she had learned how to read lips. She gave Octavia an unsure shrug. “Well, how about we split up. I’ll look down this way, you look down that way. Got it?” Octavia asked her partner. Vinyl gave her a thumbs up to show that she understood and they both went their separate ways down the neighborhood.
Vinyl walked down the snowy sidewalk listening to the music from her headphones. She was unable to notice that something was watching her. After a while, she stopped and took a look around the part of the neighborhood she was in. There were absolutely no lights on in any of the houses. Thinking she might be lost, Vinyl stood under a tree to protect her from the snow and took out a map and a flashlight. While she was reading the map and using the flashlight to help her see better, she failed to notice a mysterious hand slowly and ominously coming down from the tree. The hand was creepy and inhuman looking with grey-skinned, had sharp finger nails, and wore a dark green sleeve. Carefully, the hand pulled a small plug out of Vinyl’s headphones and quickly went back up into the tree before she could see it. Surprised by the sudden stop of her music, Vinyl put her map and flashlight away and noticed that the plug from her phone to her headphones had been unplugged. As she examined it, the creepy hand came down once again. This time, it tapped Vinyl twice on the top of her head with its index finger. Vinyl looked up to see what the commotion was. But before she could scream at what she saw, the hand grabbed her face and pulled her up into the tree.
Octavia was walking down the other way of the creepy neighborhood, completely oblivious to what had just befallen her partner. “I can’t imagine what Sunset would be doing in a place like this. It’s cold, dark, and quiet. Too quiet.” the cello player said suspiciously to herself. She didn’t like this neighborhood one bit, it was beginning to creep her out, it had already been a few minutes and there was no sign of life anywhere. Then she noticed something strange on top of one of the houses. She took a few steps closer to get a better look, and then she froze in her tracks at what she saw. A huge creature was standing on the rooftop; it looked like it had a hunched back and wore a baggy red cloak with dirty grey fur trimming, the cloak was covered in chains with bells on them, giant goat horns protruded from the creature’s hooded head, the hood made it impossible to identify the face but a long grey beard hung from it, and two glowing red eyes could be seen through the hood. Octavia stood frozen with fear; she’d seen some pretty strange stuff during her semester at CHS recently but this thing, looking into its eyes was like looking into the eyes of the devil.
“Oh… my… Go-!” but before Octavia could finish her sentence, the creature let out a loud ear-piercing roar like that of a huge wild beast. Octavia let a frightened scream and immediately began running back the way she came. Unfortunately, the creature gave chase; it leaped from roof to roof while keeping up with the fleeing girl. Despite its massive size, it was very fast and could leap great distances. Octavia could feel the beast gaining on her, there was no way she could outrun it. Then she got an idea, she stopped at a nearby van and quickly crawled under it in an attempt to hide from her pursuer. Under the van, she heard the monster take one more leap and landed right in front of the van she was hiding under, causing her to gasp. She saw the beast’s feet, but instead of feet it had cloven hooves. The monster stomped around the van, its chains and bells making noise as it moved, Octavia could hear it making a sniffing noise like an animal tracking its prey. She held her breath and hoped it would eventually give up and go away. Pretty soon, she heard it take another leap off the ground and then there was silence. Octavia let out a sigh of relief, but then she felt something grab her legs and pretty soon she found herself being pulled out from under the van. She screamed and clawed desperately at the snow but it was no use, she was soon pulled out from under her hiding place and her screaming stopped.
Snips and Snails were looking for Sunset Shimmer around the playground of an elementary school that had closed for the holidays, but they were having no luck in finding their former boss. Then Snips got an idea, he sat in one of the swings of the swing set and told Snails to push him hard enough to get him high enough to get a good look of the area.
“Did you see her?” Snails asked when he caught the swing as it came down.
“Not yet, push me higher.” Snips told him.
“Okay.” and Snails gave his friend a good push that propelled him high into the air.
“Higher.” Snips said as he came back down and Snails once again pushed the swing harder sending him higher. “Higher. Higher!” With each command Snails pushed the swing even harder, but the last push proved too much. Not only did it send Snips higher in the air, it also sent him flying out of the swing and headfirst into a snowbank leaving only the lower half of his body sticking up.
“Whoops, sorry.” Snails yelled to his friend who was kicking his legs trying to get out of the snow. Just then, Snails heard something land on the ground behind him. He turned around to find a candy cane lying in the snow a couple feet from him. “Alright, I’m starving.” the dense boy said not giving any thought to the strange coincidence and proceeded to walk over and pick up the holiday treat. Unfortunately, when he tried to pick it up, it moved away from him; he had failed to notice that there was a string tied to the candy cane. “Hey, get back here!” Snails angrily demanded as he gave chase to the sweet that was being pulled along the snowy ground. After a while, it finally stopped at a tree; which the string seemed to be coming from. But instead of observing the suspicious setting, Snails made a quick grab for the candy cane and this time caught it. “Alright!” he said licking his lips, but before he get one lick of the sweet, the string moved again and soon found himself being pulled up into the tree along with the candy cane.
Meanwhile, Snips had gotten free of the snow and was looking around for Snails. “Snails! Snails, where are you? We don’t have time for games.” Then he came across an object sitting on the snow. It was a small square-shaped red box with a crank on the right side. “Cool, a jack-in-the-box! I haven’t seen one of these in ages.” Snails picked up the toy, turned the crank a few times and watched as the box played the Pop Goes the Weasel tune, waiting for the surprise at the end. Eventually the tune stopped, but for a moment nothing happened. Snails looked closer to see if the thing was broken. Just then, the box sprang open and instead of happy little clown popping out a twisted-looking clown with a demonic face sprang out cackling manically. Snips let out a scream of fright, but before he could make a run for it, the demon clown leaped forward, grabbed his face, and started pulling the boy into the box. Snips struggled to get free, but the creatures grip was too strong, and was eventually and magically pulled all the way into the box. As soon as Snips had vanished, the box immediately snapped shut and was picked up by a strange and grotesque grey-skinned hand.
Elsewhere, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were walking through the streets of town asking anyone they came across if they had seen a girl with bacon-colored hair. Unfortunately, they hadn’t received any good news from anyone. Just then, they were met by Pinkie Pie and Maud.
“Pinkie, Maud, you’re here.” Twilight exclaimed with delight before getting back to business. “Any luck?”
“Not a thing I’m afraid.” Pinkie sadly reported.
“We’ve been looking up and down this entire street.” Maud said pointing in the direction they came.
“I just hope Applejack and her family is having better luck.” Twilight said glumly.
“Ah’m afraid not.” came a nearby voice. Everybody turned to find Applejack and her family had parked their truck at the curb right beside them. AJ and Apple Bloom hopped out of the vehicle and joined in the group. “We’ve been lookin’ all over and not a sign of Sunset anywhere.”
“That’s terrible.” Fluttershy said clearly upset.
“Pinkie, why don’t you go with your friends, they may need your help.” Maud said to her sister.
“You sure you’ll be fine on your own?” Pinkie asked concerned.
“Don’t worry, I have Boulder with me. We’ll be fine.” the two sisters exchanged hugs and Maud went off to start looking on her own. AJ and Apple Bloom had decided to join their friends’ group too and waved goodbye to Big Mac and Granny Smith as they drove off.
“So where do we look now?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I think we should continue down that way.” Fluttershy pointed in the direction they were already heading. “I have a feeling she may be down that way.”
“I hope you’re right, darling.” Rarity said as the group continued down the sidewalk. They were all feeling nervous, but still had hope that they would find their missing friend.
Elsewhere, Babs Seed, the cousin of Applejack and Apple Bloom, was walking through an empty park. She and her older sister, Sunflower, had found this place and decided to see if Sunset Shimmer was in there. The two of them decided to split up to cover more ground.
“Hey sis, any sign of her?” Babs asked Sunflower on her cellphone.
“Not a thing, Babs.” she heard her sister reply sadly.
“Where are you?”
“I’m in a place surrounded by a lot of snowmen. How many people thought this a good place to build all these snowmen? Wait, what’s that? Oh no! Aaaaaaaggghhh-!” That was the last thing Babs heard before she lost connection.
“Sunflower? Sis, are you there?” Babs worriedly asked hoping to hear something, but there was nothing. She hung up her phone and started heading in the direction her sister had went when they entered the park. Eventually she came across an area of the park that was filled with snowmen, just like her sister said. Babs looked around every snowman but there was no sign of her sister.
“Where could she be?” Babs asked herself. It was bad enough that Sunset was gone and now her sister was missing. Then she stepped on a part of the park path that had been iced over, she had almost slipped. She was also starting to feel a little hungry. As she was leaving the field of snowmen, she came across a snowman with two long sticks for arms, two rocks for eyes, five rocks in the formation of a smile, and a carrot nose. “Sorry Frosty, but I need this more than you do.” She said as she plucked the carrot from the snowman’s face and took a bite out of it as she continued carefully down the frozen path. Just then, she felt something pull her back, causing her to drop the carrot and almost slip on the ice. After she regained her balance, she looked behind her to see what was the matter. The snowman was holding the end of her scarf and its happy face had changed to an angry one. It growled viciously as it started to pull on the scarf. Babs let out a frightened scream as she tried to make a run for it while struggling to undo her scarf, but the ice was too slippery and the snowman had a good grip on her scarf. Eventually she undid her scarf, but before she could make her escape out of nowhere something big landed on the ground in front of her. It was a tall, hunched-looking figure wearing a red cloak with dirty trimming, wrapped in chains and bells, goat horns sticking out of the top of his hood, and the only things visible in the opening in the creature’s hood were a long grey beard and two menacing glowing red eyes.
“HOLY KRIS KRINGLE!” Babs screamed as the beast stared into her eyes with its own. The fright caused her to stumble backwards and slip on the ice. She slid back right into the arms of the angry noseless snowman. The snowman wrapped its arms around Babs, who was now petrified with fear, and grinned wickedly.
In a snowy meadow, the Diamond Boys, for some strange reason, thought it might be a good idea to search for Sunset Shimmer underground. So with shovels in hand they had dug dozens of big holes in the ground. Eventually, all three of them popped their heads out of the snow like gophers.
“It’s no use, she’s not here.” said Rover, the leader, in disappointment.
“Maybe we try someplace else.” suggested Spot, the shortest one.
Both Rover and Spot climbed out of the ground and began walking away. However, Fido, the tallest one, stayed behind.
“Hang on guys, I lost my hat.” Fido called to his friends as he reached his arm down into the hole he came out of.
Rover and Spot stared up into the snowy night sky while waiting for Fido to find his hat. Suddenly, Fido felt something grab his arm and pull back down into the hole. Rover and Spot turned around to find their friend had disappeared.
“Fido?” Spot called for him and ran over to inspect the hole.
“What happened? He was right there.” Rover said confused.
“I don’t know. Maybe we should-.” But before Spot could finish his sentence, he took one step back toward Rover and his body fell into a deep part of the snow with only his head and shoulders sticking out. Before Spot could start to pull himself out of the snow, he felt something grab his leg and start to pull him deeper into the ground. He kicked and screamed as he sank deeper and deeper until he was gone.
Rover didn’t even have enough time to try and help his little friend and stared in horror at the spot his comrade had disappeared. Then he saw a bulge appear in the snow and start moving toward him. Acting on instinct, Rover made a run from the approaching snow bulge which increased its speed and gave chase. Rover kept running as fast as he could, there was something under the snow that was after him and he didn’t want to get caught and find out what it wanted. The creature under the snow was gaining on Rover, then he spotted a tall bushy tree covered in snow. With all his might, Rover leaped into the air and managed to catch hold of one the tree’s branches and pull himself up above the ground and away from the underground creature that had taken his friends.
“Nah nah! Can’t get me now!” Rover taunted the unseen creature under the snow. But his chuckling stopped when he heard something breathing in the tree he was in. He looked up to see a huge creature in a red cloak, huge goat horns, a long beard, and two glowing red eyes. Rover screamed at the beast and let go of the branch he was holding onto. He landed on his back in the snow, but before he could get up and run, he felt himself being pulled into the ground kicking and screaming, and then he was gone.
Meanwhile, many Canterlot High students were looking all over town and asking almost everyone they came into contact with if they’d seen any sign of Sunset Shimmer.
“Ho, ho, ho, merry Christmas!” a man dressed as Santa Claus said to a drama boy and an athlete girl and rang his charity bell.
“Excuse me, have you seen this girl?” the athlete girl asked the man holding up her phone with a picture of Sunset on it.
The Santa examined the picture for a moment then sadly shook his head no. “Sorry, I’ve never seen her.”
“Well thanks anyway.” the drama boy politely responded then he and his partner decided to move on.
Another group of students consisting of an athlete boy, a techie girl, and an echo girl had just asked a couple if they’d seen Sunset, but the couple both shook their heads no which caused the group to put on disappointed expressions.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were walking down the sidewalk in a farther part of town looking for anyone who might have seen Sunset. Unfortunately for some reason there were no people anywhere.
“Where is everybody?” Diamond Tiara asked.
“Maybe we took a wrong turn.” Silver Spoon suggested.
Suddenly, both girls felt the air get windier and colder. “Come on; let’s get out of the cold.” Diamond Tiara said as she and Silver Spoon ran into the first open store they came across. They couldn’t tell what kind of store it was because the inside was dark. “Hello, anyone here?” Diamond Tiara called out but received no answer.
“Maybe we should leave.” Silver Spoon suggested, this place was starting to creep her out.
Believing her friend was right, Diamond Tiara tried to open the door they just came through but it wouldn’t budge. “The door’s locked!” Diamond Tiara said baffled.
Just then, the lights came on and both girls realized they were in a Christmas toy store. There were streams of green, red, and white tinsel going all around the corners of the ceiling. Brightly wrapped presents of all sizes were displayed everywhere. Nutcrackers, dolls, windup tin toys, jack-in-the-boxes, teddy bears, and all sorts of toys sat on shelves and tables. Near the ceiling, an electronic train rode on train tracks going around the store. The entire store looked like a Christmas wonderland, but there was one thing missing; no one was running the place.
“Do you think it’s Sunset trying to get back at us for the whole Anon-a-Miss thing?” Silver Spoon asked a little nervous about all the electronic commotion with no perpetrator in sight.
“I hope it’s her.” Diamond Tiara answered just as nervous. She didn’t want it to be anything else.
As the two girls looked around the store for who was making all the electronics go off. Silver Spoon separated from Diamond Tiara and ventured to another side of the store by herself. Then she saw what looked like a life-size toy cradle with a baby doll tucked in. The only thing visible of the doll was the top of the bonnet sticking out from under the blanket. Silver Spoon couldn’t help but smile when she saw the display; it reminded her of when she used to have one of those. Silver Spoon reached into the cradle, grabbed the blanket, and slowly began to pull it back to reveal the baby doll’s cute face. As soon as she pulled the blanket back a few inches, the thing in the cradle suddenly sat up, but instead of the cute face of a baby doll she was met with what looked like the face of a twisted Christmas elf wearing a bonnet. The creature had red eyes, grey skin, pointed ears, and a smile that revealed lots of sharp teeth. The fiendish-looking creature chuckled wickedly when it sat up.
On the other side of the store, Diamond Tiara heard her friend let out a frightened scream. “Silver Spoon?” she called but received no answer. Diamond Tiara ran to the place she heard Silver Spoon scream all the while calling out her name, but when she arrived at the spot her friend was nowhere to be seen.
On her way to the spot, Diamond Tiara passed by a huge present that slowly opened its lid and a long ribbon slithered out of it like a snake and made its way quietly toward the scared girl. Suddenly Diamond Tiara felt something wrap around her legs and pull her causing her to fall on the floor. She looked and saw that her legs were wrapped up by a ribbon that was trying to pull her into an open gift box that was producing devilish laughter.
“HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!” Diamond Tiara cried while desperately clawing at the floor in an attempt to keep herself from being pulled into the horrific living box, but it was no use. A moment later, the poor rich girl was pulled completely into the living present which slammed shut. The present opened its lid again; the ribbon emerged and made a motion as if a tongue licking its lips. After that, the monstrous gift box let out a loud belch of satisfaction.
Elsewhere, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, the Humane Five, and the Crusaders were walking through a park looking for Sunset Shimmer. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie stood up straight and went stiff for a moment.
“Hey girls!” she called to the others.
“What is it, Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Did you find something?” Twilight asked next.
“One of my Pinkie Senses went off,” Pinkie told them.
“What is it telling you?” Applejack asked.
“Is it about Sunset?” a concerned Fluttershy asked.
“I'm not sure,” Pinkie answered confused and thought for a moment. “Do any of you believe in karma?”
“Karma?” Rainbow said confused by her friend's question.
“When you do something good, something good happens to you. And when you do something bad, something bad happens to you,” Pinkie explained.
“What does that have to do with looking for Sunset?” a confused Rarity asked.
“I don't know, I just got this really weird feeling.”
“Whatever it is, it can wait till later. Right now, we have to continue looking for Sunset,” Twilight said diverting everyone's attention back to the mission at hand. The girls nodded in agreement and continued on their search not knowing what was befalling the other student search parties.
Twilight Sparkle, Spike, the Humane Five, and the Crusaders were walking along the sidewalks of downtown looking for Sunset Shimmer. They had been asking anyone they came across if they’d seen any sign of her. As they walked by an alley, they saw three hooded people standing around a fiery trash can trying to keep warm.
“Hey, you there!” Rainbow Dash called to the hooded trio wanting to ask them questions. But upon hearing her, the three people started to walk away. “Hey, wait!” Rainbow called them back, then the whole group started running after the three strangers.
“Hey, excuse me!” Twilight called to the hooded strangers.
“You’re excused.” one of them replied in a very unpleasant tone that said they didn’t want to be bothered.
“Wait, we just want to ask you some questions.” Rarity pleaded.
“What could you possibly want to ask us?” asked another one of the hooded people who pulled the hood of her coat down and was revealed to be none other than Adagio Dazzle, leader of the Sirens who tried to take over the school during the Battle of the Bands. The other two revealed themselves to be her two cohorts Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze. None of them looked happy to see their old enemies.
“You!” Rainbow said angrily when she recognized them. The other girls didn’t seem thrilled to see the Sirens either. “What are you three doing here?”
“Well, after Principal Celestia expelled us after the Band of the Bands, we didn’t have a place to live anymore.” Adagio said bitterly.
“We used to sleep in the school library during our time there.” Sonata announced.
"Why do all you interdimentional people sleep in the school library?" Pinkie asked while Twilight blushed in embarrassment.
“Yeah that’s right, embarrass us even more, why don’t ya.” Aria said bitterly and sarcastically to Sonata who responded by sticking her tongue out at her.
“You don’t have a place to live?” Fluttershy asked starting to feel sorry for the Sirens.
“Save your pity, we don’t need it.” Adagio snapped at Fluttershy and started leading the other two away.
“Fine, good riddance.” Rainbow retorted and started walking in the opposite direction of the Sirens. But she was stopped by Sweetie Belle grabbing her arm and looking at her with pleading eyes as if asking her to ask them about Sunset.
Rainbow let out an annoyed groan and called back to the Sirens. “Have any of you seen Sunset anywhere?”
“I thought she was with you.” Adagio turned around and responded.
“Well, she’s run away from school, unfortunately.” Twilight said sadly.
“Well, with her reputation I’m not surprised.” Aria remarked.
“What did she do this time?” Sonata asked out of curiosity.
“Actually, it was something we did.” Applejack said ashamed. The three former singers had confused looks on their faces.
“I’ll explain.” Apple Bloom glumly said stepping forward. The three sirens knelt down a little to bring their ears closer for the younger girl to whisper into them. The three listened as Apple Bloom whispered into their ears. After a moment, their eyes went wide with surprise and their jaws dropped.
“No! Really?” Adagio exclaimed she was almost at a loss for words.
“And-.” Apple Bloom continued and whispered more into the Sirens’ ears. After a while, she had finished telling them what she needed to tell them. All three Sirens were aghast and dumbstruck. They never thought anything like that could be possible. After a moment, their shocked expressions transformed into malicious grins and they eyed the five older girls sinisterly. The Humane Five had nervous expressions on their faces, now their old enemies knew their most shameful mistake and were intending to use it against them.
“Wow, and I thought we were bad.” Aria said with a sinister smile.
“Turning on your own friend for something she didn’t do, after all the things she did for everyone, that’s low, even for us.” Adagio mocked the Five.
“Hey, we made a terrible mistake. But now we’re trying to find our missing friend so we can fix it.” Rainbow barked at the Sirens, however, they weren’t intimidated in the slightest.
“I don’t think any amount of apology is going to fix this.” Adagio mockingly replied.
“Too bad, so sad.” Sonata teasingly remarked.
“But if we ever meet Sunset Shimmer down at the soup kitchen, we’ll be sure to serve her a nice warm bowl of soup and tell her you were looking for her. It might make her feel a little better.” Aria said sarcastically and with no empathy.
“You work at the soup kitchen?” Pinkie asked.
“Yeah, ever since we were expelled we’ve needed to find some work. This holiday season attracts a lot of charity businesses for people willing to volunteer to help the poor, lost, and unfortunate souls in the world.” Adagio said in a fake empathetic voice. “Pathetic.” She whispered what she really thought to her two fellow sirens who snickered in agreement.
“Well, we’d better get going. A Christmas Carol is going to showing on TV in a couple hours.” Sonata reminded her friends.
“You know, while Scrooge is a dirt bag in the beginning of that movie, he’s still a saint compared to you losers.” Sonata said and the Sirens walked away laughing.
“Looks like this will be a very merry Christmas for some people.” Adagio said to her cohorts and then they were gone.
The Humane Five did not look happy at all. Not only did this not help them get any closer to finding Sunset, but to be mocked by their old enemies for their mistake wasn’t easy to stomach, and the worst part is they had a point.
Elsewhere, Trixie and her two friends, and bandmates from the Illusions, were driving in her car on a deserted freeway. On the left side of the road was a dark forest and on the right side was an open field of snow.
“Stupid troublemaking brats, first they pull this stupid Anon-a-Miss thing, make everyone look like fools, cause their scapegoat to run away, forcing everyone to waste time looking for her when we could use what time we have left to salvage the season. Trixie has so much to do and now she’s stuck out here looking for little lost Sunset Shimmer, and God only knows where she is now.” Trixie angrily complained as she tightly gripped the steering wheel and kept her eyes on the road.
“Hey, Trixie.” One of her friends said. “We know you’ve never liked Sunset at all, but don’t you feel anything at all about the way you treated her after finding out it was those kids and not her who was Anon-a-Miss?”
As much as she hated to admit it, Trixie did feel some remorse over the horrible treatment she gave Sunset. “Fine, if we find Sunset, we will be sure to give her a huge apology.” She said not thrilled.
Just then, something ran into the middle of the road. Trixie jerked the wheel to steer left and avoid hitting the animal. None of the three girls got a good look at the creature, but from what they saw, it looked like a deer with glowing red eyes. The car swerved across the road and slid across the snow. Despite Trixie applying the brakes, the car kept sliding across the snow and deeper into the forest until it crashed into a huge tree. The three girls got out of the vehicle. Everyone looked fine with the exception of the vehicle.
“Well this is just great!” Trixie shouted in frustration at the damage caused to her car. “Trixie would like to know how this could get any worse!”
“Uh, Trixie, you had to ask that.” One of her friends remarked. She turned around to find that they surrounded by a pack of wolves. The wolves stared at them with hungry eyes and drooling teeth.
“Back! Back you horrible beasts!” Trixie yelled swinging a big stick she found. However, this did not intimidate the wolves.
A couple of them got ready to pounce, but then stopped and took a couple sniffs of the air. Then the wild canines saw something behind the humans they had cornered and the vicious looks they had turned to looks of fear and scurried off into the woods.
“Well, looks like the Great and Powerful Trrrixie showed them whose boss.” Trixie said proudly.
“Uh, I don’t think they ran away because of you.” one of her friends nervously said looking behind them. Trixie and her other friend turned around and saw up on a hill behind them stood what looked like a reindeer. But this was not a normal reindeer; it had menacing glowing red eyes that struck fear into anyone who gazed into them. Then its nose glowed red three times and more reindeer like beasts with red eyes appeared at the top of the hill.
“Okay, Trixie thinks the best thing to do right now is RUUUNN!!” Trixie said to her companions and all three of them took off instantly. But then the mysterious beast instantly gave chase.
Trixie and her friends ran through the forest as fast as their legs could carry them. But the dark beasts were quickly gaining on them. Suddenly, one of the fleeing girls tripped over a log and got her leg caught in some branches. Trixie and the other one rushed over to try and free her. But then found themselves surrounded by the pursuing beasts. This time, they were able to get a good look at their pursuers, they had a reindeer-like appearance except they were taller and a little bulkier, their antlers looked metallic and the points looked very sharp, and they had gnashing razor-sharp teeth. They looked like reindeer from Hell.
“Get back!” Trixie yelled grabbing a big stick and swinging it at one of monsters. But the beast grabbed the stick out of her hands with its teeth and bit it in half.
The three frightened girls huddled together as the beast kept getting closer and feared the end for them had finally come. Just then, a bright red glow came from atop a hill which caught the attention of the hell-deer. At the top of the hill stood another hell-deer, but this one had a glowing red nose. Judging by how all the other deer had settled down when this one appeared, it was safe to assume that that one was the leader. Then another creature appeared right beside the red-nosed deer beast and it looked even scarier. This creature wore a red cloak with chains and bells, huge goat horns protruding through the top of the hood, and a long gray beard and glowing red eyes coming from inside the hood. Now Trixie and her comrades were so scared they had lost the ability to scream. What fate did these monsters have in store for them?
Elsewhere, a couple of the hell-deer were patrolling the woods looking for any more victims. Then they came across a bridge and heard some noises coming underneath it. Deciding to ambush the source of the noise, the beasts quietly crept down toward the bottom of the bridge. As they got closer the sound got louder, it sounded like sniffling. The beasts got into a pouncing position and as they got close, they found the source of the noise. It was a sad looking teenage girl with yellow skin, red and yellow hair, and a black leather jacket. The girl had not noticed the monsters and continued sniffling and wiping tears from her eyes. The two hell-deer quietly got to their feet and walked away leaving the poor girl alone and oblivious to their existence.
Sunset Shimmer sat underneath a freeway bridge weeping. She had been walking for a long time and her legs were aching. She had been crying for almost a half hour since she stopped to rest.
“I should’ve known this day would come.” Sunset said sadly to herself. “I never should’ve left Equestria.” She then put her head down and tried to get a little rest while curling up to try and stay as warm as possible.
Elsewhere, Lyra Heartstrings and Bon-Bon were exploring a dark, empty park looking for Sunset.
“We’ve looked everywhere and have found no sign of her.” Lyra said to her friend.
“We haven’t looked down this way.” Bon-Bon pointed toward a path that didn’t look familiar. They walked down the path until they came to a frozen pond.
“Well, this is unfortunate.” Lyra said seeing no sign of Sunset anywhere in the area.
“Hang on, I need to make a call.” Bon-Bon said pulling out her phone and dialing a few numbers. “Hello, Sandalwood?” she asked holding the phone to her ear.
“Hey, Bon-Bon!” Sandalwood’s voice was heard. “How’s the search going?”
“Not good I’m afraid. We’ve looked all over and still haven’t found Sunset.”
“Oh, that’s a real bummer. We’ve been looking everywhere as well. We’ve been walking up and down this block and can’t find a single soul.”
“Hey Sandalwood, look! I see someone!” Bon-Bon heard a female voice and what sounded like a ringing bell from her phone.
“Oh sweet!” Sandalwood said. “We just found one of those charity workers dressed in a raggy Santa suit.”
“Excuse me sir.” Bon-Bon heard Sandalwood's female companion.
“We’ll ask him if he’s seen any sign of Sun-.” But before Sandalwood could finish, a snarling noise like a vicious animal and a girl scream was heard from the phone. “OH MY GOD!” was the last thing Bon-Bon heard Sandalwood say and then the call suddenly ended.
“Sandalwood? Sandalwood?!” Bon-Bon tried calling back, her voice was sounding more anxious. Suddenly, lights came on around the frozen pond startling Lyra and Bon-Bon.
“What’s going on?” Lyra asked scared and confused. But before she could receive an answer to her question, music started playing. They recognized the music as the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy tune from ‘The Nutcracker.’
Then some mysterious figures dressed in Nutcracker-themed ballet outfits and wearing masks appeared and started dancing gracefully on the ice. Both Lyra and Bon-Bon were confused as they watched the strange ballet dancers perform on the ice, but for who? There was no audience except themselves. As the spectacle continued, the dancers seemed to be moving closer to where Lyra and Bon-Bon were standing. They were so fixated on the performance that they failed to notice a shadowy figure, shaped like a giant nutcracker, creep up behind them. Then they heard something and slowly turned around to see a giant monstrous nutcracker with sharp teeth and menacing eyes standing right behind them.
Both girls screamed at the hideous beast and ran out onto the ice. However, this proved to be a bad idea. The ice dancers turned their attention to the girls and removed their masks to reveal inhuman demonic faces. Suddenly, the music changed to the Russian Dance (Trepak) as the monstrous dancers chased the two frightened girls across the ice. It was hard for Lyra and Bon-Bon to run on the slippery ice but the demonic dancers weren’t having trouble at all.
As the girls struggled to get away from their pursuers, the ice beneath Lyra’s feet broke and she fell into the dark cold water. Bon-Bon struggled desperately to pull her friend out of the water but the ice was too slippery and she fell into the water with her. Both girls were now under the ice and sinking deeper in the dark, freezing water. They were struggling to swim back up to the hole in the ice but they were losing air fast and the water was so cold they were losing consciousness. Both could feel their visions getting blurry, in less than a minute they would drown. But then, two arms entered the water through the hole in the ice, grabbed both girls, and pulled them up to the surface. Lyra and Bon-Bon coughed as they gasped for air. When their visions became clear again, their feelings of relief turned once again to fear as they stared at their ‘saviors.’ The monstrous ballet dancers had just pulled them out of the freezing water and had sinister grins on their faces, the giant nutcracker had the biggest smile out of all of them. Lyra and Bon-Bon felt like they just survived a horrible fate only to be condemned to a much worse fate.
Somewhere else, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, the Humane Five, and the Crusaders were exploring another part of downtown when Rainbow Dash’s cellphone rang.
“Hello?” Rainbow asked answering her phone. “Oh, Vice Principal Luna, find anything at school that might help in the search?”
“I don’t think so, but I did find something that I thought you might need to know.” Luna’s voice was heard. “We found some secret compartments in Sunset’s locker and in some janitor’s closets and there were bags of wrapped presents.”
“Bags of presents?! That’s odd.” Rainbow said confused, then turned to the Crusaders. “Were you three also trying to frame her for stealing gifts?”
“No, we did nothing like that, honest!” Sweetie Belle said defensively.
“The Crusaders say they had nothing to do with it.” Rainbow said to Luna. “Who are the gifts addressed to?”
“Some of the gifts are addressed to Applejack, some are for Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and you, Rainbow Dash. There are even some for the Crusaders. And they’re all from Sunset Shimmer.” Luna answered.
“What?!” Rainbow exclaimed in surprise.
“I think all these gifts are from Sunset to all of you. I figured it might be something you all might need to know.”
“How many?”
“A little over twenty. Is anything else I can do?”
“No, that’s okay. Thanks.” Rainbow said glumly and hung up her phone.
“What was it, Dash?” Rarity asked curious about the call.
“Vice Principal Luna found over twenty gifts hidden around the school. All of them to us from Sunset, there were even some for the Crusaders.”
“What?! Over twenty presents?! How much did Sunset spend on us?!”
“She must’ve been saving them for Christmas Day.” Pinkie Pie concluded.
“She got us so many presents and we were so mean to her!” Fluttershy said in utter remorse.
“Come on y’all. We have ta keep lookin’.” Applejack said, although she was also looking very sad by this new revelation. With this news, they all were beginning to doubt if they would be able get their friend back at all.
Meanwhile, Principal Celestia was walking down a freeway sidewalk looking for her missing student.
“Sunset! Sunset!” she called out. Then she came to bridge and stopped halfway across. Little did she know was that the person she was looking for was napping right under the bridge she was standing on. Celestia looked out at the land next to the freeway and prepared to a big call. “SUN-!”
HONK! A loud truck horn sounded waking Sunset and drowning out Celestia’s call.
“Stupid noisy cars. I knew it was a bad idea to nap under a freeway bridge.” Sunset complained rubbing her ears.
Instead of calling again, Celestia assumed no one was out there and continued on her way across the bridge. Sunset, deciding to move on climbed up to the freeway sidewalk. Now she and Celestia were standing on opposite ends of the bridge with their backs turned to each other. Both sadly continued on their separate ways in opposite directions and would never know how close they were to finding each other.
Photo Finish, her two assistants, a techie boy named Micro Chips, and a drama girl named Watermelody had stopped at Photo’s house to get out of the snow storm that had been going on since Sunset Shimmer ran away. They all sat in the living room watching Micro Chips working on his laptop.
“Found any thing yet?” Photo Finish asked in her Austrian accent.
“I’m pinpoint the areas the snow storm will have the heaviest effects on.” Micro Chips explained. “If Sunset Shimmer’s smart, she try to avoid those areas because they’ll be extremely windy and cold. I hope.”
While everyone was focused on Micro Chips working on his laptop, they didn’t notice the front door, with a wreath hanging on it, open slightly. A ghastly, inhuman hand reached in and quietly snatched the wreath off the door, then replaced it with a similar looking wreath and quietly shut the door. Then two big eyes suddenly opened at the top part of the wreath. It quietly growled as it eyed the group of teenagers in the room, rows of teeth emerged from the hole in the center and tentacle-like vines emerged from its body.
Elsewhere, a truck was driving on an empty freeway. The vehicle was being driven by Bulk Biceps, his passengers were Flash Sentry and his bandmates, Brawly Beats and Ringo. Flash sat in the front passenger seat with a serious expression on his face staring out the window at the snow land hoping to spot even the smallest sign of Sunset Shimmer. His companions were starting to worry for him.
“Hey, Flash.” Brawly Beats tried to talk to his friend. “You okay, man?”
“We’ve got to find her!” Flash said clearly upset. “Sunset’s out there, freezing, and all alone. It’s my fault! She really needed someone to trust her. But I also thought she was Anon-a-Miss, so I kept my distance from her and didn’t care what happened to her. I should’ve known better! And now we just gotta find her, and make sure she’s safe!”
“Flash, you still care for her, do you?” Ringo asked.
Flash calmed himself down. “We’ve had a very… complicated relationship. Even after we broke up and the Fall Formal. Some of it is my fault and I must do whatever I can to make things right with her. I owe her that much.” Bulk smiled at the young rocker, deep down he was a good guy.
Then Flash felt his cellphone ring and answered it. “Hello, Micro Chips, any luck on your end?”
“SHTOP! HELP!” Photo Finish’s voice was heard along with some other people screaming.
Back at Photo’s house, the monster wreath had wrapped its strong tentacle-like vines around everyone and was dangling and shaking them around in the air while they screamed in terror and for help.
“FLASH! FLASH!” Micro Chips desperately yelled into his cellphone while struggling to get free of the vine wrapped around him. “RUN! RUN! GET OUT OF TOWN! THEY'RE COMING AFTER YOU! GET OUT OF-!”
“Hello, Micro?” Flash asked worried. “I can’t understand, you’re breaking up.” Then he lost connection entirely. The other guys looked at him, bewildered.
“What was that all about?” Brawly Beats asked.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, something landed on the front of the truck. A huge beast wearing a red cloak, wrapped in chains, a face hidden under a hood save for two glowing red eyes, and giant goat horns protruding from the top of the hood had pounced on the truck and was now staring at the boys through the front window. All the boys screamed in fright at the monster, Bulk let out a high-pitched scream that sounded like a small girl.
“WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!” Brawly Beats screamed as the beast roared causing the window to fog up.
Bulk slammed on the brakes causing the truck to come to screeching halt before causing the monster to roll over the hood. When the creature was out of sight, the horrified hulking athlete immediately hit the accelerator and sped off. Then everyone heard a loud banging noise in the truck bed.
“Keep driving, I’ll check it out!” Flash told Bulk as he carefully climbed out of his seat, through the passenger window, over the hood, and into the truck bed. But the creature was nowhere in sight.
Then the beast swung up from the left side of the truck and into the bed where Flash found himself facing the large hooded monster. Flash was scared, but he summed up as much courage as he could. “Alright ugly, bring it on!” He threw a punch at the beast but it, with one swing of its right arm, knocked Flash on his back before he could even touch the fiend. Flash stared fearfully up at the monster who was towering over him. But then he felt something underneath his back, it was rope. Acting on instinct, Flash grabbed the rope and threw it at the beast, who got tangled in it. Seeing an opportunity, Flash rammed the creature while it was trying to get untangled, sending falling out of the truck bed. Satisfied, Flash climbed back through the passenger window and into his seat.
“Don’t worry guys, he’s gone.” He assured everyone, but then the vehicle came to a sudden halt. After a moment, everyone felt the truck going backwards. Flash and Brawly looked out their windows behind the truck and saw the cloaked monster pulling the rope, which was revealed to be tied to the truck.
“FLOOR IT!” Ringo screamed. Bulk hit the accelerator as hard as he could but the vehicle was still being pulled backwards.
“This is insane!” Brawly exclaimed. “He’s pulling against like 200 horse power!”
“Bulk, put it in reverse!” Flash told Bulk who immediately shifted gear and the entire vehicle went speeding backwards toward the beast. The monster roared as it lifted its arms up defensively as it prepared for the coming impact.
WHAM! The boys felt the back of the truck hit something hard and then stop. They all started cheering and congratulating each other as Bulk switched gears again and slowly started driving forward. Flash and his bandmates poked their heads out their windows to see the beast they had taken down, however, the monster’s body was nowhere to be found.
“Hey, where’d he go?” Ringo asked confused.
“It couldn’t had just disappeared.” Flash said just as confused.
Then they all felt the truck stop and start rising in the air. Soon they all realized that the creature wasn’t dead and was now lifting the vehicle above its head. Then with one might throw, the beast hurled the vehicle and it crashed into a nearby tree. Dented and steaming, the truck was now a wreck. Flash and the other boys opened the doors and climbed out of the vehicle, dropping on their hands, and coughing. Flash attempted to crawl away, but he found himself cutoff by a giant cloaked, horned fiend staring down at him with glowing red eyes.
“You all shall receive judgement for your sins!” the monster said in a deep threatening voice to a visibly frightened Flash. Flash watched helplessly as the beast stretched out its long, thin, and hideous-looking hand and reached down for him. His vision went black as the hand came to his face.
Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, the Humane Five, and the Crusaders had found themselves in the middle of a snow field. Twilight was growing increasingly worried and frustrated that they had not found Sunset yet.
Twilight let out a loud, frustrated groan that made the others step back intimidated. “Almost midnight and we still haven’t found any sign of Sunset.” She then walked behind a nearby tree, she needed to blow off some steam and she didn’t want the others to see.
Spike walked over to the tree and looked behind it to find his mistress banging her right fist against the bark in frustration. “Twilight, are you okay?” the little dog asked concerned.
“Sorry Spike, I’m just so frustrated.” Twilight calmly said to her assistant. “I can’t believe anyone would do something like this to Sunset.”
Then the two noticed that the Humane Five had snuck closer and were peeking behind the tree to listen in, and they looked pretty sad.
“Twilight, darling.” Rarity spoke in a comforting tone. “We know you’re upset over what happened to Sunset. But please understand, while what Sweetie Belle and her friends did was pretty awful, they weren’t thinking straight.”
“Ya, sugar cube.” Applejack joined in. “While their reason doesn’t entirely justify what they did, and they are gonna to be punished for this, they’re still our kid sisters and they’ve learned their lesson and are tryin’ ta make amends as much as they can.”
“So please don’t be too hard on them.” Rainbow Dash pleaded.
“It’s not them I’m upset at right now, it’s you!” Twilight coldly replied shocking everyone. “I thought Sunset Shimmer was your friend, how could you all turn your backs on her like that?”
“Now darling, try to understand.” Rarity pleaded.
“Things were difficult during this time.” Fluttershy added.
“Someone was going around exposing people’s secrets and we didn’t know who.” Pinkie Pie explained.
“Well, you all thought it was someone, but in the end, you couldn’t had been farther from the truth.” Twilight coldly responded.
“Ya gotta understand why we all thought it was Sunset.” Applejack said. “All the evidence was pointed at her.”
“What evidence?” Twilight angrily asked.
“Well, you see.” Rarity tried to explain. “First it started with the ‘Piggy-Wiggy’ story about AJ, then pictures of everyone wearing some of my least proud outfits were posted, and it was Sunset Shimmer who took the pictures with her phone. With that and her past with all of us, you must understand why we all suspected her.” Rarity got out her phone and found the internet page with the pictures. She held her phone up to show Twilight but the purple girl angrily pushed it away not bothering to take one look.
“That’s not the evidence I was talking about.” Twilight said.
“Okay, how was she able to convince you it wasn’t her?” Rainbow asked confused and annoyed, but this seem to make Twilight even angrier.
“The fact that you need to ask that makes even more disappointed in all of you than before.” This cut the five girls like a knife. “Sunset did do some terrible things in the past, but when she was finally defeated, she had become a lost girl who wanted a second chance. If I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s that almost everyone deserves a second chance. When I came here the second time, I was amazed at how much Sunset’s character had changed; all she wanted through out my entire visit was to be helpful to us. It was then I realized she deserved her second chance. But why didn’t you?” The girls said nothing, they were too ashamed to speak. “Remember it was Sunset who ultimately help us defeat the Dazzlings in the Battle of the Bands, was that not enough for you?” The girls still said nothing. “All the good times you all had, did none of that matter?” Still nothing, Twilight’s anger was increasing. “I asked all of you, as friends, to look out for her. So when you turned your backs on Sunset, you also turned your backs on me.” The girls’ faces of shame turned to ones of anxiety. Forsaking their friendship with Sunset might have also cost them their friendship with Twilight.
“We were only doing what we thought was right.” Rainbow said in an apologetic tone that begged for pity. It was her last shot and she was on the verge of tears.
“Well, you didn’t.” Twilight replied coldly.
Rainbow felt as if a big hole had been blown through her chest. Instantly, the memory from the Battle of the Bands when Sunset tried to help and they all mercilessly snapped at her.
“I’m sorry, I just wanted to help.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t.”
Rainbow’s emotions burst like a volcano. She collapsed on her knees and buried her face in her hands as tears poured through her fingers like little waterfalls. The once proud athlete had been reduced to bawling mess of regret and self-loathing. The others didn’t look any better. Rarity produced so much tears, her eye makeup washed away. The once cheery and childlike Pinkie Pie was now crying like a child. Fluttershy was no stranger to crying, but it was rare to see her crying this hard. AJ had always been a tough girl who believed she could handle anything, unfortunately nothing she learned on her farm could’ve prepared her for this. The mighty cowgirl was reduced to nothing more than a weeping pile of remorse.
The Crusaders had watched the entire thing and were weeping as well. They couldn’t stand to see their sisters so miserable. They began to wish they had never come up with Anon-a-Miss in the first place.
Twilight stared at her crying friends. Her anger and disappointment slowly turned to pity. She began to feel that she had been too hard on them.
“Oh, Twilight, you’re right. We’ve been terrible friends!” Rarity managed enough strength to say.
“We should’ve known better than to doubt Sunset after everything she’s done for us!” AJ barely said through her tears.
“All we want now is to find her and tell her we’re sorry.” Pinkie said wiping away her tears.
“I don’t expect you to forgive us, I doubt Sunset will forgive us.” Fluttershy said, tears still streaming from her eyes.
“But we won’t give up. We will find Sunset and try to make things right.” Rainbow said wiping away her tears and maintaining what little pride she still had left.
“I know we will.” Twilight said giving them a forgiving smile. “I know if we work together as friends, we will be able to find our friend.”
“You can count us in too.” Apple Bloom said. She and the other two younger girls had smiles that told them they could be trusted.
GGGGGRRR! Everyone suddenly heard a growling noise that almost made them jump.
“Sorry, that was me.” Pinkie said. Her stomach was what made the noise. “Anyone hungry? I brought some gingerbread cookies.” She took out a large circular-shaped tin container.
Everyone else nodded yes. They sat down in a circle and Pinkie handed each person a gingerbread cookie. Then she put the container behind her and they all started munching on the people-shaped cookies. While they were eating, a creepy and inhuman-looking hand emerged from a bush behind Pinkie and snatched the container. Then it replaced it with an identical looking one and went back into the bush.
“Come girls, let’s get going.” Twilight said. Everyone got to their feet. Pinkie grabbed the container that looked like hers and put it away. Then everyone resumed walking through the windy night, hoping to find their lost friend, and unaware of the dangers that were befalling the other students and were advancing on them.
The storm was getting worse; the winds were blowing harder and snow was piling higher. Sunset Shimmer was trudging through the deep snow, holding herself, and shivering. She didn’t know where she was and she was freezing. She was panting and felt dizzy from the bitter cold and felt like she was about to pass out.
“I… I can’t, I can’t go on. If there is someone out there, please let them find me.” Sunset said up at the sky. Then she finally reached her limit and passed out in the snow.
Elsewhere, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, the Humane Five, and the Crusaders also found themselves in the middle of the storm. But since Twilight’s rant, they had found new determination and were willing to endure a blistering snow storm in order to find Sunset.
“Hey, I see something!” Fluttershy yelled pointing to a light approaching them from the darkness of the night. A moment later, the light was revealed to be a flashlight held by Principal Celestia.
“Principal Celestia?!” They all said in surprise.
“What are you all doing out here? You should find someplace warm and get out of the cold!” The principal told her students.
“Sunset Shimmer’s still out there! We have to find her!” Pinkie Pie told her almost hysterically.
“If something happens to Sunset, then all of this was for nothing.” Rainbow Dash said.
“Alright, we’ll look a few more minutes, but then we should find shelter.” Celestia reluctantly agreed. Deep down she knew Rainbow had a point.
With the principal in their group, they continued their search. After two minutes of trudging through snow and wind, they all found themselves in a wide snowy field.
“SUNSET!” Twilight called.
“SUNSET!” Rarity called as well.
“SUNSET, WHERE ARE YOU?” Sweetie Belle called after Rarity.
“LOOK!” Apple Bloom yelled fearfully and pointed at a spot in the snow twenty feet from them.
There they saw, lying face down in the snow, was a person. The person looked to be female, about the size of Twilight and the Humane Five, had red and yellow hair, and wore a black leather jacket, boots and an orange skirt.
“IT’S SUNSET!” Scootaloo yelled. Everyone else focused their attention on the person in the snow. It was Sunset!
“SUNSET!” Twilight said confirming the girls’ claims. At long last, they had finally found their missing friend.
Everyone immediately ran down to see why Sunset was lying in the snow and not moving at all. Fluttershy pulled Sunset out of the snow, and lay her on here lap face up. Her eyes were closed, she had completely lost consciousness from the intense cold.
“Sunset! Sunset, are you okay?” Fluttershy desperately asked her unconscious friend hoping to wake her. But she received no answer, no movement, no sounds, nothing! “Her skin is like ice!” she said feeling Sunset’s hand.
Celestia placed her hand on Sunset’s forehead. “We have to get her out of the cold.”
Applejack, being one of the physically strongest of the group, scooped the unconscious Sunset in her arms. Everyone took off quickly to find some form of shelter. After ten minutes of searching for a place to get out of the snow, the group was starting to worry.
“There has to be a house or two around here!” Twilight said. “We have to get to get out of the wind now!”
“Hey, what’s that?” Fluttershy asked pointing to a glimmering light in the distance.
“I don’t know, but I think it would better for us to head that way.” Celestia suggested.
They all started heading in the direction of the glimmering light. The glimmering light was coming from a big log cabin. Inside the cabin, near one of the windows, was a bright burning candle sitting on a table. There was a licking sound, then a hidious inhuman hand reached over and pinched the flame putting it out.
After seeing the light disappear, the group’s anxiety began to rise.
“No, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO, NO!” Rainbow cried as she increased her running speed and ran in the direction the light had been with the others trying to keep up. She began to see something taking shape in the darkness. Eventually, the sight of a log cabin with a smoking chimney became clear.
“Smoke is coming from the chimney, so that must mean there’s a fire in there.” Twilight concluded.
Everyone ran up to the front door of the cabin. Fluttershy knocked on the door which opened immediately. They all looked inside, there was big fireplace with a huge fire across the room with a couch and rocking chair sitting near it, a big decorated Christmas tree with a bright and beautiful angel sitting on top, a wreath hanging above the fireplace, on the left wall was a staircase leading up to the bedroom and attic, and below the staircase was a door leading to the kitchen. However, there were no people in the house. Ignoring the fact that there was an unlocked house with no people in the middle of nowhere, the group entered. Applejack gently lay Sunset on the couch and pulled a blanket over her. Now that they were inside a warm house, everyone hung their coats on a coat hanger near the door. Pinkie Pie went into the kitchen to put what looked like her cookie container down to relieve herself of the burden of carrying unnecessary weight. When she left, the container nudged and made small banging noises as if something alive was inside it.
Twilight Sparkle, Spike, the Humane Five, the Crusaders, and Principal Celestia had finally found Sunset Shimmer. Unfortunately, she was passed out and laying on a couch in front of a big fireplace in a log cabin that they had conveniently found. Sunset had not woken up yet and everyone was nerviously gathered around her as AJ stoked the fire with a poker to keep it going and warm Sunset up. After awhile, Sunset began to show movement. Eventually, she slowly opened her eyes to find her best friend and former rival, Princess Twilight, crouching by her and giving her a warm smile.
“What are you doing here?” Sunset asked confused. “I thought you were busy in Equestria.”
“Nothing is more important to me than the well-being of a friend.” Twilight said giving Sunset a warm hug.
“How did you find me?”
“I had a little help.” Twilight turned to the Humane Five, Crusaders, and Principal who all had concerned expressions.
“But I thought I wasn’t your friend anymore.” Sunset said both surprised and hurt to the Five.
“Well, Twilight was finally able to talk some sense into us.” Rainbow said ashamed.
“When we finally realized our horrible mistake, we organized the entire school into search parties all for the sole purpose of finding you.” Fluttershy timidly told Sunset.
“What about Anon-a-Miss?” Sunset asked glumly. Then she turned to the three younger, guilty-looking girls. “It was you three, wasn’t it?”
“You figured it out?” Sweetie Belle asked timidly.
“While I was out here, I began thinking Anon-a-Miss wasn’t just one person, and I had a feeling that it was you three. Who else could it had been? But what I can’t figure out is why. What did I do in the past that was so terrible that you would do something like this to me even after I’ve changed?”
The Crusaders’ expressions grew even more guilty-looking. “Ever since you changed yer ways, our sisters had been hangin’ out with you a lot more than with us.” Apple Bloom shamefully admitted.
“Apple Bloom came up with the ‘Anon-a-Miss’ idea to make you look bad enough that our sisters would spend less time with you, and we joined in on it.” Scootaloo sadly continued for her friend.
“But things didn’t turn out quite as we expected.” Sweetie Belle remorsefully joined in the conversation. “Everyone completely shunned you.”
“When other people started sending secrets to post, we panicked and posted everything.” Scootaloo said.
“But now we realize that we should’a came clean when we had the chance.” Apple Bloom said with tears developing in her eyes.
“We know you can never forgive us for this, but we are willing to do anything you want to make it up to you as much as possible.” Scootaloo said as a tear rolled down her left cheek.
“We’re so, SO sorry.” Sweetie belle said beginning to cry.
Sunset thought for a moment, then buried her face in her hands. “Why would they all treat me like this after I saved everyone from the Dazzlings? Was that not good enough for them?”
“Sunset.” Applejack put her hand on Sunset’s shoulder to get her attention and calm her down. She looked at her with apologetic eyes. “We know yer upset over the way we wrongfully treated ya and we don’t blame you.”
“We were ignorant.” Rarity said remorsefully.
“Insensitive.” Fluttershy sadly added.
“And small minded.” Pinkie finished ashamed of herself.
“You were in trouble, but instead of helping you and staying by your side like good friends should, we turned on you and cast you out.” Rainbow said sadly. Sunset could tell that her pride had been shattered. “We don’t expect you to forgive us for that. I wouldn’t forgive me either.”
“We’re here to say we believe you now, and to tell you how sorry we all are for not doing so earlier.” Fluttershy said with tears streaming down her cheeks. “We’re so very sorry for being horrible friends, and for hurting you so badly.” The rest of the Five began shedding huge amounts of regretful tears as well.
“We hope that you, the good you, the real you, can find it in yer heart to give us just one more chance.” A tearful AJ pleaded.
Sunset could see that they all looked truly sorry for what they’ve done. But a part of her was hesitant on whether or not to forgive them and rejoin their group.
“Principal Celestia?” Sunset turned to CHS’s principal.
“Yes, Sunset?” Celestia responded.
“Can I ask you some questions?” Sunset asked.
“Sure you can.” Celestia warmly replied.
“But I want you to give me the most honest answers.”
“Very well.” Celestia nervously agreed.
“You knew what was happening at school, right?” Sunset asked her first question.
“Yes.” Celestia answered sadly.
“Did you suspect me of being Anon-a-Miss too?”
Celestia hesitated for a moment, but she knew she had to answer. “Yes, I did.”
“Thought so.” Sunset said sadly. “If I came to you pleading innocence, would you had believed me?”
Celestia found herself cornered, this was a question she really didn’t want to answer. But with everything Sunset’s been through, she knew she owed her that much, no matter how much she knew it would hurt. “No, with your history, I wouldn’t have.” Celestia answered with deep regret in her voice. She was barely holding even a single tear.
Sunset’s heart sank when she heard the final answer. Tears began to well up in her eyes. “That’s what I thought.” She said softly as she got up from the couch and walked over to face the Christmas tree in the corner of the room. The others watched her visibly worried and concerned. Sunset gazed up at the angel on top of the tree with heartbroken eyes. Now she knew that there was no one at school, not even a teacher, who would’ve believed she was innocent. She had felt hurt before, but this was by far the worst pain she’d ever felt. She truly was alone in this world.
“Sunset.” Celestia walked over to talk to Sunset. She was visibly remorseful. “I know you’ve apologized for all the bad things you’ve done, I know you’ve been working so hard to make things right, and we all need to stop acting like you haven’t. I, as the principal of CHS, can not apologize enough for letting you suffer so much and done nothing. But I give you my word, if you give us just one more chance, I’ll see to it that everyone plays a part in making it up to you.” Everyone then waited eagerly for Sunset’s answer.
After a minute of thinking, Sunset finally spoke. “Twilight, I would like to return to Equestria.” Everyone gasped when they heard this.
“Are you leaving, Sunset?” Pinkie asked nervously.
“Yes, I am.” Sunset replied sadly.
“But why? Do you hate us?” Fluttershy asked in tears.
“No, it’s nothing like that. I can’t do this anymore.”
“What do ya mean?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I mean the Magic of Friendship isn’t working out for me in this world no matter how hard I try.” Sunset explained. “No matter how many times I save this world, the people here will never let go of my past. They will never fully accept me.”
“That’s not true, darling.” Rarity tried to talk Sunset out of her decision.
“We know we’ve made mistakes, we’re also learnin' about friendship too.” AJ spoke. “But we’ve gotta be strong and work through this together.”
“Sunset, your name has been cleared.” Pinkie said managing a little smile.
“For now, yes, but how much longer till another disaster like this happens and I’m suspect number one again?” Sunset arguably asked turning Pinkie’s smile upside down.
“But you can trust us to have your back now, we won’t turn on you again.” Rainbow confidently said.
Sunset stared at her with an unhappy look on her face. “I did once.” She said turning away and shocking the rainbow-haired athlete.
“But, Sunset, do you really have to leave?” Sweetie Belle tearfully asked.
“Sometimes, you have to know when a relationship isn’t working out.” Sunset mournfully explained. “I thought after the Battle of the Bands you all would’ve completely accepted me into your society. But I was wrong, as soon as Anon-a-Miss started getting bigger you all immediately suspected me and cast me out without a second thought. I know I wasn’t the nicest person back then, but is there something about me that you all still hate?” She waited for an answer from someone, but they were all too scared and ashamed to say anything. “Are you scared of me?” Sunset’s voice was getting louder and more edgy with each question. “Still think I’m going to do something bad to you? Think I’ll turn into a raging she-demon and enslave you all?!” The last question made everyone, except Twilight, take of a step back in fear. Sunset noticed this and her heart sank deeper. “I knew it. Looks like somethings will never change. Guess you won’t need an extra guitarist or backup vocalist anymore.” Sunset said in a less loud and more glum tone and turned away unable to look them in the eyes anymore.
Twilight felt so sorry for Sunset, she walked over and placed her hand on her shoulder. Spike walked over and gently rubbed against Sunset’s leg. Everyone else eventually realized with horror that their reaction might’ve just proven Sunset’s point and broken their friendship beyond repair.
“Sunset, please, it was our fault, not theirs!” Apple Bloom hysterically pleaded.
Then everyone else started pleading hysterically and desperately at the same time making it hard to understand a single word from anyone.
“Twilight, please talk some sense into her!” Rainbow pleaded barely holding back her tears.
“I’m not here to take sides.” Twilight said sympathetically. “I’m just looking out for the well-being of a friend. I just want Sunset to be happy, whatever she decides. And if you too value her friendship, you will do the same.” After that, everyone finally quieted down. Twilight was right, it was time they did what’s right for Sunset and not themselves.
“Sunset, will you not reconsider? Will you forgive us?” Fluttershy tearfully asked hoping to try one more time to change her mind.
“Sorry girls, but I can’t go through this again.” Sunset answered sympathetically.
Everyone felt as if they been pierced through the heart. Sunset had chosen to leave, possibly forever. Pinkie’s poofy hair deflated and hung straight while she held a sobbing Fluttershy in her arms. Sweetie Belle sobbed while in the tender embrace of her older sister who’s eyes also leaked her own sorrow. Rainbow Dash gently patted a crying Scootaloo on the head while she hugged her big sister figure. Applejack put her hand on her younger sister’s shoulder and gave her a sad and forgiving look. Apple Bloom embraced her sister and they both expressed their remorse in tears. Celestia did her best to keep from losing it, but even she couldn’t hold back a few tears.
“Oh sugar cube, what have we done to you?” AJ said to Sunset in the most remorseful tone she could ever muster. Sunset couldn’t help but feel sorry for them all, and wondered if she’d made the right decision.
“Well, I think I’d better let the others know that the search is over.” Rainbow said miserably as she wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled out her phone. She hit a few buttons and then listened to it ring until she heard it answered. “Hey Derpy, it’s Rainbow, I’ve got some good news and bad news. Good news is we finally found Sunset Shimmer and she’s okay. Bad news is she’s decided to go back to Equestria, maybe forever.” Rainbow was starting to shed tears again. Then the sound of crying was heard from the phone loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Rainbow assumed Derpy was crying after hearing the bad news. “I know it’s hard to hear, but it’s probably for the best.”
“Is it them?” asked a strange and unpleasant voice that Rainbow and everyone else didn’t recognize.
“Derpy, who is that?” Rainbow asked, her and everyone else’s sorrow had just turned to confusion.
“Yes.” Derpy said to the other voice in between sobs.
“Good. Now read the paper.” The other voice commanded sinisterly.
“Hello, Rainbow Dash-.” Derpy said nervously.
“No, READ IT LIKE WE WROTE IT, STUPID!” yelled another voice just as horrible as the first. This caused everyone’s attention to focus completely on Rainbow’s phone.
“HELLO, you naughty little holiday ruining brats.” Derpy fearfully continued.
“That’s better. Now keep going!” Said a third wicked voice.
“You have all been very… very naughty this season. And because of that, we… and our master… have been hunting down and taking all of your horrible little friends. And are now coming for you.” Everyone’s eyes widened when they heard this. During the search for Sunset, someone, or something, has been abducting the other student search parties, and now they were next. “So you’d better say your prayers cause when our master finds you, he’s gonna… oh God!” Derpy stopped for a moment, apparently she was horrified with what she was about to read.
“Keep reading or I RIP OUT THE OTHER FRONT TOOTH!” the second voice threatened.
“CAUSE WHEN HE FINDS YOU, HE’LL INFLICT EVERY PUNISHMENT HE KNOWS UPON YOU!” Derpy yelled utterly terrified. “You’ll be shackled, beaten bloody with birch rods, have your pigtails ripped out, your ears stretched, dunked in barrels of ink, and put on the Express Train to the Lake of Fire where you will experience true torment! Oh God, this is horrible!”
“You’re not done yet!” said the first voice.
“So say your prayers… and prepare to meet the KRAMPUS!” Derpy cried as she was being forced to read the last part of the message. “Now excuse us… while we take care of this dopey, crooked-eyed klutz – OH GOD NO!” Then Rainbow’s phone lost connection and the call ended.
Everyone’s remorse and sorrow was now turned to absolute horror. Even Sunset was horrified by this dark turn of events. Something knew what they did and was very angry for some reason. Now it was coming for them, and things were about to go from bad to worse.
Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Spike, Principal Celestia, the Humane Five, and the Crusaders stood inside the log cabin with looks of fear on their faces. They had just received a disturbing phone call in which mysterious people forced a scared Derpy Muffins to read a threatening message warning them of a creature called the Krampus.
“Krampus? What’s a Krampus?” Rarity asked both nervous and confused.
“Ah’ve never heard of such a thing.” Applejack said.
“Me neither.” Fluttershy added fearfully.
“Twilight, do you know anything about this Krampus?” Celestia asked the young princess.
“Sorry, I’ve never heard of it.” Twilight answered.
“I have.” Pinkie Pie announced in a rather soft and nervous tone that caught everyone’s attention. “My family told stories about the Krampus when I used to live on their farm.”
“How come we’ve never heard of any stories about it?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“It’s not like all the jolly and heartwarming holiday tales we’re all familiar with. It’s a tale meant to strike fear in the hearts of naughty children. He is the Anti-Claus. You see, while Santa delivers gifts to all the good girls and boys, Krampus snatches up the naughty ones and inflicts all sorts of brutal and merciless punishments on them.” This made everyone in the room gasp in fear. “It was said that those who commit absolutely despicable acts, particularly ones that cause others to lose their holiday spirit, during the season will bring the merciless wrath of him and his helpers down on all responsible.” Pinkie looked absolutely terrified, even Fluttershy never looked that scared. “We all have a special spot on the naughty list for what we did.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Rainbow said in disbelief. “An evil Santa Claus?! Come on Pinkie, you’ve gotta be kidding us.” But the pink party girl’s face was etched with fear and seriousness, she wasn’t joking at all.
“You mean…? Oh crap!” Rainbow nervously exclaimed realizing the once goofy Pie was dead serious about what she was saying.
“What’ll we do?” Fluttershy asked fearfully.
“Well, I say we show this Krampus fellow that, after all the things we’ve faced in the past, we will not go down without a fight. Now who’s with me, darlings?” Rarity turned to the others with determination. All the other girls started cheering in agreement, except for Pinkie. “All we need to do is use the Magic of Friendship and-”
“No, Rarity!” Pinkie yelled. “It won’t work.”
“Then how do we fight this creature?”
“We can’t! You can’t fight Krampus! He’s like the king of Christmas karma and you can’t stop that! No one’s getting presents, no one’s roasting chestnuts, no one’s singing carols, and no one’s going to spend happy times with their families! Besides, the Magic of Friendship won’t work without all our friends.” Pinkie said casting a glance at Sunset. “It’s over.” With that, Pinkie buried her face in her hands and cried at the hopelessness of their situation. All the others bowed their heads in despair.
“No, this isn’t what we wanted!” Sweetie Belle sobbed.
“The holiday season is ruined.” Scootaloo said sadly.
“And it’s all our fault!” Apple Bloom cried.
Sunset and Twilight watched as everyone else fell into despair. Sunset couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. Despite the mistreatment she received from them, she didn’t think they deserved whatever fate this Krampus had in store for them. “There must be a way to stop this thing.” Sunset said. “Do you have any ideas, Twilight?”
“I’m sorry, if I had a better understanding of this creature’s abilities I might be able to form a plan.” Twilight replied sadly.
Suddenly, there was a knocking at the front door. Everyone fearfully turned their attention in the direction the sound came from. Could Krampus be here already? This terrible question flowed through their minds as they stared at the door waiting for something else to happen.
“Deck the halls with boughs of holly. Fa la la la la, la la la la.” came a group of voices that sounded like happy children. “‘Tis the season to be jolly. Fa la la la la, la la la la.”
“It’s just a group of lovely young carolers.” Rarity said with a smile of relief. She began walking over to the door to greet them.
“Don we now our gay apparel. Fa la la, la la la, la la la.”
“Rarity, wait!” Pinkie whispered desperately to her friend, but it was too late. Rarity had already opened the door.
“Troll the ancient Yuletide carol. Fa la la la, la la la.”
Rarity’s happy and welcoming expression suddenly turned to absolute horror when she opened the door. Instead of cute, young carolers; she found hideous and twisted-looking Christmas elves wearing raggy and tattered green clothes with antlered reindeer pelts, red eyes, and sinister smiles filled with lots of razor-sharp teeth.
“Boo!” said the elf at the front.
Rarity let out a scream of fright before slamming the door shut and locking it. “Girls, they’re here!” she cried and then jumped when she felt a sudden banging on the door.
“Quick, out the back door!” AJ said heading into the kitchen and to the other door. But when she opened it, she was greeted with a group of evil-looking live snowmen. “They’re everywhere!” the cowgirl cried slamming the door.
“Everyone calm down.” Celestia said taking charge. “Rainbow Dash, take the Crusaders someplace safe for them to hide. The rest of us will fortify this place. If any of these monsters try to get in, they will surely have a hard time doing so.” The others cheered in agreement and determination.
Rainbow Dash walked the three younger girls up the stairs and passed a few rooms till they reached a small door on the ceiling with a short rope hanging from it. Rainbow pulled the rope which opened the door and down slid a ladder. The three little girls each climbed up the ladder and into the attic. Dash stopped halfway up the ladder.
“Here.” Dash said handing Apple Bloom a flashlight. “Now whatever happens, stay here and be quiet.” With that, she closed the door to the attic and left.
For a moment, the Crusaders sat in nervous silence when they heard a rustling noise behind a few large boxes. Apple Bloom turned on the flashlight and took a peek behind the boxes. She discovered that the rustling sound was coming from a group of colorfully wrapped holiday presents that were shaking as if there were living things inside them.
Back in the living room, all the older girls were arming themselves with anything they could find: pokers, brooms, umbrellas, anything they could swing.
“All right, girls.” Applejack announced with determination. “Let’s give these holiday hooligans some season’s greetin’s.”
Then Pinkie heard a noise coming from the kitchen so she went in to check it out. When she entered, she noticed that the cookie container she had placed on the counter was open and empty. Then she heard the sound of a door slam right behind her. She turned around fast and the first thing that caught her attention was the refridgerator. Pinkie cautiously approached the fridge and slowly opened it. The light into temporarily blinded her for just a moment, but when her sight returned, her face became one of shock and terror. Inside the refridgerator were lots of little living gingerbread men with evil smiles and cackling wickedly. Two of them held a can of whipped cream and aimed it at their pink victim. One of them pressed the top of the can and a stream of whipped cream sprayed into Pinkie’s face knocking her down. Then the fiendish cookies giggled as they started jumping out of the fridge and onto the girl with candy canes in their hands.
Everyone in the living room was prepared to face the most frightening challenge of their lives yet. Then they heard some commotion coming from the kitchen. Suddenly, Pinkie came running out screaming and being attacked by little evil gingerbread men.
“HELP! GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF!” Pinkie screamed as the gingerbread men pulled her hair, smacked her with candy canes, and bit her with their frosting mouths.
“Pinkie?!” the others all said surprised to see her like that.
Then the windows shattered and the front door was broken down and tons of twisted Christmas elves armed with spears, maces, axes, and clubs started pouring into the room. Immediately, the girls began fighting against the invaders using the tools they had on hand, depsite being greatly outnumbered. Sunset Shimmer prepared herself for a fight from these hideous holiday attackers, but to her surprise, not a single creature stepped up to attack her or Twilight Sparkle. Both girls watched in confussion as the elves fought with the other girls while seemingly ignoring their very existense, even Spike’s hostile barking fell on deaf ears.
“Alright, that’s it!” Pinkie angrily declared. “If you little sugary fiends want to bite Pinkie, then Pinkie’s gonna bite back!” Pinkie stared grabbing some of the tiny gingerbread beasts on her and stuffing them in her mouth. “Mmmmm! Never knew evil could taste so good,” she said happily munching on the cookie creatures.
“YOU MONSTER!” one of the gingerbread men yelled and they started fleeing from the big pink girl.
Some of the elves who had just witnessed Pinkie’s retaliation looked angry and appalled.
“She just ate Jerry!” one of the elves yelled in horror. “He had a family!”
“Forget naughty, these brats must be pure evil!” another elf said furiously.
“Uh oh!” Pinkie exclaimed realizing she had just made a terrible mistake and spat out a piece of gingerbread that was still in her mouth.
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Everyone heard a collective scream coming from upstairs. They all turned to see the Crusaders running screaming down the stairs being chased by an evil hopping jack-in-the-box, a sinister stomping teddy bear with sharp claws and teeth, a vicious windup tin robot shooting lasers from its eyes, and a demented baby doll swinging a broken bottle like a weapon. The three younger girls each ran to their respective older sisters and hid behind them from the terrifying toys.
“Alright, time to get this party really started,” one of the elves said and clapped his hands a couple times.
Suddenly, the big Christmas tree in the room came to life, sprouting long arms, its trunk split into legs, forming eyes and a roaring mouth, and the once beautiful angel on top was now cackling fiendishly as it looked down at its soon-to-be-victims. The first thing the tree monster and angel did was turn their attention to Sunset Shimmer who was shaking at the sight of the beast. The tree extended its right arm toward her causing her to take a few steps back to avoid getting caught, but she tripped and fell backwards into an open closet. An elf slammed the closet door shut and placed a chair in front of it to keep the frightened girl trapped inside.
With Sunset out of the way, the monstrous duo turned their attention back to the others. The girls all trembled under the sadistic gaze of the behemoth as the elves, gingerbread men, and toys cheered it to fight.
“Girls, I think we may have a big problem,” Rainbow nervously stated as the tree beast took a few steps closer.
“Ya think?!” Rarity rhetorically asked.
The tree monster swung its arms at the girls attempting to grab them, but it wasn’t that fast and they were able to dodged its every move. However, it got lucky, and was able to grab hold of Fluttershy and hoisted her screaming off the ground. It held the terrified girl up to the wicked cackling angel on top.
“No! Not Fluttershy!” Pinkie yelled, then she spotted ax dropped by one of the elves. Quickly, she grabbed it, ran toward the tree monster, jumped up, and chopped off the arm that was holding Fluttershy. The severed limb fell to the floor and released the girl. The beast screamed in pain at losing its arm. The elves booed at what Pinkie did. After its painful screaming, the monster turned its angry eyes at the two girls and reached out its other arm toward them.
Taking this opportunity, Rainbow Dash ran to the fireplace and grabbed a log lifter. With it, she grabbed a burning piece of wood from the fire. Then she ran up behind the tree monster and stuck the burning piece in what was probably its backside. The beast let out another scream of pain and started dancing around batting its backside trying to put out the burning sensation while the angel on top cursed in gibberish and the elves booed even more.
“Are you two okay?” Rainbow asked coming to her friends’ aid.
“Dash, look out!” Pinkie yelled pointing up.
“COWABUNGA!” an elf came swinging down from the ceiling on some tinsel toward them swinging a mace. But the girls dodged him and the elf flew face-first into the wall.
“These guys aren’t so tough after all,” Rainbow said confidently.
“You think we can take them without our magic?” Fluttershy asked.
“Absolutely,” Dash arrogantly replied and got into a battle stance. “Come girls, let’s show them the real power of the Wondercolts. Ya hear that you holiday freaks? We can take anything you can dish out!”
Then there was a loud bang that sounded like it was coming from the rooftop. Then the fire in the fireplace went out and the room became darker. The atmosphere in the room suddenly became colder and more intense as everyone felt that something was coming. Then a scratching noise brought everyone’s attention toward the fireplace as snow, soot, and bricks started falling through as if something big was making its way down the chimney.
“He’s here!” an excited elf announced.
The Crusaders and their sisters held each other as they and the others trembled fearfully as big hands with long fingers were the first things to emerge from the fireplace.
“Uh oh!” Spike said as he hid behind Twilight who watched the fireplace nervously.
The two hands grasped the edges of the walls outside the fireplace entrance and began pulling the rest of itself out and into the room. Finally, a huge hunched, horned, grey bearded, red-eyed monster wearing a baggy red cloak with dirty grey fur trimming and covered in chains and bells was standing in the room. The very sight of this new ominous creature sent shivers down the girls’ spines.
“What is that?” Rarity nervously asked.
“I think that’s him,” Pinkie fearfully answered.
“Krampus?!” Applejack exclaimed.
“How dare you and your friends come to our town and kidnap and frighten my students!” Principal Celestia angrily scolded and approached the hooded beast. Everyone’s jaws dropped at what she had just said. Did she have any idea who she was talking to?
“Principal Celestia, wait!” Twilight called to her mentor’s human counterpart.
“Not now, Twilight,” Celestia calmly said to her young friend and turned angrily pack to Krampus. “I am Celesta, the principal of Canterlot High,” she said to the creature’s hooded face. “Now I don’t know a lot about what you or your friends, but harassing my students is not something I will tolerate. I demand that you return everyone you’ve taken back to their homes, unharmed, before I call the-”
“RRRRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!”
Before Celestia could finish her demanding rant, Krampus let out a loud and ferocious roar right in her face. The roar was so powerful, it made her rainbow-colored hair fly in the air and it eventually knocked her on her back. Celestia was rendered speechless. Her skin had turned whiter than usual and her lip was trembling. She stared up at the beast with eyes filled with absolute terror. The girls had never seen their principal so frightened in all their lives.
“You claim to care for your students and dislike them being harassed,” Krampus spoke with a deep and ominous voice. “Yet, you allowed one of them to fall victim to it when she needed you for help!” He then grabbed the principal by the throat and held her in the air while she struggled to get free. “You are a terrible excuse of a school principal and are no better than the ones who started all of this!” Then he threw her out a window and outside into the snow where she was swarmed by elves carry some rope.
The girls watched as their beloved principal was bound and gagged before turning their attention back to Krampus. It was their turn now.
“Girls, get Sunset and run!” Twilight told them as she stepped between them and Krampus with her arms spread in a protective manner. Krampus grabbed her by the hood of her coat and held her close to his face.
“Twilight!” the girls yelled.
“Twilight!” Spike yelled and attempted to attack Krampus, but he grabbed by an elf.
Twilight stared nervously into Krampus’s shadowy hood and glowing red eyes as he made loud sniffing noises as if he were smelling her. Then a long tongue emerged from the darkness of the hood and moved like a snake toward her face. Twilight stiffened as she felt the slimy tongue lick her right cheek and then return back into the hood. She heard Krampus make some smacking noises with his mouth.
“Twilight Sparkle, you are sweet,” he said. “You don’t belong in this crowd.”
Krampus tossed her into the air where she was caught by the tree monster. The tree monster walked over to the fireplace and began stuffing the purple girl into one of the small stockings hanging from it. It was no ordinary stocking because as Twilight was stuffed more into it, it stretched farther and wider until it was as long and as big as her. Her muffled screams could be heard as she hung from the fireplace with Spike having been stuffed into a stocking right next to her.
Krampus then turned his attention back to the eight trembling girls. He had saved them for last and now it was finally time for him to pass judgement upon them.
“The Herald Angels weep tonight because of you,” he told them.
“Herald Angels?” Sweetie Belle timidly asked.
“The spirits that watch over everyone during this sacred season. When people remember the holiday’s true meaning and embrace peace on earth and good will toward men they are happy. The presents and decorations are meant to encourage such good behavior and help honor the holiday’s sacred meaning. But those who desecrate it, forget this lesson, and lose their precious holiday spirit, it upsets them. This storm is the cause of the spirits’ unhappiness which was caused by you. You allowed yourselves to be blinded by your negative emotions. As a result, you all forgot the true meaning of the season and lost your holiday spirits. Then you spilled the tears of the innocent, and caused her to lose her spirit!” Krampus said pointing to the storm outside. The girls seemed to understand what he was saying. Because the Crusaders felt jealous of Sunset Shimmer, theh lost their holiday spirits and created Anon-a-Miss which hurt their sisters, and in turn, they lost their holiday spirits and falsely blamed Sunset, the innocent, which caused her to lose her faith and in return had upset the Herald Angels which was causing the terrible storm. “It is my duty to do what the spirits cannot. I will punish all those who sin during this season!”
“Please, spare our sisters,” Apple Bloom stepped forward and pleaded.
“Apple Bloom?” AJ said.
“This is all our fault,” Sweetie Belle also stepped forward.
“Sweetie!” Rarity was surprised at her sister’s bravery.
“Everyone else doesn’t deserve this,” Scootaloo said joining her friends. “We tricked them into hurting Sunset Shimmer. We were the ones who made them lose their Christmas spirits.”
“You all hurt your friend out of your need for vengeance!” Krampus angrily declared to the five older girls. “The sin of envy may have started this, but the sin of wrath, misplaced, is what shattered the holiday spirit. But now I will exact MY retribution!”
With that, Krampus began to transform his body. The sounds of bones cracking was heard as he stood up straight. He was now much taller than he was earlier. Then his arms, legs, and chest began to grow longer and bulkier. As he grew in size, a few chains began to snap and his raggy red cloak began to rip and tear until it tore off completely. With his hood gone, his face was now revealed. His face, and body, was covered in dark brown fur, his curved horns were long and black, his vengeful eyes were bright red, and his mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth that held back his long tongue. What was thought to have been a hunch on his back was actually a large wicker basket. Krampus grew in size until the top of his head was an inch away from touching the ceiling.
The girls stared terrifyingly up at Krampus’s towering true form. What used to look like a twisted Santa Claus was now a giant demonic satyr. Krampus stared down at them with eyes that promised doom while his minions cheered and applauded. The eight girls realized now that they were all in truly big trouble. How would they be able to get out of this one?
Before Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle stood a towering, hairy, brutish, demonic, and intimidating satyr; the true form of Krampus. They all trembled in fear while staring up into his red vengeful eyes. Summoning up what courage she had left, Rainbow grabbed a broom and lunged at Krampus ready to fight. But the Anti-Claus raised his right hand and the broom suddenly turned to snow and disintegrated in Dash’s hands.
“Very well, you can go first,” Krampus said grabbing the small teenage girl in his giant right hand. With his left hand, he took the wicker basket off his back and set it on the floor in front of him. There was a wreath hanging on the front of the basket. Rainbow kicked and grunted in his grip while he opened the lid of the basket. Then he dropped the feisty athlete into the basket and closed the lid.
“Hey, let me out of here!” Rainbow screamed and kicked at the inside of the basket but it was too strong to break.
“Dash, no!” Scootaloo cried for her big sister figure. Then she was lifted off her feet by an elf who snuck up behind her while everyone was distracted. Before the others could do anything, the elf ran towards Krampus’s basket, jumped into the air while his master opened the lid, and slam dunked the girl into the basket like a basketball player.
“Goal!” yelled a group of elves.
“Rainbow! Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle cried as Krampus closed the basket lid again.
“He’s too powerful! Everybody run!” Pinkie said realizing they were outmatched. She and the other six girls turned and ran to the front door of the cabin but a group of chuckling armed elves stood in their way.
“You cannot escape the fates that you brought upon yourselves,” Krampus said to them. “Bring them to me!”
“You got it, boss man,” an elf happily complied.
“Give up, kids. Don’t make this harder on yourselves,” another elf demanded.
“Stay together, y’all,” Applejack told everyone as they found themselves surrounded by wicked-looking Christmas elves.
While the girls were being surrounded by his elfish helpers, Krampus tapped the lid of the basket a couple times and the wreath hanging on the front sprouted eyes and teeth. It spotted the six intended victims and sprouted six tentacle-like vines that lunged toward the girls. Soon all the girls found themselves dangling in the air above cackling elves being tangled in vines. Krampus opened the lid of the basket as the living wreath brought the girls closer.
“Let me go!” AJ said struggling to get free, but was hurled into the basket.
“AJ! No, please, it was mah fault, mah idea. Take me if you want, but please let mah sis-” but before Apple Bloom could finish her plea, she was thrown into the basket along with her sister.
Pinkie managed to worm her way out of the vines and get her feet back on the floor. But before she could flee or find something to help her friends, she was grabbed by the tree monster. The angel at the top cackled as her partner tossed the pink girl into their master’s basket. Gingerbread men gathered at the edge of the basket to laugh at the unfortunate victims inside.
“That’s for Jerry!” one of the cookie creatures said to Pinkie.
“We didn’t mean to cause so much harm! We just wanted to spent some time with our sisters!” Sweetie cried with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Don’t worry, little one. You WILL!” Krampus coldly said as the little girl was dropped into the basket.
“Please, she’s just a child! I know what she did was wrong, but please spare my sister! Please!” Rarity begged.
“You are in no position to make requests, sinner!” He roared, and the fashionista was dumped into the basket to join her sister and friends.
“Let us out!” Rarity cried.
The last one to go was Fluttershy. She trembled fearfully as she was drawn closer and closer to Krampus and the basket.
“I’m sorry!” Fluttershy cried with tears of fear in her eyes. The wreath suddenly stopped moving and held the girl where she was. “We didn’t mean for this to happen! We shouldn't had lost our Christmas spirits. We shouldn’t had turned on Sunset. We should’ve been better friends. I should’ve been kinder. We know that now! We just want to make amends for what we’ve done. Does that still make us horrible people? Are truly horrible monsters as you say we are? Can’t we show you that we are able to redeem ourselves? That we believe in the true meaning of the holidays?”
Krampus looked a little surprised by the girl’s words. The girls inside the basket all looked up with tearful pleading eyes. His minions all looked to him waiting for his response. The Anti-Claus leaned forward till his face was three feet from Fluttershy. He stuck his long tongue and gave the nervous girl a little lick on the cheek. But then he made a gagging noise as if he’d just tasted something awful, his look of intrigue was now changed to one of disgust.
“Bitter!” He yelled. His followers all started booing and yelling angrily. “If you had truly redeemed yourself, then you would’ve tasted differently. If you truly valued friendship, then you wouldn’t had forsaken the friend who needed it the most.” Fluttershy’s heart sank with every word. What this demon was saying was true. If they had just given Sunset Shimmer a chance like true friends would’ve, she wouldn’t had lost her holiday spirit and they wouldn’t be in this horrifying mess. “It saddens me, I have watched you all for many holiday seasons and you were all such good souls. But this year, you not and why? Over some ridiculous junk on a computer screen posted by three jealous children?!” Fluttershy was then dropped into the basket with her friends. Now they were all captured. Krampus stared down at them through the opening. “It didn’t have to be this way, this predicament is of your own choosing. And now you will join the others who have sinned and I will bestow upon you the fates you rightfully deserve,” Before closing the lid, Krampus held his right fist over the opening and dropped six black objects into the basket. Apple Bloom picked up one of the objects. It was hard and dirty, leaving black stains on her hands. Soon she realized what it was. It was a lump of coal.
Krampus hoisted the basket back onto his back and he and his minions prepared to leave. But then they heard a banging noise coming from a closet door held shut by a chair. Soon the closet burst open, toppling the chair. Out came Sunset Shimmer, who had finally managed to escape her confinement. Unfortunately, she was greeted with a horrific sight.
“Twilight!” She said when saw her friend and Spike stuffed in two stockings by the fireplace.
She was then confronted by the sight of a towering, demonic, red-eyed satyr with a huge basket on his back standing in the middle of the room staring down at her. With the other girls no where to be found, she felt herself at the mercy of this gigantic beast. She took a few steps back before freezing with fear in her tracks. The beast took a few steps closer and knelt down to get a closer look at the terrified and speechless girl. Sunset felt like a small animal being watched by a huge person. The creature stuck out a long tongue that moved like a snake toward her face. She was too scared to move. It gave a slimy lick on her right cheek that made her spine shiver before retreating back into its owners mouth.
“Sunset Shimmer,” the creature said in a deep ominous voice. “You have grown into such a sweet girl, so you have nothing to fear from me.”
Sunset was not only surprised to hear this thing speak, but also that it knew her name. “You know my name?” Then she realized who this creature might be. “You must be Krampus.”
“I am. I am the punisher of those who dare to sin on this sacred season. This year, I will pass judgement on those who framed you for Anon-a-Miss and those who denied your innocence.”
“How did you know I wasn’t Anon-a-Miss?”
“There is nothing about you I don’t know, child. Ever since you came to this world, I have kept my eye on you every holiday season. You were quite the troublemaker. There was a time when I would’ve snatched you up and given you what you would’ve deserved. But then an event happened that changed you.”
“The Fall Formal!”
“Yes, from that moment on, you were on longer the cruel and selfish girl you once were, but a kind and desperate soul seeking atonement for your misdeeds. It’s both funny and appalling how sometimes roles can switch, don’t you think? You had helped save your friends and the entire school from three manipulative sirens only for them to frame you and turn you away.” Sunset had a sad face as Krampus’s words brought back the painful memories of the Anon-a-Miss incident. “Their loss of spirit and this atrocious act of betrayal caused you to lose your holiday spirit as well, right when you had just started to develop it no less!”
“How did you know I lost my holiday spirit?”
“You made a wish, and I am here to grant it.”
“I’m touched that you know I’m innocent , but you’ve been kidnapping all the students of CHS,” Sunset said in a more angry tone. “Despite the way they acted, I would never wish for anything bad to happen to them. I’m not that person anymore.”
“But you did, didn’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
Krampus pointed over to the stocking Twilight Sparkle was in and something inside looked like it was moving upward toward the opening. Soon, Sunset’s journal popped out of the stocking and hovered over to her gently landing at her feet. Then the book opened by itself and flipped through the pages to her last entry. Sunset knelt down to get a better look at the entry, she spotted a couple sentences that made everything horrifically clear.
‘All this pain, hatred, this holiday season, and Anon-a-Miss. I JUST WISH IT WOULD ALL GO AWAY!’
“You see now? You wished all this would go away, so that’s what I’m doing,” Krampus said as horrific realization overcame Sunset. It was her who inadvertently summoned Krampus to this town. “Forget all the pain and unhappiness you’ve endured and try to salvage what’s left of the holiday season. Rest easy knowing that you were one of the lucky ones to not earn a spot on my list. Merry Christmas.” With that, Krampus and his minions turned into white clouds of snow and flew up the chimney and into the night leaving the entire cabin empty of any sign of life save for Sunset, Twilight, and Spike.
Sunset stood on her hands and knees staring down at the entry in her journal. The entry that was the last straw that brought this nightmare upon everyone. All she could think about was what was in store for her former friends, their sisters, Principal Celestia, the students of CHS, and what had she done.
Twilight Sparkle struggled to get out of her tight stocking confinement, but to no avail. Then she heard the sound of cutting and light shining before her. Soon, she found herself spill through a hole made at the bottom of the stretched out stocking and saw Sunset Shimmer standing over her holding a small pocket knife. Then Sunset walked over and pulled Spike out of his stocking.
“Sunset, you’re okay,” Twilight said happy to see her. Then she looked around the room and saw that the other girls were nowhere to be seen. “Where are the others?”
“Twilight, Krampus took them. All of them!” Sunset said with anxiety in her voice. “We have to save them!”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find them,” Twilight assured her. “Did you see where they went?”
“Not exactly, they turned into snow clouds and flew out through the chimney.”
“Then there’s no time to lose. Spike, we need your nose.”
“On it,” Spike complied.
Both girls and pup ran out the front door of the cabin and into the blistering outside. The snow storm had gotten worse. The winds were colder and heavier. But they weren’t going to let that stop them. They were determined to save their friends.
“I think I have their scent,” Spike said sniffing the air. “I think it’s this way,” he said taking off into the cold, dark night with Twilight and Sunset following right behind him.
After following Spike for almost ten minutes, they finally stopped when Spike started sniffing the air again.
“Oh no!” Spike said in a fearful tone. “I think I’ve lost them.”
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked nervously.
Spike sniffed the air again. “Yes. I’m sorry,” he sadly confirmed. “I can’t smell them anymore.”
“No, this can’t be it!” Sunset said in a panicked tone. She ran out ten feet and started calling for the girls. “APPLEJACK! RARITY! RAINBOW! PINKIE! FLUTTERSHY! WHERE ARE YOU?!” When she didn’t receive an answer, she fell to her knees and broke down in tears.
“Sunset?” Twilight said concerned as she walked over to her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder. Sunset looked up at her with eyes filled with tears and remorse.
“This all my fault!” Sunset said utterly devastated. “If I had just taken your advice, none of this would’ve happened. But instead, I chose to run away from my problems instead of facing them. And now everyone’s gone, and it’s because of me!”
“No, Sunset, it’s not your fault,” Twilight said kneeling down and giving her sobbing friend a warm hug. “None of us could’ve known something like this could happen.” But this did nothing to make Sunset feel better and she kept right on sobbing.
“Uh, girls,” Spike said nervously looking up at something.
Sunset and Twilight raised their heads, and to their surprise, stood a strange-looking man. The man was tall, slightly plump, and had a strange warm glow about him. He wore a long clean robe of red and green patterns, the sleeves had white fur trimming on the ends. He also wore white gloves and a long red and green hat that had white trimming on the bottom and a white fur ball on the end. He also had a long, clean white beard. He carried a big sack, filled with unknown things, over his shoulder. The presence of this man seemed to make the storm less cold and rough.
“What seems to be the problem?” the strange man asked in a warm and gentle voice when he noticed Sunset’s tears. “You know there’s a strict rule about crying around this season.”
“Sorry, sir. It’s just something terrible has happened to some people I care about,” Twilight told the man.
“Something I feel is my fault,” Sunset sadly added.
“Did you know these people?” the man asked.
Sunset paused for a moment, then spoke. “They were my friends. They did something terrible that they were only trying to apologize for. But now they’re in trouble, and I could’ve stopped it.” She broke down in tears again.
The man knelt down and put his soft, gloved left hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I believe I understand what’s going on. This is a bad time of the year to do bad things. But this is also a good time to make amends for bad things too.” The man’s wise words seemed to be making Sunset feel a little better. “Your friends may have done things that hurt you, but they have realized the error of their ways and only wish to make things right. And only you have the power to decide whether they truly deserve the redemption they seek.”
“But I’ve lost them,” Sunset said still shedding a few tears. “They could be anywhere out there. It would take a miracle to find them.”
“Good thing this is also a good time of the year for miracles to happen,” the man said looking up at the sky.
“Sunset, look,” Twilight told her friend also looking up at the sky.
Sunset looked up and everyone saw a singe bright star shining in the sky.
“A Christmas star,” the man said. “It’s a very good thing to see a bright star during this season. A lot of symbolism behind it.”
Sunset got to her feet while not taking her eyes off the star. For some reason, she, Twilight, and Spike couldn’t turn away from such a beautiful sight, not even for a second.
“What does this mean?” Sunset asked.
“I can’t tell you that, this is your star,” the man said. “What does your heart tell you?”
Sunset thought for a moment, then she came up with an idea.
“Twilight, Spike, I think we need to follow that star,” she said. She felt hope rising deep within the depths of her soul. “Are you with me?”
“You lead the way, Sunset,” Twilight said warmly.
“Alright, let’s go!” Sunset said excitedly. Then she, Twilight, and Spike took off into the direction of the star. After running about twenty feet, Sunset stopped for a moment feeling she’d forgotten something. She turned around and called back to the man. “I almost forgot, what is your name, sir?”
“It’s Nicholas,” the man called back and waved.
“Thanks, Nicholas,” Sunset said gratefully and waved good-bye before joining her friends and resuming their mission.
The man named Nicholas smiled warmly as he watched the two girls and dog run off into the night with their spirits heightened. He knew that they were going to do good things, especially Sunset. He then disappeared into the storm.
In a snowy field somewhere, Krampus and his minions had made camp. All the students of Canterlot High had been captured and put in cages. Dark elves and other holiday themed creatures tormented the prisoners by poking them with pointy birch sticks, banging against the bars, and sadistically laughing at them. Many students trembled, cried, and begged to be released but all this did was make the monsters laugh even more.
An athlete named Teddy was on his knees and holding his hands over his mouth. He made painful groans as blood dripped through his fingers. “THEY TOOK MY TWO FRONT TEETH!” he screamed in agony, which caused the elves to burst in hysterical and sadistic laughter at his pain.
“Next!” the chief dark elf yelled.
The other elves opened one of the cages. One elf reached in through the doorway, grabbed one of the prisoners, and dragged her outside while the other elves slammed the cage door shut. Both of the girl’s arms were restrained by elves as she was brought before Krampus, who held what looked like some sort of list in his left hand and a long birch rod in his right. She trembled and stared fearfully up at the tall, muscular, and demonic beast who stared back down at her with threatening red eyes. Behind Krampus was a dark and ominous looking locomotive with seven horrific looking prison cars. The first car had a dark green color and had the word ‘Envy’ in big letters on it, the second car had a dark orange color and had the word ‘Gluttony’ on it, the third car was a dark gold color with the word ‘Greed’ labeled on it, the fourth car was dark pink and had the word ‘Lust’ labeled on it, the fifth car was a dark blue and labeled ‘Pride’, the sixth car was dark purple and labeled ‘Sloth’, and the seventh and final car was a dark red color and labeled ‘Anger’. The ‘Anger’ car was the most filled with terrified and pleading students.
“Trixie Lulamoon,” Krampus read the girl’s name on his list. “It is time for your judgement!” He knelt down closer to the trembling Trixie and stuck out his long serpent-like tongue and gave her a lick on the cheek. Then he let out a disgusted gag. “You almost made me vomit!”
“Please sir,” Trixie desperately begged. “Trixie has made an error in judgement, but now she’s learned her lesson and she just wants to be good and have a merry Christmas. Please spare me!”
“Too late! Neither you or anyone here showed an innocent girl kindness,” Krampus unsympathetically retorted. “So I don’t owe you a kindness either!”
“NOOOOOO!” Trixie screamed as the elves holding her arms forced her to bend forward and get down on her knees. Trixie struggled to break free of their grasp but they were too strong. Two more dark elves came forward. Each one grabbed the back of her winter coat and tore it open exposing her light blue back. Trixie felt the cold winter air run up her bare skin and began shedding fearful tears as she knew what was coming. Krampus then raised his right arm with the birch rod in hand and brought it down hard.
SMACK!
Trixie screamed in pain as Krampus struck her exposed back with his birch stick again and again. The elves and monsters laughed and cheered as their master delivered his ‘justice’ upon the crying teenage girl while the other caged students watched in horror as they all wondered who would be next to get the rod.
After a couple more swats Krampus finally ceased his merciless whipping leaving the broken and weeping Trixie’s back bruised with a few bleeding cuts. Once their master was finished, the two elves restraining the girl dragged her over to the demonic train and took her into the blue car labeled ‘Pride’ were she sat and chained down to one of the passenger seats.
“This is only a taste of what’s in store for all of you in the underworld,” Krampus said to the scared prisoners.
“Next!” the chief elf yelled again.
The elves took another student out of one of the cages, this time a rocker named Thunderbass. “No, please, not me!” he screamed as he was dragged over to receive his judgement from Krampus.
While everyone was horrifically watching Thunderbass get his, the Humane Five and the Crusaders were sitting in their cage and staring down at the ground with sad and hopeless expressions on their faces.
“I hope everyone has their train tickets,” a dark elf dressed as a train conductor teased. “We’ve got a lot of passengers for the ‘Anger’ car, a few for the ‘Pride’ car, and you three little runts get to ride in the ‘Envy’ car,” he said pointing to the Crusaders and chuckling. “Hope you all enjoy your trip to the underworld,” he said giving a sinister laugh and leaving the prisoners to wallow in their despair.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy was trying to reason with one of the hell-deer. “You look like a good, strong deer,” she complimented the Hell-deer, but the beast just growled at her. “Do you think you could find it in your heart to give us another chance and help us out?” she asked reaching through the bars of her cage to pet the animal. But the creature snapped at her with its sharp teeth nearly biting her fingers. Fluttershy quickly retracted her hand. She had such a way with animals, yet she was shocked and surprised by how extremely hostile these ones were toward her.
“They don’t take kindly to naughty children,” a dark elf taunted the poor girl.
With her last effort proven useless, Fluttershy joined the rest of her friends in their moping.
“Come on, Rainbow Dash!” said an athlete named Cloudy Kicks.
“Snap out of it, Applejack!” said a techie girl named Scribble Dee.
“This is all our fault,” Scootaloo glumly said.
“Don’t any of you have a plan to get us all out of this?” a drama boy named Indigo Wreath desperately asked.
The five girls looked at the other students with hopelessness in their eyes giving them the answer they needed.
“You mean… You’re giving up?!” a fashionista named Scott Green asked in complete shock.
“You’ve faced demons and sirens, and yet you can’t do anything to stop this thing?!” a confused and scared Octavia asked.
“We’ve already tried, but Krampus is too powerful,” Rainbow sadly replied. “Besides, what difference would it make?”
“Sunset doesn’t want anything to do with us anymore,” Pinkie Pie miserably added.
“But that wasn’t your fault, it was theirs,” Sunflower said pointing at the Crusaders.
“Yeah, they were the ones who started Anon-a-Miss and turned everyone against Sunset Shimmer,” an eco-girl named Paisley said in agreement.
“No, we all chose to believe it was Sunset,” Applejack sadly argued.
“Because of her past it was easier to put the blame on her,” Rarity explained.
“And that wasn’t fair at all,” Fluttershy added.
“Ever since the Fall Formal, Sunset’s lost her high and mighty queen bee status and it felt good to finally feel like we were all better than her now,” Rainbow explained.
“If there’s a prize for being so wrong, I think we just won it,” Pinkie sadly added.
“If there’s anything Anon-a-Miss has taught us, it’s that we are really no better than the old Sunset Shimmer was,” Rarity said with tears welling up in her eyes.
“We are all just as capable of causing trouble and suffering,” Fluttershy said shedding tears.
“The Crusaders may have been the ones who started Anon-a-Miss, but instead of doing the smart thing to fix the problem, we allowed ourselves to stoop down to the old Sunset’s level, maybe even lower,” Applejack sadly concluded.
Everyone stared for a moment taking in what the Humane Five just said. Then it finally hit them all, the realization of what they’ve done and how it had gotten them into this horrible predicament.
“So then we brought all this upon ourselves,” Flash Sentry said losing all hope.
“We’re all doomed!” Bulk Biceps cried in despair.
“Next!” the chief elf yelled.
Two dark elves pulled Rainbow Dash out of her cage and began dragging her over to their master.
“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo cried to her big sister figure.
The rainbow-haired athlete was brought before Krampus who looked down at her with disappointing eyes. “Rainbow Dash, it is time for your judgement!” he said to the broken-spirited athlete. He knelt down and licked her cheek with his long tongue. Then he made a gagging noise and spit into the snow. “Why am I not surprised. You taste of arrogance.”
“Do your worst, I deserve it,” Rainbow said accepting her punishment.
“At least you have a little humility enough to accept your just fate,” Krampus said a little impressed.
The elves forced Rainbow onto her knees and bend forward. Then they ripped the back of her winter jacket open to expose her light blue skinned back. She braced herself as Krampus raised his birch rod and began swatting her bare back. She struggled not let out any cry of pain. If she was destined to suffer for her sins, then she would take her lumps like a grownup. After awhile, her back was looking pretty bruised with a few little bleeding cuts and a few tears began falling from her eyes and into the snow. Then when Krampus was done, the elves restraining her began dragging the broken and once-proud athlete to the ‘Pride’ car.
“WAIT!” came an unexpected voice. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice to find Sunset Shimmer standing in the snow with a look of determination on her face, with Twilight Sparkle and Spike standing by her side.
“SUNSET!” everyone said in great surprise.
“How did she find us?” Snips asked bewildered.
“I followed a star,” she answered, then turned her attention to Krampus. “Krampus, I have a Christmas wish I would like to ask of you. That is okay, right? You are technically a Santa, correct?”
“I am. Although this is unconventional. But considering what you’ve been through, I will accommodate,” Krampus replied. He put down his birch rod and raised his right hand to a small mount of snow. Then the snow began rising and turning to ice. Soon, a huge icy throne appeared. Krampus walked over and sat on the throne he just made.
“Sunset,” Twilight said with a concerned face putting her hand on her friend’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Twilight,” Sunset assured her. “I’ll be fine. I have to do this.”
After a moment, Twilight took her hand off Sunset’s shoulder. “Alright, I trust you.”
Sunset took a deep breath, and started marching through the camp toward Krampus. Elves, hell-deer, snowmen, demonic ballerinas, toys, gingerbread men, and the living Christmas tree all moved out of her way as she walked fearlessly through the crowd of monsters. She made it to the foot of Krampus’s throne and looked up at the hulking beast. Krampus leaned forward in his throne and placed his right hand palm up on the ground in front of the girl. After a moment, Sunset stepped into his hand and he lifted her up and gently set her down on the top of his right lap. After finding a comfortable spot, Sunset sat down and looked up at Krampus. Even at the level of his waist he was still pretty big and intimidating.
“Now, what would you like for Christmas, little girl?” Krampus asked, his red eyes glowing with anticipation.
Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas (Edited 10/21/17)
“Now, what would you like for Christmas, little girl?” Krampus asked, his red eyes glowing with anticipation.
Everyone, CHS students and holiday monsters alike, were anxiously waiting for Sunset Shimmer to answer Krampus’s question. What will she say? What does she truly want for Christmas? What will become of everyone? Will a holiday miracle grant them forgiveness and save them? Or will they be doomed to spent the holiday season, and possibly the rest of their lives, in merciless torment?
“I want you let my friends, their sisters, and everyone here go,” Sunset replied. Krampus raised an eyebrow in astonishment and confusion while everyone else gasped and dropped their jaws in surprise. “I want you to let them go because there’s something I wish to give to all of them.”
“After everything they’ve done to you, what could you possibly wish to give them now?” Krampus asked.
“My forgiveness.” Sunset answered. “True, what they all did was wrong and hurtful. I’ve never felt so much pain in my entire life and I probably won’t completely get over it for quite some time. But there has already been enough negativity and suffering this season, I don’t wish to see anyone suffer anymore. I want to forgive them for the wrong they’ve caused me. I also want to take back every bad thing I’ve said about anyone, even if they don’t take back everything they’ve said about me. They gave me a second chance and I don’t believe I’d be worthy of having my name on the nice list if I weren’t willing to do the same. So will you find it in your heart to give them a second chance like me?” Sunset looked up at Krampus with pleading eyes.
Krampus pinched the end of his chin while thinking. Should he take Sunset’s words to heart and give the CHS students another chance or are they still not worthy of earning his forgiveness? “Well, are they all truly sorry for what they’ve done?” he asked doubtfully.
Sunset looked at her caged friends and the other students. She wondered how she could convince Krampus that they were all truly repentant souls deserving of mercy. Rainbow Dash was still being held by the two dark elves, she had tears flowing from her pain and sorrow filled eyes. Sunset had known the arrogant athlete for a few years and she’d never seen look so miserable and regretful in her time in this world. It was like her pride was now completely shattered. Her other friends, the Crusaders, and the rest of the student body didn’t look any better either. Principal Celestia looked like the most shameful person in the world.
“Sunset,” Applejack spoke up. She looked at her friend with sad, remorseful eyes. “Ya’ don’t have ta’ do this. There’s nothin’ any of us can say that won’t really be enough to show how sorry they are.”
“Whatever Krampus has in store for us, we deserve,” a regretful Apple Bloom added.
The other girls and students all gave her faces that said silent and deeply heartfelt apologies.
Although Sunset really wanted to say that they were all truly sorry and deserved to be absolved of their sins, she knew deep down she couldn’t truthfully speak for everyone. So she had one last thing to ask of the vengeful Christmas demon. “If you can’t bring yourself to forgive everyone here, then… take me in their place.”
Everyone gasped in shock and horror at what Sunset had just asked.
“You would take their place, even though you’ve done nothing wrong?” Krampus asked baffled.
“Sunset, no!” Fluttershy cried in horror.
“Darling, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into!” Rarity yelled anxiously.
“We’re not worth it!” Sweetie Belle desperately screamed.
“She’s done nothing wrong!” Rainbow pleaded to Krampus. “Please don’t take her in my place, please!”
“Twilight, ya’ can’t let this happen!” a desperate AJ told Twilight Sparkle, who was watching the entire thing with Spike at her side.
“We have to give Sunset Shimmer our trust this time,” Twilight calmly and understandingly responded. “She knows what she’s doing.”
“But she’ll go through Hell!” a panic-stricken Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Literally!”
“I’ve already been through Hell,” Sunset assured her pink friend. “I can handle it.” This made Pinkie lower her head in shame. “Whatever punishments you have in store for them, I’ll take it all for myself if it means saving all of them.”
“Sunset, you don’t have to do this!” Flash Sentry called to her in desperation while frantically trying to shake the bars of his cage loose, but to no avail. “You’ve already suffered enough, don’t cause yourself anymore!”
“ I’m sorry things didn’t work out between us, Flash,” Sunset sadly apologized. After all this time, she still had deep feelings for him. “I don’t know how I can ever make up for the trouble I’ve caused you and everyone else. I just wish I could’ve been the girl you deserve and not the ‘bad girl you love to hate’.”
Hearing this, Flash stopped shanking the bars and dropped to his knees. He remembered the things he said to both Twilight and Sunset at the Battle of the Bands that the Dazzlings orchestrated. He buried his face in his hands and silently started shedding tears of remorse while Derpy gently and sympathetically patted his shoulder. He began to wish he had never let himself fall under the Sirens’ influence and said those awful things.
“Perhaps it’s better this way,” Sunset said trying to cheer everyone up. “Think of this as my Christmas present to everyone. Crusaders, you three will get to spent the holidays with your sisters like you wanted.”
“But, we don’t want ta spent the holidays with our sisters anymore!” an extremely tearful Apple Bloom cried. “We want them ta be happy!”
“And you’re the only one who can make them happy!” an equally tearful Sweetie Belle added.
“Besides, we’re the ones responsible for all of this. We started Anon-a-Miss. We’re the only ones who deserve to be punished by Krampus!” Scootaloo tearfully said.
“Oh, Sweetie!” A touched and tearful Rarity exclaimed and embraced her younger sister.
“Apple Bloom!” AJ warmly pulled her little sister into a warm hug.
Rainbow and Scootaloo stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, sharing a silent tender moment.
The three elder sisters were extremely touched by, after everything that has happened, their younger sisters would rather sacrifice themselves for theirs and Sunset’s sakes rather than let anymore harm come to anyone else.
“Actually, we’re the ones ta’ blame,” AJ said.
“If we hadn’t neglected you, you wouldn’t had came up with Anon-a-Miss,” Rarity added.
“So if anyone deserves to suffer, it’s us,” Rainbow finished for them.
Soon all of the other students were begging for Krampus to spare Sunset’s life. Sunset was so touched by this that fresh tears started falling from her eyes.
“You see,” she said turning to Krampus. She got on her knees and clamped her hands together in a form of begging. “They’re not bad people. They deserve another chance, a good Christmas to spend with their friends and family. So please let them go. Please!” She stared up at the towering creature with tearful pleading eyes.
Krampus was in a state of shock and surprise. Sunset was willing to forgive and sacrifice herself for the sake of the ones who hurt her and the CHS students were willing to accept their just desserts if it meant sparing Sunset’s life. He had never seen something like this in over a thousand years. Before Krampus could make his decision, a bright white light suddenly started shining in the dark, stormy night sky. Everyone had to cover their eyes to avoid getting blinded by the light. After awhile, the light started to dim, becoming more tolerable to look at. The sound of trumpets playing in the sky was heard. Then everyone saw three glowing white lights descend from the sky toward the encampment. At first, the lights were hard to make out but as they got closer, they took the forms of small happy glowing children, two were boys and one was a girl. They all had white feathery wings, golden halos above their heads, wearing clean white robes, and wielding shiny golden trumpets.
“What are those things?” Octavia asked staring at the glowing flying children.
“The Herald Angels!” Scootaloo exclaimed in amazement.
The three little angels flew around the CHS students gently patting their heads and giggling happily. The female angel flew up to Sunset Shimmer, who stared bewildered at the glowing childlike creature. The angel gave her a warm smile and gently placed her small right hand on the teenage girl’s left cheek. The touch was warm and made her entire body feel warm too. It was like she was in front of a warm fireplace. Then the three angels flew back up into the sky and disappeared. The terrible snow storm that had been going on most of the night disappeared with them. The air was now calm, quiet, and peaceful. Snowflakes gently descended from the sky.
“Sunset Shimmer, I have made my decision,” Krampus announced. Everyone stared intently and nervously waiting to hear Krampus’s decision of what he was going to do with them. “Your soul is too pure, it has no place in the Underworld. So I cannot take you in their place. But the rest of you have touched the Herald Angels with your kindness and they have sensed you’ve all regained your holiday spirits and have granted you their forgiveness.” Sunset and everyone else felt their spirits lift. They had done it. They had remembered the true spirit of the holiday and they had all been saved. “Release them,” Krampus commanded his minions.
“Congratulations kids,” the chief dark elf said. “You’re all off the hook.”
One by one, the elves unlocked the cages and let the CHS students out. They also unchained and let the other students off the dark train.
"I will spare them all on one condition," Krampus said. "You must all atone for your sins by doing services to the holiday community for the rest of the season. Any one who steps out of line will answer to ME!"
“Thank you,” Sunset tearfully thanked Krampus and gave him a warm smile. He responded by gently patting her head and letting her off his lap and back onto the snowy ground.
“But remember,” Krampus told everyone in a threatening tone. “If this happens again, there will be no second chances! Also take heed, there are other beings associated with this sacred season that prey on foolish sinners, and most of them are not as 'kind-hearted' as I am. Happy Holidays.” With that, Krampus, his throne, his minions, the cages, and the dark train all dissolved into snow and blew away into the wind.
“Wow, who ever thought this season could be so scary,” Diamond Tiara said still a little spooked.
“And dangerous,” Silver Spoon added just as spooked.
“Sunset, I’m proud of you,” Twilight warmly congratulated her friend and put her hand on her shoulder. “You took my advice well. You stayed strong, stayed yourself, and found your family.”
“I knew you could do it,” Spike also congratulated Sunset.
“Thanks for believing in me,” Sunset thanked her two friends. Then she felt two arms suddenly wrap tightly around her and she was pulled into a warm hug by a smiling Pinkie, who’s hair had returned to its normal poofy form.
“Sunset, we’re sorry we ever doubted ya’,” AJ apologized.
“That’s a mistake we’ll never make again,” Rarity promised wiping the tears from her eyes.
“No matter what anybody says, you’re a more than twenty percent cooler friend to all of us,” a tearful Rainbow joined Pinkie in hugging Sunset.
“Sunset,” Apple Bloom said getting her attention. She and her two friends stood before the older girl with remorseful looks on their faces.
“We’re so sorry for what we did,” Sweetie Belle tearfully apologized.
“It’s okay, girls. I forgive you,” she said in a gentle and understanding tone. "Believe me, I know what it’s like to feel like you’re all alone.”
“Can you ever forgive me, big sister?” Apple Bloom asked her older sister.
“‘Course ah can forgive ya’, Apple Bloom. You’re family,” AJ warmly told her sister. Then she turned to Sunset. “And so are you.” Sunset smiled warmly to that.
“But you three still have to answer for all the trouble you’ve caused,” Celestia sternly reminded them.
“We know,” Scootaloo shamefully and understandingly acknowledged.
“Don’t worry, Squirt,” Rainbow assured her little sister figure. “You won’t go through it alone. I’ll be by your side.”
“As will I,” Rarity said to Sweetie Belle.
“Me too,” AJ said to her sister.
“And me,” Sunset also said to the Crusaders. They all exchanged warm smiles to one another.
“Now that’s the nice girl we love to love!” Flash said.
All the other students started cheering in agreement and gathered around to give her thankful and apologetic compliments and pants on the shoulder and back. Sunset had never received such positive praise from the students of CHS before. It felt really good, and she couldn’t help but smile. Then she felt herself hoisted up off her feet and into the air. She found herself sitting on Bulk Biceps’ right shoulder. Looking down and seeing the students all looking up at her with great admiration, she felt like the happiest girl in the whole world. Soon she was joined by the young Crusaders, who had each been hoisted up onto their respective sisters’ shoulders. Then the entire crowd began marching on their way back to Canterlot High carrying Sunset and the Crusaders all the way.
As Twilight Sparkle walked with the crowd, she watched how happy Sunset looked and shed a single tear of joy for her friend. “Well, Spike,” she said to her assistant. “It looks like our work here is done.”
As she was being carryed by Bulk Biceps, Sunset looked up in the sky. For a moment, she thought she saw a tiny light fly over them and heard the faint sound of laughter.
Ho, ho, HO!
“Nicholas?” she said bewildered recognizing the laughter as it disappeared.
When everyone returned to Canterlot High, Pinkie Pie instructed them to throw a huge school-wide Christmas party to celebrate their success and as a token of apology for Sunset Shimmer. Satisfied now that her friend was happy and back where she belonged, Twilight Sparkle and Spike wished everyone Happy Holidays and returned through the portal to Equestria. The day after, the Crusaders took down the Anon-a-Miss profile from MyStable, Principal Celestia had them apologize to all the students they had hurt, and the three girls were given six months of detention. But they weren’t alone, their big sisters asked Celestia to give them the same amount of detention as a step in a process of make things up for their neglect and for the way they wronged Sunset Shimmer. In fact, a lot of students felt so terrible for the way they treated Sunset that many of them also signed themselves up for detention. In the following days, CHS students had been going around doing all sorts of community services just as Krampus instructed such as donations to charity, working at soup kitchens, working as present wrappers, mall Santas, and many more.
After a couple days, it was Christmas Eve. Sunset Shimmer had asked Applejack’s brother, Big Macintosh, to pick her up at the school and take her to Sweet Apple Acres where they were all going to spent Christmas Eve together. She also asked him to help her bring the presents she had been saving to saving for that day. As Big Mac drove the truck through a neighborhood, Sunset looked out the front passenger seat window and saw many of her fellow students in the houses happily celebrating Christmas with their families. It warmed her heart to see everyone having a good time despite what they had all went through recently.
At Sweet Apple Acres, everyone was getting prepared for their last guest to arrive. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were there; Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were there; even Granny Smith and Maud Pie were there.
“Alright, tree?” Pinkie asked.
“Check,” Rainbow confirmed standing by the beautifully decorated Christmas tree.
“Eggnog with a touch of cider?”
“Check,” Applejack answered bringing out a jug of the delicious beverage.
“Music?”
“Check,” Rarity replied holding up a CD.
“Nat King Cole?” Pinkie asked Rarity another question.
“Check,” Rarity replied again.
“Elf on the Shelf?”
“Check,” Fluttershy answered placing a red happy-looking elf doll on top of a shelf in the room. “Isn’t it cute?”
“Cookies?” Pinkie looked down at the coffee table and saw the Christmas cookies she baked were on a platter sitting on the table. “Check! Now all we need is Sunset.”
“By the way,” Granny Smith interrupted. “When we were all out lookin’ fer Sunset, did anythin’ strange happen to any of ya’?”
“Uh… No,” the girls all hesitantly said in unison.
“Because when ah’ was out there, ah’ came across a strange-lookin’ beast,” Granny Smith explained. “It kinda looked like a reindeer but meaner and had red eyes. Darn thing nearly ran me over.”
Then the front door opened and Sunset and Big Mac came in carry big bags of gifts.
“We’re here,” Sunset announced. “You can check presents off your list, Pinkie. I’ve got some for everyone.”
“Wow, Sunset,” Scootaloo said eyeing the many gifts. “You got all of this for us?”
“Yes,” Sunset replied in a friendly tone. “Not just for my friends, but for you three too.” Sunset was surprised when she saw sad faces on everyone’s face. “What’s wrong everyone?”
“It’s just that,” Fluttershy spoke. “After the way we’ve treated you, we don’t think we deserve all these gifts.”
“Of course you do,” Sunset warmly assured her. “You all apologized and I forgave you. You’re more than just my friends, you’re my family. Besides, I think even girls who make the mistake of easily turning on someone for something she didn’t do deserve to get at least something for the holidays… No offense.”
Everyone stared at her for a moment, then Pinkie burst into hysterical laughter. Soon all the other girls started laughing with her. They all laughed at the irony of Sunset turning their ‘no offense’ antic on them.
“Alright everyone,” Applejack stopped laughing and got everyone’s attention. “Who’s ready to have the best holiday night ever?” Everyone cheered in agreement. But before anyone could begin, they felt their phones buzzing.
“Hey, ah’ got a message from someone,” Apple Bloom said getting out her phone.
“Oh, me too,” Rarity also said looking at her phone.
“Me three,” Pinkie said holding her phone.
It looked like everyone got the same message no their phones.
“I’ll read it,” Sweetie Belle said opening the message on her phone and began reading it. To everyone who’s gotten this,
I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. But you’d better watch out, because I’ll be watching you all the next year! Gruss vom… Krampus!
Suddenly, the mood in the room changed from merry to bone-chilling.
Meanwhile, all the other students of CHS had gotten the same message and were now in a state of fear.
Back at Sweet Apple Acres, the terrified Crusaders each clung to their respective sisters who held them protectively while trembling in fear. The once cute and happy-looking Elf on the Shelf was now staring down at then with a sinister, threatening grin. Sunset ran to the window and looked out into the dark snowy night and there, standing in the yard wearing his red ragged cloak, was Krampus who stared back at her with his ominous glowing red eyes. He gave her a wink with his right eye and then disappeared into the darkness.
