A Very Shadowy Christmas
"Alright, is that thing rolling."
Yes.
"Are you sure?"
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is.
"Good. Alright."
Clearing his throat, Shadow Storm straightened himself to his full height. Brushing his short neon green mane backwards, he took a deep breath before beginning.
"Welcome to my Hearth's Warming Eve short. I uh... well we don't exactly have a lot of the same things you guys do, so I'm gonna have to relay this through William. Anyway I have with me Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. Twilight is managing the uh... web camera I think it's called..."
Shadow trailed off with a sight, drooping his head.
Without looking up, he questioned, "Seriously Will, this is lame. Are you sure they'll like this?"
No, not really, but we need to do something for Christmas.
"Couldn't we have had something more... action packed? Like me saving Hearth's Warming Eve?"
Well... now that you mention it, I did have something like that but scrapped it.
"Why?"
It sucked.
"Ah. And this doesn't?"
It does, but it's better than nothing.
"Fine. Let's just get on with it."
Shadow took a step back. Twilight's library looked odd in its current state; five chairs were now seated in the middle of the library, all surrounded by gifts of varying sizes and colour.
"Uh... Twilight... why are there two extra chairs?"
Shhh! You're giving it away.
"What?"
I didn't tell you did I...
"No."
Arg. Just ignore it.
With a sigh, Shadow flopped into one of the chairs.
"Alright, Dash, you go first."
"Awesome."
Pulling a cyan gift bag forward, Dash eyed the tag curiously.
"It's from you Shadow..." she muttered, sticking her head into the bag.
Seconds later, she pulled her head out and set a small wad of paper on the ground. Unravelling it, she smiled slightly.
"A necklace... thanks Shadow," she stated, turning towards the dark grey pegasus.
"That's not it," Storm replied, grinning, "Look again."
Not wasting any time, Rainbow stuck her head again in the bag. Pulling out a small brown object, she gasped.
"AUTHENTIC WONDERBOLT POLARIZED FLIGHT GOGGLES!" she shouted, jumping up from her seat, "You are the best stallion EVER!"
Bolting over and tackling Shadow with a hug, Dash lit up with happiness. She smashed into Storm so forcefully that his chair toppled over, sending the two rolling onto the floor. Gently pushing Dash off of him, Shadow stood up again, flipping his seat upright. As Dash made her way back to her seat, she snatched her new goggles from the ground, snapping the strap back around her head.
"Alright. Twilight, you're up."
Moving towards the contraption that Twilight was watching, Storm switched places with the purple unicorn, as she slipped into her seat.
"Alright... this is from you, Dash," Twilight stated nervously.
"Calm down... what's the big deal?" Rainbow questioned, her voice cracking.
"I don't like the idea that somepony is watching us..."
Chuckling, Shadow corrected her, saying, "Somebody. Somepony refers to Equine-kind. William is no pony, I can guarantee that."
"Well, I still don't like it," Twilight said, pulling the red bow off the blue parcel that lay in front of her.
"You don't know the half of it Twi. Will is just the beginning."
"I know that, I'm quite active in the Brony community you know. I just... it's a little creepy to think he's watching us at this specific moment."
"Yeah, I know you're active. I have yet to show Dash half of your 'messages' to the community. That last one was super creepy."
Sitting back down, Shadow eyed Twilight as she glared at him.
With a sigh, Storm stated, "Sorry. Can we get on with this?"
Ripping the paper off the present slowly, Twilight gingerly unwrapped it. She sped up the process after a glare from Rainbow, tearing the paper away like a rabid dog.
"Oh... it's a book... on flying techniques. Thanks..." Twilight said, forcing a smile on her face.
Dash laughed, responding, "Hey, you were the one that said you're interested in physics. Look inside!"
Opening the book up, Twilight's forced smile became a real one, as she read the card that dropped out of the bottom of the book.
"30 bit gift card to the Portions book shop! Thanks Rainbow Dash. Looks like we're going to Canterlot."
"You're welcome, and as long as we hit up some... cooler places on the way there."
Dash and Twilight leaned backward, looking at Shadow. With a sigh, he pulled a red parcel toward him.
"This is from you Dash," he stated.
After ripping the paper away from part of the present, Shadow glanced at the camera.
"This is still a stupid idea."
I know. Hurry up.
As Shadow opened the gift, a smile spread across his face. Pulling out the contents, Shadow chuckled.
"Extra lenses for my glasses."
"Yeah; in case I step on them… again," Dash returned.
"Awesome."
Uh… sorry Shadow, time is running out. We're gonna have to cut it short.
"You've got to be kidding," the dark pegasus muttered.
No. I've got a lot to do, and I'm still writing your novel, along with two other original fictions. Running out of time too.
"Well this is fantastic. So this was all for not?"
No, I'll publish this.
"Why?"
I dunno, I want to do something for Christmas.
"You said that already."
I know.
"I can't believe you're my 'human counterpart'. I call bu-"
Shadow… Try to keep this PG.
"Fine."
Any last words?
"Yeah, uh… go read A Shadow's Vengeance. And have a great Hearth's Warming Eve everypony!"
And have a merry Christmas. Also, tell Spitfire and Armor I'm sorry.
"Yeah…"
Yeah…
"This is a little awkward…"
No kidding.