It was the night before Christmas, and everyone in Arkville, heroes and villains alike, were preparing for the most festive day of the year. Well, almost everyone.

As Discord, The Lobe, Eggman and Doofensmitrz tied lights around their tree and hummed "Jingle Bells", The Joker sat alone next to the fireplace, wanting nothing to do with the holiday.

"Come now, Joker. Where's your Christmas spirit?" Eggman said.

Joker glared at him and answered, "It's nonexistent".

The other villains rolled their eyes and went back to setting up their decorations. Joker faced the fireplace, which had a warm fire that was going strong. He began to think to himself.

"What is it about Christmas that makes everyone so happy? Its just another day of the year, so what's the big deal? And all this 'season of joy and giving' blabber just makes me sick. Bah humbug!"

He got up from his chair and started to walk out of the room.

The Lobe asked him, "Joker, where are you going? Aren't you going to celebrate Christmas Eve with us? A Charlie Brown Christmas is on TV tonight, and I know how much you love that special! so, what do you say?

Joker glanced at him.
"I want nothing to do with this goodie-goodie holiday! If you four want to waste your time with it, then fine, but kindly leave me out of it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed".

The Lobe looked at the other villains and shrugged.

Discord spoke up.
"I wish there was a way we could get him in the holiday spirit. As much as I hate to admit it, I hate to see someone not having a little bit of fun on a day like this".

Doofensmitrz scratched his chin and then shouted out, "I've got it! I've got this new -inator I've been working on that may just get rid of Joker's scrooge-ness. Wait, scrooge-ness? Is that even a word?"

He shook his head and regained focus.
"Anyway, we going to need some help from the heroes if we want it to work well"

The villains were a little adamant about asking to heroes for help until Eggman said,
"Well, 'tis the season for getting along".

The four agreed and began their trek over to the heroes HQ.

Over at the heroes' place, everyone was having tons of fun setting up decorations and singing Christmas songs.

"Alrighty everybody!" Pinkie Pie shouted out. "There's fresh-baked gingerbread cookies and other Christmas themed desserts here for anybody who wants 'em!"

Sonic and Rainbow Dash were the first ones at the table.

"Don't mind if I do!" Sonic said as he grabbed a few cookies.

Freakazoid emerged from the kitchen with what appeared to be a colorful brick.

Batman, who, for the festivities was wearing a stanta hat, asked Freakazoid,
"What in the world is that thing you're holding?"

Freakazoid turned to Batman and said, "Oh, this? This is my world-famous fruitcake! Come on, try some!"

Batman put his hand up and politely refused. Just then Jenny walked over and asked to try some of the fruitcake. Freakazoid happily gave her a piece but when Jenny bit into it, it was like biting into a rock. She gave a fake smile to Freakazoid and as soon as he walked away she threw the fruitcake out the window. Batman gave a slight chuckle.

Ike and Derpy were helping Twilight Sparkle and Spike put the decorations on the tree, while Phineas, Ferb, and Fluttershy were wrapping presents. As for Applejack and Rarity, they were arguing about where all the other decorations should go.

Suddenly everyone heard a knock at the door. They opened it to find the four villains and welcomed them inside.

"Hey there, villains!" Applejack said to them. "Merry Christmas to y'all"

They nodded and The Lobe replied, "A very merry Christmas to all of you too"

"So what brings you four here?" Ike asked. "And where's Joker?"

Eggman answered him, "Well, that's why we're here. You see, Joker's the only one of us that's not in the Christmas spirit. He says he wants nothing to do with it, and that just doesn't seem right, even for a villain's standards".

Doofensmirtz added, "So I've been working on this -inator that may be able to give Joker that Christmas feeling. But we need some of your help to pull it off".

Batman was the first to step forward.
"Getting Joker into the holiday spirit isn't going to be easy, but if we work together, I'm sure we can do it. He's liked Christmas before, he can like it again".

Phineas broke in, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's show Joker what Christmas is really all about!".

Doofensmitrz called everyone in huddle.
"Alright, here's what we're going to do..."

The Joker was lying in his bed, dozing off to sleep when he heard a noise that woke him up. He rubbed his eyes and called out,

"Would you four please cut out that racket? I'm trying to sleep!"

But the noise only got louder. It sounded like heavy footsteps.

"Discord? Is that you making all that noise?"

The noise got louder and louder until it finally stopped. Joker wearily got out of bed and walked over to his door. He slowly opened the door to find Batman standing there. Only, it looked like a ghost of Batman. Joker fell to the ground and backed away from the ghost.

"Joker..." the Batman ghost said.

Joker, still backing away, said, "Wha...What happened to ya, Bats? Have a little slip and fall on the ice out there? Not the way I would've expected you to go, but what the heck, I'll take it!" He laughed at his own joke as the ghost grabbed him by the collar and picked him up.

"Listen to me Joker" he said. "I'm here to tell you that tonight you're going to be visited by three more ghosts that will help you get into the spirit of Christmas".

The Joker darted his eyes back and forth.
"But, I don't even like Christmas! Throw as many ghosts at me as you want, I'm not getting into the spirit of anything!".

The ghost dropped him and said, "Trust me, by the time this night is over, you're going to like Christmas just as much as you used to".

With that, the Batman ghost disspeared, leaving the Joker alone.

"Great" Joker said as he rolled his eyes. "I've been thrown in the middle of A Christmas Carol! Just peachy!"

He put on his purple robe and walked downstairs to the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of egg nog and drank it. When he turned around he saw ghost versions of both Phineas and Ferb and immediately spit out his drink.

"Hey there!" the Phineas ghost said. "We're the ghosts of Christmas past. We'e going to take you back in time to when you used to like Christmas!"

Joker shook his head in confusion. How was this happening?
"And how exactly are we going to go back in time?"

The Ferb ghost answered, "Easy, like this".

He waved a large wand around in a circle, and the next thing the Joker knew he and the ghosts were standing on a catwalk in some kind of factory.

Joker looked around, astonished.
"This place looks oddly familiar. Where are we?"

The Phineas ghost answered, "We're in your past. No one can see or here us, though. And this place probably does seem familiar to you because we're in your old realm of Gotham. This was Christmas a few year ago".

Suddenly they heard a familair voice.
"Welcome, citizens of Gotham to a very special Christmas with The Joker. Now here's your host, The Joker!"

The Joker was dumfounded as he saw his past self riding into a cheesy television set on a sleigh.

"I don't believe it!" he said. "That's me! This was a few years ago when I hijacked the Gotham televison signals! I had my own Christmas special and I kidnapped Commisioner Gordon and his family! Oh, those were good times! So much fun on that day, even though I was foiled by Batsy in the end".

"It seems like you had a lot of Christmas cheer back then" the Phineas ghost said.

Joker gave a slight smile and said, "Yes, I suppose I did".

The Phineas ghost turned to the Ferb ghost and smiled. He waved the wand again and Joker was transported back to the present time. But the two ghosts didn't appear with him.

Joker scratched his head.
"This night just keeps getting weirder and weirder".

A little later he went over to his closet, opened the door and was immediately tackled by another ghost. When he opened his eyes he was on the ground, and saw a Pinkie Pie ghost sitting on top of him, smiling ear to ear.

"HI!" The Pinkie ghost said enthusiastically. "I'm the ghost of Christmas present! Cool, huh?"

Joker facepalmed.
"Great, now I've got a hyper-active ghost of a pony this time" he thought to himself.

He yelled at the ghost, "Would you mind getting off me?"

The Pinkie ghost stood up off of him.
"Whoops, sorry! Anywho, like I said I'm the ghost of Christmas present and its my job to show what Christmas is like right now!"

Joker crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.
"Alright, let's get this over with".

The Pinkie ghost smiled and said, "Whee! Let's go!" as she waved her wand with her mouth.

Joker and the ghost were now floating in the heroes' HQ. They could see that the room was filled with Christmas cheer and everyone was having a good time. Then Joker saw the other four villains, talking and playing games with the heroes.

"What do they think they're doing? Those traitors!" The Joker yelled.

The Pinkie ghost reminded him, "It is Christmas, ya know. It's a time for peace and kindess, even between people who don't usually like each other. Its that one day a year when everyone can put aside their differences and party like there's no tommorow! And that's what makes Christmas so special".

The Joker thought for a minute.
"I...I guess you're right. Maybe Christmas isn't that bad after all".

The Pinkie ghost smiled.
"Glad you feel that way. But ya still have one more ghost that's coming to visit you tonight. Have fun!"

There was flash and Joker was back at the villains' HQ.

"What is going on? Why do I all of a sudden feel...strange? Could this be the Christmas spirit? Eh, its probably just indigestion".

He laughed at his own joke again but stopped laughing when he felt a presence behind him. He slowly turned around to find what looked to be the grim reaper standing in front of him. He about Joker's height, with a black hood covering his face.

Joker gulped and said, "Let me guess, you're the ghost of Christmas Future?"

The hooded ghost nodded.

Joker gulped again.
"I was afraid of that. Alright, let's see what's in store for me".

The hooded ghost grabbed the Joker's arm and transported the two to the future.

Joker and the ghost arrived in a creepy-looking graveyard.

"So what are we doing here?" Joker asked.

The hooded ghost pointed to a tombstone. Joker walked over to it and wiped the dirt from it. He gasped at what he saw. But after a few seconds, he became slightly confused.

"Wait a minute, who the heck is Tiny Tim? Why did you point me to here?"

"Oops. Wrong tombstone" The hooded ghost said.

Joker raised an eyebrow.
"Hold on, I recognize that voice! You're the boy with the energy powers, aren't you?"

The ghost pulled back his hood to reaveal a ghost version of Ike.

"Yeah, you caught me. I'm the actual Ghost of Christmas Future. Cool costume, huh? But anyway, I meant to point towards that tombstone right there".

Joker walked over to the other tombstone and was shocked at what he saw. It read,
"Here lies The Joker, the only creature in Arkville that didn't like Christmas".

"What?" Joker shouted. "What a terrible epitaph! I've done much bigger things that I should be remebered by!"

He calmed down and somberly asked the Ike ghost,
"But is this really my fate? To be known as the clown who hated Christmas?"

The ghost nodded.
"It will remain this way unless you learn to embrace the Christmas spirit. Just search your feelings, and you'll find it somewhere".

The Ike ghost began to dissapear.

"Wait!" Joker said. "Don't leave me here by myself! Don't go..."

"Wait, don't go! Don't go!"

The Joker fell out of his bed and woke up as he hit the floor.

"What the..." He said to himself. "Everything's back to normal. It must've been a dream. Heh, some dream that was. Christmas spirit? Phooey! I don't need any Christmas spirit! I'm perfectly fine the way I am".

He saw on his calendar that the day was the 25th. Christmas day. He laughed to himself and said sarcastically,
"Merry Christmas!"

He looked out his window and could see that in the distance, the heroes had already begun their Christmas party. He suspected that the other villains were already there. And, somehow, he felt a bit of eagerness to join them in their festivities.

"Maybe..." he thought. "Maybe Christmas isn't so bad after all. I suppose one day a year to be in the spirit won't be so bad. I guess I should make an appearance at that party. Oh! But if I go over there, I'm going to need to bring something!"

He quickly got dressed and opened his closet looking for anything Christmas related to bring. And then he saw the only thing Christmas-y and groaned.

He grabbed it and said, "They're going to owe be big time for this!"

Over at the heroes' HQ the party was going strong.

"So, do you think Joker's gotten into the Christmas sprit yet?" Batman asked Doofensmirtz.

The doctor answered, "Hopefully. Thanks to my dream-inator you were all able to get into his dream and it seemed like you did a good job of convincing him. But I wonder if it had any impact on his spirit?"

Just then Joker himself burst through the door, sporting a full Santa Claus costume.

"Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas to everyone!"

Everyone laughed and cheered and welcomed Joker to the party. He walked over to Batman and said,

"Remember, Batsy, this is a one-day-only thing. Once tommrorow comes we're back to being enemies, got it?"

Batman smirked.
Wouldn't have it any other way, Joker".

Batman then turned to Doofensmitrz.

"Yeah, I think it worked."

He then turned to Phineas, Ferb, Pinkie and Ike and gave them the thumbs up. They smiled and returned the thumbs up.

"Do you think we should tell him about the dream thingy?" Pinkie asked.

Ike looked over and saw Joker dancing with the other villains.

"Nah, let him enjoy himself. Now come on, there's much more party to be had!"

Pinkie jumped up and said, "I like the way you think, Ike!"

And so the heroes and villains all enjoyed the Christmas party for the entire day. At night, they sat around the fireplace singing Christmas songs and giving each other gifts. This was Christmas, after all. They were going to enjoy this day for as long as they could. And before the night ended, Derpy, wearing festive antlers and a red nose, raised her glass of egg nog with her hoof and shouted,

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

The End

Merry Christmas Everyone