"Finally," said Applejack with a heavy sigh. "They're all gone!"
After hours of accepting ponies and presents into her home, Twilight's line had finally come to an end. The treehouse was now filled to the brim with colorful boxes. Among the piles of presents, the mane five were deciding who would get what.
"Since me and Fluttershy were on alicorn guard duty all afternoon," asserted Rainbow Dash to the team of AJ and Rarity, "we should get a bigger cut of the presents!"
"I-I don't mind splitting the gifts, uh...fifty-fifty, Rainbow Dash. I think we should share Twilight's gifts, since they're really not ours to..."
"Now hold on a darn minute," broke in Applejack. "Me and Rarity have been out in the cold fending off them townsfolk for hours!"
"That's right," said Rarity with a runny nose. "It was d-dreadfully cold out there! Somepony stole my ha-handkerchief! And I left my favorite scarf at home!
W-we deserve the bigger cut of those puh-puh-presents! Ahh..aaachoo!"
Seeing his beloved's nose run with snot, Spike quickly ran to her with a hanky and wiped it clean. She gave him a smile in return for his help, which made him blush.
He adjusted his shirt and coat. Then Spike ran to a special part of the room and hid the germ-infested hanky in a drawer for safekeeping.
"Ugh," said a disgusted RD at Rarity. "Say it, don't spray it!"
"Why don't you shut it," barked AJ.
"Oh, you want to go?"
"Bring it!"
"Stop it, all of you!"
Twilight flew down in the middle of her divided friends and used her magic to push RD and AJ apart.
"Technically, they're my presents," she stated. "And I think we should do something nice with them. Like..."
"Give 'em to Spike," whisphered the crafty dragon in Twilight's ear. "He deserves it cause he's been a good boy all year!"
"No, Spike," replied Twilight. "I think we should send all of these presents to Manehatten!"
"What," shouted Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
"That's right. We should give these gifts to the less fortunate! To those who don't have enough bits to get gifts for Hearth's Warming Day. We should think of those in need and ship them off tonight."
"B-but Twilight, d-d-darling," pleaded Rarity on her knees. She sniffled out her words. "T-there might be s-something of value in those boxes! Such as...juh-jewels, or d-dresses, or gems!"
"Well," said the alicorn with a pat on Rarity's head, "I suppose the less fortunate won't mind if we keep a few presents for ourselves. So you guys can have half of the pile here."
"Yes," exclaimed RD and AJ as they hugged each other. "Presents!"
"But you all have to divide the piles of gifts equally amongst each other. Agreed?"
"Agreed," said Fluttershy and Rarity happily.
The rest turned to RD and AJ to hear their decision. The two mares broke away from each other and folded their arms.
"As long as Rainbow Dash gets to pick last," said AJ.
"Not a chance," said RD. "I'm the awesomest pony here, so I get first pick!"
"No, me!"
"No! Me!"
"I wanna go first!"
"I'd like to see you try, farm girl!"
"Uh, guys?"
A voice from the front door got everyone's attention. It was Pinkie Pie. She poked her head in through the door.
"There's one last pony here with a gift for Twilight..."
"Really," asked Twilight curiously. "Who is it?"
"Doesn't matter," said Applejack. "Cause whatever's in this next one is mine. There, I called it!"
"You can't do that," said Rainbow Dash.
"I just did! Now I gots dibs! You have to accept that!"
"Oh, no I don't!"
"Uh, yeah! I reckon ya do!"
The two mares were now face to face with one another, burning with pony rage.
"Wow," said Fluttershy as she watched the two argue. "What is it about the holidays that makes them fight like this?"
"H-Hard to s-say, darling," replied Rarity as Spike wiped her nose again. He had a bag slung over one of his shoulders now. It was full of spare hankies for her to use. "M-maybe it's the c-c-cold? Ah-choo!"
The fashionably sick pony shot a wave of snot directly at Spike's face. He felt a little disgust for a moment. Then he wiped off the germs from his face and his sunglasses and applied another hanky to Rarity's snout with a smile. "Ah! Thank you, My S-Spikey wikey! I'm so t-terribly sick!"
"Enough of this," shouted AJ at RD. "Where's this gift giver? Bring him in! I want my present!"
"I think you mean MY present," shouted RD back at her.
"Just let them in, Pinkie," sighed Twilight. She was getting a headache from the fighting of her two friends. Even after hearing the alicorn's words, Pinkie seemed unsure if she wanted to let the pony inside.
"Um, okay. But you're not going to like it!"
"Pinkie, it's fine. Bring them in out of the cold. They must be freezing their hooves off out there!"
With some reluctance, the pink pony gestured the other pony outside to come in. When the pony walked in through the doorway with a wheelbarrow,
Twilight let out a gasp. "What in the...Trixie?!"
"That's right, Sparkle," said Trixie with a frown. "The Great and Apologetic Trixie is back! And she has a gift for you!"
"Where is it?"
Trixie pointed a hoof down at the wheelbarrow and Twilight saw a long, narrow red box in it. It was wrapped with a ribbon that was the same color as her coat. She wheeled in the box closer to Twilight. As she passed by RD and AJ, the two mares caught a glimpse of the box and the wheelbarrow and cringed. The two mares exhanged looks and blushed hard. Then Trixie went by Rarity and Spike. When the fancified mare saw it, she swooned and fell on top of Spike. Even though he'd been crushed, Spike pumped his free arm and said "Oh, yeah!" from under Rarity's body. Fluttershy, meanwhile, had been distracted by a tiny firefly that had buzzed in through an open window, so she didn't see the wheelbarrow or the gift inside of it. Soon enough, Trixie finally made it to Twilight. Standing on her hind legs, the magician pony held on tight to the handles of the wheelbarrow, as if it were the only way for her to remain standing. Twilight observed the size of the present. It filled the little alicorn with curiousity as she wondered what was in it.
"Trixie recently caught wind of the news," she said, referring to herself in the third person yet again, "that you became an alicorn princess! So I came back to Ponyville as fast as I could to see if the rumors were true. That was when I saw a line of admirers in front of your home. It inspired me to get you something...special."
"What ever could it be," asked Twilight as her wings flapped with excitement. "Is it an almanac? A dictionary? An atlas?!"
"Oh, it's much better than that," replied the magician with an evil grin. "Why don't you open it up and see for yourself? I'm sure you'll love it!"
"Wow, Trixie! Thank you so much! You really shouldn't have! It looks so big!"
"Uh, Twi," said Applejack with some sweat sliding down her forehead, "I-I reckon you shouldn't open this one!"
"Why not? It looks so big and amazing!"
"T-Trust us," said Rainbow Dash. "You really don't want to!"
"You must l-listen to us, dear," added Rarity as she lay on the floor, still on top of Spike. "T-There's something in there you won't like!"
"Come now," said Trixie with a pouty face. "Do you foals honestly think I'd get your friend a bad gift? I've changed my ways, haven't I? Don't any of you trust me?"
"Nope," replied RD.
"Nu-uh," replied AJ.
"No way, no how," replied Rarity.
"Come on, you three," said Fluttershy, her attention back on what was going on. She'd just sent the little firefly on his way, out of an open window. "We ought to give Trixie a chance and let Twilight open her gift! Even Discord could change, so I'm sure she didn't put anything bad in there for our friend to find."
"Uh, Fluttershy," said Pinkie as she hopped in through the doorway. She'd been watching the scene from outside the treehouse, afraid to go near Trixie's package.
The pink pony hopped over to the shy pegasus and whisphered what she didn't know in her ear. When Pinkie had revealed the truth she and the others had seen, she cringed and whimpered in fear behind Pinkie Pie.
"Um," squeaked Fluttershy to Twilight, "I was wrong. We shouldn't believe in Trixie. She's bad news, Twilight. Bad!"
"Mmmhmm," agreed Pinkie Pie with a fast nod.
"Not you guys too," said Twilight sadly.
"Shame on you all," said Trixie to the rest of the ponies. "What makes you think there's anything bad in this little box?"
Applejack couldn't take the intensity of this situation anymore. "You know what makes us think that? Because we know what's inside THAT there box is a big...gigantic...throbbing c-"
"Cool it, AJ," blurted out Rainbow Dash at the country pony. "You can't say that with you-know-who here!"
RD pointed a hoof at Spike who was trying to free himself from Rarity's body. She heaved herself back on her hooves soon enough and helped the little dragon back on his feet. Then Spike dusted his fancy duds clean off floor dust.
"Well, I don't care if you all disagree," said Twilight curtly. "As a princess, I have the right to give Trixie another chance at being good.
And I'll start by opening this present!"
"That's right," said Trixie with joy. "Trixie does deserve another chance! And you deserve this!"
"No, Twilight," shouted AJ. "Don't do it! Ah'm telling you, it's a trap!"
"A rock hard," said RD, using her hooves to emphasize her point, "bulging trap! There's something ALIVE in there!"
"You have to believe us," cried Pinkie Pie. "We're trying to help you!"
"P-Please Twilight, don't do it," pleaded Rarity through her stuffy nose.
"Pretty please, Twilight," begged Fluttershy. "Please hear us out!"
Not willing to listen to her apparently cold-hearted friends, the purple alicorn reached out a hoof and touched the ribbon of Trixie's gift. As she started to unwrap it, Trixie quivered in anticipation.
"Y..you're almost there," she whisphered. "Almost at that sweet release..ahh!"
But before Twilight could tear off the red wrapping on the box, Fluttershy had spoken up.
"No," shouted Fluttershy. "We can't let this happen! We have to stop her!"
Hearing the bold pegasus's words, Pinkie sprung into action; she jumped on top of Twilight and smushed her good.
"Ah," cried the alicorn. "Pinkie Pie?! What are you..?!"
"I got her, I got her," she cried.
"Get off of me, Pinkie!"
"Wuh-oh!"
Twilight tried to use her magic to remove the pink earth pony from her back. Then Trixie used her own magic to help her out. Seeing their friend in danger, AJ and RD joined in to help Pinkie in her mission. Applejack wrestled Trixie and her wheelbarrow to the floor, pulling her and her present out of there. The country pony put Trixie in a powerful grapple, but it only served to make the magician pony moan from the strength of her grip. It made AJ sick to her stomach. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash helped Pinkie by adding herself to the dog pile on top of Twilight. Fluttershy quickly flew in and joined the pile.
"I think we got her pinned down," said Rainbow Dash.
"You guys...are acting crazy," uttered the purple alicorn under her friends' bodies. "Let...me...go!"
Her frustration made her horn glow bright with powerful magic. Pinkie saw the light get bright and panicked.
"Oh, no," she cried. "Twilight's going to blast us off! Rarity, quick! Use your horn to get us out of this room!"
Rarity, who was still sick, wasn't sure if she had the energy to do that. "I-I'm not quite sure I can do that Pinkie. I..I-ach-choo! I don't think I can!"
"Sure you can," shouted Rainbow Dash at her from under the pile. "Just remember what's in THAT box! Do you really want Twilight to get a mouthful of THAT!?"
"A mouthful of what," asked Spike. "Just what exactly are we trying to protect Twilight from here?!"
Spike was, as usual, clueless to what was really going on. Rarity, however, knew what they were talking about. And the thought of it made her cringe in disgust. She couldn't imagine getting all of that goop in her mane. It would stain her hair and make her curls stand up staight for days. So with all of her magical strength, she covered Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Twilight Sparkle with her magic and levitated the pile of her friends through an open door and into another room, far away from Trixie's special gift. Once she'd moved them in there, she called for Applejack. The country pony let go of Trixie and soon joined her friends in the other room, locking the door behind her.
