I do not own Gravity Falls.

Prompt: Queen

Christmas Queen

It came as no surprise to anyone when Mabel won the title of Christmas Queen in Gravity Falls' annual winter carnival. Dipper, Candy and Grenda nominated her and the majority of the populace voted for her with little hesitation. Pacifica had been the Christmas Queen every time up until the year before last when the twins first spent the winter holidays in Gravity Falls. Her nose wrinkled in the irritated way it did whenever she lost a competition, but she applauded politely, lips curling in a half smile.

Mabel, who wore a wreath crown and deep red robe with a golden sash, took her responsibilities as Christmas Queen very seriously. She judged the snowman contest, picking the winner not based off the level of perfection but of creativity. She very happily tasted every pie, pudding and fruit cake in the baking competition (and obediently followed Ford's instructions to brush, floss and repeat). Her favourite was the Christmas sweater competition (not ugly Christmas sweater—there was no such thing as an ugly sweater).

But the most important part of the winter carnival was the lighting of the town tree. It was stationed near town hall, a towering majestic pine with glittery gold garland and dozens of red, green, silver and gold baubles. Striding through the snow in her short black boots, the hem of her gown hovering just above the slush and ice, Mabel went to perform the last minute inspections.

"How's it going?" she asked cheerfully.

"It's not really goin' at all," admitted Durland, a slight frown on his features.

Mabel furrowed her brow. "What's wrong?"

"The lights won't…well, light."

Mabel stared in disbelief for a moment before snapping her gaze towards Blubbs. The man was knelt next to the timer hooked up to the extension cord and town hall's electricity. He flipped the switch back and forth, but the multicoloured lights did not so much as spark.

"The tree lighting ceremony starts in twenty minutes," cried Mabel. "How can we have a lighting ceremony with no lights?"

"Uh…are we supposed to answer that?" asked Blubbs.

Eyes darting about, she instructed, "Can you take off the dud lights as fast as you can? I'll be right back!"

Mabel hurried off, the hem of her gown swirling around her boots, her unzipped coat flapping behind her. She went straight into the forest, approaching the sector in which she knew the fairies lived. She wisely stopped on the edge of the invisible boundary, spotting filmy silver wings and soft blue auras that surrounded petite bodies.

A suspicious humming arose when they detected her presence. Carefully raising one hand, she removed a sparkling gold bead from her wreath crown. "Here," she coaxed, "you can have this, if you want."

A fairy floated from her perch high in the tree branches and came to inspect the glittery object. Interested, she tugged on one of the silver beads attached to the pine needles. "You can have more, but would you be willing to do me a favour?"

The fairy studied Mabel for a moment, beady eyes flickering to the multiple beads strung into Mabel's crown. She gave a nod of agreement and the brunette's shoulders sagged slightly with relief.

"Thanks! Listen, can you please…"

She whispered her favour into the fairy's ear. The magical creature made a noise of understanding, called out to a few fellow fairies, and went off to complete her task. Mabel cast a glance at her watch, heart pounding a little faster when she realized it was almost crunch time.

"It's a good thing Christmas is the season for miracles. Otherwise I would be a little more freaked out."

…

Exactly twenty minutes later, Mabel stood in front of the Christmas tree, in sight of the sizable crowd surrounding her. A gentle snowfall added to the warm, festive atmosphere, and Mabel let out a quiet sigh of relief that she had gotten everything ready in time.

"Thank you everyone for joining me here today. Christmas is without a doubt my favourite time of year, and I'm really happy that I get to spend it in my favourite place with my favourite people. I'm honoured that you chose me to be your Christmas Queen. It's going to be a great winter carnival, as it always is, and so let's kick it off. Let there be light!"

The tree flared with a white-yellow brightness, a soothing glow illuminating the shiny ornaments. The crowd erupted into applause and Mabel sidestepped out of the way so that everyone could get a full view of the tree. She moved her way towards Dipper and her great-uncles, who were near the front.

"Great job, pumpkin," said Stan, ruffling her hair affectionately.

"You're beautiful," added Ford with a smile. "I can't think of anyone better suited for the title."

Dipper squinted at the tree. "Wait…I thought the lights were supposed to be multicoloured. Did you change them?"

"Blubbs and Durland took them down with surprising speed. They weren't working," admitted Mabel. "So I had to find a creative solution."

Looking closer, Dipper noticed that the lights were wiggling slightly. Astounded, he asked, "Are those fireflies?"

"Hey, I didn't have much time to work with. I asked the fairies to help me out. They gathered some fireflies and arranged them on the tree." Mabel tucked her hands behind her back and smiled brightly. "I think it looks way better this way."

Dipper eyed her crown, once shimmering with beads, now empty. Smiling slightly, he said, "Yeah. Me too."

Stan and Ford exchanged amused glances. "Definitely the only choice for Christmas Queen," said Ford, settling a hand on her shoulder.

"Without a doubt," agreed Stan.