My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria

by xinbra

Sora is sent into the land of Equestria after his failure at the Mark of Mastery. Along the way, he will face all sorts of challenges coming towards Equestria. Credit goes to Codex92.

242. Chapter 242

Best Gift Ever

'Twas a single day left before Hearth's Warming Eve, Everypony was busy, so much to achieve; They hustled and bustled, their heads were a-spin, And it's here that our holiday story begins...

Fall turned to winter in nearly a blur as the months passed, and Hearth's Warming was on its way. Classes at the School of Friendship were out for the winter break, the mid term exams already done and students going home to enjoy the holidays with their families. The Young Six boarded the train, each of them wearing some article of clothing to keep them warm out in the snow-covered town. And, as luck would have it for Gallus, he was given permission to spend his break with Silverstream and her family just as she promised last year. Sandbar was also going to visit Yakyakistan to see Yona's home and visit her family, both eager to meet her folks while also anxious when they discover their daughter was dating a pony.

Last minute decorations were getting put up in Ponyville. Last minute shopping for the perfect gift for a friend or loved one made everyone rush. Last calls for transportation to another town or city before they're closed for the holiday. Foals were busy playing while the adults focused on making their Hearth's Warming perfect, and with only one day left, time was of the essence for many.

[Ponies] Hearth's Warming Eve is almost here There's so much left to do

[Rainbow Dash] Still need to shop for all my friends But what to get? No clue!

[Fluttershy] This one is nice, and that's so cute Although that's pretty, too

[Rarity] Why do I make all these gifts each year? I doubt I'll make it through

Out in the market, Rainbow Dash was in a panic looking around for the best gifts for everyone, zipping up to different stalls to figure out what everyone would like. Fluttershy was also at a loss for what to get for her friends, even Discord and Dizzy. Each gift looked good, but she couldn't decide which one would be the right one for each pony/person. Rarity was swamped with so many different orders for the winter season. She barely made it through Nightmare Night with the crystal ponies joining them, and nearly ending in disaster, and many ponies between all three of her boutiques requested unique designs that barely got her any time to buy or make anything for her friends. She managed to finish the last one before rushing out of her home to find a last minute gift for everyone, even if it's not as perfect as she might want them to be.

[Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity] One more day before the cheer

[Ponies] Shop! Pay! Box! Wrap! Bow! Repeat!

[Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity] One last chance before the holiday's here

[Ponies] Box! Wrap! Bow! Again!

[Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity] One more day to make the holiday great One more day before we celebrate

[Rarity] One day, and then it's here

[Ponies] One more chance to bring that holiday cheer

Outside town, a Gummi ship landed on the snowy field before camouflaging itself. The boarding ramp lowered as Sora, Kairi, and Manami stepped out. Manami was giddy to be back in Equestria for the holiday since there wasn't too much trouble after Nightmare Night's Heartless invasion.

"Oooooh! I'm so glad to be back!" Manami squealed. "And to spend time with Applejack's family! If Sora's an honorary Apple, does that make me one, too?"

"I think so," Sora said. "But we also invited Pinkie's family to the farm as well. Just like a couple years back for Hearth's Warming when we stayed at her family's farm."

"So, where's Kaito at?" Kairi asked. "It's been a while since we saw him."

"Yeah. I ran into him in another world a few months ago," Sora added. "He's going to miss the holiday."

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen him for a while," Manami uttered. "I know he felt a little depressed with fighting that disgusting dragon who pretended to be Spike's father. I hope he takes the time to relax and maybe join in soon." Entering the town and making it to the market, they could hear the music in the background as they found the the Apples helping the Pies move their luggage in a cart. Big Mac was having some trouble, though most of the Pies' belongings were rocks, which explained his struggles. Manami got a first glimpse at Pinkie's family, part of her expecting them to have the same bubbly, positive energy she did, but they were more stoic or lacking that very energy, to her disappointment, including their fascination with rocks. "Goodness. What kind of cultivation do they work with?"

"Rocks," Sora said, his answer baffling the mare. "Seriously. They farm rocks."

As they got closer to the group of possible relatives, Apple Bloom spotted them and came running toward them. "Miss Manami! You're here!" Apple Bloom cheered.

Manami snatched the filly as she jumped in her hooves, hugging the youngest Apple tightly. "Ooh, I missed you and the other Crusaders!" Manami said.

"You're gonna celebrate Hearth's Warming with us again!?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Darn tootin'!" she said with a laugh.

Sora came over to help Big Mac with the Pies' "luggage", making the farm stallion huff in jealousy. "Gotta start getting meat on your bones, Mac," Sora teased. After stowing away the Pies' belongings, Sora went up to Pinkie's parents, Limestone, and Marble. "Nice to see you guys again."

"As it is for you, Sora," Igneous said.

"With the harvest done for the season, it is fair we celebrate Hearth's Warming with the Apples," Cloudy Quartz added. "Maud will join us later this evening after spending time with her coltfriend's family."

"Hope you don't mind meeting another unofficial Apple joining in," Sora said. Apple Bloom, Manami, and Kairi made their way to the group as Sora dragged his mother away from Apple Bloom. "Cloudy Quartz, Igneous Rock Pie, this is my mom, Ocean Breeze. Mom, these are Pinkie's parents."

"Nice to meet you," Manami greeted, holding her hoof out to shake theirs. When Cloudy gripped the pegasus's hoof, Manami suddenly grimaced from the tight grip the Pie matriarch had. "Ahh!...S-Strong grip."

"You need muscle to work with all manner of rocks on our farm," Cloudy said after releasing Manami's hoof. "Especially Holder's Boulder."

"At least no one's gonna be touching Holder's Boulder unlike the last time," Limestone grumbled.

"We get it; it's important to your family," Sora sighed. "It's like you're in love with that thing."

"SHUT UP!" Limestone exclaimed while Marble quietly snickered.

"Yeesh. Aggressive, isn't she?" Manami uttered to Sora.

"That's Limestone, one of Pinkie's older sisters," Sora introduced. "And that is Marble, and if you believe it or not, Pinkie's twin."

"TWIN!?" Manami gawked, staring at Marble who suddenly glanced away shyly while mumbling with a slight nod, affirming Sora's claim. She blinked, unable to wrap her head around Pinkie being a twin, nor how completely opposite she was compared to Marble. "...Are you sure Pinkie wasn't adopted?"

Sora just laughed at his mother's befuddlement and shook his head. "You should have seen when we first met Maud after Pinkie told us how much they enjoy the same activities growing up," Kairi added. "Expectations immediately shot at first glance."

Walking up to the two families, the extra addition to the Apple siblings' lives approached Granny Smith. "Happy Hearth's Warming, crab apple," Grand Pear greeted.

Granny Smith turned around, giving her former rival a small leer, but grinned. "Same to you, prickled old pear," she greeted back.

"Grandpere Pear!" Apple Bloom ran up to her grandfather and hugged him, getting hugged back by the old stallion.

Hearing the youngest Apple's excitement, Manami turned around, unaware of another pony that was part of the Apples' family. "Who's this?" she asked curiously. "I don't remember him."

"That's Grand Pear, Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom's grandpa they never knew," Sora said.

"Grand 'Pear'?" Manami questioned.

"It's a long story," Sora said.

Up the road, Pinkie came hopping along, bouncing to the music as it picked up while making her way to her family and her possible mixed relatives.

[Pinkie Pie] Hearth's Warming Eve is almost here A day for us to share

[Applejack] Friends and family all together

[Pinkie Pie] Pies and Apples and a Pear

[Applejack] Together families, lots of work There's so much to prepare

[Applejack and Pinkie Pie] With all the planning we still have to do We've got no time to spare

With the Pies' belongings stowed away, everyone hurried on to Sweet Apple Acres with so much more to get set up for the holiday.

Ponies] One more day before the cheer

[Pinkie Pie] Stuff! Box! Wrap! Card! Bow! Repeat!

[Ponies] One last chance before the holiday's here

[Pinkie Pie] Stir! Pour! Bake! Again!]

[Ponies] One more day to make the holiday bright

[Manami] One more day? I cannot wait tonight

[Applejack] The family's almost here

[Ponies] One more chance to bring that holiday cheer

Manami was a little surprised she just jumped into the song like that, slightly embarrassed. She did enjoy the Crusaders random musical number and felt tempted to join, but it didn't "feel" right to do so in the moment. Arriving at the farmhouse, the Apples made the Pies feel at home, Winona adding to the greeting by excitedly hopping up to each Pie and giving a friendly, slobbery lick. Even though Applejack, Pinkie, Sora, and Kairi had more to get ready, Manami didn't mind getting to know both families.

It was strange how the presents the Pies had to give were rocks, but if their livelihood involving rocks is meant to be a benefit for Equestria, she won't turn a blind eye to their customs. As for Grand Pear, she thought that he was Granny Smith's ex husband, but the disturbed expressions on their muzzles said otherwise. The two elders gave the pegasus a short summary of their former rivalry many years ago, their foals meeting each other in secret and growing to love each other more and more as they got older, and planned to elope to stay together despite their families' feud. Manami found it romantic, but also sad when Grand Pear showed much regret for letting his hatred toward another family keep him from what really mattered more to him. He missed out on so many years with his grandfoals and had moved back a year ago to make up for all that lost time. When Manami asked where Bright Mac and Pear Butter were, their somber expressions explained more than enough.

When the front door opened, Big Mac nearly ran over Manami when his marefriend Sugar Belle arrived. Immediately, the stallion swooped the unicorn off her hooves and showered her with affection. She was surprised that another non earth pony was added to the family, and the way Big Mac goes nuts over Sugar Belle was adorable. However, from the kitchen, she did notice Marble Pie watching them, looking despondent. She must have had a crush on Big Mac, even though it would be a little weird after being told that the Apples and Pies could be long distant relatives. Maybe one day, this shy mare would find someone special who can break her out of her quiet shell.

Before the fun there's preparation (Just around the corner) Shopping, cooking, decorations (The complications)

It's all worth it in the end Spreading joy to all your friends Even when it never, ever Ever seems to end AHH!

At the Castle of Friendship, things were slightly chaotic. While everyone had been busy with lessons and training, they managed to get the School of Friendship decorated for the holiday before the break, they neglected preparing the castle. Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Xion, Lea, and Riku were busy setting up lights, wreathes, the tree, everything to give the interior some decent holiday sprucing, but then there were gifts they had to get last second, figuring out what to make for the big dinner with everyone, it was a mess. Axle Beam and Sweet Delight helped out while Lea used his magic to lift several ornaments onto the tree.

"How the hay did winter come so fast!?" Lea exclaimed. "It's like fall flew right by in the blink of an eye!"

"You have been pretty busy the last couple months," Sweet said.

"I think Twilight needs to hire some ponies to watch over this place and do this as a job, not us," Lea grumbled.

"Where's Starlight? Doesn't she live here, too?" Sweet asked curiously.

"She's spending the holiday with Trixie. As the next headmare of the school, I'm kinda surprised she thought she'd be better as a counselor after searching for a vice headpony," Lea said. "Of course, she would pick Sunburst for that role. But Trixie's counseling tactics..." Lea grimaced after watching Starlight go through her interview with some potential candidates as her vice headpony when Twilight eventually takes the throne for Celestia and Luna. That last month seeing her act out unprofessionally or showing off like the magician she is, the only thing he saw anything to praise about Trixie is that she at least cares about the students. One test involving a parent/teacher conference, Trixe met with Grandpa Gruff to talk about Gallus's studies. Gruff didn't care about being present or caring much about Gallus at all, and though Trixie did stand up for Gallus, she didn't handle it properly in a professional way. "...She at least has a heart for the students."

Rushing through the halls, Spike was carrying boxes of decorations in his arms. With his new build, he was able to lift much more than before, but that didn't help that the castle still wasn't finished, and Twilight was most likely having a panic attack.

[Spike] Hearth's Warming Eve is getting close We're not prepared, I fear

Riku grunted as he placed down some more boxes of ornaments, both him and Spike gazing around at the scattered mess in the foyer. They both rushed over to Riku and Twilight's bedroom, the alicorn scribbling on a scroll, frantically having another one of her Twilighting moments.

[Riku] Twilight, you should take a break]

[Twilight] No time for rest, that much is clear

I made a list and checked it twice There's lots to do on here Oh, if I can't get everything done I'll have to wait and celebrate next year

Skimming over her scroll and tossing it behind her, Spike caught the lengthy parchment, spanning nearly twenty times than a "simple" letter to Celestia years ago. Teleporting her winter gear, Twilight flew out the door and rushed to the market with Riku and Spike tailing after her. Racing through the hall, Freya stepped out of her room, yelping slightly when she almost got tangled up in the scroll Spike was dragging along.

"What in the world?" Freya muttered.

"Sorry, mom! Very busy!" Spike called out. "Happy Hearth's Warming!"

"'Hearth's Warming'?" Freya uttered, scratching her head. "Doesn't he mean Christmas?" Following the fleeing dragon and ponies, she walked out to the foyer, staring at the mess of decorations, some barely finished being strung. "Uhh...Isn't it a bit early for Christmas? Unless it's on a different date in this universe."

"It's on the twenty-fifth of December," Aqua answered, entering the foyer with several more boxes of decorations. "Hearth's Warming is tomorrow. Do dragoons not celebrate that holiday?"

"I heard Spike mention it once. Is it like Christmas?" Freya asked.

"Kinda, but it's a holiday that celebrates the union of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, which also founded the kingdom of Equestria," the unicorn explained.

"Oh. I've never heard of that, even when roaming around saving the pony towns and cities," Freya said. "Ponies from my world were never enemies toward each other in history."

"That's another difference to notch between both Equestrias." Both women looked up at the messy decor, then back to each other. "Wanna help set up some holiday decorations?"

"Sure. I need something to do today." Freya grabbed some garlands and flew up to the rafters."

Back in the market, Twilight was flying around, searching the stalls for what she needs before any of them close up early for the holiday. All the while, Spike was running behind her, trying to catch up with the scroll lagging behind him in the snow with Riku flying ahead to try to stop her.

[Ponies] One more day before the cheer Shop! Pay! Box! Wrap! Bow! Repeat! One last chance before the holiday's here Box! Wrap! Bow! Again!

While Spike was chasing after Twilight, they passed by Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy, neither of them paying attention as they wound up getting tangled up with the scroll and getting dragged behind. As Sora and Kairi scoured the market, Sora became the next unfortunate victim, tripping over Rainbow Dash and got himself caught in the incredibly thick parchment, yelling out in surprise and dragged away from Kairi. Donald and Goofy were carrying several groceries for their dinner, stacks of boxes and bags blinding their vision, and they too got swept up by the sliding scroll, launching the food as their legs got caught and screamed as they were being dragged off. Luckily, Kairi caught the food before they hit the ground, baffled by what was happening and why Spike didn't noticed the added weight dragging behind him.

One more day to make the holiday great One more day until we celebrate

[Cutie Mark Crusaders] Please, oh please, make it really, really great!

[Postal Pony] One more gift, try to hurry, don't be late!

[Flower Trio] Box! Wrap! Bow! Repeat! Gotta concentrate!

[All] Just one more day until we all celebrate!

Hearing the yelps and grunts, Riku looked back, balking seeing Sora, Donald, Goofy, Rainbow, Rarity, and Fluttershy tangled in Twilight's massive to-do list. "Spike, stop!"

"Huh?" Spike skid to a halt, looking behind him, grimacing slightly when he finally saw what he unknowingly caught. "Oops. I thought the scroll was starting to get heavier."

"Yet you couldn't slow down when you noticed that?" Rainbow grumbled.

"Is it legal to wrap someone up like a gift as a present to someone?" Sora asked, both as a joke and out of curiosity.

Kairi rolled her eyes, helping the trapped ponies, griffon, and diamond dog out from the tangled up scroll. "I don't think it counts if you were wrapped up by accident, you goof."

Spike rolled up the to-do list while the others watched Twilight flying or teleporting to every stall her eyes caught sight of. "I need two of those! Three of those! Ten of those just in case!"

"And she's Twilighting again," Rainbow remarked, Pinkie and Applejack joining the others after hearing Twilight's psychotic meltdown.

"Do Twilight and Riku swap around who freaks out and panics every so often?" Pinkie asked. "I'm sensing a pattern here."

"Well, with how delayed we were with the school, we're falling behind decorating the castle," Riku said. "I don't get why we need to decorate every single room. Most of them aren't being used."

"I'mgonnagrabafewoftheseohwhoamIkiddingINEEDEIGHT!" Twilight quickly rambled, zipping past everyone, her reaction phasing nobody aside from the spooked vendors.

"And ya can't get her to settle down?" Applejack asked Riku. He only sighed heavily, pointing at the giant scroll rolled up in Spike's arm. "Ah see. Ah got this." Just as Twilight flew over them, Applejack grabbed the mare's tail, pulling her back and set her down. "Hey, Twi. How's your day?"

"I fell behind on midterms, Cadence and Shining Armor are coming over with Flurry Heart for the holiday, and we've fallen so far behind on decorating, WE'RE GONNA-!" Applejack placed a hoof on the alicorn's muzzle, silencing her.

"Stop," Applejack calmly said, removing her hoof. "Take a breath." Doing as instructed, Twilight inhaled and held her breath. "And let it out slooooow."

Twilight exhaled slowly, calming herself down enough to not freak out anymore. "Good lord. What would Twilight do without us?" Sora teased.

"Don't bring it back up, Sora," Twilight growled. "I've lost track of time, and I haven't even gotten the chance to buy a gift for anypony."

"Ah have an idea that might help," Applejack said. "What if we all change up how we give gifts this year and do a Hearthswarmin' Helper?"

"What's a Hearthswarming Helper?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"That almost sounds like something similar called Secret Santa," Kairi said, only for Pinkie to shove her hooves in the pink alicorn's muzzle.

"Don't tell everypony Sora's secretly Santa!" Pinkie hissed.

"Not that, Pinkie," Sora scolded, dragging the silly pink pony away from his wife. "Secret Santa's a little surprise gift exchange thing some people do when Christmas comes around. We take a hat, put names of those who wish to participate, and whoever's name you grab, you get one gift for that person."

"Exactly like Hearthswarmin' Helper," Applejack said. "With how many relatives we have, it's hard to get a present for everypony. Makes it much easier when we have them visit during the holidays. But ya can't tell who ya got."

"Wait, a fun mystery gift giving game, but you can only get them ONE present!?" Pinkie exclaimed, mortified. "That's a terrible game! Both Hearthswarming Santa and Secret Helper!"

"Well, it would save us some time," Rarity claimed, knowing how far behind she was with all the orders she received.

"And the less shopping, the better," Rainbow added. "I'm in!"

The other mares of the Mane Six agreed, even Spike when he had the perfect opportunity to give one special gift to Rarity. "Well, count me out if Twilight's going to just fret over giving one of us a present," Riku said. "Someone's gotta keep some order at the castle and get things ready with the others. Speaking of, I should probably continue decorating. Later, guys."

Riku flew back to the castle, leaving them to their Hearthswarming Helper. Twilight took a part of her long scroll, tearing off a long segment and began writing her name, Spike's, and the other mares.

"Sora, Kairi, did you want to take part?" Twilight asked.

"Nah. I actually got the perfect gift to give to Kairi," Sora claimed. "I was debating waiting until Christmas, but perhaps I'll be generous and make it a Hearth's Warming gift instead."

"Sora, you don't have to give me anything," Kairi assured. "Wasn't my ring more than enough?"

"But I want to spoil my Princess of Heart more," Sora whined.

"Oh brother," Donald groaned while Goofy chuckled. "Let's just get the food back and get things ready for the big dinner, Goofy."

"You two don't wanna join in either?" Applejack asked.

"Making dinner would kinda be a gift for everyone," Goofy said. "And I know a lot of good recipes I made for Max when we celebrated Christmas when he was a kid."

"Alright. We'll see you at the castle for the grub." Donald and Goofy took back their respective boxes and bags of groceries they carried and resumed their return to the castle, being extra cautious not to get slipped up again.

With all the names participating written down, Twilight split each name while Applejack used her hat to place them in. With a swirl of magic, the folded slips were mixed up, the girls and Spike grabbing their name one by one, each of them secretly peeking at the names they got. Without knowing who they all got, some of them were surprised or perturbed with their picked gift givee.

"I'm so excited! I don't wanna give anything away!" Pinkie squealed before zipping off.

"When do we exchange gifts?" Rarity asked.

"How about at the castle tomorrow night on Hearth's Warming Eve?" Rainbow suggested.

"Perfect," Applejack agreed. "Pinkie and Ah will spend the evenin' with y'all and the next mornin' with our families."

"And I'll be able to cut enough time to celebrate with everypony!" Twilight said.

"I think everybody else back at the castle could probably get the place set up in time for you to panic over finding your secret gift buddy something," Sora said.

The others split up to find the best gift to give to their picked partner, though Spike lingered as he glanced at his buddy for a moment before hurrying after Applejack. "Uhh, Applejack? Is it against the rules to trade names?" he asked. "Like, if I had a better idea for somepony special? Err, specific?"

Applejack paused, looking at the desperate dragon. Spike was never that subtle, and if Sora and Kairi could see who he picked wasn't Rarity, he wanted to trade names to get something for his crush.

"If you're able to figure out who has the pony you want and they're ok with tradin', Ah guess it's fine," Applejack said.

"Cool!" Relieved, Spike was about to hand his slip to Applejack for the trade. "So, who do you-?"

"Ah don't have Rarity." Spike backpedaled, unable to feign innoncence as everyone in all of Ponyville at this point knows he had a huge crush on Rarity for the last several years.

"I-I wasn't gonna-!" he stammered, giggling sheepishly.

Applejack just rolled her eyes and continued on to find a gift for who she picked. Panicking, Spike flew off, hoping to catch up with the other mares to trade for Rarity's name.

"You think he has a chance to be with Rarity despite still being younger than her?" Kairi questioned.

"I don't know, but I have seen her giving Spike some looks since his new change," Sora pondered aloud. "I guess we'll see if she's beginning to like him more beyond the friend zone."

"I thought I saw him hanging out with that overly friendly griffon courier a few weeks ago," Kairi mentioned. "What was her name? Gabby?"

"Oh yeah. I think she came around a couple years ago wanting a cutie mark and went to the Crusaders to help her find one. Even though it doesn't seem possible for other creatures besides ponies to get one," Sora said. "If she and Pinkie had a bubbly personality contest, I don't know who'd win."

The couple laughed at the silly competition, though they could imagine someone like Gabby to outmatch Pinkie, and she was one of the only other griffons who wasn't as rude or harsh as the rest of Griffonstone's populace. "But if you were to join, you'd beat them both without issue," Kairi said, planting a kiss on Sora's cheek. "I'm gonna head back to the castle to see if the others need an extra hoof with decorations."

"Ok. I'm just gonna laze around, and get that special gift for you all ready," Sora said.

They shared a small kiss before Kairi flew back to the castle while Sora watched with a grin. "...You don't have anything to give her, do you?"

Sora's grin faltered as he frowned bitterly. "Shut up, Roxas," he grumbled.

"Then why did you lie about that?" Roxas questioned. "Applejack should have noticed you making it up, and with how busy you guys have been the last couple months, you haven't had any time to find her anything."

Instead of arguing, Sora sighed heavily and hung his head. "If it wasn't for the tests and training, I've been going back and forth to the Crystal Empire to try to assure the crystal ponies about Sombra."

"I don't think you'll be able to convince them with how badly scarred they've been in the past," Roxas said. "Be grateful they haven't taken down your statue after hearing you vouching for someone they saw as a tyrant. There are some who you can convince that their views on someone else were wrong, but after the damage done by Sombra's Heartless..."

"I know. I get they've gone through a lot, but I want them to know that Heartless is now completely destroyed," Sora uttered. "They don't have to fear stepping outside and seeing him cause more terror."

"But then there are the Heartless who almost attempted to ambush the Crystal Empire when the barrier was shattered from Flurry Heart's temper tantrum," Roxas reminded his true counterpart. "You know they're after their light. Their hearts have the strongest light out of anyone we've ever met who aren't Key Bearers. Though everything was fine during Nightmare Night, the moment they're genuinely scared, their fear brought that hoard of Heartless to attack them." Sora silently agreed, but he and the others didn't want the crystal ponies to be holed up inside the barrier of their kingdom for the rest of their lives. They'd been trapped there for years and missed out on the world for over a thousand. "They might not be ready for everything out there like Luna was. You should leave them be to try to forget that whole incident."

"...Fine...Maybe that's for the best..." Sora had no idea how long it would take for the crystal ponies to recover from the frightening Nightmare Night they had, unwilling to let them stay inside their protective bubble forever when they had more freedom than ever before in their lives. Trying to put the Crystal Empire out of his mind, he focused on what to get for Kairi for the holiday, but he was drawing a blank. "You got any ideas what I can give Kairi?"

"She's your wife," Roxas stated. "If it were Naminé, however, I'd go with some sketchpads, a huge array of colored pencils. Or maybe an easel and paint? I'd like to see memories she can recreate with that."

"Gee, you're a big help, buddy," Sora grumbled. "And just so you know, Kairi and I are the ones married. You two barely shared that much time together to even have that kind of relationship."

"We will eventually," Roxas remarked.

"...You know, I wonder if Ienzo's making progress on recreating a vessel for the both of you," Sora said. "It has a been a bit since we last spoke with him." Humming curiously, Sora shook his head, figuring the young scientist might still be having some trouble encrypting Ansem the Wise's secured files. "Gotta focus on getting Kairi's present. Maybe Pinkie might have an idea."

Back in the castle, Riku continued his assistance setting up everything with the others. They made a bit of progress while he, Twilight, and Spike were out. The tree in the foyer was fully decorated, Ventus carefully setting the big, golden star topper while minding the flapping of his wings. Twilight had returned momentarily, nearly throwing off Ventus's concentration as she zipped around to quickly finish decorating.

"Slow down a little bit, Twilight," Riku scolded. "There's plenty of hours left in the day."

"Once we're done setting everything up, I'll have the time to go shopping for my Hearthswarming Helper," Twilight said. "It's a shame you, Sora, or Kairi couldn't join."

"The heck's a 'Hearthswarming Helper'?" Ventus asked, backing away as he confirmed the topper was in place.

"Secret Santa," Riku explained.

"Ah. That makes much more sense," the pegasus mumbled.

"Who'd you even get?" Riku asked curiously.

Before Twilight could respond, Spike came walking in and approached his surrogate sibling. "Hey, Twilight, what do you plan to give your secret pony?" he asked, failing to act nonchalant on the topic.

"First decorations, then I'll shop," Twilight insisted.

"Maybe something sparkly?" Spike asked. "Fashionable?"

Riku stared blankly at the dragon. "Subtle, Spike. Very subtle," he grumbled.

"I don't think my pony likes any of those things," Twilight said, hinting to Spike that who she got was definitely not Rarity.

Disappointed, he turned and began to head back out. "Welp, gotta go, then! Wish me luck!"

"Wish you luck for what?" Freya asked, lowering a box of ornaments.

"U-Uhh, shopping!" Spike exclaimed sheepishly. "We're doing a Hearthswarming Helper thing, and if I can only give ONE gift to who I got, I've got a HUGE responsibility to make sure it extra special!"

"You mean Secret Santa," Freya corrected.

"Whatever. I gotta find somepony who- Gah! I mean, find MY secret somepony the perfect gift!" Spike grinned nervously, then zipped out of the front door, slamming it behind him.

Freya sighed, rubbing her snout in frustration. "I'm gonna guess the name he picked wasn't Rarity, was it?"

"Your kid is not the subtlest of dragons," Riku commented. "Does he get it from you or Estinien?"

"Definitely not me!" Freya exclaimed. Ignoring the decorations, she walked toward the door. "I better follow him and make sure he doesn't cause any trouble."

"Good luck." Freya headed out and flew after her son. "I swear, he's stubborn with that crush on Rarity, huh, Twi?" Riku asked. Getting no response or a snarky quip from the alicorn, he glanced at Twilight, who was staring at the slip with the name she had picked. Peeking over her shoulder, Riku grew curious at who Twilight's pony was. "Pinkie Pie? Huh. Not sure if there's anything she doesn't like."

"Spike has a point, though," Twilight said. "I never thought about it that way."

"Uhh, what?" Riku mumbled.

"The present I get for Pinkie should make or break the holiday," she elaborated. "I can't just give her whatever I think she'll just like right off the bat. This needs proper forethought, planning, research!"

"...Just get her a scarf or some random gizmo. She'll like anything," Riku said.

"No! This has to be the PERFECT gift!" Placing the decorations she planned to put up in Riku's hooves, Twilight flew off to her library. "I'll help decorate later. Pinkie's probably already got the perfect gift for HER pony!"

Riku grumbled, staring bitterly at the doorway. "...Thanks, Spike. She was fine, and now she's going back to Twilighting." Dropping the decorations, he marched after his girlfriend. "Stupid Hearthswarming Helper. Stupid crush..."

Ventus hovered silently, watching the scene unfold. "Wow. Riku's such a Scrooge. No wonder Santa took him off the nice list."

"What do you mean you have no idea what to get your pony!?" Sora exclaimed in exasperation to Pinkie.

Finding her at Sugarcube Corner with her sisters Limestone and Marble, Pinkie was literally digging a rut in her room from how much she was pacing about. "I just don't know!" Pinkie cried out.

"There's a whole bunch of presents over there," Limestone said, pointing out to the pile of gifts stacked in the corner of Pinkie's room of the bakery. "Pick one and you're done."

"Those were for when I was getting everypony matching Hearth's Warming hats!" Pinkie shrieked. "Now it's just Twilight!"

Startled, Sora was taken aback by who Pinkie picked. "Twilight? That's easy. Just get her a book," he suggested. "Heavens above, she's not called a bookworm for nothing."

Pinkie poked her head out of the rut, glaring at Sora in disappointment. "Sora. Really? TWILIGHT HAS ALL THE BOOKS SHE CAN READ! That's not special!" Sora facehooved with a groan. He glanced at Limestone and Marble, both of them shrugging their shoulders. Gummy stuck out his tongue, somehow appearing next to Pinkie and accidentally licked her. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Gummy, but this is a really big challenge!"

"How is it a challenge to get someone who likes studying, books, stories, quills and ink, and Riku?" Sora grumbled.

Jumping out of the rut, Pinkie hummed to herself with Gummy latching onto his owner's tail. "Am I up to this, though? I know I'm good at gift-giving, but am I the BEST at gift-giving?"

"Who would say they're the best at gift-giving?" Limestone questioned. "That's ridiculous."

Marble uttered with uncertainty, but Pinkie suddenly squished her twin's cheeks. "That's it! Marble, you're a genius!"

"Pinkie, she never gets a word in when you just-" Sora tried to interject, only for the hyper party pony to squeal, releasing her sister as she spun around, flinging Gummy off her tail and smacking him in the pegasus's face.

"Why didn't I think of it sooner!? Yaks would say they're the best at gift-giving!" Pinkie randomly interpreted.

Sora peeled the toothless alligator off his face, dropping the listless reptile as it skittered away aimlessly. "How the heck is Gummy not hibernating when Tank does?" he muttered, ignoring Pinkie's pet. "And Pinkie, yaks always say they're the best at anything."

"They might know the perfect gift to find you for Kairi~," Pinkie hinted.

"Yeah. Maybe a log will be the perfect gift for her to smash when you push her buttons," Roxas snickered in Sora's head.

"Shut up, Roxas!" Sora exclaimed.

"'Roxas'? Who the hay is Roxas?" Limestone questioned.

"Sora's Nobody who lives in his heart but will eventually come to life in his own body in the future," Pinkie explained. "We gotta go to Yakyakistan now!" She zipped around, giving Limestone and Marble a kiss on the forehead, then pulled out Gummy and kissed him before racing out the door with her winter gear on. "Come on, Sora! You know you want to come!"

Sora sighed, having no choice when his saving grace was just as clueless to get Twilight the perfect gift as he was for Kairi. "...I would like to remark if Pinkie was adopted, but as Marble's twin, that's not plausable, is it?"

"Mm-mmm," Marble answered with a shake of her head.

"Might as well go along with this. And to make sure Pinkie doesn't do anything reckless," Sora sighed.

He hurried after Pinkie, watching Spike racing over to her as she was on a mission. "Hey, Pinkie-!"

"I don't have Rarity!" Pinkie shouted, zipping past the dragon as he groaned in frustration.

"See ya, Spike!" Sora called out, continuing chasing down Pinkie before he lost sight of her.

"Wait, where are you going, Sora!?" Spike called out, but he was already long gone with the wild pink earth pony. "Ugh. I'm running out of time. I need to find whoever has-"

"Spikey-wikey!" Spike yelped, turning around to find his crush trotting over to him. He grinned bashfully, trying to remain calm while panicking on the inside. "How's your shopping going?"

"F-Fine! I...already know what I got for my pony!" he giggled nervously.

"So...who did you get?" Rarity asked. Gulping, Spike stammered, shrugging his shoulders in response. "I got Applejack. She is going to adore her present. There's a designer in Manehatten, Fedora Felt, who makes the most marvelous hats. I asked for a new take on western chic that would be the envy of every farm pony in Equestria."

"Oh! That's a...really great gift for her," Spike said. "I hope mine will be as special as a gift for you-Gurk! I mean, HER! I mean...BYE!"

Swiftly speeding off, startling Rarity, she didn't notice his slipup. "Goodness. Spike's acting much more jumpy today." She ignored Spike's odd behavior, beginning her trek to the post office, where she spotted Freya walking toward her. "Hello, Freya. If you're looking for Spike, he ran off that way. Not sure if the poor dear's got his pony's Hearthswarming Helper gift just yet."

"So I've heard. If he thinks I should relax to avoid getting a heart attack, he's the one who needs to cool off," Freya mumbled.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Rarity assured. "Ooh! I have an idea. Why don't you come along with me to the post office? You could probably do with getting out of the castle."

"What? You need a bodyguard from stallions who bump into you when your fur blends in with the snow?" Freya asked.

"No, nothing like that. I was on my way to pick up a package for a western-style hat from a certain designer," Rarity said. "Luckily, the pony I picked was Applejack, and I thought it would be the perfect surprise gift to give her before we did the Hearthswarming Helper idea she came up with for us. I just hope it arrived on time so I can wrap it properly for her later this evening."

"Uhh..." Freya wanted to decline, glancing down the road, finding no sign of Spike. She didn't want him to freak out over trying to make a trade with one of the other girls who had Rarity so he can get her something when he could just do that some other day this month. As much as Freya wanted to keep a close eye on him, she had to remind herself that Spike was already old enough to make his own decisions. She couldn't baby him when he was no longer a baby. He was either going to have to deal with losing out on that opportunity to give Rarity a gift or keep fretting and pestering until he got it and waste time before the exchange. Sighing, Freya decided to let Spike deal with his predicament on his own. "...I suppose I can leave Spike be for a moment."

"He's got plenty of time. This way, darling." Rarity led the way with Freya following behind her, hoping he won't procrastinate too long, and if he's able to make a trade with whoever has his crush.

Rainbow Dash flew alongside Fluttershy, who happened to be her picked pony for their Hearthswarming Helpers. Sadly, each question she asked for anything she might like, Fluttershy answered with her usual vague responses, not helping give any ideas. For knowing each other since they were fillies, Rainbow didn't know what to get Fluttershy at all unless she wanted to break her Wonderbolts' stipend on a new fuzzy critter for her to take care of, and she gets so many with her animal sanctuary that that idea's also thrown out the window.

"Ok, what about your favorite food?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh, I couldn't pick just one," Fluttershy said. "What if it hurts the other foods' feelings?"

Rainbow resisted the urge to facehoof, yet another gift idea quashed by Fluttershy worrying about upsetting other dishes she enjoys. "Right...But there's gotta be something you really, really like, right?"

"I really, really like...everything!" Fluttershy said. Rainbow frowned, giving up after trying to subtly get something from her close friend. "Why do you ask?"

"Uhh, just getting gift ideas," Rainbow lied, turning away and muttering to herself in frustration. "I'm gonna see if there's something that'll inspire me over this side of the market." Fluttershy waved Rainbow off as she flew away. Spike came rushing over to her as she passed, his mouth open, but she beat him to the punch. "No, I don't have Rarity."

Spike huffed, wondering to himself if he really was that predictable today. But, luckily, up ahead, he found Fluttershy, the last pony of the group who had Rarity. She was doing some window in a jewelry shop, looking at a couple different pieces that were pretty pricy, but she was tempted to maybe buy for Rarity. Spike sidled up to Fluttershy, needing to be as subtle as possible to make this trade work.

"So, you plan to get that for your Hearthswarming Helper pony?" he asked.

"Maybe. I know she loves shiny things," Fluttershy said.

"Oh, if only I knew what my secret pony wanted," Spike sighed, dramatically overreacting his predicament. "She's so hard to shop for."

"Oh. Well, maybe I can help?" Fluttershy offered. "Unless you don't-"

"Rainbow Dash!" Spike blurted out, holding out his slip with Rainbow's name.

"Oh! I was just talking to Rainbow Dash about-" Before she could get another word in, as she pulled out her slip, Spike let out an elated gasp, failing to even act subtle about his intentions.

"Great idea, Fluttershy! We should trade!" he said.

"Trade?" she asked, confused.

"Well, Applejack said it wasn't against the rules, and you know what Rainbow Dash likes, so it's perfect!" Without hearing Fluttershy agree, he swiped the slip she had, giddy on the inside seeing his crush's name, leaving Fluttershy with Rainbow Dash and feigning a surprised gasp at who she had. "Rarity!? What a surprise! Thanks, Flutters!"

He flew off, leaving Fluttershy baffled. "...Umm, ok," she mumbled.

"Fluttershy!" Applejack ran up to the pegasus after scouring around the market. "There ya are, sugarcube. Ah need your help."

"Did you want to trade, too?" Fluttershy asked.

"Huh? No. Ah just need help figurin' out what to get Spike," Applejack said. Fluttershy was relieved, not wanting to make another random trade with how stressful Hearthswarming Helper was starting to be. "...Ya had Rarity, didn't ya?"

"Mhmm. And now I have Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said.

"Ugh. That dragon needs to grow a spine and just tell Rarity," Applejack grumbled. "We all know he likes her. Just makes it that much more difficult not admittin' it in front of her."

Looking over anything in the stores, Rainbow flew out with a simple candle in her hooves for Fluttershy. "Candle. Great. Whatever. Fluttershy shopping is done."

"Ugh! You cannot be serious!" Coming to a stop, Rainbow heard Discord's voice strangely nearby. Glancing down, she yelped when she saw the candle had suddenly changed into a miniature candelabra, and also bore Discord's face on the two-toned brown wax. She flung him, sending him flying into a tree as he slid down the trunk with a grunt. "How rude."

"Discord, will you quit popping up like that!?" Rainbow exclaimed. "I thought you were a ghost candle."

"Ghosts possessing candles." Discord blew a raspberry. "Nightmare Night is over, Rainbow. Plus, giving Fluttershy a candle is the cheapest way of telling the pony you had no idea what to buy them."

"Maybe she'd like a new tea set?" On one of the nearby stalls selling different varieties of chinaware, Rainbow heard Dizzy's voice come from one of the oddly-colored teacups out of a set. Hopping around to face her, she found Dizzy's face on the animated cup, but with a slight crack down the right side where his face his. "Those Tuesday teas do wear out the ceramic, and she could use a new, pretty set."

"Oh, please. We have plenty more at home we can take with us," Discord chided. "What she needs is something special for this Hearth's-helper thingie they're doing."

"Wait, how'd you know we were doing Hearthswarming Helper?" Rainbow questioned Discord.

"The script!" Dizzy exclaimed, hopping too excitedly and caused himself to leap off the side of the stall, falling into a small mound of snow that cushioned him. He shifted back to normal, popping out of the snow and shook off the excess powder on his back. "And it's another holiday special where we actually have a much bigger role for this side story out of many!"

"We may not have been invited, but we are going to make absolutely sure that Fluttershy gets a higher quality gift than a cheap, crummy candle," Discord added. He shifted to his normal form, carrying the candle Rainbow bought for Fluttershy in his hand. Lifting it up, he gave the wax a curious sniff, gagging slightly, then tossed it back to Rainbow Dash. "Ugh. She is NOT going to like that scent, that's for sure."

"I've known Fluttershy for a lot longer than either of you two," Rainbow scoffed. "And no, combining both of your knowledge doesn't count because you're both the same draconequus."

"Then you are aware that having a lit candle with adorable, fluffy animals running around her home is a recipe for disaster, right?" Discord questioned.

Rainbow grimaced, barely thinking about something like that. Fur is definitely flammable, and if one of Fluttershy's animal friends knocked it over and got lit up, they could get seriously hurt and spread the fire, burning the mare's cottage. Dizzy didn't need to reenact that outcome as he winced, shaking his head while gritting his teeth anxiously. Sighing, Rainbow left the candle on one of the stalls, wasting her money on the supposedly dangerous gift.

"Fine. Back to the drawing board," Rainbow huffed. "How am I supposed to find something for Fluttershy when all I've asked her gave me answers liking just about everything?"

Discord and Dizzy glanced at each other, both of them grinning widely, then looked back at Rainbow Dash. "We can help steer you in the right direction," Discord said.

Rainbow Dash did not like the grins on their muzzles, barely getting a say as Discord snagged the pegasus and dragged her off, leading her outside of town. "This is gonna be the best gift for Fluttershy ever!" Dizzy giggled, hopping along after them before teleporting to fly alongside them.

Making their way toward Yakyakistan, Sora decided to help get him and Pinkie there faster on his glider. Time was of the essence for both of them. Touching down outside the wooden gates of the yak kingdom, they entered through the main gate, where the yaks were already celebrating their winter holiday, Snilldar Fest. From the yaks singing their traditional song and smashing their logs, there was also a long table outside in the main center for a grand feast. Among the yaks, Sora spotted Yona and Sandbar smashing some logs. Sandbar was able to crush some of the smaller ones, though it took quite a while with his earth pony strength not as powerful as a yak's, but he was impressing Yona's family as he got into the holiday spirit.

"I wonder what kind of food the yaks cook for Snilldar Fest," Sora mumbled to himself, but he soon lost track of Pinkie as she suddenly zipped off in usual Pinkie Pie fashion. "And she's gone. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Or trying to find a shred of pink in all the brown and white in Yakyakistan."

His search didn't last too long, spotting the bubbly pink menace having caught Prince Rutherford and was playing a round of Guess Who with him. Numerous guesses with none of them being Pinkie, she hopped off Rutherford's back and landed in front of him.

"Aww, Prince Rutherford new Pink Pony all along!" Rutherford said. "Yaks best at guessing!"

"Yaks best at everything!" Pinkie said. Sora found it hard to believe, but he was going to drop it with yak pride being very stubborn. "That's why Sora and I are here, Prince Rutherford."

"Hmm? Spiky Winged Pony?" Rutherford looked up, noticing Sora walking toward them. "Ah! Right! Pony who is not pony like Blue Fancy Pony and others."

"'Blue Fancy'? You mean Aqua?" Sora corrected. "...Didn't think her as the fancy type. Maybe its her outfit."

"We need your help," Pinkie said. "Can you tell us where to find...BEST GIFT EVER!?"

Shouting like the yaks, causing the land to rumble, Sora worried that she was going to cause an avalanche and cover Yakyakistan in snow. After last time, he didn't want to have to tiptoe around cleaning up the mess behind their backs to avoid hurting Rutherford's pride. Thankfully, there was no snow, but Rutherford panicked, clasping his hooves against Pinkie's muzzle.

"Not here!" he hissed. "Ponies follow this way!"

Rutherford sprinted off faster than Sora had ever seen a yak move, Pinkie following him step by step at the same speed. Sora sighed and ran after them, winding up in Rutherford's hut, where he quickly covered his doorway and windows, making sure no prying eyes or ears spied on them.

"Why so secretive?" Sora questioned.

"Prince Rutherford about to tell honorary yak friend and Yona teacher something very top secret," Rutherford said, lowering his voice so the other yaks outside didn't hear them. Pinkie was all ears, grabbing a stool and listening with rapt attention. "Yaks best at all things except one; yaks not best at giving gifts." Pinkie was astonished, but Sora just frowned. Of all the things the yak leader claimed to be best at, it had to be under wraps and involved something that they were both looking for assistance for. "I know. It hard to believe."

"Well, this just led us nowhere, then," Sora grumbled.

"How are we supposed to find the perfect Hearth's Warming gift for Twilight and Kairi?" Pinkie whined.

"No worry," Rutherford assured. "Prince Rutherford keep secret map in perfectly organized files." The yak prince moved over to where his files were, though "organized" wasn't in the yak's dictionary with how cluttered his shelves were. Tossing random things aside, some of them not even scrolls or papers, Rutherford finally found what he was looking for. He came back to the two ponies, opening the scroll, which held a map of the area and a trail leading to a certain spot a few miles from Yakyakistan. "Best gift givers up northern pass, where sky shimmers and glows. There, secret gift giver grove. Only yak princes, pink honorary yak, and Yona teacher know."

Sora took the map, eyeing the path leading north from the yak kingdom to the mountains, and above those mountains were a colorful wave that was supposed to be the Aurora Borealis. "A grove? The map back at the castle never showed any signs of a secret grove up around this region." Rutherford snorted, warning Sora that this was a special secret he was granted by the prince and shouldn't be told to anyone. "Heh. Uhh, don't worry. It'll be between Prince Rutherford, pink honorary yak, and Spiky Winged Pony."

"It better," Rutherford warned.

Stuffing the map in his red pouch, Sora and Pinkie left Yakyakistan and looked up to the mountain that held their destination and the perfect gifts to give to their respective ponies.

Freya exhaled loudly in boredom. She and Rarity had been waiting in line at the post office for the last couple hours, the last minute shipping and pickups of presents from across the globe an absolute nightmare for everyone involved. Even Rarity was starting to lose her patience and wondered if she'll be able to pick up her package. Luckily, they were next in line as the mailpony at the counter finished with the pony's orders before them. Approaching the counter, they met with Derpy, the mare's cocked eyes startling Freya despite the friendly smile the ditzy mail courier had.

"Oh, hi, Rarity!" Derpy greeted. "Hi, Spike!"

"Uhhhhhhhhh...A-Are your eyes-?" Rarity quickly nudged Freya, silencing her before she insulted the gray pegasus's condition.

"This isn't Spike, Derpy," Rarity corrected. "This is Freya: Spike's long-lost mother."

Derpy squinted her eyes as she got a better look at the dragoness. "...Noooo, that's Spike! I didn't know he liked to wear red."

"Honestly, the big difference between the two of us are him lacking any horns and he doesn't walk around in clothes," Freya said, even taking off her hat to point out her unique horns on her head.

"Ohhhhhhhh...I see. My mistake," Derpy said. "Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"I expected a package today, and I was wondering where that might be," Rarity said.

"Ok, let's check." Derpy grabbed some papers on the desk, glancing through them, then looked back up at the duo. "Name?"

Confused, Rarity and Freya looked at each other. "She called you by your name earlier, and now she's asking for it again?" Freya questioned.

"...Err, Rarity, darling," Rarity awkwardly said.

Going over the order lists, she mumbled to herself, looking underneath the register, loosing some sheets until she found Rarity's order. "Oh! Here we go!" she said, popping her head back up and held the paper in her hooves. "Your package was delivered to Sweet Apple Acres!"

"What!?" Rarity exclaimed. "It was supposed to be delivered to my boutique here in Ponyville!"

"Umm...ok, well, the package was for Applejack, and she lives at Sweet Apple Acres," Derpy explained.

Freya's eye twitched, baffled by how ditzy Derpy was at a job that was as important as postal service. "Let me see that," she grunted, taking the sheet from the pegasus and read it over. "How did you confuse the address with the recipient!? The address for delivery is to Carousel Boutique! You don't just take a package somewhere by the name and where they live!"

"But Applejack doesn't live at Carousel Boutique," Derpy reasoned.

"We know, Derpy," Rarity uttered, carefully taking the paper from Freya's trembling claws, growing just as frustrated, but was trying her hardest to keep her cool. "This IS for Applejack, but I am the one who will deliver it to her."

"...But that's my job," Derpy stated.

"It is a gift for Applejack from me," Rarity explained further, putting the paper back on the counter.

Finally getting the hint, Derpy began to panic. "Oh no! What if she opens it!?" she asked. "It shouldn't go to Sweet Apple Acres!"

"That's kind of the point," Freya grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose.

As Derpy looked at the paper again, she realized something else was wrong, but she was more relieved than upset. "Oh! Wait! My mistake: it went to Sweet ACORN Orchard instead!" Both Freya and Rarity gawked at Derpy as she laughed off the blunder. "What a relief."

"HOW IS THAT A RELIEF!?" Freya shouted. "You delivered it to the wrong address anyway! How can you call yourself a postal worker if you mix up the right address-!?" She huffed, blowing smoke out of her nostrils, getting worked up over something that wasn't even her problem in the first place. Taking a deep breath, she grumbled, turned about, stilling her twitching tail before she left several craters in the post office. "I'm gonna bury my head in the snow."

Freya stomped out, making the other ponies in line step aside as she stepped outside, finding a decent amount of snow, then flopped in the white fluff, making it melt as she exhaled heavily.

"Well, at least Applejack won't get her present and ruin the surprise," Derpy said.

Rarity sighed, struggling to keep her head clear as she gave Derpy a fake smile. "May I get the address for Sweet Acorn Orchard? I'll just pick up the package myself."

"Are you sure you don't want me to pick it up and deliver it for her?" Derpy offered.

"No thanks, darling! You've helped enough!" Taking the sheet, Rarity took her leave, sighing a huge breath of relief after having to deal with Derpy and her harmless bumbling.

She froze when she saw the snow around Freya reduced to nothing but a steaming puddle, the dragoness's head and upper torso drenched as she glowered angrily straight ahead of her. Calmed down, Freya stood back up, shaking off the melted snow, drying her hat and clothes with her fire breath.

"How in the world does a postal service hire someone like her to make such important jobs involving delivering confidential packages or letters to recipients?" Freya questioned.

"I know Derpy isn't the brightest and makes some mistakes here and there, but she means well," Rarity assured. Freya scowled at the unicorn, her gaze menacing as she leered at her under the brim of her hat. "...Ok, I won't deny she does get on somepony's nerves once or twice, but she's...special."

"Uh huh..." Just from seeing the way Derpy's eyes were, Freya had some inkling that there was something about her that made her "unique" in the nicest way to describe it, but to be given a job where one mistake could lead to a federal crime, she had no idea who was running this branch of the post office. "So, instead of being delivered to your place, it's instead somewhere else. At Sweet Acorn Orchard."

"I've never even heard of such a place," Rarity said. "It's a bit of a ways from Ponyville."

"Let's go before someone opens up Applejack's gift," Freya said. Hearing a commotion above them, Freya and Rarity looked up, watching Rainbow Dash being dragged by Discord and Dizzy flying behind them. "What in Tiamat's scales are those up there?"

"Oh, that's just Discord and Dizzy," Rarity said. "They're draconequuses...? Draconequui? Er, creatures who have chaotic powers. And they're flying around with Rainbow Dash...Very peculiar."

"A draconequus?" Freya uttered, scratching the back of her head in disbelief.

"You haven't heard of one?" Rarity asked. "I thought with your Equestria being slightly similar, I thought there'd be one that may have existed there. Or at least legends about somepony who was considered a chaotic deity who tried to take over the world."

"If there was, I don't think a child with a sick, twisted mind would come up with a creature of such amalgamous design like them," Freya said. "...And they have no ill miscontent for this world, do they?"

"Not anymore," Rarity assured. "Discord used to be an enemy, but thanks to Fluttershy, he opened his heart to the side of good...Well, for a moment before he truly changed after being tricked by Tirek. He's still a trickster, but he's no longer a threat."

"And the child, who I assume is 'Dizzy', is Discord's child?" Freya asked curiously.

"Nope!" Appearing from under Freya's hat, Dizzy slid down Freya's snout. "Hello!"

"Gah!" Snatching the draconequus colt, she held him upside down, only for him to slowly melt out of her claws, dripping to the ground, then rematerialized into a physical form, but his body parts were swapped around. "You were just...How did you get under my hat!?"

"Magic!" Dizzy held up his "arms" as he responded, noticing his limbs weren't in the right place. "Oops. That's not where those go." Grabbing his head, he popped it off his neck and gave it a high toss, the rest of his body spinning in place like a mini tornado as they readjusted the right limbs in the right sockets. Fully reassembled, Dizzy's head dropped down and reattached itself to his neck. "There we go!"

"...That...was mortifying," Freya uttered.

"It's funny," Dizzy corrected. "I am also cute and adorable, so it's more playful than traumatizing."

Suddenly dropping down, a giant fish hook swooped down and scooped Dizzy by his underbelly. He let out a whoop as he was yanked back up to the sky, Discord holding the fishing rod that snagged his younger self back up to him and Rainbow.

"Stop floundering around. We got a gift to find for Fluttershy!" Discord scolded.

"We got plenty of time!" Dizzy exclaimed.

The trio continued onward to search for Fluttershy's gift, leaving Freya astounded. "Dizzy is a manifestation of Discord," Rarity explained. "He's his youthful side that made his own consciousness. And also has Discord's common sense, ironically."

"...And I thought Pinkie Pie's antics were more than I could handle," Freya uttered.

Riku followed Twilight into the library, deciding to get this room decorated for the season. Twilight was busy going over papers of info regarding what Pinkie Pie likes, a couple chalkboards with random formulas involving Pinkie's likes and dislikes and one of them she used to make a pie chart of all the things that Pinkie would most likely enjoy as a gift.

"The ideal gift for Pinkie needs to be A: unique, B: specific to her personality, and C: food-based," Twilight said aloud.

Riku paused, glancing back at Twilight. "Food? Not exactly the weirdest gift, but...the ideal gift for her is something involved with food?"

"Yes! It makes sense, but what to get her?" Twilight questioned. "What is a unique food? Cupcakes? Nah. Cookies? Nope."

Riku let out an exhausted sigh, dropping his decorations and hovered down to the studious alicorn. "Twilight, Pinkie will like anything. I swear, I thought we were over you putting yourself in a rut panicking until your brain melts into pudding."

Twilight gasped as her coltfriend's description hit the perfect idea right on the noggin. "Puuuuuuudiiiiiiiiing," she uttered, the weird expression she made in enlightenment making Riku grimace and back away from her.

"Uhh, Twi?" Riku mumbled nervously, only to yelp when Twilight suddenly pulled him toward her, kissing him deeply on the lips.

"You're a genius, Riku!" she squealed, releasing Riku, then snagged one of her books and flipped them over to a specific page to show him. "'After defeating the Windigos, the earth pony, pegasi, and unicorn nations prepared the first Hearth's Warming meal together. Chancellor Puddinghead made a pudding so delicious, legends were written about it!' This is it! Unique, totally Pinkie, the most incredible dessert ever! What would I do without you!?"

"...Lose more of your mind than whatever the heck I just saw on your face?" Riku answered.

"I have never been more sane with this revelation!" Twilight began scouring the book, her smile slowly fading into a panicked frown. "Wait. Where's the recipe? Why isn't it listed in here!?"

"And here we go again," Riku sighed. "Twilight, just make whatever other kind of pudding. Whatever special kind Chancellor Puddinghead's was back in the day is probably a lost recipe that can't be recreated."

"Are you crazy!?" Twilight exclaimed, her question making Riku frown as he seemed to be staring at a crazy alicorn right now. "This pudding is THE perfect gift for Pinkie! Nothing can compare to something as bland as a singular flavored pudding!"

"Twilight, Pinkie won't care about-!" Twilight stacked several books from her shelves in his hooves, making him stagger back.

"Time is of the essence! I need to find that recipe!" Twilight rushed around, skimming through several books and tossing them aside when they didn't have what she was looking for.

Riku grumbled, lowering the stack. "I think I'm just gonna leave you to panic search while I help finish decorating." In Twilight's frantic flying, she knocked over whatever garlands he had set up, making him growl bitterly. "This room last once you stop Twilighting."

"I AM NOT TWILIGHTING!" she exclaimed.

Riku walked out, leaving her be as he needed to cool down. "If Spike didn't put that idea in her head, she wouldn't be acting up like this. I'm gonna wrestle that dragon down and force him to tell Rarity-"

As he walked to the front door, he heard it knock, snapping him out of his thoughts. When he opened it, he was met by a giggling alicorn baby bundled in a thick, blue star-shaped parka being tossed at him, who he quickly caught.

"Surprise!" Shining and Cadence greeted while Flurry Heart babbled excitedly.

"Hey. You guys are here early," Riku said. "Thought you'd be arriving tomorrow."

"Slight change in plans," Cadence said. "Thought it'd be fun to surprise Twilight and spend a couple extra days in Ponyville for the holidays."

"I see." Flurry Heart wriggled around in her warm parka, making Riku look down at her. "...You two purposely put her in this thing to make her look more cute to tug my heartstrings...And you succeeded."

"Wikoo!" Flurry giggled.

"Speaking of, where is Twily?" Shining asked.

"Uhh...research," Riku said.

"Should we have expected anything less?" Cadence asked, rolling her eyes with a knowing grin.

"Well, she, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Spike are doing a Hearthswarming Helper thing, and she just figured out what to get her Helper, Pinkie," Riku explained. "Right now, she's trying to find the recipe for this thousand-year-old pudding made by Chancellor Puddinghead. She wants to make this gift 'perfect'."

"Let me guess: she's too far gone to be reasoned with and is going Twily-nanas trying to find and make this pudding before it's too late," Shining said.

Riku snorted, the stallion knowing his sister all too well, but the other name for Twilight's freakouts sounded more hilarious than "Twilighting". "'Twily-nanas'? Oh, I gotta say that to her whenever she goes nuts."

"Not sure if it'll get a reaction out of her, but I teased her with that nickname whenever she was so worked up with her studying as a filly," Shining added.

"You think she won't be too long?" Cadence asked.

"I have no idea, but I can keep Flurry entertained as her B.U.E.," Riku assured, his anagram confusing the couple. "Best Uncle Ever."

"Oh. Her anagrams are rubbing off on you, huh?" Shining teased.

"I'm gonna have fun with the baby now," Riku stated. "The others are going around finishing putting up the decorations...Just let them know to leave the library for last."

"Can do," Cadence said.

Riku flew over Shining and Cadence with Flurry Heart in his hooves to enjoy a fun snow day with his niece.

Finding no luck in Ponyville to find a good gift for Rainbow Dash or Spike, Fluttershy and Applejack took the train to Rainbow Falls, where there location was set up as one of the hottest gift-searching spots in Equestria. Fluttershy comes here every year knowing the perfect gift for anyone can be found here. Applejack wasn't so sure, but with the Traders Exchange event held at Rainbow Falls every year as well, there might be something she could get Spike.

The place was crowded, vendors with different wares unlike what they could find in Ponyville, and many more shoppers searching for that last-minute gift to find someone. "Shoot. This place is a bit crowded," Applejack commented. "Wanna split up and meet back around this concession stand in about an hour?"

"Ok," Fluttershy agreed, both mares splitting up to find their respective givee's gifts.

Fluttershy wandered around, looking at a few things before she spotted a tent that had a few books on sale, one of them being a special edition of one of the older books in the Daring Do series. "Oh no! There's only a few left!"

Distracted by the dramatic claim from a random stallion, Fluttershy saw a few ponies who heard him and point to a certain stall among the several in the area. The stallion who exclaimed was wearing a faded evergreen snow hat, a pair of pants, and a bright and dark green festive sweater. He had a brown mustache over his lip, but his hair under his hat was red with white highlights, and his fur was a familiar pale yellow and he was a unicorn. Fluttershy gathered with the crowd to find another unicorn manning the stall, wearing a red vest, black pants, and wore a gray, curly wig and matching mustache. However, barely obscured by the fake hair and mustache was a similar style of red mane with white highlights and a red mustache peeking out from the fake facial hair, and pale yellow fur matching the informing stallion. The tent they had bore two matching hats that were worn by the swindling unicorn twins, Flim and Flam, but their disguises pulled the wools over the shoppers' eyes, even Fluttershy's.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, we want you all to have the best holiday your bits can buy!" the "honest" salespony proclaimed. "But there are only a limited number left!"

"Limited number of what?" Fluttershy asked the stallion who mentioned the limited stock.

"Why, you don't know about Holly the Hearth Warmer?" he asked, aghast, intriguing the other ponies about this special toy.

"You seem like somepony looking for a gift for a very special friend," the salespony said to Fluttershy.

"I am!" Fluttershy said.

"A friend who wouldn't want to miss out on the must-have gift everypony is talking about?" he asked. Fluttershy nodded in response. "A truly awesome friend who deserves something twenty percent cooler than any other gift out there?"

"That sounds just like her!" Fluttershy agreed.

"Well, look no further! Because this is it!" The stallion showed Fluttershy the gift, which was indeed a toy, nestled comfortably in a package that lists what the toy can do.

"Ooh! How much does it cost!?" Fluttershy asked.

The salespony and the random shopper glanced at each other, a sly grin on their muzzles as they got the pegasus's attention. "How much do you have?"

Trudging through the thick snow along the path in a blizzard around the mountain range, Sora and Pinkie were making some headway. They could faintly see the northern lights through the thick clouds where the grove was located, getting closer and closer with each step. After climbing up the side of a cliff, Sora froze, his ears perking up as that niggling feeling in the back of his head made him scowl. Pinkie hopped up after him using her Balloon spells, noticing his sour expression.

"What's the matter, Sora?" Pinkie asked.

"That same feeling again," he muttered. "I don't know if it's me, but I have a gut feeling a pair of unicorn twins are somewhere in Equestria with another scheme to stiff suckers in another stupid swindling scam."

"Ooooooh...Is that a Sora sense?" Pinkie asked.

"All I know is I wanna bash those two con artists and put an end to their conniving ploys to take ponies' money," Sora growled. "That feeling was spot on when we saw in the news about their Friendship University a scam to swindle ponies of friendship lessons by forcing them to pay for lessons under the guise of free boarding and tuition."

"Well you can't go off to teach those mean unicorns missing half their quartet now!" Pinkie exclaimed. "We're only halfway there! Don't you wanna find that perfect gift for Kairi?"

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Sora sighed bitterly. "...Darn it. You're right. First Kairi, then I find Flim and Flam and knock their lights out."

Rarity and Freya arrived at Sweet Acorn Orchard, where Rarity's package accidentally got delivered to. With it being winter, none of the trees had many acorns to bare. Neither knew if acorns were all that important as a business for ponies but Fluttershy would benefit with many of the squirrels or chipmunks she takes care of. Finding the entrance to the property as they followed the wooden fence and a sign shaped like an acorn with the name of the orchard, they walked up the path to the house up ahead.

"Seems like the right place," Freya said. "Unless there's another acorn orchard elsewhere."

Rarity approached the door and gave it a couple knocks. A moment passed before it opened, revealing an earth pony couple to greet them, confused about their sudden guests. The stallion of the household was a light brown earth pony with gray black hair with a grayed streak down his mane and tale, his cutie mark a sprig with a pair of acorns hanging from it, wearing a red buttoned up shirt and a bent and slightly worn straw hat. The mare was also an earth pony, her fur a pale yellowish-orange with her mane and tail two shades of brown, also bearing a slightly grayed streak like her husband's, though her cutie mark was covered by the light green coat she wore.

"Can we help you?" the stallion asked.

"Yes. This is Sweet Acorn Orchard, yes?" Rarity asked.

"It is," the mare answered. "We're just a little surprised to have somepony like you and...a dragon visiting us."

"My name is Rarity, and this is Freya," Rarity said. "And not to worry. Freya's harmless."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Freya questioned.

"Well, even though dragons are getting a slightly better reputation, I don't know if everypony in Equestria knows dragons aren't as dangerous as they used to be," Rarity reminded the dragoon. Freya just sighed, perturbed how she could be seen as threatening if she was the only dragon of this world who wore clothing. "Anyway, we're here because there was a package that was delivered here-"

"Oh, that was from you?" the stallion asked, both he and his wife surprised by the information.

"Thank goodness. So it did arrive here," Rarity laughed, relieved to hear the good news. "If I could just-"

Suddenly, the mare lunged herself at Rarity and hugged her tightly, both her and the stallion overjoyed. "We don't know how to thank you!"

"Uhh...Thank her?" Freya asked. Baffled, unaware that the couple was delivered a package by mistake, they led the fashionista and dragoon inside their home. "I think there's a little misunderstanding."

"Please, have a seat!" the mare insisted. Taken to their dining room, Rarity and Freya sat at the table while they were served some hot acorn tea. "We both thought it was a miracle that this package came here, and we're meeting with the pony who sent it!"

"Oh, where are our manners!" the stallion quickly said. "My name's Oak Nut, and this is my wife Butternut."

"Nice...meeting you," Rarity awkwardly said, taking a sip of the tea they were offered.

"We didn't know what to make of it, but our son, Pistachio immediately went into hysterics when he saw what was inside," Butternut said. "He said that whoever sent it just got him."

"Says when he put it on, he could feel his destiny," Oak Nut added.

"...As an acorn farmer?" Freya asked.

"Ugh! A farmer!? Filly, please!" From an upper level rafter, Rarity and Freya watched a teenage colt trot down a ladder, and on his head was the very gift Rarity intended to give to Applejack. His coat was a very pale light yellow-green, his mane a dark and light shade of green, grayish-green freckles on his cheeks, and a pistachio plant cutie mark. The hat he wore that was for Applejack was an emerald green stetson with a brighter shade band around the hat, oddly matching with the colt's fur and hair, and he also wore a light brown ascot around his neck. "This is a Fedora Felt original! Look at this bold stitching. These daring textures. It's a whole new take on western chic. There is no way I would wear this in the grove!"

Rarity was actually impressed Pistachio was so knowledgeable on fashion for a young farm colt, especially when he knew the exact designer who made that hat. "We have no idea where he got his fashion sense from," Butternut said.

"As far as I know, a hat's a hat," Oak Nut stated, tapping his own to emphasize it as nothing more than handy accessory when farming.

"Only when it's art!" Pistachio argued, unable to contain the glee he felt as he admired his new hat. When he finally took notice of Freya, his eyes darted to her outfit, racing over to her to observe it more closely. "And this...A functionable coat that is so simple, yet holds an air of power and respect, with a matching hat to emphasize the stoicism of a warrior without the weight of armor slowing them down!"

"Uhhh...How observant?" Freya uttered.

"Did you make this yourself, miss!?" Pistachio asked.

"I'm not much of a tailor, but I am indeed considered a warrior where I'm from," Freya confirmed. "Though most prefer tougher armor, I'd prefer lighter for faster movement when I fight."

"I knew it!" Pistachio giggled, then gazed up at her horns sticking out of her hat. "Ooooh. A wing motif signifying the grace of a dragon on the hat."

"Those are actually my horns." Freya took off her hat, startling Pistachio when he saw them slide through the holes through her hat. She even tugged at one of them, showing him they were firmly attached to her head. "I was a little unique growing up with these horns."

"Incredible," the colt mumbled in awe.

"Heh. You might have some competition in the fashion department, Rarity," Freya chuckled.

"Wait, Rarity? THE Rarity!?" Pistachio exclaimed, gasping in shock. "Ponyville's fashionista extraordinaire with two branches in Canterlot and Manehatten, Canterlot Carousel and Rarity For You!?"

"Y-Yes, that is me," Rarity admitted sheepishly.

Pistachio couldn't stop himself from jittering with excitement before he let out a squeal. "I can't believe this hat was gifted to me by Rarity of all ponies!" he exclaimed happily. "You have to stay for lunch! I won't take no as an answer!"

Despite how busy Rarity and Freya were, Rarity couldn't just up and leave so suddenly, or even try to take back the hat now. Pistachio was really happy to have been given such a gift that wasn't meant to be his, and his folks were just as happy to have their son this excited. Judging by how both Oak Nut and Butternut believed it was a miracle, they might have suffered from some hard times with what little they can produce during the winters. Rarity and Freya looked at each other, unable to turn down the offer, nor lower their spirits.

"We'd...be delighted to," Rarity answered with Freya silently nodding with a nervous smile.

Rainbow grumbled, staying low to the ground to avoid getting yanked around by Discord and Dizzy. She thought she found the right gift, only for either draconequus to chime in saying something that would make it a poor gift for Fluttershy. Store to store, stall to stall, everything she thinks was perfect for her long-time friend wasn't with the draconequui's inputs. Heading toward the spa, Rainbow Dash thought a free treatment was perfect since she goes there weekly with Rarity.

"Ok. Free spa day as a gift," Rainbow said. "Nothing harmful to her or her house, perfectly safe and relaxing."

"Hmmmmmmmmm..." Discord and Dizzy both slowly slid up to either side of Rainbow as they pondered this idea.

Rainbow frowned, waiting for them to put their two bits in. "I don't know. Would a spa really be a good gift?" Dizzy questioned.

"Obviously not, Mini-Me," Discord stated. "Would she love to stress about deciding what treatment to get? Would she worry she isn't relaxing enough? Too relaxed? And leaving all her animal friends alone?"

"Nah. Definitely not a good gift at all," Dizzy agreed.

"Oh for the love of Celestia, you two are not helping me!" Rainbow shouted. "I can't get anything that 'might' start a fire! I can't get anything that 'might' injure any of her animals! I can't even get her a spa day because she 'might' worry about deciding what to get or leaving her animals alone! She's Fluttershy! She always worries!"

"Now you're finally sounding like somepony who knows her," Discord teased.

Fed up, Rainbow growled, dragging one of her wings down her face. "If you two are experts on Fluttershy over me, her friend since flight camp, what did you two get her?"

"What!? You want us to tell you what we got her so you can get a better gift to one-up us!?" Dizzy exclaimed, scoffing in disgust as he turned away. "How rude of you to assume that after all the help we gave you!"

"It's just a stupid Hearthswarming Helper thing," Rainbow growled. "Somepony else could have got another something far better than what I got. And I would love you two to stop helping me so I can just get this over with!"

She began to walk off, hoping the draconequus and his younger manifestation would leave her be and shop in peace. Sadly, they didn't, floating along behind her as they smirked at each other.

"Well, I suppose we could tell you what our backup present was," Discord hinted.

"Great. You're both still helping," Rainbow grumbled.

"It would make a lovely little addition to Fluttershy's animal sanctuary," Discord added.

"But even with our magic or working together, we won't be able to catch it," Dizzy stated theatrically. "If only either of us were the fastest pony in Equestria to catch it."

Rainbow paused, swiftly turning around as the draconequui stoked the pegasus's ego. "Hold on. You two are talking to the fastest pony in Equestria," Rainbow said.

"No, I think that goes to Sora," Discord said. "Have you seen how swiftly he moves? He can dodge lightning strikes before you could even blink."

"Magic lightning, too," Dizzy added. "Out of the blue, from the heavens, without getting a single scorching impact. Too bad we saw him run off with Pinkie earlier."

"I can outspeed any animal!" Rainbow exclaimed. "And if there's a fast animal Fluttershy would love, then I'm the pony to nab it!"

"Oh, we don't know about that~," Dizzy and Discord simultaneously mumbled, unable to hide their smirks.

"I'm calling it! Dibs!" Rainbow said, catching the pegasus in their plan.

"If you insist," Discord said before snapping his fingers, transporting all three of them to where the special animal they knew Fluttershy would love as a Hearth's Warming present.

"Ok, Ah think Ah got the right gift for Spike," Applejack said. She spent a bit of time browsing the stalls and managed to find two potential gifts for him. "Some fire-dancin' sticks and a Power Ponies comic. Unechanted...Err, at least Ah hope it ain't enchanted." She arrived at the concession stand to regroup with Fluttershy, finding her waiting there for her, only to yell in shock when she saw what the pegasus was holding. "What in the name of oats and apples is that!?"

Inside of the package was a very poorly stitched up pony doll that was more traumatic for a foal to hold, let alone look at. "It's Holly the Hearth's Warmer doll. Isn't she sweet?" Fluttershy asked innocently.

Applejack hadn't seen any less dolls that looked more cheap than anything. Even Twilight's doll, Smarty Pants, was sewn with much better care than this abomination. She noticed the doll had a pull string, Applejack tempted to pull it to hear what random phrases it can speak.

"I love being an expensive toy!" Instead of sounding cute and innocent like dolls that it tried, and failed, to rival, the voice sounded all too familiar to the farm mare if the weird statement wasn't already enough of a red flag.

"Fluttershy, why in tarnation did ya think THAT's a good gift for Rainbow Dash?" Applejack questioned.

"It's the must-have gift of the season," Fluttershy said. "And in short supply."

As passing shoppers went by, Applejack noticed several ponies who had one or two of those same disturbing patchwork nightmares along with their other bags. "'Short supply', huh?" Applejack questioned. "How much did that set you back?"

"All my bits," Fluttershy said, only to realize what she said, and how much she had to barter for the doll. "...All my bits?" Applejack sighed and shook her head in disappointment. She thought Fluttershy knew better than that, but she got pulled into a scam she was sure had a pair of unicorn twins written all over this. Smiling sheepishly, Fluttershy lowered the doll. "Can I borrow some bits for the train home?"

Applejack gave her a couple bits for a ticket back, staring bitterly at the doll. "Ah have a suspicion this doll's the work of the Flim Flam Brothers when Flim's voice came outta this thing. Where'd you get this?" Fluttershy led Applejack back to the tent where she purchased the cheap doll for a far too expensive price. Ponies were already gathered around to buy a Holly the Hearth's Warmer, but the tent was temporarily closed. Sneaking around the crowd, Applejack looked around, spotting the stallion Fluttershy saw her alerted her to the "must-have gift of the season". As he walked inside, the two mares snuck a peek beneath the tarp, Applejack's instincts correct when the two responsible for ripping Fluttershy off were indeed Flim and Flam, disguising themselves to avoid having their scam fall apart after their Friendship University scam was plastered all over the news last year. "Ah knew it. Those two-timin' twins are gonna pay for it this time."

Without looking back, the unicorns heard the tarp flap as they adjusted their disguises. "We said no refunds!"

"Ah think y'all better give mah friend hers," Applejack said.

Startled, Flim and Flam got a better look at their unwanted guests when they recognized that southern drawl. "Oh. It's you," Flim grumbled.

"What are the two of ya doin' here rippin' ponies off with these dolls?" Applejack questioned. "Don't you two have a resort to run?"

"It's off-season," Flim stated. "Besides, we're planning an expansion."

"And expansions cost bits," Flam added, flaunting the bits they swindled.

They both unveiled a curtain, revealing a table that held their resort with a new addition involving a long, winding water slide around a massive cupcake structure, with a pink-colored stream of water sliding down into a pool. "Flim and Flam's Fro-Yo Flume Ride!"

Eyeing the planned expansion, Fluttershy seemed eager to want to try it. "That looks like-"

"Fluttershy!" Applejack scolded. The pegasus realized she was getting suckered into the new addition, shaking her head and glowered at the cocky unicorns. "This ain't no excuse for y'all to be sellin' cheap dolls to everypony. Ah think Sora can smell your scheme hundreds of miles away after learnin' what ya did with your copycat school."

Flim and Flam suddenly began to panic, quickly hiding their model behind the curtain. "He's not here, is he?" Flam whimpered.

"You're lucky he ain't right now, but Ah'm willin' to step in to bust up whatever ploy ya got to stop rippin' off everypony," Applejack warned.

Though the brothers were relieved, they got back their smug grins. "We're just giving ponies what they want," Flim said.

"Shopping for the perfect gift during the holidays can be a stressful chore," Flam added. "Ponies want something that stands out, makes it easy for them that one gift that would make their holiday."

"With garbage like this?" Applejack questioned.

She grabbed the doll Fluttershy bought, pulling on the string again. "The more you spend, the more your friend knows you love them!"

"And with a bad message like THAT to foals?" Applejack continued questioning. "If mah sister was still a toddler, she'd cry at the sight of this thing."

"You may not like it, but we're not doing anything wrong," Flim stated. "Ponies are desperate for the right gift."

"And who are you to tell them this isn't it?" Flam asked snidely.

"If ponies get tired of Holly after a few days..." Flim said.

"...or she falls apart, who really got hurt?" Flam finished his brother's sentence.

"Nopony!" they both said.

Applejack growled, despising just how smart Flim and Flam were jumping through loopholes with their scams. Though the price for their crummy dolls were outrageous, no one was in any physical pain or wound up getting hurt by the toy. Their wallets would be empty, but even then, if someone gets tired of the doll or it breaks, then that's huge amount of money they wound up spending for nothing. Flim and Flam telekinetically pushed both mares out of their tent, having won as they grinned in triumph over their rival.

"Don't let the curtain hit you on the way out," Flim said before the curtain closed behind them.

"Ohh, I can't believe I fell for that," Fluttershy grumbled angrily. "Rainbow Dash wouldn't like this. I thought they would have changed after we helped them mend their relationship when Gladmane was tearing them and the other paired performers apart."

"Ah can trust them as far as Ah can throw them when they threatened to run me and mah family from our home and put Granny in peril with that fake tonic of theirs," Applejack huffed. As much as she wanted to leave, find Sora, and have him go all out tearing apart their operation, she didn't want to get him into any trouble with Kairi after hearing he was about to knock their blocks off after their Friendship University scam was brought to light. "Forcin' ponies to buy this junk ain't the holiday spirit."

Fluttershy agreed, letting Applejack toss the useless toy away. "But they did have a point. We can't tell ponies what to buy."

While pondering what to do about Flim and Flam without causing a scene and make them look like the bad guys, Applejack looked around at the nearby stalls. Aside from the unicorn twins' cheap doll, other ponies were going around buying things that peaked their interest far more than something everyone else is hunting for. Not everyone had the same tastes, which gave Applejack an idea to not only get back at Flim and Flam, but also put an end to their latest scam without causing destruction. She would have loved to show them she had a Keyblade and could bash their operation down with one swing, but she had some restraint unlike Sora.

"We can't tell them, but we can show them," Applejack said.

She whispered to Fluttershy her plan. Fluttershy grinned and nodded her head. They moved back around to where the crowd was waiting for Flim and Flam to reopen their stall, Applejack getting herself in line while Fluttershy waited on the side, waiting for her cue. Several ponies purchased their dolls, and Applejack was up next.

"Have a wonderful holiday," Flim said to their latest sucker. "And remember, no refunds. Next!"

Applejack stepped forward, wearing a smug grin on her face while Flim and Flam sneered at her. "What are you still doing here?" Flam questioned.

"Same as everypony else," Applejack nonchalantly stated, digging into her sweater pocket and placed all but a few bits on the counter in front of the twins. "Ah want a Hearth's Warmer. In fact, Ah want four!"

"...Seriously?" Flim uttered in disbelief.

"After Ah saw mah friend with hers, Ah knew Ah had to buy some for mah granny, mah little sister, and mah brothers!" Applejack stated, making sure she was heard by the crowd and overreacting to add emphasis to her own ploy.

"Yeah, yeah. Great story," Flim muttered, snatching her bits and dropped four of the dolls in front of Applejack. "Next!"

Before Applejack could "leave" with her purchase, Fluttershy stepped in, feigning the same dramatic tone Applejack had. "But Applejack, your granny, your sister, and your brothers, they are all so different. How can the same doll be the right gift for all of them?"

Ponies began to mumble, questioning themselves if Holly the Hearth's Warmer was really the perfect gift to give to their loved ones. Overhearing the crowd, Flam started to panic, wondering what Applejack was doing.

"But, Fluttershy, this is the must-have gift of the season," Applejack reiterated.

"Just because it's must-have for ONE pony doesn't mean it's must-have for EVERY pony, does it?" Fluttershy asked, hiding her smirk beneath her hoof.

"Why, that's true!" Applejack gasped in revelation. "Ah guess Ah need to put more thought into gettin' the right gift for each pony. Can Ah return these?"

"NO REFUNDS!" both Flim and Flam shouted.

Their scheme was foiled as both of the brothers answered, Flam having swapped with his brother's spot and disguise and mortified that he was a part of the act they had. His fake mustache fell off, the grounds going completely silent as a majority of the shoppers at Rainbow Falls recognized one of the two swindling twins. Flam grinned sheepishly, but the jig was up.

"Hey, that's one of those unicorns who cheated ponies' money at that fake friendship college in Las Pegasus!" one pony pointed out.

"...Uhh, I'm ashamed of my red facial hair?" Flam explained.

Since Applejack wasn't going to get a refund either way, she looked at a mare next to her, holding one of the Holly the Hearth's Warmers to her. "Do you want them? Ah'm gonna pick out gifts that are just as special as the ponies they're for."

"I...think I'm gonna do some more shopping, too," the mare nervously turned down, not wanting anything to do with a horribly crafted doll that won't feel special for who she's buying for.

Others mumbled their agreements and dispersed, some jeering at Flim and Flam for getting them and others who bought their dolls caught up in their money-making scam. "W-Wait!" Flim called out. "Come back!"

"We can make a deal!" Flam added.

"Buy one, get one free!?" they both pleaded.

Someone threw a smoothie at the brothers, smacking Flim right in the face and drenching him with blended fruit juice. Turning their heads, they glowered at Applejack and Fluttershy, who bumped hooves after they succeeded in ruining their plot.

"You just cost us business," Flim growled.

"And you keep rippin' ponies off without any remorse," Applejack countered. "Oh, and should Ah mention how ya destroyed some of mah family's property when ya challenged us to brewin' more apple cider with that destructive machine of yours, almost gettin' mah granny killed makin' her believe that fake tonic of yours helped cure her fear of the water, and your Friendship University conning ponies into paying for lessons with free tuition?"

"If you and Sora didn't meddle with everything, we'd be rich by now!" Flam exclaimed. "Our expansion is a bust no thanks to you!"

"Would ya rather have Sora show y'all a thing or two messin' with other ponies or be humbled as we steered everypony in the right direction about gift-givin'?" Applejack questioned.

"You're threatening to sick Sora on us?" Flim and Flam questioned back.

"Ah don't think Ah'd need him defendin' mah family or anypony else from your get-rich-quick schemes anymore." Unable to hold back her growing smirk, Applejack held out her hoof, summoning her Keyblade before the Flim Flam Brothers. Any anger they had toward her was immediately dropped into horrified astonishment, staring at the Keyblade of Honesty in the mare's grasp. Baffled, the twins stammered, gawking at each other and to Applejack while Fluttershy only watched and shook her head in amusement at their expressions. Twirling her blade, she aimed it down, planting it into the ground, causing the earth around them to tremble slightly, startling Flim and Flam more. "Ya think Sora could do some damage? Ah got that tenfold."

"...Y-You...How...?" Flim uttered.

"W-When...? Why...?" Flam added.

"Ya like them apples, Flim and Flam?" Their answer was swiftly dashing off screaming in terror. Applejack watched them leave, dismissing her Keyblade with a huge sigh. "The sweet sound of holiday justice."

"Oh, Applejack, you're horrible," Fluttershy playfully scolded.

"Sora would have done far worse," Applejack chuckled. Though they stopped Flim and Flam, both mares were left with barely any bits left to buy a proper gift for Rainbow or Spike. Looking back at the dolls she bought, Applejack regretted buying four, but it was better than nothing. "Welp, this ain't gonna be a good gift for them, but it's somethin', right?"

"They're going to be disappointed," Fluttershy mumbled. "I'm still mad I got tricked into buying one of those dolls."

"We should get on the next train back home before the stations are closed," Applejack said.

Taking the dolls, Applejack and Fluttershy made their way to the station, catching Flim and Flam being chased by angry ponies who were swindled into buying their dolls once their identities were revealed. They could at least tell a great story while gift hunting later this evening for their not as impressive gifts.

"We gotta be getting close by now," Sora uttered.

Staring at the map, Sora and Pinkie had to be getting close to the top. "Whew. At least this blizzard isn't as bad as Elsa's," Pinkie commented. "Still hard to see, though...Ooh! Lookie! I see a cabin!"

"Huh?" Looking up from the map, Sora gawked at the cabin up ahead. "Wait, is there a town up here we don't know about?"

Sora and Pinkie stepped closer, the structure of the cabin in pretty fair condition despite snow covering most of the building. There were some decorations and lights along the front, the windows showing light as someone seemed to live up here. As he was about to knock on the door, it suddenly swung open, startling him and Pinkie when the creature inside was something neither expected: an elderly reindeer with teal fur with a white underside, her hair a light pink with white streaks, antlers of a dark green shade with her right one missing some branches compared to her left, and she wore a pair of glasses and a small cloak tied to a gold sleigh bell that rested against her chest.

"By Blitzen's beard, it took you two long enough!" the reindeer exclaimed, having expected Sora and Pinkie and sounded impatient.

"Wait, did she just say-?" Before Sora could process his thought, the elderly reindeer grabbed both ponies, dragging them inside the cabin and shut the door with her magic, her antlers glowing brightly while casting her spell.

Inside the home, there were more decorations, along with dozens upon dozens of presents, each one of various size either scattered around or piled up in different corners of the living room. Sora and Pinkie followed the reindeer, confused if they were the ones she had been expecting.

"Uhh, are you sure you were expecting us?" Pinkie asked curiously. "I'm-"

"Pinkie Pie and Sora, I know," she interrupted. "Because I know everything."

"Oh, don't be silly." Stepping around a pile of gifts was a much younger reindeer, about the same age as Sandbar. This one's fur was a sandy brown with a white underside as well, but with shorter antlers of a similar teal like the older reindeer's fur, and short green hair of light and dark shades. She also wore a bright red bow around her neck with a gold sleighbell in the middle, and she had freckles on her cheeks similar to her mane's color. "You only know what's already happened. But you don't know what they're about to say."

Sora rolled his eyes, thinking they knew of him and Pinkie as heroes of Equestria. "That's impossible to claim." As Sora spoke, the younger reindeer spoke the same exact words he said without missing a beat. He balked at her, the young doe grinning as she enjoyed teasing him. "Ok, you just got lucky," they both said, startling Sora as he got a little annoyed. "Ok, cut that out. I said cut it out!" Sora hummed, wondering if he can trick her. "Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled...Pineapples!"

"Will you two stop showing off?" From upstairs, a third reindeer came downstairs, but rather than taking the stairs, she flew down, leaving behind a magical pink aura trail. This doe was younger than the elder, but older than the younger; practically the middle age between them. Her fur was all pink with two shades of magenta for her hair, her antlers shimmering a bright pink as her magic was holding a bowl of batter she was casually mixing. She wore a yellow skirt with a matching vest, both pieces connected with a few straps down her barrel, and she had on a pair of gold sleighbell earrings. "They don't have all Hearth's Warming."

As the middle-aged reindeer touched down to the ground floor between the other two, Sora and Pinkie gawked at them, then to each other. "Who are you reindeer?" Pinkie asked.

"Aurora," the elder said.

"Bori," the second youngest said next.

"Alice!" the youngest finally greeted with a small jump.

"The Gift Givers of the Grove!" all three simultaneously said.

It took a moment for Sora to see that their names combined were the northern lights that they resided under. "Ohh, I get it," he said, along with Alice as he mimicked him again.

"Alice, enough," Bori scolded.

"What? We all know Sora likes to have a little fun," Alice reasoned.

"Well, I'm kind of stressed for time, and so is Pinkie," he said. "I'm sure you three know Prince Rutherford. He showed us a way to find the perfect gift for some ponies and we had no clue what to get them."

All three reindeer looked at each other, knowing something Sora and Pinkie aren't aware of. "You mean 'someBODY', Sora?" Bori corrected.

"H-Huh?" Confused, he eyed each reindeer, even Pinkie grew a little suspicious.

"Might as well not hide it when we know more about you than you think," Aurora said. "At least from me."

"Really? Like what?" Pinkie asked.

"Well, for starters, Sora is not from this world," Aurora stated. "And he's no pony; he's a human from Destiny Island." Taken aback, Sora winced at how easily he was found out, and he barely met Aurora, Bori, and Alice. "You're a bit of a troublemaker, but you've got a heart of gold." The eldest doe approached Sora, grabbing his face with his hooves, and to startle him further, she was squishing and stretching his cheeks just like how Granny Smith had when she first met him after crashing in Sweet Apple Acres years ago. "And quite a handsome young man to boot. Kairi is a lucky lady to have married such a dashing, brave, and selfless man like you."

Aurora let go of Sora's face, his jaw hanging open in stunned awe. "Oh, his face is priceless when we tell him what else will blow his mind," Alice said.

"...I'm afraid to know what else you know," Sora uttered.

Aurora and Alice grinned innocently while Bori just rolled her eyes. "This is why I have to reign you two in every single time," Bori laughed. "We know you introduced the idea of Christmas to Equestria. At least in Ponyville."

"Oooh! You heard of it, too?" Pinkie asked.

"Oh, we've known for far, far longer than a couple years ago," Alice chimed in.

"Longer than either of you two were born," Aurora added.

"And we also know Santa Claus and his feats delivering presents to good girls and boys in a single night on a sleigh carried by eight magical reindeer," Bori said.

Snapping out of his stupor, Sora shifted his gaze at each doe, lingering to Aurora with her comment earlier when they arrived at their home. "...You...know about Christmas?" he asked. "And...she mentioned Blitzen..." Though Aurora and Alice were stifling their laughter, the Gift Givers of the Grove were quiet, letting him put the pieces together. Sora's brain was already reeling, but with his theory, his jaw hung lower, raising a shaky hoof, pointing to the reindeer. "...Don't tell me that...that Santa's reindeer-"

"Are Equestrian," Bori confirmed. "Blitzen's my brother."

"He's my dad," Alice added.

"My stubborn-headed son-in-law," Aurora laughed.

"Sadly, Rudolph is the only reindeer who is fictional," Bori said.

Sora's voice faltered, uttering weak squeaks from his dumbfounded state. "Aww. But Rudolph was a cute reindeer with a glowy red nose," Pinkie whined.

"Glowing horns, yes, but not noses," Aurora said. "People always thought Santa's reindeer team had the magic to fly or were fed enchanted feed that gifted them the ability to fly."

"Told ya his face was priceless," Alice pointed out to Aurora, Bori, and Pinkie.

Sora had so many questions, so many things he thought he knew about Christmas stories and Santa, even after he personally met the man in Christmas Town. Shaking his head, he couldn't fathom the words to express his exasperation, excitement, bewilderment, his emotions mixed to jumble up with why he and Pinkie were here to begin with.

"Hold on! You mean...Does Santa even KNOW Equestria exists!?" Sora asked.

"He knows," Bori said. "He's known for a long while."

"B-But...I've seen his reindeer! They look like normal reindeer!" Sora argued. "Unless...Unless they use their magic to conceal what they really look like...or they have magic that helps them blend in to whatever place they visit-"

"Just like you?" Aurora interrupted. "Yes, they do."

"Equestria has Hearth's Warming as its winter holiday of gift giving, plus Santa's already got enough stops on his plate with children across the other worlds beyond the cosmos," Bori said.

"And many more and counting," Alice added. "That naughty and nice list is gonna roll all the way down across Christmas Town and reach Thanksgivingville in the next century." Sora couldn't wait to tell everyone what they learned, but Alice just laughed as his shocked frown was slowly curling to an excited grin. "No one's gonna believe you, Sora."

The mood was spoiled by the foreseeing young doe as he glowered at her. "Don't mimic me," he said, half expecting Alice to do it to poke fun at him.

"Ahh! We're so busy learning about reindeer, we're running out of time getting a gift for Twilight and Kairi!" Pinkie shrieked.

"What about those matching hats?" Aurora asked. "Those were so cute."

"That was before she and the rest of the Mane Six and Spike had to choose just one gift," Bori interjected. "Try to keep up, Aurora."

"I'm gonna get that box Pinkie's gonna say she likes," Alice said as she hopped and flew off to the piles of gifts in the opposite corner of the stairs.

Sora and Pinkie were surprised by how much all three of these reindeer knew so much. Aurora knew of Sora's past, and probably a lot more she's withholding, even Pinkie's gifts for everyone before they went with the Hearthswarming Helper game. Alice knew exactly what Sora was going to say and what he was going to do, and looking around the many presents, knowing which gift would be perfect for their respective somebodies. And Bori was probably the mediator between them, knowing what's already going on around the world at this moment. They were like Fates who could see the past, present, and future, except they were reindeer and not old hags from his history classes' mythology lessons.

As Sora and Pinkie waited patiently, Sora wondered what his special gift they had in mind for Kairi. "The best gift is more precious than gold, but it cannot be sold," Aurora said aloud, her antlers glowing and levitating a roll of green and red striped wrapping paper over to Bori.

"When it breaks, it's not ended, for quickly it's mended," Bori said, adding to Aurora's rhyme as she grabbed a swatch of red ribbon in her magic aura, cutting off a lengthy amount and tied it into a stunning bow.

"It can never be bought yet is easily sought," Alice added, the reindeer's combined phrases sounding like a riddle. The young doe knocked over a few gifts by mistake until she found the specific box she was looking for. "There we go!"

Bringing the box to Aurora and Bori, their antlers began glowing, combining all three materials and creating nice, small present, which began glowing for a brief moment before it faded. "Ooh! I like that box!" Pinkie said.

"Told ya," Alice gloated.

"Yeah, we get it. You can see the future," Sora grumbled. Ignoring the grin on Alice's face, Pinkie picked up the present as Sora leaned closer. She opened the gift, but their curiosity dwindled when they saw what exactly they made that was considered the perfect gift for Twilight. "...Uhhhh...This is...Twilight's gift?"

"I don't get it," Pinkie said.

"You will," Alice assured cryptically.

Unsure how to react, Pinkie just closed the box. It was better than nothing, even though she had expected something bigger or extravagant from such a small gift that would blow Twilight's metaphorical socks off.

"Ok...So, how about me?" Sora asked. "Any way your magic can make something Kairi's sure to like?" As he grinned, waiting for a response, neither reindeer said anything. They stared at him, seeming to know exactly what he was looking for, but the awkward silence made his smile droop with concern. "...What?"

"Do you really NEED to give Kairi a gift?" Bori questioned.

"...Yes?" Sora answered, confused. "I promised her I got her something amazing and wanted to give it to her early. As in tonight. I wasn't able to think of anything because-"

"You were so busy worrying about Sombra still being hated among the crystal ponies of the Crystal Empire and tried convincing them for the last couple months he was never the one truly at fault for his crimes," Aurora said, finishing Sora's thoughts.

"Ok, knowing my past and future is starting to get more annoying than surprising now," Sora grumbled.

Aurora, Bori, and Alice glanced at each other, the youngest doe fidgeting eagerly, knowing something the others didn't. "Sora, you gave Kairi your own heart to wake her from a coma when you were separated from her and Riku when you realized her heart found its way into yours when your home was destroyed," Aurora said. "Such a selfless act like that shows her just how dedicated you are to her; how much you care about her. You love her so much, you're willing to sacrifice your own heart so she could live. That is a gift that is the most priceless thing you could give her in a hundred lifetimes."

"Though you gave her a beautiful engagement ring, Kairi doesn't want anything fancy or to be spoiled and pampered like a princess," Bori said. "She may be one, but you never see her as one. She was your close friend, now your wife, and she would do anything for you just as much as you would for her."

"I know that, but..." Sora looked at Pinkie, who listened to their conversation, feeling like this was more important for Sora to hear without her interjecting. Sighing, Sora hung his head, feeling disappointed to let Kairi down after making such a promise. "...Kairi means so much to me. But...after Cozy Glow, I focused more on proving her innocent over Kairi...I wanted to make it up to her and everyone for losing my emotions and let my heart choose who was more important to me."

"Sora, you may be gullible," Aurora said, stepping toward Sora, tilting his head up. "But you're not a fool."

"You're someone who fights for your friends and try your absolute hardest to make sure everything's right," Bori added. "You don't need us to make you a gift to impress anybody; you already have it, and it's a gift that you are willing to share with everyone you meet."

Aurora gently tapped Sora's chest, pointing at his heart. He didn't need the added hint to know exactly what Bori meant. The eldest reindeer stepped back to join Bori and Alice as he rested his hoof over his heart. He knew just how special he was to everyone, though he still felt a little disappointed that he couldn't get a physical gift to at least show some effort to Kairi. He let out a sigh and lifted his head, eyeing Alice as she seemed excited to say something while trying not to blurt it out.

"...Why are you so giddy?" Sora asked Alice.

"Should I tell him?" she asked Aurora and Bori.

Aurora just laughed while Bori rolled her eyes. "Just don't spoil whatever you know will happen."

"What? What's gonna happen?" Sora asked.

Pinkie also began to grow curious as she leaned a bit closer. "Well...we may not have a gift for you to give to Kairi this Hearth's Warming...but there is a special gift you CAN give her." Getting his attention, Alice had an impish glint in her eye, clearing her throat before she spoke again. "This gift, alone you cannot make. You and Kairi must work together, no give or take. Time and care is needed for the 'ingredients' to bake. And when it's ready, your gift will soon wake."

Stumped, Sora stared at Alice. "...A gift I can't make alone?" he uttered, trying to understand the doe's cryptic riddle.

"You're gonna feel really silly when you figure out the answer," Alice snickered, smirking deviously.

"Hmm...Is it a cake?" Pinkie asked. "Cakes need ingredients."

"I have no idea anymore," Sora sighed. "Let's just head back home." The gift givers waved their guests off as they exited their home. Sora summoned his glider, both ponies hopping on as they headed back to Yakyakistan to give back Prince Rutherford's map. "At least Twilight's gonna get something out of this weird misadventure."

"Roll credits?" Pinkie said sheepishly. Sora looked back at her, confused. "Heh. Inside joke. Thought it'd be funny."

Sora shook his head, flying them back down the mountain.

Riku roared, flopping down into the snow in front of Flurry Heart. Poking his head out, he was greeted by a boop on the snout by a bundled hoof. He laughed, shaking the snow off of him, accidentally splattering some on Flurry. She sputtered and shook her head, getting some of the snow off her, thinking she had with an adorable smile.

"Almost got it all." Picking the alicorn filly up, he brushed off the last of the snow on her parka, glancing up at the sky. "Wow. We must have been playing around in the snow for a while."

"Sow!" Flurry babbled.

"Let's get inside and warm up with some hot chocolate." Flying Flurry back to the castle, he also wondered how Twilight was faring with her recipe search. Walking inside, he shivered slightly, Flurry mimicking him as he helped her get out of the stuffy parka. "There we go. Finally got some freedom in those hooves. When you're old enough to tolerate the cold, you don't need to be so bundled up like an adorable sea star."

"Hey, Riku," Kairi greeted. "Have you seen Sora?"

"I thought he was with you," Riku said.

"Huh. I wonder where he went." Flurry giggled, reaching her hooves out to greet the alicorn. "Hi, Flurry! You had fun in the snow?"

"Sow! Wikoo sow!" Flurry cheered.

"Oh, we had lots of fun in the snow," Riku said. "Except Auntie Twily was a little bit busy with Hearthswarming Helper stress."

"Who did she get?" Kairi asked.

"Pinkie Pie." Kairi was a little surprised, though her expression wasn't by who Twilight had picked. "I know. Easy pony to get a gift, but then Spike had to ruin it by saying the gift had to be perfect."

"I see," Kairi mumbled. "Speaking of, I just saw Spike sprint inside not even an hour ago."

"He's procrastinating and probably wasted too much time trying to trade with someone else who had Rarity." The Princess of Heart just sighed and shook her head. "I'm gonna make myself and Flurry some hot chocolate to warm ourselves up." Walking past Kairi as she continued searching around for Sora, Riku made his way to the kitchen. He greeted Terra and Aqua as he passed them, the castle looking more festive than when he last looked. Stepping inside the kitchen, standing in front of the stove with a huge pot being brewed was Twilight. Her mane was already a frazzled mess, but from her concentrated stance, holding a book in her magic aura while levitating the ingredients to whatever she was cooking into the pot, being meticulous with the portions she was putting in. "Well, there's Auntie Twily. I guess you found that old pudding recipe?"

"Shh!" Twilight shushed, making Riku frown. The ingredients she was using were incredibly odd to put into a pudding, despite how cluttered the rest of her normal ingredients to make pudding were on the island countertop. There were candy canes, gingerbread, sugarplums, nutmeg, and plenty of other winter holiday sweets or spices used in baking during the season. Watching Twilight measuring the ingredients and dropping them in the pot, Flurry Heart cooed, growing interested in watching her aunt cook and wanted to help. After putting the last of what she needed in, Twilight grinned, letting the pot simmer. "There. Every ingredient, PERFECTLY measured as described, step by step, without incident. And you doubted me for a second, you sneaky, sneaky book, you." Twilight turned around, startled seeing her coltfriend standing by the entrance of the kitchen with Flurry Heart in his leg. "...How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know you lost your mind and gloated to a book," Riku said.

"Hey, I didn't lose my mind," Twilight reasoned. "Took me a while to find the darn recipe. It was filed under 'Magic Spells' instead of 'Recipes'." Riku looked down at Flurry, who had no idea what her aunt was talking about as she squirmed excitedly, then back to Twilight. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Are you completely ignoring the fact I am holding your niece?" Riku asked. "Or knew that your brother and sister-in-law are here a day early to celebrate the holiday together?"

"What!? No one told me!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Or maybe they did, but you were so fixated on your 'puuuudiiiiing' that you went Twily-nanas." While Riku mimicked Twilight's earlier reaction to the idea of making pudding for Pinkie as her gift, neither he nor Twilight were aware of Flurry teleporting herself out of Riku's leg, replacing her spot with a bag of sugar. The alicorn baby looked at the pot, watching the bright green pudding bubble as it was cooking, then looked at all the sweet ingredients her aunt used. She giggled playfully and helped add a little more extra ingredients to the mix, her assistance completely ignored by the couple. "Every time you get fixated on one thing, you lose all common sense and literally go bananas."

"I was NOT Twily-nanas!" Twilight argued.

"Yeah-huh," Riku said. "And thanks to your brother for mentioning that, because when you got nuts, instead of you Twilighting, I'm gonna call you Twily-nanas."

Twilight grumbled, but with how stressed she had been earlier today and finding that pudding recipe, she may have gone a little overboard. "...Ok, maybe I did go a little Twily-nanas."

"'A little' is the understatement of the year," Riku teased.

"You've freaked out just as badly as I have," Twilight argued.

"Not over pudding," he argued back. "...We both try to make sure everything's perfectly fine until we stress out so much that we wind up messing up somewhere down the line. And if anything, I'm pinning the blame on Spike for making that stress come back."

"At least I finished putting everything into this pudding." Before Twilight looked back at the stove, Flurry Heart teleported back in Riku's leg, swapping out the bag of sugar and sending it plopping into the pudding. "It just needs to simmer for an hour and it'll be done in time before Pinkie gets here."

"Shouldn't we be a little concerned that this recipe was in 'Magic Spells' to begin with?" Riku questioned.

"I followed the recipe to the T, so nothing should go wrong," Twilight assured.

"Let's just hope it tastes delicious." Riku and Twilight stepped out of the kitchen, unaware of the pot bubbling as they closed the door and the pudding began to overflow.

Back at Sweet Acorn Orchard, Rarity and Freya were ready to head out after staying longer than they planned. The hours wiled away with Pistachio asking Rarity so many questions about fashion with some other topics revolving the unicorn and dragoon.

"It's a shame you two have to leave," Butternut said.

"Oh, you've been so generous," Rarity assured. "But we must get back for a previous engagement. I will be keeping an eye on you, Pistachio. I have a feeling you've got quite the future in fashion."

Pistachio was delighted to hear the praise. Rarity and Freya took their leave, walking down the path to the property entrance. Just before they could leave, despite having one of the best days of his life, Pistachio couldn't believe a very fashionable stetson made by Fedora Felt could ever possibly be delivered to a poor farm colt like him. He hurried after them while his parents went back inside.

"Rarity, wait!" he called out. Rarity and Freya stopped and turned around, wondering what else Pistachio wanted. "I love my parents, but I don't think they understand that we had lunch with one of the most famous ponies in all of Equestria."

"Oh, I don't really know about famous," Rarity humbly admitted sheepishly.

"You have three different fashion shops, and from what I've heard, pretty popular," Freya said. "And you're also one of the Elements of Harmony, adding to your fame before that."

Pistachio looked at his hat, letting out a sigh and took it off. "I know you didn't send a Fedora Felt original to some nopony you've never met from Nowhere, Equestria," he dejectedly said. "I'm sure this hat was meant for somepony special, so...if you want it back, I get it."

He held out the hat, letting Rarity take it. She held it in her aura, but she felt a pang of guilt in her heart for taking it back after getting to know more about Pistachio. Even Freya felt like the accidental gift given to him after instilling so much happiness to him shouldn't just be taken away from him. He had known it didn't belong to him, but he felt like he didn't want to upset his parents for not getting something he wanted desperately to get for Hearth's Warming.

"This hat is indeed for somepony special," Rarity said. Pistachio lowered his head, only to be startled when Rarity set the stetson back on the colt's head. "And I couldn't bear to see HIM part with it."

Unable to believe his ears, Pistachio's smile returned with a excited squeal. "Thank Celestia! Because I did NOT want to give this up!"

"But if I hear you call yourself a nopony again, you shan't be my guest for Fashion Week in Manehattan." Given such a prestigious invitation to somewhere he dreamed of going to, Pistachio was at a loss for words. He stammered, unable to fathom a single sentence to express his glee. He was given a hug from the fashionista, his Hearth's Warming the best he'd ever had, and he couldn't wait for Fashion Week to come any sooner. Rarity let go of the flabbergasted colt as she and Freya continued their trek back to Ponyville, Pistachio waving goodbye to them. Once they were far enough away, Rarity sighed, knowing she made a right decision. "Well, I'm sure Applejack will be disappointed not getting a gift. I don't have enough time to find something simple as a backup."

"At least you made one pony incredibly happy," Freya said. "I think Applejack will understand." Though the package was a mistaken delivery, Freya felt she got a little bit too harsh with Derpy for her blunder. "I think I need to go back to the post office and apologize to that pegasus. Maybe with all the orders being delivered around this holiday, she probably does do a good job, but fumbled an address or two with how many presents are floating around from city to city."

"Derpy Hooves does mean well," Rarity said. "She also has a filly to look after, and Sora's done quite a bit for the both of them."

The dragoon grimaced, unaware Derpy even has a child to look after. "You ok getting back on your own?" Freya asked.

"Yes. I'm...going to need to take a walk and figure out how to tell Applejack how her Hearthswarming Helper got her nothing," Rarity said.

Nodding, Freya flapped her wings, leapt high into the air, and flew off back to Ponyville. With the sun slowly beginning to set, businesses would be closing soon so workers at those establishments can go home and enjoy Hearth's Warming with their families. Hovering over the post office, the line of ponies had already been taken care of with the building closed up. Peering around the ground, she spotted Derpy Hooves making her way back home. Gliding down in front of her path, she landed in front of her.

"Oh! Hi, Spike!" Derpy greeted. She squinted her eyes, flinching as she realized her mistake. "Oh, wait, you're the same dragon who was with Rarity earlier. Did you get the package?"

"It's Freya," the dragoon reminded the pegasus. "And...we did find it."

"Oh good! Applejack will finally get her gift!" Derpy said.

Freya had no idea how someone like Derpy could be so bubbly and optimistic this easily. "Actually...the package was meant for that address."

Confused, Derpy tilted her head. "But Applejack doesn't live at Sweet Acorn Orchard."

"Yes, I know, but we had a chat with the residents who lived there," Freya stated. "Rarity changed her mind. And...I owe you an apology for blowing up on you for a mistaken delivery. I'm sure you were overwhelmed with everyone else sending gifts here and there across Equestria that a few of them could have gone to the wrong place. It wasn't even my package to get worked up about. I'm sorry."

"...Oh, it's alright. You're already forgiven," Derpy said. "I kinda get angry customers at times when I make a mistake here and there. Sometimes, I just don't know what went wrong." Freya refrained from answering, mostly because of how easily Derpy forgave her. "I try my best, and that's all that matters."

"...Right. Try your best," Freya mumbled, smiling.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, Frey Heart!" Derpy said. "I gotta get home and make some dinner for my little muffin, Dinky Doo. Happy holidays!"

Derpy trotted merrily past Freya, the dragon letting the mispronunciation of her name slide. "Happy holidays," she wished back. She never would have met someone with such an upbeat personality like Derpy's, even when she flubs up a thing or two when she tried to help. She let out a sigh, pulling out her locket and opened it to look at the picture of herself and Estinien. "...Estinien...Did we try our hardest to escape?"

Discord and Dizzy peered through the bushes, both of their heads turning in opposite directions, searching high and low for Fluttershy's new animal friend. They both hummed a random spy tune, slinking and diving behind trees and in over snow-covered bushes. Rainbow hovered behind them, wondering what the two were doing when they should be searching for the new critter for Fluttershy's sanctuary. She didn't even know what they were looking for.

"What are you two doing?" Rainbow questioned.

In a flash, she was suddenly wearing a full body white ninja outfit. "We mustn't make a sound," Discord said, his voice hushed, dropping down from the tree and landed on a branch, wearing a dark purple suit with a metal visor obscuring his vision. "What we're looking for is skittish, so stealth must be our key to catch a winterchilla."

"Winterchilla?" Rainbow asked.

A puff of smoke suddenly appeared beside Rainbow as Dizzy appeared, wearing a similar black ninja outfit like Rainbow's, but his mane was spiked up with a headband covering his left eye. On the headband was a metal plate with an infinity symbol etched on it while most of his face was covered by a cloth mask.

"It is very smol, adorable, fuzzy, and very fast," Dizzy explained while speaking in a distinct accent. His paw and claws made swift hand signs, another few puffs of smoke appearing around Rainbow Dash with multiple Dizzies in the same ninja outfit revealed from the fading smoke. "Very rare creature with white fur that blends with the snow. It will take swift vigilance and cunning to find-"

"Hey, there it is!" one of Dizzy's clones pointed out loudly, all heads turning to the direction he pointed in.

For a rare creature to find, the draconequui and pegasus managed to find one pretty easily. As Dizzy described it, the winterchilla was a small, fluffy white animal that's highly related to a chinchilla. It had think fur with a tuft of fluff at the end of its tail, big ears, a small pair of buck teeth, and thin whiskers. It looked up when it heard Dizzy yell, but it didn't flee if Discord mentioned it was a skittish creature.

"Perfect," Discord cheered. "Now, here's the game plan. It's gonna run, so all we gotta do is-"

Rainbow sped off, causing the Dizzies clinging onto her to flop to the snow, each one poofing out of existence aside from the original. Within seconds, Rainbow managed to catch the winterchilla, who didn't seem all that scared and sat on Rainbow's hoof eyeing them with curiosity.

"Be super fast?" she said.

"That works, too," Dizzy said.

With a snap, their ninja gear disappeared, finding the path and made their way back to Ponyville. "Kinda convenient we found this little guy. Did you two know he'd be out here?"

"We did our research," Discord said.

"It is a shame you called dibs on giving the winterchilla to Fluttershy for your Hearthswarming Helper game," Dizzy said, sounding disappointed. "Oh well. We'll go with the next best thing." The draconequus colt disappeared into a blue box with red ribbons, popping the top up and leaping out in an adorable pose, wearing a festive wreath, a red bowtie, and a sign reading "Fluttershy's gift from her bestest coltfriend ever" hanging from his neck. "Me!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't have been able to find this winterchilla if you guys didn't tell me about it," she said. "I suppose we can make this a shared gift...if that's allowed for Hearthswarming Helpers."

"But we're the ones who would take most of the credit for coming up with the idea," Discord said. "And helped make sure you didn't pick the wrong gift for her." Rainbow grumbled, but she let his snide remark slide. "Ooh! And look; it's sunset!"

"At least I got her something before-" Suddenly, the winterchilla began twitching and grunting strangely. It hopped out of Rainbow's hoof, trembling violently as it started to grow. "Uhh, what's happening to it?"

Hearing it hiss, Rainbow began to grow a bit wary as she watched it somehow mutate into something not as cute and fluffy as it was a moment ago. Beneath it were six arms that grew longer with sharp claws sticking out from its digits, rising up on two hind legs. It turned around, having grown sharp fangs, even its dull buck teeth had sharpened along with its carnivorous maw, staring down at Rainbow, Discord, and Dizzy with a snarl.

"Uhhh, did we forget to mention winterchillas turn into winterzillas after sunset?" Dizzy asked sheepishly. Rainbow looked away from the terrifying winterzilla and glared at both draconequui. She couldn't believe they thought that something like this would make for a good addition to Fluttershy's animal sanctuary. Dizzy giggled nervously, then created a handsign. "Substitution Jutsu!"

In a puff of smoke, Dizzy vanished, leaving behind a cylindrical log in his place. As it hit the ground, Rainbow looked out to town, watching the draconequus colt sprinting off, Discord also somehow sneaking off and fleeing from the winterzilla.

"Discord! Dizzy!" Rainbow yelled out, the winterzilla roaring and made a lunge for her.

Yelping, Rainbow slid under it and flew away, hearing the monstrous beast stomping after them as they fled toward the castle in the distance.

At the entrance to the Castle of Friendship, by sheer coincidence, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Freya, and Sora had arrived at the same time. From the looks on each other's faces, no one seemed to have gotten the perfect gift for their ponies. The group was awkwardly silent, debating who was going to walk inside the castle first.

"Ooh! Are we doing carols!?" Approaching the castle, Manami trotted up to the group. "Though I think the caroling should be done at other people's houses, not at your own. Unless it's a surprise for someone." As she got closer, she noticed the dour expressions on their faces. "...Did...something happen?"

Mumbles from the party could barely be heard, neither mare wanting to accidentally reveal to their pony what couldn't get. "Uhh...long story?" Sora answered.

"Who is this?" Freya asked.

Manami noticed Freya, letting out a yelp when she realized the tall figure was a female dragon. "Oh goodness!" Staring at her, she tilted her head. "...Does...Spike have a long lost sister?"

"Well, that's a first. I'm actually Spike's mother," Freya said. "Freya Crescent."

Gasping, Manami could definitely see the resemblance between her and Spike. "His mother!? Wait, for real? Or are you faking it like the horrible dragon who pretended to be his father about a year back?"

"She's the real deal," Sora confirmed. "Freya's also a Key Bearer like me; she's from a different world, and so was Spike."

Shock turned to elation as Manami approached the dragoon. "Well, I'm glad that little dragon's finally discovered one of his birth parents. I'm Manami. Sora's mother."

"A pleasure to meet you, miss," Freya said. "Speaking of sons, has anyone else seen Spike in town since I last saw him?"

The door opened up where everyone was greeted by Spike. They were startled to see the dragon in a grumpy mood, his whole body covered in glitter that made his scales sparkle. The first to break the silence was Manami, unaware of the former baby dragon's growth spurt.

"Spike!?" Manami exclaimed. "When did you get a growth spurt!? You're not so tiny anymore!"

"Hey, Miss Manami," Spike greeted, coughing slightly, hacking up some glitter he accidentally breathed in.

"Did you get attacked by a party?" Pinkie asked.

"I wish. I...procrastinated too long and made a mess trying to make my pony's present," he grumbled.

Freya just sighed, shaking her head in exasperation. "Oh Spike..."

Inside the castle, Goofy whistled a Christmas song as he walked down the hall toward the kitchen. "I think it's about time to get dinner ready," he said to himself. When he approached the door, his whistling paused when he noticed something causing it to distend and threaten to break the door down. "Uhh, anyone leave the sink on!?" Goofy called out as he ran over to inspect the kitchen. Opening it was a huge mistake as gallons of Twilight's pudding flowed out. "WHOA! EVERYONE ABANDON CASTLE!"

Goofy sprinted off as the pudding rushed down the hall like a tidal wave. Hearing Goofy shout, Donald ran over to help, only to gawk at the incoming pudding, squawking madly and turned about to escape with his friend. The duo ran past Twilight and Riku, hearing the pudding rush around the corner.

"What the heck!?" Riku exclaimed as the couple flew away.

"RUN! THE PUDDING IS COMING!" Twilight yelled out.

Catching everyone's attention in the main lobby, they found Twilight and Riku rounding the corner with the overflowing holiday pudding heading toward them. Shining and Cadence with Flurry, Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Xion, Lea, Sweet Delight, and Axle Beam heard the commotion and made it to the front lobby, only to panic at the sight of the mass of thick, green-colored dessert threatening to drown the entire castle.

"What is going on!?" Terra exclaimed.

"RUN! THE WINTERZILLA'S COMING!" Quickly looking outside, Rainbow, Dizzy, and Discord ran from the monstrous winterzilla hunting them.

The creature roared, forcing everyone outside to run inside for safety. "Ok, between a mad chinchilla grown to a million times its size with the temperament of a rottweiler and drowning in pudding, I'm taking the pudding!" Lea remarked.

They weren't safe for long, the winterchilla managing to breach its head inside the smaller door, then crash through, leaving the front entrance as nothing but a big hole in the castle. The wielders summoned their Keyblades, looking between the two threats as they didn't know which was considered to be more dangerous.

"Ooh, what's that stuff?" Dizzy asked curiously, pointing to Chancellor Puddinghead's pudding recipe gone wild.

"Magic pudding!" Twilight said, then addressed the beast looming over them. "And what is THAT!?"

"A winterchilla!" Rainbow said.

Everyone sans Freya and Manami leered at the cyan pegasus. "Rainbow Dash, they turn into winterzillas after dark!"

"Does everypony know this but me!?" Rainbow exclaimed angrily.

"YES!" everyone but the dragoon and visiting woman-turned-pegasus exclaimed.

"That was in one of the dangerous creature lessons for school a couple weeks ago!" Lea said. "Even I read through that, and I'm a counselor!"

The winterzilla suddenly swiped at them, forcing everyone to back away, though its eyes were set on Spike. With its full attention on the glittered dragon, he tried to grab him, but Spike flew off.

"Whoa, hey! Dragon's not on the menu!" Spike yelled.

"A lot of wild animals like shiny stuff," Twilight mumbled to herself. "Spike, keep distracting the winterzilla!"

"Do I have a-WHOA!" Spike ducked another swipe, flying higher to avoid the monstrous rodent from using him like a chew toy.

While the winterzilla was distracted, the pudding crept closer to everyone. Creating a tendril with its gelatinous base, it latched itself around Aqua's back hoof. Startled, she turned around and sliced the tendril off of her, gasping as she saw more growing and begin lunging out to its other victims.

"The pudding's attacking us now!?" she exclaimed, catching the others attention as it managed to catch Donald and Ventus.

"Twilight, what kind of madman was Puddinghead when it came to this pudding!?" Riku exclaimed.

"I didn't think it would come to life!" Twilight said. As the others sliced at the tendrils and got Ventus and Donald freed from its grasp, they needed to get to higher ground with the winterzilla blocking the entrance. "I swear I followed the recipe with the exact measurements with all the ingredients!"

"No one else had gone into the kitchen when you hogged it all to yourself making this stuff!" Xion said, leaping back from a whipping tendril and tried to blast the pudding away with Fire. Though the spell struck, it absorbed the fireball, barely slowing the enchanted dessert down. "Magical pudding is also magic-proof. Great."

"We need to get up on the balcony!" Terra said.

"Not a problem!" Shining said, but before he could try to make a path through the pudding, Cadence gave him Flurry Heart.

"How about you let somepony with wings do this, hon?" Cadence, along with Riku, Sora, Kairi, and Rainbow carried those without wings up to the upper levels of the foyer.

Shining watched his wife swerve around the tendrils, blasting some away with her magic while helping Rarity up to safety. "Your mom sure is something," he said to Flurry Heart.

Not wanting to be outdone, Shining used his own skills as a former royal guard captain to reach the balcony. With Flurry held tightly in his hooves, took a massive leap, latching onto one of the tapestries in his teeth and used his momentum to swing himself up onto the balcony. With a flip, blasting away some pudding that tried to grab him, he landed beside Cadence, highly impressing her.

"You're not so bad yourself," Cadence flirted.

"Hey, you two wanna think about giving Flurry Heart a sibling until AFTER we try not to get swallowed up by this pudding!?" Riku scolded.

While everyone else was frantically trying to stop or avoid the two threats, Discord just sat lazily in a recliner, eating popcorn and watching the chaos unfold. "Discord, don't just stand there!" Kairi yelled. "You can do something to help!"

"I did!" Snapping his fingers, he left his seat and turned himself into a big red ribbon, sitting on the right side of the winterzilla's head. "This is Fluttershy's gift!"

"Are you serious!?" Ventus shouted. "Why would you think that would be a good gift for anyone!?"

"Well, it is cute and small when it's daytime," Dizzy explained.

"Not helpful for the other twelve hours of the day!" Ventus argued.

"Speaking of help, how about someone help me!?" Spike shouted. "I'm sick and tired of being bait!"

The winterzilla started to get frustrated trying to grab the big shiny dragon. As it gazed down, it saw the sparkling ornaments and decorations nearby without needing to jump up after it. Ignoring Spike, it stomped over to the garland filled with glass ornaments, snatching some and began eating them with loud crunches.

"I just set those up this morning!" Freya exclaimed. She flew up in its face, aiming her Keyblade at its face. "If distracting you won't get you out of here, then maybe beating will make you leave!"

Fed up with dragons, the beast smacked Freya aside, sending her falling toward the pudding. "MOM!" Spike dove down, snatching Freya before she fell and got swallowed up by it. Blasting pudding tendrils away with his flame breath, he set Freya down on the balcony. The winterzilla had already eaten half a dozen ornaments, barely concerned with the pudding still oozing out. "Ok, it's smart enough to only catch its food when it's not running away from it."

"How do we get rid of this thing without hurting it!?" Applejack asked.

Discord and Dizzy both facepalmed in exasperation. "For Skorpan's sake!"

"Did everyone suddenly get a case of the brainrot!?" Dizzy exclaimed. Both draconequui materialized several neon arrow signs, even turning into one themselves, all of them pointing at Fluttershy. "Who out of all of us can communicate with animals!? Do we need to paint a picture to point out the obvious, guys!?"

Fluttershy wasn't sure if she'd be able to control a winterzilla. She'd never met one before, or its smaller, more docile form, but she was the only pony for the job despite still being a little overwhelmed that Discord and Dizzy brought this animal as a present to her. Hovering up to the decoation-munching rodent, she tried to get its attention.

"Uhh, excuse me, Mr. Winterzilla," she said. The creature's response was a rude roar after gulping down more garlands like a string of spaghetti. It sent Fluttershy flipping back from his aggressive backtalk, a big mistake as Fluttershy moved her bangs out of her face, glaring with more ferocity than a dangerous adult dragon. She flew right in the winterzilla's face, its scowl quickly turned to fear as she gave him the Stare. "This is supposed to be the happiest time of year! So if this is how you plan on behaving, you can march yourself right back to where you came from!"

In an instant, the winterzilla teared up and then started crying. Everyone was baffled by this sudden emotional breakdown from a fuzzy rodent who turns into a gargantuan beast after sunset, though one can't always judge anything by their appearance.

"...Uhh, didn't expect it to get upset like that," Applejack mumbled.

While it bawled, it mumbled its grunts that only Fluttershy was able to understand. "Aww. Your family is gone for the holidays, and your all alone?" she translated. The winterzilla sniffled and nodded its head. "I'm so sorry. If you calm down, I'm sure you could join us."

The now friendly winterzilla smiled, nodding again and promising to behave. "Aww, he's just a big softy," Manami cooed. Behind her, she felt a tendril tap her rump, turning around with a grunt, only to realize they weren't out of danger yet. "Oh. Right. Pudding."

The same tendril that got Manami's attention tried to grab her, only to be slashed away by Sora. The rest of the non-flyers on the ground were teleported up to the balcony while Twilight tried to blast the constantly oozing pudding back, to no avail. The foyer was nearly filled up to four feet of pudding and growing with no signs of slowing down. While doing a head count, Twilight realized Pinkie wasn't with the others on the balcony. Floating on the pudding in the strangest pool float in the shape of Princess Celestia, Pinkie got herself a closer look at Twilight's magical concoction.

"Maybe leave the baking to me next time, Twilight," Pinkie said. Grabbing a spoon, Pinkie scooped up some of the pudding and gave it a taste test. "Mmm! This is actually pretty good!"

"It's Chancellor Puddinghead's recipe," Twilight explained, zapping away more magic pudding tendrils that tried to snag Pinkie.

"Now THAT is an impressive dessert," Pinkie complimented.

"It's your Hearth's Warming present," Twilight added.

Before either mare could relish the incredible gift idea, Riku flung his Keyblade, saving both mares from another tendril as more and more keep writhing. "Save the compliments for later!" he said. "I can't believe Twilight would mess up following a simple recipe, but if it was only the two of us in the kitchen in that-" Remembering that Flurry Heart was with them, Riku slowly glanced at the baby alicorn. At that time, he didn't notice any change in the weight, though he thought he felt something was off with the filly's diaper. "...Oh. Twilight had a little help with the pudding."

Flurry Heart giggled innocently, though neither Riku or Twilight could blame her. "Flurry Heart must have added something extra to my exact ingredients to make this pudding," Twilight said. "I just don't know what to add to adjust it. A teaspoon of nutmeg, three sugarplums-"

"Extra gingerbread and four more candy canes?" Pinkie asked.

Shocked, Twilight gawked at Pinkie Pie. "How do you know the recipe!?"

Hearing the ingredients that were listed, Pinkie gasped, pulling out the present the Gift Givers of the Grove gave her. Sora was at a loss for words, his jaw hanging open as he saw those very ingredients sitting in the box with Pinkie, baffled that Twilight's gift was what were going to save the day.

"...You've gotta be joking," Sora uttered.

Grinning widely, Pinkie held Twilight's gift over her head. "Happy Hearth's Warming, Twilight! I'm your Hearthswarming Helper!"

Jumping and bouncing off the pool float, Pinkie dove into the pudding, shocking everyone as they watched her sink into the dessert. Floating to the surface were the additional ingredients from the present needed to stop the pudding from going out of control. They started glowing, and in a bright flash from the flood of pudding, the animated tendrils vanished and it was no longer sentient. Pinkie breached the surface, perfectly fine while everyone cheered, the sudden holiday disaster finally quelled.

"Eh, a little reindeer ex-machina, but two thumbs way up!" Discord cheered, his thumbs launching from his hands and creating small fireworks around the group.

After a bit of a cleanup, the castle was back in decent order. All of the pudding was scooped up with so much extra for everyone to receive a fifth helping if they wanted as they all gathered in the lounge room. Relaxing after the weird bout of conflict involving magic pudding and a now tamed winterzilla, everyone sat around and enjoyed a bowl of Puddinghead's unique pudding recipe.

"Mmm. You know, I am tempted to figure out the recipe to make this pudding at home," Sweet Delight said.

"Ha! Absolutely not," Lea grunted. "If you get tangled up by enchanted pudding, you're gonna have to eat your way out of that mess yourself."

Axle quietly giggled, munching on his helping while also hoping his mom made some of this pudding for next year. "I'm gonna need to take a tupperware bowl for Kaito to try," Manami said. "He missed out on another winter holiday catastrophe. At least Sora isn't lured away by the Organization again."

"No need to worry about that anymore," Sora mumbled.

"We never know who's going to take Sora anymore," Riku teased. "Quite the special hero. Maybe some of his fans from the Crystal Empire might whisk him away from Kairi."

Sora rolled his eyes and stuffed another spoonful of pudding in his mouth. While enjoying their dessert, Twilight sat down next to Pinkie.

"Sorry for failing as a Hearthswarming Helper, Pinkie," Twilight apologized.

"What!?" Pinkie exclaimed in surprise. "With no pudding disaster, my gift with the exact ingredients wouldn't have made any sense. This way, it was perfect!"

Pinkie stuffed her bowl of pudding against her muzzle and munched noisily, the taste much, MUCH better with the exact ingredients. Sora grumbled, unable to believe Pinkie's gift from the reindeer was ironically the best gift ever.

"At least Twilight has something to show for her effort," Rarity sighed, then looked at Applejack. "I ordered a fabulous hat I think you would have liked, Applejack. Alas, it decided it belonged to somepony else."

"A new hat?" Applejack asked. Taking off her stetson, she couldn't bear to part without it wherever she went. Sora knew her hat once belonged to her dad, Bright Macintosh. It was one of the few mementos she had left of her parents. "...Pa said sometimes the hat chooses the pony when he gave me this." Applejack appreciated the gesture and knew Rarity understood how much her hat meant to her. Placing her hat back on her head, she didn't care if she got something so long as whoever got her gift was happy with it. "Hopefully mah gift inspired whoever's wearin' it to be the best farmer ever."

Rarity giggled sheepishly at Applejack's guess, but Freya snickered. "Oh, there was some inspiration from that hat," she said.

"At least that sounds much better than our gifts," Fluttershy said as Applejack grabbed Spike's and Rainbow's "presents".

When everyone saw what they were, grimaces were plastered on every face present in the room. "Ugh. What are those miserable excuse for patchwork dolls?" Aqua questioned.

"Holly the Hearth's Warmer," Applejack said. "A 'must-have gift of the season'."

Flurry Heart blew a raspberry, babbling bitterly in baby talk as she frowned. "Oh, you know it's a terrible toy if Flurry doesn't even like it."

"Maybe if we glue Riku's face on it," Sora teased. Flurry sputtered in response, snatching Cadence's spoon that she filled with pudding and flung it at Sora's face. He winced, groaning in annoyance while the others laughed. "Not even that idea would make her like it a smidge."

"Now you know how I felt when she flung her 'favorite food' at me when I babysat her," Riku said with a smirk.

Rainbow grimaced at the horrible doll, barely caring what she got so long as she didn't keep this. Spotting a pull string, she was curious what dumb phrases were recorded and pulled it.

"Commercialism is the greatest gift of all!" While Sora was wiping his face, he froze as his ears twitched, slowly turning his gaze to the voice that came from the poor excuse of stitched up fabric.

"...Was that Flim's voice that came from that thing?" Sora questioned.

"Eeyup," Applejack confirmed.

"...They were scamming ponies with these toys, claiming them to be the hottest toy everyone should buy to make a quick bit?" Sora asked.

"They did," Fluttershy said, scuffing her hoof against the carpet sheepishly. "...They're really convincing."

Sora growled, glaring at the dolls. "I knew I felt something back on that mountain," Sora huffed.

"We took care of them without gettin' violent with them," Applejack said. "Now they've got hundreds of these things and only got a few ponies...even Fluttershy and myself when I had to buy four so we could ruin their scheme and remind ponies a gift to somepony else matters more with what they'll like rather than everypony would like."

"I'm still upset they got away instead of having their whole operation wrecked to pieces," Sora grumbled. Discord pointed his finger to the dolls, zapping them out of existence. "Hey! I wanted to destroy them!"

"Oh, relax. You had enough destruction of their property already," Discord said.

"Well, not including that resort they're running," Dizzy mentioned.

"At least what they got was much better than a rampaging winterzilla," Rainbow said. "Sorry my gift was another disaster waiting to happen."

"Oh, he's just a big sweetheart," Fluttershy assured. "And he ended up being really helpful." Everyone heard heavy steps coming from the hall. The winterzilla squeezed himself through the doorway, being careful not to break the wall down, and sat himself down, carrying a big bowl of festive pudding to eat and began lapping up some in his tongue. "It was actually really nice to be the pony who saved the day for once."

"Oh, really?" Discord asked, leaning his neck out as he specifically eyed Rainbow Dash. The pegasus ignored the draconequus as began to subtly gloat to rile the mare up. "You mean a giant beast that only Fluttershy could tame, making her the hero for the holidays, was a great gift?" Rainbow just ate her pudding, tuning the draconequus out, even as he startled Fluttershy by standing her on a pedestal with a hero's medal and a red feather boa, adding in a trophy and some confetti to rain down on his marefriend. "Imagine that."

Baffled, Rainbow leered at Discord, confused by what his actually idea of a gift was supposed to be. "What!? You mean you tricked me into-!" Dizzy clasped his paw over her muzzle. He pointed back to Fluttershy, reminding her that her goal was to get Fluttershy an incredible Hearth's Warming gift, where Fluttershy nuzzled the winterzilla. She found her gift, and though the draconequuis' goal was similar, they hid their own idea as a secretive way of boosting Fluttershy's growing confidence by having her save the day with one near disaster. Not wanting to ruin the mood for her friend, Rainbow sighed and just let Discord have it, removing Dizzy's hand from her muzzle. "Let's just say it was from all three of us."

Sora sighed, wishing he found something for Kairi before it was too late. Everyone had the chance to at least search for something, or tried and got derailed, giving up or exchanging it for something far worse in the situations they ended up in. Kairi nudged him gently, snapping him out of his slump.

"Well, Sora, you said you had a gift for me and wanted to give it to me tonight," she reminded. Sora swallowed his mouthful of pudding, averting his gaze as all eyes were now on him. "What did you get me?"

"...Uhh...I..." He tried to come up with any excuse he could think of, but none of them fit right with where he had been all day. Slumping his shoulders, he sighed. "...I...didn't get anything. I procrastinated because...well..."

"He'd been in the Crystal Empire trying in vain to convince everypony Sombra wasn't a dangerous threat anymore," Cadence said. "The last couple months since Nightmare Night, he's been showing the crystal ponies the old Sombra they were supposed to know."

"Some of them got so scared, Heartless appeared at the edge of the barrier," Shining Armor added. "Even after getting rid of them, I don't think he's going to convince them. Not even I wanted to believe it when Cadence and I took Flurry to Canterlot to visit mom and dad."

"Shining was about to run a spear through him when we met the real Sombra in person, but I don't blame him after what that monster almost did to him when he took back the kingdom and the Crystal Heart for a brief moment," Cadence said. Flurry shook her head, not as big of a fan of Sombra either after how he held her hostage.

"And he couldn't find you a gift when he had all day today to find something, or even make a gift," Manami grumbled with a shake of her head in disappointment.

"I don't even know what I could have gotten her," Sora argued. "How could I get Kairi something special that makes up for how horrible of a husband I am for dropping her safety over Cozy Glow?"

The room went silent as some of the group froze mid-bite, staring at Sora in disbelief. Even Kairi was appalled by what Sora just questioned.

"...You still think I hold some kind of grudge against you over that?" Kairi questioned.

"I still feel guilty for abandoning all of you for..." Sora sighed, hanging his head in shame. "...Apologizing to all of you doesn't feel like it comes close to making up one of my biggest mistakes...Especially to you. I am willing to put my life on the line to know you'll be ok...except for that one moment. Part of me has moved past it, but not fully." Grabbing his spoon, Sora picked and nudged at his dessert. "...All of you forgave me. I forgave myself. But I still can't let what I did go...Or what I did to her...I don't think anything I would have gotten would make me feel better for what I did to you, Kairi."

"...Sora." Gently taking his hoof in hers, Sora glanced at Kairi as she brought his hoof over her heart. "I knew your heart was struggling to try to do the right thing. I don't hate you for trying to change someone from veering down the path of darkness if you felt they didn't need to. I could see how hurt you were when you had to finally let someone you held dear to your heart go like that. You felt you had to deal with her yourself, and you forget that, though you may fight for us, we're willing to fight alongside you, not against you." Her other hoof moved to his chest, resting it over his heart to emphasize that his actions through his heart weren't a weakness, but his greatest strength. "And I told you you didn't have to get me any fancy or special present to show me how much you love me. I already have what I wanted."

Kairi's horn lit up, guiding Sora's head to lean closer to her. She silenced his objections with a kiss, stunning him briefly before his eyes closed and kissed her back. As the others watched the romantic moment, some thought the interaction was really sweet while some felt bashful watching the scene, especially the winterzilla as he covered his face with his paws, peeking between his fingers. Their lips parted, Kairi leaning closer to Sora and brought her head underneath his chin. Feeling him relax and hold her in his hooves, she smiled, reassuring him he shouldn't keep putting himself down anymore.

"I should have just put a bow on myself and called it a day, huh?" Sora joked. While everyone laughed, Kairi snorted, lightly headbutting her goofy husband in the chest. She sat back up, planting a peck on his cheek. "I guess joining Pinkie trying to find the best gift ever felt like a waste of time."

"But then we would have had to evacuate from the castle while magic pudding flooded the place!" Pinkie pointed out.

"Where did you two even go to?" Terra asked curiously.

"Somewhere in the mountains north of Yakyakistan," Sora said. "Pinkie and I met these three reindeer who call themselves 'Gift Givers of the Grove'. I still can't believe Alice knew that we would eventually get why they got Pinkie ingredients as a gift."

"Alice?" Xion asked.

"She's the youngest deer who could see what'll happen in the future," Sora explained. "Then there was Bori, who keeps her and the older one, Aurora, from going crazy with their way of foresight. Aurora is able to see into the past, gifts or...other people's history." Still unnerved by Aurora and Alice's unique powers, he stuffed another spoonful of pudding in his mouth. "I'm still bothered about the weird riddle Alice gave me involving the perfect I could give Kairi on some other day. How would it be perfect if she also makes it with me?"

"What was the riddle?" Kairi asked curiously.

"Uhh, let's see," Sora hummed, trying to recall what Alice told him. "This gift, alone I can't make. Kairi and I must work together, no give or take. Time and care is needed for the ingredients to bake. And when it's ready, our gift will wake." Still clueless about what the answer could be, most of the rest of the group seemed to have figured out what the answer was. Stunned by Sora's lack of thought, they just stared at him like they couldn't believe he didn't realize what the answer was. Noticing the odd looks, Sora shifted his eyes between everyone around him, unaware that Kairi also figured out the answer and was blushing madly. "...Why is everyone staring at me like that?"

"Oh, goodness sake, Sora," Xion sighed heavily.

"What!?" Sora exclaimed in exasperation.

"Sora," Kairi mumbled, getting his attention. "...You...still don't know what it is?" she asked.

"No." Hearing some of his friends groaning at his cluelessness, he grumbled in frustration.

"I thought it was something like a cake since Alice mentioned ingredients, but cakes don't have eyes and can't sleep or wake up," Pinkie said. "Unless we count it being finished baking as waking up after putting everything together. But sometimes a cake doesn't involve two ponies to bake unless it's something spe-" Stopping her tangent, Pinkie's expression slowly turned to enlightenment, then shifted her gaze to Sora with a sly smirk. "Ohhhhhhh...Now I know what it is."

"Can someone just tell me instead of making me feel stupid?" Sora begged.

"Sora...What could the two of us...'make'?" Kairi asked shyly. She bit her lip, tapping her hooves together, hoping Sora would slowly catch the hint. "...And how long it takes until this 'gift' wakes up?"

"It spoils the surprise of what I wanted to give you," Sora reasoned, making Riku facehoof hard with a pained groan in disbelief. "I mean, the only answer I can think of involving you and me 'making' a gift is if we wanted to have a baby." A few seconds passed before it finally dawned on Sora. His ears immediately shot straight up, as well as his posture, eyes shot wide open. Glancing around the group nervously, they were disappointed that it took him all this time to finally realize what the answer was. If Alice knew what his expression was meant to look like when he figured it out, he definitely felt silly for not getting it until now. "...Oh...A...A baby...We could make..." His face turned bright red in embarrassment, his lips curling into a sheepish grin. Slowly, he grabbed his bowl of pudding and began stuffing his face some more. "...This is some good pudding..."

"Congratulations, Kairi, you married the biggest doofus in the world," Riku groaned.

"I thought we were going to have to hold Flurry Heart in his direction to give him a hint," Cadence giggled.

"And I thought Twilight was clueless trying to figure out your scavenger hunt idea to announce you were pregnant," Ventus muttered to himself. "Not a fun day when Pinkie and I knew, and she couldn't contain her excitement until she finally got the hint."

Despite the riddle being solved, Manami grew a little curious with what the answer involved. "Wait...So, is that a little hint to something else?" she asked, the prospect making her grow more excited as she moved closer to her son and daughter-in-law. "Kairi, are we expecting a pair of tiny little feet to be running around soon?"

"N-No. I'm...not pregnant," Kairi said, Manami's eager question causing Sora to choke on his pudding.

Manami's wide grin melted, turning into a disappointed pout. "Oh. I want to be a grandma so bad!" she whined. "Did that riddle hint that you're going to make that baby right now?"

"MOM!" Sora shouted.

"I gotta know at some point!" Manami exclaimed. "I want that grandchild before you two wind up getting into serious trouble!"

Cadence had to drag Manami back to her seat, embarrassing Sora and Kairi more than enough from the potential "gift" the youngest Gift Giver hinted at. "When it happens, it'll happen," she chided the overly eager mother. "Like the riddle said, it takes time and care for the 'ingredients' to bake properly."

Sora covered his face with a groan, unable to see exactly what that meant until now. When everyone finally stopped teasing him and the room had settled down enough, Rarity noticed that her pony hadn't revealed their gift yet. Or rather, her dragon.

"Well, I'm the only one left for Hearthswarming Helper who didn't get their gift yet," she mentioned, causing Spike to wince and stare at his bowl of holiday dessert.

Now all the attention was on him, making him highly uncomfortable. "...I...W-Well, I uhh..." Having already wasted so much time today trying to get Rarity's name and panicking about what to get her, he felt like the worst gift giver compared to Sora. He had nothing to show aside from what he was able to create before he gave up after procrastinating for so long. "...I messed up, too."

"Oh, Spike," Freya mumbled.

"Whatever do you mean, Spike?" Rarity asked.

"I...actually had Rainbow Dash when we picked, but I ran around town seeing who had you so I could trade since it was technically allowed," he explained. "I couldn't come up with anything to get you. I did make something, but it's not even finished." The winterzilla purred, opening his lower arms to reveal a homemade guitar made of cardboard, stretched rubber bands for the strings and buttons along the neck as makeshift frets, and there was a bit of glitter on a small patch of it matching the same glitter that he covered himself in earlier. Spike grabbed it, letting out a dejected sigh as he tested the strings, making a few decent notes despite its quality as an instrument. "Better than nothing, I guess."

Spike started to play, creating a light tune, occasionally feeling a bit flustered as he began to sing to his crush.

[Spike] I wanted to get you Something oh, so rare A gift to show I care But nothing can compare

To you, that's easy to see But I got stressed and overthought Until the day was shot And it was all for naught But now it's clear to me

I'm not gifted at gifting It's really pretty sad I tried to show I care But it turned out bad

I'm not gifted at gifting So all that's left to say Is that I really hope my gifting Didn't ruin your holiday

Even though Spike was putting himself down for not having a gift, everyone else thought differently, especially Rarity. "Aww, Spikey-wikey. A song is a lovely present."

"I just wanted to get you the best gift ever," Spike said. "I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be."

Rarity inched closer to the dragon, planting a kiss on his cheek. Spike stiffened in shock, his muzzle curling into a dopey grin with his face burning red. Freya rolled her eyes at her son's reaction, but at least his mood was flipped around being given an affectionate response from the mare he pined for.

"Hey, the Gift Givers gave us another riddle while we were there," Pinkie mentioned. "'The best gift is more precious than gold, but it cannot be sold. When it breaks, it's not ended, for quickly it's mended. It can never be bought yet is easily sought.'"

Twilight didn't have to take a few minutes to understand the answer to that. "That's easy," Twilight said with a small giggle.

"Do we need to give Sora a hint about this one?" Riku asked.

"He better not," Xion teased as the group laughed.

"Oh, ha ha, guys," Sora scoffed. "I know the answer to this riddle." Smiling through all the teasing glances, he hugged Kairi closer to him. "It's friendship."

"And he finds his brain for once," Riku continued teasing.

Sora ignored his friend, taking it in stride as the silver lining to the crazy day everyone had.

[Twilight Sparkle] The most magical gift That I can recall It could've been big or small Or even nothing at all

It doesn't matter, you see If it's from my friends on whom I depend No matter what you spend It will be perfect to me

[Sora] The true gift of gifting Is what it means inside We can show we care Spreading love far and wide

The true gift of gifting Is totally free And you're the best there is at giving it With the friendship that you give to me

Everyone was swaying to the song, the important lesson to take involving each other as friends and family. They really didn't need any fancy gifts or something huge and expensive to show how much they care about one another. Just being with each other, or even making something was far more than enough than jewelry, a toy, new clothes, or whatever material object some may want compared to what they need. In the middle of enjoying the song, Fluttershy pulled out a couple presents and gave them to Discord and Dizzy. The draconequui eagerly opened their gifts, not expecting any presents. Discord got a hoof-knit tea cozy, not the greatest made and was meant to look like an elephant, and Dizzy got himself a cute little scarf with several different segments of different colors to match his chaotic nature. They loved their gifts regardless as it came from the pony they care about and hugged the pegasus.

[All] We've all been friends forever And look how far we've come (ow far we've come) The holiday brings us close And now it's time for fun (it has begun)

[Pinkie Pie] The greatest gift you give to me Is more precious than gold

[All] Ah-ah-ah-ah

[Pinkie Pie] Never ended, always mended And it can't be bought or sold

[All] The true gift of gifting Is what it means inside We can show we care Spreading love far and wide

The true gift of gifting Is totally free And you're the best there is at giving it With the friendship that you give to me

The winterzilla snuck up on the Mane Six and Key Bearers, snagging them all up in the fluffiest group hug they were ever caught in. Laughter rang out among the huge party, unaware of a trio of reindeer observing their merrymaking through the window.

"And so it worked out, and a lesson was learned, there's no need to obsess," Alice said. "Gift-giving is simple as long as you recall; friendship and love are the best gifts of all." Aurora, Bori, and Alice flew off, prancing through the skies as their aura trailed behind them, pleased to see the group of heroes and their friends and families enjoying their time together. "I told you Sora was gonna look silly when he found out."

"Yes, you've told us," Bori said. "And I'm sure you know who their child will be."

"Maybe," Alice cryptically answered with a giggle. "Just like Sora in every way."

"You sure do love to spoil surprises when you get this excited," Aurora chided. Halfway back home, Alice had slowed down, her smile for once faltering as she glanced back toward the direction of Ponyville. Aurora and Bori noticed the young doe lagging behind, growing concerned. "...Is there something else you saw?"

"...I don't think Sora's going to see his and Kairi's 'gift' for a long, long while," Alice said.

The other two reindeer didn't pry, knowing Alice was only going to remain cryptic about what she witnessed until the event finally happens. But from her response, they had a feeling they were going to expect the worst, but hope for the best knowing Sora was a special individual.