The issue with Christmas specials, other than all the glitter, obviously, and the commercialism, and…well, there were a lot of issues, really, but the specific one Duman was focusing on right in this moment was that, sometimes, canon didn't mean much. Yes, true, this was a fanfiction, so canon had already been pretty much pulped in a blender and fed to a dog, but still!

As much as Duman abhorred adding context to his rants - it made everyone so much less deliciously confused - the narrator opted to give some anyway. Sitting atop a throne sculpted from ice, reclined a woman with ice-blonde hair even paler than Stella's new shade, dressed in a long fur gown, her icy blue eyes glowering at the fairy she didn't know, and the wizard she did.

'What are you doing here?'

'What are you doing here?!' Duman exclaimed, astonished and not a tiny bit peeved. 'You're not getting out until episode eighteen! And then you take vengeance! Or try but get stopped by the content rating or whatever.'

'It's a Christmas special and they needed an ice Queen.' Aurora, Major Fairy of the North and surprise character cameo extraordinaire, smirked.

'How do you know it's a Christmas special?! Breaking the fourth wall is my bit!'

'I know, that's why I'm doing it.' Well that was just spiteful! How dare she take his schtick! Yes, he'd taken her wings, but he hadn't gone around freezing stuff! That woulda just been mean.

'Hiiiiii…' Stella stepped between them, smiling apologetically. 'We are so sorry to just come barging in, but we thought maybe you could help us, please? You see, we kinda need to save Christmas, and we need some of the Aurora to do it…so…maybe you could help, please? It's for Christmas…'

'Pah!' Aurora scoffed, rolling her eyes. 'Forget that guy for a minute, I don't care for the humans and their nonsensical holidays.'

'What?!' Stella's eyes widened. 'None of them?!'

'None. Human traditions means nothing to me, so why should I help you save one?'

'Because you've been brought into this story to do just that?' Duman chipped in, and Aurora snickered.

'I've been brought in to cameo; not give you anything.'

'Stop taking my schtick and knowing we're in a story, you're taking everyone out of it!'

'Duman!' Stella hissed. 'Stop yelling. We're guests in her home, and also, that chandelier keeps trembling with the shouting and I'm really scared it's going to kill someone.'

'Yes, that does happen…' Aurora sighed, and Stella and Duman both took a giant step back. 'Listen, I'm not giving you a piece of the Aurora so you can save your little human party. So stop wasting your time.'

'But it's not just a party!' Stella exclaimed. 'Bloom explained everything to me, and I've felt it, it's about companionship, and love, and spending time with the people you care about!'

Aurora's eyes widened, and Duman thought that maybe Stella's charm had worked.

Ten seconds later, standing in the freezing wind outside the palace, he was far less convinced.

'Well that was a bust…' he muttered, kicking the door. 'Okay, so, how we gonna steal this?'

'We can't…' Stella sighed. 'We already tried. We need to get the Aurora from, well, Aurora.'

Duman groaned. 'But that's gonna be so haaaarrrrrdddd…'

'Duman, I've fought the army of darkness, a demon wizard, and the source of all evil; I can handle hard.'

'I notice you didn't mention me and my friends on that hit list.'

Stella bit her lip, shuffling awkwardly. 'Look, I love you, but…four guys in punk clothing just don't exactly measure up to the same calibre as an army made from the Dragon Flame.'

'That's not what you said when we kicked your butts back at Alfea,' Duman grumbled, and Stella quickly drew a line under the conversation.

'We need to convince her to give us what we need of her own accord…' she mumbled, plopping down on the sleigh, head resting thoughtfully on her chin.

'We could threaten to melt her castle if she doesn't.' Duman's very practical suggestion was met with a snowball to the face. She coulda just said no.

'Maybe if we get her to see our side, we can convince her to want to save Christmas as well!' Stella jumped up with a beaming smile, and Duman sighed. Her enthusiasm was sweet, but seriously, what world did she live in? People didn't just magically change their minds and help people outta the goodness of their hearts. If they did, life would be a lot more fun, and people wouldn't have invented alcohol to avoid it.

'And how do we manage that? Fill her with festive spirit?'

'Exactly! Now you're getting it!'

'I was being sarcastic.'

Stella ignored him, pacing back and forth. 'Christmas spirit, Christmas spirit, how can we fill her with Christmas spirit…'

'Vodka with twinkle lights?' He sidestepped another snowball.

'We can't decorate, I doubt we can get her to a party…OH!' Stella jumped up with excitement as an idea very evidently hit her. 'I got it! A gift! What better way to get her in the festive spirit than the perfect gift?! It'll be easy, I'm the best gift-giver on Solaria!'

'Wow. So, you get a statue for that, or...?'

'A plaque, actually, and shush.' She paced back and forth, her boots leaving delicate prints in the snow. 'There's only one place we can get a perfect gift…'

'Please don't say the mall, please don't say the mall…'

'The mall!' She said the mall.

'Do you know how to drive this thing?'

'Please! It's some string and a reindeer, how hard can it be?' Duman snapped the reins of the sleigh they'd rushed back to borrow, and they jolted forwards with a rapid jerk. Then stopped. Rudolph, apparently, still held a grudge.

'What if I drive?' Stella asked gently, easing towards the reins. 'This is my idea to head back after all…'

'No, I can do it! Hyah! Up and away! Do the thing, pointy deer!' Rudolph opted, finally, to 'do the thing', charging out of the stables and up towards the night sky, being a tad rougher than might have been ideal, but that just made it more exciting! If they were gonna be stuck at a mall, Duman was getting his money's worth outta the exciting bits of this adventure while he could. He tried for a barrel roll. He failed. And almost killed everyone. Eh, you live, you learn.

'Duman, aim for the Aurora!'

'If we can fly through it, why can't we just steal from it?'

'I don't know, just aim for the Aurora and not our imminent deaths!'

As exciting as imminent death sounded, Duman tugged the reins, sending them shooting for the bright vortex above them. A moment later, they shot out in far more frigid temperatures than before, the crystal clear stars replaced by misty clouds and ice floes.

'I think we're back…' Stella's voice came out shaky and chattering, and when Duman glanced round, he saw why. Her furry fairy form had fallen away to be replaced with her standard Believix, which was so not built for sub-zero temperatures.

'Whoa! Stella, transform back, you're gonna freeze!'

Stella quickly did so, curling up and shivering in her winter coat. He almost gave her a hug, but this was a world where they knew people that might see. Oh, also he was flying a sleigh and whatever. But flying a sleigh was easy.

Finally, they flew into Gardenia, the moon far higher in the sky than when they'd left, and somehow even more people flocked the streets.

'Well…' Stella began, staring down at the bright lights of the mall. 'Ready to brave last minute shopping?'

'…Nope.'