Post by singlesadact on Dec 24, 2017 17:25:22 GMT
This story is quite long, so give it some time...
A CRYSTAL LAKE CAROL
Since the fateful day of the Meadowbrook’s Incident, two months have passed in Ponyworld, equivalent to over a year in the Human world. During this time, Starlight, Clover, Teddy, Melody, Patch & Bon-Bon have had all sorts of emotions to deal with regarding themselves, their families & their friends. Bon-Bon’s family are far more peaceful & co-operative. The weekly clean-ups have worked wonders, as the five Ponies (Meadowbrook having not moved out yet) work together to sort out all the problems of the house, both outside & inside, chatting about their hopes, dreams & worries at the same time. Tedda is far happier, & making good friends at Image Catcher’s photography class. Meadowbrook is less stressed, not only due to the change at home, but also due to Incognita’s trials doing very well at work. Incognita’s contributions to the management of the supermarket have especially proved a great help now all of Ponyworld retail is caught up in the December rush. Meadowbrook will be making Incognita’s position as deputy manager official in the New Year. Nightcap, being less worried about everypony else arguing, is finding it a lot easier to sleep at night, & is therefore able to get up more easily in the mornings, & is becoming healthier as a result. All five cook the Sunday meals together, therefore learning that basic skill from the expertise Bon-Bon has always had in culinary skills. Starlight’s love for Cappi is growing fast, & when they have free time (the two have even synchronised their days off), are steadily courting. They have yet to share the full intimacies loving couples do, but for them both it’s something to be discussed, as every encounter Starlight has had with a stallion (without exception as she is now aware) results in a foal. Their bond with Tea Leaf is also growing, & Tea Leaf often dines with Posey’s family. Posey’s pregnancy is developing well, & it’s become apparent she’s carrying twins. Bon-Bon’s job with Cappi is doing well & just as busy. Clover & Teddy have completely re-established their friendship with Love Melody, whose pregnancy is also doing well, although she only has the one foal. Mirror-Mirror is also pregnant with one foal, at a similar stage as Posey & Love Melody. Teddy & Clover have also in no small part assisted with Éclair’s becoming the new floor manager & Incognita’s becoming the deputy manager. Patch & her daughter Sew & So are kept very busy, but both delighted at how well their stock has been selling. They had another fashion show, with PMA, including latest recruit SWALK (Sealed With A Loving Kiss, the last Dutch adult to arrive & Kiss & Tell’s cousin), modelling the Christmas party outfits. With SWALK being green, it made her the perfect Pony to model the Xmas Merry Treat outfit, complete with sleigh-bell earrings, while all around her the rest of the models dressed in their themes: RD was kitted for a winter walk, Pinkie wore fun, novelty clothes, Kiss & Tell wore the gorgeous party gowns, G-Star was dressed in experimental wear & space fantasy clothes, while Strawb looked literally good enough to eat! Pinkie & G-Star have begun a friendship which will soon prove itself unbreakable, as they share so much in common! And Pinkie is helping G-Star to lighten up & enjoy a laugh, while she’s teaching Pinkie French. More Ponies have arrived & been recruited everywhere, with many of the food-themed Island Ponies spread out between Connie’s & the farms, while Chestnut, Fudge & Candy Apple are the new chef & baristas at Cappi’s. Melody, Jazzie & Hip-Hop’s Homecoming show was sold out, so it was a good thing Hip-Hop could wrangle the extra guest pass for Camo to show up there. Their new single, Muzzle It, has been at number 1 in the Ponyworld Charts for six weeks so far, & except for the fact that it’s usually a Christmas-themed song that takes the title of Christmas number 1, as with the Human world, that isn’t necessarily the case this year. DJ has already signed the single up for her latest compilation album, Pony Hits 33, which she has been doing since 1992, grabbing the best songs written by everypony 3 times a year, like the Human world’s Now series. Also signed for the album is Love Melody’s Coming Back To You, Bebop’s Down At Dream Castle, & Silver Song’s Star-Struck. More arrivals are coming in everywhere, including more G3 Boys, which is excellent news for the female G3s. Pinkie & Handy are getting closer by the day, as are Love Story & Kisses, & Snuzzle will sign the filly into her mother’s care in the new year, & has already invited her over for Christmas Day. With Sweetsong however, things are a bit slower. She has made it to Dream Castle & likes Love Story & Kisses, & adores Love Melody & Kiss & Make-Up, who’s slowly getting back on friendly terms with Love Letter, as both understand more about what happened. But like almost everypony else, Sweetsong is literally not speaking to Ringlet, the grey-purple Brush & Grow, who has been ordered by Bobby, the new Policepony, to have weekly meetings with Milky Way. He’s also ordered Milky Way to wink herself to the Schools to consult there with Blue Belle, whose attitude to adults, G2s & older Juniors needs a lot of work. These sessions have just started. Brighteyes, along with Knightshade, who her mother has now accepted, more for the fact he obviously cares a great deal about her daughter than anything else, is busily exchanging postcards with her three test-tube daughters, who were all brought up in a laboratory, & put through countless tests, examinations & experiments, & never told where they came from; & helping her mother gain back her memory. She can now remember back to the first mines she worked in Hasbronian history, & in Human history has reached her second Human, an 11 year old Girl from Canada, & as a result has lived through one Smooze of a lot of hard, traumatic times. Brighteyes & Knightshade have become very close, & even had their first mating, although with contraception involved, as Brighteyes had so much done on her womb she’s not sure if she can have foals, or what they’ll be like. The biggest news in Ponyworld by far though, is the emergence of a whole new Generation of Ponies: the G4s, or FIM Ponies. For a few weeks they have seen the shows, & now are getting to meet the first Ponies; whose names are Pinky Pie (the reason for Pinkie’s Shift), Rainbow Flight (the reason for RD’s), Rare Gem (the reason for Rarity’s), Leigh (the reason for Cherry Blossom’s), Jacqui (the reason for Andie’s), Blossomflyer (the reason for Blossomforth’s), Flutterfly (the reason for Fluttershy’s), Princess Celestia (a new Royal Pony), & Twilight Sparkle (whom the Human has adopted as that Generation’s Mascot Pony). The G4s seem stunted, having the maturity (except Celestia who’s an adult) of G2-aged Ponies, but only being the size of Juniors, & each has been given to her family. The appeal for the release of Ponies from the Cabbage Catholic school is well underway, with the Human assisting in bringing the Ponies (G2, G3 & Junior) to Ponyworld where all are rehabilitated with help from Shenanigans, who has finally learned how to tend to foals with love rather than discipline, & so is well equipped to assist Milky Way & Enchanted Evening (new arrival) with rehabilitating Ponies used only to that discipline, a service where she’s proving extremely valuable. The run-up to Christmas is fully underway, with all of PMA dressed as elves, & helping the Winter Ponies escort Xmas Merry Treat on her visits to every part of Ponyworld & the surrounding area. All the shops are the busiest they have ever been, including Love Story’s flower stall, Lovey-Dovey’s newly established card shop, Patch’s dress shop, Frilly Frocks’s boutique, Taffy’s corner shop, Meadowbrook’s supermarket & the selling section of Love-In-A-Mist’s Pony Library. With all the new arrivals coming, Euro Hostel & the Construction Ponies are all very busy finishing more flats for them, while Bobby has roped in Camo to assist him with policing Ponyworld to make sure none of the clashes goes out of hoof. Camo himself has grabbed hold of the Baseball brothers, First Base & Slugger, who are also policing Ponyworld. Ice Crystal is the only stallion who seems impossible to change, as although Ringlet’s progress is very slow, she’s still making some. It’s still too early to tell with Blue Belle though, but as a UTH, even a second hoof UTH, it shouldn’t be so hard for her either. Bobby & Camo wonder if he needs to literally remove his head & change his mane to become a better Pony inside. Mirror-Mirror, who works in tandem with them, is sure something radical, like the Incident, which is often still talked of, & stored in the Ponyworld history files, is the only thing that will do it. Meanwhile, Shenanigans & the G3s pick up rumours of a bullying Pony in the Catholic school, which are confirmed by Tea Leaf & Sweetsong. No, they insist, this Pony was not a Cabbager, but one of them. “Well she looked like us,” Sweetsong had informed Council, “but she acted like a Cabbager, being nasty to everypony! She was such a display case it was untrue!” Mirror-Mirror, the Pony Police, the Mystics, & the Royals, are all on the watch for this bully Pony arriving in Ponyworld, which she does today: Monday, 20th December.
The first Pony to see her was of course Come Fly With Me, as he checked her visa for arrival as a resident into Ponyworld, then gave the G3 her seat, next to two G2 Sports Boys called Rubik & Wicket, who were second & third. Fourth to ninth were the group of six Ponies, 3 G1 Stallions, 2 G3 Boys, & one G3 girl, all with horizontally-striped hair, who were sitting behind her & the G2 Boys, all six of whom looked wistfully at the colts. “Hasbro!” the white G3 Boy exclaimed. “It’s been a long time since we were that age!”
“It certainly has Logan,” the pink one agreed, “& so much has happened since then: the show, the college, finding our dads, & now hearing our mothers & younger sisters were all waiting for us at Clopton.”
“Clopton!” the yellow G3 girl sighed. “I’ve heard so much about that place, & mostly wonderful! They say Human belief is so strong there that the Ponyworld time is only one seventh of the Human! I even heard Customalia grew from the Human’s head! I hope this pick-up doesn’t last too long…”
“I’m assured it won’t Moki,” a yellow Stallion who may have been Moki’s dad replied. “After all, it’s only Mail Island!”
“Oh good!” Moki replied. “There we are Corny, not long now before we get to Clopton Airport & find our mothers & sisters!” She turned to the pink G3 Boy as she spoke his name, knowing of all of them on board, Corny Meadowsweet was the one who most missed his family. His eyes were scanning the crowd as he recalled his own past, checking out all the G3s & G2s in case one particular pink one should board. After all, he was older now than he had been once, a silly 15 year old mucking around without being aware of the consequences, & unlike then, was ready for the responsibility that before had so scared him. But no such Pony boarded the plane. He sighed again, hiding his secret from the others, as he noticed the purple G3 with pink & orange hair sitting in the aisle seat in front of them, ignoring everypony else on the whole plane, while observing a purple G3 with gold hair, a white G3 with blue hair & a yellow G3 with coral hair coming aboard, followed by a green G2 with green & purple hair, a white G2 with red & yellow hair, & a blue G2 with pink & purple hair coming behind them, & taking their seats in the next two rows. Come Fly With Me did three flights a day in December & April, due to those two months being the busiest times for Ponies arriving. Corny’s view was now blocked, so he asked Moki who else was boarding. “More G4s,” she replied, “including a few smaller ones. They can go two to a seat thank Hasbro!”
The new G3 arrivals, Autumn Crisp, Misty Blue & Peachie Keen; were the tenth, eleventh & twelfth Ponies to notice this G3 sitting beside the G2 Boys, & Peachie Keen tried to talk to her, but Misty Blue warned her against it. “Ignore that display case. She never wanted to know me at the school, so why should she change now? Wait until Clopton has worked its magic on her first.”
“Clopton!” the other G3s shrieked in delight, which affected everypony else on board, all but one of whom was elated at going to a new Ponyworld which sounded so great! That one was the purple G3 with pink & orange hair who simply sighed aloud, as yet another Human had sent her off to Mail Island, from where all sorts of planes came & went, picking up & dropping off Ponies. She didn’t know what the fuss was about. It would simply be another row of shelves in a room in a Human’s house, with each Pony assigned her own spot to sit & stay in for the entire time she was there, or worse, some box in a Child’s room, where whenever the Child felt like it, She would pull you or one of the others out to paw you with Her grubby… what were they called, oh right, hands! And those hands would be all over you, tearing your clothes, losing your barrettes or worse, putting them on another Pony! The very thought of her things going to another Pony made her shudder! She was, after all, C L Murry, daughter of Sweet Scoops Murry, the rarest Pony ever! And she deserved the best & most special of treatments because of this. In short, she was your typical LA Valley Girl spoiled brat, in Pony form! A useless heiress with no talent of her own, a ton of plastic surgery, heaps of her mother’s money & all the best of fashions, with absolutely no intent on sharing any of her fancy things with anypony else! She was rich & beautiful, & despised Ponies who weren’t one or the other of those, or worse, common! Not for her associations with these bargain basement Ponies in front of her, or these weird-looking ones behind her! But this new Pony coming in & taking the last seat was more her type! A bright red & yellow G3, sat apart from the rest & making everypony else gasp as she boarded, took her seat on the plane, the last remaining seat, before the doors were closed & everypony was told over the tannoy to strap in. Yes, we know Ponies sit on cushions at home, school, work & in cafes, or just on blankets or soft grass when outside, but primarily for safety reasons, when flying or driving or riding in cars & busses, Ponies sit on seats. Especially on flights, where they have to strap in for take-off & landing, but also when driving vehicles larger than scooters, where strapping in is also required by law & for safety. The red & yellow G3 knew her way round an aeroplane, & figured out the seatbelts in a trice, & didn’t even complain about the rather un-natural pose Ponies had to adopt in order to sit, & even she noticed C L Murry sitting a few rows back, & staring openly at her, while everypony else had turned to each other to wonder who this Pony was, & wasn’t she rather rare; & thought little of her except that she had spotted her first villain, & hadn’t even arrived at Clopton yet! For this Pony was Heroine, one of the Comic Convention Ponies, & very rare indeed, but also good-hearted, brave & helpful. And though she was the thirteenth Pony to notice her, never thought anything of the fact many consider the number thirteen unlucky.
Ponies 14-22 were Belinda & Berry Berrytown, Melissa & Merry Meadowsweet, Sheila & Sandy Sunbright, Good Weather, Doodle Book & SWALK herself, all of whom were eagerly awaiting relatives at Clopton Airport, having received the notifications their families (in Doodle Book’s case it was her brother as well as her daughter, as Teddi was permanently busy at the Nurseries) had sent them that they were due on the early flight, & now awaiting them in the arrivals area. All were delighted to be reunited with the remainder of their families, with the Sunbrights, Berrytowns & Meadowsweets in particular elated at being complete on time for Christmas, while SWALK asked Apple Pie how Satchel was doing, as she was still missing that member of her family. Curly was talking about how the huge amount of paperwork was being dealt with & the fact that some G3s had volunteered to stay behind to assist with helping the younger ones get out, but even then a lot of Ponies had been held up until the New Year. Good Weather sympathised as her Dolphin was held up till then as well, then everypony gasped! Last to get off the plane, just as she’d been last to get on, was Heroine, who knew instinctively the attention she received for being who she was. She simply walked over to the immigration desk & asked how she could best help Ponyworld, at which Ponies number 25 & 26 were called in. Bobby & Camo rushed across to ask what the problem was. Heroine smiled at them & said: “None, as yet, but there’s one to watch I noticed on the plane. Didn’t talk to anypony else, just stared at me,” & pointed out C L Murry, who was still sorting her issue out with a member of Immigration. Ponies 23 & 24, July Water Lily & Sandstar, worked for that desk, & Sandstar was feeling more than a little harassed as nothing seemed to be good enough for this purple G3. “Don’t you know who I am? I’m way important & way famous, & mom’s way rare too! I’m a Murry, you get that, a MURRY! So get me the manager, now!”
“July, a little help here?” the harassed pink G3 about begged.
“Of course,” the Birthflower was happy to assist, what with Heroine comparing notes with the Police Ponies & asking to join their number. “I’m July Water Lily…”
“No you’re not, you’re way not! She has pink hair! All the Birthflowers have pink hair!”
“I was rehaired to better suit my Ponyality & my rumpmark, after all, how can we be dodectuplets if each of us was born on a different month of the year, & to a different mother? Anyway, I’m July Water Lily, the customs & immigration manager. Do you have your visa?”
“Rehaired? You mean you’re not original? And running things? That’s way out of order! I’m way gonna have words with the authorities here!”
“Just because I’m not as Factory as I could be, does not make me less capable. In fact, a great number of Customs live & work here, & are all necessary in the proper functioning of Ponyworld. To give examples: although featured in the show with their families, Logan, Corny & Moki over there were never actually Made by Hasbro, so they come here from Customalia when they’re ready, & you can see how happy the rest of their families are to see them! Now, again, do you have your visa?”
“Hasbro, I’m way complaining about this! Here’s my visa, & my passport, where you can clearly see my name: Murry, C L Murry!”
“Crystal Lake Murry. Let me look at you. Hmmm… no qualifications. Are you experienced with shop work at all? We could put you in Meadowbrook’s stock department, or floor if you prefer…”
“I’m way not working in a Frizzing shop!”
“Ok, how are you with foals? The Nurseries can always use extra hooves…”
“Foals? You’re way kidding! I don’t do foals!”
“Then I’m afraid it’s the NHP Stables & a college course for you…”
“I way hate college, & what the Frizz are NHPs?”
“Non-Hasbronian Ponies…”
“FAKIES? I’m way not doing that! Nuh-uh!”
“Well everypony has to pay her way here…”
“Ahem!” SWALK interrupted at this point, as it was obvious that 1, July Water Lily was getting nowhere & 2, C L Murry, despite her faults, had a great looking figure.
“What?” July was getting as harassed as Sandstar had been earlier.
SWALK explained: “This Pony has a distinct look, & furthermore, she’s purple, & PMA has been after a purple model for a while now. I wonder if she’d feel happy joining us? Our managers are Rainbow Dash & Strawberry Fayre…”
“Who?” CL demanded.
“Rainbow Dash…”
“I know who Rainbow Dash is, I mean the other one!” CL insisted.
“Strawberry Fayre, you know, the TAF Party Pony with strawberries all over her…”
“You’re way wrong! That’s Sugarberry…”
“Please! You’re the new arrival, & the rest of us have already established ourselves. Sugarberry is Strawberry Fayre’s second-youngest daughter!”
“Excuse me!” CL snapped. “Are you trying to tell me you know Ponies better than me? Besides, who even are you? You’re way not US Core!”
“I’m SWALK, a Dutch Pony. SWALK stands for Sealed With A Loving Kiss, which as you can see matches my rumpmark. In the Dutch Brochure I’m just called Love Pony”
“If it’s your name in the Brochure, it’s what you should call yourself! Otherwise it’s way confusing! So you’re Love Pony…”
“Nopony here calls me that!” SWALK was getting a little frustrated herself. Mild-mannered as she was, it seemed this Pony’s incessant whining about every little thing was more than enough to send everypony scatty. “My name in this Ponyworld is SWALK, & as you’re now living in this Ponyworld, please respect its rules & traditions, or somepony may do you the kind of damage that results in you being unable to model unless you’re Customised!”
“Customised? That’s way not gonna happen to me! It’s only common Ponies & Baits who get that, & do I look common to you?”
“I’m a rare myself, having only been Made in Holland, but that doesn’t make me display case!”
“Yeah, like how much was your ransom? Fifty dollars? Sixty? Seventy?”
July delighted in pointing out the visa detail here: “Your visa says your ransom was only 35 Human Pounds plus transport! So it isn’t like you can gloat about that. After all, Heroine’s is normally £100 plus transport, & she knows what she wants to do here!”
“Pounds? Pounds are weight, not price!” CL insisted.
“UK Human Pounds Sterling is a perfectly valid Human currency!”
“As are Euros in mainland Europe,” SWALK added. “It was Gilders in Holland before that.”
“Oh, blah-blah!” CL moaned. “Well my mom’s ransom is never less than a thousand dollars these days! And her Pony wealth is in the billions!”
“And yet,” July pointed out with glee, “your visa is one of countless signed by the Cabbagers!”
“Only because the school way gives the best education!” CL pointed out. “After all, do you expect my mom to go do every little thing for me? No! She way won’t, & way doesn’t have time for that! So she sent me to the best boarding school she could find!”
“From which you learned a grand total of nothing!” July noted. “There isn’t one single useful qualification on the whole visa!”
“Well models don’t need to think,” SWALK added. “Just to look good & wear clothes & stay clean, & I’m sure Crystal Lake can manage that much! Let me take her to PMA so the managers there can have a thorough look at her! Then at least she’ll be out of your hair!”
“Take her away please!” July agreed emphatically. “Before I feel tempted to ask Bobby & Camo to do so!”
SWALK took CL & Apple Pie to PMA with her, the latter excited & asking all about Clopton, & the former whining that they had to walk. “Well we could take an NHP carriage,” SWALK suggested, to which CL replied insistently: “I’m way not getting one of those! Don’t you have a car?” The rest of the Ponies meanwhile murmured about the drama one display case G3 could cause while sharing breakfast in the communal lounge, & it was barely morning! Bobby & Camo looked at each other & grinned. Heroine asked what this was about, & the two Custom stallions happily told her all about Ice Crystal & his massive ego, & how this other ego could at last cut him down to size, then she grinned too!
It was a happy start to PMA’s day, as Pinkie & G-Star styled each other’s manes to fit under the elf caps the entire agency had to wear during the Festive Season. Kiss & Tell hummed Christmas songs happily to herself, even singing sometimes; “Dashing through the snow, in a dumb horse open sleigh, over fields we go, laughing all the way…” as she too put on her own elf costume. RD & Strawb were tying tinsel round the tops of their tails for the finishing touch, as back came SWALK with Apple Pie & a purple G3, the sight of whom made Pinkie in particular groan. “Oh no! I’m like, almost sure that’s like, her!”
“It’s her alright!” RD sighed, recalling how this Pony had acted all her days at the school, & she knew the day was not going to continue in this happy mood with that one around. But still, she grabbed a spare G3-sized elf costume, & laid it out ready for the new recruit, who, let’s face it, did look good, & furthermore was purple, plus RD simply didn’t see this Pony fitting anywhere else!
“Wow!” Apple Pie exclaimed! “You’re all elves!”
“Christmas elves!” Strawb explained. “I’m Strawberry Fayre, & this is Rainbow Dash, & we co-manage the Pony Model Agency. If you like, you can join us part time as a G2-aged model, but obviously you need to go to school after the Christmas holidays.”
“We sorted all that out at Immigration,” SWALK informed her bosses. “She’s far keener on styling hair! Would one of you mind taking your cap off so she can see how to do mine? And this is Crystal Lake Murry, by the way. I thought this was the only place she could work, so I took her here; after all, she is purple, & a fair looker.”
“What are those ridiculous costumes?” CL whined. “I’m way not…”
“You. Will. Do. As. You. Are. Told. End of discussion!” RD insisted. “I know you had a problem with that at the school, but that was run by Cabbagers with mean streaks. PMA is run & staffed by Ponies, & here you will follow orders, or you will find yourself out of a job with nothing but grass to eat, water to drink, & a rain shelter to sleep in. Am I clear?”
“As long as you understand that RD & I are in charge here, then everything will go smoothly, ok?” Strawb added. “Now, you met SWALK of course; this is Kiss & Tell, the other G1 model, & the 2 G3 models here are Pinkie Pie & G-Star…”
“Ewww! Gag me with a spoon!” CL exclaimed in disgust at seeing G-Star. “What even is that?”
“G-Star’s a Custom,” Pinkie replied, “& like, the best looking Custom in Ponyworld, which is like, why she works here. Furthermore, she’s like, my friend! So like, watch what you’re like, doing round here!”
“Customs, ewww! I’m way not working with Customs! Don’t you know Customs are all Baits?”
“Who’ve been cleaned, rehaired, given new rumpmarks, & Made into all-new Ponies!” RD pointed out. “And furthermore, you will work with who Strawb & I say you work with! And wear what we say you wear, & go where we say you go!”
“I think, RD, you like, need to do with her like, what you once did with me,” Pinkie noted. “You know like, keep her away from G-Star like, as much as possible like, just for G-Star’s like, safety. I don’t like, trust her. Maybe she could like, work with you. She does like, need trained & all…”
“You could be right Pinkie!” RD admired this Pony, who’d come on in leaps & bounds since the Incident. SWALK meanwhile was putting on her elf costume, which RD smiled at, before turning back to CL. “Now, put on your elf costume, & I’ll show you how to do your mane to fit under the cap. Now, where’s your tail ribbon?”
“My what?” CL demanded. “I have all my things in my case here: my barrettes, my best dresses, my Jimmy Clops, my Gucci purse, & my platinum & diamond tiara, but I way never came with a tail ribbon!”
“That’s a handbag,” Strawb corrected her.
“Hasbro!” RD sighed. “Good thing we’re a model agency! Hmmm… white I think, most of your things are that colour anyway. There’s a slight hint of pink in the bag’s glaze…”
“That is a one-off Gucci purse!” CL whined.
“It’s a handbag dear,” RD pointed out, making the others giggle, “whoever it was who made it…”
“Don’t you dear me!” CL snapped. “And the rest of you! Maybe I have to wear these garotey costumes & do what these commoners tell me to cause they’re the bosses, but the rest of you need to treat me with way more respect! I’m C L Murry, & my mom’s Sweet Scoops Murry, &…”
“And just because you mum’s a US mail order, you think you can go all display case on the rest of us! Well firstly, Pinkie came with a costume and a book! Secondly, G-Star is unique, especially the way her hair is! Thirdly, as she’s doubtless already told you, SWALK is a Dutch exclusive, while Kiss & Tell is a European! Strawberry Fayre reached the final stages of a beauty contest in another Ponyworld, while this agency was begun by a fashion room that came with me! So you’re a fancy fashions Pony! Big deal! So’s Wind Wisher, & there are no rumours going about that she bullied anypony! And so your mum’s a Mail Order! Wowee! So are Satin & Lace & Tux & Tails, & they don’t go about like they own everything! You need to get your muzzle out of the nosebag & realise the world does not revolve around you! In fact, tell her Kiss & Tell!”
Kiss & Tell was all too happy to inform CL: “This Ponyworld revolves around the Human! Or have you forgotten what a Human is & what role each Human plays in Her Ponyworld? I’m one of the UTH, which stands for Used To Have, as our Human used to have a bunch of us when She was just a Child. As a UTH I have a closer connection than most to the Human, & know what kind of Ponyworld She wishes to create here, & it’s never been one that can tolerate a display case attitude like yours!”
“And here are eight white tail ribbons to get you started,” RD finished off. “Allow me to dress your tail.”
She advanced on CL with a comb & one of the ribbons, at which CL physically balked! “Gag me with a spoon! I’m way not losing my Factory style! No! Stop that! That way hurts, ow! What the Frizz are you doing? Don’t you know combs way damage your mane & tail?”
“She never stops does she?” Kiss & Tell noted, as RD combed & plaited CL’s tail, tying it with a white ribbon.
“That’s what held us all up,” SWALK confirmed. “She refused an NHP carriage & then moaned at why we were all walking! And you should have heard her at Immigration!” The remainder of PMA laughed, RD included, who had now started on the Pony’s mane.
“I can only hope Wind Wisher arrives soon!” the blue G3 co-manager sighed as she brushed & styled this purple display case’s mane for what felt, & sounded, like the first time the G3 had ever seen a comb! And so Ponies 27- 31 encountered C L Murry, & none of them liked her one bit!
Pony number 32 was of course Xmas Merry Treat herself, coming with a small group of G1 Junior carol singers namely: Stella, Nightsong, Nora, Drummer, Kisses & Lara; who were Ponies 33-38. The Junior girls were dressed in Snow Angels costumes, while Drummer wore a red matching hat & scarf. Xmas Merry Treat was dressed in a Christmas skirt & her traditional hat, & all looked sensational & festive with their holly sprigs pinned on to complete the look. All seven heard Crystal Lake before they saw her, moaning: “So when do I get to take this Frizzing thing off?” which of course made the Juniors gasp in horror that anypony would swear in front of Juniors. Surely PMA knew they were coming? More moans emitted: “Hey! Get that tinsel off of me! And I’m way not wearing that Frizzing plastic plant thing! Hey, no, stop that!” then the seven of them finally saw the purple G3 who was Crystal Lake, doing all in her power to avoid the mistletoe being clipped to her mane to finish the elf costume she so abhorred. But Strawb & Kiss & Tell pinned the Pony in place so RD could add this final trimming to, I’ll admit, one rather fetching festive elf costume, in which Crystal Lake now looked very kissable if you were a stallion. “Wait till the garcons see her like that,” G-Star grinned, nudging Pinkie. “Oh I bet she’ll like, way not like that!” Pinkie giggled, trying to imitate CL’s whiny American accent. “Is there anything she does like?” G-Star mused. “Oh, salut, Maman Noel! Sorry, we didn’t see you there!” (Maman Noel is of course Xmas Merry Treat’s French name, for those who haven’t guessed. In Spanish it’s Mama Felicades, while the Italian is Mamma Natale. I’m not sure of the German & Dutch names, but I’m sure Regentropfen & Doodle Book can enlighten me. Regentropfen says it’s Mutti Weinacht in German.)
Xmas Merry Treat, who has better knowledge of her name in all languages, responded warmly to the PMA, who were her annual helpers at this busy time. Besides, what little filly doesn’t want to meet a real-life model? “It is wonderful to see you all looking so festive!” she cried delightedly. “I see though you seem to be breaking a new one in. I hope you can tell her to mind her tongue; I do have the carollers with me!”
“Breaking?” Pinkie noted the curious usage of the word. “Very apt, considering most of us are like, battling an urge to like, break her neck! Her name’s like, Crystal Lake Murry, & she’s like, so display case you like, wouldn’t believe it! Hello little uns! Good to see you looking so like, festive & gorgeous! I hope you’ve like, all been practising hard! We have like, Paradise Square to do today like. And you like, know that everypony will like, be there to hear you all like, singing sweetly!”
“Thanks Pinkie!” chorused the fillies. “Glad you never said pretty or bonny!” Drummer sighed with relief. “I don’t mind gorgeous; Mum used to call Dad that, so it must be ok for a colt to be gorgeous, like in a smart or handsome way of course!”
All the adults except CL laughed kindly at this. The purple G3 simply snorted: “Foals! Ewww!” & decided to pretend they weren’t there.
“Well,” sighed Xmas Merry Treat, “guess who won’t be getting anything from me under her tree this year!” Of course, nopony had to guess, as they all knew she was the new purple G3 arrival.
“Oh good, you’re here!” RD noted the white Christmas Pony with her Junior entourage. “Ok everypony, time to hit Paradise Square! Hop aboard the dumb-horse sleigh now! Juniors first…”
“THIS!!!” CL didn’t bother to hide her disgust at the open-topped sleigh drawn by guess what – grey & brown dumb horses, hired from Tex & Posey’s farm specially for towing the Christmas sleigh. “And what in Hasbronia are those? Ewww! They’re way dull! And what if they drop… if they drop…”
“Slurry?” Kiss & Tell asked. “Don’t worry, the slurry is gathered under the sleigh to be processed later in the fields so it’s neither wasted nor left for some unwary Pony to step in.”
“You mean, it goes, under the sleigh? That we’re… sitting in? Ewww! Garotey!” CL was hating more things by the second.
“IN!” RD almost dragged CL roughly by the forehoof onto the sleigh.
“Ow! That way hurts! Let go of me! I’ll be way bruised from that! Hey, not so close, you’re way cramping my style!”
“Is she never happy?” SWALK wondered, climbing aboard & taking a cushion, knowing there was plenty room for everypony & a couple more besides. Paradise Square was the second-last day of Xmas Merry Treat’s festive tour; the last being tomorrow in Dream Castle Courtyard, where Majesty would announce the last day for most of the shops except Taffy’s & Meadowbrook’s, who from then on would be on half days except Christmas Day & New Year’s Day, when of course they were both shut. It would be a day of worker parties of all sorts of shapes & sizes, from private functions onsite, through the Nurseries’ staff party at Twinkle Twirl’s to celebrate the Newborns, Teeny Tinies, G2 Babies & Newborn Cuties going back to their families for Christmas week, only returning for Hogmanay. Hogmanay in Ponyworld was a massive party held outside as it included everypony from Junior age upward, & it was also the only time of year G2-aged Ponies could legally drink alcohol. Connie’s & Twinkle Twirl’s, & now Cappi’s too, would serve food & assorted hot & cold drinks all night from special booths outside their places of work; simple fun dishes they’d have prepared & cooked all day while the rest of the Ponies decorated the streets with lights & garlands & bunting. Skyrocket, Sky Rocket & Sparkleworks would prepare a spectacular firework display for midnight, while each of the Ponyworld bands & musicians would take turns providing music for everypony to dance to. The entirety of Clopton would be teeming with Ponies & Friends, with the Phony carriages waiting to take the Sandtail, Saddleton & Bridle Rise residents back to their homes at about 5 or 6 in the morning. But now it was the Paradise Square day, a favourite day in the Christmas calendar, as of course the Ponyworld Christmas Tree was in the Square, & there was never a more delightful sight & sound in many Ponies’ eyes & ears than the Junior carollers singing beautifully round it. They’d learnt a few Dutch ones to honour the year’s new arrivals, just as last year they’d sung some in German & the year before, Italian. Of course, Ponified songs like Holly Jolly Christmas (Millie’s favourite from her festive movie) were included as well as more Human ones like Silent Night & Good King Wenceslas. But before the troupe (including a very sulky & reluctant CL) reached the Square the sleigh’s procession was watched & waved by everypony out getting their last-minute Christmas shopping. Apart from CL all the Ponies on the sleigh waved back. RD dug her non-waving forehoof into CL’s side, scolding her: “Wave, for Hasbro’s sake!” so grudgingly CL raised a forehoof & waved much like the Queen of the UK waves at her subjects. “And smile!” RD added hissing through her teeth.
CL hated Christmas with a vengeance! Firstly, it was tacky. All that glittered wasn’t gold, & at Christmas it definitely wasn’t platinum or silver either! She couldn’t stand all this tacky brassy-coloured stuff claiming to be “gold tinsel” when it wasn’t even hallmarked, never mind given a purity rating! She also hated the plastic plant decorations, & worse, the REAL plant decorations, what with being allergic to mistletoe. And don’t even start her on the costumes! I mean, what was this get-up? Green felt? I mean what Pony worth her hoof-heart wore felt? Velvet maybe, but not the velour of the Juniors’ costumes & Xmas Merry Treat’s skirt & hat, & definitely not felt! Plus the fact that green & red were her two least favourite colours ever! Secondly, there was always this thing about loving everybody else, Pony or not, common or rare, Factory or Custom. What, did nopony understand there were a whole heap of Ponies she wouldn’t even deign to speak to? Never mind love & wish peace & joy & good will on! And that was just Ponies! I mean, what were those insect things, or that lion, or that bear, or those huge penguin things? Garotey! But the worst thing of all to her about Christmas was the fact that it was the most likely time of year for her to be placed in a box & packaged & sent off to Mail Island for transfer somewhere. Somewhere with a new Human, tearing open the package so enthusiastically said Human threatened to tear her Maresace gowns & her Gucci purse. And then they’d offer to sew up her dress!!! Dress??? No it’s a GOWN! But no Human would ever listen to her whining, & she’d be dumped unceremoniously on the floor before you could say Christmas Cracker. What was with those things anyway? They just banged so annoyingly it hurt her ears, & held paper hats that looked dreadfully tacky, some plastic bit of rubbish & jokes so old & corny they weren’t even fit for telling at a table, never mind funny! What goes brown pink brown pink brown pink red? A Human rolling downhill & hitting a rock at the bottom. Try that for size! And now here she was, stuck in a Ponyworld where Ponies not only lived, worked, played & spoke to everybody else, but where they all went Christmas daft! She could only hope as she grimaced at the crowds around the sleigh & the two bruises she knew were already forming on her delicate complexion, that everypony figured out in rapid time not to try involving her in this utter lunacy! Of course, she had no idea she was going to get an attack of the Scrooges…
Ice Crystal was in his element – literally! Out of all the seasons of the year he loved winter the best, & especially the festive shows, parties & parades. He, Snowflake & Powder were busily frosting every window, lantern & decoration in Paradise Square, & adding pretty snowflakes to the tree, which spent the entire month of December lit up. It went up on the first with its lights, then every day got an additional decoration, making it Ponyworld’s biggest advent calendar. On the 24th the presents for disadvantaged Ponies & Friends (Juniors whose parents hadn’t yet arrived in particular) would be placed round it, but today with the sleigh visit, it got snowflakes, frosting & of course the Junior carollers singing round it. Ice Crystal had already made the ice rink, where the G3 Winter Ponies, Xmas Cracker & Xmas Pudding were teaching Ponies & Friends of all ages how to skate. All the carollers were glad they’d brought their ice skates with them, then… “Oh look!” Snowflake cried out. Everybody looked skyward to see Flurry chasing a snowcloud into the Square to make snow gently fall on the Square, while behind her Twinkler & Starglow had brought Megan & Molly to join them all for the party. The two Doll People would of course spend Christmas Day itself with their family in Doll Land, but for most of the time they’d be here, especially for Hogmanay, which their parents would spend out at their own New Year parties. They also partied a lot round this time, & Megan & Molly were so glad that school was over for Christmas now so they could be here without any worries. Last Friday had been their final day, & as usual, there had been the school Christmas party for the afternoon, with games, jelly & ice cream, presents, crackers, card exchanges & a slice each of Christmas Cake, & now they could tell their Pony friends all about it. Sundance & Shelley almost skidded across the ice in delight at the sight of their best non-Pony friends! All four were busily hugging each other as Pegasus Flight did a flyover in tree formation, where Twinkler & Starglow rejoined them as glittering baubles. Then Xmas Merry Treat’s sleigh arrived, with the Junior carollers & the PMA. CL sulked at the fact that only Xmas Merry Treat was allowed to remain in the sleigh, as RD nudged her into position at the sleigh’s exit, where they’d assist each Junior getting off, small present in hoof. Queenie, Tina & their friends could hardly contain their excitement as the 3 G1s of PMA sorted the queue out & they ended up being first in it!
“What, we’re on queue duty now?” CL moaned.
“We do this every year,” RD informed her, “& nopony has ever complained before! All you have to do is ensure each Junior descends safely & doesn’t fall. I think Ice Crystal went a little overboard with the ice making this year…”
“Ice? Ewww! I hate ice! It’s way slippy, & so hard! If I fall in it I could get a bruise, tear my clothes, chip a hoof, or worse…”
“Actually get hurt?” RD wondered.
“No, RUIN MY HAIR!” CL whined. “Or do you want me looking like a common slob? Pain that doesn’t show a mark is ok, I’ve way had surgery too many times to notice much of that! But my beautiful looks? Ruined? That would kill me!”
“Oh for Hasbro’s sake!” RD sighed. CL definitely had her priorities wrong. Ponies needed to be fit & healthy to perform the catwalk routines. I mean, how can you model clothes if you can’t even walk, never mind the half-stroll, half-dance required to show off the latest fashions? “And as you help each one down, don’t forget to wish her a merry Christmas. Here comes the first!”
RD moved to help Tina down from the sled with a pocket version of her favourite game: noughts & crosses. She showed RD excitedly how you flipped each square round left or right to reveal each symbol. “And,” she added delightedly, “you can play it with nine, sixteen or twenty-five squares! Want a go?”
“Not against you Tina,” RD chuckled. “Merry Christmas!”
“And a very merry Christmas to you & all your family & friends too!” Tina grinned.
CL meanwhile was trying to dodge being shot by Queenie’s watergun as she fumbled to help the Junior down. “Sorry!” Queenie apologised as she finally made it to the ground. “I was aiming for Tina.”
“Well they should have thought about what present is appropriate for you, like a nice gown or something. Go exchange it; that thing is way dangerous!” CL sulked.
“You really don’t know how to have fun do you?” Queenie asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before: are you new? Anyway, for me this is the very best present ever! I love playing with water! Don’t you?”
“Ewww! I hate water & I hate being wet & I hate being cold!”
“Awww, come on! Is there anything you do like?”
“Looking pretty, & being treated right. Not much else appeals to me!”
“Not even seeing your mum?”
“How likely is that? Mom’s the rarest Pony ever! Her ransom is way out of the reach of most Humans! Besides, I haven’t seen her in like…” CL didn’t even want to think how long it had been since she’d last seen her mother, although the two often wrote to each other; her mother always about some party or gathering where she was a special guest, or about being invited to open this or give a speech at that. “Oh forget it! Not like it’s any of your Frizzing business!”
Queenie gasped in horror at anypony openly swearing in front of a Junior, never mind at one! RD saw & heard what happened & took over. “That’s it! Crystal Lake, you escort the Juniors off & pass them on to me. I’ll exchange the pleasantries, & you muzzle it from here on in, you hear me? Come on Queenie, let’s get you back to your mother! And have a merry Christmas!”
“You too Rainbow Dash!” Queenie replied. “And see if you can pray for Crystal Lake too!”
A few Ponies later &, while trying to help Fiona off the sleigh, CL slipped & fell in a patch of ice formed by the freezing magic & the patch of water from Queenie’s watergun, & both she & Fiona ended up in a blue & purple heap on the ground. “Aiya!” Fiona cried. “That hurt! Fortunately I can get up & of course, mum’s a unicorn, so maybe she has a little healing magic. She could heal you too. Are you ok?”
The pain of the jolt was the least of CL’s concerns though. She had a huge graze down one side of her rump (not her display side thank Hasbro), & worse, her elf costume was torn in a huge gash right above her graze. “My costume! Ruined!” she wailed, refusing to get up & bursting into tears. She felt so humiliated & was sure everypony was laughing at her! She hardly had any good days, but this was one of the worst! Everypony & loads of Friends & those two Doll People all pointing & jeering at her, & she knew she looked a total fright! And worse, ugly! Ewww! Then a green vision helped her up & escorted her to a small hut nearby. It was Ice Crystal, & in the sight of a new filly, he’d turned his charm on to full. He also used his freezing powers to numb the pain of the graze, & his water magic to clean it out, while Powder & Strawb rushed over to the hut, the former carrying ointment & the latter a spare elf costume, comb & white tail ribbon. At least the tinsel wasn’t ruined, which was a huge relief. While Powder attended to the wound (as a qualified anaesthetist, she knew her way around most medical procedures), Strawb combed & replaited CL’s tail, replacing the grotty ribbon with a clean one. The whole time CL cried for her mother, but of course her mother wasn’t actually there. She also noticed something she chose not to tell the others: her head was beginning to ache. She must have bumped it slightly when she fell, she thought. But no need to mention it to them, not that she was fit to work for days anyway. She hadn’t even noticed that the rest of the Ponies’ reaction to her fall was concern & sympathy, things like “is she ok?” & “oh, that looked sore,” & “no wonder she’s upset, poor filly,” & so on. Ponies who actually cared about her emotionally wasn’t an idea she’d been brought up to know. The last thing she was aware of before she slipped into unconsciousness from the head injury (more severe than she’d thought), was being lifted onto an NHP carriage & whisked straight back to PMA, where she was installed into an apartment to sleep…
“Crystal!” The voice rang in her head as she lay there, bemoaning her life & this whole morning.
“Who’s that?” CL whirled her head around & saw nobody, Pony or otherwise, anywhere in the bedroom. So she lay back down, trying to sleep through the pain & humiliation of her morning. But the voice rung out again. “Crystal! Cry-stallll!”
CL finally recognised the voice that spoke to her. “Mom?” she asked, & in response saw an image of her mother’s head in front of her, floating over the bed. No body, just the head.
“Crystal, I’m so sorry that I’ve brought you to this sorry state dearest. I’ve been so self-absorbed that I hardly noticed I had a daughter to raise. It may be too late for me even now, but there’s still time to help you. Christmas is soon coming & I was told to make a special wish for somepony close, & I was so upset when for a while I couldn’t think of anypony! Then I recalled you, & wished to help you avoid the path my life has taken. And the wish was granted! Three Ponies will visit you, & help you see how to better yourself.”
“You mean they’ll heal me & make me pretty again?” CL asked.
“Yes dear, but not in the way you think. Outside is easy for you; you’ve had a natural beauty for years & all the surgery has simply been to enhance it. Inside is an entirely different matter however. Inside, you’re growing uglier by the day, & more ill too. But these three Ponies will help you to make yourself better & more beautiful on the inside, & you don’t know how very much you need that! Hasbro, I certainly didn’t until it was too late! Why do you think I haven’t written for a while? Because nothing happens to me anymore! I’m stuck in a Ponyworld where the Human puts Ponies like me in a box, alone & isolated from the rest of the Ponies. And I feel… lonely!” Sweet Scoops’s head began to cry as CL watched in horror. Lonely? “I’d do anything to have a friend! But even Rapunzel in the next box won’t speak to me now! She’s deliberately turned herself the other way round to chat with Dabble, Scribbles & a couple of Macaus! And every single one ignores me! Even the Human here never takes me out of the box to groom my hair anymore! Don’t allow yourself to suffer the same fate! The first part of my wish, to get you to a better Ponyworld, has come true! Now the second will come true too, & the three Ponies, whom you’ve already met, will show you your life & how to change its course for the better. I haven’t long, & you only have until sunset! Take care my daughter…”
Sweet Scoops’s head faded away as did her voice, leaving CL confused on top of everything else. Was she having nightmares? Maybe this head injury was more serious than she thought. She’d better get up & find a hospital to check it out. She dragged herself out of bed, only now realising how sore her hip & leg actually were as she did. Feeling dizzy, she took a drink of water & tried to orient herself. Now, how to get out of here? Oh, there was the door! She went through it, to find Strawb on the other side. “I’m having hallucinations!” CL explained to the white Pony with vivid cherry red hair. “I need to see a doctor about my head!”
“You need to see about more than your head I think,” Strawb replied, summoning an NHP carriage. The carriage soon arrived, pulled by String Bandit, a large NHP pegacorn with magical powers that she was incapable of harnessing without a Pony being present. But Strawb knew what to do. “To the hospital please,” she instructed String Bandit, harnessing her magic & feeding her with strawberries.
“I take you now!” String Bandit replied in heavily accented English that had CL wondering where this Phony came from, & in a whirl of purple they were off! CL had never been winked anywhere before, & with her head injury as well, promptly threw up! The vomit landed on the ground as she & Strawb dismounted at a hospital CL wasn’t sure she’d seen in a long time…
“Follow me!” Strawb coaxed CL, who now recalled her mother’s head’s words: “the three Ponies, whom you’ve already met, will show you your life…” as the two seemed to pass through the doors of the hospital like they weren’t there, & then through walls & desks & beds & theatres where a whole load of G1s were fighting for life. For as CL was realising now, the two Ponies had travelled back in time, to just after the Revolution of 1996. “1997?” she wondered, her leg still causing her to wince. “What are we doing in 1997?”
“You’ll see,” Strawb replied, as she led CL to a room outside of which a Pony was pacing back & forth.
“Mom!” CL cried delightedly, rushing towards the Pony as she recognised her, before passing through her mother’s body like she had the walls, doors & everything else so far. “Ewww! That was way creepy!” she shivered.
“She can’t see us or hear us; nopony can!” Strawb explained. “Look over there & see why!”
CL looked, & there was a younger version of Strawb helping another TAF Party Pony out of the room next door. 1997. What was she doing in 1997? Oh Hasbro, her tonsils! “No! Hasbro, no! Don’t take me in there!”
But Strawb led her into the room, where CL saw herself, a four year old filly having just had her tonsils removed, & also scarred across one cheek. “Ewww!” she exclaimed. “I forgot about that! That took years to fix! But why is Mom outside? What’s she waiting for?”
Strawb led her back out of the room, where a Nurse Pony came up, whom Sweet Scoops immediately approached, demanding: “So when can I take her home?”
“Not for a few days, I’m afraid,” the Nurse explained. “She’ll have to stay here while she recovers. Unless you want to sleep here in a bed we can make up…”
“Ewww! No!” Sweet Scoops exclaimed horrified. “I way hate hospitals! Just give me a call when she’s ready to go home! Here’s my number…”
“You can leave it at the reception desk, & they’ll contact you when she’s recovered enough to leave here ok?”
“Ok, thanks,” Sweet Scoops then turned & fled for the main doors so fast that she nearly knocked the other Ponies off their (often unsteady & more than likely injured) hooves as she passed them, leaving the Nurse muttering to herself: “That poor filly! Her mother really cares that little for her? I’ll have to keep a special eye on this one!” & with that entered the room, where the four year old CL was crying for her mother. The nurse gave her a gentle hug & consoled her that her mother was a very busy Pony, but would be back to take her home. Present day CL was watching all this, & now crying herself, as she now realised the real reason she had never seen her mother whenever she was ill, injured or having surgery. “I knew she never liked hospitals, but I never realised she was phobic!” she wept.
“No,” Strawb said, “you still don’t realise, do you?” And with a whirl of white & cherry red, tinged with a little purple from the residue of the NHP pegacorn’s magic, the two found themselves outside a house that CL recognised instantly.
“This was my house!” she shrieked in delight. “Mom used to hold such magnificent parties here! And all her guests thought I was so beautiful & well behaved! I had the time of my life here!”
But this time there was no party. Strawb led them through a wall, where Sweet Scoops was removing things from the mantelpiece. CL had a closer look, & instantly regretted it. The things were all photographs, with her in them, for the first seven years of her life, posing with all sorts of important Ponies, & an unusual looking horse thing she recognised straight away. “Hasbro, that’s Diamond, the Keyper Ambassador! She was way important & way nice to me! I loved that picture! Hey, what’s Mom doing with it, & all the others?” But it was obvious what Sweet Scoops was doing. She was taking every photo out of its frame & tossing it onto the fire under the mantelpiece, where each & every one of them burned into ash. “NO!” she wailed. “No, no, no!” She tried to blow out the fire, to save the photos, but it was no use!
“Nothing can be changed in the past,” Strawb hugged the sobbing G3, as she led her upstairs to where her seven year old self was packing her belongings, including a photo of her & her mother, which she kissed fondly. “I’ll kiss it every day,” began the seven year old CL, &, her words repeated by her present day self, continued, “& when I do, I’ll send you a special wish that all my love shall reach your heart!” Present day CL scolded herself now: “Hasbro, I was so stupid thinking she loved me! Now it looks as if she didn’t even like me! So why did her head appear to me? Why did she make the wish for me?”
There were so many unanswered questions in CL’s head as her thoughts were interrupted by the horn of a taxi. Seven year old CL excitedly grabbed her bags & rushed down the stairs to the door, shouting “Bye Mom!” as she passed the living room, before heading out & getting in the taxi outside. But present day CL & Strawb went through to the living room to see Sweet Scoops one more time, who didn’t even look up as the taxi merrily beeped & CL waved before getting in & heading for the boarding school where she’d spend the rest of her life till today. Instead the purple G1 with dull magenta hair finished burning the photos, sat back in her chair & sighed with relief: “At last, she’s out of my hair. Now I can focus on what’s really important!” Another swirl of white & cherry red, with only the faintest trace left of purple remaining, surrounded present day CL & Strawb as they found themselves at the boarding school. All sorts of Ponies were there, giggling & playing games, until a rather large, grotesque-looking horse type creature marched through barking orders. “Oh no!” CL gulped. “A Cabbager! They hated me so much! Especially when I turned ten… oh Hasbro, there I am, & I am ten!”
Strawb comforted the now terrified Pony as she saw her ten year old self yelled at by the Cabbager. “Murry! Office, now!”
The other Ponies started jeering: “Murry’s gonna get it, Murry’s gonna get it…” as ten year old CL, followed by present day CL & Strawb, went through to the school office, where the head Cabbager waited sternly. The other Cabbager went back out to reprimand the other Ponies for their playground foolishness as the head wasted no time & offered no consolation for the words she was about to say to ten year old CL, words CL had blanked out of her mind for a long time, acting as if she didn’t hear them, but here they were, being said right now.
“Do you see this?” the Head Cabbager asked indicating a sheet of paper on the desk.
“What… is it?” ten year old CL trembled.
“It’s a certificate of permanent adoption, signed by myself & your natural mother, giving you over permanently to our care. In short, we own you now! So forget that sunny grass field where the sponsors play; you’re never to go back there. Instead, your education will be completed with the wards. Am I clear?”
“The… wards?” ten year old CL trembled, utterly terrified. The wards were seen by the sponsors, sent by parents to get a good education, as the lowest of the low, the scum of the earth, the parentless, the unloved. The wards lived here because they simply had nowhere else to go! And having spent three years with the sponsors, CL had the same hatred of them as they all did. And now she was… to become one? No! This couldn’t be! Ten year old CL burst into sobs, unable to stop herself. The Cabbagers, as everypony knew, saw crying as a form of weakness, reluctance & disobedience. So the Head Cabbager laid into her with those large forehooves pounding on ten year old CL’s back, before eventually dragging the Pony, & all her things, to the sunless side of the school, where the playground was made of concrete, & where most of the Ponies looked miserable as they saw yet another sad case entering their ranks. But CL hated the wards, & refused to associate with any of them, snapping at any who dared to come too close to her. And so she gained a reputation as a bully. Present day CL shook with violent sobs as Strawb hugged her, this wound she’d patched up now reopened, then everything disappeared & she was back in bed.
Too upset to feel any pain or notice any dizziness, she set out again. This time nopony was just outside her door, so she limped her way along the street heading for central Clopton as best she could, having only recently arrived here, where a TE & her daughter were buying sweets at Taffy’s, while another was squirting everypony with her watergun. “Ewww! Not again! I hate being wet!” CL moaned.
“It’s just fun!” the white First Tooth Junior pointed out. “Don’t you know how to have fun? I’m Queenie by the way! Hey, wait a moment! Aren’t you the new Pony who doesn’t know about the rules here & who fell over with Fiona? The new PMA model? You are aren’t you? You’re Crystal Lake!”
“I am,” CL confirmed, “& I need to get to the hospital. I think I hurt my head!”
“Where?” Queenie asked. “I can squirt it for you! Water has amazing healing powers! Why do you think I squirted your leg?”
CL noticed the pain in her leg was already subsiding. Perhaps there was magic in this watergun; after all, it was a present from Xmas Merry Treat. So CL pointed out where the source of the pain in her head seemed to be, & Queenie squirted it, then everything changed! They were now in a bustling farmhouse, where everything was immensely joyous. CL & Queenie watched, as CL noticed that Queenie seemed to be there with her. “Where are we?” CL, being the new arrival, had to ask Queenie.
“This is Posey’s place!” Queenie shrieked happily. “They always have wonderful Christmases here. I took you here first so you’d see what a real Christmas looks like!”
Even as Queenie spoke the bell at the door tingled, & everypony burst out in chorus: “There’s somepony at the door! There’s somepony at the door!” on & on until Gametime (pointed out by Queenie) reached the door & opened it to reveal Cappi & Tea Leaf, having just finished their shifts serving Christmas Lunches to everypony & taken an NHP carriage out here to join the afternoon fun. The welcome they received from all was joyous, raucous & loud, as they told of the beauty of the snowscape the carriage had taken them through, praising the surehoofedness of the NHP towing it. In they came, both making a beeline for Starlight, who warmly hugged both & kissed Cappi passionately. Mulberry’s family had also joined the bunch, as had Kiss Curl’s, so the house was full of joy & laughter. “Oh look!” Queenie explained after pointing out every single pony there & what they all did for a living, or wanted to do if they weren’t old enough yet. “They’re playing a game! Come on, let’s see what they’re playing!”
The Ponies all assembled into teams, as this was the only way such a large gathering could play anything. “Hasbro!” CL exclaimed. “It’s Charades, or Give Us A Clue! I used to play it all the time when I was a sponsor!”
“Let’s see if you can guess what they’re miming!” Queenie shrieked happily, delighted to be here as this game was playing.
The group began, with Cherry Berry, Mulberry’s mother, going first. She put her forehooves together, then opened them. “A book!” CL said. “A book!” everypony else cried. Then she held her hoof up five times. “Five words,” CL said. “Five words!” chorused everypony else.
“First word: The. Second word: One. Third word: small word. In, to, from, of, it, it? Not quite… That! Yaiy, that! Fifth word: leave, go, depart…”
“Away,” CL said. “It’s a Human book by Chris Ryan: The One That Got Away.”
“Let’s see who gets it!” Queenie shrieked.
“Oh Dio!” Cappi exclaimed. “Is it a book read often by Pegasus Flight?”
“Where’s he from?” CL wondered.
“He’s Italian,” Queenie informed her, “& his mother’s Tickle Barnaba.”
Cherry Berry nodded & grinned. “Getting warm!” she confirmed.
“Is away!” Cappi cried out triumphantly. “Is The One That Got Away! That is the book! Is a true story by a Human who escape a bad place. Pegasus Flight read it for tips on escape & evasion!”
“Correct!” Cherry Berry confirmed. “Your turn!”
So Cappi got up & mimed doing an opera. “No surprises there!” Tea Leaf grinned, as everypony chorused: “A song!”
“Three words. Third word: I, me, me! First word: get, receive, no take!”
Sugarcake got this instantly: “Take on me!” he crowed.
“Buonissimo! Your turn!” Cappi congratulated the colt as he took the floor, winding his forehoof round & round in the air.
“He’s way fast!” CL commented, beginning to enjoy herself.
“A film! Four words. First word: Queen, Lady, King, Lord! Second word: small word, of? Of! Third word: The. Fourth word: circle, bracelet, anklet, hoof feathers…”
“Rings,” said CL. “It’s Lord of the Rings, though strictly speaking it’s three films, but we’ll let him off.”
“How is nopony getting this!” Queenie wondered.
Then finally Posey herself got it: “Ring? Oh, Rings! Lord of the Rings!” she realised.
“Well done Posey!” CL joined the others in praising her. She was dying to see what Posey’s clues would lead to, but Queenie squirted her head again, & everything changed. “Thank Hasbro! This is the hospital!” she sighed, relieved that maybe this weird hallucination would end.
“Come on!” Queenie beckoned & CL found herself unable to do anything but follow as Queenie led her to the maternity wards, where a purple TAF Party Pony was straining & straining, attended by 3 Nurse Ponies encouraging her to push with all her might. “Oh no!” Queenie exclaimed. “That’s Merryweather! She’s not due till January! Her twins may be premature! And that’s not good!”
She & CL watched with bated breath as all four Ponies worked hard to get the babies safely delivered, as a heavily pregnant green Pony with blue hair arrived. “I’m not too late am I?” she asked worriedly, as Queenie whispered that it was Tootsie, who was Merryweather’s pregnancy buddy.
“No,” explained Nurse Loveheart, “you’re just on time! She’s been in labour five minutes now, & should just be starting to crown soon…”
“I love that part!” Tootsie sighed. “I do hope it all goes well! We’ve become pretty close!”
Loveheart was already gone, setting up incubators for the twins, as Sweetheart & Tenderheart, now with Tootsie assisting, tended to the straining Merryweather.
“I’ve never seen a birth before!” CL exclaimed.
“Watch this!” Queenie grinned, squirting her watergun at Merryweather’s under-rump as it expanded in size, ready to push out the babies. The gun’s spray hit Merryweather & seemed to glow as it smothered her in light. “A little bit of Christmas magic! That should help things go right!”
Loveheart arrived back, pushing a pair of incubators in front of her to the side of the bed, as another wisp of magic, not silver like the watergun’s, but rainbow-coloured, touched Merryweather’s convulsing belly. “That’s the rainbow blessing from the Human’s belief in us! It gives the foals Life here, & lets them know love & compassion!” Queenie explained as CL watched in wonder, still a little scared. Then at last, the first yellow-haired head crowned, & Sweetheart got ready to pull the foal free. Two more huge pushes from Merryweather & the foal was free! “It’s a colt!” Sweetheart declared, checking the under-rump for signs of male organs while she washed the foal. “Bootsie!” Merryweather screamed as another contraction gripped her. Tootsie felt Merryweather’s belly at this point, allowing Merryweather to lean into her. “The second foal’s not moving into the right position!” she panicked. Tenderheart was instantly there, feeling the belly, finding the second body, & using her forehooves to massage it until the foal was in the right place. “Well spotted Tootsie!” she congratulated the green Early earth, as another contraction began to take over Merryweather, & the rainbow blessing touched her belly once more. Queenie squirted her watergun again, adding its silver magic to the mix. CL’s heart was in her mouth, begging & pleading with whatever benevolence existed in the world that this second foal would come out alive & well. After more straining & support from all the Ponies, Merryweather’s second foal finally crowned. Full of gratitude to her buddy, Merryweather turned to the green Pony: “If this one lives, I’ll name it after you!” she promised. “Hoof-swear!” She pressed the sole of her forehoof hard against Tootsie’s as another three pushes got this foal out into Sweetheart’s waiting hooves. “Another colt!” Sweetheart did the checks, massaging Life into this foal. Loveheart stayed with Merryweather, ready to catch the afterbirth, in order to make it into birthing soup for the mother, who after all this effort would need all the energy she could get. Tootsie was helping Sweetheart with her male namesake, & when there was a chance, Queenie squirted more watergun magic at him. “Come on Tootles!” she called, though she knew nopony could hear her. “Come on Tootles!” Tootsie encouraged the second colt fondly, then finally a pitiful squeal emitted from the tiny foal. “Love has a special magic here!” Queenie explained. “Because Tootsie passed on the love from mother to friend to foal, the foal survived & took his first breath. Now the incubator can strengthen him!”
“Happy Christmas Merryweather, Tootsie, Bootsie & Tootles!” the Nurses chorused, tired out, as Loveheart caught the afterbirth in the pot & Merryweather’s contractions calmed down.
“Happy Christmas…” was all Merryweather could manage before collapsing in exhaustion. Tootsie worriedly fled to her buddy’s side, checking her. “Let her rest,” Tenderheart coaxed her gently. “She needs it after all this!”
“Happy Christmas all of you!” Tootsie wished everypony, as she finally departed to inform Merryweather’s family of the happy news, while in her heart thanking Hasbro she wasn’t a nurse who was required to work every day of the year. Queenie squirted CL again & everything changed once more…
It was a house which had been turned into a small lot of bedsit flats that they stood in front of now, as a purple Pony with pink hair & a bunch of flowers on her rump nervously approached, ringing the doorbell. “Who is it?” a voice called from inside.
“Love Story,” the G1 confirmed, to which the door was flung open, & a Pony CL recognised as another ward from the school stood just inside.
“Come in, come in! It’s so cold outside today!” the G3, who looked so much like her mother, urged Love Story.
“How…” CL began to ask, but Queenie shushed her. “Just watch, & listen.”
CL & Queenie followed Love Story inside, while CL recalled that wards had never celebrated Christmas at the school, so there were no decorations whatsoever in Sweetsong? Yeah, that was her name, Sweetsong. Sweetsong’s bedsit flat. Love Story started: “I simply couldn’t let Christmas Day go by without coming to see you! I always hated this time of year, & not being able to celebrate it with you! And the Paradise Square presents are for Juniors, not G3 Adults. So I brought you a little something. It’s not much, but…”
CL nearly choked with emotion. No ward ever received any presents! She herself was sent money; how else was she able to afford such nice things as she had? But presents were unheard of among the school wards. So even the smallest, cheapest trinket given out of a loving heart was something a ward would cherish beyond anything ever imagined! And as she watched Sweetsong open her gift from Love Story, she saw instantly it wasn’t just given with love, but with thought too. It was a music box! Sweetsong wound it up, opened it, & her angelic voice sung the words that went with the tune: “Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby…” as tears of immense joy ran down her cheeks. When it finally stopped playing, she hugged Love Story tightly: “Oh Mum, it’s beautiful! I love it! It’s the best present ever! In fact, it’s the only present I’ve ever received!”
“There’s more,” Love Story pulled something else out of the bag. “Kisses is ill with cold so can’t come out, but she wanted you to have this.” It was a gold heart shaped locket, with an arrow across it in silver. “Just like Kisses’s rumpmark!” Queenie cried happily as Sweetsong opened it to find a photo of her, Love Story & Kisses inside.
“Tell her it’s wonderful!” Sweetsong pecked Love Story on the cheek, her eyes still brimming with happy tears. “And happy Christmas to you both!”
“Happy Christmas to you, too!” Love Story responded smiling, glad she’d done the right thing here. It would take a while for Sweetsong to get used to having a mother, but this would be a great help. A little thought, love, kindness & consideration went a long way in building that bridge. Queenie explained to CL how many G3s, G2s & Juniors had been separated from their mothers by the actions of one particular Pony: the last on their list to visit. She squirted CL with the watergun & things changed yet again…
It was dark here; cold & lonely. The house was the only one on the whole street not adorned with a holly wreath, not either emptied or filled with laughter. Queenie squirted a wall & she led CL through it inside, where a grey-purple Pony was sitting watching TV. Human TV. The film channel. And every movie seemed to feature ten, eleven & twelve year old Human Children teaching parents about Christmas, or parents teaching them. “Can’t they put on some real movies?” the dull-looking Pony glared at the screen. “Don’t they know Christmas means nothing to anypony over the age of six?” CL began to notice that it was only the body of this Pony that was dull. What she’d thought was a brightly coloured cushion in fact was just cream coloured. As the Pony leaned forward, the stripes of bright pink, yellow, blue & purple moved with her. CL had never seen a mane this long, she was sure of it, except on Rapunzel of course, but she’d know those curly gold & red tresses anywhere. “Ringlet,” Queenie explained. “Everypony hates her cause her mother neglected all her foals over a certain age. Because of this she became jealous of all the foals her mother, sisters & friends gave birth to, & stole them all away, sending them to be…”
“Wards at the school!” CL realised. “Including Sweetsong! But if love is the magic here, why is nopony trying to love her?”
“It’s hard for them, with so many hurt by what she’s done. The pain is still too raw for many of them, so this is her worst Christmas ever. She doesn’t even feel she can join the Hogmanay party, & everypony my age & up goes to it!”
“She needs somepony to love her, to help her see the wrong of her ways & put them right,” CL suggested.
“She does indeed!” Queenie replied, squirting CL once more, & she was back in bed, but at least the pain in her leg was better…
Out she got a third time, her head still aching like crazy. She was going to get to that hospital no matter what! Nopony outside the door, nopony at Taffy’s, nopony even on the streets. Where was everypony? Then CL remembered: they were at Paradise Square! So determinedly she set off, following the route the sled had taken, the tracks it had left still visible in the snow that crunched beneath her hooves. As the sun hung low in the sky she sped into a trot, recalling her mother’s head’s words: “I haven’t long, & you only have until sunset!” She was soon running again, cantering through the snow & ice, but when she reached the Square the sleigh was gone! The Ponies were gone, the carollers were gone, the festivities were over, & the sun was barely visible over the houses. Everypony had disappeared! She tried to stop, to turn, & skidded in the ice again, just like this morning, heading straight for…
Almost everypony had disappeared. Only one remained. Trying to defrost this last patch of ice before hitting Connie’s for a well-earned beer, Ice Crystal clicked & clicked his forehooves together, to no avail, as CL came skidding in a heap right in front of him! He didn’t speak; he was too busy trying to figure out why this ice wasn’t melting. Then he figured it out. He needed to click his back hooves together to defrost it! One balance on his forehooves, then two clicks, & the whole patch was now water, soaking CL’s elf costume. “Ewww! Wet again!” she moaned, then struggled to her hooves, somehow unhurt & unblemished by this fall, which was weird. “Tell me I’m not still hallucinating!” She begged the green stallion, then realised suddenly: “You’re the Pony who helped me this morning aren’t you? What did Strawb say your name was? That’s it, Ice Crystal! Another Crystal like me! Maybe you’re my father! Are you my father?”
Ice Crystal didn’t speak, just clicked his forehooves together. Another winking, CL thought, as she found herself, Ice Crystal right beside her, on a rather different street. A woman, rather large around the waist, with a navy cap on her head, was walking up a small back road where no Ponies seemed to be, when suddenly something went bang! The Human turned. “That’s our Human, isn’t it?” CL asked as Her face became visible. Ice Crystal simply nodded. Another bang sounded, & the Human’s chest spurted out something red. “What is that?” CL asked, as she recalled some of the books she’d read, & the Human fell, more red coming out of Her. “Is it… blood?” Ice Crystal nodded. Then… gulping, CL asked fearfully: “Is She… dying?” Ice Crystal nodded again. CL recalled all she’d been told by Queenie of this Ponyworld’s heavy reliance on its Human, & realised quickly that a dead Human couldn’t believe in them, so the Ponyworld would die & disintegrate. “This is way, way, way awful! We have to stop this happening!” CL exclaimed in shock. Queenie had shown her this Ponyworld at work, & all the magic involved in it, & all the joy the Ponies found living here, how even the damaged ones found the right way. Hasbro! She couldn’t allow this Ponyworld to end! That would be a total disaster! Ice Crystal nodded as if he could hear her thoughts, but still didn’t speak. Why didn’t he speak? He clicked his forehooves again. There was Ringlet, grabbed from a box & mauled by a Human Child, her beautiful mane chopped off. Love Story was chewed up by a Human Baby, while Sweetsong was stuck with other G3s up on a shelf, never believed in as more than an ornament again. G-Star & all the Customs were sent off a million different places & Made into other different Ponies. Queenie & her mother managed to stay together, but Merryweather was separated from her teeny tiny foals, placed on another shelf. Posey’s family went off in a hundred different directions, & no longer knew the warmth & joy they’d had. Then finally, the one Pony she least wanted to see the fate of: herself. She was in a house where a Human Girl loved her for a year or so, until something else caught Her interest. That something had four legs, a waggy tail, floppy ears & very sharp teeth. It was a puppy, & the Girl loved that puppy more than anything, so didn’t even notice when future CL became that puppy’s favourite chew toy, & ended up a mangled mess. CL was literally shaking with terror, but otherwise couldn’t move! Now she knew the origin of the word Dogfear! “NO!” she screamed. “STOP THIS! PLEASE! NOOOO!”
“She’s coming round!” Powder noted as the purple G3 in the bed tossed & turned as if going through some sort of nightmare. PMA stood back, watching as their newest recruit lay in the bed, the concussion having rendered her unconscious for several hours now, worried & praying to the Human & to Hasbro & to anything else that they could think of to pray to, that she’d come out ok. True, she was a whiny brat, but she was in their Ponyworld now, & therefore part of the community, & worse cases than hers had been dealt with on a regular basis. So they pleaded she’d come round & live again. CL jerked up out of bed, screaming no very loudly, before Pinkie, Strawb & RD got her back in the bed. “Not so fast!” RD instructed. “You had a concussion from the fall! You need to take it easy for a day or so…”
“What day is it?” CL wondered, looking so confused almost everypony thought she was on ketamine.
Powder however was used to dealing with concussions & the resultant disorientation, so calmly informed her: “Monday, 20th December 2010, around 5:30pm. You need to rest, drink some vegetable soup, & sleep. You’ll likely feel better tomorrow, but be sure to take an NHP carriage to the hospital just in case. You’re lucky I was at Paradise Square to be honest!”
“I’m way not taking an alicorn carriage!” CL shuddered. “Especially not with you Strawb!”
“What?” Strawb stared at her confused, as a white TE & her First Tooth daughter entered without even bothering to knock. CL moaned again.
“Queenie, if you’ve brought that garotey watergun then don’t you dare squirt me again!”
“Of course she hasn’t!” the TE with rainbow hair just like her daughter’s replied. “I’m Quackers, & she insisted we come here to check on you after the fall. I’m glad to see you’re ok! She’s been praying for you the whole time of course. She does that, though I don’t agree with it…”
“At least we agree on the Human mum!” Queenie smiled, as a green & white flash lit up the room.
“Well where else would the fairest casualty in Ponyworld be? Glad you’re ok, gorgeous!” Ice Crystal stood there, all his charm honed in on the bed-ridden G3 with pink & orange hair he’d helped rescue. It was the happiest he’d ever been in his life!
“At least you’re speaking now!” CL smiled. “See when you weren’t, that was way creepy!”
“What in Hasbro’s name…” he stared at her.
“And one more thing!” CL continued. “I know I’ve behaved way badly today, & I’m sorry! Ok? So, from now on, I’m gonna try being nice to everybody. First things first: anypony know what would suit a band of G3 singers? Second: we all need to spend Christmas Day at Ringlet’s & cheer her up! Third, something way terrible is gonna happen to the Human in the future. We way can’t let Her die! She’s totally the glue that holds us together! So everypony start praying for Her now! And last but not least, there is one thing I learnt at the school: how to crochet! And I need a crochet hook & some yellow wool. A couple of new arrivals will come on Christmas Day. And by the way, I can’t wait for the Dream Castle sleigh visit tomorrow: that’ll be way awesome! Royal Ponies! I heard they’re as wise as they are glamorous!”
“Who like, are you?” Pinkie asked. “And like, what have you like, done with Crystal Lake?”
“It’s me, silly!” CL laughed kindly. “And I still way hate getting wet, & cold, & bedraggled, & sore! But now I know there are more important things in life, things I way never learned! Things like love, compassion, kindness, friendship, laughter, fun, joy & happiness! And no matter how much or how little money you have you can way not buy these things! You wouldn’t believe what happened to me after I fell, but it was way revealing! I learnt a way huge amount of things! By the way, has anypony got a copy of Lord of the Rings, all 3? Or that true story by that Human soldier, Chris Ryan? Since I’m stuck here I might as well have a watch & a read, oh, & thanks everypony for caring for me! Even Mom couldn’t do that! She way hates hospitals! Dodododo, do, do, do, dododododo…” She hummed the tune Take On Me by Human band A-Ha just for the sake of humming a tune. CL was truly happy for the first time in her life!
Majesty smiled, watching it all in Mirror-Mirror’s mirror at Dream Castle. Another ward, Crystal Lake, had been Scrooged! And when she came to Dream Castle tomorrow, she was sure to offer her a special Christmas wish for somepony close…
You already know most of the characters in this story; just the Juniors have more imaginative names than Baby *insert Mum's name here*. But one you don't know is the Custom model, G-Star, so I've added a photo of her
A CRYSTAL LAKE CAROL
Since the fateful day of the Meadowbrook’s Incident, two months have passed in Ponyworld, equivalent to over a year in the Human world. During this time, Starlight, Clover, Teddy, Melody, Patch & Bon-Bon have had all sorts of emotions to deal with regarding themselves, their families & their friends. Bon-Bon’s family are far more peaceful & co-operative. The weekly clean-ups have worked wonders, as the five Ponies (Meadowbrook having not moved out yet) work together to sort out all the problems of the house, both outside & inside, chatting about their hopes, dreams & worries at the same time. Tedda is far happier, & making good friends at Image Catcher’s photography class. Meadowbrook is less stressed, not only due to the change at home, but also due to Incognita’s trials doing very well at work. Incognita’s contributions to the management of the supermarket have especially proved a great help now all of Ponyworld retail is caught up in the December rush. Meadowbrook will be making Incognita’s position as deputy manager official in the New Year. Nightcap, being less worried about everypony else arguing, is finding it a lot easier to sleep at night, & is therefore able to get up more easily in the mornings, & is becoming healthier as a result. All five cook the Sunday meals together, therefore learning that basic skill from the expertise Bon-Bon has always had in culinary skills. Starlight’s love for Cappi is growing fast, & when they have free time (the two have even synchronised their days off), are steadily courting. They have yet to share the full intimacies loving couples do, but for them both it’s something to be discussed, as every encounter Starlight has had with a stallion (without exception as she is now aware) results in a foal. Their bond with Tea Leaf is also growing, & Tea Leaf often dines with Posey’s family. Posey’s pregnancy is developing well, & it’s become apparent she’s carrying twins. Bon-Bon’s job with Cappi is doing well & just as busy. Clover & Teddy have completely re-established their friendship with Love Melody, whose pregnancy is also doing well, although she only has the one foal. Mirror-Mirror is also pregnant with one foal, at a similar stage as Posey & Love Melody. Teddy & Clover have also in no small part assisted with Éclair’s becoming the new floor manager & Incognita’s becoming the deputy manager. Patch & her daughter Sew & So are kept very busy, but both delighted at how well their stock has been selling. They had another fashion show, with PMA, including latest recruit SWALK (Sealed With A Loving Kiss, the last Dutch adult to arrive & Kiss & Tell’s cousin), modelling the Christmas party outfits. With SWALK being green, it made her the perfect Pony to model the Xmas Merry Treat outfit, complete with sleigh-bell earrings, while all around her the rest of the models dressed in their themes: RD was kitted for a winter walk, Pinkie wore fun, novelty clothes, Kiss & Tell wore the gorgeous party gowns, G-Star was dressed in experimental wear & space fantasy clothes, while Strawb looked literally good enough to eat! Pinkie & G-Star have begun a friendship which will soon prove itself unbreakable, as they share so much in common! And Pinkie is helping G-Star to lighten up & enjoy a laugh, while she’s teaching Pinkie French. More Ponies have arrived & been recruited everywhere, with many of the food-themed Island Ponies spread out between Connie’s & the farms, while Chestnut, Fudge & Candy Apple are the new chef & baristas at Cappi’s. Melody, Jazzie & Hip-Hop’s Homecoming show was sold out, so it was a good thing Hip-Hop could wrangle the extra guest pass for Camo to show up there. Their new single, Muzzle It, has been at number 1 in the Ponyworld Charts for six weeks so far, & except for the fact that it’s usually a Christmas-themed song that takes the title of Christmas number 1, as with the Human world, that isn’t necessarily the case this year. DJ has already signed the single up for her latest compilation album, Pony Hits 33, which she has been doing since 1992, grabbing the best songs written by everypony 3 times a year, like the Human world’s Now series. Also signed for the album is Love Melody’s Coming Back To You, Bebop’s Down At Dream Castle, & Silver Song’s Star-Struck. More arrivals are coming in everywhere, including more G3 Boys, which is excellent news for the female G3s. Pinkie & Handy are getting closer by the day, as are Love Story & Kisses, & Snuzzle will sign the filly into her mother’s care in the new year, & has already invited her over for Christmas Day. With Sweetsong however, things are a bit slower. She has made it to Dream Castle & likes Love Story & Kisses, & adores Love Melody & Kiss & Make-Up, who’s slowly getting back on friendly terms with Love Letter, as both understand more about what happened. But like almost everypony else, Sweetsong is literally not speaking to Ringlet, the grey-purple Brush & Grow, who has been ordered by Bobby, the new Policepony, to have weekly meetings with Milky Way. He’s also ordered Milky Way to wink herself to the Schools to consult there with Blue Belle, whose attitude to adults, G2s & older Juniors needs a lot of work. These sessions have just started. Brighteyes, along with Knightshade, who her mother has now accepted, more for the fact he obviously cares a great deal about her daughter than anything else, is busily exchanging postcards with her three test-tube daughters, who were all brought up in a laboratory, & put through countless tests, examinations & experiments, & never told where they came from; & helping her mother gain back her memory. She can now remember back to the first mines she worked in Hasbronian history, & in Human history has reached her second Human, an 11 year old Girl from Canada, & as a result has lived through one Smooze of a lot of hard, traumatic times. Brighteyes & Knightshade have become very close, & even had their first mating, although with contraception involved, as Brighteyes had so much done on her womb she’s not sure if she can have foals, or what they’ll be like. The biggest news in Ponyworld by far though, is the emergence of a whole new Generation of Ponies: the G4s, or FIM Ponies. For a few weeks they have seen the shows, & now are getting to meet the first Ponies; whose names are Pinky Pie (the reason for Pinkie’s Shift), Rainbow Flight (the reason for RD’s), Rare Gem (the reason for Rarity’s), Leigh (the reason for Cherry Blossom’s), Jacqui (the reason for Andie’s), Blossomflyer (the reason for Blossomforth’s), Flutterfly (the reason for Fluttershy’s), Princess Celestia (a new Royal Pony), & Twilight Sparkle (whom the Human has adopted as that Generation’s Mascot Pony). The G4s seem stunted, having the maturity (except Celestia who’s an adult) of G2-aged Ponies, but only being the size of Juniors, & each has been given to her family. The appeal for the release of Ponies from the Cabbage Catholic school is well underway, with the Human assisting in bringing the Ponies (G2, G3 & Junior) to Ponyworld where all are rehabilitated with help from Shenanigans, who has finally learned how to tend to foals with love rather than discipline, & so is well equipped to assist Milky Way & Enchanted Evening (new arrival) with rehabilitating Ponies used only to that discipline, a service where she’s proving extremely valuable. The run-up to Christmas is fully underway, with all of PMA dressed as elves, & helping the Winter Ponies escort Xmas Merry Treat on her visits to every part of Ponyworld & the surrounding area. All the shops are the busiest they have ever been, including Love Story’s flower stall, Lovey-Dovey’s newly established card shop, Patch’s dress shop, Frilly Frocks’s boutique, Taffy’s corner shop, Meadowbrook’s supermarket & the selling section of Love-In-A-Mist’s Pony Library. With all the new arrivals coming, Euro Hostel & the Construction Ponies are all very busy finishing more flats for them, while Bobby has roped in Camo to assist him with policing Ponyworld to make sure none of the clashes goes out of hoof. Camo himself has grabbed hold of the Baseball brothers, First Base & Slugger, who are also policing Ponyworld. Ice Crystal is the only stallion who seems impossible to change, as although Ringlet’s progress is very slow, she’s still making some. It’s still too early to tell with Blue Belle though, but as a UTH, even a second hoof UTH, it shouldn’t be so hard for her either. Bobby & Camo wonder if he needs to literally remove his head & change his mane to become a better Pony inside. Mirror-Mirror, who works in tandem with them, is sure something radical, like the Incident, which is often still talked of, & stored in the Ponyworld history files, is the only thing that will do it. Meanwhile, Shenanigans & the G3s pick up rumours of a bullying Pony in the Catholic school, which are confirmed by Tea Leaf & Sweetsong. No, they insist, this Pony was not a Cabbager, but one of them. “Well she looked like us,” Sweetsong had informed Council, “but she acted like a Cabbager, being nasty to everypony! She was such a display case it was untrue!” Mirror-Mirror, the Pony Police, the Mystics, & the Royals, are all on the watch for this bully Pony arriving in Ponyworld, which she does today: Monday, 20th December.
The first Pony to see her was of course Come Fly With Me, as he checked her visa for arrival as a resident into Ponyworld, then gave the G3 her seat, next to two G2 Sports Boys called Rubik & Wicket, who were second & third. Fourth to ninth were the group of six Ponies, 3 G1 Stallions, 2 G3 Boys, & one G3 girl, all with horizontally-striped hair, who were sitting behind her & the G2 Boys, all six of whom looked wistfully at the colts. “Hasbro!” the white G3 Boy exclaimed. “It’s been a long time since we were that age!”
“It certainly has Logan,” the pink one agreed, “& so much has happened since then: the show, the college, finding our dads, & now hearing our mothers & younger sisters were all waiting for us at Clopton.”
“Clopton!” the yellow G3 girl sighed. “I’ve heard so much about that place, & mostly wonderful! They say Human belief is so strong there that the Ponyworld time is only one seventh of the Human! I even heard Customalia grew from the Human’s head! I hope this pick-up doesn’t last too long…”
“I’m assured it won’t Moki,” a yellow Stallion who may have been Moki’s dad replied. “After all, it’s only Mail Island!”
“Oh good!” Moki replied. “There we are Corny, not long now before we get to Clopton Airport & find our mothers & sisters!” She turned to the pink G3 Boy as she spoke his name, knowing of all of them on board, Corny Meadowsweet was the one who most missed his family. His eyes were scanning the crowd as he recalled his own past, checking out all the G3s & G2s in case one particular pink one should board. After all, he was older now than he had been once, a silly 15 year old mucking around without being aware of the consequences, & unlike then, was ready for the responsibility that before had so scared him. But no such Pony boarded the plane. He sighed again, hiding his secret from the others, as he noticed the purple G3 with pink & orange hair sitting in the aisle seat in front of them, ignoring everypony else on the whole plane, while observing a purple G3 with gold hair, a white G3 with blue hair & a yellow G3 with coral hair coming aboard, followed by a green G2 with green & purple hair, a white G2 with red & yellow hair, & a blue G2 with pink & purple hair coming behind them, & taking their seats in the next two rows. Come Fly With Me did three flights a day in December & April, due to those two months being the busiest times for Ponies arriving. Corny’s view was now blocked, so he asked Moki who else was boarding. “More G4s,” she replied, “including a few smaller ones. They can go two to a seat thank Hasbro!”
The new G3 arrivals, Autumn Crisp, Misty Blue & Peachie Keen; were the tenth, eleventh & twelfth Ponies to notice this G3 sitting beside the G2 Boys, & Peachie Keen tried to talk to her, but Misty Blue warned her against it. “Ignore that display case. She never wanted to know me at the school, so why should she change now? Wait until Clopton has worked its magic on her first.”
“Clopton!” the other G3s shrieked in delight, which affected everypony else on board, all but one of whom was elated at going to a new Ponyworld which sounded so great! That one was the purple G3 with pink & orange hair who simply sighed aloud, as yet another Human had sent her off to Mail Island, from where all sorts of planes came & went, picking up & dropping off Ponies. She didn’t know what the fuss was about. It would simply be another row of shelves in a room in a Human’s house, with each Pony assigned her own spot to sit & stay in for the entire time she was there, or worse, some box in a Child’s room, where whenever the Child felt like it, She would pull you or one of the others out to paw you with Her grubby… what were they called, oh right, hands! And those hands would be all over you, tearing your clothes, losing your barrettes or worse, putting them on another Pony! The very thought of her things going to another Pony made her shudder! She was, after all, C L Murry, daughter of Sweet Scoops Murry, the rarest Pony ever! And she deserved the best & most special of treatments because of this. In short, she was your typical LA Valley Girl spoiled brat, in Pony form! A useless heiress with no talent of her own, a ton of plastic surgery, heaps of her mother’s money & all the best of fashions, with absolutely no intent on sharing any of her fancy things with anypony else! She was rich & beautiful, & despised Ponies who weren’t one or the other of those, or worse, common! Not for her associations with these bargain basement Ponies in front of her, or these weird-looking ones behind her! But this new Pony coming in & taking the last seat was more her type! A bright red & yellow G3, sat apart from the rest & making everypony else gasp as she boarded, took her seat on the plane, the last remaining seat, before the doors were closed & everypony was told over the tannoy to strap in. Yes, we know Ponies sit on cushions at home, school, work & in cafes, or just on blankets or soft grass when outside, but primarily for safety reasons, when flying or driving or riding in cars & busses, Ponies sit on seats. Especially on flights, where they have to strap in for take-off & landing, but also when driving vehicles larger than scooters, where strapping in is also required by law & for safety. The red & yellow G3 knew her way round an aeroplane, & figured out the seatbelts in a trice, & didn’t even complain about the rather un-natural pose Ponies had to adopt in order to sit, & even she noticed C L Murry sitting a few rows back, & staring openly at her, while everypony else had turned to each other to wonder who this Pony was, & wasn’t she rather rare; & thought little of her except that she had spotted her first villain, & hadn’t even arrived at Clopton yet! For this Pony was Heroine, one of the Comic Convention Ponies, & very rare indeed, but also good-hearted, brave & helpful. And though she was the thirteenth Pony to notice her, never thought anything of the fact many consider the number thirteen unlucky.
Ponies 14-22 were Belinda & Berry Berrytown, Melissa & Merry Meadowsweet, Sheila & Sandy Sunbright, Good Weather, Doodle Book & SWALK herself, all of whom were eagerly awaiting relatives at Clopton Airport, having received the notifications their families (in Doodle Book’s case it was her brother as well as her daughter, as Teddi was permanently busy at the Nurseries) had sent them that they were due on the early flight, & now awaiting them in the arrivals area. All were delighted to be reunited with the remainder of their families, with the Sunbrights, Berrytowns & Meadowsweets in particular elated at being complete on time for Christmas, while SWALK asked Apple Pie how Satchel was doing, as she was still missing that member of her family. Curly was talking about how the huge amount of paperwork was being dealt with & the fact that some G3s had volunteered to stay behind to assist with helping the younger ones get out, but even then a lot of Ponies had been held up until the New Year. Good Weather sympathised as her Dolphin was held up till then as well, then everypony gasped! Last to get off the plane, just as she’d been last to get on, was Heroine, who knew instinctively the attention she received for being who she was. She simply walked over to the immigration desk & asked how she could best help Ponyworld, at which Ponies number 25 & 26 were called in. Bobby & Camo rushed across to ask what the problem was. Heroine smiled at them & said: “None, as yet, but there’s one to watch I noticed on the plane. Didn’t talk to anypony else, just stared at me,” & pointed out C L Murry, who was still sorting her issue out with a member of Immigration. Ponies 23 & 24, July Water Lily & Sandstar, worked for that desk, & Sandstar was feeling more than a little harassed as nothing seemed to be good enough for this purple G3. “Don’t you know who I am? I’m way important & way famous, & mom’s way rare too! I’m a Murry, you get that, a MURRY! So get me the manager, now!”
“July, a little help here?” the harassed pink G3 about begged.
“Of course,” the Birthflower was happy to assist, what with Heroine comparing notes with the Police Ponies & asking to join their number. “I’m July Water Lily…”
“No you’re not, you’re way not! She has pink hair! All the Birthflowers have pink hair!”
“I was rehaired to better suit my Ponyality & my rumpmark, after all, how can we be dodectuplets if each of us was born on a different month of the year, & to a different mother? Anyway, I’m July Water Lily, the customs & immigration manager. Do you have your visa?”
“Rehaired? You mean you’re not original? And running things? That’s way out of order! I’m way gonna have words with the authorities here!”
“Just because I’m not as Factory as I could be, does not make me less capable. In fact, a great number of Customs live & work here, & are all necessary in the proper functioning of Ponyworld. To give examples: although featured in the show with their families, Logan, Corny & Moki over there were never actually Made by Hasbro, so they come here from Customalia when they’re ready, & you can see how happy the rest of their families are to see them! Now, again, do you have your visa?”
“Hasbro, I’m way complaining about this! Here’s my visa, & my passport, where you can clearly see my name: Murry, C L Murry!”
“Crystal Lake Murry. Let me look at you. Hmmm… no qualifications. Are you experienced with shop work at all? We could put you in Meadowbrook’s stock department, or floor if you prefer…”
“I’m way not working in a Frizzing shop!”
“Ok, how are you with foals? The Nurseries can always use extra hooves…”
“Foals? You’re way kidding! I don’t do foals!”
“Then I’m afraid it’s the NHP Stables & a college course for you…”
“I way hate college, & what the Frizz are NHPs?”
“Non-Hasbronian Ponies…”
“FAKIES? I’m way not doing that! Nuh-uh!”
“Well everypony has to pay her way here…”
“Ahem!” SWALK interrupted at this point, as it was obvious that 1, July Water Lily was getting nowhere & 2, C L Murry, despite her faults, had a great looking figure.
“What?” July was getting as harassed as Sandstar had been earlier.
SWALK explained: “This Pony has a distinct look, & furthermore, she’s purple, & PMA has been after a purple model for a while now. I wonder if she’d feel happy joining us? Our managers are Rainbow Dash & Strawberry Fayre…”
“Who?” CL demanded.
“Rainbow Dash…”
“I know who Rainbow Dash is, I mean the other one!” CL insisted.
“Strawberry Fayre, you know, the TAF Party Pony with strawberries all over her…”
“You’re way wrong! That’s Sugarberry…”
“Please! You’re the new arrival, & the rest of us have already established ourselves. Sugarberry is Strawberry Fayre’s second-youngest daughter!”
“Excuse me!” CL snapped. “Are you trying to tell me you know Ponies better than me? Besides, who even are you? You’re way not US Core!”
“I’m SWALK, a Dutch Pony. SWALK stands for Sealed With A Loving Kiss, which as you can see matches my rumpmark. In the Dutch Brochure I’m just called Love Pony”
“If it’s your name in the Brochure, it’s what you should call yourself! Otherwise it’s way confusing! So you’re Love Pony…”
“Nopony here calls me that!” SWALK was getting a little frustrated herself. Mild-mannered as she was, it seemed this Pony’s incessant whining about every little thing was more than enough to send everypony scatty. “My name in this Ponyworld is SWALK, & as you’re now living in this Ponyworld, please respect its rules & traditions, or somepony may do you the kind of damage that results in you being unable to model unless you’re Customised!”
“Customised? That’s way not gonna happen to me! It’s only common Ponies & Baits who get that, & do I look common to you?”
“I’m a rare myself, having only been Made in Holland, but that doesn’t make me display case!”
“Yeah, like how much was your ransom? Fifty dollars? Sixty? Seventy?”
July delighted in pointing out the visa detail here: “Your visa says your ransom was only 35 Human Pounds plus transport! So it isn’t like you can gloat about that. After all, Heroine’s is normally £100 plus transport, & she knows what she wants to do here!”
“Pounds? Pounds are weight, not price!” CL insisted.
“UK Human Pounds Sterling is a perfectly valid Human currency!”
“As are Euros in mainland Europe,” SWALK added. “It was Gilders in Holland before that.”
“Oh, blah-blah!” CL moaned. “Well my mom’s ransom is never less than a thousand dollars these days! And her Pony wealth is in the billions!”
“And yet,” July pointed out with glee, “your visa is one of countless signed by the Cabbagers!”
“Only because the school way gives the best education!” CL pointed out. “After all, do you expect my mom to go do every little thing for me? No! She way won’t, & way doesn’t have time for that! So she sent me to the best boarding school she could find!”
“From which you learned a grand total of nothing!” July noted. “There isn’t one single useful qualification on the whole visa!”
“Well models don’t need to think,” SWALK added. “Just to look good & wear clothes & stay clean, & I’m sure Crystal Lake can manage that much! Let me take her to PMA so the managers there can have a thorough look at her! Then at least she’ll be out of your hair!”
“Take her away please!” July agreed emphatically. “Before I feel tempted to ask Bobby & Camo to do so!”
SWALK took CL & Apple Pie to PMA with her, the latter excited & asking all about Clopton, & the former whining that they had to walk. “Well we could take an NHP carriage,” SWALK suggested, to which CL replied insistently: “I’m way not getting one of those! Don’t you have a car?” The rest of the Ponies meanwhile murmured about the drama one display case G3 could cause while sharing breakfast in the communal lounge, & it was barely morning! Bobby & Camo looked at each other & grinned. Heroine asked what this was about, & the two Custom stallions happily told her all about Ice Crystal & his massive ego, & how this other ego could at last cut him down to size, then she grinned too!
It was a happy start to PMA’s day, as Pinkie & G-Star styled each other’s manes to fit under the elf caps the entire agency had to wear during the Festive Season. Kiss & Tell hummed Christmas songs happily to herself, even singing sometimes; “Dashing through the snow, in a dumb horse open sleigh, over fields we go, laughing all the way…” as she too put on her own elf costume. RD & Strawb were tying tinsel round the tops of their tails for the finishing touch, as back came SWALK with Apple Pie & a purple G3, the sight of whom made Pinkie in particular groan. “Oh no! I’m like, almost sure that’s like, her!”
“It’s her alright!” RD sighed, recalling how this Pony had acted all her days at the school, & she knew the day was not going to continue in this happy mood with that one around. But still, she grabbed a spare G3-sized elf costume, & laid it out ready for the new recruit, who, let’s face it, did look good, & furthermore was purple, plus RD simply didn’t see this Pony fitting anywhere else!
“Wow!” Apple Pie exclaimed! “You’re all elves!”
“Christmas elves!” Strawb explained. “I’m Strawberry Fayre, & this is Rainbow Dash, & we co-manage the Pony Model Agency. If you like, you can join us part time as a G2-aged model, but obviously you need to go to school after the Christmas holidays.”
“We sorted all that out at Immigration,” SWALK informed her bosses. “She’s far keener on styling hair! Would one of you mind taking your cap off so she can see how to do mine? And this is Crystal Lake Murry, by the way. I thought this was the only place she could work, so I took her here; after all, she is purple, & a fair looker.”
“What are those ridiculous costumes?” CL whined. “I’m way not…”
“You. Will. Do. As. You. Are. Told. End of discussion!” RD insisted. “I know you had a problem with that at the school, but that was run by Cabbagers with mean streaks. PMA is run & staffed by Ponies, & here you will follow orders, or you will find yourself out of a job with nothing but grass to eat, water to drink, & a rain shelter to sleep in. Am I clear?”
“As long as you understand that RD & I are in charge here, then everything will go smoothly, ok?” Strawb added. “Now, you met SWALK of course; this is Kiss & Tell, the other G1 model, & the 2 G3 models here are Pinkie Pie & G-Star…”
“Ewww! Gag me with a spoon!” CL exclaimed in disgust at seeing G-Star. “What even is that?”
“G-Star’s a Custom,” Pinkie replied, “& like, the best looking Custom in Ponyworld, which is like, why she works here. Furthermore, she’s like, my friend! So like, watch what you’re like, doing round here!”
“Customs, ewww! I’m way not working with Customs! Don’t you know Customs are all Baits?”
“Who’ve been cleaned, rehaired, given new rumpmarks, & Made into all-new Ponies!” RD pointed out. “And furthermore, you will work with who Strawb & I say you work with! And wear what we say you wear, & go where we say you go!”
“I think, RD, you like, need to do with her like, what you once did with me,” Pinkie noted. “You know like, keep her away from G-Star like, as much as possible like, just for G-Star’s like, safety. I don’t like, trust her. Maybe she could like, work with you. She does like, need trained & all…”
“You could be right Pinkie!” RD admired this Pony, who’d come on in leaps & bounds since the Incident. SWALK meanwhile was putting on her elf costume, which RD smiled at, before turning back to CL. “Now, put on your elf costume, & I’ll show you how to do your mane to fit under the cap. Now, where’s your tail ribbon?”
“My what?” CL demanded. “I have all my things in my case here: my barrettes, my best dresses, my Jimmy Clops, my Gucci purse, & my platinum & diamond tiara, but I way never came with a tail ribbon!”
“That’s a handbag,” Strawb corrected her.
“Hasbro!” RD sighed. “Good thing we’re a model agency! Hmmm… white I think, most of your things are that colour anyway. There’s a slight hint of pink in the bag’s glaze…”
“That is a one-off Gucci purse!” CL whined.
“It’s a handbag dear,” RD pointed out, making the others giggle, “whoever it was who made it…”
“Don’t you dear me!” CL snapped. “And the rest of you! Maybe I have to wear these garotey costumes & do what these commoners tell me to cause they’re the bosses, but the rest of you need to treat me with way more respect! I’m C L Murry, & my mom’s Sweet Scoops Murry, &…”
“And just because you mum’s a US mail order, you think you can go all display case on the rest of us! Well firstly, Pinkie came with a costume and a book! Secondly, G-Star is unique, especially the way her hair is! Thirdly, as she’s doubtless already told you, SWALK is a Dutch exclusive, while Kiss & Tell is a European! Strawberry Fayre reached the final stages of a beauty contest in another Ponyworld, while this agency was begun by a fashion room that came with me! So you’re a fancy fashions Pony! Big deal! So’s Wind Wisher, & there are no rumours going about that she bullied anypony! And so your mum’s a Mail Order! Wowee! So are Satin & Lace & Tux & Tails, & they don’t go about like they own everything! You need to get your muzzle out of the nosebag & realise the world does not revolve around you! In fact, tell her Kiss & Tell!”
Kiss & Tell was all too happy to inform CL: “This Ponyworld revolves around the Human! Or have you forgotten what a Human is & what role each Human plays in Her Ponyworld? I’m one of the UTH, which stands for Used To Have, as our Human used to have a bunch of us when She was just a Child. As a UTH I have a closer connection than most to the Human, & know what kind of Ponyworld She wishes to create here, & it’s never been one that can tolerate a display case attitude like yours!”
“And here are eight white tail ribbons to get you started,” RD finished off. “Allow me to dress your tail.”
She advanced on CL with a comb & one of the ribbons, at which CL physically balked! “Gag me with a spoon! I’m way not losing my Factory style! No! Stop that! That way hurts, ow! What the Frizz are you doing? Don’t you know combs way damage your mane & tail?”
“She never stops does she?” Kiss & Tell noted, as RD combed & plaited CL’s tail, tying it with a white ribbon.
“That’s what held us all up,” SWALK confirmed. “She refused an NHP carriage & then moaned at why we were all walking! And you should have heard her at Immigration!” The remainder of PMA laughed, RD included, who had now started on the Pony’s mane.
“I can only hope Wind Wisher arrives soon!” the blue G3 co-manager sighed as she brushed & styled this purple display case’s mane for what felt, & sounded, like the first time the G3 had ever seen a comb! And so Ponies 27- 31 encountered C L Murry, & none of them liked her one bit!
Pony number 32 was of course Xmas Merry Treat herself, coming with a small group of G1 Junior carol singers namely: Stella, Nightsong, Nora, Drummer, Kisses & Lara; who were Ponies 33-38. The Junior girls were dressed in Snow Angels costumes, while Drummer wore a red matching hat & scarf. Xmas Merry Treat was dressed in a Christmas skirt & her traditional hat, & all looked sensational & festive with their holly sprigs pinned on to complete the look. All seven heard Crystal Lake before they saw her, moaning: “So when do I get to take this Frizzing thing off?” which of course made the Juniors gasp in horror that anypony would swear in front of Juniors. Surely PMA knew they were coming? More moans emitted: “Hey! Get that tinsel off of me! And I’m way not wearing that Frizzing plastic plant thing! Hey, no, stop that!” then the seven of them finally saw the purple G3 who was Crystal Lake, doing all in her power to avoid the mistletoe being clipped to her mane to finish the elf costume she so abhorred. But Strawb & Kiss & Tell pinned the Pony in place so RD could add this final trimming to, I’ll admit, one rather fetching festive elf costume, in which Crystal Lake now looked very kissable if you were a stallion. “Wait till the garcons see her like that,” G-Star grinned, nudging Pinkie. “Oh I bet she’ll like, way not like that!” Pinkie giggled, trying to imitate CL’s whiny American accent. “Is there anything she does like?” G-Star mused. “Oh, salut, Maman Noel! Sorry, we didn’t see you there!” (Maman Noel is of course Xmas Merry Treat’s French name, for those who haven’t guessed. In Spanish it’s Mama Felicades, while the Italian is Mamma Natale. I’m not sure of the German & Dutch names, but I’m sure Regentropfen & Doodle Book can enlighten me. Regentropfen says it’s Mutti Weinacht in German.)
Xmas Merry Treat, who has better knowledge of her name in all languages, responded warmly to the PMA, who were her annual helpers at this busy time. Besides, what little filly doesn’t want to meet a real-life model? “It is wonderful to see you all looking so festive!” she cried delightedly. “I see though you seem to be breaking a new one in. I hope you can tell her to mind her tongue; I do have the carollers with me!”
“Breaking?” Pinkie noted the curious usage of the word. “Very apt, considering most of us are like, battling an urge to like, break her neck! Her name’s like, Crystal Lake Murry, & she’s like, so display case you like, wouldn’t believe it! Hello little uns! Good to see you looking so like, festive & gorgeous! I hope you’ve like, all been practising hard! We have like, Paradise Square to do today like. And you like, know that everypony will like, be there to hear you all like, singing sweetly!”
“Thanks Pinkie!” chorused the fillies. “Glad you never said pretty or bonny!” Drummer sighed with relief. “I don’t mind gorgeous; Mum used to call Dad that, so it must be ok for a colt to be gorgeous, like in a smart or handsome way of course!”
All the adults except CL laughed kindly at this. The purple G3 simply snorted: “Foals! Ewww!” & decided to pretend they weren’t there.
“Well,” sighed Xmas Merry Treat, “guess who won’t be getting anything from me under her tree this year!” Of course, nopony had to guess, as they all knew she was the new purple G3 arrival.
“Oh good, you’re here!” RD noted the white Christmas Pony with her Junior entourage. “Ok everypony, time to hit Paradise Square! Hop aboard the dumb-horse sleigh now! Juniors first…”
“THIS!!!” CL didn’t bother to hide her disgust at the open-topped sleigh drawn by guess what – grey & brown dumb horses, hired from Tex & Posey’s farm specially for towing the Christmas sleigh. “And what in Hasbronia are those? Ewww! They’re way dull! And what if they drop… if they drop…”
“Slurry?” Kiss & Tell asked. “Don’t worry, the slurry is gathered under the sleigh to be processed later in the fields so it’s neither wasted nor left for some unwary Pony to step in.”
“You mean, it goes, under the sleigh? That we’re… sitting in? Ewww! Garotey!” CL was hating more things by the second.
“IN!” RD almost dragged CL roughly by the forehoof onto the sleigh.
“Ow! That way hurts! Let go of me! I’ll be way bruised from that! Hey, not so close, you’re way cramping my style!”
“Is she never happy?” SWALK wondered, climbing aboard & taking a cushion, knowing there was plenty room for everypony & a couple more besides. Paradise Square was the second-last day of Xmas Merry Treat’s festive tour; the last being tomorrow in Dream Castle Courtyard, where Majesty would announce the last day for most of the shops except Taffy’s & Meadowbrook’s, who from then on would be on half days except Christmas Day & New Year’s Day, when of course they were both shut. It would be a day of worker parties of all sorts of shapes & sizes, from private functions onsite, through the Nurseries’ staff party at Twinkle Twirl’s to celebrate the Newborns, Teeny Tinies, G2 Babies & Newborn Cuties going back to their families for Christmas week, only returning for Hogmanay. Hogmanay in Ponyworld was a massive party held outside as it included everypony from Junior age upward, & it was also the only time of year G2-aged Ponies could legally drink alcohol. Connie’s & Twinkle Twirl’s, & now Cappi’s too, would serve food & assorted hot & cold drinks all night from special booths outside their places of work; simple fun dishes they’d have prepared & cooked all day while the rest of the Ponies decorated the streets with lights & garlands & bunting. Skyrocket, Sky Rocket & Sparkleworks would prepare a spectacular firework display for midnight, while each of the Ponyworld bands & musicians would take turns providing music for everypony to dance to. The entirety of Clopton would be teeming with Ponies & Friends, with the Phony carriages waiting to take the Sandtail, Saddleton & Bridle Rise residents back to their homes at about 5 or 6 in the morning. But now it was the Paradise Square day, a favourite day in the Christmas calendar, as of course the Ponyworld Christmas Tree was in the Square, & there was never a more delightful sight & sound in many Ponies’ eyes & ears than the Junior carollers singing beautifully round it. They’d learnt a few Dutch ones to honour the year’s new arrivals, just as last year they’d sung some in German & the year before, Italian. Of course, Ponified songs like Holly Jolly Christmas (Millie’s favourite from her festive movie) were included as well as more Human ones like Silent Night & Good King Wenceslas. But before the troupe (including a very sulky & reluctant CL) reached the Square the sleigh’s procession was watched & waved by everypony out getting their last-minute Christmas shopping. Apart from CL all the Ponies on the sleigh waved back. RD dug her non-waving forehoof into CL’s side, scolding her: “Wave, for Hasbro’s sake!” so grudgingly CL raised a forehoof & waved much like the Queen of the UK waves at her subjects. “And smile!” RD added hissing through her teeth.
CL hated Christmas with a vengeance! Firstly, it was tacky. All that glittered wasn’t gold, & at Christmas it definitely wasn’t platinum or silver either! She couldn’t stand all this tacky brassy-coloured stuff claiming to be “gold tinsel” when it wasn’t even hallmarked, never mind given a purity rating! She also hated the plastic plant decorations, & worse, the REAL plant decorations, what with being allergic to mistletoe. And don’t even start her on the costumes! I mean, what was this get-up? Green felt? I mean what Pony worth her hoof-heart wore felt? Velvet maybe, but not the velour of the Juniors’ costumes & Xmas Merry Treat’s skirt & hat, & definitely not felt! Plus the fact that green & red were her two least favourite colours ever! Secondly, there was always this thing about loving everybody else, Pony or not, common or rare, Factory or Custom. What, did nopony understand there were a whole heap of Ponies she wouldn’t even deign to speak to? Never mind love & wish peace & joy & good will on! And that was just Ponies! I mean, what were those insect things, or that lion, or that bear, or those huge penguin things? Garotey! But the worst thing of all to her about Christmas was the fact that it was the most likely time of year for her to be placed in a box & packaged & sent off to Mail Island for transfer somewhere. Somewhere with a new Human, tearing open the package so enthusiastically said Human threatened to tear her Maresace gowns & her Gucci purse. And then they’d offer to sew up her dress!!! Dress??? No it’s a GOWN! But no Human would ever listen to her whining, & she’d be dumped unceremoniously on the floor before you could say Christmas Cracker. What was with those things anyway? They just banged so annoyingly it hurt her ears, & held paper hats that looked dreadfully tacky, some plastic bit of rubbish & jokes so old & corny they weren’t even fit for telling at a table, never mind funny! What goes brown pink brown pink brown pink red? A Human rolling downhill & hitting a rock at the bottom. Try that for size! And now here she was, stuck in a Ponyworld where Ponies not only lived, worked, played & spoke to everybody else, but where they all went Christmas daft! She could only hope as she grimaced at the crowds around the sleigh & the two bruises she knew were already forming on her delicate complexion, that everypony figured out in rapid time not to try involving her in this utter lunacy! Of course, she had no idea she was going to get an attack of the Scrooges…
Ice Crystal was in his element – literally! Out of all the seasons of the year he loved winter the best, & especially the festive shows, parties & parades. He, Snowflake & Powder were busily frosting every window, lantern & decoration in Paradise Square, & adding pretty snowflakes to the tree, which spent the entire month of December lit up. It went up on the first with its lights, then every day got an additional decoration, making it Ponyworld’s biggest advent calendar. On the 24th the presents for disadvantaged Ponies & Friends (Juniors whose parents hadn’t yet arrived in particular) would be placed round it, but today with the sleigh visit, it got snowflakes, frosting & of course the Junior carollers singing round it. Ice Crystal had already made the ice rink, where the G3 Winter Ponies, Xmas Cracker & Xmas Pudding were teaching Ponies & Friends of all ages how to skate. All the carollers were glad they’d brought their ice skates with them, then… “Oh look!” Snowflake cried out. Everybody looked skyward to see Flurry chasing a snowcloud into the Square to make snow gently fall on the Square, while behind her Twinkler & Starglow had brought Megan & Molly to join them all for the party. The two Doll People would of course spend Christmas Day itself with their family in Doll Land, but for most of the time they’d be here, especially for Hogmanay, which their parents would spend out at their own New Year parties. They also partied a lot round this time, & Megan & Molly were so glad that school was over for Christmas now so they could be here without any worries. Last Friday had been their final day, & as usual, there had been the school Christmas party for the afternoon, with games, jelly & ice cream, presents, crackers, card exchanges & a slice each of Christmas Cake, & now they could tell their Pony friends all about it. Sundance & Shelley almost skidded across the ice in delight at the sight of their best non-Pony friends! All four were busily hugging each other as Pegasus Flight did a flyover in tree formation, where Twinkler & Starglow rejoined them as glittering baubles. Then Xmas Merry Treat’s sleigh arrived, with the Junior carollers & the PMA. CL sulked at the fact that only Xmas Merry Treat was allowed to remain in the sleigh, as RD nudged her into position at the sleigh’s exit, where they’d assist each Junior getting off, small present in hoof. Queenie, Tina & their friends could hardly contain their excitement as the 3 G1s of PMA sorted the queue out & they ended up being first in it!
“What, we’re on queue duty now?” CL moaned.
“We do this every year,” RD informed her, “& nopony has ever complained before! All you have to do is ensure each Junior descends safely & doesn’t fall. I think Ice Crystal went a little overboard with the ice making this year…”
“Ice? Ewww! I hate ice! It’s way slippy, & so hard! If I fall in it I could get a bruise, tear my clothes, chip a hoof, or worse…”
“Actually get hurt?” RD wondered.
“No, RUIN MY HAIR!” CL whined. “Or do you want me looking like a common slob? Pain that doesn’t show a mark is ok, I’ve way had surgery too many times to notice much of that! But my beautiful looks? Ruined? That would kill me!”
“Oh for Hasbro’s sake!” RD sighed. CL definitely had her priorities wrong. Ponies needed to be fit & healthy to perform the catwalk routines. I mean, how can you model clothes if you can’t even walk, never mind the half-stroll, half-dance required to show off the latest fashions? “And as you help each one down, don’t forget to wish her a merry Christmas. Here comes the first!”
RD moved to help Tina down from the sled with a pocket version of her favourite game: noughts & crosses. She showed RD excitedly how you flipped each square round left or right to reveal each symbol. “And,” she added delightedly, “you can play it with nine, sixteen or twenty-five squares! Want a go?”
“Not against you Tina,” RD chuckled. “Merry Christmas!”
“And a very merry Christmas to you & all your family & friends too!” Tina grinned.
CL meanwhile was trying to dodge being shot by Queenie’s watergun as she fumbled to help the Junior down. “Sorry!” Queenie apologised as she finally made it to the ground. “I was aiming for Tina.”
“Well they should have thought about what present is appropriate for you, like a nice gown or something. Go exchange it; that thing is way dangerous!” CL sulked.
“You really don’t know how to have fun do you?” Queenie asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before: are you new? Anyway, for me this is the very best present ever! I love playing with water! Don’t you?”
“Ewww! I hate water & I hate being wet & I hate being cold!”
“Awww, come on! Is there anything you do like?”
“Looking pretty, & being treated right. Not much else appeals to me!”
“Not even seeing your mum?”
“How likely is that? Mom’s the rarest Pony ever! Her ransom is way out of the reach of most Humans! Besides, I haven’t seen her in like…” CL didn’t even want to think how long it had been since she’d last seen her mother, although the two often wrote to each other; her mother always about some party or gathering where she was a special guest, or about being invited to open this or give a speech at that. “Oh forget it! Not like it’s any of your Frizzing business!”
Queenie gasped in horror at anypony openly swearing in front of a Junior, never mind at one! RD saw & heard what happened & took over. “That’s it! Crystal Lake, you escort the Juniors off & pass them on to me. I’ll exchange the pleasantries, & you muzzle it from here on in, you hear me? Come on Queenie, let’s get you back to your mother! And have a merry Christmas!”
“You too Rainbow Dash!” Queenie replied. “And see if you can pray for Crystal Lake too!”
A few Ponies later &, while trying to help Fiona off the sleigh, CL slipped & fell in a patch of ice formed by the freezing magic & the patch of water from Queenie’s watergun, & both she & Fiona ended up in a blue & purple heap on the ground. “Aiya!” Fiona cried. “That hurt! Fortunately I can get up & of course, mum’s a unicorn, so maybe she has a little healing magic. She could heal you too. Are you ok?”
The pain of the jolt was the least of CL’s concerns though. She had a huge graze down one side of her rump (not her display side thank Hasbro), & worse, her elf costume was torn in a huge gash right above her graze. “My costume! Ruined!” she wailed, refusing to get up & bursting into tears. She felt so humiliated & was sure everypony was laughing at her! She hardly had any good days, but this was one of the worst! Everypony & loads of Friends & those two Doll People all pointing & jeering at her, & she knew she looked a total fright! And worse, ugly! Ewww! Then a green vision helped her up & escorted her to a small hut nearby. It was Ice Crystal, & in the sight of a new filly, he’d turned his charm on to full. He also used his freezing powers to numb the pain of the graze, & his water magic to clean it out, while Powder & Strawb rushed over to the hut, the former carrying ointment & the latter a spare elf costume, comb & white tail ribbon. At least the tinsel wasn’t ruined, which was a huge relief. While Powder attended to the wound (as a qualified anaesthetist, she knew her way around most medical procedures), Strawb combed & replaited CL’s tail, replacing the grotty ribbon with a clean one. The whole time CL cried for her mother, but of course her mother wasn’t actually there. She also noticed something she chose not to tell the others: her head was beginning to ache. She must have bumped it slightly when she fell, she thought. But no need to mention it to them, not that she was fit to work for days anyway. She hadn’t even noticed that the rest of the Ponies’ reaction to her fall was concern & sympathy, things like “is she ok?” & “oh, that looked sore,” & “no wonder she’s upset, poor filly,” & so on. Ponies who actually cared about her emotionally wasn’t an idea she’d been brought up to know. The last thing she was aware of before she slipped into unconsciousness from the head injury (more severe than she’d thought), was being lifted onto an NHP carriage & whisked straight back to PMA, where she was installed into an apartment to sleep…
“Crystal!” The voice rang in her head as she lay there, bemoaning her life & this whole morning.
“Who’s that?” CL whirled her head around & saw nobody, Pony or otherwise, anywhere in the bedroom. So she lay back down, trying to sleep through the pain & humiliation of her morning. But the voice rung out again. “Crystal! Cry-stallll!”
CL finally recognised the voice that spoke to her. “Mom?” she asked, & in response saw an image of her mother’s head in front of her, floating over the bed. No body, just the head.
“Crystal, I’m so sorry that I’ve brought you to this sorry state dearest. I’ve been so self-absorbed that I hardly noticed I had a daughter to raise. It may be too late for me even now, but there’s still time to help you. Christmas is soon coming & I was told to make a special wish for somepony close, & I was so upset when for a while I couldn’t think of anypony! Then I recalled you, & wished to help you avoid the path my life has taken. And the wish was granted! Three Ponies will visit you, & help you see how to better yourself.”
“You mean they’ll heal me & make me pretty again?” CL asked.
“Yes dear, but not in the way you think. Outside is easy for you; you’ve had a natural beauty for years & all the surgery has simply been to enhance it. Inside is an entirely different matter however. Inside, you’re growing uglier by the day, & more ill too. But these three Ponies will help you to make yourself better & more beautiful on the inside, & you don’t know how very much you need that! Hasbro, I certainly didn’t until it was too late! Why do you think I haven’t written for a while? Because nothing happens to me anymore! I’m stuck in a Ponyworld where the Human puts Ponies like me in a box, alone & isolated from the rest of the Ponies. And I feel… lonely!” Sweet Scoops’s head began to cry as CL watched in horror. Lonely? “I’d do anything to have a friend! But even Rapunzel in the next box won’t speak to me now! She’s deliberately turned herself the other way round to chat with Dabble, Scribbles & a couple of Macaus! And every single one ignores me! Even the Human here never takes me out of the box to groom my hair anymore! Don’t allow yourself to suffer the same fate! The first part of my wish, to get you to a better Ponyworld, has come true! Now the second will come true too, & the three Ponies, whom you’ve already met, will show you your life & how to change its course for the better. I haven’t long, & you only have until sunset! Take care my daughter…”
Sweet Scoops’s head faded away as did her voice, leaving CL confused on top of everything else. Was she having nightmares? Maybe this head injury was more serious than she thought. She’d better get up & find a hospital to check it out. She dragged herself out of bed, only now realising how sore her hip & leg actually were as she did. Feeling dizzy, she took a drink of water & tried to orient herself. Now, how to get out of here? Oh, there was the door! She went through it, to find Strawb on the other side. “I’m having hallucinations!” CL explained to the white Pony with vivid cherry red hair. “I need to see a doctor about my head!”
“You need to see about more than your head I think,” Strawb replied, summoning an NHP carriage. The carriage soon arrived, pulled by String Bandit, a large NHP pegacorn with magical powers that she was incapable of harnessing without a Pony being present. But Strawb knew what to do. “To the hospital please,” she instructed String Bandit, harnessing her magic & feeding her with strawberries.
“I take you now!” String Bandit replied in heavily accented English that had CL wondering where this Phony came from, & in a whirl of purple they were off! CL had never been winked anywhere before, & with her head injury as well, promptly threw up! The vomit landed on the ground as she & Strawb dismounted at a hospital CL wasn’t sure she’d seen in a long time…
“Follow me!” Strawb coaxed CL, who now recalled her mother’s head’s words: “the three Ponies, whom you’ve already met, will show you your life…” as the two seemed to pass through the doors of the hospital like they weren’t there, & then through walls & desks & beds & theatres where a whole load of G1s were fighting for life. For as CL was realising now, the two Ponies had travelled back in time, to just after the Revolution of 1996. “1997?” she wondered, her leg still causing her to wince. “What are we doing in 1997?”
“You’ll see,” Strawb replied, as she led CL to a room outside of which a Pony was pacing back & forth.
“Mom!” CL cried delightedly, rushing towards the Pony as she recognised her, before passing through her mother’s body like she had the walls, doors & everything else so far. “Ewww! That was way creepy!” she shivered.
“She can’t see us or hear us; nopony can!” Strawb explained. “Look over there & see why!”
CL looked, & there was a younger version of Strawb helping another TAF Party Pony out of the room next door. 1997. What was she doing in 1997? Oh Hasbro, her tonsils! “No! Hasbro, no! Don’t take me in there!”
But Strawb led her into the room, where CL saw herself, a four year old filly having just had her tonsils removed, & also scarred across one cheek. “Ewww!” she exclaimed. “I forgot about that! That took years to fix! But why is Mom outside? What’s she waiting for?”
Strawb led her back out of the room, where a Nurse Pony came up, whom Sweet Scoops immediately approached, demanding: “So when can I take her home?”
“Not for a few days, I’m afraid,” the Nurse explained. “She’ll have to stay here while she recovers. Unless you want to sleep here in a bed we can make up…”
“Ewww! No!” Sweet Scoops exclaimed horrified. “I way hate hospitals! Just give me a call when she’s ready to go home! Here’s my number…”
“You can leave it at the reception desk, & they’ll contact you when she’s recovered enough to leave here ok?”
“Ok, thanks,” Sweet Scoops then turned & fled for the main doors so fast that she nearly knocked the other Ponies off their (often unsteady & more than likely injured) hooves as she passed them, leaving the Nurse muttering to herself: “That poor filly! Her mother really cares that little for her? I’ll have to keep a special eye on this one!” & with that entered the room, where the four year old CL was crying for her mother. The nurse gave her a gentle hug & consoled her that her mother was a very busy Pony, but would be back to take her home. Present day CL was watching all this, & now crying herself, as she now realised the real reason she had never seen her mother whenever she was ill, injured or having surgery. “I knew she never liked hospitals, but I never realised she was phobic!” she wept.
“No,” Strawb said, “you still don’t realise, do you?” And with a whirl of white & cherry red, tinged with a little purple from the residue of the NHP pegacorn’s magic, the two found themselves outside a house that CL recognised instantly.
“This was my house!” she shrieked in delight. “Mom used to hold such magnificent parties here! And all her guests thought I was so beautiful & well behaved! I had the time of my life here!”
But this time there was no party. Strawb led them through a wall, where Sweet Scoops was removing things from the mantelpiece. CL had a closer look, & instantly regretted it. The things were all photographs, with her in them, for the first seven years of her life, posing with all sorts of important Ponies, & an unusual looking horse thing she recognised straight away. “Hasbro, that’s Diamond, the Keyper Ambassador! She was way important & way nice to me! I loved that picture! Hey, what’s Mom doing with it, & all the others?” But it was obvious what Sweet Scoops was doing. She was taking every photo out of its frame & tossing it onto the fire under the mantelpiece, where each & every one of them burned into ash. “NO!” she wailed. “No, no, no!” She tried to blow out the fire, to save the photos, but it was no use!
“Nothing can be changed in the past,” Strawb hugged the sobbing G3, as she led her upstairs to where her seven year old self was packing her belongings, including a photo of her & her mother, which she kissed fondly. “I’ll kiss it every day,” began the seven year old CL, &, her words repeated by her present day self, continued, “& when I do, I’ll send you a special wish that all my love shall reach your heart!” Present day CL scolded herself now: “Hasbro, I was so stupid thinking she loved me! Now it looks as if she didn’t even like me! So why did her head appear to me? Why did she make the wish for me?”
There were so many unanswered questions in CL’s head as her thoughts were interrupted by the horn of a taxi. Seven year old CL excitedly grabbed her bags & rushed down the stairs to the door, shouting “Bye Mom!” as she passed the living room, before heading out & getting in the taxi outside. But present day CL & Strawb went through to the living room to see Sweet Scoops one more time, who didn’t even look up as the taxi merrily beeped & CL waved before getting in & heading for the boarding school where she’d spend the rest of her life till today. Instead the purple G1 with dull magenta hair finished burning the photos, sat back in her chair & sighed with relief: “At last, she’s out of my hair. Now I can focus on what’s really important!” Another swirl of white & cherry red, with only the faintest trace left of purple remaining, surrounded present day CL & Strawb as they found themselves at the boarding school. All sorts of Ponies were there, giggling & playing games, until a rather large, grotesque-looking horse type creature marched through barking orders. “Oh no!” CL gulped. “A Cabbager! They hated me so much! Especially when I turned ten… oh Hasbro, there I am, & I am ten!”
Strawb comforted the now terrified Pony as she saw her ten year old self yelled at by the Cabbager. “Murry! Office, now!”
The other Ponies started jeering: “Murry’s gonna get it, Murry’s gonna get it…” as ten year old CL, followed by present day CL & Strawb, went through to the school office, where the head Cabbager waited sternly. The other Cabbager went back out to reprimand the other Ponies for their playground foolishness as the head wasted no time & offered no consolation for the words she was about to say to ten year old CL, words CL had blanked out of her mind for a long time, acting as if she didn’t hear them, but here they were, being said right now.
“Do you see this?” the Head Cabbager asked indicating a sheet of paper on the desk.
“What… is it?” ten year old CL trembled.
“It’s a certificate of permanent adoption, signed by myself & your natural mother, giving you over permanently to our care. In short, we own you now! So forget that sunny grass field where the sponsors play; you’re never to go back there. Instead, your education will be completed with the wards. Am I clear?”
“The… wards?” ten year old CL trembled, utterly terrified. The wards were seen by the sponsors, sent by parents to get a good education, as the lowest of the low, the scum of the earth, the parentless, the unloved. The wards lived here because they simply had nowhere else to go! And having spent three years with the sponsors, CL had the same hatred of them as they all did. And now she was… to become one? No! This couldn’t be! Ten year old CL burst into sobs, unable to stop herself. The Cabbagers, as everypony knew, saw crying as a form of weakness, reluctance & disobedience. So the Head Cabbager laid into her with those large forehooves pounding on ten year old CL’s back, before eventually dragging the Pony, & all her things, to the sunless side of the school, where the playground was made of concrete, & where most of the Ponies looked miserable as they saw yet another sad case entering their ranks. But CL hated the wards, & refused to associate with any of them, snapping at any who dared to come too close to her. And so she gained a reputation as a bully. Present day CL shook with violent sobs as Strawb hugged her, this wound she’d patched up now reopened, then everything disappeared & she was back in bed.
Too upset to feel any pain or notice any dizziness, she set out again. This time nopony was just outside her door, so she limped her way along the street heading for central Clopton as best she could, having only recently arrived here, where a TE & her daughter were buying sweets at Taffy’s, while another was squirting everypony with her watergun. “Ewww! Not again! I hate being wet!” CL moaned.
“It’s just fun!” the white First Tooth Junior pointed out. “Don’t you know how to have fun? I’m Queenie by the way! Hey, wait a moment! Aren’t you the new Pony who doesn’t know about the rules here & who fell over with Fiona? The new PMA model? You are aren’t you? You’re Crystal Lake!”
“I am,” CL confirmed, “& I need to get to the hospital. I think I hurt my head!”
“Where?” Queenie asked. “I can squirt it for you! Water has amazing healing powers! Why do you think I squirted your leg?”
CL noticed the pain in her leg was already subsiding. Perhaps there was magic in this watergun; after all, it was a present from Xmas Merry Treat. So CL pointed out where the source of the pain in her head seemed to be, & Queenie squirted it, then everything changed! They were now in a bustling farmhouse, where everything was immensely joyous. CL & Queenie watched, as CL noticed that Queenie seemed to be there with her. “Where are we?” CL, being the new arrival, had to ask Queenie.
“This is Posey’s place!” Queenie shrieked happily. “They always have wonderful Christmases here. I took you here first so you’d see what a real Christmas looks like!”
Even as Queenie spoke the bell at the door tingled, & everypony burst out in chorus: “There’s somepony at the door! There’s somepony at the door!” on & on until Gametime (pointed out by Queenie) reached the door & opened it to reveal Cappi & Tea Leaf, having just finished their shifts serving Christmas Lunches to everypony & taken an NHP carriage out here to join the afternoon fun. The welcome they received from all was joyous, raucous & loud, as they told of the beauty of the snowscape the carriage had taken them through, praising the surehoofedness of the NHP towing it. In they came, both making a beeline for Starlight, who warmly hugged both & kissed Cappi passionately. Mulberry’s family had also joined the bunch, as had Kiss Curl’s, so the house was full of joy & laughter. “Oh look!” Queenie explained after pointing out every single pony there & what they all did for a living, or wanted to do if they weren’t old enough yet. “They’re playing a game! Come on, let’s see what they’re playing!”
The Ponies all assembled into teams, as this was the only way such a large gathering could play anything. “Hasbro!” CL exclaimed. “It’s Charades, or Give Us A Clue! I used to play it all the time when I was a sponsor!”
“Let’s see if you can guess what they’re miming!” Queenie shrieked happily, delighted to be here as this game was playing.
The group began, with Cherry Berry, Mulberry’s mother, going first. She put her forehooves together, then opened them. “A book!” CL said. “A book!” everypony else cried. Then she held her hoof up five times. “Five words,” CL said. “Five words!” chorused everypony else.
“First word: The. Second word: One. Third word: small word. In, to, from, of, it, it? Not quite… That! Yaiy, that! Fifth word: leave, go, depart…”
“Away,” CL said. “It’s a Human book by Chris Ryan: The One That Got Away.”
“Let’s see who gets it!” Queenie shrieked.
“Oh Dio!” Cappi exclaimed. “Is it a book read often by Pegasus Flight?”
“Where’s he from?” CL wondered.
“He’s Italian,” Queenie informed her, “& his mother’s Tickle Barnaba.”
Cherry Berry nodded & grinned. “Getting warm!” she confirmed.
“Is away!” Cappi cried out triumphantly. “Is The One That Got Away! That is the book! Is a true story by a Human who escape a bad place. Pegasus Flight read it for tips on escape & evasion!”
“Correct!” Cherry Berry confirmed. “Your turn!”
So Cappi got up & mimed doing an opera. “No surprises there!” Tea Leaf grinned, as everypony chorused: “A song!”
“Three words. Third word: I, me, me! First word: get, receive, no take!”
Sugarcake got this instantly: “Take on me!” he crowed.
“Buonissimo! Your turn!” Cappi congratulated the colt as he took the floor, winding his forehoof round & round in the air.
“He’s way fast!” CL commented, beginning to enjoy herself.
“A film! Four words. First word: Queen, Lady, King, Lord! Second word: small word, of? Of! Third word: The. Fourth word: circle, bracelet, anklet, hoof feathers…”
“Rings,” said CL. “It’s Lord of the Rings, though strictly speaking it’s three films, but we’ll let him off.”
“How is nopony getting this!” Queenie wondered.
Then finally Posey herself got it: “Ring? Oh, Rings! Lord of the Rings!” she realised.
“Well done Posey!” CL joined the others in praising her. She was dying to see what Posey’s clues would lead to, but Queenie squirted her head again, & everything changed. “Thank Hasbro! This is the hospital!” she sighed, relieved that maybe this weird hallucination would end.
“Come on!” Queenie beckoned & CL found herself unable to do anything but follow as Queenie led her to the maternity wards, where a purple TAF Party Pony was straining & straining, attended by 3 Nurse Ponies encouraging her to push with all her might. “Oh no!” Queenie exclaimed. “That’s Merryweather! She’s not due till January! Her twins may be premature! And that’s not good!”
She & CL watched with bated breath as all four Ponies worked hard to get the babies safely delivered, as a heavily pregnant green Pony with blue hair arrived. “I’m not too late am I?” she asked worriedly, as Queenie whispered that it was Tootsie, who was Merryweather’s pregnancy buddy.
“No,” explained Nurse Loveheart, “you’re just on time! She’s been in labour five minutes now, & should just be starting to crown soon…”
“I love that part!” Tootsie sighed. “I do hope it all goes well! We’ve become pretty close!”
Loveheart was already gone, setting up incubators for the twins, as Sweetheart & Tenderheart, now with Tootsie assisting, tended to the straining Merryweather.
“I’ve never seen a birth before!” CL exclaimed.
“Watch this!” Queenie grinned, squirting her watergun at Merryweather’s under-rump as it expanded in size, ready to push out the babies. The gun’s spray hit Merryweather & seemed to glow as it smothered her in light. “A little bit of Christmas magic! That should help things go right!”
Loveheart arrived back, pushing a pair of incubators in front of her to the side of the bed, as another wisp of magic, not silver like the watergun’s, but rainbow-coloured, touched Merryweather’s convulsing belly. “That’s the rainbow blessing from the Human’s belief in us! It gives the foals Life here, & lets them know love & compassion!” Queenie explained as CL watched in wonder, still a little scared. Then at last, the first yellow-haired head crowned, & Sweetheart got ready to pull the foal free. Two more huge pushes from Merryweather & the foal was free! “It’s a colt!” Sweetheart declared, checking the under-rump for signs of male organs while she washed the foal. “Bootsie!” Merryweather screamed as another contraction gripped her. Tootsie felt Merryweather’s belly at this point, allowing Merryweather to lean into her. “The second foal’s not moving into the right position!” she panicked. Tenderheart was instantly there, feeling the belly, finding the second body, & using her forehooves to massage it until the foal was in the right place. “Well spotted Tootsie!” she congratulated the green Early earth, as another contraction began to take over Merryweather, & the rainbow blessing touched her belly once more. Queenie squirted her watergun again, adding its silver magic to the mix. CL’s heart was in her mouth, begging & pleading with whatever benevolence existed in the world that this second foal would come out alive & well. After more straining & support from all the Ponies, Merryweather’s second foal finally crowned. Full of gratitude to her buddy, Merryweather turned to the green Pony: “If this one lives, I’ll name it after you!” she promised. “Hoof-swear!” She pressed the sole of her forehoof hard against Tootsie’s as another three pushes got this foal out into Sweetheart’s waiting hooves. “Another colt!” Sweetheart did the checks, massaging Life into this foal. Loveheart stayed with Merryweather, ready to catch the afterbirth, in order to make it into birthing soup for the mother, who after all this effort would need all the energy she could get. Tootsie was helping Sweetheart with her male namesake, & when there was a chance, Queenie squirted more watergun magic at him. “Come on Tootles!” she called, though she knew nopony could hear her. “Come on Tootles!” Tootsie encouraged the second colt fondly, then finally a pitiful squeal emitted from the tiny foal. “Love has a special magic here!” Queenie explained. “Because Tootsie passed on the love from mother to friend to foal, the foal survived & took his first breath. Now the incubator can strengthen him!”
“Happy Christmas Merryweather, Tootsie, Bootsie & Tootles!” the Nurses chorused, tired out, as Loveheart caught the afterbirth in the pot & Merryweather’s contractions calmed down.
“Happy Christmas…” was all Merryweather could manage before collapsing in exhaustion. Tootsie worriedly fled to her buddy’s side, checking her. “Let her rest,” Tenderheart coaxed her gently. “She needs it after all this!”
“Happy Christmas all of you!” Tootsie wished everypony, as she finally departed to inform Merryweather’s family of the happy news, while in her heart thanking Hasbro she wasn’t a nurse who was required to work every day of the year. Queenie squirted CL again & everything changed once more…
It was a house which had been turned into a small lot of bedsit flats that they stood in front of now, as a purple Pony with pink hair & a bunch of flowers on her rump nervously approached, ringing the doorbell. “Who is it?” a voice called from inside.
“Love Story,” the G1 confirmed, to which the door was flung open, & a Pony CL recognised as another ward from the school stood just inside.
“Come in, come in! It’s so cold outside today!” the G3, who looked so much like her mother, urged Love Story.
“How…” CL began to ask, but Queenie shushed her. “Just watch, & listen.”
CL & Queenie followed Love Story inside, while CL recalled that wards had never celebrated Christmas at the school, so there were no decorations whatsoever in Sweetsong? Yeah, that was her name, Sweetsong. Sweetsong’s bedsit flat. Love Story started: “I simply couldn’t let Christmas Day go by without coming to see you! I always hated this time of year, & not being able to celebrate it with you! And the Paradise Square presents are for Juniors, not G3 Adults. So I brought you a little something. It’s not much, but…”
CL nearly choked with emotion. No ward ever received any presents! She herself was sent money; how else was she able to afford such nice things as she had? But presents were unheard of among the school wards. So even the smallest, cheapest trinket given out of a loving heart was something a ward would cherish beyond anything ever imagined! And as she watched Sweetsong open her gift from Love Story, she saw instantly it wasn’t just given with love, but with thought too. It was a music box! Sweetsong wound it up, opened it, & her angelic voice sung the words that went with the tune: “Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby…” as tears of immense joy ran down her cheeks. When it finally stopped playing, she hugged Love Story tightly: “Oh Mum, it’s beautiful! I love it! It’s the best present ever! In fact, it’s the only present I’ve ever received!”
“There’s more,” Love Story pulled something else out of the bag. “Kisses is ill with cold so can’t come out, but she wanted you to have this.” It was a gold heart shaped locket, with an arrow across it in silver. “Just like Kisses’s rumpmark!” Queenie cried happily as Sweetsong opened it to find a photo of her, Love Story & Kisses inside.
“Tell her it’s wonderful!” Sweetsong pecked Love Story on the cheek, her eyes still brimming with happy tears. “And happy Christmas to you both!”
“Happy Christmas to you, too!” Love Story responded smiling, glad she’d done the right thing here. It would take a while for Sweetsong to get used to having a mother, but this would be a great help. A little thought, love, kindness & consideration went a long way in building that bridge. Queenie explained to CL how many G3s, G2s & Juniors had been separated from their mothers by the actions of one particular Pony: the last on their list to visit. She squirted CL with the watergun & things changed yet again…
It was dark here; cold & lonely. The house was the only one on the whole street not adorned with a holly wreath, not either emptied or filled with laughter. Queenie squirted a wall & she led CL through it inside, where a grey-purple Pony was sitting watching TV. Human TV. The film channel. And every movie seemed to feature ten, eleven & twelve year old Human Children teaching parents about Christmas, or parents teaching them. “Can’t they put on some real movies?” the dull-looking Pony glared at the screen. “Don’t they know Christmas means nothing to anypony over the age of six?” CL began to notice that it was only the body of this Pony that was dull. What she’d thought was a brightly coloured cushion in fact was just cream coloured. As the Pony leaned forward, the stripes of bright pink, yellow, blue & purple moved with her. CL had never seen a mane this long, she was sure of it, except on Rapunzel of course, but she’d know those curly gold & red tresses anywhere. “Ringlet,” Queenie explained. “Everypony hates her cause her mother neglected all her foals over a certain age. Because of this she became jealous of all the foals her mother, sisters & friends gave birth to, & stole them all away, sending them to be…”
“Wards at the school!” CL realised. “Including Sweetsong! But if love is the magic here, why is nopony trying to love her?”
“It’s hard for them, with so many hurt by what she’s done. The pain is still too raw for many of them, so this is her worst Christmas ever. She doesn’t even feel she can join the Hogmanay party, & everypony my age & up goes to it!”
“She needs somepony to love her, to help her see the wrong of her ways & put them right,” CL suggested.
“She does indeed!” Queenie replied, squirting CL once more, & she was back in bed, but at least the pain in her leg was better…
Out she got a third time, her head still aching like crazy. She was going to get to that hospital no matter what! Nopony outside the door, nopony at Taffy’s, nopony even on the streets. Where was everypony? Then CL remembered: they were at Paradise Square! So determinedly she set off, following the route the sled had taken, the tracks it had left still visible in the snow that crunched beneath her hooves. As the sun hung low in the sky she sped into a trot, recalling her mother’s head’s words: “I haven’t long, & you only have until sunset!” She was soon running again, cantering through the snow & ice, but when she reached the Square the sleigh was gone! The Ponies were gone, the carollers were gone, the festivities were over, & the sun was barely visible over the houses. Everypony had disappeared! She tried to stop, to turn, & skidded in the ice again, just like this morning, heading straight for…
Almost everypony had disappeared. Only one remained. Trying to defrost this last patch of ice before hitting Connie’s for a well-earned beer, Ice Crystal clicked & clicked his forehooves together, to no avail, as CL came skidding in a heap right in front of him! He didn’t speak; he was too busy trying to figure out why this ice wasn’t melting. Then he figured it out. He needed to click his back hooves together to defrost it! One balance on his forehooves, then two clicks, & the whole patch was now water, soaking CL’s elf costume. “Ewww! Wet again!” she moaned, then struggled to her hooves, somehow unhurt & unblemished by this fall, which was weird. “Tell me I’m not still hallucinating!” She begged the green stallion, then realised suddenly: “You’re the Pony who helped me this morning aren’t you? What did Strawb say your name was? That’s it, Ice Crystal! Another Crystal like me! Maybe you’re my father! Are you my father?”
Ice Crystal didn’t speak, just clicked his forehooves together. Another winking, CL thought, as she found herself, Ice Crystal right beside her, on a rather different street. A woman, rather large around the waist, with a navy cap on her head, was walking up a small back road where no Ponies seemed to be, when suddenly something went bang! The Human turned. “That’s our Human, isn’t it?” CL asked as Her face became visible. Ice Crystal simply nodded. Another bang sounded, & the Human’s chest spurted out something red. “What is that?” CL asked, as she recalled some of the books she’d read, & the Human fell, more red coming out of Her. “Is it… blood?” Ice Crystal nodded. Then… gulping, CL asked fearfully: “Is She… dying?” Ice Crystal nodded again. CL recalled all she’d been told by Queenie of this Ponyworld’s heavy reliance on its Human, & realised quickly that a dead Human couldn’t believe in them, so the Ponyworld would die & disintegrate. “This is way, way, way awful! We have to stop this happening!” CL exclaimed in shock. Queenie had shown her this Ponyworld at work, & all the magic involved in it, & all the joy the Ponies found living here, how even the damaged ones found the right way. Hasbro! She couldn’t allow this Ponyworld to end! That would be a total disaster! Ice Crystal nodded as if he could hear her thoughts, but still didn’t speak. Why didn’t he speak? He clicked his forehooves again. There was Ringlet, grabbed from a box & mauled by a Human Child, her beautiful mane chopped off. Love Story was chewed up by a Human Baby, while Sweetsong was stuck with other G3s up on a shelf, never believed in as more than an ornament again. G-Star & all the Customs were sent off a million different places & Made into other different Ponies. Queenie & her mother managed to stay together, but Merryweather was separated from her teeny tiny foals, placed on another shelf. Posey’s family went off in a hundred different directions, & no longer knew the warmth & joy they’d had. Then finally, the one Pony she least wanted to see the fate of: herself. She was in a house where a Human Girl loved her for a year or so, until something else caught Her interest. That something had four legs, a waggy tail, floppy ears & very sharp teeth. It was a puppy, & the Girl loved that puppy more than anything, so didn’t even notice when future CL became that puppy’s favourite chew toy, & ended up a mangled mess. CL was literally shaking with terror, but otherwise couldn’t move! Now she knew the origin of the word Dogfear! “NO!” she screamed. “STOP THIS! PLEASE! NOOOO!”
“She’s coming round!” Powder noted as the purple G3 in the bed tossed & turned as if going through some sort of nightmare. PMA stood back, watching as their newest recruit lay in the bed, the concussion having rendered her unconscious for several hours now, worried & praying to the Human & to Hasbro & to anything else that they could think of to pray to, that she’d come out ok. True, she was a whiny brat, but she was in their Ponyworld now, & therefore part of the community, & worse cases than hers had been dealt with on a regular basis. So they pleaded she’d come round & live again. CL jerked up out of bed, screaming no very loudly, before Pinkie, Strawb & RD got her back in the bed. “Not so fast!” RD instructed. “You had a concussion from the fall! You need to take it easy for a day or so…”
“What day is it?” CL wondered, looking so confused almost everypony thought she was on ketamine.
Powder however was used to dealing with concussions & the resultant disorientation, so calmly informed her: “Monday, 20th December 2010, around 5:30pm. You need to rest, drink some vegetable soup, & sleep. You’ll likely feel better tomorrow, but be sure to take an NHP carriage to the hospital just in case. You’re lucky I was at Paradise Square to be honest!”
“I’m way not taking an alicorn carriage!” CL shuddered. “Especially not with you Strawb!”
“What?” Strawb stared at her confused, as a white TE & her First Tooth daughter entered without even bothering to knock. CL moaned again.
“Queenie, if you’ve brought that garotey watergun then don’t you dare squirt me again!”
“Of course she hasn’t!” the TE with rainbow hair just like her daughter’s replied. “I’m Quackers, & she insisted we come here to check on you after the fall. I’m glad to see you’re ok! She’s been praying for you the whole time of course. She does that, though I don’t agree with it…”
“At least we agree on the Human mum!” Queenie smiled, as a green & white flash lit up the room.
“Well where else would the fairest casualty in Ponyworld be? Glad you’re ok, gorgeous!” Ice Crystal stood there, all his charm honed in on the bed-ridden G3 with pink & orange hair he’d helped rescue. It was the happiest he’d ever been in his life!
“At least you’re speaking now!” CL smiled. “See when you weren’t, that was way creepy!”
“What in Hasbro’s name…” he stared at her.
“And one more thing!” CL continued. “I know I’ve behaved way badly today, & I’m sorry! Ok? So, from now on, I’m gonna try being nice to everybody. First things first: anypony know what would suit a band of G3 singers? Second: we all need to spend Christmas Day at Ringlet’s & cheer her up! Third, something way terrible is gonna happen to the Human in the future. We way can’t let Her die! She’s totally the glue that holds us together! So everypony start praying for Her now! And last but not least, there is one thing I learnt at the school: how to crochet! And I need a crochet hook & some yellow wool. A couple of new arrivals will come on Christmas Day. And by the way, I can’t wait for the Dream Castle sleigh visit tomorrow: that’ll be way awesome! Royal Ponies! I heard they’re as wise as they are glamorous!”
“Who like, are you?” Pinkie asked. “And like, what have you like, done with Crystal Lake?”
“It’s me, silly!” CL laughed kindly. “And I still way hate getting wet, & cold, & bedraggled, & sore! But now I know there are more important things in life, things I way never learned! Things like love, compassion, kindness, friendship, laughter, fun, joy & happiness! And no matter how much or how little money you have you can way not buy these things! You wouldn’t believe what happened to me after I fell, but it was way revealing! I learnt a way huge amount of things! By the way, has anypony got a copy of Lord of the Rings, all 3? Or that true story by that Human soldier, Chris Ryan? Since I’m stuck here I might as well have a watch & a read, oh, & thanks everypony for caring for me! Even Mom couldn’t do that! She way hates hospitals! Dodododo, do, do, do, dododododo…” She hummed the tune Take On Me by Human band A-Ha just for the sake of humming a tune. CL was truly happy for the first time in her life!
Majesty smiled, watching it all in Mirror-Mirror’s mirror at Dream Castle. Another ward, Crystal Lake, had been Scrooged! And when she came to Dream Castle tomorrow, she was sure to offer her a special Christmas wish for somepony close…
You already know most of the characters in this story; just the Juniors have more imaginative names than Baby *insert Mum's name here*. But one you don't know is the Custom model, G-Star, so I've added a photo of her