Persona EG LTE | Mythril Moth Creations

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Cherish the time you spend with friends today, because you might not see them again for some time.

Morning

Today is the last day of school this semester. It's also a half day. Winter break is almost here.

Vice-Principal Luna cleared out of the dorm last night. Neither she nor Celestia will be around until after Christmas. I recall hearing something about a ski trip...

With a week of exams behind us and two weeks of holiday ahead of us, the teachers are no more interested in being here than the students. In homeroom, Mr. Turner passed out Trottingham style Christmas crackers, all of which produced ridiculous paper hats, as well as little candy canes. After that, we spent the rest of homeroom watching a Professor When Christmas special.

The rest of the morning's classes are along a similar vein: candy, movies or games, and general excitement. I spend most of third period on Canterbook, chatting with friends I won't see again until next semester.

After School

After school, we all go to Sugar Cube Corner. It's packed, so it's way too noisy to really have a conversation or any elbow room, but at least we get to try Mrs. Cake's pumpkin spice cupcakes and non-alcoholic eggnog coffee.

When we get back to the dorm, we all spread out in the lounge. "VaaaaaCATION!" Rainbow Dash cries, throwing her hands up in the air.

Pinkie giggles. "Yeah! Time to party!"

Rainbow rolls her eyes. "Is it ever not time to party?"

Pinkie thinks about that. "Eh...sometimes."

Twilight's phone rings. "It's Mom," she says. "Excuse me a second." She gets up and leaves the room.

Applejack looks around at us. "Ah better give y'all your Christmas presents right now, 'cause Ah'm headin' home in about an hour or so."

"Already?" Rarity asks, blinking.

"Yep," Applejack says. "Big Mac's probably already on his way t' pick me up. Ah won't be back until after New Year's."

"Well then...Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, darling," Rarity says.

We all wish Applejack Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. She ducks her head, blushing. "Shucks, y'all..." She gets up and heads upstairs. "Back in a minute."

Twilight comes back in. "My parents are coming to Canterlot for Christmas," she says.

"We're not going to Baltimare?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "The weather's about to get really nasty up there, and..." She frowns. "Mom says the weather people on TV are saying there's about to be an ice storm, and we may get a blizzard here too. It's either they come down here before the storm hits, or nobody gets to go anywhere for Christmas."

Fluttershy gasps. "Oh my...! I'd better call home right away then." She gets up and leaves the room.

Cadance walks in. "Got your text, Twiley. What's up?"

"Mom and Dad are coming here for Christmas," Twilight says. "They can stay with you and Shining Armor, right?"

"Of course," Cadance says. "It's because of the weather, right?"

Twilight nods.

Rarity taps her chin thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose I'd probably better pack to go home. I would like to spend most of the holiday with my family..."

Pinkie sighs.

Twilight looks at her. "You know you're spending Christmas with us, right?" she says. "Even if we were going to Baltimare, you'd have come with us."

Pinkie brightens. "Really?"

"Of course!"

Pinkie's eyes shimmer. "Thank you..."

"So, Rainbow, what about you?" I ask.

Rainbow grins. "Dad's gonna be back in town tomorrow," she says. "I'm gonna spend Christmas and New Year's with him."

"That's good," Twilight says, smiling.

Applejack comes downstairs with an assortment of gift bags, which she sets next to the coffee table. "Now, don't none'a y'all open these 'til Christmas," she says with a grin.

"Oh! We'd better give you our presents too," Twilight says.

"Hmm...actually, we should probably all exchange presents with everybody who's leaving for Christmas," Cadance says. "Who's staying and who's going again?"

"Me, Pinkie, and Twilight are staying," I say. "Everybody else is leaving."

Rarity nods. "I'll be headed home in the morning."

Fluttershy walks back in. "I'll be taking the train home tomorrow," she says.

"We're all about to exchange presents," Twilight says. "We're not opening anything until Christmas though, right everybody?"

"Right," we all agree.

"Ooh! Ooh! We should better get a tree for the dorm!" Pinkie says excitedly. "And put all the presents under it!"

Cadance laughs. "I'll go tree shopping with Shiny later this afternoon," she promises.

We all gather up our presents for everybody and bring them back to the lounge. The gift exchange quickly becomes a scene of mass confusion as an enormous pile of gift bags and packages of assorted shapes and sizes overtakes most of the lounge. Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy gather up their presents; the three who are leaving tomorrow take theirs back upstairs, while Applejack piles hers in the entryway, then goes back upstairs to get her bags.

"I'll take the rest of these over to the apartment for safekeeping until we can get a tree put up," Cadance says. Twilight helps her carry the presents to her apartment.

A short while later, Big Macintosh arrives. Applejack looks around at us with a smile. "See y'all next year," she says. Her brother helps her take her stuff out to his truck.

With Rainbow, Rarity, and Fluttershy all upstairs packing, Pinkie, Twilight, and I decide to spend the rest of the afternoon watching television.

Evening

Around dinnertime, Cadance and Shining Armor come in carrying a huge, flat package.

"Aww, a fake tree?" Pinkie asks.

"Real trees are a pain to clean up after," Shining Armor grunts as he sets the box down. Cadance opens it and starts dragging out pieces of an artificial tree while Shining Armor goes back outside. He comes back a few minutes later with boxes of lights and ornaments.

Shining Armor starts putting the tree together while I open up the lights and start sorting them out. Twilight and Pinkie start unpacking and sorting the ornaments. With the five of us working together, it only takes an hour to erect and assemble a fully decorated Christmas tree, with the lights twinkling merrily. Cadance and Twilight go back to the apartment to haul all the presents out and pile them underneath the tree.

Rainbow walks in, staring at the tree. "Whoa," she says. "That was fast."

Rarity enters from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready, everyone," she says.

Cadance and Shining Armor join us for dinner. I look around the table and realize that this time tomorrow, it'll be a different group of faces around this table for a while...