Part 1: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Fluttershy: the Pegasus who Saved Christmas
by Dusty the Royal Janitor
Part 1: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Of all the holidays in the Equestrian calendar, Fluttershy wasn’t a particular fan of many of them. New Years was always a little too loud and crowded for her, and as much as Fluttershy liked Pinkie Pie’s parties, she always went a little overboard on New Years in her opinion. Then there was Hearts and Hooves Day, which only really ever served to remind her that she was too much of a wallflower to ever go out and get a date. She never liked Foalish Folly Day because all the pranks going around tended to get to her pretty quickly. The Summer Sun celebration was alright, but the tradition of staying up all night to see the sun rise always messed with her sleep schedule and it’d take a few days to get it back on track, which was rather annoying. And, of course, Nightmare Night was right out.
But if there was one holiday that Fluttershy loved, it was Hearth’s Warming Eve.
The Hearth’s Warming season was Fluttershy’s favorite time of year. Ponies were always in such good cheer around then, and she always found the decorations so festive and colorful. It made going into town less of an intimidating excursion into hostile territory and more of a bright, friendly sightseeing tour. Ponies would go around singing joyous carols that Fluttershy, frankly, didn’t find anywhere near as annoying as many ponies said they did. In fact, she quite enjoyed the carols that ponies would sing on the street corners and would always be sure to donate a bit or two to whatever cause the ponies might be supporting. Gingerbread ponies, hot cocoa, and other delicious goodies were sold around this time, and Fluttershy couldn’t help but admit that she loved any and all treats that came out of the Hearth’s warming season.
Best of all, there was nothing rambunctious or startling that anypony expected of you around Hearth’s Warming. All you were ever expected to do was share a present or two, sing some songs, and spend some quiet time around the traditional Hearth with the ones you loved. And unlike playing pranks or drinking until you passed out or dressing up in a terrifying costume, Fluttershy could handle all those things.
And this year, Fluttershy was looking forward to a peaceful, quiet, and relaxing Hearth’s Warming.
The butter yellow Pegasus was all bundled up in a green sweater, printed with smiling snowmen and snowflakes as she blew on a steaming cup of eggnog. The little pony sat on the couch across the room from her fireplace, which was lit with a burning log, enchanted to burn pink, like the original fires of friendship the old Hearth’s Warming tales spoke of. A record spun on a gramophone in the corner, softly playing carols and filling the air with festive spirit. The walls were decorated with glittering tinsel and false icicles, which glittered in the light cast off by the glow of the fireplace. A medium sized pine tree was decorated with little animal ornaments, flashing, multicolored lights, and topped with a great big pink heart, sitting off in the corner of the room.
Fluttershy smiled contentedly, taking a sip of her eggnog and humming in delight. The little pegasus looked down at the seat next to her and grinned. “Oh Angel, isn’t this just wonderful?” she asked her little bunny companion.
The little rabbit shivered and snuggled up closer to Fluttershy, burying himself under the crook of her wing. Fluttershy giggled. “If you’re cold you should wear that little sweater I knitted you.” she said, nodding to a pink sweater draped over the arm of a chair across the room, printed with hearts and little musical notes.
Angel Bunny sniffed distastefully, his ears turning back, then buried himself deeper into Fluttershy’s plumage. Fluttershy sighed, placing her cup of eggnog down and reaching into her wing with her hooves, grabbing the squirming bunny and pulling him out and into her lap.
“Oh Angel.” she tittered, petting her animal companion’s long ears. The bunny’s winter coat had grown in and his fur was extra fluffy at the moment, making him softer and cuddlier than usual. “You know, I told you that you could hibernate with your other bunny friends over Hearth’s Warming if you wanted to. You were the one who said no.”
Angel Bunny squeaked and pointed at the various decorations hanging around the room. Fluttershy nodded. “Oh yes, you were a big help when I was setting up all of my Hearth’s Warming decorations. You didn’t have to do that for me, though. I know you don’t like the cold and I could have set them up on my own.”
Angel grumped, crossing his little arms and squeaking something barely perceptible. Fluttershy grinned widely. “Awww, is that it?” she said clutching the little bunny to her chest. “That’s so sweet of you, Angel, thinking about me like that on Hearth’s Warming,” she chirped, kissing him on his little bunny forehead. The little rabbit stuck his tongue out and started to wipe at his forehead with his little bunny paws, making Fluttershy giggle again.
“Thank you, though, Angel.” Fluttershy said, stroking his ears again. “If you weren’t here, I guess I would be spending Hearth’s Warming alone. All the other girls seem to be busy this year. Twilight is off visiting her family in Canterlot, Pinkie is at the rock farm, Rarity is off on that Hearth’s Warming cruise with her parents and Sweetie Belle, Applejack is having a family reunion out at her Aunt and Uncle’s place in Manehattan, and Dash is visiting her dad in Cloudsdale. So I guess this year it’s just you, me, and the hearth.”
Angel squeaked something sharp and spiteful, making Fluttershy frown. “Now now, Angel, that’s not very nice. It’s disappointing that the girls can’t be here, sure, but they have their own families to visit,” she trailed off, looking deep into the fireplace.
The yellow pegasus went silent for a while, her face etched into a somber frown. She spared a quick glance to an old desk in the corner of the room, her eyes locking onto a specific drawer. Angel paused, following Fluttershy’s gaze to the drawer and sighing. Angel couldn’t read, but he knew that Fluttershy got a letter from that gray mailmare with the silly eyes every Hearth’s Warming. And every year she’d get really excited, only to open it and suddenly get very sad. Every time she’d get one of those letters, she’d file it away in that one drawer.
Angel huffed, patting Fluttershy’s hoof. The pony was snapped out of her reverie, looking down at the little bunny, her smile quickly returning. “Oh, it’s okay, Angel. I’m fine.”
The bunny quirked an eyebrow.
“No, really.” Fluttershy said. “I’m alright. Even if I’m not so lucky, I’m glad the girls can spend Hearth’s Warming with their families.” She said, holding the little rabbit close. “Besides, that just means I get to spend a nice, quiet Hearth’s Warming with my favorite little critter, right?”
Angel gave her a little smile, nodding enthusiastically and hopping out of her grasp. The little bunny grabbed a thimble of eggnog that he had left on a side table and hopped back up next to the pegasus, holding the little cup of nog up. Fluttershy giggled and picked up her own mug of eggnog, clinking it against Angel’s tiny cup. “To best friends on Hearth’s Warming,” she said, bringing the mug up to her lips.
That was when the body crashed through her ceiling.
Fluttershy shrieked, dropping the mug of eggnog and causing it to spill all over the floor. The yellow pegasus leaped out of the sofa and hid beneath it, pressing herself between the bottom of the seat and the floor. Angel too, was startled enough that every single one of his hairs stood on end, causing him to puff up like a big, bunny-shaped marshmallow. Fluttershy’s heart hammered in her chest, her breathing shallow and panicked for a good two minutes before she finally took a deep breath and risked a peek out from under the couch.
A hole had been smashed open in her roof, busting through the upper floor of her cottage and straight down into her living room. She could see straight up through the hole into the cloudy sky above, snow drifting down from the sky and starting to accumulate on the massive pile of rubble that now sat in the middle of her floor. bits of plaster and wood occasionally dropped from the ceiling above and fell, clattering to the ground, the floor above squeaking and creaking, recovering and settling from the sudden impact. And deep within the large pile of rubble, there lay a motionless, pony shaped figure.
“Oh dear oh dear oh dear…” Fluttershy started repeating over and over as she trotted in place nervously. “Angel!” she cried, the bunny revealing himself, hopping from the kitchen and wearing a pan on his head and carrying a barbecue fork. “Help me clear this rubble! Somepony is hurt!”
Angel gave a little salute, dropping the fork and hopping over to help his owner. Fluttershy quickly dug into the pile, throwing off broken planks of wood and chunks of plaster. Angel, due to his small size, couldn’t manage the larger chunks of debris, but was able to brush away smaller pieces quickly with his burrowing abilities. In short order, the two of them had cleared the middle of the room of rubble (instead, littering the edges of the room with it), and revealing the body that now sat at their feet.
It wasn’t a pony at all, it turned out. It had four legs and hooves, like a pony, and a pony-like face, but that was where the similarities ended. It had a brown coat but no cutie mark on its flank, with a white furred underbelly starting at the tip of his muzzle. Sprouting from its flank there was only a short nub of a tail, almost like a rabbit’s tail. Its legs ended in split hooves, like a cow rather than the solid hooves of a pony. From its head sprouted no mane or horn, but instead a solid pair of antlers. And at the end of its face, there was a bright red nose, faintly glowing in the dim light of the cottage.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. “It’s a Reindeer!”
Angel cocked his head confusedly. Fluttershy explained, putting her ear to his chest. “Reindeer are a tribe of creatures from the Frozen North. They’re very secretive and don’t have a lot of contact with Equestrians. Twilight told us about them and a lot of other species so we wouldn’t have another Zecora incident if any of them ever came to town.”
Angel pointed to the roof, his ears cocking in different directions.
Fluttershy placed a hoof in front of the reindeer’s bright red nose. “I don’t know how he got up there. And he doesn’t seem heavy enough to break through my roof unless he was going really fast. But unless he was flying as fast as Rainbow Dash, I don’t see how he could do that. Especially since he doesn’t have any wings.” Fluttershy sighed in relief, sitting back on her haunches. “His heartbeat is stable and he’s breathing,” she said. “He’s scuffed up and bruised, but I think he’ll be alright. Help me get him to the couch, Angel?”
The little bunny nodded, worming his way under the reindeer’s flank and hefting it up with all his little bunny strength as Fluttershy supported his front half. The two of them carried the prone, unconscious reindeer over to the couch and laid him down gently upon it.
Just as she was getting ready to drape a blanket over him, though, the reindeer’s eyes snapped open and he screamed.
“AAAAUGH!”
“EEEEEK!” Fluttershy shrieked, diving under the blanket she held in her mouth and curling up on the floor.
The reindeer panted breathlessly, breaking out in a cold sweat, the glowing red nose at the end of his face flashing brightly. Sitting up, he looked around, observing his surroundings.
“Where am I?” The reindeer asked nopony in particular, his voice a high but confident tenor. The red-nosed reindeer didn’t have time to observe much, though, as he was suddenly struck in the head by a flying barbecue fork.
“Ouch!” The reindeer shouted, rubbing his head with a hoof, before grabbing the utensil out of his antler. He snorted, turning to see a fluffy, white bunny standing with his arms outspread in front of a shivering pile of blanket.
The reindeer glared pointedly at the bunny. “Did you throw this?” he demanded, holding the fork in his split hoof. Angel smirked triumphantly, crossing his little arms. The reindeer frowned. “I know one bunny that’s getting a lot of coal in his stocking this year.”
“Oh dear, did he throw that at you?” came a voice from the middle of the room. The reindeer looked to see that the creature shivering under the blanket had pushed the fabric aside and was now poking her head out from under the sheet. Slowly, Fluttershy extracted herself from the crumpled fabric. “Angel, you know better than that. He’s a guest and he’s hurt!”
Angel huffed, squeaking at Fluttershy and pointing at the reindeer and then to the hole in the ceiling. “Yes, he startled us, but that doesn’t give you the right to throw things at him.” She turned to her guest. “I’m so sorry Mr. um…?”
The reindeer blinked. “Rudolph,” he said. “My name is Rudolph.”
“I’m sorry about Angel’s behavior Mr. Rudolph,” Fluttershy said sweetly, placing a hoof on Angel’s head. “Angel here tends to act out when ponies startle him.”
“Apology accepted,” Rudolph said, trailing off a little. “I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name, miss?”
“Fluttershy,” the buttery pegasus said, with a shy smile.
“Apology accepted, Fluttershy.” Rudolph said, looking around the room and up at the ceiling, snow still drifting into the house from the hole in the roof. “And I’m sorry too… it looks like I’ve done a number on your house.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it…” Fluttershy said, looking up at the hole in her roof. “I’m sure that I can fix it… I think…”
“Oh no, it’s my mess.” Rudolph said, scooting up into a sitting position. “Let me clean it up.” Suddenly, his antlers started to glow a bright pinkish-red and his nose flashed even brighter than it had before. Fluttershy gasped as the rubble strewn about the room picked itself up in a magical aura and shot towards the ceiling. The yellow pegasus watched as the roof suddenly fixed itself with the help of the magic, every little dusty speck of rubble flying up into the gaping hole and falling into place like a jigsaw puzzle. The hole in the first floor ceiling quickly mended itself after that, good as new, piecing itself together in the magical glow of the reindeer’s power, before every little piece seemed to fuse together and solidify. In less than a minute, the only evidence that there had ever been a hole in the ceiling was a small pile of snow in the middle of the room, quickly melting away in the heat of the Hearth’s Warming fire.
“There ya go!” Rudolph said chipperly. “That should do it!”
“That was amazing!” Fluttershy gasped, trotting around the middle of the room and inspecting the once-broken ceiling. “I didn’t know that Reindeer had magic like unicorns!”
“If I’m where I hope I am, I don’t think they do.” Rudolph mused quietly.
“I’m sorry?” Fluttershy asked, cocking her head.
“Miss Fluttershy,” Rudolph asked, looking very serious, “I need you to tell me something. Something very important.” His voice was stern and firm and the tension in his words spoke volumes.
Fluttershy gulped. “Wh-what is it?”
“The fate of a whole world rests on this, Miss Fluttershy, so please tell me… is this Equestria?”
The yellow pegasus blinked. “Well… um… yes?” Fluttershy stammered. “Where else would we be?”
Rudolph let out a massive sigh of relief, his face breaking into a smile. “Oh, thank the Christmas Star, I made it.”
“Made it where?” Fluttershy asked, raising an eyebrow. “To Ponyville, you mean? Did you come from the Frozen North?”
“In a manner of speaking…” Rudolph trailed off with a chuckle.
“But…” Fluttershy mused, looking at the ceiling that had previously been smashed to smithereens. “How did you get here? And how did you smash a hole in my roof like that?”
“Hm?” Rudolph said, before her words registered and he waved her off. “Oh, breaking through the world barrier threw off my flight pattern and I crashed.”
“Your… flight pattern?” Fluttershy said, disbelievingly. “But… Reindeer can’t fly. That’s just silly.”
Rudolph grinned cockily, looking aside at the little pegasus. “You thought Reindeer couldn’t use magic either.”
“W-well, yes…” Fluttershy stuttered. “But you don’t even have any wings! How can you fly?”
“The same magic that let me fix your roof allows me to fly.” Rudolph said cheekily. “Want me to show you?”
“Um…” Fluttershy stuttered, only for the Reindeer to slide off the couch.
For a split second he stood, strong and powerful before her, only to grunt and collapse with a sharp yelp, his right, hind leg falling out from under him. “AGH!” Rudolph barked, falling over on his side.
Fluttershy rushed over to her patient’s side. “Oh dear oh dear!” Fluttershy repeated again, worriedly nosing herself under the collapsing reindeer and lifting him back onto the sofa.
“What happened?!” Rudolph groaned. “Why can’t I stand?”
“I think you might have broken your leg in the fall, Rudolph,” Fluttershy said, looking at the reindeer’s right leg. Fluttershy poked at the leg with her dextrous hooves, only for the reindeer to hiss in pain as something shifted, making the leg look bumpier than it should. “Oh dear… you’ve got a pretty bad break there… Angel!”
The little bunny, who up to this point had been quietly cleaning up the spilled eggnog, snapped to attention.
“I need you to get me my first aid kit, please!” Fluttershy said. Angel saluted and hopped off into Fluttershy’s animal care room.
“This isn’t good.” Rudolph said, breaking out in a sweat once again.
Fluttershy smiled sweetly. “Don’t worry, Rudolph,” she said. “I can splint it so it’ll set properly. In a couple weeks you’ll be back on your hooves. Until then, you’ll just have to keep off that leg.” At that moment Angel hopped back into the room carrying a large white box with a red cross on his back. “Ah, thank you, Angel!” she said, retrieving the box and pulling out a splint and a long roll of gauze. “Now this’ll hurt…” she said to Rudolph. “Just… grit your teeth, okay?”
Rudolph complied, gritting his teeth and clenching his eyes shut. Fluttershy grabbed the leg with her hooves and pushed on it. There was a sharp grinding sound and Rudolph let out a sudden snarl of pain, only for the leg to snap back into a proper, if swollen shape.
“There we go!” Fluttershy chirped, placing the splint against the leg and wrapping it tightly with the gauze. “It’ll set properly now, as long as you keep off of it.”
“This isn’t good, though.” Rudolph moaned, shaking his head. “If I can’t use my leg, I can’t fly!”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “How would you use your legs to fly?” she asked, skeptically.
“It’s…” Rudolph said, grimacing as Fluttershy continued to wrap the gauze tightly around his broken leg. “It’s not so much flying as it is running on air?” He said, sounding a little confused himself. “I don’t really know much about the how of it all, really, I just know that it works. But I do know that I need to be able to use my legs if I want to fly.”
“Well then,” Fluttershy said, tying off the gauze. “I guess you’re going to be grounded for a while.”
“What?!” Rudolph gasped. “Grounded?! I can’t be grounded!” Rudolph insisted.
Fluttershy giggled nervously. “You sound like my friend Rainbow Dash.” she said, trying to sound reassuring. “I know it’s annoying to be grounded, but you have to let your leg get better. I can take you to the hospital and they might be able to treat it faster?” she offered.
“How much faster?” Rudolph asked.
Fluttershy shrugged. “It’d still take at least a week.”
Rudolph shook his head. “That’s no good. I NEED to be able to fly!” He insisted.
“Fluttershy huffed, her face taking on a stern look. “Well, I’m sorry, but you can’t put any weight on that hoof of yours.”
“No you don’t understand,” Rudolph insisted, looking desperate. “I have a job to do! The fate of Christmas is in jeopardy!”
“Christmas?” Fluttershy asked. “What’s Christmas?”
Rudolph blinked. “You… you don’t know what Christmas is?” He asked, disbelievingly, before pointing to Fluttershy’s tree. “But you have a Christmas tree right there!”
“Christmas tree?” Fluttershy shook her head. “That’s a Hearth’s Warming tree. I’ve never heard of Christmas. Is it a Reindeer holiday?”
Rudolph looked like he wanted to protest some more before his eyes took on a look of revelation and he slumped back on the couch, bringing a hoof to his forehead. “Right… this is a different world. I guess it was stupid of me to assume that every world out there had Christmas.”
“What is this about other worlds?” Fluttershy asked. “What are you talking about.”
Rudolph sighed. “What planet is this?” he asked, sounding defeated.
“...what.” Fluttershy’s face was blank.
“This planet.” Rudolph repeated. “What do you call it.”
“Equis” Fluttershy said, an eyebrow raised. “This is planet Equis. How can you not know that… um… if you don’t mind me asking.”
Rudolph looked pointedly at her. “Because I’m not from this planet. I’m from a planet called Earth in another realm entirely.”
Fluttershy blinked.
And then she gasped.
And then she rushed over to the reindeer and cradled his head in her hooves. Rudolph yelped in surprise and confusion.
“Oh no, oh dear!” she said, worriedly. “You must have really hit your head in that fall.” she said, massaging the Reindeer’s head. “Angel, hurry, go get Nurse Redheart! She should still be at the hospital!”
The bunny saluted again and hopped over to the door, yanking it open with a paw, only for the rosy red glow to appear around it and slam the door shut again.
“No!” Rudolph said. “We don’t have time for this!”
“But you’re delirious!” Fluttershy said, keeping his head steady. “You could have a concussion! Or worse! We need to get you a doctor!”
“I’m not delirious!” Rudolph growled. “Look, get off of me and I’ll prove it!”
Fluttershy released the reindeer and stepped back a little. “But your story… it makes no-”
Rudolph leaned forward and tapped his glowing antlers against Fluttershy’s forehead.
The little yellow pony’s eyes widened as her brain was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of images. Images of strange beings that looked like Minotaurs, but with far less bulk, no fur save for a patch of it on the top of their heads like a mane, and strange, flat, fleshy faces with bulging noses. The strange beings… humans, she suddenly knew, were the inhabitants of a planet called Earth, just as Rudolph had said. The humans were a species of conflicts in all sorts of ways. They would create one moment and destroy the next. They could love as passionately as any pony and could hate as violently as any Tartarus-spawn. They put incredible amounts of research into saving lives, and just as much into finding new ways to destroy them. They built towering cities of shining steel and mortar, taller than any building ponykind had ever achieved. They razed civilizations to the ground for petty reasons. They were generous, greedy, loyal, traitorous, honest, deceitful, cheerful, gloomy, kind, and cruel.
Rudolph’s memories seemed to focus on one part of human culture in particular though: A holiday… or perhaps a season. Christmas she knew it was called. She saw humans putting up decorations, not too different from Hearth’s Warming decor, but with some different themes here and there. She saw them baking cookies, singing carols, attending services, exchanging gifts, and much, much more. It was a time of year where the people of earth would put aside petty squabbles and come together in peace, harmony, and love. Over the years, perhaps it had become more commercial and some seemed to forget what the season meant, but the spirit behind the season still yet soldiered on.
It was wonderful.
And then, the images vanished. Rudolph pulled his antlers away and Fluttershy fell backwards onto her rump, her head spinning and her gut doing backflips. The little yellow pegasus couldn’t see straight for a moment and she couldn’t bring herself to stand. Angel quickly hopped over to her and helped her upright.
“Sorry…” Rudolph said sheepishly. “I’ve never done anything like that before. You alright?”
“Oh my…” Fluttershy murmured as she wobbled back and forth on her hooves, trying to get her bearings. “I… I think so?”
“If you need a minute…” Rudolph offered only for Fluttershy to shake her head.
“No, I’ll be alright,” she said, regaining her balance and fixing Rudolph with a curious gaze. “So it’s true? You really do come from another world?”
Rudolph nodded. “Yep.”
“And on this world… they celebrate Christmas instead of Hearth’s Warming?”
Rudolph shrugged his shoulders. “Well, among other holidays, yeah. Most of them are all about the same sorts of things around this time of year, though.”
Fluttershy considered this. It was all so surreal and new to her. As she thought about it though, something didn’t add up. “But wait a minute!” she said, curiously “I didn’t see any other reindeer… or at least none that talked or flew or used magic.”
“Oh?” Rudolph asked, waggling his eyebrows and grinning slyly. “You didn’t notice a single reindeer with a great, big, red nose in any of those Christmas decorations I showed you?”
Fluttershy wrinkled her forehead. “Well… now that you mention it…” she thought about it and found that she did remember seeing reindeer depicted in a great many of those decorations. Millions of them, in fact, dating back decades! Fluttershy gasped. “Are you saying those are meant to be you?” she said in awe.
Rudolph grinned cockily. “I know. None of them get my devilishly handsome good looks down right.”
“B-but there are so many! And they go back so far!” Fluttershy stammered. “Are you…” she gulped. “Are you some sort of spirit or something?”
Rudolph chuckled, shrugging a little. “Something like that. I’m only the help, though. The real guy behind Christmas is Santa Claus.”
“Santa Claus…” Fluttershy whispered reverently.
“Yep.” Rudolph grinned. “Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, Saint Nick, Hoteiosho, Sinterklaas, Pere Noel, The Big Red Cheese, The Grand Poobah, The Big Kahuna, He-Who-Eats-All-the-Cookies, or, as I call him, ‘Boss.’”
“Every Christmas Eve,” Rudolph explained, “Santa hitches me and eight friends of mine to his magic sleigh and we travel around the world, giving presents to the children of the world,” Rudolph said, suddenly frowning. “Or sometimes coal, if the child is naughty, but we don’t care for that part.”
“So you’re like everybody’s friendly grandpa or something, giving the children presents?” Fluttershy smiled. “That’s so sweet! I bet all the children just love you!”
“Well, they do.” Rudolph looked nervous. “But they won’t for much longer if I can’t get help from the Elements of Harmony.”
Fluttershy’s train of thought came to a sudden halt. “The Elements of Harmony?” she asked, “Why would you need the Elements of Harmony?”
Rudolph let out a suffering sigh. “Well… it’s never really told in the stories, but Santa does more than just give presents on Christmas.” Rudolph cleared his throat. “He doesn’t just sit around eating cookies the rest of the year, after all.”
“What does he do then?” Fluttershy asked, cocking her head.
Rudolph looked deep into the fire, crackling away in Fluttershy’s fireplace. “You might call Santa the protector of children. Just in general, all year round.” he explained. “The humans don’t know it because we protect them, but there are things that go bump in the night on our world. Boogeymen, monsters, demons, and plenty else, with no agenda other than to ruin everybody’s day. Santa puts a stop to them.”
“Really?” Fluttershy gasped. “All by himself? All over the world?”
“Well, he has my help of course.” Rudolph winked. “And the other reindeer. And the elves too.”
“Elves?” Fluttershy asked.
“More of his helpers.” Rudolph explained. “Not to mention that there are others out there that help keep the peace too.” he snickered. “Easter Bunny still owes me a for pulling his tail out of the fire.”
“But what does all of this have to do with the Elements of Harmony?” Fluttershy asked, scooting up next to the reindeer. “It sounds like Santa is powerful enough on his own.”
“Normally he is…” Rudolph sighed. “But just the other day… he was betrayed.”
“Betrayed?” Fluttershy gasped. “Who would do such a thing to such a sweet sounding man?”
Rudolph grimaced. “His name is Krampus,” he growled. “A demon that Santa stopped from kidnapping children on Christmas night, back about two hundred years ago.”
“Krampus…” Fluttershy muttered, the name sounding heavy on her tongue.
Rudolph’s antlers glowed for a moment and suddenly an image formed in the air, slowly morphing into a picture of a horned, hooved, shaggy goat like creature that stood on two legs. He had angry red eyes and long, clawed fingers and a snakelike, forked tongue. Fluttershy squeaked and shuddered at the sight. “Santa stopped Krampus from kidnapping the children, but Krampus begged for mercy.” The image got down on its knees, kneeling before another image of a large, chubby, gentle looking man in a red suit with a thick beard. “Santa granted it, but put a binding spell upon him that cut off most of his powers. He then took Krampus in, just because that’s the kind of guy he is. He tried to bring Krampus along on gift deliveries but… He had different ideas about how to deal with naughty children.”the reindeer snarled. The image of Krampus suddenly stood up, walked over to an image of a child’s bed, and pulled the child out by a leg. Dangling the squirming, screaming child in his grasp, Krampus then pulled a wooden switch out of a large bag and pulled it back, ready to strike, when Rudolph suddenly dissipated the image. “Long story short? It didn’t work out.”
Fluttershy was aghast, her hooves clamped over her mouth. “That’s terrible!”
“After that, Santa basically made him into his security guy to keep curious humans away from his workshop,” Rudolph explained. “He prowls around the grounds, scaring off prying eyes. They call him the Abominable Snowman.” he said.
“But obviously something happened.” Fluttershy said.
Rudolph nodded sadly, another sigh escaping his lips. “It happened two days ago…” Rudolph started, his nose glowing fainter as he closed his eyes. “Santa was getting everything ready for Christmas night, when, out of nowhere, Krampus burst into the workshop and started tearing the place apart. The elves and other reindeer tried to stop him, but he brushed all of their spells aside. He managed to steal Santa’s magic bag and shoved most of the other reindeer inside, trapping them. When Santa tried to intervene… he tried to appeal to Krampus’ better nature. I guess the old man has gone soft in the last two hundred years,” Rudolph chuckled humorlessly. “Krampus didn’t have any of it. He said something about his powers having returned and he cast a curse upon Santa, turning him to stone.”
Fluttershy gasped. “Stone? But don’t you have some sort of potion or spell to cure petrification?”
“Of course.” the reindeer said. “But Krampus is maintaining the curse somehow. Nothing is working.”
The little pony placed a hoof in front of her mouth. “Oh, that’s awful! Just awful!”
Rudolph nodded. “He then made off with all of Santa’s coal and hijacked one of Santa’s sleighs. Tying the bag with my friends to the front, he managed to fly away before any of the elves could find a way to stop him.” Rudolph sighed sadly, clenching his eyes shut. “Now, Christmas is on the brink of being ruined, and if I don’t do something, not only will hundreds of millions of children have Christmas ruined for them, but I’ll lose my best friends…”
Fluttershy placed a hoof on Rudolph’s shoulder. “There there, Rudolph,” she said, trying to comfort him. “I’m sure you did everything you could to stop him.”
Rudolph shuddered. “That’s just it. I wasn’t even there.”
Fluttershy blinked. “You weren’t?”
“I was… out at the time,” he admitted, reluctantly, before slamming a hoof against the back of Fluttershy’s couch. “My magic is the strongest of all the reindeer! I could have stopped Krampus, but I wasn’t there! And now, with Santa out of the picture, my power’s been weakened and there’s no way I can stop him on my own.”
Rudolph took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “But I’m making up for it now. That’s why I need the Elements of Harmony! In all the realms, they’re some of the most powerful artifacts for removing curses, purging darkness, and restoring balance! They can free Santa and he can put a stop to this whole mess!”
Fluttershy scuffled a hoof along the ground. “Well, um… there may be a problem with that.”
Rudolph looked at her, aghast. “What? What is it?”
“Well, you see… The Elements of Harmony are all in Canterlot, and it’d take all night to get there since the trains are down for Hearth’s Warming. And on top of that, the Elements of Harmony only work if all of their bearers are present,” she explained.
Rudolph’s face fell. “And… who are the bearers?” he asked.
“Well, I’m the bearer of kindness.” Fluttershy said, blushing and hiding behind her mane.
“You are?” Rudolph’s face lit up. “Well then there we go! Just call the other bearers and have somebody bring them to you!”
Fluttershy frowned, shaking her head. “The other bearers have all gone home for the holidays! I don’t have any way of talking to them! And the only one who has any way of getting to the Princess and telling her we need the elements is Twilight Sparkle.”
Rudolph slumped his eyes screwing shut as he let out a long sigh. “Then all is lost.” he mumbled. “I came here for nothing.”
“Now don’t say that!” Fluttershy said, stamping a hoof. “I’m sure you can figure something out!”
“Without a powerful artifact like the Elements of Harmony, there’s no way I can free Santa! And without Santa…” he trailed off.
“There must be some other way.” Fluttershy insisted.
“The only other way would be to defeat Krampus. That would break the spell and free Santa.” He growled, slamming a hoof into the couch again. “But we need Santa to beat Krampus in the first place! It just goes in a big circle!” he said, burying his face in his hooves.
Fluttershy looked at the reindeer laying on her couch, silently. Rudolph didn’t lift his hooves from his face for a moment, nor did he make a sound, but she recognized the silent, jerking movements coming from his chest. His nose flickered dimly and his ears drooped, his whole body slumping as his sobbing breaths slowed. She recognized the look. It was just like an animal, hurt and alone out in the wilderness, waiting for the inevitable.
She couldn’t let that stand.
Fluttershy trotted up to Rudolph and put a hoof on his back. The reindeer turned away from her but said nothing. The pegasus cleared her throat and spoke slowly.
“What if…” she began, “What if somepony else helped defeat Krampus?”
Rudolph lowered his hooves, turning back to Fluttershy and blinking the tears away. “...like who?” he asked.
“W-well, um…” Fluttershy said, stuttering and scuffling the ground. “I mean… The girls and I, we’ve taken on a lot of bad guys in the past. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis…”
Rudolph looked downcast. “But you said they couldn’t help,” he muttered.
“Well, they might not be able to help in time…” Fluttershy said, taking a deep breath. “But… I’m here,” she squeaked.
Rudolph blinked. “You?” he said, somewhat incredulous. “But… but you’re just one pony. And you’re so… so…” he looked for the word, “timid.”
Fluttershy screwed her eyes shut and nodded. “I mean, I know. I’m not much of a fighter or anything, and I get scared really easily and I’m afraid of demons and monsters and all of those things and I don’t know exactly what I could do and this whole thing scares me more than the fights with the changelings and Nightmare Moon combined and I’m a weak flier and not good at planning or anything but…” she rambled, her words getting faster and faster until she finally stopped and took a deep, long breath, “but… I can’t just sit here and let a meanie like Krampus ruin a whole holiday for millions of people. If somepony tried to ruin Hearth’s Warming Eve, I’d try to stop them too.” She scuffed a hoof abashedly along the floor. “I’d do whatever I could anyway.”
The reindeer looked at Fluttershy intently. He looked like he was about to protest for a moment, before his face turned pensive and he sighed. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt at this point. It’s not like there’s much left to try, anyway, and we need all the help we can get.”
“So that’s a yes?” Fluttershy asked, somehow managing to look both scared out of her mind and pleased at the same time.
Rudolph nodded. “I guess it is. If nothing else, you can help me home.” He tried to move his broken leg again only to wince. “As you said, I can’t fly in this condition.”
“Oh, of course!” Fluttershy said happily, helping the reindeer off the couch and to his hooves. Rudolph wobbled a little, unsteady on only three legs, his broken one suspended a little above the ground. Angel Bunny quickly hopped up atop Fluttershy’s head and nestled into her mane. “Just tell me what I have to do to help you home,” she said.
“Help me outside.” Rudolph said.
Fluttershy obliged, putting out the fire in her fireplace and helping Rudolph out the door, the injured reindeer limping and swaying back and forth, steadied only by the yellow pegasus at his side. Fluttershy pulled open the door with her teeth and stepped out into the snow-blanketed outside. The chill bit at their ears and the wind whispered around them, making the three creatures all shiver.
“Now what?” the yellow pegasus asked.
Rudolph pointed into the sky, his nose glowing brighter. As Rudolph’s nose glowed, a star suddenly appeared out of nowhere, right where he was pointing, shining brighter than any other star in the sky. “You see that?” Rudolph asked. Fluttershy nodded and Rudolph continued. “That’s the Christmas Star,” he explained. “We need to fly into it.”
Fluttershy blinked. “We need to… fly into a star?”
The reindeer chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll help.”
Fluttershy gulped. “O-okay” she stammered. “Just hold on tight. I’m not a very strong flyer and I don’t usually carry more than a bunny or two.”
Rudolph shook his head and chuckled. “Like I said, I’ll help. Just lift us off and I’ll take care of the rest.”
The yellow pegasus nodded. “Alright… here we go!” Fluttershy said, spreading her wings and beating them as hard as she could. She lifted off the ground, grabbing Rudolph in her hooves, Angel Bunny clutching tightly to her mane. With a few powerful beats of her wings, she managed to lift Rudolph off the ground a little bit.
The reindeer grinned. “Good! Don’t worry, I’ve got the rest!”
Fluttershy clenched her eyes shut, struggling to stay aloft, hefting the heavy reindeer. Her wings were flapping frantically, trying to gain lift. For a moment, it felt like she would fall the few feet back to the ground, when all of a sudden, the burden seemed to become light as a feather. Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked down to see Rudolph’s nose and antlers glowing bright red, then looked back to see a similar glow encasing her own wings. The pegasus squeaked and almost dropped her new friend, but managed to keep hold.
“Careful!” Rudolph yelped, “Nothing’s going to happen. Just fly towards the Christmas Star and I’ll do the rest!”
“Alright…” she said, unsure. “When you’re ready?”
“Willing and able!” the reindeer said, flashing a winning grin.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and took off into the air towards the Christmas Star. She climbed higher and higher, moving faster than she ever could have before, thanks to Rudolph’s magic. She had seen Rainbow Dash go this fast before, but she’d never gone this fast by herself! The three creatures climbed into the sky, the wind whipping at their pelts and blowing Fluttershy’s mane askew as Angel gripped on for dear life. The snow beat against them like hail, until they passed what little cloud cover there was and broke into the open sky. The chill nipped at them as they went faster and faster, the stars seeming to blur before them.
“Hang on!” Rudolph shouted, his nose glowing brightly and lighting their way. The glow intensified, filling Fluttershy with a warming sensation. Her wings seemed to be able to pump even faster in Rudolph’s warm glow, and indeed, the three of them were accelerating faster and faster up into the sky. And as they climbed, the stars of Luna’s night sky seemed to glow redder and redder, save for the Christmas Star right before them, still glowing bright white.
The stars around them seemed to stretch and distort as the three rocketed into the stratosphere. The stars started to circle around them, like they’d all started some strange, cosmic dance as they spiraled through the night. Fluttershy felt something strange pushing against her, like Rainbow had described when she did a Sonic Rainboom.
“Keep going!” Rudolph cried out, barely audible through the wind rushing past Fluttershy’s ears. “You’ve almost got it!”
Fluttershy pushed even harder, clutching tightly to her companion, still feeling Angel hanging onto her mane and neck with his little bunny paws. The pressure against her front got stronger and stronger, like a rubber band getting stretched to its limits against her.
And then… it broke.
There was an explosion of red and Fluttershy felt herself rocket forward exponentially. The stars, once stretching and spiraling around her, turned into a bright tunnel of red, lighting up her vision in bright pink spots. Fluttershy squealed and clenched her eyes shut as the three of them rocketed straight into the Christmas Star’s bright white light...
