Christmas in Canterlot

Christmas had come to the city of Canterlot.

The common ponies, the nobles, even the royal family had all decorated and made plans to spend time with friends and family, spreading love and friendship throughout the land of Equestria.

In fact, today is Christmas Eve, and tonight, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and her best friends were performing in the Christmas Concert at Canterlot Concert Hall.

They would be sitting with the Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, as well as the Princes Shining Armor and Midnight Star.

It had all the likeliness of being the perfect night.

So naturally, Twilight was FREAKING OUT.

"SPIKE!! WHERE ARE YOU?!" she almost screamed as she ran around, frantically trying to make sure everything was ready before they left for Canterlot.

"Right here, Twilight!", Spike said has he ran over to her, list in hand as he readied his quill for the inevitable list checking, double list checking, and TRIPLE list checking.

"Thank you," as she tried to calm down and remember everything that they needed. "Shall we begin?"

"You bet!"

"Formal outfit?"

"Check!"

"Presents?"

"Check! Both crates..."

"Crown?"

"Check!"

"Party supplies?"

"Check! Pinkie made them top priority."

"Of course she did. Music?"

"Check!"

As Twilight rambled off the checklist, both her and Spike failed to notice the red and gold airship with the royal emblem of Equestria land in the field near the Castle of Friendship.

"Now where could she be? It almost time to go!" Applejack wondered as she and Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, and Fluttershy settled in to the luxurious quarters of the airship.

"She's probably still going over the list with Spike!" Pinkie exclaimed happily as she bounced about the cabin.

"Well somepony needs to go get her, or else we'll be late, and our problems with Twilight will be worse than a fox in the hen house!" said Applejack as she looked over at the castle.

"I'll get them!" Rainbow Dash shouts as she's already out the door.

"Did you close and lock the library?"

"Check..."

BAM!

"Twilight, Spike, what are you guys doing! It's time to go! We're gonna be late!

Twilight's pupils shrunk the moment she heard that last word.

"...late?"

Spike and Rainbow looked at each other, with the same fearful look in their eyes.

"Run."

Spike jumped on Rainbow's back and she raced out the door, only to be passed by Twilight, with a speed that would've surprised the Wonderbolts.

"WE CANNOT BE LATE!"

She and Rainbow jumped into the cabin, with Twilight having frizzled hair and a crazed look in her eyes. The captain, VERY aware of the situation, began liftoff immediately and started the heading to Canterlot.

That was the smoothest flight he has ever made.

Princess Celestia walked down the cleared streets in a golden winter coat as she admired the city in all its festive glory. The city of Canterlot, beautiful as it already was, radiated the Christmas spirit during the holiday season. Magical multicolored lights, wreaths, garland on every street, and mistletoe could be found on every corner.

For everyone in Equestria, this was an amazing time of year, a time of celebration and bonding.

But for Princess Celestia and Prince Midnight Star, the love of her life, this was more than the holidays. Christmas Morning would mark their relationship's third anniversary. It had been three and a half years since his return to royalty. Three years since they reunited in a romantic bond. Cadence claimed it was one of the strongest bonds she had every felt.

And they couldn't be more excited.

Celestia, after going on a nice walk through the city, was headed back home to the castle. She had been window shopping, still not sure what to get Midnight. She had procrastinated (no one is perfect), and today, on Christmas Eve no less, she still had no present for him.

She knew he had a present for her. She didn't know what it is, granted...but rumor around the castle spreads quickly, and the Princess has a VERY keen ear.

She felt awful about it. But now was not the time to mope about. She has seen the royal airship landing at the airship docks, and Twilight and her friends were probably already at the concert hall.

It was time to return and get ready for the show tonight.

'Most important night of my life...and I'm having a problem deciding what to wear.'

Prince Midnight Star had been debating over this for 15 minutes, looking through the huge walk-in closet he had. Tonight he, Shining, and the Princesses were attending the Christmas Concert, and not only was this the eve of Christmas, but the eve of Celestia's and his third anniversary. He had BIG plans for the next 24 hours, and he had to make sure everything was PERFECT.

"Dude, you've been in there forever. What on earth could possibly be causing you all this trouble?!" his best friend, and basically brother, Shining Armor shouted from the bathroom.

"Big night! Gotta have the perfect outfit!" He shouted back, as he got back to browsing his wardrobe. He had many, many, MANY outfits, and some of them so exquisite and rare that Rarity, the Element of Generosity herself, had tried to convince him to find the "generosity" in himself and let her have some of his outfits. He chuckled at that memory. He had eventually let her borrow some of the rare fabric from some of his outfits. But that wasn't the problem. His problem was...

He sighed. He didn't know as much as he probably should've about today's royalty wear. He hadn't been back that long. His re-coronation had happened a while after Lord Tirek's attack.

Coronation...

!!!

"Shining! Where's my coronation outfit?!"

"I don't know what I was thinking Luna, I should've just bought him a gift, and now I can't think of anything!" Celestia said in a desperate tone as she braided her sister's hair. "If I had just gone out and done it, then I wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Well, it seems that the ever-perfect Princess Celestia, god of ponydom, ruler of all of Equestria, has made a TERRIBLE mistake!" Luna said over-dramatically as she giggled. "Whatever shall you-OWW!"

Celestia yanked her hair as she braided it, pulling it a little tighter than she needed to. "Oops! Sorry..." she chortled. 'Teasing me about something like this...' she thought as she continued braiding Luna's hair.

"Well, there's certainly some VERY strong love feelings from him. He's certainly thinking about you in a very 'special' way..." Princess Cadence teased as she walked out of the bathroom, hair all done up with crystals.

"OHHHOHOHO!!" Luna guffawed as Celestia turned a shade of red that would've made Big Macintosh jealous.

"Oh please, I'm sure it's not like that. He's probably just excited for tomorrow..." Celestia almost stuttered as she recovered from her embarrassment. 'She's probably teasing me, we just did it a couple days ago...'

"Excited, yes, but I'm thinking in a different way..." Cadence said in a flirty tone while winking. Luna, at this point, had her back on the floor, begging for laughter to let her go so she could breathe.

"ANYWAY," Celestia interrupted, desperate to put an end to this conversation, "I need to decide what to wear. Cadence, could I ask for your expertise?"

Cadence brought a rather large dress bag out of the closet.

"Already done." she smiled.

"Well, if Rarity thought the fabrics I gave her were one-of-a-kind, she's going to die over this." Midnight was wearing a gold-lined cape, with a fabric that had been made from a nebula light-years away. The colors flowed between orange, to blue, and to white. It was a blissful fabric, and kept him warm even through the hardest winters.

Naturally, his royal shoes and chest piece matched, but the crown was made from gold, with each of the pearls on top, being some of his most special stars that he had ever created.

Overall, he didn't know why he didn't choose this in the first place.

"Shining, you ready?"

"Yeah! Let's go!"

"Cadence, if you weren't Empress of the Crystal Empire, you would be my go-to designer. DON'T TELL RARITY."

Cadence had dressed Celestia in a beautiful dress, fading from a warm orange at the top, to a clear somehow, at the bottom, with all of it outlined with that warm orange. Her footwear was golden, with two pearls leading up to a ruby. Her crown was the same, only with a ruby in place of the amethyst. But the most impressive of all was the chest piece. A pin piece in the shape of her cutie mark connected the dress to it. It was an intricately designed chest piece, with pearls hanging off it. But perhaps the best part of it, was the two Phoenix feathers hanging from the back of it. It made the whole outfit glow.

"The feathers were given by Philomena. I did have a little help from Rarity obtaining the fabric, but this will be the first time any of them see this outfit." Cadence stated as Celestia admired the ensemble in the mirror.

"I think I'm ready to leave. Shall we meet Shining and Midnight?"

"I'm most ready."

"Let's do it!"

And with that, the three princesses headed for the chariots.