Sunset found herself humming Holly Jolly Christmas as she waited for her cinnamon spiced cappuccino at Sugarcube Corner. The snow was falling softly outside as Sunset thought to herself, ‘Looks like a white Christmas this year and not just a light dusting like last year.’

“One cinnamon cappuccino for Sunset!” the barista called out. Sunset stepped forward and grasped the warm cup with a smile. “Happy Holidays have a nice day,” the chipper barista wished her. Sunset wondered how many times she had said that in a day. After thanking her, Sunset headed out the door and towards the mall. She drove up to the nearby city so as to avoid running into any former classmates. Today was the day before Christmas eve so she wanted to get things done and relax. She had gifts and groceries to grab.

It wasn’t gonna be easy considering what she was likely to encounter after the holidays. She took a deep breath to steady her resolve and made her way to the mall. It was full of strange and unfamiliar faces and stores, the decorations were of course the same no matter where you went. Here she had immunity as no one knew who she or anon-a-miss were. She had a few gifts to grab she had already returned the rest. Twilight would be easy to shop for, which was why Sunset decided to buy her an anthropology book of some kind. It would be cruel to buy her a history book as humans were a rather bloodthirsty lot. and Twilight was too innocent to need to know anything like that. Even so, Sunset couldn't help but browse through the shelves and miss her old collection back home.

Returning to the task at hand, Sunset walked into the bookstore and browsed through the different sections until she came across a book about human anatomy, The Complete Human Body, 2nd Edition. She quickly flipped through it to make sure everything was in order and that the author didn't leave out anything that was supposed to be in there. ‘They do it to their history books so who's to say they don't do the same to other subjects,’ Sunset thought to herself, ‘Besides they’re always discovering new things.’ A simple children’s wouldn't do, but a heavily detailed college textbook might be the right choice. In fact, if Twilight ever had time for a longer visit, Sunset would be more than happy to let her read all her college textbooks when she got them. She still wasn't sure how much she was going to actually tell her.

Sunset closed the book a few minutes later and lifted her head after seeing a familiar flash of purple in the corner of her eye. She looked towards the direction from which she saw it but whoever was there had already left. They had been in the science section and Sunset turned to the cash register to hopefully catch a glance but they were already gone. With a disappointed and frustrated groan, she took her book to the register. As the cashier rang her book up, Sunset asked, “Excuse me, did anyone just walk by here?”

As the cashier scanned Sunset’s book, she said, “Yes, a lavender girl with purple hair in a bun and glasses, that will be 36.96$. Have you any interested in any bookmarks today?”

Sunset shook her head.”No thanks.”

“Would you like to join our membership, or mailing list? We have excellent deals. If you don't want to sign up today you could always leave your email or phone number,” the cashier told her.

Again Sunset shook her head and quickly paid for her book, intending to swiftly move to the door in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the purple girl.

“Here's your change, Merry Christmas!” the cashier said as she handed Sunset her bag and change. After thanking the cashier Sunset hurried out the door and scanned the area for purple on purple. Having no luck, Sunset sighed and headed for the next store. There was no way of knowing if the girl was this world's Twilight Sparkle or not. After all she had just been thinking about Princess Twilight. After a few minutes, Sunset decided to forgo the human Twilight for now and resume her shopping.

She took a look at the stores nearest to her and chose the Ulta down the hall. ‘Adagio might actually appreciate some makeup,’ Sunset thought to herself as she walked down the hall and into the store in question. Upon doing do, another helpful worker approached her and asked if she needed help. Sunset declined and she began to browse through the selections herself. There was a nice lippy set, three mini metallic liquid lipsticks in a package from Anastasia Beverly Hills for 25$. She rather liked the brand herself, preferring Urban Decay and Kat Von D Beauty. She usually got them slightly used from mystable.

After making her purchase, Sunset walked out of the store with a sense of pride on her face as this was going much faster than she thought. Aria was next and as Sunset did her shopping, she noticed a few bruises and cuts on Aria’s knuckles and that her arms were well defined. With that in mind, Sunset decided to get Aria a DVD that teaches you how to fight or something similar so that she could be prepared to defend her sisters if she needed to. The sporting goods store was a good place to start. She once again browsed the shelves when she came across some purple boxing gloves with a bit of light green on them. They were only 24.79$ and from what she could tell, which wasn't much, they seemed to be decent enough gloves. After paying for the gloves it was Sonata’s turn.

Sunset wasted no time searching for a homegoods store. After a few minutes, she found that there where are few different stores such as Kohl’s and Macy’s. Since the last two gifts had been roughly 25$, Sonatas gift would have to be the same price. She remembered her drooling over the tacos at school, not to mention the fact when she took the blue siren home the other night they stopped for Taco Bell. The look on face when she took her first bite, it was as if the gates of heaven had opened up, pure bliss.

After browsing through Macy’s for a bit, Sunset found a light blue George Foreman quesadilla maker for 23.99$. Figuring it to be the best option, she decided to go for it and brought it up to the counter to buy it, forgoing the warranty to keep from within budget. After the holidays she was going to be busy, she had legal issues with Rarity, AJ, and RD, job hunting, and possibly college as she was waiting to hear back from the local university, not to mention trying to move the portal. This meant she would have to limit her time with the last few friends she had left, something she really did not want to do. She let out a frustrated sigh as last time she was this busy was back in equestria during exams difference was she had friends now and very little magic.

‘Only thing left is to wrap them up.’ luckily there was a gift wrapping station towards the mall center. Sunset decided to her the gloves and quesadilla maker wrapped here and do the makeup herself as it was the smallest. There was a line of others waiting to get the gifts warped. While waiting in line Sunset took out her phone to pass the time with a game.

“What dirty and horrible secret are you posting now? Have you no shame?” a familiar voice spoke in a haughty tone behind her. Just her luck to run into Rarity.

“If I really were Anon-a-miss you wouldn't dare confront me, you wouldn't have lied to get me in trouble at work,” Sunset told her as she discreetly turned on her phone’s voice recorder as she spoke with Rarity. “I'm just waiting to get my presents wrapped, I have a few friends coming over.” Sunset told her waiting patiently for Rarity to continue.

“Friends?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow, “What friends? You don't have any and you shouldn't, you'd just betray them.”

“I'm tired of talking and not being heard so Merry Christmas Rarity I'm going to ignore you now.” Sunset told her turning her back to the white skinned girl.

“Who told you about what I said to your boss? You know what, it doesn’t matter. As far as others know, me coming out was just a coincidence. You will have no proof. Besides, you leaving is for the best. Everyone will be happier if you were to vanish from our lives.” Rarity said angrily. “and I will make sure it happens.”

After getting the gifts warped, Sunset waited in line for another warm drink as she needed to calm herself after the agitation from the Rarity encounter. The gifts where put away in her saddlebags and the only thing left was grocery shopping. Once in line, Sunset saw a familiar face behind the register, a rather grumpy face at that. Sunset couldn't help but grin at the fronwing pale purple face of Aria Blaze. Sunset was glad she wasn't carrying her gift. There was one last customer before her.

“I have five drink orders,” the lady said with a snooty tone and her nose turned up as she looked down at Aira. “First I need grande green tea latte. One pump classic, nonfat, 6 scoops of matcha, 195 degrees, and ABSOLUTELY NO FOAM. Second a Grande in a venti cup, 20-pump vanilla, 20-pump hazelnut, whole milk, 190 degree, add whip and extra caramel drizzle latte. Third a mocha chai triple shot espresso with a dash of pumpkin spice with a candy-cane straw. Fourth a child sized hot iced coffee. Fifth: I want a half-fat no-foam latte steamed to exactly 102 degrees and SOY milk.”
As the lady gave her order, Aria’s eyes started to fade more and more. “Now I want it all done in 5 minutes and I want the payment split up between 3 credit cards, cash, and a gift card” finished the woman, “Oh, I also need some pastries: 20 cake pops, 3 scones, 5 lemon cakes, 6 chocolate cakes, and a cheese and asparagus croissant. I suggest you repeat it back to me, I don't trust any of the workers here and you're probably too stupid to understand it the first time.”

Aira stared at the lady with blank eyes. “Are you joking right now?” Aria asked with contained rage, “Because if you’re not, I swear I'm going to flip my shit. It's busy as hell in here and were not coffee-making robots built to fucking serve you.”

“I beg your pardon!” shouted the woman, “I buy stuff here, therefore I pay your salary so I own you. So get to work you lazy girl or are you too incompetent to do anything.”

Aira untied her apron and flung it to the ground. “You know what?” she said with an exacerbated sigh, “I've had it with shitty customers like you thinking they can abuse us. I quit! Make your own damn coffee!” She stormed off slamming the door to the back room on her way. Sunset stepped out of the line and waited by the door for her friend. There was the sound of a locker being slammed and a string of swears the door slammed open and Aira stomped out. She flinched as she saw Sunset directly in front of her. “When the hell did you get here?” she asked in surprise.

“About a minute after the crazy woman came in.” Sunset told her with a grin. “Wanna go grocery shopping with me and get a ride home?”

Aira nodded. “But only because I want a ride on your bike,” she quickly clarified.

Sunset smirked. “Sure, I believe you. After all, you don't want to ruin that ‘I don't give a fuck’ image you got going on.”

Aria glared at for a minute before huffing and turning her head away. “It's not an image it's just who I am.”

“Sure it is,” Sunset said smugly. Aria just grumbled and left her uniform on the counter before following Sunset to her motorcycle.

After arriving at the store, Aria told Sunset more about her day at the coffee shop. Mostly about how she would sometimes deliberately say or spell customers names wrong if they were being difficult with her.

“What are you even doing out this way? Thires grocery stores back in canterlot, no need to come over here.” Aira asked

“Didn't want to deal with the people who know me, i was going to be busy enough without the added hasel besides I'm not a masochist, it almost worked until Rarity showed up like a bad penny, which is a strange expression, but that's besides the point.”

“I saw her today also, she came in while I was working.”

“Oo how'd that go?” Sunset inquired.

"Ms. Priss took one look at me I knew that she wanted to see a manger, she said I had been extremely rude to her and she was certain that she saw me spit in a another customer's drink,” Aria groaned, “I was making the drinks at that point. And when the manger did show up, he just gave her a blank look before nodding. I think he was panicking a little because he was new and never fired anyone before.”

"Geez,” sighed Sunset, “what is this? The season of getting people you don't like fired?”

“Glad I quit that shit job,” Aria said before coming to a realization, “Wait, did she get you fired?”

“Not important,” Sunset said somewhat defensively. She couldn't believe she let that slip.

“Sure sounds like it. But whatever, Adagio or Sonata will get it outta you one way or another,” Aria said with a shrug.

Sunset looked at Aria with a raised eyebrow. “You sound so sure about that, but I hate to tell you that I'm not that easy.”

Aira smirked at her. “But that blue haired boy is,” she said mischievously.

“You sneaky bitch,” Sunset said with a bit of admiration. She hadn't seen that one coming.

Aira chuckled. “I know.”

Author's Note

Thanks for all the carzy drink ideas much appreciated. As perusal a big thanks to Speculore.