In the Crystal Brighthouse, the Mane 5, minus Izzy, Sparky, and Team Sonic, were putting up the Winter Wishday tree in the living room. Sparky, Tails, and Zipp flew to the high corners to place decorations while Hitch was about to warp the white decorative stream around the tree. Knuckles placed the lights, and Sonic helped Pipp unpack some decorations.

Suddenly, the power went out on the Brighthouse, with only the fireplace and the lights around the tree giving some light.

"Huh?" Sunny and Pipp asked in confusion from the sudden blackout.

"Just for the record, I didn't do anything bad this time," Sonic defended himself, looking around, confused.

Then, the front door suddenly opened, and a pony with a red cloak on, with its face hidden inside the hood, came in with some fog around it.

The rest of the Mane 5 gasped in fright, with Sunny and Hitch covering the back of the couch, Zipp side hugging Tails as she hid her face on his neck, Pipp doing the same with Sonic and Knuckles just standing behind the tree, confused with a raised eyebrow. Sparky also got spooked by this because it made him fart out dragon fire from his rear, which durn the decorations box. The baby dragon laughed a bit before hiding as well.

Sonic ignored what Sparky did, placing an arm in front of Pipp to protect her and glaring at the mysterious pony. "Alright, shadowy pony. You better start to explain who you are and what you want!"

"You'll find out soon!" the pony replied in a familiar tone, their voice sounding a bit female.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me..." Knuckles muttered, silently facepalming and shaking his head in disbelief.

"Kinda saw it coming, but still..." Tails muttered with a bored expression and an eye roll.

"Ponies! The time has come…" the mysterious mare called out, while Sunny, Hitch, and Sparky popped out behind the couch with scared looks. Tails landed, and Zipp hid behind him, and Pipp did the same with Sonic, still hugging him. But then, the pony took her cape off and revealed to be Izzy, who smiled cheerfully at her friends. "... To do 'Secret Canter!'" she cheered as she started to dance and sing around. "Secret Canter time. It’s Secret Canter time!" she sang with a twirl as she struck a pose with a wink and smiled at her friends, who were looking at her in confusion. Knuckles had no idea what was happening, and Sonic and Tails looked at each other anxiously. "Time to canter secretly. Sing the chorus repeatedly. Secret Canter Time," Izzy sang with a cheery smile.

"Uh, Secret what-er?" Pipp asked.

"Izz, honey, please stop saying nonsense without giving out some context first," Knuckles begged with a bored expression, tired tone, and a hand on his hip.

"It’s an annual Bridlewood Wishiehoof tradition," Izzy smiled. "Full of secrets!" she added with a spooky tone and expression.

"Izzy, stop trying to be spooky," Knuckles said again. "You're only making yourself cuter than you already are," he added while the rest nodded in agreement.

After that sudden comment, especially from Knuckles, Izzy blushed and chuckled sheepishly, but she couldn't understand why.

She doesn't understand why she sweats and gets nervous when Knuckles is simply being Knuckles, but she doesn't have time to find out now.

Sometime later, Izzy lit up some candles and got her hood back on, giving a mischievous smirk to the others.

"Come forth, ponies!" Izzy called out to her friends while they watched on, confused and shrugging at each other. "And let the sacred Wishiehoof vestal reveal if you’re Pony it to you!" she announced, holding up a holiday hat to the others, still smirking.

"So, we draw names from the hat?" Sunny asked, summarizing what Izzy was trying to say, while the rest just looked on with raised eyebrows and, in Sonic's case, a bored expression.

"Kinda," Izzy said with her usual tone and smile. "But with magic and mystery!" she said, shaking the hat and whispering the 'mystery' part.

However, Pipp noticed what hat Izzy held and gasped in shock. "Hey, my elf hat!" she cried out, giving Izzy a look that made her cringe. "I’ve been looking for that!" she added with anger.

"Silence!" Izzy shouted, quieting Pipp and holding up the hat with a smirk. "The time for secret selection is upon us," she announced.

Pipp raised an eyebrow, confused, as she placed her hoof in the hat. "Hmm," she hummed as she searched the hat and took out a card.

One by one, the rest of the Mane 5 and Team Sonic also picked out a card from the hat.

"You may secretly check what pony you are picking," Izzy stated, still smirking.

The others looked at Izzy for a bit, then at each other in curiosity. Then they opened their cards and looked at who they had picked as they gasped. Sunny and Tails smiled at who they picked while the others were surprised.

"Now, this should be interesting!" Sonic muttered with a grin.

"Now go!" Izzy cheered with a smile. "And make them a present!" she announced with a wave of her hoof.

"Whoa there!" Hitch called out, raising his hoof. "Make? You mean 'buy,'" he corrected with a nervous smile. "Besides, Tails, since he built a lot of gadgets, we're not makers, Izzy. We…" he added sheepishly, but Izzy cut him off.

"Secret Canter demands…" Izzy said in her acting tone before speaking normally. "... You craft the best gifts you can," she instructed while winking at her friends. "And remember ponies…" she started with a smirk.

"We need to do it in secret, right?" Tails asked with a smirk as well.

Izzy approached Tails with a playful smile. "Are you sure you haven’t done this before?" she asked playfully as the Mane 5 smiled and laughed together.

"More or less," Sonic replied instead, looking at Tails with the same smirk as they winked at each other.

Just so you know, Team Sonic made Secret Santa with the rest of their friends back in Mobius every year, so this isn't anything new for them.

Later, Izzy held a cake recipe and began to stir the batter.

Izzy tasted the batter and sighed with a smile, liking the taste of the cake.

Sunny tried to tape something together in another room but groaned in effort. She had some tape and diamonds on her, then placed the tape down on her gift with a determined expression.

In another room, Pipp unwrapped some clear candy wrappers and inspected them to see which one was useful for her, but then she sighed tiredly and flopped onto the counter dramatically.

Zipp tried to open a bag in the other room but struggled and grunted in effort. Then, she ripped the bag open, and lots of red glitter got into her face.

In the Police Station, Hitch was covered in blue glitter. He splattered some on a yellow box but accidentally splattered the glitter too hard, getting some on his face.

Hitch tried to shake the glitter off him while Sparky played with spilled yellow paint on the floor. But then Hitch slipped on the paint and started to lose his balance. He then tripped on some paint cans before him and fell on the floor with a thud.

Sparky saw Hitch fall to the floor but continued to play with the spilled paint as he giggled happily.

Tails was at Electronic Tails, using Sonic's old Soap Shoes and modifying them with his tools and gadgets. He smirked and then placed safe goggles before starting his job.

Sonic bought some bear traps and took out a few spikes, knowing perfectly what he would make, smirking as he saw the spikes.

Knuckles placed some pink glitter over a pink book, getting some over him and working far away from Maretime Bay since he wanted his receiver to like his present.

He still couldn't figure out why, but he didn't have time to find out now because he had a gift to finish up.

Sometime later, in the living room of the Brighthouse, Izzy gathered all her friends again.

"The time is upon us!" Izzy called out cheerfully. "Revealing your gifts!" she added, hanging upside down while looking at her friends.

The rest of Mane 5, Sparky, and Team Sonic looked at the eight gifts on the table with smiles and sparkling eyes. "Whoa…" they said in awe.

"Step forward for your gift, and you may keep it. But whoever it's from shall forever remain secret!" Izzy stated while whispering the last word with a smirk.

"So, uh... Who begins?" Sunny questioned.

"Well, my name might be in the franchise title, but I'm not the only protagonist," Sonic said with a smirk. Then, Sonic pushed Knuckles forward, who grunted a bit and looked confused at Sonic. "Come on, Knucklehead! Suit yourself!" he stated, now smiling normally.

Knuckles moved forward and grabbed a small red box with a purple bow, and once he opened it, his jaw dropped, and his eyes sparkled. "A-Are these... spiked knuckles?!" he asked with a big and bright smile, putting on two black three spiked knuckles and punching them together. "Aw, heck yeah!" he cheered, quickly moving around the living room and striking random poses, enjoying his new gift. "Don't care who gave these to me; I'll be forever in debt with you!" he shouted excitedly.

"Wonder who gave him those..." Sonic said sarcastically with a smirk, stepping forward and grabbing a slightly bigger box than Knuckles grabbed, a blue box with a pink bow. Like Knuckles, Sonic's jaw dropped, and his eyes widened in glee as he took out two new pairs of shoes.

They were some fusion between his regular shoes. They still had the red color, the white stripe, and the golden buckle on the sides, but now they also had a black sole, a green tip, and the space of the original Soap Shoes.

"I'm copying Knuckles here: I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ON WHO MADE THEM, I LOVE THEM AND I LOVE YOU SO MUCH 'TILL THE DAY I DIE!!!" Sonic screamed, immediately putting on his new footwear and running around the Crystal Brighthouse, feeling like a little kid again when he got his first pair of shoes.

Tails smiled at Sonic's attitude toward his new gift while Sunny smirked. "Anything you know about the gift, Miles?" she asked in a teasing tone.

Tails glared daggers at her before giving out a normal, bored expression. "No idea what you are talking about," he said innocently, moving forward and grabbing the big yellow box with a white bow. He smiled kindly as he took out a new empty toolbox, not minding it being empty since he already had enough tools. "Whoa! This is a cool and useful gift!" he said with an honest and grateful smile. "Someone broke mine, and now I have all my tools everywhere in my workshop," he complained, referring to Sonic as he tried to glare at the still-running hedgehog.

"Let me enjoy my gift, Tails! Complain later!" Sonic shouted, still running, while Tails rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I wonder who gave you that!" Hitch said innocently, removing the blue glitter from his face, grabbing a blue gift, and opening it with a smile. "Ooh, a photo album! For pics of me and Sparky! And covered in red sequins—Sparky's favorite!" he said happily to the homemade photo album while Sparky giggled at the album with sparkling eyes. "Thank you, whoever this was from!" he thanked with a smile.

While Zipp was smiling, Pipp smirked at her sister and didn't notice she had some red sequins on her muzzle. "Hmmmm, who could it be? Eh, Rudolph?" Pipp mocked her sister with a smirk, knowing that Zipp had made it since the red sequins on her muzzle had given it away, but Hitch didn't notice it.

Zipp saw what Pipp was talking about, wiped the sequins off, and embarrassingly walked backward from her sister with a sheepish smile while Pipp silently chuckled to herself.

Zipp grabbed the next gift, which had her color scheme on it. "Oh! Oooh! Perfect for my detective work! A magnifying glass…" she said excitedly but then realized that the magnifying glass was made of wrappers. "... Made from candy wrappers... That doesn't magnify anything…" she pointed out, seeing through the homemade magnifying glass, as it didn’t magnify at all.

Pipp laughed nervously and started to sweat a little. "Whoever made you those must know you well," she said nervously. Since she didn't have the right glass for the magnifying glass materials, she had to deal with what she had. Then, she walked towards her gift with sparkling eyes and a smile.

"I guess I can move my head closer to the clue?" Zipp mocked Pipp, using the homemade magnifying glass at the candies stuck on Pipp’s mane, while Pipp herself gave a sheepish smile.

Pipp opened her gift and saw a pair of goggles, which looked like the ones she used to create new products with Tails and the Pippsqueaks. "Oooh! Perfect for creating new products at Mane Melody!" she said excitedly, putting them on to see if they fit and then removing them with a smile. "Awwww! Thanks, secret mystery pony!" she said happily while hugging the goggles.

Sunny tried to get the glue, tape, and diamonds off her as she tried to shake it off. "Oh, very mysterious," she said to Pipp with a smirk. Then, she opened up her gift and saw some dessert, which appeared to be a chocolate cake with pink frostings and orange sprinkles. "Wow! It's a... uh, I want to say a cake? Or maybe a cookie?" she asked with a smile after lifting the dessert out of the box and seeing that the cake was as flat as a cookie; then Izzy suddenly tossed some baking soda over Sunny.

Izzy had baking soda on her face as she unwrapped her gift. "Hey, did you know that we're out of baking soda?" she asked as her hood came off, which revealed the baking soda on her face. "Not that I have any reason to know that," she added, quickly wiping the baking soda off her face and looking at her gift with sparkling eyes. "Oooh! Oh, it's a diary!" she excitedly, picking up the pink glittery diary with a drawing rainbow and a lock. "Because I love secrets! And glitter!" she cheered as she happily tossed some loose pink glitter into the air.

"And glittery secrets," Knuckles said with a smirk to Izzy, cleaning up the pink glitter of his face with a towel and throwing it backward as the towel timing landed on Sonic's face, who fell to the ground with his face, while Pipp was taking selfies with her goggles on and a smile.

"I'm okay!" Sonic said, still lying on the ground and raising his thumbs.

"Oh, that was fun, Izzy!" Sunny said happily. "Anypony want some cookie cake?" she asked the others with a smile while holding out the cookie cake, but then it deflated as Hitch and Sunny cringed.

Zipp, Pipp, Tails, and Knuckles saw that Zipp's magnifying glass top piece came off and fell to the floor. Pipp's goggles landed back on her eyesight but broke in half as they fell to the floor. Then, Hitch's photo album's red sequins came off completely. Tails' box paint also came off, and the spikes of Knuckles' spiky knuckles also fell off. The only remaining gifts that were still intact were Sonic's new shoes and Izzy’s diary.

"Uh…" the entire group exclaimed, while Sonic regrouped with the others with a confused look.

But in the end, they all laughed at this outcome.

"Sorry, Izzy," Pipp said with a chuckle. "I guess we're not expert crafters like you or Tails," she added, since they were not as skilled as Izzy and Tails.

"Oh, pshaw. You put your hearts into crafting these gifts," she said, smiling while the others put their gifts on the table. "It's the thought that matters in Secret Canter," she smiled.

"Yeah, well. I guess this wasn't a disaster after all," Sonic said with a smile.

"I still need a new toolbox, tho," Tails complained.

The Mane 5, Sonic, and Knuckles laughed at this, while Tails looked on with a bored expression before slowly smiling and joining the laugh. None noticed that the Mane 5's Cutie Marks were glowing, nor that Team Sonic's bodies let out electrical sparkles with their skin colors.

Sparky giggled as well, but then some smoke from Sunny's deflated cookie cake came to his nose. "Ooh!" he said with sparkling eyes, looking at the cookie cake and sniffing it, but he cringed at the smell. "Ah... Ah... Ah…" Sparky sneezed on the homemade gifts as his dragon fire hit them.

But after Sparky’s dragon fire settled, the gifts became better than ever: Sunny’s cookie cake was now a three-layer cake; Hitch's photo album had a true book cover with a horseshoe symbol on it; Pipp’s goggles were now stylish protective goggle; Zipp’s magnifying glass was turned into a complete detective suitcase with all the detective gears in it; Tails' toolbox was now a high tech box, still empty in tools, but now having a touch screen; and Knuckles' spiky knuckles looked almost the same, just assembled properly this time.

The group sins Sonic gasped with sparkling eyes, amazed at what Sparky's dragon fire did to their gifts.

"Whoa, check it out!" Pipp said excitedly as she put on her new and improved goggles. "A Wishentine miracle!" she cheered, smiling as she took selfies from her phone.

"Yeah!" Zipp said with a smile. "Now, this is what I was trying to make!" she added excitedly.

"Me, too!" Hitch agreed with a smile.

"Sparky’s dragon fire did us a favor!" Tails said excitedly as he and the others, minus Sonic and Izzy, looked at their new and improved gifts.

"Quoting Sonic here: he's just a baby now; imagine everything the little guy's gonna do when he grows up!" Knuckles added with a smile as well

Sunny then turned to Izzy and Sonic, noticing their gifts hadn't changed. "Aw, guys. Your gifts are just the same," she said with a little smile.

"Hm. You can't improve perfection," Izzy said with a smile as she held her diary close.

Knuckles noticed that, and as he tried his new, improved, spiky knuckles, he turned to hide his sudden blush from the rest. "W-Why does she always have to be like this?" he muttered, not getting how Izzy could have that effect on him.

"And I don't think these babies could be any better than they already are!" Sonic said as well, liking his new shoes the way they are.

The rest laughed a bit at that.

"Oh!" Izzy said cheerfully, looking at something behind herself. "Ponies! Look! Over there!" she said as she pointed to an extra eight gifts under the tree. "Oh, gosh! There seems to be an extra gift for each of us!" she said excitedly to the others.

The rest, minus Izzy, each grabbed a gift and opened them, gasping at what they saw.

"Hey, look!" Pipp said with a nervous smile. "We've all got…" she started.

"... crafting belts," Zipp finished sheepishly, as they each had identical crafting belts.

"We could all use the practice," Sunny said sheepishly. Thanks to whoever got us those," she added with a smile.

"Wonder who bought us this one," Sonic said with a sarcastic tone and a smirk.

"Oh, I have a slight suspicion about that one," Tails said with a smirk.

"I'm gonna say it was Sparky,” Hitch said with a smile while Sparky giggled behind him, muffling his sneeze to prevent his dragon fire from coming out again.

Izzy giggled, trying her best not to call out, but she couldn’t help herself as she smiled at her friends. "They're from me! I made them for you all! They're from me! Me, me, me, me!" she said excitedly while popping around her friends, who looked surprised and confused at her, except for Knuckles, who looked at her neutrally. "Me! Me! Me! They were from me! Izzy! Izzy! I-I-I-Izzy! Me, me, me!" she kept saying.

"Uhhhh…" the rest said confused.

"Well, that didn’t take so long," Knuckles said with a neutral expression.

"Hah!" Izzy cheered as she hopped on the couch, opened up her new diary, cleared her throat, and started to write down in her diary. "Dear diary... Whew! Keeping a secret is hard work!" she said aloud as she wrote it down, but then realized her mistake, turning around and seeing her friends still looking at her. "Oh. Wait, did I say that out loud?" she asked with a sheepish smile.

"Yup," Sonic said with a wide smile, while the others just laughed it up.

Outside the Brighthouse, Kenneth and his bird partner were on a tree branch, holding a gift for each other. Then they chirped and hugged happily together.

THE END

Author's Note

I wanna thank JesusG0987 for suggesting me the idea of today's chapter with Team Sonic. It really helped me out, buddy! Thanks!

P.S: Thanks to JD1 for editing this chapter!