Fear and Loathing in the Cloudsdale Mall: A Hearth’s Warming tale
It was the day I dreaded all year. The day Santa comes to the Cloudsdale Mall. When I was younger it used to be equal parts exciting and terrifying, as I got older it was just exhausting and terrifying.
It was hard enough for me to go to the mall as it was. Ponies rushing everywhere, others trying to entice you to buy things you don’t need. It was so loud, so overwhelming. But today was worse. I had to bring my brother Zephyr to the mall to see Santa.
“Morning Fluttershy,” my father called from his paper.
“Hi,” I said to my coffee cup.
“Ready for the big day?” The paper shifted in his hooves, ruffling my feathers like the sound of claws on skin.
“I suppose. I don’t want to see him disappointed but… don’t you think we should tell him the truth. About Santa?” It was a delicate topic for me. It was hard enough watching him fight so vehemently against others for his lifestyle but to still believe at such a young age, I never had the heart to tell him.
“Let ponies believe what they want to Fluttershy. Who’s to say there isn’t some magical Pegasus out there that gives presents to good fillies and colts.” Dad was right. This wasn’t about continuing to coddle him, it was about standing up for his beliefs. It was something I always thought was right.
“You’re right. I better get going if we want to beat the crowds.” The thoughts of hundreds of ponies running around in large swelling crowds almost sent me under the table.
“Santa might not be there quite yet. Let your brother sleep, he did a lot yesterday.” My father folded up the paper and got up.
“He spent the whole day tanning in the sun,” I argued.
“And you know how that sun can wear him out. Besides it's Santa day, he’ll probably wake up much earlier in excitement.” My father left the kitchen as I waited for my sleeping brother to arise from his slumber.
The clock ticked by as seconds turned into minutes than hours. My mind raced as I thought of all the ponies arriving at the mall before us. Then a flier on the table caught my attention. “Ponymon: Blue, coming to Cloudsdale Mall, meet Santa and get the latest coolest card game in Equestria on the same day!”
Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear. We were planning on entering the mall during a... a toy craze! This couldn’t be happening. That tripled if not quadrupled the amount of ponies normally there. We could be trampled, separated, forced into stores we had no business being into only to get caught by a charismatic salepony. We could end up broke or dead.
“Hey Flutters,” my brother called out as he finally emerged from his room. “It’s today, right? Santa day!”
“Well… yes it is but, but he’s there for more than a day. We don’t have to go today. Maybe we can go tomorrow or sometime next week?” It was a longshot. But the thought of being swarmed by masses of toy hungry pegasi that will throw any pony out of the way to get what they want… I felt the room spinning slightly.
“Tomorrow? Of course not! Santa keeps a list of those that visit him early and I’m on it every year. I got a long list this time and I need all the points I can get.” He sauntered to the fridge and began to drink the milk out of the carton. I cringed.
“Tomorrow is still pretty early we could…”
“Come one Flutters, where’s your enthusiasm? Is some pony worried about being on the naughty list?” The stallion placed the nearly emptied carton back on the shelf and closed the door. “You normally love seeing Santa.”
“Not really…that’s you.”
“And you love seeing me happy right?” He leaned in towards me, his eyes getting large and his ears drooped slightly.
“Of course.”
“And you love helping me find happiness right?” The ears drooped even further and his eyes got wider.
“Yes…”
“Great! Then let’s go.” He patted my shoulder and took a few pancakes from my plate, wadding them fully into his mouth.
I sighed. “Ok…”
The skies were filled with pegasi. The sky was supposed to be a free arena of beauty and space. Which was normally what I found terrifying about it. Such limitless expanse was filled with an untold amount of possibilities. Most of which were scary.
This time was the opposite. The sky was filled with what could only be seen as a flock of ponies. Unlike a flock they didn’t fly together in formation. It was a midair jostle of traffic, weaving in and out amongst each other. Some would back suddenly, swooping inches by my wings. Young colts would spin and loop de loop trying to impress the fillies that were there.
I wished I had convinced Zephyr to just walk. But he insisted that seeing Santa was more important than our comfort. The more one suffered to see him the higher on the list they got. I didn’t remember that part but I wasn’t about to rain on his beliefs. They were equally important as dad had said.
As we grew closer to the mall the flock didn’t decrease as I hoped. It increased instead. They were so close, I could barely extend my wings . My brother didn’t seem bothered being part of the throng. He looked so excited for Santa it was like nothing else affected him. I envied him for that.
The mall was like a funnel as a large mass of pegasi pressed towards the front door. I wanted nothing to do with that mob so I looked for another entrance. But Zephyr had other plans grabbing me and using me as a blocker for him to get inside. I pulled my wings over my face to shut out the terror but luckily no pony was hurt.
We made it inside and I immediately uncurled, finding a corner to protect myself from the hoard. I turned to Zephyr, “Ok, all we have to do is see Santa and get out. It might be a little uncomfortable but I think we can manage if we-“
“We need to get ice cream!” My brother cried, sounding like he hadn’t heard a thing I said.
“Ice Cream? Zeph we can get ice cream after…”
“We always get ice cream before Santa. It’s tradition, Flutters.” He carelessly shifted into the tumult of pony bodies swarming the halls. I scrambled to stay close.
The going was nightmarishly slow. There were times I thought the minutes ticked backwards but luckily the crowds hadn’t trampled us-yet.
The ice cream vendor was in a small one pony booth in the middle of the mall. Luckily it being in the single digits meant there wasn’t much call for ice cream. The parlor keeper saw us and happily waved in our direction.
“Hey! Are you the stallion that still believes in Santa?” The salepony asked. Apparently he remembered Zephyr from last year.
“Which there is nothing wrong with,” I quickly interjected.
“Ha ha! I knew it. Hey guys, it’s him.” The vendor called out to a group of maintenance ponies who sauntered over.
“Have you been a good pony this year? Ha ha!”
“Let’s hope Santa doesn’t catch you awake. Ha ha!”
“You know he’s not re-“
“Enough!” I shouted at the brutish crowd. I looked them in the eye making it perfectly clear their behavior was not acceptable. “Don’t hassle ponies for what they believe!”
“Sure thing.”
“Sorry ma’am.”
“H-here is your ice cream,” the vendor said, giving Zephyr his vanilla cone. He looked completely unphased by their comments .
“Yay! Time for the train!” He shouted as I whirled away from the maintenance crew. Not the train. I glanced at the train line, it was double the length of the Santa line.
“Aren’t we a bit .. big for the train?” I asked, pointing at the small, uncomfortable train set that took foals to Santa.
“Flutters, you’re not that fat.”
“What?!”
“I know mares worry about their size and you might have gotten a little fluffy but not that big.” Zephyr grabbed my hoof as I was stunned and pulled me towards the line.
Then it happened. A quick announcement, “The Gametrough has opened. Come get the best card game in the galaxy, Ponymon Blue.”
The entire mall opened the floodgates of ponies. There was so much commotion I thought an earthquake was ripping our cloud-made city in half. Though earthquakes don’t actually affect the clouds.
Still a deluge of excited pegasi rushed over us and around us. I couldn’t tell which way was up. I couldn’t see any pony I knew. I was pulled towards the dreaded game store. I couldn’t stand, I was carried by the many wings and hooves of excitement. I vainly put my hoof out, hoping some pony would grab it. If they pulled me into that store I could be killed or talked into buying that game.
My hoof felt nothing but the rush of air as the crowd surged forward. Then something solid touched it. A pillar? A savior? I couldn’t tell I just held onto it with all my might.
Slowly I was being lifted by whatever I was holding. The crowd was roaring underneath me. I looked up to see a very sweaty, straining Zephyr, desperately trying to hold me up in the air. He never did those exercises he swore he’d do.
My wings opened and I helped my brother free ourselves from the mob. He looked ill. But smiled when we finally landed.
“Gotta … stick … together… Flutters…” he wheezed. “Hope … Santa … saw that.”
“I’m sure he did, Zephyr. Thank you.” It was the first time he ever tried to help me when I needed him to.
“Sure… what are … brothers … for…” He winced as he walked on his forehooves and we returned to the train line, which had thankfully thinned.
As always we had trouble with the train. It was made to hold foals after all, not two full grown ponies. The “conductor” had to turn it up to full power to get it to move at a crawling pace. Foals groaned as did the train’s wheels. I hoped I didn't get stuck in the small cart I sat in. I could feel the sides of the metal box pressing into my flanks.
Zephyr seemed like a ball of excitement. I think some of the foals were less enthusiastic than he was. The train tooted on cue as we passed the line for Santa. We would have easily made it in half the time had we stood there.
A large Hearth’s Warming tree, which was part of the display, slowly moved aside to reveal to us the stallion of holly himself. Standing tall at the end of the tracks was Santa, somehow larger than life. He waved to those of us on the train and Zephyr nearly toppled off waving back to him.
As we got closer I noticed the Santa here had quite a few flaws. His beard wasn’t as well kept, and hung a little lopsided on his face. His hat was a different red than his suit. And stranger than that was the feeling that I knew the true pony underneath. The way he held himself was scarily familiar.
As the train slowed it finally dawned on me who he was. It was my father! Why was he playing Santa? Was this his plan to tell Zephyr the truth? If Zephyr realized it was him, maybe he would finally understand that Santa was more of a concept rather than a physical pony. A being that acted through us all to bring hope, joy, and goodwill to everypony during this season. Would he be able to handle that truth?
“Santa!” He cried, oblivious to the secret underneath. “I’ve been extra good this year and have a pretty long list. More mane care products, and tanning supplies. A Nintendo 64, a a-“
He stopped, looking directly into our father’s face. My father adjusted his beard a little timidly. Did he finally notice? Was he ready to accept the truth?
“You know…” he finally said, after an eternity. “I saw you kissing my mother last year.”
