The holidays have arrived once again, both in Mobius and Equestria alike!
With Opaline defeated and sealed away in a normal horse body, and Eggman taking care of her as his community service during his time in prison, our group of heroes could rest assured that no villain would interrupt their holiday season this time, and with the multiverse being stable, Dandelion had no business on interrupting them, either.
And no, I didn't jinxed anything, there's seriously no bad guy in this story, just your classic holiday tale!
However, there is a little twist this time around: This is the very first holiday season that the Mane 6 will be spending in Mobius, something they definitely own to the Mobians themselves after they had to spend their last three holidays in Equestria. Not that the Mobians minded, but they would've be lying if the say they didn't missed their home a tiny bit.
Speaking of the Mobians, they decided to go in advance to their home dimension to start and prepare it all for the first holiday ever the ponies would have out of Equestria. Since the celebration would be on Tails' workshop in Mobius (hence why the portal to pass from Equestria to Mobius is located there), Team Sonic started to work hard so they could have the decorations in place, while Rouge and Omega went out to get some extra decorations.
As for Shadow? He went to wander around. He's never been a fan of the holidays, but he's highly considering joining this year simply because Sunny's gonna be there.
Right now, Team Sonic was in the workshop's biggest room, trying to put together the Christmas tree with decorations around that not only represented the Mobians, but the ponies as well: Decorations with the shape of Sonic's shoes, blue ribbons and wreath to represent Sonic; Tails' tails, yellow ribbons and wreath for Tails; Knuckles' gloves, red ribbons and wreath for Knuckles; Amy's hammer, pink ribbons and wreath for Amy, and the Mane 6's Cutie Marks turned into decorations, as well as their respective colors, to represent them.
To mention some other decorations around the workshop: Decorations that represent the colors of the Mane 6, Team Sonic and Team Dark; shiny spheres made by Izzy with each one's name; red and green garlands representing classic Christmas colors; gold ornaments brought from Zephyr Heights to give some familiarity to Zipp and Pipp; photos with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Longclaw, Amy, Cream, Vanilla, the Chaotix, and even Blaze from Christmas past to the trip to Equestria; inflatable Santa Claus dolls and reindeer to decorate more; and lights that decorated the entrance to Tails' workshop.
Soon, we see Knuckles holding the tree in place while Tails is finishing up the decorations around, with Amy checking from below that everything was on place as she rubbed her chin and instructed Tails where everything has to go. And what about Sonic? He's in the basement, looking for the 5 giant metallic pieces that keep the tree in place so Knuckles can let it go without letting the tree fall to the ground.
"Hmm... A little bit to the left, Tails," Amy said, as Tails was moving around to place a pink sphere with Amy's name on it over the tree. "No, no, my left, that is your right." Tails rolled his eyes, but obeyed and moved to his right as Amy said. "There! That spot's perfect!" She called out with a smile.
'Thank Chaos!' Tails thought with another eye roll. "How are you doing down here, Knux?"
"Eh, I'm fine," Knuckles shrugged with a deadpan. "But I wouldn't mind if SOMEONE got here a little FASTER!"
"Give Sonic a brake, Knuckles," Amy pointed out with a little smile. "Despite everything, his right arm is still healing, so it's normal it takes him time to lift some heavy stuff on his own."
"Then why wouldn't he ask for help?" Knuckles pointed out confused and annoyed.
"I think he wants to prove that he's recovering his strength," Tails pointed out. "I mean, if you lost the ability to carry things around for a full year and some extra months, wouldn't you like to show that you're recovering?"
Knuckles' eyes widened after hearing that, and then he look down in thought and concern, before sighing defeated. "Okay, yeah. You have a really good point, Tails. Still, what's taking him so long? Even I know the tree's stand isn't that heavy."
"Knuckles, you have super strength, he doesn't," Amy deadpanned.
"Excuses," Knuckles said with a frown, making Amy facepalm and Tails smirk while he shook his head.
"Guys!" Sonic's voice finally called out, as he kicked the basement's door to open it and entered the living room, dragging the five metallic pieces that keep the tree in place, but also a box that was over the pieces. "Sorry I took so long, but you'll never guess what I found down there!"
"A stack of Chilidogs you probably forgot to eat?" Tails asked with a mocking smirk.
"No, and even if I did, I wouldn't eat food that's three years old," Sonic said with a cringed expression. "I know I have a sick obsession with Chilidogs, but I'm not that sick!"
"Let me doubt it," Knuckles rolled his eyes.
Sonic rolled his eyes as well, then changed the subject. "Anyway. What I actually found, besides the tree's stand, is a box with Christmas suits I haven't seen in years!"
"The what now?/Really?!/No way!" Knuckles, Amy and Tails all said, with the two latter ones moving to the box, while Sonic approached to the tree and Knuckles with the tree's stand.
As Amy and Tails opened the box Sonic talked about, they gasped surprised. "O. M. G!" Amy exclaimed, pulling out a green dress with white boards, yellow curves and a candy cane on the bottom. "I haven't seen this dress in years! I didn't knew you kept this with you, Tails!"
"I didn't remembered!" Tails confessed with an awkward chuckle, before he gasped as he pulled out a green outfit with a red neck, white buttons and a black belt. "Oh, this is my elf costume! I wonder if it still fits me..."
"You'll never know until you try it out," Knuckles said with a smirk as he approached along Sonic and playfully messed up with Tails' hair, before he looked at the box and gasped, pulling out a diadem with reindeer horns stick on it. "My reindeer horns from my costume! I never thought I'll see this again!" He exclaimed, then proceed to try it on, and it still fit him perfectly, which made him smirk. "Still the perfect fit for me!"
"Boy oh boy, is my Snowdrift costume!" Sonic said excited, almost getting inside the box and pulling out a red coat with white-puffy zones, and golden boarders. The inside of the coat was green. "I think this still fits me!"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Tails called out suddenly. "We're all thinking what we're all thinking, right?"
"Put these costumes on so we can give our pony guests the best Christmas, or whatever they called it at this point, they'd ever had?" Sonic asked with a smirk. "Oh yes, yes we are!"
With that being said, they proceed to put their Christmas costumes on. Sonic first put over a dark red long sleeved shirt, before put on the red coat, then put on some gloves with golden upper part; a white bowtie with red lines; a red Santa hat that also got a golden crown over it; and long red boots with golden soles.
Tails put on the elf costume, as well as white gloves that actually fit him perfectly; an a green Christmas hat with a red bottom part. Knuckles put over a brown long-sleeved shirt with white buttons, a white neck and a black belt.
Finally, Amy first put over short sleeved red shirt before putting over the green dress she found in the box. She changed her usual diadem for a green one that had a green ribbon on top. And finally, she put over a pair of green boots with black sole, two cotton candy in front and red ribbons, as well as long socks with white, red and green patterns.
"Aw, man! We're looking good!" Sonic said, as he and the rest of his team looked at themselves on a mirror. "I wonder why from all the stuff that the Unity Crystals conveniently teleported from Mobius to Equestria, our Christmas outfits were not one of those things!"
"Because this special wasn't even planned," Tails pointed out. "It all depends on what the author wants for the story."
And I thank you for understanding that, Tails.
"Fourth wall brakes aside, we're rocking this outfits!" Knuckles said with a smile, wrapping his arms around Sonic and Tails. "As simple as some might be, they look good and that's what matters!"
"My, my! Is that something smart coming out of you, Knuckles?" Rouge spoke mockingly, as she and Omega arrived at the workshop with new ornaments.
Rouge was wearing a variant of her usual clothes. Her boots were now red with white, just as her wings and her gloves, while the pink spot of her dress was now red. As for Omega? He simply wore a Santa Claus hat.
"Ugh, I should've known our peace wouldn't last long..." Knuckles deadpanned.
"Just in time, Rouge! You guys got what's left of decorations to make this place rock?!" Sonic asked her with a smirk.
"Oh, please, honey, no matter how small or big the job is, I get it done~" Rouge said with a flirtatious smile. "And you should've told me we were gonna match outfits this year!"
"What, this old thing?" Sonic pointed to his Snowdrift costume as he grabbed Rouge's hand and started to act more sassy around her. "I'm just showing off my Christmas spirit! I mean, if I'm gonna celebrate the holidays, I gotta do it with style!"
"Oh, you speak my language, Sonic!" Rouge said with a smile.
"You two act like the most sassiest people I've ever known..." Knuckles groaned with annoyance.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Knuckie, is our fashion too much for you?" Rouge teased him with a wink, making him growl in anger.
"Let him be, Rouge," Sonic said. "He's too busy thinking on what to give to Izzy, and worrying about what severe punishment the Master Emerald is putting on him for quitting guarding it!"
As he said that entire last sentence, Sonic went even more dramatic and pretended to fain on Rouge's arms while pulling his tongue out, making Rouge fake cry his "faint", and also making Knuckles growl even more as red sparkles came out of his body.
"Uh, Knux? Could you calm down, please?" Tails requested nervously. "I don't want random Chaos Energy flying around and making a fire that ruins it all."
Realizing his words, Knuckles managed to do so by taking a deep breath and then sighing. "Alright, fine. Let's finish up decorating to get our guests properly."
"And then you'll look after that gift for Izzy?" Sonic teased, as he lay on Rouge's shoulder, while Rouge herself was smirking with her arms crossed.
"NAME HER AGAIN, AND PIPP WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR ANY STALLION, HEDGEHOG!" Knuckles threatened, before Amy came by and grabbed him from his quills, pulling him away while he complained in pain.
"Let's get working, Knuckles!" Amy scolded, while Knuckles kept complaining because of the pain, and Sonic and Rouge bursted out laughing at him.
One hour later, the entire workshop was fully decorated, and now the Mobians were ready.
"Well, I gotta say it! We really have outdone ourselves this time!" Sonic said with a smile, appreciating the decorations.
Right after saying this, the group heard the portal machine, located behind them, turning on and making beeping sounds, so when they turned around, they saw that a white light was trying to ignite and become bigger.
"And just in time, too," Tails said with a smile. "They're here already!"
"Alright gang, remember: This will be their first Holiday in a new dimension, so let's make sure that they feel welcome!" Sonic stated with a smirk, as the others nodded in agreement.
With that being said, the white light in the machine finally grew and became a portal. From said portal, six ponies and a baby dragon came out.
Sunny was wearing a pink winter hat with snowflakes in the front of it and a yellow scarf; Hitch had a green with orange scarf and aquamarine earmuffs; Sparky had the same gear he wore on his first Winter Wishday ever; Izzy wore blue socks with snowflakes draws on front and pink earmuffs; Misty had a green scarf with blue lines and a red winter hat; Zipp had a blue scarf with yellow curves and yellow earmuffs; and Pipp had a purple winter hat with snowflakes and pink socks with purple stripes.
Hitch was also dragging along a cart that had many gifts, pretty much gifts for the ponies' Mobian friends.
As soon as the ponies arrived, Sonic immediately went to wrap Sunny and Pipp into a big hug, with Amy soon following to hug Pipp as well. Tails did the exact same with Zipp and Misty, while Knuckles also went to hug Izzy, Hitch and Sparky, all of them welcoming them to their dimension.
"I'm so happy we get to spend the holidays together again!" Sunny said with a smile and a squeal. "I know that whatever you guys have in store for us is gonna be great!"
"Oh, we made plans, already!" Tails said with a smile. "And we'll talk about them with you all, but first, let's put yourselves comfortable! I prepared a room and everything!"
"Aw, you didn't had to, babe!" Zipp said happily, nuzzling onto him.
"Of course I had to!" Tails replied. "You're staying with us for the holidays. You're our special guests! And besides..." He quickly boosted to his workshop's ceiling and grabbed a cable and an electric extension. "We gotta celebrate this Holiday season like we never celebrated before!"
With that being said, Tails connected the cable to the extension, turning on the lights around the workshop and giving it the proper Christmas cabin look that he wanted it to have, amazing his friends in the process.
"Little bro, you never cease to surprise me!" Sonic said with a proud smile.
"Thanks!" Tails said, flying down and landing in front of the workshop. "So? What are you guys waiting for? We got holidays to celebrate!"
Everybody else cheered loudly after hearing that, following Tails inside of the building to get ready for their first Holiday together in another dimension.
Once Tails guided the ponies to their room, which was a really big guest room with 6 beds that he personalized for each of them (I won't bother on describe them, use you imagination goddammit), the group split up in their own small formed groups so they could all go and do the activities they planned together.
The mares of the group did used Tails' Mobian Transformative Substance and switched to have a Mobian form, though, because the mares themselves didn't wanted to drag so much attention, even though their friends assured them there was no problem on them remaining ponies, yet they insisted on switching up. Once they did, they split up already.
First off, Sonic and Tails are gonna do their holiday activities from Mobius, and this year along Sunny since she's their adopted sister now. Next, we have Hitch and Knuckles making the Christmas dinner while Sparky will be their "tester". Next Izzy, Misty, Rouge and Omega will try to find something valuable to sell and use said money to buy some more gifts for those around Mobius that might need it. And finally, Amy and the princesses are gonna shop in Station Square's mall for some more presents for their friends.
Speaking of them, that's exactly where Amy's taking the sisters right now, as she drives on her car - the Pink Cabriolet - while Zipp just leaned on the front sit of the car and Pipp kept looking around amazed, also taking picture with her phone whenever she could.
"Pretty impressive, right?" Amy asked Pipp after a while with a smile. "Mobius has pretty amazing a beautiful sights that you cannot find in Equestria."
"Oh, and you're so right about that, Ames!" Pipp said with excitement, sitting down again on her place and checking her phone. "I've seen so may beautiful places already! Green Hills, Angel Island, Ice Cap, Windy Valley... It's so much, and I know already we haven't seen it all!"
"Well, if you liked all of that, then you're gonna love this!" Amy assured with a smile, looking ahead at a big city which's lights were growing brighter, and its presence began to look imposing.
Zipp, who was wearing sunglasses, had to take them off as she stared at Station Square's image with wide eyes and her jaw almost dropped. Pipp had a similar reaction, but she wasted no time in starting to take pictures of the city ahead.
"Now you girls can say 'whoa'," Amy mocked up with a smirk.
"Whoa!" Both princesses said in amusement.
"This is the place where Sonic fought that giant water creature?!" Pipp asked amazed. "Chaos, right?"
"Indeed!" Amy replied with a smile. "Is also the place that Tails protected from getting blown up by Eggman. And it also is the place that lead me to meet an old friend we haven't known about for years. I hope he's okay... But in the meantime, I'm gonna show you two Mobius' biggest city!"
The two princesses cheered loudly after Amy declared that, and so, she accelerated towards Station Square.
Once the three girls arrived in there, Amy guided them across her old home and all the big shops the city had.
She showed the girls parts of Casinopolis, Speed Highway, Twinkle Park, and even Emerald Coast, which despite being covered in snow this time of the year, it still looked great, or at least Pipp find it beautiful despite being a beach covered by snow.
Once Amy finished her little tour, the three girls went ahead to the main mall in order to finally make their shopping: Pipp bought for herself some new winter clothes to bend in better with the Mobians; Zipp found a really advanced and decorated Magnifying Glass that she didn't doubt to bought; and Amy showed the princesses the mall's biggest clothes shop, which was making Pipp going crazy, while Zipp at first was not so interested until Amy shown her the male section of clothes, where she found so many ones that caught her interest, so she didn't doubted a second on buying them.
Is it weird that these two are buying so many Mobian clothes when they're gonna turn back into ponies that very same night? Not really if you consider that this won't be their last time in Mobius, and probably it won't be their last time turning Mobians, either.
As they left the clothes shop, the sisters had a change of clothes. Zipp was now wearing a light blue coat with white and yellow stripes, brown gloves and, incidentally, after paying for the coat he painted his Cutie Mark on the back of it. For his part, Pipp bought a pink coat with blue stripes, light blue gloves and some earmuffs on which he drew his cutie mark after purchasing them.
"Well, I gotta say it, Amy: I'm really impressed with this shop!" Zipp admitted with an honest smile.
"Just impressed?! I can't even describe how I feel right now!" Pipp squealed like a filly, flapping her wings happily despite the fact that she really didn't needed to fly. "Why did it took us so damn long to come to Mobius, again?!"
"Ask Sonic that, not my fault!" Amy replied, as the three girls shared a laugh. "All seriousness, though, I'm glad you girls are liking it so far."
"Thanks for inviting us again, Amy," Pipp told her with a smile, then gasped as she remembered something. "Oh! You don't happen to know about any book store around, do you? Sonic's been talking non-stop about a book he's been trying to track down, yet haven't been able to do so. I'm planning to surprise him with said book exactly!"
"You mean the newest entry in 'Tales of the Golden Knight'?" Amy asked, to which Pipp nodded. "I still find it convenient that it spent on hiatus the same amount of time we were on Equestria... Oh well. I think there's a library on the upper floor. However, 'Tales of the Golden Knight' is a really beloved series, not only by Sonic, so if you find a copy, consider yourself lucky."
"That's precisely why I need to get the book! I know is the perfect gift for him!" Pipp said with a confident smile. "I know we're all gonna give our best into making our gifts be meaningful, but I think the gift he expects the most from is mine! So that's why I gotta get that book!"
"I... don't really think Sonic really minds that kind of stuff," Amy said with an awkward smile. "He's grateful no matter what you give, so I really doubt he's gonna make a whole drama wether you give him the book or not."
"A pair of shoes that Tails gave him on our first Holiday together says otherwise," Zipp pointed out with her arms crossed and a slight deadpan. "You've seen those new shoes Sonic uses now ever since the incident with Opaline and the whole multiverse? Sonic loved them from day one Tails give them to him, and he now wears them all the time."
Amy had no counter against that, so she simply looked at Zipp confused. "Huh... I guess Equestria changed him in more ways than I expected..."
"It did with all of you, I'll say!" Pipp said with a smile, hugging Amy from behind, making Amy giggle a bit.
"Well, while Pipp goes and gets her gift, I'm gonna look after a new drill for Tails," Zipp spoke. "Is a very weird one with a lot of new functionalities that Tails' hasn't stopped to talk about, so I figured I could buy him for him! I think it might be perfect gift!"
"Uh, can't Tails make his own tools with his powers?" Pipp pointed out confused.
"In theory, yes he can, but he says that this new drill has a functionality that he hasn't been able to replicate, not even with his own powers," Zipp explained, then smiled confidently. "So I'm gonna give him the drill and surprise him!"
"You too are going down the route of 'the perfect gift'?" Amy deadpanned again. "Well, Sonic might had changed on his taste with gifts, but Tails hasn't. He's gonna love whatever you buy him, since what matters to him is the intention."
"I know that, but I'm still gonna try to find that drill!" Zipp stated. "Pipp always has the perfect gift for everyp–– everybody every year, so trying to step up my game for Tails is gonna be a great challenge!"
"Ugh, you two are definitely sisters..." Amy sighed and facepalmed. "Alright, then. Suit yourself, girls. Oh, and Zipp? You may wanna hurry, 'cause the tools shop that's at the other side of the mall might close soon."
"What?!" Zipp screamed in panic. "Then I better hurry up! Uh, see ya later, girls! I gotta get that drill!"
With that being said, Zipp boosted away at top speed towards the tools shop, leaving Amy and Pipp alone with even her own shopping bags.
"She's gonna get an ugly surprise when she realizes that she left her own stuff..." Pipp deadpanned.
"Eh, I think we can both carry them to the library," Amy shrugged. "What worries me is that she realizes that the tool shop is on the opposite direction from where she went."
Pipp's eyes widened and facepalmed, while Amy nodded, as saying 'Yeah, I know'.
Meanwhile, back in Tails' workshop, the sibling trio was getting ready for their day.
As Tails helped Sunny to get used to her new body, since she was struggling a bit with her new legs, Sonic decided to spend some time on Tails' studio, looking down at a blank paper he was trying to fill with ideas. What kind of ideas? Well, we gotta share some context, first.
Is a secret to no one at this point that Sonic and Pipp are in love with each other, is it? The way they got worried over the other one, how they looked at each other, and even the slightest show of affection they did was enough to tell that they were soulmates. Destiny allowed Sonic to arrive into Equestria one day, just to meet his life-partner a day later, one that at first didn't liked him so much.
How the tables turn, huh? Life's full of mysteries, but one thing's for sure: It doesn't matter if the way these two fell for each other was fast and ridiculous, it's clear as water that they're perfect for each other.
In fact, Sonic loves her so much that even in her worries he's a match, because Pipp isn't the only one of the couple that's struggling to find a perfect gift. Yup, Sonic's on the same boat, because the paper he's trying to fill is with ideas of what the hell is he gonna get her for Christmas this year?
He has been able to top himself with each gift every passing year: On their first holiday together, his gift was their second kiss under the mistletoe; the second year his gift - as well as Tails' for Zipp - was a framed picture of the sisters when they were little along their parents.
Their father was a white pegasus with pink mane and gray streaks, green eyes like his youngest daughter's, and hooves that shine silver like his eldest daughter's. He also had a gray beard and, at least in the photo, he was wearing the crown with the Pegasus Crystal, while Haven was wearing the purple, fake version that she currently wears.
Turns out the reason why Haven never took off the Pegasus Crystal crown wasn't only to keep it close and safe, but also because it was the closest thing she had from him before he disappeared one day. Just as Longclaw lied to Sonic about his parents' fate, Haven did the same to their daughters and told them he abandoned them. Was it cruel? Yes, it was, but back then she found no better solution to handle the situation, and up to this day, she hasn't been able to tell them the truth.
Sonic knew, however, that their father meant a lot to Zipp and Pipp when they were fillies, which is why Tails and him agreed to get this as their girlfriends' gift for that second holiday, and as you already know, it worked out just fine.
Moving on to Sonic's third gift on their third vacation together, he managed to make an unmelting ice statue of Pipp thanks to the Chaos Emeralds, a statue which Pipp has since treasured with all her soul. Furthermore, since it does not melt, it is excellent when unbearable heat waves hit Maretime Bay, as it allows the group to cool off a little inside the Brighthouse.
So, as you can see, Sonic always manages to come on top with his gifts for his beloved Little Pipp every year, but this year he was having a hard time thinking on what to give her now. He didn't cared if this year's gift wouldn't surpass the last one's. In fact, he cares little to nothing about getting a better gift than last year's, that happened out of nowhere. He does care, though, into giving Pipp the perfect gift, since he's convinced she's so perfect for him that she deserves a gift just as perfect.
So that puts us back into square one: How can Sonic get the perfect gift for her this time around? Because he's honestly not getting anything so far, and that's a problem, because Christmas is that same night, and he's been thinking on what to give Pipp for Christmas this year ever since her birthday, which was back on October.
"Come on, Hedgehog, rack your brain!" Sonic told himself frustrated, since Christmas is literally around the corner and he still has nothing for the one girl he cares to get a gift for the most. "You don't have to remind me my situation, author!"
I'm just doing my job, leave me alone.
"Ugh... There has to be something, anything! I can't be out of ideas for Christmas presents! Not right now..." Sonic mumbled to himself. "I know that Pipp won't really mind whatever I give her, but come on, man! I'm her boyfriend! I cannot disappoint her with my gift 'cause I know she expects it to be as special as the previous ones!"
"Are you still gonna complain about how difficult it is for you to get a gift for your girlfriend, or can you finally leave with your brother and sister?" Knuckles' voice suddenly spoke.
This not only startled Sonic and made him yelp, but he also jumped on his seat and fell backwards on the ground.
"Knuckles! For the love of Chaos, don't scare me like that!" Sonic complained with a frown, standing up and cleaning off the dust of his body.
"I know I'm not beautiful for your pitiful standards, but I don't look that bad, man..." Knuckles deadpanned.
Sonic rolled his eyes. "Are Sunny and Tails ready to go?"
"Yeah, that's why I came here, to get you out so I can cook in peace with Hitch," Knuckles replied. "However, I couldn't help but hear you complaining. Still haven't got your 'perfect gift' for Pipp?"
Sonic sighed. "No. Christmas is tonight, I've got everything for the rest of you, and yet I can't think on something for her! My last three gifts were cool and meaningful, this one can't be the exception! What am I supposed to do?!"
"Take your weapons and retreat from the battle?" Knuckles replied sarcastically, earning a glare from the blue blur. "I'm just kidding, Hedgehog. In all seriousness, maybe try to look for an alternative to anything you had given her so far?"
To that, Sonic looked at Knuckles with a confused expression. "What do you think I've been trying to do for the last two months?!"
"You've been thinking on her Christmas gift ever since her birthday?" Knuckles questioned confused.
"I plan way too ahead of myself when it comes to her, okay?" Sonic replied with puffed cheeks and his arms crossed.
Knuckles couldn't help but snort since he never saw Sonic so flustered before, but another deadly glare from the hedgehog made the last echidna warrior clear his throat and focus again. "Let me rephrase what I said earlier: How about you forget about 'the perfect gift' thingy and just focus on making her happy with something she'd loved to have from you?"
"...Something she'd loved to have from me?" Sonic asked, but instead of feeling confused, he was rather curious on Knuckles' words. "Can't you get deeper in the subject?"
"Remember everything she and you have experienced together since you met, both the good and the bad," Knuckles began to explain. "Your mind will take you on a kind of astral journey of two real seconds, but for you it will feel as if they were the most beautiful compilation of your moments together in the world. At some point, that compilation will hit your brain with a memory that will finally awaken that inspiration that will lead you to buy the precious gift you are looking for for Pipp."
After Knuckles said all of that, Sonic was left speechless as he stared at the echidna with wide eyes and his jaw dropped. "Whoa... I sometimes keep forgetting that you're not a Knucklehead at all..."
Knuckles deadpanned. "And this is precisely why I never open up with you about anything," He rolled his eyes annoyed. "Just relax, Hedgehog. I'm pretty sure you'll get what you're looking for over the course of the day! But until then, don't be a drama king! You'll eventually find your 'perfect gift' for Pipp."
"For my own sake, and for Pipp's happiness, I really hope you're right, Knucklehead..." Sonic replied with a sigh. "Well, then. I better get going, 'cause I've made Tails and Sunny wait up for me long enough."
"Good luck on your little journey," Knuckles made a salute, as Sonic trotted off the studio. "And remember to let your brain show you what to get for Pipp!"
"Whatever, Knuckles!" Sonic shouted, making Knuckles roll his eyes annoyed again.
Still, the echidna shrugged and moved towards the kitchen, since both Hitch and Sparky were already there, waiting for him to join them so they could start cooking the Christmas dinner.
With the siblings out, it was time for them to have some bonding time.
Now that Sunny was a Mobian, wearing the exact same outfit than her human counterpart but with winter gear, she was ready to be a part of Sonic and Tails' holiday traditions as their new adopted sister.
"Well, Sunny, let me now officially welcome you to our little traditional trip across the glove!" Sonic started with a smirk.
"You already knew about the tree and the lantern in Longclaw's honor, but we had other stuff we couldn't do because, well, you already know," Tails said with a sheepish smile, before smiling normally again. "But now that you're joining us this year, I'm convinced this is gonna be our best Christmas ever!"
"Or Wishday, if you still want to call it like that," Sonic stated.
"I don't really care how we call it, so long as we stay the three of us together!" Sunny said with a smile, wrapping her newfound arms around her brothers. "So what's first on the list?"
"Why only share a part of the list when we can share it all?" Tails asked with a smirk.
"Wait, you actually made a list this time around?" Sonic asked confused.
Tails fake gasped after hearing that. "Sonic! The question's offending me!" He said, before smirking again and unrolling a paper that wasn't too long, but it definitely had listed out everything. "Of course I did!"
"Why am I not surprised?" Sonic deadpanned.
"First of all, we're gonna start strong by snowboarding down the mountain!" Tails began to list.
"YES!" Sunny cheered loudly with a huge smile.
"Second, we're gonna participate on a snowball fight with the Chaotix on their place, and this year we can finally be three against three again!" Tails cheered, as he kept listing stuff. "Third, we're gonna participate on a Christmas meal cooking competition!"
"We pretty much lost every year, even with Longclaw at our side, but we have one of the best chefs in Equestria as our sister now!" Sonic cheered while wrapping an arm around Sunny. "I'm convinced we can win with you on our team, Sunny-bunny!"
"And I won't disappoint you, guys!" Sunny declared with a confident smirk.
"And finally, to finish up our entire trip before coming home, we're heading to an amusement park called White Park, which pretty much only opens on winter..." Tails kept going.
"It also was invaded by Eggman once, so some attractions use old badniks that don't work anymore..." Sonic pointed out. "But don't worry! We're gonna be just fine!"
"Okay..." Sunny said, looking around confused. "An amusement park previously invaded by Eggman only gives off red flags, but whatever. Out if that, I definitely like the way you guys think! So, when are we getting started?"
"Glad you ask, Sunny!" Sonic declared, as he boosted away.
"Right now!" Tails stated, grabbing Sunny from her hand and pulling her away, which made Sunny yelp surprised.
Around 10 minutes later, the siblings arrived into Ice Cap on Angel Island, with all of them standing over their winter skateboards that matched their skin colors and either had their faces printed or, in Sunny's case, her Cutie Mark.
As they put over their helmets for protection, the three of them looked with smirks before letting loose themselves as they started to descend the mountain on their boards.
Sunny:
What a day
Magic everywhere
Izzy:
Snowflakes in the air!
Sunny:
I wanna share it with you
As the three of them descended the mountains at top speed, or at the very least going as fast as each of them wanted to, Sonic and Sunny made some tricks around and even twirled their boards in the air everytime they jumped to make more adrenaline rush across their bodies.
Meanwhile, Tails only limited himself to enjoy the cold breeze to hit the little exposed fur he had to sense that freedom that skateboarding gives to anyone that can at the very least keep their board under control.
It's time to celebrate
To jingle all the way
Izzy:
Oh, there's so much we can do!
At one point, however, Sunny did a bad move to the fact that she's still getting used to walk with her newfound legs, and that single move made her crash with both Sonic and Tails, making the three of them fall from their boards.
Pipp:
Reaching for rainbows
Spreading good cheer
This also made the three of them to start rolling down the mountain together and make a giant snowball that only kept growing bigger and bigger the more it rolled down.
Zipp:
Cherish the moment
Winter Wishday is here
It eventually came to a stop and exploded, leaving even more snow on the foot of the mountain, while Sonic, Tails and Sunny popped their heads up from the ball, then Sunny and Tails looked over at Sunny, who blushed embarrassed and chuckled sheepishly.
Sunny, Pipp & Zipp:
Family and friends
And good times with you
It's the best thing to do
Sonic and Tails then looked at each other, before grinning and nodding, looking back at Sunny and then tackling her to the ground to tickle her as a 'punishment', but they just wanted to mess with her for fun, and it was definitely working, because she was laughing non-stop because of her brothers' ticklish attack.
Mane 6 & Team Sonic:
'Cause all I want to do is
Celebrate with you
Because I love you
From my heart to your hooves
Later on, the siblings went to the Chaotix's place, but they were received by a massive snow fortress in front of their cottage, and then almost got hit with snowballs when the Chaotix themselves came from behind the fortress and began to them against the siblings.
The three of them hid behind a bunch of snow, but they all looked at each other at first with concern, then with smirks. They proceed to quickly make a bunch of snowballs and put them in a row, then Sonic looked back at the Chaotix's fort and noticed that Charmy was popping his head up.
The siblings took advantage of this and decided that it was time for them to launch their attack, with Tails exposing himself and his tails, while Sonic and Sunny began to place snowballs on his tails and he propelled them to launch them at the fort and at the Chaotix. When the detective trio noticed this, they ducked down and covered themselves, although Vector did got hit on his shoulder.
We're making memories
Everypony
The holidays are here
It's the sweetest time of the year
This definitely marked the game on, and so, the two trios began their snowball fight to defeat the other group at whatever cost. Tails kept launching snowballs with his tails, Sunny launched them from behind their own snow shield and Sonic was creating the snowballs for their team. Meanwhile, Vector and Charmy launched snowballs from the top of their fort, while Espio made himself invisible and tried to approach the other team's side carefully by ducking down and dodging snowballs whenever he could.
One problem, though: He was leaving his footsteps on the snow, which allowed Sunny to smirk and hit him with several snowballs, because he revealed his position.
With that, Espio was out and Sonic's team was winning, but then it went back to a tie when Charmy launched two snowballs that hit Tails and knocked him down on the snow.
Sunny:
So much fun
A holly jolly time
Vector and Charmy started to laugh their asses off, while Sonic and Sunny gasped at this, so they looked at each other and went ahead to use their secret weapon: Sonic ran around in circles to make a little snow tornado, while Sunny used her Alicorn magic to give form to the snow and make a giant snowball.
Amy:
A joyful Wishentine
I wanna spend it with you
With the big snowball ready, they launched it against Vector and Charmy with all their strength. Meanwhile, Vector and Charmy were still laughing, but they stopped as soon as they noticed how dark it suddenly got, so they turned around and their eyes widened when they saw that a gigantic snowball was heading towards them like a meteorite falling to earth. . Charmy screamed in panic and hid her head in his helmet, while Vector just saluted and accepted his fate, with him and Charmy getting completely covered in the snow ball.
Seeing that their plan worked, and Tails even getting out of his 'killed state', the siblings all cheered loudly at their victory, while the Chaotix one by one popped their heads out of the snow, Espio even coughing some snow and yucking.
Now, the siblings went to a cooking competition against Vanilla, Cream and Chao.
They were really good adversaries to beat, and even if Cream's in good terms with Tails at this point, she still wants to get some revenge on him for how he treated her when Sonic disappeared and Tails pretty much became an asshole for 6 months.
Tails himself knew this was gonna be a hard competition, but Sunny herself assured him that this would work out just fine, even if they were gonna compete against talented chefs. After all, they were cooking cookies, which Sunny found pretty easy to do thanks to Grandma Figgie's help.
Hitch:
Reaching for rainbows
Misty:
Spreading good cheer
Sonic & Tails:
Cherish the moment
It's the best time of year
So, once the competition started, Sunny began by putting a mix together and quickly mixing it even more, while Sonic and Tails helped out by repeating the exact same process than her to not mess it up like other years.
Knuckles:
Family and friends
Izzy:
And all pony kind
Mane 6 & Team Sonic:
Let's have a good time
Once the three mixes were ready, they combined them all in a bigger bowl. Judging by how the mix looked the exact same but bigger, Sonic and Tails guessed they did a good job, and Sunny congratulated them. Next, they purred the mix into different molds for the cookies.
'Cause all I want to do is
Celebrate with you
Because I love you
From my heart to your hooves
They then waited around 7 to 8 minutes for the cookies to cook, and once they were ready, Sunny pulled them out to allow Sonic and Tails to decorate the cookies. They had gingerbread man cookies, snowmen, Christmas trees, reindeers and Santa Clauses.
We're making memories
Everypony
The holidays are here
It's the sweetest time of the year
With the cookies done, and with Vanilla's team being done as well, the two teams delivered the cookies to the judges as they took them and tasted them, while Sonic and Tails hugged each other nervously for the results.
(Hoof to hoof, hoof to hoof)
The sweetest time of the year
(Hoof to hoof, hoof to hoof)
The sweetest time of the year
In the end, though, Sonic's team won the competition, and Sonic and Tails immediately went over to hug their sister for helping them win this time around, while Vanilla and Cream congratulated them for their victory, although the former did warned she planned to win on the rematch the next year.
After the cooking competition was done, the siblings were now walking into White Park to get into the attractions, wearing golden medals on their necks with a chef hat that they earned for winning the cooking competition.
"I still can't believe we actually managed to defeat Cream and Vanilla!" Sonic said with a huge grin. "I knew that you'll be our key for victory, Sunny-bunny!"
"Aw, come on, I'm pretty sure you two would've been great without me if you choose to practice a little!" Sunny said with a little smile. "I was just a little push in the right direction for you two."
"Don't be so humble, Sunny!" Tails told her with a smile. "If not for you, we would've lost again! And we're serious about that!"
"Whatever you say, guys," Sunny rolled her eyes with a smirk. "I'm still convinced that you two only need more practice."
"We thought that with Longclaw everytime we lost, and we just kept loosing," Sonic pointed out. "You, little sis, are out lucky charm, wether you like it or not!"
Sunny rolled her eyes again and shook her head, although she conserved her smile. "If you say so."
"If you think that all we've done it's been cool, then just you wait now that we're at White Park!" Tails stated. "The roller coasters, the bumper cars, the Chao races! Well, that last one's exciting depending on who you ask it to, but it may interest you!"
"And I'm seeing the line for the go-karts getting quite big!" Sonic said, as he boosted away towards it.
"Hey, Sonic, wait! We're supposed to choose which attraction to go together!" Tails said, propelling his tails and boosting towards him.
Sunny giggled at their attitude and let out a sigh... One that shifted her happy mood to one full of guilt. She hasn't said anything so far because she didn't wanted to ruin the day for Sonic and Tails, but she's been feeling kind of guilty ever since they started with this entire trip.
A part of her feels she's dishonoring her dad by switching her usual traditions with the ones from her newfound siblings, but then again: The last thing she wants to do is disrespect them or disappoint them, so she keeps those feelings just for herself. She knows that Sonic and Tails would assure her is okay to feel like this, but she seriously didn't wanted to ruin this for them...
Guess she's too similar with Sonic on that: Always thinking about others' feelings first before her own.
She sighed and let aside those thoughts. Maybe she could talk about them with Sonic and Tails later, but right now? She needed to focus and go along her brothers, since they were waiting for her inside the park.
Back in Tails' workshop, Knuckles was gathering all the ingredients for all the dishes Hitch and him would cook for the Christmas dinner.
"...Oil, peppers, barbecue sauce, apples, salt, carrots..." Knuckles listed out as he went over the ingredients list for the third time over the past hour, which made Hitch deadpan as he looked at the echidna with a bored expression.
"Knuckles, I think you checked over the ingredients enough times already," Hitch confessed. "We have it all! We can start cooking now, so you don't need to worry!"
"Then why are we missing a bowl full of apples?" Knuckles asked, still looking at his list but also pointing at an empty bowl that was supposed to have apples.
Hitch's eyes widened when he realized this, then heard chomping noises and deadpanned, looking down to his side to find Sparky chomping happily on an apple while not even noticing Hitch's look over him.
"Sparky..." Hitch called out, and Sparky's eyes widened, then he slowly looked at his father's glare and smiled sheepishly, before slowly putting down the apple.
"Sorry?" Sparky said and chuckled sheepishly.
"At least you apologize now," Knuckles crossed his arms and shook his head, disappointed. "It is good you're learning to talk, young man, 'cause now you can explain why you took those apples without asking!"
"Uh... I was... hungry?" Sparky replied, still smiling and chuckling sheepishly.
"Sparky, what have we talked about? If you want some food..." Hitch began to scold him.
"Ask for it..." Sparky replied after letting out a resigned sigh. "Sorry, Uncle Knuckles..."
The last echidna warrior had to gather strength from not even he knows where to not fall on his knees and cry a river, because everytime Sparky called him 'Uncle Knuckles', his heart jumped with too much joy for even him to contain it. Still, he managed to keep himself together.
"Next time just ask me and I'll bake something quick for you," Knuckles said with a bored expression. "But now I gotta see where the heck do I even get more apples for the apple pie we were supposed to cook..."
Right after he said that, Sparky couldn't help but burp, and then, he let out his dragon fire, which travelled from one side of the room to the other, until it hit a bunch of rusty screws and transformed them into apples.
"...Sparky, you're quite the strange, yet very interesting fella," Knuckles confessed. "One second, I'm completely mad at you because you ate something, and the next I love you because your magic fire restored that something by transforming something else... How do you do it?!"
"...Because I'm adorable?" Sparky replied.
"That has to be the greatest response I'd ever heard," Hitch said with a smirk, also patting Sparky's head with a hoof.
"Agreed," Knuckles nodded. "Well, then. Let's not hold ourselves back anymore, and let's get started with our cooking!" He declared, as he brought out a chef hat and put it over, while he removed his boxing gloves and replaced them with regular ones.
Hitch followed along by removing his Sheriff belt and putting over a chef hat as well. "So what's up on tonight's menu, deputy?"
"There's a lot I gotta cook up, Sheriff," Knuckles replied with a confident smirk. "I've got an exquisite entrance with Cheese Fingers you can bath in any type of sauce that you want! And if you feel that's not enough, well, I've got some puff pastry Christmas tree with spinach and cheese as an extra!"
"So we're going for quite a cheesy entrance, huh? I like it!" Hitch said with a smile, while Sparky's eyes were sparkling, as he also nodded in agreement to Hitch's statement and then licked his lips.
"Once the entrance is over, we go to the actual dinner!" Knuckles declared. "I've got a full list of delicious dishes: Lombarda with pomegranate; buttered lobster tails; Christmas fruit salad; green bean and mushroom casserole; goat cheese with nuts..."
As Knuckles kept listing all the dishes for the dinner, both Hitch and Sparky were licking their lips just by imagining all they would eat that same night. Hitch's mouth was even watering at this point.
"...Mashed potatoes with garlic, some Chilidogs for Sonic..." Knuckles kept listing, rolling his eyes annoyed after reading that last one. "Roasted ham, and lamb chops with honey and mustard. And finally, an Apple Pie for the dessert! Why and Apple Pie? No reason, just feel like it to cook some for dessert."
"Mm-mm! Everything sounds delightful! My mouth's watering just by hearing those names!" Hitch said happily with sparkling eyes.
"My tummy hurts by thinking on eating that much food..." Sparky said. "But it's the kind of pain that's worth it!"
"For once, I gotta agree, Mr. Sparkeroni," Hitch said with a smile, but then his eyes widened as he realized something. "Wait... Knuckles, what were the last two things you listed?"
Knuckles raised an eye confused, then read the list again. "Uh... Roasted ham, and lamb chops with honey and mustard?"
"Ham? Lamb chops?!" Hitch shouted in shock, while Sparky looked at his father confused.
"Yeah?" Knuckles replied awkwardly, looking around confused. "What's wrong with all of that?"
"That's meat!" Hitch pointed out. "Knux, I'm a pony! Ans so are Sunny, Misty, Zipp, Pipp... and Izzy! We cannot eat meat!"
"I know, the ham and the lamb chops are for me, my friends, Shadow and Rouge," Knuckles pointed out. "We're animals that can and will eat meat. We've been doing it for ages!"
"B-But not in front of us!" Hitch pointed out.
"...Hitch, what do you think Sonic's Chilidogs are made of? Both in Mobius and Equestria?" Knuckles deadpanned.
Hitch's eyes widened even more after the sudden realization hit him. "I... I think I need to use the bathroom..."
He then proceed to rush to the bathroom and slam the door closed. Then, after two or three minutes, both Sparky and Hitch could hear Maretime Bay's Sheriff throwing up in the toilet.
"My gosh, he's weak..." Knuckles deadpanned. "Eh, he'll get over it. The others know as far as I know and never though of it as a big deal."
"What's meat?" Sparky suddenly asked, kinda confused on why Hitch left so suddenly.
"Food," Knuckles shrugged, but Sparky's eyes sparkled again and he licked his lips again as well after hearing that.
Somewhere in Station Square, Shadow the Hedgehog stood over a building, looking down at the city with a frown.
However, and unlike many would believe, this wasn't a frown of anger. He wasn't frowning because he felt mad or upset for something, now... It was a frown because the holiday season always brought a pain to his heart that he couldn't get rid of, no matter how many times he tried to.
Holiday season was just one of the many things that Maria claimed she loved from earth. A day of give and take in which humanity showed its best side and put aside any prejudice in order to help others... At least that's what she always said.
But Shadow has seen all the sides of the Holiday Spirit. Both the good one, the one that Maria loved so much... And the bad one, the one she probably knew about, yet never thought of mentioning 'cause it wasn't any good. The side of the Holidays were people in need never get anything, where some heartless bastards keep stuff for themselves because they feel they can, where some people never shows any good side and only think about themselves.
Yet Shadow knows that's just how some things are, and even if he tried, he couldn't change every single life in the course of one night. Perhaps that's why he never found himself sharing that joy Maria had for Christmas, because he knew that every story has a dark side, one adults never tell their kids to keep their spirits and hopes alive.
Shadow once used to be a kid as well. Back in the ARK, when he wasn't that experimented with and still acted like a child, he listened to Maria's tales about all the holidays, but the most he ever heard about was definitely Christmas. He remembers that his favorite part from her Christmas stories was whenever she mentioned Santa Claus, a good-hearted man that could travel around the world in just one single night and bless everyone that had a good behavior the entire year with gifts.
He probably liked that story so much because he always dreamed to get a gift as a kid. Did his air-shoes and his inhibitor rings counted as gifts from Gerald and Maria? Pretty much, so his dream did came true... But now that he thinks like an adult and knows that Santa Claus is not real, he knows that there's a lot of kids out there who's dreams will never come true.
Again, if he could really change so much lives in the span of one night, just like Santa Claus does on all those Christmas tales, he'll do it, but it's pretty much impossible.
His holiday spirit is there, somewhere very deep inside of his being, yet he hasn't been in touch with it ever since he first awakened in that Eggman's abandoned base. The only reason why he even accepted to spend the Holidays with Sonic and company this year is because Sunny's gonna be there, and after hearing how much the holiday means to her thanks to Sonic telling their little adventure to see the Wishing Star that Eggman tried to steal, Shadow knew that it would mean the world for her if he was there.
So, until the Christmas dinner arrived, because honestly, eating some food on these holidays actually sounded like a great idea, Shadow's plan was just to wait and let time pass away... A plan that he immediately threw through the window as soon as he remembered the thing about gifts.
He wasn't the kind of guy that liked to buy stuff, nor for himself nor for anyone else, but he definitely knew that he needed to at the very least buy something for somebody. He'll usually see this as a waste of time, but... If it was for Sunny, then it was definitely worth the attempt.
So, Shadow teleported himself from the building he was standing over to the streets of the city and began to walk down in search for something that he could buy for Sunny. He noticed how some people either got scared with his presence and moved away from him with nervous smiles, or they started to mutter between them after he passed by. He never got why he caused that reaction on people, but he stopped caring for such thing long ago.
Shadow made a mental list on everything Sunny liked to do: She enjoyed cooking, reading, sometimes he caught her studying constellations in the top of the Brighthouse and kept her some company. She also liked to spend time with her friends, but there was nothing he could buy that represented that, so he stuck to three options, those being reading, cooking and her interest for constellations.
That last thing actually seemed to give him an idea. Sunny sometimes brags about Twilight Sparkle and how she also loved to study all kinds of stuff, including constellations. She mentioned one time that Twilight used a dress with many of those constellations made by one of her closest friends... What was her name again? Rare? Roraty? Reraty? He never learned it.
However, the idea of buying a dress for Sunny that it's decorated with constellations and giving it to her as a gift didn't sounded so bad. Yes, she might barely use it considering that if he buys a dress it'll be for Mobians, but maybe Izzy could later fix it so she can use it as a pony instead.
He'll think on those details later. First things first: He needs to find some shop that sells dresses to start his quest.
And fortunately, he was just passing by one of those shops, those very rare shops that somehow were still open even the day of Christmas. He wondered how he never noticed it before, but decided not to question it so much and entered the place.
Looking around the store... It was your typical boutique, with clothes for men and women alike, boys and girls, and even dressing rooms for people to try out the clothes in case they wanted to buy them.
Shadow immediately moved over to the women sector. He was completely sure that people would be muttering stuff about his presence in that place, and specifically in that area of the shop, but again: He doesn't minds. He stopped minding a long time ago.
He spend about two or three hours looking over the dresses in the shop. He came several times to a point where he thought he was just wasting his time and wouldn't find what he was looking for... But then it happened. As he passed right besides a manikin, he stopped on his place and looked closely at the dress on it. It was a large blue dress with some aquamarine zones and stars painted all across the dress.
It definitely wasn't what he wanted to find, but it definitely worked. He's convinced Sunny will like it regardless, so he shrugged and choose to take the dress with him.
Now all he had to do was go to the register and pay for the dress. If he could wrap it in here as a present would be better, but he first wanted to ask Izzy if she could quickly make the dress more appropriate for a pony to wear rather than a Mobian... Sunny definitely's worth the shot if he's willing to go that far for a gift, something he'll consider meaningless in any other circumstance.
As Shadow approached the register to pay for the dress, however, something that happened that draw his attention rather than annoy him: In front of him, a squirrel boy of about 5 or 6 years old was carrying a dress, one he placed on the register to pay for it. However, what confused Shadow wasn't that the kid was buying a dress, bur rather that it was too big for him.
In fact, it looked like it was a dress for an adult woman, not a young girl nor boy. So, why did he pick out this dress? He didn't know anything about fashion, but he was sure any woman would probably want to have it. Then why was a young little boy buying it?
'Can he even afford it?' Shadow thought confused.
"Excuse me, Ma'am? I'd like to buy this dress please," The young boy said, dropping it on the counter.
"Hmm," The counter woman, a white bear woman with dark winter clothes, said while checking the dress over. "This dress is a little big for you, kiddo. Why don't you buy something your size? And for boys as well," She asked, while Shadow raised his eyebrow even more confused than before.
The kid looked sad at the counter woman. "It's not for me. It's for my Mommy," He said in a sad tone.
The register lady raised an eyebrow confused. "Why are you buying your Mom a dress, little fella?" She asked, sounding genuinely curious and slightly concerned.
The little boy was only silent for a small minute before he dropped the bombshell on her. And unknowingly to Shadow as well.
"My Mommy has been sick for years. At first she was getting better, but now... she's getting sick way faster than she recovered. She's… she's gotten worse," He explained, some sniffs escaping from him.
Shadow heard him say that with the utmost emotion in his little cracked voice. He almost felt his heart crack a little bit too, and worse of all, he knew precisely what the boy was feeling. This young boy was gonna lose his Mom soon to some type of cancer? Because if so, then Shadow understands him better than no one, because he lost someone to a deadly disease long ago.
Meanwhile, the register lady groaned in remorse for the little boy. She and Shadow both felt tremendous sympathy for him, because no kid should ever go through this in their life, especially on Christmas.
The kid put his bag of rings on the counter, rings he earned by doing middle-time jobs to save enough money for this. While the register lady was counting away at his rings, Shadow saw the desperation in the little boy's face. He REALLY wanted to buy this dress for his mother, he wanted to get something for her before she would go to Heaven... If there is one, that is.
For the first time in a long time, Shadow felt the need to scoop this kid in his arms and give him a hug, one the kid probably needed. However, considering he knows this kid from nowhere, he's concerned about making the situation worse.
His attention then went to the register lady, who let out another sad groan. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. You don’t have enough."
Shadow could not see the boy's face right now, but he definitely heard sobs choking up his little throat.
"W-What?" The kid asked in heartbreak.
The register lady gave a sad look to him. "You're 14 rings short. If it were a bit and a half or two, I could look the other way, but I'm afraid I can't do that with that much left."
Shadow immediately felt angry. Right there, right now, he wanted nothing but to yell at the woman for not doing some type of discount for the kid. His right hand even sparkled a bit, as if he wanted to make a Chaos Spear.
But he soon calmed himself down because, first of all, he would make noise, and he didn't wanted to cause chaos nor fear around. Second, he realized that, unfortunately, business was business. They had rules in this store, and that's just what the woman was doing.
Shadow looked at the boy, who was just sitting there crying. Tears steamed down the poor little kid's face.
"B-B-But I worked so hard for those rings!" He yelled in heartache.
"I know, sweetheart. But I have to follow the rules. The dress will be half price the day after Christmas. I could put it on hold for you," She said, trying to cheer up the little boy.
It didn't work. It only made him sob even more. "It'll be too late," He cried softly as he started to walk towards the entrance, walking away with a broken heart, his sobs being heard by everyone in the store.
Shadow decided to take a look on how many rings he had left, and he couldn't buy the dress if he decided to do what he wanted to right now... However, he also knows that both Maria and Sunny would push aside their own concern without doubt and buy that dress for the kid, which is exactly why he decided to do the same, even throwing the dress he picked up backwards.
"Hang on, kid," Shadow called out, making the little boy turn his tear stained face toward him. The register lady looked surprised to hear this coming from him, the Ultimate Life Form, since she had hear he cares for nobody.
Yet here he is, about to pay for something that's not even his own business at all.
Shadow came up to the counter and put his rings down. "Here. Take mine. Gift wrap it even."
Both the kid and the register lady looked at Shadow in shock. "Are you sure, sir?" The latter asked.
Shadow just limited himself to cross his arms and nodded.
She smiled in appreciation. "Okay. Looks like you're getting the dress after all, little guy," She said, taking the dress and starting to put it in a gift box.
Shadow only sighed in relief, then looked over at the boy, who was still shocked to see what had just happened. Shadow the Hedgehog, who's known for taking care for himself and only himself, helped him pay for a dress he wanted to buy for his dying Mother.
The register lady put the gift box on the counter and gave it to Shadow. "Here ya go." She said.
Shadow took it, and then walked over to the boy, giving it to him. "Go give this dress to your Mom, kid. She needs it more than ever, I may add."
The boy slowly beamed in happiness. Tears fell down again, only now they were tears of happiness. He embraced him in a hug. He even felt his wet tears on his chest. Everyone else watching the scene across the store gasped in shock, all fearing that Shadow would react someway that could hurt the kid...
Yet for everybody's surprise, Shadow kneeled down and hugged the kid back, since he wanted to do it earlier, might as well just do it right now.
The kid then broke the hug and looked at him with a huge smile. "Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much," He repeated, even drying his own tears away.
After that, he picked up the gift box again and then ran out of the store with happiness in his heart.
"You did good, Shadow," The register lady said to him, while fanning her eyes with her hoof to calm herself down and not bawl her eyes out at the incredibly selfless gesture.
One of Shadow's ears twitched a bit, since he was used to people referring to him as 'Sir' or 'Mr. Edgy' to mess with him, yet hearing someone he knew nothing about calling him for his name felt... Nice. Shadow find himself slowly smiling and chuckling, a genuine chuckle.
"Yeah. I guess I did," Shadow said with a smile, then turned to the lady and said something he never thought he'll ever say to anyone again. "Merry Christmas, ma'am."
With that being said, Shadow left the store, looking up at the sky and the snow that fell from it. As it did so, Shadow couldn't help but sigh and say something out loud.
"Maria... You were right all along... This holiday isn't so bad after all..." Shadow said with a smile, and instead of teleporting away, he decided to take a walk around the city while heading to Tails' workshop.
He may not be one that adores holiday season, but giving a boy some joy, even for just a second or two? That had no price to him, and he would make sure to help anyone he could in the holidays from now on... That'll definitely make Maria proud of him.
Somewhere in the mountains, Izzy and Misty were following Rouge and Omega towards a strange cave, hidden because of the snow that keeps falling from the sky.
While Izzy had the same clothes as her human counterpart on her Mobian form, Misty wore purple pants with her Cutie Mark drawn on them, orange shoes with white socks, an orange shirt with some purple lines, and the same winter gear from the beginning. Although she also had purple gloves now, and Izzy had green gloves.
Once inside the cave, Rouge guided the two unicorns across it while Omega provided light for them to see where were they going at all.
"Um, Rouge?" Misty called out after a while. "I don't wanna be a party pooper or anything, but why are we inside of a very strange cave with little to no light again?"
"Misty, if I told you the surprise, then it wouldn't be a surprise anymore, would it?" Rouge pointed out with a smirk.
"She has a point, Misty!" Izzy said cheerfully with a smile. "Let's just wait and see what's Rouge's surprise, okay?"
"Besides, we're not so far from where I leave it," Rouge assured, flying ahead of the two unicorns and the robot.
"What do you think it can be?" Misty asked Izzy in a whisper.
"I don't know, but I've got many ideas running though my mind about what it is!" Izzy replied with another whisper. "Knowing her, maybe she found something shiny and pretty!"
"Finding gems and collecting them is her speciality," Omega informed as he walked ahead. "The chance of her surprise being related to a gem is at 89.3%"
"Ooh! And what about the 10.7% that's missing?" Izzy asked cheerfully.
"My database has no information to answer that question," Omega replied. "It's probably for the best."
"Yeah, I think so as well," Misty agreed with the robot's words.
"Alright, little unicorns!" Rouge's voice called out, making the two unicorns and Omega come to a stop. "Here we are!"
Rouge proceed to push a rock aside with Omega's help, and once the rock was completely out of the way, a light shone so brightly that it blurred Izzy and Misty's sight. Thankfully, Izzy thought quickly and brought out a pair of sunglasses, and soon gave some to Misty so she could cover her eyes as well.
Once they could properly see something, they both gasped at the sight, but Izzy did it in a very dramatic way: Right in front of them, an at least 23 feet tall diamond rested, with a big portion of it being buried in the snow, yet still being visible enough for both of them. And I'm not even talking about how shiny it is just yet, 'cause that thing could burn your eyes if you stared at it for long enough... No, I'm not joking, it is that shiny.
"Holy moly macaroni with cheese!" Izzy exclaimed amazed with sparkling eyes. "Rouge, this gem is so beautiful!"
"And big!" Misty added as well. "I've seen big crystals in Bridlewood before, but this definitely is the cherry on top of all the big gems I've ever seen!"
"Right?!" Rouge herself said with excitement. "I found this with Omega last month and kept it hidden to retrieve it later with your help, girls."
"Really?" Misty asked curiously.
"And why exactly our help?" Izzy added.
"Because I'm planning to get this crystal out of here and then use some of Tails' tools in his workshop to brake it apart and turn the pieces that fall into actual jewelry," Rouge started to explain. "Then, I'm gonna give that same jewelry around to all the men and woman around the glove that can use those jewels. Call it a "massive Christmas gift" from my part."
"So you're going Santa Claus with jewels as gifts?" Omega asked.
"That's a way to put it, but yeah! Pretty much," Rouge replied with a smile.
"Oh, I love this idea, Rouge!" Izzy said happily. "I'm all the way in to help you out!"
"Me too!" Misty said with a smile. "One question, though: How are we gonna take that out?"
"Oh, yeah, that," Rouge realized, getting down the gem and landing at Izzy's side. "That's the little thingy I wanted to mention: You see, the gem used to be just fine last month, but yesterday when I came to see it as I've been doing, it was covered in that much snow."
"There was a snowstorm last night," Omega informed. "The climate situation must've affect the jewel's current state."
"Which is why I wanted to ask you both help," Rouge explained to the two unicorns. "I need to get that thing out of there, but not even my strong legs nor Omega's arms can get it out. I was hoping your magic could be useful in this."
"Well, then you called the right unicorns for the task, Rouge!" Izzy declared, side-hugging Misty, who didn't seemed too convinced about this idea. "Misty and I are gonna take that gem out of there in no time. Just you wait and see!"
"Uh, Izzy?" Misty called out with concern. "Are you sure we can get that thing out of there? It looks heavy, even for you and me combined."
"Nonsense! I'm sure one of us alone can take it out!" Izzy declared confidently. "Observe!"
Right after saying this, she lifted up her horn and surrounded the gem with her magic, attempting to take it out of the snow with ease, but as much as she was trying to move it, it didn't even flinched a bit."
"Okay, yeah, maybe one unicorn isn't enough," Izzy confessed. "But two of us might be! Come on, Misty! It is time to prove what we unicorns are made of!"
"Uh, do we have to––" Misty tried to ask.
"Now's not the time to doubt Misty, is the time to act!" Izzy shouted desperately. "So let's act!"
Misty was taken aback by Izzy's outburst, and so where Rouge and Omega, but the younger unicorn still obeyed and proceed to help Izzy out into lifting that gem off the ground... Yet not even their strength together seemed to be enough.
"Oh boy..." Rouge deadpanned with lower ears.
"This is gonna be a long day," Omega pointed out.
Back with Sonic, Tails and Sunny, they were making line for one of the roller coasters in the park, pretty much the biggest and fastest one in the place.
"I'm telling you, Sunny-bunny!" Sonic spoke as they were still in line. "Once you get to experiment the fastest roller coaster in the place, you'll never feel a similar adrenaline if not here ever again!"
"I don't know why, but the fact that you're too excited to get into this roller coaster kind of worries me..." Sunny confessed. "What did you said it is called, again?"
"The Seven Deadly Rings," Tails replied with a gulp, also hugging himself nervously. "Sonic always got inside on his own 'cause it always terrified me. I thought that after everything we went through the past three years would finally make me build up courage to get in here without trembling... I was so wrong."
"Well, the name definitely gives off red flags..." Sunny said with concern.
"That's because this roller coaster has 7 loops in a row!" Sonic said with a huge smile, which confused Sunny and concerned Tails even more. "Good thing we ate nothing before coming here, otherwise we'll be vomiting."
"That's... Not really helping, Sonic," Sunny pointed out with a deadpan. "Can't we just look for other kind of attraction that doesn't involves so many loops in a row?"
"Maybe later, but right now, those 7 loops are calling my name!" Sonic declared. "If you guys don't wanna go, it's fine, I won't judge you nor make you go with me, but I'm not missing it for anything in the world!"
"Well, when you put it like that––" Sunny tried to say, but then her eyes widened when Tails literally cried and ran away at top speed with his Tails propelling him. "...We'll wait for you as we explore the park, okay?"
"Sure thing!" Sonic said with a wink. "Oh, and make sure that Tails isn't having a panic attack! He tends to get some when he backs up from this kind of stuff, and it sometimes takes a few hours to calm him down. Maybe you can help him out?"
"A panic attack?! Why didn't you told me earlier, you idiot?!" Sunny scolded him with a frown while pulling his coat closer, then letting him go and transforming into an Alicorn before flying away towards Tails.
Sonic cleaned off his coat and fixed it a bit before shrugging and turning around. "Eh, is their lose. Not my fault that I love extreme stuff so much!"
On the other hand, Sunny flew across the park and looked around in search for Tails. When she finally saw him hiding behind a trash can while taking deep breaths, she knew he was panicking, so she quickly descended and made her Alicorn form go away, then felt her heart broking when she noticed that Tails was also trembling a bit and covering his head with his hands.
The last thing she wanted was to make things worse for him, so she carefully approached him, kneeling at his side, and then she slowly wrapped her arms around him for a warm embrace, one that he didn't rejected. She shushed him to calm him down a bit more and nuzzled her head on top of his, which definitely helped out because Tails wasn't trembling anymore, and he even wrapped his arms around Sunny to hug her back.
Seeing that the trick worked, Sunny herself sighed in relief, but just in case, she remained hugging him for a few more minutes, until she was completely sure that he wasn't trembling nor breathing heavily anymore.
"Feeling better?" Sunny asked him after a while, still not wanting to make him panic anymore.
"...Y-Yeah..." Tails replied after a while. "I, um, I'm sorry you had to see that side of me, Sunny. I usually don't panic when it comes to roller coasters, but the Seven Deadly Rings have always out me on a compromising situation... I thought I'll be able to handle it this year, but it seems I'm still not ready."
"Tails, if getting into that thing makes you so panicked and concerned, why do you still try to get into it?"
"Because I don't wanna disappoint Sonic!" Tails said. "We literally face off deadly situations everyday, and I know for sure that a roller coaster shouldn't be a big deal for me! Sonic himself says that I don't have to prove anything, that he can count on me for anything, and that it's okay if I feel afraid of a silly attraction, but... Sometimes I feel like I'm just disappointing him..."
"Tails, if Sonic himself says you don't have to prove yourself, then he's right," Sunny said. "You are a very capable fox with literally anything else. What makes you think that not wanting to go into a scary roller coaster is gonna disappoint Sonic? He trusts you and he has shown it! Doubting yourself and wanting to improve and get better is never wrong. Trust me, I've been in that position, and I know what it feels like. But you also have to know that you're very capable of a lot of things. So what if you can't get onboard of a roller coaster? The world's not gonna end because you're afraid of something."
After Sunny explained all of that, Tails couldn't help but smile. "How do you do and Sonic do that?"
"Hmm? Do what?" Sunny asked confused.
"Everytime one of us feels down, no matter if it is me or one of our friends, you and Sonic always know what to say and how to say it to make us feel better!" Tails pointed out. "Is it some kind of hidden super power none of you ever told us about or something?"
"Nope! We just do what we think is the right thing to do!" Sunny replied with a smirk.
"Ugh, of course you do..." Tails said while shaking his head with a smirk, and Sunny couldn't help but giggle.
Soon enough, though, they both saw Sonic arriving while he held his stomach with a sick look. "Well... That was definitely like I remember it... But way too spinning..."
"Sonic?" Sunny asked. "You okay? Judging by your expression, you seem kind of––"
Yet before she could finish speaking, Sonic covered his mouth and ran away to the closest trash can he could find, before throwing up everything on his system, which made Sunny cringe but Tails deadpan.
"I forgot to mention that every time Sonic gets into that attraction, he comes out and... Well, that happens."
"It was wroth it..." Sonic said from the trash can, before the smell of food reached his nose and made him throw up even more, disgusting Sunny a whole lot more and making Tails facepalm annoyed.
At the very least, Sunny's feeling less guilty about dishonoring her father now, but a part of her still feels concerned for it. Maybe she'll talk it later with Sonic and Tails, but she'll keep it to herself a little longer for now.
Back with Hitch and Knuckles, the former came back from the bathroom with a tired expression after throwing up so much.
"Dude, you seriously never knew that Sonic's Chilidogs' sausages are meat?" Knuckles asked confused.
"I thought it was a different thing!" Hitch confessed. "How could've I known that it was meat?!"
"There's a more important question here: Where does he got those Chilidogs from?" Knuckles asked confused. "Because as far as I know, you guys don't seal meat... Do you?"
"Some small sectors do, but they're so rare to find that I never though anypony would actually find them!" Hitch replied. "Maybe Sonic got them from those places?"
"I wouldn't be surprised. As he would say, he's the fastest thing alive," Knuckles rolled his eyes. "And why did you throw up, exactly? As I said, the meat's for me and my fellow Mobians, you guys don't have to eat if you don't want to."
"I just discovered that one of my friends, despite not being a pony, has been eating meat in front of me for the past three years, and I didn't realized that in all this time," Hitch pointed out with an anxious expression and concern. "Weird would've been if I didn't throw up at such a revelation!"
"You're such a baby sometimes," Knuckles rolled his eyes annoyed again. "If you're done throwing up, let's get our cooking started! And don't worry, I won't make you cook the meat dishes, I'll do those on my own."
"Thank you so much!" Hitch said thankfully, which made Knuckles roll his eyes annoyed again.
"Let's get started with the cheesy entrances and the goat cheese with nuts," Knuckles declared. "I think we have enough cheese for everything, but we'll find out as we cook along the way."
"Well, then, lead the way, sir!" Hitch said with a salute and a serious expression.
With everything done and said, Sheriff and Deputy began to cook the Christmas dinner. Knuckles already had experience cooking, since he took Sunny's place or cooked with her on occasions. Furthermore, he learned everything he knows from Vanilla, and seeing that Hitch was having some difficulties with the cheese fingers recipe, he decided to guide him in the right direction so that he could then do the rest on his own. Vanilla taught him like that, after all, and now it was Knuckles' turn to teach Hitch like that.
As they agreed at the beginning, they gave Sparky a taste of the three dishes to get approval, because although Sparky was a glutton, he didn't eat everything. He tried the cheese starters and was immediately fascinated, so they marked them as a success and finished cooking them properly.
Things were different with the goat cheese with nuts, as it almost burned Sparky's mouth, to the point that the poor baby dragon released a powerful flame of fire into the air, although luckily it didn't burn or transform anything around it. The reason Sparky almost burned his mouth is because Hitch accidentally slipped hot chili into the mix, and Knuckles looked at him with a bored expression. They made the whole recipe again, this time following the steps correctly, and when they gave it to Sparky, his eyes shone, indicating that he loved it.
Once they finished cooking the cheese recipes, the duo now proceeded to cook the lombardy with pomegranate. Hitch was close to confusing the recipe again, but this time Knuckles stopped him in time before he ruined it. When they gave Sparky the dish to eat, he showed a sign indicating that it was delicious, so they proceeded to finish the dish and move on to the next.
They spent at least four, maybe even five hours, cooking up everything else. With the buttered lobster tails, Sparky tried them and was fascinated by them. However, Knuckles added too much salt to the Christmas fruit salad; so he had to redo the entire recipe from scratch, but the second time, Sparky straight up vomited the spoonful. Neither Hitch nor Knuckles know what they did wrong, so they repeated the recipe one more time and, although at first he didn't want to, Sparky still tried the third spoonful... And this time he liked it, to the relief of the Sheriff and the Deputy.
As for the green bean and mushroom casserole; the goat cheese with nuts and the mashed potatoes with garlic, all of those dishes came out right the first time, because Sparky loved trying each one of them. And so, the two friends finished cooking all the meatless meals for Christmas dinner.
"Well, that was a very productive cooking session!" Knuckles said with a smile. "Thanks again for helping me with this, Hitch. You made some mistakes along the way, but hey! Is nothing toon bad we couldn't handle together!"
"As usual!" Hitch said with a chuckle. "And it's no problem. I like to help! It also helped me out to learn how to cook some stuff, so I might try to impress Sunny from time to time on my own."
"Hopefully you won't burn down anything," Knuckles said, then bursted out laughing.
"Ha ha, how funny, Knux," Hitch shook his head annoyed, although still with a smirk. "So... Are you gonna cook now... You know..."
"The meat meals? Yup! You and Sparky can go an take a break," Knuckles replied. "I'll tell you when I'm gonna cook the apple pie so we can do it together as well!"
"Okay!" Hitch said with a forced smile, taking Sparky on his back and then walking out of the kitchen, just to let go a relieved sigh. "Thank the heavens! I thought I'll die there..."
Sparky looked at Hitch confused, yet shrugged and proceed to pat his father's back.
Sonic, Tails and Sunny we're still at White Par, sitting over a table and taking lunch, with Sonic eating his Chilidogs as usual, while Tails and Sunny both ate a 'frozen' fruit salad, which is just a normal fruit salad but very, very cold.
"Well, Sunny, how's been the day for you so far?" Sonic asked.
"Honestly? I thought it would be a lot, lot worse..." Sunny confessed. "Don't get me wrong, alright? I adore that we're spending this Holiday together as a family, and I appreciate you both included me! I've enjoyed everything we've done so far as well, specially surprising those kids... It's just that..."
"Let me guess: You kinda feel like you're damaging your own traditions with your Dad?" Tails asked her with an understanding smile.
That made Sunny look at him with wide eyes, then she looked at Sonic as if looking for answers.
"He's getting good at reading others' emotions," Sonic replied with a shrug and a smirk. "You'll get used to it."
"...I..." Sunny tried to look for an excuse, but she gave up on the idea and sighed again, now looking down at her barely touched salad with a gloomy expression. "...Yes... Yeah, I kinda feel that I'm dishonoring Dad's name and legacy by not doing his traditions this year..."
"Been there, felt that, solve it," Sonic said, scratching his cheek a bit.
"Sonic..." Tails deadpanned.
"What? We have!" Sonic pointed out. "We know what it feels like. We stopped doing what Longclaw used to for three straight years, of course we know what she's feeling!"
"Wait... you two have been feeling like this as well?" Sunny asked surprised, then she gasped as she thought on something. "It's been in the last three Winter Wishdays, right?!"
"Yeah, we tried to hide it..." Tails confessed with an awkward chuckle.
"And we did a pretty good job if you're realizing just now," Sonic pointed out with a smirk, but Sunny's sad expression and a glare from Tails made him clear his throat and get serious. "Listen here, sissy-bunny: It's normal to feel that you're disappointing your father because you're changing the tradition, but did you felt disappointed when we literally did all our traditions in one day instead of the usual you di with your Dad when he was around?"
"...No..." Sunny replied. "I was very happy to spend the holidays with you all, which is precisely what Dad and I always did every year. I guess I feel like this because, well, I'm gonna miss the Wishing Star this year..."
"I'm pretty sure your dad would never hate you for that, Sunny," Tails assured her. "But if being concerned about the Wishing Star is what's bugging your mind, then we'll take you there to witness it! After all, it is a family tradition now, isn't it?"
After hearing this, Sunny couldn't help but gasp. "A-Are you serious?!" She asked him surprised.
"Of course!" Tails assured again with a smile. "That's what family is for! Right, Sonic?"
"Absolutely!" Sonic assured with a wink. "You're our family, Sunny, and as your brothers, it is our duty to make sure that you get to feel sunny on one of the best holidays of the year!"
"Which is also the last one," Tails pointed out with a smirk.
"We'll take you to see the star later tonight before getting the Christmas dinner!" Sonic declared. "We promise you that you won't miss the star, Sunny."
This was making Sunny almost sniff, but she was doing it out of happiness, so she smiled, then wiped off the fee tears coming out and then dragged Sonic and Tails into a hug, where she stood in the middle, while the other two wrapped their arms around her with smiles.
Sunny let herself get wrapped in the warm of the moment. She didn't had her father anymore, nor any blood-related family member as far as she knew, but at least she had two adopting brothers now, brothers that would love her and be there for her no matter what.
Yet the happiness of the moment didn't lasted forever, because Sonic suddenly remembered that he hadn't got the gift for Pipp he's been looking for, looking down to the ground with concern.
He's been waiting the entire day for that inspiration Knuckles talked about to hit him, and guess what? In all the activities the three of them had done together, Sonic has completely forgot about that subject, and now that his mind had a moment of calmness, he has remembered it, as well as the fact that he has nothing yet.
He's starting to feel like a terrible boyfriend. Of course, that's not even true and he knows it, but he still feels that he's kind of failing her. He knows that she's gonna try to get something perfect for him just as much as he's trying to get something perfect for her, but the difference is that Pipp's probably gonna get it in no time and with ease, while he's still conerned about what even get for her.
He couldn't just get something nice or expensive like clothes or jewelry. She is literally a princess! Money for her is neither a problem nor a necessity, she was literally born in a cradle of gold. He had to be original, he had to think big. But considering that a kiss, a photo of her deceased father, and a statue of herself were exceptional gifts, how was he going to raise the bar? How was he going to surpass himself if at this point it already seems impossible?
He choose to shake his head and not think about it. He broke the hug and then went back to eat, and so did Sunny and Tails after the former had calmed down from the overboard of emotions she felt a few minutes ago.
However, and even if he hoped he would fool them, Sonic started to eat his food slowly now, something both Sunny and Tails noticed. They got concerned for him, of course, 'cause Sonic never eats his Chilidogs so slowly, but they choose to not question him, at least not for now.
Back in the cave, Izzy and Misty were still trying to lift up the freaking gem, while Omega and Rouge sat down on the flor to play with cards and kill some time.
Just so you know, Rouge is winning by 3-2 so far.
"How is it that you're a robot and I'm still beating you?" Rouge asked Omega with a bored expression.
"That's one of the mysteries of life that will never get an answer," Omega replied, but Rouge rolled her eyes annoyed.
Meanwhile, behind them, Izzy and Misty were doing exhausted expressions despite giving their all to lift that gem out of the snow, just for them to eventually reach their limit and let the gem go, while they also fell backwards and landed on the snow, completely exhausted.
"Why... is that freaking gem... so freaking heavy?!" Izzy exclaimed dramatically, but also panting exhausted.
"I've never... have pushed my magic... that hard before..." Misty exclaimed, also exhausted and drained from energy.
"Thank Chaos you're gonna get it out of there in no time," Rouge said sarcastically.
"Not helping, Rouge!" Izzy groaned, sitting on the snow with a frown while Misty slowly reincorporated at her side.
"2 hours and 37 minutes with brakes of 5 minutes sounds as anything but 'no time'," Omega commented.
"Not helping, Omega..." Misty said in defeat, sighing and burying her face on one of her hands.
"Well, then, what do we do now?" Rouge said with a frown and her arms crossed. "That gem is not going anywhere! You know how many jewels we could have right now if we took it out of there already?!"
"I'm a fast worker, Rouge, so I'm pretty sure that we'll pull all the gems you want in less time," Izzy assured, standing up and cleaning off some snow from her. "But I never thought this gem would be that heavy! Did you yourself tried to lift it up?!"
"Izzy, she said she tried to push it with her legs and Omega tried to pull it out as well," Misty pointed out. "If them, without magic, couldn't take it out, what made you think us with magic could?"
"And thanks to that, we're back into square one!" Rouge pointed out with anger. "How are we gonna take the gem out of here now?"
"Have you considered to, I don't know, bring Tails' tools over here instead of take the gem over there?" Izzy pointed out with a bored expression.
"I tried to do it, but Tails said that those tools only work inside the workshop!" Rouge pointed out.
"Then how about we remove the snow covering the gem?" Misty suggested.
"That... That can actually work, now that I think about it..." Rouge confessed. "But where are we supposed to get shovels this fast?"
"I could try to use my flamethrowers," Omega suddenly said.
That made the three girls' eyes widen, and they all slowly turned to see Omega with deadly glares. "What did you just said?" Izzy asked first.
"Tails recently installed me new flamethrowers that are sick," Omega informed, turning his right hand into a flamethrower. "Perhaps this could melt the ice so none of you have to use shovels."
After Omega revealed this, the three girls stared at Omega in shock and disbelief, and both Rouge and Izzy's eyes were twitching in anger.
"Omega..." Rouge began, taking a deep breath and almost chuckling like a maniac. "A-Are you meaning to tell me that... You had flamethrowers this whole time?"
"Affirmative," Omega nodded.
"Omega..." Izzy spoke next. "Misty and I were using our magic for two hours and a half, you understand? Two $&@#%!* hours and a half!" She screamed out loud, but a word was censored with a bip and the word 'SEGA' covering her mouth.
"I'm aware of this information," Omega spoke. "I fail to see its relevance to our current situation."
"Omega, you could've spared us two hours and 37 minutes of wasted energy by just melting the snow from the beginning!" Misty added as well, also feeling mad with the robot. "Why didn't you do that earlier?!"
"I just didn't felt like it," Omega shrugged, as if it was not a big deal.
"Oh, you just didn't felt like it!" Rouge forced a smile with an angry tone. "How cute, you little piece of––"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Izzy stopped Rouge before she could go and give Omega a punch or something. "Slow your roll! He's made of metal! You can hurt a leg! Is not really worth the punch..." She stated, but after Rouge calmed down, Izzy glared daggers at the robot and let out a warrior cry. "I'M GONNA UNICYLE YOU INTO A $&@#%!* WASHING MACHINE, YOU $&@#%!* PIECE OF $&@#!"
As Izzy screamed that and tried to approach Omega, both Rouge and Misty interfered by grabbing her from her arms and pulling her back to keep her away from the robot.
"Your attempts at threatening me are adorable, yet formidable, Ms. Moonbow," Omega stated, then proceed to point his flamethrower at the buried gem and activate it.
This made the snow around the gem start to melt down, and Omega made sure that he would only point at the snow and not the gem, since he didn't wanted to ruin Rouge's plan by melting the gem by accident as well. So, in a matter of 30-ish seconds, Omega melted the snow down and freed the gem.
With the gem free, both Izzy and Misty decide to try and levitate the gem, and this time around, they did it with ease. It almost felt like if the gem didn't had any weight at all, which only increased their frustration over the fact that it took them so long to take it out of the snow.
"You're welcome," Omega said, gaining groans from the three girls.
Back in the mall, Zipp was flapping her wings as fast as she could.
After finding out that the tool shop was at the other other side of the mall, and that she went in the wrong direction because Amy didn't pointed the right direction earlier (although she didn't asked either), Zipp now was on a race against time to make sure she'll get the tool she wants for Tails.
Once she found the tool shop, she quickly came to a stop and saw a sign outside with a drawing of the drill she was looking for, as well as some information about it and, of course, the expensive price it has. 250 rings, which is $250,000 dollars.
"Alright! It seems like I found it!" Zipp cheered with a smirk, one that faded away as soon as she noticed that the owner of the shop, a brown chinchilla, just placed a small letter right below the original one that said 'Just 10 units remain!'. "Crap! I gotta get one of those, and fast!"
However, it wasn't until now that she noticed a bunch of people doing a long-ass line right outside the shop. It were just 25 people, but she could already tell just by looking at them that at least 10 or 11 of them were here for one those drills she wanted to buy for Tails.
"If I decide to make this line, there's a high chance that I won't be able to buy that drill..." Zipp said with concern, so she started to look around in search of a solution.
She eventually came to notice that, right above the shop, there was a hatch from the ventilation system. She also noticed the same hatch over several other stores around, and that gave her an idea.
"Who says I gotta make this line?" Zipp mumbled with a smirk, before quickly flying away and turn to an 'alley', when in reality, she just wanted to enter the shop's ventilation system from another hatch that was behind. "Okay, this is pretty simple: I get in to skip the line, pick up one of the remaining drills, pay the 250 rings that it costs, and then I go to another place so they can wrap it as a gift! Unless they can wrap in here, too. Eh, I'll figure it out later!"
With that being said, Zipp made sure one last time that no one was looking at her, then jumped, made a little twirl in the air and then entered through the vent, snorting as she started to drag herself around the system to reach a point where she could enter without being noisy nor noticed.
Meanwhile, as Zipp did something not so illegal (as far as I know), Pipp and Amy reached the library.
"Welp, here we are, princess," Amy stated, pointing at the library in front of them. "This is one of the libraries where you can bay the newest 'Tales of the Golden Knight' book."
"You think they may have it?" Pipp asked concerned. "You did mentioned that the series is very loved here in Mobius, so I'm kind of afraid that we might not get it in time..."
"We still got another 4 libraries around!" Amy said with an assuring smile, placing a hand on her shoulder. "This is just the closest one I thought back in the lower floor. If it's not here, there's a chance it might be in one of the other ones!"
"I hope you're right, Amy," Pipp said, as she entered the library along Amy.
However, and just as Amy expected and Pipp feared, the library was full of costumers, most of them making line to get the exact same book that Pipp was looking for. The sellers even looked kind of distraught as they tried to give a copy to each one of the clients that wanted that book specifically, to the point one of them even was stopping at times and putting their hands together to pray Chaos they ran out of stack already to take a brake."
"...Perhaps we should look in another one of the libraries?" Pipp suggested, as she watched concerned at the scene of so many people going ballistic to get a copy of the book.
"Yeah, that's a great idea..." Amy said, as the two of them slowly walked backwards and exited the library.
Once outside, they let go of the air none of them even knew they were holding back until now. "Well... that was definitely something..." Pipp said. "I can't believe so many people like those books! I wonder why Sonic hasn't come to buy it himself just yet. Isn't he the fastest thing alive, like he's always bragging about?"
"He's been busy not only helping Tails out with his Christmas dinner plan, but also looking for a gift for each one of us," Amy explained. "When it comes to show how grateful he is for us, Sonic puts his full attention and potential! Sometimes his gifts may seem sort of careless, but in reality they have a lot of thought and care behind, Sonic just chooses to express it through gifts and actions because he thinks he's 'too cool' to express feelings."
"Yeah, I know that," Pipp confessed. "My birthday and holiday gifts he has gave me so far definitely shows that he cares for me... Which is why I gotta show him that I care, too! Those books are definitely not for me, but I know that they mean a lot for him, which is why I gotta get that copy!"
"Then let's stop wasting time, girl! We got a book to find a buy!" Amy stated, as she grabbed Pipp's hand and dragged her away, while Pipp herself yelped startled, yet still choose to follow her.
Sonic and Tails were at a Chilidog's making line to buy some since Sonic didn't had enough, and Tails' wanted to buy a drink to stay less thirsty.
While they did that, Sunny waited for them on some banks and was texting with Hitch, the Earth Pony stallion still being dramatic over the fact that Knuckles was cooking meat, and Sunny did nothing but chuckle at his texts.
However, she was so into her phone she never noticed someone's arrival at her side, someone that barely announces his presence if it isn't by startling anyone...
"Sometimes your boyfriend overreacts a little, you know that?" Shadow's voice suddenly spoke, startling Sunny a lot.
And there he is the son of his alien father...
"Shadow! You scared the hell out of me, dummy!" Sunny said a bit mad, but still smiling.
She then proceed to wrap her arms around him and hug him, which Shadow strangely returned despite his past declarations on not being a hugger, a little detail Sunny noticed since he usually just stood still and didn't returned the gesture other times.
"Okay... That's definitely new..." Sunny said while rising an eyebrow. "Did something special happened today?"
"Can't I just see how's a friend doing now or what?" Shadow asked with a smirk.
"Yeah, something's up with you," Sunny smirked. "Shadow, you would never say something like that, not hug me back, unless something really good happened to you. So? What is it?"
Shadow let out a chuckle, another sign that something definitely happened, he's way too happy, even for him.
"You caught me, Sunny... Something definitely happened, something really good," Shadow confessed. "I, uh, I tried to get something for you as a Christmas present."
That actually made Sunny's eyes widen. "You did?!" She asked excitedly, before clearing her throat and calm down. "I mean... Really?"
"But then I couldn't because, well... A kid in need wanted to buy a last Christmas gift for his soon to be dead mother," Shadow started to explain. "He didn't had enough rings to buy the dress, though. I... I knew that if I helped him out, I wouldn't be able to afford that gift for you... But I also knew you and Maria would've helped that kid without thinking in my place. I also knew I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I didn't helped knowing I could, so... I did what I did. I bought him the dress. And even if I couldn't get what I wanted for you, I... I felt good for helping someone out you know? Guess that's why I'm acting... not so much like myself today."
Shadow was waiting for any kind of reply from Sunny, but when he didn't got one, he turned to see her, just to feel surprised when he saw Sunny was a crying mess right now. He suspected she would get emotional after hearing what happened to him today, but this was... definitely not what he had in mind.
"Oh, Shadow!" Sunny said dramatically, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him even more tightly than when he arrived.
Shadow looked around confused, but he then just wrapped an arm around her and patted her back to calm her down a bit from her overdramatic reaction.
"I guess you're proud of me or something?" Shadow asked with a teasing smirk.
"That'll be an understatement!" Sunny said dramatically. "Shadow, you helped out someone in need because you wanted to! You might say it was because of me or Maria, but none of us made you do it, you did it by yourself! That's more than admirable! And you think I'll be upset because you didn't bought me anything?! Oh, you're a silly! You gave me a better gift!"
She hugged him again, but Shadow was very confused with her reaction, since it definitely isn't what he expected.
"I don't get it... What did I gave you, exactly?" Shadow asked confused.
"You demonstrated me that you care, even if you act like you don't!" Sunny said with a huge smile. "That's a lot better than any other thing you could've possibly had bought me! But, in a little bit of a slump? Yes! I'm very proud of you!"
Just hearing those words made Shadow smile from ear to ear, and he made sure to hug back Sunny tightly this time around, not even caring for whatever silly or edgy reason his mind was telling him right now.
Back with Knuckles, he was putting all his effort into the ham and the lamb chops so they could be delicious.
Since Hitch took Sparky away, Knuckles had to be the tester this time around, and he definitely liked what he cooked, so he proceed to quickly finishing up both recipes to get Hitch back in the kitchen and cook the Apple Pie.
"Mmm-mmm! I don't wanna brag, but man! These two dishes are looking good!" Knuckles told himself with a smile, then walked over to a mirror to fix his chef hat and smirk. "You're doing it great, Knuckles!"
After saying this, Knuckles and his reflection stretched out their hands, before his reflection went back to imitate his moves as he walked away and prepared to resume the cooking. He did Sonic's Chilidogs this time around, since he wanted to get them out of the way already so he could fully focus on the Apple Pie.
"Alright, Sheriff! You can come in now!" Knuckles declared, but not without covering the three meat meals so Hitch wouldn't smell them and throw up again, since he knows he's probably gonna do it.
"You sure?" Hitch asked, hesitantly looking inside of the kitchen from the door, but when he noticed that the three dishes with meat were covered, meaning he won't smell them, he sighed in relief. "Okay, yeah! It's cool to enter now."
"I still don't get why are you so upset about us eating meat..." Knuckles deadpanned. "Is just nature being nature! What's there to panic about?"
"The fact that you're gonna make me and our pony friends feel awkward?!" Hitch pointed out with concern.
"First of all: They all know that Sonic's Chilidogs have meat and never minded," Knuckles began to explain. "Second; Sunny herself saw the entire list and approved it, not even complaining or having any kind of objection about the fact me and my Mobian fellas are gonna eat meat. And third; I did considered the rest's feelings, hence why I asked them one by one if they would feel awkward about it, and you know what they said? They don't mind, because that's just how nature works!"
"Wait, you asked the girls one by one if they'll feel awkward with you guys eating meat?" Hitch asked with disbelief. "Then why didn't you asked me as well?!"
"Sunny said you wouldn't mind! So I thought that you truly wouldn't!" Knuckles replied, raising his hands as if he defended himself.
"Ugh, of course she did..." Hitch facehoofed. "I love that mare, but sometimes I wished she'll ask me about stuff like this instead of just assuming I'll be fine with anything."
"Well, she's too similar with Sonic on that, thinking everyone will be fine with every decision they make without asking if we're really fine with it or not..." Knuckles rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Perhaps that's why those two were the right choice to defeat Opaline and save the entire multiverse's butt."
"Yeah... I guess a part of the reason why I joined you to cook the dinner for this year is because, well, I wanted to cook all of this with genuine effort so I could thank her for all she has done for us," Hitch confessed. "And I'm not only talking about saving us from Opaline along Sonic, I'm talking about all she has done! How she has fought to the very end for us to stay together and in harmony, how she has made Equestria a better place, how many times she has hidden her true emotions to not let any of us down or make us worry for her... I could never stop listing everything she has done, which is why I wanted this dinner to reflect that, and when you mentioned you'll cook meat... I panicked for no reason. I'm sorry, Knuckles."
Now understanding his reasons behind helping him out to cook, Knuckles couldn't help but smile with understanding, and then he sighed. "...Guess I owe you an apology too now, huh? I should've told you about it, and because I didn't, you throw up a lot, and I'm sorry for that, Sheriff."
"It's fine, Knuckles, really! I'm not mad at you," Hitch said with a smile. "If anything, I think I overreacted a bit. I mean, even if I'm a pony, I know for sure we can eat meat, most of us just choose not to."
"I still have to apologize. How you feel about it, even if it seems silly for us, does matter a lot," Knuckles stated. "Next time, when we cook together, I'll make sure to let you know beforehand if there's any meat dish on the menu."
"No need to, Knuckles," Hitch assured with a smile. "Now, how about we get cooking that Apple pie, huh? I could really go for some right now!"
"Yeah, that sounds good," Knuckles said. "I also know about someone that's dying for some apple pie as well."
As he said that, the two friends looked down at Sparky, chomping over an apple and not minding anyone else's business, which made both Knuckles and Hitch laugh at the baby dragon's mannerisms.
Meanwhile, as Knuckles and Hitch cooked the apple pie in the kitchen, Rouge went to the workshop's side along Izzy, Misty and Omega where they would turn the gem they found in the cave into many jewelry gifts for people across Mobius.
Both Rouge and Izzy had hydraulic hammers to start crushing the gem, while Misty slowly vacuumed up the gems and then put them into containers, and Omega made the job easier with the lower power of his flamethrower. Why didn't she use it earlier when she was carrying it out of the snow if the point was to break the gem anyway? Because none of the four of them were willing to look for the pieces that were lost in the snow.
As they were done with half of the gem, they decided to take a break and recover strength. At least Rouge and Izzy did, because Misty started to clean out the already contained pieces so they wouldn't be mixed with the dust of the vacuum, and Omega decided to lend her a hand.
With Misty and Omega doing their thing, Izzy decided to take this chance to ask Rouge something that's been bugging her ever since the bat showed her and Misty the gem.
"Rouge? If you don't mind me asking... Why are you doing this?" Izzy asked her confused.
"Hmm? What do you mean, dear?" Rouge asked confused, sorbing some water from a bottle.
"You're kinda of a double agent in everything, right?" Izzy asked. "You say that you work with whoever can benefit you, no matter if it's a good or bad person. You're a thief or a spy if you have to be, but you're also a friend and a hero when you have to. Having a double life in everything makes me wonder... Why are you destroying this gem and giving it to others instead of keeping it intact for yourself? No offense, but judging by the way on how Knuckles says you always tried to take the Master Emerald for yourself, I thought you'll do the same with other gems."
Rouge raised an eyebrow most of the time that Izzy spoke and told her all of that. When she stopped talking, her expression was hard to read. She didn't seemed mad nor happy nor offended. Instead, she seemed pretty indifferent at Izzy's words... At least at first, because she eventually looked down in thought with a frown.
"Y-You don't have to answer if I offended––" Izzy tried to take her words back, but Rouge raised a hand to stop her from talking.
"
When Izzy went quiet, Rouge put her bottle with water down and then turned to her. "I can't really blame you for thinking that everything I steal is for me," She started to explain. "However, and even though it is true that most of what I take from others is for myself, there are certain gems so valuable that would do nothing useful laying on my stands, so I give them to those who can give them a better use than me. That gem I found on the cave? Is as big as the Master Emerald, or almost as big, and of course my first instinct was to steal it for myself..."
Seeing that Rouge made a pause, Izzy took this as a chance to speak again. "Then why didn't you?"
"Because what kind of heartless monster takes away something for themselves that could be a bless for others?" Rouge replied. "There's people out there that have little to nothing... I used to be one of them before this life. I had nothing, I only lived in the streets and couldn't really come this far without... Without taking it away from others..."
"Oh, Rouge..." Izzy said, feeling bad for the anthropomorphic bat.
"Life raised me like that, Iz, so don't feel bad for me," Rouge spoke. "But know that if I can give something to others that have little or nothing, I won't hesitate on doing it. I love to keep things for myself, not only objects, but also thoughts and feelings... Yet I also know what it feels to have nothing, and... If I can help to make those lives better, even if it's for a split of second, for just a single day, then I will do it."
After hearing all of this, Izzy had nothing to say, and that weirded Rouge a bit, since Izzy was known for talking when she had to and saying something that could ease the tension around or something.
Rouge was gonna ask her why was she so quiet, but before she could do so, Izzy suddenly moved over and hugged her, taking her completely off-guard. She's never been the kind of gal that likes hugs, but she never really tried to deny them, either. And, for some strange reason, she didn't wanted to push Izzy away this time.
"Rouge... You're definitely a box full of surprises," Izzy started to explain. "I cannot even imagine what it feels like to have nothing and see yourself in a desperate situation, to the point you have to steal in order to survive... But I do know what it feels like to hide your feelings from the rest. Is not healthy and, if you never try to at least let it go once, you'll eventually loose yourself and the ability to feel anything. That empathy you have with those in need is admirable, but... I wanna tell you that if you need to let out something that you're keeping for yourself, now' the time to do it.
Rouge was speechless after hearing everything that Izzy told her. A wave of emotions suddenly hit her and, even though she tried to fight back the incoming tears, she couldn't contain them, not anymore. And so, she completely broke and fell on her knees, and Izzy fell as well, still hugging her, consoling her and letting her release whatever she's been keeping in for so long.
Back in the mall, Zipp kept crawling around the vents as if she were some sorta spy.
"Ugh, if this the kind of crap Rouge does through as a double agent, I'm happy I choose to be a detective as my career," Zipp told herself, before finally coming to a stop over the hatch that leads to the inside of the shop. "Bingo!"
She then proceed to carefully open the hatch and pull it upwards to make sure it wouldn't fall and make a noise or, worse case scenario, fall over somebody's head and either knock them out or straight up killing them.
Once she opened the hatch she flapped her wings to float in the air, then grabbed the hatch again and put it back in place before descending. Thankfully no one seemed to notice that she sneaked inside of the shop without making the line like all the others, which made her smirk.
Zipp quickly managed to blend in with all the other clients of the shop, until she came to the place where the drills she was looking for where on stock. She picked up one and smiled. "There you are! Oh, Tails is gonna adore it when he sees I got it for him!"
She was about to go ahead and get in line to pay for the drill, when she suddenly saw something else that caught her attention. At the register, a young man of about 17 years old placed the same drill that Zipp wanted to buy on the table. However, at the time of paying it, the boy had not realized that he was missing 15 more rings to be able to buy the drill, and the seller, with a face that genuinely showed pity for the boy, told him that there was nothing he could do to help him.
Seeing that that young man could be left without a gift broke the princess's heart, who could tell by how the boy dressed that he was somewhat poor. So, determined not to delay the line and not leave the boy without a gift, she approached the register and put the 15 missing rings on the table.
Seeing this, the seller asked her if she was sure about this, so she just stated yes, so the seller smiled and made the payment, while the boy thanked Zipp with a hug. Obviously she wasn't expecting that show of affection, but Zipp ruffled his hair a little with a smile anyway.
Once the boy left the shop, the owner asked Zipp if she was gonna buy the driller as well. Before she could reply, the seller told her she could take it for free. He wrapped it and everything! And when he explained his reason behind, he said: "A good deed that comes from the heart must be compensated in the same way."
That phrase left Zipp thinking a little, but she eventually smiled and looked down at the gift for Tails. "Huh... Yeah, he's definitely right on that."
Meanwhile, Pipp and Amy were speed-running across the mall to find a library that had the book Pipp's looking for.
They checked out already in other three of them, but even if none of those had a crowded crow of people like the first library, the book was already sold out.
So now, Pipp and Amy were visiting the last library, were Pipp had hope that she'll find the book here, although she also had the crushing expectative that she wouldn't find the book here, either, something Amy noticed just by looking at her.
"Pipp, if the book isn't here, I don't think it really matters," Amy said. "I know that Sonic's gonna love whatever you give him, no matter what it is."
"I know he will, Amy," Pipp replied. "But like I said before, I also know that this book series means a lot to him. It's a series he loved to read along longclaw, and even if she's not alive anymore, he keeps reading all these books anyway because it reminds him of the times he used to read them with her," She explained, then sighed. "I know he might be able to purchase it on his own if I don't manage to find it right now, but... I wanna show him that I care for him."
Amy, now understanding why Pipp wanted to get this book so badly, felt her heart sinking a bit. She knew that Longclaw meant the world to Sonic, but up to that point? That was impressing, and also a bit depressing. Yet she also knew that she couldn't let Pipp nor Sonic down.
So, Amy slammed the door of the library open, and that already set many alarms to the costumers and sellers inside, 'cause they all turned to see her with wide eyes, and then with fear as they saw the angry and determined expression on her eyes.
Amy walked up to one of the stands that had the book, and people didn't hesitated on letting her pass because of fear. Once Amy picked the book, she went to the register and payed for the book, then exited the library and walked up to Pipp, quickly switching to an honest and sweet smile as she extended the book to her.
"Well, that was easier than I thought it'll be!" Amy said with a chuckle.
"...Girl, sometimes I'm afraid of you..." Pipp confessed, hesitatingly grabbing the book. "What was all of that about?!"
"I got certain reputation since I used to chase Sonic around," Amy confessed with an awkward chuckle. "I also tended to look after a perfect gift for him, which usually ended up on me slamming the doors open like I just did... I'm not proud of it, but hey! It can be quite useful sometimes, don't you think?"
"Well, yeah, okay, I gotta handle that to you," Pipp confessed, then looked down at the book and smiled, then hugged it with closed eyes. "Thank you for helping me with this, Ames," She opened them again. "I definitely owe you one now."
"Pipp, you owe me nothing," Amy assured with a smile. "You wanted to have this for Sonic do badly, and I couldn't just stand here without giving you a hand! This is a favor I do from the heart, nothing else."
With that being said, Pipp smiled and hugged Amy, while the pink hedgehog hugged the younger princess back.
Sonic, Tails, Sunny and Shadow all returned to Tails' workshop, although only Shadow stayed in the place, because the siblings activated the portal that goes to Equestria and crossed it.
Once at the other side, they quickly went upstairs since the portal was located in the Brighthouse and arrived into the Crystal Room, then went outside to the balcony and leaned over it to wait for the star's arrival. Sunny was still in her Mobian form, and the other mares of the group were also stuck in those forms as well, but they didn't cared at all, so long as they could spend the holidays along their loved ones.
"Well, here we are, Sunny-bunny!" Sonic said with a smile. "We brought you over to watch the star, just like we promised!"
"And I thank you both so much for bringing me home to witness it with you two at my side," Sunny said with a genuine smile. "There's no one else I'd rather watch it with than with my new brothers."
"Does that mean that you feel better?" Tails asked her curiously. "I mean, you were pretty concerned about all of this not working out because you felt you were betraying your traditions with your dad."
"I know what I said," Sunny confessed with concern, before smiling. "But after thinking it over again? I realized that I actually was still following his traditions."
"Huh?/Really?" Sonic and Tails said at the same time, both of them confused but also curious on what she'll answer.
"My Dad and I were always simple ponies," Sunny started to explain. "As long as we had each other, we felt like it was more than enough. Watching the Wishing Star pass above our home every Winter Wishday was the only real tradition we had... But now I realize that we also had another tradition: To spend time with those we love and care for. To enjoy the holidays with the ponies close to our hearts."
"When he passed away, I thought that I wouldn't be able to smile on a Winter Wishday ever again... But Hitch was there for me. He allowed me to spend every holiday since Dad died with him and his Grandma Figgie. They never ever treated me just like a guest, no... They treated me as if I were their family as well. Even with Hitch's shenanigans of having everything perfect, I can't really think of anything bad of those Wishdays... Now I realize that watching the Wishing Star wasn't what my Dad loved from Winter Wishday. He adored the holiday because he could spend time with me, with his daughter. Watching the Wishing Star was just a plus."
"With all that in mind... I now realize that I always followed Dad's traditions, that I never betrayed his legacy, that I didn't dishonored it. I spend this entire day with you two, with my brothers from different mothers, and that's what Dad would've wanted me to do if he was here... To enjoy Winter Wishday with those close to my heart."
After Sunny finally finished telling all of that, her eyes widened when she heard sobs, so she turned to her sides and found herself surprised to see that both Sonic and Tails were sobbing hard and tearing up to dangerous levels.
"Sunny, that was so freaking wholesome!" Tails spoke first.
"Why did you had to say such beautiful words like that?!" Sonic asked in-between sobs, sorbing hard before wrapping his arms around Sunny to hug her.
Soon Tails joined into the hug, and while Sunny didn't understood why they were both being so dramatic, she still smiled and hugged them back. As I stated before, she didn't minded if she was still on her Mobian form about to see the Wishing Star. As she herself said, she only wanted to spend the holidays along those she loves the most, and that's precisely what's she's doing right now.
"I love you two a lot, you know that?" Sunny said. "Even when you act like idiots, I adore you both so damn much.
"When have we ever acted like idiots?" Sonic asked confused, but as both Sunny and Tails deadpanned at him, he sighed and smiled. "You know what? Forget I asked that. It's a dumb question."
"Dumb's an understatement, man," Tails said with a mocking tone and smirk, while Sunny giggled in agreement.
And then, what they wanted to happen happened: The Wishing Star passed by across the skies of Equestria, right above the Crystal Brighthouse, and while it did so, the siblings hugged each other tightly and made their wishes mentally, although Sunny's wish already came true, so there was nothing else to wish for.
Yet as they saw the star passing by with smiles and joy, Sonic looked down at the ground and sighed, leaning over the balcony and looking down with concern, because he was still struggling.
They were just an hour away of the gift exchange, and he still hasn't gotten his perfect gift for Pipp. He couldn't help but let out a long and frustrated sigh, one that both Sunny and Tails noticed and heard, and this time, Tails frowned, tired of seeing Sonic so frustrated yet not explaining why he feels that way.
"Alright, Sonic, I think it's enough with your sighing! What's up with you tonight?!" Tails asked in anger.
"You've noticed, huh?" Sonic asked, although he didn't sounded any impressed at all.
"You haven't been good at hiding it, no..." Sunny said with a sheepish smile.
"Yes, we've noticed it. And now, I wanna know what's gotten into you!" Tails said madly with a frown. "You never act like this on any holiday! Well, you were kinda grumpy on our first Christmas without Longclaw, but that was understandable back then! This time, it is not! So why are you––"
"I still got no gift for Pipp, okay?!" Sonic cut him off with a glare and anger, but then he immediately regret it and sighed again, looking away from Tails. "Sorry... I'm just frustrated 'cause I got nothing for her just yet..."
"Wait, is that why you've been kind gloomy at times? Because you still haven't got your usual gift for Pipp?" Sunny asked shocked and surprised.
"I know, I know, it's shocking and all, but... I just can't think on something that meaningful that would make her go ballistic just yet," Sonic confessed with a sad chuckle. "Ironic. I'm the fastest thing alive, yet I know she was faster than me on getting a gift for me. And why wouldn't she? She's the perfect marefriend..."
"Oh boy, here we go..." Tails facepalmed and rolled his eyes, also groaning annoyed.
"Can't say I didn't expected it..." Sunny sighed, but she still smiled.
"Every time I feel like the world is going to end, that there is no reason to fight, his mere presence manages to illuminate the place and bring a state of peace to my being that no one has ever been able to before," Sonic began to explain. "When I hear her laugh... Chaos, that laugh of hers that drives me crazy and that I want to make her continue until I'm tired. And her voice, I don't think I have highlighted it enough, but her angelic voice captivated me from the first day I heard it. And when I knew that I loved her with all my heart? I held on to that first moment, and since then I won't let it go."
Sonic started to remember all the times he has seen her dancing and singing with all her heart, while all he did back then was dreaming on reaching her heart. Maybe that's why he loved their first kiss so much, because he finally accomplished what he wanted to.
"Pipp deserves the best gift possible, not anything that literally anyone can buy her, but something meaningful that shows her how grateful I am she's in my life, how grateful I am that she accepts me with everything and flaws."
That actually made Tails snort after he spent most of the time rolling his eyes during Sonic's speech. "I thought you had no flaws?" He mocked up.
"Almost getting killed by yourself, multiple times, changes you," Sonic replied, but he did it with a gloomy tone that clearly said this was no game, and some tension raised in the air. "Getting serious, though, I got nothing for Pipp, and now I'm gonna disappoint her..."
Tails and Sunny looked to each other after Sonic finished complaining, before Tails looked down in thought while Sunny looked back at her older brother.
"Sonic, I can understand why you go through this," Sunny started. "This is gonna be a strange comparison, but whenever I'm making new smoothy flavors or thinking in new ideas to help our community grow together, I sometimes try to go for more and surpass myself from my past ideas."
"Exactly! You get it!" Sonic said. "So why can't I––"
"Please let me finish..." Sunny deadpanned, and Sonic shut his mouth up. "Trying to go for more is good sometimes, but you also have to come to a point of acceptance. About what? About the fact that you won't always surpass yourself."
"Sunny's right, Sonic," Tails agreed with Sunny. "Besides, I don't really think Pipp's gonna mind whatever you give her, so long as it's meaningful and it comes from the heart. The best gifts aren't the ones that cost you the most to get, but the ones you bought with the intention to give joy to whoever's getting the gift."
"...So instead of focusing on making it perfect... I should look at other angle and make the gift meaningful..." Sonic muttered, and then, that inspiration Knuckles talked about earlier finally hit, as he remembered all the good times he spent with Pipp on the beach, on dates, on movie nights, their most intimate moments, long nights cuddling and kissing, and even trying to cook and failing along the way, yet also having tons of fun.
He didn't wanted to be with nobody else in the entire multiverse... Nobody else.
Sonic smiled, he smiled like he hadn't done all night, and both Sunny and Tails could tell by his smile that the problem has been solved.
"I know that face!" Tails smirked. "You've the gift on mind now, don't ya?"
"Yes... Yes! Yes, I have it!" Sonic stated with a huge smile. "I gotta go and talk to Rouge and Izzy ASAP!"
With that being said, he boosted inside the Brighthouse and used the portal back to Mobius, while Tails and Sunny looked at each other with smiles, before deciding to follow along.
In Tails' workshop, Omega and Misty approached to the living room to have a chat with Amy, Zipp and Pipp.
But even though Izzy and Rouge arrived as well and were gonna approach, too, Sonic suddenly arrived behind them and placed his hands on their shoulders. "Girls, I need your help, it's a last minute Christmas emergency!"
Without explaining himself, Sonic dragged them away, not so far from the workshop to not get lost, but not too close either so no one would hear.
"Oh, blue? What's the matter?" Rouge asked confused.
"I need your help to make my gift for Pipp!" Sonic stated. "I know you might think is way too late for that, but I know that with your help, I'll be able to pull it off!"
"And what's the gift exactly?" Izzy asked curiously, to which Sonic showed her and Rouge a drawing of what he wanted to make, and the content make the two of them gasp loudly. "OH MY GLITTER! YOU'RE GONNA––"
However, Rouge covered her mouth and shushed her along Sonic himself. "Izzy, I know what you're thinking, and I also know you're a terrible secret keeper, but this is important to me! Can you just not shout it this time? Please?"
Seeing his point, Izzy nodded, and Rouge retired her hand from her mouth, allowing Izzy to gasp and take a deep breath.
"So? Can you girls help me?" Sonic asked, almost making sad puppy eyes.
"Well, I definitely know where to get some fine jewelry for something like that!" Rouge declared.
"And I can help forge the symbols!" Izzy said with sparkling eyes.
Sonic smiled at the girls and nodded, knowing that they would make a great work with his gift.
You know what's my favorite part in every Christmas story? The finale.
Night had finally fallen, and now the entire group had regrouped in Tails' workshop for Christmas dinner. After thanking Knuckles and Hitch for cooking dinner, the latter by the way having turned into a Mobian to not feel left out, everyone got ready to eat, enjoying a happy chat where they talked about their day or just talked about tribal things. It was a simple but pleasant family dinner, and even Shadow himself talked more than usual, to the surprise of everyone and himself.
At the end of the dinner, the moment most anticipated by all those present arrived: The gifts.
To start, Izzy gave Knuckles a new cowboy hat, because Sparky had accidentally burned Knuckles's one. And yes, he burned it directly instead of transforming it. So, Izzy made him a new one, a hat that has as insignia the faces and Cutie Marks of those that Knuckles protects with his soul. Of course, the echidna loved his gift and hugged Izzy like never before, because he thought he could never wear a hat equal to or better than the one Sparky burned.
At the same time, Knuckles gave Izzy her gift: Lately she was complaining a lot about her materials being used up too quickly due to over-ordering from Unicycling, so he got her a set of wagons twice as big as the ones she already had so she could accommodate even more space in them. He also took the liberty of decorating them a bit, and although they weren't the eighth wonder of the world, to Izzy they were perfect, and he made sure to shower Knuckles' face with kisses.
On the other hand, Sunny gave Hitch his gift: A heart-framed photo of the two of them having their first official date as a couple, where Sunny sweetly kissed Hitch's cheek. The Sheriff almost cried at the gift that, even though it was so simple, framed one of the best moments in his life, and he thanked Sunny by kissing her cheek anyway.
In the same way, he also thanked her by giving her her gift: It was a golden heart necklace, very similar to the one that a Breezie had given him years ago, but it could be opened, and inside were two photos: One of the two of them with Sparky in the middle, and another from Argyle. Sunny did cry when she received the gift, and then hugged Hitch tightly as a thank you, also rewarding him with a tender kiss on the lips.
Now, Misty presented Amy with a gift. The pink hedgehog has been wanting to learn new ways to predict the future with her tarot cards for some time, and when Misty found out about this, she personally took it upon herself to get him a book called "1001 Ways to Predict the Future," which the eyes of Amy beamed, and immediately pulled Misty into a hug.
For her part, Amy handed Misty a wrapped jar. The unicorn mare looked at it strangely for a moment, but when she unwrapped it her eyes lit up: Turns out it was a vase filled with ponycorn, and since Misty loved that, she couldn't help but hug Amy tightly.
Did you think I would leave Team Dark out of this? Well no: Shadow, it's true that he didn't buy anything for anyone, but he was surprised to see that Omega gave him a pair of red earmuffs and that Rouge gave him a scarf with red and orange stripes. Even if he was very short, Shadow thanked them both for that and put on his gift, since he admitted that it was cold.
For his part, Omega did have another gift for Rouge, which was a very strange jewel that she had been looking for for years, and when she asked him where he got it after flooding his metallic face with kisses, Omega only reported that he has good sources. But here's the spoiler: His "source" is none other than Peach Fizz, who learned to use a spell to track down all kinds of jewels, even specific ones. That's how the robot got the precious jewel to give to Rouge.
Speaking of her, her gift was a caress to Omega's factory code, which technically counts as his soul: She gave him a three-headed chainsaw, a new weapon that the robot needed to put on and try it against some robot or something like that, but it was true that I needed it. She thanked Rouge by hugging her, and this time it wasn't even as strong as she was when she was glad he saved her from being a Zombot.
Now we move to Tails, who gave Zipp the new volume of 'The Chronicle of Chevalia', since he just found out that they had announced a continuation of the books, and Zipp couldn't get a copy, but Tails could, and he got it. he had given as a gift because he knows how much his girlfriend loves those books. Zipp thanked him by kissing his cheek hard, causing Tails to blush slightly.
But when Zipp gave her gift to Tails, the drill that she so wanted to get him, the fox's face lit up like a little child who was given the trendy toy they show on TV. Tails took the drill and hugged him like he was really just a little kid, and then proceeded to hug Zipp tightly and kiss his cheeks, nose, forehead, and lips repeatedly.
"I fell in love with the right girl!" Tails even said, which only made Zipp giggle and hug him tightly.
There's a lot of gifts more that were given between the group, but I have only described the ones that shine the most above the rest since they were given by a selected group of people with very special and close bonds.
Pipp watched the scene between Tails and Zipp develop with a smile on her face, although deep down she also felt kinda disappointed. She loved everything her friends had given her so far, but definitely the gift she was awaiting the most was the one that, weirdly enough, never arrived. It definitely sucked that her own boyfriend, the one she so badly wanted to give the newest book in the 'Legend of the Golden Knight' series, didn't had anything for her. However, she learned a long time ago to not make an entire drama over a gift, so she simply remained with her smile.
Speaking of her boyfriend, Sonic was beyond happy to see that he has finally gotten the book, and once again, he approached Pipp to kiss her cheek and thank her for the gift. "I don't think there's enough words to describe my gratitude, Little Pipp. This book series meant the world for Longclaw, and keeping up with the story even when she's gone just feel right to me, so... Thanks."
Even though she still felt a bit sad and hurt, Pipp smiled at him. "I know how much she meant to you, Blue Star. Besides, you deserve the best gift possible for all you've done in order to keep us all safe and sound."
"Curious you say that, 'cause I thought the exact same thing when I was looking after your gift," Sonic confessed with a chuckle.
Hearing this made Pipp's eyes widen, and she felt both relieved and a bit stupid for thinking that Sonic would forget about her. "You did? I mean, you've always had given me the best gifts every holiday, so I didn't thought you'll worry about that stuff."
"Well, when it comes to you, Pipp, I can't help but do some silly stuff," Sonic said with a smile. "But if I have to be honest with you? I made finding you the perfect gift my main priority, to the point that I came to realize I... I didn't had anything for you, until like two hours ago, at least... But I almost felt like a terrible boyfriend."
"Sonic, honey, you could've brought me a little piece of trash, and I would still love it with my soul because I know it means that you care," Pipp said with a smile, then she turned to face everyone else in the room as they talked happily within each other. "Everything I have with you and our friends is more than enough for me... And knowing that we live in peace? I could never ask for something better than this."
But right when she said this, though, Knuckles looked on her direction for a split of second, before his eyes widened and he let out a sharp gasp. Izzy followed her boyfriend's gaze, and she got the exact same reaction, although she also smiled widely, as if she knew what was gonna happen in a few minutes.
One by one, everyone else in the room, Shadow himself included, got the same reaction than Knuckles and looked towards Pipp and Sonic in utter shock and disbelief, with Zipp even wrapping her arms around Tails' to avoid fainting since it seemed like she would do that at any minute now.
Pipp was confused, so she decided to turn around on her sit, only for her eyes to widen as well as she saw Sonic behind her, kneeling down on one knee and looking up at her with a huge smile filled with love.
"I agree with every single word you had just said, Little Pipp," Sonic spoke. "Which is why I know for sure that I wanna be with you 'till the last day I breath. I don't care what else the universe, this universe, has in store for us, so long as I can share my future with you. I wanna share my days with you, and to do so, I gotta ask you this..."
Sonic took a deep breath, then looked ahead and smiled, before pulling out of his coat a small blue box. Once he extended it and opened it, Pipp had to cover her mouth with her hands as she stared at the ring inside of it.
"Princess Pipp Petals from Zephyr Heights, would you make me the happiest hedgehog alive in this universe and marry me?" Sonic asked her with a huge smile, although he also was kinda afraid.
Yet that fear completely faded away when he heard the answer. "YES!" Pipp shouted without hesitation and joy, tackling Sonic down into the ground. "YES, YES, YES, YES! A HUNDRED, THOUSAND AND MILLION TIMES YES!"
Sonic yelped as he was tackled into the floor, but just knowing the answer made the pain in his back completely worth it. Both Sonic and Pipp sat down in the floor, before Pipp grabbed Sonic from his coat and pulled him in for a kiss, one he gladly reciprocated without any problem.
As the pair kissed, the rest around them cheered out loud what just happened, and some even hugged themselves, as if they were waiting for this to happen one day, and it has! Amy, of course, felt a bit bad since she still liked Sonic, but she knows that Pipp's a great partner for him, so she's more than happy into supporting their engagement.
Meanwhile, Sonic and Pipp split up do to the lack of air, but they still smiled at each other. Soon, Sonic brought out the ring from the box and carefully placed it over Pipp's left ring finger, making a perfect fit. Pipp appreciated the ring closely, noticing it was made from the very same gem that Misty, Izzy and Rouge talked about earlier, but there was one detail that called her attention and that she loved from it: Her Cutie Mark and Sonic's 'logo' where together in the middle.
"Aww, this is such a sweet detail, Blue Star..." Pipp said with a smile, before looking back at him. "I love it."
"But you still love me more, right?" Sonic asked teasingly with a grin.
Pipp could only chuckle and roll her eyes, but she still wrapped her arms around Sonic's neck and smile. "I love you more than anything else in the entire multiverse, Sonic the Hedgehog~"
With that being said, Sonic and Pipp kissed one more time, while loud cheers were heard around them. Soon, the others approached them to congratulate them for their engagement, and Knuckles even told Sonic that he did managed to top his last year's gift, something even Pipp herself agreed with.
And that, my friends, is how this holiday tale ends: With laughs, tears, joy and the hope of a prosperous future. As for myself and my presence today, I wanna wish you: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
THE END
Author's Note
I finally made another Christmas special! After there was none last year, I owe it to you, guys.
There's not really anything I can say regarding this special, more than thanks to the people who helped me out on figuring out how this would turn out in the end: JesusG0987, Flamewarrior02, BenictheHedgehog, and Idiotboy24.
Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading! 
