Something interesting, no romance
Light from a lamppost outside filtered in through the window, illuminating Sam's room in a warm glow. Through the glass panes, he could see the snow coming down on the world, making him very grateful that he was in his warm home.
Sam sat down at his desk, which was covered in all kinds of little figurines and knickknacks. He opened up his laptop, the screen coming to life as it powered up.
"Okay," he started as he clicked the web browser and went onto FIMfiction. "What does my recipient want?" he said, checking his PMs to get his Jinglemas prompt. "Gabby and Mistmane on an adventure, something interesting, no romance," he nodded his head along as he read what they requested. "Alright, that sounds doable."
Creating a new story, Sam sat in front of his computer as he thought about what he should write.
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And thought
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And thought
"Ughh, what should I write?" he groaned aloud, drumming his fingers on the desk in frustration. He sat back, taking a deep breath as he recomposed himself.
"Okay, Gabby and Mistmane on an adventure. Let's try to visualize it," Sam said, trying to get into the right mindset. "...What about the two of them walking down the streets of Ponyville, looking at lights and other holiday decorations...?
Gabby and Mistmane walked down the streets of Ponyville, completely of their own volition. The quaint little town was lit up with countless rows of colorful lights, giving it a festive glow.
"Ponyville is beautiful during the holidays," exclaimed Gabby, her sparkling eyes taking in all the decorations before her. "It's nothing like how Griffonstone decorates, which is not at all; it's so gray and dull back home, but it's so much livelier here. Don't you agree, Mistmane?" Gabby asked her companion.
Mistmane smiled and opened her mouth to speak.
"...Wait... how do I write Mistmane?" Sam stopped writing; he was suddenly hit with the realization that he didn't know how to properly write one of the characters his recipient requested.
He had a pretty good grasp of how to do Gabby, she was the perky griffon -- but how should he write Mistmane? It had been a while since he'd seen an episode that featured her. Maybe he could ask on a forum or two about how she should be written? .... Ah, no, if he did that, there was a chance that his recipient could see it and figure out who their secret Santa was .... no, this was something he would have to figure out by himself.
Okay, he had to figure this out, how would he write Mistmane? She was one of the pillars, and the Elements of Harmony came from them, right? And unless he was mistaken, she was the original source of the element of generosity, which would come to be inherited by Rarity. So maybe he could write her a bit like the fashionista and just hope that their personalities were similar enough.
"Yes, I do," Mistmane nodded her head. "I just adore Hearthswarming; It's such a happy time of year."
"I know, right? I just love it here!" Gabby exclaimed with a smile on her face. "I know I already said this, but Griffonstone is nothing like this; Ponyville during Hearthswarming is so cheerful and colorful, and the ponies are even friendly than normal. It's just so happy, I love it!"
Mistmane nodded her head at Gabby's words. "Yes, the holiday has that effect on ponies and other creatures; it inspires us to be better and gives us a glimpse of what we could be."
The two of them continued down the streets of Ponyville, leaving hoof and claw prints in the snow behind them. They passed by other ponies, some of them doing holiday shopping, while others were just out on a walk.
"Ehh, I'm not sure about this..." said a mysterious voice out of nowhere.
Gabby was admiring the holiday decorations when she heard the voice, which seemed to echo around her like a ghost. She tried to move but was horrified to discover that she and the world around her had seemingly been frozen in place.
"Uh, Mistmane, you there?" Gabby asked her friend, looking out the corner of her eyes.
"Yes, I am," replied Mistmane's voice from beside her.
"What's happening?" Gabby asked with fear. "Why can't I move?"
"I-I don't know."
Before either of them could say anything else, everything suddenly went black.
Sam released the backspace key, erasing everything he had written so he could start over.
"Let's try and think of something else," he said as he stared at the blank document. "What if... Gabby and Mistmane are participating in a massive town wide snowball fight?" he tested the thought aloud, before nodding to himself. "Yeah, that sounds like a fun idea."
Mistmane ducked down behind her and Gabby's snow barrier, just narrowly missing getting struck with a snowball. Gabby was right next to her, chucking snowball after snowball at their opponents. She wore a massive smile on her face, her enthusiasm evident.
The field around them was alight with activity, as dozens of other ponies and creatures engaged in an organized snowball fight. Yells and shouts of joy rose over the din, indicating all the fun everyone was having.
Mistmane hunkered down behind the barrier for a moment, before rising back up. Gathering up another snowball, she hurled it at a nearby Pegasus, smiling victoriously when it nailed him right in the face. She ducked back down to craft another snowball, when suddenly she paused.
She looked around her, her eyes wide as if something was wrong. "Gabby..." she asked the griffon tentatively. "Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but weren't we just looking at the holiday decorations in Ponyville?"
At Mistmane's words, Gabby seemed to freeze in place -- not in the same way as before -- a snowball in her claws that she had just been about to toss. She looked towards Mistmane, a look of realization washing over her face.
"Wait a minute! You're right!" Gabby exclaimed in shock. "I do remember that; I remember looking at the lights in town with you! What happened? How did we wind up here?" she wondered aloud.
Mistmane shook her head. "I'm not sure. I remember there was a strange voice, then everything froze before going black."
"... And then we were here, in the middle of a massive snowball fight..." Gabby finished.
At the mention of 'snowball fight' Mistmane was suddenly reminded of where she was; turning her attention back to the action around her, she quickly became aware of a snowball hurtling right at her face. Mistmane quickly screwed her eyes shut, as she prepared for the projectile to hit her.
"I'm not sure about this, either," said the strange voice again.
"Uh... Mistmane... it's happing again..." came Gabby's worried voice.
Opening her eyes, Mistmane discovered that the world had once again come to a standstill -- made evident by the snowball floating just inches from her face. "Well, this is problematic."
"You can say that again," Gabby spoke, before the world went black again.
Sam released the backspace key, preparing to start over again.
"Think, Sam, think. What should you write?" As he wondered what to do, he decided to take a second look at the prompt. "No romance..." he said, reading aloud the stipulation his recipient had given. "Hmm, what if I put spin on that..." he wondered, coming up with a unique take on the prompts 'no romance' rule.
Gabby sat in the booth at Sugar Cube Corner, a warm mug of hot chocolate sitting in front of her. Mistmane sat opposite her with a cup of herbal tea.
"And so, this guy just up and dumped me," Gabby explained. "He said I was 'too annoyingly perky' and that if he spent any more with me, he was going to hurl!" she said with a frown, taking a sip from her drink.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Gabby," Mistmane offered her sympathies to the griffon. "I know a thing or two about trashy exes. I had this one coltfriend many years back. All he cared about was his appearance and barely batted an eye at me -- in the end I was forced to break it off."
"That sounds awful, I'm sorry, Mistmane," Gabby said with a soft smile.
"Hiya, guys," came the bubbly voice of Pinkie Pie as she approached their table. "Are you enjoying the drinks?"
Mistmane smiled at the mare. "They are fine, thank you, Pinkie PIe."
Pinkie Pie nodded with a smile of her own. "That's great. And how's the story going so far?"
Gabby just stared at the pink mare, a blank expression on her face. "I'm sorry, what?" Gabby asked, blinking her eyes.
Pinkie just giggled. "You know. The story, the one we're in right now? How's it going?"
Gabby blinked again. "Uh-hu, so I say again... What...?"
"Oh, come on, you sillies," Pinkie let out an exaggerated sigh. "Haven't you noticed the things that have been happening to you; you're in one place doing something, then suddenly things go dark, and you end up somewhere else, doing something else?"
At Pinkies words, Gabby's eyes went wide, as she recalled what they had been going through. She sent Mistmane a knowing look, before nodding her head. "You're right, that has been happening! First we were walking through Ponyville looking at the holiday decorations, then next we knew we were participating in a townwide snowball fight."
"...And then we were here, talking about our exes of all things," finished Mistmane.
"Do you know what's going on?" Gabby asked, hoping Pinkie would have an answer.
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Sure do. We're in a Jinglemas story, and you two are the stars."
"So, who's writing this story exactly? And what is it about?" Mistmane asked with a fair amount of skepticism.
"If you want to know who's writing this story, just look out the window and look up," Pinkie said, approaching the glass and glancing skyward.
Gabby and Mistmane shared a quizzical look between each other, before doing as instructed. Sidling up to the window, they looked out and gazed up to the sky. Nestled among the stars and clouds, was a large square floating inconspicuously above the town. Within the square, a young man could be seen bathed in light, seemingly looking out over Ponyville.
"W-what are we looking at?" Gabby asked tentatively.
"Oh, that's Sam," Pinkie replied completely nonchalant. "He's the one writing this story. As for what the story is about, I don't think even he knows; he's restarted writing like three times now."
There was suddenly a audible sigh. "Yeah, I have no idea where I'm going with this..."
"Ohh, make that four times," Pinkie corrected herself. She made her way back to the edge of Gabby and Mistmane's booth. "Hey, so let's make sure we're all looking at each other before we freeze again; it'll be much more comfortable to talk if we can see each other's faces."
The three of them turned their heads to be facing each other like Pinkie Pie suggested. And just in the nick of time too, because the world came to a standstill again right after they did so.
"So, what do we do now?" Gabby asked.
Pinkie shrugged. "Just wait for the story to restart, I guess, it's all we can do."
"Any idea what we can expect when he starts writing again?" Mistmane asked.
"Probably something festive," Pinkie replied. "But beyond that I can't say."
Gabby sighed. "Guess we're just going to have to wait and see what Sam has planned for us."
Gabby and Mistmane stood in a small clearing outside Ponyville, a soft snowfall coming down on their heads.
"So first we were looking at decorations in Ponyville, then we were in a snowball fight, and then after that we were talking about our exes..."
"...And now we're making a snowpony..." Gabby finished for Mistmane as she rolled up a ball of snow and placed it atop the body.
"I wonder if Sam will stick with this concept?" Mistmane pondered aloud, as she used pebbles to give the snowpony eyes and a mouth.
Gabby shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see," she said again as she gave the snowpony a carrot nose.
"Well, I hope he does," she exclaimed. "Not only do I not want to start over again, but I actually quite like this scene -- it's calm and peacefull."
Gabby nodded along to Mistmanes words. "Yeah, I get what you mean. I hope he sticks with it too, for his sake as much as ours," she explained.
"Gahh! I don't- I don't know what you want!" Suddenly exclaimed the voice of Sam from up above. Gabby and Mistmane looked up and were able to see the frustrated expression on his face as he grabbed at his hair. "I-I don't know about this. I don't know if this is what they want?"
"I-I think he's about to restart the story again," said Gabby.
"...Not if I have anything to say about it," Mistmane said after a moment, gazing with firm eyes up at Sam. "Excuse me? Sam is it? May I have a moment of your time?" she called up to the young man.
Sam had just been about to delete what he had written again... when he suddenly heard someone call out his name.
"Uh... hello?" he called out tentatively; as far as he was aware, he was the only one home. "Is someone there?"
"May I please speak with you?" Went the voice again.
"Who's there?" he called out once more, searching for the speaker. "Where are you?"
"Over here."
Sam followed the voice over to his computer, where he was shocked to see that the screen had changed from a writing document to a snowy landscape. What shocked him even more, however, is when he saw the visage of Gabby and Mistmane looking up at him.
"What the Jinglemas...?" he uttered out, completely flabbergasted.
"Hello, Sam," said the visage of one of the characters his recipient requested. "As I'm sure you're aware, my name is Mistmane. And if you'll lend me an ear, I have a matter I'd like to discuss with you."
Sam just stared wordlessly at the computer screen, a dumbstruck look on his face. "Yep, its official," he spoke, nodding his head. "I've cracked! I've gone crazy cuckoo banana pants!"
"Don't talk like that, Sam," Gabby spoke up for the first time. "You're not going crazy."
Sam placed his hand against the desk, trying to stabilize himself. "What is going on?"
"What's going on," Mistmane started to explain. "Is that I have a question I'd like to ask you."
"W-what is it?" Sam asked, still partly convinced that this couldn't be happening.
"Well, Gabby and I would like to know why you keep restarting this story," Mistmane explained.
"I-I just don't know what to write, is all," Sam said, starting to calm down. "My recipient didn't give me a very detailed prompt."
"What did your recipient ask for?" Inquired Gabby, tilting her head.
"They asked for Gabby and Mistmane -- you two -- in a lighthearted adventure."
"Well, that sounds straight forward enough," said Mistmane.
"Yeah, but it's still a challenge figuring out what exactly to write. Plus...." Sam paused, "... Do you mind if I go on a bit of a rant here?" he asked for their permission.
"Go right ahead," said Mistmane.
"Well," Sam started. "I have a bit of a peeve I need to get off my chest. So, it's just that in the note they gave me, my recipient stated that they were trying to think of a more interesting prompt for this year; as I said earlier, the prompt they gave me was Gabby and Mistmane in a lighthearted adventure. They said they wanted to think of something more interesting, but they just gave me something fairly basic -- to me, it feels like they basically said, 'here's two characters, do something with them."
"I'm sorry to hear you feel like that," Mistmane offered her sympathies.
"Thanks," Sam replied with a smile. "It's just, I don't know what to write about."
"Well, you said your recipient asked for an adventure, right?" Gabby asked. "So why don't you write about what Mistmane and I have been going through, that's been a bit of an adventure in of itself," she suggested.
"You mean like, go meta with my story?" Sam asked, checking to see if they were on the same page.
Gabby nodded. "Yeah, exactly."
Sam pursed his lips, before slowly nodding his head. "That's not a bad idea; I just might do that."
"Well then," said Mistmane. "I'm glad that we could help."
Sam nodded. "Me too. I actually have a solid idea for my story now."
"And if that will be all, I think that Gabby and I will be on own way. Goodbye Sam," Mistmane said in farewell.
"See you, Sam," Gabby waved goodbye.
"Bye," Sam waved back. With the blink of an eye, his computer screen was back to normal, once again showing the writing document.
Sam stared at the screen for several seconds, a perplexed look on his face. "Did that really happen?" he wondered aloud, before shrugging and shaking his head. "Eh... probably not. Still, good idea though," he said to himself.
So, Sam then went back and rewrote all the scenes he had done previously. He then reshuffled them and tied them into each other, finally creating the story that you just read.
The End.
Author's Note
Here you go, Nailah, your Jinglemas story. I hope you like it.
My name is not Sam.
