Princess Celestia held a box in her magic, smiling. Beside her Luna sat, waiting for her to open the box. Celestia set the parcel down on the floor in front of them and carefully pulled the flaps apart to reveal...
Cardboard and plastic. Luna reached in to grab one of the objects. It was a small figurine of a cyan pegasus with rainbow hair, wrapped in a plastic and cardboard case. "It's very well done, sister." the blue alicorn said. She tore the case open and pulled the small figurine out. She examined it closely. "It looks so much like her. Her hair mane is a bit too long and the colors for the tail might be wrong, but it's very close for a stallion who had never seen her before."
Celestia nodded in agreement before taking out another one of the toys. This one was a white unicorn with a long, curly purple mane. "These are very well made indeed, Fine Craft did give us our money's worth."
Luna pulled out two more figures; a pink earth pony and an orange earth pony. "Shame; Applejack didn't come with a hat."
"Minor details, we can't be nitpicky." Celestia told her. She reached into the box and pulled out a yellow pegasus toy. "But look at the details on the wings; he got every feather."
"He did indeed, and these manes appeared to have been styled." Luna pointed to the last figurine in the box.
The white alicorn picked up this final toy; a purple unicorn with a box-cut purple mane and tail with pink streaks through both of them. "They're all life-like enough. We should cast the spell."
Luna nodded. "Indeed." she pushed the box away and took the rest of the toys from their cases. She set all six down next to each other on the floor. Celestia came and stood next to her.
"What should they look like?" she asked.
"I have an idea." Luna tapped the first one, the cyan pegasus, with her horn. Magic glowed, and when the night princess stepped away the toy looked the same, yet everything was different. The basic body and hair shape were the same, but the colors and cutie mark were completely different. She was now a magenta instead of cyan, her mane and tail were red, yellow, and orange instead of rainbow, and her cutie mark was three differently colored feathers. Luna smiled.
"Perfect." Celestia stepped forward to the next toy; the yellow pegasus. "I have a few ideas of my own." she did the same that Luna had done; she tapped her horn on the toy and its colored began to change. It was now white with a red and pink mane and tail and a big, red diamond for a cutie mark. "How about that?" she asked.
"Great design, sister." Luna grabbed the two earth ponies and changed their colors as well. The orange one was now scarlet with three peppers as a cutie mark and the pink one was now purple with an ice cream sundae as a cutie mark. Then she took the white unicorn and changed her colors. She was now yellow with a blue mane and tail and three diamonds as a cutie mark.
Celestia took the last toy, and racked her brains for the perfect recolor. Finally, she touched her horn to it and slowly it began to shift colors. It changed from purple to teal, her cutie mark turned to a flame, and her mane and tail turned orange. "That was the last one." she said, setting the toy alongside the others.
"We have that done." Luna's horn started to glow with very strong magic. "Shall we get started?"
Celestia nodded, and her horn began to glow as well. Both the princesses' magic surrounded the six toys. All six floated into the air, shaking as the magic took effect on them. They started to grow, bigger and bigger, until they were life-sized. Suddenly, there was a huge flash of magical power that nearly sent both princesses flying backwards.
After recovering from the flash, both alicorns blinked at the six mares now laying on the floor of the room. The first one to rise was the teal unicorn. "W-where are we? What's going on?" she asked.
~<3~
Twilight Sparkle wrapped herself in a fuzzy blanket while she read a book. She shivered as the cold of the day seeped into her bones. She wished Winter Wrap Up would come so that she could enjoy the warmth of Spring. That was why she was reading a book that took place in the desert. She was hoping the overwhelming heat the characters were experiencing would trick her into thinking she was just as warm, but she had no luck yet.
"Brrr!" a purple and green baby dragon rubbed his scaly arms and shivered. He walked down the stairs towards Twilight. "It's so cold!"
"Come here, Spike." Twilight picked him up in her magic and levitated him over to her. Once he was by her side, she pulled one side of the blanket off and wrapped it around the both of them. Spike nodded gratefully and pulled the blanket tightly around himself.
"Why is is so cold?" he asked. "It wasn't anywhere near this bad yesterday."
"There's a snowstorm outside." Twilight pointed towards the window, where snow was piling outside. She instantly pulled her hoof back into the warmth of the blanket. "Rainbow Dash said that the there was too much snow in Trottingham, so the pegasi had to bring the storm here."
"Great." Spike muttered. Being a dragon, he's very flameproof. To do this, his body has to be very, very cold so the heat could never hurt his insides and his scales would prevent burning of his skin. Of course, because he was already naturally very cold, this freezing day made him feel like he was sitting in ice water. "Why isn't there a fire?" he asked, nodding in the direction of the fireplace.
Twilight sighed. "I couldn't get a fire to stay lit for long. It keeps going out, no matter how much firewood I put in there."
"That explains why the fireplace is so full of firewood that it's almost spilling out on the floor." Spike said. Twilight rolled her eyes and levitated most of the firewood out of the fireplace, stacking it neatly in a pile next to it.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. The unicorn and dragon stared at each other. A few seconds passed before they both said,
"Spike/Twilight, go get the door." they blinked before they both continued by saying, "I don't want to get out from under the blanket!" They both laughed at this, and eventually decided to settle the matter with a friendly game of 'rock paper scissors'.
"Rock, paper, scissors!" they chanted at the same time. They both stuck their arms out. Spike's claws were flat like a piece of paper, and Twilight's hoof was normal.
"Paper covers rock." Spike smiled mockingly and pulled the blanket even tighter around himself.
"Fine, you win." Twilight climbed out from under the blanket and towards the door. She didn't even bother explaining to Spike how the game was unfair; she had tried many times before but he insisted on not listening.
As she approached the door, she could hear the knock coming a second time. "I'm coming!" she called. She swung the door open with her magic and stopped. She blinked once, then twice. Her head tipped to the side in confusion at the sight of the pony waiting for her.
"Hello, my name is Firecracker Burst." the stranger said. "May I come in? It's rather cold out here..."
"Yes, of course." Twilight stepped back and allowed the stranger to come in. Closing the door behind her, Twilight observed the pony. She looked so much like... she did. She looked like an exact copy of Twilight, but the colors and cutie mark were different. She was teal unicorn mare with an orange mane and tail and a flame for a cutie mark. Firecracker shook the snow from her hooves and shivered.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Twilight asked.
"Yes, actually." Firecracker turned to look at the bookshelves that lined each wall. "I'm looking for books on the history of Equestria."
"The history section is right here." Twilight trotted over to a large section of the bookshelves and started to search through each book. "Do you know which-" she was interrupted as she ducked to avoid getting smacked in the face as every single book in that section was levitated off the shelves. Firecracker's horn glowed with blue magic as she stacked all the books in piles next to her and started to sort through them.
"... I see you're alright then." Twilight walked backwards towards where she had been sitting with Spike. She stopped when a cold draft came from the nearby window and she shivered.
Firecracker looked up from the book she was currently reading. "It's really cold in here, why isn't there a fire?" she asked, pointing to the fireplace.
"Oh, sorry about that, I just couldn't get the fire to stay." Twilight sighed. "It kept going out."
Firecracker stood and trotted over to the fireplace. She crouched next to the dusty hearth and pointed her horn at the remaining firewood. Her horn glowed with bright blue magic as she cast her spell.
"I've tried that but it wouldn't work." Twilight told her, walking up beside her. Firecracker didn't listen, she just concentrated. A small fire appeared, eating away at the firewood. Twilight blinked with surprise when the flame didn't blow away, as it had when she had tried casting a burning spell. "H-how did you do that?" she asked.
Firecracker just stood and returned to her books. "I study. I study tons of spells." She gazed around the library. "And there's so much I can study here! I love books."
Twilight nodded. "Me too." She turned and walked back to sit with Spike.
"Who's she?" Spike asked, pointing at the teal unicorn who was now engrossed in a book.
"Firecracker Burst." Twilight told him. "I've never seen her in Ponyville before. Maybe I should tell Pinkie Pie."
~<3~
Rarity, bundled up in a large jacket and scarf, trotted through the snow. She had to admit it was beautiful; even if it was wet. She was also wearing a large sun hat to prevent any snow messing up her mane, and although silly that she would be wearing a sun hat in the winter, she looked absolutely fabulous.
Another thing she was wearing was her saddlebags. In these saddlebags were many, many rubies and sapphires. They were a gift for Spikey, he certainly deserved them after helping her find that quarry filled with fire rubies. She had picked the best gems out of the ones she had found and was going to bring them to the library for Spike.
Suddenly, there was a large gust of wind that took her sun hat and blew it off down the street. "My hat!" she shouted, then looked up at her mane. "My mane!" She ran down the street after the hat, galloping through the snow. She had almost reached it when the wind blew it away again. Caught off guard by the wind, she fell down into a pile of snow.
Rarity stood, shivering. "Oh now! My jacket is soaked! I'm soaked! My hat's gone!" She turned to look at her back. Her saddlebags were gone as well. "And the gems! What am I going to do?"
Suddenly, she saw a red glow through the light snowstorm. She turned and saw a yellow unicorn that looked shockingly... like her. She had the same body and hair shape, even the same eyes and eye-shadow. However, the colors and cutie mark were different. Instead of white, she was yellow. Instead of a purple curly mane and tail, she had a blue curly mane and tail. She still had three blue gems as a cutie mark, but hers were triangle-shaped diamonds instead of the six-sided gems Rarity had. She was also wearing a sun hat and a jacket, both as well made as Rarity's own.
"I believe you dropped this." the yellow mare said, holding Rarity's saddlebags in her magic. She also levitated off her hat. "Your mane is going to get soaked with all this snow." she said, holding the hat out for her. "It's not as bad as rain, true, but you wouldn't want to ruin your hair, would you?"
"No, I couldn't." Rarity shook her head and waved away the hat, taking her saddlebags back.
"I insist." the unicorn dropped the hat on Rarity's head. "No is not an answer I'm willing to take."
"Thank you ever so much." Rarity smiled at her. "But now your mane will get ruined."
"Don't worry about me, dear." the lemon-colored pony shook her head. "But do you think you could help me?"
"Of course, Miss... ?"
"Lemony Gem." the yellow unicorn said. "I'm looking for a place called 'Carousel Boutique', and the pony who runs it."
"I'm the pony who runs Carousel Boutique." Rarity held out her hoof. "My name is Rarity."
"Wonderful, nice to meet you, Rarity." Lemony took the hoof and shook it. "It's rather cold out here, why are you out here anyway?"
"Oh, I'm just off to my friend's house to give him some gems." Rarity pointed at her saddlebags. "Would you like to come? You could tell me what you need on the way."
Lemony smiled. "Sure, dear."
~<3~
Twilight now sat reading a spellbook, unwrapped from her blanket. Now that Firecracker had the fire going the library was nice and warm, she and Spike went about their daily business. As she read a new book, recently bought from a bookstore in Canterlot, she glanced over at Firecracker. The teal mare was still absorbed in her books.
"Hey, Miss... Twilight, was it?" Firecracker asked suddenly.
"Oh, sorry." Twilight only now realized she had never introduced herself. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, but you can call me Twilight. I own and live in this library"
Firecracker nodded. "Well, Twilight, I'm new to Ponyville and don't have a place to stay... or any bits. Do you think I could stay the night here?"
Twilight thought about it. "I have a second bed, you can stay in the guest bedroom if you like."
Firecracker gave her a wide smile. "Oh thank you!" suddenly there was a knock on the door. Both mares turned to look at it, surprised there would be even more visitors when the weather was so cold.
Twilight trotted over to the door and magicked it open. She blinked in surprise at these two new guests. Standing there was Rarity and a pony that was almost exactly the same; same body mane and tail but different colors. This stranger was yellow with rose-colored eyes and blue hair.
"Hello Twilight, this is Lemony Gem." Rarity told her friend. "May we come in? It's very cold out here."
"Yes, of course." Twilight let the two ponies pass, having a bit of deja vu from when she had let Firecracker in about an hour ago.
"Thank you, dear." Lemony nodded to Twilight as the two unicorns trotted into the warmth of the library. Twilight closed the door and followed them.
Rarity stopped when she spotted Firecracker. She tilted her head to the side in confusion. She looked in between the teal mare and Twilight over and over. then she looked over at Lemony, noticing again how similar she looked to her. "Twilight?" the fashion mare whispered. "Who is-"
Suddenly, Spike came walking down the stairs. "I finished picking up the books upstairs, Twilight." she said. Suddenly he stopped, nearly tripping on his way down the staircase. He was fixing Lemony with a deep stare. He smiled after a few seconds and raced down the remaining stairs. "Hey, Twi, who's this?" he asked.
"This is Lemony Gem, Spikey." Rarity told him. "She's an acquaintance of mine. But I came here to give you a present for helping me find that quarry of fire rubies." she smiled at him, levitating her saddlebags off. She set them on the floor in front of the dragon.
Her smile faded slightly when she realized Spike hadn't even noticed her speak. She and Twilight exchanged a glance before Twilight walked over to Spike and poked him. "Spike, Rarity's talking to you." she said.
"Oh, Rarity, when did you get here?" Spike shook his head and looked at the saddlebags in front of him. "A gift? For me?" he asked.
"Yes." Rarity opened the flaps of the saddlebags to reveal the many gems inside. Spike's eyes grew wide and he licked his lips.
"All these? For me?" he asked, taking one big ruby out of the bag.
"Only the best for my little Spikey-Wikey." Rarity rubbed his head, forgetting his previous distraction for the moment.
"Oh, that reminds me, Rarity." Twilight said suddenly. "I have a wonderful book for you about birthstones."
"Oh, very interesting." Rarity followed the purple mare upstairs to look at the book.
Meanwhile, Lemony Gem sat and watched the baby dragon nom-ing down gems. Finally, she sighed and looked over at Firecracker. "I swear I know you from somewhere, Miss." she said.
"Me too." Firecracker replied, rubbing her chin. "That's a mystery that will have to be solved- ooh, the story of how Equestria was founded! I've been looking for this." and just like that, her nose was back in a book.
Lemony Gem turned back to Spike. For lack of anything else to do, she just watched him slowly eat each gem. She said nothing until the baby dragon pulled a beautifully cut, shining blue sapphire out of the bag. She squeaked, holding a hoof over her mouth. "Oh dear, it's beautiful!"
"Yeah." Spike licked the gem. "And totally delicious."
"Delicous... ?" Lemony frowned. "But..." she sighed. "Nevermind. I hope it's as delicious as it is beautiful. I've never seen anything quite so stunning..."
"You really like it?" Spike asked.
"Like it?" Lemony asked. "I love it! It's magnificent!"
Spike sighed and held the sapphire out to the unicorn. "Then you should have it."
"R-really?" Lemony took the gem in her magic, eyes growing wide as she took in every single edge of its surface. "That's so thoughtful! Thank you so much!" she leaned forward and kissed the baby dragon on the cheek.
The blue eyes of Rarity peered through the upstairs door, watching the scene with annoyance.
