Winter Solstice Celebration
On a cloud floating above the town of Ponyville, there sat a pair of twin sister pegasi. Both were bright green colored with manes and tails the color of pine needles. On their legs were beautiful bracelets; one twin had golden and the other silver. Aside from that, the only ways to tell them apart were their eyes, mane styles and cutie marks. The one with gold bracelets had a chess king riding in a carrot, while the other possessed a black die being tossed from a silver goblet. The two of them just sat atop their cloud on this day, observing the lives of the ponies below. Along with this, they occupied themselves by performing other odd things in relative silence.
This went on until the twin with the silver bracelets let out a moan of boredom. Her eyes were fiery red and her mane and tail were both tattered and unkempt. She tossed around on the cloud for a little and tried entertaining herself however she could. Her first attempt was to fly around and shape the cloud they were on. She got it halfway into the shape of a monkey before growing tired of it and flopping onto the cloud, another groan escaping her lips.
“So bored.” She said, not even trying to contain the indifference in her voice. Slowly she reached up behind her ear and took out a black six sided die. Emotionlessly she tossed it in the air and caught it as it fell.
Her sister - a blue eyed mare with her mane done up like the frill of a lizard - smiled as she looked over the chessboard in her hooves. “Well, why don’t you work on your swing?” She inquired.
“Ooo, good idea!” the red eyes one cheered as the life spontaneously returned to her eyes. She held onto the die tightly and tossed it straight into the air. There was a bright flash and when it dimmed a long golf club decorated in a pattern of black dice fell back towards her. The emerald mare then scooped up a hoofull of snow from the clouds center and set it on a makeshift golf tee. She rose up on her back legs - using her wings for balance - and held the club carefully between her hooves.
The other pegasus watched her sister with a giggle. “Why do you enjoy that stance so much?” she asked.
“I don’t know Mistress, maybe it’s for the extra height?” she replied playfully.
“Festivities, you know I despise that nickname.”
Festivities rolled her eyes in a wry manner. “I know Games Master, but that’s what makes it so fun!” She then lifted the club above her head and struck the snowball, sending it sailing through the air and into the ground below. It finally landed on the head of an unsuspecting unicorn stallion, who then spent a good five minutes trying to figure out what was going on.
Festivities giggled gleefully at the sight, until she noticed the sly smile Games was giving her. “Was he your target?” She asked, getting a slow shake from her sister. “I didn’t think so.”
“You know, you’re not that good a golfer either.” her twin retorted, another snowball already in place. This time she struck it straight into a barrel of water, soaking all adjacent ponies. While giggling at their bewildered expression Fest suddenly took notice of what all the ponies were doing. The majority of the ponies were setting up light blue and white decorations on all their houses, while a few others were setting up a massive banner. On it was what looked like half of a golden leaf and a snowflake, with the crescent moon in its center.
“Hey sis, what’s going on down there?” Fast asked curiously.
Games Master turned her gaze towards the busy ponies. “Oh, they’re just preparing for The Winter Solstice Celebration.”
“That’s tonight?!” Fest cried with a mixture of excitement and worry.
“Yep, what’s better, I’ve heard that Princess Luna will be handling this year's solstice.”
“Oh no,we haven’t had any time to plan anything!”
“You forget, my dear sister, that I am really, really good at making plans,” Games said with a grin as her chessboard began glowing slightly. She pondered for a moment and the images of calculators, charts, and graphs appeared around her head. “Oh, I know, what if we held a little party tonight?”
Festivities’s grin seemed to overtake her face. “Wonderful! Oh, but who do we invite?”
“You leave the invitations to me, sis,” Games responded. “And I’ll leave the assembling to you.”
“Really, you mean it?” she asked, her red eyes dancing with joy. When Games Master nodded back she flew up in the air, the golf club returning to its normal die form and letting off an explosion of fireworks that caused a few ponies to turn their heads in confusion. “Thank you Games! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”
“Hehe, You’re better at finding ways to keep ponies entertained than I am anyways,” Games said with a quick giggle. “I want this to be big, exciting, and filled with all manner of twists and turns.”
Festivities giggled mischieviously as her twin said each word. “Oh, I think I know just what we need.”
Games lifted her eyebrow questioningly. “Just don’t overdo it, please.”
“Now Mistress, would I ever-” Fest stopped herself and burst out laughing. “Hehe, I’d better not finish that, should I?”
“It would be best.” her twin agreed. With one final exchange of laughter between them, the two sister flew off in different directions - each one holding their item above their heads. There was a bright flash of green and both of them vanished, leaving the ponies below in a highly confused state.
~~~
“Somepony help!!” a very flustered violet earth pony yelled as he darted through the trees of Everfree. Behind him, a rather angry pack of ten Timberwolves snapped and bounded in his hoofsteps. They had been chasing this particular stallion for about fifteen minutes and were way beyond the borders of their normal hunting grounds. They wouldn’t normally pursue prey this far, but the alpha of this pack wanted this pony’s hide. Specifically because he was missing one of his large canine teeth.
“You didn’t need all your teeth did you?!” the stallion called over his shoulder as he kept racing forwards. One of the wolves jumped forwards and snapped at his haunches, missing it only by a millimeter. “Ok guys, I get it! I’ll never do it again, just don’t kill me!”
Unsurprisingly the wolves did not let up the chase. This went on for another thirty minutes and ended with the stallion clinging to the branch of a tree. Underneath it the wolves all waited patiently, occasionally leaping up to try and snap at him. To make things worse, his saddlebag had fallen at the base of the tree, leaving him with nothing.
So, this is it? he wondered to himself as he stared down at death's jaws. Oh well, I had a good run.
The lead Timberwolf snarled and leaped at him again, paws outstretched and claws extended. Just as it was about to touch the stallion there was a bright flash of green, quickly followed by a small explosion. The wolves were tossed back and took off back to their territory.
“...Well, that was much appreciated.” the stallion said as he watched them flee.
“No problem.” a playful voice said to his right, startling and causing him to lose his grip on the branch.
“Ow...why is it whenever I see you it ends in pain?” he asked from the not so soft ground.
“No clue Historic, but it’s nice to see you again too,” Games Master said happily as she flew down and landed in front of the stallion. “How long’s it been? Three, no, six months?”
“Um, actually it was two years.” Historic corrected as he rose to his hooves.
“Too long, far too long,” Games said. “So, what have you been up to Historic?”
“Oh, just the usual life of an ecologist.” he said, getting a giggle out of Games.
“Yes, I can see that. You know, you really should be more careful with things that can kill you.”
“You’re one to talk,” Historic retorted. “Besides, that tooth was cracked and looked like it was going to fall out anyway. I just sped up the process,” He managed a small smile. “So, is there a reason for your visit?”
“Indeed there is, I’d like you to come to a little party me and my sister are hosting,” Games said happily. “It’ll be fun, and full of surprises. You like surprises right?”
“If I recall correctly, the last surprise I got from you left me with a snake growing from my tail for a whole week.” Historic said blandly.
“Oh yeah, that was fun.” Games giggled happily. “So, is that a yes?”
Historic brought a hoof to his chin and considered his options. As he did that Games sat back and lifted up her chessboard. Carefully she began placing the pieces in their correct setup.
“Alright, I’ll come.” Historic said just as she finished placing the last white pawn.
“Great!” Games cried happily. With a quick flip of her hoof a card appeared in front of Historic’s face, the image of dice and chess pieces scattered about it. “The party begins at five. Don’t be late!” she gave the stallion one last smile before jumping into the air, balancing her chessboard on one hoof. Another green flash enveloped the area and she was gone, leaving Historic to gather his things and make his way slowly back to town.
~~~
A happy magenta mare was skipping through the streets of Ponyville. Most of her body was wrapped in a blue cape, and her mane and tail were both jet black. She hummed a happy tune as she went along her way, taking the occasional moment to stop and admire the Winter Solstice decorations being set up. Ever since she was a filly winter had always been her favorite season, so she actively helped out every year in planning and participating in events. This way she could give the current generation the same happy memories. Today she had made other arrangements, however, so sadly she had to leave those duties to others.
She eventually came to stop at a particular house in the northern side of Ponyville. From a distance it looked like any other building, with the exception of the dornob - which was fitted with a large, beautifully carved ruby. Smiling happily to herself for arriving at the right house this time, the happy pony began pounding on the door.
“Lapis? You home?” She called between knocks. “Lapis? Lapis Lazuli? Helllooooooooo!”
This went on for close to two minutes until finally the door creaked open a little. From the other side the pony could see what would best be described as a piece of the night sky standing behind it. In reality it was a pony stallion with a midnight blue coat dotted with spots of while and a short, messily cut mane and tail.
“Charmcaster, what’s going on?” he asked with a hint of concern. “Is something wrong? Is somepony hurt?!”
“No silly, why would you think that?” she asked blissfully.
“Well, you were knocking furiously on my door.” he said, now with a bit of confusion in his expression.
“Well of course I was, you promised to help me get my house decorated for the solstice, remember?”
“Oh, right, silly me,” Lapis chuckled a little awkwardly. “Gimme one sec, Charm, I’ll be right out.”
The door closed and the sound of objects being moved around was heard. Charm decided to hum along to the sounds until they died off. Afterwards the door reopened and Lapis walked out with a hint of hesitation.
“Nobody’ll make fun of your coat here, Lapis, these ponies are super friendly.” Charm said with an encouraging smile.
Lapis returner her smile with a nervous one of his own. “If you say so.”
“Well, if you’d like I could always change its color temporarily?” she smiled slyly and placed a hoof in her cape. When she pulled it out a purple book covered in blue infinity symbols around the borders was in her grasp. “Hmm, come to think of it, you also promised to help me out with these spells some time soon.”
“Oh please, not now Charm.” Lapis begged. Charm let out a small giggle and tucked the book back between her cape.
“Silly, I wouldn't do anything here where something embarrassing could happen to you,” Charm said sincerely. “You’re my best friend, you know.”
Lapis gave Charm a heartfelt smile. “You’re mine as well, so why don’t we go and decorate?”
“YAY!” Charm cheered, grabbing Lapis’s hoof and rushing through town, accidentally knocking over several concession stands in the process.
“Sorry!” Lapis called back as they kept zooming through. Eventually the two finally came to a stop in front of another house. Charm let go of Lapis and ran inside, coming out with all forms of streamers decorated with leaves the color of red, brown and gold, as well as others with snowflakes and snowponies parading around happily. She set them all down in front of Lapis and beamed happily.
“Don’t you just love this time of year?”Charm asked gleefully while bouncing in place from excitement.
“Yeah, it is hard not to get into the season,” Lapis agreed as he gathered up a hoofull of decorations. “Where should I begin setting these up?”
“Anywhere you think is good.” Charm said as she cut a streamer into the shape of a snowflake before carefully setting it on the ground. Suddenly a fist made entirely of stone erupted from underneath it. The two ponies stared awestruck as two creatures that seemed to be tokens made from rock grew from the earth. One of them moved towards the two and looked at them curiously.
“Do I ‘ave the pleasure of adressin’ Charmcaster and Lapis Lazuli?” It asked in as much of a cockney accent as a rock could. Slowly both ponies nodded in response and it smiled happily. "I've got a message for the both of you.”
“Oh, is that it?” Charm asked, giggling at herself. “Well you guys sure are an awesome delivery service. We can look at it soon, but first we've got to finish decorating.”
“Our instructions were to give you the note immediately.” the second one said. On his head he wore a three pointed highwayman hat made of granite.
“Well why don’t you help, that way you can give it to us sooner?” she asked chipperly.
“Aw, why don’t we ‘elp ‘em out?” the first one asked. “They seem like a couple of nice ponies.”
“Because the boss said so.”
“But she didn't say anythin’ ‘bout not helpin’ em.”
“Yeah, so we aren't going to!”
As the two tokens began arguing with one another Charm and Lapis finished setting up the decorations. Currently they were both sitting on a pair of lawn chairs - autumn themed for Lapis and winter themed for Charm - while passing some popcorn between themselves.
“How long do you think this’ll last?” Lapis asked curiously, unaware that Charm had pulled her book out again and was looking through the pages furiously. Before she could find the right one, however, the tokens realized what has happened and ceased their argument.
“Right, here’s your delivery.” The hatted one spoke as it held its hand to the two. Inside it was a small card which Lapis hesitantly took. The token the tipped his hat and sank back into the ground with his partner.
“Bye,” Charm said with a wave before turning back to Lapis. “So, what is it?”
Lapis looked up from the note and faced Charm with a somewhat confused look. “It seems we've been invited to a party tonight.”
~~~
“That’s the last of them,” Games Master said to herself as she stared anticipatingly at her chessboard. She and her sister were currently sitting in a large open theater that had been fitted with various winter and fall themed decorations decorations. “The cast has all been chosen, has the stage been set?”
“Just putting the finishing touches on now.” Festivities giggled gleefully as she finished setting up some poorly made cutouts of trees and snowmen on the center stage before tossing her die in the air. It landed on a four and all the cutouts were given detailed coverings of paint that’d make you swear they were real. “How’s that?”
“It’ll do for tonight,” Games said happily. Just then the sound of a bell echoed through the theater. “Ooo, sounds like they’re here.”
“Finally, I thought they’d never come,” Fest said, running a hoof through her mane. A tiny nose poked out of it, and soon after the rest of a small purple eel with blue spines and bright pink eyes followed. “Freddy, can you go get the door?”
The little eel smiled and gave a joyful hiss. His eyes then shone brighter and he leapt from her mane, levitating in the air for a time before slithering off towards the massive theater entrances. He coiled his tail around a long rope and pulled down, causing both doors to topple inward and startling the three ponies waiting on the other side.
“...Well, that’s one way to let the guests in.” Lapis said, eyes fixed on the toppled door. Carefully he was about to place a hoof in when Charmcaster went zooming past.
“Oh boy, look at the size of this place!” Charm said excitedly. “Wow, think of all the fun things we could do here. The possibilities are endless!”
“Is she always this eccentric?” Historic asked Lapis as the two stallions followed.
“You have no idea.” Lapis responded.
“Ah, glad to see you could all make it,” Games Master said excitedly. She and Festivities flew over to their guests with looks of hospitality and joy.
“Hey Games, mind introducing me to my fellow guests?” Historic asked while looking at Lapis and Charm.
“Right, you never met them before,” Games said, lightly tapping her head. “Well Historic, these are Lapis Lazuli and Charmcaster, they were on Fest’s contact list so I decided to invite them over.” She then looked to the two other guests. “And as for you two, this is Historic Knowledge. We’re old friends, him and I.”
“It’s really nice to meet you!” Charm said, shaking Historic’s hoof vigorously.
“Yeah, same here,” Lapis said with a nervous smile. “So, what is there to do here?”
“Well I’ve just finished setting up a game wheel, if any of you are willing to participate.” Festivities pitched in, gesturing towards a large red and black wheel attached to one of the far walls of the stage. It was divided into ten sections, each one with a different picture and writing on it.
“Ooo, can I go first?” Charm asked excitedly.
“First pick a card from the hat.” Fest replied, holding a worn out stetson. Inside were five cards all faced down. Charm looked at them eagerly and plunged her face in, coming back out with a card in her teeth. Fest took a look at it and grinned happily.
“Good news Carm, you get the first game!” she cheered happily, pointing to the large number one on the card.
“Awesome!” Charm cried, jumping up and down with joy. “One quick question, though, what is there to play?!”
“Why don’t you spin the wheel to find out?” Fest said as she finished setting up a red and black games wheel. Charm let out a squeal of excitement before rushing over and spinning as hard as she could. The wheel made roughly thirty rotations before finally settling on the picture of a pyramid of cups.
“Good choice,” Fest said before rolling over in a fit of giggles. Historic and Lapis were both about to question her on this before she tossed her die in the air and let it fall on the ground. It came up on the number five, causing three massive cups to appear and cover up the two stallions. The cubs then began rearranging themselves at a rate too fast to keep up with before finally settling back down in front of Charm.
“This game is pretty simple,” Games said, helping her giggling twin to her hooves. “All you need to do is guess who’s under which cup. Guess right and you win a prize, guess wrong and we get to have some fun.”
“That sounds fair,” Charm said with a smile before focusing intensively on the cups before her. After a moments thought she pointed to the cup on the right and nodded. “Lapis is definitely under that one.”
Games held up her chessboard and cleared the board, causing all the cups to vanish in a puff of green smoke. When they cleared a dazed Lapis was indeed sitting under the one she had selected - Historic being under the center cup. Charm performed a triumphant hoofpump before walking over to her friend and helping him up.
“Ugh...what happened last night?” He asked, both eyes spinning around rapidly.
“That my friend is what happens when you get involved with these two.” Historic calmly stated as he rose to his hooves. “Once you’ve grown accustomed to it, though, it’s much easier to recover from the shock.”
“That’s why I like having you around Historic.” Game said before performing an over the top faint into his hooves. Historic just smiled and rolled his eyes at her antics.
“Anypony want some refreshments while we wait?” Fest asked from behind a table with a large punch bowl in its center. “Oh, and Charm, what would you like for a prize?”
“Umm...can you make my cape look brand new?”
Fest yawned and pointed her die - which had the number one face up - at Charmcaster. There was a brief flash of magic and the coloring on her cape became both sharper and brighter.
“So cool! Thanks girls!” Charm cried before grabbing Lapis and hopping around excitedly, only to stop when she noticed his dizzy and sickened appearance. “You ok?”
“Yeah...just please, don’t do that again.” He replied.
Historic chuckled at the two and sipped from a glass of punch. “So, how did you both meet?”
“Oh, it was actually the same time we met Festivities,” Charmcaster said happily. “She asked us both if we were interested in playing a game with her for the chance to win some prizes.”
“Did you win any?” Historic inquired.
Charmcaster nodded happily and once again pulled out her book. “I won this, and it can do all sorts of fun things! I’d offer to show you, but Lapis is really out of it right now,” She smiled at the dazed stallion. “By the way, how did you meet them?”
“They went to the same school as me. It was pretty fun, and none of the classes were ever boring.”
Games and Fest smiled at themselves and passed Lapis and Charm some drinks. “Nice to see everyone’s getting along well,” they said in perfect unison. “Enjoy this little break, because we’ve lots of other fun things planned.”
~~~
Over the next several hours the five ponies continued with their celebration. The pegasi twins hosted another round of games - most notably their riddle challenges. The consequences of which resulted in Lapis’s coat turning yellow and Historic’s mane and tail turning dark green. Luckily for them the changes would only last until the party ended, but that didn’t stop Games from taking as many photos as she could. Charmcaster - who didn’t have a taste for those games - spent her time playing cards with Festivities, Freddy, and the two stone tokens. She lost her cape and book to the fiery eyed mare but was luckily able to win them back. The tokens weren’t so fortunate and lost their entire life savings to Freddy (which was no more than a quarter between the both of them). As everyone was about to begin the next rounds a faint clicking sound was heard coming from the walls.
“Boss, it’s time.” the token with the accent said.
Games looked up from her chessboard and smiled brightly. “Centerstage people, front and center!”
Once they had all assembled onto the stage Games places a white bishop on her board and moved it two squares. The stage shook and let out a grinding sound before the section they were standing on rose towards the ceiling. Just as they were about to impact a hole formed in the ceiling, revealing the rose colored afternoon sky. In the distance the sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon.
“So pretty.” Charmaster said.
Festivities smiled at the magenta pony before setting her die on the ground. In a flash of magic light the die became a black telescope that branched off into eight eye slots. “Alright, now everyone look to Canterlot and try to see Princess Luna.”
Eagerly everyone looked into the telescope and pointed it towards the massive castle built onto the mountains north of Ponyville. Games was the first to spot the midnight blue alicorn on a raised platform looking down at a gathering of ponies - a banner in the shape of twin crescent moons behind her. Smiling to her subjects, the princess spread her wings and flew upwards, stopping just as she was leveled with the banner. She then spread her wings and rose into the air, stopping once she was at level with the banner.
“Zoom in, I think she’s going to raise the moon now.” Historic cried happily. Festivities nodded and adjusted the sights on the telescope, allowing them all to see the princesses horn become encased in a midnight blue aura. Her eyes glowed brightly and the white figure of the moon rose from the horizon.
The group all stared at the scene with great anticipation, which was only fed by the steady creeping of the moon. Finally the moon broke past the horizon and bathen the land in its light and causing the onlookers to cheer happily. Just as the light was about to touch the princess a massive grin appeared on the telescopes lense and emitted a quick hiss.
"What the?!"
“AH!”
Both Historic and Lapis were caught off on guard by this, and stumbled back and falling off the sides of the platform in the process. Charmcaster quickly took notice and jumped off after her friend. Games Master and Festivities looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“Um, boss, shouldn’t you check to see if they’re ok?” the hatted token questioned.
“Oh, don’t worry boys,” Games said between giggles. “We’ve already seen to it that if they fell off then they’d be teleported back to their individual homes.” She and her sister then turned to the telescope with mischievous grins. "Good job at putting this together Fest."
Her red eye'd twin smiled. "Mom did always say we threw the best surprise parties."
