Holiday Activity--Continue the Story Game!

dannahbanana

dannahbanana

Teeny Tiny Baby Pony
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:xmastree::snow::xmastree::snow::xmastree::snow::xmastree:
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Hey everyone! This is one of my favorite team-building activities that we do at work sometimes: story building! It's fun and easy and is a great way to get your creative juices flowing.

Here's how it works: I'll write a small introduction to a story. Anyone can reply to the thread and continue the story. The reply must be at least one sentence long. There is no upper limit with how long it can be! Then someone will reply to that reply, and so on. Let's see how long we can build a story. When it seems like it is time for a conclusion, I'll ask for the next person to write one (I don't know about you, but I like stories to have endings and not go on forever!) You may reply more than once, as long as you are not replying to yourself.

Some things to keep in mind: Feel free to introduce new characters, including both protagonists and antagonists. The main character in this story is Baby Stockings--this is the only thing that needs to remain constant. There's no need to stick to G1 characters only, feel free to incorporate characters from other gens. Also, feel free to create your own unique characters! You may also transition the setting from one place to another. Incorporate your own writing style and tone...no need to exactly copy the tone or writing style of the previous poster. Try to transition from one scene to another naturally--don't make your reply totally random and try to follow the previous replier's prompt. Have fun but keep it HR appropriate!

Prompt:

Baby Stockings woke up early on Christmas morning. Her heart aflutter, she leapt out of bed, put on her slippers, and rushed down the hall to awake Merry Treats. "Wake up! Wake up! It's Christmas!" she called as she jumped on Merry's bed. "Oh, alright little one. Let's see what Santa brought you," Merry Treats laughed and slid out of bed somewhat reluctantly. As they walked down the stairs to the living room, a chilly breeze caused them to shudder. Baby Stockings bounded up to the tree but stopped abruptly when she discovered that there were no presents waiting for her! The window next to the tree was open...

:xmastree::snow::xmastree::snow::xmastree::snow::xmastree:​
 
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... snowflakes were floating in and the branches glittered with frost. The frost was all that glittered. The decorations were gone too.
"Oh noooo!" wailed Baby Stocking, big tears rolling down her cheeks.
 
“Quick!” she beckoned, already bounding for the door. “No pony gets away with stealing, not on Christmas!”

She made it three big leaps forward before Merry Treats caught her. “Oh no you don’t,” she said, already dragging the protesting filly back up the stairs. “If you’re going to catch a Christmas thief, I’m not going to let you catch a cold while you’re at it. Let’s bundle you up.”

“THEN thief catching?” Baby Stocking pouted. Merry Treats couldn’t help but smile, in spite of the grim scenario that faced them.

“THEN thief catching.”
 
Wrapped snugly in four layers of their warmest scarves, cloaks, booties, and hats (every holiday pony owns many), they perhaps inadvisably set out to follow the trail of hoofprints before the falling snow would soon erase them. They huffed and puffed their way to the crest of a hill, and beheld the tracks that led away down the valley slope right to the front gate of.. Dream Castle??
 
Dream Castle? Why would any of the ponies here steal decorations? What a baffling scenario they have found themselves in. The front gate seemed to be left agape. Curiouser and curiouser. Baby Stocking stepped cautiously forward, Merry Treat close at her side.

" Do they usually leave the gate open?" Baby Stocking asked.

((Strawberry to the rescue! :rofl:))
 
Not only was the gate open, but the snow had drifted inside. There was not a pony to be seen, and crystal icicles had formed around the archway.

"M... Majesty?" Merry Treats stuttered and she kept the baby pony behind her.

Baby stockings wouldn't be contained, and slipped past her, bounding into the castle fearlessly.
 
Swallowing her shock, she called out in a loud voice. "WE KNOW YOU'RE THERE! We followed your tracks!"
Merry Treats hissed for her to be quiet. She waited, but there was no response. Even more loudly, she cried, "COME OUT WITH YOUR HOOVES UP!"
Their hair stood on end and they froze in place as this time there was a loud clatter from somewhere atop a parapet, beyond where they could see through the falling snow. They held their breath, and listened, and through the muffling snow they heard a voice.

"H-... hewwo??"
 
The wind distorted the voice and the stone walls of the castle made it echo ominously. Baby Stockings and Merry Treats were shaking in their boots as the sound came closer. Suddenly out of the shadows stepped none other than Spike the Dragon!

"Oh thank goodness you two are here," he croaked. "You've got to help. All the Christmas presents and decorations are gone. And what's worse...I can't find any of the little ponies either! Well....except you two of course."

Baby Stockings wrapped the shivering Spike in one of her scarves. "Don't worry, Spike. I won't let whoever is doing this ruin our Christmas! But where could the little ponies be? Where should we look first?"

Suddenly there was a flash of light as what appeared to be a shooting star raced across the sky in the direction of the forest.

Baby Stockings knew in her heart to follow the shooting star. She bounded off immediately, Merry Treats and Spike following close behind.

Little did they know what waited beyond in the dark, snowy forest...
 
They galloped into the dark forest, the branches tearing at their manes. Spike was lagging behind and struggling through the deep snow. "Its too much for me! You go on without me!" He dramatically spun and fell into a snow drift.

"Don't be silly," Said Merry Treats "Hop up on my back, I have a feeling that star will solve this mystery for us!" The little dragon scrambled up and held onto her mane.
"Okay, I guess I'd better be the navigator. It went that away!" He pointed ahead of them into the darkness.

"Its so... s...s...scary in here." Baby Stockings shivered. Ahead of them, above the canopy, the star shot up into the night sky and glimmered. It shot back down again as quickly as it had arrived, leaving the forest even darker than before.

"Ok," Gulped Merry Treats "I think, the faster we find everyone, the faster we will be warm in Dream Castle with hot mugs of cocoa and snuggly blankets..." She moved slowly towards the snowed over path. Something dangled into her face from the branches and she yelped and shied away from it, nearly toppling Spike over.
"Hey! Hey! Its okay! Its just a ribbon!" He pulled it from the trees, and it gently sparkled in the moonlight. "Looks like its from a present!"
 
"We're definitely on the right track, then!" exclaimed Baby Stockings, rearing up and plunging forward through the drifts. Merry Treats and Spike followed, and soon the weak twinkle on the way ahead brightened into a faint glow. Ahead seemed to be a clearing, and they could see light and hear noise. When they stepped, blinking, from the tree line, their mouths fell open at the spectacle that filled the forest glade.

[writer's note: no joke, right as I typed this someone outside bellowed "HO HO HO HO!" in a classic Santa voice, and it has happened 3 more times while I've been listening :rofl: ]

In the open space surrounding a conifer tree that towered above all the rest, lay a long line of tables laden with all sorts of gifts and stockings, baubles and garland, hurriedly heaped and surrounded on all sides by little elves! The elves were running this way and that like a community of busy ants, hurriedly opening each gift and examining each object. These were pushed further down the line of tables where more elves were re-wrapping and labeling and making heaps of organized chaos. Several elves with clipboards and important-looking hats surveyed the work, furiously jotting notes using feather-plumed pens, moving from table to table and consulting with one another. One of the elves with an especially important-looking hat stood at attention to greet the arrival of none other than Santa Claus himself, who was stepping out of a sleigh that still dripped sparkles of trailing light as its magic wound down.

Santa gave an appreciative pat to the blue moose who was pulling the sleigh that morning, before striding away toward the tables with the Important elf. "What's our status?" the ponies heard him ask the elf. "It's nearly dawn and they'll all be waking shortly!"

"We're through most of it, sir! Waiting on final loads from Majesty's team! We've recovered three occurrences of--" and there the elf faltered, as his eyes fell on the two ponies and Spike, who were staring slack-jawed at the whole scene. The elf gave a huge gasp, which silenced the murmur of working elves like a toot in a cathedral. Everyone including Santa were now looking at the newcomers with the expressions of startled rabbits. Santa was quickest to recover, and approached the ponies just as Baby Stockings burst into tears.

"S-Santa?? What's going on?" she burbled and sniffed. "What happened to Christmas?"

"Oh, my poor dear," he replied, setting down on one knee and resting a big, mittened hand upon her head. "I had hoped you'd sleep a little longer today. I'd better explain. Have you ever heard of a factory recall?"
 
((Like a toot in a cathedral!! @Jellybean youre too funny!! ))

"Factory.. recall?" Spike exclaimed in shock with a chilled shiver in his voice.

"W-whats t-that?" Baby Stockings sniffled through her tears. She felt Merry Treat move closer to touch her side and comfort the small pony.

Santa furrowed his brow at the question, letting out a troubled sigh, " You see. Someone has been very naughty this year and cast a dark spell on all the presents and christmas decorations. We've scarcely been able to keep up with righting it." He kneeled down to Baby Stockings height, " Dry your tears little pony, all is well, all is still merry and bright. I apologize for giving you a fright."

" A dark spell? Who?" Merry Treat asked as protectiveness welled up in her. No one makes Baby Stockings cry!!
 
(It's been awhile since the last reply, so I think I'll finish the story up guys! Here's part 1 of the ending.)

"I bet I know who!" said Spike. "Those no good witches! Hydia, Draggle, and Reeka! They must be behind this!"

"Actually, no," said Santa. He squeezed the bridge of his nose with his gloved hand and closed his eyes. All this was giving him a massive headache. "According to my elf scouting team they are on vacation dumpster diving across Ponyland for moldy fruitcake. Rancid stuff."

"Then who could it be?" cried Baby Stockings. Suddenly the star appeared again overhead. It streaked across the sky and crashed into a large oak tree before hitting the ground with a thud in a snowbank. Suddenly, the mound of snow began to talk. "Owww! I told you we shouldn't travel through portals left by him. We never land softly on the other side."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just know whatever he's doing in this dimension couldn't be good," said a purple alicorn that appeared from the snow mound shaking the snow out of her mane. She was followed by a small dragon that looked oddly familiar. As they stepped into the clearing, Santa, the elves, Merry Treats, Baby Stockings, and Spike all dropped their jaws to the floor. "Um, hi," said the alicorn, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike."

The Spike next to Merry did a double take. "I must be seeing things. Too much egg nog. Is that another...me?"

"We'll explain later," said Twilight. "I'm looking for a draconequus named Discord."

"A what now?" said Santa. But Twilight didn't hear him as she observed the situation with the presents and the decorations. She sighed and said, "He's probably what's behind all this. Ever since he's read The Grinch he's been obsessed with the idea of interrupting somepony's Christmas."

These strange visitors had left Baby Stockings dumbstruck, but as she thought about how everyone's Christmas joy was being threatened by some strange draconawhatsit, she stepped forward and said bravely, "Help us find him! We must save Christmas!"
 
Leaving Santa and the elves behind to sort out the situation with the presents and decorations, this strange multi-dimensional group set out through the forest to look for Discord. During the journey, Spike and Spike really hit it off. Unsurprisingly, they had the same sense of humor and could be heard laughing nonstop as the group trekked through the forest. Merry and Twilight were swapping fun facts about their own pony dimensions. "So your friend Gusty can only use her magic to make wind, and Fizzy can just make bubbles? How do unicorns turn the pages of a book?" asked Twilight. "With their noses of course, just like everyone else," said Merry.

Suddenly Baby Stockings spotted something in the distance. It looked like a large glass dome reflecting in the moonlight. She charged forward, the rest of the party not far behind. They skidded to a stop as they came close enough to realize what it was--a giant snow globe. Inside was a life-sized gingerbread house covered in gumdrops. But to the group's utter surprise, it was filled with the ponies from Dream Castle. The pegasus ponies were flying near the top, working together to try and break the glass. The unicorns and earth ponies were doing the same from the ground. But their efforts were futile.

"What in the Equestria is this?!" cried Twilight.

A voice rang out from behind them, startling them. "Isn't it wonderful? My own pony Christmas knick-knack suitable for a giant!"

"Discord! Let these ponies go!" scolded Twilight. "Yeah!" piped up Baby Stockings. "Who do you think you are, capturing our friends like this?"

"I'm just having some Christmas fun," pouted Discord. "Just like the Grinch."

"But, did you finish the book, Mr. Draconawhatsit?" asked Baby Stockings, bravely stepping forward.

"Um....no. Who has time to read an ENTIRE book? Besides, this is much more fun than reading." said Discord, folding his arms.

Disgusted by the idea of NOT FINISHING A BOOK, Twilight nodded, "So you don't know about the Grinch's heart growing and then realizing the true meaning of Christmas? He returns all the decorations and presents in the end. So you should too."

"Ugh," snorted Discord. "What a cheesy ending. Bleck." He stood there indignantly, but Baby Stockings, with her wide eyes peered up at Discord and said, "Why do you hate Christmas, Mr. Draconawhatsit?"

Discord let out a defeated sighed. "It's just...nopony invited me to celebrate this year."
 
"That's not true!" said Twilight, "Spike was in charge of sending the Christmas party invitations this year. You should have gotten one. Fluttershy insisted on inviting you."

Suddenly Twilight's Spike eyes went wide and he cleared his throat. "Um, Twilight. I uh...forgot to send them."

"You WHAT?" said Twilight.

"Don't worry!" said Baby Stockings. "If you let our friends go and return the presents and decorations back to normal, you can come to our Christmas party at Dream Castle."

Everyone exchanged glances, taken aback by how such a small pony could be so generous and forgiving. Deep down inside, Discord's icy heart began to melt, but he didn't let it show. "Why should I?" he sniffed.

"Because it's the right thing to do!" said Baby Stockings. "This friend Fluttershy that Twilight mentioned--she seems nice. What would she think if she saw you trapped my friends in a giant snow globe?"

Discord released a pent up breath. "You're right," he said. "But I still think this would have been more fun." He snapped his fingers.

The ground beneath Baby Stockings' feet shifted and for a moment she felt she was flying. Frightened, she shut her eyes. Suddenly she smelled pine and hot cocoa. Slowly she let her eyes open again. She was back at Dream Castle. She was surrounded by all her old pony friends, who were all looking around confused. The castle was decorated even more brilliantly than before. Presents were piled up under the tree, and a tray of steaming mugs of hot cocoa sat waiting on a table nearby.

"There. Happy?" said Discord.

Posey walked over to the record player and nosed the needle onto the record. Upbeat Christmas music began playing. Apparently having quickly recovered from the shock of returning to normal after the night's events, all the ponies cheered and began to dance to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."

Baby Stockings nudged Discord. "C'mon! Let's dance!" she said. He allowed her to push him onto the dance floor. All the little ponies including Twilight and Merry as well as Spike and Spike all laughed and sang along as they danced with Discord and Baby Stockings. And deep down, the ice around Discord's heart melted completely.

THE END
 
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