Moondancer's Memories | Equestria Girls

13. The best Christmas

~ Late December ~

It was snowing lightly as Moondancer packed her things in her parents' car, just outside Canterlot University. They had come to pick her up and take her home for the holidays. She was excited to hear that her older sister was coming home as well. It had been quite a long time since they were all together, as her sister lived far away.

The drive was not too long, about 20 minutes. When they reached the house, Moondancer's mind was flooded with memories. It had only been 3 months since she left, but she had never been away for that long before.

"We were going to decorate for Christmas this evening," her dad said as they got out of the car. "You want to help?"

"I would love to," Moondancer replied. "What's first?"

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Moondancer and her mom had started decorating the tree in the living room, while her dad was outside putting up the lights. There were about 3 days until Christmas, Moondancer's favourite holiday.

"So, I couldn't help but notice you haven't mentioned Winter Sky recently," her mom said, hanging an ornament. "You used to talk about him all the time."

"Oh...that," Moondancer sighed. She hadn't thought about all that herself lately, and had gotten used to seeing him as just another student.

"Did something happen?" her mom asked.

"Well, I was actually going to talk to you about that," Moondancer said. It was true, she was going to bring it up at some point. "I'm not sure what to do. Well...I thought I liked him."

"Oh, that's great," her mom said. "But then what?"

"But then, I got to thinking that..." she started. "If I felt too much for him, it would interfere with my studies. So, I kind of...started avoiding him. That was a couple months ago. Honestly, now I feel really...bad about it. I wish I could be with him, but it's not worth it when it could just be temporary anyways."

"But that's what life is," her mom said. "You are a real girl Moondancer, and you are of course going to have these feelings. But you need to live all the other parts of your life as well!"

"Not right now," Moondancer replied. "It's just not the time. And now I feel like it's too late to go back and do things differently. I don't know if I should anyway. I just can't commit myself, when I'm not sure."

"I understand," her mom said. "Well, I can give you advice, but in the end it's your feelings and you need to make a decision. I think you need to experience different things and not just live inside your books."

Moondancer knew this was coming. "Oh. But I feel like I'm torn. You know, forget I mentioned it. I shouldn't. I shouldn't get involved. I've already disappointed him once." She grabbed an ornament from the box and hung it up on an empty branch.

"Well, you do need to choose one and stick to your decision," her mom said. "Especially when it involves someone else's life."

"I have," Moondancer said. "My studies come first and they always will. Emotions are not going to stop me." she placed one more ornament on the tree, going for another but noticing there was no more room. "Think we're done?"

"Just about," her mom said, reaching up and placing the tree topper. "It looks beautiful. I can't wait for everyone to be together. Your sister is coming home tomorrow."

"I can't wait," Moondancer said. "When was the last time she visited?"

"That would be last Christmas," her mom said. "She does live very far away. I know she's excited to see you."

Moondancer smiled. "I'm excited too."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Christmas was amazing. Moondancer, her sister, and her parents all got to spend Christmas Eve together watching the movie they always used to, and then exchange gifts on Christmas morning. In the evening, they all had dinner. Moondancer's sister had to leave for her plane the next morning, but she had 3 more days to stay around.

The day after Christmas, she was in her bedroom, singing along to her favourite Christmas songs by Adagio Dazzle. She loved singing, even if she wasn't perfect. Once the song ended, she heard clapping behind her...then realizing she had forgotten to close her door. Feeling embarrassed, she turned around to see her parents standing just inside.

"That was so nice," her dad said.

"You are such a beautiful singer, Moondancer," her mom added.

"Thank you, I guess," Moondancer said, sitting down on her bed. She might have been too critical of herself, but then again, they were her parents. Of course, they weren't going to say she was a bad singer.

"I'm going to start dinner," her mom said as they left her room.

"I'll be there soon," Moondancer said. She logged into her computer to work on another project. It wasn't for her lessons or anything, just a fun project she had been working on. It was a script for a fictional story, similar to the Magicverse TV series. Of course, it was never her first priority, but when she finished her class projects, she would work on it.

She was typing happily but suddenly, her phone rang. When she picked it up and didn't recognize the number, she rejected it. However, they called her 2 more times, so she finally answered it to tell them they had the wrong number.

"Hello?" she said. "Who is this?

"Hello, um...is this Moondancer?" a female voice replied.

"Yes...who is this?" Moondancer asked hesitantly.

"Sunny Flare," the voice replied. "From Crystal Prep."

Moondancer paused, not knowing what to say. She didn't even recognize Sunny's voice at first, although it had been a long time. "Oh. Um...hi."

"How...how are you?" Sunny Flare asked.

"Fine," Moondancer said blankly.

"Good to hear," Sunny said. "I just...I've been thinking about you a lot recently, and I realized I have your number here in my old phone. You had blocked me, so...I'm using my friend's phone. I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Oh, okay," Moondancer said. The words felt just as empty as they had all that time ago.

"It's been almost 3 years since that stuff happened," Sunny Flare continued. "And I have learned a lot in those years. I've learned what friendship really means, and the way Sour Sweet and I treated you was unacceptable. I can't take it back but I hope I can make it a little better. I'm sorry."

Moondancer didn't feel anything. "Okay," she said.

"So...do you think you can ever forgive us?" Sunny asked slowly.

Moondancer paused. "I'll think about it."

"That's better than nothing," Sunny said. "So, what are you up to these days?"

"I'm in college for writing," Moondancer said, still emotionless. "Haven't made many friends."

"Oh, well I really wish you the best," Sunny replied. "It's worth it, friendship is so important."

"Yes, it definitely was to you," Moondancer said.

Sunny Flare sighed. "Moondancer, please, I deeply regret the things I said about you and Sour Sweet does too. Sugarcoat wishes she had said goodbye to you."

"Well, she didn't," Moondancer said. "Now, I have things to do. Go live your happy wonderful life and just...just leave me out of it. Goodbye." She hung up, dropping her phone beside her. Hearing Sunny's voice hadn't been easy. There was no way Moondancer could ever really forgive them, but that didn't matter anymore. She avoided the thought of them as much as she could, even though their names popped up online all the time.

"Moony, dinner is ready!" her mom called from downstairs.

She closed her laptop and sighed. So much for writing that script.