Open The Best Time of Year

[Discorderly]

♪"It's the most wonderful time, of the yeeeear!"♪

A strong baritone rang out loud in the small out of the way coffee shop as a orange and cream blur flitted and danced around, draping tinsel wherever he thought it was appropriate. Hearthswarming had quickly become one of his favorite holidays celebrated by ponykind, the cheerful atmosphere and colorful decorations made his heart sing with jubilation. Everywhere he turned when walking down the Canterlot streets, the ponies seemed alive with song, singing carols with friends. It was elating.

♪"It's the hap -happiest season of all"♪

Salem laughed as he pulled out the strands of lights, stringing them all around his small cafe, along the cieling and counter, wherever he could fit them, he wanted everypony who came in the feel the warmth and cheer of the holiday season. When he was finished he drifted back to the ground, looking over his work, "Perfect!" He had even put up a lovely evergreen in the corner, decorated with ornaments and lights. Underneath he intended to let ponies donate gifts to foals in need, speaking of which.

He half-skipped to the counter, reaching behind it to fetch a sign to hang outside that read:

'Free Holiday drinks for toy donations'

He smiled as he pulled it and another smaller box of decorations outside, setting the sign up by the door and fluttering up to begin hanging lighst on the outside of his shop. Continuing to sing carols in his rich voice as he did. It really was the perfect season for making friends!

[i hope this is alright, anyone's free to join! ^^]

[SirJude]

What an odd but busy day, it seemed as though young Sleet wasn't going to get much of a break. During the winter holidays he expected this kind of heavy traffic, but a pegasi can only fly so much for one day. He was glad he asked flight control if it was alright to take a bit of a break, he knew he was the right pony to ask for long distance flying but he feels wrecked after having so many trips these past couple of days. They agreed to it whole-heatedly, and asked him to make sure he just kept to walking for now. He agreed and headed his way on into town, surely he'd be able to find a place to just sit and relax for a little bit with these times of busy travel.

With a bit of a trot and a good look around, it seemed like a lot of interesting places were getting ready for the holidays. It reminds him of home and all the lights that usually go up around this time of year. The brown pegasi continued trotting around the streets to hear an rather active pony, and with a quick turn of his head he saw a rather jolly orange pony setting up shop. He decided to walk on over.

"Hello there!" Sleet Shock said, waving his hoof in their general direction, "I do hope i'm not too early, it's rather hard to keep track of the time now adays."

[[ Apologies if this is a tad late. Kinda wanted to see if anyone else was gonna take you up on this offer. ]]

[Discorderly]

(Totally fine I'm super happy you posted! ^^ Salem is a Griffon just by the by, that was my bad since it wasn't mentioned anywhere! ;o; )

♪"There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting

And caroling out in the snooow!"♪

He'd brought out another small box of decorations by now, long strands of sparkling tinsel just waiting to be draped along the top of the windows, a perfect compliment to the lights that he'd strung along the bottom. When he'd finished with the tinsel he flew back a moment to admire his work, the whole cafe would shine inside and out, especially once night fell! Anypony wandering down the streets would see it as a beacon promising warmth and cheer, and he would stay open as late as possible for the holidays, a haven from the nip in the air for anypony out after dark. With a warm laugh he began to hang the colorful balls along the edges of the tinsel, the last touch,continuing his own caroling as he did.

♪"There'll be scary ghost stories, And tales of the glories of

Hearthswarmings long long agooo!"♪

He was about to belt off into the chorus again when he heard a voice address him, spinning in place before fluttering himself to the ground. Well well! A new face! He always loved seeing familiar faces, but nothing was better than seeing new faces, because it was always an opportunity for new friends! He gave the pegasus a friendly grin and curled his long tail in delight, "Salutations my winged friend!" He waved back and held out a taloned hand to shake his hoof, "How lovely to meet a new face on such a joyous morning!" He used his tail to flip the now empty boxes upon his back, giving him a welcoming smile, "Need a place to hide from the chill? My doors are always open! You're most certainly not too early!" He looked over his shop and grinned, "I was just putting up the decorations before lunchtime!" He dipped his head and gestured for him to come inside, "Hot coffees, teas, lattes, cappuccinos, you name it I'll make it!" He grinned and looked curious, "What's your name, friend? You can call me Salem!"

[SirJude]

Sleet gave a tired smile, and put his hoof out to shake the griffon's talon. "Glad to hear I can help spread the same joy I get all the time." he said, taking a slow gaze over to the shop, "I am certainly looking for a place to take a bit of a rest. with so much holiday traffic my work is never done. As nice as it is to be recognized for your talent I feel as though I need to take a bit of a break every now and again." He said wit ha chuckle. "My name is Sleet Shock, it's a pleasure to meet you Salem."

He decided to take a look at all the decorations on the store, it's always a wonderful time of year seeing all the shops dressed in all this heathswarming cheer. Always brought a bit of sparkle to your eyes. "You've done a wonderful job dressing up your shop Salem!" he said as he started to head inside, "It's always a great time of the year when shopowners can break out in the holiday spirit. Really reminds me of home, so I'll just have to have a taste of home here before heading back to work." he decided to take a seat in one of the various seats in the establishment, "Could I get a coffee please?"

[Blueblood]

A cozy cafe full of Hearthswarming Cheer was, as they said, 'a sight for sore eyes', and the eyes of a journalist usually were. When one is up to all hours of the night making sure one gets one's copy in before the morning edition goes to press, and waking up at all hours to go and find said copy the next day, one develops a bleary and hard-bitten look, even if the the worst things they see are kittens caught in trees.

It was harder in the winter, when one had to tramp the streets, a half-soaked copy of the Canterlot Chronicle tucked underneath one's shirt to provide just that much more insulation, looking for something, anything interesting enough to justify being put at everypony's front door at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning. Such a one was the unicorn Earth Writer, and when he saw the tinsellated establishment, and heard a griffon singing carols like a bluebird inside... well! He said a silent prayer of thanks to Celestia and strode right in, extracting the soggy paper from his clothes and dropping it in the nearest wastebasket.

"Phew! And I thought I'd seen everything this city had to offer, but a part-songbird griffon's a new thing to me." The reporter himself would have been a sight, though perhaps not quite an edifying one; he seemed to have deliberately selected his outfit to defy every rule of basic fashion now current in the city; grey shirt, blue jacket, bright orange tie, and beige trilby hat. The whole look could be charitably described as 'bohemian.' Certainly, no one would mistake him for a regular visitor to the houses of the nobility.

[moonshineTheleocat]

It wasn't long before the soft tunes of Hearthswarming Cheer fell upon the Saxbird of sweet Manehatten City on his visit. The smaller than average Griffon hummed softly in the air as he spun about in an acrobatic manner in the air. From a slow and graceful aileron roll, he produced the glorious and well used brass Saxophone from his back and began to blow into it. And with that, one monotone note filled the air. It wasn't abrupt, as it started soft. But it was enough to alert those unaware of his prescience as he drifted down from the sky.

From his aileron roll, he made a gradual transition into a barrel roll, spinning as he followed the path, and slowly banking out of the motion to come in for the landing. He flew in low enough that his belly fur had almost touched the ground by the time he pulled back up. His massive wings spread wide to cast a shadow revealing himself, smiling, as the fabled legend of a club manager, Leonard Wingstrong. Sporting a white argyle fedora, and matching open coat. Reed in beak he began to play the tune of the season that previously caught his ears.

He broke from the song as he rose up onto his hind legs and twisted about delicately. His tail swishing through the air to not only act as his ballast, but also to flick about the bells and mistletoe that lined the end of his tail with practiced precision.

He danced into the shop while continuing from where the song left off. One claw holding his sax delicately, the other gesturing to the other griffon to join him. His voice jazzy and smooth.

♪"It's the most wonderful time... of the yeaaar!

Oh yes~, there will be much mistletoeing, and hearts will be glowing

when loved ones are near-ear-ear.

Oh it's the most wonderful time... of the yeeeaar!"♪

[Mojo]

Ms. Harshwhinney

Ms. Harshwhinney was never much of a 'holiday' pony. The orange pelted Earth mare in the blue blazer was always rather serious in all her pursuits in life. However, as a self described 'pony of high society', Ms. Harshwhinney felt it was her civic duty to participate in charitable activities. So, with a small box of assorted toys balanced on her back, the blonde Earth mare entered into Salem's Cafe.

"Mr Salem!" Ms. Harshwhinney said in her usual 'snooty' dialect. "I have brought some toys for charity."