Searing woke up and looked out her window at the snow covered landscape outside. In the light of a street lamp, she saw a snow sculpture in the shape of a '25'. "What a subtle reminder," she remarked with some snark. "Sweet Celestia, I wish I had something to do."

Christmas Break hadn't been kind to Searing. Sure, nothing bad had happened, but she was at the point where that would be preferable. Nothing had happened at all. Her double was gone, off in a place called Texas. Discord had also been gone for a while, but her room still got changed everyday. The birdcage theme she had gone to sleep and woken up with felt oddly appropriate.

More and more, she'd been wearing her kimono. As with the outdoors, it had gotten cooler in the house, and the thing was very good at keeping her warm. At the same time, the coloration reminded her more and more of the kind woman whom she'd thrown into the dirt, then gotten a job from. The more she thought about it, the less sense it made and the more she missed Yang.

Eventually, the call of nature and the need for food motivated Searing to get up with a groan. She picked out some clean clothes and went to the bathroom to take care of the former issue and take a shower.

After getting dressed in her warm clothes for the day, Searing heard a tapping coming from the mirror. "What do you want?" She tiredly asked.

"Is that what you're opening with?" The Searing in the mirror asked. "Not freaking out over a talking reflection?"

"I'm hungry and I've been living with Discord for a few months. This is not the strangest thing I've seen. Now get to the point before I leave to get some cold pizza."

"Have you considered just leaving Crystal Prep?" The reflection teasingly asked. "There's nothing stopping you from spending the day somewhere else, having fun and, shall we say, enjoying yourself? Winning, perhaps?" The suggestion came with an eyebrow waggle. "Discord certainly wouldn't mind."

Searing considered her reflection's words. "Keep talking."

The reflection smirked as the warm clothes changed to the more form fitting athletic clothes Searing wore in the gym before it got cold. "With a body like this, who could possibly turn you down? Perfect chest, hourglass figure, lovely hips, and incredible legs, all highlighted with a luscious layer of lean muscle. If you were a looker as a unicorn before, you would be a model every filly would aspire to be like now. You could even get Yang."

"I'm going to get that cold pizza now," Searing said with the textbook example of a disinterested tone.

"Noooooooo!!!!!!" The reflection's shout faded to nothing as Searing left the bathroom and turned off the light.

When Searing arrived downstairs, she saw that the living room was festively decorated. There was a tree, covered in lights and glittery things, topped with a sparkling star that looked like Princess Celestia's cutie mark. Garland ran around the room. Little Santa models were placed on numerous surfaces. There was a lit fireplace she knew wasn't there the night before. Right outside, a snowstorm was raging.

Since she'd seen similar stuff around town for the last two months, Searing knew it was Christmas. "Discord!"

Discord popped his head out of the tree, a clearly fake white beard on his face and a floppy red and white hat on his head. "Yes, Searing?"

"Did you do all this?"

The chaos spirit rolled his eyes. "So much for the magic of Christmas." He opened the tree like a door and stepped out, dressed like Santa. At the same time, a number of presents tumbled out. Most were badly wrapped while some were neatly wrapped, and Searing could swear that they landed to spell '4U'. "Go ahead and open them."

Searing grabbed one of the smaller ones and tore it open, letting the black and light blue item unfold in her grasp. "Really? A swimsuit at this time of year?"

Discord was smiling like a loon. "I know, right? It's perfect!"

"I guess I'll accept it. Swimming's coming in a few months anyways." Searing folded it up, set it aside, and would have moved on to a smaller, more rigid gift, if not for a huge box suddenly falling in front of her. "What?"

"This one's from Eris and your double," Discord explained. "I may or may not have tweaked the stuff inside a bit."

Searing tore the gift open with subpar enthusiasm. Inside were a whole bunch of packages she couldn't read, but did recognize thanks to her counterpart. "Kamen Rider 01 stuff?"

"All the DX toys. Belts, weapons, and progrise keys."

"I guess you made it all able to actually work like it does in the show?"

"Not here. Just wait until you get back to Equestria, though. That's where the fun will really come to light."

Searing smiled at the implied promise of the gear working. Her counterpart had shared all of the show with her, so she already knew how to use it. "So much gear. . ." She started daydreaming about going into a fight with the Shining Assault Hopper form equipped. She wasn't stuck in an arena with a hundred armored raging minotaurs. They were stuck in an arena with her.

"Hey, snap out of it!" Discord said with a light smack across Searing's distracted face.

"Ah! Hey!"

One snap later and all the 01 stuff vanished. "Clearly, you can't handle that right now. You will get it back later."

"Awww. . ."

"How about, oh, something from home?" Discord handed her an envelope with Yang's emblem on it.

Searing tore the envelope open and found a 200 bit gift certificate to the Carne Den. "How did you. . . This is legitimate, right?"

"1,000% legitimate. You would not believe how tough the negotiation process was."

Discord walked up to the bar and sat down. "I'd like to get a 200 bit gift certificate, please."

"Okay." Yang, covering the bar for the time being, accepted 200 bits from Discord and gave him the gift certificate. "Anything else?"

"Apple cider with some Bloody Marey mixed in and a fruit assortment on top in a martini glass. Stirred, not shaken."

Yang set a plain glass of smoked ice in front of him. "No. Not after the last time you got that."

"Oh come on! It was one time, and the walls were back to normal by sunrise!"

Searing set the gift certificate with the swimsuit and moved on to the small gift she was after earlier. She carefully opened it and found a brand new phone, along with a case and stylus for it. "Oh, this is cool!"

"It has been bestowed with U N L I M I T E D high speed data," Discord said in a sagely manner. "Can't say the same for the battery, though. Now, let's go over the. . ." Searing was sitting in a chair, looking over the instruction manual and not paying any attention to him. "You're not even interested in the rest of your presents, are you?"

"I'll get to them later." She got the phone into its case, emblazoned with her cutie mark, and turned it on. A smile came across her face as it activated, and she started playing with it. "Now, what to do. . ."

Thanks to her double, she knew a bit about how to navigate a phone. She checked her contact list and saw a few entries already there. Discord wasn't surprising, Eris made sense, but Other Searing was the one that jumped out at her. A text message would have been promptly sent, but Searing didn't have much experience, so it took a minute for her to carefully type out her message.

A longer response came back seconds later, and thus Searing started down the path of the phone.

It took over an hour for the two to bring the conversation to an end. When Searing looked up, she saw Discord asleep on the floor in a doghouse made of the gifts she hadn't opened. She took a picture before quietly going upstairs to her room, bringing her swimsuit and gift certificate along. "And now it's a tropical beach theme," Searing noted. Her bed was now a hammock strung between two swaying palm trees, and a hidden speaker was constantly playing the sounds of waves and seagulls.

After putting the gifts she had opened on her coconut scented desk, Searing found her heavier winter clothes and started layering up. She was going to go for a walk.

The snowstorm, thankfully, was brief, and ended before Searing reached her destination. She knocked on the door and waited.

Mr. Trender opened the door. "Searing! What a pleasant surprise. Come in."

"Thank you." Searing entered the humble home and, within seconds, was under assault by happy dog kisses. "Buddy! Buddy! Yeah, I'm happy to see you too, but please stop."

"So, how's your Christmas Day been?" Mr. Trender asked as he went to the kitchen.

Searing finally got Buddy to back off a bit with the power of ear scratches. "I got a phone in my presents. It's nice."

"It took until Christmas for you to get a phone? How have you lasted this long without one?"

"Pretty well, all things considered. Routines, plans, and no desire to deviate."

"Sounds rather boring, to be honest. You want a hot chocolate?"

Searing was about to answer when her stomach spoke instead. She hadn't gotten around to the cold pizza and was hungry.

"How about some warm food too?" Mr. Trender asked.

"Thanks." A couple minutes later, Searing was presented with a hot chocolate and a big fluffy omelette filled with cheese, meat, meat, more meat, and a few veggies. It was far better than the pizza she had been planning on before.

When the clouds parted hours later, Searing decided it was just about time to head home. She wanted to get some exercise in before leaving, and decided to shovel the snow off of Mr. Trender's sidewalk and driveway. It was also just a nice thing to do, especially for the time, conversation, and warm food he gave her.

She had finished the sidewalk and was halfway done with the driveway when a random woman walked up to her. "Hey, why are you out here shoveling snow?" She rudely asked.

"Uh, because I want to?" Searing answered. "Why do you care?"

"Girls should not be out in the cold shovelling snow. That is a job for a man."

Searing was quiet for a few seconds as some gears started clicking, and a question came to mind. "So, why are you out here?"

"I'm part of the women's empowerment movement. Power to the ladies! Surely, you can get behind that?"

Mr. Trender poked his head out the front door. "Is everything okay, Searing?"

"Just fine, Mr. Trender," Searing said before turning back to the stranger. "You talk of an empowerment group? I'm the president of the student council at Crystal Prep."

"Then surely you know how tough it is to get to that position, right? Wouldn't it be easier if the guys got out of the way? If they saw you as more than just a pretty face and attractive body?"

"Are you trying to make a point or an offer? Because I'm getting tired of listening to you, I have a shovel, and I have some solid muscles to back it up."

"Just think of how much nicer life would be if the boys and men, guys in general, lived only to serve girls and women. It would be a wonderf-hrk!"

Searing pulled the woman closer with a tight grip on her collar. "You listen to me, you idealogue-" Searing hoped she used the word correctly. "-My name is Searing Victory. I have a talent for winning. If you try to push that kind of garbage on me, or try to get me to be a figurehead for your so called empowerment movement, you will get burned." Her grip loosened just a bit.

"B-but you would be adored by everyone!"

A few pieces came together. "So you came to recruit me because I look good?"

"Visuals are a very important part of-hrk!"

Searing tightened her hold again. "Weren't you saying the opposite thing just a minute ago? That guys shouldn't see me as just a pretty face and an attractive body? And yet you want me to join your cause just for that?"

"It's different because I'm a woman," the woman said through the tight grip on the collar.

Searing considered the argument for a whole second, and another whole second later, presented her clever rebuttal. "So?" When the woman's only response was an owlish blink, Searing continued. "If I punch you, and I really, really want to, would the fact that a girl did it be any different than if a guy did it? Or if anything was different?" She let go of the woman's collar. "Now get going or I will punch you."

The woman backed up. "You're being very unreasonable about this."

"I could say the same thing to you." Searing took a step towards her and the woman backed up. "Look at that. You learned something! Slow clap! Let me give you another lesson." After ending the slow clap, Searing got a shovelful of snow from the driveway and flung it at her. "Now get going." The snow covered woman gave Searing a cold glare as she left.

Mr. Trender started clapping from the front porch. "Not bad, Searing. You countered her points very well. The promise of physical force probably helped too,"

"Thanks, Mr. Trender." Searing let out a sigh. "I'll just finish this up and head home." She promptly got back to work. "Seriously, who does that on Christmas?" She muttered under her breath. "Nopony would ever think of doing that in Ponyville. Probably. Sweet Celestia, I miss that place."

Searing arrived home to Discord lounging on the couch with a bowl of what looked like shaped mac and cheese, watching something on TV. "Did you have a good walk?"

"Yeah, it was alright," Searing said as she went up to her room. It was still themed after a tropical beach, and her remaining presents were piled up in the corner. Also of note, her swimsuit was laying on the hammock. After tossing it aside and laying down, she pulled out her phone and started researching swimsuits. She'd never worked up the courage to ask anyone about them and their importance.

After the research, Searing still didn't fully understand the importance of swimsuits, but she did understand that not wearing anything while swimming was only acceptable in a very very niche area, which she wasn't in. If she was honest with herself, and she had no reason to lie to herself, she couldn't see herself going anywhere without clothes as a human.

Above so many other things though, she missed being a unicorn. Even with the regular gym trips, it felt like she still wasn't as durable as she was before the trip. She missed her magic. She missed the simpler world she had travelled and grown up in. There was one material thing she dearly missed, though. "What I wouldn't do for some of Yang's cooking," she muttered to the ceiling.

Author's Notes:

It is a little out of season, but the alternative would be waiting for a few months and I don't feel like doing that.