Tinsel 1: Hearth's Warming Eve
It was Hearth's Warming eve, and ponies all alike, were all snug in their beds, (even dragons like Spike!).
The stockings were hung, by the chimney with care, in hopes that Tinsel Claus soon would be there.
Twilight remembers the story quite well. She read it to Spike every Hearth's Warming Eve. She had just finished her annual reading and was now resting by the fireplace, looking at the stocking that Spike had hung up. She never bothered hanging one up for herself. She knew how fake Tinsel was. She stretched out her wings and yawned, then took a sip of her hot cocoa.
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie burst into the door. The cold breeze blew in and made the alicorn shiver. The bundled up pink ball of laughter closed the door quickly to keep the cold out, and she took off her toque, scarf and boots. She approached Twilight and sat with her.
Now, under normal circumstances, all of the mane six would be there with Twilight. But a wicked storm had brewed up and the blizzard made it near impossible to fly, and foolish to walk. With the snow piled up to their tummies and rising quickly, everypony was relaxing at home with their fire, enjoying the warmth and light it brought. Pinkie was the only one this year. She never wanted to leave her friends hanging. So she curled up with Twilight by the fire and smiled.
"Hello Pinkie Pie." Twilight smiled.
"Hiya Twilight! What'd you ask for this Hearth's Warming?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean from Tinsel, silly! You DID ask for something, didn't you?"
"Tinsel? Oh come now, Pinkie....You don't REALLY believe in that old pony's tale, do you?"
Pinkie Pie gasped loudly, then whispered to Twilight.
"You don't believe in Tinsel?!"
"No....?"
"Twiliiiiight! You have to believe otherwise she won't come and leave you a present!!"
Twilight smiled and shook her head.
"Oh Pinkie....It's impossible for Tinsel to fly around the entire world in just one night. And she's only a pegasus, so she can't use a time spell."
"Shh! She might hear you!"
"Pinkie, I appreciate your concern, but it's not needed."
"Of course Tinsel can fly around the world in one night!"
"How?"
"Well, what if she has a unicorn friend that uses the time spell for her?"
"Okay, okay. True, that is possible. But what about all the presents? The planet's population is gigantic! She can't possible create billions of presents in a year, even if she made them 1 toy per second!"
"She has elf ponies to do that for her!"
"Okay. But how does she transport all those gifts? The bag would be humongous, so don't you think somepony may of noticed a big velvet bag flying through the sky?"
Pinkie pulled out a chalkboard and scribbled a picture of a velvet bag on it, then she drew and arrow pointing in.
"What about an enchanted bag of holding?"
"Alright, you got me there. A bag of holding does make them virtually as light as feathers, and it has infinate space. But even with time stopped, a bag of holding AND she has a team of elf ponies creating toys for her, it's still impossible! She'd tire out soon enough. For a pony who eats nothing but milk and cookies, I can't imagine she even manages to get out of the north pole!"
"Um.....Hearth's Warming Magic?"
Twilight smiled and pat her friend on the head.
"I understand you want me to believe, but it's scientifically impossible."
"Twiliiiiight...."
"I'm sorry Pinkie, but without evidence, she's just another pony tale to me."
"....What if I proved to you that she's real?"
"How in Equestria would you do that?"
"Just set up a camera and see if you can catch Tinsel in the act! I always do, but I never get any footage. And she never trips my traps."
"That's not a bad id- wait....traps?"
"I've always wanted to meet her in person, but she's so crafty..."
Twilight face hoofed.
Later that evening, Twilight took her post at the surveillance screens. She had set up multiple cameras. One in the chimney, one in the main entry way, one in the living room (where the tree was) and one in the upstairs balcony. She had virtually every corner covered and she sat there and stared.
She had to make sure to stay awake. She didn't want to miss a thing.
Minutes soon turned to hours, and the more time she spent there, the more heavy her eyelids became. Slowly, but surely, her eyes began to droop lower and lower until the poor mare couldn't do it any longer and fell asleep. She snored cutely into the night.
Suddenly, she was awoken by a strange noise coming from the ceiling. Somepony was rustling in the trees above her. She looked around suspiciously, then got her magic ready for the intruder. Whoever it was, they were coming in through the chimney stack. She cautiously approached until suddenly, with a cloud of soot and ash, a Pegasus with a coat as green as pine trees and a mane and tail silver like the decorations she was named after came crashing out of the chimney flew. Twilight coughed and cleared the smoke and looked at her, and her eyes lit up like a pinball machine.
"YOU'RE TINSEL!!"
The Pegasus suddenly jumped up and covered her mouth with a sooty hoof.
"Shhhh! Keep it hush, Twilight!"
Twilight removed the pony's hoof from her mouth.
"But you're real?"
"Of course I am, silly!"
"What about your stories? Are they true?"
"A few are. Ponies just make it up as they go along."
"But it doesn't bother you?"
"No. As long as I can keep them believing in me, my magic will continue to work. Listen, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a lot of presents to deliver."
Tinsel started to unload a few presents and put them under the tree, and a few things into the stocking Spike had hung.
"Wait, miss Tinsel! Can I please come with you?"
"What?!"
"I have so many questions!"
Tinsel looked at her watch, then groaned.
"Okay, hurry up, get in my sleigh!"
She took Twilight to the roof and strapped herself into the harness. Twilight stared and mouthed the word "wow", but Tinsel was getting impatient.
"Come on Twi!"
"Oh! Right! Coming!"
She climbed into the sleigh and they pulled off. Twilight watched as Tinsel flew from house to house, dropping off gifts and asking her questions when she could get one or two in.
"How do you get around the world so fast if you don't stop time?"
"Hearth's Warming magic. That and two jet engines on the sleigh help."
"Is it true you really have a team of elf ponies to create the toys?"
"Yep!"
"How do you read every single letter to you?"
"That's my secret."
Soon enough, the presents were delivered and Tinsel had a little time to visit Twilight at her house before having to depart. They came in the same way, and Twilight was brushing the soot off her coat when she turned to Tinsel.
"So why didn't you leave me what I asked for that one year?"
Tinsel shot up, then looked at her.
"Which year? Back when you were 6?"
"Yeah...."
"Well, I felt that it'd be irresponsible to give a little filly a sample of Plutonium for Christmas....is that why you stopped believing in me?"
Twilight rubbed her foreleg and nodded meekly.
"I thought you had forgotten about me."
"Twilight, I would never forget a filly or colt as long as I live!" She beamed.
"But...how do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Go undetected every year?"
"Oh, I don't, silly! Thousands of ponies young and old have seen me. But no one remembers what I look like after I cloud their mind just like I'm doing to you now!"
Twilight suddenly went into a strange trance and Tinsel smiled.
"Sorry Twi, but I need to keep myself secret."
Twilight soon curled up on the floor and fell asleep. Tinsel then lifted the sleepy unicorn up and put her into her bed, then tucked her in and pat her head. She then took flight and departed with a soft jingle.
The morning was surprisingly calm despite the harsh storm that had raged on only hours ago. Twilight had slept in later than usual, that is until Spike had started jumping on her bed. She awoke and managed a weak smile at the dragon.
"I'm coming Spike..."
The two of them went downstairs and Spike started to open his many gifts. The other girls soon joined in on the festivities as well, bringing one or two of their own gifts to open, as well as a few for each other. Twilight got mostly book related things, while the others seemed to have gotten exactly what they wanted.
Soon, they were all having candies, pastries and chocolate for breakfast, laughing, playing and enjoying each others company. That's when Spike spotted one unopened gift for Twilight. Whatever it was, it was bulky, and very heavy. As if it were made of lead! Twilight used her unicorn magic to levitate it over and read the tag.
"To Twilight.....from......Tinsel? Okay, who got this for me?" She smiled and looked at her friends. But none of them would own up. They all said they hadn't seen it before. Not even Pinkie did.
"Hm...."
She removed the paper and gasped. The others just looked confused. Suddenly Twilight ran off and came back with 6 hazmat suits and a pair of tongs. They all glanced at one another, until Twilight started to put on her suit. The others swiftly did the same, and Twilight opened the lead container. She carefully removed the contents with the tongs. Inside was a glowing green irradiated rock.
"It's the plutonium I asked for when I was only a filly!"
"You asked for PLUTONIUM when you were a filly?!" Applejack looked at her.
"erm....yeah. But who could've gotten it?"
"Tinsel! Obviously!" Pinkie cut in.
"Tinsel...." Twilight smiled. "Pinkie.....I think I can believe....for at least one more year."
And some say that if you looked into the Ponyville sky that particular day, that you'd see a green and silver Pegasus, pulling a sleigh. And she'd smile and call as she rode into the northern light:
"Merry Hearth's Warming to all, and to all, a good night!"
Tinsel 2: White Hearth's Warming (Part 1)
Tinsel was flying across the early morning skies, northward, toward home. Her sleigh jingled softly behind her as the bells on her harness danced. The soft, rhythmic flapping of her wings was the only other sound on that frigid night. On her hooves, she donned 4 silky boots, red with white trim. On her silver mane rested a red hood-like hat, a white fluff trimming the edges and was the colour of the pom pom on it's tip. She smiled when she entered the North Pole, her breath living clouds of peppermint scented mist behind. She saw her elf ponies guiding her toward the runway with small orange cone lights, motioning her toward the hangar. The lights lit up, dotting the edge of the lane and she slowly and gracefully made her decent toward the snowy ground. She landed easily enough, she and her sleigh sliding to a soft stop. She trotted along, humming a little tune to herself as she made her way into the hangar.
A few elf ponies helped her remove her harness and saddle, then take it to the workshop for cleaning, repairing and eventually, storage. The sleigh would have to go through a similar process. Luckily for them, they had another 364 days before next Hearth's Warming Eve. She smiled and made her way into the largest building on the site. However it was much bigger on the inside than out. Hundreds of thousands of workbenches, machines, conveyor belts and other manufacturing equipment filled the main area, each with a multitude of elf ponies working at it. She took a few steps in, removed her boots and hat, and a small elf pony ran up to her, expertly balancing a silver tray on his head. On the tray rested a kettle and cup, each of them sending a torrent of steam from it's opening. Tinsel thanked the little elf pony and took the cup with her wing. She made her way through the main aisle between all the machines and climbed a long staircase to her office. She sipped the contents of the cup, hot cocoa, daintily so as not to burn her mouth or muzzle as she climbed the stairs, then entered her office. The office was very large, with a lone desk and black chair.
She put the cup down on the desk before making her way toward the viewing window. The window took up one entire wall of her office, and it had a set of doors that led to a large balcony. She pushed the door open and stepped onto the balcony, watching over her diligently working little elf ponies. She then approached a lone mic stand, upon which rested a golden microphone. She gently tapped it, causing a soft tapping noise to pipe over the intercom system. The noise caught the attention of all the elves, and they all looked up at the balcony expectantly. Tinsel smiled wide before speaking.
"Hello, my little elf ponies!"
"HELLO TINSEL!!"
The response boomed throughout the workshop, causing Tinsel to close one eye and tilt her head away a bit with a big smile on her face.
"Thanks to the exceptional efforts of all of you, and the amazing modifications made to my sleigh this year - to which I thank the engineering department especially - I declare this years Hearth's Warming Eve a phenomenal success!!"
Loud cheering and applause roared in the workshop, with elf ponies stomping the ground happily and others leaping up and down. Tinsel smiled and raised her hoof to calm them down and let her finish. After the cheering died down and silence rung in the air again, she continued.
"Enjoy your day off, everypony!"
The elves all cheered once more, flooding out of the workshops doors. Tinsel watched as her little helpers briskly left the workshop, eager to enjoy their day off for that week. Contrary to popular belief, the Elf Ponies are actually paid wages, they enjoy weekly days off (with no chance of a call in) and most of the time (or, more accurately, ALL of the time!) the gifts are all manufactured, assembled, packaged and wrapped months before Hearth's Warming! So they are not mere unpaid slaves. Tinsel found ways of increasing productivity, while not having to sacrifice wages, jobs or time off. The Elf Ponies loved Tinsel for that, and Tinsel, in return, loved them. They were her only family.
She turned and walked back into her office, and her diligent little assistant elf stood by her the entire time. Tinsel smiled and turned to him.
"And what are you still doing here?" She asked sweetly.
"I'm...I'm working, Miss Tinsel."
Tinsel pat him on the head gently with a big smile.
"It's your day off, you have no need to work today!"
"R-Really Miss Tinsel?"
"Yes, really. Go enjoy yourself. No sense cooped up in my office!"
The Elf smiled and ran out the door to play with the others, and Tinsel sighed happily, the big smile never leaving her muzzle.
"What am I gonna do with them?~"
6 months have passed, and all the presents were already wrapped and stocked. Tinsel sat in her office, stacks and stacks of letters, papers and notes, all hand-written by fillies and colts, were towering on, around and even in Tinsel's desk. She grabbed one from a pile and opened it up, giving it a read.
"Dear Tinsel, Ive ben verry gud thisyear. Can I pleez have a JoyBoy this year?
From Soda Pop, Age 4"
Tinsel giggled, then set the letter into a special machine which took his Hearth's Warming wish and found the corresponding gift, tagged it, then put it into Tinsel's bag of holding.
"Don't worry, Soda Pop." She said, watching the present get set down into her bag from her desk. "You'll get your JoyBoy."
Tinsel grabbed another letter, this one was inside a pink envelope, with magenta trimming. When she opened it, she was a little startled at the party horn sound that played, sending confetti into her face. She smiled, knowing well enough who this one was from. She pulled the cotton candy scented paper out of it's envelope and flipped it open to read it.
"Dear Tinsel. I've been super duper extra good this year! I even threw parties for all of the ponies I pranked this year too! Except Rainbow Dash, but her birthday is coming up real soon. Actually, now that I think about it, Twilight hasn't had a good party in a long time. OOOH! I should throw her a book party! Or a writing party! But that sounds an awful lot like school. And school is BOOORRR-INNNNG! Ooop, I'm sorry, I'm going on a tangent again. Twilight says I tend to do that. Oh I should tell you about the really funny joke book that I borrowed from her! Well, actually I read it over her shoulder. She doesn't like that much. Oh I'm doing it again! Drat I'm running out of paper. Lemme get another sheet. Oh wait! I can just write on the other side! Flip it over!"
Tinsel giggled again, flipping the letter over.
"Okay okay okay. So I've been really super duper extra good this year! Oh wait I already said that. Maybe you needed a reminder. But I already GAVE you a reminder..But maybe you need to be reminded that I reminded you! Okay, if you look at the back of this letter...oh wait this is the back. I mean if you go back to the start of the letter, you'll see how good I've been! Wait if you read this far you probably already read that....Oh nevermind, I'm running out of paper again and Mrs. Cake is telling me to get back to work. Okay, I really really really really really really really REALLY want a brand new cupcake oven this year! A pink one! With lots of candy and sugar! Kinda like a giant Easy Bake, only real! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!
From Pinkamena "Pinkie" Diane Pie, age 24
P.S.: I still believe in you!"
Tinsel sighed happily and tossed the letter into the ever growing pile of pink, cotton candy scented discarded letters. She's already sorted the gift and has it in her bag. The rest were just extra letters Pinkie wrote to make sure she didn't forget. It was cute, honestly.
Only 3 months remained before Hearth's Warming, and Tinsel had to make sure to double check her Naughty and Nice lists. They were both written on magical parchment paper. One scroll was written entirely in green ink that was scented like pine trees, the Nice List. The other was written entirely in red ink that smelled heavily of peppermint, the Naughty List. She unraveled the scrolls, marveling at the magic of it. They were self updating, constantly adding or removing names as ponies come and go. They also transferred names from one to the other or vice versa should the pony in question perform one bad or good deed more than the other list. She watched as names appeared and disappeared from both lists. The magic was still working. Good.
She rolled them back up and went out to the Global Tracking system she had in her workshop. Hundreds of Elves were constantly watching from their stations, each screen showing multiple ponies (and other Creatures too. Tinsel isn't biased.) doing things. She walked down a few of the aisles and suddenly a loud alarm sounded in the room.
"NAUGHTY" flashed in big red letters across the main screen which took up the entire far wall. The monitor changed to show a little filly had knocked over a vase and lied about it. Tinsel's mouth twisted softly into a small frown as she watched the little filly on the screen. "She was doing so good." Tinsel thought to herself. A mare's hoof entered on the edge of the screen, presumably the filly's mother.
"Raspberry....Did you knock over this vase?"
The little filly frowned and shook her head. "Noooo...."
"Don't lie missy...You know Tinsel is always watching you."
The filly gently kicked the ground a bit and her ears flopped downward.
"Come onnn..." Tinsel bit her lip. "Just say that you did and you won't be put onto the Naughty List...."
The elves all watched the main monitor with a hushed silence, awaiting the filly's moral decision.
"Okayyy I did it..I'm sorry....I'll clean it up."
The elves all cheered and Tinsel breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to the elf in charge of the records.
"Mark this as 'Reformed', not 'Naughty'."
"Yes Miss Tinsel."
Tinsel smiled, shaking her head slowly as the elf ran off to mark it in the records.
Finally, the day before Hearth's Warming was upon them and Tinsel needed to get ready. She donned her boots and hat, then made her way out to the hanger. The Elf ponies quickly pulled the harness down from storage and helped Tinsel into it, tightening the straps so as they weren't TOO tight, but they were tight enough. She wiggled her hips a bit, making the bells on her harness jingle softly. She looked at the elves and nodded, signalling them to get the sleigh. They saluted and ran to the back room, and pushed the sleigh out into the hangar, hooking Tinsel's harness up to the hooks on the sleigh. Once she was hooked up and ready to tow, she trotted out of the hangar doors.
The runway was lit up on both sides with red and green lights, and the Elf ponies were directing her flight path with the same orange cone lights. She nodded and started to trot, then gallop, then sprint toward the edge of the runway before spreading her wings, letting the air catch them and she started to glide upward slowly before she flapped them a few times. Soon she and the sleigh lifted off the ground and flew off into the night sky.
Her last stop this year was Ponyville, much like last year. She smiled when she remembered Twilight's discovery of her. Perhaps she'll let her spot her again. She softly landed on the roof of Sugarcube Corner and slid out of her harness. She grabbed her bag of holding and leaped into the chimney. "They never clean these things...." Tinsel thought to herself as she felt her coat rubbing against the sooty bricks. She landed in a pile of ashes, tumbling out into the den. It was always hard to land after sliding down a chimney. She opened her bag and pulled out a few gifts, then set the bag down. She poked her muzzle into the end of the bag, bit down on something, then started to pull. The bag spat out a pink confectionery oven, dragged by Tinsel. She certainly got a huge workout this year. It's no wonder how she manages to melt off those pounds of milk and cookies and stayed so thin. She sighed heavily after getting the oven in place beside the tree, then made her way back toward the chimney, bag of holding dragged behind her.
She popped back out of the chimney again, covered in another layer of ash, then shook herself clean and strapped herself into the harness again. From house to house to house to house she went, dropping off gifts and coal to the assigned pony. The truth is, she could never just leave a filly or colt a lump of coal and nothing else...She usually put a lump of coal into their stocking, but delivered their gifts too. If it was a repeat offender, a lump of coal would replace another goody in their stocking. Soon, if they were nothing but naughty, they would get nothing but a stocking full of coal, and no gifts to boot. Sometimes, they needed to be taught a lesson.
Diamond Tiara never seemed to get it, and every year she would unload a mine cart worth of coal. Silver Spoon got a similar treatment. The CMC got gifts and goodies, generally not getting a single lump of coal. Except that one year she accidentally left a lump for Sweetie Belle....
Finally, she made her way to Twilight's house. Down the chimney she went, and she emptied out her bag. She set the empty bag down and went into the kitchen. Lo and behold, there was a plate of cookies and milk like every year. She sat down and had her snack quietly, with a big smile on her face. She was glad she could make so many ponies happy. Soon she was finished with her snack and she grabbed her bag. It was oddly bumpy for an empty bag...She thought nothing of it and went back up the chimney, tossing the bag into her sleigh and strapped herself into the harness. She then took off toward home.
Arriving back home, much like last year, she sat in her office after her yearly announcement of another successful Hearth's Warming. She put the bag beside her desk in her office and sat down in the chair, humming softly as she started to sip her hot cocoa...
Only for 6 mares to tumble out of the bag unexpectedly. Tinsel spat out her cocoa in surprise and dropped the cup. She stared, gawking at the 6 ponies....Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight and Applejack...They seemed a little dazed. Twilight shook off the daze, then grinned wide and pointed to Tinsel excitedly.
"SEE! SEE! I TOLD YOU SHE WAS REAL!!"
"Ohhhhh horseapples."
Author's Note
Yet another Christmas is coming up (or for you others out there, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa) and as a little something special for bearing with me, you get a sequel to the Tinsel story! Hurrah! Don't worry, fillies and gentlecolts. I will finish up the Human VS Five Nights at Pinkie's 2 story arc. For now, let this keep you sated.
