How Trixie (Somehow) Saved Hearth's Warmingby GodzillawolfChaptersHow Did Trixie Even...How Does Trixie Get Into These Messes...Trixie Is Scared About This...How Did Trixie Even...How Trixie (Somehow) Saved Hearth's Warming Chapter 1 By Godzillawolf [=The Fires of Friendship- MLP:FIM Hearth's Warming Eve=] The wind blew loudly and the snow poured down. It was Hearth's Warming Eve and most ponies were either enjoying time with family or simply preparing for Santa Hoove's visit later. Well, those who were certain they had something besides coal waiting for them from that jolly old reindeer. As for the Great and Powerful Trixie, she sat in her new cart, nestled warmly in a blanket. Truthfully at the start of this year, Trixie had wondered if she'd spend the holiday warm with a roof over her head at all after her previous home was left in ruins by the Ursa Minor. Let alone that she'd have gifts from anypony. The blanket had been a gift sent by Twilight Sparkle and had came with a letter telling her to open it and not wait for Hearth's Warming. Five others gifts under a small Hearth's Warming tree. Pinkie's had come with a letter wishing Trixie was in Ponyville with them...and also some strange comment about wondering 'if this story will be in a stopmotion.' Rarity's card had came with a rather expensive jewel and the words 'do not dare consider this a hoof out, darling. I know how you are. This is a gift, spend it on whatever you please and enjoy the holiday'. Rainbow Dash's had primarily been 'Merry Hearth's Warming' and recounting that 'totally awesome' time Trixie became Queen of the Diamond Dogs and the two got her out of that mess. Fluttershy's was about how 'no pony should feel alone at Hearth's Warming' and Trixie shouldn't either. Applejack's had been wondering if Trixie was all alone and saying she shouldn't be, and also that Babs Seed wished her a Merry Hearth's Warming as well. Trixie...honestly had no idea how she felt about all of this. Hearth's Warming Eve for her normally wasn't a big deal for her unless she'd been hired for a show during that time. She'd never had friends, or family, to celebrate it with. In fact, she normally just stayed inside her cart and read fan mail. Except that one year she got visited by the Ghosts of Hearth's Warming, but that was an odd year. The idea of actually having presents under the tree that weren't either something she'd bought for herself or coal from Santa Hooves (Trixie would now admit it: she was indeed quite naughty), or receiving any cards that were accompanied by genuine friendship and love. It was an...alien feeling. Not entirely unpleasant, mind you, just...strange. Warm, inviting, but...strange...” “Once upon a time I was ignored Even if I thought myself adored...” Trixie sung, her song slow and thoughtful as her eyes wondered the room. “On this very special time of year Alone without knowing was this mare. For all those years, something was missing I wonder now, was it this feeling?” Trixie got up and looked at her various letters from her friends. “For so very long, I did believe All that mattered was what you achieved. Whether it was truth or just a lie. But looking back I think I see why I always felt bitter in the end ...Is it because I never had friends?” Trixie asked aloud, looking at the blanket around her thoughtfully. “I could have ruled wherever I went But it would not have made me content. Fame and admiration I knew well But no matter how great it did swell I just could not be truly happy And yes, I know this song is sappy” Trixie continued, giving a blink and a chuckle to herself as she realized how thankful she was nopony was hearing her sing. That would be incredibly incredibly embarrassing. “But now that kindness ponies show me I think I'm happy as I can be... But yet, I'm confused I do admit,” Trixie looked uncertain as she took one of the letters in her telekinesis and read over it. Confused. “I ask myself how to return it? I don't know with what I am dealing When it comes down to this strange feeling... Oh great, I have my brain reeling Just to make sense of this strange feeling...” Trixie finished setting down the letter and giving a sad sigh. “...I suppose if everything were easy, we'd all be Alicorns by now...” Trixie's eyes wondered from the letter looked to a map nearby. Specifically one little town in Canterlot's shadow. "Should Trixie…" she thought, entertaining the idea of paying a visit to Ponyville, it wasn't like she was uninvited. "No...Trixie enjoys spending Hearth's Warming Eve by herself. Solitude is how she celebrates!" Trixie trotted over to her 'kitchen' and beginning to prepare some hot coco. "All she needs to enjoy the holiday is some hot coco and warmth...even if she appreciates the gifts...and the well wishes...and actually having friends who hope she's enjoying it…" Trixie looked down. "...Besides, Trixie doesn't know where she'd begin…she's not used to being...kind..." The azure unicorn got out some marshmallows. "So she'll just enjoy a nice quiet, uneventful Hearth's Warming Eve by herself. What could possibly go wrong?" Trixie jumped about a foot in the air when a loud impact rattled her cart. "...When will Trixie learn it is unwise to tempt fate?" The showmare poked her head out of the window. "Who dares hit the Great and Powerful Trixie's cart! If it is you again, Bon Bon, Trixie will-" Trixie blinked, looking around to find no pony. Just snow gently falling to the already white ground. She cautiously stepped out of her cart. "Hello? Is anypony out here?" She remained on guard. She didn't want to get ambushed and foalnapped by a fanatical fans...again. That was unpleasant. The mare circled the cart that served as her home until finally her hoof caught on something and she went muzzle first into a snowbank. "What the Tartarus did Trixie...trip...over…?" Trixie's eyes went wide. Her hooves had been tripped not by a rock or a stone...but by a living being. Namely the antlers of a reindeer, one with bells around her neck and what looked like a sleigh harness on. Said reindeer was currently unconscious in the snow, her hind legs frozen solid. Trixie jumped as she swore she heard the wind literally howl and the snow fall pick up rapidly. Trixie's first instinct was to flee to the relative safety of her cart...but she stopped mid-gallop and looked back at the reindeer as snow continued to accumulate around her. Trixie gave an annoyed sigh. "Trixie had to grow a conscience, didn't she?" The showmare used her telekinesis to pick up the reindeer and hightailed it into her cart, locking the door and all the windows. Icy blue eyes gazed down from the sky, scouring the area below and finding no signs its quarry. “Rotten little doe should be glad I don't have time for her...” the entity muttered in a voice like a wind through a graveyard. “...Still, with frozen legs in this weather, I doubt she'll last very long...But just in case, I should probably prepare a few little surprises...” The presence vanished into the snow and night. Trixie had covered her 'house guest' in an older blanket after using a few spells to melt the ice encasing her back legs. The showmare may have grown a sense of compassion thanks to the efforts of her friends, but Twilight's blanket was still a gift. And it was also Trixie's best blanket. Still, giving anything to a helpless creature she found laying around helpless in the snow was something the old Trixie would decidedly not have done...unless it benefited her in some faction. The azure mare got another cup of coco for herself (the old cup had gotten cold while she'd been helping the reindeer) and set down with a sigh. “Trixie just wanted a quiet Hearth's Warming alone...” she muttered. “Well...it could be worse, some world ending calamity could be happening...” “Ugh...” Trixie perked up, as the reindeer blinked awake and looked about in panic. “Where am...” “You somehow crashed into the Great and Powerful Trixie's cart, but she heroically rescued you,” Trixie replied with a somewhat smug look. “Your hind legs were also frozen, Trixie has no idea how that happened...” The deer blinked in some confusion, looking down at her now thawed hind legs. “...Oh...thanks...I would've been done for.” “Yes, yes you would've been. The storm is getting bad. And Trixie is just a heroic pony who enjoys saving ponies so much,” Trixie 'explained' in her most 'humble' fashion. The reindeer raised an eyebrow. “Uh...I'm a Reindeer.” “Oh, sorry.” “How many creatures have you saved exactly?” “Trixie kept an Ursa Minor occupied during a rampage once! And she also assisted in the apprehending of the master jewel thief Rough Diamonds!” Trixie announced with pride. “...Really?” Trixie grabbed a newspaper clipping off the wall in her magic and showed it to her. It read 'Stage Magician and Bearers of Harmony assist in capture of notorious thief Rough Diamonds.' Stage magician was circled in red with 'That's me!' written above it. “Oh...That's impressive...” “Yes, it most certainly is!” Trixie replied, giving a proud smile and pose. “...Also, you hit Trixie's cart. Trixie hopes it's not damaged.” Vixen rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, sorry about that...” “There was no damage, Trixie is simply protective of her cart...she has reasons.” “Gotcha...Well, glad you saved my flank. Name's Vixen.” The showmare gave a blink of confusion. 'Vixen?...No, it can't be. Why would she...' Both creatures jumped as the wind howled outside again. “What were those Pegasi thinking with this storm? Trixie likes a white Hearth's Warming as much as anypony, but this seems a tad excessive! No wonder you ended up half frozen!” Vixen's eyes widened. “Oh no! I forgot!” “Forgot what?” Trixie asked, lifting her coco in her telekinesis. “Oh no this isn't good!” the deer trotted back and forth in a panic. “Uh...oh! You said you've got experience with heroics?!” Trixie put a bragging leg to her chest. “Yes, Trixie has a lot of experience with heroism. She is Trixie after all.” She took a sip of her coco. “Good! Because Hearth's Warming Eve is in trouble and I need your help!” And said sip of hot coco was promptly spat on the wall of her cart. Trixie then spent a few minutes catching her breath. “Come again?” “I'm Vixen, you know one of the reindeer that pulls Santa Hoove's sleigh? But that's besides the point!! Hearth's Warming Eve is in trouble and I need help to save it!” Trixie stared in blank shock for a few seconds. “...If you're one of his reindeer, what did Trixie want for Hearth's Warming when she was twelve and why did she not get it?” Vixen raised an eyebrow. “Uh...I said I pull his sleigh, Santa does the list stuff.” “Oh...” “Now come on! Hearth Warming's Eve is at stake! Will you help me or not?!” The mare chose to play along. “Well, Trixie has always wanted to save Hearth's Warming...Though she assumed it'd involve fighting vampires...But what wou-” “Good! Thank you! Come on! Time's a wasting!” “Wait, wha-” [=”Dancing On Air” Rescue At Midnight Castle=] Vixen promptly got Trixie on her back, opened a window and took off. Trixie looked down and noticed they were rapidly gaining altitude. Her reaction was the natural one somepony would have to this particular situation. “AHHHHH! We're flying! You're flying! We're in the air! You don't have wings!” “Uh, yeah, I'm Vixen, one of Santa's reindeer remember?” the reindeer asked, looking back and raising an eyebrow. “Trixie thought you were joking or something!” Trixie yelled, hugging Vixen's neck out of fear of falling off. “I thought you were a hero or something!” “Heroes can be afraid of falling to their doom! Trixie believes that is a perfectly reasonable thing for heroes to be afraid of!” “...Good point.” Trixie was tempted to demand to be taken back. After all, saving the world was Twilight's thing, not hers. Whenever she tried to be the hero it...rarely turned out well...but of course, she'd spoke herself up so much, she had flashbacks to the Ursa Incident just imagining it. Trixie was many things, but above all she had her pride. And said pride had an aversion to being bruised...and what if she actually did it? If she actually did save Hearth's Warming?...Trixie had to admit, the thought of it made a part of her giddy. That and her mind was still trying to comprehend the whole 'I've been foalnapped by one of Santa Hooves' reindeer because she needs help to save Hearth's Warming and I'm now several hundred hooves in the air on the back of a flying magical reindeer' thing. That was not something that happened to her everyday. That said, she did have one question clear in her mind. “...Will we actually be saving Hearth's Warming from vampires?” “...Not vampires...” Trixie inwardly gave a sigh of relief. 'Good, it will probably just be restoring somepony's faith in the holidays, nothing more. Maybe having to stop some sort of evil toy company. Trixie can handle that. She's Trixie, of course she can handle it! What could possibly go wrong?' “AHH! Things are going wrong! Very wrong!” Trixie screamed as Vixen struggled against a massive, blizzard-like wind fighting against her. It stung their eyes and made Trixie shiver despite her natural fur coat. “Yeah, should have guessed it wouldn't be that easy!” Vixen yelled. “Leidr must be making the storm worse to keep me from getting back!” “Leidr?!” Trixie asked, blinking as she put a hoof over her eyes to shield them from the wind. “He's the one trying to ruin Hearth's Warming and the reason I crashed into your cart!” the Reindeer replied. “He's kicked up such a blizzard the North Pole is buried! If we don't stop him there's no way Santa's sleigh won't be able to launch period! So he sent me to find somecreature who can help stop him!” Trixie gulped. “Trixie sees...” Trixie tried to imagine the least horrifying thing she could, which ended up being a rogue pegasi manipulating the weather. 'Trixie can still handle that. No problem. No reason to panic.' She knew she probably should have asked for more information, but she honestly didn't want to know what she'd gotten herself into. Not because she was scared or anything. Why would the Great and Powerful Trixie be scared of anything? The azure mare used a spell to quickly get her hat and cape on and pulled two scarves out of her hat. She put one on and put the other on Vixen. After all, if Vixen got too cold to fly, Trixie would get hurt too. “Here you go.” “Thanks,” Vixen looked forwards. “Once we get in walking distance we'll have to land and get going on hoof, I can't keep flying to long in this.” Trixie nodded. “And just where are we heading?” “The frozen north.” “Oh, is that all? That's not-WAIT, WHAT?!” The entity that had been searching for Vixen, Leidr, hovered at the edge of a forest, north of the area any who sought to reach his lair on hoof would have to traverse. Leidr moved through the air like a ghost, placing himself behind a clearing where a large white wolf was sleeping. The mysterious entity gave a haunting, fearsome howl, sending the creature running in panic towards the path. After the wind got too intense, Vixen had landed gracefully. “AHHHHHHH!” “Hold on tight! This will be a bumpy landing!” “OOF!” Trixie poked her head out the snow bank the two were in and glared at Vixen, who simply smiled nervously. The two then continued traveling onward by hoof. Trixie could hear the wind roaring in her ears and was grateful she'd learned that scarf prestidigitation spell for her acts. She'd admittedly learned it because at the time she'd thought the word 'prestidigitation' sounded cool. She'd been a foal at the time. Vixen blinked, looking back at Trixie as the two marched forwards through the snow and the wind. “Wow, most ponies who aren't used to this would be having a lot of trouble...” Trixie panted a little but put a hoof to her chest proudly. “Trixie has spent all her life traveling Equestria. She even pulled her own cart all over the land in any kind of weather!” Vixen looked impressed. “Must have been hard, especially in the winter.” “Tell me about it! Trixie likely gets more hoof work in a year than most unicorns get in a life time!” Trixie was admittedly proud of her physical ability. When you had show magic as your special talent, being underestimated was common. Having something that made you stand out was something Trixie always strove for. Perhaps that was why she hadn't already demanded to go home and tell Vixen to go find Twilight like her mind was screaming at her to. Which brought a thought to her mind. “Vixen...may Trixie ask you something? Why Trixie? Trixie gets the feeling you weren't looking for her specifically?” Vixen looked taken off guard by the question. “Oh...well, Santa sent me to go get help, you helped me, and seemed to have what it took, so you felt like the right choice to me.” “...So you took the first pony that showed you any indication they were heroic in the slightest, and whisked them off on a big adventure?” “Yeah, it worked for Firefly!” “Firefly...General Firefly?” “Yeah, her! Or her ancestor...” “...You knew her?! That was centuries ago!” Vixen gave chuckle. “Yeah, I'm a lot older than I look. Comes with the territory when you work for Santa Hooves!” “...Trixie is now officially jealous of you...” The azure mare then jumped as a howl ripped through the air. “What was that?!” Her companion's eyes went wide. “Amarok!” Trixie blinked. “What's an Ama-” Vixen tackled Trixie out of the way of a large stampeding white wolf that had just tried to pounce at her. “Oh, that's an Amarok,” Trixie said...then her mind caught up with her body. “...It's trying to kill us, isn't it?” “Probably, it is my species' natural predator...” the reindeer admitted, Trixie noting fear in her voice as she spoke about it. Meanwhile, Trixie was mentally asking herself 'what the Tartarus have I gotten myself into?!' “Can't Trixie just get on your back and we fly away?!” Trixie asked, the two having to evade. “No!” Vixen replied, leapfrogging the Amarok. “The storm's too strong!” Trixie was tempted to scream her head off in blind terror...but the showpony remembered that she was with somecreature that actually had respect and admiration towards her (or at least that's how Trixie perceived it). Trixie's pride fought her fear and managed to just barely win out. 'Okay, Trixie, it's not an Ursa. You can probably handle this. It's just a big dog after all,' Trixie thought. 'This should be simple.' Trixie charged up her horn and fired a basic beam spell at the creature. “Ha! Take that foul beast! You dare assault the Great and Powerful Trixie and her companion!” Trixie instantly realized she'd only succeeded in singeing it's fur and making it mad as it stared at her in rage. “Uh oh...” Trixie leapt out of the way of it's charge and bite. Vixen flew across the ground (low enough to avoid the wind) and kicked it in the face, but didn't do much more than make it angrier and force her to dodge a snap of its jaws. Trixie yelped as the creature leapt at her, causing her to fire a beam right into it's face and temporarily blind it, allowing her to dodge. The azure mare kept firing beams at it, but it barely annoyed it at all. Vixen kept doing run by kicks at it, with similar results. Trixie finally took a hit and was knocked a good distance, Vixen following suit. Both had just barely avoided the pointy bits and merely took the blunt force impact of it's foreleg or head. 'Alright, so it's isn't easy to damage and hits hard...come on Trixie, you're smarter than this! Do you have a bigger gun?!...AH!' “To your knowledge, do Amarok's like lightning?” Trixie asked the shaken Reindeer. “Huh? No! Why?!” “Behold the might of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie announced, focusing and forming a small lightning cloud overhead and bringing a lightning bolt down on the wolf creature's head with a loud clap of thunder. Vixen's eyes went wide. “You can use weather magic?! I thought only Pegasi could do that!” Trixie gave a proud smirk. “One of Trixie's personal favorites!” While the Amarok didn't seem to get more than a mild burn, it had another effect. It yelped loudly and rolled on the ground, trying to cover it's ears like it was in agony. Vixen gave a loud gasp. “I get it! It's a wolf so the thunder hurt its ears! That's brilliant!” Trixie blinked in confusion. “Yes...Trixie knew that!...And that means...” Trixie gave a smug grin. The azure mare brought down several lightning bolts around the beast, the loud cracks of thunder making it yelp wildly and force it's ears shut with its paws until it finally ran for the hills with it's tail between it's legs. “That's it! Flee from the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie announced, rearing up on her hind legs and letting her cape billow dramatically in the wind. Vixen watched in amazement. “You did it! That was amazing! I knew my gut was right about you!” Trixie just stared blankly for a moment. She waited for the creature to come charging back, teeth bared to ruin her moment in the spotlight. For something to go wrong and snatch the glory from her as things seemed to often go when she tried to be the hero without Twilight and her friends around. But nothing happened. The snow just continued to fall. “...Yes...Trixie did...” The showmare gave a proud smile. “Was there ever any doubt?” “This is great! With a hero like you, stopping Leidr will be a breeze!” Vixen shouted with glee. Trixie couldn't help but feel Vixen sounded like she'd just had a massive weight taken off of her shoulders. Or maybe that was just Trixie's freshly inflated ego talking. Hard to tell. Truthfully...Trixie couldn't believe it. She'd tried to be the hero on her own...and actually succeeded?! It was a completely alien feeling. She felt...overwhelmed. Like she'd just broken a law of physics or something. “Certainly! Let us continue on to victory!” Trixie announced, pointing in a random direction. “Uh...Leidr's lair is that way,” the reindeer replied, pointing in another direction. “...Okay, then, that way to victory!” How Does Trixie Get Into These Messes...How Trixie (Somehow) Saved Hearth's Warming Chapter 2 By Godzillawolf Rarity set in her boutique sipping a cup of coco. The group had a number of individual ways of celebrating the holiday. She was personally enjoying it privately after putting the last of Sweetie's presents under the tree while the filly was asleep upstairs. They'd visited their family earlier that day and eaten dinner, and her parents would be in in the morning to open presents. Time with your loving family was the main reason for the season, but a little bit of R&R after a hectic holiday season was welcome as well...especially when holiday dresses had been in major demand the entire season. While that meant she'd had plenty of funds for presents, it also meant a part of her was relieved it was over. However, the mare blinked, seeing an odd purple shape out her window. Looking closer, Rarity blinked, finding Twilight's balloon had been set up and seemed ready to launch. Quickly putting on a fashionable sweater and properly matched scarf, Rarity headed out into the heavy snow, not noticing Opal following her. To her surprise, the fashionista found a certain pink party pony preparing to set out in the balloon with some odd green earth pony with a pink and white mane and a trio of peppermints as her Cutie Mark. “Pinkie Pie?” The party pony spun around. “Hi Rarity!” “Darling, what are you doing here? I thought you and Applejack were at your parents' house?” Rarity asked in confusion, remembering how excited Pinkie Pie had been that to be able to share her family with AJ. “Oh! I am!” Pinkie Pie replied with a smile. “...Then how are you here?” “Oh, in Hearts Warming specials you can travel large distances in an extremely short period of time, silly! How else can they get to the North Pole that quick?!” the party pony exclaimed. “I'll be back to the rock farm before anypony notices I'm gone! Just like how we'll all be at Canterlot to have a party with Twilight later tonight if the comics are any indication! And how Applejack was somehow able to find a store selling Hearth's Warming Eve supplies while at my house in the middle of nowhere! I hope that doesn't lead to an unfortunate misunderstanding.” Rarity just stared for a moment. “...Okay...” she replied flatly, chalking this up to simply being Pinkie Pie, though having to admit it made a strange amount of sense. She blinked, realizing that Pinkie Pie had indeed been right that there was supposed to be a Hearth's Warming Eve party later tonight. Why had that skipped her mind? She then turned her attention to the green mare. “Who's this?” “Hi! I'm Minty!” the green pony replied, giving a wave. “She's a friend of mine!” Pinkie exclaimed, smiling in her usual bright way. “You see when we were younger, Minty accidentally broke the magic candy cane that let Santa know were our town was and we had to go aaaaaallllllll the way to the North Pole! Ever sense then we go there every Hearth's Warming to give him his cookies and milk in person!” The fashionista cocked her head in confusion. “...How many years have you been doing this?” “Ten!” Minty exclaimed. None of the mares noticed Opal curiously climb into one of the bags of supplies. “...Okay...You travel to the North Pole and back every Hearth's Warming?” “Yep! See?” Pinkie Pie asked, producing a picture of her, Minty, and a number of ponies who seemed oddly familiar at Santa Hoove's workshop. Rarity's brain was simultaneously curious...and just telling her to quietly leave Pinkie Pie to her own weirdness. “...Okay...good luck with that darling. And do be careful...” she replied, then pulled off her scarf and gave it to Pinkie. “It's quite the snow storm.” “Thanks Rarity!” “You're welcome, darling.” The two hugged and Rarity retreated back inside. “Alright! To the North Pole!” Leidr's icy blue eyes fell upon a canyon that branched off into two separate paths. One continued on straight, another continued in another direction, having warning signs plastered all over it, each with a symbol of a demonic rat or mouse. “Perhaps it's best to let somecreature else handle any who dare try to stop me in my stead,” he stated, sending a shockwave of icy energy into the side of the canyon, causing it to collapse inward, burying the straight path and rendering it impassable. “Ugh...” Trixie muttered as they kept moving on towards the apparent location of their enemy. “Trixie knows it's probably not wise to complain about how long it is taking to reach a battle with an evil villain, but Trixie feels like the scenery hasn't changed for an hour!” Vixen gave a nod. “Yeah, when there's too many clouds to see the sky, the frozen north isn't the most exciting place in the world. Just snow, snow, and more snow. Trust me, it's a lot more exciting with a clear sky. Then you can see the auroras and the stars.” Trixie looked up at the storm still over their heads. “It'd certainly be more enjoyable than this. All Trixie sees is white, gray, slightly darker gray...and she believes a little light gray right over there...” the azure mare said with her normal theatrics. Her reindeer companion gave a chuckle. “You're pretty funny when you try to be.” Trixie put a hoof to her chest. “Trixie is a showmare! She can be as funny or dramatic as she feels is necessary!...Or in this case, very, very, very bored...” Vixen gave a look around their surroundings. “I know, I forgot how long this is when you're just walking...” The showpony was honestly surprised this trip was actually possible on hoof in a night. Then again she was traveling with a magical talking reindeer in an adventure out of a Hearth's Warming Special. Though something did occur to her as odd. “...How are we not getting lost?” Trixie asked, suddenly realizing there were no landmarks. Vixen tapped her antlers, which sparkled with magic. “Leidr's lair is close to the North Pole and you could say all reindeer know a 'find my way home' spell...” “...Trixie thought Rudolph was for that.” Vixen blushed and gave a sheepish look...Trixie's eyes also picked up one other emotion but she couldn't tell with all the wind. “Well...you see...um...Rudolph is to guide the sleigh during foggy weather, this spell is to guide us home in case...well, this one time we all ended up...lost a few hours before Hearth's Warming and got separated...” Trixie gave a chuckle. “Trixie sees. Well at least Trixie needn't worry about it happening this time around...but that does not make her any less bored...” “Yeah...and we've still got a ways to go. Maybe we should do something to pass the time?” Vixen suggested, the crunch of snow under their hooves and the wind being the only noise. Trixie sighed. “Trixie supposed but what? Hearth's Warming carols?” The azure showmare recoiled a bit when Vixen's response was to stop and give an excited gasp that strangely reminded her of Pinkie Pie. The reindeer spun around with an excited grin. “That's a great idea!” Trixie was taken aback and backpedaled a little bit. “Um, Trixie was bei-” “Hearth's Warming time is here again So much to love where to begin?” the reindeer started singing, trotting forwards. 'Note to self, mentioning Hearth's Warming carols around reindeer turns them into Pinkie Pie,' Trixie thought, continuing after her. 'Trixie doesn't know if she should find this amusing or scary...at least she isn't tone deaf...' “Huddling next to the warm fire Watching snow outside grow higher, To see hearts open up so wide As loved ones nestle safe inside...” Vixen continued, singing the carol as if it were second nature. Trixie tried to simply ignore it and keep moving forwards along. But she had to admit it was a catchy carol. And the idea of being warm in front of the fire as the snow fell was appealing. “Sharing gifts on Hearth's Warming morn With bright faces that aren't forlorn. All these things I do so adore They make me love Hearth's Warming more!” Vixen continued, never losing her cheerful tone. She looked expectantly at Trixie. Trixie tried to resist the temptation to join in, but being a pony, that was no easy task. Especially when she truthfully did enjoy the holiday when she wasn't struggling to save it. At any rate, there was little better to do at the moment, so why not? “Well if Trixie truly must say, There's things she loves about today. Putting on a Hearth's Warming show She takes pride in her work you know,” Trixie sang, falling into Vixen's rhythm. “Curled in a nice worm blanket Coco with marshmallows in it. Knowing that this year you've been nice And that your heart is not made of ice,” the Azure unicorn continued. While she wasn't about to tell Vixen she'd been on the Naughty List for several years for obvious reasons. There was a certain satisfaction in being a REDEEMED pony who had the potential to be on the Nice List for a change. She began to get caught up in the song. That was simply Equine nature after all. And it wasn't like she had much else to get caught up in other than the exciting endless expanse of white surrounding them. “Knowing somepony cares for you And their season's greeting's are true All these things she does so adore They make her love Hearth's Warming more!” Trixie finished...then her eyes widened as she realized what she'd let slip out in the moment. “Uh...” Vixen blinked a little as the song finished and then blushed. “...Well...uh...that was fun...” Trixie, trying to distract from her own slip, gave a raised eyebrow. “Where exactly did THAT come from? You don't strike Trixie as the Hearth's Warming Carol sort.” The reindeer looked defensive. “I'm from the North Pole! We all have a weakness for Hearth's Warming Carols! It's in our genes! What about you? You joined in!” Now it was Trixie's turn to look defensive. “Well...Trixie is a pony! We all have a weakness for musical numbers, it's in our genes.” Both paused a moment...then laughed a little. “Well...it helped pass the time at least, didn't it?” Vixen inquired. Trixie hesitantly nodded. “It at least relieved Trixie's boredom if nothing else...” “You're a good singer, by the way,” Vixen replied. Trixie put a hoof to her chest proudly. “Thank you, Trixie is talented in many things.” “Must be nice.” The azure mare blinked, noting a bit of genuine envy in the doe's voice. She knew envy when she heard it, she was Trixie after all. “What was that?” “Oh! Nothing! Just happy for you!” Vixen replied, trying to hide a small blush of humiliation. “Right...” “Now come on, we've got...uh oh...” Trixie stopped in her tracks, looking forwards. She saw the canyon ahead of them had a fork in the path. One of said forks was now covered in rock and ice. Trixie didn't have to be a professional ice climber to know the result would be impossible to climb up in this storm. “...Let Trixie guess, that was the safe and easy path?” Vixen nodded, suddenly looking frightened. “Yeah...” “Of course...And now if we wish to progress we have to go into the territory of something incredibly dangerous and life threatening?” Vixen looked to the signs. “We have to go through the territory of the Rat King...” “...Like the Nutcracker?” the azure mare questioned. “Yeah, I think he's that Rat King's descendant...or nephew, or an admirer, I'm not sure which, we've never talked to him to find out...Legend has it ponies that run into him never come back...” Trixie looked at the signs of demonic rats or mice plastered over the canyon entrance. “...Well, let's go, shall we? Sooner we get in, sooner we get through this.” Was what Trixie said externally. Internally however, she had to struggle not to run away screaming. “O-Okay...let's try to be quiet then...” Vixen replied, showing a drop in her general confidence. 'It's just a rat, how back could he be?' Trixie questioned in her head. The two slowly trotted their way through the territory of the Rat King, Trixie doing her level best not to look openly terrified as she kept her eyes out for anything that was going to try and kill her. So far nothing, but she did notice something. On a cliff nearby was a castle, though it seemed rather small for one. About the size of a normal house, unless that was simply the distance talking. However, despite it's small size, the castle had all the trimmings of an evil overlord's fortress, including big spires and tall towers. On one hand, Trixie's rational mind was telling her to fear it. However, her showmare mind appreciated the atmosphere. Whoever owned the castle clearly knew what it was he was looking for in a house. However, Trixie's eyes noted some of the trees above the path seemed slightly bent (well more than the rest of them), a little bit of snow falling from them like they'd been disturbed. However, the way they were swaying seemed off. Trixie knew either she was paranoid, or that detail was important. Sure enough, the moment the two of them trotted underneath the strange trees, a net was dropped towards them. “Look out!” Trixie exclaimed, grabbing Vixen in her telekinesis and pulling the reindeer to the side, the net hitting the ground and missing them. “Trixie believes we've been spotted!” “Run!” Vixen yelled, the two beginning to gallop down the canyon. More nets were tossed down at them from upcoming trees. “Trixie believes the time for quiet sneaking has passed,” Trixie stated, then used a fire work's explosion to blow the nets to shreds that rained down around them. Vixen did a quick dodge, flying low enough to the ground to avoid another net. Between the two of them, the duo managed to avoid getting captured and continue rushing forwards. “Trixie sees the exit!” Trixie exclaimed, seeing the opening at the end of the canyon...before skidding to a stop as a massive, monstrous shadow cast over the past. “It's him...” Vixen muttered, looking fearful. “The Rat King...” Trixie braced herself as the source of the shadow got closer and closer. 'Okay, Trixie can just use a firework to distract him and then rush the exit with Vixen, yes that will work...” A fierce, monstrous looking rat stood on the path leading to the castle, a golden crown atop his head and a red cape billowing behind him in the wind. He wore a blue, regal coat with red trim and a golden sash. He wore a brown belt with a sword hanging from it, the hilt red with a ruby in the center. He snarled and glared daggers at those who dared intrude on his territory... Trixie blinked as she looked down on the Rat King...who was no bigger than any other rat or mouse she'd ever seen. Oh, he looked monstrous indeed, but he was still just a tiny rat. The mare stood for a moment looking at the tiny rat. She looked back to Vixen, who seemed considerably more frightened than she was. “Is this the Rat King?” “Yes! Don't take your eyes off him! He's more dangerous than you think!” the reindeer warned. Trixie scoffed with a laugh. “He's only a little rat, the Great and Powerful Trixie believes his reputation must be exaggerated! She will take care of this quickly!” It made sense really, no one saw much of him, he kept ambushing ponies with nets and ponies assumed he was stronger than he actually was. That sounded logical, right? “Trixie look out!” The showmare snapped around, finding herself hit in the face with a bright flash of magic. Trixie this odd sense of falling, but she didn't feel her cape or mane flap, or her hat leave her head... Disorientated, the mare rubbed her eyes in response...and found her hooves feeling rougher and harder than she remembered. In fact, somehow so did her eyelids. She opened her eyes (and did her eyelids make a faint click as she did so?) to find the Rat King was now about even in height with herself. “A shrinking spell?” she questioned, she felt her back lift and lower somehow as she felt under her cape. She noticed the rodent’s sinister smirk. She looked down, her movements feeling rigid. She found legs were now covered in azure painted wood. "Zapped me into a wooden suit?" The Rat King chuckled. She knocked on the wooden shell, only to realize she FELT her hoof knocking against it, and it was the sound of solid wood knocking again solid wood. Trixie gasped and felt her face, her beautiful muzzle now shaped like the ugly grinning teeth of a nutcracker's. Her mouth opening and closing like a hinge. The feeling of her back rising and lowering had been her jaw's handle. Handle. She had a handle! Trixie tried to move her tongue to feel her mouth's inside, but got no response. She and reached in to feel only to find a limp piece of felt in its place. How was she even talking?! Her was now cape composed of felt. She felt her precious hat, only to realize she could feel her wooden hooves touching her wooden hat like it was part of her head! "You were a big headed pony before, now it's just obvious," The Rat King said. She frantically looked herself over, spotting ball joints, and her cutie mark now just painted on. Her lovely tail and what little of her mane that hadn't been under her hat now polyester threads. Trixie heard the sound of shaking wood and realized it was her. Trixie's reaction to this development was what one would expect. “AHHHHHHHHHH!” At that moment, Trixie learned a very important lesson: never take your eyes off of tiny terrifying rats: they may transform you into nutcrackers. Several things went through Trixie's head at this point as she sat in a prison cell in the depths of the Rat King's fortress. The first of which was how humiliating it was she had been captured by a rat no bigger than her hoof. Second was the fact she was trapped several hundred, if not thousand, miles from her home and had no knowledge of how she could get back. Third was the fact she'd most likely doomed Hearth's Warming. Fourth the Rat King had the worst taste in prison cell designers she had ever met in her entire life. And fifth, and most prominent, was 'SWEET CELESTIA I'VE BEEN TURNED INTO A WOODEN PUPPET!' Trixie was fairly certain she wasn't hyperventilating purely due to the fact she was currently made of wood. She couldn't even do magic! It was like her horn was just there for decoration! Sitting nearby was Vixen, the reindeer turned into a similarly sized wooden reindeer doll and looking down at her hooves, having not made a sound since they ended up here. The azure nutcracker calmed herself as best she conceivably could and noticed that their only surroundings were a bunch of what looked like living, wooden fairy dolls and a few other nutcrackers like herself. A number were dressed up as harlequins, some in chains being forced to clean the place. Still others being forced into the role of servants. To her surprise, a few seemed to be simply stationed around as window dressing, 'citizens' living here against their will. Other than these captive toys, the only other life in sight were rats only a slightly bit less monstrous than their king and armed with swords. On one hoof, this set up intrigued Trixie. On the other she was too busy internally screaming to think too heavily on the matter. “Trixie can't believe she got herself into this...” she muttered, giving a whimper. The nutcracker had a strong urge to chew out her 'partner' for dragging her into this mess...then she heard sniffling. Turning, Trixie noticed the source of the sound. “Vixen?” she asked, trotting over with a loud clacking thanks to her wooden body. “Vixen, are you crying?..Or would be crying if we still had tear ducts?” Trixie expected the doe to begin chewing her out and yelling. It was the typical response ponies had when something went wrong that could in anyway be considered her fault. Like back in Manehatten when her past had gotten the police against her easily. Instead...while it was difficult to tell given they were currently toys, Trixie saw the doe struggling to maintain any sense of composure. “N-No! Of course not...I...” Vixen turned so Trixie couldn't see her face. “Santa...just trusted me to find somepony is all...” she said, her voice betraying her words. “Me, Vixen...not Comet, not Dasher, not Rudolph....me...” Trixie felt a twinge of something in her heart...it felt strange but it also felt...familiar. “Now...now Hearth's Warming is over...I...I'm sorry, Trixie...I'm the reason you're even here...I just wanted to be the hero for once...” The azure mare gave a gasp (or at least she thought she did, hard to tell when you were uncertain whether or not you were actually breathing). “...So...you wanted to finally stand out?” Vixen nodded slowly. “Yeah...Dasher's fastest with Blitzen a close second, Cupid's the prettiest, Comet's the handsomest, Prancer got Mrs. Hooves to give him a special harness with his charms, Dancer's the best at parties. Donner's voice is impossible to miss, did you know his name comes from a word for thunder? He'll remind you!...I'm just...Vixen...Rudolph got made fun of but at least he got noticed...” The reindeer lowered her head. “So when Santa sent me to find help...I thought I could make him proud of me...it was my chance to shine. Maybe I'd finally get a chance to have a song written about me...Now Hearth's Warming is done for because of me...I was so selfish...” Trixie stood there for a moment, looking deep in thought (at least as much as it was possible for a nutcracker to appear to be). “...Trixie...understands...Trixie thought you'd be angry at her. For getting us caught..” Vixen turned and looked at her. “Trixie...you beat an Amarok and nearly got us through this...you were doing really well until I was an idiot and let you go into the Rat King's kingdom barely knowing a thing...I'm sorry...” Trixie's face was even more unreadable than her current limited expressive ability would normally be. “...Trixie sees...” Her eyes went back to the guard standing outside their cell with a click. The rat had the keys...and a sword. She recalled how the majority of slaves in this place were in some fashion made of wood. Including Trixie. Made of nice, sturdy, hard wood. “Vixen?” she asked in a whisper. “...Yeah?” “Trixie is about to do something, please play along to the best of your abilities.” “What?” Trixie cleared her throat, though was uncertain whether or not that would matter given she was uncertain if she actually still had a throat or not. She considered all the things a great actress would before putting on a performance...then let out a scream and threw herself on the ground, scratching at her body. “AH! Help! Trixie is infested with termites! Somepony please help her!” she yelled, doing her best to pretend she was being eaten alive. Given she had memories of night terrors involving a large star covered bear, she was fairly certain it was convincing. The guard blinked, turning around. “What's the ruckus?” Vixen stared for a moment... “Oh...” she rushed over to the guard rat. “My friend is being eaten by termites!” “I fail to see how that concerns me,” the rat replied, giving a disinterested chuckle. “It does if you want any of the slaves! We're all made of wood!” Vixen argued back, tapping on the wood she was made from. “HELP TRIXIE! THEY'RE EATING HER INCREDIBLY GORGIOUS AND WELL-PAINTED FACE!” The former statement did much more to get the guard's attention than the latter did. “Dang, the King will have my head if the prisoners get infested...” He quickly opened the door, drawing his sword and pointing it at Vixen just in case. “Come on we'll get you fumigated or something...Or maybe just burn you in the furnace...” Trixie writhed until the rat came within a few hoofsteps...and timed her movements just right so she kicked the sword right from his hand! “You made two critical errors...” She sprung up and latched her hooves on his shoulders while he was still surprised. “The first was underestimating the Great and Powerful Trixie!” The nutcracker reared back as far as the ball joints in her back and neck would allow and swung her head forwards directly into the face of the guard with enough force to make Vixen cringe and cover her eyes. The rat wobbled back and forth, little Trixies circling his head for a moment before he fell backwards to the floor, out cold. “The second was turning a unicorn into wood!” the mare replied. Little known fact, unicorns' skulls were reinforced harder than most ponies so charging attacks with their horn would be less harmful to them. It was also to her benefit that her wooden body seemed to feel less pain. “Wood is hard you know.” Externally, Trixie did a good job of looking like a confident heroine and everything had gone according to plan. 'TRIXIE CAN'T BELIEVE THAT ACTUALLY WORKED!' she screamed in her head. Vixen blinked, or would have. Unlike Trixie she didn't have the benefit of functioning eyelids. “Trixie...” Trixie stole the keys from the guard and took them in her mouth. She also took his belt and sword sheath. Then the bed sheets and tied him up...and to the bed. She went over to the discarded sword, unhinged her wooden jaw, and took the hilt in it...Then had to manually close it with the lever on her back. “Now come on, we have a holiday to save! In fact, how about we start with an opening act Trixie likes to call a prison break!” Trixie ignored the fact the magic converting her into this form apparently allowed her to talk with a sword in her mouth and her jaw firmly locked on the sword. Then again she lacked a functioning tongue right now so who knew how the buck it worked? She'd have to ask Twilight about this when Hearth's Warming wasn't in jeopardy. Vixen took a few moments to react. “You sure?” Trixie sheathed the sword, and gave as close to a smile as her wooden jaw would allow. “Of course, we're both heroes are we not?” The reindeer stared for a moment...then gave a small smile (or as close as her wooden face could). “...Yeah...yeah we are...thanks Trixie...” The Azure nutcracker took a proud pose. “You are quite welcome. Now Trixie's fighting style consists of misdirection and fighting incredibly dirty, so please take any opening she creates, understood?” Vixen nodded cautiously. “I gotcha...sorry for...you know...” “Trixie...sympathizes. Now onward!” The duo rushed out, another guard coming at them. Trixie drew her sword and blocked his sword, moving slightly out of the way and allowing Vixen to deliver a running headbutt between the rat's hind legs. He went cross-eyed, falling to his knees and covering himself. Trixie promptly bonked him on the head with the pummel of her sword and knocked him out. Vixen took the dropped sword as Trixie began freeing the prisoners. “Run or help! Trixie feels it's entirely your choice in the matter!” Trixie told the ponies she freed, having to block the sword of a rat. The nutcracker was thankful she had the basics of sword fighting down, though she was all too aware she wasn't going to win a straight sword fight with a trained swordsman. So she instead used one of her hooves to snatch some dirt from a flower pot and toss it right into the rat's eyes, blinding him long enough to throw his sword back and then smash the flower pot itself into his head and knock him out. Several of the prisoners did indeed decide to come to help fight the guards, one taking up the defeated guard's sword. Vixen noticed a guard running to ring an alarm bell...and bucked a flower pot on the opposing table, managing to nail him in the back of the head and knock him out. “This storm is pretty bad, Pinkie Pie...” said Minty, the two flying the balloon, Pinkie Pie using a hairdryer to keep the balloon from freezing. “I know! I wonder if Weatherbe got a cold again...” the pink pony mused. The balloon then floated by the Rat King's castle, which was in actuality the size of a very large doll house with a very deep canyon next to it. As they based by, Pinkie Pie saw Trixie and Vixen fighting off several more guards on one of the outer walls. “Hi, tiny wooden Trixie!” she called, waving...then noticed the balloon was moving too quickly passed it. “Bye, tiny wooden Trixie!” Trixie blinked, looking around. She hit the deck, letting a charging guard trip over her and right into a buck from Vixen. “Did you hear something?” The reindeer cocked her head. “No, why?” The nutcracker shrugged, then ducked under a sword slash, grabbed a flower pot from a nearby window, and smashed said pot over the guard's head. “Trixie must be hearing things...” “Why do they have so many flower pots?” Vixen questioned. “Trixie doesn't know, but they make good weapons!” “Good point...So what's the plan?” Vixen questioned, one of the fairy dolls blocking a rat's sword and allowing her to buck him into the wall. She was annoyed by how difficult it was to get her stiff wooden legs to do that. “Simple: if Trixie knows fairy tales like she thinks she does, defeating the Rat King should likely break the curse on all of us,” the azure nutcracker replied, blocking an enemy's strike and rolling with it, using her hind legs to throw said rat into a wall. She then had to quickly pick up her sword as that move had hit the lever in her back and opened her mouth. Trixie would never admit it, but that was genuinely as much of a plan as she had at this point and everything else was simply her working as she went. “We will distract the guards!” one of the fairy dolls requested. Trixie sword he had some kind of odd accent. Come to think about it, many of the dolls either spoke in some weird dialog she didn't understand or with an accent. The duo rushed off to find the Rat King somewhere in this fortress...and quickly came to a conclusion. “Now we're going to have to find him Trixie supposes,” the azure nutcracker lamented. The two then began the boring task of searching for the King's chambers. The duo opened a door, finding themselves staring at an ENTIRE room full of cheese. Both put a hoof over their noses due to several particularly smelly varieties. “...Trixie is not surprised...” Trixie blinked, finding her and Vixen in a room lined with flower pots. “...These guys really do seem to have an unhealthy obsession with flower pots...” “...Well at least they're following an exercise regiment...” Trixie snarked as the two heroes looked into a room filled with hamster wheels. Trixie opened another door filled with tables, some of which were clearly chewed on. “'All You Can Chew Table Buffet...'” Vixen read above the door. “Uh....” “...This isn't what this looks like...” A rat sat at a table with a plastic female rat doll in a pink dress and stiff, jointless limbs. Everything else in the room appeared made of plastic like a normal doll house. It looked like they were having a date. “...We were never here...” Vixen said. “...Agreed...” the rat awkwardly replied. Trixie slowly closed the door. “RAAAAR!” “AH!” Trixie and Vixen both slammed the door on a black and white room with a black and white werewolf-like rat trying to pounce on them, causing a whimper as it slammed into the door and slid down. “...Trixie isn't going to ask how that's even possible...” “Maybe he's from Nightmare Night Town?” Vixen questioned. “...Well...” The two looked at a room with a shrine to a monstrous, but queenly looking female rat wearing the same crown the Rat King did. “Trixie know even bad ponies love their mothers but this is a little much...” “Why is it so much easier to find the evil overlord's chamber in movies?!” Trixie questioned as they threw open a window to a ball room with a balcony and a chandelier. “Well at least they have good taste...” Vixen replied, looking over the place. “Though Santa's workshop is a lot nicer.” Trixie's eyes searched the room and noticed a chain linked to the chandelier, presumably to raise or lower it for cleaning and redoing the candles. Her eyes traveled to the balcony and she trotted over to it, looking at the chandelier. “...Vixen, Trixie believes she has a plan...” The Rat King was currently sitting in his throne room, feasting on a large hunk of cheese with several slaves toiling, some of which were forced to polish his crown. Some were simply chained and forced to stand around and bow on his command. Trixie nudged the door slightly ajar and peaked in. “About time...” she whispered, watching closely. “Polish faster!” the rodent tyrant snapped at the fairy doll polishing his crown. “Or would you rather I use you to sharpen my teeth?” The doll gave a small whimper and sped up her polishing. The Rat King gave a smirk and swallowed the hunk of cheese. “It's good to be king...” He got off his throne and cleared his throat. A few dolls with musical instruments glued to their hooves hastily stepped forwards and the slaves looked ready to sing. Trixie sighed. “He's going to sing...of course he's going to sing, Trixie is saving Hearth's Warming, of course the villain would get a song!” she muttered. “Trixie assumes it will either be about how much he hates Hearth's Warming or a song about who he is. Either way, it will likely be over the top...at least that's what Trixie would do if she were a villain in a Hearth's Warming Special.” “King of the Rats, that's what he is,” sang one of the dolls when the king motioned for the slaves to start. “Stealing all of us away and acting like we're his...” another sung, looking down at the chains binding her to the floor with less movement than a chained dog. “Selfish to a fault...” the fairy doll polishing his crown sang. “Tyrant to us all...” sang one as she picked up his plate. “If you cross him he will turn you into a doll! The first doll sang, the entire group shuddering. “But-” the Rat King interrupted with a sinister smirk, getting them to quake at his gaze. “I'm really something special...” “Something we just can't deny!” the dolls sang miserably. “Everypony raise a cheer...” The group looked privately to each other as best their chained status would allow. “Mainly because he's right here...” they whispered to one another fearfully. “Everypony raise a cheer for the King of the Rats!” Trixie sighed, still behind the door. “Just as Trixie thought, he's singing about who he is...” “King of the Rats, that's what I am!” The Rat King sung proudly, forcing his subjects to pick him up and prance him around as best as their chains would allow. “Lording over them because I know I can!” he continued, jumping and driving his poor carriers into the throne room floor and jumping off. “Selfish to a fault...” one of the dazed fairy dolls sang as they tried to move . “Ruler to them all! If you cross me I will turn you into a doll!” the tyrannical rodent sang with glee, magic crackling across his front paws as his slaves trembled. “But he's really something special, Something we just can't deny...” the enslaved dolls sang, out of fear of his wrath. “Everypony raise a cheer!” the crown polisher sang. “Mainly because he's right here,” they whimpered privately. “Everypony raise a cheer to the King of the Rats!” the King sang with the slaves, before pushing them down. “Now back to serving me, peasants!” “...Trixie would be lying to say she never imaged having that kind of power...But Trixie is not THAT Trixie anymore...” the mare said to herself, still watching through the door. “Now Trixie would only expect occasional worship, and singing praises about her...and the song would be much cooler. Besides...” Trixie looked to the slaves. She felt something tug in her heart...or rather where her heart normally would be if she wasn't turned to wood. These ponies hadn't had a Hearth's Warming with their families in HOW long? “Alright, it's time for Trixie to make her grand entrance...” Said grand entrance consisted of bucking open the door and pelting the Rat King in the face with quickly gathered snowballs to knock him back over his throne before he could react. She rushed to one of the chained up dolls, unlocked their chains with the stolen keys. “Run! Get to safety! The Great and Powerful Trixie shall deal with this brute!” They listened quickly despite their surprise. The Rat King stood up and snarled. “You! I thought I'd already dealt with you!” Trixie gave a laugh and taking on the most heroic pose she could manage. “The Great and Powerful Trixie never stays down for long!...But Trixie must ask you, Rat King. Would the fact that myself and my companion are trying to save Hearth's Warming mean a thing to you?” The rodent of slightly unusual size laughed. “You kidding? That makes capturing you two a BONUS! That stupid stallion breaks into MY castle and gives ME coal while giving all my slaves stupid things I'm not even interested in! Not even worth taking to be MINE!” Trixie sighed. “Trixie should have guessed that someone who admits to being selfish wouldn't go for the 'we're trying to save the holiday' line...” Internally the nutcracker cursed her luck, as she really HAD hoped it'd be that simple. [=The Nutcracker: Battle with the Mouse King=] Trixie drew her sword and so did the Rat King. The tyrant charged her and she blocked a slash...then he snapped forwards and bashed her in the face with the hilt and then came within a few seconds of decapitating her before she dodged. The nutcracker tried a slash of her own, but was effortlessly parried and barely managed to evade the King's counter slash. The Rat's next slash knocked Trixie on her flank from the force and she had to roll out of the way. Several exchanges later, Trixie was driven back against a pillar and just barely avoided being cut in half, the Rat King's sword slicing deep into the pillar. “How sharp is that sword?!” “Sharp enough to cut you into mulch, big head!” he replied, trusting at her and barely being dodged. “Alright, Trixie is fighting someone far more experienced and dangerous at sword fighting than her...” Trixie gave an eep as she had to jump to the floor to dodge a blast of magic from the Rat King that blew a hole in the wall. “And is a powerful mage...Is it Tuesday already?” While still screaming very loudly in her own mind, the azure nutcracker began falling back to the door, but still making enough moves to make it look like she knew what she was doing so he didn't realize she was an utter novice. She was still decidedly on the defensive, and fairly certain if she stopped moving backwards for too long she'd be swiftly overpowered. 'Alright, step one going well, time for step two...' the nutcracker thought. Trixie ducked a slash and the Rat King bisected a flower pot sitting on a table. Trixie also had to remember to take special care not to put her 'hat' in harm's way, as it was presently part of her body. “Why do you have so many flower pots?!” the nutcracker questioned between slashes and trying not to die. The Rat King parried her slashes. “Because we live in the Frozen North! Do you have any idea how few flowers we see this far north?!” Trixie jumped back, continuing to do a fighting retreat. “That's a perfectly valid reason!” “Then why are you still yelling?!” “Because we're having a sword fight! It wouldn't be nearly as dramatic if we weren't be yelling!” “That's a good point!” “Given your villain song, Trixie expected you'd have a flair for a dramatic!“ “I'm a King! It comes with the territory!” “Perhaps you should learn the Royal Canterlot Voice! It's good for that!” “I'll look it up!” The two never stopped having their sword fight, Trixie still being careful not to get her head chopped off. That didn't help her when he kicked her in the chest and sent her tumbling down a staircase. “Ow...Okay, polite yelling conversation kept him from noticing Trixie's plan, but isn't throwing him off his game...” she muttered. She then screamed, jumping back as the Rat King blew up the portion of castle she was standing on with a magical blast. “Time to play hard ball, Trixie style...” The nutcracker rolled out of the way of a downward trust from the Rat King's sword. “You know, it's kind of funny, Trixie's beginning to wonder how she lost to you! You're not as tough as you look!” The Rat King snarled and swung at her. “Watch your tongue, you little welp!” Trixie blocked while jumping back to dodge the follow up swipe of his sword. “But Trixie's tongue is one of the best parts of her! Who doesn't love the sound of her lovely voice?” The nutcracker blocked a slash and barely jumped back in time to avoid a spinning back slash from the villain. He simply tail whipped her and launched her flying back. “...Trixie is lucky she's currently made of wood...” “You know, at the moment I'm divided between mulching you and just using you for kindling!” the tyrannical mouse screamed, anger on his face. Trixie noted his slashes were still just as deadly, but his focus becoming much more narrow on her. “You know, Trixie believe traditionally it's the Rat King who gets thrown in the furnace...” Trixie remarked, then had to dodge several VERY angry slashes. “Oh, did Trixie hit a nerve?” The Rat King's eyes looked like that of a wild beast as he wildly swiped at her, forcing Trixie to go purely on the defensive just to avoid getting slashed to pieces. “SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Trixie felt immensely proud she managed to retain a heroic smile on her face. “Or was it getting a horseshoe thrown at his head? I can't remember.” 'I'M GOING TO DIE!' was what Trixie's brain was currently screaming at the top of it's lungs. “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” the Rat King screamed, jumping up and drop kicking her through the door to the ballroom so hard even wit her numbed sense of touch knocked the wind out of her...or at least felt like it, she still was not certain she was actually breathing or not. “Ow...” the nutcracker wondered, rubbing her wooden chest with the sound of wood grinding against itself. She then gasped, realizing when she'd hit the ground her back lever had been hit and let the sword fly out of her jaw, embedding itself in a wall. “Uh oh...” Trixie gasped as the Rat King stalked towards her like a rabid beast and her sword was out of her grasp. Trixie barely leapt backwards out of the way of a slash. She backed away slowly, the king giving a sadistic smirk. 'Think Trixie...do something!' Trixie thought. 'Do something unexpected and unpredictable! What would somepony NEVER see coming in the middle of a dramatic sword fight?!...Well, that's worth a shot...” The Rat King lifted his sword to strike...then blinked at the sight before him. [=We're a Circle of Pony Friends=] Trixie was currently dancing while humming a Hearth's Warming Eve carol. “What are you doing?” the Rat King asked in a completely bewildered tone. “Dance off, seemed a bit more fun,” the nutcracker said, continuing to hum before doing a moonwalk back a few feet. “Come on! You were so theatrical before!” The tyrannical rodent growled and stalked forwards. “No, seriously! What are you doing?!” Trixie did the closest thing to a smirk her wooden face was capable of. “Trixie's doing what she does best! Diverting attention! VIXEN NOW!” The Rat King blinked, turning just in time for Vixen to come charging off an upper ledge, grabbing onto the chandelier and swinging down with it, having lowered it ever so much. She swung both her hind legs up and slammed her back hooves full speed into his chest, sending him flying backwards and and landing on the balcony, sword flying from his hand. The despot struggled to his feet. “Who do you two think you are?! I'm the Rat King!” Trixie rushed up and put her hooves on his shoulders. “Told you already, I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie!” The nutcracker reared back and swung forwards, smashing her hard wooden head into his as hard as she could. The tyrant staggered back dazed from the impact...and slipped, falling backwards over the balcony, and straight off the cliff next to the castle, screaming on the way down. Trixie blinked. “...Well that worked better than Trixie-” “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The two looked over the edge. “Wow...deep cliff...Went better than Trixie expected...” Vixen nodded. “Yeah...seriously, dancing?” Trixie chuckled. “Saw it in a movie...When it works it works.” “Can't argue with that...” The two then noticed both of them sparkling with magic. “Oh good! We're turning back to normal!” The two then noticed where they were. “Oh horseapples! We're turning back to normal!” The two rushed to the other side of the room and jumped out the opposing window and into the snow in the courtyard just in time as the spell broke and they both returned to their normal selves. Trixie felt herself over. “No wood. No lever. Trixie's hat is a hat! OW! Trixie bit her tongue! Oh way, yay! Trixie has a tongue again!” the mare exclaimed giving a laugh of glee. Vixen smirked. “Way to go Trixie...” Trixie did a bow. “Was there any doubt?” was her external response. 'TRIXIE ACTUALLY DID IT! TRIXIE DEFEATED AN EVIL VILLAIN BY HERSELF!' “Wonder what happened to him...” Vixen said, looking over the edge. Pinkie Pie was currently looking at the map, Minty refueling the balloon. “Hmm...we just passed that one spooky castle...We shouldn't be too long now...” Minty nodded. “Nope, we should be able to get there right on time!” “Of course, Minty! We're in a Hearth's Warming Eve Special!” The pink party pony then blinked when she heard a meow. Opal trudged over and looked up at her with a meow, the Rat King's crown now on her head. “Opal, what are you doing here?” Pinkie questioned, picking up the cat, then looking at the crown. “Aww! And where'd you get that cute little crown?” The feline gave a menacingly content smirk, then spat out a little piece of red fabric. “Oh well, come on silly! We're going to meet Santa, then we'll get you back to Rarity in time for hot coco!” Pinkie said, placing the cat in the basket and jumping in. That was when she noticed a mixture of screaming and cheering. Nearby, the Rats that were still conscious screamed at the sight of the two 'giants' and ran away yelling at the top of their lungs. The army of captive dolls cheered as they all began to sparkle with magic. Several of them seemed to realize what that fact mean and joined the two in the snow as they grew back to normal ponies (and two Yaks) and hugged each other tight. The fairy dolls however, transformed into tiny ponies with feelers on their heads and butterfly-like wings on their backs. “They're Breezies!” Vixen exclaimed. “What are you little guys doing this far north?” “We got separated from our group several years ago and were blown here by the north wind!” a little orange Breezie explained. “The Rat King has held us captive ever sense! My name is Honeydew and on behalf of my fellow Breezie thank you so much for saving us!” “Yeah, thanks!” said one of the ponies, who seemed to be a hiker. “We've all been there for so long...we never thought we'd escape! Thank you!” Trixie gasped as a Yak picked her up and hugged her so hard she was afraid he'd break something. “Little pony save Yaks! Yaks very grateful!” “Three cheers for Trixie!” called a female pegasus wearing a sweater. Trixie blinked as she was picked up by the full grown ponies and Yaks picked her up and tossed her into the air. “Yip yip hooray! Yip yip hooray! Yip yip hooray!” The azure unicorn blinked in complete confusion, expecting something to ruin the moment for her. For the Rat King to climb back up and turn them all back into dolls...but nothing happened. She was being tossed up and down by her cheering fans and then given a standing ovation when she set down. Trixie was stunned...she'd...she'd actually become a hero for real? Just once? Trixie bowed like the showmare she was. “Thank you, thank you, you're too kind. The Great and Powerful Trixie was only doing what anypony would given the circumstances...” she said, soaking in the cheers like a battery. “We can send back help, but will you guys be okay here?” Vixen asked, stepping forwards and patting Trixie on the back. “Don't worry,” the hiker said, pulling a tent from his backpack. “My backpack became part of me while I was a nutcracker, I've got my tent and supplies still. We can last a bit.” “And the Rats had a lot of cheese!” one of the Breezie. “We'll be set for awhile!” Several other members nodded and produced their own supplies which hadn't aged a day since they were turned into toys. “That's good...” Trixie then frowned. “Oh...right...we have to continue...” She looked between the celebrating ponies and Vixen...then remembered the reindeer crying in the cell before. “...We're on our way to save Hearth's Warming...Vixen, could we...come back later?” Vixen blinked...then nodded. “Sure. Santa can bring us back to pick them up too.” The azure unicorn smirked. “Alright then.” Trixie jumped up on a rock. “Trixie is sorry, but she much cut the celebrations short! The Great and Powerful Trixie and her companion need to be on our way to save Hearth's Warming from another vile villain!...But we'll be sure to stop on the way back with help!” And thus with the cheers of those they rescued, the two departed, heading further north. “Onward to stop Leidr and save Hearth's Warming! Nothing can stop us now!” Trixie announced victoriously, pointing in that direction. In the distance, lightning flashed behind a massive, long ethereal entity with glowing blue eyes, illuminating it as it howled like the north wind. To Be Continued... Author's Note Just as a reminder, this is a comedy story that's INTENTIONALLY cheesy. Hope you like it! A little late because my entire household caught a cold at the same time...well, a LOT late due to other reasons. Trixie Is Scared About This...Author's Note Thanks to Alexwarlorn for ideas and help on this! Finally done! Remember: this is based off an old Christmas special. The cheesy stuff is completely intentional. Trixie Is Scared About This... How Trixie (Somehow) Saved Hearth's Warming Chapter 2 By Godzillawolf “Trixie is very surprised that Yakyakistan was so easy to get through,” Trixie remarked, the two now moving past it, the mare riding a bit high on her defeat of the Rat King. They'd gone through the kingdom of the Yaks in a surprisingly uneventful visit (so uneventful in fact it will not be addressed by the story). “Tell me about it, Santa always had to be careful giving them gifts because they tend to smash anything they don't like. Good thing they made peace with Equestria,” Venus remarked. “Though they were happy to learn that those two yaks are safe now.” The azure showmare gave a proud, content look. “Trixie is sure, Trixie appreciated the praise.” Vixen chuckled. “You deserved it...and Trixie?” “Yes?” The reindeer's confident exterior lowered for a moment. “Thanks for getting us out of that.” The unicorn blinked, then gave a smug, but friendly smirk. “You are quite welcome! Was there ever any doubt Trixie would pull through?” Vixen gave a smile. “No...there wasn't...” she said, looking up to her. She then gasped and pointed a hoof. “There it is!” Trixie followed her companion's hoof to find a mountain towering above the landscape. At it's top was a massive palace, four towers extending high into the sky, which was fittingly stormy and ominous for a holiday ruining villain lair. Trixie noted that the clouds above the palace were swirling like a vortex or eye of a storm, snow and ice radiating out from it. She didn't know why, but she felt a cold chill (well a colder chill given the situation) looking at it. “...That's Leidr's lair?” Vixen nodded. “Yeah...it's bigger than I thought.” “And we're certain that's not the lair of some other evil ice themed villain?...Or Jack Frost?” Vixen shook her head. “No, Santa said he lived around here in a castle made of ice with the eye of the storm above it...And Jack Frost lives with Father Winter.” Trixie looked back to Vixen. A part of her was screaming for her to call it quits and run for it...but the fact Vixen's face was one of admiration and respect shut that part of her up. She steeled herself and gave a sigh. “Okay, let's get this over with! We don't have all night!” The azure mare still hung onto the hope that Leidr was simply a rogue pegasus. Besides, after defeating the Rat King, how could this get any worse? +++ “It's really windy, Pinkie Pie!” exclaimed Minty, the two of them trying to keep the balloon in the air. Both of them were now wearing warm cozy socks, Opal having one on like it was a scarf. “I know, Minty! We must have flown into another pony's Hearth's Warming saving adventure!” Pinkie exclaimed. Minty managed to pull the rope to right the balloon. “There...” she said, giving a sigh of relief...then carefully moving the rope slightly to be aligned where it was supposed to be. “Perfect!” However, as she turned, she slipped on some snow that made it into the basket, grabbing the rope as she fell, sending the balloon out of control. “Oops!” Pinkie and Minty tried to right the balloon with a yell, Opal giving a yowl. “Minty Minty Minty...” Pinkie Pie muttered, not so much angry but as if this was a regular occurrence she accepted about her friend...surprising given they were currently in an out of control balloon. “Sorry...” “It's okay, Minty! We'll still make it to Santa!” +++ “This...is a very tall mountain!” Trixie exclaimed, the two climbing up the very large mountain the ice palace was perched on top of. Vixen nodded. “Yeah...and still too windy to fly. This reminds me of how Rudolph said he had to climb up to save Baby New Year from an evil vulture! I guess holiday villains just like really tall mountains with bad storms around them!” “Annoying how being a flying Reindeer doesn't come more in handy...” Trixie muttered...then perked up. “Wait, you can't fly straight up...” The unicorn pulled off her hat and performed a spell, pulling out a long tightly woven rope of scarves and throwing one down to Vixen. “Can you tie this to you and fly up as far as you can SAFELY go?” Vixen gave a blink. “Uh, sure, why?” “Then Trixie can use the rope to climb up faster,” the azure mare explained. “We can cover more ground that way!” “Alright, let's give it a shot!” The reindeer launched herself up and while the wind was too strong to stay up long, she was able to land a good ways up the mount and secured herself. “Okay Trixie! Come on up!” The azure mare nodded, wrapping her hooves around the scarf rope and pulled herself up. Much easier and faster than having to find a billion little hoof holds in the (rather icy) rock before moving up a foot. Trixie's confidence quickly took a nose dive when she looked down and realized how high up she was. She barely managed to contain her internal screaming as she continued to scale up the cliff. 'Don't-look-down-don't-look-down-don't-look-down! Sweet-Celestia-don't-look-down!' +++ “Alright...” Trixie panted as Vixen helped her climb over the ledge of the cliff at the very top of the mountain. “We're up here...” Vixen gave a nod. “Yeah, now all we need to do is stop Leidr and save Hearth's Warming!” The azure mare couldn't help but smirk at how happy that thought seemed to make Vixen. “Indeed. Now given we're dealing with an evil villain in a giant, imposing castle in the sky, he will probably have evil minions, so prepare for a fight.” She'd seen enough fiction to be savvy to that. Vixen looked around. “Don't see any minions...” Trixie blinked, looking around. “Hmm...you're right...” No guards protecting the gates, none lining the walls. In fact the rather massive castle seemed to be very desolate. The Rat King's palace had been big for him, but it'd at least been filled with slaves and rats. This just seemed...desolate and empty... Trixie trotted over to one of the walls and put a hoof on it. “Ice?” Vixen joined her and touched the wall. “The whole palace is made out of ice?” “Trixie has a bad feeling about this...” The two jumped as a pair of unearthly howls ripped through the air. “And I have a bad feeling about that!” Vixen exclaimed. The two looked up to see the vortex above the castle...and noticed four glowing blue eyes staring back a them. With a howl, a duo of spectral, icy blue horses with ghostly tails where their hindquarters would be descended from the vortex, howling like the winter wind. “WINDIGOS?!” Vixen and Trixie asked in shock, having to hit the deck as the two winter beasts dove past them. “You didn't tell Trixie Leidr had WINDIGOS!” Trixie yelled, ducking again as one of the Windigos made another dive at them. “I didn't know!” Vixen yelled. “I'm sorry!” The azure unicorn looked up at the pair of Windigos, who seemed to be moving around them like guard dogs circling a thief. “...Aren't those Windigos smaller than the myths typically portray them as being?” Vixen nodded nervously. “Yeah, I don't know why, but those three were a lot bigger and stronger than the normal kind.” “Normal kind?!” “Normal Windigos are kinda really dangerous animals, it's only when they get super strong that they become a world threatening thing.” Trixie nodded, then eeping as she had to use a fire spell (specifically one intended for use in fire breathing) to block a wave of icy wind from the Windigos by melting them. “Trixie sees...Okay, new plan, we get away from these guard dogs and take out however Leidr is controlling them.” Vixen nodded in agreement, then jumped away from a surge of icy wind. She then flew up (the wind near the castle being less severe) and kicked one of the Windigos in the face...then got bashed back by it's tail and barely dodged another surge of ice. “Okay, this won't be easy.” “Come at Trixie, beasts!” Trixie exclaimed, feeling a thug in her heart when she saw Vixen knocked away. She sat off several fireworks in front of the beasts, which seemed to startle them with a howl of surprise, but only managed to distract them long enough for Vixen to give them another flying kick before a shockwave of icy wind blew them both back. The azure mare got up, but was sent tumbling back head over hooves by a tail smack. Trixie got back up and blasted one of the beasts' in the back with a beam of magic that did little more than annoy it. Vixen grabbed Trixie by the shoulders and flew her friend out of the way of another icy blast. “Okay, not to self, Windigos are tough!” Vixen lamented. Trixie focused and summoned a thunder cloud and brought down a lightning bolt on one of the Windigos. It gave a howl of pain from the heat of the lightning more so than the voltage...then sent a wave of ice their way and forced Vixen to dive down to avoid it. “Okay, that at least hurt it, but Trixie thinks it just made it mad...” Vixen dove down and few back up, giving a mule kick to the jaw of one of the Windigos while Trixie blasted the beast with a beam to the face...resulting in them being tail whipped back into the ground. Trixie gasped as she noticed the two Windigos fire another blast of ice at them. She used as strong of a fire spell as she could manage. Despite blocking the brunt of the assault, she and Vixen still ended up with some ice forming on their body. The azure mare used a couple fire spells to melt the ice off but was left shivering. “Trixie is beginning to miss her hot coco and warm blanket!” The two had to scramble out of the way of another blast of icy that made a small ice formation where they'd just been standing. 'Okay, Trixie is facing two mythological beasts...this situation can't get much worse,' Trixie lamented, trying another lightning bolt again, but only succeeded in enraging the Windigo she shot with it and getting the end of her tail frozen solid causing her to give a yelp when the weight pulled the hair. Vixen flew up and headbutted one of the Windigos as hard as she could but did little more than annoy it. It sent off a blast of frigid wind, freezing her hind legs solid and blasting her away. Trixie gasped as Vixen hit the ground and bounced, nearly going over the cliff. She grabbed onto the edge and tried desperately not to fall, but it was a losing battle. The azure unicorn saw the two Windigos give a howl and prepare to attack...and felt something grip her heart she wasn't very familiar. A tug similar to fear, but quite distinct. Trixie galloped over and skidded to a stop between Vixen and the Windigos without even thinking. “Hear me foul beasts! You shall not harm the Great and Powerful Trixie's friend!” She charged up her magic for a fire spell...and for a brief moment, a pink flame flickered around her horn before she unleashed the fire spell, there being a slight rose tint to it. The twin horrors howled in pain as the flames licked them. They turned tail and fled back into the eye of the storm, giving panicked winnies. Trixie quickly pulled Vixen back up and used a quick fire spell to melt the ice around her hindquarters. “Vixen, are you alright?!” Vixen nodded. “Y-Yeah...Trixie...you scared off the Windigos!” “Yes, Trixie drove off the Windigos...wait...” the Azure mare's mind finally caught up to her body and she stared up in absolute shock. “Trixie...Trixie just drove off two Windigos...” Trixie wracked her brain for two answers: one, what had happened to her self preservation in that instant, and two, how the buck she'd done that?! Oh, and why she felt an immense feeling of relief right now seeing Vixen in front of her and okay. That was a new emotion. “Trixie, you okay?” Vixen questioned. “Oh! Yes...Trixie is fine...She's just basking in the moment for a bit...hey wait,” the showmare asked. “Why didn't you just fly back up?” “Oh, flying reindeer need to be able to run to fly, you know how we gallop through the sky and stuff?” the doe explained. “Right...Trixie supposes that makes sense,” Trixie replied, then turned back to the entrance to the castle. “Well let's take care of Leidr and save the holiday, shall we!” Trixie allowed her confidence to rise. After all, how could Leidr possibly be tougher than two Windigos? +++ The two trotted through the massive ice palace. The place was gigantic and seemed well decorated (though all decorations were composed of snow and ice), with even finally crafted ice sculptures in every room. In fact the ice sculptures were so large Other than being made of ice, one might mistake it for a royal palace. “Trixie wishes she had a castle like this,” Trixie stated. “Well you know except for being frozen and on top of a mountain of death...okay, Trixie would accept the those conditions if it meant she got a castle.” Vixen nodded, then looked confused. “I wonder though...why would he have this big castle with nodeer in it?” “Trixie doesn't see why he needs a reason. It's a gigantic palace.” “Guess I'd just be lonely in this big place with nodeer to share it with.” Trixie frowned, turning and looking around the empty palace of ice. Room upon room of empty space without a soul to speak to or interact with. Just statues of finely crafted ice. “Trixie...supposes that's a good point...” The reindeer flew up, looking at an ice chandelier hanging overhead. It even had candles slotted in them, though they were made of snow. “Maybe he stole it from somepony else?” she flew back down and looked at the statues. “Hope these aren't the guys that had it before...” Hearing that, Trixie gave a shudder. “Yes, let's! Now come on! We have a holiday to save!” she said with barely concealed evasiveness. Finally coming up to a massive pair of throne room doors, Trixie took a deep breath and steeled herself. The two threw open the gigantic doors and charged in. “Leidr! We have come to save Hearth's Warming! Stop your evil plans this instant!” Trixie blinked, looking around the room. The only thing there was an icy throne with a Windigo sitting upon it and ice sculptures lining the room. A Windigo a good bit larger than the two they'd fought outside, and that was disconcerting, but that wasn't what surprised her. Only mildly terrified her. “Where's Leidr?” Vixen questioned, looking concerned. “Right here,” said a deep voice with a winter wind-like echo. The Windigo rose from his throne and flew into the center of the room where light came through the windows and illuminated him. He wore regal looking ice armor that seemed much less translucent than his actual body. His helmet had what looked like a white crown molded into it and Trixie couldn't help shuddering when she looked in his eyes. They were the same glowing blue as the rest...but in their center were two dark blue pupils with light blue irises. Trixie couldn't help feeling something else different from them. Like they were the eyes of a thinking creature, not of a simple animal. Just the look of them on that massive spectral form sent a shiver down her spine and her legs quiver. “I am Leidr. The Windigo King.” Trixie and Vixen took a few steps back in shock. “But...But Windigos can't talk...” Vixen muttered. Leidr's eyes narrowed. Trixie swore for a moment she saw something in them...something she couldn't put her hoof on. “I'm not your run of the mill Windigo...” Trixie looked to Vixen. “Leidr is a Windigo?!” “I didn't know!” Vixen replied. The massive Windigo slithered through the air and looked down on them. “So, Vixen, you survived. But it is for nothing. Hearth's Warming is over and there's nothing you can do about it.” “Why are you even doing this?!” Vixen asked while Trixie was still internally screaming at the fact they were fighting a sapient Windigo. “I'm a Windigo, what exactly did you expect?” Leidr asked, his tone not angry or mocking...Trixie recognized bitterness when she heard it. Then again she was kind of internally freaking out hearing any complex emotion from a Windigo in the first place. “When Hearth's Warming is ruined, the happiness of the holiday is ruined with it. Ponies will be angry they didn't get what they wanted, foals will be angry with their parents, and everypony will be angry with Santa Hooves. Anger and hatred, the lifeblood of my species, will become much more abundant.” Trixie sighed. “So Trixie takes it you're not simply going to come quietly?” she asked externally. 'Trixie is going to die! And before she could even brag to Twilight Sparkle about defeating the Rat King and discovering a sapient Windigo!' she screamed in her head. “No,” Leidr stated. “Tonight is the last Hearth's Warming!” [=Blizzeta Battle Second Half Extended - Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess=] Trixie and Vixen had to jump out of the way as Leidr formed ice icicles in the air around him and launched them down at the group. “Since when can Windigos do that?!” Vixen asked, flying to the side to dodge another barrage. “I told you, I'm not your typical Windigo,” Leidr replied, holding up his hooves and forming a condensed sphere of icy energy between them. “Cold Front.” Trixie grabbed Vixen in her telekinesis and pulled her behind a statue as Leidr threw it down at the ground, sending a wave of ice across it and causing ice spires to erupt from all over, the two barely being guarded by their cover or they would've been flash frozen. “Wow, he even got to naming his attacks, he really is clever,” Trixie remarked as she poked her head out from cover and fired several magic beams at Leidr, but he simply shrugged them off and nearly impaled the two with icicles. Vixen flew up and kicked Leidr repeatedly in the face before having to dodge a blast of frigid air condensed into a concentrated stream that left spires of ice in it's wake. Trixie looked over her surroundings and galloped up one of the spires, leaping off it and blasting Leidr point blank in the face with her fire spell...he simply sent a surge of icy wind through it, buffeting her and resulting in Vixen having to pull her out of the way of another barrage of icicles. Trixie quickly melted the ice the attack put on her and Vixen flew around Leidr with the azure unicorn on her back. Trixie opened fire with beams of various types but did little damage until a shock wave of icy wind blew both to the throne room ground. The duo then had to scramble to dodge more icicles raining down and easily piercing the floor. “Trixie needs to think of something, this isn't going well...” the mare muttered, looking around while a part of her mind kept telling her she was going to die. Leidr charged ice magic in front of his mouth. “Frost Cannon.” Trixie attempted to use a burst of fire to counter the incoming focused burst of ice and wind, but it ripped through her fire spell like it was nothing and she barely dodged in the nick of time. And also had to break off a section of her tail that was flash frozen to the ground. Then had Vixen tail whipped into her, sending both sliding across the ice floor into the wall. “Okay, we're getting our flanks handed to us...” Vixen whimpered, Trixie noticing that old insecurity from the Rat King's palace coming back to her face. “We're not finished yet...” Trixie said, though internally admitted as much. She looked around...then remembered what ice was made of. “Cold Front.” Trixie and Vixen dove behind a statue as Leidr charged up another sphere of ice magic between his hooves and drove it into the throne room ground. “Vixen, listen carefully...” A few moments later, Trixie came out of hiding. “You're a difficult foe, but the Great and Powerful Trixie shall not be defeated by a mere beast such as yourself!” Leidr glared and formed icicles around him, hurling them down at her. “I am more than a mere beast, little pony.” Trixie did a jump and slid on the ice to dodge the icicles before using her own telekinesis to dislodge them from the ground and send them right back at him. The Windigo merely swung his tail around and smashed them to bits. “Frost Cannon.” Trixie leapt and slid out of the way of another blast of pressurized, freezing cold air, landing against another of the pillars his attacks had formed and firing a beam at him. 'Trixie can't believe she's actually doing this!' Trixie screamed in her own head, wondering if she'd gone insane to even be trying this. Leidr dove down, strafing her with icicles as she slid towards one of the statues...then blasted it with the biggest blast of fire she could possibly manage, melting it into water. She was surprised at how enraged of a roar that resulted in. “Vixen! Now!” The winter spirit's eyes went wide as he turned just in time for Vixen to slam into him as fast as she could and send him crashing into the water. Trixie formed as many thunder clouds as her magic could possibly do and brought them down, the water conducting it and sending the voltage (and more importantly the heat the electricity generated) through Leidr and filling the room with steam as he let out a howl of pain. The heroic duo panted, looking at the steam around the Windigo, on guard for any attack. “Did that do it?” Vixen questioned. A blast of freezing wind blasted away the steam to reveal Leidr rising up, snarling in anger, his icy armor partially melted off. He looked down at the melted statue and let out a roar of fury. “ Perhaps it's time to show you what you are truly up against...” Leidr snaked out the window and into the sky, emitting a long, echoing howl as his eyes glowed brightly. “Sinne! Raseri!” The two other Windigos descended from the vortex high above and looked up to Leidr. Trixie couldn't help but think of a zoo animal looking to it's trainer rather than friends looking to another one. “This is so not fair...” Trixie muttered as she was now facing down a trio of Windigos. “Fusion,” Leidr said simply. The other two gave a howl as did Leidr, the three howls harmonizing as one. The trio of Windigos shattered into snow and ice and swirled around, forming a gigantic cyclone of snow, ice, and wind. Trixie and Vixen covered their faces against the roaring wind and stinging snow as the six eyes in the twister overlapped and became one set, still with Leidr's pupils and irises. The cyclone finally dissipated to reveal a single Windigo, one so massive that it had to smash through the window to make room for it to enter the room. “Behold. The true power of the Windigos.” Trixie and Vixen stared up in horror before Leidr swung his hoof around and launched them across the room in a single motion. “Ugh...you...what did you do?!” Trixie asked in shock as she and Vixen got back to their hooves. “Windigos are beings of snow and ice, and like the snow we can group together into something bigger. Thousands of years ago when our kind were at their peak, you ponies' hatred spawned hundreds if not thousands,” Leidr explained, his movements and voice seeming a tiny bit more feral. “And from those thousands, were formed three fusion Windigos of such power they threatened to plunge the world into eternal frost. I am the mind but this body is all three of us!” Trixie and Vixen had to dodge a lot further as even more icicles rained down on them, then had to duck or fly above a swipe from Leidr's hoof. The gigantic Windigo swam through the air around the palace and finally stopped above one of the windows. “Frost Cannon.” The two heroes dove out of the way and slid as the blast of cold left a wall of ice in it's wake and the sheer wind coming off it launched the duo across the room. Trixie tried to use her clouds to fire lightning bolts at the behemoth, but Leidr barely seemed to feel it and simply used a shockwave to freeze the clouds solid, causing them to fall to the icy floor and shatter to bits. Vixen attempted to fly up and kick Leidr in the face...but cringed, it felt like she'd just kicked a brick wall! Leidr snarled and blasted her back into the room with a burst of frigid air, Trixie catching her and sending both crashing to the ground and sliding half way across the room. Trixie got to her feet, she gasped, noticing all four of Vixen's legs had been frozen. She focused her horn and formed lightning clouds all around Leidr and let them loose all at once...only for her heart to sink as he flash froze them solid. “May this place be your tomb. Ice Age.” Leidr opened his mouth and held his hooves out, icy energy sparking between the three points and forming a spell seal with a snow flake in the center. Trixie shuddered, able to feel the sheer cold radiating from whatever it was Leidr was about to let loose. “Vixen...we...we had a good run, right?” Vixen nodded slowly. “Yeah...yeah we did...Thanks for coming all this way, Trixie.” Trixie gave a dignified smile. “You're welcome...thanks for letting Trixie be a hero, just once...” 'Trixie is going to die!...But at least she'll make a fabulous ice sculpture...But she is still going to die!' Trixie yelled in her head, but managed to keep a straight look on her face. She still had pride. “AHHHHHHH!” “Huh?” Trixie asked, the two turning to see an out of control balloon flying towards the window. Trixie realized it was going to pass closely by the palace. “On second thought, Trixie doesn't feel like dying today!” The azure mare grabbed Vixen in her telekinesis and did a running leap into the balloon basket. The wind carried the balloon and its occupants past the castle. Trixie was tempted to question the odds of this, but the fact it'd saved her from death prevented her from caring much. Leidr finally unleashed his attack, a massive blast of blue energy stuck where Trixie and Vixen had been standing, triggering a massive blinding flash of blue light that forced Trixie and company to cover their eyes. When the light faded, Leidr's throne room had been reduced to a glacier of solid ice and even the rock on which the castle stood seemed to have frozen over several meters down. Trixie and Vixen stared in horror at where they'd been a few seconds prior, then hugged each other, glad to be alive. The two then realized that they were still in an out of control balloon and Trixie used fire to free Vixen, allowing the doe to use her flying ability to stop the balloon's out of control flight, though still had to return to the basket due to the wind. “Hi Trixie!” Trixie blinked as she was hugged by a pink party pony. She then gasped and hugged her friend. “Pinkie!” The mare then realized what she'd just done in her glee that she was not dead and cleared her throat. “Trixie is glad to see you, Pinkie...This is Vixen...” “Oh! Hey Vixen!” “Hey Pinkie! Hey Minty!” Vixen replied, giving a smile. Trixie blinked and looked to Vixen. “You know her?” “Of course, they've visited the North Pole every Hearth's Warming for the last ten years.” Pinkie and Minty nodded. “Yeah, it's our tradition!” The azure mare just stared for a moment. “...But...how did you get here?!” “We flew in a balloon!” Minty explained. “How?! Vixen can't fly in this weather and neither can Santa!” Pinkie Pie shrugged. “We just did!” Trixie's eye twitched. 'What did Twilight say about this?' +++ “Trixie, there's something VERY important to know when dealing with Pinkie Pie: if anything about her doesn't make sense to you, DON'T try to figure it out. Trust me, it's NOT worth it!” +++ Trixie took a deep breath. “Trixie understands...” “Oh, and this is my friend Minty!” Pinkie introduced. “Minty, this is my friend Trixie!” Minty gave a smile. “Good to meet ya!” she then dug into her saddle bags and handed them both socks. “You look cold, want some socks?” “Thank you...” Trixie said awkwardly, but gladly slipped them on, she'd been trudging through the snow for a long time, so naturally warmth was a welcome thing. She also blinked, noting their shade of blue and night theme seemed a good match for her. “You're welcome!” “So, Trixie, what are you doing in the frozen north?” Pinkie Pie asked as if she was asking what she was doing at the grocery store. “Saving Hearth's Warming,” Trixie said with a proud flare. “Wow! From what?” “Found you.” The group suddenly felt a cold chill as the massive Leidr rose up above them, his head alone larger than the balloon, the blizzard swirling around him and making the Windigo King all the more imposingly. “Oh boy...” Minty said, staring up at him and pinning her ears in fear. “Him...Pinkie, you don't happen to have the Elements of Harmony on you, do you?” Trixie asked, admittedly gasping at straws. While having her moment in the spotlight being taken by Pinkie Pie was far from ideal, Trixie had to admit the Elements defeating Leidr in her stead was preferable to death. “Sorry! I'm kinda fused with mine, but I can't really do the 'beat the world threatening baddie rainbow wave motion gun' on my own!” Pinkie admitted as Vixen had to pull the balloon out of the way of a barrage of icicles. “Drat...” Trixie sighed, looking up at the frozen terror looming above them. Trixie wracked her brain for a way to stop Leidr. Anything she could do...she'd come this far...was she really going to fail at the final lap? 'Just like always I suppose...Always have the glory stolen from me at the last second.' Trixie pinned her ears, looking down at her hooves. 'More than that...I was so close...I was so close to saving the entire holiday...and now I can't stop one lousy Windigo...Vixen believed in me and I couldn't do it...I guess the founders were just better than-' Trixie blinked, looking up at the Windigos. “The founders...” she muttered, looking up at Leidr as Vixen kept doing her best to move the basket out of his line of fire, Pinkie Pie and Minty kept pulling the rope this way and that to assist with that. Pinkie somehow found time to use a hind leg to fire a party cannon she'd produced from nowhere at the behemoth at the same time, but they seemed to be distracting him at best. She remembered the Hearth's Warming Eve story. How the Windigos were originally defeated all those years ago...She remembered how she'd driven off the other two Windigos before. “It wasn't fighting that stopped the Windigos...But how can...” +++ Trixie, trying to distract from her own slip, gave a raised eyebrow. “Where exactly did THAT come from? You don't strike Trixie as the Hearth's Warming Carol sort.” The reindeer looked defensive. “I'm from the North Pole! We all have a weakness for Hearth's Warming Carols! It's in our genes! What about you? You joined in!” Now it was Trixie's turn to look defensive. “Well...Trixie is a pony! We all have a weakness for musical numbers, it's in our genes.” Both paused a moment...then laughed a little. “Well...it helped pass the time at least, didn't it?” Vixen inquired. +++ Trixie's eyes went wide, she then looked up at Leidr. “...Fine...Trixie will do this the Hearth's Warming Eve way.” Leidr managed to grab the basket in his hooves. “Time to end your annoyance.” He then blinked as Trixie began humming a song. [=That's What I Love About Christmas – A Very Minty Christmas=] “The fireplace light, growing warm on snowy nights Our spirits do fly and soar!” Trixie began to sing. Leidr snarled in annoyance. “Pathetic. What is singing going to do?” “Drifting through the air is the friendship that we share With our dearest friends once more!” The massive Windigo began to form icicles around the group, ready to drive them into them. “That's what I love about Hearth's Warming!” sang Vixen. “That's what I love about Hearth's Warming!” Minty joined in. “Have a merry one this year!” Pinkie Pie continued. “Laughing ourselves silly, every colt and every filly Lights shimmering in every sheen. Tinsel on the tree, every year we all agree It's the grandest one we've seen!” the quartet sang as one, Leidr recoiling from them like they were on fire, his icicles melting. “What?!” Leidr shrieked, hooves smoking. The three ponies and one deer linked hooves, looking to one another rather than the abomination facing them. “That's what we love about Hearth's Warming! Hard to believe that it's almost here! That's what we love about Hearth's Warming! Have a very merry one this year!” Leidr's eyes went wide as the trio began to glow with a pink light. He shivered in terror at the sight of the force that'd slain the three strongest of his kind to ever live. “No...” He attempted to charge forwards and strike them, but howled in pain as if the pink glow burned him and had to retreat back. “The Santa Hooves sleigh will be heading our ways! Through Luna's stary night, he'll fly! Donner and Dancer, and Dash and Prancer...” Pinkie sang happily. “And Vixen!” Trixie added, pulling the Reindeer close, earning a smile from her friend. “Will eagerly pull the sky!” Trixie and Vixen continued. Leidr covered his ears in pain, as if each verse was the sound of a thunder clap going off in his ears. “Stop!” he yelled, his form seeming to begin to crack apart as the pink glow grew into a beacon glowing across the entire area. “Cold Front!” he called, trying to launch the sphere of icy energy at them but it dissolved like melting ice when it came close. “A thousand bells ringing, the silver song singing, Hope you hear us far and wide! The happiest face, the warmest embrace Is the feeling of joy inside!” Minty continued, pulling the group into a hug, even Opal joining in now. Leidr gave a howl of agony as his form broke apart and reformed into his original form and his herd mates. The two others winnied in terror at the pink, painful light and fled into the night as far as they could go. “Sinne! Raseri! Come back!” he bellowed...but they didn't. Like frightened animals they scattered and fled at the light of Hearth's Warming spirit. “Come back...please...” he pleaded, reaching out a hoof towards them...his voice almost heart broken. He then gasped, noticing his hoof, and indeed MOST of him, was MELTING! “That's what we love about Hearth's Warming! Can you believe that it's almost here? That's what I love about Hearth's Warming! Have a merry one this year!” the four sang together. Leidr let out a howl of anger and rage as his body began to shrink down and melt like ice before an open flame. “Happy as a lark, on my heart you've left a mark, No lonely night, only good cheer! Memories all a-glow, friends I met not long ago! That I will always hold deer!” Trixie sang, not CARING what she let out in the moment anymore. “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” bellowed Leidr as he continued to melt down, shrinking more and more with each passing second. He attempted to flee from the painful glow of the Hearth's Warming magic. “That's what we love about Hearth's Warming every year!” the quartet finished, the pink glow radiating outwards and engulfing Leidr. When the light faded, the storm that had buried the area and raged for hours was reduced to nothing more than a gentle, pleasant snow storm. Leidr, now no bigger than a mortal pony stallion, fell unconscious and powerless. Pinkie Pie threw a rope around him and tied him to the balloon, preventing him from falling to his doom. Trixie looked around the entire area in shock. “That...that actually worked?” she asked, stunned. “TRIXIE MEANS OF COURSE IT WORKED!” she exclaimed, 'correcting' herself. The balloon cheered and Trixie received a collective hug. And she returned it. She was too happy to defy it at the moment. +++ The balloon (now pulled by Vixen that should could actually fly properly) landed outside a small cottage with a large, but traditionally built workshop and a set of buildings that seemed to be there for the many elves (who seemed to be a much smaller type of reindeer with lighter fur and looked a bit shorter legged in general, but Trixie wasn't sure what species) to live in. It seemed that with the blizzard stopped, everydeer were able to start cleaning up the massive amounts of snow that had dropped been dropped on it (the outskirts of the compound still being buried many feet in snow showed that). Pinkie made sure to gently lower Leidr to the ground. Trixie didn't question rather or not he deserved such kindness, she was too busy enjoying the fact she'd saved Hearth's Warming and that nothing else was going to try and kill her. “And that is how the Great and Power Trixie and Vixen defeated the Rat King!” Trixie explained with her typical dramatic flourish. “Wow! Good job saving Hearth Warming!” Pinkie said cheerfully. Trixie gave a bow. “Was there ever any doubt?” Vixen quickly took off the ropes tying her to the balloon and galloped towards the house. “Santa!” Trixie and company followed soon after, with Pinkie grabbing Leidr and carrying him with her. Standing at the door was a large, pudgy reindeer with a white beard, in a red and white outfit on. “Vixen! Good to see you!” Vixen gave Santa Hooves a hug and nodded. “Good to see you, Santa!” “And you stopped Leidr, I know you could do it,” Santa said, voice warm and full of kindness. Vixen smiled, particularly when the other Reindeer ran over (Trixie made out a certain red nosed one) and hugged her, telling her she did a good job. “We also beat the Rat King, oh! His prisoners need someone to go pick him up!” Opal gave a grin, little crown still on her head. Santa gave a proud laugh. “Well done! Elves! Send a search and rescue squad if you will!” The Elves gave a happy salute and ran off to mount a rescue mission. Trixie was pretty sure that she saw a couple tears in Vixen's eyes. “Thanks...” Vixen said, blushing a little bit and giving a smile. “But I couldn't have done it without Trixie, she did most of the work.” [=Ever Ever After – Carrie Underwood=] Trixie gave a showmare's bow. “The Great and Powerful Trixie...couldn't have done it without Vixen either. And Pinkie and her friend Minty assisted us in defeating Leidr as well.” Pinkie's jaw dropped as Trixie gave credit to somepony else. “Wow...” Santa trotted over to Trixie and gave a smile. “My my Trixie, you've certainly come a very long way! I started this year thinking you'd be on the naughty list again for sure! Well done my little pony!” Trixie gave a happy and proud pose. She was being praised by Santa Hooves himself after all. “Thank you, Mr. Hooves. It is an honor.” “Ho ho ho! Call me Santa!” the jolly old deer replied. “And I hear you also bested the Rat King! This deserves a reward!” “Does Trixie get on the Permanent Nice Plaque?” Trixie question. “Ho ho ho! Sorry, Trixie, no,” Santa replied. “I don't take that, or the Permanent Naughty Plaque, but I DO have a big honor for you.” He then touched his hoof to his nose and the group were teleported in a flurry of snow. They found themselves in a long hallway with the same styling as the rest of the place, only this one with stained glass windows. The nearest one depicted the familiar scene of the three assistants vanquishing the Windigos originally. “Welcome to the Hall of Hearth's Warming Saviors.” Trixie's eyes went wide. “Hearth's Warming Saviors?” “Every being in history who has ever saved the holiday is given their fair recognition for their deeds,” Santa Hooves explained, leading the group down the hall way. “To be honest, it's not as often as you'd think, but why not keep plenty of room available?” “Cool!” Pinkie exclaimed, looking at a window depicting three fillies in red, blue, and green outfits stopping another in a yellow one. “Yeah!” Minty exclaimed, looking at the easily identifiable window representing Rudolph's iconic flight that foggy Hearth's Warming Eve. Santa came to the end of the hall way and turned to a placeholder window. He put a hoof to his nose and in a swirl of snow formed a stained glass window of Trixie, Vixen, Minty, and Pinkie blasting Leidr with a pink energy, Trixie naturally front and center. Trixie gasped. “That's...” The saintly deer produced a medal in the shape of the star atop of a Hearth's Warming tree. “Trixie Lulamoon. For your courage and bravery in saving Hearth's Warming and those enslaved by the Rat King, I present to you the North Pole Medal of Honor.” Trixie watched him put it around her neck. “And if anypony thinks it's fake,” Santa stated, giving a smile as he flipped the medal over and revealed a golden signature of Santa's name that glowed with magic that couldn't be denied as his. “And if anypony steals it, just let me know!” Santa put his hoof to his nose and they were teleported back outside where the elves, reindeer, and Mrs. Hooves (a kind looking doe) all clopped their hooves for Trixie, Vixen, Pinkie, and Minty. “Go ahead, Trixie! Say something! It's your story!” Pinkie said happily. Vixen nodded in agreement. “Go ahead, Trixie, you deserve it.” Trixie stepped up and looked to the crowd of magical reindeer. She felt she was on top of the world...she waited for something to swoop in and steal it from her. For her to wake up in her bed and realize none of this actually happened. But none of it did. It was her moment and she'd do as Trixie always did: accept it in style. “The Great and Powerful Trixie proudly accepts this award! And the praise!...And the fact the holiday happens this year because of her...and for...her friends...” she admitted, looking back and giving a smile. “...After all, isn't that what Hearth's Warming is all about?” Trixie did an elaborate and dramatic bow to another clop of hooves, basking in the moment. As things began to settle down and prepare for launch, another thing became apparent. Leidr hadn't said a word sense he regained consciousness. “The weird part is I thought Windigos were just animals...” Vixen admitted. “I wonder why he's different...” “...I've always been different...” The group turned and looked to the bound and severely weakened Windigo. “What?” Trixie asked. Leidr looked off in the distance longingly. “...I don't know why. I was just born like this. I'm a mutant, a freak...And now the others have left me...wild animals don't have much loyalty I suppose...” he explained, his voice having lost the echo of the wind it once had. 'Unless they're Fluttershy,' Trixie added mentally. “...Wow...who did you talk to?” Minty asked curiously. “...No one...animals don't talk...I only learned to speak watching ponies do it...” Leidr explained, his face a picture of heartbreak and bitterness. “...What we are, eating hatred, and spreading ice and frost...it was the only thing I had in common with them...so it's what we did...” Trixie felt a twinge of...the same thing she'd felt when Vixen revealed her hidden feelings. “...Sounds lonely...” “...” “Why not try to talk to ponies? There's lots of us!” Pinkie Pie cheerfully replied. Leidr scoffed. “I'm a Windigo...We EAT hatred and negative emotions...how can a monster like that be anything else?” “Well the changelings eat love and most of them are bad guys,” Minty replied. “Well except that nice one in Ponyville and some others we know. But that just kinda proves the point doesn't it?” “Yeah! And if you really were what you ate, I'd be cake!” Pinkie exclaimed, then licked her lips. “Mmm, cake!” “Leidr...” The group looked to see Rudolph trot up, red nose plain to see even when he didn't light it up. “...If it helps, I know how it feels to be born different from everydeer else...” the reindeer focused and his nose lit up red, basking the area in it's glow. “...But I made that a good thing and saved the holiday...it's alright to be a misfit, if you turn it into something good. I know an elf dentist and an island full of misfit toys who will agree with that,” he explained with a smile. “You're different...but being different isn't bad.” The Windigo, a beast who'd spent his entire life surrounded by beings incapable of compassion and empathy, could only stare as it was freely given to him. “I...” Minty reached into her bag and produced a pair of socks. “Here you go, Mr. Leidr! Some socks!” she said, helping him put them on his front (and only) legs (even if they were restricted by his bindings). “Why?” “Because it's Hearth's Warming! Everypony deserves a present!” Minty said with a bright smile. “And they're my favorite kind of presents to give!” Leidr looked at the two pieces of clothing on his legs like they were beyond his comprehension. “I...I've never gotten a present before...” Trixie simply looked at the defeated Windigo as he understandably looked like the world had been turned upside down. “...That castle...you built that didn't you? And all the ice sculptures?” Leidr nodded. “...Yes...I...I guess I just wanted a home...The ice sculptures...making them made me feel...warm...In a...good way...it was the only thing that did...Until...” he looked at them and at the socks in deep thought. “...Your ice sculptures were quite good. It's a shame that you never got to show them to anypony...if there's one thing Trixie can appreciate it's a misunderstood artist.” Leidr looked over to her with wide eyes. “...I tried to kill you...” “Yes, yes you did. And Trixie is still mad about it...but Trixie hasn't always been a saint,” the azure unicorn admitted. “...Everypony, or Windigo, deserves a second chance.” Rudolph gave a knowing nod. “I know a giant vulture who'd agree with that.” Leidr looked stunned. “I...” “Oh! We can ask the Princesses! I'm sure Canterlot could use an ice sculptor!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Then everypony can see it!” Leidr looked almost dizzy. “...I...I will...consider that...” He then gave the one genuine, happy smile they'd seen on him. Windigos looked surprisingly less terrifying when they were happy. Santa said afterward that they could leave Leidr there and he'd help him through it, as the North Pole was so full of good will he wouldn't be regaining his full power any time soon. “Now, Trixie, I have one more reward for you! And Vixen too!” the jolly old reindeer finally said. Vixen's ears perked. “Huh?” “Rudolph, I know normally you get to lead, but just for tonight, would you mind if Vixen was lead deer?” Santa Hooves explained. Rudolph gave a smile. “I'd be glad to!” Vixen's eyes went wide. “Lead...lead deer?” Rudolph handed her the harness. “You earned it, Vixen. You really did.” Vixen blushed. “...Thank you...and thank you Trixie.” Trixie smirked and gave a bow. “You are most welcome...friend...” “Trixie,” Santa interjected. “How would you like to ride along with me on my sleigh tonight? After all, it wouldn't be flying without you!” Trixie paused for a moment. She looked to Minty and Pinkie. “Don't worry, we get to meet Santa every year! And I've got a party to get too!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Enjoy your ride with Santa! We've still got the balloon!” Trixie didn't care, she hugged Pinkie Pie, her friend. “Trixie...would very much enjoy that, Santa.” “Ho ho ho! Very well! Now come along! We're already running late! But it's never too late to make our holiday deadline!” Trixie basked in the moment...then realized something. “One moment!” she exclaimed, rushing to the workshop...and coming back with several cards. She addressed eight, levitating one to Pinkie Pie and one to Minty (and getting hugs for it). Then signed a last one to Babs Seed. “Can we deliver these as well?” Santa Hooves gave a sincere, warm smile. “Ho ho ho! Certainly! And we can also stop by the Rat King's old castle and hand out presents to those poor ponies, I'm sure they'll be happy to see you again!” As Trixie stepped aboard Santa's sleigh and Vixen took the lead, Trixie reflected on one thing: In the morning she'd probably collapse on the bed and sleep for the day...or several (she had gone through multiple life or death situations, fought two immensely powerful villains, and saved the holiday all after walking through the snow for hours) and probably be unbelievably sore (in fact she was fairly certain it was the adrenaline doing most of her movement right now)... But she was a hero...ponies saved from slavery were grateful to her (and likely always would be). She had the medal. She had the stained glass window. And of course she also had her friends. Trixie smiled. “...This is the best Hearth's Warming Trixie has ever had.” Santa Hooves grabbed the reigns with a whistle. “Now, Vixen! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner! On Blitzen! On Rudolph! Dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!” “Here we go!” called Vixen, smiling wide and happy as she lead the way, up and into the sky. “Ho ho ho! Merry Hearth's Warming!” The End.
How Did Trixie Even...How Trixie (Somehow) Saved Hearth's Warming Chapter 1 By Godzillawolf [=The Fires of Friendship- MLP:FIM Hearth's Warming Eve=] The wind blew loudly and the snow poured down. It was Hearth's Warming Eve and most ponies were either enjoying time with family or simply preparing for Santa Hoove's visit later. Well, those who were certain they had something besides coal waiting for them from that jolly old reindeer. As for the Great and Powerful Trixie, she sat in her new cart, nestled warmly in a blanket. Truthfully at the start of this year, Trixie had wondered if she'd spend the holiday warm with a roof over her head at all after her previous home was left in ruins by the Ursa Minor. Let alone that she'd have gifts from anypony. The blanket had been a gift sent by Twilight Sparkle and had came with a letter telling her to open it and not wait for Hearth's Warming. Five others gifts under a small Hearth's Warming tree. Pinkie's had come with a letter wishing Trixie was in Ponyville with them...and also some strange comment about wondering 'if this story will be in a stopmotion.' Rarity's card had came with a rather expensive jewel and the words 'do not dare consider this a hoof out, darling. I know how you are. This is a gift, spend it on whatever you please and enjoy the holiday'. Rainbow Dash's had primarily been 'Merry Hearth's Warming' and recounting that 'totally awesome' time Trixie became Queen of the Diamond Dogs and the two got her out of that mess. Fluttershy's was about how 'no pony should feel alone at Hearth's Warming' and Trixie shouldn't either. Applejack's had been wondering if Trixie was all alone and saying she shouldn't be, and also that Babs Seed wished her a Merry Hearth's Warming as well. Trixie...honestly had no idea how she felt about all of this. Hearth's Warming Eve for her normally wasn't a big deal for her unless she'd been hired for a show during that time. She'd never had friends, or family, to celebrate it with. In fact, she normally just stayed inside her cart and read fan mail. Except that one year she got visited by the Ghosts of Hearth's Warming, but that was an odd year. The idea of actually having presents under the tree that weren't either something she'd bought for herself or coal from Santa Hooves (Trixie would now admit it: she was indeed quite naughty), or receiving any cards that were accompanied by genuine friendship and love. It was an...alien feeling. Not entirely unpleasant, mind you, just...strange. Warm, inviting, but...strange...” “Once upon a time I was ignored Even if I thought myself adored...” Trixie sung, her song slow and thoughtful as her eyes wondered the room. “On this very special time of year Alone without knowing was this mare. For all those years, something was missing I wonder now, was it this feeling?” Trixie got up and looked at her various letters from her friends. “For so very long, I did believe All that mattered was what you achieved. Whether it was truth or just a lie. But looking back I think I see why I always felt bitter in the end ...Is it because I never had friends?” Trixie asked aloud, looking at the blanket around her thoughtfully. “I could have ruled wherever I went But it would not have made me content. Fame and admiration I knew well But no matter how great it did swell I just could not be truly happy And yes, I know this song is sappy” Trixie continued, giving a blink and a chuckle to herself as she realized how thankful she was nopony was hearing her sing. That would be incredibly incredibly embarrassing. “But now that kindness ponies show me I think I'm happy as I can be... But yet, I'm confused I do admit,” Trixie looked uncertain as she took one of the letters in her telekinesis and read over it. Confused. “I ask myself how to return it? I don't know with what I am dealing When it comes down to this strange feeling... Oh great, I have my brain reeling Just to make sense of this strange feeling...” Trixie finished setting down the letter and giving a sad sigh. “...I suppose if everything were easy, we'd all be Alicorns by now...” Trixie's eyes wondered from the letter looked to a map nearby. Specifically one little town in Canterlot's shadow. "Should Trixie…" she thought, entertaining the idea of paying a visit to Ponyville, it wasn't like she was uninvited. "No...Trixie enjoys spending Hearth's Warming Eve by herself. Solitude is how she celebrates!" Trixie trotted over to her 'kitchen' and beginning to prepare some hot coco. "All she needs to enjoy the holiday is some hot coco and warmth...even if she appreciates the gifts...and the well wishes...and actually having friends who hope she's enjoying it…" Trixie looked down. "...Besides, Trixie doesn't know where she'd begin…she's not used to being...kind..." The azure unicorn got out some marshmallows. "So she'll just enjoy a nice quiet, uneventful Hearth's Warming Eve by herself. What could possibly go wrong?" Trixie jumped about a foot in the air when a loud impact rattled her cart. "...When will Trixie learn it is unwise to tempt fate?" The showmare poked her head out of the window. "Who dares hit the Great and Powerful Trixie's cart! If it is you again, Bon Bon, Trixie will-" Trixie blinked, looking around to find no pony. Just snow gently falling to the already white ground. She cautiously stepped out of her cart. "Hello? Is anypony out here?" She remained on guard. She didn't want to get ambushed and foalnapped by a fanatical fans...again. That was unpleasant. The mare circled the cart that served as her home until finally her hoof caught on something and she went muzzle first into a snowbank. "What the Tartarus did Trixie...trip...over…?" Trixie's eyes went wide. Her hooves had been tripped not by a rock or a stone...but by a living being. Namely the antlers of a reindeer, one with bells around her neck and what looked like a sleigh harness on. Said reindeer was currently unconscious in the snow, her hind legs frozen solid. Trixie jumped as she swore she heard the wind literally howl and the snow fall pick up rapidly. Trixie's first instinct was to flee to the relative safety of her cart...but she stopped mid-gallop and looked back at the reindeer as snow continued to accumulate around her. Trixie gave an annoyed sigh. "Trixie had to grow a conscience, didn't she?" The showmare used her telekinesis to pick up the reindeer and hightailed it into her cart, locking the door and all the windows. Icy blue eyes gazed down from the sky, scouring the area below and finding no signs its quarry. “Rotten little doe should be glad I don't have time for her...” the entity muttered in a voice like a wind through a graveyard. “...Still, with frozen legs in this weather, I doubt she'll last very long...But just in case, I should probably prepare a few little surprises...” The presence vanished into the snow and night. Trixie had covered her 'house guest' in an older blanket after using a few spells to melt the ice encasing her back legs. The showmare may have grown a sense of compassion thanks to the efforts of her friends, but Twilight's blanket was still a gift. And it was also Trixie's best blanket. Still, giving anything to a helpless creature she found laying around helpless in the snow was something the old Trixie would decidedly not have done...unless it benefited her in some faction. The azure mare got another cup of coco for herself (the old cup had gotten cold while she'd been helping the reindeer) and set down with a sigh. “Trixie just wanted a quiet Hearth's Warming alone...” she muttered. “Well...it could be worse, some world ending calamity could be happening...” “Ugh...” Trixie perked up, as the reindeer blinked awake and looked about in panic. “Where am...” “You somehow crashed into the Great and Powerful Trixie's cart, but she heroically rescued you,” Trixie replied with a somewhat smug look. “Your hind legs were also frozen, Trixie has no idea how that happened...” The deer blinked in some confusion, looking down at her now thawed hind legs. “...Oh...thanks...I would've been done for.” “Yes, yes you would've been. The storm is getting bad. And Trixie is just a heroic pony who enjoys saving ponies so much,” Trixie 'explained' in her most 'humble' fashion. The reindeer raised an eyebrow. “Uh...I'm a Reindeer.” “Oh, sorry.” “How many creatures have you saved exactly?” “Trixie kept an Ursa Minor occupied during a rampage once! And she also assisted in the apprehending of the master jewel thief Rough Diamonds!” Trixie announced with pride. “...Really?” Trixie grabbed a newspaper clipping off the wall in her magic and showed it to her. It read 'Stage Magician and Bearers of Harmony assist in capture of notorious thief Rough Diamonds.' Stage magician was circled in red with 'That's me!' written above it. “Oh...That's impressive...” “Yes, it most certainly is!” Trixie replied, giving a proud smile and pose. “...Also, you hit Trixie's cart. Trixie hopes it's not damaged.” Vixen rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, sorry about that...” “There was no damage, Trixie is simply protective of her cart...she has reasons.” “Gotcha...Well, glad you saved my flank. Name's Vixen.” The showmare gave a blink of confusion. 'Vixen?...No, it can't be. Why would she...' Both creatures jumped as the wind howled outside again. “What were those Pegasi thinking with this storm? Trixie likes a white Hearth's Warming as much as anypony, but this seems a tad excessive! No wonder you ended up half frozen!” Vixen's eyes widened. “Oh no! I forgot!” “Forgot what?” Trixie asked, lifting her coco in her telekinesis. “Oh no this isn't good!” the deer trotted back and forth in a panic. “Uh...oh! You said you've got experience with heroics?!” Trixie put a bragging leg to her chest. “Yes, Trixie has a lot of experience with heroism. She is Trixie after all.” She took a sip of her coco. “Good! Because Hearth's Warming Eve is in trouble and I need your help!” And said sip of hot coco was promptly spat on the wall of her cart. Trixie then spent a few minutes catching her breath. “Come again?” “I'm Vixen, you know one of the reindeer that pulls Santa Hoove's sleigh? But that's besides the point!! Hearth's Warming Eve is in trouble and I need help to save it!” Trixie stared in blank shock for a few seconds. “...If you're one of his reindeer, what did Trixie want for Hearth's Warming when she was twelve and why did she not get it?” Vixen raised an eyebrow. “Uh...I said I pull his sleigh, Santa does the list stuff.” “Oh...” “Now come on! Hearth Warming's Eve is at stake! Will you help me or not?!” The mare chose to play along. “Well, Trixie has always wanted to save Hearth's Warming...Though she assumed it'd involve fighting vampires...But what wou-” “Good! Thank you! Come on! Time's a wasting!” “Wait, wha-” [=”Dancing On Air” Rescue At Midnight Castle=] Vixen promptly got Trixie on her back, opened a window and took off. Trixie looked down and noticed they were rapidly gaining altitude. Her reaction was the natural one somepony would have to this particular situation. “AHHHHH! We're flying! You're flying! We're in the air! You don't have wings!” “Uh, yeah, I'm Vixen, one of Santa's reindeer remember?” the reindeer asked, looking back and raising an eyebrow. “Trixie thought you were joking or something!” Trixie yelled, hugging Vixen's neck out of fear of falling off. “I thought you were a hero or something!” “Heroes can be afraid of falling to their doom! Trixie believes that is a perfectly reasonable thing for heroes to be afraid of!” “...Good point.” Trixie was tempted to demand to be taken back. After all, saving the world was Twilight's thing, not hers. Whenever she tried to be the hero it...rarely turned out well...but of course, she'd spoke herself up so much, she had flashbacks to the Ursa Incident just imagining it. Trixie was many things, but above all she had her pride. And said pride had an aversion to being bruised...and what if she actually did it? If she actually did save Hearth's Warming?...Trixie had to admit, the thought of it made a part of her giddy. That and her mind was still trying to comprehend the whole 'I've been foalnapped by one of Santa Hooves' reindeer because she needs help to save Hearth's Warming and I'm now several hundred hooves in the air on the back of a flying magical reindeer' thing. That was not something that happened to her everyday. That said, she did have one question clear in her mind. “...Will we actually be saving Hearth's Warming from vampires?” “...Not vampires...” Trixie inwardly gave a sigh of relief. 'Good, it will probably just be restoring somepony's faith in the holidays, nothing more. Maybe having to stop some sort of evil toy company. Trixie can handle that. She's Trixie, of course she can handle it! What could possibly go wrong?' “AHH! Things are going wrong! Very wrong!” Trixie screamed as Vixen struggled against a massive, blizzard-like wind fighting against her. It stung their eyes and made Trixie shiver despite her natural fur coat. “Yeah, should have guessed it wouldn't be that easy!” Vixen yelled. “Leidr must be making the storm worse to keep me from getting back!” “Leidr?!” Trixie asked, blinking as she put a hoof over her eyes to shield them from the wind. “He's the one trying to ruin Hearth's Warming and the reason I crashed into your cart!” the Reindeer replied. “He's kicked up such a blizzard the North Pole is buried! If we don't stop him there's no way Santa's sleigh won't be able to launch period! So he sent me to find somecreature who can help stop him!” Trixie gulped. “Trixie sees...” Trixie tried to imagine the least horrifying thing she could, which ended up being a rogue pegasi manipulating the weather. 'Trixie can still handle that. No problem. No reason to panic.' She knew she probably should have asked for more information, but she honestly didn't want to know what she'd gotten herself into. Not because she was scared or anything. Why would the Great and Powerful Trixie be scared of anything? The azure mare used a spell to quickly get her hat and cape on and pulled two scarves out of her hat. She put one on and put the other on Vixen. After all, if Vixen got too cold to fly, Trixie would get hurt too. “Here you go.” “Thanks,” Vixen looked forwards. “Once we get in walking distance we'll have to land and get going on hoof, I can't keep flying to long in this.” Trixie nodded. “And just where are we heading?” “The frozen north.” “Oh, is that all? That's not-WAIT, WHAT?!” The entity that had been searching for Vixen, Leidr, hovered at the edge of a forest, north of the area any who sought to reach his lair on hoof would have to traverse. Leidr moved through the air like a ghost, placing himself behind a clearing where a large white wolf was sleeping. The mysterious entity gave a haunting, fearsome howl, sending the creature running in panic towards the path. After the wind got too intense, Vixen had landed gracefully. “AHHHHHHH!” “Hold on tight! This will be a bumpy landing!” “OOF!” Trixie poked her head out the snow bank the two were in and glared at Vixen, who simply smiled nervously. The two then continued traveling onward by hoof. Trixie could hear the wind roaring in her ears and was grateful she'd learned that scarf prestidigitation spell for her acts. She'd admittedly learned it because at the time she'd thought the word 'prestidigitation' sounded cool. She'd been a foal at the time. Vixen blinked, looking back at Trixie as the two marched forwards through the snow and the wind. “Wow, most ponies who aren't used to this would be having a lot of trouble...” Trixie panted a little but put a hoof to her chest proudly. “Trixie has spent all her life traveling Equestria. She even pulled her own cart all over the land in any kind of weather!” Vixen looked impressed. “Must have been hard, especially in the winter.” “Tell me about it! Trixie likely gets more hoof work in a year than most unicorns get in a life time!” Trixie was admittedly proud of her physical ability. When you had show magic as your special talent, being underestimated was common. Having something that made you stand out was something Trixie always strove for. Perhaps that was why she hadn't already demanded to go home and tell Vixen to go find Twilight like her mind was screaming at her to. Which brought a thought to her mind. “Vixen...may Trixie ask you something? Why Trixie? Trixie gets the feeling you weren't looking for her specifically?” Vixen looked taken off guard by the question. “Oh...well, Santa sent me to go get help, you helped me, and seemed to have what it took, so you felt like the right choice to me.” “...So you took the first pony that showed you any indication they were heroic in the slightest, and whisked them off on a big adventure?” “Yeah, it worked for Firefly!” “Firefly...General Firefly?” “Yeah, her! Or her ancestor...” “...You knew her?! That was centuries ago!” Vixen gave chuckle. “Yeah, I'm a lot older than I look. Comes with the territory when you work for Santa Hooves!” “...Trixie is now officially jealous of you...” The azure mare then jumped as a howl ripped through the air. “What was that?!” Her companion's eyes went wide. “Amarok!” Trixie blinked. “What's an Ama-” Vixen tackled Trixie out of the way of a large stampeding white wolf that had just tried to pounce at her. “Oh, that's an Amarok,” Trixie said...then her mind caught up with her body. “...It's trying to kill us, isn't it?” “Probably, it is my species' natural predator...” the reindeer admitted, Trixie noting fear in her voice as she spoke about it. Meanwhile, Trixie was mentally asking herself 'what the Tartarus have I gotten myself into?!' “Can't Trixie just get on your back and we fly away?!” Trixie asked, the two having to evade. “No!” Vixen replied, leapfrogging the Amarok. “The storm's too strong!” Trixie was tempted to scream her head off in blind terror...but the showpony remembered that she was with somecreature that actually had respect and admiration towards her (or at least that's how Trixie perceived it). Trixie's pride fought her fear and managed to just barely win out. 'Okay, Trixie, it's not an Ursa. You can probably handle this. It's just a big dog after all,' Trixie thought. 'This should be simple.' Trixie charged up her horn and fired a basic beam spell at the creature. “Ha! Take that foul beast! You dare assault the Great and Powerful Trixie and her companion!” Trixie instantly realized she'd only succeeded in singeing it's fur and making it mad as it stared at her in rage. “Uh oh...” Trixie leapt out of the way of it's charge and bite. Vixen flew across the ground (low enough to avoid the wind) and kicked it in the face, but didn't do much more than make it angrier and force her to dodge a snap of its jaws. Trixie yelped as the creature leapt at her, causing her to fire a beam right into it's face and temporarily blind it, allowing her to dodge. The azure mare kept firing beams at it, but it barely annoyed it at all. Vixen kept doing run by kicks at it, with similar results. Trixie finally took a hit and was knocked a good distance, Vixen following suit. Both had just barely avoided the pointy bits and merely took the blunt force impact of it's foreleg or head. 'Alright, so it's isn't easy to damage and hits hard...come on Trixie, you're smarter than this! Do you have a bigger gun?!...AH!' “To your knowledge, do Amarok's like lightning?” Trixie asked the shaken Reindeer. “Huh? No! Why?!” “Behold the might of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie announced, focusing and forming a small lightning cloud overhead and bringing a lightning bolt down on the wolf creature's head with a loud clap of thunder. Vixen's eyes went wide. “You can use weather magic?! I thought only Pegasi could do that!” Trixie gave a proud smirk. “One of Trixie's personal favorites!” While the Amarok didn't seem to get more than a mild burn, it had another effect. It yelped loudly and rolled on the ground, trying to cover it's ears like it was in agony. Vixen gave a loud gasp. “I get it! It's a wolf so the thunder hurt its ears! That's brilliant!” Trixie blinked in confusion. “Yes...Trixie knew that!...And that means...” Trixie gave a smug grin. The azure mare brought down several lightning bolts around the beast, the loud cracks of thunder making it yelp wildly and force it's ears shut with its paws until it finally ran for the hills with it's tail between it's legs. “That's it! Flee from the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie announced, rearing up on her hind legs and letting her cape billow dramatically in the wind. Vixen watched in amazement. “You did it! That was amazing! I knew my gut was right about you!” Trixie just stared blankly for a moment. She waited for the creature to come charging back, teeth bared to ruin her moment in the spotlight. For something to go wrong and snatch the glory from her as things seemed to often go when she tried to be the hero without Twilight and her friends around. But nothing happened. The snow just continued to fall. “...Yes...Trixie did...” The showmare gave a proud smile. “Was there ever any doubt?” “This is great! With a hero like you, stopping Leidr will be a breeze!” Vixen shouted with glee. Trixie couldn't help but feel Vixen sounded like she'd just had a massive weight taken off of her shoulders. Or maybe that was just Trixie's freshly inflated ego talking. Hard to tell. Truthfully...Trixie couldn't believe it. She'd tried to be the hero on her own...and actually succeeded?! It was a completely alien feeling. She felt...overwhelmed. Like she'd just broken a law of physics or something. “Certainly! Let us continue on to victory!” Trixie announced, pointing in a random direction. “Uh...Leidr's lair is that way,” the reindeer replied, pointing in another direction. “...Okay, then, that way to victory!”
How Does Trixie Get Into These Messes...How Trixie (Somehow) Saved Hearth's Warming Chapter 2 By Godzillawolf Rarity set in her boutique sipping a cup of coco. The group had a number of individual ways of celebrating the holiday. She was personally enjoying it privately after putting the last of Sweetie's presents under the tree while the filly was asleep upstairs. They'd visited their family earlier that day and eaten dinner, and her parents would be in in the morning to open presents. Time with your loving family was the main reason for the season, but a little bit of R&R after a hectic holiday season was welcome as well...especially when holiday dresses had been in major demand the entire season. While that meant she'd had plenty of funds for presents, it also meant a part of her was relieved it was over. However, the mare blinked, seeing an odd purple shape out her window. Looking closer, Rarity blinked, finding Twilight's balloon had been set up and seemed ready to launch. Quickly putting on a fashionable sweater and properly matched scarf, Rarity headed out into the heavy snow, not noticing Opal following her. To her surprise, the fashionista found a certain pink party pony preparing to set out in the balloon with some odd green earth pony with a pink and white mane and a trio of peppermints as her Cutie Mark. “Pinkie Pie?” The party pony spun around. “Hi Rarity!” “Darling, what are you doing here? I thought you and Applejack were at your parents' house?” Rarity asked in confusion, remembering how excited Pinkie Pie had been that to be able to share her family with AJ. “Oh! I am!” Pinkie Pie replied with a smile. “...Then how are you here?” “Oh, in Hearts Warming specials you can travel large distances in an extremely short period of time, silly! How else can they get to the North Pole that quick?!” the party pony exclaimed. “I'll be back to the rock farm before anypony notices I'm gone! Just like how we'll all be at Canterlot to have a party with Twilight later tonight if the comics are any indication! And how Applejack was somehow able to find a store selling Hearth's Warming Eve supplies while at my house in the middle of nowhere! I hope that doesn't lead to an unfortunate misunderstanding.” Rarity just stared for a moment. “...Okay...” she replied flatly, chalking this up to simply being Pinkie Pie, though having to admit it made a strange amount of sense. She blinked, realizing that Pinkie Pie had indeed been right that there was supposed to be a Hearth's Warming Eve party later tonight. Why had that skipped her mind? She then turned her attention to the green mare. “Who's this?” “Hi! I'm Minty!” the green pony replied, giving a wave. “She's a friend of mine!” Pinkie exclaimed, smiling in her usual bright way. “You see when we were younger, Minty accidentally broke the magic candy cane that let Santa know were our town was and we had to go aaaaaallllllll the way to the North Pole! Ever sense then we go there every Hearth's Warming to give him his cookies and milk in person!” The fashionista cocked her head in confusion. “...How many years have you been doing this?” “Ten!” Minty exclaimed. None of the mares noticed Opal curiously climb into one of the bags of supplies. “...Okay...You travel to the North Pole and back every Hearth's Warming?” “Yep! See?” Pinkie Pie asked, producing a picture of her, Minty, and a number of ponies who seemed oddly familiar at Santa Hoove's workshop. Rarity's brain was simultaneously curious...and just telling her to quietly leave Pinkie Pie to her own weirdness. “...Okay...good luck with that darling. And do be careful...” she replied, then pulled off her scarf and gave it to Pinkie. “It's quite the snow storm.” “Thanks Rarity!” “You're welcome, darling.” The two hugged and Rarity retreated back inside. “Alright! To the North Pole!” Leidr's icy blue eyes fell upon a canyon that branched off into two separate paths. One continued on straight, another continued in another direction, having warning signs plastered all over it, each with a symbol of a demonic rat or mouse. “Perhaps it's best to let somecreature else handle any who dare try to stop me in my stead,” he stated, sending a shockwave of icy energy into the side of the canyon, causing it to collapse inward, burying the straight path and rendering it impassable. “Ugh...” Trixie muttered as they kept moving on towards the apparent location of their enemy. “Trixie knows it's probably not wise to complain about how long it is taking to reach a battle with an evil villain, but Trixie feels like the scenery hasn't changed for an hour!” Vixen gave a nod. “Yeah, when there's too many clouds to see the sky, the frozen north isn't the most exciting place in the world. Just snow, snow, and more snow. Trust me, it's a lot more exciting with a clear sky. Then you can see the auroras and the stars.” Trixie looked up at the storm still over their heads. “It'd certainly be more enjoyable than this. All Trixie sees is white, gray, slightly darker gray...and she believes a little light gray right over there...” the azure mare said with her normal theatrics. Her reindeer companion gave a chuckle. “You're pretty funny when you try to be.” Trixie put a hoof to her chest. “Trixie is a showmare! She can be as funny or dramatic as she feels is necessary!...Or in this case, very, very, very bored...” Vixen gave a look around their surroundings. “I know, I forgot how long this is when you're just walking...” The showpony was honestly surprised this trip was actually possible on hoof in a night. Then again she was traveling with a magical talking reindeer in an adventure out of a Hearth's Warming Special. Though something did occur to her as odd. “...How are we not getting lost?” Trixie asked, suddenly realizing there were no landmarks. Vixen tapped her antlers, which sparkled with magic. “Leidr's lair is close to the North Pole and you could say all reindeer know a 'find my way home' spell...” “...Trixie thought Rudolph was for that.” Vixen blushed and gave a sheepish look...Trixie's eyes also picked up one other emotion but she couldn't tell with all the wind. “Well...you see...um...Rudolph is to guide the sleigh during foggy weather, this spell is to guide us home in case...well, this one time we all ended up...lost a few hours before Hearth's Warming and got separated...” Trixie gave a chuckle. “Trixie sees. Well at least Trixie needn't worry about it happening this time around...but that does not make her any less bored...” “Yeah...and we've still got a ways to go. Maybe we should do something to pass the time?” Vixen suggested, the crunch of snow under their hooves and the wind being the only noise. Trixie sighed. “Trixie supposed but what? Hearth's Warming carols?” The azure showmare recoiled a bit when Vixen's response was to stop and give an excited gasp that strangely reminded her of Pinkie Pie. The reindeer spun around with an excited grin. “That's a great idea!” Trixie was taken aback and backpedaled a little bit. “Um, Trixie was bei-” “Hearth's Warming time is here again So much to love where to begin?” the reindeer started singing, trotting forwards. 'Note to self, mentioning Hearth's Warming carols around reindeer turns them into Pinkie Pie,' Trixie thought, continuing after her. 'Trixie doesn't know if she should find this amusing or scary...at least she isn't tone deaf...' “Huddling next to the warm fire Watching snow outside grow higher, To see hearts open up so wide As loved ones nestle safe inside...” Vixen continued, singing the carol as if it were second nature. Trixie tried to simply ignore it and keep moving forwards along. But she had to admit it was a catchy carol. And the idea of being warm in front of the fire as the snow fell was appealing. “Sharing gifts on Hearth's Warming morn With bright faces that aren't forlorn. All these things I do so adore They make me love Hearth's Warming more!” Vixen continued, never losing her cheerful tone. She looked expectantly at Trixie. Trixie tried to resist the temptation to join in, but being a pony, that was no easy task. Especially when she truthfully did enjoy the holiday when she wasn't struggling to save it. At any rate, there was little better to do at the moment, so why not? “Well if Trixie truly must say, There's things she loves about today. Putting on a Hearth's Warming show She takes pride in her work you know,” Trixie sang, falling into Vixen's rhythm. “Curled in a nice worm blanket Coco with marshmallows in it. Knowing that this year you've been nice And that your heart is not made of ice,” the Azure unicorn continued. While she wasn't about to tell Vixen she'd been on the Naughty List for several years for obvious reasons. There was a certain satisfaction in being a REDEEMED pony who had the potential to be on the Nice List for a change. She began to get caught up in the song. That was simply Equine nature after all. And it wasn't like she had much else to get caught up in other than the exciting endless expanse of white surrounding them. “Knowing somepony cares for you And their season's greeting's are true All these things she does so adore They make her love Hearth's Warming more!” Trixie finished...then her eyes widened as she realized what she'd let slip out in the moment. “Uh...” Vixen blinked a little as the song finished and then blushed. “...Well...uh...that was fun...” Trixie, trying to distract from her own slip, gave a raised eyebrow. “Where exactly did THAT come from? You don't strike Trixie as the Hearth's Warming Carol sort.” The reindeer looked defensive. “I'm from the North Pole! We all have a weakness for Hearth's Warming Carols! It's in our genes! What about you? You joined in!” Now it was Trixie's turn to look defensive. “Well...Trixie is a pony! We all have a weakness for musical numbers, it's in our genes.” Both paused a moment...then laughed a little. “Well...it helped pass the time at least, didn't it?” Vixen inquired. Trixie hesitantly nodded. “It at least relieved Trixie's boredom if nothing else...” “You're a good singer, by the way,” Vixen replied. Trixie put a hoof to her chest proudly. “Thank you, Trixie is talented in many things.” “Must be nice.” The azure mare blinked, noting a bit of genuine envy in the doe's voice. She knew envy when she heard it, she was Trixie after all. “What was that?” “Oh! Nothing! Just happy for you!” Vixen replied, trying to hide a small blush of humiliation. “Right...” “Now come on, we've got...uh oh...” Trixie stopped in her tracks, looking forwards. She saw the canyon ahead of them had a fork in the path. One of said forks was now covered in rock and ice. Trixie didn't have to be a professional ice climber to know the result would be impossible to climb up in this storm. “...Let Trixie guess, that was the safe and easy path?” Vixen nodded, suddenly looking frightened. “Yeah...” “Of course...And now if we wish to progress we have to go into the territory of something incredibly dangerous and life threatening?” Vixen looked to the signs. “We have to go through the territory of the Rat King...” “...Like the Nutcracker?” the azure mare questioned. “Yeah, I think he's that Rat King's descendant...or nephew, or an admirer, I'm not sure which, we've never talked to him to find out...Legend has it ponies that run into him never come back...” Trixie looked at the signs of demonic rats or mice plastered over the canyon entrance. “...Well, let's go, shall we? Sooner we get in, sooner we get through this.” Was what Trixie said externally. Internally however, she had to struggle not to run away screaming. “O-Okay...let's try to be quiet then...” Vixen replied, showing a drop in her general confidence. 'It's just a rat, how back could he be?' Trixie questioned in her head. The two slowly trotted their way through the territory of the Rat King, Trixie doing her level best not to look openly terrified as she kept her eyes out for anything that was going to try and kill her. So far nothing, but she did notice something. On a cliff nearby was a castle, though it seemed rather small for one. About the size of a normal house, unless that was simply the distance talking. However, despite it's small size, the castle had all the trimmings of an evil overlord's fortress, including big spires and tall towers. On one hand, Trixie's rational mind was telling her to fear it. However, her showmare mind appreciated the atmosphere. Whoever owned the castle clearly knew what it was he was looking for in a house. However, Trixie's eyes noted some of the trees above the path seemed slightly bent (well more than the rest of them), a little bit of snow falling from them like they'd been disturbed. However, the way they were swaying seemed off. Trixie knew either she was paranoid, or that detail was important. Sure enough, the moment the two of them trotted underneath the strange trees, a net was dropped towards them. “Look out!” Trixie exclaimed, grabbing Vixen in her telekinesis and pulling the reindeer to the side, the net hitting the ground and missing them. “Trixie believes we've been spotted!” “Run!” Vixen yelled, the two beginning to gallop down the canyon. More nets were tossed down at them from upcoming trees. “Trixie believes the time for quiet sneaking has passed,” Trixie stated, then used a fire work's explosion to blow the nets to shreds that rained down around them. Vixen did a quick dodge, flying low enough to the ground to avoid another net. Between the two of them, the duo managed to avoid getting captured and continue rushing forwards. “Trixie sees the exit!” Trixie exclaimed, seeing the opening at the end of the canyon...before skidding to a stop as a massive, monstrous shadow cast over the past. “It's him...” Vixen muttered, looking fearful. “The Rat King...” Trixie braced herself as the source of the shadow got closer and closer. 'Okay, Trixie can just use a firework to distract him and then rush the exit with Vixen, yes that will work...” A fierce, monstrous looking rat stood on the path leading to the castle, a golden crown atop his head and a red cape billowing behind him in the wind. He wore a blue, regal coat with red trim and a golden sash. He wore a brown belt with a sword hanging from it, the hilt red with a ruby in the center. He snarled and glared daggers at those who dared intrude on his territory... Trixie blinked as she looked down on the Rat King...who was no bigger than any other rat or mouse she'd ever seen. Oh, he looked monstrous indeed, but he was still just a tiny rat. The mare stood for a moment looking at the tiny rat. She looked back to Vixen, who seemed considerably more frightened than she was. “Is this the Rat King?” “Yes! Don't take your eyes off him! He's more dangerous than you think!” the reindeer warned. Trixie scoffed with a laugh. “He's only a little rat, the Great and Powerful Trixie believes his reputation must be exaggerated! She will take care of this quickly!” It made sense really, no one saw much of him, he kept ambushing ponies with nets and ponies assumed he was stronger than he actually was. That sounded logical, right? “Trixie look out!” The showmare snapped around, finding herself hit in the face with a bright flash of magic. Trixie this odd sense of falling, but she didn't feel her cape or mane flap, or her hat leave her head... Disorientated, the mare rubbed her eyes in response...and found her hooves feeling rougher and harder than she remembered. In fact, somehow so did her eyelids. She opened her eyes (and did her eyelids make a faint click as she did so?) to find the Rat King was now about even in height with herself. “A shrinking spell?” she questioned, she felt her back lift and lower somehow as she felt under her cape. She noticed the rodent’s sinister smirk. She looked down, her movements feeling rigid. She found legs were now covered in azure painted wood. "Zapped me into a wooden suit?" The Rat King chuckled. She knocked on the wooden shell, only to realize she FELT her hoof knocking against it, and it was the sound of solid wood knocking again solid wood. Trixie gasped and felt her face, her beautiful muzzle now shaped like the ugly grinning teeth of a nutcracker's. Her mouth opening and closing like a hinge. The feeling of her back rising and lowering had been her jaw's handle. Handle. She had a handle! Trixie tried to move her tongue to feel her mouth's inside, but got no response. She and reached in to feel only to find a limp piece of felt in its place. How was she even talking?! Her was now cape composed of felt. She felt her precious hat, only to realize she could feel her wooden hooves touching her wooden hat like it was part of her head! "You were a big headed pony before, now it's just obvious," The Rat King said. She frantically looked herself over, spotting ball joints, and her cutie mark now just painted on. Her lovely tail and what little of her mane that hadn't been under her hat now polyester threads. Trixie heard the sound of shaking wood and realized it was her. Trixie's reaction to this development was what one would expect. “AHHHHHHHHHH!” At that moment, Trixie learned a very important lesson: never take your eyes off of tiny terrifying rats: they may transform you into nutcrackers. Several things went through Trixie's head at this point as she sat in a prison cell in the depths of the Rat King's fortress. The first of which was how humiliating it was she had been captured by a rat no bigger than her hoof. Second was the fact she was trapped several hundred, if not thousand, miles from her home and had no knowledge of how she could get back. Third was the fact she'd most likely doomed Hearth's Warming. Fourth the Rat King had the worst taste in prison cell designers she had ever met in her entire life. And fifth, and most prominent, was 'SWEET CELESTIA I'VE BEEN TURNED INTO A WOODEN PUPPET!' Trixie was fairly certain she wasn't hyperventilating purely due to the fact she was currently made of wood. She couldn't even do magic! It was like her horn was just there for decoration! Sitting nearby was Vixen, the reindeer turned into a similarly sized wooden reindeer doll and looking down at her hooves, having not made a sound since they ended up here. The azure nutcracker calmed herself as best she conceivably could and noticed that their only surroundings were a bunch of what looked like living, wooden fairy dolls and a few other nutcrackers like herself. A number were dressed up as harlequins, some in chains being forced to clean the place. Still others being forced into the role of servants. To her surprise, a few seemed to be simply stationed around as window dressing, 'citizens' living here against their will. Other than these captive toys, the only other life in sight were rats only a slightly bit less monstrous than their king and armed with swords. On one hoof, this set up intrigued Trixie. On the other she was too busy internally screaming to think too heavily on the matter. “Trixie can't believe she got herself into this...” she muttered, giving a whimper. The nutcracker had a strong urge to chew out her 'partner' for dragging her into this mess...then she heard sniffling. Turning, Trixie noticed the source of the sound. “Vixen?” she asked, trotting over with a loud clacking thanks to her wooden body. “Vixen, are you crying?..Or would be crying if we still had tear ducts?” Trixie expected the doe to begin chewing her out and yelling. It was the typical response ponies had when something went wrong that could in anyway be considered her fault. Like back in Manehatten when her past had gotten the police against her easily. Instead...while it was difficult to tell given they were currently toys, Trixie saw the doe struggling to maintain any sense of composure. “N-No! Of course not...I...” Vixen turned so Trixie couldn't see her face. “Santa...just trusted me to find somepony is all...” she said, her voice betraying her words. “Me, Vixen...not Comet, not Dasher, not Rudolph....me...” Trixie felt a twinge of something in her heart...it felt strange but it also felt...familiar. “Now...now Hearth's Warming is over...I...I'm sorry, Trixie...I'm the reason you're even here...I just wanted to be the hero for once...” The azure mare gave a gasp (or at least she thought she did, hard to tell when you were uncertain whether or not you were actually breathing). “...So...you wanted to finally stand out?” Vixen nodded slowly. “Yeah...Dasher's fastest with Blitzen a close second, Cupid's the prettiest, Comet's the handsomest, Prancer got Mrs. Hooves to give him a special harness with his charms, Dancer's the best at parties. Donner's voice is impossible to miss, did you know his name comes from a word for thunder? He'll remind you!...I'm just...Vixen...Rudolph got made fun of but at least he got noticed...” The reindeer lowered her head. “So when Santa sent me to find help...I thought I could make him proud of me...it was my chance to shine. Maybe I'd finally get a chance to have a song written about me...Now Hearth's Warming is done for because of me...I was so selfish...” Trixie stood there for a moment, looking deep in thought (at least as much as it was possible for a nutcracker to appear to be). “...Trixie...understands...Trixie thought you'd be angry at her. For getting us caught..” Vixen turned and looked at her. “Trixie...you beat an Amarok and nearly got us through this...you were doing really well until I was an idiot and let you go into the Rat King's kingdom barely knowing a thing...I'm sorry...” Trixie's face was even more unreadable than her current limited expressive ability would normally be. “...Trixie sees...” Her eyes went back to the guard standing outside their cell with a click. The rat had the keys...and a sword. She recalled how the majority of slaves in this place were in some fashion made of wood. Including Trixie. Made of nice, sturdy, hard wood. “Vixen?” she asked in a whisper. “...Yeah?” “Trixie is about to do something, please play along to the best of your abilities.” “What?” Trixie cleared her throat, though was uncertain whether or not that would matter given she was uncertain if she actually still had a throat or not. She considered all the things a great actress would before putting on a performance...then let out a scream and threw herself on the ground, scratching at her body. “AH! Help! Trixie is infested with termites! Somepony please help her!” she yelled, doing her best to pretend she was being eaten alive. Given she had memories of night terrors involving a large star covered bear, she was fairly certain it was convincing. The guard blinked, turning around. “What's the ruckus?” Vixen stared for a moment... “Oh...” she rushed over to the guard rat. “My friend is being eaten by termites!” “I fail to see how that concerns me,” the rat replied, giving a disinterested chuckle. “It does if you want any of the slaves! We're all made of wood!” Vixen argued back, tapping on the wood she was made from. “HELP TRIXIE! THEY'RE EATING HER INCREDIBLY GORGIOUS AND WELL-PAINTED FACE!” The former statement did much more to get the guard's attention than the latter did. “Dang, the King will have my head if the prisoners get infested...” He quickly opened the door, drawing his sword and pointing it at Vixen just in case. “Come on we'll get you fumigated or something...Or maybe just burn you in the furnace...” Trixie writhed until the rat came within a few hoofsteps...and timed her movements just right so she kicked the sword right from his hand! “You made two critical errors...” She sprung up and latched her hooves on his shoulders while he was still surprised. “The first was underestimating the Great and Powerful Trixie!” The nutcracker reared back as far as the ball joints in her back and neck would allow and swung her head forwards directly into the face of the guard with enough force to make Vixen cringe and cover her eyes. The rat wobbled back and forth, little Trixies circling his head for a moment before he fell backwards to the floor, out cold. “The second was turning a unicorn into wood!” the mare replied. Little known fact, unicorns' skulls were reinforced harder than most ponies so charging attacks with their horn would be less harmful to them. It was also to her benefit that her wooden body seemed to feel less pain. “Wood is hard you know.” Externally, Trixie did a good job of looking like a confident heroine and everything had gone according to plan. 'TRIXIE CAN'T BELIEVE THAT ACTUALLY WORKED!' she screamed in her head. Vixen blinked, or would have. Unlike Trixie she didn't have the benefit of functioning eyelids. “Trixie...” Trixie stole the keys from the guard and took them in her mouth. She also took his belt and sword sheath. Then the bed sheets and tied him up...and to the bed. She went over to the discarded sword, unhinged her wooden jaw, and took the hilt in it...Then had to manually close it with the lever on her back. “Now come on, we have a holiday to save! In fact, how about we start with an opening act Trixie likes to call a prison break!” Trixie ignored the fact the magic converting her into this form apparently allowed her to talk with a sword in her mouth and her jaw firmly locked on the sword. Then again she lacked a functioning tongue right now so who knew how the buck it worked? She'd have to ask Twilight about this when Hearth's Warming wasn't in jeopardy. Vixen took a few moments to react. “You sure?” Trixie sheathed the sword, and gave as close to a smile as her wooden jaw would allow. “Of course, we're both heroes are we not?” The reindeer stared for a moment...then gave a small smile (or as close as her wooden face could). “...Yeah...yeah we are...thanks Trixie...” The Azure nutcracker took a proud pose. “You are quite welcome. Now Trixie's fighting style consists of misdirection and fighting incredibly dirty, so please take any opening she creates, understood?” Vixen nodded cautiously. “I gotcha...sorry for...you know...” “Trixie...sympathizes. Now onward!” The duo rushed out, another guard coming at them. Trixie drew her sword and blocked his sword, moving slightly out of the way and allowing Vixen to deliver a running headbutt between the rat's hind legs. He went cross-eyed, falling to his knees and covering himself. Trixie promptly bonked him on the head with the pummel of her sword and knocked him out. Vixen took the dropped sword as Trixie began freeing the prisoners. “Run or help! Trixie feels it's entirely your choice in the matter!” Trixie told the ponies she freed, having to block the sword of a rat. The nutcracker was thankful she had the basics of sword fighting down, though she was all too aware she wasn't going to win a straight sword fight with a trained swordsman. So she instead used one of her hooves to snatch some dirt from a flower pot and toss it right into the rat's eyes, blinding him long enough to throw his sword back and then smash the flower pot itself into his head and knock him out. Several of the prisoners did indeed decide to come to help fight the guards, one taking up the defeated guard's sword. Vixen noticed a guard running to ring an alarm bell...and bucked a flower pot on the opposing table, managing to nail him in the back of the head and knock him out. “This storm is pretty bad, Pinkie Pie...” said Minty, the two flying the balloon, Pinkie Pie using a hairdryer to keep the balloon from freezing. “I know! I wonder if Weatherbe got a cold again...” the pink pony mused. The balloon then floated by the Rat King's castle, which was in actuality the size of a very large doll house with a very deep canyon next to it. As they based by, Pinkie Pie saw Trixie and Vixen fighting off several more guards on one of the outer walls. “Hi, tiny wooden Trixie!” she called, waving...then noticed the balloon was moving too quickly passed it. “Bye, tiny wooden Trixie!” Trixie blinked, looking around. She hit the deck, letting a charging guard trip over her and right into a buck from Vixen. “Did you hear something?” The reindeer cocked her head. “No, why?” The nutcracker shrugged, then ducked under a sword slash, grabbed a flower pot from a nearby window, and smashed said pot over the guard's head. “Trixie must be hearing things...” “Why do they have so many flower pots?” Vixen questioned. “Trixie doesn't know, but they make good weapons!” “Good point...So what's the plan?” Vixen questioned, one of the fairy dolls blocking a rat's sword and allowing her to buck him into the wall. She was annoyed by how difficult it was to get her stiff wooden legs to do that. “Simple: if Trixie knows fairy tales like she thinks she does, defeating the Rat King should likely break the curse on all of us,” the azure nutcracker replied, blocking an enemy's strike and rolling with it, using her hind legs to throw said rat into a wall. She then had to quickly pick up her sword as that move had hit the lever in her back and opened her mouth. Trixie would never admit it, but that was genuinely as much of a plan as she had at this point and everything else was simply her working as she went. “We will distract the guards!” one of the fairy dolls requested. Trixie sword he had some kind of odd accent. Come to think about it, many of the dolls either spoke in some weird dialog she didn't understand or with an accent. The duo rushed off to find the Rat King somewhere in this fortress...and quickly came to a conclusion. “Now we're going to have to find him Trixie supposes,” the azure nutcracker lamented. The two then began the boring task of searching for the King's chambers. The duo opened a door, finding themselves staring at an ENTIRE room full of cheese. Both put a hoof over their noses due to several particularly smelly varieties. “...Trixie is not surprised...” Trixie blinked, finding her and Vixen in a room lined with flower pots. “...These guys really do seem to have an unhealthy obsession with flower pots...” “...Well at least they're following an exercise regiment...” Trixie snarked as the two heroes looked into a room filled with hamster wheels. Trixie opened another door filled with tables, some of which were clearly chewed on. “'All You Can Chew Table Buffet...'” Vixen read above the door. “Uh....” “...This isn't what this looks like...” A rat sat at a table with a plastic female rat doll in a pink dress and stiff, jointless limbs. Everything else in the room appeared made of plastic like a normal doll house. It looked like they were having a date. “...We were never here...” Vixen said. “...Agreed...” the rat awkwardly replied. Trixie slowly closed the door. “RAAAAR!” “AH!” Trixie and Vixen both slammed the door on a black and white room with a black and white werewolf-like rat trying to pounce on them, causing a whimper as it slammed into the door and slid down. “...Trixie isn't going to ask how that's even possible...” “Maybe he's from Nightmare Night Town?” Vixen questioned. “...Well...” The two looked at a room with a shrine to a monstrous, but queenly looking female rat wearing the same crown the Rat King did. “Trixie know even bad ponies love their mothers but this is a little much...” “Why is it so much easier to find the evil overlord's chamber in movies?!” Trixie questioned as they threw open a window to a ball room with a balcony and a chandelier. “Well at least they have good taste...” Vixen replied, looking over the place. “Though Santa's workshop is a lot nicer.” Trixie's eyes searched the room and noticed a chain linked to the chandelier, presumably to raise or lower it for cleaning and redoing the candles. Her eyes traveled to the balcony and she trotted over to it, looking at the chandelier. “...Vixen, Trixie believes she has a plan...” The Rat King was currently sitting in his throne room, feasting on a large hunk of cheese with several slaves toiling, some of which were forced to polish his crown. Some were simply chained and forced to stand around and bow on his command. Trixie nudged the door slightly ajar and peaked in. “About time...” she whispered, watching closely. “Polish faster!” the rodent tyrant snapped at the fairy doll polishing his crown. “Or would you rather I use you to sharpen my teeth?” The doll gave a small whimper and sped up her polishing. The Rat King gave a smirk and swallowed the hunk of cheese. “It's good to be king...” He got off his throne and cleared his throat. A few dolls with musical instruments glued to their hooves hastily stepped forwards and the slaves looked ready to sing. Trixie sighed. “He's going to sing...of course he's going to sing, Trixie is saving Hearth's Warming, of course the villain would get a song!” she muttered. “Trixie assumes it will either be about how much he hates Hearth's Warming or a song about who he is. Either way, it will likely be over the top...at least that's what Trixie would do if she were a villain in a Hearth's Warming Special.” “King of the Rats, that's what he is,” sang one of the dolls when the king motioned for the slaves to start. “Stealing all of us away and acting like we're his...” another sung, looking down at the chains binding her to the floor with less movement than a chained dog. “Selfish to a fault...” the fairy doll polishing his crown sang. “Tyrant to us all...” sang one as she picked up his plate. “If you cross him he will turn you into a doll! The first doll sang, the entire group shuddering. “But-” the Rat King interrupted with a sinister smirk, getting them to quake at his gaze. “I'm really something special...” “Something we just can't deny!” the dolls sang miserably. “Everypony raise a cheer...” The group looked privately to each other as best their chained status would allow. “Mainly because he's right here...” they whispered to one another fearfully. “Everypony raise a cheer for the King of the Rats!” Trixie sighed, still behind the door. “Just as Trixie thought, he's singing about who he is...” “King of the Rats, that's what I am!” The Rat King sung proudly, forcing his subjects to pick him up and prance him around as best as their chains would allow. “Lording over them because I know I can!” he continued, jumping and driving his poor carriers into the throne room floor and jumping off. “Selfish to a fault...” one of the dazed fairy dolls sang as they tried to move . “Ruler to them all! If you cross me I will turn you into a doll!” the tyrannical rodent sang with glee, magic crackling across his front paws as his slaves trembled. “But he's really something special, Something we just can't deny...” the enslaved dolls sang, out of fear of his wrath. “Everypony raise a cheer!” the crown polisher sang. “Mainly because he's right here,” they whimpered privately. “Everypony raise a cheer to the King of the Rats!” the King sang with the slaves, before pushing them down. “Now back to serving me, peasants!” “...Trixie would be lying to say she never imaged having that kind of power...But Trixie is not THAT Trixie anymore...” the mare said to herself, still watching through the door. “Now Trixie would only expect occasional worship, and singing praises about her...and the song would be much cooler. Besides...” Trixie looked to the slaves. She felt something tug in her heart...or rather where her heart normally would be if she wasn't turned to wood. These ponies hadn't had a Hearth's Warming with their families in HOW long? “Alright, it's time for Trixie to make her grand entrance...” Said grand entrance consisted of bucking open the door and pelting the Rat King in the face with quickly gathered snowballs to knock him back over his throne before he could react. She rushed to one of the chained up dolls, unlocked their chains with the stolen keys. “Run! Get to safety! The Great and Powerful Trixie shall deal with this brute!” They listened quickly despite their surprise. The Rat King stood up and snarled. “You! I thought I'd already dealt with you!” Trixie gave a laugh and taking on the most heroic pose she could manage. “The Great and Powerful Trixie never stays down for long!...But Trixie must ask you, Rat King. Would the fact that myself and my companion are trying to save Hearth's Warming mean a thing to you?” The rodent of slightly unusual size laughed. “You kidding? That makes capturing you two a BONUS! That stupid stallion breaks into MY castle and gives ME coal while giving all my slaves stupid things I'm not even interested in! Not even worth taking to be MINE!” Trixie sighed. “Trixie should have guessed that someone who admits to being selfish wouldn't go for the 'we're trying to save the holiday' line...” Internally the nutcracker cursed her luck, as she really HAD hoped it'd be that simple. [=The Nutcracker: Battle with the Mouse King=] Trixie drew her sword and so did the Rat King. The tyrant charged her and she blocked a slash...then he snapped forwards and bashed her in the face with the hilt and then came within a few seconds of decapitating her before she dodged. The nutcracker tried a slash of her own, but was effortlessly parried and barely managed to evade the King's counter slash. The Rat's next slash knocked Trixie on her flank from the force and she had to roll out of the way. Several exchanges later, Trixie was driven back against a pillar and just barely avoided being cut in half, the Rat King's sword slicing deep into the pillar. “How sharp is that sword?!” “Sharp enough to cut you into mulch, big head!” he replied, trusting at her and barely being dodged. “Alright, Trixie is fighting someone far more experienced and dangerous at sword fighting than her...” Trixie gave an eep as she had to jump to the floor to dodge a blast of magic from the Rat King that blew a hole in the wall. “And is a powerful mage...Is it Tuesday already?” While still screaming very loudly in her own mind, the azure nutcracker began falling back to the door, but still making enough moves to make it look like she knew what she was doing so he didn't realize she was an utter novice. She was still decidedly on the defensive, and fairly certain if she stopped moving backwards for too long she'd be swiftly overpowered. 'Alright, step one going well, time for step two...' the nutcracker thought. Trixie ducked a slash and the Rat King bisected a flower pot sitting on a table. Trixie also had to remember to take special care not to put her 'hat' in harm's way, as it was presently part of her body. “Why do you have so many flower pots?!” the nutcracker questioned between slashes and trying not to die. The Rat King parried her slashes. “Because we live in the Frozen North! Do you have any idea how few flowers we see this far north?!” Trixie jumped back, continuing to do a fighting retreat. “That's a perfectly valid reason!” “Then why are you still yelling?!” “Because we're having a sword fight! It wouldn't be nearly as dramatic if we weren't be yelling!” “That's a good point!” “Given your villain song, Trixie expected you'd have a flair for a dramatic!“ “I'm a King! It comes with the territory!” “Perhaps you should learn the Royal Canterlot Voice! It's good for that!” “I'll look it up!” The two never stopped having their sword fight, Trixie still being careful not to get her head chopped off. That didn't help her when he kicked her in the chest and sent her tumbling down a staircase. “Ow...Okay, polite yelling conversation kept him from noticing Trixie's plan, but isn't throwing him off his game...” she muttered. She then screamed, jumping back as the Rat King blew up the portion of castle she was standing on with a magical blast. “Time to play hard ball, Trixie style...” The nutcracker rolled out of the way of a downward trust from the Rat King's sword. “You know, it's kind of funny, Trixie's beginning to wonder how she lost to you! You're not as tough as you look!” The Rat King snarled and swung at her. “Watch your tongue, you little welp!” Trixie blocked while jumping back to dodge the follow up swipe of his sword. “But Trixie's tongue is one of the best parts of her! Who doesn't love the sound of her lovely voice?” The nutcracker blocked a slash and barely jumped back in time to avoid a spinning back slash from the villain. He simply tail whipped her and launched her flying back. “...Trixie is lucky she's currently made of wood...” “You know, at the moment I'm divided between mulching you and just using you for kindling!” the tyrannical mouse screamed, anger on his face. Trixie noted his slashes were still just as deadly, but his focus becoming much more narrow on her. “You know, Trixie believe traditionally it's the Rat King who gets thrown in the furnace...” Trixie remarked, then had to dodge several VERY angry slashes. “Oh, did Trixie hit a nerve?” The Rat King's eyes looked like that of a wild beast as he wildly swiped at her, forcing Trixie to go purely on the defensive just to avoid getting slashed to pieces. “SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Trixie felt immensely proud she managed to retain a heroic smile on her face. “Or was it getting a horseshoe thrown at his head? I can't remember.” 'I'M GOING TO DIE!' was what Trixie's brain was currently screaming at the top of it's lungs. “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” the Rat King screamed, jumping up and drop kicking her through the door to the ballroom so hard even wit her numbed sense of touch knocked the wind out of her...or at least felt like it, she still was not certain she was actually breathing or not. “Ow...” the nutcracker wondered, rubbing her wooden chest with the sound of wood grinding against itself. She then gasped, realizing when she'd hit the ground her back lever had been hit and let the sword fly out of her jaw, embedding itself in a wall. “Uh oh...” Trixie gasped as the Rat King stalked towards her like a rabid beast and her sword was out of her grasp. Trixie barely leapt backwards out of the way of a slash. She backed away slowly, the king giving a sadistic smirk. 'Think Trixie...do something!' Trixie thought. 'Do something unexpected and unpredictable! What would somepony NEVER see coming in the middle of a dramatic sword fight?!...Well, that's worth a shot...” The Rat King lifted his sword to strike...then blinked at the sight before him. [=We're a Circle of Pony Friends=] Trixie was currently dancing while humming a Hearth's Warming Eve carol. “What are you doing?” the Rat King asked in a completely bewildered tone. “Dance off, seemed a bit more fun,” the nutcracker said, continuing to hum before doing a moonwalk back a few feet. “Come on! You were so theatrical before!” The tyrannical rodent growled and stalked forwards. “No, seriously! What are you doing?!” Trixie did the closest thing to a smirk her wooden face was capable of. “Trixie's doing what she does best! Diverting attention! VIXEN NOW!” The Rat King blinked, turning just in time for Vixen to come charging off an upper ledge, grabbing onto the chandelier and swinging down with it, having lowered it ever so much. She swung both her hind legs up and slammed her back hooves full speed into his chest, sending him flying backwards and and landing on the balcony, sword flying from his hand. The despot struggled to his feet. “Who do you two think you are?! I'm the Rat King!” Trixie rushed up and put her hooves on his shoulders. “Told you already, I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie!” The nutcracker reared back and swung forwards, smashing her hard wooden head into his as hard as she could. The tyrant staggered back dazed from the impact...and slipped, falling backwards over the balcony, and straight off the cliff next to the castle, screaming on the way down. Trixie blinked. “...Well that worked better than Trixie-” “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The two looked over the edge. “Wow...deep cliff...Went better than Trixie expected...” Vixen nodded. “Yeah...seriously, dancing?” Trixie chuckled. “Saw it in a movie...When it works it works.” “Can't argue with that...” The two then noticed both of them sparkling with magic. “Oh good! We're turning back to normal!” The two then noticed where they were. “Oh horseapples! We're turning back to normal!” The two rushed to the other side of the room and jumped out the opposing window and into the snow in the courtyard just in time as the spell broke and they both returned to their normal selves. Trixie felt herself over. “No wood. No lever. Trixie's hat is a hat! OW! Trixie bit her tongue! Oh way, yay! Trixie has a tongue again!” the mare exclaimed giving a laugh of glee. Vixen smirked. “Way to go Trixie...” Trixie did a bow. “Was there any doubt?” was her external response. 'TRIXIE ACTUALLY DID IT! TRIXIE DEFEATED AN EVIL VILLAIN BY HERSELF!' “Wonder what happened to him...” Vixen said, looking over the edge. Pinkie Pie was currently looking at the map, Minty refueling the balloon. “Hmm...we just passed that one spooky castle...We shouldn't be too long now...” Minty nodded. “Nope, we should be able to get there right on time!” “Of course, Minty! We're in a Hearth's Warming Eve Special!” The pink party pony then blinked when she heard a meow. Opal trudged over and looked up at her with a meow, the Rat King's crown now on her head. “Opal, what are you doing here?” Pinkie questioned, picking up the cat, then looking at the crown. “Aww! And where'd you get that cute little crown?” The feline gave a menacingly content smirk, then spat out a little piece of red fabric. “Oh well, come on silly! We're going to meet Santa, then we'll get you back to Rarity in time for hot coco!” Pinkie said, placing the cat in the basket and jumping in. That was when she noticed a mixture of screaming and cheering. Nearby, the Rats that were still conscious screamed at the sight of the two 'giants' and ran away yelling at the top of their lungs. The army of captive dolls cheered as they all began to sparkle with magic. Several of them seemed to realize what that fact mean and joined the two in the snow as they grew back to normal ponies (and two Yaks) and hugged each other tight. The fairy dolls however, transformed into tiny ponies with feelers on their heads and butterfly-like wings on their backs. “They're Breezies!” Vixen exclaimed. “What are you little guys doing this far north?” “We got separated from our group several years ago and were blown here by the north wind!” a little orange Breezie explained. “The Rat King has held us captive ever sense! My name is Honeydew and on behalf of my fellow Breezie thank you so much for saving us!” “Yeah, thanks!” said one of the ponies, who seemed to be a hiker. “We've all been there for so long...we never thought we'd escape! Thank you!” Trixie gasped as a Yak picked her up and hugged her so hard she was afraid he'd break something. “Little pony save Yaks! Yaks very grateful!” “Three cheers for Trixie!” called a female pegasus wearing a sweater. Trixie blinked as she was picked up by the full grown ponies and Yaks picked her up and tossed her into the air. “Yip yip hooray! Yip yip hooray! Yip yip hooray!” The azure unicorn blinked in complete confusion, expecting something to ruin the moment for her. For the Rat King to climb back up and turn them all back into dolls...but nothing happened. She was being tossed up and down by her cheering fans and then given a standing ovation when she set down. Trixie was stunned...she'd...she'd actually become a hero for real? Just once? Trixie bowed like the showmare she was. “Thank you, thank you, you're too kind. The Great and Powerful Trixie was only doing what anypony would given the circumstances...” she said, soaking in the cheers like a battery. “We can send back help, but will you guys be okay here?” Vixen asked, stepping forwards and patting Trixie on the back. “Don't worry,” the hiker said, pulling a tent from his backpack. “My backpack became part of me while I was a nutcracker, I've got my tent and supplies still. We can last a bit.” “And the Rats had a lot of cheese!” one of the Breezie. “We'll be set for awhile!” Several other members nodded and produced their own supplies which hadn't aged a day since they were turned into toys. “That's good...” Trixie then frowned. “Oh...right...we have to continue...” She looked between the celebrating ponies and Vixen...then remembered the reindeer crying in the cell before. “...We're on our way to save Hearth's Warming...Vixen, could we...come back later?” Vixen blinked...then nodded. “Sure. Santa can bring us back to pick them up too.” The azure unicorn smirked. “Alright then.” Trixie jumped up on a rock. “Trixie is sorry, but she much cut the celebrations short! The Great and Powerful Trixie and her companion need to be on our way to save Hearth's Warming from another vile villain!...But we'll be sure to stop on the way back with help!” And thus with the cheers of those they rescued, the two departed, heading further north. “Onward to stop Leidr and save Hearth's Warming! Nothing can stop us now!” Trixie announced victoriously, pointing in that direction. In the distance, lightning flashed behind a massive, long ethereal entity with glowing blue eyes, illuminating it as it howled like the north wind. To Be Continued... Author's Note Just as a reminder, this is a comedy story that's INTENTIONALLY cheesy. Hope you like it! A little late because my entire household caught a cold at the same time...well, a LOT late due to other reasons.
Trixie Is Scared About This...Author's Note Thanks to Alexwarlorn for ideas and help on this! Finally done! Remember: this is based off an old Christmas special. The cheesy stuff is completely intentional. Trixie Is Scared About This... How Trixie (Somehow) Saved Hearth's Warming Chapter 2 By Godzillawolf “Trixie is very surprised that Yakyakistan was so easy to get through,” Trixie remarked, the two now moving past it, the mare riding a bit high on her defeat of the Rat King. They'd gone through the kingdom of the Yaks in a surprisingly uneventful visit (so uneventful in fact it will not be addressed by the story). “Tell me about it, Santa always had to be careful giving them gifts because they tend to smash anything they don't like. Good thing they made peace with Equestria,” Venus remarked. “Though they were happy to learn that those two yaks are safe now.” The azure showmare gave a proud, content look. “Trixie is sure, Trixie appreciated the praise.” Vixen chuckled. “You deserved it...and Trixie?” “Yes?” The reindeer's confident exterior lowered for a moment. “Thanks for getting us out of that.” The unicorn blinked, then gave a smug, but friendly smirk. “You are quite welcome! Was there ever any doubt Trixie would pull through?” Vixen gave a smile. “No...there wasn't...” she said, looking up to her. She then gasped and pointed a hoof. “There it is!” Trixie followed her companion's hoof to find a mountain towering above the landscape. At it's top was a massive palace, four towers extending high into the sky, which was fittingly stormy and ominous for a holiday ruining villain lair. Trixie noted that the clouds above the palace were swirling like a vortex or eye of a storm, snow and ice radiating out from it. She didn't know why, but she felt a cold chill (well a colder chill given the situation) looking at it. “...That's Leidr's lair?” Vixen nodded. “Yeah...it's bigger than I thought.” “And we're certain that's not the lair of some other evil ice themed villain?...Or Jack Frost?” Vixen shook her head. “No, Santa said he lived around here in a castle made of ice with the eye of the storm above it...And Jack Frost lives with Father Winter.” Trixie looked back to Vixen. A part of her was screaming for her to call it quits and run for it...but the fact Vixen's face was one of admiration and respect shut that part of her up. She steeled herself and gave a sigh. “Okay, let's get this over with! We don't have all night!” The azure mare still hung onto the hope that Leidr was simply a rogue pegasus. Besides, after defeating the Rat King, how could this get any worse? +++ “It's really windy, Pinkie Pie!” exclaimed Minty, the two of them trying to keep the balloon in the air. Both of them were now wearing warm cozy socks, Opal having one on like it was a scarf. “I know, Minty! We must have flown into another pony's Hearth's Warming saving adventure!” Pinkie exclaimed. Minty managed to pull the rope to right the balloon. “There...” she said, giving a sigh of relief...then carefully moving the rope slightly to be aligned where it was supposed to be. “Perfect!” However, as she turned, she slipped on some snow that made it into the basket, grabbing the rope as she fell, sending the balloon out of control. “Oops!” Pinkie and Minty tried to right the balloon with a yell, Opal giving a yowl. “Minty Minty Minty...” Pinkie Pie muttered, not so much angry but as if this was a regular occurrence she accepted about her friend...surprising given they were currently in an out of control balloon. “Sorry...” “It's okay, Minty! We'll still make it to Santa!” +++ “This...is a very tall mountain!” Trixie exclaimed, the two climbing up the very large mountain the ice palace was perched on top of. Vixen nodded. “Yeah...and still too windy to fly. This reminds me of how Rudolph said he had to climb up to save Baby New Year from an evil vulture! I guess holiday villains just like really tall mountains with bad storms around them!” “Annoying how being a flying Reindeer doesn't come more in handy...” Trixie muttered...then perked up. “Wait, you can't fly straight up...” The unicorn pulled off her hat and performed a spell, pulling out a long tightly woven rope of scarves and throwing one down to Vixen. “Can you tie this to you and fly up as far as you can SAFELY go?” Vixen gave a blink. “Uh, sure, why?” “Then Trixie can use the rope to climb up faster,” the azure mare explained. “We can cover more ground that way!” “Alright, let's give it a shot!” The reindeer launched herself up and while the wind was too strong to stay up long, she was able to land a good ways up the mount and secured herself. “Okay Trixie! Come on up!” The azure mare nodded, wrapping her hooves around the scarf rope and pulled herself up. Much easier and faster than having to find a billion little hoof holds in the (rather icy) rock before moving up a foot. Trixie's confidence quickly took a nose dive when she looked down and realized how high up she was. She barely managed to contain her internal screaming as she continued to scale up the cliff. 'Don't-look-down-don't-look-down-don't-look-down! Sweet-Celestia-don't-look-down!' +++ “Alright...” Trixie panted as Vixen helped her climb over the ledge of the cliff at the very top of the mountain. “We're up here...” Vixen gave a nod. “Yeah, now all we need to do is stop Leidr and save Hearth's Warming!” The azure mare couldn't help but smirk at how happy that thought seemed to make Vixen. “Indeed. Now given we're dealing with an evil villain in a giant, imposing castle in the sky, he will probably have evil minions, so prepare for a fight.” She'd seen enough fiction to be savvy to that. Vixen looked around. “Don't see any minions...” Trixie blinked, looking around. “Hmm...you're right...” No guards protecting the gates, none lining the walls. In fact the rather massive castle seemed to be very desolate. The Rat King's palace had been big for him, but it'd at least been filled with slaves and rats. This just seemed...desolate and empty... Trixie trotted over to one of the walls and put a hoof on it. “Ice?” Vixen joined her and touched the wall. “The whole palace is made out of ice?” “Trixie has a bad feeling about this...” The two jumped as a pair of unearthly howls ripped through the air. “And I have a bad feeling about that!” Vixen exclaimed. The two looked up to see the vortex above the castle...and noticed four glowing blue eyes staring back a them. With a howl, a duo of spectral, icy blue horses with ghostly tails where their hindquarters would be descended from the vortex, howling like the winter wind. “WINDIGOS?!” Vixen and Trixie asked in shock, having to hit the deck as the two winter beasts dove past them. “You didn't tell Trixie Leidr had WINDIGOS!” Trixie yelled, ducking again as one of the Windigos made another dive at them. “I didn't know!” Vixen yelled. “I'm sorry!” The azure unicorn looked up at the pair of Windigos, who seemed to be moving around them like guard dogs circling a thief. “...Aren't those Windigos smaller than the myths typically portray them as being?” Vixen nodded nervously. “Yeah, I don't know why, but those three were a lot bigger and stronger than the normal kind.” “Normal kind?!” “Normal Windigos are kinda really dangerous animals, it's only when they get super strong that they become a world threatening thing.” Trixie nodded, then eeping as she had to use a fire spell (specifically one intended for use in fire breathing) to block a wave of icy wind from the Windigos by melting them. “Trixie sees...Okay, new plan, we get away from these guard dogs and take out however Leidr is controlling them.” Vixen nodded in agreement, then jumped away from a surge of icy wind. She then flew up (the wind near the castle being less severe) and kicked one of the Windigos in the face...then got bashed back by it's tail and barely dodged another surge of ice. “Okay, this won't be easy.” “Come at Trixie, beasts!” Trixie exclaimed, feeling a thug in her heart when she saw Vixen knocked away. She sat off several fireworks in front of the beasts, which seemed to startle them with a howl of surprise, but only managed to distract them long enough for Vixen to give them another flying kick before a shockwave of icy wind blew them both back. The azure mare got up, but was sent tumbling back head over hooves by a tail smack. Trixie got back up and blasted one of the beasts' in the back with a beam of magic that did little more than annoy it. Vixen grabbed Trixie by the shoulders and flew her friend out of the way of another icy blast. “Okay, not to self, Windigos are tough!” Vixen lamented. Trixie focused and summoned a thunder cloud and brought down a lightning bolt on one of the Windigos. It gave a howl of pain from the heat of the lightning more so than the voltage...then sent a wave of ice their way and forced Vixen to dive down to avoid it. “Okay, that at least hurt it, but Trixie thinks it just made it mad...” Vixen dove down and few back up, giving a mule kick to the jaw of one of the Windigos while Trixie blasted the beast with a beam to the face...resulting in them being tail whipped back into the ground. Trixie gasped as she noticed the two Windigos fire another blast of ice at them. She used as strong of a fire spell as she could manage. Despite blocking the brunt of the assault, she and Vixen still ended up with some ice forming on their body. The azure mare used a couple fire spells to melt the ice off but was left shivering. “Trixie is beginning to miss her hot coco and warm blanket!” The two had to scramble out of the way of another blast of icy that made a small ice formation where they'd just been standing. 'Okay, Trixie is facing two mythological beasts...this situation can't get much worse,' Trixie lamented, trying another lightning bolt again, but only succeeded in enraging the Windigo she shot with it and getting the end of her tail frozen solid causing her to give a yelp when the weight pulled the hair. Vixen flew up and headbutted one of the Windigos as hard as she could but did little more than annoy it. It sent off a blast of frigid wind, freezing her hind legs solid and blasting her away. Trixie gasped as Vixen hit the ground and bounced, nearly going over the cliff. She grabbed onto the edge and tried desperately not to fall, but it was a losing battle. The azure unicorn saw the two Windigos give a howl and prepare to attack...and felt something grip her heart she wasn't very familiar. A tug similar to fear, but quite distinct. Trixie galloped over and skidded to a stop between Vixen and the Windigos without even thinking. “Hear me foul beasts! You shall not harm the Great and Powerful Trixie's friend!” She charged up her magic for a fire spell...and for a brief moment, a pink flame flickered around her horn before she unleashed the fire spell, there being a slight rose tint to it. The twin horrors howled in pain as the flames licked them. They turned tail and fled back into the eye of the storm, giving panicked winnies. Trixie quickly pulled Vixen back up and used a quick fire spell to melt the ice around her hindquarters. “Vixen, are you alright?!” Vixen nodded. “Y-Yeah...Trixie...you scared off the Windigos!” “Yes, Trixie drove off the Windigos...wait...” the Azure mare's mind finally caught up to her body and she stared up in absolute shock. “Trixie...Trixie just drove off two Windigos...” Trixie wracked her brain for two answers: one, what had happened to her self preservation in that instant, and two, how the buck she'd done that?! Oh, and why she felt an immense feeling of relief right now seeing Vixen in front of her and okay. That was a new emotion. “Trixie, you okay?” Vixen questioned. “Oh! Yes...Trixie is fine...She's just basking in the moment for a bit...hey wait,” the showmare asked. “Why didn't you just fly back up?” “Oh, flying reindeer need to be able to run to fly, you know how we gallop through the sky and stuff?” the doe explained. “Right...Trixie supposes that makes sense,” Trixie replied, then turned back to the entrance to the castle. “Well let's take care of Leidr and save the holiday, shall we!” Trixie allowed her confidence to rise. After all, how could Leidr possibly be tougher than two Windigos? +++ The two trotted through the massive ice palace. The place was gigantic and seemed well decorated (though all decorations were composed of snow and ice), with even finally crafted ice sculptures in every room. In fact the ice sculptures were so large Other than being made of ice, one might mistake it for a royal palace. “Trixie wishes she had a castle like this,” Trixie stated. “Well you know except for being frozen and on top of a mountain of death...okay, Trixie would accept the those conditions if it meant she got a castle.” Vixen nodded, then looked confused. “I wonder though...why would he have this big castle with nodeer in it?” “Trixie doesn't see why he needs a reason. It's a gigantic palace.” “Guess I'd just be lonely in this big place with nodeer to share it with.” Trixie frowned, turning and looking around the empty palace of ice. Room upon room of empty space without a soul to speak to or interact with. Just statues of finely crafted ice. “Trixie...supposes that's a good point...” The reindeer flew up, looking at an ice chandelier hanging overhead. It even had candles slotted in them, though they were made of snow. “Maybe he stole it from somepony else?” she flew back down and looked at the statues. “Hope these aren't the guys that had it before...” Hearing that, Trixie gave a shudder. “Yes, let's! Now come on! We have a holiday to save!” she said with barely concealed evasiveness. Finally coming up to a massive pair of throne room doors, Trixie took a deep breath and steeled herself. The two threw open the gigantic doors and charged in. “Leidr! We have come to save Hearth's Warming! Stop your evil plans this instant!” Trixie blinked, looking around the room. The only thing there was an icy throne with a Windigo sitting upon it and ice sculptures lining the room. A Windigo a good bit larger than the two they'd fought outside, and that was disconcerting, but that wasn't what surprised her. Only mildly terrified her. “Where's Leidr?” Vixen questioned, looking concerned. “Right here,” said a deep voice with a winter wind-like echo. The Windigo rose from his throne and flew into the center of the room where light came through the windows and illuminated him. He wore regal looking ice armor that seemed much less translucent than his actual body. His helmet had what looked like a white crown molded into it and Trixie couldn't help shuddering when she looked in his eyes. They were the same glowing blue as the rest...but in their center were two dark blue pupils with light blue irises. Trixie couldn't help feeling something else different from them. Like they were the eyes of a thinking creature, not of a simple animal. Just the look of them on that massive spectral form sent a shiver down her spine and her legs quiver. “I am Leidr. The Windigo King.” Trixie and Vixen took a few steps back in shock. “But...But Windigos can't talk...” Vixen muttered. Leidr's eyes narrowed. Trixie swore for a moment she saw something in them...something she couldn't put her hoof on. “I'm not your run of the mill Windigo...” Trixie looked to Vixen. “Leidr is a Windigo?!” “I didn't know!” Vixen replied. The massive Windigo slithered through the air and looked down on them. “So, Vixen, you survived. But it is for nothing. Hearth's Warming is over and there's nothing you can do about it.” “Why are you even doing this?!” Vixen asked while Trixie was still internally screaming at the fact they were fighting a sapient Windigo. “I'm a Windigo, what exactly did you expect?” Leidr asked, his tone not angry or mocking...Trixie recognized bitterness when she heard it. Then again she was kind of internally freaking out hearing any complex emotion from a Windigo in the first place. “When Hearth's Warming is ruined, the happiness of the holiday is ruined with it. Ponies will be angry they didn't get what they wanted, foals will be angry with their parents, and everypony will be angry with Santa Hooves. Anger and hatred, the lifeblood of my species, will become much more abundant.” Trixie sighed. “So Trixie takes it you're not simply going to come quietly?” she asked externally. 'Trixie is going to die! And before she could even brag to Twilight Sparkle about defeating the Rat King and discovering a sapient Windigo!' she screamed in her head. “No,” Leidr stated. “Tonight is the last Hearth's Warming!” [=Blizzeta Battle Second Half Extended - Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess=] Trixie and Vixen had to jump out of the way as Leidr formed ice icicles in the air around him and launched them down at the group. “Since when can Windigos do that?!” Vixen asked, flying to the side to dodge another barrage. “I told you, I'm not your typical Windigo,” Leidr replied, holding up his hooves and forming a condensed sphere of icy energy between them. “Cold Front.” Trixie grabbed Vixen in her telekinesis and pulled her behind a statue as Leidr threw it down at the ground, sending a wave of ice across it and causing ice spires to erupt from all over, the two barely being guarded by their cover or they would've been flash frozen. “Wow, he even got to naming his attacks, he really is clever,” Trixie remarked as she poked her head out from cover and fired several magic beams at Leidr, but he simply shrugged them off and nearly impaled the two with icicles. Vixen flew up and kicked Leidr repeatedly in the face before having to dodge a blast of frigid air condensed into a concentrated stream that left spires of ice in it's wake. Trixie looked over her surroundings and galloped up one of the spires, leaping off it and blasting Leidr point blank in the face with her fire spell...he simply sent a surge of icy wind through it, buffeting her and resulting in Vixen having to pull her out of the way of another barrage of icicles. Trixie quickly melted the ice the attack put on her and Vixen flew around Leidr with the azure unicorn on her back. Trixie opened fire with beams of various types but did little damage until a shock wave of icy wind blew both to the throne room ground. The duo then had to scramble to dodge more icicles raining down and easily piercing the floor. “Trixie needs to think of something, this isn't going well...” the mare muttered, looking around while a part of her mind kept telling her she was going to die. Leidr charged ice magic in front of his mouth. “Frost Cannon.” Trixie attempted to use a burst of fire to counter the incoming focused burst of ice and wind, but it ripped through her fire spell like it was nothing and she barely dodged in the nick of time. And also had to break off a section of her tail that was flash frozen to the ground. Then had Vixen tail whipped into her, sending both sliding across the ice floor into the wall. “Okay, we're getting our flanks handed to us...” Vixen whimpered, Trixie noticing that old insecurity from the Rat King's palace coming back to her face. “We're not finished yet...” Trixie said, though internally admitted as much. She looked around...then remembered what ice was made of. “Cold Front.” Trixie and Vixen dove behind a statue as Leidr charged up another sphere of ice magic between his hooves and drove it into the throne room ground. “Vixen, listen carefully...” A few moments later, Trixie came out of hiding. “You're a difficult foe, but the Great and Powerful Trixie shall not be defeated by a mere beast such as yourself!” Leidr glared and formed icicles around him, hurling them down at her. “I am more than a mere beast, little pony.” Trixie did a jump and slid on the ice to dodge the icicles before using her own telekinesis to dislodge them from the ground and send them right back at him. The Windigo merely swung his tail around and smashed them to bits. “Frost Cannon.” Trixie leapt and slid out of the way of another blast of pressurized, freezing cold air, landing against another of the pillars his attacks had formed and firing a beam at him. 'Trixie can't believe she's actually doing this!' Trixie screamed in her own head, wondering if she'd gone insane to even be trying this. Leidr dove down, strafing her with icicles as she slid towards one of the statues...then blasted it with the biggest blast of fire she could possibly manage, melting it into water. She was surprised at how enraged of a roar that resulted in. “Vixen! Now!” The winter spirit's eyes went wide as he turned just in time for Vixen to slam into him as fast as she could and send him crashing into the water. Trixie formed as many thunder clouds as her magic could possibly do and brought them down, the water conducting it and sending the voltage (and more importantly the heat the electricity generated) through Leidr and filling the room with steam as he let out a howl of pain. The heroic duo panted, looking at the steam around the Windigo, on guard for any attack. “Did that do it?” Vixen questioned. A blast of freezing wind blasted away the steam to reveal Leidr rising up, snarling in anger, his icy armor partially melted off. He looked down at the melted statue and let out a roar of fury. “ Perhaps it's time to show you what you are truly up against...” Leidr snaked out the window and into the sky, emitting a long, echoing howl as his eyes glowed brightly. “Sinne! Raseri!” The two other Windigos descended from the vortex high above and looked up to Leidr. Trixie couldn't help but think of a zoo animal looking to it's trainer rather than friends looking to another one. “This is so not fair...” Trixie muttered as she was now facing down a trio of Windigos. “Fusion,” Leidr said simply. The other two gave a howl as did Leidr, the three howls harmonizing as one. The trio of Windigos shattered into snow and ice and swirled around, forming a gigantic cyclone of snow, ice, and wind. Trixie and Vixen covered their faces against the roaring wind and stinging snow as the six eyes in the twister overlapped and became one set, still with Leidr's pupils and irises. The cyclone finally dissipated to reveal a single Windigo, one so massive that it had to smash through the window to make room for it to enter the room. “Behold. The true power of the Windigos.” Trixie and Vixen stared up in horror before Leidr swung his hoof around and launched them across the room in a single motion. “Ugh...you...what did you do?!” Trixie asked in shock as she and Vixen got back to their hooves. “Windigos are beings of snow and ice, and like the snow we can group together into something bigger. Thousands of years ago when our kind were at their peak, you ponies' hatred spawned hundreds if not thousands,” Leidr explained, his movements and voice seeming a tiny bit more feral. “And from those thousands, were formed three fusion Windigos of such power they threatened to plunge the world into eternal frost. I am the mind but this body is all three of us!” Trixie and Vixen had to dodge a lot further as even more icicles rained down on them, then had to duck or fly above a swipe from Leidr's hoof. The gigantic Windigo swam through the air around the palace and finally stopped above one of the windows. “Frost Cannon.” The two heroes dove out of the way and slid as the blast of cold left a wall of ice in it's wake and the sheer wind coming off it launched the duo across the room. Trixie tried to use her clouds to fire lightning bolts at the behemoth, but Leidr barely seemed to feel it and simply used a shockwave to freeze the clouds solid, causing them to fall to the icy floor and shatter to bits. Vixen attempted to fly up and kick Leidr in the face...but cringed, it felt like she'd just kicked a brick wall! Leidr snarled and blasted her back into the room with a burst of frigid air, Trixie catching her and sending both crashing to the ground and sliding half way across the room. Trixie got to her feet, she gasped, noticing all four of Vixen's legs had been frozen. She focused her horn and formed lightning clouds all around Leidr and let them loose all at once...only for her heart to sink as he flash froze them solid. “May this place be your tomb. Ice Age.” Leidr opened his mouth and held his hooves out, icy energy sparking between the three points and forming a spell seal with a snow flake in the center. Trixie shuddered, able to feel the sheer cold radiating from whatever it was Leidr was about to let loose. “Vixen...we...we had a good run, right?” Vixen nodded slowly. “Yeah...yeah we did...Thanks for coming all this way, Trixie.” Trixie gave a dignified smile. “You're welcome...thanks for letting Trixie be a hero, just once...” 'Trixie is going to die!...But at least she'll make a fabulous ice sculpture...But she is still going to die!' Trixie yelled in her head, but managed to keep a straight look on her face. She still had pride. “AHHHHHHH!” “Huh?” Trixie asked, the two turning to see an out of control balloon flying towards the window. Trixie realized it was going to pass closely by the palace. “On second thought, Trixie doesn't feel like dying today!” The azure mare grabbed Vixen in her telekinesis and did a running leap into the balloon basket. The wind carried the balloon and its occupants past the castle. Trixie was tempted to question the odds of this, but the fact it'd saved her from death prevented her from caring much. Leidr finally unleashed his attack, a massive blast of blue energy stuck where Trixie and Vixen had been standing, triggering a massive blinding flash of blue light that forced Trixie and company to cover their eyes. When the light faded, Leidr's throne room had been reduced to a glacier of solid ice and even the rock on which the castle stood seemed to have frozen over several meters down. Trixie and Vixen stared in horror at where they'd been a few seconds prior, then hugged each other, glad to be alive. The two then realized that they were still in an out of control balloon and Trixie used fire to free Vixen, allowing the doe to use her flying ability to stop the balloon's out of control flight, though still had to return to the basket due to the wind. “Hi Trixie!” Trixie blinked as she was hugged by a pink party pony. She then gasped and hugged her friend. “Pinkie!” The mare then realized what she'd just done in her glee that she was not dead and cleared her throat. “Trixie is glad to see you, Pinkie...This is Vixen...” “Oh! Hey Vixen!” “Hey Pinkie! Hey Minty!” Vixen replied, giving a smile. Trixie blinked and looked to Vixen. “You know her?” “Of course, they've visited the North Pole every Hearth's Warming for the last ten years.” Pinkie and Minty nodded. “Yeah, it's our tradition!” The azure mare just stared for a moment. “...But...how did you get here?!” “We flew in a balloon!” Minty explained. “How?! Vixen can't fly in this weather and neither can Santa!” Pinkie Pie shrugged. “We just did!” Trixie's eye twitched. 'What did Twilight say about this?' +++ “Trixie, there's something VERY important to know when dealing with Pinkie Pie: if anything about her doesn't make sense to you, DON'T try to figure it out. Trust me, it's NOT worth it!” +++ Trixie took a deep breath. “Trixie understands...” “Oh, and this is my friend Minty!” Pinkie introduced. “Minty, this is my friend Trixie!” Minty gave a smile. “Good to meet ya!” she then dug into her saddle bags and handed them both socks. “You look cold, want some socks?” “Thank you...” Trixie said awkwardly, but gladly slipped them on, she'd been trudging through the snow for a long time, so naturally warmth was a welcome thing. She also blinked, noting their shade of blue and night theme seemed a good match for her. “You're welcome!” “So, Trixie, what are you doing in the frozen north?” Pinkie Pie asked as if she was asking what she was doing at the grocery store. “Saving Hearth's Warming,” Trixie said with a proud flare. “Wow! From what?” “Found you.” The group suddenly felt a cold chill as the massive Leidr rose up above them, his head alone larger than the balloon, the blizzard swirling around him and making the Windigo King all the more imposingly. “Oh boy...” Minty said, staring up at him and pinning her ears in fear. “Him...Pinkie, you don't happen to have the Elements of Harmony on you, do you?” Trixie asked, admittedly gasping at straws. While having her moment in the spotlight being taken by Pinkie Pie was far from ideal, Trixie had to admit the Elements defeating Leidr in her stead was preferable to death. “Sorry! I'm kinda fused with mine, but I can't really do the 'beat the world threatening baddie rainbow wave motion gun' on my own!” Pinkie admitted as Vixen had to pull the balloon out of the way of a barrage of icicles. “Drat...” Trixie sighed, looking up at the frozen terror looming above them. Trixie wracked her brain for a way to stop Leidr. Anything she could do...she'd come this far...was she really going to fail at the final lap? 'Just like always I suppose...Always have the glory stolen from me at the last second.' Trixie pinned her ears, looking down at her hooves. 'More than that...I was so close...I was so close to saving the entire holiday...and now I can't stop one lousy Windigo...Vixen believed in me and I couldn't do it...I guess the founders were just better than-' Trixie blinked, looking up at the Windigos. “The founders...” she muttered, looking up at Leidr as Vixen kept doing her best to move the basket out of his line of fire, Pinkie Pie and Minty kept pulling the rope this way and that to assist with that. Pinkie somehow found time to use a hind leg to fire a party cannon she'd produced from nowhere at the behemoth at the same time, but they seemed to be distracting him at best. She remembered the Hearth's Warming Eve story. How the Windigos were originally defeated all those years ago...She remembered how she'd driven off the other two Windigos before. “It wasn't fighting that stopped the Windigos...But how can...” +++ Trixie, trying to distract from her own slip, gave a raised eyebrow. “Where exactly did THAT come from? You don't strike Trixie as the Hearth's Warming Carol sort.” The reindeer looked defensive. “I'm from the North Pole! We all have a weakness for Hearth's Warming Carols! It's in our genes! What about you? You joined in!” Now it was Trixie's turn to look defensive. “Well...Trixie is a pony! We all have a weakness for musical numbers, it's in our genes.” Both paused a moment...then laughed a little. “Well...it helped pass the time at least, didn't it?” Vixen inquired. +++ Trixie's eyes went wide, she then looked up at Leidr. “...Fine...Trixie will do this the Hearth's Warming Eve way.” Leidr managed to grab the basket in his hooves. “Time to end your annoyance.” He then blinked as Trixie began humming a song. [=That's What I Love About Christmas – A Very Minty Christmas=] “The fireplace light, growing warm on snowy nights Our spirits do fly and soar!” Trixie began to sing. Leidr snarled in annoyance. “Pathetic. What is singing going to do?” “Drifting through the air is the friendship that we share With our dearest friends once more!” The massive Windigo began to form icicles around the group, ready to drive them into them. “That's what I love about Hearth's Warming!” sang Vixen. “That's what I love about Hearth's Warming!” Minty joined in. “Have a merry one this year!” Pinkie Pie continued. “Laughing ourselves silly, every colt and every filly Lights shimmering in every sheen. Tinsel on the tree, every year we all agree It's the grandest one we've seen!” the quartet sang as one, Leidr recoiling from them like they were on fire, his icicles melting. “What?!” Leidr shrieked, hooves smoking. The three ponies and one deer linked hooves, looking to one another rather than the abomination facing them. “That's what we love about Hearth's Warming! Hard to believe that it's almost here! That's what we love about Hearth's Warming! Have a very merry one this year!” Leidr's eyes went wide as the trio began to glow with a pink light. He shivered in terror at the sight of the force that'd slain the three strongest of his kind to ever live. “No...” He attempted to charge forwards and strike them, but howled in pain as if the pink glow burned him and had to retreat back. “The Santa Hooves sleigh will be heading our ways! Through Luna's stary night, he'll fly! Donner and Dancer, and Dash and Prancer...” Pinkie sang happily. “And Vixen!” Trixie added, pulling the Reindeer close, earning a smile from her friend. “Will eagerly pull the sky!” Trixie and Vixen continued. Leidr covered his ears in pain, as if each verse was the sound of a thunder clap going off in his ears. “Stop!” he yelled, his form seeming to begin to crack apart as the pink glow grew into a beacon glowing across the entire area. “Cold Front!” he called, trying to launch the sphere of icy energy at them but it dissolved like melting ice when it came close. “A thousand bells ringing, the silver song singing, Hope you hear us far and wide! The happiest face, the warmest embrace Is the feeling of joy inside!” Minty continued, pulling the group into a hug, even Opal joining in now. Leidr gave a howl of agony as his form broke apart and reformed into his original form and his herd mates. The two others winnied in terror at the pink, painful light and fled into the night as far as they could go. “Sinne! Raseri! Come back!” he bellowed...but they didn't. Like frightened animals they scattered and fled at the light of Hearth's Warming spirit. “Come back...please...” he pleaded, reaching out a hoof towards them...his voice almost heart broken. He then gasped, noticing his hoof, and indeed MOST of him, was MELTING! “That's what we love about Hearth's Warming! Can you believe that it's almost here? That's what I love about Hearth's Warming! Have a merry one this year!” the four sang together. Leidr let out a howl of anger and rage as his body began to shrink down and melt like ice before an open flame. “Happy as a lark, on my heart you've left a mark, No lonely night, only good cheer! Memories all a-glow, friends I met not long ago! That I will always hold deer!” Trixie sang, not CARING what she let out in the moment anymore. “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” bellowed Leidr as he continued to melt down, shrinking more and more with each passing second. He attempted to flee from the painful glow of the Hearth's Warming magic. “That's what we love about Hearth's Warming every year!” the quartet finished, the pink glow radiating outwards and engulfing Leidr. When the light faded, the storm that had buried the area and raged for hours was reduced to nothing more than a gentle, pleasant snow storm. Leidr, now no bigger than a mortal pony stallion, fell unconscious and powerless. Pinkie Pie threw a rope around him and tied him to the balloon, preventing him from falling to his doom. Trixie looked around the entire area in shock. “That...that actually worked?” she asked, stunned. “TRIXIE MEANS OF COURSE IT WORKED!” she exclaimed, 'correcting' herself. The balloon cheered and Trixie received a collective hug. And she returned it. She was too happy to defy it at the moment. +++ The balloon (now pulled by Vixen that should could actually fly properly) landed outside a small cottage with a large, but traditionally built workshop and a set of buildings that seemed to be there for the many elves (who seemed to be a much smaller type of reindeer with lighter fur and looked a bit shorter legged in general, but Trixie wasn't sure what species) to live in. It seemed that with the blizzard stopped, everydeer were able to start cleaning up the massive amounts of snow that had dropped been dropped on it (the outskirts of the compound still being buried many feet in snow showed that). Pinkie made sure to gently lower Leidr to the ground. Trixie didn't question rather or not he deserved such kindness, she was too busy enjoying the fact she'd saved Hearth's Warming and that nothing else was going to try and kill her. “And that is how the Great and Power Trixie and Vixen defeated the Rat King!” Trixie explained with her typical dramatic flourish. “Wow! Good job saving Hearth Warming!” Pinkie said cheerfully. Trixie gave a bow. “Was there ever any doubt?” Vixen quickly took off the ropes tying her to the balloon and galloped towards the house. “Santa!” Trixie and company followed soon after, with Pinkie grabbing Leidr and carrying him with her. Standing at the door was a large, pudgy reindeer with a white beard, in a red and white outfit on. “Vixen! Good to see you!” Vixen gave Santa Hooves a hug and nodded. “Good to see you, Santa!” “And you stopped Leidr, I know you could do it,” Santa said, voice warm and full of kindness. Vixen smiled, particularly when the other Reindeer ran over (Trixie made out a certain red nosed one) and hugged her, telling her she did a good job. “We also beat the Rat King, oh! His prisoners need someone to go pick him up!” Opal gave a grin, little crown still on her head. Santa gave a proud laugh. “Well done! Elves! Send a search and rescue squad if you will!” The Elves gave a happy salute and ran off to mount a rescue mission. Trixie was pretty sure that she saw a couple tears in Vixen's eyes. “Thanks...” Vixen said, blushing a little bit and giving a smile. “But I couldn't have done it without Trixie, she did most of the work.” [=Ever Ever After – Carrie Underwood=] Trixie gave a showmare's bow. “The Great and Powerful Trixie...couldn't have done it without Vixen either. And Pinkie and her friend Minty assisted us in defeating Leidr as well.” Pinkie's jaw dropped as Trixie gave credit to somepony else. “Wow...” Santa trotted over to Trixie and gave a smile. “My my Trixie, you've certainly come a very long way! I started this year thinking you'd be on the naughty list again for sure! Well done my little pony!” Trixie gave a happy and proud pose. She was being praised by Santa Hooves himself after all. “Thank you, Mr. Hooves. It is an honor.” “Ho ho ho! Call me Santa!” the jolly old deer replied. “And I hear you also bested the Rat King! This deserves a reward!” “Does Trixie get on the Permanent Nice Plaque?” Trixie question. “Ho ho ho! Sorry, Trixie, no,” Santa replied. “I don't take that, or the Permanent Naughty Plaque, but I DO have a big honor for you.” He then touched his hoof to his nose and the group were teleported in a flurry of snow. They found themselves in a long hallway with the same styling as the rest of the place, only this one with stained glass windows. The nearest one depicted the familiar scene of the three assistants vanquishing the Windigos originally. “Welcome to the Hall of Hearth's Warming Saviors.” Trixie's eyes went wide. “Hearth's Warming Saviors?” “Every being in history who has ever saved the holiday is given their fair recognition for their deeds,” Santa Hooves explained, leading the group down the hall way. “To be honest, it's not as often as you'd think, but why not keep plenty of room available?” “Cool!” Pinkie exclaimed, looking at a window depicting three fillies in red, blue, and green outfits stopping another in a yellow one. “Yeah!” Minty exclaimed, looking at the easily identifiable window representing Rudolph's iconic flight that foggy Hearth's Warming Eve. Santa came to the end of the hall way and turned to a placeholder window. He put a hoof to his nose and in a swirl of snow formed a stained glass window of Trixie, Vixen, Minty, and Pinkie blasting Leidr with a pink energy, Trixie naturally front and center. Trixie gasped. “That's...” The saintly deer produced a medal in the shape of the star atop of a Hearth's Warming tree. “Trixie Lulamoon. For your courage and bravery in saving Hearth's Warming and those enslaved by the Rat King, I present to you the North Pole Medal of Honor.” Trixie watched him put it around her neck. “And if anypony thinks it's fake,” Santa stated, giving a smile as he flipped the medal over and revealed a golden signature of Santa's name that glowed with magic that couldn't be denied as his. “And if anypony steals it, just let me know!” Santa put his hoof to his nose and they were teleported back outside where the elves, reindeer, and Mrs. Hooves (a kind looking doe) all clopped their hooves for Trixie, Vixen, Pinkie, and Minty. “Go ahead, Trixie! Say something! It's your story!” Pinkie said happily. Vixen nodded in agreement. “Go ahead, Trixie, you deserve it.” Trixie stepped up and looked to the crowd of magical reindeer. She felt she was on top of the world...she waited for something to swoop in and steal it from her. For her to wake up in her bed and realize none of this actually happened. But none of it did. It was her moment and she'd do as Trixie always did: accept it in style. “The Great and Powerful Trixie proudly accepts this award! And the praise!...And the fact the holiday happens this year because of her...and for...her friends...” she admitted, looking back and giving a smile. “...After all, isn't that what Hearth's Warming is all about?” Trixie did an elaborate and dramatic bow to another clop of hooves, basking in the moment. As things began to settle down and prepare for launch, another thing became apparent. Leidr hadn't said a word sense he regained consciousness. “The weird part is I thought Windigos were just animals...” Vixen admitted. “I wonder why he's different...” “...I've always been different...” The group turned and looked to the bound and severely weakened Windigo. “What?” Trixie asked. Leidr looked off in the distance longingly. “...I don't know why. I was just born like this. I'm a mutant, a freak...And now the others have left me...wild animals don't have much loyalty I suppose...” he explained, his voice having lost the echo of the wind it once had. 'Unless they're Fluttershy,' Trixie added mentally. “...Wow...who did you talk to?” Minty asked curiously. “...No one...animals don't talk...I only learned to speak watching ponies do it...” Leidr explained, his face a picture of heartbreak and bitterness. “...What we are, eating hatred, and spreading ice and frost...it was the only thing I had in common with them...so it's what we did...” Trixie felt a twinge of...the same thing she'd felt when Vixen revealed her hidden feelings. “...Sounds lonely...” “...” “Why not try to talk to ponies? There's lots of us!” Pinkie Pie cheerfully replied. Leidr scoffed. “I'm a Windigo...We EAT hatred and negative emotions...how can a monster like that be anything else?” “Well the changelings eat love and most of them are bad guys,” Minty replied. “Well except that nice one in Ponyville and some others we know. But that just kinda proves the point doesn't it?” “Yeah! And if you really were what you ate, I'd be cake!” Pinkie exclaimed, then licked her lips. “Mmm, cake!” “Leidr...” The group looked to see Rudolph trot up, red nose plain to see even when he didn't light it up. “...If it helps, I know how it feels to be born different from everydeer else...” the reindeer focused and his nose lit up red, basking the area in it's glow. “...But I made that a good thing and saved the holiday...it's alright to be a misfit, if you turn it into something good. I know an elf dentist and an island full of misfit toys who will agree with that,” he explained with a smile. “You're different...but being different isn't bad.” The Windigo, a beast who'd spent his entire life surrounded by beings incapable of compassion and empathy, could only stare as it was freely given to him. “I...” Minty reached into her bag and produced a pair of socks. “Here you go, Mr. Leidr! Some socks!” she said, helping him put them on his front (and only) legs (even if they were restricted by his bindings). “Why?” “Because it's Hearth's Warming! Everypony deserves a present!” Minty said with a bright smile. “And they're my favorite kind of presents to give!” Leidr looked at the two pieces of clothing on his legs like they were beyond his comprehension. “I...I've never gotten a present before...” Trixie simply looked at the defeated Windigo as he understandably looked like the world had been turned upside down. “...That castle...you built that didn't you? And all the ice sculptures?” Leidr nodded. “...Yes...I...I guess I just wanted a home...The ice sculptures...making them made me feel...warm...In a...good way...it was the only thing that did...Until...” he looked at them and at the socks in deep thought. “...Your ice sculptures were quite good. It's a shame that you never got to show them to anypony...if there's one thing Trixie can appreciate it's a misunderstood artist.” Leidr looked over to her with wide eyes. “...I tried to kill you...” “Yes, yes you did. And Trixie is still mad about it...but Trixie hasn't always been a saint,” the azure unicorn admitted. “...Everypony, or Windigo, deserves a second chance.” Rudolph gave a knowing nod. “I know a giant vulture who'd agree with that.” Leidr looked stunned. “I...” “Oh! We can ask the Princesses! I'm sure Canterlot could use an ice sculptor!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Then everypony can see it!” Leidr looked almost dizzy. “...I...I will...consider that...” He then gave the one genuine, happy smile they'd seen on him. Windigos looked surprisingly less terrifying when they were happy. Santa said afterward that they could leave Leidr there and he'd help him through it, as the North Pole was so full of good will he wouldn't be regaining his full power any time soon. “Now, Trixie, I have one more reward for you! And Vixen too!” the jolly old reindeer finally said. Vixen's ears perked. “Huh?” “Rudolph, I know normally you get to lead, but just for tonight, would you mind if Vixen was lead deer?” Santa Hooves explained. Rudolph gave a smile. “I'd be glad to!” Vixen's eyes went wide. “Lead...lead deer?” Rudolph handed her the harness. “You earned it, Vixen. You really did.” Vixen blushed. “...Thank you...and thank you Trixie.” Trixie smirked and gave a bow. “You are most welcome...friend...” “Trixie,” Santa interjected. “How would you like to ride along with me on my sleigh tonight? After all, it wouldn't be flying without you!” Trixie paused for a moment. She looked to Minty and Pinkie. “Don't worry, we get to meet Santa every year! And I've got a party to get too!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Enjoy your ride with Santa! We've still got the balloon!” Trixie didn't care, she hugged Pinkie Pie, her friend. “Trixie...would very much enjoy that, Santa.” “Ho ho ho! Very well! Now come along! We're already running late! But it's never too late to make our holiday deadline!” Trixie basked in the moment...then realized something. “One moment!” she exclaimed, rushing to the workshop...and coming back with several cards. She addressed eight, levitating one to Pinkie Pie and one to Minty (and getting hugs for it). Then signed a last one to Babs Seed. “Can we deliver these as well?” Santa Hooves gave a sincere, warm smile. “Ho ho ho! Certainly! And we can also stop by the Rat King's old castle and hand out presents to those poor ponies, I'm sure they'll be happy to see you again!” As Trixie stepped aboard Santa's sleigh and Vixen took the lead, Trixie reflected on one thing: In the morning she'd probably collapse on the bed and sleep for the day...or several (she had gone through multiple life or death situations, fought two immensely powerful villains, and saved the holiday all after walking through the snow for hours) and probably be unbelievably sore (in fact she was fairly certain it was the adrenaline doing most of her movement right now)... But she was a hero...ponies saved from slavery were grateful to her (and likely always would be). She had the medal. She had the stained glass window. And of course she also had her friends. Trixie smiled. “...This is the best Hearth's Warming Trixie has ever had.” Santa Hooves grabbed the reigns with a whistle. “Now, Vixen! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner! On Blitzen! On Rudolph! Dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!” “Here we go!” called Vixen, smiling wide and happy as she lead the way, up and into the sky. “Ho ho ho! Merry Hearth's Warming!” The End.
