A Hearth's Warming Carol

Even after being witness to a wondrous event, the princess is unconvinced.  One would think that such a devoted student would take all of Celestia’s teachings to heart, even those learned after her passing.  Yet Twilight Sparkle chose to believe it as nothing more than a trick of the mind.  Her remedy is to climb into her bed and force herself to find sleep.  In her slumber she finds nothing but empty blackness.  Dreams were a thing of joy long forgotten.  In truth, she found these abyssal sleeps more to her liking.  There was nothing more joyful in her life, and the princess of the night would not be there to comfort her if need be.  No, dreams were a trifling matter, one that she is glad to be rid of.

With the death of the Princesses of Night and Day, the celestial bodies are free to move as they please, leaving the remaining princess time to rest.  Darkness surrounds Poneyville as the moon climbs across the starry sky.  Time passes and the night creeps onward.  In town, the clock tower reaches the first hour of the day.  It announces to the town with a resounding toll of its bell.  Far away in her castle, Twilight Sparkle awakens to the violent caroling of the clock tower.  Climbing out from under her sheets, she finds the room to be freezing.  A puff of white mist escapes from her throat while her teeth chatter as her body is robbed of warmth.  Somewhat in a sleep-like daze, she trots over to the window, thinking it must have been blown open.

Tearing open the sash Twilight Sparkle is bathed in a warm, yet blinding light.  She backs away, diving into her bad for safety.  When the light fades, only her horn pokes out from the covers.  She fears she may be under attack, so it glows with a prepared spell.  Yet when there is no assault, she peeks out from under her blanket.  There is an intruder standing in her bed chamber, but it is hardly an enemy.

Long and flowing violet mane sparkles as the pony emits her own white light.  The dazzling unicorn wears a pink gown decorated with colorful gemstones.  A golden crown sits atop her head, which accentuates her white fur.

“Rarity, is that you?” Twilight asks the ghostly unicorn.

“It is, it is,” she smiles, trotting over to her old friend.  “How have you been, darling?”

Twilight ignores the question, “Hold on, how were you able to get in?  I have a barrier protecting from all intruders.”

“Well I am a spirit,” she runs a hoof through her mane.  “Such things like barriers do not necessarily matter to me.”

“How can you be a spirit, you’re not dead.”

“Not all spirits have to belong to the grave, darling.  I am very much alive and well, but I am needed here so here I am.  You may address me as the Ghost of Hearth’s Warming Past.”

Twilight looks at her slightly astonished, “I must still be asleep.  It has been such a long time since I had a dream.  I forgot how real they can feel.”

Rarity rolls her eyes, “If you need some convincing, then allow me.”

The horn upon her head is enveloped in a powder blue light.  A similar glow appears behind Princess Twilight’s bed.  Rising from behind the headboard is a worn out doll with mismatched button eyes.  Patches hold together the stuffing, but it appears some of the threats are coming undone.  The beloved Smarty Pants doll hovers through the air before it sails into the back of its master’s head.  While plush to the touch, it gives Twilight Sparkle a firm smack against her skull.

“Hey-wait, I felt that,” Twilight touches the spot where Smarty Pants had hit her.  “I guess this this isn’t a dream, is it?”

“No, you are fully awake and aware, Twilight,” Rarity smiles, finally getting through to her friend.  “Now we must hurry, I only have so much time tonight.”

“Where are we going?”

“Well to the past of course,” Rarity says as she trots to the window.  “I am the Ghost of Hearth’s Warming Past after all.  We will be going back and seeing how the holiday affected you.”

“You mean with a time travel spell?” Twilight has a spark of her old bookworm self.

“Not quite, darling,” Rarity throws open the sash.  “It is more like looking into your memories.  Now come, I want to get to the past soon.  Retro is all the rage now, you know.”

Opening the window, both she and Twilight Sparkle are overcome by a blinding white light.  Twilight shields her eyes from the intense rays.  Suddenly, she feels a shiver running up from her hooves.  Peeking down, she discovers that they are deep in snow.  Above her head, soft snowflakes fall from the swollen clouds as Pegasi bring winter to the skies.  Out in the distance is the gilded towers belonging to the Princess of the Sun, Celestia.  People are moving about in the daylight she brings them, each happily going about their merry business.  While the city is quite familiar to the violet alicorn, it is the banners hanging above the palace that leaves her mouth agape.

“This is Canterlot,” she says in astonishment, “But those banners haven’t been flown in years.  Not since Luna returned.”

“That is what I told you, darling,” Rarity stands next to her, “This is Canterlot, yes, but in the past.  You can tell by the slight change in the décor.  Look at all the—Twilight?”

Rarity turns to find that the princess she is supposed to be looking after is nowhere to be found.  Luckily, she is able to spot her running after a party of little fillies.  She manages to catch up to the princess, the Ghost of Hearth’s Warming Past notices that look a bit familiar.  Four fillies are all gathered together talking to one another.  Well three of them are social, while the fourth seems a bit shyer than the rest.  Twilight Sparkle watches them trot off.

“Do you know those ponies?” Rarity gives the princess a playful nudge.

Seeing them makes Twilight smile, “Yeah, they were my friends when I lived here: Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and even Moon Dancer.  It feels like it has been forever since I’ve seen them last.”

A sense of childish nostalgia warms her icy heart.  She runs over to the fillies, when Lemon Hearts turns abruptly and is about to crash into the princess.  However, she simply passes through Twilight Sparkle and runs on her merry way.  This causes Twilight to stop and turn, both astonished and horrified.

“Calm down, darling,” Rarity puts a hoof on her friend who appears to be on the verge of a panic.  “Remember what I said, these are the shadows of your past.  You cannot interact with them.  We are nothing more than observers.”  She looks to another street and smiles.  Poking Twilight, she points, “Does she look familiar as well?”

When Twilight follows the words of her friend, she finds another filly walking the streets.  The little unicorn has her nose in a book, and yet she is able to avoid colliding with any other pony.  Riding upon her back is a baby dragon with scales matching the color of her coat.  As it manages to stay upon her back, the little guy sucks on the spike tip of his own tail as if it were a pacifier.  Beside the two of them is a young colt with a coat as white as the falling snow.  He is only a few years older than the filly.  Every now and then, he glances down at her, as if to make sure she is okay.

“Shining Armor and me,” she says with a heavy heart, as a tear wells up in her eye.

“And who is that upon your back?”  Rarity inquires, knowing for whom the tear will be shed.

“That’s Spike,” the princess of friendship answers, looking away.

“Our dear Spikey,” Rarity coos at the sight of the baby dragon.  “It has been many years since I’ve seen him.  I bet he has grown up to be a splendid dragon.”

“I hope so…”

“Darling, look,” Rarity points to the younger Twilight.

The princess picks her head up to see her younger self being confronted by her group of friends.  Shining Armor has backed away from the collection of little foals, leaving his sister to fend for herself.

“Twilight,” Moon Dancer trots up to her, “Come with us, we are going to sing Hearth’s Warming Carols around the city.”

“I, I don’t know,” Twilight answers shyly.

“Come on,” Minuette says.  “Even Moon Dancer agreed.”

“What about Spike?” Twilight asks.  “I can’t carry around a baby dragon out in the cold.”

Big Brother Shining Armor comes to the rescue, “Twighly, I can take him back the house.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, go have fun with your friends,” he nods.  A spark erupts from his horn as an aura surrounds Spike.  Without a cry or a whimper the baby dragon is transferred from Twilight’s back to his.  “I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

“Okay,” she gives him a hug and runs off with her friends.

The princess watches as the sight of her brother carrying off spike melts away.  Turning to Rarity, she finds that the world around them is dissolving.

“What’s going on?”

The Ghost of Hearth’s Warming Past has an answer, “We have seen everything we needed here.  We are going to move a little bit forward.”

The shapes of Canterlot contort and reform as the scene changes.  Crystals rise from the earth, shimmering in beautiful cool colors.  Snow rages outside in a wintry storm, but all are safely tucked away inside.  Twilight stands in a large crystalized chamber surrounded by ponies.  Decorations flood the walls, and a massive fireplace burns brightly with warming flames.  Finding the setting all too familiar, she looks in the direction of the throne.  There, she finds an almost exact replica of herself today.  Although, it could be argued that the past Twilight Sparkle looks much happier.  Surrounded by her friends, she laughs and makes merry.

“I remember this as well,” Rarity points out.  “Cadence held a Hearth’s Warming party at the Crystal Empire that year when we defeated King Sombra for the second time.”

“I am glad you don’t have to show me that,” Twilight smiles.  “But I have fond memories of this party.”

“Oh, I remember,” Rarity chuckles.

Princess and Ghost observe as Cadence approaches the past Twilight Sparkle.  She embraces her sister-in-law with a fond smile, “I am so glad you could make it.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Twilight answers, but looks around.  “Where’s Shining?”

“Oh, he’s with the baby.”

“Do you want me to look after her so he can come back to the party?”

“No, that’s okay,” Cadence grins.  “It wouldn’t be fair to you.  Besides, I’ve been watching you stare at that colt for quite some time.”

She motions over to one of the guards stationed at the Crystal Empire.  The young colt stands by the food, trying to look inconspicuous as he looks at Twilight.  Realizing they are looking back, he turns away and pretends to be picking up some hors d’oeuvres.  He shovels them into his mouth, trotting further away while sweat drips down is sapphire mane.

Rose rises to Twilight’s cheeks, “You mean Flash Sentry?  No, I haven’t been staring at him all night.”

“Why don’t you go dance with him?”

“No, I can’t,” she objects.

“Go on darling,” the past Rarity jumps into the conversation.

“Yeah come on,” Rainbow Dash flies up to support her friend.  “You just defeated Sombra, I think you can ask a colt to dance.”

“No, it’s too embarrassing.”

“Come on sugar cube,” Applejack appears behind Twilight, giving her a nudge.  “You can do it.”

With all her friends pushing her, Twilight Sparkle has no choice.  With her knees knocking, she walks across the ballroom toward her knight.  As much as she wants to teleport away, she finds courage to face Flash Sentry, who is not even looking in her direction.  Tapping him to get his attention, she sees the look of shock on his face when he turns to find a princess standing right in front of him.  Resorting to instinct, he falls to one hoof, bowing properly like any good guard should.  It makes her blush.

“You can stand,” she says quickly.

“Oh, yes,” Flash gets on all fours.  “Did you need something, your highness?”

“Well, um, you see, I would really, I mean if you aren’t busy, would you like to, um, dance, with me that is?”

Flash smiles, “I would love to, princess.”

“It’s okay I under-wait you would, I mean you will?  Okay fantastic, um, would you take the lead?”

Taking her hoof in his, he leads her to the dance floor as the two of them waltz.  From a distance, the present Twilight Sparkle watches them move gracefully across the ballroom.  The two never take their eyes off of one another.  Princess and guard are both blushing as eyes turn upon them, yet they never stop their dance.

“You really loved him, didn’t you, darling?” Rarity stands beside her friend.

“Yes,” she answers with a smile.

“You know,” Rarity frowns, “You two did share another Hearth’s Warming together.”

“No,” Twilight looks horrified, “Please, Rarity, don’t show me that…”

It is too late to stop her friend, as the crystal ballroom melts away into a flood of colors.  Beautiful reds and blues are swapped for a dreary grey.  Crystal becomes stone as Rarity takes Twilight back to Canterlot.  The ponies find themselves walking the long halls of the palace.  On either side, Twilight takes note of blackened curtains drawn over the stain glass that has depicted so many adventures with her friends.  At the end of the hall, she sees the past Twilight stepping from the door leading into the bed chambers.  Fighting back tears, she sullenly walks down the halls.

The present Twilight feels a strange sensation when a pony passes through her.  Flash Sentry marches up to meet the grieving princess.  But when he tries to console her, he is pushed aside.  Again he tries, but is answered by a wall magically appearing to block his path.  Flying around the wall Twilight created, Flash lands beside her.

“Leave me alone,” she sobs through clenched teeth.

“No, Twilight,” he runs and blocks her path.  “You have been moping around the castle for days now.  Your friends are worried about you.  Your family is worried about you.  I’m worried about you.”

“Well I don’t need any of you,” she glares.  “I need to spend more time with Celestia and Luna.”

Flash Sentry looks away, “There is nothing more you can do for them, Twilight.”

“Don’t you say that,” Twilight shouts as she slams Flash down on the ground, pinning him under-hoof.  “I will not let this illness take them away from me.  You and everyone else is distracting me.”

“Twilight…”

“Get out,” she says, a tear shimmering down her cheek.

“I want to help you.”

“I said get out!”

Magical light envelops her horn, while a similar pink aura surrounds Flash Sentry.  Using her spells, she hurls the guard clear across the room until he smashes into the far wall.  He hits it with enough force to crack the stone.  Wearily, he gets back to his hooves.  Dusting himself off, he looks to Twilight.

“What has happened to you?” he says, blood dripping from his mouth.  “You’re the Princess of Friendship.  You need your friends now more than ever.”

“Friends are only distracting me,” she shouts.  “I need to focus on finding a cure for the princesses.”

“Then,” Flash turns away, “I guess this is goodbye…”

The past Twilight does not stop him leave as she returns to the side of her mentor.  Meanwhile, the present princess watches the guard go with tears in her eyes.  Despite logic, she runs after him.  Throwing out her hoof, she merely passes through him.  Heart broken, she must watch him leave for the second time.  It is just as painful as the first time.

“Rarity,” she says solemnly, “Why did you show me this?  I asked you to not show me this.”

“I’m sorry, darling,” Rarity stands beside her grieving friend.  “These are only the shadows of your memories.  I cannot change what has happened.”

“Leave me,” she says, her despair turns to fury.

“You must learn from these mistakes.  If you do not, I fear that you will be doomed to repeat them, and follow in the footsteps of your predecessors.”

Twilight turns to Rarity, her horn ablaze in a magical light, “Leave me alone!”

When she turns to her friend, she finds that there is no one there.  Twilight Sparkle is back in her bed chambers, alone in the darkness.  Somewhere in town, she begins to hear the song of the clock tower as the bells toll twice.