Hidden Hearthswarming History
"I'm glad you came down to join us," Octavia commented, sipping the eggnog in her mug. "Nopony should be alone on Hearth's Warming."
"Well, I wasn't planning on coming down at first," Starlight Glimmer admitted. "I just... well, I saw the trappings, and not the core of the holiday. Then Twilight read me... you're going to think this is ridiculous."
"I think a lot of things are ridiculous," Octavia countered, nodding to her headbanging companion. "That doesn't mean I don't take them seriously."
Starlight glanced at the white unicorn for a moment, a sly grin forming on her face. "I can see that... Well, she read me a story called 'A Hearth's Warming Tail."
"Oh my. Which version?"
The pink unicorn blinked, turning back to Octavia. "...version?"
"Yes," the gray pony confirmed with a nod. "It's been edited and retold so many times. Is... this really your first time hearing Hearth's Warming Tail?"
"...I did spend a lot of my childhood isolated from Equestrian culture," Starlight pointed out. "You know, the whole... uh... anti-cutie mark thing."
"It was the post Majesty version," Twilight Sparkle interjected, entering the conversation.
Octavia and her companion frowned. "You know, Vinyl and I have always disliked that version. They wrote out half the core cast!"
"Wait what??" Starlight looked from Octavia to Twilight. "There's more to Hearth's Warming Tail?"
Twilight sighed. "Yeah, the Majesty version is really condensed. Snowfall didn't quite cast her spell in the original, because Somber Tunes, her dead financier, suddenly appeared and warned her that actions have consequences. Then he says three spirits are coming to visit her--it's really very creepy, I can see why it was adapted out."
"It's crucial to the story," Octavia argued. "Seeing someone she respected so broken because of what he did in life--and don't even get me started on Tiny Trotters."
"Yeah, Tiny Trotters should have stayed," Twilight agreed.
Starlight held up a hoof. "Uh..."
"Snow Dash's son," Twilight explained. "Very sick, but filled with love for the world and his fellow ponies. The spirit of Hearth's Warmings Yet To Come shows Snow Dash fighting Windegos away from his grave." She shook her head. "The original was actually pretty dark, all things considered."
"A little darkness makes the holiday shine brighter," Octavia mused. "And sometimes real life is pretty grim."
"Yeah," Starlight agreed, rubbing the back of her head. "Still, I'm kind of surprised that somebody wrote something so dark for Hearth's Warming... it's frightening to consider what the world would have been like if Snowfall Heart was real."
"Actually, she was real," Octavia revealed.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Just because the original was published as a series of first-person journals--"
"No, really." The gray pony gestured between herself and her companion. "Our great-grandmothers were actually the musicians at the party, Philharmonica and Phonograph."
The princess tilted her head. "What?"
"It's actually why Vinyl almost never speaks," Octavia continued. "Phonograph was very interested in the science of music, and wanted to pioneer a new kind of tune, so she asked Snowfall if she knew any spell that allowed for, well, instantaneous music creation. The spell she got did make her an excellent musician, but... it also cost her voice." She shrugged. "The enchantment got weaker in later generations, yet... well, every time Vinyl speaks, a musical number starts. Great fun at parties, terribly awkward when you have to find a bathroom."
"Oh, come on," Twilight groused. "You can't really believe there's actually spirits of Hearth's Warming past, present, and future!"
"It's almost as unlikely as Windegos being real," Starlight quipped.
"...what?" Twilight gave her a look. "No, see, Windegos are a species with confirmed traits. The spirits are unique beings. You can't have a unique being that's not part of a larger species--"
"LOVELY PARTY, TWILIGHT!" Discord skated by on a pair of fruitcakes, tinsel dangling from his antlers. "I especially like your tree topper!" He twirled, snatching up Vinyl's eggnog with his tail as he manuvered toward Fluttershy.
Twilight paused. "...okay, so maybe you can have unique beings that aren't part of a larger species, but--there's a lot of history with Discord! And there's only the one story with the spirits! So the story can't be real."
"Well, you're sort of right."
The gathered ponies turned to the newcomer. Twilight's wings ruffled. "Oh. Hey Kevin."
"Sup, Princess." Kevin waved a holey hoof, licking his fangs. "Thanks for letting me come, by the way, Hearth's Warming harvest is always a big thing for us."
"...I would have thought Hearts and Hooves day would be more important for changelings."
"No, not really. Hearts and Hooves day is more saying 'I want to love you,' where Hearth's Warming is more 'this is how much I love you.' It's the difference between planting seeds and harvesting crops, really."
"Not that it isn't fascinating to hear about your disturbing tendency to reduce our relationships to mere foodstuff," Octavia deadpanned, "but did you have a point in coming over here?"
"Just wanted to tell you that the spirits of Hearth's warming were my great grandmother."
"Wait, what?!" Twilight shrieked. "The spirits were changelings?!"
"One changeling, singular." Kevin shrugged. "Granted, she did have help from her kids, but great grandma pulled the main roles off on her own. See, she overheard Snow Dash talking about her boss and... like I said, Hearth's Warming is a big thing for us. Anypony threatening it has to be dealt with. She didn't know Somber Tunes was dead when she took his form, but she rolled with it and made up the three spirits thing on the spot. Then she stepped out, turned into the first spirit, flew Snowfall to a warehouse on the edge of town, and hit her with a memory spell. Everything after that was just really, really good acting."
"You're.... you're kidding right?" Twilight stammered. "Changelings are behind a Hearth's Warming Tail?"
"Not at all. Tiny Trotter's crutch is a family heirloom."
"What--what about Merry, and professor Flintheart?"
"Like I said, memory spell. They used the time Snowfall was knocked out to set up the present time scene.
"I thought Merry was a present-time character..." Starlight murmured.
"Actually, the original story has her as Snowfall's first employer," Octavia explained. "Also introduced her to Flutter Holly, the love of her life. Of course, back then mixed relationships were frowned upon, and Flutter Holly was a pegasus born to an earth pony so..."
"What about Light Life and--and Bright Song?" Twilight insisted. "How could they have known about Snowfall's family?"
"Bright Song was pretty well known," Kevin said with a dismissive wave. "It didn't matter that her aunt was so hardnosed, everypony loved Bright Song back then. Heck, great grandma even considered revealing herself to the mare a couple of times."
"Actually," Octavia mused, "if changelings were faking the whole thing... would that explain the twins?"
Kevin laughed. "Yeah, couple of great grandma's kids got caught out of costume. Lucky she came up with the Ignorance and Want schpiel. After that, she just slapped a nightmare spell on Snowfall and dumped her back home--other changelings had already sabotaged the spell, so there wasn't really any other reason to keep Snowfall distracted." He shook his head with a wry grin. "Then she woke up completely reformed. That was a happy accident, let me tell you. Great grandma didn't even realize what happened until the story was published."
"How did they sabotage a spell that powerful anyway?" Starlight asked.
"They basically refocused it to only erase memories of Old Holly Hooves. It did make things awkward for that reindeer over the next few years, since nopony remembered why random presents would show up, but a few saved Hearth's Warmings later and he was back on his hooves."
Twilight fluffed her wings. "This is... I just... it's just... I loved that story. All the versions, and... and now you're saying it was all a scam by the changelings... that just... I just..."
Starlight took a breath. "...Twilight. Look. It's not how it happened that matters. What matters is the message. The trappings aren't the purpose behind the holiday, it's spending time with your friends and family and... and trying to make things better, in any way you can. It doesn't matter if you use songs, puppets, or dogs to tell the story; if the core message gets across, then the story is worth it."
Octavia nodded. "Well said."
After a moment, Twilight hesitantly smiled. "You're... right, Starlight. I guess it really doesn't matter that much."
She tilted her head. "Why dogs though?"
"I was aiming for something random." Starlight shrugged. "Happy Hearth's Warming, by the way."
"Happy Hearth's Warming."
"And may your harvest be bountiful and blessed!"
Everypony glared at Kevin.
"It's a traditional toast." He sipped his eggnog. "Don't judge."
