There was almost no sound, except for the quiet breathing of Twilight Sparkle, and the slightly louder snoring of Spike the dragon. The two friends were bedded down, after a long evening of partying and having fun with their friends. Somewhere deep inside the unconscious mind of the Alicorn princess, there was a feeling of joy.

Tomorrow was Hearths Warming day, and she planned to spend it with all her friends and family. Pinkie Pie was putting a large get together for all her friends and family, and the invite applied to anypony who wanted to join in the fun. It was going to be one of the best celebrations she would ever have, and she looked forward to it greatly.

Spike, on the other hoof, was dreaming of gems. As well as all the presents he would receive come the morn. He wasn't being greedy on purpose no, it was just a dragons nature. Many other thoughts rolled through the young dragons head, including snowball fights, doughnuts, and Rarity, the mare he would forever crush on.

Pleasant thoughts in their heads, the two friends slumbered on, unaware of the strange movements of the shadows, and the strange hissing sound they were softly beginning to make.

''H-Huh? What...'' The purple dragon rubbed his eyes with a claw, blinking a few times to get his baring's. He was in his room, but it was dark. The weight in his mind and eyes told the baby dragon it was still nighttime. He groaned, rubbing his eyes a few times, before lying back down in his small bed, pulling the blankets back over him.

He slowly allowed his eyes to close, and he began to drift back to sleep...

A loud noise shocked Spike back up, and he let out a little yelp. he pulled the covers up to his face, like a protective shield that would defend him from all harm. When he realized nothing was attacking him, he hesitantly lowered the covers. Standing up to look around, he reached over onto his dresser and grabbed hold of a candle holder. he let out a small gout of flame, igniting the wax candle that sat on the holder.

The small light illuminated the room, showing no signs of change, other than the numerous Hearths warming decorations that he and Twilight had hung up around his rooms interior. His diligent eyes scanned the room, making sure every last item was right where it should be.

His eyes fell on a single fallen glass container he had filled with some of his most prized gems. ''Maybe I should have not filled it with so many gems...'' He mumbled jokingly to himself.

The glass had shattered on impact with the ground, resulting in the loud noise that had startled Spike, and the result was now lying in pieces all over his floor.

The baby dragon sighed, and reached into his drawers, pulling out a small broom and pan. He quickly began sweeping up the broken shards of the glass jar, stopping every few seconds to make sure he had gotten them all. Once done, he moved to retrieve his gems, and find somewhere to store them before he ate them, when something else caught his attention.

The shadows from the candlelight were acting very strangely. They were...moving, but way to much to just be a result of the flickering of the candle.

''What the...'' Spike began, scratching his head with confusion, when suddenly he heard it.

The shadows...they were making this strange, hissing sound, like a snake, but louder, more...intimidating. Spike backed up a bit, he didn't know much about shadows, but he knew they weren't supposed to do that. He quickly turned and ran out of the room, quickly closing the door behind him.

Behind him, the shadows danced, and the hissing grew louder.

Twilight Sparkle awoke to the sound of a young purple dragon shaking her, trying to wake her up. She groaned, and tried to shrug Spike off, but his shaking grew more impatient. Finally, she broke, and raised her head to groggily stare at her assistant.

''What is it Spike? Its the middle of the night, I know your excited for Hearths Warming, I am too.'' She grumbled, still half asleep. ''But go back to sleep, it's still dark out...''

''Twilight! Something weird is going on!'' The baby dragon waved his arms in panic, trying to empathize his point. ''The shadows are acting really weird! And they're making this really weird noise! Like a snake! Or Rarity when she's ticked off!''

The Alicorn rolled her eyes, chuckling softly as the dragon continue to panic. ''Oh Spike, your just seeing things, a trick of the light, or maybe the fact that you woke up in the middle of the night?'' She cocked an eyebrow at him.

''Twilight! I'm serious! Something knocked over my jar of gems! And I swear! The shadows are really acting funny! You have to see this!'' The little dragon exclaimed, tugging on the mares forelegs, trying to drag her out of bed.

Sighing, Twilight allowed herself to be swept away from her soft, warm bed, and dragged into the hallway by her now trembling assistant. Slowly, he let go of her hoof, and pointed at his bedroom door. He had a look of terror on his face, and Twilight had to pull the dragon into a quick hug, petting him softly, to let him know she was there, before he would follow her back into his room.

Twilight's diligent eyes swept the room, spotting gems that had been scattered across the floor, and the absence of the jar he used to store them. She took a few more steps into the room, staring at the walls where the shadows were cast by the candle's flame.

''T-Twilight? Do you see it?'' The trembling voice of Spike said softly behind her.

Twilight stared hard at the shadows, but saw nothing unusual. She kept her gaze on the shadows for what felt like hours, but when nothing changed, she turned to her assistant, ''No Spike, I don't see anything wrong, other then the mess you made.'' She made a light chuckle.

''But I didn't do it! Something else did!'' The baby dragon protested.

Sighing, the violet Alicorn patted Spike's head, her horn letting off a faint glow, as the scattered gems floated into the air and deposited themselves into one of the dragons open drawers, the drawer closing behind them. ''Spike, whatever happened, we can find out tomorrow morning.'' She yawned. ''For now, lets get some sleep, besides, Santa Hooves might still be on the way so we better get to sleep.'' She let out another yawn, and began to head back out through the door.

Spike tried to protest again, but something cut him off, making both his tongue and Twilight freeze in place. It was the sound, of the large double doors at the front of the castle, swinging open.

Fear coursed through Spike's body, and he latched onto Twilight, shivering as he hugged her tightly. ''Twilight! What was that!?''

''I'm not sure Spike, but something just opened the doors.''

Slowly, the Alicorn began trotting down the hallway, lighting up her horn as she did so to lighten up her surroundings. All the way, Spike clung to her back, trembling harder then Fluttershy.

Reaching the entrance hall, Twilight paused, as her brain processed what she was seeing. The doors now hung open, swinging gently from the winds outside.

''T-Twilight? W-Why are the doors open?''

The Alicorn didn't reply, instead advancing on the open doorway, checking them for damage.

There were no traces of forced entry, but then, how did they suddenly just swing open? Twilight had cast a magical charm on the doors to keep them from swinging open during the winter, to prevent the cold from getting in. Obviously this was a prank of some sort. Either that, or Santa Hooves decided finding a chimney on the castle was to difficult, and used the front door?

''Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie? Anypony? Come out and give yourselves up, I want to sleep, at least until the sun comes up!'' The violet mare called out, but when she got no reply, she grunted, and pulled the double doors shut with her magic.

Slowly, Spike let go of Twilight, and looked around, ''S-So what do you think? Was this just another prank?''

''I don't know Spike, but whatever the case, I just want to sleep, we got a big day tomorrow.'' The Alicorn turned away from the door, but suddenly, her light went out, plunging the room around them into almost complete darkness.

''TWILIGHT! WHAT HAPPENED!'' Her assistant screamed, his voice echoing slightly in the large room.

''I don't know Spike! My horn suddenly just died! I can't feel my magic!'' She cried back, panic in her voice.

Suddenly, light appeared from the other side of the room, in the form of a fire that had just been started in the fireplace. the flames cackled, almost as if they were mocking the two terrified friends. A being stood near the fire, two red, glowing pupils, staring at them from the darkness.

Spike let out a little yelp, as he grabbed hold of Twilight's side again. ''W-Who is that!''

Twilight stood her ground, her wings flaring as she took a step forward. ''Yes, who are you? And why did you barge into my house in the middle of the night!?'' She barked.

The figure, didn't reply, simply stepping out of the darkness, into the light of the fireplace. Many features could be seen now. He was another pony, a stallion, slightly taller and skinnier then the average stallion. He wore a red scarf around his neck, and a red and white Santa hooves hat upon his head. His coat was a royal shade of blue, although in the darkness, it appeared darker then it was. A mane and tail of reddish brown helped point to who he was further, causing Twilight to gasp.

''S-Swift Blade!? What are you doing here!?'' She exclaimed, before realizing something was very wrong.

Although his face was mostly obscured by the shadows, she could tell, something was very wrong with the blue pony's face. His eyes...they almost seemed...black, in the dark, and his pupils, they were an unnatural red color. She could see something else...in his mouth, he was clutching a large candy cane...but the end had been sharpened down to a point...

The stallion dropped the large sweet into a hoof, and what looked like a grin appeared across his face. ''Happy Hearths Warming Eve Twilight, Spike.'' he nodded to each of them.

''Swift? What are you doing here? And at this time of night?'' Twilight asked again, a tone of annoyance in her voice.

''Oh, me? I'm here to deliver some...presents...they're for your friends and family, but I needed to show up a few hours early to deliver them...I hope you understand...'' The stallion chuckled, and began trotting three legged towards the baby dragon and Alicorn.

''Presents?'' Spike puzzled, tensing up as the stallion approached.

''What kind of presents do you need to deliver that need to be here this early?'' Twilight inquired, taking a few steps back from the advancing pony. ''Spike, get behind me.'' She hissed in the corner of her mouth. Something wasn't right.

''Well, I wanted to make Hearths Warming a bit more...red. Since I couldn't do that during Hearths Warming day, I decided to do it now, before everypony wakes up.'' Swift stopped moving, and his grin seemed to get wider.

''When Apple Jack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, and all of your families get here, they'll get to see my gift to them. As well as the gift I intend to give to many others.'' The earth pony suddenly raised the candy cane, and pointed it at the Twilight.

''Wha-'' The mare was cut off when something wrapped around her legs and torso, suddenly lifting her into the air, she tried to struggle, but whatever held her was beyond her strength.

''Twilight! I'll sa-'' Came Spike's voice as suddenly he was lifted from the ground too.

The two friends kept trying to free themselves, but the strange, unseen beings were to strong.

''What are these things!'' Twilight yelled, finally glaring at the pony responsible.

''The darkness itself.'' Swift Blade cackled. ''It is me, and it is I. And I am going to use you two as gifts to all of Ponyville!''

''What does that mean!?'' Twilight cried out over Spike's cries for help.

A sudden pain ran up one of her hind legs, and she cried out. She looked down, and saw something she had only seen in nightmares. The darkness, it was eating away at her leg! She felt another pain, as something began burrowing into her chest, tearing into her.

She screamed, as she felt her own body being eaten away by the shadows. The pain was indescribable, and she continued to scream and thrash around, barely hearing Spike's own screams of pain and terror.

Through it all, Swift Blade laughed, enjoying the sight of the so-called ''Great'' Spike, and the magical princess of friendship, Twilight Sparkle, being eaten away, as they cried out and writhed in pain. To another pony, it would have been sickening, but to the twisted stallion, it was a beautiful sight.

''All right, I believe that enough, time to end this, and hang up my decorations.'' He grinned, as the two bleeding and dying beings were lowered down to his height.

''W-Why...'' Spike chocked out, blood running down from his mouth.

Swift didn't speak, he just raised the sharpened cane over his head and plunged it down into Spike's little body. the cane went through his unprotected stomach, and Spike let out one last wail of agony, before falling silent, body twitching, before finally going still.

Twilight's eyes filled with tears, and she tried to run towards the lifeless dragon, but couldn't move from her bindings. She began to cry, her tears falling harder and faster than when she was in the process of being eaten alive. ''No! No! Spike! Oh Celestia no!'' Her tears of sorrow quickly turned to tears of rage as she screamed at the one behind her faithful friend's death. ''HOW COULD YOU! YOU MONSTE-''

She was cut off, when the candy cane sunk into her throat, cutting her words off completely, reducing them to nothing but bloody choked whispers, as she coughed, trying to get air from her destroyed throat.

Swift simply watched, backing away from the mare, leaving the weapon lodged in her throat. A twisted smile spread from cheek to cheek, as he watched the final moments of the mare, before she went limp, blood trickling down her neck, running down her legs, and hitting the floor in quiet plips.

Swift Blade stared up at the large tree that stood near the door, and the two broken beings were lifted up, pinned to the tree like oversized Hearths Warming decorations. He nodded, and pulled off his hat, heading over to the tree, he allowed the hat to be taken by the darkness, and placed on the once lively purple dragons head.

Grinning, the stallion turned and pushed open the large castle doors, stepping out into the cold night. Snow crunched beneath his hooves, as he turned, and pulled the doors shut again.

His presents left for the ponies to see in the morning, Swift Blade began trotting away, heading for the outskirts of town. The blue pony began singing a small little Hearths Warming day tune he had once heard, as he began making his way down the road, he couldn't help but sing aloud to nopony in particular:

''May all your Hearths Warming's be Red.''

Author's Note

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to all.