A Hearth's Warming After Dark Special
“...Snowfall was all set to cast her spell, that would erase Hearth’s Warming Eve for all time, when a voice from the Hearth caught her attention…”
“You sure ya wanna go through with this?” The voice had a farmer’s accent, a distinctive twang. Snowfall had only heard the accent previously when bargaining for alchemical ingredients in the market. Never had she heard it, or the voice itself, in her laboratory before.
“Huh- Who’s there?” Glancing around the room, she was instantly searching the corners, the dark shadows of the lab. It wasn’t late in the day yet, but the winter nights were always long, and the sun had disappeared hours ago. The only source of light seemed to be emanating from the fire behind her… when had all of her candles and lanterns been extinguished?
A pop from behind her made her ears snap up, and she turned to the cast-iron cauldron full of her bubbling green alchemical brew just in time for...something, to emerge from the liquid’s surface. It was a transparent shape, with a pony’s features, a mare to boot. She seemed to be emerging from the mixture itself, and she wore a similarly-transparent stetson and simple dress. Snowfall could hardly believe her eyes when it opened it’s eyes, smiled warmly at her, and said, “The Spirit of Hearth’s Warmings Past, that’s who!”
Emerging further from the cauldron, she seemed to glide out, landing without carrying a drop of the mixture. As Snowfall backed up, afraid of whatever creature this may be, whether shade, spectre, or simple hallucination, it landed where she had been standing only moments ago, still smiling. “And you and me have gotta have us a little chat.”
“A spirit?” Questioned Snowfall, searching her memories. She couldn’t recall the exact rules on Spirits, but they were meant to be rare, and usually could only be summoned… “But I didn’t cast any spirit-summoning spell!” Confusion and fear were replaced with mere curiosity and annoyance as she stepped forward, waving a hoof through this new distraction from her work. “What are you doing here?”
The spirit simply started walking forward, and this time Snowfall held her ground, only for the spirit to begin walking right through her! “You didn’t think a spell like that would get by without some powerful forces noti- huh?” Something in Snowfall felt unsettled on a spiritual level, like somepony had walked over her grave, but something warm in her blood resisted, and the spirit noticed, freezing midway through her. “Uhh… Hun, what is- oh, shoot-”
All of a sudden the spirit’s eyes went wide, and she let out a yelp that seemed to echo somehow in a lab that had never echoed the entire time Snowfall had taken residence here. Her glowing spectra form appeared to collapse somewhat, sucking inward as the spirit was pulled wholly into Snowfall’s midsection. The last the Alchemist saw of the ghost was a kicking blue hoof as it was yanked into her gut, and did not re-emerge.
The feelings of unease faded as her belly growled, and Snowfall was reminded that she’d only had her tea this morning, eschewing breakfast and lunch for more work in her lab. “...Spirit?” She asked, confused, and giving herself a poke below the ribs. “What- What is going on around here?”
Something pushed it’s way up her throat, and she found herself letting out an unstoppable belch, her entire throat vibrating as spectral scraps of… something, flew free and fluttered to her wooden floor. Her belly had started gurgling constantly as well, and as she bent down to inspect the ghostly bits of… was that the Spirit’s hat? Her innards twisted, and a raucous burst of air escaped her rear, causing her to blush.
“Oh… Oh my... “ She groaned, before something else started coming, and her eyes widened as she stumbled, galloping for her water closet. She let out another few squirts of rancid air as her hooves pounded against the floor. She made it to the tiny room just in time, slamming the door behind her and sitting back on the circular iron bowl as another fart was let loose, this time carrying with them a wet splatter from her rear. But these ones felt… odd, somehow, on the way out.
Relaxing her anal muscles, a full load of horseapples began spilling into the bowl and splashing into the standing water. She let out a whine as she felt them pass, because that odd feeling returned, stronger than before, like numbness, and she found herself leaning to the side to watch what exactly she was shitting out.
Her normal brown logs seemed to be mixed with an unusual transparent blue glowing goop, like a pony had distilled the sky into sludge, and it instantly reminded her of the spirit that had disappeared into her gut not two minutes ago. The blue excrement quickly started to overcome the small amounts of more normal poop, falling into the bowl and melting into the water, mixing with it and creating a glowing blue pool that more spectral shits seemed to add to.
Her stomach let out another hungry growl as the bowel movement turned sloppy, but the colour stayed the same. While she was stuck, at the mercy of her intestines, her mind was reeling. Had she… somehow eaten the Spirit? Had her body somehow managed to process the spectral pony, reducing her to this? How? She’d never heard of a pony managing to digest a ghost before, the ramifications were bizarre. Had she technically eaten a whole pony now? Did ghost ponies only halfway count? She seemed to be important, as the ‘Spirit of Hearth’s Warming Eves Past’... Would there be another?
She found herself letting out a short giggle. Well, she had been planning to destroy Hearth’s Warming Eve… Eliminating this spirit, even in this way… Well, it certainly seemed effective, if nothing else, and the remains were probably one of the easiest shits she had ever taken, even if they were a bit liquid for her tastes.
She began slowing down a moment later, the flow of the slurry being punctuated by a few more farts as pockets of gas tickled her rump on the way out. As it cut off entirely, she let out a relieved sigh, pushing with her muscles to make sure it was all out. Looking back into the bowl, she considered keeping the glowing blue fecal remains as alchemical components for only a moment, but eventually decided against it. If she’d already summoned one spirit, it should be foal’s play to summon another, and try this again.
After wiping up (the glowing blue colour also made that much easier) and flushing whatever remained of the spectre into the sewers, she trotted back into her lab, inspecting the still-bubbling cauldron. What ingredient could have caused that? The holly she’d tossed in, perhaps? She’d assumed the Hearth’s warming decoration had been preserved, but if not, it may have reacted with the mixture-
There was an explosion of confetti, and a voice nearly scared Snowfall out of her wits when it shouted, “Snowfall Frost! It is I, the Spirit of Hearth’s Warming Presents!” Turning, she came muzzle-to-muzzle with a pink transparent pony covered in the confetti and somehow stretching out of a giant present she must’ve missed on the way in, like a jack-in-the-box.
Frozen in shock, her mind wandered, trying to come up with anything to get the pink phantom out of her face while she backed away. “Um… Don’t you mean present, like the time? And for that matter, where did you come from? I know I didn’t summon you!”
“No! Toys, Hearth’s warming dolls, here, want a cupcake?” Snowfall took the offered items in her magic, before shaking her head and tossing them in a nearby wastebasket. “No thanks… I think I already ate. Answer my question, from whence did you come?”
The pink ghost blinked, tilting her head, and then looking around. “You are Snowfall Frost, right? I didn’t get the wrong place again, did I?”
“I am she, yes, but-”
“Well, then didn’t the Spirit of Hearth’s Warmings Past explain all this boring junk to you? Trying to change your mind from erasing Hearth’s Warming Eve forever, attracted the attention of powerful forces, blah blah blah, look at all these happy ponies, let’s try and figure out why you’re not?” The pink Spectre didn’t slow down for an instant while explaining, rolling her eyes and kicking the giant present out of Snowfall’s view. When she turned, trying to make sure it didn’t break anything important, the present seemed to have just disappeared.
“S-sort of?” Snowfall stammered. “She was midway through explaining all of that when she walked through me, and then-”
“Oh yeaaah,” Giggled the pink spirit. “Yeah, that’s one of her favourite tricks, really cuts down on the ‘how do I know you’re not just playing a prank on me’ arguments. Then what happened?”
Snowfall pointed at her barrel, where the blue ghost’s hoof had disappeared. “She sort of… got stuck? And then got sucked in?”
The pink ghost blinked rapidly in confusion again. “...Sucked in?” She leaped forward and Snowfall leaped back, only for her rump to hit a wall. The pink ghost then poked Snowfall’s belly and snickered. “Come on, Pastyjack! Time to come out, we have a job to do, remember?”
Snowfall’s belly utterly failed to do anything besides gurgle.
“Huh.” Stated the pink ghost of presents. “That’s weird. Did anything else happen? And are you sure you’ve eaten? Your belly is making a lot of grumblies and it’s best not to astral project on an empty stomach.”
“I- I’ve had my usual Moondew tea, but besides that not much else besides.. Well… I think I may have, er… digested your friend?”
Blinking again, the pink spirit seemed to be in shock. “...Huh. Usually I’m the strangest one in the room. This feels weird.” Shaking her head, she put her ear to Snowfall’s gut. “You said Moondew tea and nothing else?”
“Yes…?” Snowfall said, looking around for a way to escape the pink one’s attention.
“Weeeeeell… It’s possible you may have stumbled on a long-forgotten recipe for a potion that affects spirits, by combining that and the fumes of whatever you tossed in that big, stinky cauldron over there. And then if you were really, really hungry..” She shrugged. “Eh, seems likely enough. Did you poop her out already?”
“I-”
“Never mind, much faster if I check for myself!” Snowfall yelped as her body was invaded again by an otherworldly presence. The pink spirit had ducked between her legs before she could stop her, and slid right into her rear like it was nothing! Looking underneath, it looked like the pink pony had jammed her entire head into her butt, searching for her friend. “What- how- get out of there!”
“Ooooh, yup, that’s ectoplasm for sure. Yup, you digested her soul and everything. Wasn’t expecting that tonight.” The muffled pink pony tried to pull her head back out, but Snowfall yelped, and it seemed like the Spectre of Presents had managed to get herself stuck. “Um. Snowfall? Are you clenching? I’d really really like it if you stopped!”
“I’m not doing that! Growled the alchemist. “Maybe you should have just waited for me to answer instead of cramming your head up my rear!”
The pink spectre was actually starting to panic now, and Snowfall smirked evilly as ghostly pink hooves grabbed her shapely buttocks and pushed, trying to yank her head out. How much of them had been added by the other Spirit?
“Snowfall, seriously! This isn’t funny, push me out! It stinks in here!”
“Well,” the alchemist said, pushing the pink pony against the wall, forcing her in deeper and clenching up to hold her there, “It’s gonna get a lot worse!”
The ghost let out a muffled squeal as she was crammed inside, her hooves spreading to the sides, and her shoulders began to follow her head in. More of her began slipping in, faster and faster, as Snowfall quickly figured out the best way to pull her in. The last words she heard from the spectre was a terrified cry of “I don’t wanna end up like her!”
“Oh, yeah, say hi to your friend for me!” Growled Snowfall, rubbing her gut and still pushing back. The pink pony was stuck inside up to her hooves, and with a slurp, the transparent legs slid inside completely, leaving Snowfall with a glowing blue gut and a churning and gurgling belly.
Sitting back, she spread her legs, her massive glowing gut easily spreading across her floor between them as the Spirit of Hearth’s Warming Presents was forcefully curled up inside it. She seemed to be squirming a lot, maybe trying to figure out how to escape, and Snowfall was loving the internal massage she was getting. For whatever reason, too, this spirit was digesting much slower than the last, giving her time to enjoy the sensation of a truly full belly in a way few had surely experienced before.
She rubbed her belly’s stretched surface, feeling the bumps of her own flesh layered over the spectral form trapped inside, and occasionally pressing down, usually getting a burp in return. She noted with a giggle that her belly button had become an outie, and that eventually, the spirit’s struggling had stopped. With that, the contents of her belly quickly started becoming much goopier, but just as interesting. She even heaved up her belly and let it drop again, sloshing the remains of the ghost inside her belly from side to side.
She was so distracted, in fact, that it took her quite a few minutes to realize that her laboratory had filled up with a dense fog that obscured it almost entirely. She was sitting against a wall, but the wall, floor, and ceiling around her simply disappeared into the mist. When she heard the next voice, it shocked her entirely out of the fascination she had with her belly.
“Odd. The pink one was meant to leave you outside.”
Snowfall jumped again looking around, and caught sight of the next spirit, and unbeknownst to her, the last. It was an imposing hooded figure, easily six times the height of a pony, and completely obscured in a dark blue cloak that appeared to be completely made of shadows. As the hood fell away, another transparent figure revealed herself. She was coloured as dark a blue as she could get before becoming fully translucent, and swirls of darkness stretched and swirled across her fur like clouds against the night sky. Her eyes, when they opened, were the most striking thing about her, bright like two suns, but cold like a pair of stars, without pupils, or at least too bright to see. She looked the ponification of death itself, given imposing form.
She did not, however, fit well into Snowfall’s workshop. It would have barely fit two average-sized ponies if one stood one the other’s shoulders. Whoever this spirit was, they were clearly cramped and hunched over, unable to fit in the room at her full height. With an exasperated sigh, she spoke, her voice echoing with reverence and sheer power. “I am the Spirit of Hearth’s Warming yet to Come. But you, Snowfall Frost,” A long, transparent hoof emerged from the cloak, extending towards Snowfall’s muzzle... “Would prevent that from happen-”
...until it jabbed her in the muzzle rather rudely. “Ow!”
“Apologies.” The imposing spirit pulled it’s hoof back a few inches. “It is hard to judge distances in such close spaces as this.”
“Why are you here?” Groaned Snowfall, rubbing the end of her muzzle.
“You, Snowfall Frost, would prevent there from being any more Hearth’s Warming Eve’s. The world would lose what it knows of joy and happiness, and the Windigoes would return to bring destruction upon ponykind.” She paused, looking around the laboratory again. “There was a song prepared, but it would be impractical to do it inside. The pink one was really meant to bring you outside when she was done. Again, apologies, on both my behalf and hers.”
Snowfall rolled her eyes. “Really? That’s what all this is about? It’s all a load of hooey. You just showing up here and saying this is meaningless, and Windigoes are little foal’s stories.”
“Little foals- Did you learn nothing from the Spirits of Past and Presents? Were you not shaken to your core by the revelations they gave you? Your soul is still cold as ice, Snowfall Frost, I can see it within you!” The hoof extended again, poking Snowfall right in the exact same place.
The purple little unicorn glared at the impossibly tall spirit that had just poked her in the schnoz for a second time, and the sloshing belly that was still essentially anchoring her to the floor under the digesting mass of the previous Spirit. “Alright, that’s enough of this bunk. I don’t know what I put in that cauldron that had such an effect, whether it was summoning you or making me hallucinate, but either way I’ve had enough of this, and I have an idea.”
The alchemist leaned forward, pulling the Spirit of Hearth’s Warming Yet to Come’s extended hoof into her mouth, and she reacted as could be expected. “What… What are you even…? That is horrifically gross, Snowfall Frost. Did the pink one spend her time teaching you this instead of doing her job?”
Her expression changed instantly when Snowfall started sucking on her hoof, and dragged the Spirit, all ten feet of her, closer to to where she sat. “What- How? How is this possible-”
The next suck yanked the spirit inside her all the way to the shoulder, and pulled her hoof all the way down to Snowfall’s stomach, where it met the digesting ectoplasm of the Spirit of Hearth’s Warming Presents to the latest one’s horror. “Auugh! Snowfall Frost, you know not what you have done! Whether by these actions or your next, you have doomed Hearth’s Warming Eve, you fool!”
The alchemist smirked as best she could with a spectral pony feeling around inside her belly, and sucked her in again, the imposing ghost compressing in a way that made her eyes and brain hurt to watch fit inside her mouth. Her head was pulled in first, and her other hoof started waving around erratically, fighting not to be pulled inside, to no avail. The next gulp pulled it in as well, and Snowfall just kept swallowing.
It took a couple minutes to get the entirety of the latest spirit inside her belly. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to have any problems breathing through the spectre, and she swallowed her hinds with a final gulp. Slumping back against the wall, she nickered in happiness, rubbing her even larger belly. It easily dwarfed her now, and while she had no idea how her gut had managed to expand so ridiculously, she also didn’t feel much like questioning it until after the spirits haunting her belly had been reduced to ectoplasmic horseapples. With one last burp that brought a mouthful of wispy wrappings up with it, she settled down to sleep, the mists clearing around her. Tomorrow, she decided, she would check what she actually put in there.
And then, well… Hearth’s Warming Eve would still be there. Maybe she’d erase it from history next year. Maybe these delicious spirits would come back to to try and remind her again.
Author's Note
This one was actually really interesting to write. Rewatched the episode a couple times, made sure to follow the style and dialogue and general feel as closely as I could, while twisting it into this, heh.
Again, Merry Christmas and Happy Hearth's Warming Eve, everyone!