How Trixie Saved Hearth's Warming

by alexmagnet

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Trixie, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Starlight Glimmer
Length: 4900

Trixie tells the Cutie Mark Crusaders the story of how she saved Hearth's Warming one fateful night.

During this year's Hearth's Warming party at Twilight's castle, Trixie is enjoying lounging by the fire, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders ask to hear a story. So, Trixie decides it's the perfect time to tell them about the time she saved Hearth's Warming.

Thanks to Csquared and ferret for pre-reading and suggestions.

Published 2017-12-20 21:00:11 UTC
Last updated 2017-12-20 21:00:11 UTC

It Was the Night Before Hearth's Warming...

Fire crackled in the hearth, little embers popping up and slowly drifting back down. Lights of various colors were strung around the room, boughs of holly intertwined with them. Despite how wide and tall the room was, it was pleasantly warm and smelled faintly of cinnamon, likely due to Fluttershy’s eggnog. Everything had a soft orange glow, and there was a quiet hum of conversation in the background as ponies milled around and chatted. Trixie, however, was sitting in a comfy armchair near the hearth.

Fire reflecting in her eyes, she looked down at the fillies gathered before her. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom stared at Trixie expectantly. With a wide grin, Trixie said, “So, you girls want to hear a story, hm?”

They nodded in unison. Sweetie Belle, her voice cracking with excitement, said, “Yeah! We heard you have some really great stories, Miss Trixie!”

Trixie’s smile grew. She leaned back in her seat and kicked her legs up on an ottoman, feeling her hooves start to warm from the fire. “Well,” she began, “then I have quite the tale for you little fillies. I’m going to tell you about the time that I, The Great and Powerful Trixie, saved Hearth’s Warming from disaster.” She watched for a moment, gauging their reactions, then added in a low whisper, “Don’t tell Starlight I’m telling you this, but this is the story about how I saved Hearth’s Warming from her.”

Scootaloo cocked her head to the side, frowning slightly. “How can you save Hearth’s Warming from Starlight? She’s, like, really nice.”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, “and I ain’t never heard this story before. Are you sure this is a…” She paused for a moment, seeing Trixie’s raised brow. “A legitimate story?” she finally finished.

“Do you doubt The Great and Powerful Trixie?” Trixie said, raising her eyebrows even higher and giving the fillies an accusatory glare.

All three crusaders answered at the same time.

“No.”

“No.”

“Yes—er, no,” said Sweetie Belle, catching herself.

Not missing Sweetie Belle’s little slip up, Trixie decided it was time to bring out the showmare side of her. She leaned forward in her seat, her horn igniting. With a little burst of magic, she created a tiny diorama. Giving it a little shake, miniature snowflakes started to fall and cover a little wagon surrounded by woods and lit by single tiny lamp hanging from the side. Her voice deepening slightly, Trixie said, “It all started one snowy night, six years ago.”

Fat snowflakes fell outside Trixie’s wagon. It was late afternoon turning to evening, but she hadn’t finished her journey yet. It was Hearth’s Warming Eve, and she was just a few more hours outside Ponyville, but she was determined to arrive before everyone had gone to sleep. After all, Starlight Glimmer had promised she would wait up for her and Trixie had a gift she was planning on giving to her friend. Well, gift was somewhat generous of a term. It was more like Trixie was regifting a book she had received from Twilight years ago and hadn’t bothered to unwrap. It’s not like Starlight was going to know the difference.

In any case, as Trixie trudged through the snow, towing her wagon along, she caught a glimpse of something flying overhead. She didn’t pay too much attention to it, on the assumption that it was just a passing pegasus, but that assumption went right out the window a few moments later when that same something came crashing down right in front of her with a thunderous crunch.

Trixie was stunned momentarily, trying to figure out what had just happened. Unharnessing herself from her wagon, Trixie rushed over to the crash site to examine it closer. It turned out to be a rather large sleigh, painted red with gold trimming and a holly wreath adorning its front. Little bells hanging from the sides of the sleigh jingled in the wind as Trixie approached. As she got closer, she started to hear a moaning sound and she quickened her pace. With a flash of magic, she lifted the sleigh and uncovered a rotund pony with a thick white mane and red fur.

Trixie gasped, accidentally dropping the sleigh back onto the pony in her surprise. “Holy Celestia, you’re Santa Hooves!” she exclaimed, picking the sleigh back up again.

The pony groaned in response.

“What happened to you?” Trixie asked as she reached a hoof out and helped the pony up. He stood up for a second, and then collapsed back into a heap a moment later. “Okay, you don’t look so good. Let’s get you somewhere warm first.”

Pulling the pony Trixie was now about 99% sure was Santa Hooves away from the sleigh, she carried him over to her wagon and with a burst of magic opened the door. Dragging Santa Hooves inside, Trixie unceremoniously tossed him onto her bed and turned to light a lamp. Setting the lamp on her bedside table, she took a closer look at Santa Hooves.

He was just like all the stories described him. He was a bit taller than most ponies, quite fat, and had a jovial look about him, despite the apparent excruciating pain he was in. His ruddy red cheeks glowed in the lamplight as Trixie looked him over. She waited a few minutes for him to stop groaning, and then asked him again, “What happened to you?”

With a weak cough, he finally opened his mouth and replied, “I crashed.”

Trixie frowned. “Obviously. I saw that much. I meant, why did you crash?” She gasped. “Was it because ponies don’t believe in you anymore and your sleigh doesn’t work without the magic of belief?”

He looked at her with a confused expression, replying, “What? No, that’s stupid. It works with regular magic. I don’t know why it crashed. Ever since I stopped using pegasus ponies to pull my sleigh—”

“Right, the unions. I remember that.”

“—I’ve been using simple magic to power the sleigh, but for some reason I lost control and then, as you saw, I crashed.” He heaved a pained sigh and then coughed again.

Trixie’s eyes lit up as a plan suddenly came to mind. Putting a hoof on the other pony’s shoulder, she said, “Santa Hooves, it’s Hearth’s Warming Eve and you’re supposed to be delivering presents tonight, but since you’re, well…” she gestured to his bruised body, “incapacitated, let me take over your duty for you. I’ll deliver all the presents to all the good little foals.” She beamed at him.

Santa Hooves smiled gently. "Trixie, you're such a good girl and everyone loves you so much because you're so amazing that I would be honored if you took over my job tonight. In fact, I'm sure you'll do an even better job than me." He laughed, giving Trixie’s shoulder a playful punch. "Better not put me out of business, oh ho ho ho."

"Oh, Santa Hooves," said Trixie, "you're the best. You can definitely count on me!" Trixie puffed out her chest, thumping it with a hoof.
She threw open the door to her wagon, saying, "Let’s go save Hearth’s—"

"Wait, wait, wait," said Sweetie Belle, waving her hoof, "there’s no way that's true." She looked at Scootaloo and Apple Bloom for a sign of agreement. Scootaloo nodded along, but Apple Bloom seemed confused. Turning back to Trixie, Sweetie Belle continued. "First off, how does Santa Hooves even know your name? He just happens to crash in front of you and immediately knows your name?”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. "He’s Santa Hooves. He knows everypony’s name."

"Ooh, she’s got you there, Sweets," said Scootaloo with a chuckle.

"Maybe, but that still doesn't explain why he would immediately trust you to deliver presents for him." Sweetie Belle frowned. "Or why he would talk about how—" she made air quotes with her hooves "—amazing you are."

Trixie’s eyes narrowed even further until they had completely closed. Staring at Sweetie Belle with just her eyelids, Trixie huffed. Her eyes snapping back open, she grabbed her eggnog and took a big swig. "Fine. So maybe I embellished a tiny bit. The story is mostly true."

The three fillies stared at her accusatorily.

"It’s at least half true."

Their piercing gazes intensified.

"Okay, there are elements of truth to it." Trixie sighed, falling back into the heavily-cushioned armchair. "Fine, here’s what really happened."

Santa Hooves’ brow furrowed. “Take over my—What, no. I just need to rest for a minute and then I’ll be fine. I appreciate the offer, but it’s my job to deliver presents and I won’t—What are you doing?”

“Hm? Oh,” said Trixie with a warm smile as she opened a small cupboard door above Santa Hooves, “I was just getting some rope to tie you up with.”

“Surely you’re joking.”

“I’m not, and don’t call me Shirley. You see,” said Trixie as she gazed wistfully out the window at the snow piling up on the ground, her horn alight with magic as she began to tie up Santa Hooves. Finally, years of using rope tying as an act in her magic show was paying off. “I’ve always wanted to deliver presents to ponies on Hearth’s Warming Eve. It’s a dream of mine, and this seems like the perfect opportunity.”

“You’re crazy.”

Trixie laughed, pulling the rope tight as she finished the last knot. “No, no, no. I’m just devious. And in any case, you don’t really have a say in the matter anymore. Toodles!” Trixie waved goodbye as she stepped outside her wagon and shut the door behind her. With a satisfied grin, she trotted over to the wreckage of the sleigh and—

“Hang on a second,” said Scootaloo, raising her hoof. “I thought you said this was a story about you saving Hearth’s Warming? This just sounds like you imprisoned Santa Hooves and you’re about to ruin Hearth’s Warming.”

Trixie took a swig of eggnog and replied, “Well, I’ll admit that this doesn’t look the best right now, but I promise we’ll get to the part where I actually save Hearth’s Warming in a bit.”

Sweetie Belle frowned, crossing her hooves. "I don't like where this is going."

"Oh, what do you know?" Trixie set her mug down and gazed at the crackling fireplace. Leaning back into the chair, she said, "Anyway, back to the story."

Snow crunching under her hooves, Trixie made her way over to the sleigh. Her horn bursting to life, she picked the wrecked sleigh up and began to carefully reassemble it. She gave up a moment later when she realized it was too complex, opting instead to just scrounge up what she could and call it a day. Luckily for her, what she managed to pull from the wreckage was more or less what one might call a sleigh, which was good enough for Trixie.

Hopping into the driver’s seat of the sleigh, Trixie pulled her hat and cape on tight and then screwed up her face in concentration. Biting her lip, she lit her horn up and began to levitate the sleigh. As it rose into the air, she cried out in surprise.

“Oh my gosh, it actually worked.” Trixie looked around at the sleigh, now floating high in the air and beamed. “Why doesn’t everyone do this all the time? This is amazing!”

Bringing her hoof down on the imaginary gas pedal, Trixie rocketed the sleigh forward, gripping her hat tightly so it didn’t fly away into the night. Treetops whizzed past below her as the snow and wind whipped in her face. Yet, despite the cold, Trixie couldn’t help but smile. After all, she was driving Santa Hooves’ sleigh. How amazing was that?

“Not that amazing considering you robbed Santa Hooves to get it,” Sweetie Belle said under her breath.

Trixie’s eyes snapped to Sweetie Belle. She paused for a moment to take another drink of eggnog and then decided it be best to just move on with the story and ignore the little filly’s comment. Clearing her throat, she continued.

The lights of Ponyville were visible now as Trixie drew closer to the little town. At first Trixie wondered where she should go first, and then she realized that it would be best to visit her friend Starlight Glimmer. Changing her heading to face Twilight’s castle, Trixie raced forward. She began to realize, almost too late, that she didn’t really think about how to land the sleigh. Luckily for everyone in Ponyville, Trixie was unparalleled at magic and so she was able to slow the sleigh down and bring it to a graceful landing without too much trouble.

Skidding to a stop in front of the castle, Trixie leaped out of the sleigh and landed with a plop in the snow. She hurried inside, shaking the excess snow off as she entered. Taking her hat and cape off and setting them on a coat rack standing just inside the foyer, Trixie couldn’t help but feel that the castle was strangely quiet for Hearth’s Warming Eve.

She knew that Twilight usually had her parties on Hearth’s Warming Day, so it wasn’t so much a surprise that there wasn’t a large crowd, but it was surprising that the entire castle was eerily silent. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Which was a good sign since a few months back Trixie had started turning everything into cheese after learning a new spell and caused a horrible mouse infestation. So it looked like that was sorted out now.

“Starlight!” Trixie called out, looking around the empty foyer. There weren’t even any Hearth’s Warming decorations anywhere. The whole place was barren, save for the hearth which burned quietly in a corner. “Twilight! Spike! Anypony home?” Trixie took a few steps forward. “It’s kind of a long story, but I’m taking over Santa Hooves’ job tonight delivering presents, so I could really use some help!” she shouted into the void, but the void didn’t answer.

Suddenly Trixie heard a horrible screeching noise, like wood being dragged across flagstone. She turned towards the fireplace and noticed for the first time an armchair. Wincing as she heard the sound yet again, Trixie noticed that the armchair was slowly, tortuously turning around. She saw a hoof kicking against the floor, causing the heavy armchair to move a little bit with each kick. She watched as the furniture slowly rotated, its legs dragging across the ground.

After almost a minute of this, the chair finally turned all the way around and Trixie saw somepony she never expected sitting in the chair.

“Sorry about that,” said Starlight Glimmer with an apologetic grin. “This stupid chair wouldn’t turn properly. I was hoping to just sort of... swing around and face you.” She motioned with her hooves to show what she meant.

Trixie laughed, trotting towards Starlight. “Remind me someday and we’ll work on your entrance. It could use a little more razzle dazzle. Anyway, why are you sitting here alone in the dark?”

Starlight shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh, y’know, just plotting to destroy Hearth’s Warming.”

Apple Bloom held up a hoof, stopping Trixie. “Um, why would Starlight want to destroy Hearth’s Warming? Didn’t Twilight tell her the story of Snowfall Frost that one time?”

“That’s exactly what I asked her,” snapped Trixie. Taking another draft of eggnog, she slammed the mug down on a nearby coffee table. “But you’d know that if you just listened to the story and stopped interrupting.”

“Yeah, Apple Bloom,” said Scootaloo, eagerly looking at Trixie. “This story is starting to get good, so just be quiet.”

Trixie smiled at Scootaloo. “Thank you... uh, orange one. Now, as I was saying…”

“What!?” Trixie cried out. “What do you mean destroy Hearth’s Warming?”

Starlight got up from her chair. As she took a few steps towards Trixie, she said, “Uh, well, it should be pretty self-explanatory. I’m going to destroy Hearth’s Warming… like I just said.”

“But didn’t Twilight tell you the story of Snowfall Frost that one time?” asked Trixie, shaking her head in confusion.

“Well, obviously,” said Starlight with a chuckle. “She tells that story to everypony. You know how Twilight is with her stories. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and I think maybe Snowfall Frost had a point.”

“What is this, some kind of joke?” Trixie started looking around the foyer. “Am I about to get punked? Twilight, Spike, are you in on this?”

“It’s not a joke, Trixie,” said Starlight, approaching Trixie. She came right up to the other mare’s face and put a hoof around her shoulder. “Jeez, you’re making it sound like I’m the bad guy.”

“Yeah, Snowfall Frost was definitely the bad guy.”

“Trixie, Trixie, Trixie,” said Starlight with a sigh. She brushed a hoof through Trixie’s mane, smiling at her. “I’m not the bad guy. I know it sounds bad saying you want to get rid of Hearth’s Warming, but I promise I have a good reason.”

Trixie eyed her suspiciously. “What reason?”

Starlight removed her hoof from Trixie’s shoulder and took a step back. “Isn’t it obvious? Hearth’s Warming is all part of the deep-state globalist conspiracy to keep ponies from discovering the truth about Luna’s moonbase where she’s training an army of space slugs to come to Equestria and make us all wage slaves.”

Glancing left and right, Trixie was silent for a moment. “But what does that have to do with Hearth’s Warming?” she asked.

Starlight clicked her tongue. “Trixie, I know you’re not smart—”

“Hey!”

“—But I’ll have to tell you all about it some other time. In fact, you can read all about it on my blog, but the fact of the matter is right now I need your help to get rid of Hearth’s Warming so we can start waking everypony up to the truth.”

Trixie looked past Starlight towards the armchair where a mug sat on a little side table. “Did you make the eggnog with too much rum again?”

“Look,” said Starlight with a sigh, “you may not believe me, but I need you to trust me, as a friend. Stopping Hearth’s Warming is a good thing, and you can be part of it.”

Trixie shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry, Starlight. I promised Santa Hooves I’d deliver the presents to all the good little foals. I can’t let him down.” Backing off a few steps, Trixie dropped into a defensive posture, her horn beginning to glow slightly. “If you’re planning on ruining Hearth’s Warming, then I have to stop you.”

Starlight’s eyes narrowed as her horn started to spark. “I can’t let you do that, Trixie.”

Grabbing her cloak from the coat rack, Trixie slipped into the cape, and then dramatically threw it off. “I don’t want to hurt you, Starlight. Let’s just stop this now and then we can both finish Santa’s work and everypony will love us. Well, love us more, I suppose.”

A wicked grin crossing her face, Starlight’s horn sparked with blue electricity and bolt of angry lightning shot at Trixie. Though she was surprised, Trixie was able to erect a spherical shield around herself just in time. The lighting bolt struck the shield, dissipating harmlessly.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Trixie,” said Starlight, “but I won’t let you stop me.” She fired a salvo of three bolts at Trixie from different angles.

Ready this time, Trixie had already started to cast a spell that coated her forehooves in an ethereal mist that sparkled slightly, covering her hooves like gauntlets. She reared up on her hind legs, swinging her hooves in front of her and deflecting the first bolt with a swipe of her hoof. It bounced away, exploding a nearby window into a shower of glass. The second bolt she caught in a localized shield as she jackknifed the third bolt into the ground. Trixie let out a breath, dropping her left back hoof backwards as she put her right front hoof forward.

Starlight grinned wolfishly. “Not bad, Trixie, but you know you can’t beat me. Not even Twilight knows as much magic as I do.”

Her hooves glowing like ephemeral crystals, Trixie smirked. “They don’t call me the Great and Powerful Trixie for nothing.”

The foyer exploded into furious action as—

“No, that’s stupid,” said Sweetie Belle matter-of-factly. “This doesn’t make any sense. Why would Starlight try to destroy Hearth’s Warming over something so dumb, and why would she fight you? Aren’t you guys best friends?”

Trixie wiped her mouth, having just taken another swig of eggnog. “Yes, but friends fight sometimes.” She pointed an accusatory hoof at Sweetie Belle. “You don’t think I could take her?” Trixie downed some more eggnog and said, “I could beat her in a magic duel with four hooves tied behind my back.”

“That doesn’t even—”

“Keep going!” said Scootaloo excitedly. Noticing Trixie’s eggnog was now empty, she buzzed her little wings and quickly scooped the mug up and went to refill it. A moment later she was back, setting the eggnog down, she said, “I wanna hear more!”

Giving a slightly lopsided smile, Trixie ruffled Scootaloo’s mane. “This one’s the good one,” she said to no one in particular. “All right, where was I? Ah, right. So, Starlight thought she could beat me in a fight...”

Her magically-enhanced hooves slicing through the air like blades, Trixie twirled and flipped, knocking aside the bolts of magic Starlight was firing at her. Catching one bolt at a high angle as it came from above, Trixie slapped it down at Starlight. The other pony rolled to the side, the bolt hitting the ground with the force of a boulder. Stone fragments shot into the air as Trixie hit the ground, one hoof lifted up slightly and her head pointed down.

Trixie was breathing heavily now, as was Starlight, but her adrenaline was racing now, so when Starlight recovered from her roll and fired another burst of lighting at her Trixie easily deflected it away. “You can’t break my defense, Starlight!” Trixie called out.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Starlight shouted back. “You can’t just dodge and block forever!”

A smirk creeping across her face, Trixie said, “You’re right.” Dropping back to all fours, Trixie charged recklessly forward, screaming her ancestral war cry. “Kraa! Kraa! Kraa!”

Starlight looked at her incredulously. “What the heck is that noise? Are you some kind of bat, or—Oof!”

Starlight was cut off as Trixie got close to her, ducked down to dodge a stray bolt from the other mare and then came rising up like a snake, her glowing hoof shooting towards Starlight’s chin in a furious uppercut. She caught Starlight right on the jaw, sending the other pony flying up into the air. Trixie closed her eyes. “Teleportation spell, go!” She disappeared in a flash, reappearing in the air above Starlight.

Starlight tried to bring her hooves up to defend herself, but Trixie had already unleashed a fiery haymaker aimed right at her midsection. The shockwave from the hit shattered all the windows in the foyer as Starlight rocketed back towards the ground. Just before she hit the flagstone, Starlight’s horn lit up and she teleported away, slamming into a bookshelf.

Falling back to the ground, Trixie watched as Starlight got up unsteadily and swept her mane from her face. As she brought her hooves back to their ready position, Trixie said, “Are you ready to give up yet?”

“I’m just getting warmed up.” Starlight widened her stance, her horn taking in light as she charged a spell. “You still haven’t even seen half of what I can do.” A ball of pure energy gathered at the tip of Starlight’s horn, growing larger at a staggering pace. Her face contorted into a look of pure concentration, Starlight launched the ball, which was now the size of a large boulder, at Trixie.

Sticking her hooves out straight ahead of her, Trixie caught the ball in her magical gauntlets. She grit her teeth, her muscles straining against the force of the attack as she struggled to gain a hold of it. With a great exertion, she managed to get underneath the ball and redirected it at the ceiling. When it hit the roof, the ball exploded like a bomb, utterly destroying the top half of the castle and everything around it.

Stones, glass, and torn pages rained down around them. Trixie took a long breath.

“Nice job, but try this!” shouted Starlight as her eyes began to glow with inner light.

“This is the dumbest thing ever,” said Sweetie Belle. “How is this even remotely possible? You destroyed the castle… but it’s still here now? Surely we would have heard about that?”

Trixie downed the last of her sixth or seventh mug of eggnog, she’d lost count, and said, “It happened, trust me. And don’t call me Shirley.”

“Who cares if it’s true?” said Scootaloo. “It’s awesome!”

Apple Bloom shrugged. “It’s definitely something.”

“So, anyway, like I was saying,” said Trixie. “Starlight’s eyes started to glow and then—” Trixie leapt up and balanced precariously on the arm of the chair, “—laser beams shot out of her eyes!” Trixie, her cheeks red and looking a little dizzy, started punching the air. “She was like, pew pew pew! But I was too awesome, so I dodged it and then, uh… uh.” Trixie’s hooves dropped to her sides. “What was happening again?” she asked, looking down at the fillies.

Sighing, Sweetie Belle said, “Who even knows anymore?”

“Trixie, what are you doing?” came a voice from behind them.

All the ponies turned to face Starlight Glimmer who had just left the party and come to see what all the shouting was about. The turning turned out to be too much for Trixie because as soon as she had spun all the way around she fell off the armchair into a heap on the ground.

“Oh my gosh! Trixie, are you all right?” Starlight rushed over to Trixie. However, as she leaned down to check on the other mare, she gave an exasperated sigh. “She’s asleep.”

“Aw, man…” said Scootaloo, crossing her hooves over her chest. “I wanted to hear how it ended.

“Hear how what ended?” asked Starlight, turning back to the fillies.

“Trixie was telling us a story,” said Sweetie Belle with a sigh. “It was supposed to be how she saved Hearth’s Warming, but it just turned into a big fight scene.”

“Ah,” said Starlight knowingly. “That story.”

Scootaloo’s eyes lit up. “You know it?”

Chuckling, Starlight said, “Yeah, of course. I’m in it, aren’t I?”

“Wait, you were actually there?” said Apple Bloom incredulously. “I just assumed the entire story was made up.”

“Well, it’s mostly made up,” Starlight conceded. “But there are elements of truth to it.”

“Yeah, that’s what she said,” said Sweetie Belle. “So, what actually happened?”

“Well…” Starlight began as she took Trixie’s seat. “Did she tell you about Santa Hooves?”

They nodded.

“So, that stuff actually happened. Crazy, I know. But things change after that.” Starlight leaned back into the seat, causing it to creak in protest. “Basically, Trixie managed to get the sleigh here, but then she crashed it immediately. Twilight and I rushed outside to see what the commotion was and we found Trixie. We brought her inside where she downed, like, a gallon of eggnog and then started to tell us what happened. About the time she got to the bit with Santa Hooves she started to get pretty sleepy and eventually just fell passed out. So, not knowing what else to do, Twilight and I went to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and convinced them to help us with the sleigh. We hooked them up and then went around Equestria and delivered presents while Trixie slept in the back seat.”

“Huh, so she didn’t really save Hearth’s Warming?” said Scootaloo, her ears drooping slightly.

Starlight shrugged. “I suppose it depends on how liberally you’re willing to interpret the word ‘saved’.”

“So, what happened to Santa Hooves?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Well, that’s an interesting story,” said Starlight. “After we got back, and Trixie woke up, we—”

“Hey, Starlight, can you come here for a second?” came Twilight’s voice from across the room.

“Ah, sorry girls. I’ll have to tell you about it some other time,” said Starlight apologetically as she got up from her seat and started to head towards Twilight. “Duty calls, heh.”

Sweetie Belle frowned. “But, I wanna know what happened with Santa Hooves.”

Standing up, Scootaloo looked at her friends, saying, “C’mon, guys. Let’s go talk to Rainbow Dash. I bet she has some awesome stories about Hearth’s Warming. She has awesome stories about everything.”

“Ooh!” Apple Bloom shot up. “We could talk to Applejack! She has great stories too.”

“Yeah, how about we don’t do that,” said Scootaloo with a giggle. “I don’t really wanna hear about how apple cider saved Hearth’s Warming again.” She waved a hoof. “C’mon, I see Rainbow Dash over there.”

As the two fillies started to walk away, Sweetie Belle threw her hooves up in frustration. “But what about Santa Hooves? What happened to him!?”

Trixie merely snored in response.

Sweetie Belle sighed in resignation. “I think I hate Hearth’s Warming.”