The Hearth's Warming Filly
The Hearth's Warming Filly
Shining Armor and Spear Head made their way down the darkened Canterlot street, the sound of their hooves on the old cobblestones echoing off the pale porcelain-white buildings of the neighborhood. The sound seemed to hang in the cold air just a few moments longer than usual.
“Last corner, bro,” Spear Head muttered as he looked over at Shining Armor. “Then patrol’s over.”
“Good,” Shining Armor replied. His tone was nonchalant, but the smile tugging at the edge of his lips tipped Spear Head off as to his thoughts.
“Can’t wait to meet up with Princess Cadance, eh?” he asked, elbowing his companion as he smirked.
Shining Armor said nothing, but let his grin serve as an answer.
“Can’t blame you, bro,” Spear Head chuckled. “If I had a mare like her waiting for me tonight, I would’ve galloped through the patrol just to get it over with faster.”
“And then Lieutenant Long Strides would have yanked our tails out and told us to get back out there and do it right anyway,” Shining Armor said.
“Well, maybe he’d be in a better mood for Hearth’s Warming,” Spear Head said.
Shining Armor chuckled. “That really would be a Hearth’s Warming miracle. And I don’t believe in miracles.”
“Other than you having Cadance as a girlfriend--ow!” Spear Head yelped, laughing in spite of himself as Shining Armor smacked him upside the head, knocking his helmet slightly askew.
“Anyway, you must be excited to get home after this too, right?” Shining Armor asked.
“Well, uh… sure, but, it’s not like I have a girlfriend waiting for me,” he said. Then, quietly, he added, “Just my mom.”
“Your mom?!” Shining Armor exclaimed. “The one who lives out in that village outside Applewood?”
Spear Head blushed. “Yeah… after I sent her that letter telling her I couldn’t come home for Hearth’s Warming this year, she decided to come visit me instead. Just showed up earlier this afternoon. She’s only got tonight and tomorrow before she has to get back.”
Shining Armor pat his friend on the back. Spear Head didn’t get to go home often due to his duties, and it was a long way to Applewood. The village he was from didn’t even have a train station yet, which made the journey even longer. His mom paying a visit was all the more impressive.
“Well, let’s get this patrol over with!” Shining Armor said, picking up the pace of his trot.
“Whoa, hey, slow down!” Spear Head shouted. “What about the Lieutenant?!”
“Even he won’t care if we’re a few minutes early,” Shining said. “Let’s go!”
“Well, you’re the superior officer,” Spear Head laughed, catching up to him. “So… yes, sir!”
The two of them quickly rounded the last corner before the Guard Outpost…
...and almost ran right into the little filly sitting in the road.
“Whoa!” the two stallions shouted at once as they came to a stop, almost falling over each other as their hooves slid on the cobblestones.
The girl did not react. She only continued sitting there, staring up at the two older ponies.
“Sorry about that, miss!” Shining Armor said as he regained his composure. “I guess we shouldn’t have been in a hurry!” He gave her a smile.
The filly’s coat was pale blue. Her mane was a slightly messy mass of dark blue curls with small traces of white in them. Around her neck was a tattered pink scarf. She looked up at him with enormous golden eyes. She didn’t smile, but only stared at him silently with a somber, almost forlorn look.
She looks so sad, he noted, frowning as he knelt down to look her in the eye. “Miss, are you okay?”
The filly parted her lips and raised her head haltingly, but then, her voice barely above a whisper, said, “I’m lost.”
An icy wind suddenly blew down the street, the sudden chill enough to make Shining Armor and Spear Head shiver.
“Do you live around here?” Spear Head asked.
The girl looked around, eyeing the buildings. Then she looked back to the two of them and shook her head.
“We’d better take her with us to the outpost,” Shining Armor said.
The filly took a step back, eyeing them cautiously.
“Hey, hey,” Shining Armor said gently, smiling at her as he held out a hoof. “Don’t be afraid. We can get you someplace warm, and maybe some food if you want.”
These offers had no effect as the filly continued backing away.
“And we can help you get home,” he added. “We can help you find your parents!”
The filly stopped her retreat. She walked back toward him and put her tiny hoof in his. She nodded and softly said, “Okay.”
“Let’s hurry,” Spear Head said, still shivering. “It’s freezing out here!”
Lieutenant Long Strides stood before Shining Armor and Spear Head, the filly standing between them, her eyes downcast.
“Your report, Guards?” he asked.
“We found this filly outside, sir!” Shining Armor said.
“She says she’s lost, sir!” Spear Head added.
“I see,” Long Strides murmured, nodding to them. The Lieutenant had a bushy mustache that twitched as he pursed his lips, then raised as he leaned down to smile at the girl. “Now don’t worry, young miss. We’ll get you home soon.”
The filly didn’t look at him, but gave only the barest nod.
“Well then,” he said, “can you please tell us your name and address?”
She hesitated, glancing between the the three older ponies.
“Don’t worry,” Shining Armor said, offering her the best smile he could. “Lieutenant Long Strides is really nice. You can trust us. If you tell us your name and where you live, we can get you back home.”
The filly looked up at him, swallowed, and nodded. “I’m Misty Blue,” she said. After another pause, she looked over to Long Strides and added, “but I don’t remember my address.”
“That’s all right,” Long Strides said. “We can check the directory. What are your parents’ names?”
Misty Blue whispered something, but when they all leaned in to hear her better, she repeated herself a bit more loudly: “Starbeam Surprise is my mommy’s name. Cloud Climber is daddy’s.”
“Thank you,” Long Strides said, giving her a reassuring smile. Then he looked to Shining Armor and Spear Head. “All right, you two… let’s get out the directory.”
“Yes, sir!” Though the pair of them didn’t show it outwardly, inwardly they both winced.
The reason was obvious in a moment. The Canterlot Directory was not one book, but several, and soon Long Strides was hauling out several prodigious tomes documenting every registered family in Canterlot from the back room of the outpost. The books were thick, heavy, and the print so small that using a magnifying glass to read it was a requirement (literally, as Celestia had declared that the risk of eye strain from reading them was a health hazard).
After several minutes of the three stallions looking over the directories, however, each had come up empty-hooved.
“What now, sir?” Shining Armor asked.
“Plan C, that’s what,” Long Strides replied. He looked around and spotted Misty Blue by the fireplace. The little filly was simply staring into the flames.
“Misty?” Shining Armor called.
The filly’s ears perked up and she gave a start. As if to punctuate it, there was a sudden gust of wind outside the outpost and the fire momentarily flickered. But then Misty got to her hooves and walked back over to them.
“We can’t seem to find your mom and dad in the directory,” Shining Armor said.
“Maybe they don’t live in Canterlot,” Spear Head wondered aloud.
“Our house is here,” Misty said. She looked out the window. “I have to get back there soon.”
“Back where?” Long Strides asked. “Could you show us on a map?”
Misty Blue shook her head. “I don’t think so… but our house is by the bank.”
“The Royal Bank of Canterlot?” Shining Armor asked, perking up because it was on his way home.
“Umm… maybe? There’s a statue of a unicorn stallion in front. A shiny one. Ponies rub the hooves for luck.”
“Ah. That would be the statue of Copper Top outside the 2nd branch of the bank,” Long Strides said. “That’ll be on the lower east side of the city.”
That’s almost all the way across Canterlot, Shining Armor noted to himself. He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already past the time for him to get off duty. Cadance would be expecting him soon, but he already anticipated the question Long Strides was about to ask.
“Well, Sergeant Shining Armor, Corporal Spear Head, I realize it’s Hearth’s Warming Eve, but we’ve got our duty to fulfill,” Long Strides said. “I have to stay here and the guards on the ramparts up top can’t leave their post. So… which of you will be taking this little filly home?”
Shining Armor watched as Spear Head’s ears drooped. As the lowest ranked guard there, it was only natural that it fall to him.
Then he thought of Spear Head’s visiting mother. And when he saw that Misty Blue was looking up at him with those enormous, uncertain eyes, it reminded him of Twilight as a filly. That settled things.
Shining Armor shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Sorry, Cadance.
“I’ll do it, sir,” Shining Armor said.
Spear Head jerked his head back and gawked at him. “Bro-- I mean, Sergeant, no! Cad-- er, Her Highness is expecting you soon!”
“And your mom is expecting you,” Shining Armor pointed out. “Cadance is in Canterlot all the time, but you haven’t seen your mother all year! You shouldn’t have to miss out on Hearth’s Warming Eve with your family any more than this filly should.”
Misty Blue inhaled, her gaze still fixed upon him.
“Just do me a favor and make sure to drop off a message for Cadance telling her I’ll be late,” Shining Armor said.
Spear Head looked like he was about to argue, but then fell silent as a big, dopey grin appeared on his face. He saluted Shining Armor and said, “You got it, bro! Er, sir bro!”
“Well, glad that’s settled,” Long Strides said. “You have your orders, Sergeant. I’ll prepare some hot broth for you and Misty Blue, but then you are to make absolutely certain that she gets home in time for Hearth’s Warming.”
The three Royal Guardsponies were all smiles, but Shining Armor noted that the uncertain look on Misty Blue’s face never left for even a moment.
It was a downhill trip to the lower east end of the city. He and Misty Blue began the trek through the main roads before taking the branching paths that weaved in and out of the ancient neighborhoods and past buildings that had been there since the days of Starswirl the Bearded.
The roads were dark, but lit by the occasional streetlamp, and while many houses were already dark, a few were bright and filled with the sounds of music as ponies joined together in traditional carols.
Through the window of one house, he spotted a mare and stallion kissing under the mistletoe. He thought of Cadance.
“Who’s Cadance?”
Shining Armor looked over at Misty Blue. It was the first question that the little pony had asked in fifteen minutes. In fact, it was the first thing she’d said at all since they’d left the outpost.
“Oh, she’s…” his cheeks flushed and he chuckled. “She’s my girlfriend.”
Misty nodded. “Your friend… he called her ‘Her Highness.’”
Shining Armor wasn’t one to brag that his special somepony was royalty, but she had him nailed to the wall now.
“Well, uh, her royal name is ‘Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.’”
He expected her to be surprised, awed, or even incredulous. What he did not expect was for her to scrunch up her face and say, “I’ve never heard of her.”
Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. Okay, if she lived outside of Canterlot, that wouldn’t be so weird… but Cadance is pretty well known in the city. And she’s ‘never heard of her’?
“You should be with her instead,” Misty Blue said. “I’m sorry for causing trouble.”
“It’s no trouble,” Shining Armor said.
“Yes it is,” she said, her eyes downcast. “I’m just making trouble for you.” Her lip quivered. “I always make trouble for everyone.”
“I’m sure that’s not true--”
“It is!” she cried with sudden intensity.
Another stingingly cold wind gusted down the road, blowing their manes forward. Shining Armor drew in a sharp breath and took out the thermos of hot broth that Long Strides had given him, taking a sip of the savory liquid inside.
He looked to Misty to see if she was doing the same, but instead she was only glancing over her shoulder in the direction of the wind as she bit her lip, her eyes bulging with what looked like fear.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he said, and placed his hoof on her shoulder almost instinctively.
She stopped and looked up at him, her mouth slightly agape.
“Shining Armor?” she asked uncertainly.
“It’s just the wind,” he said softly. “Don’t worry.” Then he noticed how cold she was to the touch. “Misty, you’re freezing!”
“I know,” she said softly. “I’m… I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “No need to apologize,” he said. “Have some of the broth.”
She shook her head.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“Well, if you say so,” Shining Armor said, frowning. “But if you get much colder, then I’ll insist.”
She said nothing as the two continued on their way. They came to a long set of stairs as they descended into the middle ring of Canterlot. Another block or two and they’d be at the halfway point. He glanced up at a clocktower, its face illuminated in the clear, chill air by the light of the moon as it passed overhead.
10:21, he noted. I wonder what Cadance is doing. I bet Twily’s still studying. Mom and Dad’s Hearth’s Warming party must be almost over.
He shook his head, putting those thoughts out of mind so he could focus on the task at hoof.
“Why are you helping me?” Misty asked.
“Because you need my help,” Shining Armor replied.
She pouted. “You’re doing it to help your friend,” she said. “So he can see his mom.”
Shining Armor ran his tongue around his cheek as he thought.
“That’s true,” he said after a moment’s thought. “But I’m also helping you because you remind me of somepony.”
She stopped pouting and gave him a questioning look. “Who?”
“My younger sister, Twilight,” he said. “She’s a little older, but you kind of remind me of her as a filly. If my little sister was out alone on a cold Hearth’s Warming Night… well, I’d hate to think of that. I’d be worried sick about her! And I’ll bet your mom and dad are worried sick about you too.”
Misty’s pace slowed. Her face was downcast again and obscured by the tangled mass of her mane. But he caught the sound of her sniffling and came around to look at her head on.
The girl had tears in her eyes. She was obviously trying to fight them back and doing a poor job of it as she kept wiping her eyes with her scarf, whimpering as she scrunched inward.
She doesn’t want me to see her crying, he realized, recognizing the behavior as something Twilight used to do when she was very small.
“Hey, hey, don’t cry,” he said gently wiping away a tear with his hoof. He lifted her chin and gave her the biggest, most big-brotherly smile he could. “Nopony should be crying on Hearth’s Warming Eve. I promise I’ll get you home safe and sound, and your family will be so happy to see you that it’ll be the best Hearth’s Warming ever. Okay?”
She took a deep breath, trying to get control over herself. She didn’t say anything, but she nodded.
“Good,” he said. “Just no more crying. Because you know what I want for Hearth’s Warming this year?”
She paused, tilting her head as she looked at him with damp, glistening eyes. “No, what?” she asked.
“I asked Santa Hooves to bring me Equestria’s Bravest Filly to be my friend,” he said, playfully touseling her mane, causing her to giggle in spite of herself. “Is that you?”
“I… I’ll try to be,” she said as she gave a small smile.
“Then let’s get you home,” he said, and lifted her up with his magic, putting her on his back. He realized this would probably make him look unprofessional to any onlookers (something frowned upon in the Royal Guard), but as he galloped down the street, the filly on his back laughing as she held on tightly to his uniform, he decided it was more than worth any potential embarrassment.
Misty Blue’s good mood didn’t last long.
As Shining Armor finally reached the lower east end of Canterlot, Misty became quieter. Her grip on him tightened. And still, all the while, the temperature continued to drop.
“Okay, that’s the bank!” Shining Armor said brightly. “Look, there’s the statue of Copper Top!” He pointed a hoof at it, hoping that it would lift Misty Blue’s spirits.
Instead, she slid off his back and looked around. She furrowed her brow and looked all around her, turning in a complete circle.
“Which way now?” he asked.
“I’m… I’m not sure,” she whispered. “I don’t think I recognize some of these buildings.”
“Because it’s so dark?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know them at all,” she replied. She pointed at a bakery, its darkened display window decorated for Hearth’s Warming. “That wasn’t there before.”
Shining Armor blinked. But I’ve seen that building there before on patrol, he thought to himself. It’s fairly new, I guess, but it’s still been there for the last two years. How could she not know it?!
“Well, you still probably have some idea, don’t you?” he asked, not voicing his concerns. “Just try hard to remember, and we’ll go down one of these streets. If you know it, we’ll keep going until we see your house. If we don’t, we’ll backtrack and try again. Okay?”
She nodded slightly and then led him down a nearby side street. The wind was starting to blow again and Shining Armor’s teeth began to chatter. He hoped wherever Misty’s house was, it wouldn’t take much longer to find it.
A dead end. They’d rounded the corner, gone down an alleyway, and found themselves staring at a bare brick wall. It was the third dead end in a row.
The pale light of the moon could barely be seen edging through the gap between the buildings surrounding them. In the shadows, he felt even colder. He was shivering and frost was forming on his muzzle.
Misty Blue didn’t even seem to notice. Instead, she merely lowered her head and sat down before the brick wall before them.
“H-hey, it’s okay,” he said, still trying to stay upbeat. “Let’s go back and try another path!”
She said nothing. She didn’t even look at him or acknowledge him in any way.
“Misty?” he asked, uncertain if she’d heard him. “Come on, don’t you want to get home?”
She again made no answer.
Shining Armor swallowed. “Misty… I’ve been wondering… how did you get lost in the first place?”
Still no answer.
“Misty, you seem conflicted, like part of you wants to go home, but another part of you doesn’t. What’s going on?”
She was silent for a moment again, but then, in a hushed tone said, “I ran away.”
Shining Armor nodded. He’d suspected as much. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, putting his hoof on her shoulder.
She didn’t turn to face him or seem to notice his hoof there, but she did speak. “I had a fight with Mommy and Daddy. I decided to leave and find a new family. But I was wrong to do it… I don’t remember what we fought about. It was a long time ago.”
Shining Armor frowned. “I see. Misty, how long ago was it?”
She was silent at first. Then, in a harsher tone, she said: “A long time ago. Very long. Too long.”
The wind picked up again. It began to blow down the alleyway, bringing a flurry of snowflakes with it. He looked up and saw clouds forming overhead.
“What the… but the pegasi weren’t supposed to start the snow until tomorrow!” he exclaimed.
Misty Blue didn’t acknowledge any of this. She only continued speaking, and Shining Armor noticed that the sound of her voice was taking on a strange, elongated quality, like the hoarse whisper of an elderly pony.
“It doesn’t matter. My parents wouldn’t want me to return after I hurt them. The others were right: I deserve what happened to me. I tried to get away from them, to find my way home… but there’s no point. They’re calling me, Shining Armor. I have to go with them. There’s nowhere else to go.”
Shining Armor gasped. A sheet of ice began to creep over the ground, radiating out from where Misty Blue sat.
“Misty?!” He shook her, urging her to move. “What’s going--”
She whirled around to face him. Her eyes were completely white and she let out an unearthly shriek.
Shining Armor shouted and staggered back, a blast of cold causing him to raise his hoof to shield his face. When he looked again, Misty was gone.
“Misty!” he shouted, barely audible over the now howling wind. He barely heard a noise over his shoulder and saw Misty galloping away, back up the alleyway. “Misty, come back!” he called, chasing after her.
Outside, the deserted street was suddenly filled with blinding snow. The wind stung his face and he had to squint just to keep track of Misty, but he followed her to the open area around the statue of Copper Top. The wind swirled around the area like a cyclone, virtually forming a wall. Misty sat in the eye of the storm looking up.
“Misty?!” he called. Then he heard howls over the wind. He glanced up and what he saw made his blood go even colder than the wind that surrounded him.
A trio of ethereal creatures, their bodies like that of ponies, but made of wisps of cloud, circled overhead. Though he’d never seen them in reality, he recognized them instantly from countless illustrations in books as a child. His jaw dropped in disbelief.
Windigoes!
He heard Misty give another howl to match those of the Windigoes above them, and he remembered his duty.
“Misty! We have to get out of here!” he shouted.
“There’s nowhere to go, Shining Armor,” she said, her voice like that of an adult now. She raised her hooves as she looked skyward like a devotee of some strange religion, supplicating her gods for her heart’s desire.
“What about your parents?!” he yelled.
“They wouldn’t want me back!” she shouted back. “The Windigoes have told me the truth: no one but they will accept me now. They want one whose heart is filled with loneliness and bitterness to join them! Somepony like me! If I become like them, then I won’t have to feel anything anymore!
“So go to your princess, Shining Armor!” she spat. “Go back to your warm home and your family that cares about you! I’ll become the cold spirit I was meant to be! I’ll let myself become like ice and disappear into the wind!”
Her body began to elongate and change, her limbs becoming like wisps of cloud.
But then a pair of forelegs wrapped around her.
“Don’t you dare say that,” he whispered into her ear. “Nopony should be totally forgotten like that.”
The Wendigoes overhead shrieked and the wind intensified. Ice began to creep over Shining Armor’s body.
“Shining Armor, stop!” Misty screamed as she struggled to break free. “Forget about me! Nopony cares about me! Just let me go!”
“That’s not true!” he shouted back. Then he looked up at the Windigoes with a defiant glare. “Hey, Wendigoes! Don’t you remember what happened the last time you faced us ponies?! Well, it’s Hearth’s Warming Eve, and you aren’t welcome here!
“This filly has a family waiting for her, and I know they’ll want her back no matter what she’s done! You’ve just filled her head with a bunch of lies to make her as cold and miserable as you are! But even if it were true that her family didn’t want her back, you’d still be wrong about her! You know why?
“My name is Shining Armor of the Canterlot Royal Guard and Misty Blue is my friend! So if you want her, you’ll have to get through me!”
His horn began to glow. It was dim at first, but the gleam swiftly grew in intensity, enveloping himself and Misty as well with a strange, warm light. The Windigoes above screeched in fury as the glow expanded outwards, becoming a blinding ball of luminescence that banished the ice and snow of the storm as it shot forth.
In an instant it was over. The two of them were alone in the square outside the bank. The night sky was clear. No Wendigoes, no snow, no ice. The temperature already felt much warmer.
Shining Armor breathed a sigh of relief. He looked down at the filly, now back to her usual form, as he held her.
She looked up at him, her yellow eyes brimming with tears. “I’m… I’m s-sorry,” she whimpered, openly sobbing. “I d-didn’t mean to hurt anypony… I didn’t mean to be bad… I…”
“Shhh,” he whispered, holding her tightly. “It’s okay. Just relax, Misty. I don’t know what’s going on exactly, and I don’t know what’s going to happen when we find your house, but I promise you that everything will be okay, all right? I won’t leave you, and I’ll make sure you have somewhere to stay this Hearth’s Warming.”
She sniffled. “You promise?” she asked.
He smiled and gave her a reassuring wink. “I promise,” he said. “Now let’s get you home.”
The street was one Shining Armor had walked down many times on previous patrols before. He watched Misty Blue as she led him forward looking right and left at each house, waiting to see if she finally recognized her own.
She should know her own street, he thought to himself. Even a filly her age should be able to recognize her neighborhood. She said she ran away ‘a long time ago,’ but how long ago could it have been? She couldn’t be more than, what, 6 years old? Maybe 7?
Something doesn’t add up here…
“Oh!” she cried, pointing excitedly. “Shining Armor, there it is!”
He turned and looked where she was pointing. The house was an older apartment done in a plain, but outdated style. It was only a two-story building with a small front yard and a few stairs leading up to a stoop and the front door. The funny thing was that he couldn’t remember ever seeing it there before, and he was known to have a good memory for locations.
There were lights in the windows even as late as it was, and so he accompanied Misty Blue up the path to the door. Before they even reached it, however, the door opened.
“Misty!” cried a stallion wearing spectacles. A mare and an adolescent colt appeared at the door next to him. “We’ve been waiting for you!”
“Mommy! Daddy!” Misty Blue exclaimed, galloping up to them. She was instantly embraced by her family as they gathered in the doorway.
Shining Armor couldn’t help but smile. Even after everything he’d been through that night, and even though he regretted not spending the evening with Cadance, seeing this reunion had made it all worthwhile.
“Young stallion,” said Misty’s father, stepping forward to address him. “Thank you for helping my daughter find her way home. We’ve been waiting a long time for her to return.”
“You’re welcome, sir,” Shining Armor said, saluting him. “I was just doing my duty. But I can’t believe I didn’t know she was missing. Did you file a report about her going missing? I mean, how long was she gone for?”
They all gave him the same tranquil, almost faraway look as they replied in unison: “A very long time.”
Shining Armor swallowed. There was something unsettling about them.
“Shining Armor?” Misty Blue asked, stepping forward. “You saved me when I was ready to give up hope. I was so cold and bitter and hopeless... but you were right: my family never gave up waiting for me.”
His feeling of uneasiness left him at the sight of Misty’s genuine smile, the warmest her expression had looked since the moment he met her.
“I’m happy you found your family,” he said, returning her smile. “I just know you’ll have a happy Hearth’s Warming with them. I should probably get back to my girlfriend and see my family tomorrow, but I’ll think of you. Maybe I could stop by again sometime to say hello.”
Misty said nothing, but continue staring at him happily, her family coming to stand right beside her.
“Just the same,” Shining Armor said, turning away to glance back up and down the street, “I wonder why I can’t remember seeing your house here before. I mean, I’ve seen this neighborhood before, so I’d think I’d remember seeing--” He turned back to face them.
There was nothing. Where the house had been, there was now a dark, empty lot. Misty Blue and her family were nowhere to be seen. There was nothing but silence on the cold, empty street.
His heart in his throat, his eyes bulging, Shining Armor stepped forward to confirm what he was seeing. The remnants of the foundation of the house were embedded in the ground, but the house he’d seen just a moment ago had vanished without a trace.
He slowly turned and began walking away.
“Shining Armor!”
He whirled around. Misty Blue was there again, standing alone in the vacant lot.
“M-Misty?” he croaked.
“When I left home that night,” she said, “I thought my family didn’t love me. I wandered off while they were all asleep. There was a snowstorm that got out of control. I got lost and finally got so tired that I just fell over into a snowbank. I went to sleep… it was so cold…”
Shining Armor swallowed.
“Every Hearth’s Warming Eve since then, I’ve tried to find my way home… but I could never find my way until you helped me.”
She smiled at him one last time. “Thank you, Shining Armor,” she whispered. “I’ll never forget you.”
And then, in no more than the blink of an eye, she vanished, her form dissipating like vapor on the wind.
Still in shock, he stood rooted to the spot until he saw a single snowflake drop to the ground. Then, popping from the ground and swiftly growing upward, a flower bloomed before him, its ornate petals the same misty blue hue as the filly’s coat.
It was the next day when he arrived at Cadance’s chambers. He’d spent the morning with his family, opening presents and singing songs before rushing off to meet his lady. He’d made sure to give his little sister a big hug and tell her how proud he was of her before taking his leave.
He yawned. It had been a long night: after what happened with Misty Blue, he did some research on the vanishing house and the ponies who’d lived there.
The house had burned in a terrible accident 15 years earlier. Misty Blue’s whole family had perished, but investigators never found her in the wreckage. Now he knew the reason: she’d run away that night only to meet her fate in the snowstorm.
So her restless spirit nearly became one of those Wendigoes, he surmised. Lost and forgotten and guilty over what she’d done, she wandered the streets of Canterlot every Hearth’s Warming for fifteen years before Shining Armor had found her and taken her home.
Why didn’t anypony else ever help her? he wondered. Was everypony really so busy that they couldn’t notice and help a lost filly? He couldn’t say, but at least Misty Blue’s time spent searching hadn’t been in vain. And he knew he would never forget her or the look on her face when she finally found her way home.
With that thought in mind, he wore a smile as he knocked on Cadance’s door
She opened it in an instant. “Shining Armor!” she exclaimed, embracing him.
“Hi, Cadance,” he said, returning the hug. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to come to see you last night.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” she said, waving a hoof dismissively. “Spear Head told me you were helping a lost filly get home. Did you find out where she lived?”
He hesitated, but then gave a nod.
“That’s a relief,” she said, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. “I think it was very sweet of you to help that girl home. Now come inside! I’ve got a present for you!”
“Actually,” he said, “I have a present for you too.”
He held up the flower Misty Blue had left behind. She gasped when she saw its colors.
“An ice iris?!” she cried. “Shining Armor, these are very hard to find even in the winter around Canterlot! They’re very expensive, too! I… oh my goodness, I can’t believe you got me such a wonderful gift! How in Equestria did you get it?!”
He smiled and kissed her. “I’ll tell you the whole story later. For now, the important thing is that it’s a Hearth’s Warming present a friend gave me so that I could give it to you. Happy Hearth’s Warming, Cadance.”
She snuggled up close to him. “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Shining Armor.”
He held her close, but to himself he added Happy Hearth’s Warming, Misty Blue.
Happy Hearth’s Warming, Everyone!
And just remember… no one is truly alone, and there’s always someone who cares.
At this time of year, it’s more important than ever to remember that.
See you next time!
Author's Note
Hey everyone! Merry Christmas or holiday of your choice this holiday season! I hope you enjoyed this little story about "holiday spirits," and I wish you a wonderful new year.
This story marks my third year in a row releasing a holiday story on Christmas Day. If you haven't read my previous works, you can check them out here:
To all my readers, editors, and friends, I thank you for a wonderful year. Let's all hope for happy times in the next. 
