The First Hearth's Warming
Why hello there, it’s not very often some pony is able to see me. You must have studied the history of Equestria rather extensively if you believe in my existence. Either that, or you’ve had experience in universes parallel to this one. Regardless of how you found out about me I’m delighted to meet you. I’m not going to lie. Even though I am the immortal guardian of this land, it does get rather lonely when the only creatures who can see me are too busy to hang out.
What’s that? You say the Princesses and the Elements guard these lands? Yes that is true, but who do you think gives them the power to do so? Hahaha, don’t just stand there with your mouth hanging open in shock like that, it’s completely true.
My name is Henry Heartwarmer, and I am a Guardian from another universe. My job there was to guard the young ones of the world I lived on from fear and darkness by spreading love and friendship across the land. In that land I was in charge of a holiday called Valentine’s Day, and was second in command under a great man named Chris Kringle, also known as Santa Clause. I was the keeper of his naughty & nice list and would help him deliver wonder and excitement to the children of the world by granting their heartfelt wishes through miraculous means. But that was over a millennium ago in this universe’s time.
You probably are more interested in what I have been up to here. To be perfectly honest I do the same thing here as I had done in my universe. The land of Equestria even developed two holidays I love to take part in each year because they remind me of my home. I believe they are called Hearts & Hooves Day and Hearths Warming.
Now if you have time to listen, I would be more than happy to tell you what I have been up to during my time in this magical land. Please take a seat and have some peppermint tea. It goes lovely with a good story.
When I first came here it was by total accident. You see, I travel by way of wormhole with a special type of snowglobe. However one night after I had saved some children from evil nightmares; (yes there are also nightmares in the universe i’m from) I whispered my home’s name into the snowglobe and threw it to open the portal like usual, but as I entered it something strange happened.
A mysterious light flashed like lightning and the portal went haywire. Instead of stepping from my current location into my home, I was sucked into some sort of energy tunnel and began free-falling in midair. I tried to fly back toward the entrance, but it closed before I could reach it. After falling for a few minutes I saw what looked like an opening and moved toward it, managing to exit the portal and dropping from the sky into a pile of snow. I got up and shook myself off, looking back at the portal just in time to see it close and disappear. Sighing in exasperation I decided to try finding my bearings only to discover I was no longer on my planet, though that did not worry me.
What did have me worried was no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't feel any warmth near me. Despite not knowing where I was, I knew that was not a good sign. The land and air felt cold and distant, like all feelings of warmth and comfort had been removed from it and all that was left was a frozen wasteland of death and depression. I had almost given up on finding any signs of remaining warmth when I felt it.
There were feelings of compassion and empathy off in the distance. They were faint and fading fast, but I was certain they were definitely feelings of warmth. Without hesitation I began racing toward the feelings’ source. Whatever was causing this cold feeling of emptiness and hopelessness was trying to snuff out that last bit of warmth and I had to get to it before that happened.
As I reached the source of warmth I discovered what was causing this deathly cold. Wendigos, I should have known, only those soulless spirits would be capable of draining positive emotions on this scale. A failed attempt by Pitch Black, who was also known as the boogieman, to plunge the world back into the cold era of the dark ages, these creatures were created with magic he stole from Jack Frost and the Sandman.
Pitch had taken some of Jack’s snowflakes and Sandy’s dust and merged them together with his own darkness forming the wendigos. A perversion of my friends’ centers, the wendigos were a vile and cold nuisance. Instead of bringing fun and joy to the children of the world, these creatures would seek out anger, bitterness, and sorrow; feeding off those emotions while changing the world around them. Luckily Sandy, Jack, and myself had cornered and captured the wendigos before they could do anything more than conjure up an ice storm or two across the northern lands where I’m from. I could have sworn we disposed of all of them right then and there, but apparently I was wrong. Somehow a small harras of wendigos had escaped and managed to enter this land.
They were circling around a cave that had been frozen over by their powers, but I knew whatever was inside was still alive. I could feel its warmth, its compassion, and most importantly its friendship. As I looked through the Ice-sealed entrance to the cave, what I saw surprised me greatly.
In that cave there were six ponies ( two pegasi, two unicorns, and two earth ponies) wearing clothes of all things.Three of them had already been frozen to the bone by the wendigos’ power, but there was still a chance for the three ponies in the center of the cave. The warmth I felt was coming from those three ponies. Huddled in the center of the cave, they were smiling and laughing as the wendigos’ ice closed in on them. This was agitating the wendigos, but alone it was not enough to stop them. I only had one shot at saving them and could not afford to mess things up.
Aiming at the Unicorn’s horn I shot a love arrow. I wasn’t sure if it would work since this was a Unicorn and not a human, but something in the warmth I felt told me those ponies had sentient souls. They were about to be frozen completely just as my arrow hit the tip of the unicorn’s horn and sure enough, something big happened. Something I had not seen in a long time.
Above the three ponies now frozen in the center of the cave, a fiery heart of compassion and friendship burst forth from the Unicorn’s horn, scaring off the wendigos and shattering the ice they were encased in. The three ponies looked at each other astonished for a moment before laughing and sitting near the fire for warmth while sharing stories and singing songs.
The fire of their friendship was so strong it melted the other three ponies and even thawed their frozen hearts. Not surprisingly, the warmth from the magic fire also thawed the entrance to the cave and the ponies then walked out into the landscape which had also begun to thaw. The six ponies then worked together raising a banner with what looked like two alicorns, which are pegasi with unicorn horns, and a sun and moon on it.
On that day the land of Equestria was born, and from that moment forward I decided to watch over those ponies and their colony acting as their protector and guardian. An invisible friend helping out in times of need and distress who is only visible to those who truly believe in the guardians of Equestria. I’ve been on many adventures since then and have plenty more tales to tell if you are still interested my friend, but I think one is enough for now.
The moon is high and Luna is watching, waiting to give you sweet dreams. Now run along and get some rest. I shall be here again tomorrow if you wish to hear more of my stories. Until then, good night and take care my little pony.
