Before the Song Cue, If You Please
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"Hm…" Her horn alight, Rarity levitated a spherical ornament a hair's width to the left. Its polished, red exterior glistened with her magic, and the gold filigree near the top was as delicate as it was beautiful. With a quick flash of her eyes, Rarity's surveyed the entire Hearth's Warming tree. Every other ornament had been put in its place, and it looked nearly perfect.
Nearly. Rarity grunted.
With a sigh, she looked around the ballroom in Twilight's castle. The preparations were coming along nicely. Most of the tinsel was wound up and ready to be hung, a few wreaths had been stored near the entrance, and several boxes had been wrapped and placed tastefully near the walls (Pinkie Pie had insisted that each one have a real gift inside). A fire crackled softly in the fireplace, filling the room with warmth and a gentle glow. Rarity smiled particularly smugly at the bows and ribbons that framed the doorways – nopony could match her precision when it came to chiffon lace. For a moment, Rarity sighed contentedly.
And then Derpy Hooves burst through the front door. "Rarity!"
Rarity turned back to the ornament and floated it half a hairs' widths to the right. "Inside voices, darling."
"But Rarity!" Derpy Hooves tried to run towards her, but as she picked up momentum, her wet hooves slipped on the crystalline floor. "Uh-oh!" She barreled towards Rarity, legs flopping around, and she fell forward onto her face with a muffled "Look out!" as she crashed into a pile of wrapping paper. After a moment, Derpy Hooves righted herself and shook out her mane. "Uh… Sorry, Rarity."
Rarity didn't even take her eyes from the tree. "Oh, no bother at all, Derpy. The design on that paper is absolutely ghastly, anyway." She groaned as she floated the ornament a quarter hair's width up, then set it back into its box. "Now, what has you tracking snow into the ballroom at this hour?"
Derpy's expression drooped. "Uh… That." She pointed to the still-open door, and Rarity turned to see a stampede of Windigos terrorizing the town.
Rarity floated her reading glasses to her face. "I see."
Derpy cocked her head to the side. "Aren't you… going to do anything?
"I'm sure the other Elements can handle it." Rarity fluffed the needles on the tree branch she'd been working on.
Derpy grimaced and said, "But… they all started arguing and got frozen in a big block of ice. Even Spike!"
Rarity rolled her eyes. "Typical," she said flatly. "It's a shame I'm so busy, then."
Derpy stood up and trotted over. "But Rarity! You need to save the town!"
With a sigh, Rarity floated her spectacles onto her horn. "Now how am I supposed to do that and get everything ready for the Hearth's Warming celebration?"
Derpy looked around. "It looks great so far, Rarity, and I bet if you saved the town, everypony could come help you finish in time."
"But that's just it, darling!" Rarity began pacing back and forth in front of the tree. "I need to set everything up so the can help! Everypony's going to show up tonight for Hearth's Warming Eve, burst through the door, and start singing some impossibly complicated musical number, and they'll expect to be able to help while they sing!"
Derpy raised an eyebrow. "So, why can't they just do that?"
Rarity whipped around and gasped. "It would be chaos! Late entrances, props spilling out onto the floor, not to mention how badly the accoustics would be thrown off if all the tenors got distracted by the lights again." She stood tall and turned up her nose. "Hmph! No, it simply won't do. I need to make sure everything is perfect."
Derpy shrunk. "But there won't even be a Hearth's Warming unless–"
Rarity held up a hoof. "I'm sorry, darling, but the answer is no. Now if you'll excuse me, I really need to get back to work." She floated her glasses onto her face and turned back to the tree. "Be a dear and save Hearth's Warming, won't you, Derpy?"
Derpy's eyes opened wide, but then, a broad smile spread across her face. "You mean… you want me to–?"
She picked the ornament back up with her magic. "That's right, Derpy. I believe in you."
Derpy hopped to her hooves and gave a salute. "I won't let you down!" She dashed out the door.
"Ta-ta!" Rarity sang, floating an ornament an eighth of a hair's width downward.
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The citizens of Ponyville screamed as they ran back and forth across the town. Horse noises – horrible, horrible horse noises – tore through the air, riding a shrieking wind. The ice and snow bit at everypony's skin, and as more and more of them yelled cries of frustrations and anger at their friends, they became slowly encased in ice.
"We're doomed!" Minuette shouted, ducking behind a hot nut cart. "I didn't even get to give Thunderlane the new soup ladle that I sold my favorite timepiece for!"
"I know!" Thunderlane yelled, diving to Minuette's side. "And I didn't even get to tell you I sold your second-favorite timepiece for a new soup kettle!"
They screamed in unison as the nut cart exploded under the weight of a titanic icicle. Thunderlane threw a wing over Minuette's back, and they rushed away, nearly bumping into Cheerilee and Berry Punch in the middle of town square.
Cheerilee waved a hoof and yelled over the blizzard. "Turn back! They've already taken the schoolhouse!"
Berry Punch leaned in. "And the mulled wine's gone cold!"
A Windigo neighed loudly and dove at them, and the four ponies hit the dirt, barely dodging the Windigo's attack.
Minuette looked frantically around. "Where can we go?"
Cheerilee's tail whipped back and forth. "I don't know!"
"Maybe if I had some Fireball…" Berry Punch mused.
Thunderlane shook his head. "We need to… Wait! What's that?" He pointed to a red, glowing light that hovered above a rooftop and shone through the blizzard. "Is that…"
Minuette smiled. "It can't be…"
Cheerilee beamed. "It is!"
They all cheered. "Derpy!"
The fog cleared, and with a big wave, Derpy called back, "Happy Hearth's Warming, everypony!"
Berry Punch raised an eyebrow. "What is she wearing?"
On the rooftop, Derpy adjusted the glowing, red crystal that she'd affixed to her nose. Her fake antlers were nearly falling off her head, but she held them up with her ears. Her coat wasn't the usual grey; it had been colored a light brown on her back and white on her belly, and the bubbles on her cutie mark were painted white, as well. She wore red jingle bells all over her body, and a large, brown saddlebag was strapped to her back. "Sorry I took so long, everypony!"
The four ponies blinked at her.
"...but Rarity said you could all use some help!" She swooped down towards the other ponies. The wind knocked her around, and she crashed on top of Thunderlane. "Oops! Sorry, Thunderlane."
Thunderlane groaned. "No problem." He crawled out from under her and shook off a layer of snow. "But what are you doing here? And what's in your bag?"
"Your presents!" Derpy shouted brightly. She stuck her head into her bag and pulled out four envelopes. With her mouth full of paper, she mumbled, "Forry they're a little fhort. I had tuh hurry."
Minuette, Cheerilee, and Thunderlane looked at each other. Berry Punch looked vacant. Slowly, though, they all reached out and and took one of the letters.
Cheerliee squinted at the writing on the envelope. "To Somepony Special." She looked up at Derpy. "Are you sure this is for me?"
Derpy nodded emphatically.
The other ponies looked on as Cheerliee opened the envelope. The paper crinkled, and she took out the letter that was inside. "Dear Cheerilee: I know everything seems hopeless right now, but even if we all end up frozen in a block of ice, I…" She trailed off and felt her chest swell. "I hope you know how important you are to everypony in town. The students of Ponyville love you, and so do I." Cheerilee teared up and smiled a shaky smile. "You… really think I'm important?"
Derpy continued nodding emphatically. Nopony was sure she'd ever stopped.
Cheerilee smiled warmly. "Thank you, Derpy." She chuckled. "Or should I say Deerp–"
"No, you shouldn't," Minuette said flatly.
Thunderlane quickly opened his envelope. "Dear Thunderlane: You're an inspiration to everypony in Ponyville. We all look up to you, and we'll cheer you on at every single Wonderbolts show forever. Yours, Derpy." Thunderlane laughed to cover up a sob. "You… you mean that?"
Derpy was still nodding.
Thunderlane's lip quivered. "Thanks, Derpy. Hey, can I get a hug?"
Derpy nodded one more time and threw her forelegs into the air, and the ponies were so relieved, so overjoyed that somepony was thinking of them, that they hadn't even noticed the wind had stopped blowing where they stood.
Thunderlane rushed in and gave her a tight squeeze, and the other ponies in attendance felt a warm glow surrounding them.
It wasn't just them, though. Soon, ponies began peeking out of their hiding places and swiveling their ears to hear what was going on. Then, as they felt something spark inside them, they moved closer. It was only a few at first, sneaking out of their homes, but then a steady stream of them, and then a massive crowd, all gathered in the town square, clamoring to see what was happening.
Derpy saluted her four friends. "Duty calls!" She took off into the sky. "Whee!" As she circled upward to gain some height, she reached into her saddlebag and pulled out more letters. Though it took her eyes a moment to focus, she read each one, then flung it down to somepony in the crowd.
A loud cheer rang from the crowd, and hooves flew into the air to catch their letters. Young and old, filly and colt, everypony wore the same, bright expression, and their laughter and thanks drowned out the quickly-fading sound of the blizzard all around them. They formed small groups and took turns reading their letters, and everypony else listened intently, eager to hear what kind words had been written about their friends. Their joyful sounds could be heard all throughout the town.
"Dear Sugar Belle: You're always welcome in our town, too. Here's hoping we see plenty more of you!"
"Dear Roseluck: Your flowers always make me smile. We should hang out together sometime, just you, me, and the Doctor!"
"Dear Braeburn: Even after all these years, everypony's still just so darn happy for you. I think that's how the saying goes."
Laughter filled the air, and hugging filled the streets, and the clouds retreated from the sky. Derpy smiled wide, and her nose glowed brighter than ever.
But when she reached into her bag again, her stomach dropped. "Uh-oh…" she said, desperately pawing inside the empty bag. "That's not all, is it? What if everypony stops being happy? What if–"
She stopped in midair when she saw that Thunderlane's little brother, Rumble, was holding three letters. Derpy gasped. She hadn't written three letters for him. Was he just borrowing somepony else's? Everypony still looked so happy as he read those letters, but where did they come from? She was worried something had gone wrong.
But just then, she spotted it: Davenport had set up a table outside of Quills and Sofas! He'd laid out paper, ink, and of course quills, and ponies were taking turns writing each other even more letters. They talked excitedly among themselves about who they'd write a letter for or what they would say, and everywhere Derpy looked, there were smiles.
And that wasn't the only place where Derpy saw magic happening. Big McIntosh was rolling out a barrel of the Apple family's cider reserve, and his whole family was stoking a fire under a big kettle to serve it up nice and hot. The Cakes were passing out little treats, personalized with everypony's initials. Vinyl Scratch was blasting Hearth's Warming remixes, and even Snips and Snails were helping Filthy Rich distribute free investment advice.
What made Derpy's heart soar more than anything, though, was listening to all the ponies read the letters that they had given to each other. She flew around the town square, just listening to their excited reading.
"Dear Lyra: You the beeeeest frieeeeend I could ever hope to have."
"Dear Maud! I'm so excited to spend Hearth's Warming here with you in Ponyville! DO YOU SEE HOW EXCITED I AM????"
"Dear Matilda: I can't believe we've been married for over two years. They've been the happiest of my life."
"Dear Olden: Your enthusiasm for all the Ponyville writing events is infectious. I can't wait to read your next story!"
Feeling the warm sun on her back, Derpy spiraled down to a small opening in the crowd, and Minuette, Thunderlane, Cheerilee, and Berry Punch all ran up and gave her another hug.
Berry Punch pulled away and wiped some cider from her mouth. "Derpy, this is amazing! You saved the whole town!"
Derpy blushed and kicked at a small pit of snow. "Aw, I didn't do much. Just sent a few letters. Everypony else helped a bunch, too."
"By the way," Minuette said. "How did you write all these letters in such a short time?"
Derpy shrugged coyly. "Well, to be honest, I already had most of them done. I was just saving them." She winked at Minuette with both eyes. "You never know when the world will need a little kindness."
Cheerilee beamed. "That's a lesson I think we could all stand to learn. Thank you for saving Hearth's Warming, Derpy Hooves."
Thunderlane swooped in and hoisted Derpy into the air, then called to the crowd, "Two and a half cheers for Derpy Hooves! Hip-hip!"
The gathered crowd cheered in unision. "Hooray!"
"Hip-hip!"
"Hooray!"
"Hip!"
"Hooooo!"
Basking in the love of everypony around her, Derpy barely heard Berry Punch say to Minuette, "So, we gonna head over to the castle now, or…"
"Oh goodness!" Derpy gasped, leaping into the air. "It's already Hearth's Warming Eve! I need to warn Rarity that everypony's almost here!" Without a glance back, Derpy raced back towards the castle.
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Rarity floated the ornament a one-thousand-twenty-fourth of a hair's width away from the tree. "Perfect!" she squealed.
The door to Twilight's castle flew open. "Rarity! They're coming!"
Rarity hung the ornament in its place and turned towards the door. "Welcome back, Derpy. You're looking rather…" She eyed her up and down. "…festive. Did you save Hearth's Warming?"
Derpy – wiping her hooves this time – trotted into the castle and let the door shut behind her. "Uh-huh! I did! But now everypony's on their way here and… woah." Derpy looked around the castle. Boxes were arranged evenly around the room, ribbons were ready to be hung, and strings of lights were placed in neat little rows so they could be easily put up in time with seasonal music. Derpy stopped in front of Rarity. "How did you do all of this so quickly?"
"Multitasking, darling." Rarity flipped her mane.
"Well, it looks wonderful. But, did you forget something?" Derpy pointed to the top of the tree, which was still completely naked.
Rarity smiled. "I'm glad you asked." Her horn began to glow, and a small box floated between them. "Since you did such a good job saving Hearth's Warming, I was wondering if you could do me one last, teensy-weensy little favor." She floated to the box closer to Derpy.
Derpy quickly sat down, took hold of the box, and opened it. Inside was a star – the star that would be placed on top of the Hearth's Warming tree. Derpy beamed. "You really mean it? I get to put it on top?"
Rarity nodded politely.
"Thank you, Rarity!" Derpy shouting, pulling a very surprised Rarity in for a tight hug. "This is the best Hearth's Warming ever!"
And as they embraced, the doors to the castle flew open. Ponies rushed in, their hearts aglow, and they all began to sing.
