Cultural Exchange is neat
Author's Note
This was inspired heavily by the official episode Hearth’s Warming Club. Enjoy!
Cultural Exchange is neat
Dear Twilight,
Sorry I haven’t visited in a while, got a tight schedule on my YouTube Channel after my break ended. How’ve you been doing, Spark?
I’m super happy to tell you that I’ve cleared my schedule for the holiday season. I know Hearth’s Warming is around the corner, so is Christmas in our world. I’m just wondering- Are the two festivals the same thing? I feel there’s got to be a difference between them. Because of this, I thought that I might join you and your friends for a nice friendly gathering when it rolls around. Just wanted an excuse to leave my channel for a while and spend quality time with you. :)
I guess I’ll keep this short and save the chit-chat for when I come. You wouldn’t mind, right? Hopefully not :) I’ll be sure to buy a few presents from our world for you girls, and if you want, I could buy some additional ones if you so request, your highness ;) Teehee!
I’ll see you then! <3
Lots of Love,
Nathan.
Twilight beamed when she read my letter, which was around two weeks ago. It didn’t take long for her to start writing her reply, which I got a few days later. I could tell she was excited just by hearing her words. When I did receive it, I went off buying presents for my friends, and I got a few additional requests too, as expected. It wasn’t really that long and since I’m doing YouTube full time, money ain’t really an issue.
It’s been around two months since I last visited. The controversy of my visit is still burning across the internet. But, I do realize that not making videos of YouTube won’t help me earn money, so I had no choice but to return. I took my sweet time to prevent heated discussion on the topic- I deleted all comments related to it on my social media, hoping to calm it down.
But it didn’t do much.
I figured I would limit my knowledge of Equestria. It’s for the greater good- I want the path to their world hidden in a safe location, which is in my own bedroom. I’m doing this to keep them safe- So no country would plot a scheme to take over them. I loved Ponykind. Having them exposed to the destructive humans will only be disaster. I know, benefits and opportunities will arise, but the greed of my kind will lead to temptation and suffering of the ponies and their neighboring tribes.
Now, enough with the explanations. Back to the story.
Hey, Nathan!
I’m so glad to hear from you! I’m doing great!
Of course you can join us for the holidays! I love spending time with you and I bet my friends would love to have you join us at the table. I honestly thought you’d never ask. ;) Haha, just kidding!
Look in the envelope, I’ve sent a list of extra items for you to shop for when you buy the presents. What you buy for us is completely up to you :) You know us well, Nate. I’m sure you’ll think of something, but if you don’t, it’s completely fine, we all understand you can get busy. Oh, and I hope the extra presents won’t be too difficult for you to find, I know your world is much more advanced in technology and some of this stuff sounds old. I’m just giving them to some of my other close friends.
Looking forward to seeing you, Nate! Love you, bestie!
Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle.
*********
Woosh
“*gasp* Oh, Nathan!”
As soon as I teleported into the portal to Equestria and went straight to Twilight’s room in her castle, she turned to me from her writing desk, got up, and threw her hooves around me. I chuckled and spun her around, even giving a kiss on her cheek. I could understand her reaction since we haven’t seen each other for a while.
“*giggling* Twilight!” I laughed, nuzzling her. “Yo, what is up!? Merry Christmas, Spark!”
She let go of me and chuckled. “So that’s how you call Hearth’s Warming in your world? Mmm, Interesting. What’s the story behind it?”
“Oh, stuff about religious beliefs and all. It’s a long story, just like Hearth’s Warming,” I explained as I rubbed her head. “So, how’s life? Good?”
She nodded. “Yeah, pretty nice. You?”
“Same,” I said. “I finished that story I talked about a while back about your old students. Have you heard of a game called Mafia? No? I’ll tell you in a minute. I think it’s pretty well-written so I think they’ll like it.”
Twilight tilted her head and grinned. “Well, you’re going to have the chance to tell them today.”
I froze in place.
“They’re here?”
“Yep!”
“You invited them? As in... The students of the tribes beyond Equestria?”
“Yep!”
I was a little taken back by this- Already did I have the chance to have first-hand contact with ponykind. Now, I get to chat with the Young Six, too? This is amazing! I get to have cultural exchange talk with them! I haven’t done that since like, high school, and that’s just beyond countries. This one was Beyond Worlds.
“Tell me you’re lying, Twi. Come on, this is too much.”
“Oh, I’m not, Nate.”
She winked at me and I chuckled a bit.
“No wonder you asked for more presents,” I said as I put my hands on my hips. “In that case, one moment.”
I went back to the portal and a minute later I came back with a big red bag. And of course, I decided to do a pretty weird and bad impression of Santa Claus, because I’m a YouTuber. I commentate and I do a bit of acting on a daily basis. Twilight giggled when I did so.
“Haha, I don’t know what that’s supposed to be,” Twilight laughed. “But okay! Here, I’ll help you.”
She helped me levitate the bag.
“Dunno What Santa is, Huh?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Do tell me, Nathan. You know I’m all about knowing facts. We can chat as we walk to the lounge. Your new friends are waiting for your arrival.”
*********
“And that’s how Santa came to be,” I said after explaining for a while. “Every Christmas Eve, he and his team deliver presents to children, or fillies, as you would call their age group, all over the world from the North Pole, otherwise known as the northern point of Earth.”
She nodded. “I see. Wouldn’t he get tired?”
I shrugged. “Well, it’s actually more of a fairytale. It doesn’t talk about that, because of magic and all. But, some do believe in it and writing to him for presents are still a thing even today for humans. How do you ponies celebrate?”
“Well, we usually exchange presents directly with one another,” Twilight said. “We sing Winter Carols, have a great feast, all that. I suppose you humans do that too?”
I nodded. Then, finally, we get to the lounge. Twilight knocked on the door a few times before the ones inside called her in. She signaled me to lay low and entered as she passed the bag to me. I kept my radar up to pick up their conversation.
“Hello, everycreature,” Twilight said kindly. “It’s great to see all of you!”
The group gave a wave back. I couldn’t see them, but I can tell by their giggles and voices right after, that they were indeed, Twilight’s pupils.
“Princess Twilight,” Sandbar said, smiling as he gave her a hoofshake. “We’re glad to see you too. We really should get together more often, right?”
Twilight laughed. “We really should, my students. Hey, let’s just refer to each other by our names. We’re all friends, after all. Just call me Twilight.”
They all nodded.
“You told us to wait here,” Ocellus pointed out. “What’s going on?”
“Well,” Twilight said, “I actually invited a very, very special guest over to join our Hearth’s Warming party. I’m not sure if you know what- *clears throat* Sorry, I mean who He is, depending on whether your tribe has told you or not. There’s a chance they might know who I’m talking about.”
“Yona no idea who guest is,” Yona was the first to speak up. “*gasp* Is guest strong like Yona?”
“I hope they’re a force that I could reckon with,” Smoulder laughed.
“Or they might be like us ponies,” Sandbar suggested.
Twilight grinned. This was going well- They are curious about me. “Everycreature, I know you’re all excited to meet him. He might be very different from you all, and we’re good friends, so please be nice to him. And besides, if he seems to know a lot about you all, it’s a long story. Just befriend him like you did with each other, Okay?”
They all agreed.
“Good!” Twilight said with a smile. “Nathan, you can come out now!”
I took a deep breath and came from behind the door. As soon as the six saw me, they were all gasping and were amazed. Upon 10 seconds of entering, a joyful creature already sat up from the couch to greet me excitedly, shaking my hand vigorously. I expected it, though.
“Hi!! My name’s Silverstream, nice to meet you!!” The playful hippogriff, Silverstream, was the first to greet me. “Wow... I’ve never seen any creature like you before!”
I rolled my eyes and laughed.
“I expected you to run up and say hi,” I told her, winking.
“Whoa....” Sandbar said. “You look awesome! Forgive me, but... What are you? Ocellus, ever seen this around Equestria?”
“No, never! You look so cool!”
I continued to giggle as I crossed my arms.
“Well, I’m a human, everycreature,” I explained. “You see, I come from another world- A world somewhat similar yet very different from Equestria. A few months ago, I ran into Twilight and the rest of her friends when they teleported to my house for no reason. Soon, I became fast friends with them and a while ago, Twilight helped me establish a permanent passage for me to teleport here anytime I wish. So yeah, here I am now.”
They all gasped with awe.
“So you’re telling me,” Gallus said. “We are talking to some kind of intergalactic traveler right now?”
I nodded.
“I guess you can say that.”
Twilight, seeing everything going to plan, left the room a minute after since she had to take care of things for the party, and she gave us time to chit chat.
“So!” I said, clapping my hands as I sat down near the group on the carpet. “Let me introduce myself and perhaps we can all be friends, Kay?”
Yona nodded. “Yona excited for new friends!”
“I couldn’t agree more!” Ocellus followed.
I smiled. “Right. My name’s Nathan. I’m a 23-year old celebrity in my world. It’s complicated to understand my job, but for the sake of simplicity, I’ll just say I’m an entertainer. I play video games, which a whole other concept you might not understand. I come from planet Earth, land of humankind, just like how ponies ruled Equestria. So, like Twilight said, I know all of you well. Basically, you’re all in this cartoon show that I used to watch. It’s so cool to meet all of you.”
“Well, we’re glad to meet somecreature so special,” Smoulder said.
“I guess let’s dive straight into the conversation,” Gallus suggested. “Nathan, you know all of our names, right?”
“Indeed I do. So, what’s life in Equestria like?”
The six looked around at each other, and since Sandbar was actually the only pony in the room, he would be the one to answer.
“It’s amazing to live here,” He told me. “Our world can be described as a nature paradise- Our kind has been living here for generations, and we are probably the most harmonious society in history of... Pretty much everywhere we know. And the society doesn’t only include ponies, either. It includes all of us.”
I nodded. “Well, you surely can’t say the same for my world.”
“What do you mean?” Ocellus asked. “Didn’t you say Earth was similar to us?”
I sighed.
“In the past... Yes. But in the recent few centuries, or a few hundred years, a lot has changed. There are quite a lot of things you all have never seen before and I’m willing to bet my people will laugh all over you all with our technology. It’s best you all don’t know about them. They can get... Pretty messed up.”
“Yona be confused,” Yona tilted her head.
“What I mean is, there’s good technology of course, but they cause a lot of problems. And also, some of this technology hides some... Very, very terrifying weapons. I’m sure you’ve seen unicorns causing magic explosions, but they’re nothing compared to the explosion of bombs in our world. You have magic beams, we have machine guns that can penetrate bullets through your body at an instant. Besides that, our world is rapidly expanding and developing and nature protection is a serious issue.”
They were very surprised.
“Your world must be in ruins, then,” Gallus said disappointedly.
“Well, Yes, If you were talking about a century ago,” I said, shrugging. “Now, Nations are holding back firearms. No worries. But, I’ve been trying to hide you all and Equestria because I don’t want you all to be abused.”
“Abused?” Smoulder asked. “Dragons don’t get abused. We would kill them if they tried to.”
“That’s the problem. You all are not built for life in my world,” I urged them. “This is science beyond our understanding. If you guys get found, my kind will surely start doing countless researches on you. They’ll treat you horribly as just an animal. I don’t want that to happen to you all. Or worse, the humans might trample all over your land- This place really is the perfect reward for starting a war over.”
I brightened up my tone a bit. “But hey, it’s the holiday season. So let’s not talk about how terrible my tribe’s history is, let’s talk fun. By the way, don’t you all have your own traditional winter festivals?”
“Of course we do!” Silverstream said. “We came because Twilight invited us, and our families were okay with it.”
“Not all of us celebrates the holidays the same way,” Gallus said, “Even so, spending Hearth’s Warming with my friends makes all of us feel at home.”
“Agreed,” Yona replied, nodding.
“We’ve talked about our traditions before with each other,” Ocellus said. “Hey, what about you, Nathan? How do your so-called humans celebrate Hearth’s Warming?”
I crossed my arms and went deep into thought. I kinda live alone so I don’t take notice of holiday traditions that much. I mean, I do Christmas merchandise sales on YouTube and spend time with my family and friends, but that’s about it. The real joy of the holidays has been lost for me when I was a teenager. Cards and presents became less of a thing and they became more of a routine and a must-do.
Yet... Equestria’s festive spirit is still burning brightly.
“We call the holidays Christmas in our world,” I explained. “You can say it’s pretty much Hearth’s Warming. *blissful sigh* I remember those days when I was still a kid, getting presents and having such a great feast. We sang carols and sent Christmas cards to each other.”
“But...”
The six looked at me, puzzled.
“It's become more of a routine at this point. It lost its meaning.”
“How so?” Sandbar asked.
I sighed. “It’s hard to explain. I’ve noticed people could go overboard with traditions and all, either that, or they just don’t really care, thinking it’s only another normal holiday like the rest. *sigh* Those timeless hours when I was in high school, working on projects and schoolwork even during the holiday... When do I have time for the actual celebration?”
Yona gasped. “Yak friend no time for Hearth’s Warming!? Blasphemy!”
“Is this why you haven’t experienced the holidays in recent years, Nathan?” Ocellus asked. “What a pity! We don’t have to spend hours on schoolwork during the holidays!”
The others nodded in agreement.
“It’s a pretty long story to why this came to be,” I said. “Holidays for students are not exactly holidays. Even when we’re on break, there’s still much for us to do and prepare. Ugh, curse the education system, causing everyone to go crazy over grades and whatnot. We ain’t got time for Christmas, really. Plus, as we grow up, we get more mature. This holiday seems like... It’s starting to get childish.”
“Well, from what I know,” Gallus replied, “Hearth’s Warming is very different. And so are our unique tribes’ winter festivals.”
I nodded. “Yes, I do know that. But, do tell me in detail.”
Silverstream spoke up. “See, even though we celebrate them differently, it all symbolized as a sign of harmony and friendship between members of our races. We all find them really fun! It’s just cool to try new stuff now and then. Also, Pfft! No, it’s not childish!”
Smolder agrees. “Yeah! I mean, I’m a dragon and we’re not used to this either, but I actually find the holidays really interesting, too. It’s nice for us to come together to spend quality time with one another.”
I smiled.
“It must be really nice to spend Hearth’s Warming together, huh?”
Ocellus giggled. “Of course! We all have a great time. And all of us love playing in the snow. Hey, Yona! Remember that time when we had a snowball fight and you absolutely dominated it?”
“Ha! Of course, Yona remember!”
They all started laughing. I took it that they must’ve had a lot of fun, so I laughed along.
“What we’re saying, Nathan,” Sandbar said, walking over. “Hearth’s Warming, or Christmas, as you call it, is not just about traditions and stories. It’s not about the cards, presents, or the feast, in fact. Those aren’t important. What is important about the holidays, is everyone coming together and celebrate the friendship between their people.”
“I suppose you can say that,” I replied with a smile.
“You’ve probably heard the legend about our three tribes. It’s what started this holiday and what made its fundamental goal- To bring different races together in friendship. That’s what Hearth’s Warming is about. Behind all the traditions, the real gift is being able to spend time with your friends or relatives. It’s what makes us all so happy, and why we always wait desperately for it to arrive.”
They all gathered up as I brushed myself off.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I told them. “It does make sense. Oh, by the way, speaking of gifts, I bought presents from my world for you all. I had to really dig deep to find them so I hope you like it. There will be a card inside the gift boxes.”
I got the bag, which was outside the room, and as I passed the presents down, Twilight came over and called us.
“Hey, everycreature!” She said, smiling, “The table is set! You all coming?”
We all nodded and she left shortly.
“I don’t mind you guys opening your gifts afterward,” I said. “So, wanna come?”
“Count me in!” Smolder said.
Sandbar cheered in excitement. “Yeah, totally! Hey, how about we have some cultural exchange talk at the table, and have a snowball fight later? Who’s up for one?”
“Yona’s down!” Yona exclaimed.
“Oooooh! Me too! Me too!” Silverstream was bouncing up and down.
We all laughed as we walked down the hallway together.