Some time has passed since the defeat of the triumvirate. When everycreature united against them, that was when they realized, that no matter how strong they think they are, having allies makes them stronger. So every year, Equestria's allies switch from land to land, learning more about the culture of each creature, even Grandpa Gruff started opening up (with a LOT of help from Gilda).
But this day marks a very, very special day, this is Equestria's second turn to set up the holiday. it was originally Canterlot, the city Twilight was born and raised, but now it is Ponyville, the place where she realized that Friendship REALLY was Magic. Shortly after Nightmare Night, they started to prepare for Hearth's Warming. Many were there for Princess Twilight, but a lot more came when news broke out that the Elements, Pillars, and Successors will be reuniting for the holiday. Even Flurry Heart, now no more than 8, joined her aunt, it was a joyous reunion for both alicorns.
Unbeknownst to them, an unknown creature resided upon the Golden Mountain, it was a mountain the Princess of Friendship and her friends knew well as the first time Fluttershy overcame her fear of dragons. But this creature was not scaly or had wings, quite the opposite in fact. It was a creature known as the Mammoth. A long lost civilization whose disappearance nocreature knows of, the Mammoths were well known for there massive size, rumors even thought that their tusks were durable enough to pierce diamonds. His existence was first founded by two dragons who thought it was a good idea to go where Fluttershy first faced her fears.
A red dragon, about as large as a cart, tried to climb a mountain. "Garble, why are we walking? We have wings we can just fly up there." An orange dragon, slightly smaller than Garble asked. "It's about adventure. If we want to see where the yellow pony overcame her fear of dragons, we have to retrace their steps." Smolder faceclawed. "Why did you ask me to join you? I figured Spike would've joined." Garble snickered. "Nah, Spikes to busy with 'helping the princess'. If I'm going to ask Anycreature to join me in this journey, you are my number one pick." Smolder sighed. "And you didn't just threatened to reveal my secret to everycreature in the town?" "Come on, everydragon already knows my secret. The way I see it, I got nothing to lose." Garble said while taking out a ruby to snack on.
What they saw when they neared the top was not what they were expecting, a long list of signs in a bizarre style. They're all say something different, but they basically said the same similar, 'GET OUT', 'GO AWAY', 'I'M WARNING YOU', it creeped them out, but Smolder just thinks it's Discords work. When they made it to the cave, however, it was blocked off by wooden planks. "You don't think somethings in there, do you?" Smolder asked. "If there is, it's going to be trouble." He saw a hole on one of the planks and decided to check it out. "What are you doing?" Smolder asked. "There's a peep hole. If I can't find any treasure or if I see something living inside, we're leaving." Garble said matter-of-factly. They both slowly crept through the plank and when they were close enough, something burst out.
It was a monster with large jagged tusks and fiery red eyes. It's ear-piercing call was accompanied with it blowing fiery. It scared Garble and Smolder away from the mountain. It was a facade, a trick of puppetry and pyrotechnics. It's call was a voice modulator connected to a pig. "Well done, Hammibal! Show them right!" From the shadows of the cave a monster of a creature looked out to the dragons running from the mountain and back to the town. "I hate those small self-important equines. I really do." The Mammoth looked at Hammibal. "We're going to Ponyville. Wait here while I get my disguise." He took a buffalo disguise and a bunch of bags to cover his size. "Nocreature will question a nomad buffalo. Look out Ponyville, here I come." The Mammoth said with a smile.
Within Ponyville, the festivities where in full swing. Everycreature was looking forward to the many activities that they can partake in. Flurry Heart worried with the culture clash of many of these creatures might have for each other. "Hey, princess. You frozen there?" A blue griffon in golden armor walked up to her. "Oh, no Gallus. I was just thinking." She admitted. "About what?" Gallus asked. Flurry Heart was nervous. "About how many creatures there are. Won't someone take something out of context if they say the wrong thing." Gallus smiled. "This is the 7th-8th time we've been doing this. If anycreature took anything out of context, it would've happened ages ago. I know you wanted to see your aunt after all these years and I know you want to make this Hearth's Warming as good as it can be for her sake. You just need to lighten up." Gallus wrapped his talon around her shoulder. "You're right. It's just the anxiety getting to me."
She saw a strange buffalo with a mountain of baggage on his back talking to some yaks. "Oh, fellow hairy creature grow big horns. What's buffalo secret?" He pointed to the unnaturally long horns. "I've been around to various places. I didn't even noticed the growth until not too long ago." The strange buffalo said to the yaks. "Well, if buffalo remember. Find yak and tell us. Seems like adventure worthy of saga." The yak nudged the buffalo. "I'm don't plan on staying long, but if I remember, I'll tell you." The buffalo laughed. Flurry Heart have meet buffalos, but never one such as him. Giant horns, the mountain of bags, she knew something wasn't right. She followed the buffalo, when she followed him, she noticed a trunk coming from the front, it wasn't some unnaturally strong buffalo, but some kind of elephant-like creature.
She heard Garble and Smolder screaming. Gallus and the rest of Smolder's friends came up to her. "Smolder, Garble? What happened?" Sandbar asked. "It was a monster!" Smolder screamed, causing everyone to stop and look at them. From Princess Twilight's former castle, there was a pony with a malicious history talking to the Twilight and her other friends. It was Svengallop, claiming to be reformed, but none of them (especially Applejack) were convinced. They overheard the shouts of a monster. "Did I hear somecreature say something about a monster?" Svengallop said when he walked out.
"Wing Commander Gallus? Is there something we should be worried about." Gallus was sweating bits. "No, sir. You know dragons. Wild imagination." Svengallop was not convinced. "They said they saw a monster!" "Exactly, it's called roleplaying. Like LARPing Ogres and Oubliettes. Something like that." Svengallop, while still not convinced with Gallus' excuse, doesn't seem to put it pass the dragons for playing around. "Okay, then. Take care and keep the playing on the down-low, we're not even in Hearth's Warming Eve yet." "Yes, sir. Very sorry, sir." Gallus exclaimed before venomously cursing him. "If you were in Griffinstone years ago, you would be scared for your life."
While Flurry Heart heard part of the conversation, she still didn't keep an eye off the buffalo. She got closer and closer, until she found out that the buffalo wasn't a buffalo at all, but a new kind of creature that she's never seen before. The creature turned to see her as if it sensed her presence. "What are you?" The creature completely turn around, she saw it as a hairy elephant-like creature, maybe a lost cousin. "The Mammoth!" he said trying to scare her. She screamed, but didn't run, unlike most other creatures. The Mammoth snickered and slowly walked toward the mountain in his disguise with a pig she just noticed walking with him. "Let's go, Hammibal."
She just stood there, almost as if frozen in the snow. "Flurry Heart!?" She heard her aunt called. "Where are you." That snapped her out of it. "I'm here, auntie!" Twilight found Flurry right outside the town. "Why are you here?" Flurry Heart had to think up a lie, she knew it would go against one of the Elements, but she wouldn't believe her otherwise. "I was looking at this mountain. Am I right to assume you went there during your stay here?" Twilight looked at the mountain she was talking about. "The Golden Mountain. Named after the wealth of treasure that the dragon had with it. It was the time where Fluttershy conquered her fear of dragons for the first time." She said with a nostalgia look in her eye. "Do you think anything lives there now?" Flurry Heart asked. Twilight smiled. "If there is, it's not bothering us. Now let's get back, the Wing Commander's looking for you." She looked back one more time right before leaving, to see the Mammoth enter the mountain cave. She thought of something that would possibly benefit everycreature in Ponyville.
The Mammoth went back to his mountain home, with his pet pig, Hammibal. His home was filled with trashed appliances, taken from the garbage and fixed up by him. "I need to prepare some coffee for tomorrow." the Mammoth said to Hammibal. While he prepared the coffee beans, he started thinking out loud. "I've done it, I went to Ponyville and no one was the wiser, except for that young Alicorn but I doubt anyone will believe her." As he filled the coffee machine and prepared it for morning, he started going to bed, he started going to his bed, which was a pile of king-sized mattresses. "Funny she didn't ran away, I do hope she doesn't do anything drastic." He wondered about why until he decided to go to sleep. "Forget it."
While in the Castle of Friendship, Flurry Heart looked through the library for various books on certain creatures of the world. She found the elephant nomadic tribes and discovered they had a distant relative of them, much like ponies and zebras. 'Maybe a historical book can help me.' She thought looking for one. She discovered a book with a variety of ancient creatures. "Here it is. Ancient Creatures." She looked through the whole booked to look for the mammoths, when she discovered that the mammoths and elephants were not only trading partners, but technologically advanced for their time. "This is it. But what happened to the mammoths?" She flipped to the end of the section and, while the reason wasn't clear, there was a date, 1,000,000 years before the Celestial Sisters reign. She knew just where to go.
She went to Zecora's house in the Everfree Forest and knocked on the door. "Ah, Flurry Heart, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be celebrating this time of year?" Flurry Heart knew it was either now or never, she knew how she helped her aunt when the Everfree Forest went berserk. "I have a really big favor to ask you." She peaked Zecora's interest? "You remember that potion you gave Aunt Twilight to find out why the Everfree went wild" Well, wilder than usual? I need to use it" Zecora was shocked. "Why? Yes, I can do it. But why do you want to go through it?" "There's something I need clarity on." Flurry Heart explained. "I need to go way back, a million years before Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna's reign." Zecora thought long and hard about this predicament. "Flurry Heart, do not do this. This is something you must dismiss." "There's a creature from a empire long thought dead." Flurry admitted. "I need to know what happened." Zecora understood what she meant, all she could do was sigh and get her the potion. "Here, I saved this one for if they needed. But don't take my warning unheeded. It can take you back to the past. But make sure it's the right history to be cast." Flurry smiled. "I will." She said as she drank.
She found herself in a camp with huts made up of stone, sticks and straw, bigger than any building in Ponyville. She saw a group of mammoths preparing for some kind of event. Flurry flew to the center of their attention, realizing they couldn't see her. "That's convenient." She saw two mammoths well-guarded with other mammoths covered in stone armor. "That must be some kind of royal family." She said to herself. She got closer to them to hear what they are saying. "Father, are you sure I'm ready for something like this?" The smaller mammoth said to the large mammoth. "You have completed every single trial to become the next Chief. Everymammoth already loves you even before than, your sister Frost is a great warrior and being Chieftess is the last thing she wants. Trust me. You. Are. Ready." The smaller mammoth looked up to him. "Thank you, Father. I will not let you down."
She looked at them with admiration, when another mammoth ran up to them out of breath. "What happened?" The larger mammoth said to the scout. "It's Catrina, my lord! She's invading!" "What?" The larger Mammoth said. 'Who?' Flurry Heart thought when the mammoths prepared for the assault. "Chief Cold! This is Catrina! I demand your attention!" She heard through the walls of the camp. She flew above the camp to find legions of bipedal cat-like creatures with fangs as big as horns, in front of them all was giant of a cat. Flurry thought she was Catrina, considering she's the biggest, but what caught her attention was her manservant, a small reptile-like creature with feathers. She got closer to Catrina to hear what she's planning for the mammoths. "Rep, is the sabre-cat army ready?" Catrina asked the reptile. "Oh yes, my lady. Ready to take the camp and we'll make sure they're empire will never be revived." Rep assured. "Purr-fect. What would I be without you?" Catrina asked Rep. "Oh, I'd know what I'd be without you, frozen like the rest of my velociraptor brethren." She smiled. "That was accidental. You were there and I decided to help." She assured. He then turn to her and said "Either way, you saved me. I will do anything you ask me to."
"This is insane. The chieftain won't take this lying down." Flurry Heart said to herself. "Everymammoth!" She heard from the distance. It was a mammoth warrior, Frost, covered in rock armor from the tip of her head to bottom of her feet. "I have never lied to you, nor will I plan on doing so now! This day will either be the greatest triumph for mammoth-kind or the fall of our great empire! Let's be sure it's the former!" Flurry Heart noticed the chieftain and his son were not with her. She went to a giant cave to find them preparing the ritual with a rock circle. "Father, I know you want me to live, but we can all just start this ritual with everymammoth." The chieftain's son said to his father. "No. Only one mammoth can do it." Chief Cold said with a stern voice with a hint of remorse. "Please, me and your older sister have talked about this and are very proud of you! If anymammoth deserves to be the sole survivor it's you." The chieftain's son shed a tear. "Alright. I'll do it. But how do you know when this will be?" All the chief could do was sigh and answer "We don't know." Not asking anymore questions he started carving the center of the rock circle. "On this day, a thousand years after the fight between the sun and moon, return me to this land." As a portal started to appear around the circle, the chief's son looked at his father and hugged him as if he knew this would definitely be the last time he'll ever see him again. "If anything happens, hug my sister and tell her that 'it's from me'." The chief started to cry. "I will." Flurry started bawling as the chief's son entered the portal.
With that the vision ended. She was quickly comforted by Zecora "Flurry Heart, are you alright? You need something for this plight?" "No, thank you." Flurry assured. "What happened?" Zecora worriedly looked at her. "Just before you woke up you'd cry. Is there a reason as to why?" Flurry Heart stared into nothing as if looking back at what she seen. "I saw a civilization coming to an end. Caused by a war." Zecora looked grim. "Yes, war never ends quite well. I would compare to something I cannot tell. You should go to Ponyville, they'd want you there. Surely, you don't have time to spare." Flurry sighed. "You're right. I should let Aunt Twilight know about this." Zecora hugged Flurry Heart as she left.
The Mammoth looked on to Ponyville with a sneer. 'How I despise those lesser creatures and their cheer.' The Mammoth thought to himself. 'They play and they play without thinking about those less fortunate than them.' Hammibal oinked at the Mammoth which he gave a smile. "Don't worry, Hammy. I would never hate you." He looked back at them and thought of that day, back when he escaped the tigers' assault. He was drifting off in the void for what felt like eternity. A portal suddenly opened to him, leading him to his home. What he saw there was not what he expected at all. Where a once great civilization prospered, he found nothing. No blood, no bodies, not even a signal sign of battle, just dirt and cliffs. In a cave was a bizarre tree, it was rock and had a star on it. "What happened to the mammoths? And where are the tigers?" A look of horror dawned on him. "Did it really take me to the future? Then that would mean..." The Mammoth started screaming and stomping around the place. Creating shockwaves that could be felt for a whole mile. "This is impossible. Why?" he heard a squeal of a small creature, a small pink pig smaller than anything he knew. "Hey there, I thought you would've ran." He said to it. "You want to be my friend?" The pig came closer to him until it started nuzzling his trunk. "I'll take that as a yes, Hammibal." Back in the future, the Mammoth looked at Hammibal and shed tears of joy. "I'm glad I found you."
