The Day Before Hearth's Warming

by Autumnblazelover61

Rating: everyone
Tags: Discord, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure
Length: 2621

Everypony in Equestria struggles to get ready for the incoming Hearth's Warming Eve.

Hearth's Warming Eve is just around the corner, and the misadventures of all the different creatures in Equestria as they prepare for the big day to arrive are told through the style of a classic Christmas story.

(And yeah, I know it’s like March, get off my haunches)

Artwork originally by David Amirabadi

Published 2020-03-04 04:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-03-04 04:00:01 UTC

One More Day

In the land of Equestria, it was almost Hearth' Warming Eve
And everypony was putting up their festive stockings and wreathes
In the town of Ponyville, everyone was in a fret
To make sure that this was the best Hearth's Warming yet!
Pegasi hung lights, and Earth ponies put up their trees
And everyone in the town was filled with glee
Well, except Princess Twilight, who was on another list-making spree.

"Spike!" Twilight cried as she flew into her study room. "I ran out of paper! If I don’t get this list done I’ll have no idea what the little gifts are that I’m supposed to get the HUNDREDS of ponies in this town." She said worriedly as she got out some more scrolls.

Spike sighed and put down his Christmas edition of the Power Ponies. "Come on, Twilight, get rid of that frown. There’s still lots of fun to have all over town." Twilight glanced over at him, unamused. "This isn’t the part where you have to rhyme, Spike. Ah, here we go!” She levitated a scroll in front of her face and began jotting down some gifts she wanted to give as she picked up Spike and headed for the door.

As the Princess of Friendship, Twilight had to work hard
To make sure she gave everyone in town a chocolate, gift, or card
Not that she liked them, in fact some she despised
But, like those kids who did terrible in a swim competition but couldn’t be told that directly because it would hurt their feelings and make them cry
They all still deserved some kind of consolation prize
So, after making her list and checking it twice
Twilight flew from her castle, putting on her new scarf and hat that looked nice
She had to start buying, there was no time to spare
She kept on flying, past a blue rainbow-haired pegasus soaring through the air

"I can’t believe Spitfire is making us all buy gifts for each Wonderbolt." Rainbow Dash muttered as she flew over the snow-covered rooftops in her sporty winter boots and hat. "I've never even bothered to learn half of their names. Maybe I’ll just get them all some candy canes and chocolate."

Rainbow flew down to Sugarcube Corner, where the Cakes and Pinkie Pie were giving out free Hearth's Warming pies to the little fillies. Rainbow licked her lips as she approached the stand. But she wasn’t here to eat. She decided she was going to load up on some pies for each and every Wonderbolt. Unless that backfired and Spitfire made her the team's resident treat cooker. Plus, she hated those pies. Oh, well.

"Happy holidays, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie greeted her friend. "Wanna buy a pie? We’ve got strawberry, blueberry, and confetti-filled." She gestured at all the pies, pausing at the one that was filled with tiny shreds of paper. "That’s the new one Pinkie's testing out."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm just getting some for the Wonderbolts. They actually smell pretty good." She reached for the pie, but Pinkie slapped her hoof away. "Oh no, silly. The pies are only free for the little ones! If you want them, you’ll have to pay!" She said. Rainbow groaned. "Oh, come on! There’s so many if them, I’d probably go broke! Forget this!" She said and flew away in a huff.

At she looked back at the pies, Rainbow's stomach started roaring
She was already late for her lunch date with Soarin.
But now she had to go shopping, her frustration couldn’t be repressed
She had to get gifts for all those other Wonderbolts, about which she could care less.
As she flew towards the market, clutching her belly
She suddenly picked up the sweet scent of jelly
It was Granny Smith and Applejack, selling to the crowd
Their winter jelly supply, which they harvested so proud
The ponies were eager, licking their lips in anticipation
Too bad there were some problems with the preparation

"Whaddya mean, ya forgot the jelly at the farm, you big lug!" Granny Smith scolded Big Mac. "Ah told you to make sure you loaded the right boxes onto this here wagon. Now what in tarnation are we gonna do?"

"Ahhh..." Big Mac started, before turning it into a simple shrug.

"Hey, What’s going on?" Rainbow Dash asked as she flew up to the stand. "Applejack, were friends, right? Could you PLEASE lend me some jelly? I’m sure Thunderlane wouldn’t mind getting it as his gift, even if it might go bad by the ."

Applejack sighed. "I’m sorry, Rainbow, but we’re having a few problems. Like, for example- Big Mac messed up and brought ICE COLD APPLE CIDER instead of the jelly!" She pointed out towards the crowd, which were all yelping and panicking as their lips froze to the tips of the jars of what they thought would be delicious jelly, but was actually the favourite yet freezing drink of the Apple family.

"Well, this is just great. We'll be chased out of town for sure!"
Young Apple Bloom panicked as she looked out at the crazy blur.
Rainbow Dash smacked her face, then her growling tummy
She just wanted to get her comrades something yummy.
Now the whole town was a freezing mess, and were sad in a very bad way
Especially one tall wailing Earth pony, who was the colour of grey.
"Aw, forget this!" Rainbow grunted and flew away
"I'll find some good gifts by the end of the day!"
She soared across the forest, past the cottage on the edge of town
Where a certain yellow Pegasus was feeling quite down.
No gifts bought yet for her friends and family, oh lord!
And what would she do about her boyfriend Discord?

"Uh, how about this?" She asked, fluttering in the air and holding up a silly-looking yellow lamp she had found in her attic. Her pet bunny Angel just shook his head no. "Oh, this is hopeless!" Fluttershy cried as she lowered herself to the floor. "What kind of gift do you get the lord of Chaos? Discord has it easy- he can just snap his fingers and make up some combination of a bunch of different animals that I’d like!"

Then she looked around the room at all the different animals she had assigned to finding a good gift for Discord, including a snake, a tiger, and a billy goat, and got an idea. "Wait a minute, that’s it!"

The pegasus' face lit up like a lamp
As she remembered an animal she had seen once in the swamp, dirty and damp.
It was a creepy cross-breed behemoth that growled and hissed
"I wonder if Discord would like it." She wished.
The pony grabbed her backpack and flew off in a hurry
Past a small white unicorn in the snow who was about to get buried.

"Ah, help! A snow monster!" Sweetie Belle jokingly cried as Scootaloo tackled her covered in snow, and they both fell over and tumbled into a snowbank and laughed. "Man, I can’t believe it was already Hearth's Warming Eve." Scootaloo said with a sigh of amazement.

"I know, isn’t that crazy? It feels like Nightmare Night was just yesterday!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly. "Rarity's already panicking about what to give all her employee's at the boutique. Hey, maybe we should go see how Apple Bloom is doing! Maybe she could get some jelly for us!" The two seemed to think that was a good idea and dashed off.

Up in Canterlot, things were even worse
The ponies were busily shopping for a new dress or purse.
Stallion's ran this way and that, buying gifts for their friends
But at Canterlot Boutique, business seemed to have come to an end.
Rarity and Sassy Saddles stood idly on the floor
Wondering if the shop goers considered the place to be a bore.

It seemed most of the main ponies were experiencing their own holiday flurries
But up in the castle, the royal princesses also had their own worries.
They wondered what gifts they should give their sister, it was such a big bother
Obviously, the only shopping ponies they would be helping that day were each other.

"Let’s see- what’s something I could give my dear sister that she would love?" Celestia wondered as she looked through her room. After all these years, she thought she would have saved some of Luna's favourite things, but the room was full of her own regal sentiments, like her old sun-themed crowns, sun-themed slippers, and amulets that she used to raise the sun in an emergency.

"Huh. Didn’t know I had so many things related to the sun. Oh, but Luna probably has things that remind her of the moon, right?" Celestia rambled on to nopony in particular. Then she thought it over, and an amazing idea suddenly came over her.

"Of course! I should give her something that shows I’m interested in what she cares about- the moon! And this is my sister we’re talking about, so I’m going to need to do something really big- and I know just what!” She flew out of the room, taking with her an amulet she’d need, which contained some of Luna's magic, which she had been begging Celestia to give back to her for years.

As Celestia flew out of the castle so quick
Her sister was feeling pressure the weight of a thousand bricks.
She had no idea what would bring her lovely sister glee
To find the next morning under the tree.
Then she had an idea as she looked at the sun
And she knew that her sister would find it so fun.

But removing the sun from the snowy winter sky?
That would hurt her magic, and her eyes
But to give her sister a feeling of Hearth's Warming bliss
She was even willing to ask for help from a certain draconequus

But in Chaosville, even Discord had no time to lose
He had to think of presents for Fluttershy, Screwball, and the Smooze.
He zigged and zagged around his chaotic neighbourhood
Trying to snap up something real good.
When suddenly, as he was conjuring up a two-headed tuna
He collided headfirst with Princess Luna

"Ow! What in the world?" Discord cursed as he rubbed his head. "I know you ponies are busy getting ready for Hearth's Warming, but sheesh!"

"Oh, goodness, I’m sorry, Discord." Luna apologized. "I was just hoping if you could help me out with my Hearth's Warming gift for Celestia." She explained. Discord thought it over for a minute, but was ultimately convinced when Luna said it involved removing the sun from the sky. "And you want ME to help you? Why, that sounds absolutely CHAOTIC!" He said with a malicious grin.

"Perfect! So then how soon can you..." But before she had even finished, Discord had snapped his fingers and removed the sun from the Equestrian sky. "There! Happy Hearth's Warming! I’ll take my payment in quarters!" The draconequus scoffed. Luna rolled her eyes and teleported back to Canterlot.

As Luna disappeared into the thick purple air
Discord looked back to his house and saw that Fluttershy was there!
"Oh, hello, Fluttershy!" He exclaimed with a click of his heels
"I can assure you my gift will hit you right in the feels!"
"Oh dear." Fluttershy said as she put a hoof on her heart
"Is that in my knee, or somewhere around that part?"

Discord sighed and and then noticed behind her
Was a gigantic Chimera, now growling much louder.
"Egad!" shouted Discord. "Why’d you bring that thing here?"
"Well," said Fluttershy. "It was the closest thing I could find for you, dear."
Discord shrugged and examined it close
Well, I suppose it just needs some fixing up- Ooh, like the sweet scent of something gross!

Fluttershy laughed and kissed him on his cheek, whispering
"Happy Hearth's Warming, babe, I’ll see you next week."

Meanwhile, at Twilight's castle, where this mistake of a story got started
Twilight wrapped up of all the gifts she had left, and Spike delivered them with his breath, while Starlight just sat there and farted

"Red meat for Bulk Biceps, an hourglass for Doctor Whooves, batteries for DJ Pon 3's electrolarynx..." Twilight ticked them off her list as she counted. "Aaaand done!" She turned to Spike, who had just about run out of fire to breath and collapsed on the floor. "Finally, I’ve gotten that out of the way. Now to get ready for when the girls come over."

In all the hustle and bustle and chattering on
Twilight failed to notice that the sun in the sky was suddenly gone
Nopony really cared, though, in fact they celebrated
This was the evening they had long since awaited

Up at Wonderbolts HQ, though, it was a different story
Spitfire stood above the flyers in all her glory?
Alright, Wonderbolts, Hand out your gifts." She said with a huff
Wishing when she talked the rhyming would be turned off
Luckily for Rainbow, it was over very fast
Soarin accepted her gift, a "#1 Hottie" medal she bought from Lyra, even though the material was barely going to last

Meanwhile, down below, the thirsty ponies were angry about being trolled
They demanded their jelly, or heads were going to roll.
When suddenly, from the farm, there came a great blast
And jelly suddenly poured brought the streets really fast- wait, I just used that one.

Anyways, it seemed the wind had knocked over the jelly jars in the barn, and they had all broken and created a big pink sea of the stuff, which was now carrying Big Mac and Winona through the streets. The ponies all cheered, though. Jelly was all they ever wanted! They began lapping it up as it drifted by, until everypony had had their fill. It also helped Pinkie and the Cakes create a new kind of pie- jelly-filled! After all, it was better than confetti!

"Jelly fight!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, and the Crusaders began their own messy version of a snowball fight, which the other children joined in on.

While the rest of the town was enjoying the jelly-ish hassle
Twilight's friends were gathering around the fire at her castle
Sharing the adventures, the stories they’d been on
And then gossiping about bad gifts they’d received from other ponies and who was a moron

Meanwhile, the princesses sat in their living room, so giddy
Each getting ready to exchange their covered-up gifts, so pretty
"Here, Celestia! This is the one!"
Luna exclaimed as she unveiled the sun.
"And here’s your gift, I hope it’s not too soon." Celestia giggled as she showed off the moon.
"The room then shone brightly, both yellow and black
It nearly gave both princesses heart attacks!
They covered their eyes and fell onto the mat
And ended the night yelling "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!"

Suddenly, the door flew open and in from the night
Stepped Rarity, who looked like quite a sight.
"So sorry I'm late, darlings." She said with a smile
"Did anything happen while I was gone all this while?"
The five friends looked at each other, thinking about their chaotic days
"Meh" they shrugged. "Same as always."

And that’s where our merry tale comes to an end
With the friends exchanging gifts as their new holiday trend.
And as the stars in the sky twinkled so bright, there was just one thing left to say
To all a good Hearth's Warming, and to all a good night

Oh, and happy March Break.

Author's Note

I had a lot of fun with this story. :raritywink: