My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever

Chapters

Chapter 1: Hearth's Warming Helper
Chapter 2: Finding the perfect presents
Chapter 3: The trouble with Gift Giving
Chapter 4: Cannot be bought or sold
Chapter 5: Gifting Conclusion
Chapter 6: Regroup at the Castle of Friendship
Chapter 7: A Monster of a Pudding
Chapter 8: The greatest Gift of all

Chapter 1: Hearth's Warming Helper

Author's Note

This is my first attempt to write a Christmas special. I hope all of you like the story.

Chapter 1: Hearth's Warming Helper

From the beautiful skies of Equestria, one can see the beautiful town of Ponyville, home to none other than Princess Twilight and her friends, along with their husbands and children. But it wasn’t a sunny day like any other day. Well, it is, but not in the way you would think. For instead of a green and grassy day, the entire place was covered in snow. One would expect it to be winter, but it is not. Why was the day so different like any other day you might ask? Why it’s Hearth’s Warming Eve of course, the time of year where families and friends come together, celebrating the holidays and exchanging gifts to one another.

Kind of like Christmas for the humans of Earth. For the husbands, especially some of the newer humans, it was still strange to celebrate a different holiday, but Hearth’s Warming Eve was so different from Christmas. For some, Christmas was always enjoyful, but nowadays, Christmas would not be for everyone, not the kind of lives that they would lead. But Hearth’s Warming on the other hand. It’s so much happier, so much enjoyful, and with so much song that would make you think you’re in the middle of a musical. Let us find out what all of them are planning for this year’s Hearth’s Warming Eve.

‘It was a single day before Hearth’s Warming Eve,’ said the Narrator from above (I know I’m kinda breaking the fourth wall here, but this is my first time trying to write a Christmas story, so sue me, even if the Holidays are already over) ‘Everypony was busy, so much to achieve.’

From the Ponyville train station, a train arrived to drop off all of the ponies who came to visit their relatives for the holidays, but on the train, the Young Six were standing on the platform, ready to go home for the Holidays.

‘They hustled and bustled, their heads were a-spin. And it’s here that our holiday story begins…’

From the town of Ponyville itself, everypony was decorating the town. The Pegasi were flying around, hanging up the decorations from house to house, whilst from one of them, an Earth Pony named Berry Punch looked out the window and smiled to see the ponies hard at work.

A pony civilian walked out with presents in his arms, with little fillies and colts running by, excited for the holidays, running past the pony, whilst the second filly, who was dressed too warmly, ended up fumbling and fell on her back, struggling to get up whilst her cute little legs were wiggling.

From the Ponyville markets, every pony were busy hard at work, placing all their pies and Hearth’s Warming Treats at their stands, ready for ponies to buy what they needed for their holiday feasts, along with other essentials for decorations and such. From the stores in Ponyville, all the ponies were hard at work preparing their gifts and supplies.

In fact, fellow readers, I feel a song coming along. Take it away Ponyville.

Hearth’s Warming Eve is almost here

There’s so much more to do

As the Ponies were trying to get by, a certain Rainbow haired Pegasus, rushed to Ponyville, trying to do some quick shopping for her family and friends. But thankfully, she wasn’t alone, for following the Pegasus who left a Rainbow Trail, her husband Bolt and their son Bolt Jr., were right behind her as Bolt flew on his Poofy-Poofy cloud.

(I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t resist. The moment when I thought about it and wrote it down, I laughed so hard I nearly fell off of my chair. It was too funny to pass up.)

They looked around with quick haste through the markets, trying to figure out what to get.

(Rainbow Dash)

Still need to shop

(Bolt)

For all our friends

(Bolt Jr.)

But what to get them all?

(All)

No clue!!

As they rushed off quickly to another direction, Fluttershy was looking at the apple stands, wondering what to get for her family, friends, even her animals. Thankfully, to help with the work load, her husband Genus and their son Warm Breeze, along with their youngest daughter Comfy Breeze, who was old enough to walk and talk, accompanied her to help her out.

(Fluttershy)

This one is nice

Warm Breeze picked his little sister up whilst she was wearing an adorable cute outfit

(Warm Breeze)

And that’s so cute

They couldn’t help but be hypnotized by their daughter’s cuteness, causing them to hold their children together.

(Genus)

And she’s also pretty too.

In Rarity’s home, it was a…bit of a mess so to speak, sowing and hard at work, trying to make good gifts for her friends and family. As she was nearly stressed, her daughter quickly helped her out with her magic and designs, one which Rarity treasured.

(Rarity)

Why do I make all these gifts each year?

At the same time, her husband Silver came along and showed them the time, surprising the daughter and the mother. They quickly got dressed, with Silver helping them dress up warmly, as well as received a kiss from his wife and daughter as they quickly grabbed their bags of bits.

(Silver)

I doubt we’ll make it through

They quickly rushed out to the streets to the market, hopefully to be on time to finish their holiday shopping. They then joined Rainbow and Fluttershy, along with their husbands and kids.

(Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, husbands & kids)

One more day, before the cheer

(Ponies)

Shop! Pay! Box! Wrap! Bow! Repeat!

(Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, husbands & kids)

One last chance, before the holiday’s here

(Ponies)

Box! Wrap! Bow! Again!

(Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, husbands & kids)

One more day to make the holiday great

One more day before we celebrate

Rarity walked over to one of the booths and picked her supplies whilst paying for them.

(Rarity)

One day, and then it’s here

As the group left, the ponies got together.

(Ponies)

One more chance to bring that holiday cheer

And who else came along to be part of this colorful song? None other than Pinkie Pie, who jumped over the singing crowd, bouncing gleefully with a smile on her face, but following her was none other than both her twins, Peacon and Lemon Pie, bouncing right behind their mother as they too had smiles on their faces.

(Pinkie Pie)

Hearth’s Warming Eve is almost here

A day for us to share

And to whom did they bounce to? To the rest of the Apple Family of course, which consisted of Applejack, her husband Bucky and their son Apple Slice. But with them were also Apple Bloom and Big Mac, minus Granny Smith (May she rest in peace). Grand Pear was also among them, who wanted to know his great grandchild too, as was Sugar Belle, who wanted to spend the holidays with Big Mac. And they were not alone.

The Pie family also came to visit. And who was among the Pie family? Both Pinkie’s parents, Igneous Pie and Cloudy Quartz were also there, with Pinkie’s husband Frosty was with. Among them were also Pinkie’s older sister, Limestone Pie and her husband Artifex, along with their newborn twins, their daughter Pebble Pie and their son Boulder Pie (Which was strange that she wanted to name her son after Holder’s Boulder, but they weren't complaining). The second oldest sister, Maud Pie, was among them, with her boyfriend Mudbriar, was also there and decided to spend the holidays with them too. And among them, the youngest sister, Marble Pie. And apparently, she gained a human lover too, whom she nicknamed Rocky, which suited him fine.

(Figured that Marble Pie would also have a human lover, and the fact that he was tough as a rock, nicknamed him Rocky, which was fitting, considering he was his favorite movie character)

(Applejack)

Friends and family all together

(Frosty)

Pies

(Bucky)

Apples

(Kids)

And a Pear

As both Cloudy and Igneous managed a stand, Big Mac was busy packing up their bags to a cart, until he struggled to lift a bag, which to his surprise was filled with rocks, with Applejack, Pinkie Pie and their husbands also hard at work.

(Applejack, Pinkie Pie & Husbands)

With all the planning we still have to do

We’ve got no time to spare

Sure enough, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and their husbands, along with their children, all took both their families to Sweet Apple Acres, for since the Apples spend the time with them last Hearth’s Warming, now the Pies wishes to spend some time with them for a change. And sure enough, they guided them into the house in order for them to settle down and feel right at home.

(Ponies)

One more day, before the cheer

(Pinkie Pie)

Shop! Pay! Box! Wrap! Bow! Repeat!

From the Apple Family living room, Apple Bloom was busy helping Grand Pear and Cloudy Quartz decorate their Hearth’s Warming Tree, until they were stunned to see Limestone Pie push a large rock to the center whilst it was wrapped in a bow. Thankfully, her husband Artifex helped her, whilst both their kids were sitting on the large rock, whilst waving their little arms, enjoying the rock ride.

(Ponies)

One last chance, before the holiday’s here

(Pinkie Pie)

Box! Wrap! Bow! Again!

Sugar Belle and Big Mac kissed one another under the mistletoe and hugged one another, with Marble watching. Normally, she would wince, considering that she had a crush on Big Mac a while back, but it all disappeared when she felt a kiss on her cheek, surprising her, and saw that it was none other than her boyfriend Rocky, who also hugged her, which she ended up cuddling against him.

(Ponies)

One more day to make the Holiday bright

Quick second at one of the back ground characters, a pony named Wensley was busy pouring and selling ciders to customers and he was really tired and even a dead brained monkey could tell that the stallion needed a serious break.

(Wensley)

One more day, and I can sleep at night

(Applejack)

The family is almost here

Both the Pies, the Apples and the Pear began to sing together as they were suddenly back at the market place.

(Don’t ask me how, I don’t understand Cartoon Logic)

(Apples, Pies and Pear)

One more chance to bring that holiday cheer

And at the same time, a certain group of fillies, namely Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, were playing in the snow, with Scootaloo pulling the sleigh as Sweetie Belle was enjoying the sleigh ride. As they enjoyed each other’s company, the entire town continued with their wondrous carol, whilst doing their daily activities.

(Ponies)

Before the fun, there’s preparations

(Just around the corner)

Shopping, cooking, decorations

(The complications)

It’s all worth it in the end

Spreading joy to all your friends

And from the Ponyville office, where none other than Derpy was working, many ponies came by to deliver their presents from the post office to send to their loved ones, until the last one brought in too many packages, causing the whole thing to tumble over.

(Ponies)

Even when it never, ever

Ever seems to end

Aah!

And what goes on in the Castle of Friendship. As many of you know, Twilight can sometimes go overboard when it comes to planning, but when it’s Hearth’s Warming, oh boy, you do not want to get in the way of that. And speaking of which, a certain dragon was running down the hall, with a box of decorations in his hands, and quite frantically if I might add. He had stopped in the middle of the hall and noticed everything was not finished decorating, with Emily hard at work as well, along with Twilight’s husband Beau, and their daughter Moonlight Sparkle, all of them quickly at work so that they could do their shopping.

(Spike)

Hearth’s Warming Eve is getting close

We’re not prepared I fear

Spike appeared in front of Twilight’s room door, and tried to talk to her, but the Princess of Friendship herself is just as frantic as ever, that much is clear.

(Spike)

Twilight, you should take a break

(Twilight)

No time to rest, that much is clear

She quickly took out a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very…

OKAY YOU GET THE IDEA!!!

…long list whilst she also looked it over, and handed it over to spike.

(Twilight)

I made a list and checked it twice

There’s lots to do on here

She then flew down the hall after the two of them were warmly dressed. However, seeing that they didn’t want her to freak out like she did last year and the year before that, Beau, Moonlight and Emily quickly followed Twilight and Spike outside.

(Twilight)

Oh, if I can’t get everything done

I’ll have to wait and celebrate next year

As Twilight, Spike, Beau, Moonlight and Emily followed Twilight all the way to the market, everypony continued to be in song, whilst Twilight does her classic Twilighting.

(Ponies)

One more day, before the cheer

Shop! Pay! Box! Wrap! Bow! Repeat!

As Fluttershy, Genus, Warm Breeze and Comfy Breeze, along with their canine Trusty, walked with the other ponies, Twilight flew by, gaining their attention, with Spike running after her. Suddenly, Fluttershy’s hooves got tangled in the list, causing her to be pulled away, with Genus, Trusty and the kids quickly going after her, with Beau, Emily and Moonlight in pursuit.

(Ponies)

One last chance, before the holiday’s here

Box! Wrap! Bow! Again!

As Rarity, Silver and Crystal Gem were standing near one of the stands to make another purchase, she was suddenly wrapped in the list too, dragging her away, with Silver and Crystal quickly going after Rarity to help her.

(Ponies)

One more day to make the holiday great

At the same time, whilst Twilight frantically went down another part of the market street, Spike came along, and this time, Rainbow Dash was wrapped up in the list, with Bolt and Bolt Jr. quickly going after her.

(Ponies)

One more day before we celebrate

The CMC sang together

(Cutie Mark Crusaders)

Please, oh please, make it really, really great

A mail pony took the packages with him and tried to be in a hurry

(Mail pony)

One more gift, try to hurry, don’t be late

Roseluck, Lily and Daisy were wrapping their present, but a stallion next to them was asleep, and they aggressively sang him awake, causing him to fall backwards.

(Roseluck, Lily, Daisy)

Box! Wrap! Bow! Repeat! Gotta concentrate!!

(Ponies)

Just one more day until we all celebrate

As Twilight flew by, Spike continued to take the list with him, until he felt a tug on the list and fell backwards. He looked up and to his surprise, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were wrapped in the list, with their husbands and kids finally being able to catch up with them. They quickly began to take them out of the list.

After Bolt finally pulls his wife out, Rainbow Dash said ‘Do we wanna know why you’re wrapping up everypony in town?’

‘Yeah, I know you want to buy gifts to wrap them and all, but this is ridiculous.’ said Bolt after he held onto her.

‘Not wrapping paper,’ said Spike as he pointed at the list ‘A to-do-list.’

‘A really, long, to do list.’ said Emily as she stood next to Spike.

From afar, they saw Twilight teleporting from stand to stand as she frantically picked up some decorations, some lights and some scrolls whilst she said ‘Two of those! Three of those! I’m gonna need ten of those! Just in case!!’

She then teleported to another stand whilst the others looked at her in concern.

‘Twilight, darling,’ said Rarity ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yeah, you’re acting more crazy than usual,’ said Silver, but cleared his throat as he said ‘Well, crazier, anyway.’

Twilight teleported to a cake stand as she said ‘Sure, just grabbing a few things to do, I need this, no that’s silly, I need eight!’

She teleported again, with Beau groaning at the side whilst rubbing his templates. At the same time, Applejack and Pinkie Pie, along with their husbands and kids, came along. But not just them, but Starlight and her husband Chance were there as well, even both Trixie (Who was pregnant and could have a baby any day now) and Mystic.

‘Hey y’all,’ said Applejack ‘What’s everypony…?’

They saw Twilight teleporting from stand to stand, trying to get her things on the list.

‘Oh.’ said Applejack when she saw her.

‘Is she at it, again?’ said Bucky.

‘She’s at what again?’ asked Mystic.

‘Traditional Holiday Meltdown.’ said Applejack.

‘Uh-huh.’ said Pinkie, with the others agreeing.

‘Meltdown?’ asked Chance.

‘Every time whenever Hearth’s Warming Eve comes along,’ said Starlight as she explained things ‘Twilight panics and tries to figure out what to give her friends and family for the holidays. So she often goes shopping all crazy and try to make sure that we would have be best Hearth’s Warming Eve ever.’

‘She does this every time?’ asked Trixie.

‘Unfortunately.’ said Beau.

‘We told mom that she needn’t do that,’ said Moonlight ‘But you know how she gets. Once she sets her mind onto something, there’s no stopping her.’

‘No kidding,’ said Apple Slice ‘Remember what happened last year?’

Everyone shudders at the thought of it. ‘Not something we want to repeat of.’ said Genus.

Applejack calmly walked over to Twilight with a smile on her face, whilst her said friend began to hyperventilate with many items hovering over her, with Beau and Bucky behind her. As she continued to hyperventilate, Beau stood to her right side, with Applejack and Bucky standing in front of the hyperventilating princess.

‘Hey, Twilight.’ said Applejack, trying to sooth the stressing princess calmly and quietly as she pressed her shopping down and looked over to her pony country gal friend. ‘How’s your day?’

Twilight began to speak fast in a panic and said ‘I got way behind grading midterms, and Cadance, Shining Armour and Blade are coming over with Flurry Heart and Raging Halberd for Hearth’s Warming Eve, and I haven’t started decorating, and I don’t know what to get any of you and I…’

Deciding to cut her off, Beau took a hold of his wife’s flank and made a gentle grip on it, causing Twilight to yelp in surprise and immediately stiff herself up. Seeing it as a good time to calm her, Applejack continued to calm the stressing princess down.

‘Take a breath,’ said Applejack, causing the Princess of Friendship to take a deep breath, and held it in, with AJ finally saying ‘Now let it out, sloooooooooooow…’

Twilight managed to exhale slowly, allowing her to calm down. Thankfully, the country mare can be quite the peace talker when it comes to calming others down. Beau then held onto both of Twilight’s shoulders, allowing her to look at her husband.

‘Twilight,’ said Beau ‘We’ve been over this already.’

‘Indeed Twilight Sparkle,’ said Trixie ‘Trixie knows how much family and friends mean to you, but you can’t always do things alone.’

‘Yeah, I mean you have all of us,’ said Starlight ‘Why not just ask us for help? You know we’d never let you do things alone.’

Twilight held onto her husband’s hand as she said ‘I’m sorry everypony. I just want all of you to be happy. Considering of what happened last year.’

Moonlight hugged her mother around her waist and said ‘We know mommy. But you know we’d like to help you anyway.’

Twilight smiled and hugged her daughter closely and said ‘I know.’

Applejack then thought about something, something that might help calm the stressing Princess down. She smiled and had a great idea.

‘Now, I think I have an idea that might help.’ said Applejack, allowing the others to be drawn to her whilst she explained. ‘What if we change up how we give gifts this year and do a Hearth’s Warming Helper.’

‘Oh, like a secret Santa Helper?’ said Bucky.

‘A what?’ said Rainbow Dash.

‘You remember what we told all of you about a man named St. Nicholas?’ said Bolt.

‘Oh, about a kind old man who would go around the world to deliver presents every year to every child around the world?’ said Crystal Gem, whilst she smiled gleefully ‘He is such a nice old man.’

Silver chuckled and held Crystal Gem close ‘That’s right Crystal.’

‘Well this is something that most schools would do on our world,’ said Genus ‘Before the holidays come, we had to buy a specific gift for a specific friend of our class. We pick a name, but we don’t say to the other what the gift is.’

‘Hence a Secret Santa Helper.’ said Bucky.

‘Oh,’ said Rarity ‘Now that is a generous way of giving gifts.’

‘And a special surprise.’ said Pinkie, who also liked the idea.

‘Kind of like that, yeah.’ said Applejack.

Emily then said ‘But you know what was our favorite part of Christmas?’

‘What’s that?’ asked Spike.

‘The music.’ said the humans.

‘Were they really that good?’ asked Fluttershy.

‘Sure is,’ said Genus ‘Would you like to hear it?’

‘Uh, I don’t…’ said Rainbow Dash before she was cut off.

‘Too late.’ said Bolt before the humans darted off, making them wonder what they’re up to.

Emily suddenly appeared, wearing a beautiful dress, gaining the Mane 7’s attention, even most of the residents of Ponyville

(Emily)

I don’t want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need

Frosty and Chance appeared by her side as they walked with her.

(Frosty & Chance)

I don’t care about the presents

Underneath the Christmas tree

Both Bolt and Bucky picked her up as they escorted her to the right

(Bolt & Bucky)

I just want you for my own

More than you could ever know

Genus and Silver picked her up as he escorted her to a piano

(Silver & Genus)

Make my wish come true

Beau then played the piano that the others had escorted her to

(Beau)

All I want for Christmas, is you. It’s you

Pretty soon, they began to dance and sing, gaining everyone in town’s attention as they began to sing.

(Emily)

I don’t want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need

(Frosty & Chance)

I don’t care about the presents

Underneath the Christmas tree

(Emily)

I don’t need to hang my stocking

There upon the fire place

(Silver & Genus)

Santa Clause won’t make me happy

With a toy on Christmas day

They began to dance all over Ponyville, trying to get everybody in the groove just as much as they do.

(All)

I just want you for my own

More than you could ever know

Make my wish come true

All I want for Christmas, is you

You, baby

Genus stood near Fluttershy as he twirled her around.

I won’t ask for much this Christmas

I won’t even ask for snow

Bolt picked her up bridal style and twirled her around, much to her flustered face

(Bolt)

I’m just gonna keep on waiting

Underneath the mistletoe

Silver went over and tilted Rarity backwards, taking her by surprise too

(Silver)

I won’t make a list and send it

To the North Pole for Saint Nick

Pinkie instantly jumped on Frosty’s back, with the two of them smiling as they sang.

I won’t even stay awake to

Hear those magic reindeer click

They ended up dancing together once more

(All)

Cause I just want you here tonight

Holding on me so tight

What more can I do

Baby all I want for Christmas, is you

You baby

(Chance)

All the lights are shining

(Beau)

So brightly everywhere

(Emily)

And the sound of children’s

Laughing in the air

(Silver)

Oh, oh

(Genus)

And everyone is singing

(Bolt)

I hear those sleigh bells ringing

(Frosty)

Santa won’t you bring me the one I really need

Won’t you please bring my baby to me

Pretty soon, everyone began to dance with them.

(Emily)

Oh, I don’t want a lot for Christmas

This is all I’m asking for

(Beau)

I just want to see my baby

Standing right outside my door

(All)

Oh, I just want him for my own

More than you could ever know

Make my wish come true

Baby, all I want for Christmas is you

You baby

All I want for Christmas is you, baby

Pretty soon, everything was back to normal, with everyone carrying on after everything had been back to normal, with their husband and wives really impressed.

‘Wow,’ said Trixie ‘Trixie can see why you enjoy that part of the holiday.’

‘Told ya.’ said Emily.

Though it was quite entertaining, Fluttershy changed the subject and asked ‘So what’s a Hearth’s Warming Helper?’

‘Whenever the whole Apple Family got together,’ said Applejack as she explained ‘There was just too many of us. It didn’t make sense to by everypony gifts. So we’d put our names in a hat…’

‘Ooh,’ said Pinkie Pie as she leaned in, rubbing her hands together with a sneaky smile and expression as she said ‘A game of chance, tell me more.’

Applejack rolled her eyes whilst Bucky gently pushed her away. ‘Then,’ said Applejack as she continued ‘We pull a name, but keep it a secret.’

‘A dash of mystery,’ said Pinkie Pie, which she tapped her hands together as Applejack gave half smirk at her ‘Good, good.’

‘Instead of buyin’ everypony a present, you just get one for the pony you picked from the hat.’ said Applejack, finally laying down her idea.

‘Wait,’ said Pinkie Pie as she realized something ‘So instead of lots of presents, I only buy one of you a present? What kind of game is this?!!’

Frosty held onto Pinkie’s shoulders, keeping her still and said ‘Now honey, remember what we talked about last week?’

Before Pinkie would go on, Rarity thought about it and said ‘Well it would save time.’

‘And have everything ready in time before Hearth’s Warming day.’ said Silver.

Spike suddenly out of instinct, dreamingly looked at Rarity and said ‘And you could get the pony you pick something really nice.’

Emily cleared her throat, causing Spike to blink wide and look at her, making her cross her arms and looked at him with a flex eyebrow and a near stink eye.

‘And something to show how much you love your loved ones.’ said Spike as he nervously placed his arms behind his back.

‘Mhmm.’ said Emily, not buying what Spike was trying to do. Even though the two of them are married, he still hasn’t gotten over his crush of Rarity, even if she and Silver are already married.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat, gaining their attention as she said ‘The less shopping, the better, in.’

‘Can we do it too?’ asked Bolt Jr.

‘Of course squirt,’ said Rainbow Dash as she rubbed her son’s forehead ‘We wouldn’t leave anypony out of it.’

Fluttershy looked at Twilight with her usual smile ‘Will that help, Twilight?’

‘I was stressed about shopping.’ said Twilight.

‘Again.’ said all the guys at the same time, causing her to glare at them.

‘No, they do have a point.’ said Trixie. ‘You stress about everything.’

‘Whether it’s an unorganized library…’ said Starlight.

‘To a shortage of ink and quills.’ said Chance.

‘You know they kinda got you there mommy.’ said Moonlight, which made Twilight groan lightly.

Everypony and their husbands and children looked at Pinkie, which she looked stressed, causing Frosty to nudge against his wife, making her reluctantly agree with a sigh as she said ‘Fine, I will only buy one present for my secret Hearth’s Warming Helper buddy.’, whilst she crossed her arms and pouted, clearly not thrilled about this, considering that whenever it comes to planning a party, she tends to go overboard with the presents.

Applejack removed her hat from her head and presented it to them and said ‘We just need to put Everypony’s name in this here hat.’

‘No can do.’ said all the guys and Emily, taking all of them by surprise.

‘What?’ said the wives, Spike and kids.

‘But darling, why not?’ asked Rarity.

‘Very simple my shining diamond.’ said Silver.

‘We already planned ours ahead and have everything ready for Hearth’s Warming Eve.’ said Emily, taking all of them by surprise.

‘Wait,’ said Rainbow ‘You guys already planned things ahead?’

‘Sure did.’ said Bolt.

‘But when did you have the time?’ asked Fluttershy.

‘A lot of careful planning.’ said Genus.

‘It’s true.’ said Chance ‘Beau asked us to come together and planned things ahead before the holidays even started.’

‘But…how come we didn’t notice anything?’ asked Starlight.

‘Well, one of the perks being married,’ said Mystic ‘We learned a lot from you.’

‘Like how to organize from a certain a-dork-able Princess.’ said Beau as he held his wife close, making Twilight blush with a smile.

‘Or how to be sneaky from the experts of being silent.’ said Bolt and Frosty at the same time, with their wives rolling their eyes.

‘And I also asked Angel Bunny and the animals not to spoil the surprise.’ said Genus to Fluttershy, then grumbled ‘Even if that said bunny would stop being mischievous and made me bribe him with carrots to keep him quiet.’

‘And we know how you feel about lying,’ said Bucky whilst looking at Applejack, who is the honest one of the group, which he knows she doesn’t like lying, for it’s what she taught both him and their son. ‘But we made a promise we wouldn’t spoil the surprise.’

‘And daddy knew that we wouldn’t keep it a secret.’ said Peacon Pie.

‘So he told us to “Pinkie Promise” not to say anything.’ said Lemon Pie.

Pinkie Pie gasped and said ‘You guys made a Pinkie Promise?’

‘Sure did.’ said Frosty.

With Beau saying ‘Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my…’

Right before Beau could say “Eye”, he literally and accidentally poked his eye, making him flinch and yelp, whilst saying ‘Dagnabbit!!’, causing the others to laugh at his mistake, for he and Twilight really do have more in common, considering that she had done it before.

‘And we promise all of you it would be worth the wait.’ said Bolt.

‘But…’ said Pinkie, for now she was interested.

‘Hey,’ said Frosty as he looked at her ‘If you could keep a secret of Shining Armour and Cadance were having a baby, then you can do the same for the surprise tomorrow night.’

Pinkie was reluctant at first, but sighed as she said ‘Okay. I’ll try.’

Once that was settled, Twilight tore up her to-do-list, and wrote down her friends and children’s Cutie Marks on the back. She cut each of them until they were a picture of their Cutie Marks and placed them inside Applejack’s hat, with Bucky doing the same for the kids as he used his own hat. Applejack and Bucky shook up their hats and jumbled up the papers.

‘Y’all ready?’ asked Applejack ‘No peaking.’

The Mane 6, Starlight, Trixie and their kids closed up their eyes and walked over to AJ’s hat, allowing them to pick the Cutie Marks from the hat. Once they received them, they all opened their eyes to see who they’ve picked.

Pinkie got excited as she said ‘So excited! Aah! Too excited! I don’t wanna give anything away!’

Pinkie zipped along and took her paper with her as she squealed “Wheee!!”, with Frosty and the kids going after her.

‘Seeing that we already have things ready,’ said Beau ‘Mind if the guys, kids and I help you lot out. It’ll make things easier for everyone.’

‘Of course darling, we could all use the help.’ said Rarity.

‘And we also wouldn’t mind company either.’ said Fluttershy.

‘So when will the gift exchange occur?’ asked Rarity.

‘How about Twilight’s Castle tomorrow night.’ said Rainbow Dash ‘Hearth’s Warming Eve.’

‘That’s perfect.’ said Applejack ‘Pinkie, Frosty, Bucky and I, along with our youngins can spend the evening with y’all and the next mornin’ with our families.’

‘Yeah, ah sure wanna spend some time with aunty Apple Bloom,’ said Apple Slice ‘It’s been ages since we done anything together, what with her and her friends busy with their CMC business.’

‘And thanks to all of you,’ said Twilight, gaining their attention ‘I should be ready to celebrate by then.’

‘And we’ll have everything ready before Cadance and the others arrive.’ said Beau.

‘And I’ll help out at the Castle too if that’s alright.’ said Emily.

‘Ooh, this is so exciting.’ said Fluttershy.

‘You got that right.’ said Genus as he held his wife close.

‘Come on,’ said Warm Breeze ‘The sooner we get going the sooner we can get things done.’

As they departed, Spike on the other hand looked very anxious for some reason. He quickly darted towards Applejack’s direction, until he was able to reach her, Bucky and Apple Slice.

‘Uh…um, Applejack?’ asked Spike, gaining the country pony’s attention. ‘Is it against the rules to trade names?’ asked Spike, ‘Like, if I had a better idea for somepony special? I mean, specific?’

Applejack thought about it, then said ‘If you can figure out who has the pony you want and they’re okay with tradin’ ah guess it’s fine.’

‘Great,’ said Spike, which caused Bucky, Applejack and Apple Slice to notice of what he was going to ask ‘So uh…who did you…?’

‘Ah don’t have Rarity.’ said Applejack with a deadpan expression, but with a smile on her face.

‘What?’ said Spike, as AJ had already figured him out. ‘That’s not what I…’

‘Uh-huh.’ said Applejack, causing Apple Slice to snicker about it.

But Spike quickly got in front of them and said ‘Also uh…’

They could tell he was nervous, but then asked ‘Do you guys have any idea of what I could get Emily? I want to get her something special too. I mean, I was really grateful for what she did for me and made me the happiest dragon ever. So…any advice?’

Applejack and Bucky couldn’t help but smirk at this, but it was also heartwarming to see that he wants to get his wife something too.

‘Well,’ said Bucky ‘We don’t really know that much. But I guess you can ask Frosty. I mean, they are siblings after all, they know each other like the back of their own heads.’

Spice then face palmed his head and said ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’, then looked at the farm couple and said ‘See ya later.’

As he quickly flew off, the farm couple and Apple Slice continued to walk, with Bucky saying ‘I don’t get it, Spike’s now happily married, same with Rarity, and he still hasn’t gotten over his crush on her.’

‘Y’all know Spike,’ said Applejack ‘Ah guess some feeling’s are too stubborn to go away.’

‘Yeah,’ said Bucky as he wrapped his arm around his wife ‘Just like mine never faded away the day I first met you.’

‘Awww.’ said Applejack, causing her to wrap her arm around him, allowing the two of them to walk down the market to see what they could get for their Hearth’s Warming Pony.

Chapter 2: Finding the perfect presents

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Chapter 3: The trouble with Gift Giving

Meanwhile, at the Rainbow Falls

Meanwhile, at the Rainbow Falls, Fluttershy, Genus, Warm Breeze and Comfy Breeze, with Applejack, Bucky and Apple Slice in tow, walked down the pathway, where there were many stands that sells just about everything. Everything you would need to buy a perfect present, with ponies form all over Equestria.

‘Wow mom,’ said Warm Breeze as he looked around ‘This place is amazing.’

‘I thought you might like it.’ said Fluttershy ‘I come to the Rainbow Falls Hearth’s Warming Craft Fair every year. They have perfect presents for anypony.’

‘So we can see.’ said Apple Slice whilst he felt excited.

‘Good thing we didn’t take Manehattan.’ said Genus.

‘I know right,’ said Bucky ‘Last year we nearly got trampled alive as if we were in the middle of a walking stampede.’

‘Hopefully we can get a proper present for everypony back home.’ said Apple Slice.

‘Hopefully, any dragon, too.’ said Applejack as she nudged against the shy pony, whilst she knew she was referring to Spike. ‘Wanna split up? Meet back here in an hour?’

‘Sure.’ said Fluttershy, who then looked at her kids. ‘Now Warm Breeze, I want you to take good care of your sister and try to look for a gift that your pony will know will like.’

‘Can do mom.’ said Warm Breeze.

‘That goes for you too Apple Slice.’ said Applejack.

‘Okay ma.’ said Apple Slice.

‘Mind if we help complete your little gift quest?’ asked Genus.

‘He’s right,’ said Bucky ‘If the first gift doesn’t work out the way you expect them to, then we’ll also buy a gift. Kind of like a backup gift.’

Applejack chuckled as she said ‘Ah don’t see why not.’

‘See you then.’ said both of the husbands as they gave their wives and kids a kiss and were off.

Applejack, Apple Slice, Warm Breeze and Comfy Breeze were also off in different directions, whilst Fluttershy went to the nearest stand. She stood near a stand that sold Daring Do books. She thought that this is what Rainbow Dash would want. She was about to buy it, until…

‘Oh no,’ said a random pony (Don’t be fooled, I know you don’t like spoilers. It’s none other than Flam in one of their most pathetic disguises) whilst pointing at the nearest stand ‘There’s only a few left.’

Sure enough, more ponies began to arrive, which had peaked their interest when they saw the one pony go on. And in one of the stands, was none other than Flam in disguise.

‘Fillies and Gentlecolts,’ said Flim out loud ‘We want you all to have the best holiday your bits can buy. But there are only a limited number left.’

And as usual, ponies blindly bought their lies and ended up purchasing their products.

Fluttershy stood next to Flam and asked ‘Limited number to what?’

‘Why, you don’t know about Holly the Hearth Warmer?’ asked Flam, causing most ponies to gasp. However, nopony noticed Trusty as he stood near Fluttershy. He too one sniff and Flam, and he already began to make a low growling sound, for he recognizes their scent anywhere.

Flim spotted Fluttershy and said ‘You seem like somepony looking for a gift for a very special friend.’

‘I am.’ said Fluttershy as she walked over to him, with Trusty placing his paw on his head, for even a dog knows not to be fooled.

‘A friend who wouldn’t want to miss out on the must-have gift everypony is talking about?’ said Flim as he continued to lure Fluttershy in.

‘She certainly wouldn’t wanna miss out on that.’ said Fluttershy as she thought about it.

‘A truly awesome friend who deserves something twenty percent cooler than any other gift out there?’

‘That sounds just like her.’ said Fluttershy as she leaned near Flim.

‘Well, look no further,’ said Flim whilst he pulled out the rip off doll and said ‘This is it.’

‘Ooh, ooh,’ said Fluttershy as she got excited ‘How much does it cost?’

‘How much do you have?’ said Flim in his cheeky, sneaky and totally horrible actor smile.

(Yeah you heard me Flim and Flam, you honestly think I’d be dumb enough to buy your stupid products, after you tried to trick the Apple Family to sell their farm to you and committed acts of treason when you helped distract the ponies whilst Sombra got freed and turned the Princesses to stone?)

A while later at Yakyakistan

The Yaks were also hard at work for their annual holiday celebration by putting everything breakable on a pile, whilst one Yak kept yucking up the piling.

‘Yojan!!’ shouted Prince Rutherford, the leader of the Yaks, who was busy overseeing the operation. ‘Is that good angle for optimal smashing?!’

Some of the Yaks began to chuckle, whilst the said yak lowered his head and walked away, knowing he had to start all over again. After Rutherford snorted at that, a certain Pink pony jumped on his back and covered his eyes.

‘Guess who?!’ said Pinkie Pie in her usual playful tone.

‘Yojan?’ guessed Rutherford.

‘No, silly.’

Rutherford continued to guess ‘Linville? Dorman? No, no wait, Grim Horn!’

(Sorry, stupid spelling machine won’t accept the originals, so I had to take what they gave me.)

‘Nope-itty, nope, nein and nyet.’ said Pinkie before she jumped off of Rutherford’s back and presented herself ‘It’s me!!’

‘Awww,’ said Rutherford with a smile on his face ‘Prince Rutherford knew it Pinky Pony all along. Yaks best at guessing.’

As Rutherford placed his helmet back on, he noticed she wasn’t alone. ‘Aah,’ said Rutherford whilst he was surprised to see them ‘Husband and young ones of Pink Pony.’

As both Peacon and Lemon Pie jumped up and gave Rutherford a hug, Frosty chuckled as he shook the Yak Prince’s hand and said ‘Great to see you again Prince Rutherford.’

Frosty looked at the piling and said ‘I see your people are already preparing the festivities.’

‘Indeed,’ said Rutherford ‘Yak look forward to smashing. But not ready yet, still leans.’

Frosty tilted his head and said ‘Yeah, I see it.’

Rutherford cleared his throat after he placed the kids down and said ‘So, what can yak prince do for Pink Pony and family?’

‘Well you see,’ said Pinkie Pie as she started ‘Yaks are best at everything! That’s why we’re here. Sorry to interrupt Snilldar Fest, but I need your help. Can you tell me where to find…’

Pinkie then imitated the yaks as she said out loud ‘BEST! GIFT! EVER?!’

As the Yaks looked at Pinkie’s direction, Rutherford quickly pulled her into his beard in order to keep her quiet and not alert the other Yaks.

‘Not here,’ whispered Prince Rutherford as she spoke to Pinkie and the others ‘Follow this way!’

Rutherford quickly zipped back into his home, with Pinkie, Peacon and Lemon Pie doing the same. Frosty was so distracted by the Yaks gathering breakable stuff, he barely noticed all of them going inside, causing Peacon and Lemon to pull their father in with great speed. As the Yaks were continuing to smash some random stuff outside, Rutherford quickly closed his tent, then looked at the others seriously whilst lifting up his hair bangs.

‘Prince Rutherford,’ whispered Rutherford ‘About to tell honorary Yak friend and friend’s family something very. Top. Secret.’

Pinkie pulled up a chair and jumped in the air, only for her to stop in midair, pulled her husband Frosty and placed him on the chair whilst she sat down on his lap whilst she, along with their kids, had their legs crossed and their heads rested on their hands with big smiles.

‘Honorary Yak friend listening.’ said Pinkie Pie as she and her kids paid attention, with Frosty couldn’t help but smile and wrapped his arms around her waist.

‘Yaks best at all things, except one.’ whispered Rutherford before he looked around, then whispered to Pinkie ‘Yaks not best at giving gifts.’

Pinkie was so shocked, she caused the chair to lean and stand up straight with her arms in the air, whilst her husband fell over and the kids were doing the same their mother did, with Pinkie shouting ‘What?!!’

Rutherford closed her mouth and looked around, then released her mouth as Rutherford said ‘I know. It’s hard to believe.’

Frosty then grumbled ‘Why does this always happen to me?’ before he got up and dusted himself.

‘How am I gonna figure out how to give Twilight the best gift ever?’ said Pinkie.

‘And for Moonlight.’ said Peacon Pie.

‘What’ll we do now?’ said Lemon Pie as she felt the same way.

‘Oh, no worry honorary Yak family,’ said Rutherford as he calmed them down ‘Prince Rutherford keep secret map in perfectly organized files.’

He went over to his organized files. Whilst he was searching, there was a bunch of clattering whilst he began to search for the so called map, he tossed a rock, a banana peel, a stool and some kind of goop. As Pinkie and the kids looked with interest, Frosty muttered ‘If he calls this organize and Twilight would see this, she’s have a meltdown. And don’t get me started on Rarity.’

As Rutherford walked back to them, he presented them a map and showed them where they needed to go whilst he said ‘Best gift givers up northern pass, where sky shimmers and glows. There, secret gift giver grove. Only yak princes and pink honorary yak know.’

Pinkie suddenly zipped her lips for real, whilst still wearing her smile and said ‘My lips, are sealed.’

She then picked up the map, ran outside with her kids, as they shouted all together ‘Time for my top-secret quest to the gift givers!!’

As they ran, Frosty was about to join, but then Rutherford stopped him and whispered ‘Think pink pony suspects anything?’

‘No clue,’ said Frosty as he whispered back ‘But we told her it’s a Pinkie Promise, so she won’t ask questions. And thanks for telling about that place a few weeks ago.’

‘No problem,’ said Rutherford ‘Yaks know that husband of Pink Pony want to make her happy. She lucky to have you.’

‘More like the other way around.’ he responded with a smile.

Suddenly, both Peacon and Lemon Pie popped up and said at the same time and shouted ‘Come on daddy, we have to go!!’

As they pulled him away, Frosty shouted ‘See you later Rutherford, and happy holidays!!’

Rutherford then turned around and said ‘Honorary Pink Pony will be happy to see what husband had planned for her.’

At the same time at the Ponyville post office

At the post office, many of the ponies were standing in line, waiting to deliver their presents to their relatives, however, the line was somehow taking longer than expected, with all of them bored waiting. And right inside, it was no better, for right inside was none other than Silver, Rarity and Crystal Gem, and they were just as bored.

‘Ugh,’ said Crystal ‘What is taking so long?’

‘Now darling, calm down.’ said Rarity ‘I know you don’t like waiting, but we must.’

‘Your mother is right sweetie, you just have to be patient,’ said Silver, until he grumbled ‘Though I made a promise not to go into the post office again because a certain pony with the cross eyes ended up causing an elephant stampede a while back.’

Rarity shuddered at that, for it was a day that nopony wants to remember.

However, they noticed the line was moving, and it was now their turn.

‘Finally.’ said Crystal as she and her parents walked to the counter.

As they stood at the counter, Rarity ringed the bell a couple of times whilst the pony was bending over to fetch something. But after the third ring, the pony behind the counter stood up, revealing to be none other than Derpy.

‘Oh, hi Rarity,’ said Derpy with her usual smile and her positive attitude ‘How can I help you?’

‘I expected a package today,’ said Rarity with her smile as she tried to keep calm ‘And I was wondering where that might be.’

‘As well as an order I placed a while back.’ said Crystal Gem.

‘Wait,’ said Silver as he looked at Crystal ‘You ordered a package?’

‘Of course father,’ said Crystal as he showed Bolt Junior’s name ‘I planned ahead as well, and Luckily I ordered something just in case.’

‘Oh, okay. Uh, let’s check.’ said Derpy as she placed her hand on some papers nearby and picked them up and looked them over. She then looked up and asked ‘Names?’

Rarity, Silver and Crystal were a little surprised by this.

‘You gotta be kidding me.’ said Silver.

‘Uh, Rarity?’ said Rarity.

‘And uh…Crystal Gem?’ said Crystal.

Derpy began to look through the papers, dropped some of them, and ended up looking for some papers whilst she was bending over.

‘Oh!’ said Derpy as she finally found her papers and lifted it up and said ‘Here we go.’

Rarity smiled at this, until…

Derpy squinted her eyes and read on the paper whilst she said ‘Your package was delivered to Sweet Apple Acres.’

‘What?!’ exclaimed Rarity and Crystal Gem.

Silver then slapped his forehead as he said ‘Oh, for the love of…’

‘It was supposed to be delivered to the Carousel Boutique!!’ said Rarity.

Derpy then looked at the papers again before she looked at them again whilst she said ‘Um…okay…but…now, the package was for Applejack, and she is at Sweet Apple Acres.’

Rarity then let out a low growl, whilst Silver banged his head onto the counter, and Crystal, who decided to take matters into her own hands, decided to walk around the counter, and asked another mail pony for help, which he happily did and gave Crystal her package, causing the two of them to wave one another goodbye.

‘Yes, it’s for Applejack,’ said Rarity as she tried to explain, whilst Silver tried his best to not strangle the pony ‘But I will be delivering it.’

‘Uh…’ said Derpy as she was now confused, until she spoke ‘That’s my job.’

Both Rarity and Silver slapped their foreheads at the same time. As Silver used breather calming techniques, Rarity said ‘It’s, a gift. For Applejack. From me.’

Derpy gasped, and realized something ‘What if she opens it? It shouldn’t go to Sweet Apple Acres.’

As Derpy investigate the letter, both Rarity and Silver had deadpanned expressions, with Silver grumbling ‘Now I know how Big Mac felt when he tried to send his gift to Sugar Belle.’

‘Oh, wait,’ said Derpy, gaining the couple’s attention, with Derpy using her wing to him a magnifying glass to take a closer look at the document ‘It went to Sweet Acorn Orchard instead.’

Derpy giggled a bit whilst she placed the magnifying glass down as she said ‘Oh, well that’s a relief?’

‘What?!!’ shouted Silver through his teeth.

‘Why is that a relief?!’ said Rarity in disbelief.

‘Because,’ said Derpy whilst she booped on Rarity’s nose ‘Applejack not in Sweet Acorn Orchard.’

As Rarity rubbed her nose, with Silver a little jealous, Derpy said ‘Do you want me to get the package and deliver it to her?’

‘No!!’ shouted both Rarity and Silver, gaining the rest of the ponies’ attention.

Realizing that they nearly caused a scene, Silver and Rarity cleared their throats whilst Rarity remained calm whilst she said ‘Uh, may I, have the address for Sweet Acorn Orchard. I think I’ll just collect the package myself.’

‘Are you sure?’ said Derpy ‘Because I would be happy to…’

‘Yes we’re sure.’ said Silver as he snatched the address for Sweet Acorn Orchard.

‘You have helped so much already.’ said Rarity whilst she, Silver and Crystal Gem left before things got out of hand.

The moment the next pony arrived, Derpy said ‘Break time.’, causing her to sink behind the counter, much to the next pony in line’s disappointment.

As they were outside, Silver began to slowly lose it.

‘Out of all the incompetence, this is just…’ said Silver whilst he raised his arms in the air.

‘Now calm down Silver…’ said Rarity before Silver cut her off and looked at her.

‘I told you trying to order the package was a bad idea.’ said Silver.

‘What?’ exclaimed Rarity ‘How was I supposed to know Derpy was going to get the deliveries mixed up.’

‘Hey, I told you,’ said Silver as he reminded her ‘That when you want something ordered, I’d be more than happy to get it for you. Why else do you think I don’t trust the postal system every time whenever I…’

Suddenly, a couple of snowballs were thrown at them, surprising the couple. When they looked at the one responsible, it was none other than their daughter, who was not impressed.

‘Really?’ said Crystal ‘You’re gonna start fighting about this now? On Hearth’s Warming Eve of all holidays? Here’s what you’re going to do, you two are going to kiss and makeup, and then we’ll go get the package to sort things out.’

Crystal then held a Mistletoe up in the air between her parents, making them notice. Silver then sighed, trying to calm down.

‘I’m sorry honey.’ said Silver as he rubbed the back of his head ‘I didn’t meant to snap. I…I just want things to be perfect.’

Rarity also felt bad, let out a sigh and said ‘I’m sorry too. I know how much this means to you.’

‘Celebrating the holidays or any other day with you is the most magical thing I ever went through.’ said Silver as he held her close ‘Ever since I arrived, you took me in when I had nowhere else to go. You loved me like no one else did. And in the end, I learned to love all because of you. I just…don’t want to lose you like I lost…’

‘I know darling.’ said Rarity as the two of them hugged one another.

‘Plus uh, I got a little jealous when Derpy booped you on the nose.’ said Silver whilst he admitted something sheepishly.

Rarity raised an eyebrow at that.

‘Because,’ said Silver ‘Whenever I hug you, I’d like to do this.’

He rubbed his nose against hers, which made her giggle. ‘And I like to do this.’

Silver gently placed her lips on hers, which Rarity embraced whilst holding one another close. Crystal couldn’t help but admire something her parents would do. If Bolt Junior were around, he would just blab out loud that he hates mushy stuff.

They soon released their lips from one another, as Rarity said ‘Why thank you darling, I needed that.’

‘Anything for my beautiful beloved who’s eyes shine like sapphires.’ said Silver as he also said ‘Which by the way is my favorite gemstone.’

‘Aw, that’s so sweet.’ said Crystal Gem ‘Now that everything is cleared up, shall we get going to Sweet Acorn Orchard?’

‘Oh of course Crystal.’ said Rarity.

‘Lead the way.’ said Silver.

As Crystal quickly went ahead to the train station, both Silver and Rarity continued to walk together whilst holding one another.

The Ponyville heights

As they walked through the suburbs of Ponyville, Starlight and Chance continued to walk down the path to try and find the perfect house for Trixie.

‘Oh, where do you think she would want to stay?’ said Starlight whilst she looked around.

‘Well it’s going to be hard trying to find for her a house to live,’ said Chance ‘Considering that not everypony had managed to move away because they loved the place too much.’

‘Oh, I just hope that Trixie will like the house we got her.’ said Starlight as she was clearly worried.

‘I know honey, and I’m really worried too.’ said Chance ‘I mean, with Trixie’s baby on the way, they’ll need a proper place to raise their child. And I’m sorry to say this, and no disrespect to Trixie’s wagon, but a wagon that small and cramped is no place to raise a child.’

‘I can agree on that.’ said Starlight, remembering how cramped it was when she and Trixie traveled together to Saddle Arabia.

‘Do you have any idea of what kind of place Trixie would like to live in?’ asked Chance.

‘Well,’ said Starlight as she thought about it ‘Whenever she comes back home she has a tendency to park her wagon next to a lake.’

‘A lake?’

‘Mhmm,’ said Starlight ‘She says that she finds it relaxing, and that she likes to feed the baby ducks whenever they walk by.’

‘The ducks like Trixie I assume?’ said Chance.

‘Well, considering what she nearly did to Ponyville I don’t blame them.’ said Starlight ‘But the ducks somehow look up to her whenever she would come and feed them every day.’

‘Wow,’ said Chance ‘I’m sure Fluttershy would be proud to hear that.’

When all of a sudden, Chance spotted something, causing him to stop Starlight by grabbing onto her shoulders and pointed ‘Hey, look.’

When Starlight looked at the direction he was pointing, she was surprised. For right in front of them is a two story house, with a small barn on the side, big enough for a certain wagon. And right next to them was a lake, where the baby ducks would constantly go whenever they would go swimming. And up front of the house, there was a sign that said “For Sale.”

Starlight gasped at the sight and said ‘That’s perfect.’

‘Trixie is surely going to love that place.’ said Chance.

They walked over to the house in order to do some proper investigating, until they saw a pony remove the sign and added a “Sold” sign.

‘Sold?!!’ said Starlight in shock.

‘Oh boy, that’s not good.’ said Chance, agreeing with his wife.

The Ponyville core town

Both Mystic and Trixie walked together side by side, looking around in order to find a place where they could set up a perfect place to start a club just for Starlight.

‘Oh,’ said Trixie as she was feeling a tad frustrated ‘How is it that there are so many buildings in Ponyville, but there isn’t a single vacant building to help start a club.’

‘We can always ask the Mayor,’ said Mystic ‘I’m sure that she’ll be more than happy to help us out to find what building is still vacant.’

‘Oh, that would be a wise move.’ said Trixie.

As they walked down the town, they headed straight for the mayor’s office. When they were halfway there, Trixie suddenly felt a kick.

‘Oh,’ said Trixie as she held onto her unborn child. ‘That is peculiar.’

‘What is?’ asked Mystic.

‘I just felt the baby kick.’ said Trixie.

‘Oh, then we’d better make extra sure that our child will be safe.’ said Mystic as he placed his hand on Trixie’s stomach.

Trixie could notice that he had a worried look on his face. ‘Something wrong?’

‘It’s just…’ said Mystic. Who took a deep breath and said ‘You know how hard it was for me to adapt to this world ever since I died, and how I had little emotion on my face. I’m just worried…am I good enough to be a father?’

Trixie then stopped, whilst holding her husband’s shoulders, allowing them to look at one another.

‘Oh Mystic,’ said Trixie as she held her husband close ‘I know you had quite the struggle. Trixie may not have been in the same position you have, but believe me, I understand what it feels to try to adapt to something new and struggled to move on with my life. If somepony like the two of us can find a way to have a good life…’

Trixie held onto Mystic’s hand whilst they placed them on her stomach ‘Then we can be good parents too.’

Mystic smiled at that, for it was exactly what he wanted to hear, allowing them to hug one another. After the hug, they continued to walk towards town hall, whilst they unknowingly passed Spike as he was still looking around to try and find the perfect gift for Rarity. Thankfully, he was able to get Emily a present, so now he can focus on trying to find Rarity a present.

‘Shopping for Rarity,’ said Spike as he looked around ‘No Problem. She likes lots of stuff. I just need something special.’

Spike then began to pass a few certain ponies, which Spike began to notice.

‘Brand-new-top-of-the-line sewing equipment?’ asked one Pony Vendor.

‘A Priceless rhinestone necklace?’ asked the second Pony Vendor.

‘A sculpture of Rarity made from smaller sculptures of Rarity?’ asked another pony.

*A sculpture of Rarity made from smaller sculptures of Rarity? Really?

*Hey, don’t blame me, blame the writers, they’re the ones who came up with that silly line.

Spike began to imagine the gifts coming and going as he tried to picture what to give Rarity. ‘Ooh, wow. Awesome. Shopping for Rarity. Slight problem, she likes lots of stuff.’

He suddenly stopped as he said out loud ‘Nothing is special enough!!’

This gained a lot of attention from the other ponies before Spike collapsed onto the ground and they resumed where they left off. At the same time, unknown to our dragon friend, a certain rainbow haired Pegasus and her family were flying towards a building with Discord in tow.

Both Bolt and Junior saw Spike on the ground as they passed by, then looked at each other.

‘Spike wanted to get Rarity?’ asked Junior.

‘Yep.’ said Bolt.

‘Some of them didn’t have her name?’

‘None at all.’

‘Finally got the name?’

‘After he suckered it from Fluttershy.’

‘Moment he had the name he had no idea what to give her?’

‘Nope.’

‘And now he’s down on the ground because he’s stressed out of his mind and has no idea what to give her?’

‘Pretty much.’

‘That dragon needs some serious help.’

‘As well as some needed lectures and counseling.’

Rainbow Dash peeked through the window, trying to figure something out. As soon as she spotted something, she smiled, until Discord said ‘Oh, goodness no.’

Rainbow groaned at that, for she really didn’t like being told what to do when it came to finding presents. She was about to open a door, until Discord said ‘Even worse.’, gaining her attention as Discord’s face appeared from a sign from none other than the Ponyville Spa.

Having enough, Rainbow flew up and said ‘Oh, come on. Fluttershy would love a Spa day.’

‘Really?’ said Discord as he stepped out of the sign whilst he said ‘Love the stress of deciding which treatment to get? Love worrying that she’s not relaxing enough? Or relaxing too much? And what about all those sweet animals she’s left alone? So much to worry about, all because of you.’

‘You know he kinda does have a point there.’ said Bolt.

Rainbow then got in her husband’s face as she said ‘First of all, who’s side are you on. And second of all, really?’

‘First of all, I’m just making a point,’ said Bolt ‘Second of all, it really is stressful trying to figure out which treatment to get, why else did you think I spent a month in advance trying to figure out what kind of Spa day to take on our anniversary?’

Rainbow was a little surprised by this ‘Wait, what?’

‘Well of course,’ said Bolt ‘Why else did you think I wanted you to enjoy it so much. The treatments, the massages, the relaxing beverages…’

He then leaned closer to her and whispered to her ‘Our happy ending session?’

Rainbow’s face immediately blushed red as she backed up, whilst she rubbed the back of her head and said ‘Okay, good point.’

‘And it was also the day that dad found out mom was really ticklish by her hooves, that’s why she didn’t want to have a hoofacure on her last Spa visit.’ said Bolt Jr.

Not wanting to comment on that, Rainbow went ‘Anyway,’ before she flew up to Discord and said ‘She’s Fluttershy, everything makes her worry.’

‘You’re telling me,’ said Bolt Jr. ‘You’d think after all these years after she got married she would’ve gotten over it by now. But then again it took her a while to embrace Nightmare Night for Warm Breeze’s sake.’

‘Oh, now you lot sound like somepony who knows her.’ said Discord with his usual sneaky smile.

‘Well, if you’re such an expert on Fluttershy,’ said Rainbow Dash as she got into Discord’s face ‘What did you get her?’

‘Oh,’ said Discord ‘And you honestly expect me to tell you what I got Fluttershy so that you can one-up me? Well, I have half a mind to stop helping you entirely.’

‘Good,’ said Rainbow as she got into Discord’s face before landing and walked away as she said ‘Please stop helping me, I’m begging you.’

Bolt, not liking to see his wife like this, went over and said ‘Aw, does my beautiful Rainbow want some kiss & Snuggles?’

‘If you come near me…’ warned Rainbow.

Too late, Bolt ended up hugging her, kissed her a few times by the neck and snuggled under her chin, causing Rainbow’s face to go red from the embarrassment.

‘Oh,’ said Rainbow as she didn’t want to giving up on being tough, but the way her husband does that, she couldn’t help but smile as she hugged him ‘How is it I could never stay mad at you?’

‘Oh, why Nebula was so right,’ said Discord ‘You are so perfect for each other.’

Bolt Junior decided to give talking to Discord a try ‘But Discord, what kind of gift does Fluttershy like? I mean, you know how shy she is and that she’s not comfortable with a few things, but surely there must me a way to get her a good gift.’

Discord them thought about something, and had an idea.

‘Well,’ said Discord, giving it some thought as he said ‘I suppose I could tell you what my backup present was.’

‘Great. Still helping.’ said Rainbow Dash sarcastically, but was distracted by her husband’s snuggle power.

*Yeah, you heard me.

Bolt Jr. whispered one more thing in Discord’s ear, something that he could work with as he said ‘It would’ve made a lovely addition to her animal sanctuary. But you’d have to be the fastest pony in Equestria to even have a chance of…’

As if right on cue, Rainbow Dash immediately perked up on that and flew straight to Discord, whilst Bolt fell over onto the snow, much to his disappointment.

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.’ said Rainbow Dash as she was now interested. ‘You’re talking, to the fastest pony in Equestria. If there’s some fast animal out there Fluttershy would love. I’m the one who can get it.’

‘Oh, I just don’t know.’ said Discord playfully.

‘I’m calling it, dibs!!’ said Rainbow Dash, not wanting to change her mind.

‘If you insist.’ said Discord before he snapped his finger to make himself disappear.

Rainbow Dash, Junior and Bolt, after he got up and walked over to them, looked around as if there was no sign of Discord. However, within a split second, Discord’s arm appeared and grabbed Rainbow Dash’s head. Bolt and Junior immediately picked up on that and grabbed her arms, allowing Discord to pull all of them wherever he might end up.

The Castle of Friendship’s library

Twilight was hard at work, trying to figure out what to give Pinkie Pie, with her daughter Moonlight going over things as well. Their books and papers were all a mess as they looked at the chalk board, whilst at the same time, Beau had just brought in enough doughnuts and hot chocolate with marshmallows in order to help with their thinking.

Twilight looked at the chalk board with Moonlight as she drew on it whilst she was saying ‘The ideal gift for Pinkie Pie needs to be A-Unique, B-Specific to her personality, and C-Food based.’

‘Huh,’ said Emily as she looked at the board ‘Kind of like both Peacon and Lemon Pie.’

Moonlight thought of something and pulled on her mother’s shirt a bit.

‘Mommy?’ asked Moonlight, gaining Twilight’s attention as she said ‘Do you think that I can share that kind of gift with the twins too. I mean, both Peacon and Lemon have a ton of things in common with their mother. So I was hoping that I could…’

‘Aw, of course Moonlight,’ said Twilight as she held onto her shoulders ‘I wouldn’t dream of leaving you out of this.’

Moonlight hugged her mother with a smile and said ‘Thanks mommy.’

Twilight hugged her back. But after she released the hug, she began to be on think mode as she said ‘What, is a unique food?’

Beau sat down near them as he had some hot chocolate of his own and blew on it a few times before he drank it, whilst Twilight and Moonlight were reminiscing on what to get Pinkie.

‘Cupcakes?’ said Moonlight?

‘Nah.’ said Twilight.

‘Cookies?’

‘Nope.’

‘Pies?’

‘Pastries.’

Beau then mumbled out loud ‘Why not pudding?’

Overhearing that, Twilight gasped loudly as she said with the weirdest face you’ve ever seen as she said ‘Wait!! Pudding!!’

Caught off guard, and was so funny, Beau ended up spitting his hot chocolate out of his nose. For in all his years since the day he met Twilight and married her, he had never seen her do a face like that before. Moonlight, seeing that her dad made a mess, quickly went over to help clean up, whilst Twilight flew up towards one of her shelves and levitated a book out of it. After quickly going through the pages, she found what she was looking for.

‘After defeating the Windigos,’ said Twilight whilst she read it out loud and flew back down to her husband and daughter and landed in front of them ‘The Earth Pony, Pegasi and Unicorn Nations prepared the first Hearth’s Warming meal together. Chancellor Puddinghead made a pudding so delicious, legends were written about it.’

Realizing what Twilight was looking for, she looked at her family and said ‘This. Is. It. Unique. Totally Pinkie. The most incredible desert ever.’

‘That’s perfect.’ said Moonlight ‘They go coco bananas for pudding.’

After Twilight marked the chalk board, she looked through the book. Beau could see the look on Twilight’s face that she was about to panic and tried to shake the book. Realizing where this was going, he stood up whilst Twilight said ‘Where’s the Recipe?!’

Beau ended up grasping her flank, making her yelp out loud and her dropping the book. Twilight groaned whilst she blushed and looked at her husband ‘Do you always have to do that?’

‘If it were to calm you down, then yes.’ said Beau.

He guided her to a chair and said ‘Sit. Down.’

He placed her on the chair hard, taking her by surprise whilst he said ‘Why don’t you relax and have some hot chocolate and doughnuts whilst I look for the recipe for you.’

‘But…’ said Twilight as she wanted to change the subject.

‘Twilight.’ said Beau as he grabbed her face, making her look at him in the eyes without blinking. ‘Listen. I know how much this means to you, but like Bolt once told you, you can’t always do everything alone. Otherwise you’d be no different than Applejack.’

Twilight flexed her eyebrow at that, with Moonlight saying ‘I think he’s referring that time when you wanted to help aunt Applejack on the farm but she was too stubborn to accept help from others that time when Big Mac got injured and she tried to harvest the apples by herself.’

Twilight cringed at that, for they did have a point. The way she’s acting, she’s acting like Applejack. She took a deep breath and spoke to him calmly ‘Are you sure?’

‘Hey,’ said Beau as he reassured her ‘If I can help you get over your fear of Quesadillas and Ladybugs and our daughter help cure Rainbow Dash’s dislike of pies, I can help you find the recipe.’

Twilight sighed, but let out a smile as she said ‘Alright. I’ll try.’

‘Good girl.’ said Beau as he gave her a quick kiss and went through the books, whilst Twilight took the hot chocolate and drank some.

‘Dad helped you get over your fear of ladybugs?’ asked Moonlight.

‘Mhmm,’ said Twilight ‘Back when Starlight failed to try and help me get over my fear of Ladybugs because of Pinkie Pie, Beau asked Fluttershy for help to find a specific ladybug. Naturally I was scared, but when I saw what I did, making it cry, I felt bad. And it turned out, they weren't so bad. Since then I got over my fear of ladybugs.’

‘That’s true,’ said Emily, who decided to come in to give everyone another round of hot chocolate and said ‘Although, speaking of Quesadillas, I can’t believe you were afraid of a measly sandwich.’

‘It was kind of weird.’ said Moonlight ‘I mean, all he did was shove one in your mouth and you ended up getting over your fear of them.’

‘You can blame Shining Armour for that.’ said Beau whilst he was looking ‘When your mother was little, he ended up scaring her so bad she ended up believing them. You wouldn’t believe the stern talk I gave him. I think I scared him that day too.’

‘You did? When?’ asked Twilight.

‘That time when I wanted to have your parents’ blessings when I wanted to marry you.’ said Beau. After noticing the odd look he was getting from Twilight, he then said ‘He had a problem with me when he found out that you were pregnant before the wedding.’

‘And he promised to be a good brother.’ said Emily.

‘So that’s why I keep getting apology letters from him.’ said Twilight as she thought about it loudly.

‘Speaking of which,’ said Beau ‘How do you think the others are doing with their shopping?’

‘Knowing them, they probably have it in the bag.’ said Emily.

Meanwhile, at the Rainbow Falls

Fluttershy was currently looking around for Applejack, whilst the said farm pony was about to walk up to her, whilst at the same time, Apple Slice walked up to his mother.

‘Hey ma.’ said Apple Slice.

‘Yeah, Slice?’ said Applejack whilst looking at her son.

‘Do you think that Warm Breeze would like an animal guide book set, or a special flute?’ asked Apple Slice.

Applejack thought about it and said ‘Well, he did talk about wanting to learn about new animals and play for them music a few months ago. So why not go with both of them.’

‘Thanks ma.’ said Apple Slice before running off.

Applejack then stood near Fluttershy and wanted her opinion on what to give Spike.

‘I’ve narrowed down my choices for Spike,’ said Applejack as she took out two different gifts from her back and showed it to her as she said ‘To fire-dancing sticks, or a Power Ponies comic. Un-enchanted. I think’

However, the moment Fluttershy took out something, Applejack yelped in shock as she threw them in different directions as she said ‘What is that?’

What Fluttershy had was the ugliest doll Applejack had ever seen, whilst one of its doll eyes nearly fell off. With Fluttershy saying ‘Holly the Hearth’s Warmer doll. Isn’t she sweet?’

Fluttershy pulls on the doll’s strings, allowing it to speak. ‘I love being an expensive toy.’

‘Egh,’ said Applejack, not liking that Fluttershy bought such an ugly gift ‘Why’d you think that was a good gift for Rainbow Dash?’

‘It’s the must-have gift of the season,’ said Fluttershy, with Applejack scowling at that ‘And in short supply.’

However, Applejack spotted plenty of ponies having more and more of those ugly dolls everywhere they went. ‘“Short supply”, huh?’ said Applejack in a disbelieving tone and face, with Fluttershy sheepishly smiling at her.

‘How much did that set you back?’ asked Applejack.

‘All my bits.’ replied Fluttershy. Until she shockingly realized that she’s now broke. ‘All my bits?’

She sheepishly went over to Applejack and said ‘Can I borrow some for the train ride home?’

Applejack handed her some bits in her deadpanned tone. Then she looked at the doll and said ‘Something about this here doll seems fishy. And I ain’t just talkin’ about the plastic. Where’d you get it?’

She felt a paw on her leg, gaining both of the ponies’ attention. They saw Trusty whilst pawing it a couple of times.

‘Oh, what is it Trusty?’ asked Fluttershy.

Trusty then guided both Applejack and Fluttershy towards a tent where the ponies were trying to purchase more of the ugly dolls. However, the two followed Trusty. As they went around the corner, Trusty pointed ahead with his paw and nose, causing them to see a pony walking in the tent with supplies.

As they investigated, Applejack and Fluttershy took a peek inside. To their shock, it was none other than Flim and Flam, doing more of their so called scamming.

‘Flim and Flam.’ said Applejack, infuriating her as she laid eyes on those two, ‘What are those two Hearth’s Warming Hooligans up to now?!’ before she stomped her hoof on the ground.

Chapter 4: Cannot be bought or sold

Meanwhile, at Sweet Acorn Orchard

Trying to make up for lost time to reacquire Applejack’s present, Rarity, Silver and Crystal Gem walked down a dirt road, looking around for the farm.

‘You know I think I heard of Sweet Acorn Orchard a while back,’ said Silver ‘They’re basically in charge of selling acorns to various places to plant more trees at certain parts of Equestria. They even sell them at local diners and coffee shops because they bring flavor to most coffees and teas.’

‘Really?’ asked Rarity ‘If they do that, how come I’ve never heard of them?’

‘Different business ideals.’ said Crystal Gem ‘Some businesses that do well and are well known. Like mother’s boutiques and the Apple farms. Acorns take a little longer to grow, as do trees. And sometimes you rarely get ponies to buy coffee with acorns in them. Though they do make a good profit from the coffee and tea factory.’

‘Yeah, you wouldn’t believe how much of the stuff Bolt buys.’ said Silver.

‘Oh, we’re here.’ said Crystal Gem.

They then stood in front of a sign that said “Sweet Acorn Orchard.”, with a house, a shed and a well up ahead.

‘It is a tad rustic.’ said Rarity as she looked at it.

‘The Acorns won’t be able to grow during Hearth’s Warming,’ said Silver as he looked at them ‘They’ll probably get to work once the snow melts.’

They walked towards the door, allowing Rarity to knock on the door. Once she stood back, the owners of the house, Butternut and her husband Oak Nut answered. They were a little surprised to see a human, considering that they’ve never seen one before.

‘Uh, is this Sweet Acorn Orchard?’ asked Rarity as she gained their attention.

The two farmers looked at one another, with Butternut saying ‘It is. But we’ve never had no pony like you visit before.’

‘Or one that’s not a pony.’ said the husband Oak Nut when he looked at Silver.

‘Uh, Rarity, pleasure.’ said Rarity as she introduced herself.

‘And folks call me Silver,’ said Silver before gesturing to their daughter ‘And this is our daughter, Crystal Gem.’

‘Hello there.’ said Crystal as she greeted them.

Rarity then spoke to the couple and said ‘I’m actually here about a package that was recently deli-’

‘Oh,’ said Oak Nut as he was surprised, as was Butternut ‘That was from you?’

Rarity sighed in relief, whilst she didn’t realize that the couple were shedding tears of joy ‘So it did arrive. Uh, if I could just…’

Suddenly, Butternut wrapped her arms around Rarity and her family as she said ‘We don’t know how to thank you.’

‘Thank me?’ said Rarity, clearly confused.

Sure enough, after they got inside, Butternut had placed cups on the table, placed a couple of acorns inside and poured some tea in. They began to strike some conversation whilst also trying to enjoy their tea.

‘I was just saying to Butternut,’ said Oak Nut whilst Crystal Gem blew on her tea a few times before she drank it ‘I wish we knew who our Hearth’s Warming Miracle was.’

‘Miracle?’ thought Silver to himself. ‘If it’s for them a miracle, they must have been going through some tough times.’

‘Oak Nut and I couldn’t belive it when we opened it.’ said Butternut ‘Pistachio said right away whoever sent it just got him.’

‘Says when he put it on, he could feel his destiny.’ said Oak Nut with pride.

Silver took a sip on his tea whilst flexing an eyebrow, for that was certainly a strange way to put it, with a confused Rarity saying ‘As an…Acorn farmer?’

They heard a light scoff whilst also said ‘A farmer?!’

Rarity, Silver and Crystal Gem looked up and saw it was their son, probably Pistachio. And on top of his head was none other than the hat Rarity had ordered. Silver on the other hand was focused on Pistachio, for he had a strange feeling that he looked familiar somewhere.

‘Filly, please.’ said Pistachio with a smile on his face ‘This is a Fedora Felt Original.’

Crystal was surprised that Pistachio would know what kind of hat it would be, even Silver was impressed. Pistachio climbed down the ladder and stood near his parents.

‘Look at this bold stitching,’ said Pistachio after he took it off and showed them ‘These daring textures. It’s a whole new take on Western Chic. There is no, way I would wear it in the grove.’

‘Wow,’ said Crystal as she whispered to her parents ‘I’m surprised he noticed the detail on the hat.’

‘We don’t know where he got his fashion sense.’ said Butternut whilst Pistachio hugged the hat.

‘Heh, as far as we know, a hat’s a hat.’ said Oak Nut after Pistachio placed his hat back on.

‘Except when it’s art.’ said Pistachio.

‘Thank you Rarity.’ said Butternut, causing Pistachio to immediately perk up by the name.

‘Rarity?’ said Pistachio, who then stood face to face with Rarity ‘The, Rarity?!’

‘Mm-hmm.’ said Rarity.

The moment he was close, Silver immediately recognized him. ‘Oh hey, I remember you.’

Pistachio looked at Silver with a flexed eyebrow and said ‘You do?’

‘Yeah, it was the day when we first opened a boutique at Van Hoover,’ said Silver ‘It was right around that time they held their first ever Acorn festival.’

Pistachio also recognized Silver. ‘Oh my gosh of course. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you earlier. You were the human who showed me around the day it first opened. I was in awe of the designs.’

‘Well it helps when you’ve learned from one of the most beautiful diamonds in Equestria.’ said Silver as he rubbed his face against Rarity’s, causing her to blush and smile.

‘Oh,’ said Pistachio as he noticed the rings on both of them ‘You two are married?’

‘That’s right,’ said Silver ‘And we ended up gaining a little angel.’

Crystal couldn’t help but blush whilst she said ‘Father.’

‘Oh, it’s such a huge honor to meet both of you.’ said Pistachio ‘You have to stay for lunch, I won’t take no for an answer.’

Rarity and Silver were taken by surprise by this generous invitation. With Crystal saying ‘Well I am feeling a bit peckish. So I suppose it wouldn’t do any harm.’

Rarity looked at the Acorn farmer family, with them eagerly smiling, with Rarity stammering a bit, but accepted as she said ‘Well, I uh…we would be delight.’

Meanwhile, at the Castle of Friendship

The doors from the library slowly opened, with Twilight’s mane a bit frazzled. Whilst Beau was looking for it, she had grown a bit impatient, but thankfully Beau found it before she freaked out. Beau and Emily decided to tag along with Twilight and Moonlight to make sure they don’t go overboard again.

‘The recipe for Chancellor Puddinghead’s magical pudding was filed under “Magical Spells”, not “Recipes”.’ said Twilight as she took a good look at it.

‘And it only took four hours for dad to figure that out.’ said Moonlight.

‘I don’t get why the pudding was placed under magical spells,’ said Beau ‘Or why they made it magical in the first place.’

‘Knowing them, if they messed up the recipe,’ said Emily ‘It’s a disaster that’s bound to happen sooner or later.’

‘Let’s see,’ said Twilight as she looked through the book ‘Nutmeg, sugarplums, gingerbread, candy canes…’

‘Wow, those are different,’ said Beau ‘Back in our world, every kind of pudding has different recipes.’

‘He’s not wrong,’ said Emily ‘Though I have no idea what could be the best pudding in the world.’

‘Hmm, I’ll, make a note comparing to both our world’s puddings later,’ said Twilight as she was interested, then she read the warning as they made their way towards the front castle doors ‘“Warning, to avoid untold culinary devastation, each ingredient must be measured with exact care.”’

She laughs at the warning as she said ‘Book, have you met me?’

‘Uh, Twilight, you’re doing it again.’ said Beau, reminding her of what happened the last time she talked to an inanimate object.

‘Oh,’ said Twilight with an embarrassing blush, as well as a giggle ‘Sorry.’

They suddenly heard a loud knock on the door, gaining their attention, allowing them to walk towards the door.

‘I wonder who that could be?’ said Emily.

The moment Twilight used her magic to open the door, a large familiar group arrived at the door as they said ‘Happy Hearth’s Warming!!’

It was revealed to be none other than Shining Armour, Princess Cadance and Blade, along with their children, Flurry Heart and Raging Halberd.

They were greatly surprised by them showing up. ‘Hey, you guys made it.’ said Beau, allowing him and Emily hug the visitors from the Crystal Empire, with Moonlight hugging Flurry Heart and Raging Halberd.

Twilight was taken aback, and a little shocked to see them. ‘But…you’re early.’ said Twilight as Shining Armour and the others came in.

‘And we also brought company.’ said Blade.

Behind them was none other than Twilight’s old friend Sunset Shimmer, along with her husband Ignis and their son Searing Shimmer.

‘Hey everyone.’ said Sunset as she walked in, causing them to hug them too. Twilight was clearly surprised.

‘Y-you’re here too?’ asked Twilight.

‘Well of course we are.’ said Sunset.

‘We didn’t have anywhere else to go during the holidays,’ said Ignis ‘So we decided to spend the holidays with you guys.’

‘Aunty Twilight.’ said Flurry Heart and Raging Halberd as they hugged her waist, which made her even more confused.

‘B-but…’ said Twilight as she tried to make sense of all of this ‘Your scrolls said that you were coming tomorrow.’

‘Uh, the scroll we sent yesterday?’ said Cadance to remind Twilight what the date was.

‘Which we also sent along with theirs.’ said Sunset.

‘Which I told you like twelve times.’ said Beau.

‘Yesterday, right,’ said Twilight before she yelled ‘Welcome!’

They saw that the castle wasn’t even finished with the decorations. Beau groaned a bit, which gained the others’ attention. However, Shining Armour stood near Twilight and placed his hand on her forehead as if he was taking her temperature, much to her confusion.

‘Uh, what are you doing?’ asked Twilight as she pushed her brother’s hand away whilst he let out a simple smirk.

‘Decorations not up. Frazzled mane. Determined look.’ said Shining Armour as he deduced what was wrong with Twilight ‘I’ve seen this before. What are you obsessed about this time Twiley?’

‘Nothing!’ cried Twilight out frantically.

‘Right.’ said Sunset with a smirk, knowing that Twilight was obsessed with something again.

Shining Armour walked over and pointed at the Castle Halls as he said ‘So decorations aren’t up because…?’

Twilight then tried to change the subject as she said ‘Uh…I thought…it would be…a great idea to decorate it together.’

‘No you didn’t.’ said Beau and Emily, much to Twilight’s slight annoyance, but considering how stressed she is, this was predictable.

‘Really?’ said Blade

‘Oh, that sounds wonderful.’ said Cadance whilst she held Flurry Heart close to her ‘We could start decorating right aw…’

‘After,’ said Twilight as she cut Cadance off ‘I finish one quick errand. Just a few ingredients. Nothing to obsess about here, Heh! Make yourselves at home, be right back, promise!!’

‘Wait up!!’ said Moonlight as she teleported with her mother.

Cadance then turned around and said ‘She’s definitely freaking out about something.’

‘Oh yeah.’ said Shining Armour, agreeing with his wife.

‘When does she not?’ said Beau.

‘You have any idea what she’s stressing about again?’ asked Ignis.

‘Let’s just say…’ said Emily as she started off ‘Spike said something that made her stress out again, which caused her to go all panic mode as usual.’

‘Then I ended up throwing a book in his face.’ said Beau.

‘Wait, what?’ said Blade ‘Why the heck would you do that?’

‘Because do you have any idea how hard it is to calm her down when she goes all stress mode?’ said Beau ‘I had to make like fifty plates of nachos and doughnuts just to calm her down.’

‘Now that I think about it,’ said Ignis ‘Didn’t Twilight once ate over a hundred plates of nachos when she was pregnant.’

‘As well as she added them with relish, radishes, cucumber, peanut butter and…’ said Beau before his face went green, making him run outside and threw up.

‘And I thought you had a weak stomach when it came to some topics.’ said Blade, making Shining Armour glare at him, with Blade saying ‘Well it’s true. It’s not our fault you didn’t bother to pack in your medicine for airsick travel in case of emergencies.’

‘He kinda has you there.’ said Cadance.

‘I got this.’ said Sunset Shimmer.

She used her magic to decorate the entire castle. And with just a flash of her spell, it was complete. Sunset then said ‘Out of all the spells she learned when she was Princess Celestia’s pupil, you’d think she would’ve learned this kind of spell.’

Beau came back after clearing the contents of his stomach, whilst he said ‘So…anyone want some cocoa?’

‘I’m game.’ said Shining Armour and the others as they headed towards the kitchen.

At the same time, right outside of the Mayor’s office

From right outside, the crowds continued to go back and forth, trying to make sure that they would get everything ready in time. Even Town Hall was busy, what with the workers wanting to work as fast as they could to ensure that they would finish on time. Trixie and Mystic were waiting at the line, for it would appear that the citizens would also like to put in a last minute request regarding the town and the holidays, including on when to prepare for their businesses.

‘Oh, this is taking forever,’ said Trixie ‘At this rate it’ll be Hearth’s Warming Eve till we get there.’

‘Look, Trixie,’ said Mystic ‘I know how much you’re in a rush and all, but you can’t expect everything to go by fast on a whim here.’

‘Oh, but Trixie just wants to get something worthwhile for her best friend.’ said Trixie with her usual pouting face.

‘I know Trix,’ said Mystic whilst he held onto his wife ‘I know.’

‘Next.’ said a clerk.

‘Oh, finally.’ said Trixie as they climbed up the stairs.

But the moment they were on top of the stairs, Trixie grunted and held onto her stomach as she collapsed onto the ground, taking half the ponies, even Mystic by shock.

‘Whoa, Trixie what’s wrong?’ said Mystic.

‘I…I don’t…’ said Trixie as she tried her best to go through the pain.

‘What’s wrong with her.’ asked one of the ponies.

Mystic held onto Trixie’s stomach. When all of a sudden, he felt a heartbeat, beating from within. Took him by surprise. Then looked at Trixie.

‘Uh, Trixie?’ said Mystic as he looked at her.

‘What?’ said Trixie, as she was strained from the pain.

‘I think the baby’s on its way.’

‘What?!!’ said Trixie, which shocked the ponies when they overheard them ‘But…the doctor said that the baby was due next week!!’

‘Apparently not.’ said Mystic ‘We need to get to the hospital, now.’

‘But the hospital is too far away from here.’ said Trixie before she nearly yelled in pain.

‘I need a cart over here!!’ said Mystic.

‘But there aren’t any…’ said a pony before Trixie grabbed the said pony.

‘Listen here bub,’ said Trixie as the hormones was now showing as her eyes went red and steam blew out of her nostrils ‘If you don’t get a cart here, then Trixie will show you what happens when mares like me get pregnant on a rare basis!!’

The pony panicked, before he shouted ‘Somepony get her a cart!!’

As a random pony arrived with a cart, Mystic picked Trixie up and took her over to the cart and placed her inside. ‘Get her to a hospital now!!’

‘Where are you going?’ said Trixie.

‘I’m going to fetch Starlight and Chance,’ said Mystic ‘No way they’re going to miss this, not after the Pinkie Promise they made.’

‘Hurry before Trixie blows up like a hot air balloon!!!’ shouted Trixie before she was hauled off.

Mystic closed his eyes and used his mind to try and find them. He then heard some chatter and he recognized the voices. He opened his eyes and said ‘There you are.’ before darting off in great speed.

One minute earlier, near one of the houses of Ponyville

Chance and Starlight tried their best to reason with the sales pony who was in charge of selling the house.

‘Look, can’t you reconsider?’ asked Chance.

‘Yes please,’ said Starlight ‘We really wanna buy a house for our friend. She and her husband are expecting a baby any day now.’

‘Sorry Mr. and Mrs. Glimmer,’ said the Sales pony mare ‘But once the house is bought and paid for, it is out of my reach. And you cannot bid any higher, for the payment has already been delivered to us. I’m sorry, but rules are rules.’

As she walked away, Starlight groaned in defeat. ‘Now what do we do?’

‘Hey, don’t give up,’ said Chance ‘We’ll find a way, we always do.’

‘But there’s no other place to go to,’ said Starlight ‘And we don’t have anything to give her.’

‘We’ll think of something.’ said Chance ‘We just…’

‘Chance!! Starlight!!’ shouted a voice.

They turned around and saw that it was Mystic running towards them. He stopped and took a breather.

‘Whoa, Mystic?’ said Starlight.

‘What’s wrong?’ said Chance.

Mystic grabbed the two of them and said ‘You two gotta come to the hospital with me, right now!!’

‘Why, what’s going on?’ asked Starlight.

Mystic then said ‘Trixie’s about to go into labor!!’

‘What?!!’ shouted Starlight and Chance.

‘We gotta get there now!!’ said Starlight.

‘Trixie’s already on her way there,’ said Mystic ‘We’d better get there, now!!’

‘Well don’t just stand there, lead the way!!’ said Chance.

At great speed, the three of them ran straight towards the Ponyville Hospital in order to be on time for Trixie’s child.

Meanwhile, up at the Frozen North

From the frozen north, on their way to the gift givers, Pinkie Pie bounced between the mountain of snow hills, Peacon Pie rode a sleigh as he was having a ride of his life, Lemon Pie were skiing as if she was racing. Frosty on the other hand, ended up tripping on something and rolled, making him role into a large snowball. As Pinkie, Peacon and Lemon stopped in their tracks after going through the snow hills, they suddenly saw a shadow, looked up and saw with wide eyes as Frosty was coming down.

‘WHOOOOAAAAAA!!!!’ shouted Frosty before he crashed into his family.

Peacon and Lemon Pie were buried underneath the snow, barely being able to come out of it. Frosty on the other hand, landed on top of his wife. Frosty got up and saw he was face to face with his wife, which caused Pinkie to grin at him.

‘Aw, you sneaky devil you.’ said Pinkie before giving Frosty a big kiss, much to his enjoyment.

Halfway there, they tried to go through the thickest hail that ever blew in their faces.

‘Why the heck would they even build their house all the way out here?!!’ shouted Peacon Pie.

‘They probably wanted some privacy away from the noise makers!!’ shouted Lemon Pie.

The family were suddenly blown backwards as if a heavy force pushed them away. From out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie threw an anchor out with a rope attached to it, allowing her to pull herself in order to get out of the blizzard.

Frosty ended up on a dingy whilst he rowed with all his strength, with Peacon roasting a carrot dog and Lemon shouting ‘Stroke! Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!!’

*Wait a minute, since when the heck does Frosty know how to break the Fourth Wall?!!

*You kidding? He wanted to keep up with his wife so he asked her on how to do what she does. As for the Pie Twins…well that’s a complicated story

And finally, nearing their destination, Pinkie, Frosty, Peacon and Lemon were riding on the back of a polar bear. The moment the bear stopped, Peacon shouted ‘House ahoy!!!’

And sure enough, it was. For it was a normal looking cabin, with trees all around, decorated in Christmas lights.

‘Huh,’ said Frosty to himself ‘This place kind of reminds me of Santa’s Workshop when I was little.’

They climbed off of the back of the Polar bear, with the bear leaving and Pinkie, along with Frosty and the kids waved it goodbye.

‘Remind me to thank Fluttershy for giving me lessons on how to communicate with Polar Bears.’ said Pinkie Pie.

‘I’ll ad it to the party planning cave.’ said Frosty, Pinkie and the kids walked towards the house.

They walked towards the house whilst also admiring the decorations all around.

‘You think they’re expecting us?’ asked Lemon Pie.

Just when Pinkie Pie was about to knock on the door, an elderly deer, which happens to be a doe, suddenly opened the door sharply, taking them all by surprise as she said ‘By Blitzen’s beard!! It took you long enough!!’

‘Yep, they were.’ said Peacon before the siblings and parents were pulled in by the elderly deer and closed the door behind them.

As they were inside, some of them shook the snow off of their bodies, whilst Pinkie Pie looked around, whilst looking at the deer confused as she said ‘Are you sure you were expecting me?’

Frosty whistled in amazement when he saw so many presents and decorations all around them. ‘Wow,’ said Frosty ‘Santa’s elves from the north pole, eat your heart out.’

As Pinkie and her family walked next to the deer, she said ‘My name is…’ before she was cut off.

‘Pinkie Pie, I know.’ responded the elderly deer before she stopped in her tracks ‘Because I know everything.’

‘Oh, don’t be silly.’ said another voice. And from around the corner, another doe of a deer arrived, but this one appeared younger, at least a year younger than Pinkie Pie ‘You know what’s already happened. But you don’t know what she’s about to ask.’

Just before Pinkie was going to answer, the youngest deer stood near her as the two of them said at the same time ‘What am I going to ask?’

Frosty and the kids were a bit taken aback by this, with Pinkie Pie shaking her head trying to wrap it around, with cotton candy and pizza.

*Sorry, that was random, but I had to type it in because I thought it was funny

‘How did you know I was going to say that?!’ said the two of them at the same time.

‘Will you two stop showing off?’ said another voice. When they looked up, it was another deer, who appeared to be a mother type figure whilst she was prancing down with her reindeer magic whilst she was baking some gingerbread cookies, then landed whilst she said ‘They don’t have all Hearth’s Warming.’

‘Who, are you reindeer?’ asked Pinkie Pie

‘Aurora.’ responded the elderly deer.

‘Bori.’ responded the motherly deer.

‘Alice.’ said the youngest deer.

‘The gift givers of the grove.’ they concluded with their smiles.

Peacon suddenly walked up in awe and amazement with a blush on his face. He then said to them ‘Whoa. You three are the most beautiful deer I have ever seen.’

The three couldn’t help but blush by the little Pie’s compliment. Even though they know stuff, they found Peacon Pie’s compliment very flattering, which Lemon and Frosty rolled their eyes, with Frosty couldn’t help but give out a smirk.

‘Ooh,’ said Pinkie as she clapped her hands together, which Frosty couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of his wife acting like a little girl with a big grin on her face ‘And you can help me give Twilight the best gift ever?’

‘Mm-hmm.’ said both Bori and Alice with smiles on their faces.

‘What about those matching hats?’ asked Aurora ‘They were so cute.’

‘Well, that was the original idea.’ said Lemon Pie.

‘But that was…’ said Pinkie Pie before she was cut off.

‘Before she had to get just one gift for Twilight, as well as the twins for both Comfy and Warm Breeze.’ said Bori as she filled Aurora in whilst nudging her ‘Try to keep up Aurora.’

‘I’m gonna get those boxes Pinkie is gonna say she likes.’ said Alice before she pranced over to one of the boxes.

Bori placed the cookie batter on the table as she explained ‘Aurora remembers gifts that have already happened. Alice knows the gifts that are going to happen. I just stay in the moment and keep the two of them in line.’

Aurora simply rolled her eyes at that comment, with Frosty saying ‘Oh, like Hearth’s Warming Eve’s past, present and future?’

‘Oh, heavens no.’ said Aurora ‘Those ghosts focus on those who don’t like the holidays. We on the other hand focus more on the gifts.’

‘Gifts that comes from the heart of those who wish to make sure their loved ones have the best holiday ever.’ said Lemon Pie.

‘Exactly.’ said Bori ‘You’re so sweet little one.’

‘She takes after her mother,’ said Frosty ‘For nopony is sweeter than the mare who raised her family.’

‘Aw, Frosty.’ said Pinkie Pie as she pecked her husband’s cheek.

‘Speaking of,’ said Bori as she focused on the topic before she would forget about them ‘I believe we have a request for a gift.’

The gift givers went in different directions to prepare the gifts for Pinkie and her family so that they could give them for their Hearth’s Warming Buddies.

As Aurora stopped in front of a box filled with wrapping gift paper, she levitated it to the center and said ‘The gift is more precious than gold, but it cannot be sold.’

Bori levitated a couple of ribbons, cut them in half and formed it into a beautiful bow as she said ‘When it breaks, it’s not ended, for quickly it’s mended.’

Alice floated around the empty boxes, trying to find what she was looking for whilst she said ‘It can never be bought, yet is easily sought.’

She then bumped her hand into the boxes, causing some to fall over. Within a split second, she found what she was looking for ‘Ah, here we go.’

As they got what they came for, the Gift Givers flew back down and landed on the ground, using their magic to wrap two specific presents and placed them on the ground.

‘Ooh,’ said Pinkie as she observed them ‘I like those boxes.’

‘Told ya.’ said Alice with a smirk, with the others rolling their eyes, with Frosty and the kids couldn’t help but giggle.

Pinkie, Peacon and Lemon took a peek in both of the boxes. The moment they saw something shiny in them, they immediately grinned at the sight of them.

‘The perfect gift, Wow!!’ shouted Pinkie, nearly startling the gift givers. Until Pinkie got confused and asked ‘I don’t get it.’

‘You will.’ replied Alice as she still kept the smile, whilst she handed the gifts over to Pinkie and Lemon.

‘Ahem.’ replied Alice as she stood next to Peacon, gaining his attention. Until Alice levitated a mistletoe over between them, which caused Peacon to have a surprised look on his face, then looked at Alice.

‘This is for you.’ said Alice ‘Thought I’d save you the trouble.’

And just like that, Alice kissed Peacon full on the lips. The moment her lips departed, Peacon immediately widened his smile with wide eyes, sat on his haunches and began to rumble like a rocket.

‘Uh-oh!!’ shouted Frosty, causing him to grab Peacon and ran out of the door. He ran a few feet from the cottage and planted Peacon on the ground, with him running back to the snow wall and ducked behind cover. He instantly popped out, with Lemon Pie next to her.

Lemon and Frosty poked out of cover, wore their safety goggles whilst Lemon said ‘Launching in three…two…one…’

And just like that, Peacon launched himself in the air and blew up like a rocket whilst fireworks were being displayed as he shouted out loud.

‘YAAAAAAHOOOOOO!!!!!!’

Peacon jumped around all crazy like a jackrabbit on a hot day. Pinkie Pie walked out of the cottage, with the Gift Givers in tow whilst they stood next to Frosty and Lemon. They watched as Peacon jumped around all crazy and acted like a very old cartoon character from Looney Tunes.

‘My, he sure is a lively one isn’t he?’ said Bori as she watched the display with amusement.

‘He takes after her mother,’ said Frosty ‘You’ll never find somepony more energetic than them.’

‘That’s true.’ said Pinkie.

‘Sow how long does it take for him to calm down.’ asked Aurora.

‘Probably when the scene shifts over to Applejack and Fluttershy where they would have a few stern words with Flim and Flam about selling knockoff products.’

Bori looked at her confused and was just about to say something, until she was cut off by Frosty, Aurora and Alice as they said ‘It’s Pinkie Pie, don’t question it.’

Bori then whispered to Frosty ‘Don’t worry about a thing. Everything’s ready. Just keep them occupied a little longer and we’re all set.’

‘Great, thanks again for helping us out.’ whispered Frosty back.’

‘You wanting to make it the best Hearth’s Warming Eve ever is good enough.’ said Alice whilst all of them watched Peacon acted all crazy.

Back at the Rainbow Falls

Back at the Rainbow Falls, Flim and Flam were still busy trying to sell more of their stuff, where they would try to sell it to two kids next.

‘And once you have these gifts,’ said Flim ‘Your family’s smiles will be brighter than the sun of Equestria.’

‘So, what do you say?’ asked Flam ‘Do we have a deal?’

The two kids were none other than Apple Slice and Warm Breeze whilst he was holding onto Comfy Breeze. They both looked at one another with flexed eyebrows, then looked at the scam artists back.

‘Oh, they sound great.’ said Apple Slice, pretending to be interested. ‘But uh…can we ask you something?’

‘Oh, but of course.’ said Flim.

Apple Slice signaled Flam to come closer. The moment he did, Apple Slice immediately turned around, stood on both his hands and bucked Flam in the face so hard, it instantly knocked the scam artist out. Flim was surprised by this as he looked back at the two kids.

‘How dumb do you think we are Flim and Flam?!!’ shouted both the kids.

‘Wha…?’ said Flim as he was shocked by this ‘How did you…?’

‘You really think we’d buy anything from you, after you tried to scam us into giving up our family farm?!’ said Apple Slice.

‘Or the fact that you suckered everypony into buying your stupid tonics just to make an honest living!’

Suddenly, Flim recognized Apple Slice ‘Wait, you’re that child of the Apple Family.’

‘That I am.’ said Apple Slice. ‘And how dare you two show your faces around here.’

‘We’re here to just make a living.’ said Flim ‘We have a business to run after all.’

‘Oh, business huh?’ said Warm Breeze ‘Like you did business with Equestria’s most wanted criminals into taking over the Crystal Empire and turning both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna into stone whilst you worked with those that tried to free Sombra?!’

Flim winced at that, with Apple Slice saying ‘You do realize that there is an arrest warrant for you two, right? They haven’t forgiven the both of you for what you did. They already caught Iron Will and Lightning Dust for what they did.’

‘The only reason why they didn’t make a move on you is because they didn’t want to bring down one of Equestria’s top businesses where others come to have fun.’ said Warm Breeze.

‘And what are you going to do, call the guard on us?’ said Flim as if he wasn’t scared.

‘Well it pays that our families are friends with four of Equestria’s High Ranking Princesses.’ said Apple Slice.

‘And that most of the Royal Court supports them all the way, especially Fancy Pants, Equestria’s leading member of the Royal Court.’ said Warm Breeze.

Flim was now a little scared, whilst also feeling nervous at the same time. Both of the kids kept their glares at the scam artist still standing.

‘This isn’t over by a long shot Flim.’ said Apple Slice ‘We too have friends within the high society of Canterlot and you can bet, we’ll be contacting them.’

But as they walked, Flam, who just got back up said ‘Hmph, he’s no different than that old fart Granny Smith.’

However, unknown to them, Apple Slice overheard it. He was so angry, his face went red with rage whilst fire blew out of his nose and steam came out of his ears, much to the shy siblings’ shock.

‘Uh oh.’ said Comfy Breeze ‘They done a bad thing.’

‘You can say that again.’ said Warm Breeze.

Apple Slice immediately stood in front of Flam, grabbed him by the shirt collar and punched him so hard, he was flung to the end of the tent, much to Flim’s shock. Apple Slice then grabbed Flim by the shirt collar and shouted ‘You got something to say about Granny Smith too?!!!’

‘Oh, no, no, no, no, no!!’ said Flim frantically ‘I think she’s a wonderful Mare. Celestia bless her soul.’

Warm Breeze pulled then pushed Apple Slice away, and gave him the “Stare”, which caused Slice to back off. He walked away in anger, whilst also shedding a tear, with Warm Breeze looking at Flim and said ‘As my aunt Rainbow Dash would say. “Not. Cool.”.’

Both the kids walked away, unknown that their mothers, aka Applejack and Fluttershy, were walking up to the stand whilst Flim quickly helped his brother Flam standing whilst also having two black eyes.

‘We said, no refunds.’ said Flim as he tried to help his brother Flam out, who was still dizzy from the kick he got in the face.

‘Ahem.’ responded Applejack clearing her throat, clearly not amused by any of this.

‘Oh. You.’ said Flim after Flam shook his head right.

‘What are y’all doin’ with these here dolls and that ridiculous getup?’ said Applejack, barely trying to contain her anger, considering what those two had done ‘Don’t you have a resort to run?’

‘It’s off season.’ said Flim as he and Flam removed their disguises ‘We’re planning an expansion.’

‘And expansions cost bits.’ said Flam as he showed them, however, both Applejack and Fluttershy were a bit startled by Flam’s black eyes and a few broken teeth before the two of them closed their curtains.

They showed them a new addition to the resort as they said ‘Flim and Flam’s Fro-Yo Flume Ride.’

‘Oh, that sounds f…’ said Fluttershy before Applejack cut her off.

‘It ain’t no excuse for sellin’ cheap dolls to ponies.’ said Applejack.

Both Flim and Flam moved close to Fluttershy, attempting to sucker her again.

‘We’re just getting what ponies what they want.’ said Flim.

‘Shopping for the perfect gift is stressful.’ said Flam.

‘Oh, that’s true.’ said Fluttershy as both the scam artists zipped away.

Both Flim and Flam pushed a crate of cheap dolls near them as Flim said ‘You want to get something that really stands out.’

‘I do.’ said Fluttershy as she walked over to them, causing Applejack to groan as she slapped her forehead, especially Trusty, feeling like it needed help, so he decided to go back to his master, knowing that Warm Breeze might be going back to him first.

‘And when you tell your friend you got them the hottest gift in Rainbow Falls.’ said Flam as he was close into suckering Fluttershy into buying their product ‘What’ll they say?’

‘Woo-Hoo?’ replied Fluttershy.

Applejack slapped the nearest doll near her whilst she had an unamused look on her face as the doll said ‘The more you spend, the more your friend knows you love them.’ before collapsing onto the ground.

Fluttershy, realizing that she was about to get duped, retracted her money away from them as she said ‘Oh, right. They really are good at selling things.’

‘You may not like it.’ replied Flim.

‘But technically, we’re not doing anything wrong.’ said Flam.

‘Ponies are desperate for the right gift.’

‘And who are you to tell them this isn’t it.’ said Flam as he handed Applejack the doll before reuniting with his brother.

‘If ponies get tired of Holly after a few days…’ said Flim before the doll broke.

‘Or she falls apart. Who really got hurt?’

‘Nopony.’ said both the scam brothers.

At that moment, Flim and Flam pushed both Applejack and Fluttershy out of the tent as Flim said ‘Don’t let the curtain hit you on the way out.’

However, unknown to the four of them, fate had other plans for them.

A few minutes earlier

Both Apple Slice and Warm Breeze walked past the other stands as Apple Slice, clearly angry, ranted about the scam artists.

‘Oh, I can’t believe those two are at it again!!’ shouted Apple Slice ‘The nerve of those two, showing their faces around and selling their so called good products!! Ugh, if I had my way, I’d banish them to the sun!!’

‘Calm down Apple Slice,’ said Warm Breeze ‘Look, I know you’re upset because your family had some bad history with Flim and Flam, but what can we do? They’re always good at covering their tracks. Plus how the heck are we gonna convince the rest of the ponies to wise up?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Apple Slice ‘But one of these days I’m gonna…!!!’

‘Son?’ said Bucky.

Both Apple Slice and Warm Breeze stopped in their tracks and saw their fathers, waiting for them near a hot chocolate stand, with their presents in tow. The kids walked over to them, with Apple Slice crossing his arms with an angered look on his face.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Bucky.

But before Apple Slice could ask, Warm Breeze interrupted and said ‘What do you guys have in those boxes?’

‘Oh, we happened to find something great for both Rainbow Dash and Spike.’ said Genus as he showed them. ‘In case their current presents doesn’t work out, then we’ll give them our backup presents.’

However, Bucky wouldn’t let this go, for he could tell his son was really upset. He stood on his one knee and held onto his shoulders.

‘Apple Slice, what’s the matter?’ asked Bucky, for he was really worried.

Apple Slice grumbled a bit, but said ‘Flim and Flam.’

‘Wait, what?’ said Bucky as he was shocked to hear this.

‘Yeah, they’re at it again.’ said Warm Breeze ‘They’ve been secretly selling cheap run down dolls to folks, thinking that they’re the hottest new toys.’

‘I don’t know much about them.’ asked Genus.

‘Put it simply.’ said Bucky as he looked at Genus ‘They’re scam artists and con men who tried to trick us into selling our farm and suckered everypony to buy their stupid tonics that was just grape juice.’

Genus perked up at that, but slowly gripped his fist, his anger nearly boiling over as he said ‘Did you say…con men?’

‘Yep.’ said Bucky. However, it wasn’t enough to convince him. He then noticed that Apple Slice was shedding tears, much to his shock.

‘Whoa, what?’ said Bucky, clearly worried.

Warm Breeze then spoke for Apple Slice and said ‘Flam said that, and I quote, “He’s no better than that old fart Granny Smith.”, end quote.’

That part immediately made Bucky’s eyes widened in shock. Then his face went into anger, then ended up crushing the hot chocolate mug, making it shatter. Warm Breeze noticed that both of them had death glares.

‘Warm Breeze.’ said Genus.

‘Uh, yeah dad?’ said Warm Breeze, whilst growing more nervous because of those eyes.

Genus handed Warm Breeze a dragon candle, which had a direct line to Princess Celestia as he said ‘Call Princess Celestia. Tell them to send a platoon of guards.’

Warm Breeze took the candle as he said ‘What are you going to do?’

Bucky and Slice walked and felt heated as if they were angered in fire, with Trusty arriving, barking and directing them to Flim and Flam, allowing them to follow him. However, Warm Breeze and Apple Slice, after he was able to snap out of it, looked in worry, for they realize what they’re going to do.

Back at the present

At that moment, Flim and Flam pushed both Applejack and Fluttershy out of the tent as Flim said ‘Don’t let the curtain hit you on the way out.’

Fluttershy looked at the doll in disgust as she said ‘Of course Rainbow Dash wouldn’t want this.’

But she was cut off as both Warm Breeze and Apple Slice rushed over as they said ‘MOM!!!’

They noticed the kids had worried looks on their faces, with Applejack saying ‘Whoa, where’s the fires.’

‘It’s our dads.’ said Apple Slice.

‘I think they’re gonna do something drastic.’ said Warm Breeze

At the same time, at the back, both Bucky and Genus went inside the back of the tent, gaining Flim and Flam’s attention. But the brothers tried to make sure that their cover wasn’t blown as they tried to sell them their products.

‘Oh, why hello there customer.’ said Flim.

‘Do you wish to make a request order?’ asked Flam.

‘Oh, I got a request order for you alright, right here!!’ shouted Bucky.

When all of a sudden, there was crashing, bashing, screaming and punching. Applejack and Fluttershy quickly went over to see what was going on. When they got inside, to their shock, both Bucky and Genus were beating up both Flim and Flam like wrestlers, with Trusty barking at them at the same time.

Bucky head butted Flim in the face and flipped him over on the table, Genus did a monkey toss at Flam, Bucky delivered a clothes line at Flim, Genus did a tombstone move at Flam. Both human husbands did a double choke slam, then did a body slam onto a large table. Just before they could finish…

‘What in tarnation?!!’ shouted Applejack, causing both Bucky and Genus to look at them in shock.

‘Genus, what are you doing?!’ said Fluttershy, clearly shocked to see what her husband was doing.

‘Uh…’ responded the two humans.

‘Bucky,’ said Applejack, clearly angry ‘Get out here, now.’

Bucky grunted, but then looked at Flim and said ‘You ever show your face here or in Ponyville again, you’re gonna have to replace your bills of Las Pegasus for your medical ones.’, before punching a tooth out whilst he walked out.

As for Genus on the other hand ‘I won’t go until you give my wife a refund.’

‘No refunds.’ said Flam.

When all of a sudden, Trusty growled loudly, gaining their attention. And in one fell swoop, Trusty bit Flam’s butt, making the pony yelp.

‘Okay, okay,’ said Flam as he panicked ‘I’ll give her a refund, all two hundred bits.’

Applejack was shocked, then looked at Fluttershy with a flexed eyebrow. ‘Really?’

‘Well they sounded convincing.’ said Fluttershy in a sheepish tone.

As Genus took the money and tossed Flam back, he walked over to Fluttershy and said ‘You and I are going to have a little talk about product purchasing because of false advertisement.’

Though Fluttershy wanted to do the Stare, she lowered her eyes in shame, whilst they walked out. But then Genus instantly walked back and said ‘Here’s an old bullying technique I learned back in school.’

‘Hey, what are you…?’ said Flam, until he felt a painful pull, making his eyes water as he said in a squeak ‘On top of the SPOOOKEEEEEYYYYY!!!’

He then felt something wrap around his head. Then it revealed he had been given an atomic wedgie, the most painful one a bully could perform. Genus walked out of the tent, with both brothers struggling to get up after the massive wrestling beat down they received.

At the same time, both the wives took the humans to a secluded spot where they could have a one on one talk with them.

‘Y’all gonna explain yerselves?’ said Applejack with her arms crossed.

Both Genus and Bucky looked at one another, with Bucky wanting to go first. He then said ‘It was because of a con man who gave my sister cancer.’

Applejack was a little surprised by this, even Apple Slice. ‘What?’ said Applejack.

‘A month before Daisy, my little sister was diagnosed with cancer,’ said Bucky as he told her ‘My little sister was sick, with a weakened immune system. My parents were so desperate into getting her medicine, they bought it from a doctor, who was a con man selling illegal medication. Oh sure it helped, except the disease began to relapse and ended up giving her cancer.’

He then walked over to her with tears building up in his eyes and said ‘Can you imagine. Both my parents, who stupidly bought a medication pills that were illegal in over fifty states, and they blamed me for what happened to her, when they were responsible for what happened.’

Applejack was taken aback by this information.

Now it was Genus’ turn. ‘I was on my way to pick up food for the animal shelter I volunteered because we were dangerously low, but we were low on money, so I went out of town to buy some. But thankfully a friend of mine was able to give it to me for free because they were overstocked.’

He then had a disheartening look ‘But when I got back, I found out they already bought enough food dirt cheap from a con man. But when I got in, all of the animals got sick beyond recognition. It turned out the food for the animals they bought were tainted, past their expiring dates and were also poisoned.’

Fluttershy let out a small gasp, with Genus walking over to her, now he was shedding tears as he said ‘I had to personally put down every single one of those animals to sleep. All fifty of them. Fifty animals that I rescued, looked after, bred and raised as if they were my own. I still remembering their pleading and saddened eyes when they realized I had to do it, and I had to bury them all too.’

Both of them concluded as they said ‘And that’s why we hate con men.’

Both Applejack and Fluttershy had a look of horror on their faces, even the kids were shocked to hear this.

Applejack ended up hugging Bucky as she said ‘Oh Bucky. Ah’m so sorry. Ah had no idea.’

Even Fluttershy couldn’t contain her tears as she said ‘All those…animals.’

She instantly hugged Genus, for she couldn’t imagine how hard it must be for every animal lover to go through pain like that.

‘That’s not even the worst part.’ said Apple Slice as he felt like crying himself.

Applejack looked at Apple Slice in concern, then to Bucky, with her husband saying ‘He overheard Flam said, quote, “He’s no better than that old fart Granny Smith”, end quote.’

Now Applejack was shocked by what he said and nearly got angry, but remembered that getting angry isn’t what Granny would’ve wanted, so she focused on hugging her son, not wanting him to think things like that.

Bucky then said ‘We can’t let them get away with this.’

‘Oh, you’re so right.’ said Fluttershy ‘I’m so mad, I could just k…’

She then tapped lightly against the nearest stone with her hoof, with her responding with an ‘Eh,’ whilst she held onto her hoof, with her husband helping her.

Applejack stood beside them whilst she tossed the rip off doll away and said ‘Convincin’ ponies to buy that doll ain’t in the holiday spirit.’

‘She’s right.’ said Bucky ‘Those two clearly don’t get how the holidays work at all. Besides, folks want a gift that has quality, perfection and that has to come from the heart.’

‘But Flim and Flam have a point.’ said Fluttershy ‘We can’t tell ponies what to buy.’

‘Yeah,’ said Genus ‘Plus when it comes to shopping, most ponies aren’t that bright. Give them anything with a price tag on them, and they’re on it like stink on a pig.’

Applejack began to think, for there has to be a way to teach them a lesson. She then saw from every stand of what the ponies behind the stands are selling. One was selling a crystallized chicken to a farmer, one was selling cherry flavored jam to another (whilst weirded out that the said pony’s face was covered in jam and that he was kissing it too), whilst the third one was selling flowers to the next. Applejack suddenly had a brilliant idea.

‘Huh,’ said Applejack as she smiled and held Fluttershy close ‘But maybe we can show them.’

Bucky then grinned and said ‘You just got a brilliant idea, haven’t you?’

‘Oh yeah.’ said Applejack.

‘But we might wanna finish up in an hour or so,’ said Apple Slice, gaining their attention as he said ‘Because Princess Celestia replied to our message and she’s sending her guards over and will be here in an hour.’

They were a little surprised by this at first, with Applejack looking at Slice with a flexed eyebrow. ‘What?’ said Apple Slice ‘You do realize that both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna haven’t forgiven them after they helped free Sombra and doomed the Crystal Empire whilst turning them into stone, did you? I mean they already arrested both Iron Will and Lightning Dust for Treason against the crown.’

They were a little surprised about this, with Applejack slapped her forehead, for she forgot that she was there. ‘Oh yeah,’ said Applejack ‘Ah forgot about that.’

Back in the forest of Ponyville

Meanwhile, back in the town of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash continued to search the forest from where Discord took her, Bolt and Junior. Rainbow Dash inspected from the ground and saw little foot prints, whilst giving her adorable smile whilst she was searching. Bolt Jr. continued to search from the skies in case they spotted something. Bolt on the other hand stood next to his wife, but he couldn’t help but stare at her flank whilst she bent over. But he noticed that she was lightly shaking her hips whilst she was crouching.

He couldn’t help but smirk and said out loud ‘Oh, I love it when you shake your adorable tushy whenever you bend over like that.’

Rainbow perked and immediately blushed, then ended up standing up and slapped his shoulder whilst she said ‘S-shut up.’

‘Oh, stop complaining,’ said Bolt as he wasn’t fazed by this ‘You know you love every single word that comes out of my mouth whenever it comes to complimenting your figure and everything.’

‘B-but still,’ said Rainbow as she stood up and rubbed her shoulder ‘It’s really embarrassing.’

‘Like your mentor told you once long ago,’ said Bolt ‘There’s nothing wrong engaging your feminine side every once and a while. Besides, I love it when you blush. It shows off more of your cuteness.’

‘I’m not cute.’ said Rainbow, now more red.

Bolt then came over and kissed her a few times by the neck and rubbed against her face. Rainbow tried to revolt, but couldn’t help but smile and did the same.

‘You sure you didn’t get any super powers when you first got here?’ asked Rainbow.

‘No, why?’ asked Bolt.

‘Because whenever I get stressed or angry,’ said Rainbow Dash before she kissed him on the cheek ‘You always calm me down by doing that.’

‘Am I doing a much better job than Beau did whenever he tries to calm Twilight down?’ asked Bolt.

‘Oh, definitely.’ said Rainbow as she hugged him.

The two of them suddenly heard some noises, causing them to look back and noticed Discord wearing his winter outfit whilst walking on tennis racket shoes. But then he tripped and fell face first into the ground.

‘Guh,’ said Rainbow as she was somewhat annoyed by Discord, again ‘Could you try to make less noise?’

‘Yeah dude,’ said Bolt ‘If we want to find a cute animal that Fluttershy would like, then we need to be extra quiet about this.’

Discord lifted his face with a slight annoyance, whilst he had a snow beard and hat that made him nearly look like Santa Clause. But as the snow fell from his face, his face widened with realization as he whispered ‘Of course.’

Discord snapped his fingers, causing Bolt, Rainbow Dash and Bolt Jr. to have instant ninja outfits, whilst Discord wore a ninja outfit that Bolt recognized whilst Discord said ‘We’ll move silently,’ before tossing a smoke bomb and moved behind Dash and then stood on top of a tree and said ‘Blend to the shadows. The Winterchilla will never hear us coming.’

‘Wait, where the heck did he get the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow outfits from the GI Joe merchandise?’ Bolt thought to himself. ‘More importantly, how the heck did he even know about GI Joe?’

Pinkie instantly popped over and said ‘Are you kidding? Hasbro had created the GI Joe saga WAAAAYYYYYY before the My Little Pony G1 series came out. It makes sense that they would want to show some of their merchandising here just for some laughs.’

Pinkie instantly went back and disappeared, much to Bolt’s confusion whilst his eye twitched rapidly.

‘My mind is broken.’ muttered Bolt to himself, until he crossed his arms and muttered ‘And I wanted to dress up like Snake Eyes.’

Rainbow Dash removed the mask from her face and said in confusion ‘Winterchilla?’

As Bolt Jr. came down from the skies and landed next to her mother, and Bolt shook his head in order to try and focus whilst Discord stood near Dash and described it to her.

‘Small, adorable, fuzzy and fast.’ said Discord as he stood up and said ‘But they’re so rare. There’s no telling where they…’

Discord immediately pointed out and said ‘Oh, there’s one right there!!!’

And sure enough, Discord was right. For straight ahead was none other than the Winterchilla itself. True to form, it was the most cutest creature they’ve ever seen. Fluttershy would surely love the cute little creature.

‘Now,’ said Discord as he whispered into Rainbow Dash’s ear ‘If you’re going to get it, I think the first move is to…’

But instead of listening, Rainbow Dash flew superfast towards the tiny creature. Within a split second, she came back with the creature in tow.

‘Be superfast?’ said Rainbow Dash, no doubt grinning behind her mask, with Discord simply shrugging and rolled his eyes with a smile.

However, the moment Bolt Jr. got a better look, his mind suddenly clicked, whilst thinking to himself ‘Wait…why does the Winterchilla look so familiar?’

Ponyville Hospital

At the same time, Mystic, Starlight and Chance rushed right in the room and stood in front of the check in station. ‘Excuse me,’ said Starlight frantically ‘Is a pony named Trixie Lulamoon here? She’s going into labor.’

‘Oh, yes of course.’ said the nurse at the counter ‘They’re in one of the rooms right now. You’d better hurry.’

They quickly rushed down the hall, heading straight for the room. They got into the room and saw Trixie screaming in pain, for it looked like she was going to explode. However, it’s the look in her eyes that makes her look really scary.

‘WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!!’ shouted Trixie with her vocal cords as high as an opera singer ‘TRIXIE IS ABOUT TO GO INTO LABOR AND THE DAD NEEDS TO BE PRESENT!!!’

‘Yeesh,’ said Chance as he looked at her whilst whispering to the others ‘And I thought I had a bad day.’

Mystic quickly went over to her whilst the doctors tried to check up on Trixie.

‘Mrs. Lulamoon, please,’ said the doctor ‘You need to hold still, otherwise the child…’

‘I ALREADY KNOW THAT!!’ shouted Trixie, for she could clearly no longer handle the pain.

Chance suddenly panicked and said out of the blue ‘Just try to hold it in like you’re holding in a huge fart!!’

*…*

*Are you for real now?*

*XDXD.*

(Sorry, I’m so sorry, I couldn’t resist, I laughed so hard I nearly fell over)

Starlight stared at Chance with a blank expression, with her replying ‘First of all, ewe. Second of all, why would say something like that?’

‘I panicked, okay.’ responded Chance.

Chance was suddenly hit in the head by something metallic, courtesy of Trixie, who grabbed something for saying something so idiotic. After being hit in the head, Chance’s eyes were spinning around.

Chance suddenly moved like a ballet dancer whilst moving to the left on his toes, then moved to the right whilst positioning himself with both his arms folded. Moved to his left again whilst he flapped his arms, then went to the right again, only to slowly fall over whilst his eyes were spinning.

Mystic and Starlight stared blankly at Chance’s movements.

‘Huh,’ said Starlight as she crossed her arms ‘I didn’t know he knew ballet.’

‘Neither did…’ said Mystic before he grunted loudly, for Trixie was squeezing his hand really tight.

‘Trixie is in pain and you’re talking about ballet?’ said Trixie, groaning from the pain.

‘Honey, calm down,’ said Mystic, trying to get the feeling of his hand back ‘This is supposed to be a beautiful moment.’

Trixie slowly looked at him and said ‘Beautiful moment? Beautiful moment?’

Trixie then grabbed him by the shirt collar, pulled him close and yelled really loudly ‘THIS IS NOT A BEAUTIFUL MOMENT!!!!’

‘Yeesh,’ said Chance as he lifted himself up from the ground ‘And I thought you were scary when you gave birth.’

Starlight knew he was talking about her, making him look at him with a glared dagger.

‘Well you were.’ said Chance as he finally stood up.

‘No, he’s right.’ said Nurse Redheart as she came in the room ‘You injured both doctors by kicking them in two different directions when you gave birth to your children.’

‘To be honest,’ said Trixie before she grunted again ‘That was the most hilarious thing Trixie has ever seen.’

Starlight nearly groaned at that, for it was a day that she didn’t want to remember the day she gave birth to Starshine Shimmer, Lucky Star and Blessed Night.

Spike’s room in Twilight’s castle

Spike was in his room, for instead of buying a gift, he would make it. He took a new umbrella and began to decorate it with glitter. He was done with the first two corners, now he was busy with the third whilst adding glue to it.

‘Making a gift is way more personal than buying it.’ said Spike before he blew a bit of glitter into it, then said with a smile ‘Rarity loves things that take time and effort.’

The attempted tries at the corner says otherwise. For all of them were many attempts to make Rarity a present, all of them ending in big failures. But he was determined to make one no matter what, even though he didn’t have much luck.

‘I know it’s not as perfect as the gift I got for Emily,’ said Spike as he looked at the now wrapped present that said “To my beloved Emily”, with Spike saying, ‘But at least it’s the thought that counts. Even if…it seems like a failure.’

‘I’m sure this one will be the one that works,’ said Spike before he lets out a yawn, for now he was getting tired ‘I just need to…stay focused and…’

Spike suddenly stopped, whilst lowering his head with a sad frown. ‘Oh, who am I kidding,’ said Spike as he tossed the glitter away. Now he felt depressed, something he didn’t feel since that time Rarity and Silver ended up together. ‘I’ll never get her a proper present, what was I thinking?’

From behind the door, taking a peek, was none other than Emily, who wanted to check up on Spike to see how he was doing.

He looked down and said ‘Maybe Frosty and the others are right. I thought I could get over my crush with Rarity but…They’re right, I don’t have a chance with her, I never had one to begin with. I mean, I didn’t even know what true love was until…Emily came into my life.’

Emily was a little surprised by this, but let Spike continue to speak.

‘I mean,’ said Spike as he continued, but also felt tired ‘I tried as hard as I could to move on but…like a dragon I’m too stubborn to listen. But ever since Emily came into my life she showed her love…for me. I had no idea how lucky I was, I thought I’d never love. Rarity and Silver are happy and have a daughter but…Most times I wonder if I was even meant to be loved.’

Emily couldn’t help but shed a tear about this.

‘I was lucky enough to get her a present and all but,’ said Spike as the drowsiness took over ‘I’ll never find a gift that can be as good as the one I got her. I just wish…that…’

And right on cue, Spike fainted from tiredness and against a bucket of glitter, causing some of them to fall on Spike as he mumbled. As Spike was asleep, Emily slowly walked in and placed her hand on Spike’s back whilst standing on her knees. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for Spike. In a way she could relate. When she was in high school, she had a crush on a boy, but he ended being with someone else. Even though Emily may have dated other guys before her and her brother’s demise, the crush was still there, as if he was her true love but he ended up with someone else.

She looked at the present and saw it was from Spike to her. He looked at him again, and realized that they did have something in common, they both had crushes but it ended up in a stalemate. She wiped her tear away and kissed him on the forehead. She decided to leave the room in order to let him rest up, but she still couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

As she stepped outside, Sunset came along and said ‘There you are Emily.’

‘Oh, hey.’ said Emily, trying to hide the sadness in her face ‘Where’s Ignis?’

‘He’s taken Searing Shimmer to snow sled with the rest of the kids, and Beau’s been trying to calm Twilight down whilst trying to make Pinkie’s gift.’

‘Oh, okay.’ said Emily, whilst looking down. This however, caught Sunset’s attention.

‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ asked Sunset.

‘Spike wanted to get Rarity a present because of the Hearth’s Warming Helper,’ said Emily ‘But Spike couldn’t find one, and I don’t think he’s been successful into trying to make one.’

Emily then looked sadder and said ‘And I haven’t seen Spike this depressed since before he and I became a couple and got married. And he thinks that he wasn’t meant to be loved.’

‘Oh dear,’ said Sunset ‘This sounds serious.’

‘Spike’s a good dragon, the best.’ said Emily ‘When I last talked to Twilight before my brother and Pinkie became a couple, she explained to me that Spike had a crush on Rarity. But ever since Silver came into her life, he felt heartbroken and depressed. But after I came along, I helped him through his funk and we became a couple. He loves me but…the crush he had for Rarity was still there. He didn’t realize it until the Hearth’s Warming Helper thing came along.’

‘And he’s run out of an idea on what to get Rarity?’ asked Sunset.

‘I’m afraid so, yeah.’ said Emily.

Sunset thought about something and something came to her as she said ‘I think I have an idea.’

She quickly made a large musical note and a small side note appear. She quickly used her magic to write really fast. After it was done, she smiled with pride, quietly opened the door and placed the two notes near Spike, knowing that he would read it the moment he got up.

‘What did you do?’ asked Emily out of curiosity.

‘Let’s just say,’ said Sunset with a smile ‘That Rarity will love it, even you.’

The two then walked down the hall and decided to pass the time with a few discussions.

‘So you were once in another world?’ asked Emily.

‘Yep,’ said Sunset ‘After I got there I was turned into a human. I ruined so many friendships there, but thanks to Twilight I worked hard to redeem myself. It was a struggle, but I overcame the problem, even graduated there.’

‘Do you miss your human friends there?’ asked Emily.

Sunset felt a bit sad. For indeed she truly missed them, for in a way, it was also thanks to them that she was able to gain a normal life like many others.

‘Everyday.’ responded Sunset.

‘You still talk to them?’ asked Emily.

‘Every now and then.’ said Sunset ‘We arrange for a get together. I was afraid that I would be late, but thankfully Princess Twilight gave her other self another journal so that whenever they feel the need to have a get together, they write on their journals and I come over to visit them.’

‘But now that you’re married?’ asked Emily.

‘Let’s just say all of them were excited to meet Ignis,’ said Sunset ‘And that his form still stayed the same whenever we travel through the mirror.’

‘Never lose that friendship Sunset.’ said Emily as she wrapped her arm around Sunset.

‘Not in a million years.’ said Sunset as she did the same.

Back at the Rainbow Falls

back at the Rainbow Falls, Flim and Flam were still going on with their usual schemes, despite their injuries and beatings that they got from the husbands, for now they were afraid to face them again.

‘Have a, ow, wonderful day,’ said Flim as he struggled what with his arm in a cast, despite him using his horn ‘And remember, ow…no refunds.’

Flam was standing at the back of the crowd whilst his arm was in a cast, as was his leg. At the same time, Applejack and Fluttershy approached from the back of the crowd.

‘What are you doing…?’ said Flam, until he noticed both Bucky and Genus, both growling and pounding their fists into their other hands whilst Trusty was growling, much to Flam’s fright.

‘Same as everypony else.’ said Applejack whilst she walked towards the stand. She placed her bits on the counter and said to Flim ‘I want a Hearth’s Warmer. In fact, I want three!!’

‘Seriously?’ said Flim in disbelief.

Applejack overacted and said ‘After I saw my friend here with hers. I knew I had to buy some, for my brother, my little sister and some of our cousins’ kids too.’

‘Yeah, yeah, great story.’ said Flim as he handed Applejack the gift bag ‘Next.’

That’s when they put their plan in motion.

‘But Applejack,’ said Fluttershy as she overacted too ‘Your brother, your sister and our cousins’ kids are all so different. How can the same doll, be the right gift for all of them.’

‘She is right,’ said Genus as he followed her lead ‘And besides, isn’t your brother and sister too old for dolls?’

‘Right,’ said Warm Breeze ‘And not to mention your cousins don’t like those kinds of toys. Why, even I wouldn’t buy a gift that looked like it has no meaning.’

Comfy Breeze blew a raspberry and said ‘And kiddies like latest toys, not old ones.’

‘Oh, well that might be true.’ said one of the ponies as the others began to agree, with Flim and Flam realizing that they were swaying the crowd into not buying their dolls.

‘But Fluttershy,’ said Applejack, continuing with the act ‘This is the must-have gift of the season.’

‘Just because it’s a must-have for one pony,’ continued Fluttershy ‘Doesn’t mean it’s must-have for everypony, does it?’

‘Right,’ said Bucky ‘Everypony has different tastes when it comes to gifts. And somepony doesn’t want them to go overboard when it comes to finding the right gifts for the holidays.’

‘Eeyup.’ said Apple Slice ‘And besides, ponies in this generation have different tastes than the ones in the previous. Why, mah Granny Smith once had a doll that looked like that when she was a filly. But Ponies nowadays want gifts that have proper quality on them.’

Most of the ponies looked at the gifts and murmured, with one saying ‘Now that you mention it, my grandma did have a doll like that when she was little.’

‘That’s true.’ said Applejack, continuing with the ruse ‘Ah guess ah need to put more thought into getting the right gift for each pony. Can I return these?’

‘No refunds!!’ shouted the brothers, gaining the crowd’s attention, until Flam’s moustache fell off, causing his disguise to backfire.

Applejack handed the gift bag to one of the ponies and said ‘Oh uh, do you want ‘em? I’m gonna go pick out gifts that are just as special as the ponies they’re from.’

‘Eeyup.’ said Apple Slice ‘Gifts that comes from the heart to show how much you love your families and friends.’

‘One that they can cherish for a long time.’ said Bucky.

‘And then your lives will be remembered by the gifts we leave behind.’ said Warm Breeze.

‘I…’ said one of the ponies as she changed her mind ‘Think I’m gonna do some more shopping too.’

As she left, the other ponies left too, not satisfied with the gifts that they were selling.

‘Now hang on a moment,’ said Flim, trying to stop them ‘Wait!! Come back!!’

‘We’ll give you a great deal!!’ said Flam as he tried too.

‘Buy one get one free?’ said both the brothers.

As the crowds left, Applejack sighed with a smile on her face and said ‘The sweet sounds of the season.’

Fluttershy nearly giggled at that. When Flim and Flam were about to go after the crowd, Apple Slice stood in front of them and said ‘Going somewhere?’

‘Out of the way kid.’ said Flim.

‘We don’t have time for…’ said Flam before he was cut off.

And from out of nowhere, Apple Slice grabbed both Flim and Flam’s pinkies, causing them to yelp in pain, gaining many ponies’ attention, even Applejack and the others.

‘Oh, look what we have here.’ said Apple Slice.

‘OW!! Let us go!!’ shouted Flim.

‘That really smarts!!’ shouted Flam.

‘Oh, so you don’t feel ashamed about ripping off ponies, huh?’ said Apple Slice ‘And now you’ve gone and insult my grandmother?’

And from out of nowhere, two hoof kicks came to their faces, surprising everypony, even Applejack and Fluttershy, with Genus and Bucky just as surprised, for they’ve seen it somewhere before.

‘What the…?’ said Flim.

‘Was that your hoof?’ said Flam.

They received a kick to their faces again.

‘Yes, it’s my hoof,’ said Apple Slice ‘The hoof uppercut, watch.’

They ended up receiving hoof kicks to their faces again.

‘The double hooves.’ said Apple Slice as they received the same kicks again.

‘That’s good.’ said Apple Slice, then he ended up placing his bare hoof near them and said ‘Smell it, smell it, smell it, now take it.’ before giving another kick to their faces ‘That’s for you.’

He then was close to them face to face and said ‘You two like pretzels?’

And before they could react, he grabbed the both of them and wrapped them up until they nearly literally look like pretzels, much to Everypony’s shock, even Applejack was surprised to see that.

Apple Slice then bent over and said ‘No one, insults a member of the Apple Family. And you two are going to prison.’

‘You can’t do that.’ said Flim.

‘We’re respectful business ponies from Las Pegasus.’ said Flam as he struggled to move.

Apple Slice then said with a smirk ‘You’re not in Las Pegasus.’

This shocked Flim and Flam, for they were right. At the same time, a platoon of guards from Canterlot arrived. They would’ve been surprised to see the Flim Flam brothers tied up, but because of their training, they showed blank expressions.

Apple Slice walked past them and said ‘They’re all yours.’

The guards walked over to Flim and Flam in order to arrest them. As Apple Slice got closer to his family, they stared at him with awe and shockened faces.

‘Bu…wha…?’ said Applejack as she was shockened to see that.

‘How did you…?’ said Bucky, clearly as surprised by what he saw.

‘What?’ said Apple Slice ‘I took some defense lessons from Gilda and her husband Garuda the last time they visited aunt Rainbow Dash and Uncle Bolt in Ponyville. They taught me a thing or two how to fight in case I needed to defend myself.’

Just before Applejack was going to say anything, Apple Slice said ‘Look, I know you don’t like violence and I don’t either. But con ponies or not, they had it coming. And besides, I know you wanted payback because of the way they insulted Granny.’

Applejack sighed, for she wasn’t going to argue with that. Normally she wouldn’t go into violence, but when someone insults a member of the Apple Family, even ones that have long passed, she wouldn’t let this lying down.

‘Ah suppose yer right.’ said Applejack ‘Ah don’t like it, but yer right.’

‘Um,’ said Warm Breeze as he said ‘Can we please go home now?’

‘You’re right.’ said Fluttershy ‘I think we overstayed our welcome here.’

The lot of them soon left and went back to the train station, with Bucky and Genus whispering as they followed their wives.

‘You do realize he just…’ said Bucky.

‘Yep.’ said Genus.

‘How did he even…?’

‘I have no idea.’

‘Never thought I would see that again.’

‘You got that right.’

The two humans were silent for a few moments, until Bucky said ‘What happened at the Rainbow Falls, stays at the Rainbow Falls.’

‘On that, we can agree.’ said Genus as they were nearing the train station.

Author's Note

*Note 1: In this Chapter, both Bucky and Genus reveal why they hate Con Men
*Note 2: Apple Slice is going to do something drastic that's a reference to one of the movies starring Adam Sandler
*Note 3: Spike will end up revealing some doubt, and will be secretly supported by two individuals.
*Note 4: I added a reference from the Christmas special from Madagascar.

Chapter 5: Gifting Conclusion

Back at Sweet Acorn Orchard

Back at Sweet Acorn Orchard, Silver, Rarity and Crystal Gem, now that they have finished with their visit to Sweet Acorn Orchard, decided to bid their new friends farewell, for all of them have their own holidays to attend to.

‘It’s a shame you got to leave.’ said Butternut.

‘Oh, you’ve been so generous.’ said Rarity ‘But I must get home for a previous engagement.’

‘She’s right,’ said Silver ‘We have to be in time for Hearth’s Warming Eve with the rest of our families and friends.’

‘And not to mention if we don’t show up on time,’ said Crystal Gem ‘Princess Twilight would throw a hissy fit and have a panic attack again.’

They couldn’t help but giggle at that response, with Rarity standing close to Pistachio.

‘I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Pistachio,’ said Rarity as she gently booped the young colt on his nose ‘I have a feeling you’ve got quite the future in fashion.’

‘She’s not wrong,’ said Silver ‘She has a keen sense on seeing a pony who has great potential.’

‘Not to mention who can see every fine bit of detail on any kind of fashionable item they’ve ever made.’ said Crystal Gem ‘Be seeing you someday soon.’

As Rarity, Silver and Crystal Gem left, Pistachio and his parents waved goodbye to them. But just as Pistachio’s parents walked back inside their house, he realized something and looked at the hat he was wearing.

He suddenly ran up to them and said ‘Rarity, Rarity.’

Rarity, Silver and Crystal Gem stopped and turned around whilst Pistachio stood near them.

‘I love my parents.’ said Pistachio as he tried to get things off of his mind ‘But…they don’t understand that we just had lunch with one of the most famous ponies in Equestria.’

Rarity giggled whilst she blushed and said ‘Oh, I don’t know about most famous.’

Silver smirked and nudged her whilst saying ‘Says the pony who helped save Equestria with her friends a dozen times.’

‘Or that you’ve successfully opened five boutiques all over Equestria.’ said Crystal Gem.

Rarity blushed at that whilst clearing her throat, for they did make solid points.

‘I know you didn’t send a Fedora Felt original to some nopony you’ve never met from Nowhere in Equestria,’ said Pistachio before he had a sad look on his face. He then picked up the hat from his head and handed it over to her whilst he said ‘I’m sure this is actually for somepony special, so…if you want it back, I get it.’

Rarity used her magic to lift the hat and took a good look at it. At first they would be glad to have it back, but unfortunately they felt bad for Pistachio, for they could tell he really liked it. Seeing that they couldn’t bear to see him so sad to part with such a generous gift, Rarity made up her mind.

‘The hat is indeed for somepony very special.’ said Rarity with her own smile, until she hovered the hat over to the young colt and placed it back on his head, much to his surprise as Rarity said ‘And I couldn’t bear to see him, part with it.’

Pistachio gasped in joy with a smile on his face as he said ‘Oh, thank Celestia. Because I did not, want to give this up.’

Crystal couldn’t help but giggle at the sight, with Silver rolling his eyes with a smile on his face, for he figured that the young colt would say something like that.

‘But,’ said Rarity as she held onto his chin ‘If I hear you call yourself a nopony again, you shan’t be my guest for Fashion Week in Manehattan.’

‘And we’ll be there to make sure that you have front row seats to watch the entire event.’ said Silver.

Pistachio was breathlessly surprised as he muttered whilst his pupils shrank and said W-What-? S-Seri-? Wha-?!

Rarity hugged the young colt, as did Crystal Gem with smiles on their faces. As they left, they could tell they made Pistachio very happy as he waved goodbye to them.

But as they walked, Rarity had a sad look on her face and said to herself ‘Sorry Applejack.’

Silver however took notice, held his wife close and said ‘Don’t worry Rarity, I’m sure Applejack would understand. I mean, you may not have intended to give Pistachio the Fedora, but you can see how happy he was.’

‘Father’s right mother.’ said Crystal Gem ‘Aunt Applejack may not be a pony who is into trivial things, but she would understand that the gift found its way to a pony who is truly more deserving.’

‘Oh, I hope you’re right.’ said Rarity.

‘And luckily, I have her backup gift ready.’ said Silver.

‘Wait, backup gift?’ said Rarity, who perked up by that.

‘Of course, why else did you think the guys and I volunteered to come along with all of you,’ said Silver ‘In case the gifts you guys get lost, destroyed, or isn’t the one you’re looking for, then we can help find a gift and place it aside in case of an emergencies.’

‘Oh,’ said Rarity as she leaned against him ‘You and the others are truly wonderful husbands.’

‘And we would be lost without the likes of you in our lives.’ said Silver as he hugged her, with him doing the same with Crystal Gem, who was hugging her father as well.

Speaking of Applejack, back at the Rainbow Falls

Back at the Rainbow Falls, the guards were busy placing both Flim and Flam into cuffs and placing them in their prison cart and gave the rest of the ponies their bits back, Applejack, Fluttershy, Bucky, Genus, Apple Slice, Warm Breeze and Comfort Breeze were taking the train back to Ponyville. Applejack watched as the Flim Flam Brothers were being taken away.

Once they were out of sight, Applejack turned to the others and said ‘Puttin’ those two in their places makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.’

‘You got that right,’ said Bucky as he leaned against the chair whilst holding his wife close ‘Now Equestria’s a better place now that those two are locked up.’

‘Ooh,’ said Fluttershy as she was sad ‘But we never got gifts for Spike and Rainbow Dash, and it’s already Hearth’s Warming Eve.’

Applejack was a little sad, for it was true, until she smiled and looked at Fluttershy.

‘It probably ain’t what they’re expectin,’ said Applejack before she pulled out the two rip off dolls that Flim and Flam gave them ‘But we still got these. Yay.’

‘Don’t do that.’ said Fluttershy as she was a bit disappointed at that.

When all of a sudden, Apple Slice and Warm Breeze grabbed them and tossed them outside the window.

‘Apple Slice…’ said Applejack as she was about to scold him.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Apple Slice ‘Pa and Uncle Genus already got them presents.’

Both of them showed Applejack and Fluttershy the gifts they got, which made both the mothers surprised.

‘Wow, those are perfect.’ said Fluttershy as she looked at them.

‘Now we’re really glad that y’all came along.’ said Applejack.

After the kids placed the presents away, Apple Slice wondered about something and looked at Bucky.

‘Hey, Pa.’ asked Apple Slice.

‘Hmm?’ said Bucky as he looked at him whilst sitting back up.

‘In all mah years after ah was born,’ said Apple Slice ‘Ah didn’t know y’all had a sister.’

Bucky was then saddened as he said ‘It’s not something I’d like to talk about.’

Bucky took out his locket and showed him the picture of his little sister. As Apple Slice looked at the picture, Bucky said ‘My little sister was like a ray of sunshine, always as happy as anyone can see. I didn’t talk to her about anyone else except for your mother when I was in the hospital.’

‘Hospital?’ said Apple Slice as he looked at his father with a flexed eyebrow.

‘Your Granny Smith accidentally set the house on fire and your aunt Apple Bloom was trapped inside,’ said Bucky as he explained ‘I was able to save her, but the smoke had affected my lungs a bit and I had a hard time breathing. After I was in the hospital, I told your mother about my little sister, Daisy.’

‘Ah actually sympathized about that,’ said Applejack as she looked at her son ‘Ah could tell how much he loved her so much. When he told me that she died of Cancer, ah was actually heartbroken to hear that.’

‘Yeah,’ said Bucky as he accepted the locket back and said ‘In a way, your Aunt Apple Bloom reminds me of her. Always filled with hope, filled with happiness, cute as a button, and always knew how to brighten others’ day. It’s probably why I loved her too.’

Applejack chuckled and said ‘Ah’m sure Apple Bloom will be tickled pink when she hears you say that.’

Bucky’s face softened as he looked at Applejack and asked ‘Applejack, when the holidays are over. Do you think that…I could spend some time with Apple Bloom? It’s…been a long time since we did anything together.’

Applejack held Bucky close with a hug and said ‘Ah’m sure she’d appreciate that.’

‘Also,’ said Bucky as he held onto her hand ‘I’m sorry I lost my cool against the Flim Flam brothers. It’s just that when they insulted Granny Smith like that.’

Bucky was silent for a moment, but then looked at Applejack and said ‘I know how much she meant to you and the others, I mean she was the only mother you guys had left. And…she was my mother too. The only one who had been there for me where mine had failed.’

Applejack hugged her husband as a tear slowly went down her cheek ‘Ah know. Ah miss her too.’

Fluttershy then looked at Genus and said ‘Genus?’

‘Hmm?’ said Genus as he looked at her.

‘I’m sorry that Flim and Flam made you remember about those poor animals.’ said Fluttershy whilst she was holding both his hands ‘I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I had to go through the same thing.’

Trusty licked Genus’ hands before he was petted. ‘Thanks Flutters.’ said Genus ‘But they’re in a better place now. I’m sure they’re still happy and are watching over other animals who are in need of friends.’

‘I’m sure they do.’ said Fluttershy as she held him close.

‘Now that we have everything we need.’ said Warm Breeze as he looked at them ‘I hope everypony else had better luck then what we went through.’

‘Knowing them,’ said Applejack ‘Twilight’s probably stressed out of her mind trying to find the perfect gift.’

‘That’s oddly specific.’ said Bucky as he looked at her.

Meanwhile, from the Ponyville Hospital

Starlight continued to pace back and forth, worried about her friend. For she’s worried if both Trixie and the child will be okay.

‘Come on Starlight, relax.’ said Chance ‘Mystic’s with her, so she’ll be fine.’

‘How can I be fine?’ asked Starlight ‘How will the child turn out. We don’t know if it’s a colt or a filly.’

‘Aw, that’s why I love you so much Glim-Glim.’ said Chance as he stood up and held her close ‘You caring shows how big your heart is.’

He then rubbed his nose against her, which made her giggle out of instinct. ‘Oh Chance, you always know what to say.’ said Starlight.

‘Anything for my dear Glimmering Star.’ said Chance.

‘Glimmering Star?’ said Starlight in confusion.

‘I was trying to be poetic.’ said Chance ‘I hope it’s…’

Starlight held Chance close to him in a hug and said ‘It’s perfect.’

Chance hugged her back, until they heard a door open. When they looked, they saw Mystic smiling and said ‘You guys can come in now.’

Mystic led them inside the room, and what they saw, a true sight to behold. For Trixie was holding her little foal in her arms as she was shedding tears of joy. For in her arms was a baby Filly Unicorn, who had the same coat color as her mother, as well as her hair and mane. But she had her father’s eyes. The little filly wiggled her arms before she let out a yawn.

‘Trixie would like you to meet her daughter.’ said Trixie as she looked at her friends entering the room.

Both Starlight and Chance looked at the baby, even they were shedding tears when they saw the little sweetheart.

‘Oh, Trixie.’ said Starlight as she looked at her best friend ‘She’s perfect.’

‘And she has her father’s eyes.’ said Chance.

‘She sure does.’ said Mystic as he too shed tears and wiped them away.

‘So what’s her name?’ asked Starlight.

‘We’ve been thinking…Misty.’ said Mystic.

‘Because she is as mysterious as her father, even mystical.’ said Trixie.

‘On the plus side,’ said Chance ‘At least she’ll get a chance to experience her first Hearth’s Warming.’

‘Oh, so true.’ said Trixie ‘It’s a shame the others couldn’t come.’

‘But most of them were out of town,’ said Starlight ‘There’s no way they would’ve reached here on time.’

‘But let’s surprise them all at the castle.’ said Mystic ‘I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when they see this cute little bundle of joy.’

And just like that, Misty fell asleep, for she was now tuckered out, which the others couldn’t help but fawn over her.

Meanwhile, within the Castle of Friendship’s kitchen

From within the kitchen of the Castle of Friendship, Twilight and Moonlight were busy prepping the ingredients together for Pinkie and the Twins’ pudding, whilst at the same time, Beau had quickly snuck in after he was doing something mysterious (Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough). He saw not much has changed, whilst Twilight was reading the list and Moonlight was busy throwing the rightly measured ingredients in.

‘Sugarplum.’ said Twilight.

‘Check.’ said Moonlight as she placed the Sugarplum in the pudding pot.

‘Gingerbread.’

‘Check.’

‘Candy Canes.’

‘Check.’

‘Nutmeg.’ check.

After they were done, they quickly looked at the pot, with Moonlight holding the book whilst Twilight stirred the pot. Beau just groaned, for this was not what he had in mind when it came to celebrating the holidays.

‘Next time I see that dragon,’ said Beau underneath his breath ‘I am going to give him the wedgie of a lifetime.’

At the same time, Shining Armour, Cadance, Blade, Flurry Heart, Raging Halberd, Emily, Sunset, Ignis and Searing Shimmer walked in the kitchen.

‘Flurry loved sledding.’ said Cadance as they were in the middle of a conversation.

‘I’ll say,’ said Blade ‘Even Raging Halberd enjoyed racing against his half sister.’

‘Don’t get me started on the snow angels.’ said Ignis.

‘I even built the biggest snow castle I could ever make.’ said Searing Shimmer.

‘Too bad her aunt wasn’t there.’ said Shining Armour as he and the others looked at Twilight and Moonlight.

‘Yeah, and Searing really wanted to sled with Moonlight again.’ said Sunset as she had the same facial expression on her face like Shining Armour’s.

‘I’ve been trying to get them to snap out of it for hours.’ said Beau ‘You try to get them to their senses when their mind’s onto something.’

‘You don’t have to tell us twice.’ said Shining Armour

‘Shh.’ said Twilight as she shushed them.

‘Concentrating here.’ said Moonlight as they focused on the pudding.

Beau then spoke to them and said ‘Trust me, you should’ve seen what she was like after she turned into a baby.’

This caught, minus Twilight and Moonlight’s attention.

‘Wait, what?’ said Sunset.

‘When did that happen?’ asked Ignis.

‘Oh, it’s quite the story.’ said Emily ‘Let’s just say Twilight caught a horrible cold and whenever she sneezed, her horn shot off sparkles that affected her friends.’

‘As for what happened after they got sneezed on,’ said Beau ‘One of Rarity’s hooves got turned into a roller skate, Applejack kept on flying around, Fluttershy teleported to somewhere cold and Rainbow Dash spoke through sound effects.’

‘And Pinkie Pie?’ asked Cadance, for now she was drawn into this.

‘She went to get a cure from Zecora.’ said Emily ‘But she failed to read the warning label, or even wait for Pinkie Pie to finish.’

‘It may have cured her and turned her friends back to normal,’ said Beau ‘Unfortunately the side effect included that she would get turned into a baby. Trust me, if you guys think that taking care of Flurry Heart and Moonlight as baby Alicorns were bad, you should’ve seen how Twilight was.’

Shining Armour, Cadance and Beau shivered loudly, for it was something that they didn’t want to imagine. At the same time, after adding a final drop, whilst ignoring the disappointed face from her brother, the pudding had been finally finished, which caused both mother and daughter to smile. However, the making of pudding seemed to fascinate both Flurry Heart and Raging Halberd, for now they want to be part of it too.

‘There,’ said Twilight after she closed the book whilst walking over to the nearest table ‘Ingredients measured exactly.’

‘And soon, we’ll have the best pudding, ever.’ said Moonlight.

‘Now, what were you saying?’ said Twilight as she and Moonlight paid attention to them.

Beau then slapped his forehead, typical Twilight.

‘Hi, remember us?’ said Shining Armour ‘We came all the way from the Crystal Empire for some quality family time?’

‘The only chance we can get off from our royal duties?’ said Blade.

‘And the time for Moonlight’s cousins and friend to come over?’ said Ignis.

‘And you’ve neglected to spend time with your husband, again.’ said Sunset.

Twilight noticed how Beau looked ticked off, much to her worry, even Moonlight.

Twilight sheepishly walked over to them with Moonlight in tow, whilst Raging Halberd and Flurry Heart whispered to one another of how they could make the pudding extra tasty.

‘Okay,’ said Twilight as she stood near her loved ones ‘I did get a little stressed out about Hearth’s Warming this year.’

‘Even after I told you plenty of times.’ said Beau, which caused Twilight to feel bad for neglecting to spend time with her family.

However, at the same time, unknown to everyone, both Raging Halberd and Flurry Heart flew over to the cauldron and picked up a bunch of random ingredients and threw them in the pot, allowing the both of them to high five one another.

Shining Armour laughed a bit and said ‘What? You? Never.’

Twilight placed the last piece of the puzzle of why she was stressed again as she said ‘So my friends decided we should do a Hearth’s Warming Helper and give one pony a present to save time.’

‘It went swimmingly until Spike ruined it.’ said Beau ‘And I would’ve helped too if they’d let me.’

‘Sorry daddy.’ said Moonlight as she hugged her father.

But no one seemed to notice that Flurry and Raging continued to throw in random ingredients in the pot. And right on cue, everyone started to laugh at her predicament.

‘What?’ said Twilight, clearly confused.

‘Let me guess,’ said Shining Armour ‘You got super worried about making sure the present was perfect, and went all Twiley-nanas didn’t you?’

‘That pretty much sums it up.’ said Emily.

‘I wasn’t Twiley-Nanas.’ said Twilight trying to defend herself, until she got the “Really?” look from Shining Armour as she said ‘Okay, fine, a little…’ she then looked at everyone and everypony else giving her the same look, with her finishing with ‘A lot Twiley-nanas.’

They smiled as they were satisfied with her answer.

‘Twilight,’ said Cadance as she walked over to her sister-in-law ‘We know you get overwhelmed. You should have just told us. We could’ve helped.’

‘And didn’t you once told us that friends are at their strongest by working together?’ said Sunset with a smirk on her face ‘You wouldn’t stop talking about it.’

‘That’s what I kept on saying.’ said Beau with a pout.

Twilight walked over to Beau and said ‘I’m sorry I ignored you lately Beau…’

‘I know I know,’ said Beau as he stood up ‘When you set your mind onto something, you never stop. Kind of like that time during the Storm King’s invasion.’

Twilight winced at that, then she looked sad with her ears drooped as she said ‘Not my proudest moments. I already had Bolt lecture and chew me out about that after we came back from the Festival.’

Twilight nearly shed a tear and said ‘And that I didn’t know that you weren't going to make it and that Moonlight was nearly…’

Shining Armour hugged his sister and said ‘You don’t need to say anything Twiley. We were all messed up after what happened. Why…I was an absolute mess when I found out Cadance had been captured.’

‘Yeah,’ said Blade ‘I knew Shining and I should’ve been there for her.’

‘I know,’ said Cadance ‘But someone had to look after the Crystal Heart and the Crystal Empire.’

‘I know what you mean,’ said Sunset as she looked down ‘We all got hit by our worst. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, myself, Tirek, the Dazzlings, Starlight, the Friendship Games, Camp Everfree, Juniper Montage, Wallflower, the Pony of Shadows, Cozy Glow. At their worst, none of us had been hurt that badly that day.’

‘But we always came back stronger,’ said Ignis ‘To quote a character from a story; “As we share the glory of our victory, so too must we share the pain of our defeat. We grow closer and stronger together.”, and in the end we did.’

Emily couldn’t help but giggle and said ‘Truer words have never been spoken.’

After the hug, Twilight hugged Beau and said ‘I’m also sorry for neglecting you Beau. You’ve always been a great husband and…where was I when you needed me the most?’

‘We all have our faults. None of us are perfect.’ said Beau ‘Believe me, I know that better than most.’

After they broke the hug, Moonlight says ‘And now we’re here together, celebrating as one big happy family.’

‘Couldn’t have said it better myself.’ said Searing Shimmer

‘And the good news is,’ said Twilight as she broke the hug and spoke to her family and friends whilst Flurry Heart and Raging Halberd teleported back to their parents without anyone else even noticing ‘Pinkie’s present is almost done. And it’s just friends and family and a calm, quiet Hearth’s Warming Eve.’

Oh Twilight, you shouldn’t have jinxed it. For the time they left, the pudding, combined with the random stuff that Flurry Heart and Raging Halberd threw in, the pudding began to bubble and poured over the pot out of control.

As they walked down the hall, Shining Armour was curious about something. ‘Say, when Twilight was turned into a baby, did you sing her a lullaby? I know Cadance and I had to sing when Flurry Heart had trouble sleeping.’

‘Why yes I did.’ said Beau ‘After that last human came along, uh, what was his name?’

‘Garuda.’ said Twilight ‘He got married to Rainbow’s friend Gilda.’

‘Right,’ said Beau ‘He told me of a special lullaby he heard a long time ago from a story he watched. When they last visited Rainbow and Bolt, I heard Garuda sing a song to calm his newborn down, which worked. He taught me that song in case I needed to sing for Moonlight in case she would ever get a nightmare.’

‘Awww.’ said Moonlight as she was touched.

‘Can we hear it?’ asked Cadance.

‘Of course.’ said Beau. He cleared his throat as he began to sing, with Moonlight happily playing a guitar she teleported form out of nowhere and started to play.

(Beau)

It always seems more quiet…in the dark

It always feels so stark…

How silence grows under the moon

He slowly held Twilight close as she was suddenly enchanted by the song, for even though she was temporarily a baby, she still remembered the song.

(Beau)

Constellations gone so soon…

I used to think that I was bold

I used to think love would be fun.

Now all my stories have been told…

Except for one.

He suddenly picked Twilight up bridal style, much to their surprise as he suddenly rocked her:

(Beau)

As the stars start to align…

I hope you take it as a sign

That you’ll be okay

Everything will be okay

Twilight felt like she was being in heaven as she slowly rested on her husband’s shoulder whilst her arms were locked over his neck, smiling as she had her eyes closed.

(Beau)

And if the seven rings collide

Although the day could be my last

That you’ll be okay

When I’m gone you’ll be okay

They were surprised by how beautiful that song was, even the way Twilight enjoyed the song, even the children in the room loved the song. Beau continued to sing the song for Twilight, for in a strange way, ever since she was turned into a baby, he enjoyed singing that song to her until she returned back to normal.

(Beau)

And when creation goes to die

You can find me in the sky

Upon the last day

And you will be okay

When the song was over, Twilight hummed dreamingly as she looked at her husband with a soft smile. ‘It’s still very beautiful Beau.’

‘I’ll say.’ said Shining Armour, clearly surprised ‘If I had known about a great song like that, I would’ve sung it to Twilight whenever she was scared.’

‘Or when I foal sat her.’ said Cadance.

‘I think the song was beautiful uncle Beau.’ said Flurry Heart.

‘Thanks.’ said Beau as he smiled with pride ‘Now then, shall we get back to relaxing for a bit until the others come back.’

‘Of course, but uh…’ said Twilight as she looked at the position they were on. ‘Can I stay like this for a few more minutes?’

Beau chuckled as he said ‘Of course my cute Adorkable bookworm.’

Author's Note

I added a familiar song from the show Helluva Boss. I think it's a song that was very fitting enough to add.

Chapter 6: Regroup at the Castle of Friendship

Meanwhile, from the Ponyville Train Station

From the train station, the train from the Rainbow Falls had arrived. As soon as the carriage doors opened, everypony soon walked out of it, with Applejack, Fluttershy, their husbands and their kids in tow.

‘Boy that was exhausting.’ said Bucky as he stretched a bit.

‘Y’all can say that again.’ said Applejack, feeling just as tired.

‘It’s just too bad that you guys couldn’t get the gifts you had in mind for Rainbow and Spike.’ said Genus.

‘Oh, but thanks to you both,’ said Fluttershy as she managed a smile ‘They’ll have proper presents. I can see why you wanted to come along.’

‘What, and let you guys have all the fun?’ said Genus.

‘Well it was excitin’ to visit the Rainbow Falls again.’ said Apple Slice, until he frowned and said ‘Too bad those two snake in the grass con artists were there.’

‘Seriously.’ said Warm Breeze whilst he wiped the sleepiness from his eyes ‘Don’t those guys have families of their own to get back to?’

‘Con ponies bad.’ said Comfy Breeze with a pout and crossing arms ‘In slammer. Go, bye-bye.’

Fluttershy giggled whilst she was holding Comfy Breeze ‘That’s right Comfy.’

‘But seriously,’ said Applejack ‘Did what they said was true that both Iron Will and Lightning Dust got arrested a while back?’

‘They sure have,’ said Apple Slice ‘From what Sun Gleam wrote, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were still mighty ticked at them for what they did back at the Crystal Empire.’

(For those who do not remember Yabuki’s stories, Sun Gleam is Princess Celestia’s daughter)

‘Seriously,’ said Bucky ‘And Neighsay complained that the other creatures would pose a threat? I mean come on, he forgot that Stygian, Princess Luna, Sombra, Trixie, Starlight and Tempest Shadow, along with Cozy Glow nearly conquered and destroyed Equestria because all of them went down a dark path, and because of them, they brought all of Ponykind a bad name.’

‘Pride can make anyone forget.’ said Genus ‘They say that those who forget our history, are doomed to repeat it. We keep forgetting what we did in the past and we ended up making the same mistake. I mean Pride is one of the seven deadly sins.’

‘Truer words have never been spoken.’ said Applejack ‘Ah know a thing or two about pride. Back then ah was too prideful to ask others for help during the apple harvest when Twilight moved not too long ago to Ponyville, then when ah worked at Cherry Jubilee’s farm to earn some money because ah didn’t want to come back empty handed. Not to mention Grand Pear for abandoning mah ma.’

‘I really wish I could’ve met her.’ said Bucky ‘She must’ve been a wonderful mare. I mean, from what I’ve seen, a part of her lives in you.’

‘Aw, thanks Bucky.’ said Applejack.

‘So what do you think?’ asked Apple Slice ‘Take our things back home and then to aunt Twi’s castle?’

‘Good idea.’ said Fluttershy ‘We certainly don’t want to lose anything else along the way.’

As Applejack, Fluttershy and the others were away from the train station, another train arrived, this time from Sweet Acorn Orchard, carrying Rarity, Silver and Crystal Gem on board. They soon departed whilst Silver escorted them out like a gentleman.

‘Oh that was a dreadful trip.’ said Crystal Gem ‘All this traveling is doing a number on my mane.’

‘I quite agree with you darling.’ said Rarity.

‘So before we go back to Twilight’s castle,’ said Silver ‘What do you say we freshen up, maybe a bath or so. That way we’ll be properly presentable.’

‘Oh, what a marvelous idea Silver.’ said Rarity. She then smirked as she whispered ‘And if you’d like, you’re welcome to join me.’

Silver gave a goofy grin, for Rarity gave a great idea too. He then heard a rumbling sound as he said ‘Anyone else hear that?’

Suddenly, they heard rumbling coming from the fountain, for its waters began to bubble. And right out of nowhere, a large object came out of it, revealing to be a submarine.

(Yeah, you read correctly.)

‘What is that?!!’ shrieked Rarity.

‘Wait,’ said Silver as he looked at it with both a cocked eyebrow and a tilted head ‘Is that a submarine?’

The hatch of the sub opened, and out popped none other than a certain party pony.

‘Ahoy, mateys!!’ shouted Pinkie Pie as she was the first to pop out.

‘We’re here!!’ shouted Peacon Pie as he popped out next.

‘And just in time for Hearth’s Warming!!’ shouted Lemon Pie as she popped out next.

As they jumped out, Frosty followed them out whilst carrying some presents with him too. After they climbed off, the sub automatically sunk back into the fountain, leaving Rarity and the others speechless.

‘Ah, submarines.’ said Frosty ‘The only way to travel.’

‘A boo…a boo…’ said Rarity whilst she pointed whilst her eye twitched.

‘How did you…?’ asked Silver.

‘Don’t ask.’ said Frosty as he said ‘It’s a long and complicated story.’

Frosty walked away, with Rarity groaning whilst she rubbed her templates and said ‘I knew we’d start to regret Pinkie teaching Frosty most of her secrets.’

‘He knew what he was getting into,’ said Silver ‘Besides, you’d have to be a pretty special person to catch up with Pinkie’s shenanigans.’

‘True.’ said Rarity ‘Now, about that bath.’

‘Oh, I do concur.’ said Crystal Gem, agreeing with her mother.

Meanwhile, outside of the Ponyville Hospital

After the excruciating labor in the hospital, Trixie was able to finally get out of the hospital, whilst holding her little Misty in her arms, with her cooing at the newborn foal. Misty couldn’t help but giggle as she held onto her mother’s nose, whilst also holding her father’s finger. Mystic couldn’t help but smile at that.

‘She truly is magnificent.’ said Mystic.

‘I’m just glad the painful experience is over.’ said Trixie whilst nuzzling her child.

‘I’m just glad the baby’s alright.’ said Starlight.

‘I’m glad that Trixie’s not scary whilst she was giving birth anymore.’ said Chance.

Everyone looked at him with flexed eyebrows.

‘What?’ said Chance ‘She was scary. But not as scary as Starlight was.’

Trixie couldn’t help but snort and giggle ‘Trixie concurs. Though Starlight had been very scary, it was hilarious that she kicked the doctors in two separate directions whilst she was literally choking her husband.’

‘I said I was sorry,’ said Starlight ‘Can I help it when I was in pain whilst giving birth?’

‘Though on the plus side you were able to take a good shower after the sweating you put up.’ said Chance, until he blushed and said ‘And I thought you were adorable when you were shaking your tushy whilst you were busy drying…’

‘Ch-Chance…’ said Starlight as she jabbed Chance’s shoulder, clearly embarrassed by that remark.

Mystic couldn’t help but chuckle at that, even Trixie.

‘Well it was.’ said Chance ‘Can I help it if I was attracted to your body? As well as that sweet wonderful and beautiful giggle of yours.’

Starlight giggled at that, which caused Chance to dreamingly look at her whilst he held her close.

‘Say,’ said Mystic as he wanted to changed the subject ‘Seeing that it’s close to Hearth’s Warming Eve, why don’t we go to the castle?’

‘Oh, good idea,’ said Trixie, then looked at Starlight and said ‘And Starlight, you should bring your kids along too, I’m sure that they don’t want to miss out on this too.’

‘Oh, good idea.’ said Starlight ‘Meet at the castle in the hour?’

‘Of course.’ said Mystic before all of them departed.

As they walked, Starlight nudged Chance and said ‘You know I’m going to get back at you for that little tushy comment, right?’

‘I know you are,’ said Chance with a smirk ‘But then you won’t get a special surprise.’

‘Wait, what?’ said Starlight as she looked at him.

‘Remember when Emily and the rest of the guys said that they already had their Hearth’s Warming plans ready?’ said Chance, with Starlight nodding at that ‘Well, they didn’t plan it alone, myself, Mystic, Blade and Ignis had a part in this too.’

‘Wait, you planned with them?’ said Starlight as she was now surprised.

‘Of course.’ said Chance ‘And like we said, you’ll know soon enough the moment we get there.’

‘You know, in a way,’ said Starlight as she held her husband close ‘I’m actually looking forward to it.’

Meanwhile, just about half a mile away from the Castle of Friendship

From far away from the Castle of Friendship, things have been pretty quiet lately. And from the top of the hill, Rainbow Dash, Bolt, Bolt Jr. and Discord had just come out of the forest after catching the Winterchilla. Bolt Jr. on the other hand kept pondering at the little creature, for he had seen it before, but he still couldn’t place his finger at where he has seen it before.

‘There it is,’ said Bolt whilst he looked at the castle, saying ‘Castle Sweet Castle.’

‘Got that right.’ said Rainbow Dash as she held onto the Winterchilla ‘Fluttershy’s going to love this.’

‘Come on, let’s get going,’ said Bolt Jr. as he was suddenly excited ‘The sooner we get there, the sooner we can prepare to visit Grandma Windy for her famous cookies and fruit cake.’

‘You gotta admit Junior does have a point,’ said Bolt with a smile ‘Your mom really does make the best fruit cake.’

‘Obviously she would.’ said Rainbow with a smirk ‘Why else did you think she won first place for best fruit cake five years running?’

As they took off towards Twilight’s castle, Discord suddenly had a sad face as he said ‘Goodbye.’

The three immediately stopped and looked behind, wondering what Discord was doing as he said ‘Enjoy your exclusive pony-only holiday gathering.’

The three of them suddenly felt really bad as they looked at Discord as he was holding a tissue and said ‘I’ll just be home, spending quality time with…myself.’

Another Discord showed up, who also looked just as sad. The two then held hands and walked away with sad faces.

Rainbow, Bolt and Junior felt really bad whilst they looked at the Winterchilla.

‘Well,’ said Bolt whilst he rubbed the back of his head and said ‘He did help us find a perfect gift for Fluttershy. And he’s never spent the holidays with anyone else before.’

Junior then held onto his mother’s arm and said ‘Please mom? Can’t Discord spend Hearth’s Warming Eve with us?’

Rainbow took another look at the Winterchilla that she was holding. After some thinking, she made up her mind.

‘Uh,’ said Rainbow as she made up her mind ‘I wouldn’t have this little feller without you, so…’

The two Discords stopped and looked at Rainbow and her family.

‘If you wanna join,’ said Rainbow as she looked at the Draconequus ‘Fluttershy would love having you. And I wouldn’t totally hate it.’

‘And I’m sure Warm Breeze and the others would love your company.’ said Bolt.

‘And free eggnog.’ said Junior.

Discord was so happy, he went over and gave Rainbow a big hug whilst he was suddenly wearing a green winter hat and what appeared to be a white robe of sorts as he exclaimed ‘Great!! Awesome! In that case…’

Discord suddenly shifted towards the setting sun as it sets behind the Castle of Friendship, whilst pointing at it and said ‘Oh, look. Sunset. It’s officially Hearth’s Warming Eve.’

The sun began to set behind the castle, which they thought was beautiful, especially with the stars starting to shine. Suddenly, something popped inside Bolt Junior’s head. Winterchilla, sunset, and he let out a large gasp.

‘Oh no!’ shouted Bolt Jr. ‘Now I remember!!’

‘Whoa, what is it?’ said Bolt as he and Rainbow looked at their son.

‘Don’t you know about the Winterchilla from what Fluttershy and Genus once told us about?!!’ said Bolt Jr. ‘In the daytime they’re small cute and adorable creatures!! But when the sun sets they…!!!’

When all of a sudden, the Winterchilla groaned a bit as if he wasn’t feeling good. It then jumped off of Rainbow’s hands a few feet away from them whilst it grunted.

‘Uh, what is it doing?’ asked Rainbow in a worried tone.

‘Oh no,’ said Bolt Jr. as he quickly hid behind his mother ‘It’s starting.’

The Winterchilla then growled loudly. It’s pupils began to shrink, it grew new sharp teeth, spouted six little arms and began to grow into a giant. As they looked, their pupils shrank whilst Bolt Jr. Trembled behind his mother and Bolt fell over on his butt as he watched in shock.

‘Oh,’ said Discord as he slapped his forehead as he just remembered something whilst the others looked ‘Uh, did I forget to mention that the Winterchilla turns into a Winterzilla when the sun sets?’

As the Winterchilla, or in this case, Winterzilla roared, Bolt said ‘Discord?’

‘Yes?’ said Discord.

‘Can you teleport a smelly fish into my hand please?’ said Bolt.

Discord did just so. And right on cue, he slapped Discord in the face with it, much to the Lord of Chaos’ annoyance as he said ‘I hate it when people do that.’

At the Castle of Friendship’s front doors

As things were occurring, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, along with their husbands and kids, walked up the stairs. The Mane 4 had somewhat of a disappointed looks on their faces after they got at the top of the stairs.

‘How did Everypony’s shopping go?’ asked Fluttershy.

‘Well…’ said Rarity before she trailed off.

‘Uh…’ said Pinkie Pie, not knowing how to respond.

‘Yeah…’ said Applejack as they were in the same boat.

‘So that bad, huh?’ asked Bucky.

‘You have no idea.’ said a tiring Frosty.

‘Man, I thought the holidays back home was a nightmare.’ said Silver.

‘I know, and it’s even crazier here.’ said Genus.

‘How bad was it?’ asked Peacon.

‘We had a run in with the Flim Flam brothers.’ said Warm Breeze.

‘They sell stupid things.’ said Comfy Breeze before she blew a raspberry.

‘And you guys?’ asked Apple Slice.

‘Had an exhausting travel far beyond Yakyakistan.’ said Lemon Pie.

‘Huge misunderstanding in the mail.’ said Crystal Gem.

‘Derpy?’ asked the kids.

‘Yes.’ said Crystal Gem.

‘Well,’ said a familiar voice ‘Glad we weren't the only ones who had a hard time.’

They turned around and saw Chance and Starlight, whilst brining Starshine Shimmer, Lucky Star and Blessed Night along with them.

‘You guys had trouble too?’ asked Frosty.

‘You could say that.’ said Chance ‘But uh…we had to go to the hospital.’

‘Oh my,’ said Fluttershy as she was worried ‘Did anypony get hurt?’

‘Not exactly.’ said another voice.

They looked down and saw both Mystic and Trixie walking up the stairs, but what caught their attention was a baby in Trixie’s arms.

‘Oh my.’ said Rarity, clearly surprised ‘Trixie, you went into labor?’

‘But I thought the baby wasn’t due till after Hearth’s Warming.’ said Silver.

‘Apparently the baby had other plans.’ said Trixie.

‘She really wants to experience Hearth’s Warming Eve for the first time.’ said Mystic.

Pinkie zipped right on over as she began to squee ‘Ooh, what’s her name?’

‘We called her Misty.’ said Trixie ‘It seemed right.’

‘Sorry we couldn’t have been there Trixie.’ said Applejack.

‘Oh, it’s no trouble,’ said Trixie ‘All of you were too far away to be reached. And from what Trixie is seeing, all of you didn’t fare any better either.’

‘That’s one way of putting it.’ said Bucky.

‘Can we please go inside,’ said Crystal Gem ‘I do not wish to freeze to death.’

‘Yes,’ said Rarity ‘I could also use a warm up near the fireplace.’

Fluttershy walked over to the door and knocked on it.

‘Coming!!’ shouted Spike.

As Spike opened the door, he was completely covered in glitter. The moment he saw them, he yelped in surprise, and sheepishly waved at them whilst chuckling nervously. Everyone else on the other hand were a little surprised to see Spike covered in glitter.

‘Whoa, Spike.’ asked Genus ‘The heck happened to you?’

‘Did you get attacked by a party?’ asked Pinkie.

Frosty ended up snorting and nearly laughed out loud, gaining Pinkie’s attention, with Frosty saying ‘Sorry, it’s just that when you asked that, it kind of reminds me of my sister.’

‘Really?’ asked Pinkie.

‘Yeah, long story short,’ said Frosty as he explained things ‘During Spring Break on her College days, she ended up coming back home covered in glitter. She didn’t want to talk about it.’

He then whispered to her and said ‘She even ended up getting an embarrassing tattoo.’, which caused Pinkie to giggle, for once the holidays are over, she wants to ask Emily.

Spike looked at himself before he crossed his arms and said ‘I fell asleep. On Somepony’s present.’

Spike took a piece of glitter off his nose and flicked it away. As he looked away and felt both nervous and awkward, whilst everyone else were giving him some odd stares.

‘Just be glad you didn’t have to deal with a ton of problems.’ said Silver.

‘At least things can’t get any worse.’ said Frosty.

Suddenly, the guys groaned and slapped their foreheads, with Chance saying ‘Why the heck did you say that.’

When all of a sudden…

‘RUN!!!’ shouted Twilight from within the castle as it took everyone by surprise.

Everyone else quickly got into the room and stared ahead of what was going on as they were confused by what all the commotion was about.

‘The Pudding is coming!!!!’ shouted Twilight.

‘Pudding?’ said Trixie ‘You’re running away over a measly…?’

From around the corner, Twilight, Shining Armour, Cadance, Blade, Sunset Shimmer, Beau and Ignis, with Searing Shimmer, Moonlight Sparkle, Flurry Heart and Raging Halberd in tow, ran for their lives whilst a massive tidal wave of pudding came from down the hall, much to the others’ shock.

‘Uh, never mind.’ said Trixie when she saw the pudding coming in shock.

As they ran, Searing Shimmer shouted ‘What the heck were you two thinking messing with that pudding?!! They called it “Magical Pudding” for a reason!!!’

‘We’re sorry.’ said Flurry Heart.

‘We just wanted to help.’ said Raging Halberd.

‘Next time ask for permission!!’ shouted Moonlight.

As everyone regrouped near the entrance of the Castle of Friendship…

‘RUN!!!’ shouted Rainbow Dash.

‘Oh, now what?’ said a groaning Emily.

For right outside, Rainbow Dash, Bolt, Bolt Jr. and Discord flew with all their speed towards the Castle of Friendship.

‘The Winterzilla is coming!!!’ shouted Rainbow Dash.

‘And it’s really ticked off!!!’ shouted Bolt.

As they came in, the Winterzilla burst right through the door, tearing the entrance apart whilst it roared, with everyone staring in shock as Emily, Frosty, Pinkie Pie, Peacon Pie and Lemon Pie shouted ‘Holy hot Belgium Waffles!!!’

As part of the rubble fell, Twilight quickly casted a spell to shield themselves. As the rubble stopped falling, the Winterzilla roared at them, making Twilight’s shield disappear. They looked at both sides, for not only were they being cornered by a large furry monster, but they were now cornered by an entire ocean of pudding, with some of them gasping.

Emily then looked at Frosty and said ‘You said something that jinxed the whole thing didn’t you?’

‘Uh, maybe?’ said Frosty as he gave his sister a nervous smile.

‘We’ll have this discussion later.’ said Emily.

Chapter 7: A Monster of a Pudding

Everyone that were in the castle was now in a very huge predicament. They expected Hearth’s Warming to go smoothly, but now it’s nearly turned into a disaster for them. For both the Winterzilla and the pudding were slowly closing in on them.

‘What is that?!!’ shouted Rainbow as everyone turned to look at the approaching pudding.

‘Magic Pudding!!’ shouted Twilight before turning back to their furry intruder ‘What is that?!!’

Everyone turned to look at the roaring furry monster as Rainbow shouted ‘A Winterchilla!!’

Twilight slapped her forehead as she said ‘They turn into Winterzilla after dark!!’

‘And you brought that thing here?!!’ shouted Starlight.

As everyone gave Rainbow the stink eye and “Really?” looks, Rainbow shouted ‘Does everypony know this except me?!!’

‘Well,’ said Sunset ‘Considering that Fluttershy and Genus told us of what dangerous animals to avoid after the whole Parasprite incident whilst you were fast asleep through the whole conversation.’

‘YES!!!’ shouted everyone in the room, much to Rainbow’s groaning annoyance.

They all quickly ducked when the Winterzilla swung its claw at them, with Ignis saying ‘Can we please discuss Rainbow’s lazy educational mind later?!!’

However, the Winterzilla somehow has its eyes on Spike for some reason and let out a grin. It leaned closer to Spike as it was focused on him. Spike yelped and quickly hid behind Twilight, whilst she looked at Spike and noticed that he was sparkling and realized the Winterzilla liked sparkly objects, causing her to gasp as she had an idea.

‘You like the Sparkly?’ said Twilight, causing her to lift Spike up, gaining the Winterzilla’s attention before she said ‘Just follow it this way.’

Twilight levitated Spike around, causing the Winterzilla to follow the panicking dragon. The Winterzilla followed Spike whilst Twilight levitated it over, trying to lead it outside.

‘Is this honestly the best plan we can come up with?!!’ shouted Spike whilst Twilight continued to lead the Winterzilla outside.

‘You got any better ideas Uncle Spike?!!’ said Moonlight.

‘Yeah,’ said Beau ‘That’s the least you deserve!!’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?!!’ snapped Spike back.

‘Everything was going great preparing for the holidays until you had to open your big yap and made Twilight stress, again!!’ shouted Beau.

‘I’m sorry, okay,’ said Spike as Twilight continued to use Spike as a lure to the Winterzilla ‘I didn’t mean to make her stress, you didn’t had to throw a book in my face!!’

Twilight overheard it and was shocked to hear that, so whilst she focused on keeping Spike safe, Twilight shouted ‘You threw a book in his face?!!’

‘Hey!!’ shouted Bolt, speaking for Beau ‘’Do you have any idea how hard it is to calm you down whenever you get stressed out!! You’re a fully grown mare for crying out loud and you still panic over the smallest things!! This is just like the “Want it, Need it” spell, all over again!!’

‘Don’t you speak for him!!’ said Twilight ‘You’re the ones who brought the Winterzilla here!!’

Then Bolt said the worst ‘At least I didn’t try to steal a magic pearl and used my friends to distract a queen like they were expendable deadweights!!’

Everyone was silent in shock, even the Winterzilla looked at Bolt in shock. Twilight felt disheartened over that, whilst Shining resisted the urge to strangle him. ‘Wow,’ said Spike as he crossed his arms ‘That’s cold dude.’

The monster quickly ignored it and focused on Spike as Twilight tried to make sure Spike was safe.

‘That’s low even for you.’ said Sunset.

‘Hey, you weren't there during the Storm King’s invasion.’ said Bolt ‘Beau nearly died and Moonlight was traumatized after the whole event. We tried to defend Ponyville as best we could when we retreated from Canterlot. Where the heck were you when all of this was going down?’

‘Hey,’ said Ignis ‘We were on our monthly visit to Sunset’s friends. Besides, if you were so concerned for them, why didn’t you and the others go with them?’

‘Someone had to protect our kids.’ retorted Bolt.

‘Oh, what and we didn’t?’ said Chance ‘Starlight was captured and she couldn’t defend everypony. Even when we did, it wasn’t her fault that the Princesses stood around like a bunch of buffoons and got them self encased in stone.’

Chance then turned to Cadance and said ‘Except for you Cadance. You did the best you could and you didn’t know that your magic wouldn’t work against the Storm King’s magic.’

Cadance smiled, for she appreciated that, even Shining Armour and Blade. Beau, who had had enough of Bolt’s chastising of Twilight, spoke to him directly.

‘And will you just let that go already?’ said Beau ‘She said she was sorry, but she was the only princess left, obviously she was being stressed out again because she thought her friends didn’t care. It could happen to anybody.’

‘Oh, right.’ said Bolt ‘Just like she didn’t bother to tell her friends that she had all of the Princesses magic when Tirek came along, or the fact that Chrysalis nearly got us all killed. And now this…’

Bolt showed them the massive pudding that was there ‘All because she didn’t keep a proper eye on it. First rule when it comes to cooking, never leave your post.’

‘Well, I didn’t know Flurry and Raging were going to tamper with the pudding!!’ said Twilight.

‘Oh yeah!!’ said Bolt sarcastically ‘Who’d thunk that two of the most destructive Alicorns that were birthed by the Princess of Love, would tamper with the most dangerous contents of pudding known to Equestria!!’

‘Trixie doesn’t mean to sound mean about it,’ said Trixie as she pointed out ‘But they do have a point.’

They glared at Trixie, with Mystic saying ‘Well it’s true.’

‘Or did all of you forget what she did during the Crystalling that caused a massive snow storm. Or that time that she botched up Twilight’s attempts to entertain sick foals when all of them had the bad case of the horsey hives?’ said Trixie.

They remembered, causing them to groan about it.

However, Bolt Jr. instantly figured his father out and said ‘You’re just mad at them because they didn’t save any cookies from last month and pudding samples for you.’

Bolt immediately got flustered and said ‘Below the belt, son. Below the belt.’

They instantly dodged a pudding tentacle that tried to grab them. Starlight, Trixie and Sunset fired their magic at the pudding tentacles, with Mystic doing what he can to block them using his psychic powers.

‘Now that’s, Pudding in their place.’ said Trixie.

The others looked at her with flexed eyebrows. ‘Really?’ said Sunset.

‘What, it was a good pun.’ said Trixie before her hat got swatted off by the tentacles.

‘Honey, see if you can teleport us there.’ said Chance.

‘Got it.’ said Starlight, allowing her to teleport them towards the balcony whilst watching the action from afar and keeping their children safe.

Rainbow Dash on the other hand looked at Discord, who was sitting on a chair whilst eating popcorn at the same time.

‘Can’t you do something?!’ said Rainbow Dash as she was mad at Discord.

‘I did.’ said Discord whilst Rainbow was glaring at him. He instantly turned himself into a bow and attached itself to the Winterzilla’s ear and said ‘This is Fluttershy’s gift.’

‘What?!’ shouted Rainbow Dash.

‘Are you for real?!’ shouted Genus as he looked at Bolt ‘You guys thought that thing would be a perfect gift for my wife?!!’

‘Hey,’ shouted Junior ‘Don’t blame us, it was Discord’s idea!!’

‘Yeah,’ shouted Bolt ‘If she had known what that thing was and we remembered from earlier, we wouldn’t have brought that thing here in the first place!!’

The pudding tentacle came from out of nowhere and grabbed Rarity’s leg, taking her by surprise. She grunted whilst trying to pull away, but it was quite stubborn.

‘A little help, please!!’ shouted Rarity, gaining everyone’s attention.

‘Hey, let go of my wife!!’ shouted Silver as he smacked the pudding ‘Nobody touches my wife’s beautiful legs and starts being fresh with her, but me!!’

Two more pudding tentacles came from out of nowhere and grabbed both Silver and Crystal, making them panic in the process.

Shining Armour turned around, preparing his horn for a magic attack whilst Blade pulled his sword out as both husbands said with a smirk ‘We got this.’

However, Cadance interrupted them whilst she handed both Flurry and Raging over to them as she said with a smile ‘Which one of us can fly, darlings?’

Cadance instantly flew up and fired her magic from her horn straight towards the tentacles, freeing Rarity, Silver and Crystal, allowing her to carry them to safety from both her arms and her magic. She flew them to safety whilst dodging the tentacles and landed safely on top of the balconies with Starlight and the others.

‘Your mom sure is something.’ said Shining to Flurry.

‘That mare really knows how to capture the hearts of those around her.’ said Blade as he agreed with Shining.

Shining ran with Flurry Heart using his magic and jumped in the air, with Blade and Raging Halberd following close by. Then Shining Armour held onto Flurry whilst he grabbed the tapestry and swung himself, with Blade holding onto Raging as he too grabbed the tapestry and ran alongside the wall whilst he held onto it. They both jumped forward, allowing Shining Armour to use his magic to destroy one of the pudding’s tentacles whilst Blade sliced the other, allowing the both of them to arrive safely next to their wife.

Cadance blushed whilst she fanned herself and said with a smile ‘You two aren’t so bad yourselves.’

The two husbands smiled with pride, but it was short lived whilst they looked at the Castle Entrance, for Twilight was still having trouble trying to lead the Winterzilla away from the entrance using Spike. However, the Winterzilla slipped and ended up falling off of the stairs. The creature groaned for a bit, only for it to be attracted by the sparkling Christmas decorations.

It went over to it and started eating one of them, with Twilight flying close by with Spike as she said ‘No, no, no! Not that sparkly, this one.’

However, the monster was no longer interested, causing it to flick Spike away, making him crash against the wall, with Twilight still holding up Spike.

‘Uh, I’m okay if he doesn’t want to chase me anymore.’ said Spike in his worried tone.

‘Hey, hands off!!’ shouted Beau.

Beau, Emily, Genus, Bolt, Frosty and Bucky jumped onto it and tried to get it away from it, whilst Moonlight fired her magic at it, with Mystic who decided to jump down and join in whilst he lifted the Winterzilla with his psychic powers.

‘Do you have any idea how hard it was to set those up!!’ shouted Moonlight.

‘Those things don’t come cheap you know!!’ shouted Emily.

The Winterzilla then tossed them away, causing them all to collapse onto the ground.

‘Did someone get a number on that cart?’ said Frosty.

As Mystic struggled to keep it in the air, the Winterzilla looked like it was going to explode, until it ended up farting, making Mystic gag as he said ‘Oh, that’s just…’

Because of his concentration being broken, the Winterzilla landed on top of Mystic, making him grunt and mumble and panic at the same time whilst trying to get out.

‘You know,’ said Bolt after Rainbow helped him up ‘If we weren't being threatened by magic pudding and a giant furry monster, I would seriously find this very hilarious.’

‘How are we gonna get rid of this thing?’ said Applejack.

‘Darn tootin’,’ said Apple Slice after he helped his father up whilst Pinkie and the Pie twins dodged another pudding tentacle ‘If that thing keeps this up, it’ll ruin the castle, Ponyville and Hearth’s Warming Eve.’

‘Oh, for Scorpan’s sake.’ said Discord as he was now frustrated, for none of them have figured it out from the beginning.

‘Hello!!’ said Discord as he teleported in front of them, gained their attention and turned into multiple pointing signs as he said ‘If only one of you had a way with animals?!!’

They saw that he was pointing at Fluttershy, much to the mare’s fright.

‘Oh my.’ said Fluttershy whilst covering her mouth.

‘Fluttershy,’ said Genus, gaining her attention whilst he held onto her and said ‘I know you’re not comfortable with these things, but you have to do this. If not, then Hearth’s Warming Eve will be ruined. And Comfy Breeze was really looking forward to all of this.’

Fluttershy saw that her daughter was on the verge of tears, for she couldn’t believe that the holidays are about to be ruined. Seeing that she didn’t want to see her daughter like this, she quickly flew up to the Winterzilla.

As the Winterzilla continued to eat the decorations, Fluttershy flew up to the Winterzilla, cleared her throat and said ‘Uh, excuse me.’

The Winterzilla simply roared at her, making her spin backwards and yelped out loud whilst her mane covered her eyes. She then removed her mane from her eyes, for now she was really mad, causing the kids to gasp and realize what she was doing.

‘The stare.’ said the kids at the same time, causing Fluttershy to fly straight towards the monster, stared at it down, causing the Winterzilla to be surprised as it leaned its head backwards.

‘This is supposed to be the happiest time of year.’ said Fluttershy as she was face to face with the Winterzilla whilst scolding at it ‘If this is how you plan on behaving, you can march yourself right back to where you came from.’

The Winterzilla suddenly whimpered, causing it to cry as it went to a corner and cried, whilst sobbing at the same time and sat down. Everyone just stared in shock as they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

‘Wow,’ said Frosty ‘Who would’ve thought that big monsters can be big crybabies.’

‘Well what did you expect?’ said Warm Breeze ‘The bigger the monsters, the bigger their emotions.’

Fluttershy flew over to the crying Winterzilla and said ‘Awww, your family is gone for the holidays and you’re all alone?’ before wiping its tear away.

The Winterzilla nodded yes, for he really was alone.

‘So that’s why he was cranky.’ said Warm Breeze ‘He was lashing out because his family’s not around to celebrate it with him.’

‘Poor sad, sad Winterzilla.’ said Comfy Breeze as she flew up and hugged the top of the creature’s head.

‘I’m so sorry.’ said Fluttershy as she hugged the Winterzilla ‘If you calm down, I’m sure you could join us.’

‘That’s true.’ said Genus as he stood near the monster’s foot and tapped on it for comfort ‘There’s always room for one more and it wouldn’t feel right to exclude everybody.’

The Winterzilla smiled, for it was liking the idea. The others below were smiling as well, for the beast had been calmed down. That was, until the pudding tentacle poked on Pinkie’s back, gaining her attention as she yelped, with the pudding slapping her and the Pie twins, especially Frosty away.

Just before the tentacle could swat Twilight, Bolt ended up grabbing her and pulled her away from the tentacle’s attack. As they landed, with Twilight appreciating the save, she fired her magic at the tentacle.

‘Uh, how about we do the sappy stuff, after we deal with the pudding situation.’ said Bolt.

‘For once we are in an agreement.’ said Twilight.

As Twilight and Moonlight continued to fire at the pudding tentacles, Rainbow, Bolt Junior, Bolt and Spike carried the others to the balcony to rejoin Cadance and the others whilst Discord teleported to them.

After they were cleared, Twilight and Moonlight saw that they kept on coming.

‘How are we going to stop them?!’ said Moonlight.

‘I don’t know.’ said Twilight.

‘Uh, maybe leave the baking to me next time.’ said Pinkie as she giggled whilst she, Peacon, Lemon and Frosty were sitting in a floating barge that looked like Princess Celestia.

Pinkie and the twins tasted the pudding with their own spoons.

‘Actually,’ said Pinkie after she tasted it ‘It’s pretty good.’

‘Really good.’ said Peacon Pie.

‘Really, really good.’ said Lemon Pie.

One tentacle came from behind, until Frosty whacked it away with his oar and said ‘Back foul beast.’

Twilight came from behind and shot her magic at the tentacle that tried to get its tentacle on Frosty.

‘Chancellor Puddinghead’s recipe.’ said Twilight as she and Moonlight flew over.

‘The pudding of all puddings that became the best Hearth’s Warming meal.’ said Moonlight.

‘Oooh,’ said Lemon Pie ‘So that’s why the pudding looked so familiar.’

‘And why it tastes so good.’ said Peacon before he drooled.

‘Now that’s and impressive desert.’ said Pinkie.

‘It’s your Hearth’s Warming present.’ said Twilight.

‘We thought of something that all of you would enjoy, so we thought that this would be the best choice.’ said Moonlight.

‘Really?’ said Pinkie Pie as she leaned near the boat ‘That’s so thoughtful.’

‘And really sweet.’ said Peacon Pie.

‘Both figurative and literal.’ said Lemon Pie.

‘It took a lot of research.’ said Twilight whilst a pudding tentacle slowly approached her ‘But I…’

Thankfully, Shining Armour destroyed the pudding before it even had a chance. Twilight and Moonlight looked up and saw that everyone and everypony was looking at them.

‘Maybe focus on the task at hand, Twiley?’ said Shining Armour.

‘Yeah,’ said Beau ‘Can you please save you’re a-dork-able moments until after you start pudding the desert in its place.’

All of them looked at him with flexed eyebrows, with Beau groaning loudly as he looked at Trixie and said ‘Thanks a lot Trix. Now you got me doing it.’

Before even Trixie had a chance to respond, they heard loud whimpering. The Winterzilla slowly backed away from the pudding that crept slowly towards it, whilst Fluttershy quickly took her husband to safety and rested on top of the Winterzilla as Warm Breeze and Comfy Breeze quickly joined them.

‘Right,’ said Twilight as she continued before she trailed off ‘The recipe needed to be exact. I think Flurry and Raging added something whilst I wasn’t looking…’

‘Which we shouldn’t have…’ said Moonlight as she and her mother were sheepishly ashamed over their mistake.

‘But we have no idea what to add to adjust it.’ said Twilight as Pinkie and the others thought about it. Suddenly, Frosty, Pinkie and the Pie twins figured it out.

‘Teaspoon of Nutmeg?’ said Frosty.

‘Three sugarplums?’ said Lemon Pie.

‘Extra Gingerbread?’ said Peacon Pie.

‘Four more Candy Canes?’ said Pinkie Pie.

‘How do you know the recipe.’ asked Twilight.

‘Oh, that’s easy,’ said Peacon ‘It was because…’

Suddenly, Pinkie, Peacon and Lemon realized what Alice had said back at Gift Giver’s Grove.

‘I don’t get it.’ said flashback Pinkie.

‘You will.’ said flashback Alice.

Then suddenly, came the part where Alice kissed Peacon. The flashback ended with Peacon staring at the sky daydreaming, with Pinkie and Lemon looking at him with flexed eyebrows, with Lemon slapping Peacon to reality. They came around and looked at the gift that the gift givers had given them.

‘Happy Hearth’s Warming Twilight!!’ shouted Pinkie as she was in Twilight’s face.

Both Peacon and Lemon Pie instantly lifted their father up as he said ‘Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!!’

‘We’re your Hearth’s Warming Helpers!!!’ shouted the Pie twins.

Pinkie and the Pie twins, with Frosty in tow, jumped right into the pudding monster, causing everyone in the room to gasp at the sight. When all of a sudden, the said ingredients that they mentioned popped out of the pudding, causing them to shimmer and glow, affecting the ocean of pudding in the process.

Once the glow died down, the pudding monster was no more and the pudding had been restored the way it should be. Twilight looked around, searching for any signs of Pinkie and her family. Pinkie and the twins instantly popped out with smiles on their faces. Twilight and Moonlight instantly lifted them up using their magic and hugged them with smiles on their faces.

Frosty popped out next and ended up tasting the pudding. Suddenly, he gave the widest smile he had ever given and said ‘This is by far, the best pudding EVER!!!!’

Frosty laughed, as did his family. The Winterzilla peeked and saw that everything was back to normal and made a few happy grunts, with Fluttershy giggling as she held her husband close, with both their children hugging them too. Everyone on the balcony cheered for them, for they were happy that all of this was over.

‘Uh,’ said Discord as he had a half disappointed look on his face whilst he was holding a checklist and said ‘A bit reindeer ex machina, but…’

Suddenly, two of his thumbs appeared that had rocket exhausts under them, with him saying loudly with a smile ‘Two thumbs, way up!!’

The thumbs flew in the air and exploded like fireworks, lighting up the entire room, with everyone cheering, as it was quite the chaotic experience they’ve ever had. They then heard groaning from the door, and out walked none other than Flamethrower, Spike and Emily’s son.

‘What’s all the noise outside?’ said a sleepy Flamethrower.

‘Wait,’ said Moonlight ‘You were asleep the whole time?’

‘I had a cold, okay can you blame me?’ said Flamethrower.

‘Oh, were you sick?’ asked Rarity.

‘Yep,’ said Flamethrower ‘I was a bit restless too, so Zacora gave me a sleeping potion to last for a few days so that I could sleep until my cold passed.’

‘So that’s why y’all have been quiet for so long.’ said Apple Slice.

Spike picked Emily up and flew down towards their son. Emily then stood on her knees and felt her son’s forehead and said ‘Well the fever’s gone.’

‘That means he’s well enough to be part of the gathering.’ said Spike.

‘Wait,’ said Flamethrower ‘It’s nearly Hearth’s Warming?’

‘You’re just in time too.’ said Discord as he created some lava cookies from out of nowhere and gave it to the young dragon.

‘Thanks Discord.’ said Flamethrower as he took a bite from his first cookie.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait, hope it's worth it.

Chapter 8: The greatest Gift of all

After the whole ordeal dealing with both the Winterzilla and the massive pudding wave, everyone had settled in the living room. Twilight was about to walk in whilst carrying more pudding in their bowls, until Bolt stopped her.

‘Twilight, we need to talk.’ said Bolt.

Twilight wanted to say something, but noticed that Bolt had a guilty look on his face.

‘Look, what I said back there was out of line.’ said Bolt ‘I know you still felt bad about using your friends like that and about the pearl. I know you were stressed and you were desperate. But you had to understand, what all of us went through whilst you were gone. We never felt so helpless. We did the best we could, but when I saw Beau hurt like that, and what happened to Moonlight. It drove me crazy. I may have defended Junior and all, but I felt like I failed Beau. He was my best friend too. We cared about him too much to lose him.’

Bolt kept his hands behind his back and said ‘What I’m trying to say is…I’m sorry.’

Twilight looked down and sighed. ‘If anypony should apologize, it’s me.’

Bolt looked at Twilight as she said ‘I’ll admit, I wasn’t perfect and I’m still not. You were right, I’m a fully grown mare and I still panic like a child. What I did back at Mount Aris; trying to distract the queen and used my friends just to steal an artifact. I know we weren't in Equestria, and I know they were masking their own fears and pain, and I know different countries act with their own laws. It’s just…’

‘I know Twilight.’ said Bolt ‘But when I told you about your husband and daughter…’

‘I was horrified.’ said Twilight ‘I was so focused on one thing, I barely paid attention to anything else. Now I know how Sunset felt during the whole memory stone debacle.’

She crossed her arms as she still levitated the pudding ‘But when I saw the state Beau and Moonlight were in. I can’t believe I was that reckless.’

‘You’re still learning.’ said Bolt. ‘You know, back on my world, I remembered a shaman saying something wise.’

‘Oh?’ said Twilight as she looked at him.

‘He said that he may be old,’ said Bolt ‘And the thing about getting old, is that you never stop learning, even when your teacher happens to be a shaman’s assistant.’

He held onto Twilight’s shoulder and said ‘The point I’m making Twilight. You may be a Princess, but the thing about being one, is that you never stop learning. And your friends can be your greatest teachers.’

‘And yet I ignored them.’ said Twilight as she looked down again ‘I was supposed to be honest, kind, generous, loyal and sometimes laugh in the face of danger, but I ignored it and acted like a child. I keep forgetting the lessons I learned.’

‘Like how your friends forgot to learn their lesson by taking your worries seriously when they didn’t believe you about Chrysalis?’ said Bolt.

‘Yeah, that.’ said Twilight, still remembering that day.

‘Remember Twilight.’ said Bolt ‘You’re not alone in this. Beau and every human who came to Equestria felt the same way you did, but it was because of you lot, we had hope again. We just want all of you to be happy.’

‘I know.’ said Twilight ‘I wish I could’ve done the same.’

‘Can we…move on please?’ asked Bolt ‘And still be friends.’

Twilight couldn’t help but smile and said ‘We’re still friends.’ before she hugged him.

After they broke the hug, Bolt said ‘We’d better get in before my wife thinks I’m cheating on her.’

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh and said ‘Yeah, and she’d kick you all the way from one part of Equestria to another with her Sonic Rainboom.’

The two of them, now finally settling their differences, walked in the living room, with everyone enjoying their pudding whilst sitting near the fireplace. Most of them chatting happily and were glad to put all of their problems behind them and were enjoying their Hearth’s Warming puddings.

Twilight walked over to Pinkie to give her some pudding as she said ‘Sorry for failing as a Hearth’s Warming helper Pinkie.’

‘What?’ said Pinkie as she sat up straight with a smile on her face ‘With no pudding disaster, my gift with the exact ingredients wouldn’t have made any sense. This way, it was perfect.’

‘I’ll say.’ said Frosty whilst Pinkie was stuffing her face ‘Going all the way to Gift Giver’s Grove was quite exciting, not to mention the deer over there were really nice.’

‘And so beautiful.’ said Peacon as he smiled and giggled like a schoolgirl, much to the others’ confusion.

‘One of the deer kissed him.’ said Lemon ‘You should’ve seen the look on his face.’

‘Let me guess,’ said Starlight after she fed one of her children some pudding ‘Like Pinkie, he got so excited, he flew in the air and exploded like some fireworks display and ended up going all crazy?’

‘Yep.’ said the Pie Twins.

‘I wanted to give you guys some pudding too.’ said Moonlight as she looked at the Pie Twins ‘I know how much you two love pudding, so I thought I could also use half of the gift to give you guys some too. But it couldn’t be just any pudding, but one that’s special.’

‘Aw, you didn’t have to do that Moonlight.’ said Peacon as he and his sister hugged Moonlight.

‘That’s right,’ said Lemon Pie ‘Any gift you give us is always gonna be the best, because seeing us happy is all that you want.’

Moonlight hugged them too, for in a way, it turned out right.

‘Speaking of which.’ said the Pie twins as they showed her an entire stack of a total of eight books ‘We got you this.’

Moonlight gasped as she accepted them and said ‘And entire encyclopedia set of Equestria? Thank you.’

Moonlight hugged them again, for it was so thoughtful of them.

‘Speaking of which.’ said Peacon and Lemon as they dashed close to Comfy and Warm Breeze ‘For you too.’

Both of them opened their gifts.

‘Whoa, a flute.’ said Warm Breeze ‘Now I can play music for the animals.’

Comfy got two different kinds of plushies, both that look like her parents, causing her to giggle as she hugged the both of them.

Moonlight hugged them again, for it was so thoughtful of them.

Rarity sighed as she said ‘At least Twilight has something to show for her effort.’

Rarity looked at Applejack and said ‘I ordered you a fabulous farm hat, Applejack. Alas, it decided it belonged to somepony else.’

‘Yeah, the hat she ordered for you was really special.’ said Silver ‘She carefully instructed the designers to make you a hat that’s brand new, but would feel like it’s been part of your family heirloom for years.’

‘You would’ve really liked it Aunt Applejack.’ said Crystal Gem.

Applejack removed her hat and looked at with a smile whilst she said ‘Pops said sometimes the hat chooses the pony when he gave me this.’

‘Yeah, you didn’t have to go through all that trouble Rarity.’ said Bucky ‘Applejack would never part with her hat. The hat’s the only thing that’s left of her father. In a way, from what she told me, that whenever she wears it, a part of him would always be with her.’

‘In a way she does have a point.’ said Apple Slice ‘Whenever Granny would go out for special visits, she would sometimes wear a bunch of different hats. All of them who once belonged to both her father and brothers long before they passed.’

‘Exactly.’ said Applejack after she put her hat back on ‘Hopefully my gift inspired whoever’s wearin’ it to be the best farmer ever.’

‘Uh, ooh, something like that.’ said Rarity.

‘It turned out that there’s a pony named Pistachio from a farm called Sweet Acorn Orchard.’ said Crystal ‘And surprisingly, he has quite the fashion sense. He was able to pick up on how the hat was made and how they made it.’

‘However,’ said Silver as he pulled out a box ‘This one is for you.’

Applejack accepted the gift and wondered what it was. She opened it and was surprised, for it was Granny Smith’s scarf inside. She wondered what it was until…

‘Look underneath the folding of the scarf.’ said Silver.

Applejack flexed an eyebrow and opened up the scarf. To her surprise, they were words that were stitched onto the scarf itself.

‘Apples forever to the core Applejack,’ said Applejack as she read it out loud ‘Ah’m proud that y’all would lead the Apples to a better tomorrow and the deeds ye accomplished made the Apple Family proud.’

Applejack was taken aback by this whilst she slowly looked at them.

‘Granny Smith came along about a month before she passed.’ said Silver ‘She asked Rarity to knit that onto the scarf, saying that no matter how far she is, she’ll always be with you in spirit.’

(Truth be told, Granny secretly came to Silver and asked him to stitch it up for her, and she asked him to add those words onto her scarf, so that she could give it to Applejack.)

Applejack was so taken aback by this, she shed tears of happiness and hugged Rarity.

‘Thank you Rarity.’ said Applejack through her tears of happiness ‘Thank you.’

Rarity wanted to say something, but one look from her husband, he winked at her, showing that she can take the credit for this, which she smiled and mouthed “Thank you.”

‘Oh, speaking of which.’ said Crystal as she handed a gift for Apple Slice ‘Granny Smith asked me to make this for you too.’

Apple Slice opened the gift and to his surprise, it was his very own hat, similar to his mother’s. From underneath the hat, Slice read out loud ‘Now y’all can make a story of yer own, just like ah did when ah first started out. Granny Smith.’

Apple Slice couldn’t help but shed tears of this and wiped it. He slowly placed the hat on his head and wouldn’t you know it, it was a perfect fit.

‘Thanks so much Crystal.’ said Apple Slice whilst he also hugged his mother.

‘You’re welcome Apple Slice.’ said Crystal with her own smile.

At the same time, Rainbow enjoyed her gift, which was an autograph book of every single Wonderbolt throughout history, as well as their own flying maneuvers that they made and perfected throughout their prime years, which she eagerly looked over, whilst Spike was enjoying his gems, all of that were in different color, arranged as if they were a box of chocolates.

‘We’re really sorry that we couldn’t get the gifts we had in mind for you.’ said Fluttershy.

Applejack rubbed the back of her head and said ‘We got a bit distracted with Flim and Flam’s shenanigans.’

Sunset groaned as she said ‘No matter which world, Flim and Flam will always be rip off artists.’

‘I assume you had trouble with them when you were in the human world?’ asked Emily.

‘You have no idea.’ said Sunset.

‘During her high school days she had a run in with them in a pawn shop helping Applejack,’ said Ignis as he explained ‘Then that time at the theme park before they caught wind of Vignette’s misuse of magic, not to mention them trying to sabotage the Apple Family’s Cider business.’

‘Unbelievable.’ said Applejack as she slapped her forehead ‘Ah’m surprised that the humans on that world didn’t attempt to arrest them.’

‘Even they know when to avoid the law.’ said Ignis.

‘But Genus and I beat the tar out of them.’ said Bucky.

‘What? Why?’ said Twilight.

‘Well you see…’ said Genus.

(One complicated recap later)

‘And that’s why we did what we did.’ said Genus.

Everyone stared at them with mouths agape.

‘Wow,’ said Rainbow ‘No wonder you two hated Flim and Flam when we last encountered them.’

‘Though,’ said Fluttershy as she wondered about something ‘I wondered how Flam got two black eyes in the first place?’

‘Apple Slice did it.’ said Comfy Breeze.

They stared at Apple Slice wide eyed. He sheepishly smiled and said ‘I sorta bucked Flam in the face. Then I also punched him in the face.’

‘Why would you do that?’ asked Starlight.

‘Well…’ said Apple Slice.

‘First part, was that we didn’t fall for their scam.’ said Warm Breeze. ‘Second uh…Flam insulted Granny Smith by calling her an old fart.’

They were shocked again.

‘Okay, that is so not cool.’ said Starlight.

‘Trixie concurs.’ said Trixie ‘Though she didn’t know Granny Smith that long, Trixie knows that Granny Smith is among the most well respected Ponies in all of Equestria. Well, except for the snooty ponies in Canterlot.’

‘They ended up receiving rip off dolls from the brothers,’ said Bucky ‘But Apple Slice and Warm Breeze threw them out, because thankfully we had a backup ready for just in case.’

‘Thanks again anyway,’ said Rainbow as she looked through the book ‘I have no idea how you could get an awesome gift like this.’

‘Well it pays to help when you know a certain unicorn who had learned the power of time traveling.’ said Warm Breeze.

They were puzzled about it at first until Warm Breeze said ‘Dad had a chat with Starswirl and we asked for his permission to help us time travel throughout the more famous Wonderbolts. Not only did they sign them, but they also wrote down their maneuvers that would be really helpful to future generations.’

‘Warm Breeze had to do it though,’ said Genus ‘We didn’t want the ponies of the past to freak out over the fourth human of Equestria, or Starswirl, who wasn’t supposed to be there whilst he was in limbo.’

‘Didn’t they detect that something was off about Warm Breeze?’ asked Twilight.

‘Thankfully not.’ said Warm Breeze ‘Remember when Aunt Rainbow Dash kept joking about you being an “Egghead”? Well the Pegasi from back then were total airheads.’

Some laughed over the joke. ‘Well, except for Sock Wind.’ said Genus ‘I can’t believe he was the first ever Earth Pony to become a Wonderbolt.’

‘I know, right?’ said Rainbow as she closed the book ‘Even I was surprised to hear about that.’

‘Why did you think I brought him up when I talked things over with Scootaloo when she joined the Washouts out of spite.’ said Bolt.

‘As for the gems.’ said Bucky ‘I know Spike likes gems and I happen to find them assorted in different colors as if they were different flavors of chocolates.’

‘How much was it?’ asked Applejack.

‘Nothing.’ he responded.

‘What?’ said everyone in the room.

‘The guy who sold it to me said that it wasn’t worth anything and said that it was useless.’

‘Are you for real?’ said Spike ‘These are actual real gems. Gems that happen to be the rarest (and also tastiest) gems in all of Equestria.’

‘The guy can’t tell the difference between gems and glass beads.’ said Bucky.

They were silent for a moment, causing everyone in the room to laugh. After they calmed down, Apple Slice gave his gift to Warm Breeze.

‘Whilst we were there,’ said Apple Slice ‘Ah know how much y’all want to entertain the animals and y’all already have a flute there, ah gotcha this here flute. It has a special kind of magic to soothe even the most dangerous predators the moment you play it.’

Warm Breeze accepted the flute and said ‘Wow, thanks. Now I can play music to the animals when they need their naps.’

‘Play for Angel bunny.’ said Comfy Breeze ‘Rabbit always cranky.’

‘He’s got a good point there.’ said Genus ‘Though it pays to have a certain canine to help keep the animals in line like a sheep dog.’

Trusty barked once, causing some to laugh whilst the dog rested himself on his master’s lap.

Rainbow then said ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t get a better gift.’

Rainbow looked at Fluttershy and apologized ‘Sorry about the Winterzilla.’

‘Yeah, I can’t believe we didn’t recognize it sooner.’ said Bolt.

‘Neither can I.’ said Bolt Junior ‘I mean we remembered that you said that we needed to avoid them, but we forgot about what they looked like.’

‘Oh,’ said Fluttershy as she giggled ‘He’s a big sweetheart. And he ended up being really helpful.’

‘I’ll say.’ said Genus ‘He was able to help clean the entire castle of pudding. Now thanks to him, we have enough pudding to last long for a week.’

‘Winterzilla like pudding too.’ said Comfy Breeze ‘Winterzilla have pudding as reward.’

They then saw the Winterzilla coming in with its own bowl of pudding and began to purr like a kitten whilst he was licking the pudding.

‘It was actually kind of nice to be the pony who saved the day for one?’ said Fluttershy with both a blush and a smile.

‘But don’t you already do that like a dozen times?’ asked Chance.

‘Yes,’ said Fluttershy as she blushed once more ‘But this one actually felt good.’

‘Oh really?’ said Discord as he sauntered over with a smirk on his mouth and a raised eyebrow.

Rainbow sat there and ate her pudding with a deadpanned expression as she held her spoon with her wing whilst Discord popped all over the place and said ‘You mean a giant beast that only Fluttershy could tame, making her the hero of Hearth’s Warming Eve, was a great gift?’

Bolt on the other hand focused on Rainbow, for she looked really cute at that expression with pudding in her mouth.

‘Aw,’ said Bolt as he ended up holding her close with the pudding still in her mouth and said ‘You are so super cute when you do that Rainbow.’

Rainbow blushed and felt flustered at the same time, but mumbled whilst she was eating pudding. Bolt Junior on the other hand had a devilish smirk as he darted over to her mother’s hooves. The moment he tickled them, Rainbow ended up spitting out her pudding in her husband’s face. The two of them were surprised whilst Junior fell flat on his back and laughed. Both of the parents looked a bit irked at him, until Crystal Gem had a devilish grin of her own.

She ended up using her magic and within a split second, Junior ended up in a baby carriage, whilst wearing a diaper, a hood and a pacifier, taking them all by surprise. That made both Rainbow and Bolt laugh the hardest as they fell over.

However, Discord gained their attention as he suddenly placed Fluttershy on a stone pedestal that rose until Fluttershy was at his height, with a #1 medal over her neck, a red feathery scarf around her neck and a trophy in her hand that also said #1.

‘Imagine that.’ said Discord with a smile before confetti fell from the roof.

Rainbow stuttered, blew a piece of confetti off of her nose and was a bit ticked.

‘You mean,’ said Rainbow as she flew face to face with the Draconequus as she said ‘You tricked me into putting my friend in danger on purpose so you…?’

However, Discord cut her off as he placed his claw finger on her lips and turned her to Fluttershy whilst he pointed at her. She saw Fluttershy giggling and cuddling the Winterzilla as it purred, whilst Comfy Breeze rested on its head and nuzzled it as if it were the world’s biggest teddy bear.

Rainbow, seeing that Fluttershy is happy, decided to let it go whilst she pushed Discord’s claw down and said ‘Let’s just say, it was a gift from, both of us.’

Rainbow shook Discord’s hand, showing peace between them. For now.

‘And what do you know,’ said Bolt ‘I didn’t had to interfere or anything.’

When all of a sudden, a fish, but not smelly fish, appeared out of nowhere and slapped Bolt in the face. Bolt rubbed the side of his face whilst Discord said ‘That was payback for slapping me with a fish.’

‘Eh, fair enough.’ said Bolt.

Junior, after taking the baby stuff off of him, walked over to Crystal and said ‘I uh…got you this. I made it myself.’

Crystal wondered what kind of gift it was, so she slowly opened it. The moment she did, she was surprised to see what appeared to be an Alicorn with a beautiful dress in what appeared to be a type of globe. The others were also surprised by this, with Junior saying ‘Uh, turn the dial.’

She did just that. The moment the dial was fully turned, the figure began to slowly spin, whilst beautiful music began to play. They were quite surprised by this gift, with Crystal looking at him once more.

‘When did you have time to make that?’ said Rainbow, clearly surprised.

‘Well…’ said Bolt Junior ‘Whilst dad and the others were helping into getting things ready, I went to that place that sells music boxes, but I wanted to make my own one, so the owner helped me. It took me a while, but I was able to make it.’

As the music continued to play, Crystal looked at Bolt Junior whilst slowly smiling whilst he said ‘And I know I can get a bit overboard with a few things, but I wanted it to be special for Hearth’s Warming, so after a while I put it all together and…’

And just like that, catching Junior off guard, Crystal kissed him by the cheek, taking him by surprise as his face was red like a tomato. Within a few moments, Junior fell over, whilst Crystal slowly nuzzled her gift, for it was really thoughtful.

‘Huh,’ said Bolt as he crossed his arms whilst flexing his eyebrow ‘Who’d thunk that our boy has a romantic side.’

‘Well,’ said Junior whilst his eyes were spinning a bit ‘It helps when mom read a certain book called “Time for Two, a Romance Story” that she read from last month.’

Everyone looked at Dash both shocked and surprised, with her face going red, looking away as she said ‘Uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Trixie is sorry about not finding a proper gift too.’ said Trixie as she looked down, then to Starlight ‘Mystic and I wanted to petition to open a club that was for kite flyers only.’

‘What?’ said Starlight as she was surprised by this.

‘Yeah, we know how much you like to fly kites and you really enjoy them.’ said Mystic ‘Heck, even Chance loves to do it with you. He even taught your kids how to fly a kite on the weekends.’

Starlight looked at Chance and was touched as she said ‘Aw, Chance.’ before she kissed her husband, for it was really thoughtful of him.

‘But sadly.’ said Trixie as she looked at her child ‘Like Trixie, our child was not patient. She wanted to come into this world and see it with her own eyes.’

Little Misty cooed whilst playing with her father’s finger , with Mystic saying ‘But on the plus side, our daughter can now experience Hearth’s Warming. Without uh…something chaotic happening like it did tonight.’

‘We’re just sorry we couldn’t get a gift either.’ said Starlight as she was somewhat sad too.

‘We wanted to buy you guys a house near a lake, but someone else already bought the place.’ said Chance.

‘Wait,’ said Trixie ‘The one where the ducks like to swim?’

‘That’s right.’ said Chance.

Trixie and Mystic looked at one another, then ended up laughing.

‘Uh, what’s so funny?’ asked Starlight.

‘Oh, sillies.’ said Trixie ‘We bought that house weeks ago.’

(…)

‘I’m sorry, what?’ said Chance.

‘When we were traveling for our latest show,’ said Trixie whilst she nuzzled Misty ‘And before Trixie found out she was pregnant, Trixie wanted to settle down and wanted to find a proper home to live in.’

‘So before the holidays came along,’ said Mystic ‘We were able to buy a house that Trixie had her eye on for some time. True to form, we were able to get the house. But we had to make sure that everything was set before we moved in.’

‘Bought a few things here and there,’ said Trixie ‘As well as making a shed to place my wagon in.’

‘And the sales pony told us that as soon as the holidays are over, we’d move in there immediately.’ said Mystic.

‘But…’ said Starlight as she was surprised ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’

‘We wanted to keep it a surprise.’ said Trixie ‘Well that, and Pinkie wanted to prepare a “Welcome to your new home” party. Once we move in, we’ll have it.’

‘Yup.’ said Pinkie whilst she was licking her pudding bowl clean ‘I never spoil a party for the next pony.’

‘Except that time you nearly ruined your own because you thought your friends didn’t like you anymore?’ said Frosty with a flexed eyebrow, with Pinkie giggling sheepishly at that.

Applejack rubbed the back of her head and said ‘Ah guess Hearth’s Warming Helper was kind of a disaster.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Cadance whilst she watched as both Raging and Flurry ate their respective puddings ‘Ponyville always seems to have way more exciting holidays than the Crystal Empire.’

‘You’re telling me.’ said Ignis ‘I have never seen Searing Shimmer act so crazy with the sugar during his first Nightmare Night, whilst also butt naked at the same time.’

‘Dad.’ said Searing as he tried to hide his blushing face.

‘And I thought Canterlot High had its ups and downs when it came to magic based problems.’ Sunset with a smile.

‘Hey, at least you and our human selves got lucky that you’re facing ones who are corrupted by magic,’ said Rainbow ‘We had to literally fight against monsters like that Bug Bear a while back.’

Spike looked down in sadness and said ‘There’s one gift left. But…I messed up too.’

As Spike stood up, the Winterzilla handed Spike his own hand crafted guitar, with Spike accepting it and said ‘Your present’s only kind of finished Rarity. But I guess it’s better than nothing. And…this one is for Emily too.’

Both were puzzled by what he meant, until Emily noticed the smile on Sunset’s face, as well as a wink to her, much to her surprise. Spike then played his guitar as he played his song.

(Spike)

I wanted to get you something oh, so rare

A gift to show I care

But nothing can compare

Yo you, that’s easy to see

Both Rarity and Emily were suddenly touched by the song that Spike had begun to sing for them.

(Spike)

But I got stressed, and over thought

Until the day was shot

And it was all for naught

But now it’s clear to me

Spike walked to his left whilst everyone watched, for it was truly a heartwarming song.

(Spike)

I’m not gifted at gifting

It’s really pretty sad

I tried to show that I care

But it turned out bad

I’m not gifted at gifting

So all that’s left to say

Spike then finished his song as he stood near both Rarity and Emily.

(Spike)

I really hope my gifting

Didn’t ruin your holiday

‘Oh Spike,’ said Rarity with her genuine smile ‘A song is a lovely present.’

‘It’s so beautiful Spike.’ said Emily.

‘I wanted to get you two the best gift ever.’ said Spike ‘I just couldn’t figure out what it was.’

Within a split second, Rarity kissed Spike by the cheek, whilst Emily kissed him on the lips and pulled her husband close to her, which Spike couldn’t help but blush at the kisses he received.

‘Ooh! Ooh!’ said Pinkie as she realized something. ‘The Gift Givers told me that. Oh, what was it?’

‘The best gift is more precious than gold.’ said Peacon Pie as he helped her remember.

‘But it cannot be sold.’ said Lemon Pie.

‘When it breaks, it’s not ended, for quickly it’s mended.’ said Frosty.

Then Pinkie finished as she said ‘It cannot be bought, but it can be easily sought.’

Twilight giggled for some reason, then a puzzled Pinkie asked ‘What’s so funny?’

‘It’s a riddle.’ said Twilight ‘And the answer is; Friendship.’

Twilight stood up and took a few steps forward, with her husband Beau joining her.

(Twilight)

The most magical gift

That I can recall

Twilight and Beau, with their daughter Moonlight in tow, walked towards the fireplace, whilst the Winterzilla nuzzled against Fluttershy, with Comfy Breeze hugging its chin, with Rainbow looking at it surprised, whilst Bolt hugged her close, whilst at the same time, Rarity and Applejack hugged one another, with their kids hugging them too.

(Twilight)

It could’ve been big or small

Or even nothing at all

As Twilight, Beau and Moonlight stood in front of the fireplace, with the dolls of the Mane 6 above it, she held her husband close, until they looked at their friends.

(Twilight)

It doesn’t matter, you see

If it’s from my friends on whom I depend

Twilight and Moonlight flew up above their friends, whilst they used their magic to levitate Beau between them whilst hugging him.

(Twilight)

No matter what you spend

It will be perfect to me

As Twilight flew above the young, namely Flurry and Raging, along with Misty, Starshine Shimmer, Lucky Star and Blessed Night clapped their hands, enjoying the song whilst Emily hugged her husband close as he kept on blushing, even after he gave her the gift he got her as Flamethrower sat between them, whilst she flew over and handed Pinkie another bowl of pudding, which she happily accepted.

(Twilight)

The true gift at gifting

Is what it means inside

We can show we care

Spreading love far and wide

As they enjoyed the song, Fluttershy handed Discord a present, much to his surprise. He accepted the gift with a smile and opened it, revealing to be his own teapot with its own cozy. Sure enough, Fluttershy hugged Discord with a smile, with Warm Breeze and Comfy Breeze following suit, which Discord truly enjoyed and returned their hug in return.

(Twilight)

And you’re the best there is at giving it

With the Friendship that you give to me

Soon enough, everyone began to sing together.

(All)

We’ve all been friends forever

And look how far we’ve come (How far we’ve come)

As they sang, everyone from everywhere, began to enjoy their holidays.

The Pie and Apple Families were having a great time. Limestone, Artifex, Marble, Rocky, Apple Bloom, Mud Briar, Maud, along with the youngins, Pebble Pie and Boulder Pie, were carving on their respected rocks. Big Macintosh and Sugar Belle were enjoying the snowfall, whilst Igneous Pie and Cloudy Quartz were having a conversation with Grand Pear, whilst talking about Granny Smith (May she rest in peace)

From Canterlot Castle, Princess Luna was standing alone outside on the balcony in the cold, until she felt a warm blanket being wrapped around in a blanket by her sister Celestia. And accompanying alongside them were their Celestia’s husband Platinum and their children Sun Gleam and Bright Day, whilst on Luna’s right, was her husband Nebula and her son Dark Void, to which she smiled gratefully.

Back at the Oak Farm, Pistachio opened his gift from his parents. He was surprised and pulled out a hat similar to his with acorns attached to it, which he let out a hearty laugh, with his parents joining in.

(All)

The Holidays brings us close

And now it’s time for fun (It’s now begun)

(Pinkie Pie)

The greatest gift you give to me

Is more precious than gold

(All)

Ah-ah-ah-ah

(Pinkie Pie)

Never ended, always mended

And it can’t be bought or sold

The Yaks were enjoying their festival by smashing things, whilst from Canterlot Jail, the Flim Flam brothers were sulking as their business were ruined. But they weren't alone, for folks like Lightning Dust and Iron Will were with them, just as much in a bad mood as they were. Back at Ponyville town hall, the citizens went home for the holidays with their families, whilst the Changelings were also celebrating their own holiday.

And thankfully, they were not the only ones enjoying their own special holidays, for the humans and their lovers, were too having a fun time.

In Canterlot, Fleur De Lis and her husband Fortis were sitting in front of their fireplace, with their daughter Graceful Charity fast asleep between them. And from one of the houses nearby, Tempest Shadow looked out in the open, until her husband Ventus, whilst holding their child Swizzle Berry watched the snowfall, with Tempest resting on her husband’s shoulder with a smile on her face.

In the Dragon Lands, Dragon Lord Ember was enjoying the warmth of the lava as they bathed in it together, until their kids did a cannonball into it, taking them by surprise. They were soaked, but they laughed at their shenanigans. From atop of the Tasty Treat, Saffron Masala and her husband Rasoiya were spending their time with Coriander, cooking their Hearth’s Warming Dinner for tomorrow, whilst Saffron’s son Agni ended up pouring flower over himself and pretended to be an Agni Cake, which they couldn’t help but laugh at that too.

From their respective home, Moondancer and her husband Lunar were spending the holidays with Moondancer’s sister, with Comet enjoying the first book he was reading. From their hometown, Rara and her husband Tenor sang their child Vocal Tone a lullaby. At Mount Aris, Queen Novo, Princess Skystar, Silverstream, Terramar, Ocean Flow and Sky beak were having the time of their life with the festivities, whilst Queen Novo’s husband Bellator’s hand as their children were fast asleep in their cribs.

From their respectful home, Casus had just tucked in his daughter Freedom Feathers as she fell asleep, with Daring Do standing beside him and watched with smiles on their faces on how precious their daughter is to them.

From her respected mansion, Upper Crust and her husband Salvator sat near their fireplace together whilst they tended to their sleeping twins, Grand Fortune and Elegant Riches. From Griffonstone, as the snow continued to fall, Gilda, as usual, tried her best to be nice for the sake of the holidays, but she suddenly felt arms being wrapped around her, which she smiled when she saw her husband Garuda holding her close, whilst close by, their child Goliath was flying close to them and sat on his father’s shoulders. Within the Everfree forest, Shujaa sat close to his wife Zecora and took good care of her whilst she was pregnant.

(All)

The true gift of gifting

Is what it means inside

We can show we care

Spreading love far and wide

The true gift of gifting

Is totally free

They then gathered together as they sang their final verse, whilst the Winterzilla hugged them all.

(All)

And you’re the best there is at giving it

With the friendship that you give to me

As they embraced the hugs, the humans in the room heard a slight jingle noise. They looked at the direction of the window and noticed it was none other than Aurora, Bori and Alice, floating together as they held up a sign that said “Everything’s ready”, causing them to smile widely. Genus signaled the Winterzilla to put them down, which it did.

‘And now,’ said Beau ‘Now that all of you are done with your gifts. It’s time to show you, our gifts.’

They wondered what they meant, which they signaled for them to follow. They walked down the halls of the castle, wondering what was going on. Frosty and Emily placed their hands on the large doors to the next room as they both looked at everyone.

‘Now then,’ said the siblings ‘Prepare to be amazed.’

The moment they opened the door, they were all in awe of what they were seeing.

From within the room were tables that were placed in three long lines, covered with a white tablecloth, with fancy plates, spoons, forks, knives, drinking glasses and so on. But from between them were the tons of food fit for a true Hearth’s Warming Eve celebration, with decorations hanging all around them that had Cutie Mark symbols of all of them in the room. But near the same spot where Starlight and her friends had received their medals, stood the tallest Hearth’s Warming tree there was, decorated more than Pinkie Pie would do. And surrounding the tree were tons and stacks of presents, all of them so high it reached the tree halfway.

‘What…’ said Twilight as she and her friends were amazed as they walked in ‘What’s all this?’

‘We’ve all been planning this for months.’ said Silver.

‘We had to make a ton of calls from Canterlot and a few other places.’ said Ignis.

‘And thanks with the help from Gift Giver’s Grove,’ said Chance ‘We were able to get this done in no time.’

Pinkie looked at them surprised and said ‘Wait, all of you already know about Gift Giver’s Grove?’

‘We can thank Frosty for that.’ said Mystic.

‘When we were last at Yakyakistan for their annual festival,’ said Frosty ‘Prince Rutherford explained to me about Gift Giver’s Grove. I once visited there and I asked them if they could help us out setting this up.’

‘And once we did.’ said Emily ‘All we had to was to keep all of you distracted long enough for us to set everything up.’

‘Wait,’ said Applejack as she realized something ‘So y’all came along with us to not only help us find presents, but also wanted to keep us distracted long enough for y’all to set this whole place up?’

‘That’s right.’ said Bucky.

‘Twilight we didn’t need to distract,’ said Beau ‘Because we all know how easily distracted she gets whenever she goes all research mode.’

Twilight’s jaw dropped at that, not knowing how to respond to that.

‘I even asked Discord to help distract Rainbow Dash so that she wouldn’t get suspicious too.’ said Genus.

Rainbow’s jaw dropped at that, with Rainbow looking at Discord and said ‘You were in on this?!!’

‘Well of course,’ said Discord ‘I felt obligated, considering I was the godfather of Warm Breeze and all.’

‘The guys and I weren't the only ones.’ said Emily ‘We also had Ignis, Chance, Mystic and Blade pitch in too.’

Cadance and Shining Armour looked at Blade surprised. ‘Wait, you’re part of this too?’ said Cadance.

‘Well of course,’ said Blade ‘This surprise is for you two too.’

‘We pitched in when the guys were planning this.’ said Chance.

‘It was really hard trying to hide this from you guys.’ said Ignis.

‘And there were a few close calls too.’ said Mystic.

‘Now for the last part of the gift.’ said Silver.

The humans departed from their wives and kids and stood a few inches from them, but they had smiles on their faces too. Ignis handed Beau the large letter, gaining his attention.

‘Thought the first human of Equestria would gain the honor.’ said Ignis.

Beau smiled and accepted it. Twilight and the others wondered what they were doing, with Beau starting off.

‘All of you.’ said Beau as he began reading from the letter and partially looked at them at the same time ‘Each and every single one of you know how all of our lives began. When we were born in the human world, we lived a life through pain and loneliness. Each of us going through hardships that none could imagine. We were alone, we were neglected from our loved ones, we were cast out and we have lost our parents and siblings to the cruelty of fate, even isolated by people who would do us harm, whilst also struck down by illness that there was no cure from.’

Beau then looked at the letter again and back to them ‘But ever since we came to this world after our passing, we were scared and thought we would never be accepted by society. But then we met each and every single one of you. All of you accepted us for who we are without a second thought, looked at us as if we were the same as all of you. We never realized we had so much in common. When we first met, we were strangers, but within a short time, we became friends. And in time…we became much more than that. We felt appreciated. We felt comfort. We felt safe. And most importantly, the one feeling we have long lost; we felt loved.’

He looked at them again, and nearly shed a tear, but kept his composure ‘And look at where we are now. All of us are now happily married, living a life we never thought would be possible. And in turn, we created the most wonderful and beautiful children. We experienced parenthood and raised so many great kids. All of you may be heroes who save lives and go on adventures together when spreading the magic of friendship. Being with all of you is the biggest adventure we ever had. You are heroes to the eyes of Equestria and beyond, but to the ones you’re married to, and the ones who helped father the children of those who are alive with us, all of you are our heroes, because all of you have saved us the day we all first met, then accepted us as you became our first friends. And we hope to continue to live a life that we had always wanted. From all of us standing here. We just want to say…we love all of you. And we hope all of you will have the best holidays ever, as well as the lives we now live with all of you.’

The said ponies and dragon in the room, all of them had shed tears, barely being able to contain them. For it was the most sweetest and heartwarming speech they had ever heard, even the kids could barely contain themselves, as well as the smiles all of them have received.

‘Oh.’ said Twilight in a whimpered, but happy tone, zipped right over and hugged her husband tightly, with Beau doing the same.

Sure enough, the rest of the Mane 6, Starlight, Sunset, Trixie and Spike, including Cadance and Shining Armour hugged the humans in the room, even the kids.

‘This is the best gift ever.’ said Twilight.

‘Thank y’all so much.’ said Applejack.

‘We really appreciate it.’ said Fluttershy.

‘You guys are so awesome.’ said Rainbow Dash.

‘You truly shine like true diamonds.’ said Rarity.

‘With a heap of cupcakes on top.’ said Pinkie next.

After the hug, they wiped the tears away, and Ignis saying ‘And we also invited some folks who would love to join us.’

And right on cue, the Mane 6’s parents (Minus Applejack’s, may they rest in peace), their siblings, as well as Scootaloo and her family, along with Starlight and Trixie’s parents, all arrived as they greeted them. The said ponies were so happy to see them as they rushed over for hugs. Sunset however, noticed something from within the crowd. She saw the Mane 6, which left her surprised. However, the Twilight among them was wearing glasses and she didn’t have any wings, whilst they were accompanied by their own husbands. For they were none other than her fellow Rainbooms and former students of CHS.

‘Girls!!’ said Sunset as she rushed right over.

‘Sunset!!’ said the Rainbooms as they were really happy to see her, whilst they were really happy to see her.

‘It’s so great to see all of you.’ said Sunset.

‘It’s great to see you too Sunset.’ said Sci-Twi.

‘What are all of you doing here?’ said Sunset.

‘We were almost prepared to set out to visit our families for the holidays,’ said Sunset’s Applejack ‘But then Ignis wrote to us and asked us to join y’all for the holidays.’

‘Plus it was to another world, so how could we say no.’ said Sunset’s Rainbow Dash.

‘Not to mention the pudding.’ said Sunset’s Pinkie as she began to drool.

‘Also, we missed you terribly darling.’ said Sunset’s Rarity.

‘We wouldn’t dream celebrating the holidays without you.’ said Sunset’s Fluttershy.

‘So we can also make a tradition by coming here.’ said Sunset’s Twilight.

‘Yeah, cause this place ain’t bad.’ said Sunset’s Spike, now that he’s also turned into a dragon.

‘This is great.’ said Sunset as she got excited ‘Now we get to hang out for old time’s sake.’

‘Well then what are we waiting for?’ said Ignis.

‘Let the holiday festivity begin.’ said Beau.

Soon enough, everyone began to find their respected seats, and all of them began to mingle and chatter, smiling and laughing, enjoying each other’s company. The food never tasted better, the gifts were all amazing, and most importantly, they get to do this as one big happy family. Twilight sat next to her husband with a smile that never faded during the entire festivity, whilst she and her husband looked at one another.

‘Happy Hearth’s Warming Beau.’ said Twilight.

‘Happy Hearth’s Warming Twilight.’ said Beau.

Twilight hugged her husband, as Beau hugged her back, with Moonlight in the center, enjoying her parents’ embrace. And not just her, but so too did the humans and the ponies they’re married to, for this was truly the best gifts they had ever given them. Though they may have kept it a secret, it was truly worth it in the end.

From right outside, Alice watched the whole scene as she said ‘And so it worked out, and a lesson was learned. There’s no need to obsess.’

She floated right next to Aurora and Bori as they too had smiles on their faces, with Alice saying ‘Gift giving is simple, as long as you recall.’

As they flew away back to their home, Alice said ‘Friendship and Family is the best gift of all.’

And from within the Castle of Friendship, everyone enjoyed the feasts as laughter and joy were spread among them, for it was truly the best Hearth’s Warming Eve ever.

I know it’s long passed. But happy holidays to one and all.

Author's Note

And there you have it. So happy holidays (Even if it is overdue)