A Hearth Warming Story

by Vespi

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Sad
Length: 3760

An older Twilight learns the true meaning of friendship

Twilight in the future is grumpy and sad. Her friends are long gone; but one night she gets a wake up call from her only friends.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2011-12-22 15:10:32 UTC

Stave 1

Yes i know Christmas Charol with ponies. But no pony is going to tell Mr. Dickens

Right? ;)

-Vespi

You’d think that the Elements of Harmony would unite ponies; but over time friendship like everything else shatters. Twilight’s tale was no different, she at once in her belief was a naïve little filly; now she had learned her lesson and knew what was more important in life.

Twilight Sparkle marched to her library; trudging her way through the snow and sleet that dogged Ponyville. She had lived here for most of her life; except for her younger days when she lived with her parents, but both of which were sadly long gone.

Twilight didn’t even bother to open the door; she just magically clanged the doorbell; things had changed in Ponyville over the years. Things had gotten bigger, for a start. The impoverished looking shacks had now transformed into myriad masses of more civilized looking buildings. Ponyville was also blessed with an enlarged display of culture and commerce; it looked like Fillydelphia 60 years ago; full of ponies.

The door opened with a loud creak; Twilight looked in to see her young apprentice Vanilla Swirl standing outside; her customary smile out.

“Hello mam need some help with those?” She asked

Twilight didn’t even answer she just levitated her groceries onto Vanilla who barely managed to levitate them all in the door; she had no choice. She knew if she dropped the smallest egg or a droplet of milk Twilight would reprimand her and if Twilight was in a bad move even fire her.

“Boy! Do you mind if I have one mam?” Vanilla Swirl said; eyeing one of Pinkie Pie’s cupcakes; Twilight had to admit even after all the years and all the loss Pinkie still loved to bake.

“I’d rather you not” Twilight said in a grumpy voice. Twilight had a lot to be distressed about; she had no family left, no friends, just her library and her books. She never bothered to marry or even date; all she cared about were those books of her.

“Get back to work!” Twilight ordered; Vanilla ran back to her station. Twilight agreed to tutor the young filly, who it seems has abnormal magic talents. Speaking of magic Twilight couldn’t help but grimace at the calendar; it was almost Hearth’s Warming Eve. Twilight hated the day with such passion many ponies would believe she was insane. Twilight used her magic to yank off several months from the calendar. Instead of it being December 23rd it was February 19th in Twilight’s mind.

“Hey man, Twilight man” Vanilla said shyly peeking out from her book. “If it doesn’t mean that much to you; if you don’t mind, mam please.”

“I guess you want the whole day then” Twilight muttered; in her mind the 25th was a working day like the 24th or the 26th.

“If you do not mind mam” Vanilla said

“Frankly I’d prefer you wouldn’t” Twilight said in a constables voice “Hearth Warming Day is just like any other day; you don’t gain anything from it, what is the point then?”

“Well it’s just my friends, and my family we are having a dinner you see”

“Well it doesn’t take all day to eat dinner now does it?” Twilight said

“But please mam, its Hearth Warming Day! Everypony has somewhere to go and some pony to meet”

Twilight had to cut her off “Vanilla Swirl if you want to keep this apprenticeship I advise you keep your mouth closed and your eyes on the books, back to work!”  At the sentence about Vanilla’s “Situation” the young filly just burrowed her head back into the book silently reading to herself.

Another hour dragged on by before Twilight heard a sprightly tapping from the door; there was only 1 pony in all of Equestria who could be so happy to see Twilight; Pinkie Pie.

Twilight walked to the door; and opened it. Pinkie Pie took no time to bounce right in and shake Twilight’s hoof with a smile “Merry Hearth Warming Eve Twilight!” She said; even after all the years for the most part Pinkie Pie’s vitality and pink hair stayed intact.

“Why is it so merry Pinkie?” Twilight winced “We are just another year old and no better off”

“Well its Heart Warming Eve silly!” Pinkie Pie said giggling “Everypony loves Heart Warming Day”

“I don’t” Twilight said

“Really why?” Pinkie Pie said hanging her head to the side, turning her smile upside down.

“Pinkie we are both growing too old for this world ;before long we will be in the ground” Twilight said; although Pinkie hid her age behind her smile and pink hair Pinkie knew her time was coming too.

“What do you mean a secret underground cavern?” Pinkie Pie said “Like the ones the diamond dogs had? The Diamond dogs that kidnapped Rarity?”

“Ahh Rarity, a mighty shame she is not here to hear that” Twilight said “Her snobbishness would of really lightened the mood” Rarity, AJ, Dashie, Fluttershy; one by one several years ago they passed 1 by 1, Twilight always assumed that Pinkie or herself would be next.

“Yea sure is sad” Pinkie Pie said, still frowning “Well wanted to just drop by happy Hearth Warming Eve!”

“Pinkie…” Twilight growled

“Come on Twilight! Lighten up it is Hearth Warming Eve!” Pinkie Pie said; Twilight turned around to see her apprentice stifling a smile.

“Well then farewell Pinkie” Twilight said

“Happy Hearth Warming Eve!” Pinkie Pie said, before exiting, closing the door behind her. Twilight turned around

“What are you staring at? Get back to work!”

At the annual time of 7 Vanilla Twist left; the door shutting behind her. Twilight was alone; how she longed for her little brother Spike; but she knew that that would never happen again.

Twilight had fallen asleep at maybe 9ish when she heard a thumping on the floor.

“Spike?” Twilight murmured aimlessly in the dark; the thumping continued, increasing in tone as it worked its way to the door. Then for a moment stopping like the heart of a dead pony, thumping 1 second silent the next.

The door flew open, nosily slamming on the door stopper. Twilight panicked and shrouded her face under the covers; what is it that is in my room? Twilight thought, she couldn’t tell if the intruder was walking, or Twilight was hearing her heartbeat in her ear.

“Twilight” The voice murmured; good god who was that! She knew the voice from somewhere!

“R-Rarity?” Twilight said; her head still under the covers. The suspect yanked the covers off of Twilight’s bed, exposing her body.

“Twilight Sparkle, do you know what Friendship is? The magic you taught me!?” Rarity said; Twilight now had a close view of the Apparition. It was Rarity alright; even in death Rarity’s pure white skin and intricate purple hair were both exemplary. But that was impossible! Rarity was dead!

“You are dead! How is this!?” Twilight said

“Twilight Sparkle; you were once a strong and nice mare; but now you are a mere shadow of your younger self; what had happened?”

“I grew smarter! I didn’t need friends! I knew my priorities!” Twilight said her voice a mere whimper

“Twilight I am here to change you for the better; you will meet 3 more of your friends very soon; in fact in the next 3 days you will meet your forgotten friends. The ones you once cherished, but now vilify. The ones you once loved, but now regret.”

“They didn’t understand me! No pony did!” Twilight said

“Nonetheless I am here to help you; listen to the guidance of your forgotten friends and seek their wisdom; if you do so we may all benefit in the afterlife.” Twilight waited a second

“But; you were a good mare! What did you do wrong?”

“Well remember that party with Lucky7 and… well it doesn’t matter! Ghosts, wisdom, enlightment. Chop chop!”  It was Rarity all right

Before Twilight could respond she felt a blinding light; she removed her head from the pillow and looked in her room; empty. Rarity was gone.

But what did she mean about her 3 friends? What did she mean about wisdom?

Stave 3

The next morning was somewhat queer for Twilight. It seemed darker than usual for a morning; even with the curtains all closed. Twilight got up and stretched herself out. She opened the curtains; for a moment she thought she was going blind .Outside it was pitch black; like a midnight. But wait…

O lord had she slept a whole 24 hours?

Twilight grabbed a lamp to see if any pony was outside; for all she knew the sun had died and everypony was living in the dark.  But no pony was outside; it was really midnight again.

“Twilight great to see you again amigo!” Twilight turned around to see none other than Rainbow Dash sitting on her bed a smile on her face. How had she got in without making a light display like the previous 2 ghosts?

“Rainbow Dash where did you come from!?” Twilight questioned

“Twilight relax; im here to give you a lesson.” Dashie said; it was strange to see Rainbow Dash in her prime again; perhaps she was in her form when she had just joined the Wonderbolts. Maybe this was her when Twilight knew the athletic mare.

“Twilight what happened? No stallion, no friends, heck your own apprentice hates you.” Dashie said seeing through Twilight with her eyes.

“Why Dashie Vanilla Twist doesn’t hate me!” Twilight sputtered; before she knew it she was outside in the cold slush again. She recognized the place immediately, it was Vanilla’s house. She vaguely remembered it in the first moment, she had been there only once to give Vanilla homework that she had forgotten, but before long Dashie hinted saying “All she wanted was a great Hearth Warming Day”

The 2 peaked inside; Vanilla was sitting down with her mother and father. A older looking mare was levitating food onto their shoddy looking table.

“So what did Twilight say?” The father asked

“She wouldn’t let me have the day off” Vanilla said “Why do I even have to go to her anyways? She is just an old cranky mean witch if you ask me.”

The mother gasped “Vanilla!”

“O relax Sarah we all know the fact; that Twilight is lonelier then a deforested forest. We just need our daughter to get into an academy; Vanilla you know you have a gift, no filly your age can levitate or do spells like you.” The father said taking a bite out of his dinner “1 or 2 years or so you can become a big shot mage; wouldn’t that be great? When you are there you’d never have to meet that mean, old witch Twilight again.”

So it was true; everypony loathed Twilight.

“Well we should at leastly wish her good health” The mother said

“You mean like we hope you die?” The older sister asked with a giggle.

“See what I mean Twilight. If that isn’t hate I don’t know hate.” Rainbow Dash said in her pompous voice.

Twilight couldn’t believe it; until then hate was just another word in her dictionary. She didn’t know it hurt that bad when she learned that people actually hated her, people actually wanted her to die, people only put up with her for their own fortune.

“Let’s see what pinkie is up too” Rainbow Dash said; the scene changed and Twilight noticed Pinkie Pie’s old bakery. Inside was Pinkie Pie; her husband and 2 additional generations of parents and foals all sitting together and eating.

“See this Twilight? This is what real family looks like. See how they are all so happy, even though they aren’t very well off?”

Twilight ignored the question and just listened to their conversations

“Hey mom why do you always act so nice to that mare Twilight Sparkle? She seems just so nasty sometimes…” One of the parents asked, apparently it was Pinkie Pie’s daughter.

“Come on Cookimos she is my only friend now. She feels like a family to me; we have known each other for a while now. Maybe we could have her for dinner on Hearth Warming Day, what do you all say?”

All the other ponies at the table just made “Ehh” sounds and “meh” sounds while pinkie Pie sat there with a smile.

“Well too bad I’m head of the table and I say she comes for dinner” Pinkie Pie squealed, gaining laughter from the dozen or so ponies at the table.

“See what I mean?” Rainbow Dash said

“I understand; but am I really that bad?” Twilight questioned what had she done to deserve this vilification towards herself?

“Well there was you throwing spike out of the window…” Rainbow Dash said

O yea…

“But I have to go now Twilight… Fluttershy wants to meet you”

Just like that the room turned back to normal and Rainbow Dash mysteriously vanished. Did she say something about Fluttershy?

Stave 4

“Your back Rainbow Dash what happened?” Twilight asked. For a moment and a moment only she mistook the dark figure in front of her as the friendly apparition of Rainbow Dash.

The specter didn’t say a word; it was cloaked with a dark black cloak, shrouding everything but a yellow hoof.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked; the spirit didn’t move, nor talk, nor make any gesture.

“I understand what you are going to do Fluttershy; I think I have learned my lesson” Twilight said “I do not need any more mentoring; I have learned I have to be nicer to the ponies around me”

The spirit didn’t move

“Fluttershy is any pony home?” Twilight asked

The spirit remained still

“Fluttershy?”

Without a word the spirit spawned the 2 in the street; it was Ponyville alright Twilight could tell by the mayors officer jetting out from the background.

“Fluttershy where are we what are we doing here?”

Fluttershy didn’t answer again; but with a hand gesture ordered Twilight to follower her. Twilight eventually saw what Fluttershy was motioning to. At first it was hard to see but Twilight envisioned a  grown up Vanilla Twist and came up with an exact replica of a mare talking on the street. Twilight could now tell her distinctive marsh mellow coat and ruby red mane from 100 miles away.

“So are you sad about Twilight’s death?” Asked a mare

“Not really” Vanilla said “She was a wicked old witch in my opinion”

All the other mares didn’t seem to surprised “From what I’ve heard she was the sour apple in the bunch”

“Yea; at leastly apples don’t nag and complain and scold and blackmail all the time. That mare is dead and I’m glad; one less problem to worry about. Vanilla Twist snickered.

Is this how Twilight would be remembered? The mean old witch that nagged and complained and scolded and blackmailed?

“Fluttershy where did I go wrong?” Twilight asked; hoping for a response

There was none

But instead the spirit transported her to a sad, doleful looking graveyard. Fluttershy pointed that 1 hoof at a grave

“What is this, my grave?” Twilight asked “I know no one loved me”

Fluttershy just kept pointing before Twilight accepted; the last thing she wanted was to be hit by Fluttershy’ legendary stare.

The tombstone wasn’t Twilight’s own; it was Pinkie Pie’s the epoch stated

“Here lies Pinkie Pie she had 1 and only 1 friend”

Good god did the epoch mean Twilight was Pinkie Pie’s only friend in her later years? That even after all the cruelty Twilight dished out Pinkie Pie felt she was her only friend; was that why she was going to invite Twilight for dinner

“I see Fluttershy; I was her only friend”

The spirit stood still

“Maybe if I had been nicer they would all be here; you and Rainbow Dash”

The spirit stood still.

“Applejack and Pinkie Pie”

The spirit’s hoof shuttered for a split second

“And Rarity and me. We would have been better off; why did it have to end Fluttershy?”

The spirit dropped its hoof to the ground

“I caused this; I’ve been a terrible mare to everypony who tried and help me. I deserve a terrible after life; I was a bad mare. But what happens now? Should I just give up and die alone and depressed?”

The spirit actually seemed to shake its head; or maybe it was Twilights imagination

“Or should I try and be a better mare and try and help everypony who tried and help me?”

There was a pause

“I think I’ll be a better mare; thank you Fluttershy.” Twilight said

“Yay”

“What was that Fluttershy?”

Before Twilight could question the specter anymore she was back in her bed; again; her old bedroom; no Applejack, no Dashie, no Fluttershy there. Just herself

“Bless you mares, bless you” Twilight said

And so Twilight the next day became a surprise to every pony. She was joyous and happy, smiley and energized. She let Vanilla have the day off; and even offered to pay her, she went to pinkie Pie’s and enjoyed her cupcakes and delicious treats.

It was a strange feeling for Twilight; to be liked, although she still had a long time until she would be accepted she knew she was on the right track.

The elements of harmony had been restored.

Well that was the entire story; sorry if you didn't have enough time to get some popcorn. Hope you enjoyed it

-Vespi

Stave 2

The next day was arduous for Twilight. She told herself it was a nightmare, nothing else. Just her mind playing tricks with herself, nothing was real. Twilight went through the daily routine, working Vanilla hard and shooting down her requests for a day off. What, did she think that she deserved it? She was her apprentice! Not her employee!

Twilight plopped her head onto the bed for a relaxing moment. She had locked the door behind her and felt secure in her tree house.  That was, of course, before a blinding light appeared in front of her bed for the 2nd time in 2 nights.

This time Twilight tried to convince herself to stay strong and look whatever it was right in the eye. What she saw from the light was her old friend Applejack.

“Well howdy AJ” Twilight said in a nervous voice “What do y’all need?”

“Hush up hon you know why I am here. Twilight what happened?”

This spirit was different then the pensive Rarity. Twilight saw the frown of disappointment on Applejack, the look of pure sadness coming from her eyes.

“I learned what was important in life Apple Eleanor Jack. Simple as that” Twilight said

“Shoot Twilight remember what friendship was? Living like this ain’t friendship, remember this Hearth Warming eve?”

At first Twilight didn’t understand the apparition. But in the blink of an eye Twilight remembered everything. The bedroom was transformed into an outside plaza. Twilight knew the sight like the back of her hoof; it was the entrance garden for the Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns Academy. Twilight lived here for several depressing years.

“Y’all remember anything hon?” Applejack said, but Twilight could tell AJ knew what was going on; Twilight’s disgruntled frown turned into a gleeful smile. “Applejack I remember this place! It was the Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns Academy; I lived here for several years.”

“4 years if I recollect” Applejack added

Walking inside Twilight could tell every filly by name. from Apple Cider to Zeal she named every filly and every teacher she came across.

:Y’all see that little filly over there? Does she look familiar to you?” Applejack said; Twilight looked in one of the rooms, she knew who it was immediately. It was herself, 68 years ago exactly. Twilight back then was just a small little lavender unicorn, constantly reading her books.

“I- I remember this” Twilight said

“Good; why were you alone?” Applejack questioned

“O I didn’t mean that, I mean I remember the story! O what a great story! A story of love and romance and… friendship” The last word hit Twilight like a rock

“You sure wanted to fit in didn’t you Twi?” Applejack added

“yes; but now I know I don’t need friends.”

“Really?” Applejack asked “Remember this night?” The moment was lost and Twilight instantly remembered the day again. It was the year and her 5 friends were chosen to play in the play about how Hearth Warming Day became.

“This is going to be great!” Rainbow Dash yelled; Rainbow Dash, what a character. Twilight listened in intently for some time before Applejack asked her “If friendship is so useless why did you enjoy it so much? It wasn’t like you got paid or learned anything from preforming such a useless drench. “

“How could you say something like that AJ? It was special, we were a team we did everything together, if it wasn’t for those 5 mares down there I don’t know how I would of turned out, probably like some old, sad, and lonely crone” Twilight covered her mouth; she realized how she had turned out, like an old, sad, lonely crone.

“What happened here then hon?” Applejack asked; the scene changed again and Twilight for the 3rd time recognized the scene. This felt like a death sentence to her.

“But Princess you don’t understand!” Twilight protested “I know what friendship is!”

“Do you Twilight Sparkle?” The princess asked; it was strange seeing herself and the princess actually talking. Twilight always felt like a subordinate to the princess, not an actual student.

“But what did I do wrong princess?” Twilight questioned

“You know what you did wrong Twilight. You had something magical, a friendship stronger than anything I had ever seen, and now it is broken. Why did you leave something so great to die Twilight? Why?” Twilight looked at her younger self, now tearing up at the princess’s words

“I’m sorry Twilight I guess I was wrong about you.” The princess said; leaving the room. Twilight felt everything hurt, seeing herself break down and cry in that tower that fateful night was more painful then the actual experience was.

“I think I’ve learned enough for now AJ” Twilight said

“Really hon? I actually have like what 10 more places to go but if y’all say so” Like that Twilight was back in her bedroom, and alone.

“What happened to me…?” Twilight said in despair “What happened to my friendship…”