Hearth's Warming Legend

"Now young ones, settle down so we can start the story," said an old, grandmotherly unicorn. The little fillies and colts all sat or lay down promptly. They old pony settled into her chair by the crackling fire and used her magic to settle a blanket around her lap. The wind howled outside as the snow swished about.

"This is a tale from long ago, about a little unicorn filly, just like you," she pointed at a dark green filly who was in the front.

"This filly had lost her belief in Frosty Beard, the pony who brings gifts to all the good little fillies and colts every Hearth's Warming, but she went on a grand adventure to find the true meaning of this holiday and help save everypony from a cold and malignant creature. That is much later in the story, so we'll start in the beginning, where all good stories start. Anyway, the filly's name was Star Light and she was....."

Star Light was slowly walking down the streets of Canterlot and looking at all the Hearth's Warming decorations. There were garlands and wreathes, and bells tied together with red ribbons. There were candles in windows and eight foot candy canes too. There were also all sorts of gifts and holiday treats in the shop windows. Even though there were two weeks left before Hearth's Warming, ponies were decorating and singing carols to get into the spirit of things. Star snorted, softly. She was far from holiday cheer, but she didn't want anyone else to know. She didn't want to ruin this supposedly good holiday for anyone else.

In truth, Star Light had her fun of the holiday sapped from her because of a multitude of things. First of all, her parents were always gone on some matter or another. She knew they had important jobs, what with her father being one of the few knights of Equestria and her mother a civil security adviser, but that didn't stop her heart from being hurt whenever she saw all of the other ponies of her age enjoying the company of their parents on the holiday when she barely even saw her's for only a few minutes before they had to go off on some "important job" they had to do. The next thing was that she had completely lost her faith in Frosty Beard. Every year she had believed that he wasn't an colt's tale she asked for the same thing, that her parents would spend the holiday with her. Finally, the thing that really made her unhappy on Hearth's Warming, was that she had no one, not even a real friend, to spend the holiday with and had never even experienced the magic of the holiday.

Star sighed. She headed for her favorite pastry shop, Joe's Donuts, to give her some comfort. She always loved the hot chocolate there. When she got there, a pegasus she liked the least was in her way. His name was Shock Fire, and he had his two cronies with him. He was a bully, and he loved to pick on her when no one was looking. He was the son of two rich parents and he always got the best from them. In fact, they were always smothering him with attention. Great, another reason that ruins Star's day.Unfortunately for Star, he spotted her.

"Hey look, Gloomy Light is coming," he said to his 'friends'. "Let's go mess with her."

"Ha ha, yeah, I could go for some enjoyment," answered the tall, skinny one.

Star looked around and saw Joe, the shop owner of Joe's Donuts, and galloped toward the shop, barreling past Shock. Shock was a bully, but he wasn't stupid. When he saw who Star was heading for, he stopped his two cronies from following and they slunk off. When Star reached Joe he smiled knowingly at her and let her in the shop.

"Hello Star Light, your usual I presume?" he asked.

"Yes, thanks Joe, and can you bring me one of those sugarplum tarts you make at this time of year too?" she asked.

"Sure."

She sat at a table close to the front window of the pastry shop and looked outside at the snowy ground and pretty decorations. I wonder if the library is open today she thought. Not surprisingly, Star's escape from the world was books. In fact, it seemed her only companions were books. She loved them, but wasn't obsessed with them like the Sun Princess's student was. As she looked out of the shop window, she thought of the ruler of Equestria and Twilight. How could such an antisocial bookworm become an incredibly powerful unicorn that defeated multiple threats to Equeatria just because of making a few friends. Star's musings were interrupted with the appearance of Celestia herself and Twilight when they entered the shop. She nodded to the Princess and Twilight shyly and looked back outside. The pair sat at another table and ordered their own hot chocolates.

Then they started talking. Star couldn't help but listen in.

"Well Twilight, I always look forward to our time together, but why aren't you celebrating Hearth's Warming with your friends?" Celestia asked.

"Well, Applejack is celebrating the holiday with the rest of her family and Spike is having his first dragon nap, so Applejack promised to watch over him in Sweet Apple Acres, Pinkie is away with her family on vacation, Rarity is busy making the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant costumes and spending some time with her sister, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are in the joint Ponyville and Cloudsdale Pageant, so they needed to memorize their lines and actions. I decided to spend some time with my family and you Princess, and I wanted to show my brother all the new spells I learned. I also wanted to see all the new books in the Canterlot Public Library." Twilight replied, with a dreamy look when she said the last of her objectives.

Celestia chuckled and said, "Well I see your holiday won't be boring. Just remember to actually spend time with your family before you go to the library, my faithful student." With that, they started to discuss the many spells Twilight knew. Star had finished her tart and hot chocolate and was staring into space.She started when she heard Twilight talking to her.

"Hello little filly, what's your name. I noticed you were sitting here by yourself and I wondered if you would like to join us." she said.

"I... I'm Star Light," Star said shyly. She couldn't believe it, she was going to sit with Celestia. If she wasn't so downcast on the holiday, she would have said it was a Hearth's Warming miracle. "Uh... sure, I guess I could join you." she said to Twilight, and let herself be led over to the table with Celestia sitting at it.

They talked about many things, such as stories and legends, and soon it was evening. That was the first time Star felt happy when holiday season came around in five years.