Twas Hearth's Warming Eve
Twas Hearth's Warming Eve, and all through the town, all the ponies slept peacefully, without making a sound. One purple Unicorn was wide wake, for sleep was something she just couldn't take. Who pony else would still be up in the night, continuing her work other than Twilight?. Diligently she focused on the spell she discovered, one that intrigued her more than any other. She put her hoof down on the spell at hand, "With this I will travel," she said "To a whole other land."
Suddenly, Twilight's concentration was broken by the sound of shattering glass and a blue object whizzing past her head. The object smashed into one of the bookshelves, causing dozens upon dozens of books to fall onto of it. Twilight turned her head and saw the strands of a multicolored mane emerge from the pile, followed by a pair of blue wings. With a dizzy look on her face, Rainbow Dash waved one of her hooves at Twilight with a sheepish grin on her face.
"Hey Twilight," she said nervously, "whats up."
"WHATS UP!" shouted Twilight who glared angrily at the intruder "Rainbow what are you doing awake at this hour? And more importantly, what the hay are you doing in my house?"
"I'm practicing my routine, all this snow my team set up is perfect for training. Unfortunately its very hard to see through, but I think if I keep at it I'll -"
"Look what you did to my window!" shouted Twilight as snow pointed a hoof towards it. Snow was already pouring into the gaping hole and blowing onto Twilight's face.
"No sweat Twilight." assured Rainbow Dash. "I'll pay for the damages"
"Well while you're here you should check this out, I'm working on selling it, that is, if it's performed correctly, will change Equestria forever."
"Unless it allows earth ponies to sprout Pegasus wings," She said while stretching out her own "I highly doubt that."
"I'm serous Rainbow, what I'm about to show will be as you would say 'beyond awesome'."
Rainbow suddenly became intrigued and curious as to what exactly Twilight was planning. "Alright let's see it then."
Twilights' horn began to glow and her eyes turned pure white. Purple energy began collect above them, created what looked like a vortex of magic. As the energy became bigger and swirled faster, both Rainbow Dash and Twilight started to float slowly into the air. Rainbow Dash looked back and forth with fear as she was pulled against her will. She tried to grab the library table for support, knocking over the wooden horse head statue in the process.
"Twilight what's going on? this is freaky." she said nervously. Twilight couldn't hear her, nor could she respond to the frantic mares pleas. The spell was in motion, and it took all of Twilights' concentration to maintain it.
"Twilight, TWILIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT" screamed Rainbow Dash before both mares were sucked up into the portal.
"George, I think the blue one's starting to wake up."
"Ok, take it easy, this creature is most likely going to be shocked when she wakes up. We're still trying to talk down the purple one."
Rainbow Dash slowly tried to open her eyes. Her vision was extremely blurry, but she could make out two greenish shapes; Is this a bed? she thought to herself. As her vision got clearer, she could make out the peachy skin of their faces. As her thoughts became clearer, Rainbow Dash became fully aware of the beings in front of her. When her mind couldn't identify them, she immediately did what any sentient being would do when faced with an alien presses. She panicked.
She threw her blanket over the shapes before her and spread her wings to fly. It didn't take long before she hit her head on the ceiling and fell back onto the bed. She lifted her head and looked back at the creatures who were now starting at her with annoyed faces.
The creatures both wore green clothing and stood on two legs. One of them wore a pointy green hat while the other one wore a pointy red hat. Their faces were unlike anything she had ever seen before, but their strangest. feature had to have been there pointy ears. Finally the one with the red hat them spoke.
"Do not be startled dear creature, neither of us mean you any harm. I'm sure you have a lot of questions like your friend in the other room, so let us answer them as fast as we can. We are what you would call elves, and this is Santa's workshop."
The red hatted Elf - who Rainbow learned was called George- explained to her the basics of Christmas and the role that they and Santa played in celebrating good will on Earth. When he was done talking, Rainbow asked the few remaining questions she had left.
"So Christmas is a lot like Hearths Warming Day, except, instead of celebrating the founding of Equestrian Harmony, you guys celebrate the birth of this important man who is the savior of mankind?"
"Hearths Warming Day?" asked George.
"From what you guys told me, this Christmas is a lot like a celebration we have in my world. This is pretty cool. I wonder what other similarities this world has with mine. Also, do you know where Twilight is?"
Just then Twilight entered the room with a smile on her face.
"Rainbow, thank Celestia that you're alright. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, but I just have so many questions. I can't wait to tell the Princess all about this. Although this world is extremely different from ours, there are still a surprising number of similarities. This is so exciting."
"I have to admit this really awesome Twilight, but I think we should get back to Ponyville before we miss Hearth Warming Day."
Suddenly Twilights' smile dropped and was replaced with a look of sadness. "I'm sorry Dash, but that spell required more magic than I thought it would. My power is extremely low right now. I can still levitate objects just fine, but that's about it." She lifted her head and her smile returned. "Luckily it will probably only take me six hours before my magic recharges. In the meantime you and I can explore the workshop and learn about this world."
"Oh great," Rainbow thought to herself. "Well at least we're not stranded here. As much as I hate to study, this place is pretty cool. I wonder if we can meet this Santa person everyone's been talking about."
Just then another elf ran into the room with a frantic look on his face.
"George we got a problem!"
"What is it?"
"It looks like almost all the reindeer have the flu. There are only three of them that don't have it, but now we don't have enough to get Santa off the ground."
"Darn, if only Santa were lighter, we could probably get the sleigh off the ground with no problem. After all, his magic bag doesn't weigh as much as everything in it. But even if he was, there is no way three reindeer could make up for the speed required to get this job done."
Rainbow Dash began to smirk, her eyes filed with determination at the sound of a challenge of speed and endurance. "Luckily for you I am the fastest flyer in all of Equestria. I bet Twilight and I can deliver those gifts 20% faster than the fat man."
Twilight turned to Rainbow with a worried look on her face. "What! we can't possibly ....."
"Twilight, you and I have nothing better to do right now, Christmas is very important to every po -, I mean, everyone on this planet. Imagine how bummed they all would be if there was no Christmas. Besides, this could be your only chance to see the whole entire world in 10 hours flat."
After a moments pause, Twilight turned her head to George. "If there is anyone who can save Christmas, it's us."
While the elves strapped Rainbow Dashs' harness on, Twilight was memorizing the Naughty and Nice list. At the same time, she was making quick glances at the world map to make sure she knew the route.
"Alright you better take off soon," Shouted one of the elves. We're already behind schedule."
"Okay I think I'm ready. Rainbow Dash, how about you."
"I was born ready Twilight, now get your flank in the sled and lets take off already."
Twilight lifted herself onto the sled with her forelegs. With the bag of toys behind her and a Santa hat on her head, she was ready to take off.
"Okay the runway is clear." shouted the elf. "You are free for take off."
Without a moments hesitation, Rainbow began her run through the runway. About half away through she opened her wings and began to flap them. With a few beats she was off, and they were soaring through the snowy landscape.
From New Zealand to Japan, from Japan to China, Rainbow Dash and Twilight sped through the sky at unbelievable speeds. Rainbow Dashs' natural speed was able to carry both the sleigh and Twilight faster than ever before. House by house, nation by nation, they dropped off the presents. It wasn't long before the two mares began to form a routine. Rainbow Dash would land the sleigh on the roof, and Twilight would levitate the gifts down the chimney and under the tree. For the houses with out chimneys, Twilight would use teleportation to bring her and the gifts into the houses. At first Twilight avoided stealing the milk and cookies that she kept finding by the trees, but eventually gave in to her hunger. She felt very bad about it, but at least she was giving the people something back in return.
All the while Twilight and Rainbow Dash marveled at all the wonder of the world. Twilight was speechless when she first gazed at the pyramids of Egypt and was completely mezmorized when she saw Big Ben. "Human architecture is incredible." thought Twilight, "I can't wait to study more about this place."
When they had finished delivering gifts to the last house in Eastern Europe, they flew across the ocean and towards the Americas. On their way, Rainbow saw something that made her smile from ear to ear. A plane was flying not far from where they were. She sped towards the flying mechanical wonder, which greatly startled Twilight.
"Oh my gosh that thing is so cool!"
From within the plane a little girl was watching out of the window when something caught her eye.
"Mommy, I think I see Santa, and his sleigh is being pulled by a rainbow- colored reindeer."
"That is so cute sweetie, why don't you take a picture with mommies phone?"
The little girl took the picture, not knowing that it would later make national news in the days that followed.
When Rainbow and Twilight began their journey across the globe, they had been running almost two hours behind Santas' original schedule. However, thanks to Rainbow Dashes amazing speed, they were now an hour ahead of schedule. When they where done with the United States, they began their approach to South America. Unfortunately as they made their way down, they were caught in a huge snow storm.
"Rainbow, we have to turn back, there is no way we can make it through this storm."
"We can't give up now Twilight, I told that elf we would beat Santas' record and I meant it. Besides, all that practice back in Ponyville has really paid off. I think I can see us making it through the storm. Just have a little faith."
Sure enough, Rainbow was able to press through the storm. With only a couple more countries to go and time on their side, the two mares felt a minor surge of relief. However they wouldn't celebrate until the very last present had been dropped off.
In the end they returned to the North Pole triumphantly. Santa himself awarded both Twilight and RD with gifts he personally made while they were gone. For Twilight, he gave her a large book about Earth. For Rainbow Dash, he made her a custom flight suit adorned with rainbow lighting bolts. When it was time for them to leave, Twilight was able to open the portal with a lot less difficulty. They waved good- bye to Santa and the elves as they were sucked back into their world.
When they got back to Equestria, It was Hearths Warming Morning. Although they were very tired from the all the hard work they did that night, the joy they felt from what they had done outweighed their exhaustion. The spirit that makes Christmas and Heath Warming day magical burned brighter then ever before in the two mares.
The End
