Chapters Stories told on the Hearth
I will be home for hearth's warming
I will be home, for hearth’s warming
The blizzard blowed hard and firce outside of the farmhouse, cold and unfeeling. Inside, though, a young filly could feel the warmth and love from within the house from her family and the warm cup of choclate that was in her hoof. Though for her, she was very worried, “She
Looking down at her, a smile came across his face as he nodded and let out a, “Eeyup.” He then gave an affectionate nuzzle to her neck, “ Don't worry, she hasnt missed an hearth’s warming with us yet and she never will.” He then and turned away and left the little filly to watch the snow accumulate.
“ Please Applejack...come home soon.” Applebloom said, looking down.
________
“Buckin SNOW!” A yellow mare yelled as she shook the snow out of her hat. She had been walking away from a quick delivery run when the storm hit. Now she was forced to walk through the snowy woods without a map and that much in the way of keeping warm, “ I got to make it home soon...I promised them I would.” A look of determination was across her face as she walked, but not before she looked down at her hat. The stetson brought back a memory of a strong stallion who made a smilar promise upon the gift of the hat. A promise he would never fufill, one that left her very alone. Shaking her head she put her hat on top of her head, a look of determination on her muzzle, “ I wont do that to them! I wont break my promise no matter AAAAAHHH.” Not watching where she was going led her to fall down a small cliff and covered in the falling snow.
The snow began to fall slowly onto the young mare, not caring about the her destination or home. Just another body to cover with its unfeeling coldness.
_________
“We got to do something Big Mac! Call Celestia, anythang! She could be dead out there and we wouldnt know it!” Applebloom said, her voice breaking as the worry came over her. Her brother shook his head, as if to say ‘its covered’. He then pointed to the outside window to show 5 figures in the snow. A purple one talking to the other four, commanding with the air of a princess. A blue one in flight, moving her arms as if she was anxious to get going, a pink one looking about ready to run. A timid looking yellow one, but with a look of determination and a desire to not fail a dear friend, and a white one getting out some warm clothes. The five ponie finished their discussion and turned to go their own way. Applebloom looked on, a sad smile on her face as she watched the snow continue to fall slowly.
“You know...this reminds me of a story of how a young donkey was saved by his mother from the cold by her body. The problem is, the mother died in the attempt and left the boy alone...and there aint” With a grunt she threw all of the snow off her body, shaking it all off, “NO BUCKING WAY AH AM GIVING UP LIKE THAT!” Walking with a feeling of determination on her mind she continued her trek. Looking down at her legs to make sure she wasnt frostbitten she trudged on.
Within a few moments she could see a clearing in the woods, and the warm feeling of home on the back of her neck. Realizing that the warm feeling was, in fact, breathing she turned around and leapt out of the way of a timberwolf. “Ohhh, you aint getting in my pardner...not today...ESPEICALLY NOT TODAY!” With that Applejack turned and bucked the wolf into the tree before pulling out her lasso and hogtieing it to the ground. She walked away from the trapped creature and admired her work, until she felt the sharp pain of claws along her shoulder. Turning around she saw two more wolf, both mad and very hungry. The orange mare smirked and got ready for a fight as the two wolves leapt at her.
________
“She’ll be home...she will! She...promised.” The little filly said, almost weeping at this point, “And Applejack neva breaks her promises, NEVER!” She then looked at her red bow, and began to remember a story that was told to her a long time ago.
“Well Big Mac, I am going to go to the market and make a final run.” Applejack said, straightening her hat.
Almost as if she could feel that her big sister was about to leave her, the filly in the crib began to cry, “ Looks like Applebloom has other ideas...she wants her sister to stay.” Big mac said, walking to the crib and looking down at her.
“Big Mac, Ah have to go Ah.” She then looked at the crying baby, and could feel a pang of guilt coming to her. Then, an idea came to her as she ran and got a bow out of the drawer, “ Applebloom, this is your first gift; but its also a promise.” Applejack then put the bow onto the little filly’s head, “ Its a promise that, no matter what happens to me, no matter what Ah do, Ah will always come home for hearth’s warming eve...and Ah will always come home to you. And Applejack never breaks her promises. ok?” As if to answer, the little filly stopped crying and reached out with her hooves to hug her big sis.
Whimpering, she held her bow close to her chest, not wanting to believe that her hero, the greatest mare in Equestria, would hurt her by breaking a promise. That was when she heard a knock on the door, and some singing
Ah’ll be home for hearth’s warming You can plan on me
The door opened slowly and standing there, a few scratches and cuts along her body, was “ APPLEJACK!” Running with the speed of a rabbit, the little filly leapt at the mare and gave her a hug. Holding her tightly like she thought the moment she let go, she would lose her.
“Hey there sugarcube. Ah told you Ah would be home by this time, didnt Ah?” Applejack said, hugging her dearest gift to her tightly, a gift she would always appricate.
“There she is girls! I told you I could hear her singing from here!” A pink mare said as she bounce happily into the house.
“Glad you are allright AJ,but could you take us next time? OR at least wait for me to get the snow ready for when you get home?” Said Rainbow dash as she flew in,Fluttershy following behind her.
“Oh, Applejack you are hurt, I’ll go and get some bandages for you.” The butter colored mare said as she flew in.
“And next time Applejack, I do recommend that you go and get some clothes from meto keep warm in that horrible weather.” A white Unicorn said, coming in with a tight scarf around her.
“ Good to see you made it Applejack.” A purple unicorn said, walking in and looking down at Applebloom, “Oh and happy hearth’s warming, Applebloom.” Twilight then walked into the house, followed by Applebloom as Applejack continued to sing to herself
Following her freinds and sister, she was next tackled by Big Mac who gave her both a stern talking to and a happy hug
Applejack then walked to the couch, sat there surrounded by the things that matter the most to her, and looked at the bow on Applebloom’s head. “Ah always keep my promises...always.”
Author's Note
I was thinking of making the day before hearth's warming to be Applebloom's birthday as well, but I didnt know if it would be too overly sweet or not. I was going to write " Happy birthday" and that was the idea behind Applebloom being Applejack's gift, but I chose not to
Stories told on the Hearth
I am dreaming of a white hearth's warming
Its Winter for the red eyes that are gleaming.
The sun beamed down on the soft and golden sand, giving Celestia’s grand gift to many happy ponies, all except one. The unhappy pegasus let out a sigh as her pink mane fell over her right eye. She looked out to the ocean and felt even more lonely, not it was her fault though to by herself here. It wasnt her fault that she won KCOLT’s radio contest, after all how was she supposed to know that she was the only pony in all of ponyville who knew the name of the acient guardian of the woods-great Ak. Her friends also supported her leaving and got her to go off alone like this. She sighed again, her loneliness growing and making her feel worse. Deciding to shake off her sadness she went off to the zoo.
The little pegasus walked around the zoo, taking note of all of the cute critters that lived around there. Seeing these creatures did make her a little more happy and a lot less lonely, but she still missed those that were the closest to her, and a little less important she missed something else. Walking to a peguin exhibit, she leaned over the rail to watch the flightless fowl playing and walking around their snowy enclosed world, “ You guys are so lucky.” Fluttershy said, looking down and smiling, “ You get to have your friends close by (She remembered asking, but found out that the trip was only for one pony) and get to have all of the snow you want down there. I wish it would snow here...but there isnt a cloud in the sky and I think its way too warm for it.” the mare then sighed and walked away, wondering if she should cut the vacation short. It was getting close to hearth’s warming after all and her friends are probably missing her. Also, she missed the lovely snow, the soft white powder that she could walk around in, feeling the cold wet droplets on her back. She always loved seeing how Ponyville could be changed at the time and how the white powder could make the city beautiful.
Another sigh came to her, it just didnt feel the same spirit without her friends and, “What?” HEr walking stopped when she felt something cold land on her snoot. Looking up, she saw all that the sky was covered in a blanket of clouds, and from those clouds came, “Snow!” She exclaimed as she began to walk a little more briskley to get to her hotel and get something warm. However, something caught her eyes, it was a package. Picking it up and looking it over, she discovered that it was a cake box and in it was a spongecake with whipped cream and cherries on top.
As she ate her cake while walking she caught another package, this one being a clothes box. Opening it up, she found a scarf and a pair of warm boots that looked hoof made and stiched. Quickly she put them both on and walked a little more slowly, now wamr enough to enjoy the snow that fell around her. Getting to the hotel, a sales clerk handed the pink maned pegasus a small package, containing a small penguin plush made from straw. Smiling, she thanked the clerk and walked to the stairs that led to her room. Just outside of the door, she found one more package: a book on how to make a good snowpony. Opening the door slowly she saw a very bright light coming from the made up Hearth’s warming tree in the middle of the room, and standing in front of said tree were five ponies that meant the world to her, “Happy Hearth’s warming day!” The five ponies exclaimed, a bow on each of their necks.
No words escaped from her lips as she ran into their legs to give all of them a big hug, feeling their love and warmth.
Author's Note
I originally planned on making this chapter about Flutters getting a snow cloud for a lost peguin and taking care of it...but I couldnt figure out WHY there wouldnt be snow in Ponyville that day that didnt sound too convoluted.
Stories told on the Hearth
No place like home for the holidays
For ages and ages to come,
“ Sister, Are you sure that calling upon the immortals is wise?” Said a dark blue alicon, her flowing mane showing the many stars in the sky.
“Yes, Luna. This is something that they all need to experience and to see.” The white Alicorn said, her glorius mane shimmering in the fading sunlight. Her royal regelia shining on her body.
“But Tia...some of the immortals are a little...annoying.” Said Luna as she looked to the door, ready to accept the arrivals.
“Don’t worry Luna, besides you love some of them.” Celestia said, with a smile as the doors opened, a gust of snow blowing in, “Ah, our first guest.” And with that in came a light blue alicorn, his mane a mess of icelicles to compliment his frozen wings and snowball cutie mark.
“Hit it!” Said the Alicorn as he danced in.
[
“OH Lulu, its been too long! I just am so glad to see you out of that moon.” Snow Miser said, his smile almost catching. He then began to look around the entire castle, admiring the scenes before him and the lovely snow on the ground, “So why the call Tia?”
“Patience Snow miser, the purpose of all of you being here will be revealed soon enough.” Celestia said, looking at the snowy alicorn.
“All...of...us. Oh dear sweet chronos, tell you didnt invite HIM!” Said snow miser as he felt the doors blow open with a burst of heat. Standing in the doorway was a dark orange/red alicorn with a firey mane, his fireball cutie mark shining on his flank.
“Hit it!” Said the alicorn as the music began again.
“ No, that’s me dearest fire.” Giggled Celestia as she watched the master of fire dance into the entry hall.
“ OH Tia, I have missed you too much. How are you and...what is he doing here!” Yelled Heat miser in anger as he saw Snow miser standing next to Luna.
“I was invited here, whats your excuse? People finally got tired of your temper and decided to cool that hot head of yours?” Snow miser said, a smirk on his face.
“So was I, and unlike you, I don't give the cold shoulder to an inivtation, ice cubes for brains!” Heat miser said.
“At least I don't burn down momma’s favorite trees just because I tried to water it.” Said Ice miser
“ That was your fault and you KNOW IT!” Heat miser yelled as he prepared a fireball.
“BOTH OF YOU CALM DOWN!” Yelled Celestia as she used her Canterlot voice and slammed both immortals into opposite walls, chained up with vines, “Vines...but I didnt”
“It was some of my own magic.” A majestic alicorn strode out, his horn made of bark and seeming to join with his crown of trees and roots. Walking into the entry hall, his leave lined mane flowed with power and on his flank, was the tree of life.
“ Great Ak, you honor us all with your presence.” Celestia said as she bowed to the powerful Alicorn.
“ The pleasure is mine, sun ruler.” Ak said as he kissed the forehoof of the white Alicorn, “May I ask what is the purpose of this meeting of the immortals?”
“I could not tell you, Great Ak. My sister has been keeping the purpose hidden from me as well.” Luna said as she helped to get the miser brothers off of the walls.
“Well, then I will sit and wait to see what problems I may help with.” The master woodspony said as he walked to the table, ignoring the bickering brothers.
Time went and soon the entry hall was lined with immortals from across the many plains. Sitting in front of the huge doors was Celestia, with the princess of the night at her side looking over all of the guests, “ Immortals, you have been invited for a very speific purpose. For far too long have we only met to discuss the longeivity of a mortal toymaker, or to discuss how the long sister Borealisis should be allowed to live. However, since the time that last we all met, several important things happened. My dearest niece found her betrothed, the empire of hope and light has been restored to its former glory, an entity of chaos has been sealed, the object of legend have been restored and given proper bearers, and...the most important pony in my world has been given to me again” With that, the goddess of the sun nuzzled her dear sister. “ So, instead of us meeting to decide the fates of mortals, I have decided that we all should have...a party instead to celebrate the time of year and all that has happened to us.” With that, Celestia opened the doors of the entry hall with her hind legs to reveal a huge banquet hall decorated to the brim and filled with the food of Rarity...I mean Generousity. As the immortals began to walk into the royal hall to gaze, feast, and make merry; Celestia turned to her dear sister. “ Remind me to thank Pinkie later. For both the food and the MMMMMMMM.”
“Sister, this is still not a good idea. You know how rough some of these immortals can get when they get...what is that word that I heard some of my night guards say, oh yes...HAMMERED!” Luna said, fear in her eyes for the castle.
Affectionally, Celestia just smiled and hugged her sister, “ It will be fine. I have put up enough wards and layers of protection to keep the rowdiness only confined to here. And if worse comes to worse, I will trick Chrysalsis and her changelings to clean everything up.” Tia said, a troll look on her face.
“ But Tia...what if some of the bigger immortals were to come? Like Mother Na...” Luna then turned to see a green alicorn that seemed to walk and breathe nature across her body-birds and other animals seemed to flock to her.
“Did someone call me? Oh Celestia, Luna you two set up a party for us all, how wonderful.” Said Mother Nature as she walked in, “ You know Tia, after this party is done you must introduce me to the filly who you say can do my job almost as well as I can.”
“Oh no, not as well...even better” Said Celestia under her breath as she nudged Luna to go and partake in the festivities.
The party went on through the night, every alicorn celebrating and partaking in the festivites. The party really picked up when the god of all parties himself, Baccus, joined and brought forth the party cannon of the gods and fired it up. Through it all, Celestia had her fun and sat and partook of her delicious cake, watching as the princess who meant everything to her have fun and excitement, “You did marvelously with this party my daughter.” Said an alicorn made of the stars as she draped her wings around Celestia’s white body.
“Thank you...mother.” Celestia said as she looked up to her dear mother and kissed her cheek, “ Will you be staying?”
“I cant, maintaining the cosmic balance you know. But I stopped long enough to watch as my eldest daughter finally finds her happiness again.”
“I found that when I discovered my dau...my little twilight.” Tia said, reminding herself that Twilight was her daughter in her heart, not by blood.
“And every day, both of them make your day brighter...dont they?”
“Yes, yes they do.” Tia said, a smile on her face as she felt the mother of goddesses fly away.
The night soon ended and the immortals of the universe left this plane, leaving behind a tired and very sleepy Luna who was about to sing, “Hey tia...ever heard” Lets out a very unprincess yawn, “This one?
For ages and ages to come
Till the last tumpet sounds
To the first (yawns again as she is put onto her sisters back and carried to her bedchambers) Cracking of doom
Immortality
The white alicorn smiled as she tucked in the goddess of the night, giving her the abacus and sang with her.
Living to our present state,
Babies
She then remembers the first day that she met the little alicorn, when her mother brought in a little filly in a basket and told her that her duty was to watch and protect her. That said baby booped her nose.
Once were we
Some of us have no children or kin
But I have been very lucky
We have been where no mortal has been
we are the nobility
Immortality
She then kissed the sleeping princess on the forehead and turned to the sky to begin raising the sun. Then she watched as it rose without her, shocking her to a standstill. As she watched it raise, she noted an alicorn flying into the window shining as bright as the sun, “ Fellow sun weilder, I give this gift to you as thanks for the party.” He said as he coat and mane shone with all of the colors of the sun.
“I thank you, Apollo.” Celestia said, bowing gratitude as the sun flew home. Celestia then turned and smiled, glad that the party went well.
Author's Note
If you dont know the snow miser song...then I have a link for you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPrbccEdI5o
and as for the immortality song I had...Find life and adventures of Santa Clause and play the opening credits...its that song. I did have a scene with Baccus in it, but I cut it because I couldnt do a good thing with it
Stories told on the Hearth
sir I wanna buy these shoes
Sir I wanna buy these shoes
A small, purplish unicorn filly skipped happily to the tune of her favorite carol as she made her way to the nearby store. It was the special time of the year, and this one, she was sure, she would end up buying the perfect gift for her perfect mother. Dinky giggled as she looked around the shoe store, eyeing the weird shoes and the silly ones that made funny noises when the front part of the hoof was touched.
Though the shoes were fun to look at, she could not find a pair that she thought would match her mom perfectly, until she caught sight of 2 pairs of pretty red shoes. Running over to the pair with a spark of happiness in her eyes, she gazed at the loveliness of the shoes and how they seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. Her smile then turned into a frown as she looked at the price of the shoes
“What’s wrong kid?” a random stallion asked
“It’s just that I saw these amazing shoes and, well sir I wanted to buy them for my mommy because-” the little filly was quickly interrupted by the stallion as he looked down at the little filly with his eyes full of tears.
“Oh, you poor foal!” The stallion cried as he gave a big hug to the now confused filly, “Your mother is going to die in but a few moments and a pair of shoes for her! Oh the tragedy, oh the drama, ohhh the powerful love!”
“Uhhhh, yeah?” Dinky said, very confused.
“Here, you brave filly,” the stallion said, putting some bits on the table and handing Dinky the shoes, “Take them, and go, give your dying mother her dear, sweet gift.”
“uhhhhh, ok?” Dinky said with an arched eyebrow and a shrug of her shoulders. She had learned long ago not to talk to overly emotional weird ponies, unless she was Pinkie Pie. In which case, talking to her would normally lead to muffins and cake. Leaving the shoe store, she skipped happily down the street and towards home to deliver the gift;however, she did not notice the log in front of her that caused her to trip and lose control of the shoes.
Now free of the magic, the four shoes flew through the air and bounced off the nearby wall. After bouncing off the wall, it sailed through the air and through the open window of a dressmaker's shop. Running as fast as she could to the window, Dinky got a good look inside at who had gotten her present in her grasp,
“AT LAST!” Squealed a white unicorn from inside the room, “Now my “Ozma of Oz” line of outfits is complete and magnifique!”
“Ozma of Oz?” Dinky asked as she looked into the window and saw Rarity putting the final touches on a set of clothes that reminded her of one of her favorite book series. Letting loose a sigh of defeat, she turned and went to Sugar Cube Corner, deciding to get her mother a pan of muffins instead. As she walked into the store, she saw the stallion from earlier that day looking strangely at a pink earth pony. Trying to ignore him, she walked up to the counter and placed her order.
“Excuse me, little filly,” the stallion asked, looking at Dinky, “but what are you getting now?”
“Well, it’s just that, my mom loves muffins and sir, I want to buy these muffins, momma says there’s not much time.” Dinky said, hearing a song starting up in the background, complete with a group of musicians playing instruments. Said instruments were then broken and the musicians kicked out by a white unicorn with an electric blue mane, who then replaced the music with much more bad-ass music .
The stallion looked down at little Dinky, his eyes brimming with tears as he said, “OH! You poor, little money-less foal!”
“I have cash sir,” Dinky tried to object but watched as the stallion continued.
“Don’t worry, I’ll buy you these muffins to give to your SICK DYING MOTHER! Oh, you poor, innocent and kind foal!” The stallion said as he began to emphasise his words with overly flashy moves.
Pinkie, pan of muffins in mouth, lowered her head to Dinky and whispered, “Call the poliiice.”
Without a second thought, the little purple-grey mare nodded her head quickly and grabbed the muffins with her magic and ran out of the store, making sure the authorities knew of the mad pony within the shop.
Muffins happily in her magic, Dinky skipped her way towards home. However, she then tripped on some muddy ground from the wetness of the snow and lost her grip on the pan of muffins. Letting out a scream of anguish, the blonde filly watched in horror as the muffins crashed against a gravestone that somepony left over from Nightmare Night. Sadly, the little filly ran to the destroyed muffins and sat in front of the tombstone, crying, “My muffins.”
“See, look at how she weeps for her now-dead mother!” The stallion from before shouted, pointing at Dinky, “Oh the drama, oh the sadness, oh the POWERFUL love, oh the movie deals!”
“Come on, Hallmark,” the police stallion said, holding a tight grip on the insane earth pony, “Lets go back to the home for overly-sappy christmas songs.”
Dinky, meanwhile, paid no heed to the sad little stallion as she mourned the loss of muffins. She then felt a wing lay on her back and pull her into a hug, “Oh, my little muffin, this is PERFECT! I always wanted a baking pan like this!”
“But, mom! That wasn’t the gift I wanted to give you,” Dinky said, “I wanted to give you some muffins because I lost the shoes I got you.”
Derpy shook her head as she nuzzled her daughter’s neck, “Oh Dinky, you know that I would love any gift that you got me, no matter how big or small it is. Because... I always have the best gift in you, my little muffin.”
“Mom, that is so...” Dinky was about to say something snarky, but was tickled by a feather tip.
“I am your mother, I am allowed to be sappy once in a while,” Derpy said, standing up and putting her little ‘muffin’ on her back, “Now, come on, let’s try this new muffin pan out!”
“Ok Mom!” Dinky said with a giggle as she held her mother’s neck and was carried back home.
Author's Note
I hate this song, I realllllllllly hate this DEPLORABLE SONG! I am convinced that the only reason why it got a movie was because it had a jerky man in it and that attracted Lifetime like moths to a flame. Now I think that there is another song out there that is just as sappy but far better and shows the spirit of christmas a lot better.
So, the moral is...don't make bad movies off of bad songs, I will parody you!
Now, want a preview of the next song? well, here is the hint- "What a crazy fluke, we're gonna get _______" look up the song and I think you'll get excited. See you all next chapter
Stories told on the Hearth
It's Christmas at Ground Zero
It’s christmas at ground zero
(Dedicated to all the wonderful writers, animators, and creators of the world of FOE. and dedicated to Kkat, for taking what should be a weird idea and making it grand. Thanks for bringing light to the wasteland. Spoilers if you haven’t read the end of the story)
And that children, was another classic from the songbird of Ponyville, Sweetie Belle. Y’know, I heard stories that Sweetie wrote that song as a joke in the opening days of the war. Heh, irony can be such a little troll sometimes right, children?
This is your wonderful host, DJPON-3 bringing you the truth no matter how bad it hurts, and I want to wish all of you a happy Hearth's Warming Eve. Yes, that special time of year where we can forget about all of the bad things that have happened to us and just enjoy our lives with those we care about the most. Especially since now that we have something to celebrate about, now that the sun is back and the plants have been growing again.
Personally, though, even when the cloud cover was over our heads I had always enjoyed this time of year and would celebrate it with my assistant alone. I can remember how we would spend the time talking about what was great about this time, what we liked about the ponies we cared, and what we hoped for in the future. To us, this was a great bonding time for us all.
(A sigh of bliss and memories escapes her lips as she smiles)
Which is why I am glad that we could celebrate this holiday nationally for the first time ever. And it is all thanks to the lightbringer, Little Pip.
So let’s talk about what this holiday and what it means to me. For me, its about remembering the family that is no longer here with us. Maybe a brother is gone, or a sister and you are hoping that he/she is all right. Family is important to this time and it helps to remember that all have some that are long gone but will still be here.
A pair of brown wings gave a few stabilizing flaps in order to keep straight as they took a griffin through the sky and landing before a small gravestone. The griffin brushed a claw through her white feathers to get them straight as she walked to the grave, smiling softly. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small bottle of ‘Flim and Flam brand hard cider’ and popped the top off, “Happy Hearth's Warming, Kage,” the female griffin said. Turning the bottle to its side, she began to pour some of it onto the grave chuckling, “Finally old enough to drink this in front of mom without her complaining and yelling at us.”
Putting the bottle to her lips, she took a small drink, “So, did ya hear about what has been happening lately? Mom got elected to the head of the NCR again, pretty kickin’ huh? Makes it kind of hard to talk to her now. Not that it has always been easy with the big hard head,” she then looked at the gravestone with a very stern look, “What do ya mean, it takes one to know one! I am not a... ok, so maybe I am sometimes. Y’know, I never expected to be a hero in all of this, I always thought it would be you. You were the better twin after all, the smart and level headed one and me-I was the roughneck. Gun first, questions second while you figure out the details. That’s why I thought we would be the best merc team ever. The entire wasteland would know of us and write our names on the walls in fear.”
Regina let out a deep sigh and scooted closer to the gravestone, “I guess they do anyway, huh? Because you never really left me alone did you? Sometimes, at night, I can feel somebody cuddling up close to me and hugging me while I go to sleep, just like you used to. When I fly, I can feel your shadow with me and when I fight, I feel you helping me shoot and watching me. I guess thats the way it is with twins, we never leave each other.”
Slowly, she stands up from the grave but not before giving the stone a hug, “I got to get going, Kage. But, I promise, I’ll be back next year and we can have more to drink then. I’m just sorry Mom didn’t show up to...” Regina stopped herself as she looked down at the grave a small red rose on the ground. A smile came to her beak as she began to realize who left it, “Mother of mom. You did come, didn’t you? You just didn’t want me to see you cry ya big softy.” Tears slowly coming to her eyes, Regina took off into the sky.
It’s a time of year where we can remember friends, past and present, who have helped us on our own little journeys. Maybe they offered you a kind word when you needed it most, or they protected you when you were hurting deep down. However they became it, they became your friend and you will never forget them.
A rust colored pegasus looked down at the ground before him, adjusting his hat as he used his wing to pick up a small photograph, “Now, what’s this then?” Taking a good look at the burnt photo, he quickly began to recognize the grey pegasus inside. Pulling back with a gasp of realization, he quickly put the photo into his saddlebag and got ready to take off. That is, he would’ve, had he not saw a ghostly green earth pony stallion walking with an orange mare with a blonde mane.
“Steel Hooves?” Asked the rust colored stallion as he ran to where the ghosts were, only to find them gone. Letting loose a chuckle he put his hoof to the back of his head and rubbed it, “Heh, must’ve been seeing thangs.” Turning around he flew off into the sky, not noticing the two ghostly figures standing underneath the tree. The green stallion turned his head to look at the orange mare and smiles at her, before leaning in to kiss her softly. The orange mare happily returned the kiss, her three apple cutie mark showing off on her ghostly form.
It’s the best time to sit back and relax and see where you are in life, and how that family of yours, no matter how small or big, has grown. Maybe you got married to somepony else or you took in a new little foal to join you. Either way, its time to look back on that and appreciate all you love.
Calamity floated himself down to a small hut and knocks on the door, taking the time to adjust his saddlebags and the photo that he had found just a few hours ago. Turning around he looked up to see a bat-pony standing in front of him, “Oh, no.”
“GREETINGS, LOYAL CALAMITY, AND WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE ON THIS FINE AFTERNOON?! PERHAPS YOU WERE THINKING OF JOINING ME AND DITZY FOR DINNER?” The stallion bellowed as his voice boomed through the air.
“Watch where ya aiming that voice, will ya? I swear to the goddesses,” Calamity thought to himself as he shook his head to clear it, “Actually. Ah came to bring a gift to Ditzy, if she ain’t too busy.”
“FEAR NOT, CALAMITY, I WILL GATHER HER!! DITZY, MY DEAR, CALAMITY IS AT THE FRONT DOOR WITH A GIFT FOR YOU!” The stallion continued to boom, leaving a very dazed and shaken pegasus.”
Taking a few moments to fly to the door, a grey and slightly decaying pegasus trotted to Calamity. Cocking her head to the side, she looked at the pegasus inquisitively.
“Hey there,” Calamity said as he reached into his saddle bag to pull out a small photograph. “Ah found this while scavenging around a nearby town and Ah found this. It just didn’t feel right to keep that thing to myself and try to sell it. It belongs to you, after all.”
The grey pegasus looked down at the photo and placed her hoof to her mouth in happiness. Looking up at the pegasus before her, she quickly leapt at him and gave him a big hug. Tightly, she held him close and nuzzled his neck, “Awwww, yer welcome Ditzy.” Calamity said, before breaking from the hug and taking off.
“Momma, what did Calamity get you? Was it something pretty?” A little grey unicorn asked.
The decaying pegasus looked at the photo, her eyes filling up with tears as she looked at the grey unicorn mare in the picture. A smile came to her as she traced a hoof over the photo of her and the unicorn mare standing before a building that read “Luna’s school for gifted unicorns.” Letting go of the photo, she went over and gave a big hug to the unicorn filly, holding her tightly.
Now, I am not telling you to remember only the sad times children. That’s just not what the holiday is about, I am saying that we remember only some of the bad times and the sad times to help make the good ones... brighter. What makes this holiday, and many others like it, special and truly awesome is that it reminds us of all the wonderful things that we gained in our lives. Like love, companionship, sun, or even just the idea that your day is now just a little brighter because you have surrounded yourself with that feeling. Yeah, we don’t all have that lu xury, but... at this time, you can find the people responsible for bringing that light to you and be happy that they are there.
Calamity walked through the front door his house, only to bonk his head against a low-lying plant, “What in tarnation is this?”
“That is, a mistletoe Calamity,” a charcoal grey mare said, walking to the door, “I happened to find it a few days ago. You aren’t the only one who goes scavenging around here you know.”
“So, what are ya supposed to do with it? Eat it?” Asked Calamity, looking at the little plant.
“No,” the unicorn, Velvet, objected, “When somepony stands under it, you are supposed to kiss them. Like this,” the unicorn then leaned in and gave the stallion a soft kiss on the lips.
“mmmmmmm,” Calamity moaned into the kiss before pulling away. A smile came to his lips as his wings began to spread out, “I don’t think Ah quite got it, maybe another?”
The unicorn gave a sly wink and leaned forward to give another kiss.
This is the best time to love and hold on tight to the ponies you love and remind yourself that they are some of the most cherished things in your life. Even if you haven’t seen them in a while.
A zebra with many scars on her body walked through the darkened kitchen and looks to see a small cake on the table with many candles. A smile comes to her lips as she reads, “Love you, Mom.” Slowly, she turns her head to a young zebra stirring a pot and whispers to herself, “I love you too, Xephyr.”
To be with your friends and to enjoy the great gifts that they give you, and what you have given them. No matter how small or big that gift may be.
A buttery colored pegasus flew from candle to candle, humming a soft song to herself. As she flittered to each candle she lit one to make it glow a different color in front of 5 little statuettes, “There.” She spoke softly, before backing away from the statuettes to admire their look and the way that the flames made them glow, “Happy Hearth's Warming, my friends. I miss you.”
And to appreciate all of the finer things in your life. Things like love, family, friends, and life, all the while looking towards the future. Making sure that you have left the place a little bit brighter just by being in it.
A little pink filly alicorn begins to jump around, looking at the sunset sky. A bright smile coming to her as she takes in the beauty.
Old friends, and new friends, that is what Hearth's Warming Eve is all about. The love of family and life, the gifts that we have given to each other not because it is something we have to, because we want to. Life can be hard here in the wasteland and beyond, but a small gift, even that of just existing and being a light to another pony, can help to ease that pain just by a little. I’ll leave you tonight with a small song by our lady velvet and my wonderful assistant Homage that says everything I need to say . Till New Year’s, children!”
Slowly, a light grey mare with an electric blue mane pulled away from her turned off microphone, “And what of the lightbringer? What of her?” She asked of no one in particular as she walked to a small coat rack and put on a red-cap and suit, “How will she spend the holiday season? Well, my dear friends, she will be spending it in the hooves of those she loves, being reminded each night how much she appreciates the light that she brought to the brought to the world and to that cute little assistant.” A smile came to her lips as she winked to a screen that held the image of a white alicorn. The white alicorn smiled and turned away, respecting the privacy of the two mares.
Sashaying her way across the room and into a chamber where a small pod lay, she smiled as she looked at the gifts around a small tree, “The lightbringer will be cuddled, snuggled, and told that she was probably the best gift a mare could ask for. She will be surrounded by the light of friendship and love.” With a sultry grin, the mare clicked on a button on the pod, opening it.
“Huh?” The grey unicorn asked as she woke up from the pod. Looking around, she saw the grey unicorn with a red cap looking at her with a smile, “Oh, Homage. Morning, what are you doing here?”
“Oh,” Homage purred as she crawled on top of her marefriend, running a hoof along Little Pip’s left hind leg, “I was just checking to see if my little squeaker was being a good girl, because if not... then I would have to punish you.”
“I...I...I’d like to think I have been a,” Little Pip then let out a very out squeak as she felt homage rub her thighs, with a slow moving forehoof, “good girl.”
“Well then, I guess,” Homage smirked, as she laid on top of the mare, rubbing her nose against Little Pip’s, “I’ll have to give you, your present then.”
“What type of present?” Little Pip asked, rubbing her hoof along Homage’s cutie mark.
Homage moaned a little at Little Pip’s touch, “One that lasts for a very long time.”
“For how long?” Little Pip asked, nervously.
“Until you or I get tired, which probably won’t be for a long while,” Homage giggled as she put her lips to Little Pip’s and gave her a deep and long kiss.
“Mmmmm, I like that,” Little Pip said, before looking into her lady’s soft eyes, “I love you.”
“I love you too, my lightbringer,” Homage said, rubbing Little Pip’s face, “Now... how many are we on? 31? Let’s see if I can break it before the sun rises.”
Author's Note
I hope all you FOE fans appreciate this little tribute. I fell in love with this fanfic over the past year and this was the best way I could pay it back. At one point I wanted to put in the brith of a new alicorn foal into the story, but I couldn't work it in for the basis of new life. I also wanted to use DJPON3 as the POV character to give us some background.
And yes, I did infer that Dinky was killed in the slaughter at little big horn. It was a plot point I had read on a tumblr and liked it way to much not to use it. I was also thinking of refercing the doctor and Sparkler in that photo.
Now, what is next? Well, do they know its Christmas?
Stories told on the Hearth
Oh Christmas tree...
“Where is she?!” A little white unicorn with a pink and purple mane asked, looking at the darkened building as she sat hoof deep in the snow.
“Aw, there now sugarcube, Ah’m sure that she’s just been busy lately,” Applejack said as she ruffled the little unicorn’s head.
Applebloom, her neck covered in a scarf and with a small hat with her traditional bow on top, “Yeah, y’all know how the gal gets when she gets into those little dress projects.”
Sweetie Belle looked down at the white snow and shook her head, “But she usually stays at home when she does those projects. And there’s more...”
“What is it?” Asked Applejack.
“Well, for the past month, she’s been waking up early and leaving me with some breakfast and doesn’t come back until at least midnight. When she does get back, her mane’s a mess and her eyes are all bloodshot,” Sweetie let out a tiny sniffle, “I’m so worried about her.”
Applejack gave a comforting smile as she looked at the crying filly and placed a hoof on her shoulder, “Don’t worry, Sweetie Bell, Ah promise you that the next time Ah see her Ah’ll get to the bottom of this.” Applejack then offered a hoof to the little filly, “Come on, Ah’ll take ya to Sugar Cube Corner for some hot chocolate, on me.”
“OK!” Sweetie Belle nodded cheerfully as she followed the two sisters. Walking side-by-side her friend, Sweetie Belle asked Applebloom, “So, where’s Scootaloo?”
“She and Rainbow Dash went off to Cloudsdale for some last minute shopping. She said that’ll she’ll definitely be back for Hearth's Warming tomorrow.”
“That’s right... Hearth's Warming is tomorrow, isn’t it?” Sweetie Belle said sadly, looking down at the passing by ground.
A soft and comforting smile came to Applebloom’s lips as she gave her friend a hug before walking into the gingerbread shaped house. As the three ponies walked in, their senses were assaulted by the smell of gingerbread in the oven, cranberries cooking, and the sight of a pink pony jumping from table to table to fulfill different orders, “ HEY GUYS!” Pinkie Squealed as she held the plate of gingerbread cookies on her head, a saddle of two hot chocolates, and a small cake on her tail, “What can I get you?”
Applejack looked at her friend with a questioning eyebrow, “Hey Pinkie, need any help?”
“Noppers! Watch,” Pinkie smiled and bounced her tail, sending the shortcake to a waiting pony couple. Without missing a beat, she gave a small flick of her head to send the cookies flying through the air and landing into an open bag next to a brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark. To finish off her deliveries, she bounced the two steaming cups onto a table shared by a lime-green unicorn and her earth pony friend, “Tada!”
The three ponies stood in amazement and could only clap at the skill and technique of the pink pony, “That...was amazing, sugarcube. We’ll have three hot chocolates.”
“Coming right up!” Pinkie exclaimed as she raced off from her customers and then raced right back with a plate of three hot cups of chocolate on her hoof, “Here you girls are!”
Sweetie belle frowned a little as she took the cup in her hoof, “Thanks Pinkie.”
“Hey, what’s got you all down?” Pinkie asked as she looked at the sombre unicorn.
“Rarity hasn’t been home for a while now and she hasn’t been spending any time with her,” Applejack said.
“OH, she must be busy with whatever that big project she was working on that she asked Twilight for that book on,” Pinkie said.
“Rarity was asking Twilight for a book on something?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Yeah, I saw her a couple of days ago talking to Twily about getting a book for a super-special-awesome-secret project of hers,” Pinkie said, taking a small bite of a gingerbread cookie herself.
Sweetie’s eyes perked up at this clue, “HEY! Maybe Twilight might know what Rarity’s been doing and why she’s been gone for so long.”
“Thanks for the drinks, Pinkie,” Applejack said as she left the bits behind and led the three foals out the door.
“NO problem!” Pinkie Pie said before running to the other customers.
“I’m sorry girls, but I have no idea why Rarity’s been so busy lately,” Twilight said, looking at the three mares before her, “All she came here for as a book on tree care and then left without a word. I am sorry I couldn’t be more help.”
“Thanks anyway, Sugarcube,” Applejack said as she walked away from the library and back towards the boutique.
Her head down in disappointment, Sweetie Belle walked with the Apple Sisters back home. After waving goodbye, the little unicorn walked back into the house and saw a familiar purple tail walk slowly up the stairs, “RARITY!” Cried the little filly, “There you are, what has been going on, where do you go, and why do you look so tired? Did I do something wrong?”
“Huh?” Rarity asked, turning slowly, “Oh no, darling, it isn’t you. Trust me. I’ll,” a yawn escaped her lips, “tell you about everything in the morning.”
“Ok,” Sweetie Belle sighed, looking down at the ground in sadness.
The next morning, Sweetie Belle awoke to find a small note attached to her blanket. Leaning in, she pulled it off with her hoof and began to read-
You are invited to see the lighting of the crystal trees, please bring your best dress and your best companions.
Signed, Rari ty Belle
“The crystal... trees?” Sweetie Belle asked herself as she got off from the bed and saw a neatly folded dress waiting for her.
After taking the time to get dressed and tidied up, the little filly walked out of her home and down the street. As she did, she watched the various families and siblings talking to each other. This caused a little sigh of sadness to escape her lips, remembering just how little time she got to spend with her sister this year. Her mind went back to some of the fights that they have had over the year, of how often she felt like a forgotten piece of clothing. Even though Applejack gave her the reminder that her sister would always treasure her, sometimes it felt less true than it was.
Her mood brightened up when she looked at the station and saw, “SCOOTALOO! You made it back!”
An orange pegasus watched with wide eyes as Sweetie Belle tackle-glomped her and hugged her tight, “Of course we did! Me and Rainbow practically raced back here once we were done visiting her parents.”
“So, did y’all get letters too?” Asked a small southern filly as she came up with her big sister in tow.
“Yep! I even found a dress right on top of Gummy’s pool. Ooh, what do you think Rarity has planned?” Pinkie Pie asked as she bounced up to the platform, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy following right behind her. On top of Twilight’s back and nustled in between her wings rode Spike, dressed in his own fancy outfit. .Each one of the the fillies and mares were decked out in dresses that had red and green themes to them.
“Wait, why would Rarity put a letter on top of water?” Sweetie asked.
“Well, maybe the letter kinda got dropped and I kinda might have been the cause.” Pinkie said.
“What is Rarity talkin’ about when she said crystal trees, anyway?” Applejack asked, looking at Twilight.
“ I don’t know,” Twilight said, putting her hoof to her chin, “I never even heard of crystal trees with maybe the exception of the Tree of Harmony. Then again I never really had a chance to see what the tree was made out of, so I have no idea. But I guess we’ll find out soon.”
Slowly the train stopped right by the platform, with a special car just for them opening slowly. Smiling, the 8 ponies and one dragon quickly walked into the train and took their seats.
Three hours later, the train slowly pulled into the Canterlot station where a white unicorn stallion stood, a pink alicorn at his side holding his hoof, “SHINING! CADENCE!” Twilight yelled as she stepped out of the train compartment and gave her big brother and former foal sitter a hug.
“Shining, do you have any idea what this crystal tree thing is?” Rainbow Dash asked the white stallion as Twilight and Cadence did their introduction dance.
“Your guess is as good as mine guys,” Shining said as he began to walk away from the platform, “Cadence won’t even tell me.”
“That’s because it’s a surprise,” Cadence said as she lifted up a gem cookie and gave it to Spike, who greedily ate it, “and it would spoil the fun.”
“YEAH! Don’t you know how cool Hearth's Warming surprises are supposed to work?” Pinkie Pie said, skipping alongside the royal couple.
Shining let out a chuckle, “Oh, forgive me. I am SO sorry that I forgot the sacred trust of Hearth's Warming surprises.”
“That you should!” Pinkie said as the group of ponies continued to walk past the structures of Canterlot and towards the caves just below the castle.
Sweetie Belle looked down at the snowy ground as they walked, letting out a sorrowful sigh. Her mind began to watch the three sets of siblings walking ahead of her with a small pang of jealousy. It just seemed to her that the other sets were so much better than her and sister, like they all had something that she didn’t. Twilight could connect with her brother despite of how far away they were and become an almost perfect brother and sister duo. Applejack and Applebloom were, well, like twins most of the time. When one hurt, the other hurt and when they needed each other they would always be there for one another without fail. Rainbow Dash was like a big ideal to her little sister, but would never hesitate to try and bring her little sister out of the dumps.
And what was she and Rarity? “Just a pair of sisters, nothing special.”
Within time, the team soon found themselves right outside of the cave entrance, where a white unicorn stood, dressed in a beautiful gown with bright red and green trimming, “Greetings my friends. I am so glad that you have decided to come here to see this ceremony.”
“Rarity, what is this all about?” Applejack asked.
“I’ll tell you about it after I am done,” Rarity said as she guided the group into the dark cave. Using only a little bit of her magic to light the way, the marshmallow unicorn guided the troupe through the short and winding cave path until they reached a giant room in the cave. Walking to the center, Rarity stood and closed her eyes as her horn began to shimmer with a soft magical glow. Taking a few soft breaths, the magic began to spiral up along the horn till it reached the top. Once it made it to the top, the magic glowed a bright spark and turned into a light blue star. The star then fired several different shots all around the room, hitting object after object.
As each darkened object was hit by the light of the magic, the object then glowed a bright and powerful light. The objects then revealed themselves to be bright shining trees, made of sparkling crystals of colors and sizes. The lights from these tree began to shine bright lights at the top of their own that fired beams of light onto other trees, making them shine with an almost ethereal color. Soon, the room was ablaze in shining sparkling light from the many trees inside, as if it was a rainbow inside a room, “Oh, my stars! It’s beautiful” Exclaimed Applejack as she admired the shining trees.
“Rarity, this is fantastic, when did you do all of this?” Twilight asked, flying up to some of the trees and touching one, making it shine with her coat color.
“Well, you see,” Rarity said, watching some of her friends examine some of the trees, “Around last Hearth's warming, the princesses asked me to come to the throne room. They apparently found this grove of trees lying deep within the caves of Canterlot, next to where Cadence had been captured before her wedding. They took me down here and when I saw these trees, they were in a horrid state.” Rarity explained, walking to one of the trees, “The sparkle was gone, the gems were tarnished, and I swear that some of the branches were breaking off.”
“So, they figured that since you were good with gems, that you would be perfect for the job,” Dash said, picking up Scootaloo and letting her touch the trees.
“Well, that and they knew of my hobby in taking in old relics of the past and touching them up to let their old beauty shine. I just cannot stand by and watch things of beauty lose their shine, anytype of beauty.” Rarity said, “I wanted to get it done by last Hearth's Warming, but there was just so much to do. And, as you know, we have had so many things happen this year: The coronation, that whole mirror adventure, the box, Mirage, and a few other things that I haven't had a chance to finish till now.”
“So, that was why you... haven’t been there that much?” Sweetie Belle asked, her head drooped to the ground.
Rarity looked down at her little sister with a comforting smile, “Come with me, Sweetie. There was something else I needed to show you.”
Slowly, the little filly followed close behind her big sister until they came to a small crystal tree sapling, “What is this?”
“Its a baby crystal tree, Sweetie,” Rarity said as she sat behind her little sister, pulling her close, “It wont respond to a dose of my magic just quite yet, but with a little time and a good magician working on it. I think it will become a simply beautiful tree. Now, if only I knew of a young unicorn who hasn’t learned complete control of her horn to be able to raise this little thing.”
Sweetie Belle looked at the sapling and then back at Rarity, “Its mine?”
“It’s your present, my little Sweetie. ITs made of crystal, so it won’t burn and you can practice your magic on it as much as you want without wrecking everything around you,” Rarity said smiling.
“OH! Thank you! I thought-” Sweetie Belle couldn’t finish her sentence as she held her big sister close.
Rarity rubbed a hoof through her sister’s mane, a smile on her face, “I may not be there to always lift you up like Rainbow Dash, be your twin like Applejack, and be a guardian like Shining, but you will always be precious to me. MY most special gem.”
Sweetie Belle said nothing as she just nuzzled into her sister’s chest, singing softly
It’s in the singing of a street singing choir
It’s getting warm by the fire...
Author's Note
Little note, this chapter was meant to be done last year. I had a plan to have Rarity make a tree and do it in a similar style like here. But things happened, so what Rarity was saying was me. Yeah, I got caught up in so much that I couldn't do my art. So yeah, this was kind of self-refercinal.
Next chapter, we're gonna go back to the sappy lame stuff once again as we respond tot eh first request.
Stories told on the Hearth
Do they know its Christmas
Do they know it’s heartswarming?
A blue box hovered softly in the air, the last bits of the song playing out, “Well, that is a silly question isn’t it?” A chestnut colored earth pony said as he put away his cup of tea, “Of course they know its Heartswarming eve in zebrica! They just don’t celebrate it.”
Somewhere, on the streets below, the stallion who had just finished sining the above song began to walk behind a white unicorn. Like a savage preditator, he slowly crept behind her as she carried the bags of presents in her magic, “HEY YOU!” The stallion blurted out, shocking the white unicorn.
“AHH! What do you think you are doing, sneaking up on a pony like that,” Rarity asked, backing up slightly as she looked at the scary look on the stallion’s face. “What is with that look?”
A big creepy grin came to the stallion as he looked down at the mare before him, “I bet you are really happy with those gifts, aint ya?”
“What are you talking about? I have a mace spell ready,” Rarity asked, her horn glowing.
“WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT?! I am Talking,” he started to sing, but before he did, a white unicorn with a blue mane popped out with a large boom box and played a Hearthswaming song loud enough to blow the stallion away from Rarity and through the golden oaks library window where Twilight was reading a book.
“Rainbow! How many times must I tell you?” Twilight then looked at the landed stallion with a questioning eyebrow, “Oh, sorry I thought you were somepony else. Why are you in my house?”
“Because I feel like I must tell the world of what is going on in Zebrica this heartswarming eve. Because of all of their hardships and the fact that no rivers flow there.” The stallion then began to pose as the song in his heart was about to start.
“Not excatly,” Twilight said, bringing out a graph and a chart.
“What?” The stallion deadpaned.
“Well, you see, the river dismissal, the longest on the planet, flows through Zebrica quite smoothly. Not only that, but there is also the rivers: Red, Everlast, Anglo, Demure, Straight, Orignal, Reed, Youngze, Fedrick, Orange, Ripped, Apple, Sombreo, Indego, Callous, Kipper, Parasite, Onatop,Neithers,Yetterman.”
“Ok, but what about the water there,” he said tearing up, “The only water there is the salty ones of their-”
“Well, that’s not true at all,” Twilight said, bringing out another chart, “You see the average rain fall...”
Rather than listen to the alicorn’s rambling, the stallion ran out the door in utter fear where he rammed into Zecora, “You there, Zebra! Surely you must know-”
“I do not appreciate the great slander, that you put upon my land sir! Now please don’t mind my sass and get off your smug,” There was a large crack as Zecora decked the guy straight into the air and into the home for overly sappy christmas songs.
With a smug chuckle, the zebra walked to her friend’s house, intent on sharing some cocca with a dear friend. After all, though she didn’t celebrate it, she did enjoy spending time with somepony she cared about.
Author's Note
Here's a fun little short, as requested by Nurse Pony. Remember, if you wan to make a request, put it in the comments below and I will see what I can do
Stories told on the Hearth
With a Thankful Hear t
The gorgeous white alicorn sat in her chambers, looking up at the starry sky above her. A calm smile came to her lips as she began to admire her sister’s art; the way the stars aligned up perfectly without going out of place and the way the moon shone always was better than she managed alone. Turning her head, she looked down at the sleeping mare next to her, passed out from all of the partying that she was doing down below with the other ponies, “Her... friends,” Celestia remarked with a happy thought as she turned to look at her new journal.
Closing her eyes, she began to think back to a Hearth’s Warming Day, so long ago. Back when she was young.
“Lulu? Where are you? It’s time for presents!” The young white alicorn exclaimed, skipping through the castle, “Come on, it’s time to stop playing around and come out. Momma Terra and Poppa Titan said they won’t open any until you come to the main room.”
Looking down and up the old hallways of the castle, the little filly’s search led her to her own room. Walking carefully, she found a box with two eye holes labeled “To Tia, from: the mooooooooooooooon.” Raising an eyebrow, the alicorn pulled the ribbon off the box and opened it slowly. Her eyes opened wide in shock as a little blue filly leapt out and tackled her in a hug.
“TIA!!” Screamed Luna, decked out with a little red bow, “Happy Hearth’s Warming!”
“Luna? What are you...” Celestia asked, holding her sister tight with her forehooves.
Luna looked down shyly, “Well, I have been spending so much time on magic and flying lessons that I didn’t have time to get you a present. I asked Momma Terra what to get you and she said you would be happy with anything I got you. So... I got you me!” A big smile graced her mouth, “Surprised?”
“Oh, Lulu,” Celestia said, snuggling her sister, “You are the best present ever! After all, you are the one that keeps coming back. ”
Celestia got up slowly from her bed, and walked to the balcony that overlooked the courtyard. Though she has had many parties and celebrations over the years, she couldn’t help but put a special pride on this one. Perhaps it was the way it was organized, or the way that it was set up, but perhaps for her, it was the small fact that this one was done with ponies she knew and cared for.
Twilight Sparkle and friends.
Placing her hooves onto the railing of the balcony, she watched as the party, held by Twilight Sparkle and her friends, down below began to die down. As she watched the ponies below, she levitated a friendship report that she had received not too long ago and read it to herself.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned something very special about my friends, they are some of the best ever. I was feeling down about this Hearth’s Warming Eve since it was the first one I would be spending away from you, Mom, Dad, Shining, and Cadence. My depression was something that was noticed by all of my friends after they were done telling me all of their traditions and some of their favorite Hearth's Warming. When they asked me what was wrong, I told them of how I would be spending this one away from my family, due to them being so busy that day and the trains being broken down making it impossible for me to head to Canterlot.
Well, the next day I woke up to find Applejack cooking for me...just like Mom used to. Fluttershy and Spike were busy fixing up the tree and were waiting for me to help while Rarity and Pinkie were helping with the table. At first, I thought that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have been able to make it, but then she flew in through the window carrying a Canterlot chocolate log with her.
When I asked them why they were here, they told me that they wouldn’t even think of having a friend spend their Hearth’s Warming alone without their family around to keep them warm. That was when I realized that, despite knowing them for only a few months, we had become as close friends as you could ever see. We have done things together over the few months that would take others LIFETIMES to do. I am positive, that we are due for even bigger adventures in the next year, but I know that the friends I made here will always be by my side. I am thankful for all that you have given me:the lessons, the training, the magic, but most importantly...the greatest friends I could ever have. Yes, we have disagreements but Applejack keeps reminding me, thats life and nothing is ever perfect. I learned that you are never alone, as long as your friends are there.
Here’s hoping that Luna is keeping you company.
Happy Hearth’s Warming,
Twilight Sparkle.
Rolling up the letter with her magic and sending it to a special vault with a starburst on it, Celestia let out another contented sigh, “I miss these letters. I guess I always will, though I don’t think I need to hear anything more about what she has learned about friendship. She has moved on from my student to now being her own mare and whatever that leads her to.”
Turning around, she looked down at the young alicorn as she began to help with the clean up, “Now... I really look forward to the normal letters from my surrogate daughter.” As she watched below, she let out a small chuckle as Applejack dragged an eggnog ladened drunk Rainbow and Pinkie Pie back to the Twilight residence. Looking up, she watched as Rarity carried a sleeping Spike on her back, a conversation beginning with Fluttershy. And, off in the distance, sharing one last dance, was Cadence and Shining. Turning around, she looked back at her little sister and began to remember the first Hearth’s Warming that Luna had shared with Cadence.
The dark blue alicorn stomped her way towards the pink alicorn with a frown on her face, “You, Cadence! Come here at once.” Luna commanded.
“Y-yes Princess?” Cadence asked, a bit of nervousness in her voice.
“ Celestia has told me that she has gotten into the habit of adopting foals and naming them, not only wards of the crown, but as her family as well. Claiming them to be her nieces and nephews, is this correct?” Luna asked, looking down at the smaller alicorn.
“Yes,” Cadence gulped.
“Well, then,” Luna said, before wrapping her hooves around the alicorn and hugging her tightly, “Welcome to the family!”
“I told you that you had nothing to worry about,” Celestia said, levitating a cup of tea to her lips and drinking it slowly as she watched Twilight and friends leave.
“Oh and what is this? Is the normally stoic and serious Tia smiling?” Asked a brown water drop from the tip of Celestia’s horn, “And here I thought you would be all gloomy and reflecting on the past and how depressing everything was before you had those three little mares in your life.”
Without looking up and not losing focus, Celestia just calmly responded, “Despite what you may think Discord, I do not always look upon my life with regrets. I do think about the good things that have happened to me over my lifetime, it helps me to overcome the darker parts of my history.”
“OOOOOOOOH!” Discord exclaimed with glee, turning his brown drop into a bright red eye, “Am I one of those happier times that help you?”
“Only in what your reformation meant to my student. Other than that, no.” Celestia said with a smirk.
“Awwww, that hurt and everything we meant to each other,” Discord said with a frown, “Maybe I should cheer you up with a song.”
Celestia let out a small chuckle, before licking her hoof and putting it to her horn tip, “Dissy, why don’t you just bug off?”
As the hoof touched the droplet, Discord immediately turned into steam, “FINE! I’ll just spend the rest of my night with Rutterdhy and Sainbow Fash. ARRRRRIVERDARCI!”
Celestia let out a small bit of laughter from her lips and walked away from the balcony, heading to the sleeping mare on the bed, “Twilight is thankful for her friends, Cadence is thankful for the love that she finally has, and my sister is thankful to be home. As for me, I am thankful,” softly, the white alicorn laid down with her sister, running a hoof along the starry mane, “for this sweet little mare here, and to my student for returning her to me.” With that she kissed her little sister on the forehead and looked once more to the stars.
Old friends Dear friends Here where we ought to be
Author's Note
And that's that, this story is off on hiatus for the next year I
Celestia: *looks up from within the story* AlchemyStudent, my I do this? You have worked so hard through most of the year for your fans, and you need a break.
Why certaintly, your hignness *bows*
Celestia: and to all of you readers, Happy Heart's Warming.
Stories told on the Hearth
And all over town, the fillies are all going down.
Twilight slept in her bed in the castle, trying to ignore the faint smell of something sweet in the air. Turning and tossing in her bed, the smell that permuated the castle would not leave her. Angerily, she put a pillow over her face in order to ignore what was intruding in on her peaceful slumber. Then, she heard a faint noise at the foot of her bed, and slowly she got up, only to get a face full of snow. Wiping the snow away she saw a cyan mare laughing on her butt, and an unicorn shaking her head, “Dash, I said get her attention, NOT to wake her up with a snowball!”
“Hahahahahahahhahahahaa! Oh, come on, Sunset,” Dash said, looking to the orange unicorn. “It was funny.”
Twilight slowly wiped the snow from her snout and asked, “S-Sunset?” opening her eyes, she smiled at seeing the yellow uniconr in front of her. Happily she ran up and hugged her friend, “Sunset! What are you doing here? Aren’t you spending the holidays with the others?”
“Yeah, I was but...”
“Are you kicking me out? Do you hate me?” Sunset asked, tears in her eyes.
“Hate you? Heck no,” Applejack said, wrapping her arms around her friend.
Fluttershy smiled, “This is our second Christmas where we are friends, and we want to give you something special.”
“A whole week to spend with the Equestrians,” Pinkie Pie smiled, jumping up from out of nowhere. “Don’t worry, we’ll wait for you to come back.”
Sunset blinked a few times at this news, and then smiled softly, “You guys...”
“So, here I am for a week,” Sunset smiled at Twilight, and was immeaditally hugged in response.
“Oh this is great news,” Twilight said, getting herself out of bed and walking away. Looking at the speeding away Rainbow Dash, the alicorn asked, “Are you going to be sticking around, Dash?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head, “Nah, got waaaay too much hearth’s warming shopping to do. I’ll just let you two have your fun.” and with that, she flew out the window.
Twilight smiled and then turned to look at Sunset, “So, how long ago did you arrived?”
“About an hour ago, I wanted to wake you up with some cookies,” Sunset said, levitating a plate from the top of her head and giving it to Twilight, “I plan on hanging out here until the eve and then use the mirror to come back on Christmas day.”
“Great!” Twilihgt smiled as she walked down the stairs with Sunset, eating the cookie. “You know, I would ask about the others back in your world, but, with as often as you write to me...I feel like I haven’t left.”
Sunset let out a contented sigh as she looked to twilight, “Well, you reached out to me and saved me. You offed me help and redemption and i can’t thank you enough for that. Besides,” she then put her forehead to Twilights and rubbed it, “When i am with you, I feel like I have the little sister I always wanted.”
Twilight let out a little giggle at this before asking, “Speaking of sisters, have you told ‘mom’ that you came back?”
“N-no, well not yet, but I will. I promise I will, I just want to focus on seeing Ponyville and spending time with you guys for now,” Sunset said as she reached the bottom step. “So, where are the three little parttime students of yours?”
“Applebloom is getting ready to visit Babs in Manehatten this year, Sweetie Belle is going with Rarity to attend a Colortura christmas concert in Neighpon, and Scootaloo is in Canterlot with her parents,” Twilight said as she guided Sunset to the dining area. “OH, this is going to be so much fun! You have to tell me if there are any differences between the worlds.”
Rainbow Dash looked back and forth as she stood on her step, her forelegs crossed. Occasionally, she would look over her shoulder into her living room, and would roll her eyes as she waited. After a few more minutes of waiting, she yelled out, “Gilda, will ya get out here! It doesn’t take fifteen minutes to clean claws and preen wings.”
“Hey,” Gilda grumbled as she walked out, adjusing the scarf around her neck. “Looking this good and this rad takes time, Dashie.”
“Whatever,” the cyan pegasus said with a roll of her eyes. “Come on, I want to raid all of the stores before everypony else does. Then to tell Derpy to set a table for you this Hearth’s Warming.”
Gilda shook her head and sighed, “I don’t know Dash. I mean, when I came here the first time, i did kind of scare...what was her name again? Donky?”
“Dinky, my god daughter,” Dash said, and then placed a hoof onto her shoulders, “But, you lightened up since then. You aren’t such a grump anymore and think of how they are going to flip when they see...” Dash trailed off as she pointed a hoof to the shash hidden under her griffon friend’s scarf.
“You live with a princess just down the street from you, mayor of a city seems kind of low don’t it?” Gilda asked, spreading her wings.
“Mayor of the centerpoint of the whole Griffon empire!” Dash shouted. “Twilight’s cool and all, but Ditzy sees her everyday and doesn’t invite her to hearth’s warming dinner. You are a freaking mayor, that doesn’t happen often.”
Gilda nodded and looked at her sash, “Don’t think I earned it though.”
“You earned it, trust me,” Dash winked at her friend as they both took off from the cloud home. “Now, lets make a brand new first impresson. Its hearth’s warming week and I feel like spending it with an old friend.”
“Come on, smile,” Applebloom said to the earth pony next to her.
Diamond Tiara figited a little, “I am trying to Applebloom, really. Its hard enough doing that without feeling like I am breaking the law by disobeying mother.”
“Wich your dad helped by ‘smuggling’ you out,” Applebloom smirked. “And he distracted your mom with that...dance.”
Diamond Tiara shuddered a little at the thought of the ‘dance’ that her father performed. Looking back at her friend, “But now I have to meet your cousin, who I might remind you threatened me with telling my mother. Then, when she found out about what I did to Scootaloo, threatened to rip my throat out!”
“Ah, you’ll be fine, Ah promise,” Applebloom smiled as she patted her former enemy’s shoulder. She then turned to look at the door as it opened.
“APPLEBLOOM!” Babs seed shouted as she hugged her cousin,moving so fast that she was almost a blur. After a quick nuzzle, Babs smiled, “Ok, you are going to show me that cutie mark later. Then we are going to...what’s she doing here?”
Diamond tiara backed away from the from the glare of Babs’ green eyes. Quickly, she looked away, “I...heard that Applebloom was going to be visiting you guys for a few days and were going to have Hearth’s warming here. So I wanted to join you because....I wanted to apologize for being a monster. And...I wanted to spend a ‘normal’ Hearth’s warming, away from mother.”
Babs growled as she walked closer to the pink filly, looking down at her. Then she egan to speak, “You know, for what you did to Scootaloo, the years of torment you gave my cous, and everything else you did. I ought to rip your guts out and hang you by them! But,” Babs smiled as she placed a hoof onto the earth filly’s shoulder, “It’s Hearth’s warming, time to forgive forget, and to look on ahead, ya know. So come on,” Babs said, walkig away, “ Lets get to know the new you.”
“Told ya,” Applebloom smiled.
Scootaloo waited in the locker room, the pink bow around her neck. The little filly was trying her best to keep quiet as she hid and waited for the stallion to approach. The wait was killing her, driving her insane as she waited for the prey. Within a few short moments, she saw her quarry walking up to the locker, “I m going to unsuit and then go back to-”
“Daddy!” shouted Scootaloo as she jumped from her hiding hole an tackled hugged him.
Swift Arrow back up in surprise and hugged his little girl, “Scoots, what are you- I wasn’t going to come to Ponyville for a few more days.”
A soft smile came to Scootaloo as she was sat down in front of her father, “Yeah, I know, but you always suprise us on Hearth’s Warming, so this time, we thought we would surprise you!”
“We?” asked Swift Arrow, as he looked up and saw a brown pegasus with a purple mane smiling at him. The stallion began to walk slowly to the mare with a smile.
“Oh, I can’t wait dad, a whole week together. i have to tell you all about my cutie mark and...”
And it’s Hearth’s Warming all over again.
A mare looked down at her boss as she put her hooves over ears, “Rarity, when you said you needed to take your sister to a concert, I was expecting a little something less...rocking.”
“Well, Sassy, just look,” Rartiy smiled, pointing her hoof down to the little filly who was singing and dancing to the music. “Sweetie Belle was so looking forward to this concert.”
Sassy Saddles sighed an watched the show, “Still , why did you invite me?”
“Because, you said your family wouldn’t be making it,” Rarity smiled to her friend.
Before Sassy could reply wiht a thank you, there was a booming voice ver the the stadium, “Thank you, and I want to thank Shappire shores for the help in that song,” Colortura said, smiling in the lights. “I also want to thank Canterlot Carusel for the help in the cosrumes for this concert. As a matter of fact, the propietor made a special request to have a speial filly sing with me her favorite song. Will Sweetie Belle com to the stage?”
The little white filly gasped in happiness, her eyes wide as she ran to the stage. Standing next to the songstress, she smied softly and began to sing.
I’m dreaming of a Heath’s Warming Just like ones I use to knw...
As Sweetie Belle began to sing, Rarity looked to be employee and smiled, “Worth it?”
“Worth it,” Sassy smiled.
“So, your world’s version of Santa Hooves, is a guy wiht a big white beard and has Reindeer pull the sliegh? “ Twilight asked.
Sunset giggled and smiled, “I know, weird right? Of coure, the funny part is, as soon as the girls found out magic is real, Pinkie had to ask.”
Twilight spat out the hot chocolate that she had been drinking, “No way, you can’t be serius. She didn’t.”
“Twilight, your Pinkie and my Pinkie are very much alike, of course she did!” Sunset giggle.
Twilight smiled, “It doesn’t seem that there is too much different between our holidays.”
“No, there isn’t. I mean, its similar right down to-” a knok on the door interrupted Sunset,. “I’ll get it.” the yellow unicorn smiled and walked to the door, opening it.
“Twilight, I want tosee...you,” Celestia paused as she saw Sunset Shimmer standing there before her.
“Princess...”Sunset trailed off.
Twilight smiled and drank her hot chocolate, “Yes, we arent so different. This is hearth’s warming after all.”
Author's Note
Welcome back to my yearly tradition and look...we have some new guests. Oh, season 5 was a goldmine for great ideas and wonderful stories. It doesn't help that it was an excellent season.
Stories told on the Hearth
Twilight smiled to herself as she began to levitate an ornament onto the tree in Ponyville. Despite the fact that she was a princess, that was no reason for her to not participate in the town activities such as tree decorating and helping to make the town ready for Heart’s Warming. As her horn glowed its dark purple hue, she grabbed a star in her magic and began to levitate it to the top.
Here we a come a waffling Among the leaves so green Here we a come a waffling So fair to be seen-
Twilight’s ears perked at the sound of nearby singing and looked on in curiosity as Applejack came in pulling a cart full of waffles. She had an eyebrow arched as she walked to her friend, “Applejack, I think you’re a little bit mistaken. It’s Wassailing, not waffling.”
“Oh Twilight, you just saying that because you ain't ever had an apple family waffle,” Applejack said, pushing the food into Twilight’s mouth.
Twilight let out a muffle objection as the food was thrusted into her. After swallowing the apple waffle, she began, “Applejack, I am pretty sure that it’s wassailing.”
“Ok, Twilight. Supposing that you’re right, then what the buck is wassailing? Because ever since Ah was a little filly, Ah always known it to be waffling,” Applejack responded.
“Well, wassailing is...its...well, its definition is,” Twilight paused and had a look of shock on her face. A slow realization came upon her as she could not remember the definition of wassailing off the top of her head. “I don’t know, but I will find out.”
With a determined huff, Twilight turned and began to walk away from the orange farmer. As she walked down the street to her castle, she began to look over her dictionaries in her head. She lightly shook her head in disbelief that she had forgotten the meaning of such a simple word. Chuckling, she continued her walk until she heard some more singing.
Here I come a waddling
Through the leaves so green
Here I come a waddling
so fair to be seen
Love and joy come to you
and to you
Twilight looked on in shock as Cadence came by, her pregnant stomach on full display. As the lyrics hit Twilight’s ears, she put a hoof to her face and shook her head in annoyance, “Cadence, it’s not waddling, its wassailing!”
“Well, i can’t help it. Look at all of these fruits I brought for the hearth’s warming party,” Cadence smiled.
“Thank you Cadance,” Twilight smiled. Then, with a shake of her head, she added, “But, you still know that it’s wassailing. Not waddling. You are only waddling because you are pregnant right now.”
Tears came to Cadence’s eyes as the words hit her, “O-only because I’m pregnant?”
“Uh oh, mood swing,” gulped Twilight nervously.
“How could you! I thought you were happy that you were going to be an aunt, now you think having this baby ruined me and got me fat. Now I’m hideous!,” cried Cadence as she ran away from the shocked alicorn.
“No Cadence I didn’t say-” Twilight paused as she realized Cadence had already left. Sighing, she looked down to the ground, “Well, at least I can find out what-”
Here we a come a wallowing
among the leaves so green
here we come a wallowing
so fair to be seen
Love and joy come to you-
“I am going to look, and I will not see one of my friends doing something that will make me-” Cautiously, Twilight looked behind her as she saw Rarity walking by, wrapped in some lovely clothes with Fluttershy following close behind.
“Oh, hello Twilight,” Rarity said with a smile. “I was just wallowing in some of my lovely fabric, isn’t it lovely?”
Twilight could only nod, walking away slowly. She didn't feel like getting into another conversation with a friend about semantics. Instead, she chose to walk to her castle, where Spike was just walking out, “Hey Twilight!”
“No time to talk Spike, I need my dictionaries,” Twilight said, walking to the doors.
“Uh, Twilight, don’t you remember? You rented out the last o the dictionaries last night,” Spike said, watching as Twilight fell to her stomach, looking beaten. “Is there a problem?”
“It’s just I was trying to find out the real definition of-”
Before Twilight could begin, she heard a pair of voices singing. One was faintly scratchy while the other was slightly high pitched and squeaky.
Here we come a wassailing Among the leaves so green Here he come a wassailing So fair to be seen
Twilight’s eyes shot up as she turned to look towards the sound of the music, seeing the two ponies walking towards her, “That’s it! That’s the song! Who-”
“Hi Twilight!!!” Pinkie pie giggled, drinking from her big mug. Next to her was Rainbow Dash with an equally big mug of liquid. “Want to come wassailing with us?”
“Oh Pinkie! Thank you so much,” Twilight smiled as she hugged her friends, “But, what does wasailing mean, anyway?”
“Silly Twilight, I thought you knew,” giggled the pink ball of energy. “It means going from house to house, singing songs and sharing in Hearth’s warming cider!”
Rainbow Dash chuckled, “The moment Pinkie told me about it, I knew I had to join in.”
“Of course,” Twilight giggled, “wassailing, it’s Pinkie Pie all over. Give me cup, we are going wassailing!”
“Yay!” Pinkie cheered, giving Twilight a cup. Then, with both legs around her friend's shoulders, she began to sing with a smile on her face.
Old friends New friends ...
Author's Note
Ok, everypony ready?
1
MERRY CHRISTMASS!!!!
Stories told on the Hearth
We were dreamers not to long ago
Pinkie Pie let out a yell of excitement as she stepped off the Saddle Aravia train, “Whoohoo!!!! Saddle Arabia, the sand, the dessert, and all of the catus juice we can buy!!”
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, holding her hoof to her eyes to look to the town in the distance, “Remind me why the map sent us here so close to the holidays? Didn’t it have anything beteer to do than to send us somewhere hot and far away from home?”
“Aw, come on Dashie! The map is our call to adventure!” Pinkie cheered, grabbing Dash by the shoulders and waving her hoof out in front of her, “Our Batsignal, our Troublealert, the hotline! We go where it tells us, righting the wrongs of the land and bringing peace to troubled ponies everywhere. It is what we do as heroes!!!”
Dash rolled her eyes at this, “Yeah, but can’t it take a holiday?”
“Crime,” Pikie narrowed her eyes at Rainbow Dash, frowning as she deepened her voice a little,”Never takes a holiday.”
“Fine,” Dash said, shaking her head and chuckling as she and Rainbow Dash left the station, walking to the town in the distance.
Once they were in the city limits, they were bombarded by the sights and sounds of the city. Everywhere they walked, they would hear the vendors call out their wares and prices. Ponies and Saddle Arabians alike began to brag about mystical items or fine rubies. These came as a rather boring sight to Rainbow Dash as the pangs of boredom swept over her. Various moments went by where she could hear someone offering ‘official element of harmony necklaces’ and the like.
Pinkie, meanwhile, was enthralled at all that she was seeing. The world around her capturing her and drawing her in. As she looked down one alley way to see if there was another shop, she paused and looked up, “My ear’s burning. That means a colt is sad... this way!”
“What? Pinkie!” Dash shouted as she followed Pinkie Pie down the alley and into a small courtyard where a little colt was sitting next to a fountain, crying.
Pinkie Pie sat next to the foal and placed her hoof on his shoulder, “Hey little guy, why are you crying?”
“The ig dumb jerks at school, they keep laughing at me and picking on me,” the colt said, whimpering, “They say I’m stupid for believing in the impossible.”
“Aw, that’s just silly. You shouldn’t be made fun of just because you believe in something that doesn’t exist,” Pinkie said smiling.
“Dash shrugged, “Yeah, I mean, what could be so imposs-”
“I made a wish that it would snow hee,” the colt said.
“What?” Dash asked in a monotone voice.
The colt swung his forelegs over the side of the fountain and sighed, “I wasn’t born here, I was born in Equestria. My parents and I would always make a Hearth’s Warming wish every year. This is the year I am going to be spending in Saddle Arabia and I was,,,I guess I was just a little homesick. So, I made a wish out loud that it would snow here, because I was told that if you believe in something hard enough that it would come true. The kids heard me and that is when they started to make fun of me. But, I don’t care, I know it will snow here one day and the n they can see how beautiful snow can be.”
Dash looked at the hopeful look in the young colt’s eyes and shook her head, “Kid...I don’t how to tell you this, but-”
“Dang straight it will snow here one day!” Pinkie said. Smiling she bounced away, “Just belive with all of your heart and look at the sky tonight and you wil see the biggest blizzard ever!!!”
“YAY!” the colt said, running off.
Dash watched the colt run away and then grabbed Pinkie by the fur, “Pinkie, what the buck are you saying! You know for a fact that it can’t snow here!”
“Why not?” Pinkie asked with a giggle.
“First, the ground here is too hot, the snow melts when it hits the sand. Second, we pegasi can’t get clouds over here to make it snow, heck I don’t even know how they make it rain here. IT can’t be done, it’s impossible!” Dash growled.
Pinkie chuckled, “Dashie, have you forgotten? We beat the devil, redeemed Discord, and stopped a legend. We do the impossible all of the time. You make the impossible happen every time you make a rainboom.”
“Yeah, I guess we are awesome squared,” Dash said with a cocky shrug.
“So, making it snow where it can’t should be easy,” Pinkie said.
“Ok, how?” Dash asked.
With a smirk, the pink pony broke from Rainbow Dash and started to shout, “OH look at us! We’re fighting, and angry. OOOOOOOH, I am just so hate filled right now. If any being of legend waned to turn it snowy, they better do it now!”
“Pinks, what are you doing?” Dash asked.
“Trying to summon a Windigo! They feed on hat and anger right” Pinkie asked.
“I don’t think it works like that,” Dash said, only to shake her head when Pinkie tried to shiver, “And that isn’t helping either. We need a bigger plan.”
“Maybe the map should’ve sent Twilight with us. Then she could’ve-”
“What, magik us up a blizzard?” Dash asked. She shook her head, “This a weather problem, Pinkie. Which means it needs me. But what we need is a plan, something to make it snow around here. We need cold, snowflakes, and enough clouds to make it happen.”
Pinkie looked up at the clouds, and then back to Rainbow Dash. With a big smile, pinkie gasped, “Dashie...I have an idea.”
That night in the city square, Pinkie Pie stood on top oa large tower, hoisting up a large heart light, “Hey, everypony, if you could look at the heart please!!!” When she has had everypony’s attention, she continued, “In Equestria, we have a tradition called Hearth’s Warming eve. It’s a time that we use the warmth in all of our hearts to banish the anger and hatred away from our sight. IT is also the time for us to believe in the impossible. So, as knights of Harmony and the representation of the [princess of friendship, we bring you the impossible!!”
Up in the sky, Rainbow Dash was flying at her fastest speed, behind her vaccum was a long line of clouds that followed her. Strapped to her sides were two large party cannons. A cunning smile crossed Rainbow Dash’s lips as she began to fly around in a circle, making the clouds circle around the sky and gather until they had formed a thick blanket above the Arabians heads. The colt watched this in amazement as the rainbow streak in the sky stopped gathering clouds and flew up into the sky.
Above the cloud cover, Rainbow Dash looked to the blanket of clouds like a stealth bomber. Cracking her neck side to side, she let out a chuckle before beginning to make a strafing run across the clouds, shooting off the party cannons at regular intervals. With each powerful blast of the massive cannons, a shot of snowflakes and snow fired tint e the cloud barrier. More and more Rainbow Dash fired, filing the clouds up with snow until they were ready to burst.
Once the twin cannons were empty, Rainbow Dash shrugged them off her shoulder and flew a little higher until she was in the center of the clouds. Then she flew straight down onto the cloud cover, slamming her hoof into the snow clouds, making them ripple from the force of trhe punch.
Down below, Pinkie smiled with glee as she sat on a rooftop, a cup in her hand. Giggling, she said, “Wait for it...” and then she let out a cheer as the snow began to fall from the clouds.
The colt, watching from his home shouted to his mom and dad, “Mom, pop, look! It’s snowing!!!”
“We did it!!! We made it snow!!!” Pinkie cheered, catching the snow in the cup, and add some syrup as Dash landed and sat next to her. “Told you we could. Snowcone?”
Dash nodded and took the offered treeat, lickng ith, “Ok, you’re right. We can pull the impossible off.” she said, looking at her flank as it began to glow, showing that their mission was complete.
“Because it's hearth’s warming,” Pinkie said. “And my Granny said, that on Hearth’s warming, you can make the impossible happen...as long as you believe.”
Author's Note
Another year and another song for all of you t listen to.
I do love the idea that the map is a sort of Trouble alert for the heroes. Kind of a way to get ponies to bad spot B. Can't be everywhere, but at least we try.
Stories told on the Hearth
When I looked, it had two little eyes.
Fluttershy awoke with a start, sitting up from the floor that she had laid on. Blinkiing her eyes slowly, she began to make out four figure in the dim light of the room. After a few more minutes, she began to be able to make out the colors and features of the people that had surrounded her. Shaking her head for a second, she whispered, “W-where am I?” as she asked, she began to try and move her wings. With a tiny start, she looked behind her and noticed that bother her wings were broken in half, “MY wings! Somepony broke my wings. W-who could’ve done such a-”
“Probably the same one who broke my arm,” said a grizzled old ninja, his arm hanging limp by his side. Sighing, he looked to Fluttershy, his yellow eyes looking down at her, “So who areyou kid? The names Shinobi.”
“F-fluttershy,” Fluttershy whispered, he shyness overtaking her. “Where are we?”
“Don’t know,” Shinobi said, leaning against the wall of the room. “We are all like you. One day, we just woke up in this dang cell with no recollection of how we got here.”
“All I remember is that I was at a picnic with my friends, and then nothing,” Fluttershy said. “Why would somepony kidnap us?”
“Some sicko, I can tell you that,” said a ballerina. “Look at me! I was a great dancer! I had big dreams, and now,” she whimpered and cried.
Fluttershy looked at the young ballerina and asked, “What happened. OH my!” she gasped when she got a look at her companion when she hopped into the dim light.
The Ballerina whimpered as she looked down at her missing legs, “Some monster held me down at a table and began to rip my legs off one by one. I have no idea why he did it to me, he just found it as some form of sick joke.”
Fluttershy walked over and patted the ballerina's back as she began to cry. Shinobi chuckled at this as he took a small drink from a flask, “Think that is something, squeaky hasn’t barked in ages,” he said, pointing to a small puppy that just whimpered and hid. Then he pointed to a soldier that had his face covered, “And he’s gone mad.”
“They’ll come for me. You’ll see, my friends,” the solder said, holding the side of his burnt off face in pain. “Then they’ll come for me and take me home. They won’t leave me behind.”
“Buddy, I keep telling you, no one is coming for you. Your friends are all dead and buried, it’s just you. The only thing any of us has to look forward to is the darkness,” Shinobi said, drinking his bottle slowly and sighing.
Fluttershy gave Shinobi a look that was a mix of curiosity and outright dear,” T-the darkness?”
Shinobi nodded and looked up to the sky, pointing to the square circle above their heads, “There are only two ways out of here, up there. Or, “ he paused, taking a look at the four walls around him, “You wait for the darkness. A time when we all blank out and-”
Before Shinobi could say anymore, the world for Fluttershy went black. When she saw the light again and the world returned to normal, she found that the ballerina and squeaky had disappeared-what happened?!”
“It’s like I said, every once in awhile everyone here is overtaken by darkness and then one of us is whisked away,” he gave a low chuckle, “All except for me. I have seen way too many people being taken away and never seen again. Don’t complain thought. Means less heartbreak.”
“They’re coming for me! One day, they’ll come and bring me-”
“Will you shut up! No one cares about you, no one is coming and no one,” Befor the ninja could say more, Fluttershy interjected by walking to the soldier and hugging him.
“I care,” Fluttershy said, holding the soldier tightly. “Somebody will come and help you, I promise. Then, maybe you can see your friends again.”
“A little too hopeful, ain't ya?” asked Shinobi.
Fluttershy turned around and smiled, “Why not, its a good time to hope. It’s hearth's warming eve, and I believe that as long as you have hope...anything can happen. You just need to fight for it.”
“You don’t look like you can fight for anything,” Shinobi said, laughing.
“You’re right. I am small, helpless, and weak. But my friends remind me that I am stronger than I believe I am. I know that and I know, that they will come,” Fluttershy said as the darkness came for her once more.
When Fluttershy opened her eyes, she found the soldier gone. AS he smled warmly, saying a silent prayer to herself, Shinobi added in, “Whoa, so maybe you do have something to that whole, hope thing.”
“It’s hard sometimes,” Fluttershy said, smiling softly. “But, if you try hard enough, you can find it. Then you jus need to hold onto it hard.”
“”Heh, nice philosophy, maybe i shoul-”
Once again, the darkness came and left, leaving Fluttershy alone. Laying on her stomach, she gave a little sniffle as she felt the oppressive loneliness wash over her, “And here I am. Alone. I hope that my friends can,” before she could say any more, she felt a darkness wash over her, “No, wait. No, plea-”
“Well now, would you look at that,” the young man said, smiling as he looked into the barrel. Reaching down, he pulled out the little Fluttershy toy and smiled. “Hey there little girl, why would anyone throw you away?” as he asked this, he looked the little toy over and said, “Oh, broken wings huh?”
A man standing next to the barrel marked ‘Broken toys $1 each” grumbled, “Hey mac, ya gonna buy a toy or ain't ya?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah, sorry. I was thinking how i was going to fix this toy when I got home,” the young man smiled as he dropped the dollar in the bin and walked away with his little figure.
A few days later, the young man came to a small house in the country. After stepping into the house and dropping off his coat, he was tackled by a little red head about 4, “Uncle Qrow!!!!”
“Hey kid,” Qrow said, smiling as he knelt down to rub his little niece’s head, “Merry christmas.”
“What did you bring me!?” asked the little girl as her uncle handed her a package. As she began to open it, she let out a little squeal of “YAY!!”
Taiyang walked up behind his brother-in-law and asked, “Tell me you didn’t get Ruby another gun. She had twenty of those.already.”
“”Nah, figured i would help her out with her little collection,” smirked Qrow as he watched his little niece take out the little Fluttershy figure, her wings now metal scythes, and put it on a stand with her other figures. “After all, I had a my little pony collection growing up.”
“Fluttershy!!! You made it home!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she hugged her friend.
Author's Note
If this story sounds a little familar, its because I based it off a Twilight Zone episode. I loved the twist in this story and I wanted to try it with this little tale.
Also...surprise RWBY crossover!!!
Stories told on the Hearth
Take a trip down Candy Cane Lane with me It's the cutest thing I swear you'll ever see, it's the best So get dressed, and impressed You and the colors of the rainbow...
One blue eye opened to the sight of snow outside of her window. The next followed soon after and then a pink body as she leapt from her bed with a cheer. Happily, Pinkie Pie ran to the window to watch all of the ponies walking around the snow, fixing up their decorations and shoveling snow. She couldn’t help bit bob her head in rhythm to the music that was playing on the radio while she watched the world go by around her. Then she let out a gasp as she saw something in the distance.
Nodding her head in affirmation, she ran to her closet, put on a whool scarf and boots, and ran outside. Her face scruntched up in determination as she ran through the town and into the castle of her friend, Twilight Sparkle. As she entered the foyer, she looked around, panting and trying to find the stairs. Locating the acented steps, she quickly ran up the stairs and into Twilight’s room, “Twilight! Come quick! Emergancy! I need you.”
Twilight, too tired from being forced awake by her friend, let out a small grumbling, “Later Pinkie, I need sleep.”
“No, I need you, now come on!” Pinkie said, biting onto Twilight’s tail and pulling, dragging the unicorn off the bed.
Twilight mumbled again, “No, Pinkie, I can’t come with you. Can’t it wait...”
“No, it can’t! It’s really big and I need the bestest alicorn I know to handle it,” Pinkie said, letting go of the tail and shaking her head. Sighing, she reached into her boot and pulled out a coffee packet. Pulling out a little pot, she boiled up a cup of coffee and opened Twilight’s mouth. After quickly pouring it into her mouth, she stepped back as she watched the bitter liquid take it’s effect.
Shooting up to her hooves and sitting down, she looked to Pinkie as she remarked, “Ok, I’m up, what do you want.” Twilifht asked, shaking her head and looking to the pink pony.
“There is something big going down in town Twilight. It’s really big and I need your help to fix it,” Pinkie said, running towards Twilight’s bedroom door.
“Ok, what can be so big that you need me?” Twilight asked shaking her head and walking through the door. With a quick ignite of her horn, she put on her warm clothes and followed the pink blur as she hopped excitedly out the door and into the snow.
As she hopped Pinkie began to explain, “Well, after I had this wonderful dream featuring ice cream cakes that wanted to be friends with fudge, I woke up to all of this snow. That’s when I saw it!”
“Saw what?” Twilight asked standing in front of sugar cube corner.
“This big snow monster!” Pinkie said, waving her hooves manically. Then she looked down the alley and pointed, “Look! There he is!”
Twilight looked and cocked an eyebrow at a normal snowman, “Pinkie, that’s just a snowman.”
“No, he isn’t there,” Pinkie said, shaking her head. Quickly, she grabbed Twilight’s head and pointed towards a nearby rooftop.
Twilight blinked in confusion, before she saw a small snow monster attacking a chimney and covering it with snow . Narrowing her eyes, she said, “Oh, I get it. And he is-”
“Moving way to fast for Applejack,” Pinkie said with a nod.
With a smirk, Twilight fired a magical energy shot at the snow monster and pulled him down from the top. Glaring, Twilight stepped to the monster, “Ok, beast. It’s time for you to-”
“WAHHHHHHHH!!!!” The snow monster cried as he sat on the ground.
“Cry like a little baby?” Twilight asked, arcing an eyebrow in confusion.
Curious, Pinkie walked over to the monster and lightly tapped his arm, “Hey, what’s with the tears little guy?” she asked, looking at the monster.
The monster then began to wail an unitllegible collection of roars and growls. This made Pinkie gasp aloud and reply, “You’re a baby snow monster and you got lost? And you were only attacking the chimney’s because you were scared?”
“But, if he’s lost, then where did he come from?” Twilight asked.
“Well,” Pinkie listened to the monster’s crying, and then gasped in happiness, “It exists!!!!!!”
Candy Cane Lane, bring a friend this holiday Bring a friend who loves to play, we'll eat all the candy canes Oh, Candy Cane Lane, bring a friend this holiday Bring a friend who loves to play, we'll eat all the candy canes
Twilight stood in shock and awe as the baby snow monster was reunited with his parents, happily playing with them. Blinking in disbelief, she turned over to the still giggling Pinkie as she grabbed some red and yellow, pink and green, orange, purple, and blue candy canes. Taking a few steps towards her friend she said, “And where did you hear of ‘Candy Cane lane?”
“From my Granny Pie,” Pinkie giggled as took the canes with her, “She said there was a secret place that pops up every five years that was home to the mallows. It was a place where Candy Canes grow and I always hoped to find it.”
“And we just so happened to find someone from there?” Twilight asked, only to find a candy cane in her mouth.
Pinkie, now with a bag of canes, giggled, “Don’t ask Twilight, just have fun!!! Now, come on, lets go and get the others.”
Watching her best friend bounce away, she shrugged and followed along.
Christmas is waiting for you, Christmas is waiting for you. Candy Cane Lane.
Author's Note
The moment I saw the video for this song I knew I had to adapt it. And no, just because she is singing a great song on the movie had nothing to do with it!
Stories told on the Hearth
It's a marshmallow world in the winter When the snow comes to cover the ground It's time for play, it's a whipped cream day I wait for it the whole year round.
“Pinkie, this prank of yours has got to be one of the most-” Rainbow Dash commented, only to be interrupted by a quick giggle from Pinkie Pie.
“It’s not a prank, Dashie,” Pinkie said, winking to her friend, while holding a giant bag of marshmellow fluff behind her. “It’s going to be a treat.”
Dash shrugged and looked at some of the passing by pegasus guards, “Ok, but how are we gonna get by them? They don’t excatly want me back in since the last time I raided the factory.”
“Well,” Pinkie said, smiling, “That is why you are going to distract them.”
Rainbow Dash looked at the guards, and then back to Pinkie. Then she looked back at the guards one more time and said, “Ok, I’m in...”
(The next morning)
Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly In the arms of the evergreen trees And the sun is red like a pumpkin head It's shining so your nose won't freeze.
“Twilight!” Shouted Spike as he ran up the stairs into the reading room, opening it up and panting, “We have a big problem, BIG!!!”
“What is it Spike?” Twilight asked, getting to her hooves and walking to her faithful assitant.
“Look outside!” Spike said, running away.
Her eyebrow arched, she looked out the window and saw all of the snow on the ground. With a mild, “Oh,” she walked to her room and put on her warm clothes, “I guess Spike just wanted me to look at his snowman or something.” Twilight said with a smile as she walked down the stairs and out into the white snow.
As she stepped out, she prepared to hear the tale tail cruch of white power, but was instead greeted with a squish. Twilight raised her eyebrow at this and said to herself, “Squish?” lifting up her hoof, she looked at the white fluff and said, “This isn’t snow...it’s-” she gave the white goo a lick, “Marshmallow?!”
A white marshmallow shaped pony walked up to Twilight, her sapphire eyes blinking before narrowing in anger, “Twilight, somthing must be done!”
“Um, do I know you?” Twilihgt asked the marshmallow pony.
“Do you know-Twilight, it’s me,” the white pony then looked at the goop as it covered her body. Frowning, she used her magic to get rid of the fluff, “Rarity!”
“Oh, but how did you get covered in this...this...this-”
“GOOP!?” Rarity asked, shoutig, “I was walking out of my boutique when suddently a ton of Marshmallow fluff just fell on top of me!”
“Well, it doesn’t look like it messed you up too badly, Rarity,” Twilight said, using her own magic to push away the marshmallow. She then looked up at some of the tree branches, noting that there was some whipped cream as well. “But I will get to the bottom of this.”
“I hope so,” Rarity said, looking away, “I have had at least three different ponies lick me because they thought I was part of the ground!”
Twilight couldn’t help but cock an eyebrow in curiosity at this and shook her head. Then she added, “Look, go back to the shop and I will get to the bottom of this.”
“Oh, thank you Twil-EEEEEP!” Rarity squeaked, before turning to look at Sweetie Belle, “Sweetie Belle!”
“I’m sorry, you looked delicious,” Sweetie Belle said with a frown as she looked down at the gorund and lightly kicked the fluff.
As the two sisters ran off, Twilight began to walk through the town looking for any signs of the culprits. In her head, she began to run through the possible crooks, “Discord? No, he’s busy. The pony of Shadows, no still in limbo. Chrysalis? No, busy with other plans. Then again,”
She couldn’t help but notice the happiness of the other ponies. Some were making fluffenutters, while others were using it on their ice cream, and some were even adding it to their cakes. The idea that it seemed like this made a lot of ponies happy, was interesting to her. That was when the realization hit her, “Oh, of course!”
Running towards Sugar Cube Corner, she caught sight of her two culprits, “Pinkie! Rainbow Dash!”
“Nom!” chomped Pinkie, “Hi Twilight!”
“What in Equestria are you doing?” she asked, her voice slightly raised.
Marshmellow in hoof, Rainbow Dash remarked, “Making it snow marshmallow, what does it look like?”
“I can see that!” Twilight said, watching as Pound and Pumpkin played with the fluff happily. “I want to know why.”
“Well, I heard on the radio this really sweet song about a marshmellow world and I figured,” Pinkie said, sliding down on the fluff with a smile, “Why make it just a song and have an entire snowstorm of Marshmallow!”
“Because it just,” Twilight looked back, seeing the ponies eat, “Because it would ruin,” she looked up at the sky, quickly remembering that she was in a world where ponies could control the weather, and thus easily clean it up, “Because it’s just isn’t,” she looked behind her back at the other ponies.
Tqaking a deep breath, Twilight sighed and shook her head and smiled, “You know what? NEver mind, just let me have some of of that marshmallow.”
Author's Note
Little short, a little busy, but will never leave you without a fun little Christmas tale.
Stories told on the Hearth
On the first day of hearth's warming
On the first day of Hearth’s Warming
Faster...Faster! These were the only two words running through the mare’s head as she ran through the cave. Behind her was a giant serpent, his mouth opening in an attempt to bite down on the pinky pony. She continued to run from the creature, never stopping even though she could feel herself getting more and more tired. Her legs ached, breathing getting more and more ragged as she trailed down the dark cavern; however, her salvation was soon at hand as she caught sight of the cave opening. A grin plastered across her face, she made a leap to the hole in the cliff and out of the cave as the serpent made his greatest Lunge to get at her. Falling only a few feet, the young pony checked her bags. Still here, good. Turning to the serpent in the cave, she let loose a big smile and waved, “ Thanks a lot Mr. Clarke for the exercise, I really needed it.”
“Oh no problem, Pinkie and thank you for delivering your wonderful cakes for me and my family. We really appreciate it.” The serpent said as his four young sons appeared under him.
Turning away from the cave dweller, Pinkie walked into the dark woods of Whitetail. Reaching into the pouch and pulling out the large gem, she took the time to admire its beauty and luxuriousness. She then put the gem back into her pouch and pulled out a parchment and a quill, making a little mark on her list. Looking ahead, she began to hum to herself “ On the first day of hearthswarming, hmhmhmhmhm...”
Skipping along, her travels took her straight into Hoofington where she began to look at every store and shop. Walking along the cold cobblestone lane she came across a particular shop. Estacically she ran in and began to look around, examining all of their wares until she found the right one that she wanted to get. Paying a small fee she walked out of the store and read the sign, “ Pane crazy, we sell windows. You know...Fluttershy is right, window shopping is fun!” the joke, for her, was so funny that it caused her to roll around in giggles. Getting up, she brought out a small notepad and put the joke down for later use. Looking up, she saw a little pet shop. Resisting the urge to sing a catchy ditty about the personalities and different names of a collection of pets, the young mare happily skipped into the shop and went to the owner, “Exuse me, I would like to buy that pigeon.”
“That pigeon mam?”Asked the sales pony.
“Yeppers! The pony I am buying for has all sorts of pets from a-z but I noticed she doesnt have a single P! So I think she should have something to fill the gap.” The mare said as she paid her bits and left. Looking down at the pidgeon as it fluttered around in its cage, Pinkie had an idea “OOOOOOH! I think I will call you ‘Dashie two! The sequel!”Chuckling she made a mark on her list and began to walk, taking note of the footprints that she left in the snow.
“On the second day of hearts warming I gave hmhmhmhmmh...OH THATS PERFECT!!!!” Racing into the bookstore she caused the books to fly out in a flurry of pages.
" Excuse me miss, but would you please be careful of the books! Some of us have just tidied up " The mare, stegger point, a red mane on top looked at Pinkie very sternly.
"Ooops sorry, but I saw three books in here I have just got to buy for my sisters!" Pinkie said with an excited look on her face.
"Oh, I see. Can I do anything to help you with your shopping?" Stegger asked.
"oh no, I'm good." With that Pinkie quickly ran out and looked at her booty.
“ Lets see: ‘ how to study the Somnambulist way’, ‘ The immortal game’, and ‘my first flyers book.” Taking out her long list, she made three check marks. Shaking off some of the snow that had fell upon her coat she looked ahead to the long road ahead, the road lined with stores. Shaking her head, she instead turned her head homeward, to Ponyville. Walking down the road home, she caught the sight of a little store with a small tree. Smiling, she went in and bought two of them alongside an apple gummy rope. Taking out her list, she made some more checks and looked at the last two names. She frowned a little, looking up to the moon,and sighed. It had been a long day and now there was barely any time left for the final two presents. Looking back at her first item, an idea came to her mind...time for some more excerise.
A few hours later found Pinkie walking back into Sugar Cube Corner, tired and weary. Walking up the stairs to her room, she began to sing to herself.
On the first day of heartswarming, I got Rarity-A blue gem from serpents
On the second day I got Fluttershy- a little pidgeon
On the third, fourth, and fifth day I got Twily, Pound, and Dashie-some books
On the sixth day I got AAAAAAPLEJACK- a small Bonzai tree
On the seventh day I got Pumpkin- a little gummy ring
On the eight and ninth day I got Inkie and Blinky- some fancy metorites that fell in the Everfree Forest that Twilight told me to stay away, but I knew they were harmless because my pappy used them before and worked on them and we sold a few years ago to the princess
As she sang, she made sure each present was wrapped and hidden well before falling onto the bed. Gummy, her little aligator crawled onto her belly and looked at her, blinking slowly, “You know Gummy, it is so hard Hearthswarming shopping when you have 9 sisters to buy for!” She then smiled as she patted her pet’s head and fell to sleep.
Author's Note
This is a first for me, no crossovers, no big adventure, no heroics, nobody falling in love, no wackiness, just tales about the girl's lives.
Oh and Pinkie is me when I am doing shopping!
View Online
Stories told on the Hearth
Hearth's warming bells, those Hearth's warming bells
Christmas bells those Christmas bells
The news had come out, during the crystal war
Rainbow Dash grumbled as she walked into her commanding officer’s tent. She hated the cold air of the crystal mountains, and she hated the snow on her metal wing even more. She growled as she looked at the calendar and turned away with a frown. As she opened the tent, Spit fire looked up from her papers and at Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow Dash, you are probably wondering why I called you in.”
“Commander, I was under the impression that I was due some shore leave,” Dash grumbled, moving her metal wing, as if to make sure the snow didn’t freeze it up.
The bloody crystal knight, was attacking once more The Princess’s command, ignored all of his plan And Called on Dash to beat him again.
“What? But I kicked his flank a year ago! I sent him falling into a gorge and right into a quarry eel mouth. He’s dead!” Rainbow Dash argued, her right ear twitching in pain.
“Crystal ponies are more resealant it seems,” Spitfire said. “I would go hunting for him myself, and make him pay for Soring, but...” she paused and waved her robotic hoof in sadness.
Rainbow Dash put her hoof onto Spitfire’s shoulder and smiled, “It’s ok, I understand. You want your best out there, and that’s me!” With her usual bravado, the cyan mare walked out of the tend.
Sighing, she stopped and looked at a calenday, noting the day
It was the night before Hearth’s Warming.
“Maude wanted me to meet the folks and tell them...” she sighed as she looked at the ring on her hoof. “She is going to kill me!” growling she spreaded her wings and took off into the sky.
It was 40 below And Rainbow Dash went in search of her foe.
Rainbow Dash kept to a low altidude as she flew across the snowy landscape, keeping her eyes on the ground. For the moment, she breathed a sigh of relief that the Crystal ponies had not learned the magic of flight or gained an air advantage. She knew that was one of the big reasons to why Equestria still had a chance in this war. Her magenta eyes conintued to look for the stallion, only to be taken out of her search by a whistling noise.
She spied the stallion
Rainbow Dash growled as she saw the stallion clad in his cold looking armor. Raising a hoof up, he slowly waved at her to come at him. Narroinw her eyes in sher determination, she charged at the stallion and plowed both hooves into his chest. Before he had a chance to realitate, she uppercutted him and landed back onto the ground, shrugging her shoulders with confidence.
Firecely they fought.
The stalion bucked Rainbow Dash hard in the chest, bruisnge her ribs with his hit. He then made to deliver a right cross at Rainbow’s head, but it missed as she ducked under his hoof. Taking to the air, Rainbow Dash began to lay blow after blow upon the stallion’s back with rapid fire punches onto his back. The stuntmare let out a chuckle as the stallion tried to attack and strike at her.
The stallion rolled away from Rainbow Dash’s atttacks and pulled out an icy spear to throw at her. Rainbow Dash moved a second too slow and the icy shard cut deep into the side of her face. She let out a yelp as the blade left behind a small bleeding groove. Wiping hte blood from her cheek, she flew back into her fray. As she dived, she felt her metal wing freeze up.
but ice on her wings She knew she was caught.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened wide in shock and horror as she flew right into the hoof of her opponent, causing her to corckscrew away from the blow. With a loud groan, Rainbow Dash struggled to get herslef back up, glaring at the stallion. Her ears twitching she could hear bells in the distance.
Hearth’s warming bells Those hearth’s warming bells Ringing throughout the country Wishing peace on earth And goodwill to pony.
Growling the stallion walke up to Rainbow Dash and held up a round object in his hoof. As Dash watched the stalion ready to strike, she muttered, “Go on, do it.”
The stallion had Dash in his sights And he readied his hoof to Put out her lights.
The stallion flicked his ears as he heard the bells from the distance, turning his head towards the sounds of the bells, he smiled.
Why didn’t he strike We’ll never know Maybe it was the bells healed this fellow
Hearth’s warming bells Those hearth’s warming bells Ringing throughout the country Wishing peace on earth And goodwill to pony.
The stallion grabbed Rainbow Dash and carried her off to a small hut nearby. Sitting her down onto the floor, the cyan mare looked up, “W-what are you doing?”
The stallion said nothing as he walked over and grabbed a small object and then turned to look at the captive Dash.
The Stallion took Dash on his own Then made her captive in his home Rainbow Dash thought this was the end
The cyan mare winced as she braced for a killing blow, but when none came she opened her eyes. Looking in the stallion’s hoof she saw a cup of cider and a cookie. She then heard him say to her
Happy Hearth’s warming, my friend.
The stallion then offered Dash A holiday toast And our heroine, saluted her host.
And then with a brush of wind They were both on their way Knowing tomorrow’s another day.
Author's Note
Note: this is one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time. Needless to say, it is also connected to one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time "Joyex Noel".
This story was going to be written with Nyx telling some wastelanders about this. But the crystal war arc from the finale was just too tempting to pass up!!!! I think this makes it work a little better. And mark this well, this is probably one of the few times I write a story where Dashie is shipped with somepony other than Fluttershy.
PS. I think I am getting better with these songs.
Also, want a song to be written into a pony fic? Requests are always welcome. Just provide me with a link to the song and I will try to make it work.
