Trixie's Hearth's Warming Eve

Chapters

Chapter 1: "It's my Favourite Holiday"
Chapter 2: The First Night
Chapter 3: Trixie's Great and Amazing Chimney Diving Skills
Chapter 4: Eve
Chapter 5: The Spirit of Giving

Chapter 1: "It's my Favourite Holiday"

Snow danced around against the chilling wisps of the winter breeze. The fluff was matted against the ground and caked the trees and buildings in its white. A sheet of ice and snow had blanketed the sleepy town of Ponyville. Ponies came out of their houses, yawning and trudging, ready to prepare for another day of winter. Secluded in a small spot between a couch store and an office building was a small wooden cart. Its hinges were rusted and its hull was tattered. But the site of its condition was only its usual appearance, in fact, the owner had recently prepared it before the winter’s arrival and as such the water damage by the snow could have ruined it to the fullest extent. But who is the owner of this cart? This purple covered mast of stars and swirls?

A bright blue unicorn, wearing a purple hat and cap, brushed her pearlescent mane past her face as her head poked out her weary head from the cart's window. She looked outside with weary eyes, the night before she didn’t get enough decent sleep from the hours of trying to repair her once again broken cart. A cold gust of wind blasted her face making her head back inside from the shivers her body felt. As much as she wanted to admit, she didn’t like living this way. Perhaps one day I will get this cart upgraded, she thought with an exhaled sigh.

After her rematch with Twilight Sparkle, she had made a promise, that instead of being the Great and Powerful Trixie-- which everypony hated-- she'd be become the Great and Apologetic Trixie.

“But how?” she wondered with each passing day. Twilight saved her from the corrupted powers of the Alicorn necklace but there still lay a rift between her and Ponyville. She had to mend that.
She gazed upon the interior design of her living space, from the outside quite small, but rather much different on the inside as it attained sufficient necessities that a travelling magician would require. She cringed her eyes shut when a worn out window flew off its hinges and crashed onto the floor. She sighed once more.

“Something needs to change.”

Trixie had taken her wizard’s attire and trotted down the snow-covered streets of Ponyville. It didn’t give her enough comfort against the cold but it was better than nothing, after all she had survived worse when she was still exiled as a laughing stock. Everywhere she looked, she saw families out together, they were enjoying the time having fun in the snow. The foals ran around while the parents chased after them, a few slipped on a hidden patch of ice and this made everyone laugh. Even Trixie made a non-audible chuckle, before looking at the scenes with a lonesome sadness in her eyes. She realized just how alone she was all these years. Before she could have the peace of allowing a tear to slide down her cheek, a body bumped into her.

Trixie fell to the snow and its coldness sank into her cape, “Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

“Trixie?” a recognizable voice answered. Trixie’s eyes grew large and quickly picked herself up to look presentable. The purple unicorn that bumped into her also picked herself up and shook her mane from the snow that was sticking to it.
“Trixie it is you! How have you been?” the unicorn came in for a hug and her hoofs wrapped around the light-blue unicorn who returned the hug back.

“I’ve been fine Twilight,” Trixie lied. “I was just going out to get some of this air, it’s not every day that we get to enjoy winter.”
“Also Hearth’s Warming Eve-”

Trixie’s eyes grew wide as her face beamed. Ever since she was a little filly, she always remembered the nights she shared with her parents during the Hearth’s Warming celebrations. It was the only time that she could have considered to be a fully-together family. It might sound cheezy but the holiday was one of the factors that pushed her to become a stage performer. She used to act in plays when reciting the many tales of Hearth’s Warming Eve. Her favourite had to be the story of Noel Hooves.

After Equestria was made, the land was still ravaged by snowstorms and unsettled land. Many ponies were angry and even though the place was now a unity of all pony species, they still didn’t have enough time to do anything else other than work. One day a traveler came to the forming area of Equestria, this figure was that of an earth pony covered in a red and white woolen outfit, adorned with a hat and a large sack that he carried. His white beard glowed and this pony was insanely jolly and uncle-like. He went around the houses and offered them gifts, some accepted and some didn’t. It was then in the nighttime that he would essentially steal away into houses without making a sound, leaving more gifts for everypony that was nice and deserved them. The next morning the families were stunned to find a mass of toys, food and gifts decorated in their main room. They were even more surprised to have found out all their milk supply was drunk as well as their cookies and crackers eaten to crumbs.

The parents were horrified, all of the dairy product, was gone.

The young fillies and colts didn't seem to mind and asked them if they leave more cookies and milk out that the thing that came would come again and bring more presents.

Mixed reactions came from them, but in the end they laughed and spent the day indoors as a family. No pony knew where that kind old pony left off to, but because of him the cold harsh nights seemed to be more cozy and warm. Trixie always liked that story the most for some reason.

“- Trixie... TRIXIE!”

The unicorn snapped out from her daydream and looked to see Twilight with a worried expression, “Uh… sorry. What was it?”

“I need you to help me find the Hearth’s warming Eve gift I was going to give to Rarity,” Twilight said as she flipped over a rock and dug in a pile of snow. “I think I dropped it when you bumped into me.”

“You mean when you bumped into ME,” Trixie's face scowled, before proceeding to help Twilight find the gift. After digging deep enough Trixie found a bright green box with a red bow on it. She gave it over to Twilight who had a look of relief.

“Thank you so much Trixie. I didn’t want this to get in late.”

“Twilight, when is Hearth’s Warming Eve? Did I miss it?! I can't have missed it!” Trixie shouted in fright of missing her favourite holiday of the year.

“Don’t worry Trixie, it’s only a few more days until then. Right now it’s just the celebrations and gifting going around.”

“Well, that’s great then. I was wondering how the Great and Apologetic Trixie would be able to give back to Ponyville. Would you not think that a noble deed?” Trixie said with an arrogant tone as she gave herself a better dignified posture.

Twilight rolled her eyes and quickly said, “If you want to give back then Hearth Warming’s the best time to do it. I remember seeing Pinkie Pie doing a toy drive, maybe she could use some help? The best way to give back to the community is to actually do something for them. You know, be creative!” Twilight looked over at the clock tower in the distance. “Would you look at the time, I need to get going! It was nice to meet you again Trixie!” She said as she galloped away from the thinking unicorn.

“Be creative… hmmm…”

Trixie arrived in front of the bakery of Sugercube Corner where she could see a pink earth pony happily bounce up and down as she reached for a small wooden train next to a large pile of toys. When Trixie got closer, Pinkie gave the small locomotive to a filly who had a look of wonder and thanked her before happily trotting away.

“You’re welcome!” Pinkie shouted before she realized the light-blue unicorn standing near her pile of toys. “OH, Hiya Trixie! Are you excited for the holidays?”

“Um... yes I am?” Trixie was feeling awkward now that Pinkie pressed her eyes right in front of hers.

“OHHH GOODIE! So you must have had a reason to come to my stand right? You want a…… BAKED GOOD! No- wait, then you would have gone inside. That must mean you want a PRESENT!” Pinkie said ecstatically as she reached in the toy mountain. “So what would you like, a pony-action figure? A rubber balloon ball? A super springy elastic go thingy made of plastic jelly? Ooh! Maybe you want the book of ever knowing magical secrets!” Pinkie picked up the book and it immediately burst into flame. Trixie’s eyes were wide in shock.

“Whoopsies!”

“Just stop, please," Trixie groaned and Pinkie Pie immediately stood still for the first time that day. "I was actually sent by a recommendation from Twilight Sparkle to help you with this charity of yours. You see I want to give back to Ponyville for my rude behaviour in the past but I just don’t know how if I can’t even get my wagon fixe-” she quickly put a hoof to her mouth.

She was too proud to mention that she needed any help herself.

“Well, I’ve got a bunch of toys over here but it’s hard for ponies to notice or even walk here. Maybe you could take some with you and spread them around the places where I can’t go with my toy pile!” Pinkie said with a smile before darting into the bakery leaving Trixie interrupted with her reply. A few seconds later and the Pink entity came out holding a large sack stuffed full of toys. She quickly tied the opening with a beautiful red shaded cloth before handing it over the Trixie.

“There you go! Good luck Trixie!”

Trixie heaved the bag over her shoulder and onto her back, it wasn’t heavy but she could feel its weight pressing into her spine as she walked away from Pinkie and into Ponyville’s streets.

“How did I get in this mess, in the first place? Right, stop being the great and powerful show-off and become the Great and Powerful helper of Apologies!”

Her hoof stepped on a near invisible spot of slippery ice and she tumbled backwards with a cry as she and her bag landed in deep snow. He head came up above with her hat covered in the white powder and she spat out a few snowflakes.

This was going to be a long day.

After five hours of walking through slush, knocking on pony’s doors only to get slammed in the face and bumping into them on the street. Trixie had enough and retired for a quick break in her cart-house to cool down. She tossed her bag of toys and presents, with an exhausted grunt of anger, next to her bed and slouched onto a chair in front of a table, both hoofs thrusted into her head.

“ARGH! The nerve of those ponies! How rude could they possibly be, I thought this town was tolerant! The gifts by the Great and Apologetic Trixie TURNED DOWN!? Preposterous! Why these ponies should be thanking me for even taking the time to consider doing something good for this town!”

In her span of rage, Trixie grabbed a mug from her table and whipped it against the wall, with it shattering in a crash of pieces. Her hoofs cradled her head as she laid it down on the hard table. Tears were streaming through her eyes.

“I just want to do some good... I just want these ponies to stop ignoring me and treating me like garbage. I want them to like me.”

From her teary red eyes she looked at the sack of presents she wasn’t able to deliver. She nearly laughed at how pitiful she must’ve looked like carrying a tattered old sack on her back while walking through sub-zero temperatures in nothing other than a hat and a cape. She realized that the clothes still were on her and were soaking wet from melted snow.

“I’m losing focus,” she thought as she used her magic to envelope her attire within a light blue light and hang them up in her closet. Her vision went back to that light brown sack, it was wet as well and it could really use a good cleaning. If there was one thing Trixie learned about being a magician is that: perfection is key and she is all about being perfect in every detail. Her magic went over the sack and lifted it, immediately she facehoofed.

“I could have carried it like that and not have it BREAK my back! Urgh…. I’m so stupid sometimes….” she muttered under her breath in spite.

If she were to properly clean this bag then everything inside would have to come out, so Trixie gently tipped the bag over and the toys and gifts poured out.

They continued to pour.

And pour some more…

And pour and pour...

Still pouring…

“HOW MUCH TOYS DID THAT PINK PONY PUT IN THIS!?”

After a good five minutes of solid toy and present dumping (and now roughly about half her carriage cart being non-accessible for the time being) the sack was finally empty. But with a keen eye and just the slightest bit of paranoia of there being more within this strange sack, Trixie’s head poked into the bag along with her hoofs. She felt something warm and incredibly soft so she pulled it out.

She was awestruck. It was the most beautiful outfit Trixie had ever seen, her first choice obviously being her magic attire and the second being Princess Luna’s shoes, but this outfit was enough to bring a tear to her already tear-driven eyes. This outfit was made out of two parts, a cloak and a hat; both matched the fine silk of the bright crimson coloured cloth which was adorned with fuzzy snow-white trimming that made her hoofs tingle as she brushed them against it. The hat had its own comical feature, a furry white ball on its very end. This outfit reminded her so much about those days of Hearth’s Warming Eve.

Without a second to spare, she tried them on. They were a perfect fit, like they were made exactly for her. She didn’t consider why these were inside the sack in the first place, she was too busy admiring how warm and snug the outfit wrapped around her body. A mirror captured her form and she saw herself reflected back. She really did look like the character of Noel Hooves.

“Hmm… there’s something missing… something to tie all this up together…” she thought aloud.

A small mistletoe plant was growing in a pot near the corner of her home. Usually Trixie wasn’t a great gardener and many of her house plants die usually within the first week. Perhaps this plant still lived because of the weather? Who knows? Trixie immediately ended the plant’s life and cut the red berries and leafs of the plant with her magic. She stuck the natural ornament between her ear and the hat.

With once last glance at the mirror she smiled, “Perfect.”

Playing dress-up was fun but she didn’t understand why this outfit would have come from a toy sack, did Pinkie place it there secretly or did she not even know about it? There was something strange yet a wonderful peculiar feeling eradiated from this cloak and hat. After Trixie’s gleeful moment with the outfit, she went back to the sack and began its cleanup and eventual refilling of gifts.

The hours passed and Celestia’s sun dipped down below the horizon to welcome Luna’s gift up into the night sky. Trixie had finally put everything back in place, but during the whole time she kept hearing Twilight’s voice at the back of her head.

“The best way to give back… is to do something for them. Be creative!”

“Be creative…”

Suddenly Trixie’s face beamed as she had thought up the most spectacular idea she had ever conceived. She had the outfit, she had the sack of presents, and she had to drive to spread joy to Ponyville.

Her hoof readjusted her hat and with a triumphed stance she heaved the heavy sack of gifts over her shoulder before quickly shouting these words that instilled a sense of burning desire within her holiday spirit.

“I, the Great and Apologetic Trixie shall become, NOEL HOOVES!”

Her hoof slammed open the door, bringing a rush of winter wind through her mane as her body stepped out gallantly.

“Prepare yourselves Ponyville! For Hearth’s Warming is coming!”

“MERRY HEARTH’S WARMING EVE-”

“WOULD YOU SHUT UP!? It’s one in the morning geez! And Hearth’s Warming Eve isn’t for another three days!” a disgruntled pony shouted down below from a building at Trixie from an open window. But this didn’t faze the cheerful unicorn one bit.

It was a long night ahead with many more nights to come. With a spring in her step she left down the path and disappeared into the snowy veil of the night.

Chapter 2: The First Night

A tapping noise came from the front door of a resident’s home. The mint coloured mare of the house stepped hazily off the bed she was sleeping in and marched downstairs to see who could be knocking at this hour. With a small creak from the door, the mare pulled it back and was astonished to see a light-blue unicorn wearing something from what appeared to be a costume and carrying a large sack behind her. The mint mare’s thoughts of her being kidnapped right there were erased the moment the unicorn cheerfully pulled out a small light-green present and held it in front of her.

“Merry Hearth’s Warming!” Trixie said with a smile.

“Wait a moment,” the mare paused to look at the unicorn more closely. “You’re Trixie!”

“That’s right! I am here to spread some holiday cheer and I—”

“Go away,” the mare said with a dark expression of lingering hate and then slammed the door in front of Trixie’s nose.

She was shocked, but her fazed expression quickly turned one of pure malice, NO PONY SLAMS A DOOR IN FRONT OF TRIXIE!

Anger was rising in her hoofs and to release it before she could hold it no longer, she slammed the presented box she held right into the door, splintering it with a gapping large hole and with a horrified minty mare looking straight at her through it. Trixie let go of the box as it fell into the inside of the house.

“Here, take your present and enjoy the holidays.” Trixie was about to turn around and head towards the next house but a devilish smile spread across her lips as she turned back to the horrified mare, “You know what? I think that since you slammed a door in my face, the only charitable thing the Great and Apologetic Trixie could do more is give you more holiday cheer!”

Her horn went through the hole and it glowed in a dazzling light-blue aura. A spark then came out from it, then two, then three. Soon the entire inside of the house was filled with a volley of exploding magical sparks that Trixie had originally used to capture her audiences with. It was the brightest house in Ponyville, if not Equestria for the fifteen seconds.

Trixie walked away from the house with a triumphed grin on her face as the minty mare lay dazed and confused down on the floor. After a few minutes of gloating on her success, Trixie suddenly felt a sharp pain in her gut, like that she had done something wrong. Her eyes went up in realization and she slammed her hoof into the snow out of frustration.
Why did I do that!? She thought. Trixie you messed up again! How can you be the Great and Apologetic if you don’t act like it! You can be so stupid sometimes!

Unfortunately Trixie could only let out a sigh of disgruntled failure at this time, she had more houses to visit for the night and at this rate she wouldn’t have enough time to visit each one. Her sack of presents hung over her shoulder as a heavy burden, and so, she trudged her way through the falling snowflakes and freezing slush to her next location.

House after house, and still nopony didn’t want to be disturbed at 2am in the morning. They all refused her gifts and Trixie made sure not to let her anger overtake her judgement and cause another magic fiasco once again. With her head hung low, she reached up to a building and gently tapped the door and waited for an answer.
Nothing came.

She did it once more and still, a lifeless void was the response she had gotten.

The most obvious answer would be that there was nopony home and the gift-giver would then head out to another house to try her luck. However, this was Trixie, and being how paranoid she was right now with the lack of gifts being delivered, she assumed that there were ponies inside. She tapped her hoof against the ground in an effort to think up of a cunning and ingenious plan. For if this family didn’t get their gift then how would they know Trixie tried to apologize to them? No, she wasn’t going to disappoint them. Her eyes shifted stealthily to the window on the side of the door and an idea came to her head.

If she could nearly best Twilight Sparkle by using a dark magical amulet she bought from a shady store clerk, then opening this window under the cover of darkness with no pony seeing her and delivering a present and slipping back outside would be a cinch! After all, Noel Hooves did this plenty of times with ease!

How hard could it be to picklock this window? Trixie wondered with a grin.

Her magic enveloped the mechanism on the other side and with a small flick it turned and the window opened. Trixie had actually learned to pick locks a long time ago. She frequently had to break and enter many things when her earnings were short, otherwise, she would have starved. She was glad that her skill was put to better use, one for giving instead of taking, in this case.

Her eyes darted left and right to see if there were any ponies observing her in this snowing night but couldn’t make out anything. She assumed the coast to be clear and quickly hauled herself with her sack through the open window, and closed it shut behind her. The house looked like any with its lights turned off, a shadowy mix of hospitality and creepiness, it welcomed but gave rise to a sinister atmosphere with no warmth of light to provide any comfort. Trixie couldn’t risk any light for fear of waking up the neighbors. Her hoof took a step forward and the moment it made contact with the wooden floor, a loud audible creek echoed through the house. This startled Trixie into a dead silence. Her ears pricked up as she heard something coming up from upstairs.

Snoring.

Oh shoot! Okay Trixie, stay calm and think. You can do this, you broke into a pony’s home and no pony saw, you just need to stay quiet and—” Her hoof stepped forward making the same creak sound.
“—QUIET STAIRS! OR YOU WILL FEAR THE WRATH OF TRIXIE!”

Not only were the floors rigged to emit every single noise that went across them but Trixie had difficulty seeing anything except for the dark outlines of the room, the snow outside had fogged the windows and had made visibility even worse. Taking care to not make a greater-than-louder creak then she already made before, Trixie stepped forward hoof by hoof, holding her breath with each passing motion. The linen brown bag she carried was placed down to the ground and a bright red box was what she gotten when she reached inside. The question now was where to place it?

Trixie bumped into a table she didn’t notice and yelped in surprise before quickly putting a hoof over her mouth.

“Ouch, I could really use some night vision or something…….” she muttered to herself. Then she immediately facehoofed and casted a night vision spell on her eyes before any challenge to her being a fool yet again gets remarked. Now the room looked much better, trying not to hit any of the other furniture, she made it over to a tree standing in a large room. It was tradition that during Hearth’s Warming, there would be some type of foliage to symbolize the wonderful bounty of nature the ponies were blessed with after the forming of Equestria. The present went under the tree and with a nod of approval, Trixie’s mission was complete.

She went back to collect her sack but stopped midway. Her eyes had found something, the kitchen. Her hoofs approached the shelves with curiosity as she opened them to see their contents.

A full stocked pantry. Trixie never thought she would see this day. The insides were lined with bread, jam, fruit, vegetables, cheese, milk and baked goods, loads of baked goods. It was beautiful.

Her stomach growled at the sight of such simple yet extravagantly delicious food. She did not consider judgement on what she was about to do. It had been many times Trixie had found herself starving, the most recent being this morning, where she forgot to eat breakfast and anything else for the rest of the day. When she was travelling the roads any opportunity that Trixie had, she would gladly take. And this was no exception.

She remained civil and grabbed a plate. Piles of food soon stacked the plate threatening to break its ceramic structure. Trixie took a seat and placed the food onto a table.

Trixie, I know you’re completely dying from the lack of food all day. But what would the consequences be if I go through with this?, she advised herself.

“Ah, screw it!”

She immediately began stuffing herself to the brim with all the food. Her bites were loud and hasty as her feeding frenzy continued. Perhaps it was too loud.

“He- hello? Is some- something down h-here?” a shaky voice asked as a light switch was clicked and all the lights in the house flickered onwards.

Trixie immediately froze in place, fear had petrified her. She didn’t want to get caught, she can’t afford to go to jail for trespassing, breaking and entering, and raiding their food supply and partially assaulting that last pony from before. She had more gifts to deliver, and more importantly, SHE DIDN’T WANT TO GO TO PRISON!

She frantically leapt of the chair and grabbed her sack just as the pony made its way downstairs. Opening the door would take too long and Trixie had adrenaline pumping through her veins to keep calm. She could only do the most sensible thing she could think off.

Jump right through a window.

Trixie dropped her sack of presents and took off her outfit; she managed to get away to the safety of her home before that pony could realize what was happening. Some glass pieces left by the window were still stuck on her festive clothing but none had left a mark or any cut as she quickly checked to make sure after dusting them off. Her hoofs were shaking in fright, who knew playing as Noel Hooves would have such an exhilarating effect on her? She sat on her bed, its sheets made of magical star swirls and patterns on top of a blue background. Her breaths went from hoarse gasps for air to calm and collective breathing.

Even though she only was able to deliver two gifts, she did pretty well for her first time, she had to admit. Maybe even Twilight Sparkle might be impressed with her creative idea of giving back to Ponyville.

She took off her hat which was the only festive clothing still on, and brushed the melting snow off its red silk before placing it on the end of her bed frame. Her thoughts turned to those she had met tonight, the rude and uncouth ponies that had shut and shunned her away when she was trying to make amends. She did feel bad about rebelling her magic and skills against them but she convinced herself that they had it coming. Her head lay down on her worn-out pillow as she snuggled herself warm and tight within the confines of her bed. Her last thought brought a soothing feeling as sleep overcame her weary body.

Hearth Warming’s Eve is the day after tomorrow, and these ponies were going to get apologized by Trixie, whether they wanted too or not.

“Ah! What a wonderful morning!” Trixie said aloud as she stretched out her hoofs from the covers of her sheets. It seems narrowly avoiding getting caught by jumping through a glass window can really make a pony have a good sleep. She didn’t even care that her home appeared messy and wreaked, or even noticed that half of the wood that made her wall was beginning to rot from the effects of the weather. No, she was in too good a mood to let anything spoil this day.
She was about to reach for her festive night-crusading outfit but quickly retracted her hoof and went to put on her magician’s attire.

Save it for the night or it’ll lose its meaning. Just—regular Trixie right now, Trixie giggled to herself. She really did like that outfit since it reminded her about all the imaginative fantasies of Hearth’s Warming she had when growing up. It brought a sense of nostalgia to her and made her feel warm and full inside.

As soon as she was ready, the light-blue unicorn stepped out from her abode and trotted back down the streets of Ponyville. It seems the light snow shower that happened last night raised the level of snow up to half her knee height. Ponies were fumbling all and around the snow, trying to move forward but ending up falling muzzle-first into the cold fluff. Trixie stifled a laugh before noticing a purple unicorn levitating a clipboard who was also falling into the snow. Accompanied with her was a small baby dragon who laughed at her clumsiness.

“Twilight, just enjoy today and relax. Even the snow wants you to take a nap on them!” the dragon laughed and received a glare from Twilight as tried to bring herself back up and slipped and fell down again in the snow, prompting the dragon to laugh so hard that he also fell in.

Trixie wasn’t going to wait any longer as she waved a hoof over at Twilight, “TWILIGHT!” she shouted before galloping straight towards her. She grabbed Twilight’s hoof with her own and lifted her back up to her hooves.

“Thanks Trixie.”

“Anytime.”

The dragon was laughing so hard that he had just passed out. “Oh Spike,” Twilight said with a sheepish grin.

“Is it going to be alright?” Trixie asked Twilight with some concern.

“Don’t worry, this usually happens every year. Something to do with dragon hibernation levels and leftover energy from the summer makes them act hysterical before they sleep.” Twilight reassured Trixie. “Actually we were in the middle of some heavy planning for the Hearth’s Warming Eve Party the day after tomorrow. Spike just got exhausted from staying up all night helping me.”

Her stance immediately changed to one how a detective would be investigating. “Though I could say the same thing about you, what were you doing up all night Trixie?” Twilight leaned in forward with suspicion in her eye. Trixie began to sweat nervously.

“I was—” Trixie cleared her throat. “I was simply delivering presents and toys to everypony in Ponyville to help that pink pony’s charity.”

“Oh really? That’s not what I’ve heard!” Twilight said with a degrading tone. “Let’s see, where should we start? Oh yes… So other than waking up Ponyville at around two o’clock, you assaulted Lyra—”

“I don’t know who she is!” Trixie interjected.

“The mint coloured pony.”

“Oh… Well… she had it coming!” Trixie snapped back.

“… And next we have the unfortunate case of ‘somepony’ breaking into a pony’s house, and eating all their food!”

“But I was starving for days! And if he didn’t come downstairs then I wouldn’t have had to jump through that window!” Trixie shouted.

“You— you jumped through a window?” Twilight was shocked when Trixie made a sheepish head nod. “Trixie! What are you trying to do!?”

“Why Sparkle, I just want to give these ponies their presents by dressing up as Noel Hooves, caretaker of Hearth’s Warming Eve, and get those ponies to accept my apology.”

“BY BREAKING INTO PONIES HOUSES AT NIGHT AND WREAKING UP THE PLACE!?” Twilight was furious. In all her life had she not met a more arrogant unicorn.

“This was the first night after all, of course it had to bad, but don’t worry! For I, the Great and now Apologetic Trixie will make the other nights more spectacular!” Trixie raised a hoof in spectacular fashion. Twilight facehoofed incredibly hard during that moment. “It was your idea for me to be ‘creative’ and unfortunately this idea just has to stick. So I guess some thanks have to be in order.”

“Urgh, well Trixie…” Twilight tried to put on the best fake-smile possible. “You don’t just simply break into a pony’s house at night…”

Trixie’s eyes grew wide, “YOU’RE RIGHT!” Twilight sighed in relief to her friend’s understanding finally, by Celestia, Twilight had finally gotten through to her!

“I need a more subtle approach…” Twilight nearly shouted ‘what!?’, but was quickly interrupted by more of Trixie’s aloud thinking. “AHA! The chimney of course! In the tales of Noel Hooves he always climbs down them to deliver the gifts. Thank you Twilight for helping me get this idea!” Trixie gave a friendly hug to her bewildered open-mouthed unicorn rival. “Now I musn’t stay out her for too long. I must go back to my cart and prepare for the night ahead! Hearth Warming is coming and I need to be ready before then! You know what they say Twilight--,” Trixie smiled while Twilight’s left eye began to twitch.

“Practice, practice, practice!”

And with that, Trixie excitingly went to get more supplies before heading back home and leaving Twilight Sparkle unattended as she was going to experience a mental breakdown. Her mind snapped.

“AAAAARGH, TRIXIE!” Twilight thundered as her horn gave off a violent purple glow of light and instantly all the snow around her exploded into a magical purple lightshow.

Chapter 3: Trixie's Great and Amazing Chimney Diving Skills

Another night had descended down onto Ponyville, its midnight blue sky left unobstructed of clouds and the graceful dance of the snowflakes ended. A clamber of hoofsteps shuffling through the snow was the only sound in the piercing silence of the night. Trixie was on the move. She had tested most of the door knobs and found them all to be locked, she could have went through the windows but tonight was a time for more learning and exploring, new ways to spread the gift-giving apologetic holiday cheer. One more day remained before the real night would be upon her, and during that time, she will have to give it her best shot.

Her hoofs gripped a nearby ladder on the back of the house and she focused her sight's destination, the roof. Twice she nearly slipped on the icy steps but managed to get her hoof onto the roof ledge. Almost immediately she slipped a third time.

“AAAAHHH!” Trixie shouted as the ladder toppled to the ground below, leaving her dangling from the rooftop with one hoof on the ledge and the other grasping her gift sack tightly. Trixie was safe and so were the presents.

After the initial fright of nearly plummeting, Trixie had let out a small chuckle of relief before she heaved her body and gift sacks up onto the safety of the roof.
“That could have been worse, much worse,” she said breathlessly to herself. She shook herself back into focus and then carefully went over to the chimney of the building, making sure not to blunder on the slippery rooftop tiles.

She got to the open chimney and stopped, she actually didn’t have any clue how to go down a chimney. Do I just… drop down? Oh, how would Noel Hooves have done this...? Trixie thought with growing desperation.

In the stories she heard, nobody had ever told her just ‘HOW’ Noel went down into a chimney without breaking a hoof or a spine. Time started to press on and Trixie was getting impatient, she wasn’t going to get any of her apologetic gifts handed out if she didn’t do something soon. She did something she would never have thought to do and stepped inside the pitch-black chimney, adrenaline coursed through her body as she entered the narrow space along with her bag.
Trixie counted in her head with her eyes shut in anticipation for what was about to happen next.

Three…Two…One… she let out a breath, and let go.

She opened her eyes, expecting that she would be falling downwards into the house.

She wasn’t, she was stuck.

“Unbelievable!” Trixie shouted into the night before turning back to her embarrassing problem.

“I shouldn’t have had that extra helping of cookies.”

She awkwardly shifted back and forth until the sack behind her rustled out from her back and fell down. Before Trixie could savour her victory, she also fell, and down she went until she landed with a thump on the sack. A cloud of ash blew up into her face and she was covered in grey soot staining into her fur and clothes. She was lucky that the sack had broken her fall and even luckier still that she didn’t wake up the residents. She silently crawled out from the chimney and dusted herself off before heading over to the large evergreen tree in the main room, which was oddly decorated with musical ornaments; there were CD’s and musical scales overhanging on its branches, a mixture between modern and classic music tastes. The star (which was usually on the top) was replaced with an electric glowing vinyl record. Strange, she had to admit.

Trixie could have just reached into her sack and pulled out any present to give but she got a feeling in her gut. She didn’t know if it was her or the outfit she was wearing but she pulled out two specific presents, and oddly enough she felt that these were meant for the ponies living here. She couldn’t help but tear off just a small corner to see their contents, there were new headphones in the electric-blue styled box and a bow for what appeared to be for playing a violin or a cello in a respectable grey-spotted box.

Trixie didn’t question how she picked these unopened presents to begin to give to these ponies. There was certainly something magical going on, but she quickly resealed the gifts and went to retrieve her things before heading back to the chimney. She passed a table and her flank accidently bumped into it, turning on a music player that was lying on top of it.

WUB WUB WUB WUB!

The scratchy sounds of dubstep blasted through the night at over 10 decibels. Trixie in a panic grabbed it and quickly turned it off with a hoof. She knew she was done in. A few minutes of uncomfortable waiting pain later and nothing happened. There was no way nopony could have not heard that. She opened an eye and noticed that her horn was emitting her light-blue magic; she made a sound-proof barrier in her panicked state. No one heard it, Trixie said with a sigh of relief.

She quickly rushed to the chimney before anything else bad happens and used her magic to lift herself and her sack up through the narrow passage. Upon arriving back on the roof, Trixie at least now figured out an easier way back down with the other chimneys as well as kept a mental note on any further encounters with tables.

The next couple of houses went just as smoothly, thankfully the roofs were connected close together somewhat so Trixie could easily traverse their snowy covers with ease without having to wade through the large mess of snow below. She came up from a chimney with satisfaction of another house done. She picked up her sack with her magic and trotted over to the roof’s edge, ready to simply step to the next house over.

Trouble was for the eager unicorn, that the next house had a much larger gap to cross than the others. She threw the sack to the other side with her magic; she didn’t do the same for herself. Trixie had a compelling feeling she could make this jump without wasting her magic reserves.

She took a few hoofsteps back and then braced herself as she propelled herself forward in a rush of speed. The rooftop edge was getting closer and closer and before Trixie could run out of room to run she leaps up into the night air and makes it to the other roof.

“YES!” she shouted in joy as she slid on the surface of the rooftop. She kept sliding on the slick icy snow, her smile now turning to a look of horror. She collides with her bag and continues, she notices that she’s running out of roof.

“Oh no no no NO!”

Her body plummeted to the earth.

She landed horn-first into the snow, the sack of presents landing next to her unscathed. Her head poked up from the pile of snow, her fur was wet and matted with white power. Trixie was shaken but fortunately alive. Her hooves shook as she attempted to stand, still winded by nearly dying from her fall, and she grabbed the sack, its contents fortunately undamaged. She limped with pain in her backhoof as her body slowly made her way through the thick snow back to her home.

She had had enough for that night.

Trixie didn’t particularly wake up to a good morning. She was so exhausted that she didn’t even get out from her outfit before heading to sleep last night. It was a rough night because her sheets were matted and somehow during her slumber she somehow got out from the outfit. With a heavy head she slouched up from her bed and tested her back hoof. She could feel a bit of discomfort in her hoof but it definitely felt better than last night, at least it wasn’t broken.

She couldn’t say the same about her home.

However good she made it look, she knew it was a façade. She’ll be lucky if her home manages to stay up before the end of Hearth’s Warming. To savour the last of her warmth before heading outside her hoof shot out to the bag of apology gifts she still had to deliver. There was about half the presents left in there than what she started out with. Never would she have thought that this simple gift-giving charity started by that visit to the pink pony would ever evolve into this.

In fact, Trixie could barely believe she was doing this in the first place. It didn’t make sense. She broke into homes at night, and most importantly no pony ever sees her leave the gift, all she was able to do was leave a magical apology stamp on every box she placed. This wasn’t the best plan to get Ponyville to finally forgive her. But for some reason, a reason deep down inside her, she realized that it didn’t need to be the best plan to be the greatest.

The combination of playing as Noel Hooves and spreading all this cheer made her giddy. Although Trixie never did see any cheer from her recent work, she hasn’t yet gone outside to check.

Trixie walked through the streets of Ponyville once again; this was starting to get redundant. She went by the houses she had visited during the night and waited patiently outside. Trixie couldn’t wait to see the looks on their faces and how excited they must be from all her hard work. The first door opens; Trixie’s heart skips a beat. Two ponies come out from the house, an alabaster unicorn and a grey earth pony… and… nothing. More ponies came out and nothing still. Some even passed by her and didn’t even notice the magician standing there. A 'Good Day' or 'Hello' she would gladly take, but nothing! Trixie recieved NOTHING!

“HEY TRIXIE!” a familiar voice shouted behind her. Trixie didn’t move to see who it was, she was paralyzed, her mouth hung open agape ad tears started to well in her eyes.

Why… WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TRIXIE!? This idea doesn’t even work! I wasted all this time, getting NOTHING to show for it, she screamed on the inside of her head.

“Trixie, it is you!” a purple unicorn said from behind the light-blue. “How has the breaking and entering been last night?” Twilight said sarcastically as she put a friendly hoof on Trixie’s shoulder. Trixie through it off with rage and scowled at Twilight. Her gaze pierced the purple unicorn down to her core.

“You think this is a joke Sparkle!? You think you can make fun of everything I do again? No matter how hard, HOW HARD, I try-- you’re always there to push me down. I thought I was doing something good for this town but I can see that this place is no better than a pile of dirt!”

Twilight was shocked, before she could even respond Trixie made a mad dash away from her, icy tears dropped down from her cheeks onto the cold snow.

“TRIXIE!” Twilight shouted as she chased after her.

Trixie couldn’t see where she was going, it wasn’t because she was excessively crying to the point she couldn’t see, but because her tears started to freeze from how cold it was outside. She was running for home, her run-down moldy old home, in blind galloping. She ran faster and faster, she could hear Twilight’s voice shouting from behind her. It was inevitable before Trixie hit something in her blind sadness.

She shook her head in confused pain and rubbed out the icicles that were forming from her eyes. It seems that all those U-turns, zigzags, and circular running had led her head into a wall of a building on the same block her cart was parked away.

“Trixie-- Trixie…” Twilight said without any breath left as she finally caught up to the fleeing unicorn. She noticed the sadness in her eyes and all her thoughts of berating Trixie on her gift-giving practices were erased. With empathy overtaking her, she helped Trixie back up to her shaking hooves. Twilight could feel how cold Trixie was as she lent a hoof around the light-blue unicorn’s shoulder to help her stand.

“We need to get you someplace warm. Trixie… where’s your cart?”

Trixie was barely able to lift her hoof, her body was frozen down to the core and she just realized, she pointed towards an alleyway. “There,” was all the tired unicorn could muster up.

They moved down the street, it has hard enough to help a pony, and with all this snow it was that more difficult. When they finally reached Trixie’s home, Twilight was in disbelief.

The home didn’t look the same as the one she saw a few months ago or even when Trixie first showed up. The wood was rotting, a cart wheel was about to break from the weight of the home, a window was broken and it’s spilled glass laid underneath the cold snow, the door to Trixie’s home was open and snow started to creep its way inside. She heaved Trixie through the door and was even more shocked to see the state of her home on the inside.

Twilight knew Trixie wouldn’t have been this disorganized, she wouldn’t have let her home be torn apart from negligence. There was something deeper, it seemed so obvious, but not obvious enough for anypony to notice.

Trixie was laid down into a chair and the purple unicorn then used her magic to make the home slightly warmer, an air-conditioning spell was always handy when the season of winter came around. As soon as they were both warmed up Twilight would begin the flood of questions. She took a large breath and opened her mouth wide to begin-

“No pony cared for Trixie’s apology gifts! WHY WHY!?” Trixie had immediately interrupted her and was blasting Twilight with her own questions. To think this was what Twilight was going to do in the next second (though gentler and less violent), oh the irony.

She got hold of Twilight and barked more questions at her while shaking her ferociously.

“Do they even care what lengths I have to go through to deliver their stupid presents!? I went out in the freezing cold, snow buffeted my mane, I could barely see, and I nearly died when I fell off that roof!”

“W-what we-were you do- doing o-on that roo- rooftop?” Twilight tried to say but now she was starting to see stars.
Trixie let go of her noticing how she was violently shaking the purple unicorn to near unconsiousness, “Sorry… see? That wasn’t so difficult, and here I am trying to do more Twilight Sparkle! I went down a chimney! I was lucky they didn’t have it on fire.”

Twilight had a bewildered look on her face, “You went down…. a chimney?” Trixie nodded her head causing a groan from Twilight. “You don’t do that, that’s still breaking into a pony’s house!”

“But I don’t do anything other than leave the presents! Alright, Trixie will admit the first night was worse, but last night was much better! I will share the knowledge that rooftops during winter can be very slippery--”

“THAT’S NOT THE POINT!” Twilight burst out in anger, scaring the light-blue unicorn, but Trixie quickly defended herself.

“And you’re missing the point entirely! I’m trying to right my past wrongs by doing this, so far, I have been denied, pushed down, or even door-slammed in this dirt town for ponies who don’t want to accept my apology! You’re all savages, that’s why my idea had to be creative and I had to become Noel Hooves for the nights since. After all, no pony minds if he breaks into a house to leave a gift so why would anypony mind if I do it?”

“You’re mascaraing at night as a fictional holiday character?” Twilight noticed the outfit from the corner of her eye and nearly burst out laughing.

“What? You don’t believe in the Good and Charitable Noel Hooves?”

“No, of course not! He was just a character made to enhance this gift-giving holiday. There’s no logical or possible way that a pony can fly all over Equestria, visit every house and leave gifts for them, that’s just not possible. Heck, even Pinkie Pie might not be able to do it!”

This nearly crushed the stage magician’s heart from hearing that.

“You never know Sparkle— you might have your facts but there’s still that slim chance when you wake up on Hearth’s Warming Day you would have gotten an extra present, and it wouldn’t have been from me.”

“We’ll see Trixie…”

Twilight immediately changed the subject, “So, this is your home— it looks bigger inside than it does on the outside.”

“A traveling magician’s trick, it’s all about the illusion,” Trixie replied. Twilight noticed the state of her home and she noticed Twilight. “Ah, sorry about the mess, I haven’t had time to fix it, been running low on bits these days. Seems ponies still have a grudge towards the Great and Powerful Trixie, it’s difficult for the Great and Apologetic Trixie to get anything done, gifting or non-gifting.”

Twilight could see the different perspective she’d been missing all this time. Trixie was going out of her way to make amends with ponies who don’t want to accept, and yet she still gives when it’s apparent she has next to nothing. A smile formed on Twilight’s lips as a thought came to her head and she sorted it into her mental filing cabinet. Twilight then levitated Trixie’s festive outfit towards them with her magic.

“This is what you go out during the night as?” Twilight couldn’t help but admire what a wonderful shade of red it was, it was also incredibly soft, so soft in fact, that Twilight had buried her face within it. The warmth, the fuzziness, it felt like something a pony could wear every day and never experience discomfort. She could also sense a feeling of kindness eradiating from it, she didn’t know why but continued to press her face further into it.

“Um… Twilight?” Trixie said with a sheepish smile, quickly the purple mare gave the outfit over to Trixie with a large red ting spread across her face and with a small awkward laugh.

“But seriously Sparkle, tell me. Should I continue with this? It seems I’m not getting anything done no matter how hard I try. Ponyville simply doesn’t care about the gifts I send, nor the apologies I try to give.”

“Trixie, there’s more to it than just giving gifts. You know what I think? I think— the idea of playing as Noel Hooves works well for this holiday. It’s creative, yet stupid. But I think it works well actually… I don’t condone you breaking into ponies houses or climbing down their chimneys but— I think it’s a good idea. I can't believe I just said that.” Twilight gave a small laugh.

Trixie could hardly believe her ears; Twilight Sparkle had just admitted her idea was good.
HAHA! TRIXIE WINS!

“And know that I support you Trixie, I’ll tell my friends about it and I’m sure they’ll support your idea too. You just need to believe in yourself, and in the spirit of Hearth’s Warming, it’s not all about gifts and apologies.”

“Thanks Twilight.”

“Anytime--,” her gaze caught the sight of Trixie’s clock. “Oh no! I’m going to be late! There’s some planning I still need to do for the Hearth’s Warming party tomorrow, argh! And now with all these new plans… Trixie I’m sorry but I—"

“Just go Twilight, I don’t feel cold anymore and my pains are better,” Trixie said, accompanied by a courteous nod.

“Well, I hope not to see you tonight Trixie… or else you would have failed your job! Good luck!” Twilight said with a giggle as she playfully put the red and white hat on top of Trixie’s head before waving goodbye and heading outside from the home.

Ahh, Twilight Sparkle… Such a nice rivalry we have. I guess not all ponies are heartless in Ponyville,Trixie thought with a smile. Well what to do? I need to wait for nightfall before I can do anything, and I’m sure the epic gearing scene will only take about five minutes…

Trixie gave it some more thought, this was the last night and this night had to be perfect. No slipups, no failed objectives, no witnesses-- I mean-- leaving the presents in sight without anypony seeing her and if they do see her... well, it’s better that they don’t... no witnesses. The last thing Trixie wanted to do was knock out a too-eager pony staying up all night.

She relayed all the skills and magic spells she would need as well as all the places she haven’t yet visited. Trixie did have a photographic memory and she spent many times exploring the streets of Ponyville and its borders leading up to the Everfree forest. She was going to need a delivery system, a hazards system, and coffee in her system if she was to make it through the night.

As soon as she was satisfied with her mental preparation, Trixie looked at the clock, still plenty of time before she has to venture outside into the freezing cloak of night’s winter. Being how lazy she felt and how nice the air-conditioner magic spell was still holding up, Trixie closed her eyes, and soon she was asleep in her chair.

When she awakens, it will be the time to strike, and then everypony will have a jolly wonderful morning after. That is, if it went all according to Trixie’s plan for Hearth's Warming Eve.

Prepare for the Eve Ponyvillians, for 'The Great and Apologetic Trixie' is coming to town!

Chapter 4: Eve

Night had engulfed the small town of Ponyville, leaving only the night goddess’s shining beacon of radiance up in the midnight sky for any light on the small village below. Its light reflected off the still snow on the ground and glimmered past the flakes that descended from the heavens. Everypony was safe and asleep inside their homes. They rested underneath their bed sheets, with smiles on their faces as they slept, for the ponies knew that once they awake Hearth’s Warming will be upon them.

Silence pierced through the small town, not even the dance of the snowflakes had made any noise, but soon, not everyone in Ponyville will be silent and asleep. There was work to be done and it would have to be done quickly. That void in the silence will soon be gone.

Actually, right about… now…

“AAAAAH! I OVERSLEPT!” Trixie shouted out in panic as her eyes shot open.

Her body now finally awake took her by surprise as the jerked movements in her chair made her fall backwards with the chair onto the ground with a thud. Trixie grunted from the impact and grabbed her head before rolling around to dull her pain.

“Ow,” Trixie said to herself as she hazily got up from the floor.

She looked for her gear, which was settled nicely next to her bag of presents on her bed. Without any further hesitation of interruptions, she takes the red and white silken clothes and dresses herself in them. She heaves the bag onto her back and ends with the placement of her hat (adorned with the mistletoe) snuggly on her head.

She took a few breaths to calm herself down, and once she was satisfied that all her panic from before was minimalized as best she could, Trixie set out from the door of her broken-down cart and into the still night of the Eve.

Trixie followed through with her mental preparations a few hours ago, going down a chimney was good but it always required a bit of magic, this was going to last all night and Trixie didn’t know if she had the ability to use her magic every single time. The last thing she needs is magic depletion the moment she tries jumping off a rooftop.

Another house was done with, as Trixie successfully made the drop and climbed herself out the chimney. This roof was higher than the average house, so she took a minute to survey the night landscape, and admitted to herself that it was beautiful in its nightly mystery. Snow covered the buildings and yet not enough to still show their decorations, a large tree was in the main town square and was also covered in snow. What was truly extraordinary was the moon’s light reflecting onto the snow, it was nighttime and yet the ground sparkled with some otherworldly glow as if it were alive.

Back to her mission at hand, Trixie shook herself into focus and scanned the horizon before noticing a large farmhouse in the distance. She was going to deliver her gifts from an out to inward formation, she decided. Trixie leapt off the building (this time making sure to use her magic to help her down) and landed firmly deep inside the snow. Her mind assessed how this would affect her and she knew the snow would slow her down considerably. An idea came to her head and she used a spell on her clothes, the light-blue aura surrounded them before combining into the fabric and disappearing. Trixie raised a hoof onto a large snow pile and was pleasantly surprised to see that it didn’t sink inside, at least now she could walk on snow. It was like solid water, and she wondered why no other unicorn in this town has thought up of this idea yet.

The trek to the farmhouse went much smoother because of her simple spell, and within minutes Trixie arrived to a sign that read ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ and behind it, stood a large, red barn. Trixie put a hoof to her chin and looked upwards, what grabbed her attention was a window at the very top. She could simply just pick the lock on the door handle, but with the chance of more ponies living inside as it was a rather large farm. She wasn’t going to risk it.

There will be a time for risks later, she thought. She didn’t know much about the Apple family themselves, but their product and cider were delicious in Trixie’s books.

Without any more delay she found a scaffold she could lift herself and her bag onto. From there, Trixie simply was able to shimmy her way across a railing to the ledge of the barn and hoisted herself up. Now on the roof, she made careful note not to slip (her spell doesn’t help with icy conditions) as falling from this high up would be a death sentence. Carefully, she raised a hoof and placed it on the window frame to support her from falling down.

Just don’t look down Trixie,she thought to herself, as she tries to fight off panic.

She added a bit of force to the window and sure enough it was unlocked, and easily slid open. She heaved her body through the opening and landed inside with a soft noise.

A child’s room. How did Trixie know this? Because there was a sleeping red maned filly lying in her bed, and from what Trixie could perceive was that the filly was tossing and turning in anquish, a nightmare. Trixie shushed herself to not make a single noise, it was a known fact that foals wake up easily and were very, very curious if anything got their attention. It was definitely something Trixie didn’t want to deal with tonight.

She slipped out of the room with her sack and shut the door quietly behind her with a sigh of relief. Her heart wretched with a sadness she didn’t expect; she didn’t want to leave that filly the whole night suffering in that nightmare but Trixie had work to do and she couldn’t waste any time helping a filly she didn’t know. She let the thought out of her mind and descended down the house.

After Trixie examined the other rooms and saw: an orange pony with a stetson, a large red pony, and an old frail green pony, all nicely asleep. Her hooves made it to their living room and placed four gifts, all bearing apple wrapping paper, underneath an evergreen tree.

Trixie was done and now she can forget about this place and head to another house. Before she could even move her ears perked up on movement upstairs, a door opened, and sobs were heard.

Everything was telling Trixie to get out of the house NOW, but she couldn’t bring herself to head outside just yet. She crept up the steps, silent as a mouse and put her back to the wall, with one eye she leaned her head out slightly and saw the little filly, weeping and walking towards the room of the orange pony.

“Sis… can ya’ wake up please, please?”

Trixie was able to have heard and got herself a better view from the door, she carefully pulled it back a bit towards herself before the orange pony could see the door closing.

“Oh… Applebloom, do you know what time it is?” the orange pony said with a yawn.

“I couldn’t sleep, I was thinking ‘bout mum and dad.” At this moment the orange pony beckoned her sister onto the bed with her and gave her a hug.

“Ah know sugercube. It’s been tough on all of us. There’s never been a moment during any holiday or celebration where ah ‘aven’t thought about them.”

“I miss them.”

The orange pony gave a stronger embrace to the younger sister.

“Me too.”

“Applejack… what were they like?”

With a whisper she replied, “They were the kindest, most hardworking parents y’all could ever ask for. They always cared about us, it didn’t matter what business we were in, but they figured out that family was what kept everything together. They couldn’t have been more proud of us,” she said with a smile, the filly smiled too while Trixie who was observing all of this was barely able to withstand shedding a tear.

For some reason she had a bittersweet smile on her face, and rubbed the forming tears in her eyes with her sleeve before she carefully closed the door.

*Click*

OH BU-

“HEY! Who's there!?” an angry voice shouted inside.

Trixie had to move fast, her mind spiraled out of control as the only way she could escape was back the way she came. She dashed through the filly’s room and locked the door behind her before carefully opening the window wide enough. A loud slam and an angry shout came from the other side of the barricaded door.

Trixie stepped back a bit before running full force towards the window with her magic glowing all around her. She leaps up into the empty air of the night, her hoofs flailing for momentum, and vanishes from sight as she falls from the building to the snow below.

Applejack burst into the room and noticed the open window; her orange head poked out and looked towards the ground. All she could see was snow.

“Strange… guess whoever dat varmit was got away…” she said to herself before closing the window and blinding it.

Trixie’s head poked up from under a pile of snow, her body was encased in a light-blue field which vanished as soon as she got herself out under the powder. It may not have been glamorous but she managed to escape, once again by jumping from an incredibly high place. It was exhilarating, but not a chance she would want to take again.

Trixie could see now that this job was definitely not for the faint-of-heart, with the possible chance of death around each house. But Trixie couldn’t die, after all, she still had a job to do.

The next house wasn’t far; it was just on the edge of the White-tail forest. Plus it wasn’t a house, it was a cottage. Trixie didn’t know why a pony would want to get so secluded from Ponyville but she wasn’t here to ask questions. Before she went for a lock-picking manoeuver her face pressed up against a window, she wiped the fog away and peered inside. She could only see a pink-haired Pegasus lying in her bed; she was snuggled nicely under her covers while holding a white rabbit. The rabbit shuffled around as if it was sleep. Trixie was astounded to see that it was real. She quickly went over to another window and opened it from the inside-out with her magic before carefully sliding through.

Inside the house, her hoof reached inside her sack and pulled out a pink box adorned with butterflies and placed it under a tiny evergreen tree. It was tiny and actually looked really cute. What was next to the small tree was a small plate of cookies. Trixie happily took one and munched it down on her way out; she didn’t need to climb out through the window again so she simply went out through the front door instead.

Seeing the pony sleeping with her animal friend brought in some new thoughts to her head, turns out a friend could be anyone, not just ponies. She happily snacked away on the cookie as she trotted away from the cottage, completely oblivious to what was stalking behind her.

Trixie clumsily dropped the half-eaten cookie onto the snow, she growled at herself, Oh, come on! It compelled the Great Trixie’s taste buds to new heights of flavour!

The growling continued and Trixie knew for certain her growls and snarls didn’t last for more than a second. She turned around and nearly screamed.

A single bear, a pair of deer, some squirrels, a few birds, and a couple of raccoons were tailing her this whole time.

“Aren’t you all supposed to be hibernating this time of year!?” Trixie said with a shocked shout.

Indeed, the scent of one of Fluttershy’s Hearth’s Warming Eve cookies would drive even the most hibernating creature out from their cave, or even reroute a migration course for the birds.

“GET AWAY!” Trixie said with ferocity as the animals approached onto her. “Back, BACK I SAY!”

Trixie let the cold petrifying fear overtake her. She grabbed her sack and galloped as fast as she could, screaming hysterically. The animals didn’t know what got into that unicorn, but it didn’t matter, as they turned their attention back to their true target. Like a pack of wolves (also, three wolves showed up to the party) the animals descended down onto their prey.

That cookie never stood a chance.

Trixie looked over her soldier periodically to see if they were still chasing her. Her body sidled up to a building, gasping for air as she peered back, it seems they’ve given up. Trixie wanted to feel safe but she could tell that this night was going to be full of hazards. Her heart flipped inside her, she really didn’t want to see those creatures again.

A house or somewhere high was what she needed, a place where they will never reach her, where she could easily lose them, and feel safe enough to resume her schedule freely. So, she scanned the homes all around her. These houses were already visited by her, no need for them to get broken into again. Trixie instead looked up towards the heavens, and a small grin came to her face.

A cloud residence, its brilliant: it looks large, has its own rainbow waterfalls, and is isolated in the sky so the residents would never be bothered on what happens on the ground. To Trixie it all looked rather expensive, she wanted to get a closer look and because she’s Noel Hooves right now, that means she can.

Trixie prepared herself by tapping into her magic reserves, soon her magical aura surrounded her and she levitated upwards into the sky along with her sack. Cloud homes were simple, easy, and they wouldn’t have much security because their clouds and they’re too high up in the sky for anypony to even want to break into them to begin with.

Trixie landed on the cloud.

Did I also forget to mention this was a cloud?

As soon as her magic disappeared from her body, the cloud she thought she was standing on soaked through her hooves in a heartbeat and soon she went entirely through the white puff of water vapour.

Trixie gave a shout of surprise and immediately used the spell to walk on clouds on her right hoof before it slid through the puffy membrane. Only pegasi would be able to walk on clouds, that was basic pony knowledge and Trixie had nearly forgotten about it.

“Whew, that was close,” Trixie sighed with relief. She’s now dangling on the underside of the cloud with nothing but her hoof trapped inside to prevent her from slipping.

She twisted her body around as she applied the spell over the rest of her as well as the sack. Now she can levitate herself properly without the risk of falling through the cloud again. Trixie got to the front door of the cloud house, strangely enough it was locked.

Did I forget to mention this was a cloud?

Trixie slammed her sack into the door and it vaporized in a puff of white mist.

Don’t worry, clouds grow back, they’re clouds! Trixie thought to herself before she nonchalantly stepped inside the home as if she owned it.

Inside the home, it was a large open suite, very spacious but also full of clouds. The doors on the inside only made a small squeak when opened because clouds rubbing together on the hinges aren’t as annoying as metal ones. After looking around for a few minutes and checking every room, Trixie opened a door and saw some sleeping ponies, more importantly she saw a cloud-like tree sitting in the middle of the room. She made her way over there silently, as not to wake up the ponies; it was easy because one of them was excessively snoring and masking her hoofsteps.

Trixie couldn’t focus on finding the right presents, the snoring became to annoying after the first two minutes. She went over to the bed with intent to shut the pony up in her irritated eyes. She got a better view, tt was not one, but two who took the bed, a rainbow-maned pony (which she recognized immediately as that pony she made fun of. Trixie giggled a bit remembering those times.) and an orange filly with purple hair who didn’t look anything like the cyan-blue pony from before.

This startled Trixie for just a moment, They’re not related, that I can obviously tell. But shouldn’t they be with their families?

The rainbow one mumbled something about being awesome and the orange mumbled in reply about how awesome the rainbow one is.

Trixie remembered the recent house she visited, the pink-maned pony sleeping with a rabbit. Instantly something clicked inside her head.

These ponies aren’t related to one another but they still consider each other to be family.

It seemed a bit absurd to Trixie but from a light-hearted giggle, she had to admit it made a bit of sense somehow. She went over to the tree and by instinct, brought out a lightning-bolt styled box as well as one covered in scooters. She still didn’t know how she knew these presents were the right ones to give, but she didn’t doubt the powers of the sack or the outfit she wore.

Trixie got up from the tree and heaved the sack over her shoulder, now all she needed to do was go down. She felt a dissipating force around her, as if something like a spell had just worn off. Trixie’s somber eyes changed to a look of shock.

Did I forget to mention she was standing on a cloud?

Trixie had fallen through the floor, leaving a gapping wide hole in her path. She fell from the sky, her hooves all spread out and the sack dangled into her chest, held in place by Trixie’s biting mouth. Below her, Trixie spotted an opulent house that looked more like a giant posh circus tent; she squinted her eyes further and saw a chimney. Now this was either going to be the greatest trick Trixie has ever done or the most spine-breaking.

She propelled herself like a projectile so that she was right over it, she got on her sack and casted all the gravity-withstanding spells she could think of.

ALIGNMENT!

She needed to be aligned correctly or the chimney would smash against her fragile unicorn body, it would be more painful than simply landing flat on the ground. She could not afford to mess this up, this was life or death and she didn’t know why she was doing this! Her outfit had sparkled with a small warm glow unbeknownst to Trixie’s knowledge, before fading mere feet away from the chimney. The stack approached below her, faster and faster, Trixie braced herself for impact.

Soot rose up from the fireplace as a loud thump echoed through the house and a disoriented unicorn stepped out. Once the unicorn stopped feeling dizzy from the impact she cheered quietly to herself. The Great and Apologetic Trixie has done it again! A spectacular performance! Trixie quickly made a mental note to do something similar in any upcoming shows.

Trixie dusted off the black powder as best she could from her clothes, yet they still left nasty stains she would have to wash later. She ignored those and took a moment to look around. This house had a bunch of pony mannequins, and clothes were draped everywhere. This felt like a store to Trixie, which should mean that—yep the front door had a bell, no going out that way.

Trixie grabbed her bag and went over to a tree which decorated the main ‘show-room’. Trixie kneeled down on her hooves and started to shift through the sack.

“Uh, Hello?” a voice said behind her.

Trixie went stiff, and turned her neck slightly to see it was an alabaster filly.

Oh no, this is not what Trixie needs right now, this is not what I need! Trixie you’ve been spotted, ABORT ABORT!

“Are you… Noel Hooves?” the filly nervously asked.

Haha! Nothing is lost yet! Trixie stood up tall and proud over the little pair of hooves below her.

“Why, little filly, yes I am! I am the Good and Charitable Noel Hooves! Ho ho ho!” Trixie tried to lie, it was a mediocre attempt at best. The filly raised an eyebrow, this Noel Hooves’ ho’s weren’t that jolly…

“But I thought you were a stallion? Big pony, belly full of jelly, loads of ho’s?” the filly questioned Trixie.

“Ahem, well… ergh… Noel decided to…. Eat fewer sweets this year! A pony’s got to keep in shape, right?” Trixie said with a nervous smile before giving a chuckle.

“Hmm….” The filly eyed her still, Trixie was starting to sweat. The sweat kept coming, Trixie lifted her hat a bit and a rush of liquid came from it and washed down the floor.

“I… uh… brought presents?”

“YOU ARE NOEL HOOVES! YOU ARE REAL! I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!” the filly beamed with joy.

Trixie quietly shushed her but at least she felt relieved that she tricked a filly about less than half her age, “Shhh… or you’ll wake up the whole neighborhood, is there anypony else in this house?”

“My sister, Rarity! My name is Sweetie Bell!”

“Good… good…uh, nice to meet you...”

Trixie had convinced this filly that she was Noel Hooves, but once morning came and this filly notices her then it would break her heart and it would be Trixie’s fault. Trixie had to do something and she had to do something now.

“Are you really Noel—”

Trixie really didn’t want to knock out this filly, but she has no other option.
This filly needs to be knocked out, now.

Trixie raised her horn, a bright blue aura entrapped it making the filly awe in wonder, a small flash of bright-coloured sparkles came out from her horn and covered the filly in a gentle dust. The filly started to tumble and yawn, a few seconds later she was asleep.

You thought I would knock out the filly by harming her with my hoof? Trixie would NEVER harm a defenseless filly by giving her a concussion! Shame on anypony who thought otherwise, SHAME!

Trixie reached into her bag and pulled out a present decorated in musical notes and another one in gems. Her attention shifted back to the sleeping filly lying on the floor, as much as Trixie wanted to leave her there, she knew that his filly had to wake up in her bed. She levitated the filly with her magic and searched around the house before finding a room that she guessed was the filly’s she was holding. Trixie laid the pony down in the bed and covered her up snuggly in the sheets. The filly moved around a little bit to get more comfortable and a smile spread across her sleepy mouth. Trixie also spread a smile after seeing that.

A nearby window was all Trixie needed to leave this household in its sleeping silence.

Trixie went around all the other houses in Ponyville that she missed, she saw similar occurrences of Hearth’s Warming Eve bonding and her smile never seemed to have faltered, it helped that she didn’t run into any more hazards yet.

Her heart felt— lighter, than it did before. If this was because of the spirit of Hearth’s Warming entering her soul then she welcomed t with open hooves. More likely that her work is going well tonight, all the little bumps and obstacles she faced were made up when she saw the happy faces of the sleeping residents. Trixie had only a few presents left, but she first had to go right some wrongs.

Her hoofsteps approached towards a house, she was nervous but she knew she had to do this. She knocked on the door lightly and the lights inside flickered on. A moment later the door opened and a mint-coloured pony stood in its frame.

“AAAH! It’s you again!” she shouted out in fright before turning her neck back inside the house. “Bonbon! Take everything of value and run!”

“No wait! Hear me out please!” Trixie begged the mint mare. The mare just stood there on her hooves, she was ready if this unicorn would do any more funny business.

“Fine,” the pony said with a huff.

Trixie didn’t know how to start. Her throat felt like it was stuffed with tissue paper and her tongue couldn’t move around properly, but she managed to get out a word, a single word.

“….sorry.”

“What?” the mint mare said in surprise.

Suddenly it became easier for Trixie to speak, “I’m… sorry for what happened before. I didn’t mean to get so angry. I just wanted somepony to finally accept my apology gift, I know I’ve been not the greatest of ponies but I’m trying to turn my life around. So… I’m sorry.”

“You’re apologizing because I didn’t take your apology gift?”

It seemed a bit funny and a small smile spread across both of their faces as Trixie sheepishly nodded.

“Well, I didn’t open it up. I hope whatever’s in it isn’t broken when it got smashed through the door.” The pony laughed before heading back inside and finding the box. She brought it over to Trixie and unwrapped it, her eyes beamed when the present turned out to be a pair of 5-fingered foamed hands.

“WOW! This is wonderful! Thank you so much Trixie!” the pony gave the light-blue unicorn a hug. “How did you know?”

“I- I didn’t? All these presents I got from that strange Pink pony and they were all wrapped up to begin with. It just felt like the… right gift.” Trixie went surprised, “Oh and before I forget, here’s the present for BonBon.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her then, seems Noel Hooves dropped by our house tonight,” she said with a laugh.

The two exchanged merry hearth’s warmings before going their separate ways. Trixie still had one more wrong to right.
A house down the street had its window boarded up with wooden planks. Trixie torn off its pieces and remembered that this was the house she escaped through the window. Her horn glowed and the snow around her hooves lifted up into the air. Piece by piece they connected and latticed over and through each other on the open hole in the house.

The light died down and Trixie was content to see what she made before grabbing her sack and heading towards Pinkie’s house.

A frosted glass window made of snowflakes.

The pink pony’s home was a store; naturally the front door would not be the best place to enter, never mind the windows. Trixie looked up and saw the building had a chimney, a possible escape route but her magic was starting to run dry. She would look for another way in. Her hoofs trotted in the snow around the house until she found a door jutting its way up past the snow, she cleared the white fluff away and opened the door leading to a cellar. Trixie jumped down inside and closed it behind her.

Her magic illuminated the room enough so that she could find her way upstairs without bumping into a piece of furniture like a desk or a table. Trixie checked the rest of the house, other than the pink pony she spotted two others and two baby foals. She went back to a tree and deposited her load underneath. Her sack felt nearly empty, soon she would be done.

Suddenly, Trixie heard something coming from upstairs. It sounded like somepony whistling a merry tune to themselves. She had no time to go through a window or back the down the cellar. All she could do was get inside the fireplace and crawl her way upwards.

The pony that woke up was Pinkie Pie. The night was getting chilly so why not make it warmer? She grabbed a few logs and placed them underneath the chimney Trixie was climbing. Trixie paused for a moment and looked down to see the logs being added and a hoof striking a match.

Oh no…

Trixie scrambled her way up faster. The pink pony below hummed her tune some more, it was such a great idea to light the chimney in the middle of the night and she wished she’d thought of it sooner. Finally a single flame came onto that tiny wooden splinter, a smile spread across Pinkie’s lips and she flicked the match into the pile of logs.

A ‘whoosh’ came from the fireplace as the logs ignited. Trixie was still climbing inside. Smoke started to go up into her face and she was beginning to get hotter and hotter. She reached up higher and higher, panic struck in her heart. She could feel the flames burning down her back; Trixie couldn’t stand any more of this heat.

But finally, her hoof reached the end of the chimney and she heaved herself out, coughing and wheezing from the smoke she inhaled. The soot and embers that were on her outfit, rubbed off from her body as it pressed against the snowy rooftop. Once Trixie had caught her breath, she stood up with triumph and shouted into the moon, a winning cheer in the dead silence of night.

Trixie had narrowly escaped death numerous times: glass window jumping, chimney entering and leaving, falls, animal attacks, and nearly being burnt to cinders. This made Trixie feel alive, unstoppable. The feeling passed and soon she was starting to feel the pains of her work weighing down her shoulders and contracting her muscles. She still had one last house to visit, one more house she specifically made it her last stop of the night.

Trixie climbed through a large tree and reached a balcony ledge. She used her magic to undo the locks on the doors and strolled right in, gently closing them behind her. Immediately she saw a familiar purple unicorn sleeping deeply in her bed, and the purple baby dragon sleeping next to her above the covers. Trixie with a devilish smirk poked her hoof lightly into Twilight’s side.

She is definitely a heavy sleeper. Trixie thought. Her smile grew more devilish as she went for her sack and pulled out two presents, the one covered in dragon scales she put next to the sleeping dragon and the other gift, a purple box with a large magical star, was put on the one place Twilight wouldn’t expect to see it.

Right in between her hooves, Trixie couldn’t help but laugh silently. She knew Twilight underestimated the skills Trixie possessed.

She will be very surprised when she wakes up.

Trixie left that house and peered into her bag, there was nothing left in it. She let out a yawn and was finally ready to head back to her home. It may be a run-down, nearly broken wreak of a once great stage cart, but it was still her home nonetheless.

She was about to wallow in her self-pity and head home but the snow that was lightly falling the whole night turned into a storm. The flakes pelted her face with ferocious intensity. She couldn’t see anything, nor could hear herself.

The sudden storm began to die down gently, and Trixie could see now, a dark figure was standing before her in the snowflakes where earlier nothing was. Before she could say anything, the figure gave a hearty, merry-filled laugh which pierced through the cold, dark night and left a familiar and somewhat nostalgic feeling for Trixie.

“Hoh ho HO!” he bellowed. He came closer to Trixie; his brown boats were sinking into the snow on each step, he was in fact a very big pony, predominately around the waistline.

“Who—who are you?” Trixie questioned the stranger.

“Many ponies have asked me that, but don’t worry, you may call me a friend,” the pony replied taking a step closer and shaking her hoof.

Trixie could see him properly now, his fur was tan, his mane was white and fluffy accompanied by a large pure white beard on his face. What Trixie did notice was that he was wearing a red and white hat (with the little pom-pom at the end) and his body was draped in the same styling outfit, only what was different compared to hers was a belt (and Trixie was covered hoof to head in chimney soot)

Too much snacking I think, Trixie silently laughed to herself.

“Truth be told, I didn’t expect anyone else to be up this late. I was on my deliveries and figured that I stop by Ponyville for a bit. Did you know that this place used to be just a pile of wasted dirt? Nothing was living here! Ah, I remember back then when that nice green mare came with her family and wanted to do something about this place. Seems she’s done a good job, I might add. I should pay her a visit for old time’s sake.”

Trixie was confused; Ponyville’s been around for a long time, yet this stallion was old so she didn’t know. This pony was strange and so she quickly asked awkwardly, “Um… wait a moment. You’re on deliveries? For mail?”

He nodded his head, “Something like that. My work is demanding, especially since I always need to get everything delivered by one night. Ah, but I’m forgetting myself, now enough about me, how has your Hearth’s Warming Eve been?” the strange pony asked her with curiosity.

“I was up all night long delivering presents to everypony living here.”

“Wow! Now that is a big challenge! But why would you ever want to do that, if I might ask?” the pony said with a small faint grin.

“I wanted to give back to this town. I admit, I wasn’t the best pony I could’ve been, but I wanted to apologize. The trouble was, I didn’t want a simple apology. So I dressed up as Noel Hooves and gave presents out the way he would have done it,” Trixie replied.

“Hmm, that is quite a creative idea! No doubt that if he was standing right here he couldn’t be more proud by what you’ve done,” he chuckled.

“Have you learned anything tonight?”

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked him with a confused look.

“Was there anything you noticed that didn’t have to do with gifting or boxes?”

Trixie thought for a moment, this pony was beginning to get stranger by the minute, but she quickly looked over all the instances she gave tonight and the houses she had visited before coming up with answer.

“Ponies were asleep with their loved ones, their friends and family. They didn’t seem to care that I was there giving them gifts, they were focused more on feeling accepted by ponies that cared about them…” Trixie thought for a long hard moment, tears started to form in her eyes. “I don’t have any friends, no pony cares about me.."

"I’m... alone.”

“Well, you might not be looking in the right place. Don’t see with your eyes, but feel with your heart and then you will see. I know you may consider someone a friend and they might consider you to be one. You just need to look harder, not out there--” he pointed towards the town then moves his hoof over Trixie’s chest. “—but in here. You will never be alone, no matter where you might be, someone out there may consider you a friend. Just... look...”

Trixie could feel something in her heart, from where the strange pony had pointed. Her mind went into a buzz, why would her thoughts go towards this pony she was thinking of? Twilight Sparkle was all she could think about.

“There’s a pony… Twilight Sparkle— b-but that can’t be right! We used to hate each other—”

“Sometimes the greatest of rivals could end up being the greatest of friends. I think you should visit this Twilight in the morning. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind spending some time as friends on Hearth’s Warming Day,” the stranger ended with a chuckle.

You know what? I really think I should do that…

“So what’s the true meaning of Hearth’s Warming Eve?” he asked her with a slash wink.

“Caring for others, enjoying the holidays with friends and family, and accepting others with merry cheer?” Trixie answered and she received a pat on her back.

“You’ve done well tonight Trixie— OH good heavens, I’m late! I was supposed to be in Manehatten two minutes ago! Sorry Trixie but I need to go right now,” the strange pony quickly rushed ahead of her and waved back with a heart-filled laugh.

“WAIT! How did you know my name!?” Trixie shouted after him.

“It’s my business to know! You’ve been a great helper tonight, thank you! I promise to get you something!” he shouted back. Trixie was confused by all his shouting; she didn’t understand anything that he meant.

Who was this pony?

He stopped and the snow storm began to grow fiercer and fiercer, Trixie shielded her face with her hooves. From the corner of her eye she could make out the strange pony as a greyed out figure in the storm.

“HAVE A MERRY HEARTH’S WARMING! HOH HO HO!” a booming voice shouted from all around Trixie.

The snow became too thick; Trixie had to cover her eyes from the barrage against her. A few moments passed and the wind died down, she peeked out and saw that she wasn’t on the same street anymore. She turned and saw her home. It was still wreaked up. Trixie let out a sigh, a long-winded sigh for everything that happened tonight.

As Trixie stepped through the front door, she took off her soot-covered outfit and tattered hat and placed them on her table along with her empty sack. Trixie was tired, even though she still had the feeling of accomplishment, she realized that she gave so much and didn’t get anything in return. Her home still creaked with every step and chilled with frost every morning.

But this was her Hearth’s Warming Eve, and as her eyes drooped shut and her breaths became silent, she was proud. Those ponies will be happy in the morning, and the best she could do is be happy for them.

One last tired sigh came from her, and the Eve was silent once more, with Ponyville’s last resident having fallen asleep.

Chapter 5: The Spirit of Giving

Trixie’s body hazily slumped to the floor from her bed. Her head was pounding and her muscles ached from last night’s adventures.

Trixie groaned.

She knew that no matter how fun that was, she will probably almost certainly, never do that idea ever again. She tried to get up to her hoofs but each motion of trying to right herself up intensified her head pain even more. After much trying and many casual swears to herself to help push her body up, Trixie was able to stand straight on her four hooves.

Trixie looked around the room with her eyes drooping and immediately facehoofed herself.

Argh, I’m so stupid! I forgot the tree, and all the decorations! Trixie thought with anguish. Indeed, she was so caught up in her nightly affairs that she completely overlooked to decorate or even try to fix her home in the least.

She stopped venting as soon as her eyes locked with the table in her home. Panic struck through her chest and filled her very core with shock. She galloped towards it, nearly knocking it over, and began to look on, over, under, through, and around it with shaking hooves. Trixie knew she left her outfit on the table when she came back, she couldn’t have lost them! To no avail, all her efforts were amounting to dust.

Trixie started to well tears in her eyes, though it was carefully masked with a fit of raging shouts.

NO! It can’t be gone, it can’t, it can’t IT CAN’T BE!

It may have seemed strange, that a unicorn was tearing apart her home with crying eyes, all for a simple festive outfit she shortly used. Truth was, that unicorn was very fond of that silly hat and its matching red and white clothing companion. It wasn’t the fact that she was going to do this again anytime soon, or she developed some sort of withdrawal system from not wearing it the moment she woke up. She loved that outfit the same way she loved to always wear her trademark wizard clothes.

There were memories behind them.

And being unable to find them meant to Trixie that they were forever lost.

In a fit of rage, Trixie took a mug and slammed it against the wall, it shattered into pieces and scattered across the hardwood floor. The last of anything organized or unbroken in Trixie’s home was gone. She slumped into a chair and tilted her eyes towards the ceiling in the aftershock of her tantrum. Trixie’s hoof dangled down past the chair leg and felt something rugged and tattered. Her eyes turned to see what it was.

It was the sack, the very same sack she had gotten from Pinkie, the very same one she had dumped, collected, and gave out presents with, the one which originally held the outfit. Trixie shrugged, if she wanted to destroy everything in her home then the sack would be the final piece. Her hoofs grabbed onto the ends and she pitifully shook out everything, if anything, from inside.

A box fell out.

W-what…..? Trixie could hardly believe her eyes. Her hoof got the box from the ground and held it close to her eyes to observe all its details.

It was a dark-blue box, like what one might see when looking up in the sky at night. It was decorated with stars, swirls that seemed to contrast with the paper as if they were trying to explode outward, and finally a simple red and white striped box held the gift firmly and together. It looked like somepony had really spent a lot of time working on getting the gift to look this good.

Yet, Trixie was still in disbelief. I already gave all the gifts I had last night. I didn’t miss one, the Great Trixie would never miss a gift! There was nothing in there in the end, Trixie was sure of it!

The box was still held in her hoof, it wasn’t an illusion or a hallucination for Trixie. It was a real present. Trixie took a closer look on a small note to see who was supposed to receive this.

“To Trixie… TRIXIE!?”

Trixie’s name was right on the present, she hastily yet nervously undid the wrapping to see what was inside. Her eyes glowed in surprise to see what it was.

The festive outfit, packaged nicely in the box, it glowed and looked even better than the day she first found them. Immediately she put them on and felt their warmness, but she immediately questioned herself.

Why?

There was a note also inside the box and Trixie eagerly took it and began to read.

"HO HO HO! I hope you like your gift Trixie! Not only is it washed from all that chimney powder (believe me; those first couple of centuries were a NIGHTMARE to get the stains out!) but you’ll never have to clean it again! Isn’t magic wonderful sometimes? Even I don’t know how it all works yet!

You’ve been a wonderful helper, and I promised last night that your hard work will not go unrewarded. I believe you’ve earned to keep these clothes; after all, you’ve been a most wonderful helper tonight. I would love to get into detail about how they ended up in Ms. Pie’s sack of gifting, but I’m running out of paper here. Have a Merry, MERRY Hearth’s Warming, my helper!"

Noel Hooves

Trixie felt happy after reading that. It seems she wasn’t forgotten this Hearth’s Warming. She happily adjusted her hat and trotted, no, skipped towards her front door. The moment she opened it a purple hoof came down and knocked her on the head.

“Ow, watch where you’re knocking! You knock on the Door of Powerful Sturdiness! Not Trixie!” Trixie huffed in annoyance after rubbing her head. Her eyes looked up and she was surprised to see it was Twilight Sparkle who was at her front door; she too had a look of surprise.

“Trixie! I’m so sorry! I was about to knock on your door, but then it opened, and your head came out, and—”

“It’s quite alright Twilight. Now, why would you come here on the doorstep to see the Great Trixie? You’ve come to feast your eyes on the outfit that the Charitable Noel Hooves has bestowed upon me for my good deeds to this town?” Trixie boasted. Twilight looked annoyed, but before she could say anything Trixie laughed.

“I’m sorry! I couldn’t help myself!” Trixie laughed again.

Twilight hadn’t actually heard Trixie’s laugh (not the times where Trixie was scoffing at others because that just sounded, evil) this was a pure genuine laugh, and strange enough for Twilight, she liked it and joined in.

“Hahaha— okay but seriously, why did you come to my cart?”

“I just wanted to wish you a Merry Hearth’s Warming,” Twilight started to say. “Aaaaand, I was wondering if you wanted to head outside for a bit. The Hearth’s Warming Party was postponed because of some ‘neighborhood issues’ that need to cleared up and actually for some reason….”

“I really have no idea but I was compelled to come to your home… strange?” Twilight gave a shepish grin, a red blush tinged across her face.

"Well, there’s no need to make anything awkward anymore Twilight. I, the Great Trixie will ‘hang out’ with you for Hearth’s Warming and we will talk about the many misadventures I had during the last night!”

“Oh right, that’s the biggest reason I came here,” Twilight giggled before both of them left Trixie’s home and trotted down the frosty chill of Ponyville in snow, with their friendship and Hearth’s Warming spirits to keep them warm.

Twilight Sparkle was shocked, from what a simple conversation starter of ‘I woke up today with a present in between my hooves’ has exploded into a mass amount of Trixie boasting. Actually, Twilight was even more shocked to hear that Trixie was telling her about falling into chimneys, breaking into ponies’ houses, and delivering presents to every single household in one night, and that it was all one-hundred percent true. Trixie’s boasting wasn’t boasting: it was the truth.

“I don’t even know what was in the boxes when I first gave them out. That pink pony ran into her building to fill the sack up and I never got to see anything that was inside them!” Trixie said almost casually and noticed that Twilight wasn’t as casual in her reply.

“Bu-But… That gift you gave me… it was a manual on how to organize manuals! You can’t have just pulled a gift out from your bag—”

“Actually, yours was the last one the Great Trixie gave,” Trixie replied with a smug grin.

“That. Can’t. Be. POSSIBLE! The odds of you correctly handing out every single gift to the right pony without even knowing what’s inside is IMPOSSIBLE!”

Twilight was freaking out and started to question herself aloud, Trixie was able to take a small break and look around Ponyville. It was strange, but all she could see was snow, she didn’t even see another pony today apart from the now mentally unstable unicorn next to her.

“Twilight?” Trixie tried to ask her but Twilight was completely lost in thought.

“What if I carry the one? No- no, then the percentage equation will just be flipped…”

“Twilight?”

“Factor in wind velocity? Why would wind be a factor to begin with? UNLESS it’s a conspiracy! No— wait, that wouldn’t make sense.”

“Twilight!”

“Of all the things, how could Trixie—”

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Trixie’s great and powerful voice boomed in between Twilight’s ears loud enough to rattle her brain and break her thoughts. Twilight made a sheepish smile, but lucky for her Trixie was only annoyed and not angry as she let out a sigh of relief. “Good, I was wondering if you were going to keep talking to yourself while I tried to get in a question.”

Twilight nodded to Trixie, letting her know that she was okay now. Trixie took in a breath and was ready to ask her the question, “Where is everypon—”

“TWILIGHT!”

OH WHAT NOW!?

The duo turned around to see a small purple dragon trying to run through the snow towards them. In both his hands, he held a large decorated box over his head. Trixie was steaming through her ears in anger for being interrupted, but immediately regained her composure remembering that she was a changed mare now, and as such she should act like one.

“Spike? What is it? I thought you were still working on the—” Twilight started to say but Spike quickly made a few coughing noises and Twilight’s eyes went wide as realization hit her face. “I..uh mean… um… say, what’s with the box Spike?”

“It was an unopened gift you missed this morning, I checked and the nametag says it’s for you!” Spike cheerfully replied as he handed Twilight the box.

“What? But I thought Trixie only gave me one gift!”

Trixie rolled her eyes, “Of course Twilight. I may have been giving, but everypony got their fair share of presents.”

“If not from you, who?” Twilight asked. She flipped open a small tag that was hanging by the side of the box. “From: Noel Hooves” it read.

Twilight’s face immediately sank into a mental snap of despair. Her thoughts waged a war inside her purple unicorn head. Noel Hooves was just a folktale, yet here was this box that was addressed specifically for Twilight. Perhaps nothing made sense anymore, or maybe it made sense all this time. Nevertheless a worried look came from the purple dragon and the light-blue unicorn standing near her.

“Spike… can you take this box back home? I… I need to think through this later,” the unicorn asked her assistant and he happily took the box and hurried home.

Trixie had a smirk on her face after soon realizing who had given Twilight the gift. “Well Twilight Sparkle, it seems simple ‘imaginary’ legends have a habit of… surprising you when you least expect it. Noel doesn’t care if you do or don’t believe in him, just as long as you’ve been a caring pony who’s been nice and takes other’s needs into consideration.” Trixie patted a hoof against her friend’s shoulder, “Don’t be so scared, at least you’re not on the naughty list this year.”

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh and Trixie laughed along with her. Twilight still won’t know for certain if the patron of Hearth’s Warming exists until more evidence shows up, but Twilight learned (as well as many times before) that she should keep an open mind to ‘simple imaginary legends’.

The two laughed for minutes on end, the snow around them as well as the chilling wind didn’t seem to bother them at all. As much as Twilight wanted to enjoy laughing with Trixie in sub-zero temperatures, she still had one last thing to do.

One very important thing to do.

“Trixe…?”

“Yes?” she replied.

“Could you follow me for just a second? There’s something I want to show you.”

Well this was a wonderful predicament, after walking for about ten minutes following Twilight to who knows where, Twilight told her to close her eyes as they walked the rest of the way to who knows where. On the way Trixie snuck a peek a few times, but Twilight noticed and made a temporary spell on Trixie's hat to cover about half her face and force her eyes to stay shut. Trixie was not enjoying it at all.

“Twilight, just what are you doing? I can’t see anything!” Trixie said with annoyance as she bumped her hoof against a bench and nearly tumbled.

“Don’t worry Trixie, we’re almost there.” Twilight said with a sincere voice. One more minute of careful guiding and suddenly they stopped.

“Twilight, why did we—”

“We’re here Trixie… you may open your eyes now.”

This better not be some kind of trick. Leave the stage tricks to the professionals, Trixie thought to herself as she could feel the effects of the magic tear away from her eyelids.

She brought the hat up properly back up and opened her eyes.

Her mouth hung agape at the sight before her.

“MERRY HEARTH’S WARMING TRIXIE!”

Practically every single pony in Ponyville roared the greeting right in front of Trixie. All of them had gathered around the area where her cart was stored. Left and right, up and down, these ponies were everywhere, and all of them had smiles on their faces. Trixie, though still shocked, was able to notice something connecting the buildings above. It was a sign; “Thank You Trixie” was what was written on it.

Trixie tried to form words, but she was speechless, she had to use some body language to get her question over to Twilight. Twilight laughed, it seems she wasn’t the only pony to have a mental breakdown, despite the two versions being completely different.

“These are all the ponies who you gave a Hearth’s Warming Eve present to.” Twilight quickly leaned into Trixie’s ear, “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell them just HOW they got their gifts, the important thing was that they were delivered.”

“You… You planned this?” Trixie asked, and Twilight nodded her head.

“But wait Trixie, there’s more…” Twilight said to her with a smile before signalling to six ponies (who Trixie immediately recognized as Twilight’s friends and that pink pony… that pink pony… Trixie will need to talk to her one day about the whole ‘magical sack and outfit’ that the pony ‘coincidently’ gave her).

The ponies were standing in front of Trixie’s cart and quickly moved out of the way with beaming smiles.
Trixie’s eyes went wide, and she put a hoof to her mouth in surprise.

Her cart.

It was repaired, it looked better than it ever did before. Everything that was once broken shined with pristine light, none of the old lingering signs of abandonment or disrepair could be seen, the cart looked almost new like the time Trixie had first bought it.

Tears started to form in her eyes, and one rolled down from her blissful irises and onto her cheek. Trixie couldn’t stop staring at what these ponies have given her.

A new chance.

Twilight came over to her and pulled Trixie into a soft side-hug. Twilight had this all planned the night before, the moment Trixie left the house all the ponies began work, they were volunteers, they wanted to do this, they wanted to say thanks to Trixie, to accept her apology.

Trixie had finally understood what the Spirit of Hearth’s Warming finally met; all these acts of kindness, giving, compassion, and being with your loved ones and friends to make the unbearable cold of a winter’s night that much warmer. Trixie realized she wasn’t as alone as she once thought. She will always cherish this feeling forever.

This was indeed, a great and memorable Hearth’s Warming that neither the light-blue unicorn nor the other ponies will soon forget.

Trixie’s voice was inaudible to the festivities of the loud ponies cheering and partying around, but Twilight could hear Trixie’s whisper perfectly.

“Thank you.”