"What do you mean, 'no'?! Cranky Doodle, you have to help me out here, this colt really needs help!"
"And I told you, I refuse to help save a rotten holiday!"
Cranky Doodle was a conservative donkey. He wasn't against things like inter-species relationships or Equestria having a new Princess dropped on them unannounced - which was happening frighteningly often these days - but he did not approve of changing traditions. One could say he was a traditionalist, rather than a conservative - which is a bit of a nasty word.
So when this traditionalist donkey, throughout his long life and his travels, saw how Hearth's Warming was becoming a very commercialized and superficial event that aimed at buying more and more; and that the ideas of "sharing and caring" and 'loving your family and neighbour' were now just words thrown out there to justify this wave of greed which had taken over the country and to give one-self a fake sense of righteousness, he decided he had nothing left to do with this even and distanced himself from the whole mess. To his credit, he tried a very long time to accept this evolution, but time eventually won over persistence.
"Please? Please, please, please, please please! This isn't about Hearth's Warming Eve, it's about saving a little colt's faith in Santa Hooves. Come oooon!" she begged, running around his table.
After knocking came from the door, Cranky Doodle the donkey opened it to find his first friend in a long time, Pinkie Pie, and gave her a little smile, which was surprising given his...cranky personality. They were now sitting down in his little kitchen, with two cups of hot chocolate each. When she had told him what had happened and exposed her plan to him, he refused with a simple 'no', which baffled the party pony.
"Oh yes, the faith in Santa Hooves. Well you know what, Pinkie? Say I do it. Let's say I go through this insane plan 'a yours and it succeeds. Then what? All that's left is a bunch of colts and fillies asking even more and more gifts than they already do, and I won't have that happen while I'm still alive! I see what you're trying to do, I really do, but have you considered that by making children believe Santa is real on one night you make things worse? Also, how long could you keep up the illusion?"
"But we have the means, and I told you how this would work, what's not to believe?"
"I don't believe that one child's faith in Hearth's Warming is worth destroying the holiday as I remember it!"
"...Why do you hate Hearth's Warming so much?" she asked quietly. He looked at her with wide eyes, prepared to yell again, then his look softened and he sighed.
"I don't 'hate' Hearth's Warming, Pinkie. I just...don't approve of what it's become. You're too young to know, but this holiday used to be exclusively about sharing. All that was needed was a small gift, like a tie or maybe a box of sugar cubes, and that was plenty. Those were good times, and back when I was still traveling I met some friends my age at some point. On this night so many years go, we went out of our camp and into the nearby village, from street to street and inviting the whole neighbourhood to come and spend the night with us. Of course a bunch declined, but many accepted, and that night was spent without any gift of any kind. All there was that night was cheering, singing, eating, drinking, and sharing.
"Then...something happened. I don't know what it was or when it happened, but whatever it was made Hearth's Warming all about big fat gifts that children get tired of in a month or so. Ever since then, I ask myself the same question every season: what happened to my Hearth's Warming? And to this day, I still have no answer. So there."
They both sat quietly after that, with Pinkie looking into her hot chocolate and Cranky turning his back on her, looking miffed. Even though she didn't like it, he was right: having him pose as Santa Hooves for Pip was not going to cut it. She needed something that could last, something massive, and something that would affect all of Equestria, and all she had was her Pinkieness and an unwilling donkey.
Darn it! If only I had more time!
Time...Time!
And that's when it hit her with the speed of a wild Wonderbolt.
"Oh...oh!...Cranky! Cranky, be careful!"
"What? What is it?" he said, looking alert. Then she jumped on the table and got all up in his face, staring straight into his eyes.
"I'm going to be absolutely, terrifically, and superoonaly BRILLIANT!" she exclaimed, throwing her hooves up in the air. When neither moved for a few seconds, Pinkie pulled a hat out of nowhere and starting skipping around.
"Here's the thing: no one has ever seen Santa Hooves, right? All he left all those years ago was gifts and a letter. That's what started the holiday, right?"
"Yes..."
"And you're bitter because something happened that caused the holiday to stray away from its purpose, right?", she asked, patting his back.
"...Yeah," he grumbled.
"Then what if we take the whole thing...and start from scratch?" she giggled, taking his face in her hooves.
"...What?!" he sputtered, looking at her as if she was from another planet.
"You heard me, Cranky old buddy. I'm saying we make Santa Hooves appear every year from then 'till now! I'm saying we make Equestria believe again! For that I need you, and you know who else," she finished, with a triumphant grin on her face.
They stared at each other for a long time, and the clock struck 5PM.
"Oh, I see...I don't agree with his methods," he said, crossing his arms.
"I know, and you have every right to think that, but I'm asking you to bear with him until we fix this whole thing up. So...please? If not for me or Pipsqueak, then do it for closure?"
He glared at her for a bit, then sighed and rubbed his face in his hooves.
"Alright Pinkie, you win. I'll do this for Heath's Warming...so when do we start?"
"After chocolate. You never start anything without some good chocolate," she smiled, taking a sip from her beverage. Then, she had a bit of a grimace on her face.
"Or just...some chocolate."
*************
Pipsqueak sat in his room, nervously waiting for something fantastic to happen.
Ever since he had come back from his encounter with Pinkie Pie, Pip felt somewhat better. He came in, put on a smile, and went around doing whatever his parents asked him to do or anything to distract himself. But try as he might, he couldn't get what the colts had said out of his mind. His belief was still there, but it was slipping.
What they said seemed to be pretty true...no Pip, that's not what you should think. Santa Hooves is real. He's real, he's real, he's real...
This pattern repeated itself several times, and when he asked his parents about Santa they had a very subtle look of panic, followed by a big smile.
"Why of course he is, Pippy! What makes you say that?" They would say, and he gave them some lame reason so that they would drop it. But it was enough: he was now doubting his parents' words. During the dinner, he was all smiles and cheerful, enjoying the food his parents had prepared and giving them both a big hug. But once he was alone, he decided that he would need to prove the theory to find some sleep. And so, he waited. He left the table at around 9, and stayed awake for about an hour before he fell asleep.
It was around Midnight when he heard a noise downstairs. Jolting awake, he stealthily went down the steps and listened. He heard hushed voices, and the sound of something heavy being moved. At some point, he caught a bit of conversation.
"Egads love, be careful!"
"Sorry. I don't think he heard anyway."
That...sounds like Mum and Dad.
He crept down the stairs, as slowly as he could, until he reached the end of them and saw light coming from the kitchen. He crawled forward, stood against the wall, and peeked around the corner of the door-frame. What he saw almost made him cry out in horror. His mother and father were putting gifts at the foot of the tree, and they held hooves after they had finished.
"Oh boy. I was really hoping he would learn later."
"I know, sweetie, I know. But that's the way things are today: we tell our kids Santa Hooves isn't real earlier and earlier as the years go by. You just have to embrace it. I just hope he won't take it too hard."
"When do we tell him?"
"...Next year. He deserves this Christmas."
Santa Hooves isn't real. Isn't real. Isn't. Real.
He bit down on his hoof, and angry tears burned stung his eyes. They had lied to him, making him believe that there was somepony out there who actually gave out gifts for free on one day of the year, simply out of good will and generosity. Not caring whether he was quiet or not, Pip ran to his room, closed the door, and started weeping in his bed. All those years, nothing but a lie. A big fat lie.
Why? Why, why, why?!
He punched his pillow several times, then fell on his mattress and wept a bit louder. The clock was five minutes away from marking the start of Hearth's Warming, and in five minutes it would all mean nothing for him. What would being good and nice do, if his good behaviour or his bad behaviour weren't checked by this imaginary character. And it felt so right, believing in Santa Hooves. Sure, Pip had had small doubts before, but the ribbon, Cup Cake's reaction and his friends' arguments were the final nails in the proverbial coffin. He just wished that Santa Hooves, all those years ago, had bothered to show his face to the world and say he wouldn't return in the first place.
He looked at his alarm clock, and saw that it was Midnight. He bit the pillow, and scrunched his eyes up so tight it hurt.
Why Santa? WHY?!
Then, he heard a sound. It was a great big whooshing noise, and it was getting louder.
At first he looked at the window, thinking it was the sound of the winter wind from outside, but it was locked. He looked at the foot of his bed, and something wondrous happened. There, out of thin air, a red carriage slowly appeared in his room. It was just that: an ordinary carriage, a private coach to be exact, pretty average by all accounts and it was crimson. And just when he thought things couldn't become stranger, the door opened.
A deep blue light shone out, making Pipsqueak wince and cover his eyes with a foreleg. When it safe to look, he lowered his hoof and stared at the sight before him. Standing there was an equine shape, with a droopy hat that ended up resting on their shoulder and a big brown saddlebag on his back. His robes were deep green, and the only thing they didn't cover were his hooves and his head. This head had two large ears, and an old face looked at him with a smile.
"Hello there, young Pipsqueak. I believe you called me."