Christmas for Sweetie Belle - Hogwarts Exchange Student · 3:06am Dec 25th, 2022
Ye gads, I've been working on Sweetie Belle - Hogwarts Exchange Student for five years now. She could have graduated college by now. Started it back in National Novel Writing Week 2017 when I wrote the bit below and have been crawling down the writing track ever since with 15 chapters posted and a good start on 16. In the spirit of the season, I'm reposting this Christmas bit where the three terrors visit Sweetie Belle's home because the story of a young unicorn who travels to Hogwarts to make friends can not be complete without a winter break in which she brings them *back* to experience the love and joy of the Pony Hearth's Warming. Of course, when one of her friends is a perpetual cloud of gloom who just lost his father, that can be a little difficult... (and I'm including a new clip from Chapter 16 at the end)
After all of the hustle and bustle of the pony holiday was over, the presents exchanged, and enough eaten that both human beings should have fallen over into a food coma, there still was movement in the quiet darkness draped across the Canterlot castle. Oh, there were still a few Hearth’s Warming carolers audible in the distance, belting out what they thought were touching songs of the season while they staggered home, filled with holiday cheer and spiked eggnog. And, of course, the stars were out in force, blazing away in the sky in a breathtaking example of Princess Luna’s finest work, mostly ignored by the sleeping or soon to be sleeping populace. But in one particular spot in the castle, neither song nor holiday cheer was brightening the area.
Wycliffe Nott sat on the edge of the balcony with his legs dangling over the edge, regarding the stars in the sky while shivering just the slightest. It was a sight that made Sweetie Belle a little cold on the inside while she watched him from the doorway. Even for him, the boy had been quiet all this evening at the Hearth’s Warming pageant and the subsequent party with all of Sweetie Belle’s older friends. Pinkie Pie had tried her best to get him ‘into’ the party, but all he really seemed to want to do was talk with Applejack for a long time in one corner of the room until everypony was supposed to have gone to bed. Then after they had all been tucked in, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had dropped right off to sleep, but Wycliffe had snuck out, followed by Sweetie and Sparrow.
“What’s he doing?” whispered Sparrow right in Sweetie’s ear. “Is he still depressed about losing his father last month?” The young witch rubbed her bare hands together and blew on them to keep warm, but it did not seem to work from the way her teeth were chattering in the Canterlot icy breeze. They really should have picked up warmer clothes, but Sweetie Belle lit her horn, floated the warm scarf off her own neck, and wrapped it around Sparrow.
“I don’t know,” whispered Sweetie. “I’m used to him being a bit of a crab, but this is an awful lot of crabby.”
“You know I can hear, right?” Wycliffe did not turn around, but he did quit kicking his legs over the precipitous drop. “I’m just… thinking about my father. I know he wasn’t what most people think of fathers, but he was all I had, and now he’s gone.”
Sweetie and Sparrow moved up beside Wycliffe, and although Sparrow hopped right up on the balcony to dangle her legs off the edge, Sweetie kept her hooves solidly on the granite floor and made her contribution to comforting by putting her head in the young boy’s lap.
“Thank you,” said Wycliffe. “Peas, get us some blankets and… Oh, bugger.” He heaved a large sigh for such a small boy. “I keep forgetting that I’m not at home. After going to midnight Mass, my father used to sit with us on the roof all Christmas night, listening to the snow and watching for poachers. We’d wrap ourselves up in wool blankets and Peas would bring us hot chocolate. I used to imagine my mother was with us then. Just the four of us.” The boy flicked a small piece of stone and watched it fall into the darkness below. “It was the only real time we had together as family. And now he’s gone.”
“I really don’t know what to say.” Sweetie Belle nudged closer, being careful not to poke her horn anywhere she could hurt the young human. “I’ve never really lost anypony near to me.”
“I’ve never really had anybody near to me,” said Sparrow with one arm thrown over Wycliffe to hold the end of her scarf against his bare neck. “Other than mom and dad. Always thought that was a bonus, since we moved so much. No matter how much making a friend feels good, losing them tears your heart out. I can’t imagine either of them…” She trailed off and flicked another piece of loose stone out into the darkness.
“Applejack knows.” Wycliffe stifled a sniff. “Never thought I’d have that in common with a pony. She reminds me a lot of my big brother, always protective, always poking his nose into my business, terrified on the inside that he’s going to do something wrong and get me hurt.”
“Elder siblings are like that.” Princess Luna’s deep tones made all three of them jump in surprise, although with such a sharp drop-off so close, Sparrow and Wycliffe did not jump as much as Sweetie Belle. The Princess of the Night loomed over them with her wings spread wide and close enough to brush her chin against the top of Wycliffe’s head. Then she brought her wings together and enveloped all three of them.
“Your sister was concerned, Sweetie Belle. As is your distant brother, Wycliffe Nott,” sounded Luna’s voice from the warm, feathered darkness around them. “It is far too late at night for young ones to be running around the castle, particularly when filled with regret in such a dangerous location.”
The sense of warmth around them grew and Sparrow gave out a little squeak, much as if a compassionate pony had nuzzled her face. “Hey, your nose is cold!”
“Beg pardon.” Luna gave off a quiet snort of amusement. “Sparrow Lilley, I understand you too shall be an elder sibling soon, responsible for being overprotective and interfering in the affairs of a young one.”
“Yeah,” said Sparrow, sounding a lot less enthusiastic about the prospects than Luna. “It sucks.”
Luna laughed, but only briefly. “Truer words have not been spoken.” From the sounds in the darkness of Luna’s wings, she gave Sparrow another nuzzle along one ear, which made the girl splutter and complain briefly about imaginary alicorn slobber.
“There is a serious side to your concerns,” said Luna, sounding much more solemn. “Some day, your parents may no longer be with you, and your sole family will then be found within a sibling who, as you say, sucks.”
“We’ll still be your friends, even then, no matter how far apart we are physically,” said Sweetie Belle. “Hearth’s Warming is a time for family and friends. Isn’t that right, Princess Luna?”
“Verily. It is a celebration much like the human’s Christmas, although without Mass. It is a time for love and the heart, of promises kept and forgiveness, regardless of our differences.”
Luna shifted her wings so they no longer blotted out the starlit sky above, but still wrapped around the sides of the human and unicorn students to keep them warm. They sat there in silence under the stars for a very long time until Wycliffe lifted one hand up and framed it against several stars in the sky, one of which was considerably brighter than the others.
“Magi from the east came to Jerusalem,” he said in a low, strong voice, “and they asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’”
Dipping her head, Luna continued, “And the star which they had seen when it rose, went ahead of them until it stopped where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”
“Cool,” breathed Sparrow. “My turn.” She cleared her throat and took a deep breath.
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, an angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. The angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
There was no noise at all on the balcony for a time, other than the distant sounds of Hearth’s Warming carolers which for the time could have been the voices of some angelic choir.
“Whoa.” Wycliffe eyed Sparrow, who was surreptitiously wiping her eyes on the corner of her robe. “That’s impressive.”
“Thanks.” Sparrow took a deep breath and pulled her legs up until she was sitting more securely on the balcony floor. “Cliff, do you want to stay out here for a while and keep Luna company? I’m dropping over, and Sweet Cheeks over there keep jerking her head up when she nods off. That’s not exactly safe when we’re out here.”
Wycliffe returned to looking out over the Equestrian starscape. “Yeah.”
“K. Come on, Fuzzy.” Sparrow helped Sweetie Belle get up and walked with her back inside the castle, taking one quick glance behind her at the dark princess and the young boy sitting together.
“Shouldn’t we be with them?” asked Sweetie Belle with a yawn once they were on the stairs headed back to their room.
“Naa. Luna’s cool.” Sparrow nudged open the door at the bottom of the stairs with her hip and steadied Sweetie Belle’s progress in the direction of the room she was sharing with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom for the evening. “She’s probably gonna talk about Mister Nott, and what it’s like to lose a parent. After all, I don’t see her pony parents around here anywhere, so they’ve got something in common.”
“I never thought of that.” Sweetie Belle nuzzled up to Sparrow’s side and rubbed against her hand. “You make a better friend than you admit.”
“Not really.” Sparrow hesitated, but after another nudge, started scratching Sweetie Belle’s ears like she wanted. “I mean my mother always sent me away when she talked to one of the squad about losing a parent and stuff, and I learned the bible verse from a cartoon.”
Sweetie grunted in response, but it seemed to be a positive grunt, repeated when Sparrow boosted her up into the warm bed she was sharing with a slumbering Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.
“Hey, Sparrow?” Sweetie Belle lit up her horn with a weak glow and waited until the young girl stuck her head over the edge of the bunk bed, looking a little like some hairy upside-down bat. “You’re a cool friend.”
“Yeah, I know.” The young girl grinned, showing lots of human teeth. “You’re a pretty cool friend too. Goodnight.”
“‘night.” Sweetie nuzzled down in her pillow and was sleeping in an instant.
(Chapter 16 clip here)
Sweetie Belle - Hogwarts Exchange Student
Cold Start
“You have to admit it was a good idea.”
Theodore’s conversational partner did not respond.
“We learned firsthand about King Sombra’s traps in a way we never would have just reviewing all of Granite Peaks’ notes. And we have all kinds of information to add to our list of what not to do.”
That earned Theodore a brief glare before New Leaf put his head down on the floor and turned his back on the young wizard, rotating by degrees of hoof-shuffling.
A faint clattering noise sounded from up the staircase, growing louder until Granite Peaks and an unexpected visitor came through the stone doorway. Granite’s grey coat looked rumpled as if he had not gotten a chance to brush this morning, but Shining Armor was perfectly coiffed and dressed for the day down to the last bit of golden armor and shining hoof-boots.
There was a period of relative silence, with Theodore scribing away on a piece of parchment and the two unicorns just standing there, looking at the iron cage and its unusual contents. Shining Armor walked once around their prison, inspecting the bars by the light of his horn, before returning to Granite Peaks’ side and resuming his quiet observation.
“Nott,” said Granite finally. “What are you doing in there?”
“Taking notes of the magic used to create this…” Theodore gestured with his quill at the mesh of iron bars all around him.
“Trap,” continued Granite. “I lose my entire crew to a trap, have Celestia send to a whole different world for a better trapbreaker, and the first thing you do is fall right into another trap.”
“It was a short fall.” He pointed at the ceiling where hinged panels showed their path from last night. “We were staying out of the way of your guards right up until the floor fell out from under us and we wound up here. Oh, and the bars closed up above us.”
5704880
Merry Christmas dude.
5 years wow time fly's.
if life is willing i will be here to the end.
I want to address this in two parts, one as a human being and one as an internet fanfic reader.
As a human being, merry Christmas! I love your work, and the little snippets you're dropping are a great and unexpected present.
As an internet fanfic reader...wut?
So Luna went to earth for two weeks a thousand years ago and in that time she picked a random holy book from one of the religions there and memorized a passage that is utterly insignificant unless you believe in both its historicity and its religious significance? The teachings of Jesus, maybe, there's great cross-cultural value to be gained there, but the Nativity? Did she memorize it just because there was a star in it?
Okay, yes, the portal has been open again for some amount of time, but not long--Sweetie Belle is still a child, and there were a few years between when she embarked on her crusade and when Starswirl showed up with the keys. And you've made it very clear that even with the portal, the princesses don't have unfettered access to the other side. So with precious little time for interdimensional diplomacy and exploration available, Luna decided to spend it on comparative theology?
Even the idea of Wycliffe knowing that bit is kind of absurd, given that he was raised in isolation--read, not in a religious community such as you might gain by attending church--by a cold and unsentimental Death Eater who would have considerable problems with the notion that eternal life was possible only through the power of God. That's literally the opposite of their stated goal. Not, one supposes, what they might want to be teaching their children. There are a lot of other things in there that go directly against the pureblood way of life, but I'll discount those because they have never stopped any other utterly evil groups from being devoutly Christian.
And even though she acknowledges her source in the end, it still feels very much out of character for Sparrow to be able to 1) recite that passage and then 2) not actually say, "And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."
"So... like. okay dead asshole dad thing next child, but I have ask... why in the winter? Even we know that fellow was born in the spring."
"Well, we're european.
"And...?"
"Well, after God decided this was the place he wanted to keep all the bad weather, this gave the otherwise barren landscape the needed nutrients to arise britians first crop, the telephone box. These of course were known to be poisonous to our fail human forms, and were instead used to inform the rest of the world of our inherent britishness. Of course, with such bounty, more life was to follow, giving rise to the apex predator, the Double Decker bus, the strongest of its kind. It roamed the lands growing fat off our fellows europeans, and during its reign, pagans would sacrifice every third born to its wheels. Then Martin Luther got a wild hair up his arse, and seeking a savior invented The Queen, who would eternally look over commoner and noble alike. After taming the bus, this demigod wandered the lands, seeking any who would best them in combat. None succeded, prompting our most monocled scientists to add them to the periodic table under their given name of Mercury. He invented Christmas which was done to pacify the pagans and draw them into the church."
"What?"
"What?"
5705112
If you're bothered by the princess and other story facts,
tell yourself its fimfiction, I should really just relaX
5705112 5705391 Who says Celestia and Luna can only visit Earth through Starswirl's portal? And that they've only visited a few times?
Ponies Through History - Christmas Edition
“Your Highness!” The quiet voice Celestia knew so well hissed the words out in a shrill whisper, so unlike the calm and collected Clover the Clever of a few hours ago. “Princess Celestia! Wake up!”
“Ugmph.” Celestia opened one eye and regarded the frantic young unicorn nervously perched with her forehooves on the huge bed in order to reach the newly-minted Princess of the Sun’s ear. “It’s night. Whatever’s wrong, whoever is arguing or having some sort of problem, Luna can handle it.” Releasing a huff of frustration, Celestia closed her open eye and tried to return to slumber, only to awaken fully at Clover’s next words.
“It’s your sister! She’s gone crazy. Well, not crazy, crazy, but the whole court is all stirring around and getting all—”
But Clover was talking to an empty bedroom.
“Luna?” Celestia poked her nose around the doorframe and regarded her gloomy sister sitting out on the balcony with the glory of the star-strewn night spread around her. Normally, the sight of so many stars would bring a happy glow to Luna’s eyes, but tonight her head was hung low and tears trickled down her cheeks. With the touch of one wing across her sister's back, Celestia moved closer and pressed up against the smaller alicorn’s neck, wiping away the tears with her own cheek.
“I didn’t want to.” Luna’s voice was small and thready, quite unlike her normal stentorian tones. “I know it had to be done sometime, but I thought…”
Celestia started to ask, but stopped once she lifted her head and saw the new addition to the sky. One star stood out above all the rest, a blazing beacon hanging in the east like the strident declaration of an ancient promise finally kept. She remained silent instead of providing words, using the warmth of her body to warm her cold and shivering little sister until she was ready to speak again.
“It is an honor I would fain have passed to another,” said Luna after a long while. “Still, I understand why one of my children had to perish to proclaim His birth.”
In complete silence, the two immortal alicorns sat under the night sky and watched the beacon of light shine through the darkness, providing hope and guidance to a civilization far, far away.
—
Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we
have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
— Matthew 2:2
5705419
Perhaps... but I can say I can imagine her last before her sisters return.
5705419
Never let her read The Star by Arthur C. Clarke.
5705468 For people's reference, The Star is most famous for the ending, a 'WHAM' line that will knock your teeth in.
There can be no reasonable doubt: the ancient mystery is solved at last. Yet, oh
God, there were so many stars you could have used. What was the need to give these
people to the fire, that the symbol of their passing might shine above Bethlehem?
5705470
5705468
Odds are ten to one that part of the universe was either dead space or at most singular cellular life that voted for single cell Hitler, gave lousy tips, and viewed Alan Moore as some deep intellectual