Merry 2021 Hearth's Warming greetings and fic recommendations · 9:36pm Dec 23rd, 2021
Once again it's that time of year, when families gather around those we hold dear. Christmas is upon us, with words of good cheer, written below and organized here. It has been three (!) years since my last post on Hearth's Warming and recommended fics, so let's get started with a heart warming cartoon from Vivziepop, and the rest of recommendations below the break. (which I'm editing at the moment so it may change while you're reading)
Since it's my blog, I'm going to shamelessly plug my own stories first:
Hearth Warming’s Trappings, Twilight Sparkle, a trap, and a mythical creature
Yes, Twilight Sparkle, There is a Santa Hooves — Celestia reminisces about Hearth’s Warmings Past.
Escort Flight — The Night Guard escort a very special reindeer once a year
(A homage to the very tender story of Norad Tracks Santa )
How The Great and Powerful Trixie Stole Hearth’s Warming — What it says on the tin, with nuts. Mostly Trixie. Very silly and somewhat rough.
Merry Regiftmas - Some days, you just can't get rid of a changeling present.
And Neighrator Pony's reading of Yes Twilight Sparkle, There is a Santa Hooves.
Then the others I love:
We’re starting with the heart-melting timeless classic Yes, Apple Bloom, There is a Santa Hooves by Lucky Dreams (with reading)
A Canterlot Carol by GhostOfHeraclitus, where Dotted Line discovers the joys of working overtime for Princess Celestia. Of course, working for the Civil Service has some downsides.
‘Twas the day before Hearthwarming, and a nameless horror had taken residence in Dotted’s chimney. Again. He was trying to ignore it and keep on working, but a blocked chimney meant no fire, and breaking the ice on his inkwell was getting very tiresome. The otherworldly gibbering wasn’t helping any, either. Dotted sighed.
“Professor, is there any chance of getting that thing out of here before I freeze?”
Skywriter:
In The Bleak Midwinter - a touching story of the Princess of Love and her settling in problems in the Crystal Empire.
Wassail Wassail - An Apple Family holiday with Cheerilee
Twilight’s Hearth’s Warming Carol by bats
Mistletrapped by TD - Look out! Spike has mistletoe and a mission!
Three Nights by Bradel - Princess Cadence faces Hearth’s Warming in the Crystal Empire.
Yule in a Donut Shop - Donut Joe keeps his store open during the holiday. This is why.
Two Fics by Jmac:
Candy is Magic — About non-Equestrians and the magic of Hearth’s Warming (plus candy)
Wonderful — A Quizzical take on It’s A Wonderful Life.
Something Stuck Up In The Chimney by kudzuhaiku - Celestia is cold and wants to light a fire. The fireplace says that’s a bad idea.
Season’s Bleatings by Estee - Rainbow Dash is sick of Hearth Warming Carols. Really sick of them.
For Changelings, we have
A Very Merry Chrysalis
Snowboardling
This Holiday is Going to be Perfect
Hearth Swarming Eve by Horizon - The changelings invade Ponyville on Hearth’s Warming… or do they?
Crossovers:
Mary is a Mare and Sunflower - A Very Mary Christmas With Erin, which is just adorable.
Some less traveled winter paths:
If Only In My Dreams by Dancewithknives
Generous Gifts by BlazzingInferno - Spike has the perfect Hearth’s Warming gift idea for Rarity, or so he thinks.
Bonds of Glory - A Hearth’s Warming Story
A Hearth’s Warming Wassailing - An interesting AU Twilight Sparkle and her kingdom.
Recommendations from others, we have:
Our Gifts written by The Descendant
The Iron Ho Ho Horse - Everything's Merrier With Robots by The Hat Man.
"The Season of Grace" by Willow Wren
"Hearth's Warming Cookies" by Everyday
"Empty" by Inquisitor M
Kris Overstreet's Chrysalis Saves Hearth's Warming
And Mitch H's story Wicker Princess.
There is Love Beyond What Lingers by Shortskirtsandexplosions
Oh Little Spitfireby Secret89
Paint it Black by Horizon
Oh, and Hearth's Warming Helper from the Lunaverse
The Admiral Biscuit Hearth's Warming Stories collection here
And last but not least, be sure to check out the Hearths and Hooves group for seasonal goodies, as well as Alchemystudent’s group here.
And of course, I have a heart warming clip from Sweetie Belle - Hogwarts Exchange Student that I *still* have not gotten written up to (but I'm making progress). Read the preview of the Hearth's Warming section of Sweetie's friends visiting Equestria here.
Don't forget to put your own plugs into the comments, and wish each of us a very Merry Christmas. May you all find a pony under your tree.
If I may also recommend Spike's Heartfelt Gift by RS-Belle 14. A very cute story about Spike and the CMC trying to protect Flurry Heart from being kidnapped by the sinister Grump, who is out to ruin Hearth's Warming!
Here are a few of my favorites:
Three Nights
Foals and Mortals
The First Stitch-by the by I am trying to make a small cast audio dub of this particular fic.
several others if anyone is interested.
And finally a recently discovered story:
Little Match Filly
Oh, excellent! I love good story recommendations. I’ll be checking many of these out.
As for my own Hearthswarming recommendation, I have always loved The First Stitch by Carabas: Rarity, time travel, and the reason for the season!
FYI just because I'm posting Christmas links doesn't mean I've quit writing other stuff. Knight and Dei - Pony Rides has just finished the final draft stage of the second chapter (the end) and I'm into edit mode with my peeps. It *might* get published before 2022. Maybe.
Also, I'm roughing out a scene for Farmer Bruener Has Some Ponies where a F-16 with a VIP passenger is doing a flyby of Randolph (at a safe altitude with the pegasi on the ground to avoid collisions) when something goes horribly wrong. No pegasi were harmed in the making of this scene. However, a DJI Phantom 4 RTK drone experienced a fairly rapid cusinarting by a Pratt and Whitney F100 turbofan.
One moment, everything was normal as Viper Seven cruised at five thousand feet above the small pony and people town below.
Then suddenly, it was not.
There was a bang just as loud as a shotgun blast and the whole airframe began to shake, making Captain Karen Aanstrand chop the throttle forward and begin to pay extraordinary attention to every motion.
"Compressor failure," called out General Goldfein from the back seat. "No go on restart. We hit something solid. EPU."
"Engaged," said Spot, not stopping her checklist for a second. Aviate, navigate, communicate was hammered into every pilot for emergency operations, and she was aviate-ing with a vengeance since she had gone from a single-engine fighter flying low and slow to a zero-engine steel glider in one loud noise.
"Nearest airport is one-niner-zero degrees, twenty-four miles," rattled off the general. "Elevation insufficient to glide it in. We're going to have to eject, damnit. Find a clear spot and--"
"Viper Seven," snapped a very businesslike and melodic voice in Spot's radio. "Change course one-eight-zero degrees and maintain glide path. Air rescue has been dispatched."
"Acknowledged," said General Goldfein since Spot was fully engaged keeping the shuddering F-16 in the air. "Be advised our EPU is engaged, and any rescue... um... pegasi should avoid the right side of the aircraft."
"Understood," said the voice again. "Looks like one of the news crews was flying a drone in violation of the airspace restrictions. Sorry about that."
Thanks for this list, Georg, it was much appreciated. There was a lot of gold on this list. Yule In A Donut Shop was really really good. So thanks for pointing that one out to me. Merry Christmas!
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I’ll try and do a final edit pass of it tomorrow (Monday).