The snow was falling, the air was cold, and ponies were bundled up. Winter was here, and Scootaloo was learning a new sensation. One of the problems with being an emotivore was that the being had to be very receptive to the point that they, (changelings) based their body temperature on the amount of love they had stored up. Being exothermic made winter a very sleepy time for changelings. Fortunately, they could stave off the cold if they had a good supply of love (which, thanks to her friends and foster mothers, Scoots DEFINITELY DID). Needless to say, Hearth’s Warming was their favorite holiday.
Scoots was wearing more winter clothing than most of her classmates knew existed, and she was still acting sluggish. She finally understood why mama Shy needed so much coffee during this time of year, (Rainbow needed the same amount of coffee, but that never changed.) The class was currently discussing roles for the Hearth’s Warming pageant. Scoots, though tired, was paying enough attention to put her name forward for her desired role.
Cheerilee blinked when she saw Scootaloo’s hoof shoot up to volunteer for the role of Clover. Most ponies only tried out for the roles that fit their tribe. It was very rare to see a filly willing to play a part which required them to fake being another type of pony. Scoots was currently thinking back to the stories her mother had shared, the history of their family that grandma tried to destroy. The history of Clover the Clever - or, rather, Queen Clover; the first changeling to willingly give love to help save her new friends.
This story was an instant favorite for all the CMC, the story of Hearth’s Warming from a changeling perspective was interesting. Clover had originally gone to the ponies to learn about their magic and find a new feeding ground that they could blend into. Contrary to popular thought, changelings did not need to steal love to survive; it was just the fastest way of getting it. Of course, this was also the worst way as it drained the creature of energy and often lead to death. This method also drastically increased the power of the feeding ling, but this came at the risk of being found very quickly.
Clover wanted something different, they knew how to steal love and how to collect love from an area during big events. But was it possible to be given love knowingly AND willingly? Was it possible to find a species, a nation, a town even that would accept the changelings and feed them voluntarily? This is what Clover had yearned for.
After The Windigo Winter, this dream had been closer than ever before. This, sadly, changed when Chrysalis I was born. Clover’s friends and fellow founders came to visit one day only to walk into a gruesome scene. Every changeling who had agreed with Clover was dead. Most of them in several pieces, this is the main reason that changelings were not well known, and though they did not know the details, Scoots wanted to honor her brave and noble ancestor. Fluttershy knew more than she was telling but, not wanting to traumatize the children, she only told them of the brave things Clover did. And that, unfortunately, she had died before her dream could come true.
Scoots was so moved by this, she was going to do her best to see it though. To this end, she had stopped using an illusion to blend in and the town had gotten used to it without a major panic for once. With Shy following her daughter’s plan, the town was becoming one of the most diverse places in Equestria, (it already held the position as the craziest town.)
Hearing the true history of Clover had lit a fire in the CMC, who wanted to try and find any other stories about the holiday that were forgotten. This inevitably led them to Granny Smith, who after amazing them all during Family Appreciation Day, blew their minds once again with tales of Old Holly Hooves and Krampus. This story was different than the normal tale of a kindly caribou. For starters both were satyrs, Holly visited good children to reward them for their behavior during the previous year, and help raise their spirits to keep the windigos at bay.
Krampus, on the other hoof, actively supported the windigos as he gained power from fear and hopelessness. He was famous for foalnapping young creatures to fill them with fear, punishing them for the next year to generate more fear and sorrow before dumping them in the general area he found them once they became emotionally numb.
The two crossed paths many times over the years. Their final battle was rumored to have taken out a mountain. In the end, Holly Hooves won, breaking Krampus’s bracer so he could no longer gain power from negative emotions. This did not, however, remove his immortality or change his temperament much.
The girls continued to gather stories in between rehearsing for the play and crusading. Including stories of Crystal the Snow Mare and a red nosed Caribou by the name of Rudolf. These were standard fare for the season, but the old legends they found in the library were not, (nor was the rarely told story where the two aforementioned Hearth’s Warming icons actually met and became friends.)
Reading about the Miser Brothers, a pair of pegasi so powerful and so in-tune with the natural elements that they could force the seasonal changes on their own, (though one was focused completely on heat and the other was focused completely on cold,) was both fascinating and terrifying. The next story in the book was the tale of The Grinch, a green fluff pony who hated Hearth’s Warming due to all the noise it caused. The girls read, entranced at the plans and, finally, the change that takes place within The Grinch. It filled them with hope that such a grump could see the true meaning and joy of Hearth’s Warming. The book also contained a spell which claimed to be able to bring snow structures to life. Needless to say this ended like most of their crusading attempts (though without tree sap this time.)
Scootaloo woke up later by the fire with Dinky curled against her. The snow had caused her to get so cold, she tried to hibernate. Dinky volunteered to warm her up as she was the one who caused the snow mare to fall over.
All and all, they had a fun winter and completed the Hearth’s Warming pageant. Amazingly, Nightmare was so pleased with the Pageant that she had a picture of Spectrum dressed as Puddinghead on her desk from then on. This was how the girls would spend winter for many years to come; telling stories, (especially as new Crusaders would eventually enter the fold.) And finding new tales and laughing together as friends, (as well as passing this on to future generations of Cutie Mark Crusaders.)