Spike scurried down the hallways toward the castle's entrance, leaving the Cutie Mark Crusaders back behind to watch over his hotels. Once he had heard Twilight say the name he had been waiting to hear all day, Spike had dropped his game with the Crusaders and sped toward the front door. Very soon, a newly arrived family of three came into Spike's sight. Relieved, he slowed down his pace and started walking toward the group, paying close attention along the way.
"Oh, it's so good to see you!" Twilight said while hugging her brother, Shining Armor. "I'm so glad you all could make it!"
"Like we'd miss celebrating Hearth's Warming with you!" Shining Armor laughed.
"Sorry we're late." Cadance trotted up.
"It's no problem." Twilight went up and hugged her sister-in-law. "We're just glad you're here."
"Us, too, Twilight." Cadance hugged back.
"That goes double for one us." Shining Armor stepped aside and pushed a baby carriage toward his sister. "Guess who's been wanting to see her favorite aunt?" He then levitated a smiling, all-too-familiar toddler and her favorite toy snail from the stroller.
Twilight gasped. "Flurry Heart!"
Flurry happily waved with her free hoof. "Hi, Auntie Twily!"
Twilight's jaw dropped. "Did you just say my name?!" She pulled her small niece in, snuggling her. "Aw, look at you! You're growing up so fast!"
"You bet," Shining Armor said as he proudly wrapped a foreleg around his wife.
"We've been giving her a few lessons," Cadance informed. "She's very talented. You will not believe some of the things Flurry has done. She's really starting to come along."
"Yeah." Shining Armor nodded. "She's one smart cookie. Check this out. Flurry," he called.
"Eh?" Flurry turned her head to see her father.
"Tell Auntie Twilight your ABC's," Shining Armor said.
Hearing his request, Flurry turned back to her aunt and spoke. "A, B, C, D, L, M, N, O, G," she smiled.
"... okay, well, she still has some ways to go." Shining Armor laughed along with the other adults.
Chuckling a bit himself just as he reached them, Spike waved at the crowd. "Hey, guys!"
Cadance and Shining Armor both turned their attention toward the little dragon. "Spike!"
"Hey, Flurry Heart!" Spike waved.
Flurry happily waved back. "Hi, Uncle Spike!"
Spike blushed. Hehe... 'uncle'.
"How's it going, dude?" Shining Armor asked Spike, lifting up his hoof.
"It's going." Spike bumped the hoof with his claw. "It's really good to see you guys. I was starting to think you weren't going to show."
Cadance snickered. "Well, we would have been here sooner, but we ran into somepony along the way that Flurry really wanted to see. We had to stop for a while so she could meet him."
"Really?" Spike asked. "Who was it?"
Cadance looked up to her daughter. "Flurry," she called. "Tell Auntie Twily and Uncle Spike who you saw today."
Flurry Heart beamed. "Santa Hooves!"
"Aw, really?" Spike played along. "You saw Santa Hooves?"
"Uh-huh!" Flurry happily nodded.
"That's right." Cadance started. "The train did actually bring us to town on time, but on our way here, we ran into a little stand and saw that Santa Hooves was visiting Ponyville." She winked. "Flurry went crazy when she saw the whole thing."
"I bet," Spike said.
"Oh, Spike, you have no idea," Shining Armor chuckled. "She stopped us and practically begged us to let her meet Santa Hooves, and how could we say 'no' to that? It was a bit of a wait, though. The line was pretty long. A lot of foals wanted to see Santa Hooves."
"Sounds about right." Spike then looked back up to Flurry Heart. "Did you get to meet Santa Hooves, Flurry?"
"Uh-huh!"
"Did you get to tell him what you want for Hearth's Warming?" Twilight asked.
"Uh-huh!" Flurry answered again.
"What did he say?"
Flurry Heart took a deep breath and spoke in a lower voice. "Eeyup."
Twilight and Spike both laughed at Flurry's interpretation of Santa Hooves.
"Oh, Sweet Celestia." Twilight wiped a teardrop from her eye as she motioned Cadance and Shining Armor to follow her. "Please tell you me you got a picture."
"Of course," Cadance answered as she trotted along with Twilight and her daughter.
Shining Armor began to follow along, too, with Spike right beside him.
"Glad to hear Flurry's been enjoying her Hearth's Warming so far," Spike said.
"Thanks. Yeah, she seems pretty happy this year. You should've seen her when she finally met Santa Hooves."
"Yeah, I would've loved to see that." Spike rubbed the back of his head. "Say, out of curiosity, what did Santa Hooves get Flurry for Hearth's Warming this year?"
"Hmm?" Shining Armor raised his eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, uh, you see..." Spike blushed. "I actually kind of got something for Flurry myself this year, and I just want to make sure you didn't get her the same thing."
"Oh, really?" Shining Armor smiled. "That's really nice of you, Spike! What did you get her?"
"Can't say. I want it to be a surprise, so—" Spike's eyes widened. "Oh... uh, you know what? Never mind telling me what you got her. It's okay."
"What? Are you sure? I don't mind telling you."
"I know, but it wouldn't be fair for you to tell me if I don't want to tell you what I got her, so we're good."
Shining Armor gave Spike a little elbow. "You sure? I'm telling you, I don't mind."
"Positive. All that really matters is that Flurry is happy, right?"
"Well, okay, if that's what you really want." Shining Armor winked. "And right."
They trotted along just a little farther, chatting along the way when Shining Armor pointed at something ahead.
"Hey, Spike."
"Yeah?"
Shining Armor pointed his hoof forward. "Are those three fillies okay?"
"Huh?" Spike looked ahead and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders stuck in a state of awe as Cadance and Flurry Heart approached them. After slapping a claw into his own face, Spike answered, "Yeah, they're fine. They're just fans is all."
"Hey, wait, I recognize them. They were the flower fillies in my wedding, weren't they?"
"Yup. They're called the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'. They help ponies with cutie mark problems. They're good friends of mine."
"I see." Shining Armor then gave Spike a little look. "So, which one is your fillyfriend?"
Spike blushed. "My what?!"
"Is it the little earth pony with the cute bow?" Shining Armor teased.
"Shining Armor!" Spike's face turned as red as the Hearth's Warming decorations as he frantically looked back and forth between Shining Armor and the Crusaders, hoping they did not hear them.
"No, wait, it has to be the cute little unicorn, right? I remember you two dancing together at the reception."
"Pipe it!" Spike placed a claw in Shining Armor's muzzle as they grew very close to the Crusaders. "It's not like that! We're just friends! Friends, got that?"
"Really?" Shining Armor shrugged. "That's too bad. Okay. Whatever you say."
"Ugh," Spike just shook his head as they approached the small group of females.
"—And I really like your mane, Princess Cadance!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.
"Aw. Thank you," Cadance gave the young unicorn a small bow. "Yours is really cute too."
Sweetie Belle gasped and began to squee uncontrollably. "You really think so?!"
Spike just shook his head. "Yeah, they're real big fans."
After Cadance and her family arrived, Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders resumed their little game night but, this time, with an additional member: Flurry Heart. Once everypony was settled in, Spike was able to convince Cadance and Shining Armor to allow Flurry Heart to play with him and the Crusaders, telling them Flurry would get bored if she was stuck listening to the grown ups and their conversations. With that, the kids had an extra player for game night.
Of course, knowing their previous property board game would be too complicated for the young princess, Spike and the Crusaders found simpler games to play with Flurry; Spike and Flurry stacked blocks into the shapes of castles, Apple Bloom showed Flurry the art of hoof painting, and Scootaloo gave Flurry high-speed rides on her scooter. Times were fun.
The group of five were in the middle of Sweetie Belle's game of hide-and-seek when Twilight and Cadance entered the room.
"Hello?" Twilight called out. "Is anypony here?"
"I'm here!" Spike ran up to the two mares. "What's up?"
"Cadance and I have just received some news. Something's come up. I'd like to talk to all of you about it." Twilight looked around the room. "Where is everypony?"
Spike rubbed his chin. "Well, at this point, I think Scootaloo might've just locked herself in the broom closet after the whole shoebox thing didn't work out the first time. Apple Bloom wasn't in the bathtub like I first thought, so she's probably in the kitchen hiding behind the cereal boxes, the chocolate flavored ones if I had to guess, and I've got a preeeetty good hunch that Sweetie Belle is hiding in the chimney, now, since she thought the oven wasn't very comfortable. Oh!" Spike then pointed to the center of the room. "And Flurry is hiding under the rug right there."
Twilight looked over to where Spike directed and saw a giant lump protruding from the carpet, giggling noises coming from it.
Spike then leaned in. "But I'm not going to find her just yet." He winked.
Twilight giggled. "That's very nice, Spike, but Cadance and I really need to talk to all of you right now. Could you get everyone here, please?"
"Sure! No problem." Spike turned around and took a deep breath. "Butter biscuit brunch!" he yelled. With that, Flurry crawled out of the carpet, Sweetie Belle emerged from the chimney, Apple Bloom trotted out of the kitchen, and Scootaloo hopped out of the shoe closet. "Darn. It was the shoe closet," he said as the four ponies came along to his location. "Hey guys, sorry to stop the game, but Twilight says she needs to tell us something." Spike motioned for Twilight to talk.
"Thank you, Spike." Twilight nodded at her assistant before addressing all of the youngsters. "I'm sorry to interrupt your game, everypony, but Cadance and I just received a request to visit the hospital."
"Really?" Scootaloo asked. "What for?"
"Oh, no." Apple Bloom looked concerned. "Did somepony get hurt?"
Sweetie Belle gasped. "Did my dad get into the eggnog again?!"
"No, no," Cadance calmly assured. "Well, not exactly; unfortunately, it appears a lot of foals have gotten sick this Hearth's Warming Eve, and they're going to be spending their holidays in the hospital this year."
"Really?" Sweetie Belle's ears drooped. "Aw. That's so sad."
"It is." Twilight nodded. "But Nurse Redheart just came by not too long ago and asked us to go and visit the foals tonight. She thinks that we can make the foals' Hearth's Warming just a little bit better if we gave them a visit."
"That sounds nice," Spike said. "But what about the others? And us?"
Cadance answered, "Everyone else is coming with us. The foals look up to them as well, but as for you..." Cadance gave Twilight an uncertain look. "We... think it might be best if you all stayed here until we got back."
"What? Why?" Spike replied. "We could help you."
"We know that." Twilight stepped up. "But the thing is, some of the foals could be pretty contagious, and some of us could be more vulnerable to diseases than others." Twilight discreetly nodded her head over to Flurry Heart, who had trotted over to her mother.
"Oh." Spike nodded his head. "Okay. I understand."
"We don't want any of you getting sick," Cadance added.
"No problem." Scootaloo brushed off. "We get it. We'll just stick here and hang around until you all get back. No big deal."
"Well, that's another thing," Twilight said. "We don't really know how long we'll be gone; we're going to be picking up treats and gifts for the foals on top of spending some time with them. We could be gone for a while."
"So what? That's not a problem." Scootaloo waved her off. "We're not babies, Twilight. Well, most of us aren't, anyway. We'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Cadance asked. "We could cancel our visit to the hospital if you don't feel safe staying here on your own, or maybe one of us could stay behind with you."
"Absolutely not." Apple Bloom shook her head. "Those foals are waitin' on ya. Don't ruin their Hearth's Warmin' over us, especially if all y'all is worried about is us bein' home alone."
"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "And don't worry about Princess Flurry Heart. We'll take extra special care of her! I promise!"
"Hmm." Twilight looked back at her assistant. "What do you think, Spike? Are you sure you can take care of Flurry?"
Spike smirked and gave Twilight a claw up. "You can count on me."
Twilight and Cadance looked at each other for a moment, nodded, and turned back around to the young group. "Okay."
"Bye, guys!" Spike waved as all of his adult friends walked out into the snowing Ponyville.
"Bye, everypony!" Twilight waved back. "Send me a message if you need anything. We'll be back as soon as we can."
"Will do!" Spike replied. "Just how, I don't know, but I'll think of something."
"Bye, everypony!" The Crusaders waved.
"Bye-bye!" Flurry Heart waved from Spike's arms.
After sending their family and friends off, the young group went back inside the castle and resumed their games.
A few hours passed by and it was beginning to get dark inside. As far as the day had gone, nothing of significance had happened; everything was going along as any other Hearth's Warming Eve would: Apple Bloom was extremely competitive, Sweetie Belle was scheming and conniving, and Scootaloo could not win a board game to save her life.
The kids were sitting down around the table, playing a card game.
"Got any threes, Apple Bloom?" Spike asked.
"Go fish," she said.
"Darn." He drew a card. "Your turn, Flurry."
"Okay." Flurry smiled. "Um, Scoolahoop? Any fouws?"
"Yup." Scootaloo passed Flurry a card. "Here you go, kid."
Suddenly, there was a knock coming from the front door.
Sweetie Belle was the first to respond. "Hey, it sounds like everyone might be back."
"Yeah." Spike stood up from his chair. "That or we have some more Hearth's Warming carolers on our doorstep." He began to walk away. "Wait here. I'll be right back."
Spike walked down the hall towards the front door and soon arrived. With one claw, Spike slightly cracked the door open, just enough to allow only half his face to be seen. "Sorry, but we're all out of figgy pudding. Pinkie Pie ate all of it before she left. No point in singing here for the rest of the night, so you should probably move on to the next house."
"Oh, I'm not here for any delicacy," a single pony replied. "I'm here to take a young princess with me."
"Huh?" Spike opened the door a little more to see a green stallion, one he faintly recognized. "Hey, aren't you Green Lump?"
The pony cackled. "Indeed, I am Green Lump, but, if you wouldn't mind, I prefer being called 'the Grump'."
"Um... okay? Well then, how can I help you, Mr. Grump?"
The Grump then gave Spike an uncomfortable smile. "The small princess that is in there with thee, I wish to take her away with me. Bring to me the small infant, and I'll be out of your way in an instant."
"You mean Flurry?" Spike just raised an eyebrow. "Riiiight... mind me asking why you want to do that?"
"It's because this supposed holiday of joy, I dread. I'd rather ruin it instead. By taking the child away from this hall, I'd be ruining Hearth's Warming for not just her family, but for all, for her missing presence will make everypony in Equestria shed more than just one tear, giving me a most big smile, ear to ear."
"Uh-huh..." Spike tapped his foot. "And let's just say you do take her. What exactly are you planning to do with her?"
"Of her safety, you need not be concerned. She will not be hit, nor tortured, nor burned. After some time, I will even return her to thee. For that, all I'm asking for is a... small fee." The Grump chuckled. "A few bits and jewels for my trouble, and I will return her on the double. Now please, bring the young princess here, okay? Just let me have her, and I'll be on my way."
"Riiiight..." Spike crossed his arms. "Okay, while I give you points for the rhyming and appreciate you being up front with your little plan, I'm gonna have to say 'no' on this one."
The Grump's smile turned into a frown, which Spike thought looked less frightening on him. "I heavily advise that you reconsider, lest you want me to grow very bitter."
"Sorry, pal, but I'm kind of in charge of watching her until her parents come back, which should actually be any minute now, by the way, so I can't really let her out of the castle. She might catch a cold or something out there. Sorry, but that's just the way it's gotta be, buddy." Spike then placed one claw on the door. "So, why don't you go on and see if you can find some figgy pudding or something? There's got to be some left in town, somewhere."
The earth pony glared at the small dragon. "I tried to be merciful because you are but a child. I declared my plan to you upfront so you wouldn't have to suffer anything even remotely mild, but since you refuse to do as I say, I'll have to get the princess another way." The Grump's eyes turned red as he took a stance as if he were about to pounce. "You really think by just denying me and threatening me with her parents' return that all for you will turn out nice and well?! I assure you, young dragon, this night will be HE—"
Spike slammed the door in the Grump's face just as he pounced. "Yeah." Spike dusted off his claws. "I've heard around town you weren't too bright." Spike then leaned the side of his head against the door to try to hear the outside.
"Oh, horse apples, ow! This isn't over, you hear me?! I'll be back!" he heard.
"Sounds about right." Spike then turned around and paused. Hmm. This might be a problem. He hurriedly made his way back to the playroom. "I'm back."
"DAH!" The Crusaders shuffled to put Spike's cards back to their original positions.
"Really?" Spike placed his claws on his hips. "Trying to cheat me in front of Flurry? What kind of role models are you?" He shook his head. "Flurry, why don't you go play with those blocks right over there for a bit? I've got to have a talk with the so-called big kids over their competitive integrity."
"Okay." Flurry grabbed her whammy and flew off to the other side of the room.
Spike then walked up to the game table, staring down the Crusaders.
"We're sorry, Spike." Sweetie Belle was the first to apologize. "We should've known better and try to set a better example for Princess Flur—"
"Forget that!" Spike quickly whispered. "We've got bigger problems!"
"What?" Scootaloo asked. "What do you mean?"
"Shh!" Spike placed a claw on his lips. "Not so loud. We don't want to worry Flurry."
"Um... okay?" Apple Bloom leaned in. "Spike, what's goin' on? Why are you actin' so worried?"
"I'll tell you, but first..." Spike looked over and made sure Flurry was out of earshot. "Okay. Now, I need you three to keep calm and quiet on this one, all right?" He took a deep breath. "There was a guy at the door, a creepy guy. He said he was going to kidnap Flurry!"
The Crusaders gasped.
"Oh, no!" Sweetie Belle shrieked before quickly placing her hooves over her mouth. "That's horrible! Who could do such an awful thing?"
Spike leaned closer to the Crusaders. "It was Green Lump."
"Huh?" the fillies replied with weird looks.
Scootaloo pointed her hoof in an outward direction. "You mean the guy who lives in that mountain just outside of town?"
"The pony who says he hates every holiday on the calendar?" Apple Bloom added. "The same pony who tried to ruin Hearts and Hooves day by mailin' everyone in Ponyville obviously fake secret admirer cards? The same pony who dressed up as Princess Luna and tried to declare Nightmare Night canceled? The same pony that tried to sabotage the Runnin' of the Leaves by tryin' to glue all the leaves to their branches only to get himself stuck in the first tree he climbed up? That Green Lump?"
Spike rolled his eyes. "Yeah, him, though, for the record, he's calling himself 'the Grump', now, for some reason, and I know he's tried to do all of those ridiculous things, but—"
Sweetie Belle interrupted. "Not to mention, among other things, trying to unleash a swarm of moths into Rarity's boutique, sabotage Octavia Melody's recital by trying to drop her through a trapdoor, and scratch all of DJ Pon-3 records just before one of her gigs, all of which ended in failure and him being chased and/or mauled out of town?"
"Yeah, yeah. I know." Spike shook his head. "He isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. I get that, but, guys, he still sounded serious, and I don't want to risk Flurry's safety, so can we please, for the first time in that pony's history, take him seriously?"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders paused after hearing Spike's pleas. After giving each other a few looks, Apple Bloom was the first to respond.
"Well," Apple Bloom said while tapping her chin. "Ah suppose we should take his threats of kidnappin' the princess more seriously than him tryin' to replace the apples at Sweet Apple Acres with tomatoes. The best thing to probably do is to send Twilight and Princess Cadance a message about Green Lu—er, the Grump."
"Yeah, about that..." Spike covered his face with his claw. "I don't really have a way to do that right now. Twilight and I used up all the quills and scrolls today sending holiday cards to everypony we know in Equestria and beyond, and I haven't gotten around to restocking them yet."
"Spike!" Apple Bloom lightly scolded. "How could ya not restock on quills and scrolls? You're Twilight's assistant. You should know quills and scrolls kinda go in Twilight's territory!"
"Hey, Twilight gave me the rest of the day off, and I didn't want to spend half of my holiday waiting in line at Quills and Sofas! And how was I supposed to know some creep was going to try to take Flurry away? I didn't even know Twilight was going to be leaving, tonight! Besides, do you have any idea what it feels to magically breathe away as many scrolls and gift certificates as I did this morning? Trust me." Spike nauseously rubbed his stomach. "You don't want to know. Going out and seeing another scroll was the last thing I wanted to do today."
"Hmph!" Apple Bloom shook her head. "Darn it. Well, Ah guess it can't be helped, so what do we do, then?"
"What if a couple of us ran out and tried to get help?" Scootaloo suggested. "I'm pretty sure I can outrun that creep."
"No, I don't think so." Spike waved her off. "There's a lot of snow and ice outside, and it doesn't look like the weather is going to let up anytime soon. I'm not really sure how safe it would be if any of us went out there, especially running at full speed. Plus, imagine if you go out and he catches you. That could make things even worse."
"Hmm." Scootaloo looked down for a moment. "Well, I guess you have a point there, but we've got to do something."
"And we will." Spike looked over to see the young alicorn playing blocks. "There's no way I'm letting that creep anywhere near Flurry."
"Maybe, first, we should tell Princess Flurry Heart what's going on," Sweetie Belle said. "That way she knows to be careful."
"No. Absolutely not," Spike retorted. "If we tell Flurry what's going on, she could freak out, and when she freaks out, it's nothing but chaos. If we're going to make it through this, we're all gonna have to stay calm and keep our heads level." Spike looked over at saw Flurry innocently playing with her toys. "Besides, this is Hearth's Warming, and I don't want to take that away from her."
Sweetie Belle nodded. "I guess you're right. So then, what do we do?"
"Well, since we can't call Twilight or run for help, we'll do the one thing we can." Spike stared back at Sweetie Belle. "We'll prepare."