It was the time of Hearth's Warming Eve in the town of Ponyville. The winter's cold wind bit down on the establishments made of stone, wood, and hay that housed the residents of the town. The thatch of the houses moved and deformed in response to the wind and frosted at the windows due to the temperature. The ponies that populated those houses moved about as they hurried through the snow that constantly gathered at their hooves. Likely focused on gathering various items for their respective holiday traditions, they sped through the plowed paths of the market. The bells that mounted the walls of the various stores chimed without end as the ponies trotted with haste.
The winter's bite did not have the same affect on Twilight Sparkle's crystal castle, however, as the structure stood its ground with ease against the wind and snow. Though the windows of the castle did frost, the solidity of the crystal material defended its occupants with its strength and thickness.
Within the large monument of a home, the Princess of Friendship sat peacefully in her library room. Twilight had planted her haunches in one of her best comfy reading chairs as she pursued her favourite activity. Her breathes were slow and controlled as she turned the page of her current amusement. Her horn shimmered faintly with magic while the page turned, the paper shimmering with the same transparent glow.
That same glow quickly shifted from the novel to the bookmark that lay on the small coffee table beside the alicorn. She brought the bookmark down onto the novel that she held in her hooves, the mark now resting on her current page.
Wrapping up her reading session, she stretched her muscles and limbs in preparation for her expected company. Twilight shuffled off of her comfy chair and set her hooves on the carpeted floor. She then made her way out of the library and towards the front door, hooves clopping from carpet to the marble, crystal-like floor.
The wide foyer of the castle was spacious as always. However, this time it was festooned with holiday decorations from corner to corner. The long, red carpet that lie on the crystalline floor was now adorned with fluffy white powder here and there for the illusion of snow. Wreaths of green and red along with bells of gold hung from the picture frames on the walls. Ribbons and fabric of red hung from the rails up top that belonged to the higher floors of the home.
Finally, Hearth's Warming wouldn't be complete without the famous tree. The model of wood and pine stood tall and assertive in the foyer, easily standing nearly a dozen ponies tall. It was covered in many decorations of red, green, gold, silver, and yellow. Bright lights also wrapped around the tree, these ones colours of yellow, red, and blue. At the bottom of the tree rested over a dozen presents, each individually wrapped in a unique wrapping paper of its own. Finally, at the very top of the massive tree was the magical fire of Hearth's Warming itself. The fire burned bright, lighting up the room with its radiance of pinkish-magenta.
The magical fire could be seen in the reflection of Twilight's eyes as she gazed into its welcoming flame. The alicorn was suddenly knocked out of her haze when she heard a loud knocking at the door behind her. The sound echoed off the walls of the long foyer, the volume overcoming the sound of the faint sound of the flame at the top of the tree.
Pinkie Pie. Twilight concluded in her mind, nearly saying it out loud due to her excitement.
Before Twilight even began trotting over the the door, she craned her neck up to call loudly for her best assistant and friend. "Spike! They're here!" Twilight called with projection in her voice.
Once Twilight had approached the door that had yet to cease its loud knocking, she pulled on the nob and opened the creaky door. However, the door didn't even have a chance to creak as Pinkie Pie burst through the entrance without warning.
"Surprise!" Pinkie shouted out into the interior of the castle, sliding down the red carpet on her knees all the while. Confetti had dispersed across the floor when Pinkie had entered, having it mix with the decorations already laid out in the room. Twilight had reared back in defense against the crazed onslaught that is Pinkie Pie, having not expected the sudden outburst.
"Calm down there, Pinkie Pie. 'Bet you wanna save your energy for the party." Applejack commented as everypony else began to enter the castle.
"I'm sure the party has already begun for Pinkie." Replied Rainbow Dash, shuffling her wings around to rid of the snow.
Before Twilight could welcome everypony, she saw Spike rushing down the large staircase with a present in-claw. "Hey, everypony!" Spike called, stealing the words right out of Twilight's mouth.
The five friends began brushing themselves off from the snow on the large brown mat laid out for such purpose. Rainbow Dash set herself on the ground as she stomped her clothed hooves down onto the fuzzy surface of the mat. She then shook her head to and fro, hoping to get the snow off the blue toque she sported. Applejack did the same, only she removed her stetson to wipe the snow off of it with her naked hooves. The earth pony then used the stetson to brush off the snow on the sleeves of the turtleneck sweater she wore. On the contrary, Rarity removed her head wear altogether, setting it on one of the coat hangers to the right of the entrance. Fluttershy did the same, gently placing her earmuffs on the hook beside Rarity's. Finally, Pinkie Pie simply shook herself primitively, flinging wet bits of snow around on the floor, the walls and her friends.
"Ah!" Rarity exclaimed in protest to Pinkie's actions. "Pinkie, darling? Would you please not shake yourself around like a dog?"
"Oops! Sorry, Rares!" Pinkie replied, her voice enthusiastic, yet apologetic to Rarity's request.
"Would somepony please close the door?" Rarity kindly asked no pony in particular, the open entrance letting in the cold wind and allowing the warm atmosphere of the home to escape.
"I've got it." Fluttershy answered timidly as she used her left foreleg to close the door, shutting out the cold wind.
Once Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy had removed their respective scarves, hoof and head wear, Twilight then deemed it necessary to offer a proper welcoming.
"Welcome, everypony!" Twilight began. "I'm so glad you all could make it this Hearth's Warming Eve!"
"Of course, Twi! We wouldn't miss it for all of Equestria!" Applejack heartily responded, tipping her hat in appreciation.
"Yeah! I mean, unless some super evil villain escaped Tartarus and began inconveniently ruining Hearth's Warming Eve by laying waste to all of Equestria, I'm super duper sure we wouldn't miss this!" Pinkie Pie added, glancing towards a particularly interesting part of the wall as she ended her sentence.
Twilight rolled her eyes in a friendly fashion as Pinkie performed her usual wacky behaviour. Seeing as Spike had placed his last little present under the tall tree, Twilight spoke, "I believe Spike and I have prepared everything for tonight!" Announced Twilight, taking extra precaution as she glanced around the foyer. Seeing as everything was formally set up as she intended, from decor to tables laid out with snacks and drinks, Twilight smiled in succession with her friends' combined ooh's and aah's.
Pinkie Pie was especially interested in the layout as she gazed at the various pastries, munchies, punches, and assorted cheeses and crackers that Twilight and Spike had generously prepared. "Mmmh!" Pinkie sounded, already digging into the snack-feast, “Wow, Twilight! It looks like you and Spike spent all today and yesterday on this!"
This comment caught Spike's attention as fast as Rainbow Dash caught the glass that fell off the table due to Pinkie's flailing tail.
"You should've seen Twilight getting all worked up over preparing the food!" Spike humoured, earning a glare from the blushing alicorn.
"It does look positively delightful, Twilight!" Rarity complimented, letting Twilight regain her dignity.
"Not as delightful as you." Spike muttered towards Rarity under his breath.
"What was that, Spikey Wikey?" Rarity questioned.
Now it was Spike's turn to blush. "Uh-nothing!" The little drake stuttered.
"Thanks a bunch for invitin' us over for the holidays Twilight!" Applejack spoke, clearly aware of Spike's rather uncomfortable situation. "It really means a lot to spend Hearth's Warming with you gals without any horrible threat destroyin' Equestria."
"It really is nice to spend some time with you all again, even if it is away from the animals for a few days." Fluttershy gently added.
"There's no way I would miss out on an awesome Hearth's Warming Eve party with you guys that would potentially be more awesome than last year's!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, now hovering a few feet in the air with the help of her wings.
Listening attentively to her friends, Twilight turned her neck back and forth, glancing around at everything and everypony that populated the room. Observing all the carefully placed decorations to the proportioned food and drinks, the Princess couldn't help but feel warm inside. Finally, completing the setting was her six best friends, following Twilight's gaze while they smiled in contentment.
"Feel free to dig in, everypony!" Twilight once again began. "If you want, I can go get some games or activities we can play while you're occupied with the food?"
The group of friends responded to her suggestion by collectively nodding in agreement. However, just as Twilight began to trot down the hallway perpendicular to the foyer, Pinkie quite literally beamed as she was reminded of something.
"Wait!" Pinkie exclaimed, her mouth currently stuffed with a chocolate chip cookie. After quickly swallowing, Pinkie made an announcement of her own. "There's no need to get games or activities Twilight, because your's truly has already brought one!"
The friends' attention, including Twilight's, was shifted to Pinkie after she made her claim. However, everypony looked a little confused as Pinkie didn't seem to have any such thing on her at the moment. Suddenly, Pinkie had shoved her left hoof into her mane and began rummaging around inside the cotton candy-like forestation. As the pink pony was busying herself with this current task, several questionable objects fell out of her mystery-mane. First, a container of baking powder fell and rolled across the red carpet, spilling some of its contents and mixing with the fake powder and confetti-festooned floor. Next, a baby blue mane brush with little strands of Pinkie's hair entangled within it dropped from her mane. After that, Pinkie had unexpectedly began struggling, as if something she was trying to pull out of her mane was very heavy. Suddenly, Pinkie had yanked something multicoloured out of her pocket dimension. After some heaving, she finally managed to complete her task when she used both hooves to heave the massive item out.
Finally, Pinkie Pie threw the item out of her mane with a breath of relief. However, that item revealed itself to be none other than Rainbow Dash herself. Clearly blown out of their minds, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike all had their jaws dropped nearly to the messy floor. The five had collectively began glancing around in all directions possible to try and infer how Rainbow Dash ended up in her mane and how they hadn't noticed.
"Wh-what?! Uh... Pinkie!" Twilight Sparkle stuttered with her tongue tied. "How did you do that?!"
The other friends weren't fairing any better as Rarity was virtually speechless. Fluttershy's eyes were as wide as dinner plates and Spike's were busy darting around the room in search for an answer. On the contrary, Applejack had already gotten over the strange happening while she straightened her stetson.
"To be honest, I can't even say I'm surprised." Applejack said with a defeated sigh, breaking the silence.
Rainbow Dash was still recovering from the experience, rubbing her head with her hoof as she groaned. "Ow..." Rainbow croaked. "Wha-what happened?"
As per usual, Pinkie Pie didn't seem very phased by the supernatural slight-of-hoof that just happened. "Oh! Hey Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie shouted. "How did you get in there?"
Taking Applejack's comment to heart, the group concluded that they shouldn't question Pinkie's magical abilities any longer. However, still quite uncomfortable with what just happened, Twilight helped Rainbow Dash back onto her hooves.
With Rainbow Dash feeling mostly recovered, Pinkie resumed her search for her lost item. Inserting her hoof back into her mane, she continued shifting her appendage left and right. Unbeknownst to Pinkie, Twilight performed a shield spell around her and her friends, uncertain if something potentially dangerous would be brought out of Pinkie's mane.
After a few more seconds of searching, Pinkie finally felt what she was looking for. Without any struggle, she brought out a rather large, rectangular shaped pink box, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. She placed the pink box next to the red carpet, beside the tree, and signaled her friends to follow. After everypony had gathered, Applejack observed the bright pink box and spoke.
"Cards Against Equestria?" Applejack asked, her eyebrow raising up a few inches. "Uhh... What is it?"
"Duhh! It's a card game!" Pinkie answered in her bubbly voice.
The rectangular box that was laid out on the marble floor was a bright pink and had blocky white text on the face of it that read Cards Against Equestria. A card game for horrible creatures. Pinkie grabbed both ends of the box with both her hooves to lift up the lid that covered what was hidden inside. Tossing the lid aside, Pinkie's gaze was followed by her friends' as they all glanced to observe what was inside. Even Spike got in on the action, slipping in between Twilight and Applejack's legs to see.
The contents of the box were a bunch of assorted cards, placed vertically and stuffed to the brim. The cards were clearly organized into two sections. Once section was populated with little white cards. On the contrary, the other section was filled with black cards of the same size, this section being much smaller than the section of white cards. Both sections were separated by a centimeter-thick divider.
While Pinkie's friends were intrigued by the contents of the box, Pinkie began explaining the instructions to them.
"This is Cards Against Equestria! A card game for horrible creatures!" Began Pinkie. "It's a hilarious game that only the bestest of friends play, so I thought it would be perfect for our Hearth's Warming party!"
Listening to what Pinkie just said, as well as looking at the vague details that the box provides, the group of friends now seemed to have mixed opinions.
"Oh." Said Rarity. "Well that doesn't seem too appealing."
"Oh my..." Joined Fluttershy. "That sounds like a bit much."
Rainbow Dash, however, seemed pretty enthralled by the details of the game. "It does seem pretty cool, though!" Countered Rainbow.
"Let's give it a shot!" Added Applejack.
Finally, Twilight broke in the conversation.
"I don't know girls. It seems kind of..." Twilight paused, trying to think of the right word without hurting anyone's feeling. "Mature."
"Oh, come on, Twilight!" Pinkie responded. "It'll be fun!"
"Yes, but..." Twilight paused yet again, this time her gaze shifted down to the dragon at her legs. "What about Spike?"
Everypony then focused on the dragon Twilight had just mentioned and began to think over it. In return, Spike turned his attention to everypony around him, seeing all of them thinking.
"C'mon, Twilight. I can play!" Spike protested.
Twilight saw his pleading eyes, the sharp pupils in them growing ever larger. "I-I'm not sure Spike."
"I'm old enough!" Spike replied, quickly turning his attention to the age label on the pink box, then back to the alicorn. "Remember the time I beat you in Ponopoly three times in a row?"
"That isn't the same, Spike. This game seems pretty adult."
Spike then shuffled his wings as a sign of his growth. "I'm telling you, Twilight! I can handle it!"
Looking around at all of her friends, Twilight was unsure if she should let him in on the mature game or not. After a few seconds, Rarity suddenly spoke up before Twilight could make her final decision.
"I wouldn't want to leave poor Spikey Wikey out of the fun." Rarity commented. "Because I'm playing, too!"
Spike's face lit up as much as the tree when Rarity made that comment.
"Yeah!" Cheered Rainbow. "There's no way I'm gonna leave any of my friends out of this!"
"I say let 'em play, Twi! What harm could possibly happen between friends?" Applejack added.
"Yay." Fluttershy said.
Finally, with her friends' encouragement, Twilight came up with her choice. "Okay, Spike. You can play,” Twilight sighed.
"Yes! Thanks, Twilight!" Spike celebrated.
With the group of seven friends cheering along with each other, Pinkie Pie grabbed a hoof full of cards from the box in which they originated and shouted in excitement.
"Alright, everypony! Let's get this started!"