The Town of Ponyville looked a bit different from usual, the place now covered in snow and many decorations. Multiple fillies and colts were having fun in the snow, doing snowball fights and building snow ponies as the adults were working hard to get ready for one of the best holidays of the year: Heartswarming.

A holiday that was basically Equestria's birthday, it was a day that commemorated the time when the three pony races learned to put aside their differences and come together to push back the evil Windigos before building a near-perfect kingdom. So now every year, the ponies celebrated by giving gifts to one another, singing carols and enjoying the many other great events.

It was now three days before the big event, but even now everypony in town was in a festive mood. At Sugarcube Corner, Wild Smile and his puppets were walking out of the bakery with a big smile on his face. He had a saddlebag on his back with everything he would need for the next few days away from home, for he wouldn't be back until after the heartswarming holiday. He had just dropped by to wish the baker family a happy heartswarming, also dropping off their presents while asking if Pinkie was ready. Turns out, the party pony had left earlier to drop off all her presents and had asked the bakers to tell him she would meet him at the station.

Now, he was walking to the town square, the unicorn spotting a bunch of ponies standing just outside town hall. They were singing a familiar holiday song.

The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns, we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end

Wild smirked at the sight, only to turn to see Lightning and Rarity trotting through the market, "Hey you two," he called out with his puppets mimicking him.

"Hello Wild," Rarity replied before gesturing to his saddlebags, "All ready for a holiday with the in-laws?"

"I guess," Wild muttered out while biting his lip. The reason his saddlebags were packed was because he was going to go spend the holiday at Pinkie's family farm, where he would finally get to meet the rest of her family beside Maud. To say he was a little worried about how they would react to him would be an understatement, especially if the rest of them were anything like Pinkie's older sister.

"Wild?" The puppeteer was pulled out of his thoughts by Lightning's words, "You okay?"

"I'm good." The puppets mimicked him as he continued, "Just...excited to meet the rest of Pinkie's family. So..." his eyes darted between the two, "What are you two doing out together?"

Lightning instantly replied, "She's...helping me with my heartswarming shopping. As you know, I don't normally do this much...just like you've been doing."

"Yeah, I understand that." Wild admitted with crossed hooves, "What was the usual stuff from you? A book for Script, some sculpting gear for Gorgenia and a puppet for me?"

Lightning did a small nod, "Yup. Now we got what feels like...half of Ponyville."

Rarity swatted him with her tail, "Now now darling, its not that many. You should be glad we have so many friends to celebrate with."

"Well, don't force yourself to get something too extravagant for me," Wild added while waving his hoof, "I won't even be able to get it until after the holiday's over. That being said...is Script and Gorgenia gonna come to celebrate?"

"Script is," Lightning responded, only to sigh, "Ugh...I'm not looking forward to Heartswarming dinner. With him and gramps at the same table-"

"I'm sure they'll be able to put their bad blood aside for one day," Rarity told him while patting his back with her hoof. "And if not, the rest of us will be there to help keep them occupied."

Twilight had offered to have the heartswarming dinner at the castle, following a large Heartswarming Eve party that she would be holding the night before. Script had been invited, along with Trixie and both Flash and Twilight's parents. Not everypony was attending though, as Rainbow, Fluttershy and Iron were going to Cloudsdale to spend the holiday with their families. Soarin was also going to be there, along with Fluttershy's little brother Zephyr Breeze.

The Apples were also not going to be there. They were going to be spending the holiday with Wild and Pinkie at her family's farm due to a recent discovery of the Pie and Apple families being related. Pinkie had invited them to arrive on Heartswarming Eve, with her and Wild going two days beforehoof so he would get the chance to really bond with them before the Apples arrived.

As for now, a nearby clock's chime caught Wild's attention, "Welp, its almost time for the train. I'd better get going. Happy Heartswarming."

"Happy Heartswarming!" Rarity and Lighting replied as he began to run down the street until the station came into view.

And as he stepped onto the platform, his eyes darted around for any sign of his girlfriend, only to see he was the only pony there. "Pinkie? You here?" He checked every single corner of the station, even looking in the trash cans and under small rocks, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Not the best time to be playing hide and seek..." he muttered as the train's whistle could be heard in the distance. And as it got closer to the platform, he turned to the town and yelled as loud as he could, "PINKIE!"

"You called?" Wild yelped as he spun around, coming face to face with his girlfriend. She giggled back at his surprised expression, "Gotcha!"

Wild chuckled as he kissed her on the nose, "Yeah, you did. And don't think I won't try and get you back for it," the train's whistle went out again as it pulled up next to the platform as Wild continued, "I was worried I was gonna have to meet your family without you."

"I wouldn't do that to you," Pinkie replied as they climbed onto the locomotive. "I just had to drop off everypony's presents. Did you know Flash, Twilight and Spike open their presents the night before Heartswarming?"

"I guess that makes sense. Everypony celebrates the holiday a little differently."

"I guess so." Pinkie added with a nod. "Say, does your family do anything different than others wouldn't on Heartswarming?"

Wild slumped into his seat, rubbing his chin before replying, "No, we were a pretty standard holiday family. Presents, carols, sacrificial offerings...you know, the usual stuff."

Pinkie nodded before looking out the window, only for her eyes to go wide. "Wait a minute..." she turned back to him in near fright, "What was that last one?!"

Wild raised an eyebrow in response, his face blank...only to burst out laughing. "Gotcha!" Pinkie's brain quickly caught up before laughing herself, now knowing they were even. And once they had both calmed down, Wild then asked, "What about your family? Any crazy traditions I should be aware of?"

Pinkie turned and bopped him on the nose, "Maybe. I'll leave them as a surprise." Wild rolled his eyes before sitting back again, suddenly feeling very tired since he hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Before he could do anything, his eyes closed themselves asleep.

Several hours later, the train came to a stop before Pinkie and Wild stepped out onto the platform. The two trotted down a small lane until they found themselves staring at a place Wild had only seen in pictures. It was a large wooden house with a basic fence around the edge along with a silo and windmill near it. The only difference from the photos was all the snow covering the place.

Pinkie shined a huge smile before bouncing around, Wild following as they trotted up to the fence. Once there, he spotted five other ponies standing in front of the house. There was Maud, but beside her was a tall brown earth pony stallion with a gray mane, tail and beard that was wearing a black hat and tie. Next to him was a gray mare with a dark green mane and tail wearing a black...something around her neck and glasses over her eyes. On his other side were two other mares, one being a grayish blue with a gray mane and tail while the other was gray with a mane and tail that was both a darker and lighter gray.

The five ponies just stared at him before the stallion walked up with a slowly morphing angry look on his face. "You are not worthy of my daughter. Begone!"

"What?" Wild muttered out as he saw the rest of the family start to trot up as well.

"What he said," the older mare added. "Your relationship with my daughter is over. You will never see her again."

She turned to him, her face showing no shock or sadness. "I'm sorry Wild, but if my family don't like you, I can't be with you." She placed a hoof on his chest, "Goodbye." With that, she pushed him away and the next thing he knew, he was floating into the sky.

"PINKIE!" He cried as he flew further away, unable to stop himself as he tried to spark his horn. But as he did this, the image of Pinkie and her family faded into a pitch black darkness with the rest of the world following this. "What the-what's happening?!" The next thing he knew, gravity started to work, making him start to fall into the darkness. "AAAAAHHHHH!"

"YAH!" Wild's eyes shot open as he fell off his seat, hitting the train floor with a loud crash, catching everypony in the carriage's attention.

He moaned as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head as reality settled in. It was here that he saw his lover looking at him with a worried frown, making him mutter out, "I'm uh...I'm fine. Just...shouldn't have had those extra cheesy snacks earlier. They always make me have bad dreams."

"That's us!" Wild yelped as he quickly grabbed their bags and moved to door, Pinkie raising an eyebrow at the sight. Doing a small shrug, she hopped off the seat and joined him out of the train. But as they steeped onto the platform, Wild noticed it was just like his dream...except Pinkie was this time vibrating right by him with a huge grin.

"I'm so happy! I need to make up a new word for how happy I am. What about...rooftastic?!"

Wild raised an eyebrow, only for his brain to click, "Let me guess, that's where you jump onto a roof and yell at everypony-"

"How rooftastic this is!" Pinkie cheered as she somehow warped to the station's roof. She then leapt down and landed in a snow pile, her head popping out as she noticed a presence next to her. "Maud!" She exclaimed before leaping out of the snow and pulling her into a hug.

Maud, like always, showed zero emotion at the sight of her sister before hugging her back, "I'm so excited to see you, Pinkie Pie." She then turned to the unicorn. "You too, Wild."

Maud turned away to trot off the platform as she replied, "If you thought quartz was high on the Mohs hardness scale, wait 'til I tell you about corundum."

Pinkie and Wild both blinked, Wild's brain trying to get anything as Pinkie just yelled, "I missed you so much!" She bounced after her sister, Wild and his puppets following soon after. They all trotted down to a hill, only to soon see the same structure that Wild had seen in his dream. It was almost exactly the same, though Wild prayed that it would be the only similarity to that nightmare.

The sisters arrived at the front door, Pinkie spinning back around as Maud reached for the door. "Wild Smile...meet my family!"

Maud opened the door and the four ponies he had only seen in pictures stepped outside. Wild gulped at the sight, unable to respond as the stallion began to first walk up to him, "Surely thy name is not but Wild Smile." Wild had to resist tilting his head in confusion, unable to comprehend what had just heard as the stallion continued, "I am called Igneous Rock Pie, son of Feldspar Granite Pie."

"Err...greetings." Wild responded, now having a feeling that he needed to talk very posh right now, his foalhood in Canterlot helping with that. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hoof, Igneous taking it.

"We have been most eager to meet thee, young Wild. The chance to become acquainted with thy stallion to who our daughter is greatly besotted."

Cloudy nodded in agreement, "It is our greatest hope that your courting is a long and pleasant one."

"Me...too." Wild slowly replied, doing a long nod. He had no idea what 'besotted' or 'courting' meant, but hoped they were good things. He then turned to the two remaining mares, the light gray one appearing to hide behind the bluish-gray one. "Hey there, I'm Wild."

"Whatever," the blue-gray one grumbled while rolling her eyes, "Guess you can call me Limestone." She moved aside the reveal the hiding mare, "This one's Marble." The mare let out an 'eep' before trying to hide again, causing Limestone to roll her eyes again before keep moving out of the way.

"Come on Marble!" Pinkie exclaimed before hopping behind Marble and pushing her up to Wild, "Don't you want to meet my boyfriend? He came all the way here to meet you!" Marble didn't resist, though she kept trying to hide her face behind her mane. Seeing this, Pinkie put a hoof on Marble's shoulder, "Anyways, as you can see, Marble's actually my twin."

"Seriously?" Wild's eyes shifted between the two, only to let out a hum. "That...actually makes a lot of sense." His words came out reflexively, though his brain told him that if Pinkie sucked up all the social genes for herself, it would explain why she was so happy all the time while Marble wasn't. "Um...that being said," He then turned to look at the house, "You all have a really lovely home. I can't wait to see the rest of it."

"Lovely home, lovely home." The Pies, minus Pinkie and Maud, all stared at his puppets.

But before he could explain, Limestone trotted up and tapped his chest, "Just be sure not to mess anything up. I've put a lot of work into keeping this farm running and I don't need some city colt messing things up. So don't go touching anything that you shouldn't...especially Holder's Boulder!"

Pinkie sighed before pointing at a large boulder in the distance. "That's Holder's Boulder. It's super important to the family, so Captain Grumpy Pants over here can get a little overprotective of it."

"Come," Igneous spoke up, "You and Pinkamina must be both tired and hungry after your long trip. You may both settle in your rooms until dinner is ready, then be off to bed."

"Bed?" Wild raised an eyebrow, turning to look at the horizon. It was here he saw that the sunset wouldn't be for another three hours. "But-"

"Hang on there Wild." Pinkie interrupted as she slung a hoof around his shoulders, "You see, we're getting up super early tomorrow so we can get the chores done before getting the farm decorated for Heartswarming."

"Ah," Wild nodded as he followed the Pies into the house. It was here that he, Pinkie and Cloudy headed upstairs, Pinkie rushing over and throwing a door open.

"Hello, old room! It's so great to see you!" She leapt inside while Wild glanced in, taking notice of how different this room was to the one she had in Sugarcube Corner. The walls were painted in a very bland color, alongside everything else in the room.

Wild was about to step inside, but Pinkie's mother walked past him, gesturing him to follow, "Come along."

Wild didn't reply, mainly in fear of not wanting to make a bad first impression as he followed her up to the attic. It was here that he found two bunk beds and a standard single bed. "This is where you and the Apples will reside during the length of your stay." She turned to give him a low, deadly glare, "At no point are you and my daughter to remain alone in the same room. Is that understood?"

Wild and his puppets nodded vigorously before Cloudy Quartz instantly spun around, heading back downstairs. Seeing this, Wild threw his bag onto the bed before flopping down, finally letting out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding since arriving. "I think that went okay..."

As he laid there, he went over each of Pinkie's family members in his mind. For her parents, he probably just needed to act as politely as he could. Marble...might have already liked him? It was hard to tell, but just have to make sure not to try and overwhelm her. And Limestone...even more not sure. Just keep distance, while also making sure not to touch Holder's Boulder.

"This Heartswarming is gonna be...interesting." he said to himself as his puppets floated above him.

"Wild!" Pinkie's voice called down from the bottom of the stairs, "Dinner's ready!"

"Coming." Wild headed down soon after, meeting Pinkie and Maud on the second floor before they trotted into the dining room. It was here he saw the meal, that being a large metal pan with a large rock inside it. There were many bowls around the side of the table, Cloudy filling them up with some kind of soup that had chunks of rock inside it.

Not even responding, they all silently sat down as Wild stared at his bowl, seeing the liquid was filled with gravel and a single large rock in the middle of it. He gulped, unsure if he should say anything or just start eating. But as he did this, he looked back up and saw the Pies all staring at him intently, Limestone even smirking at him.

Trying not to bite his lip, he picked up his wooden spoon and dipped it into the soup. He pulled it out and brought it to his mouth without even looking, stuffing it in and draining the gravely substance down his esophagus. The soup's flavor hit him pretty quickly, though slightly diminished by the many small rocks it came with. He was not looking forward to his next bathroom visit.

Pinkie and her family all seemed to accept this and began eating their own soup, Wild taking his time as he carefully looked at each one. He almost dropped his spoon when he saw Igneous bite into his rock while Marble simply crushed her rock into more gravel that she then slurped up. Marble and Cloudy both rotated between drinking the soup and eating the rock while Limestone and Pinkie gobbled theirs down in speedy succession.

In the end, everypony finished their meal with a quick cut of speed, Wild being the only one left. "Ain't ya gonna eat that?" Pinkie asked, pointing at the large stone that sat in the bowl.

"I'm good," Wild told her. "This stuff's so filling, I couldn't eat another bite."

"Not another bite. Not another bite." his puppets repeated as Wild put his hooves over his stomach, hoping it wouldn't growl.

"Well then," Igneous stood up as Cloudy began to pick up the bowls. "It is time we rest in preparation of the morrow."

They all nodded, Wild smiling as he saw Pinkie's mother slowly grab all the bowls. "Here." He used his magic to lift all the bowls and pile them on top of one another, "Let me lend a hoof."

Cloudy blinked at this, only to quickly nod as she gestured him to follow her into the kitchen while the rest of the family all headed upstairs. She pointed to a sink that Wild placed the bowls and pan in before she switched on the tap, filling the sink as she began to clean them. She and Wild worked in silence, her cleaning the bowls while Wild dried them off and placed them in their designated space.

But as they did this, the silence was broken when Wild's stomach let out a growl, making Wild's eyes go wide. "You say you were filled by dinner, yet your stomach speaks otherwise." Cloudy instantly said, Wild looking away with a nervous laugh. "Would you rather starve than eat the meal we prepared for you?"

Cloudy just stared at him blankly, only to slowly nod, "I understand. My apologies, as we feast on rocks so much, we sometimes forget that few others can consume them."

Wild scratched the back of his head, "Nah, its okay. Heck, I wish I could eat it. It's impressive how easy you all are able to bite through them. I'd probably chip a tooth if I tried." Cloudy did a small nod as he continued, "So can all earth ponies eat rocks, or is it just your family, cause I don't think I've ever seen anypony eat one before."

"There may be others, but our family has been eating rocks for many generations."

"Wow. Well...that's really impressive and...I'm sorry if I upset you. The soup was nice."

"I am sorry that we did not realise that others have not our tolerance when it comes to rocks. I will be sure to remember that during the rest of your visit."

Wild did a small gulp, "Wait a minute! Please, don't push yourself on my account."

She shook her head in response, "You are our guest. It is our responsibility to make sure you are as comfortable as possible during your stay."

"I do. Now, we must begin our time of rest. The morrow promises to be a challenging day."

Wild nodded and headed back upstairs, soon hopping into bed. He let out a sigh as his puppets floated over him, "Okay buddies, I think first impressions were okay. Here's hoping tomorrows goes even better..."

"WILD!" The unicorn let out a yelp as his eyes shot open, now seeing Pinkie smiling down at him as she stood on his bed. "Time to get up."

"Huh?!" Wild's head turned to the window, now seeing the sun barely beginning to rise above the horizon. "What time is it?"

"Ten minutes later then we should have been up," Limestone told him, the mare leaning to the side of the attic's door. "Don't expect that luxury again."

She turned to leave, Pinkie helping him up. He then let out a yawn and stretched, only to blink as he turned to his marefriend, "Hey, what do you even do here?"

"We're a rock farm," Pinkie replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"All sorts of things. There's a mine that grow special crystals that glow when they have an electrical charge in them which we sell to places that make lightbulbs. We've also got a query where we gather rocks that can be turned into building materials, but the most important part of our farm is the mineral fields."

"Well, our farm was built on top of a magic layline that carries magic through the earth. The magic it carries helps keep the soil fertile, but that magic can also become dirty. It can pick up different minerals and other things that could make the ground go bad, so we bury rocks into the ground so they can soak up all the bad stuff."

"It depends. If the rocks mostly soak up the metal minerals, we sell them off to be used to make different metals objects. But if they're toxins, we crush 'em into dust."

"HEY! What's the hold-up?!" They both turned to the stairs, Limestone's voice now calling out, "Get the lead out! Do not make me have to come up there and pull you two off one another!" The two blushed at the statement before heading down, now seeing Limestone at the end of the hall with a glare on her face.

When they arrived at the bottom, Wild was surprised to find plates of daffodil sandwiches. He glanced at the others, now seeing that everypony was having a normal breakfast this time. "Yum," Pinkie exclaimed as she began to eat hers, "So what are we doing today? Wild's really excited to see how things work."

"Is that so?" Limestone instantly responded, "Then maybe he'd want to help me with the division!"

Maud spoke up here, "That's where you break open the rocks and find out if they have any minerals or toxins inside. We then divide them into three groups: Rocks that go to the metal works, rocks that go to the crusher and rocks that go back into the ground because they didn't absorb anything."

"Alright!" Wild rubbed his hooves together before munching down his breakfast and gulping down the water, "Then let's get to work."

Limestone let out a dark chuckle, "You've got spirit." She swallowed her sandwich whole with a big grin, "I look forward to crushing it." She headed out the door, Wild following after. They headed around the back of the house and found a pair of old-looking carts, the two strapping them to their backs as Limestone grabbed a pair of pickaxes and tossing them into the carts, "See if you can keep up city colt." She instantly went into a sprint, Wild quickly trying to keep up with here. A few minutes later, they arrived at a large field filled with rocks sticking out of the ground.

"Yup," Limestone grabbed an axe, "And we've gotta check each and every one of them." She trotted over to the closest one before slamming it with her tool. The sound of clanging metal could be heard as she continued to hit it, a piece soon breaking off as she picked it up, looking it over and nodding before throwing it over at Wild. "Metal!"

Wild caught it and looked it over, only to find himself unable to tell the difference. As such, he and Limestone spent the next ten minutes pulling the rocks free, Wild now seeing it was like an iceberg with only ten percent of it being above the ground. And as they took the rock out, they put it in Wild's cart as Limestone went to another rock, repeating the process as she knocked off a chuck before tossing the piece to Wild. "Toxin."

Wild took it and scanned it over, unable to see a difference before throwing it in Limestone's cart. But as he did this, a bulb went off in his head, "Wait at minute..."

"Hold your horses," Wild pulled the two small pieces out of the carts and showed them to her, "I can't tell the difference between these two rocks. They look exactly the same to me."

Limestone smirked in response, "Oh? Well, I guess everypony can't be as awesome as me. Years of practice have given me the power to tell the difference between any rock."

Wild rolled his eyes, "Well, I might not be able to tell the difference." He held the rocks up to his puppets, Red and Blue tapping the rock before going limp and slowly falling onto Wild's back. "But my little buddies can." Limestone raised an eyebrow at she watched Wild stared at the two rock pieces, nodding before moving over to the rock she was about to check. He tossed the two rocks back into the carts as the Blue puppet flew back up, the Red one staying immobile, "This one has toxins in it."

This statement made Limestone blink before she hacked off a piece, picking it up before her eyes went wide, "Huh. Lucky guess."

"Not quite." Wild added as he lifted to more rocks, "Watch. This one's also got toxins, and this one has metals."

Limestone cut off two pieces and saw he was right both times. "What the-how the heck are you doing this?! Can you see the future?!"

Wild let out a laugh, "I wish. Nah, I'm just using the help of my little buddies."

"I'm linked to my buddies' spirits. If I want to, I can feel whatever they feel, including the materials of whatever their containers are made from. I just memorized the texture and feel of the broken rocks and moved my buddy into each rock." The look on Limestone's face showed she only understood about fifty-five percent of what he told her, making him chuckle, "Basically, I can tell you which rocks are which without the need to break them apart."

Limestone actually showed a small smile before they got back to work, the two managing remove the rocks at a much quicker pace. "So what's the deal with those puppets anyways?" She asked as they worked to pull their twelfth boulder out of the ground, "You talk about them like they're actually alive."

"They are alive," Wild told her while the remaining four puppets flew around her.

"Sorry about that. They get pretty annoyed when somepony questions if they're alive or not." He then shot the four a glare, the puppets now flying over to the cart and sitting there. "Basically, they're imaginary friends made real. They started appearing in my head when I was a colt. I thought I was going nuts until I learned how to move them into items, like my puppets."

Wild shrugged in response. "Not sure. I mean, I honestly don't care, as they were my biggest friends when I was younger. And if you're wondering, they're not dangerous as long as you don't annoy them. Toxin."

The two then pulled the rock out of the dirt, Limestone now saying, "You're one weird pony, you know that?"

Wild chuckled back, "What's wrong with being weird? Who would want to be like everypony else?"

"Hey, I've got nothing against weird ponies. You forget who my sister is? Honestly, I'm glad Pinkie was able to find a guy as crazy as she is. Certainly takes a weight off my mind."

Limestone gave a sheepish smile, not daring to look him in the eye as she responded, "I...I love Pinkie, but I've always been worried nopony would be able to see past how...lively she is." She then started to roll another rock to the cart, "I haven't said it, but I'm pretty sure the rest of my family all worried about Pinkie. Pa was probably close to making her use the pairing stone."

"Doesn't matter," they lifted the rock onto the cart. "You're here now, so I guess our worries were just us being stupid." She turned to give Wild to give him a low, dark glare, "I can tell Pinkie really likes you, so you'd better not do anything to hurt her. Cause if you do..." She slammed a hoof into the toxic rock, Wild's eyes going wide at the sight of the thing cracking into dust and burying the rest of the rocks in the cart. "We clear?!"

"Good," Limestone's face turned back to a mischievous smile. "Now come on, we've still got a bunch more rocks to dig up." They got back to work, Wild's buddies making quick work as they cleaned the field a whole hour sooner than Limestone expected. "You're not bad, city colt."

"Thanks...I guess." He replied as they began to leave the field, now passing by Holder's Boulder as they did. "So what's the deal with that thing?"

Limestone showed a proud grin. "That bad boy is the whole reason this farm's here. There was once a large dragon's nest right here, and it was where our great, great whatever grandfather, Holder Cobblestone, found it. It might just be a plain old rock, but he built the family farm around it and it's always brought us good luck.

"Wow...awesome." Wild whispered as they arrived at a pair of sheds, the two dumping the two types of rocks before returning the carts. It was here they went to another shed, now finding Pinkie, Maud and Marble there.

The three were busy untangling a bunch of large lights, Pinkie smiling when she saw them. "Hey you two!" she bounced over to Wild, How was it? You have fun?"

Limestone let out a chuckle as she elbowed the unicorn, the nudge sending him staggering a few feet. "I gotta admit, he's not a totally incompetent loser. He can actually be of use."

This made Pinkie laugh as Wild stood himself back up and turned to the large bundle of lights. "So these are the decorations we're putting up?"

"Yup," Pinkie bounced back over to it. "They're really pretty to look at once they're up." She then pouted as she picked up a line of the lights, only to feel a tug from a knot. "The unfun part is getting them untangled."

Limestone rolled her eyes, "I keep telling you we should just keep them up all year."

"But that wouldn't make them special!" Pinkie whined before turning to her twin. "Right Marble?" The mare said nothing, hiding behind her mane and the light pile.

Wild smirked at their interaction before moving over to help, Limestone doing the same. They worked in silence, only for the unicorn to remember Limestone mentioning the Pairing Stone, which prompted him to ask Pinkie about it. The mare just laughed as she explained before Wild's jaw dropped in response, "Hang on, there's a rock...that ships ponies?"

Wild and his puppets all shared a glance as he replied, "That would probably upset a certain community. Might I suggest you don't let Princess Cadance know about it."

"Why?" Maud asked, Pinkie's head popping out of the pile with the light cord's end in her mouth.

"She's the princess of love, not the princess of fair competition. If she found out her job was being done by a rock, she would probably order it to be smashed to bits." The Pie sisters all blinked at him, Pinkie's face breaking out in a massive grin before she burst out laughing. Limestone also let out a chuckle while Marble giggled, Maud's usual deadpan expression now showing a tiny smile.

They kept that happy expression as they continued to unwind the lights, soon getting them completely untangled before threading them through the farm. It was here that Limestone went off to do a section of the farm while Pinkie and Maud headed over to do the silo. That just left Wild and Marble to do the fence before everypony worked together on the house.

And as the two worked, Wild saw that Marble was still trying to not look him in the eye. "I'm not gonna bite you, you know." Wild said, Marble letting out an 'eep' in response. Wild grimaced at her reaction, but kept going anyways, "Sorry. But uh...you don't talk much, do you?" Marble did a small nod, still looking away, "That's okay. I guess with a sister like Pinkie, you don't get a lot of chances to really talk. I just...really want to get to know you better. If you're Pinkie's twin, you two probably share an even closer bond than anypony else." Marble did another nod, making him sigh as she still didn't say a word.

Wild looked back at the lights as he looped them around, another idea popping into his head, "Say, how about...I just ask questions? All you have to do is nod or shake. Does that work?" He watched as Marble did a small hum, only to turn and nod, "Alright. Let's get cooking."

"Do you like...books?" Marble nodded, "Books about rocks?" She shook her head. "Okay, now we're getting somewhere. I'm guessing you don't like action books," Marble nodded. "If you ever meet Pinkie's friend Rainbow, she might try and get you into a book named Daring Do. If that happens, I'll try and explain it to her." Marble showed a small smile, her mane still covering up her face. "Alright, do you like...romance books?" Marble's face now fully showed itself, a big smile on her face as she eagerly nodded. "That's nice to know. Maybe next heartswarming I'll get you one for a present."

This went on for another hour, Wild asking Marble question after question as she continued to respond with nodding or shaking. He soon learned that Marble not only enjoyed romance books, but also mystery and fairy tales. While she didn't get to have it a lot, she liked ice cream and her favourite flavor was rocky road. But the thing she liked more then anything was drawing, which she apparently had a secret cave nopony else knew about with her art.

Knowing he shouldn't indulge into where it was, they finished the fence and started to head back to the house, only to find Pinkie, Maud and Limestone waiting for them. "About time!" Limestone huffed. "Doing the fence should be the easy job! Why'd it take you so long to finish?!"

"Sorry about that. I was getting...more acquainted with Marble." Marble did a small nod, her mane no longer hiding her face. "So, we doing the house now?"

Before the girls could answer, the door opened as Igneous and Cloudy stepped outside, "We require some light gems from the mine. I will get them, but I will require some assistance."

"Ooh!" Pinkie rushed over to her boyfriend, "Wild can help. I'm sure he'd love to see the mine."

Wild gave her glance, only to shrug, "Sure. Sounds like fun." He turned back to Igneous, "Wild Smile reporting for duty." Igneous nodded before walking off, Wild trotting after him as Pinkie waved them goodbye.

Wild now found himself standing in front of a cave, a long track running from the inside in it. On the track was an empty minecart, which Wild guessed was what they were going to put the gems in. "So..." Wild said as he stared into the mine with his voice echoing, "The gems we're looking for are in here?"

"That is correct," Igneous tied a pair of saddles to the cart before placing one of them on his back. "The gems we require are in one of the deepest parts of the cave. Only two ponies are allowed in that area at any one time."

"That section of the cave has a weak foundation. Too much talking and too many hooves can cause it to collapse. That is why we must be as quiet as possible once inside."

Wild gulped at the sound of that, a small nod following, "Alright then. I'll be sure to zip the lip." His Green puppet flew down and pulled its hooves across his lips while Yellow made the sound of a zipper zipping.

Igneous showed no emotion at the gesture before pulling an old fashioned gas lamp out of nowhere, lighting it before beginning to pull at the cart. Wild did the same and were soon rolling the metal construct into the mine. It took ten minutes of traversing through several mineshafts before the two reached the entrance of the area they were looking for, Igneous turning to Wild and giving him a shushing gesture.

Wild nodded as they stepped inside, the light of the gas lamp illuminating the chamber as Wild now saw all the different sized gems that were littering the wall. He had to put his hoof over his mouth to stop from going 'Wow', turning to Igneous and watching him pull a pickaxe and a file out of the cart.

He moved over to the closest crystal and placed the file next to it before slowly and carefully grinding the wall around it, doing so for about three minutes until he had created a sizable indent next to it. Once that was done, he placed the tip of the axe blade into the indent before using it like a crowbar to pull the gem free. Wild used his magic to catch the crystal before it hit the ground, Igneous seeing this and nodding as the unicorn gently placed their prize in the cart. The two kept at this for several long minutes, Igneous forgoing the axe since Wild gripped the crystal in his magic and pulled it free once the wall surrounding the gem was filed loose.

The two worked for an hour in silence, the cart slowly being filled up. But as they reached the last crystal, they found it to be really stuck. Wild magically pulled as hard as he could, but it wouldn't come loose. Igneous then put his axe behind the crystal and pushed down, the two combining their forces as the crystal decided to pop out. But as it did this, it shot out like a cannon and slammed Wild in the face.

"Ow!" He couldn't help but yell as he fell back, his voice echoing through the cavern as it made the place begin to shake. Both Wild and Igneous stood perfectly still next, both looking around to see if they were about to be crushed. But after a few seconds, the cavern settled down, only a few small rocks falling off the wall.

They both sighed in relief, Igneous turning to see if Wild was okay. He responded with a firm nod, the earth pony doing the same as they turned back to the cart, picking up the crystal that had hit Wild up and placing it inside. But as Wild picked himself up, he breathed in...only to realize he just breathed in some dust from off the wall that had just been shaking.

The powder was now in his nose, making him start to say, "Ah...ah...AH!" Igneous turned to him and actually appeared to have a look of shock on his face. He quickly kicked the minecart out of the chamber before moving over to Wild, who was still holding back the sneeze. But just as he was about to let it rip, one of his puppets flew up and placed its hoof under his nose. This seemed to stop the sneeze in its tracks, Igneous watching him carefully as the puppet pulled away. They stayed perfectly still as they waited, a minute passing before Igneous sighed in relief and turned away.

"ACHOO!" The sound echoed through the chamber, Igneous turning to glare at Wild. The puppeteer did a slow gulp, only for both to look up at the ceiling. And as the last echo of his sneeze disappeared, the whole place started shaking, the sound of cracking now breaking the ceiling apart.

"We must flee!" The elder stallion ordered before charging to the exit as the rocks began to fall. The two jumped from side to side as they ran down the cave, but as Igneous got within feet of safety, the rock above it broke apart and fell towards him. Wild saw this and pulled himself to a stop as he sparked his horn, grabbing Igneous and pulling him back. The rock slammed milliseconds later, blocking the entrance as Igneous flew back and knocked into Wild, the remaining rocks falling as the world went black for both.

"Uhhh..." Wild moaned as he opened his eyes, now seeing he was blind as a bat. Another moan made him turn to his side, now seeing a dark outline of another pony beside him. "Mister Pie?" He sat up and sparked his horn, creating a dim light that allowed him to see that the earth pony hadn't been buried. And as Igneous began to move, Wild pulled himself closer. "You alright?"

"I am...unharmed." He then turned around, his face now illuminated by Wild's magic. "And thou?"

"I'm fine. Just a little-urgh!" He put both hooves to his head as a sudden explosion of loud voices ringed out inside his brain.

Wild's eyes squinted open as he started glancing around, only to sigh, "Shoot. Looks like my little buddies' containers were destroyed."

"It's my magic that allows them to jump into a new container. If it's not active when their containers are damaged, the only place they can go is back inside my head."

"No...but all those voices are giving me a migraine. Hang on." He started shifting his hooves along the ground, soon finding five decent-sized rocks, which all began to glow before floating up, "You guys okay?"

Wild nodded as he let out a series of pants, "Good." He then started to increase his horn's light, now seeing that they had fallen into a small pocket between the rocks. A bunch of the crystals were littered the rubble, but aside from that, it was rocks in every direction. "We're trapped. How long would it take us to dig ourselves out of here?"

"I doth not know. I have no knowledge of which direction will lead to freedom. We could spend hours digging, only to go deeper into the mine."

Wild sighed at that, "And how long do you think it'll be until the others come looking for us and start digging us out?"

"Argh!" Wild picked up a rock and started hitting his head with it, "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! And everything was going so well! Why'd I have to mess it up?!"

Igneous quickly grabbed the rock out of his hoof, "Thou should not berate oneself so cruelly. This was an accident."

"Yeah..." Wild slumped over as he said this, "But making your mine collapse isn't the impression I was hoping to make." He sighed again, moaning as his head slid against the rocks behind him. "So much for getting you to like me. Guess you'll want me to leave as soon as we get out of here and never talk to Pinkie again."

Igneous raised an eyebrow at this, "What makes thou think I would make thou do that?"

Wild looked up at him with a huge frown, "Oh come on, I've trapped us in what could be our tomb! You're really going to let your daughter remain in a relationship with somepony like that?!"

Igneous tilted his head as he replied, "Thou speaks as if thou wishes to have thy's relationship with my daughter terminated."

"Of course not. But you have to admit this isn't a great way to get you to like me."

"Because...you're her family. If you don't like me...Pinkie will feel like she'll need to choose between being with me and being with you all, and I...I don't want to give her that choice."

"And what would one do if my daughter did have to make that choice?" He knocked on one of the rocks, getting an echo back.

"I'd make it for her. Losing me wouldn't be as bad as losing you. But like I said, I didn't want to make her have that choice."

"What boyfriend doesn't try to gain the approval of their girlfriend's parents? Didn't you try and gain the approval of your wife's parents?"

"Cloudy Quartz and I were matched by the pairing stone. I had no need to earn her parent's approval, as you have no need to earn mine." Wild's eyes went wide, trying to respond as Igneous continued, "My daughter is many things. Rambunctious, overeager, and has a tendency to act without thought in certain situations. But the one thing Pinkamina isn't...is a fool. If she trusts thou enough to give thy her heart, then it means thou is a pony worth having it."

Wild's jaw began to tremble, tears beginning to appear in his eyes, "Seriously? You...I...thank you."

Igneous nodded back, "More than anything, thou makes my daughter happy. That is more than enough to convince me thy is the right stallion for my daughter."

"Um...thank you." Wild blushed at those words before glancing back around, "But I'm not gonna be making anypony happy while I'm stuck in here."

"Agreed. I've been searching, but am unable to locate a way that might help our escape."

Wild sighed as he picked himself up, slowly trotting around before he felt something tickle his skin. "Huh?" He began to move around the feeling, soon feeling it hit his chest as he walked up to a certain part of the cave pocket, "Do you...feel that?"

Igneous turned to him before holding up his hoof, feeling the same sensation, "Wind."

"A breeze," Wild continued. "And where there's a breeze, there's a way out." He slowly followed the breeze until he reached a rock wall, now finding a hole that the wind was coming from. Both he and even Igneous smiled at one another before they began pulling the rocks away.

For the next thirty minutes, they dug their way through the rubble, following a small trail of wind as it zigzagged. It was here that they found themselves at the edge of the chamber, finding the source of the breeze to be a small hole with light flooding into the area. Igneous then looked through and announced, "This leads to another mineshaft."

"I can not. Unless I break through this wall in the exact right spot, the whole mineshaft will fall upon us and trap us once more. There is not enough light to see where I must strike."

Wild sighed at the statement, only to look up and see a crystal above him. "Wait...not enough light! I can fix that!"

Igneous raised an eyebrow as he turned to the unicorn, now seeing him staring at several crystals in the cave, "What does thou mean?"

"Simple. I can do a little something I picked up from a friend," Wild replied as he summoned a small surge of lightning magic, quickly shooting them into the rocks. They both watched as the electricity surged through the rubble all around them before passing into the ground, quickly turning the pitch dark tunnel into a cave as bright as the sun.

Both stallions smiled as Igneous turned back to the wall, inspecting it for several minutes before nodding and smashing his hoof into it. One hit was all that was needed to make the crack spread along the rest of the wall, forming a perfect archway of cracks that quickly fell apart to make a doorway.

Cloudy Quartz and her daughters were all heading to the mine now. Wild and Igneous had been gone for a long time, and Igneous was not one to miss dinner, so they had gone down to see what was taking them so long.

But as they arrived outside the mine, they found the two stallions pushing a minecart out while being covered in dirt. "Dad! Wild!" Pinkie bounced over, a huge worried frown on her face, "What happened to you two?"

"There was a mild accident in the mine. Nopony's fault. It is thanks to young Wild Smile here that we were able to escape with our lives." Pinkie's eyes grew three times as big, stars appearing in them as her smile increased to the same amount. She quickly bounced over to Wild and threw her hooves around him.

Wild put his hoof around her, now looking up to see the rest of her family. In doing so, he saw something he had been hoping to see since first arriving: Acceptance.

Each of them nodded at Wild, showing they were happy he and Pinkie were together. The young puppeteer had earned their friendship and agreement for him to keep dating Pinkie.

Heartswarming had come and was now coming to an end. On the top of the Pie house, Wild was sitting on the roof while watching as the sun began to set.

It had been an interesting few days at the farm. The day after Wild and Igneous's incident, Heartswarming Eve, the Apples had arrived and had not been all too keen when they learned about the Pie family's way of doing the holiday. Wild had been expecting it though.

Applejack wasn't so open-minded, secretly redecorating the place the way she liked, which led to an accident that had sent Holder's Boulder rolling down into the quarry. This then went to the Apple Family being asked to leave, which lead to them coming back with a sudden better understanding of the Pie's way of doing Heartswarming. After that, everything went much better for everypony, and were now in the living room enjoying things.

"There you are." Wild turned to see Pinkie's head poking out of the skylight she had climbed out of before moving over to him, "What are you doing up here?"

"Just...partaking in my own little Heartswarming tradition. Every year since I was a colt, I've always watched the sunset and say goodbye to a great Heartswarming."

"Oh? Mind if I join in?" Wild nodded as she sat down and placed her head on his shoulder. "This really has been a great Heartswarming."

"Yeah...though I think I pulled something pushing Holder's Boulder up the hill." Pinkie laughed at this as he continued, "I'm just glad your family likes me."

"Maybe. But I'm still relieved." They continued to watch as the sun sank below the horizon, both content to just be in each other's company. "I wonder how everypony else's Heartswarming is going?"

"I bet they're going great. Heartswarming's always a great time, no matter who you are. I bet right now, every pony's having an awesome time."

Flash, Twilight, Spike, Springer, Scootaloo, Grand, Lightning, Rarity, Sweetie, Trixie, Script were sitting around a large table along with Flash and Twilight's parents. They were all laughing. singing and exchanging gifts as they ate. They were also pulling on crackers, Grand and Script currently tugging at it until it broke in Scripts favor.

Everypony clapped as Script took out the party hat along with the novelty comb. He put it on and read the joke that came with it, everypony laughing next Script showed a small smile. It was clear everypony was happy to be there.

Rainbow, Fluttershy, Iron and Soarin were all at Fluttershy's parent's house, Rainbow's parents also being there alongside Fluttershy's younger brother Zephyr Breeze. Iron had even invited Skybreaker, and everypony was more than happy to have the decorated hero join them.

Angel was also there, enjoying a carrot in the kitchen as everypony hung around the living room. As he did this, he noticed Zephyr sneak through the kitchen with a clove of mistletoe in his hooves. He smirked as he saw Rainbow lay beside Soarin as they both read a Daring Do book. It was here that he was about to put the plant under himself, but Angel had other ideas.

As he was about to call for Rainbow, Angel jumped up onto the counter. The pegasus turned to him, the bunny grabbing a pepper shaker and cranking it in front of him. A burst of the flavoring flew into his face, making him sneeze and send the mistletoe flying.

It landed on the lights in the living room, catching and hanging right above Rainbow and Soarin. The couple looked up and smiled, quickly turning to share a kiss. Zephyr began to cry while the other three couples all decided they didn't need mistletoe to show affection. Skybreaker was the only one in the room not doing this, but instead took a drink as he leaned back in his chair with a smile.

The city was having a big party in the courtyard under the castle, the entire kingdom enjoying themselves as they danced or enjoyed the buffet being offered. Cadance and Shining were both dancing, Cadance only able to do slow dances in her condition. While they did this, Gorgenia was showing off a statue of the dancing couple, others complimenting her work. Thorax was also there, happily dancing alongside every young crystal ponies before morphing into an array of cute animals they got to pet and ride.

Over by one of the castle legs, Hiveena was simply leaning against it watching the festivities. She could feel the amazing amount of love coming from the celebration, knowing it was something truly special. Changelings didn't have these kinds of events, and she had never gotten this close to ones during her travels.

But as she watched, she suddenly found a glass of punch floating in front of her, making her turn to see Ruby. The Crystal Knight was magically moving the glass to the changeling, the bug taking the drink with a small smile. They both sipped their drinks as they watched the festivities, both content to just stay where they were while enjoying the sights of the happy ponies in the party.

Luna and Celestia stood side by side on a balcony, Celestia finishing the setting of the sun as Luna began to lift up the moon. As she did that, Celestia headed back into the tower before returning with a blanket. She placed it on her sister's back, the moon princess smiling back as she finished her work.

"Yeah...you're right." Wild nodded as he and Pinkie snuggled up closer as they watched the moon float up. "Bye Heartswarming. Thanks for being another awesome holiday. See you next year."

Heartswarming was a time of many things. It was a time of being thankful for everything you have, and everypony you care about. It was a time of forgiveness, putting all the bad blood you have with somepony behind you. It was a time of family, sharing many happy moments with those closest to you. And most of all, it was a time of friendship. A time when all the coldness of the world was melted away by the flames of friendship.

Flash Sentry, Defender of the Peace S5

by Banshee531

A Wild Wild Heartswarming