//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Pinkie Pie's Hearth's Warming Vacation 
// by Fluttercheer 
//------------------------------//

.
Sweet Apple Acres stood peaceful in the sun of the early morning hours. The roof of the farmhouse was covered with snow, as were the apple trees and acres around it. The icicles hanging down from the edge of the roof, right above the front door, glistened as they reflected the sun's light. It was quiet all around the farm and everypony was still asleep.
Pinkie Pie was staggering towards the front door, her face hidden behind a mountain of wrapped gifts that she struggled with carrying. Arriving at the door, and narrowly avoiding to slip on the thin layer of ice in front of it, she reached for the doorknob with her left forehoof while balancing the gifts with the other one. It was a strenous task and Pinkie had to give her all to prevent herself from losing grip of the precious weight she carried, but eventually, she succeeded with turning the knob and pulled the door open.
Holding the gifts with both hooves again now, Pinkie motioned towards the entrance..... and found herself blocked from entering the farmhouse. She managed to look past her load and realized the reason for her problem to get inside: The gifts did not fit into the opening. Both left and right, they had hit the doorframe. Pushing stronger, Pinkie attemped to squeeze them inside, but she had to give up after a few failed attempts.
“Hmm.....” Pinkie scrunched her face, contemplatively. She turned around on the iced ground, carefully, until her flank pointed at the entrance. Now she was moving backwards. If pushing didn't work, maybe pulling would.
Back hooves now standing on the wooden floor of the house, Pinkie began to pull with all her strength as the gifts got stuck on the doorframe once more. Sweat broke out on her forehead and her teeth became gritted. The packages creaked as they were being forced inside the house and the wood of the doorframe put a painful pressure on Pinkie's arms.
The earth pony stopped, panting and catching her breath, while easing the pressure on her sore arms. As her strength had somewhat returned, Pinkie, now flashing a grim and determined expression, gave it another try, pulling with even more might than before.
“Come..... on.....”
Nothing happened at first, then the gifts suddenly popped free and the momentum hurled Pinkie Pie backwards. She fell to the floor and all of the gifts cascaded down on her, a particularly heavy one landing on her head. Shoving them off her body, Pinkie wrestled herself free. Pained groans leaving her, she slowly rose back onto her hooves. She was holding her head for a moment, until fear emerged in her face. Pinkie shot a glance upstairs, teeth gritted again, and listened. As no sounds could be heard after a minute, she breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off her forehead.
Having picked up the gifts, she staggered towards the staircase. The front door remained open, in case she had to make a quick escape. Swaying and putting down her hooves very carefully on each step, Pinkie ascended the stairs, until she stood in the narrow corridor between the bedrooms of the four resident Apple Family members. Everything remained quiet around her.
In a similar fashion as outside, Pinkie reached for the handle of the hatch above her. She had to stretch herself before she could grip it, but miraculously, Pinkie managed to do so without dropping the gifts. Luck was on her side for only a moment longer, then the descending ladder hit Pinkie in the face with full force and she got knocked to the floor.
Moans of agony and frustration rang out from under the involuntary blanket of gift packages. Having wrestled herself free a second time, Pinkie held her lower jaw and relocated it, grimacing. She was just starting to pick up her gifts again, as a sudden sound made her freeze.
“What is goin' on here?!” Granny Smith's sleep-addled, mumbling voice found its way into her ears. “Has nopony told ya that ya ain't supposed ta cook soup on a spaceship?! The gravity generators are.....” Her voice ebbed away and was replaced with a loud and deep snore.
Pinkie's racing heart calmed down and returned to a more relaxed and healthy pace. She gulped and picked up the rest of the packages, then balanced them up the ladder and onto the attic. Finally arrived at her destination, Pinkie motioned to the far end of the room, in the dark, as she had no hooves free to turn on the light. She somehow did it without knocking her head against something.
One after another, Pinkie hid the gifts – some of which were punched in now, with one of them emanating a concerning sound of shards skidding around inside – behind a large box that almost reached up to the sloped ceiling.
The job done, Pinkie gave the hidden gifts a happy and satisfied smile, then she tiphoofed back to the ladder and down on it. Making sure to not create any more loud sounds, she quietly folder the ladder in, moved it up and closed the hatch. Then she headed towards the stairs. Her deed here was done, for now, it was time to get a bit more sleep. Pinkie set hoof on the first step and began to descend to the first floor again, the front door in her sight.
“Pinkie Pie!” a loud and surprised voice suddenly called her name. Pinkie yelped and missed the next step. She lost balance and rolled down the stairs, then hit the wall right next to the front door.
“Pinkie! Goodness, you're alright?!” Applejack rushed down the stairs and at the side of her friend. She helped her up, simultaneously checking her body for injuries.
Pinkie swayed, eyes crossed for a moment. “The rooster's okay, we just need to put it in the vacuum cleaner and–” She shook her head. “I mean, yeah, I-I'm okay. Thanks, Applejack.”
Now relieved that Pinkie wasn't hurt, Applejack's expression became stern. “What in tarnation are ya doin' in our house so early in the morning, Pinkie?!”
Pinkie Pie's smile faltered. “I, uh.....” She fidgeted around, nervously. “I..... I was just making breakfast for you.”
Applejack's eyebrow rose. “Breakfast?”
“Yeah..... You know, because you're my family. And my friends. That's what friends do; sneaking into the house at morning, making breakfast, falling down the stairs.....”
Applejack squinted and tilted her head.
“I gotta be in the kitchen now. Making pancakes,” Pinkie spoke, with sweat breaking out on her face, then scurried away.
Applejack stayed behind in the foyer, not asking any more questions. She looked after Pinkie, dumbfounded and confused.


~ .* .~


As the sun stood a little higher in the sky, all of the Apples sat at the kitchen table and were feasting on a delicious pancake breakfast. Pinkie sat next to Applejack. Dark circles under her eyes were the evidence that she lacked the last few hours of her sleep time, courtesy of having to prepare breakfast for the entire family to cover up her gift-hiding scheme.
Pinkie's hooves shook slightly as she reached for the can with the apple syrup, but her mouth formed a grin regardless. A couple splotches of syrup stained the old wood of the table before she managed to pour some over the towering stack of pancakes in front of her face. She put the can back, then pulled a bag of sugar out of her mane and generously covered her pancakes with it.
Glances got exchanged around the table, from incredulous, disbelieving faces. Pinkie noticed and acknowledged the reactions with an even bigger grin.
“What?” she asked. “How else would I get enough energy for the day that's ahead of me if not by eating a crazy amount of sugar?” Pinkie let the bag disappear in her mane again, then took a spoon and dug with it into the mountain of white crystals.
“Why did you come to the farm so early to make breakfast for all of us anyway, Pinkie?” Applejack asked. “That ain't necessary,” she assured their unexpected  morning visitor.
“Eeyup!” it came from the other side of the table. To Big Mac's left, Apple Bloom suddenly coughed, retched and spat some egg shells onto her plate. While she reached for a glass of apple juice and gulped it down, Pinkie ignored Applejack's question by changing the subject.
“As you all know, everypony from the Pie side of my family will visit Sweet Apple Acres for Hearth's Warming Eve this year!”
Around the table, faces lit up, especially Applejack's.
“And because it will be their first time coming to Sweet Apple Acres, I want that everything is perfect for them! Their first Hearth's Warming Eve on Sweet Apple Acres has to be just as much fun for them as celebrating it here is for all of you!” Pinkie forked a pancake and shoved it into her mouth as a whole. “This will require precise and strategic planning and there will be a gigantic amount of work to do before the holidays, so I'll need all of your help for it!” she continued after swallowing.
For the next half hour, Pinkie Pie explained her plan to the Apples in all its details. Enthusiastic smiles made the rounds as she described each part of her plan. As Pinkie had concluded, everypony agreed that her ideas would make for the best Hearth's Warming Eve that Sweet Apple Acres has ever seen and all of them promised to do everything they could in order to help with the preparations.
“Perfect, then all of it is settled!” Pinkie spoke, satisfied. She was now sitting in front of an empty plate, only a few tiny sugar crystals on it anymore. “Together, we are going to make this the best Apple & Pie Family Hearth's Warming Eve that it can possibly be!”
“Yeehaw!”
“This is going to be the best thing ever!”
“Eeyup!”
“Darn tootin'!”


~ .* .~


The breakfast done and the dishes and tableware in the sink, Pinkie went to work immediately. The sugar had restored her energy and the only thing that still hinted at her tiredness from earlier were the dark circles under her eyes, a minor inconvenience now.
Whistling a song, Pinkie Pie trotted up the stairs of the farmhouse, aiming for the destination she had already visited very early in the morning. This time, she did not have to do it in secret.
Arrived on the second floor, Pinkie got up on her hindlegs and reached for the handle of the hatch that led to the attic. She did so with great hesitation. Teeth clenched, she was ready to jump aside and to prevent her jawbones from another crushing experience. The ladder came down menacingly but, being on high alert this time, Pinkie caught it and brought it down on the floor without sustaining injuries. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and sighed in relief, then climbed up the ladder into the small, dark chamber above her.
Pinkie switched on a little lightbulb by pulling at a wire that hung from the ceiling, then she proceeded through the attic. Farther at the back, but not as far as where she hid the gifts a few hours ago, Pinkie found a medium-sized box. Something has been written on it, a simple label saying “HEARTH'S WARMING LIGHTS”.
Pinkie grabbed the box and pulled it to the middle of the narrow room, then picked it up and carefully balanced it out of the attic and down the ladder. She let the ladder be where it was as she made her way down the stairs. Her fall from earlier entered her mind and Pinkie gulped, but she made it down without repeating her unwilling stunt.
Safely arrived in the foyer, Pinkie put down the box and flapped it open. The sudden sound startled Granny Smith, who was sitting in a comfy chair only a few steps behind her, half-asleep after the scrumptious meal she got for breakfast.
Eagerly, her eyes emitting a shine, Pinkie Pie reached into the box and pulled out a large ball made of holiday lights. Her smile faltered as she realized the condition of the lights. Whoever took them down after last Hearth's Warming and put them back into the box did not do it very carefully and now the lights were a tangled and knotted disaster. Pinkie twisted her mouth unhappily. Desperation building on her face, she looked around. She spotted Applejack through the open kitchen door but before she could ask her cousin, Pinkie realized that she was busy cleaning the dishes.
Hearing a mumble coming from behind her, Pinkie turned around and her eyes fell on Granny Smith. Her lips curled upwards as an idea sparked inside her head.
“Hey, Granny, since you aren't busy right now, could you help me untangle all these lights while I set up the rest of the decorations outside?” Pinkie held the ball of lights in front of the old mare, demonstratively.
“Sure thing!” Granny shouted. “Ahm happy ta do my part, just leave this up ta me!”
“Thank you, Granny, you're already a great help!” Pinkie beamed and placed the ball in Granny Smith's lap.
Having taken care of this problem, Pinkie headed back up the stairs. A few minutes later, she returned with two massive sugarcanes clutched in her left hoof and a pair of bells that she held with her mouth. Stapled on her back were a few wreaths and garlands. Pinkie carried her load outside and began decorating the farm.
She placed the two sugarcanes to the left and right of the farmhouse's entrance door, whistling the same song as earlier again, and hung a few of the garlands under the edge of the roof. One of the wreaths was going on the door of the house and the others on the door of the various barns around it. The bells soon adorned the gate at the entrance of the farm. Zipping all over the farm, Pinkie hung the rest of the garlands on all of the white fences.
As she was finished two hours later, all of Sweet Apple Acres was imbued with festive charm. A warm, cozy feeling spread out in Pinkie's stomach as she let her eyes wander over everything. She inhaled the cold air around her deeply, then sighed in bliss. “This is going to be the best Hearth's Warming Eve my family has ever seen.”
Pinkie let her gaze wander over the decorations one more time, then she turned around to the front door.
Back inside the house, the dedicated party planner wasted no time with approaching Granny Smith, to reap the fruits of the work she had assigned. Granny sat in her armchair, reading peacefully in a book that was perched atop the tangled ball of hearth's warming lights. A content smile graced her mouth and she paid Pinkie no heed.
“Hey, Granny, how far did you come with the–” Pinkie stopped talking instantly as her eyes fell on the ball of lights. Her mouth opened up and remained gaping as Pinkie stared at the old mare. “G-Granny?” she stuttered.
Finally, Granny Smith looked up. “Oh, what's the matter, dear? Ya look like ya have just seen a ghost floatin' out of the wall! But don't cha worry, I might be lookin' old, but ah've still got some years left until the worms will kiss me under the gravestone!”
The joke flew right over Pinkie's head, she did not move an inch.
Granny Smith squinted. “What's goin' on with ya? Just spit it out if ya need mah help with anythin', don't stand there with a frozen face like that!”
“I..... I already did.” The initial shock began to leave Pinkie. “I asked you for help already, Granny. Why didn't you untangle the lights?”
“Huh?” Granny Smith looked down, below her book and right onto the neglected work that was sitting in her lap. For a moment, the confused look on her face remained, then it cleared up. “Oh, dagnabbit! Ah completely forgot about that twisted old thing!” She put her book away and looked at Pinkie, apologetically. “Ahm sorry dear, that old brain of mine doesn't always do what I want it ta do anymore. Ahm goin' ta take care of this real quick, don't worry.” She directed her attention to the ball and began pulling at the thin cables that connected the lights, trying to find one of the ends.
“It's fine, Granny. I'm sure I'll still have plenty of time to hang up all the lights when you're done. I just wait here.” Her heart was beating faster as she spoke those words, but Pinkie didn't make a mention of it. She gave Granny a smile, then reached for the book she had put away and began reading in it.


Two hours later, Granny was finally finished with the work. To her hooves, the untangled cables and lights cluttered the floor. “There ya go, my dear. Hope ah wasn't too much of a bother.”
Pinkie got up from the floor, setting the book aside. “No, Granny, it's okay. You were still a great help!” She trotted to the armchair and wrapped Granny Smith up in a hug.
“Aww, thank ya, Pinkie. Now, can ya give me back that book ah was readin'?”
“Sure!” Pinkie released the hug, picked up the book from the floor and hoofed it to Granny. She turned away and looked down at the lights. “Now I need to take these and make the farmhouse and the barns the most spectacular and shiniest buildings anypony has ever seen!”
Granny did not respond, her eyes were fixated on the book and she was captured by the story she was reading again.
Pinkie craned her neck and looked up the stairs. “Big Mac, could you come down and help me with putting the hearth's warming lights on the house?”
The sound of strong hooves could be heard above her, then the opening of a door. “Eeyup!” Big Mac shouted in response. A few seconds later, Big Mac's head appeared at the top of the stairs and he descended down on them.
The stallion put on a hat and a scarf that hung next to the door, then he picked up the lights. With Pinkie following in his tracks, he carried them outside.
As they stood in front of the farmhouse, Pinkie noticed that something was missing. “Wait, we are going to need a ladder to climb up the roof and some staple guns! I just get the tools real quick and you can start hanging the lights on the walls in the meantime!”
“Eeyup!” Big Mac answered, then proceeded as Pinkie had told him.
The party mare zipped to the shed behind the house and entered it. The ladder she sought stood at the end of the cramped room. Pinkie coughed as she moved her way towards it. “Wow, sure is dusty in here! Does Applejack never clean the shed?”
Having reached the object of her desire, Pinkie hastily grabbed it and ripped away a thick cobweb that covered it in the process, together with the fat, black spider that sat in it. Pressing it against her left side with one hoof, she grabbed the two staple guns from the shelf above her with the other, then zipped out of the door and returned back to the front of the house. There, she leaned the ladder against the wall next to a window, grabbed the other end of the lights and, holding one of the staple guns in her mouth, climbed up the ladder swiftly.
Pinkie arrived on the roof safely. Having put down the staple gun and placed it in the rain gutter, Pinkie began to cover the roof with the tiny lamps. Diligently and fully focused, she made sure to spread out the lights evenly across both sides of the roof. Below her, Big McIntosh had also grabbed a staple gun and was busy tacking on the cable in regular intervals, so that the lights would stay on the exterior walls.
Done with placing the lights, Pinkie grabbed her own staple gun again and trotted up the roof until she was on top of it. Starting on the left side of the crest, she put her staple gun to good use. It was monotonous work, but Pinkie was dedicated and soon fell into a steady rhythm.
After the first few rows of lights were secured to the roof, Pinkie's vision suddenly became hazy and she began to sway. The lack of sleep was taking effect. As she wanted to place another staple, she did a wrong step and her hoof slipped. Trying to regain her balance and preventing herself from falling off the roof, she stepped on a few of the lights and crushed them under her hooves.
Pinkie gasped in shock as she looked down at the disaster. “By all the parties in the world, this is horrible!” The broken lights formed an awkward pattern and Pinkie's mind got filled with horror as she imagined how it must look once they are turned on. She stomped down a hoof, wrapped up in her anger, and crushed another light under it. “NO!” Pinkie shouted. “This isn't rooftastic AT ALL!”
The outburst didn't do her any favors. Losing her balance again, Pinkie fell over and slid down the roof on her belly. She could feel more of the lights break under her weight, a straight row of them all the way down to the edge. By a miracle, Pinkie managed to grab on to the rain gutter. Dejected and with a few tears forming in her eyes, she hung there, eyes fixated on the snowy ground.
Big Mac had watched it all and now approached the gloomy mare, ready to catch her, just in case she would fall. “Pinkie, ah think ah should continue working on the roof.”
Pinkie sighed. “Fine..... I'll work down here. Can't have more of the lights getting ruined, it already looks awful now.” She swung herself over to the ladder and climbed down on it. On the ground, she picked up her staple gun that had slipped out of her hoof during the accident and readied herself for more work.
Big Mac nearly got finished with the two exterior walls at the front side of the house. The lights in hoof's reach were secured on the walls. Looking up, Pinkie saw loose lights dangling above her head, left and right of the window above the big gate that led into the barn part of the building. Sighing some more, Pinkie Pie took the ladder after making sure that Big Mac was already on the roof and placed it in front of the big gate. Stiffling a yawn, she climbed the ladder again, until she was at the height of the attic window.
Armed with the staple gun once more, Pinkie leaned to the right and fixated the lights on this side of the window. It went smoothly and soon, Pinkie was back in her work rhythm from earlier. As the lights on the right side were all fixated, she took the staple gun in the other hoof and leaned to the left side. Here, the wall was wider and Pinkie had to stretch herself. For the first few lights, everything was going well. But when she tried some of the lights that were the farthest away, her backhooves suddenly slipped and, without a chance to prevent it, they crashed through the window into the attic. Dropping the staple gun once again, she could grab a rung of the ladder in the last second, preventing herself from falling a second time on this day.
Pinkie Pie cursed. Slowly, she began pulling her legs out of the broken window. Her right leg graced a shard that protruded from the window frame. Pinkie yelped as the pain from the resulting cut flashed through her leg and let go of the rung. Having lost her grip, she fell down the ladder headfirst. Only a thin patch of snow saved her from a severe injury.
Big McIntosh looked down at her, over the roof's edge. “Ya alright, Pinkie Pie?”
Pinkie only groaned loudly in response, owing him an answer.


~ .* .~


On the next morning, the farmhouse lay still. It was a little later than on the previous morning, after breakfast was had, and nopony was in the house right now. This changed soon, though, as the front door sprung open and inside poured the Apple Family, followed by Pinkie Pie, her parents and her three sisters. As the last ones, Sugar Belle and Grand Pear entered the Apple Family residence. The first group of guests had arrived.
The way to Sweet Apple Acres had been filled with Pinkie Pie's singing, but now a wild chatter broke out between all the ponies who stood in the living room now.
“Mom, Dad.....” Tears of emotion were in Pinkie's eyes as she approached her family. “Limestone, Marble, Maud..... I'm so, so happy you're finally here.” She gave each of them a hug, which got acknowledged by Limestone with a loud growl and an attempt to shove Pinkie away and by Marble with a cute nod of agreement. “Um-hm.”
“I have so many things planned! Since this is the first Hearth's Warming Eve you spend on Sweet Apple Acres, I have decided to make this the best Hearth's Warming Eve any family ever had! There's going to be hearth's warming doll making, Sugar Belle will bake a huge cake, we're gonna have the biggest tree ever, oh, and have you seen the lights me and Big McIntosh put up? There are going to be some more and we will–”
“Hold on a second!” Limestone interrupted her, harshly. She came a step closer to Pinkie. “You know all of this isn't necessary, right?”
“What do you mean?” Pinkie smiled at her, happily.
“Well, all of THIS!” Limestone gestured around, her eyes drilling into Pinkie. “Our families already celebrated Hearth's Warming Eve together and everything went fine.”
“For the most part,” Igneous Rock added. His wife nodded, looking sternly behind her glasses for a moment.
“Whatever. We don't need this, Pinkie. Our families get along. If you overdo it, you'll just create a massive disaster and ruin it all!” She planted a hoof on Pinkie's chest and gave her a slight push.
Pinkie did not frown over the aggressive approach. She took Limestone's hoof and started to stroke it gently. “Oh, don't worry, Limestone, it's going to be okay. I have everything under control and will make this the most relaxing and fun time you ever had!”
Limestone gritted her teeth. “You know that's not how it's going to be! I know you, Pinkie, you will–”
A pink hoof landed on her mouth and stopped her lips from moving. The next few words came out only muffled. “Ah, ah, ah! Calm down, Captain Grumpy!”
A blush appeared on Limestone's cheeks and she narrowed her eyes.
“You just go and relax and I will put everything together! Trust me, it's going to be fantastic!” Pinkie patted her head, then turned her around and pushed her towards the sofa. Limestone didn't say any more and sat down, but she crossed her arms and gave Pinkie glares, blushing profusely now.
Their parents had left them and Pinkie saw Applejack leading them up the stairs, to show them were they would sleep during their time on the apple farm. She turned at Maud.
“And I'm the most happy you're here, Maud! I know you're not living far away anymore, but you study so many rocks that we really don't get much time to talk anymore.”
“I know. I miss you, too, Pinkie.” Maud's lips moved as she responded, yet somehow, the muscles in her face barely did. Her expression seemed like she was looking right through her sister.
“I can see you're happy, too, you should see the smile on your face right now, Maud! I have some more work to do, but tonight, we should definitely sit down together and talk and–”
“Oh mah gosh! MAUD!” an exuberant voice interrupted Pinkie's sentence. Apple Bloom, still wearing a woolen hat, ran towards them. She wrapped Maud up in a tight hug. “Maud! Ahm so happy ta see you again, gosh, it's been ages since we talked!”
“Hi, Apple Bloom. I'm happy to see you, too.” Maud lifted her left foreleg and put it on Apple Bloom's back.
Pinkie's joyful expression faltered a little. “Hehe, I guess I'm not the only one who missed you, Maud. But that's okay, I'm busy anyway. You and Apple Bloom can hang out now and we talk after I'm done.”
As she spoke these words, Maud was already being pulled away by the enthusiastic, young filly, who wore a broad grin on her face. “Okay,” she said.
A bit away from the scene, Big Mac and Sugar Belle stood and the two of them looked at each other dreamily and put up a heartwarming display of affection. Limestone snorted while watching them with a deep frown on her face. As Big Mac proceeded to kiss Sugar Belle's forehead, followed by them exchanging a nuzzle, a heartbroken look appeared on Marble's face. She closed her eyes and retreated into the kitchen. A second later, faint sobbing could be heard from there.
Grand Pear, who had eyed Marble with a huge smile, started to frown now. Compassion building up on his face, he hurried after the young mare and followed her into the kitchen.
Just when the commotion caused by the arrival of the many guests had settled for the most part, Applejack came back down the stairs. Using the opportunity, Pinkie Pie zipped right at her.
“Hey, Applejack! Could you help me put up the rest of the lights outside? There are only a few left on the farmhouse and then we only have to take care of the small barns anymore, but I need Big Mac's help for something else.” Pinkie accompanied her request with a smile, which looked slightly strained and a little desperate now.
“Course, Pinkie Pie! Ahm gettin' right to work! We're gonna have put up these lights in no time if ah take care of it!” Applejack reciprocated the smile with one of her own.
“Great! The lights are outside already, you'll see them when you're there! I'm talking to Big Mac!”
Pinkie Pie turned away from her and while she made her way towards Big Mac and Sugar Belle, who now snuggled on the sofa, Applejack put on some warm clothing, then opened the door and headed outside.
“Big Mac?” Pinkie spoke to the stallion upon her arrival. “Sorry if I interrupt, but..... hey, where's Limestone?”
Sugar Belle opened one of her eyes and looked at Pinkie, without releasing the embrace with her coltfriend. “She left a few seconds ago, said something about how she goes upstairs because she can't take all of this lovey-dovey garbage anymore.” She closed her eyes again and snuggled deeper into Big Mac's chin.
“Oh..... okay. I guess I'll talk with her later.” Pinkie's ears dropped. “But now I need you, Big Mac. Can you go into the woods and cut down a great tree for me? I'd do it myself, but I have to hang up the rest of the lights with Applejack and you are the strongest here.”
Big Mac looked down at his marefriend, dreamily. “Nope,” he said.
“Awesome! Then today we will have the lights ready and..... wait.” The meaning of the response only dawned on Pinkie now. “What do you mean, 'no'? My family is already here, the lights still aren't finished and they deserve to have a tree for the holidays! How can you say no, you.....” Pinkie Pie interrupted herself once more and took a deep breath. “I mean, why do you not want to help?” She slapped on a grin. It looked insecure and fake.
“Because I only want to spend time with my sugar cutie right now,” Big Mac explained, without giving Pinkie a look. Beyond his face, Sugar Belle giggled into his neck. She moved up, placed her forehooves around his neck and smooched his mouth with a loud, smacking sound.
“Uuuuh..... fine. Okay. I understand. Just..... keep being lovey-dovey here and I'll find somepony else to help.” She fidgeted around nervously. “I'm sure I'll find one, like, the house is full of them, isn't it? Haha!”
Leaving them alone, Pinkie turned around and trotted a few steps away. She went over her options, mumbling. “I can't ask my family, Limestone is pretty strong, but they are the guests, I can't go and ask them. They should just enjoy themselves.” She put a hoof to her chin and started to scratch it. “I need Applejack's help outside with the lights..... And the two lovebirds behind me won't do anything. That only leaves.....” Pinkie sighed as she came to the obvious conclusion. “Granny Smith, Grand Pear and Apple Bloom.”
She pondered utilizing their help for a moment, feeling insecure about the idea. “This is completely nuts..... Granny and Grand Pear are going to break their necks if they try to carry an entire tree!” she hissed, to nopony in particular. But Pinkie realized that she didn't have a choice, as they were the only available ponies who weren't busy.
She flashed a nervous grin as her imagination got flooded with horrific visions and her eye twitched slightly. “APPLE BLOOM!”


~ .* .~


“Why are we out here?” Apple Bloom frowned, her lower lip poking out. Her face showed nothing but unhappiness. “Ah wanted ta stay with Maud.....”
“Because Pinkie needs our help, dear.” Granny Smith looked over to the youngest member of her family.
“Ah, know..... But she didn't yell with Big Mac!” Apple Bloom pouted and kicked some of the snow away.
“I understand.” The weak, quiet voice of Grand Pear rang out. He patted Apple Bloom's head. “I wanted to stay and talk with Marble, too. She reminds me on Pear Butter so much.....”
Apple Bloom's ears perked up. “On mom? Really?”
“Yes..... She is not much younger than Pear Butter was when she.....” He closed his eyes for a moment before he continued and Apple Bloom looked to the ground. “She has the same sweet voice as her. And when your mom was a young filly, she was just as shy as Marble.” He looked over at Apple Bloom and shot her a smile, completely engulfed by his memories now.
“She was?” Apple Bloom answered the smile, but it was a faint one and some sorrow was apparent in her eyes. “Wow..... Ah wonder how many things ah still don't know about mom.....”
Grand Pear put a hoof around his granddaughter. “There are many stories to tell, your mom was a very boisterous filly. Let us just get this tree and return, then we have plenty of time to talk about her.”
“Okay.....” Apple Bloom managed to widen her smile a tiny bit.
“I think this one looks good!” Granny Smith shouted all of a sudden, pulling them out of their conversation.
Granny pointed at a majestic, sublime fir tree in just a few meters distance. Its branches were decked with patches of snow just where it counted and they stuck out at angles that formed a symmetric perfection. As Apple Bloom and Grand Pear looked at it, they felt exactly the same as Granny, that they had the perfect tree in front of them. The mighty tree looked just like the ones on hearth's warming postcards. As they stood there and stared in awe, the sunlight that fell on the tree making the snow glisten and completing the perfection, they could almost hear the singing of benevolent winter spirits in the air around them.
“This tree is everything ah ever wanted!” Apple Bloom spoke, her eyes shining. Grand Pear nodded, a tear forming in the corner of his eye. It trickled out eventually, then froze to a crystal on his cheek. He reached out and pulled his granddaughter closer who, in turn, placed her right hoof on his chest and snuggled her mane into his face. The singing continued and they felt a warmth in their hearts like none of them had ever felt before.....
“Okay, now let us finally get that saw and cut down the old thing, ah have ta take the medicine against my gippy tummy if we don't want to fumigate the outhouse again this week!” Granny Smith's impatient voice entered their ears.
The singing stopped abruptly and the tree lost its glistening shine, as the sun became covered by a cloud. Apple Bloom and Grand Pear simultaneously turned at Granny Smith, disgust spreading out on their faces. “Too much information, Granny!” Apple Bloom shouted.
Forcing back the urge to vomit, Apple Bloom picked up a long metal saw and three ropes from her back. She dropped the ropes in the snow in front of the tree and marshed with the saw towards it. The saw had two handles, one on each side, and the right one was now grabbed on to by Apple Bloom and Grand Pear, while Granny Smith took the left handle on the opposite side of their chosen hearth's warming tree. Together, they began moving the saw, steadily cutting into the bark and the wood. Granny Smith and Grand Pear coughed and wheezed and Granny's face became more and more distorted in pain the longer they pulled at the saw. But they managed to finish the task and, eventually, the trunk was fully cut and the tree began to tilt.
“TIMBEEEEEEEEER!” Apple Bloom yelled and the three of them got out of the way. Creaking, the tree began to fell, then hit the ground with a rustling, followed by a thud. Apple Bloom wiped off some sweat, while Grand Pear and Granny Smith sat down, catching their breaths and wheezing some more.
Apple Bloom let them some time to rest while she put the saw on her back again and knotted the three ropes around the trunk. Having somewhat recovered, the two old ponies took the other end of two of the ropes and knotted them around their upper bodies. Apple Bloom did the same with the third rope and, in a combined effort, all three of them started to pull.
At first, nothing happened, and it took them a few seconds until the massive tree finally started moving slowly. The strength of elder and youth combined, they managed to move the tree through the deep snow. Pulling the heavy weight past other trees, all of them sweaty and with gritted teeth, it took them almost an hour until they could see the first houses of Ponyville.
“Almost there!” Apple Bloom shouted, feeling relief wash over her. “How are ya two holding out?”
“I'm doing..... fine,” Grand Pear responded. “I couldn't pull it alone anymore, but I'll manage with your help until we're back at the farm.”
“Don't worry,” Granny Smith assured her. “Ah've pulled heavier than that back in the days and mah old hip still has quite the–” All of a sudden, a sheepish look appeared in Granny's eyes and she covered her upper lip with her lower one. “Uhm.” The reaction was accompanied by a loud, unpleasant sound of something cracking.
“What's wrong, Granny? Why did ya stop?” Apple Bloom inquired, her voice sounding strained. Her and Grand Pear had to stop, as well, unable to move the tree by themselves. “Come on, we're almost there, just a lil' bit more!”
“Ah.....” Granny Smith gulped. “A-Ah can't move.” Her face turned red. “My hindlegs ain't listening anymore. Looks like that old hip of mine ain't livin' up to mah expectations as much as ah thought it would.” She gave the other two ponies a sheepish grin, then her body collapsed into the snowy mass.
“Granny!” Apple Bloom gasped.

About twenty minutes later, the trio of unlucky ponies arrived back at Sweet Apple Acres. Grand Pear and Apple Bloom trotted close to each other, carrying Granny Smith on their backs the best they could. The old mare was whimpering in pain, her eyes closed.
Pinkie Pie saw them from afar, being outside the farmhouse to do a last check on the now finished decorations. Her eyes grew wide as they came through the gate. “G-Granny? W-What happened?” she stammered. “And where is the tree?”
“Granny hurt herself when we pulled the tree through the woods,” Apple Bloom spoke quietly, looking up at Granny with a frown.
“B-But you got the tree, right? I mean, you surely didn't just leave it out in the woods. Right?” Pinkie laughed dryly.
Apple Bloom and Grand Pear shook their heads slowly, their mouths pointing down. “I'm sorry, Pinkie, but we could not move the tree any further without Granny Smith. And we had to carry her, too, she can't walk anymore with that hipshot,” Grand Pear broke the bad news.
“Oh,” Pinkie answered, simply. Her pupils contracted. “It's okay.” She lifted her forehooves and clopped them together, while attempting to form an optimistic grin. “It's totally fine. Just carry Granny inside and put her out of her misery, I mean, put her down, I mean, lay her down on the sofa so she can rest!” She clopped her hooves together a second time, then turned around and trotted to the front door of the farmhouse, still half-grinning.
A few steps before the door, Pinkie stopped, turned at one of the sugarcanes and eyed it with a smile. “Ha.....” she sighed in bliss. Then she grabbed it with both hooves and, her face distorting into anger for a second, broke it in half. She tossed the pieces over the fence, already smiling again, and turned to the other one. “Mmm, you really look good, so nice and cozy! Let's make you look better!” Once more, her face distorted, and she broke this sugarcane in half just like the other, then tossed the two pieces to the other ones.
“Now it's better!” Pinkie looked at her work and grinned, her left eye twitching. She continued her way, opened the door, went inside and slammed it behind her.
Apple Bloom and Grand Pear screwed up their faces and twitched.


~ .* .~


One day closer to Hearth's Warming Eve and a few hours after dawn, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were already outside and at work again. Applejack bit off a piece of duct tape and began wrapping it around the broken sugarcane, while Pinkie held it together. The other one already stood tall again, although a little crude-looking. Pinkie Pie looked at it over her shoulder, then looked back at the one in her hooves and sighed.
“Maybe Limestone was right..... I am going to ruin Hearth's Warming Eve for everypony.” She dropped her head, eyes closed.
“Don't be silly!” Applejack spoke, having finished fixing up the cane. “Ya just had a little breakdown after the stress got too much. That's normal and happens to all of us, Pinkie!”
“I know.....” Pinkie looked her in the eyes, her own slightly wet. “But what if it happens again? I don't want to explode into everypony's faces on Hearth's Warming Eve.....”
“Shoot, Pinkie, the last time I've seen ya so worried was when Cheese Sandwich first came to Ponyville!” Applejack frowned now. She lifted up Pinkie's chin with a hoof. “Chin up, Pinkie!” The farmmare grinned.
Pinkie's eyes widened, then she giggled. “Okaaaay, fine,” she responded, sounding slightly more cheerful. “I guess it can't be worse than yesterday. And if I can, I want to avoid that you make another bad joke like that.”
“That's the spirit!” Applejack removed her hoof. “And ah will pretend ah didn't hear that remark.”
Pinkie Pie giggled again.
Applejack wrapped a hoof around Pinkie's neck and pulled her in. “Now, what do ya say, Pinkie? Think ah fixed 'em up right?”
“Hmm.....” Pinkie narrowed her eyes and held a hoof at her chin. “The duct tape is kind of noticeable..... And I can still see the cracks a little..... But I think it will do!” Pinkie chimed the last sentence.
Ruby Pinch stepped at Applejack's left side. “They look like the same shitty ones that sis and I use for years now. I love them!”
Applejack sighed in satisfaction. She looked at Ruby Pinch and pulled the filly close, too. “That's great to hear, Ruby! Ah am glad the decorations make ya feel like home!” She squeezed Ruby.
After a few more seconds of admiring the repaired sugarcanes, Applejack opened her mouth and her pupils shrunk. She shot her head to the left. “Ruby Pinch?!”
“Who else did you expect, Santa Hooves? The fat bastard hasn't come to us in years now. He doesn't even exist.” Ruby Pinch frowned.
“No, but..... ah didn't expect ya here at all. Why did ya–” Applejack heard hoofsteps behind her and stopped. She turned around.
A mare stood behind her. She looked almost like Ruby Pinch, only that her coat was slightly darker and her mane less messy. She swayed slightly and held a hoof at her head, painfully grimacing.
“Berry Punch? Ya here, too! S-Shucks..... What brought ya two here?” Applejack sounded friendly, but her voice shook a little.
Berry Punch's face lit up as her eyes fell on Applejack. She put her hoof down and approached her with a smile on her lips. “Applejack, cousin!” She wrapped the other mare in a tight hug and squeezed so hard that Applejack almost lost her breath.
Pinkie joined their side, excitedly. “Uuuuuh, another cousin?” She puckered her lips.
“Second cousin, actually,” Applejack corrected her. She wrestled herself free from the embrace, which only succeeded after a couple attempts. “Why are ya here?” she asked.
Berry Punch chuckled. “Oh, you know how that goes..... Ruby here” – She pulled her little sister closer – “heard all about that family celebration you have going on this year and she really wanted to come. Said how we're part of the family, too, and she nagged me for days until I finally gave in and brought her here.” Berry Punch gave Applejack a nudge. “Sure you have room for two more ponies in all your festivities, right?”
“O-Of course! Ah..... Ah wouldn't turn down a member of the Apple Family, no matter how distant they might be!” She came closer to the siblings and wrapped Berry Punch in a hug. A sickly sweet smell wafted at her from Berry Punch's mouth as she did so. Applejack noticed a different kind of stench coming from Ruby. She commanded her facial muscles to not move and forced herself to pull in Ruby too.
“F-Family is family,” she stuttered and patted their backs. She looked at Pinkie Pie with pleading eyes that radiated imminent desperation.
“I'm glad you're here, too!” Pinkie shouted in joy. “I'm planning the biggest hearth's warming celebration ever and the more ponies we are, the merrier it will be! Also.....” A cunning expression built on her face. “I could really use your help with something!”
The three ponies let go of each other and Berry Punch turned at Pinkie. “Whatever you want, Pinkie! Me and Ruby are so glad that you invited us–”
“We didn't invite ya,” Applejack pressed out.
“Hehe..... I know, cousin!” Berry Punch patted her neck. “We do everything you want from us, Pinkie, and will help where we can, because that's how glad we are you're letting us stay here!”
“Great! Now, see, there's this–” Pinkie began, but Applejack interrupted her.
“Pinkie, just wait a moment. Let them go inside first, they just arrived. Ya can load 'em with them chores once they introduced themselves to the others and warmed up a little!”
Pinkie groaned. “Okay, fine..... Bust just for a few moments. I'm already behind on the preparations.”
The four ponies turned to the farmhouse together and entered it; Berry Punch and Ruby Pinch merrily, Pinkie Pie with her usual bounces and Applejack with an expression that was somewhere between laughing and screaming.
Inside, the other members of their family were spread out over the living room and the foyer. Big Mac and Sugar Belle were sitting on the sofa again, only eyes for each other, just like on the day before. In front of the chimney and the crackling fire in it, Marble and Grand Pear sat together, both of them engulfed by deep conversation. Limestone sat in an armchair and was reading a book, not without aiming the occasional, angry glance at the happy couple that was busy snuggling and cuddling not far away from her. The only ones Pinkie and Applejack couldn't spot were Granny Smith and Pinkie's parents. Granny was upstairs in her bed, still in need of giving her tortured hip rest. Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz probably spent her company, Applejack assumed.
At the table in the middle of the living room, Apple Bloom looked up at them and Maud followed her eyes. A map was spread out on the table in front of them, showing a vast landscape with rivers, mountains and little villages. Two metallic, painted figures, one a bulky earth pony warrior with an axe, the other one a similar muscular mare who wore a pelt and a sharp tooth on a necklace, stood on top of the map. Some dices lay next to them.
“Applejack? More guests?” Apple Bloom cocked her head, then got up and came closer to check out the new arrivals. Maud followed her.
“Yeah, seems so, Apple Bloom. These are Berry Punch and Ruby Pinch, our second cousins.” Applejack pointed at her side, making a small introductory gesture.
“Oh, awesome!” Apple Bloom perked up. “Ah had no idea more of our family would come!”
“Me neither, Apple Bloom. Me neither.” Applejack mustered up a grin. Her eyes looked pleading again.
Apple Bloom approached Ruby, holding out a hoof to her. “Hey, Ruby, ahm Apple–” She stopped before finishing her greeting and used her hoof to cover her nose instead. “Mmmmm.....” it came out muffled from under it.
Maud's nostrils constricted slightly. “You should go and take a shower, Ruby,” she said, deadpan.
“Showers are for sissies and losers!” Ruby replied, without a care in the world. “I rather go and show Applejack my pets!”
“Alright.” Maud turned around and brought herself out of the range of the stench that surrounded Ruby Pinch. She sat down at the table again.
“Ah think ah'll join Maud!” Apple Bloom mumbled under her hoof and backed away. Applejack looked after her, visibly uncomfortable with the situation. She looked at Berry Punch. “No offense, Berry, but ah think Maud is right here. Ruby should really go and take a shower. She can use our bathroom upstairs.”
Berry Punch was slightly taken aback by the blunt reactions, but she remained confident in her response. “Oh, I know, I know. I really get where you're coming from, cuz. It's just, see.....” She leaned in close. “Ruby really hates being in the water and she's getting quite mad if you force her. The last time I managed to get her to take a bath three months ago, the neighbors thought somepony's getting murdered. I still feel some of the bruises even today.” She pointed at her chin, then down at her chest. “It's better if you just let Ruby do as she wants. She's going to shower once the smell starts to annoy her. Probably.” Berry Punch nudged Applejack.
Like on command, Ruby suddenly stood in front of Applejack. “I want to show you my pets!”
“Ah, sure.....” Applejack said, doing her best to appear friendly to the filly and to ignore the stench that spread out from her coat and her tangled mane.
Ruby did not await the response before she reached for something on her back. She plucked a large jar from it, which Applejack hadn't noticed yet, then held it in front of her cousin's face.
At first, Applejack could not see what she meant. There were sweets inside the glass, chocolate and something that looked like cotton candy. She spotted a few small pieces of raw meat, leaves and a couple branches. The bottom of the jar was covered in a thick layer of black mold. Opening her mouth and stopping to breathe through her nose, she came a little closer to get a better look. Suddenly, one of the leaves rustled and out came a big, brown insect. Its six legs were covered in rather long, wiry hairs, two large antennae sat on its head and it had big, black eyes. Another insect that looked just the same followed it a second later. Applejack's face turned white as she realized what Ruby's pets were.
Balancing the jar on one hoof, Ruby pointed at it with the other one. “These are my pet cockroaches!” She beamed happily. “On the left side is Atra and the one on the right side is Chloro! Would you like to pet them!” Ruby grinned and squeaked.
Atra and Chloro turned their heads and curiously looked at Applejack from their black, round eyes.
“Ah..... N-No, it's fine, Ruby. A-Ah don't need to pet them. Ah've gotta help Pinkie now, with somethin'.”
“Okay!” Ruby responded, then she skipped away with her two cockroach friends.
Applejack turned at Berry Punch. “A-Are these really cockroaches?!”
“Right on, cuz!” Berry Punch confirmed, giving her back a strong pat. “A few months ago, Ruby came downstairs with them in the morning, I can tell you, I've never seen a filly's hoof being so black like on that day! I'm glad she found two friends in them. Buying her a dog is a little out of reach for us, if you know what I mean!” She nudged Applejack again.
“O-Okay..... Ah guess if they stay inside their jar, it's fine,” Applejack stammered. She gulped as she watched Ruby take seat on the sofa and placing the jar in her lap.
Berry Punch soaked in some air through her mouth, audibly. “Afraid that's something I can't promise..... Now, where's the eggnog?” She trotted away, eagerly.
Pinkie Pie blocked her path. “Not so fast!” she said. “Remember, I asked you for help!”
Berry Punch looked at her incredulously, like she had to scan her brain first, then she began to nod. “Yeah, yeah, I remember. I said I will do everything you want, Pinkie, and I don't break that promise!” She gave Pinkie a nudge, knocking out her breath.
As she was finally able to talk again, Pinkie explained. “Ok, I need you to go into the woods with me. There's a cut-down tree, not far away from Ponyville, and we need to bring it here, so we can finally have a hearth's warming tree. I sent Granny Smith, Grand Pear and Apple Bloom to get it yesterday, but Granny strained her hip, so they had to leave it in the woods.”
“Okay, sure thing, sure thing!” Berry Punch nodded. “Not like the eggnog will run away, right?” Pinkie Pie dodged another nudge by the mare. Berry Punch looked into the living room. “Ruby! Pinkie Pie has a chore for us, come over here and show some gratitude for letting us stay on the farm!”
Ruby did not hesitate and slipped down from the sofa. The jar, now screwed open, remained there. “I'm here!” she said, taking up position in front of Pinkie Pie. Atra and Chloro were scurrying in and out of her mane.
Pinkie averted her gaze. “Oooooookay, then let's head out!” she chuckled and pointed at the door, already making her way before Ruby and her sister could start to move.


Beyond the borders of Ponyville, Berry Punch, Ruby Pinch and Pinkie Pie found themselves in front of the tree half an hour later. Atra and Chloro stood next to Ruby, two brown, longish shapes in the snow.
Pinkie's eyes grew and so did her mouth. “Now THIS is rooftastic!” Her eyes sparkled. Not wasting more time, she went to the tree and checked the three ropes that were still attached to it. As she found they were fine, she turned to her helpers.
“Okay, just put these ropes around you and then we can bring this magnificent tree to the farm!” She slipped into the sling of her own rope.
Berry Punch did the same, swaying more now and grumbling a little, holding her head again. Only Ruby Pinch needed longer to do as Pinkie had told her. She stood  a little to the left of the empty sling, her back pointing at them.
“Uh, Ruby? What are you doing?” A slight nervousness crept into Pinkie's voice.
Ruby turned her head around to Pinkie. “Shit, don't bite off your tongue!” she shouted, noticing Pinkie's nervousness. “I am done in a second!”
As Ruby finally stepped to the side, ready to slip into her own sling, Pinkie could see Atra and Chloro where she stood. Tiny, elastic threads were attached to their bodies. They ended at the tree.
“Atra and Chloro want to help pull the tree, too!” Ruby giggled.
“Not the weirdest thing I've seen!” Pinkie dismissed the strangeness and waved a hoof. “Now, let's pull!” she gave the command to start.
For them, the task was easy. Another fourty minutes later and with a bit of support from Ruby Pinch's magic (and Atra and Chloro), they had arrived with the tree at Sweet Apple Acres. Now, the tree stood in the foyer. Apple Bloom and Grand Pear came with a few boxes of ornaments and began decorating the tree, each of them smiling and grinning in satisfaction.
During the entire time, Pinkie stood there and watched them, occasionally sighing in pleasure and relief.
As they were finished decorating, Apple Bloom joined Pinkie's side and Grand Pear went back to the fireplace, where Marble waited for him with a smile.
“Oh, the tree is finished!” Ruby's voice chimed into their direction and she rushed over to them. Atra and Chloro sat on her head. “See?” she asked them, eyes pointing up. “This is a hearth's warming tree!” The two cockroaches climbed down from her head and made their way towards her stretched out hoof.
Ruby closed the distance to the tree and brought her hoof near one of the branches. Grinning at the tree and without averting her gaze from it, Pinkie slapped Ruby's hoof away without saying a word. Ruby pulled it away and rubbed over it with the other one. “Piss off, you suck!” she commented Pinkie's action. Atra and Chloro slipped back between the hairs of her mane. Their antennae moved angrily. Ruby toddled away.
Pinkie was not phased. She sighed again, still looking at the beautiful tree that was now adorned with a long golden banner, golden stars, a silver garland, apple-shaped ornaments and even a few rocks. “Now Hearth's Warming Eve is a little closer!”
Apple Bloom's eyes sparkled just as much as hers. Both of them were enamored by the beautiful sight.
A loud and intense burp coming from the living room destroyed the festive atmosphere. “Miss Punch, would thou mind thy manners?” they could hear Cloudy Quartz asking in response.
The burp happened again. “Mind thy manners? I don't have that thing you're asking me!” Berry Punch slurred. A glass clinked, then loud slurping could be heard. “Mind your *hick* own business, four-eyes!” The sentence got accentuated with another hiccup, before Berry Punch got herself yet another glass of eggnog.
Cloudy Quartz growled over the insult.
Holding the next glass of eggnog in her hooves, Berry Punch approached Marble and Grand Pear at the fireplace. “Hey, you always quiet or whaaaat?” she addressed Marble.
The deep voice and the drunken demeanor made Marble cower down a little.
“Hey! I aaaasked you something. Why are you always quiet?” Berry Punch reached out and poked Marble's forehead with a hoof. Marble squealed in fear.
“Alright, alright, that's enough now!” Applejack, who had kept a close eye on both Berry Punch and her little sister since they arrived, rushed closer. She put a hoof around Berry Punch and pulled her away from the scared teenager. “Ah think ya had it with eggnog for a while, Berry Punch! Why don't ya just go up and take a nap?”
“I don't *hick* need a nap, Applejack. Just give me another bottle of eggnog and I'll *hick* be fine on my own, don't worry!”
Applejack scrunched her face as the smell of alcohol wafted right into her nostrils. She ignored Berry Punch's response and pulled her out of the living room and up the stairs.
Cloudy Quartz looked after them, with pity in her eyes. She sighed and shook her head, then returned her attention to the stitchery in her hooves.
Having overheard everything, Apple Bloom scowled at Ruby Pinch. “Ya should tell ya big sister not ta act like this! She's embarrassing!” A lot of pent-up frustration over Ruby's language and her smell permeated the statement.
Ruby Pinch huffed and pouted. She looked hurt. “But she can talk the right way, normal ponies don't even understand the hickish country talk of your sister, you nutjob!”
The upcoming fight threw Pinkie out of her trance completely. She went between them before Apple Bloom could start to painfully pull at Ruby Pinch's mane.
“Hey, hey, hey!” she said, shoving Apple Bloom away with he right hoof. “There will be no fights during this family hearth's warming!” Left and right of her, Apple Bloom and Ruby Pinch gave each other deadly glares.
Pinkie looked up with a pondering expression, trying to find a way how to keep them from fighting.
“Hey, why don't you go into the kitchen and make some tree decorations?” she finally suggested. “This will keep you busy!”
Apple Bloom cocked her head to the right side. “Seriously? Isn't there enough of it already?”
“Sure, there's a lot already, but we can always need some more!” she addressed the question. “Now sit down!”
The stern command worked. Apple Bloom and Ruby Pinch moved away from the tree. They still exchanged glares, but stayed at a safe distance from each other, before they took seat at opposite ends of the kitchen table. Pinkie followed them a few minutes later and poured a small pile of glitter in front of them, then gave the two fillies a pair of scissors and a bottle of glue each, a few sheets of strong paper and a box of colored pencils.
“Now have fun! You'll see, that will be much better than fighting!” She jumped away, while Ruby and Apple Bloom hesitantly reached for the paper and some of the pencils, not stopping to look at each other.
For a while, the two fillies quietly engaged in their assigned activity. They drew stars on the paper, colored them and cut them out, then gave glue on them and sprinkled them with the golden glitter. As they had produced a sizeable amount of glittery stars in various colors, Apple Bloom looked at Ruby Pinch stealthily.
“So, uh, why is ya sister drinkin' so much?” she asked.
Ruby Pinch shot her a new glare.
“Just askin'!” Apple Bloom gave her an apologetic grin.
Ruby Pinch kept her eyes narrowed but, to Apple Bloom's surprise, answered her question. “She's like this since mom and dad died.”
“Oh.....” Apple Bloom lowered her ears. She had never been very interested in the lives of her distant cousins but, now, she felt guilty for this.
“Ahm sorry, Ruby. Ah didn't know about that. If ah had, ah wouldn't have called ya sister embarrassing.” Now the apologetic expression in her face was more sincere.
“It's fine..... We get along.” Ruby's eyes became slightly less narrower.
“Ya sure?” Apple Bloom inquired. “Ah mean, Applejack would help ya if there are any problems ya can't solve on ya own. And ah would, too. We always help our family.”
Ruby's expression eased more. “I said it's fine. Really. Our parents are dead since I was two years old. Berry and I have become used to it and we know how to deal with it.”
Apple Bloom moved her head slightly and did an unsuspicious glance at the stairs that led up to the second floor. But she decided not to probe further in this touchy subject.
“So, uh, ah've seen ya have some–” Apple Bloom cleared her throat before continuing. “–really, uh, unique pets there. How did ya say they're called?”
Ruby's face lit up a little. “Atra and Chloro,” she said. “They are my best friends!” As to confirm it, Atra and Chloro began to move in a circle right in front of Ruby.
Apple Bloom gulped. “They are..... cute.”
“Thanks.” Ruby let one of the cockroaches climb on her hoof and carefully snuggled her cheek against it. The roach, Apple Bloom couldn't tell whether it was Atra or Chloro, hissed quietly in response to the affection.
Apple Bloom suppressed a cold shiver. “H-How did ya find Atra and Chloro? Ah bet that wasn't easy since they aren't, uh, ordinary pets.”
Ruby kissed her cockroach friend gently on the back and put it down again. The big smile on her face indicated happiness over Apple Bloom's question. “Oh, it wasn't hard, actually! Last year, the roof of our house broke and there was a huge hole in it! It was right above my bedroom! Mom couldn't afford repairing it for a long time, because she was using all our money to buy booze.”
“Ahm sorry, Ruby,” Apple Bloom said.
“No, it's fine! The best thing ever happened because of it!” Ruby reassured her. “It was raining into a corner of my room for months. Eventually, the walls were covered with black, gooey stuff. I looked it up, it's called 'mold'. Happens when a walls is constantly wet and can't dry, then spores come and start growing there.”
“Really? That's a lot of knowledge ya have there, Ruby.” Apple Bloom forced herself to look down at her paper, scribbling another star.
“Thanks! I spend a lot of time reading in the library while sis is passed out and pisses herself on the sofa.”
The amount of “Too much information” began to reach a dangerously high level, but Apple Bloom kept herself together and did her best to ignore the urge to leave for the outhouse.
“Anyway,” Ruby continued “a while after the spores came, the mold was suddenly full of cockroaches one morning! Two of them came into my bed and I woke up next to them. I knew they liked me and I liked them, too, so I adopted them!”
As she had finished, Atra and Chloro moved in a circle again. “Awww, I love you, too, Atra and Chloro!” The two cockroaches hissed in unison.
Belching erupted in Apple Bloom's throat and she pressed a hoof down on her mouth, forcing back the desire to puke on the table.
“Hey, are you okay?” Ruby Pinch inquired. There was real concern in her eyes now.
Apple Bloom only responded after a few seconds. “Y-Yeah, ahm fine, Ruby..... Ah guess something of the breakfast was spoiled, is all.” She redirected her attention to Ruby's face, avoiding to look at the two cockroaches on the table.
“So, uh, why cockroaches, Ruby? Did ya, ah don't know, never think about getting a different pet? Something..... more sanitary?” A tortured grin crept on Apple Bloom's face.
Ruby Pinch looked at her cluelessly. “Sani..... tary? What do you mean?”
“Well, uh..... Ah mean..... Ya know..... Something more clean. And..... healthy. Like, a dog or a cat, maybe?”
Ruby Pinch narrowed her eyes again, a little. “We don't have enough bits for a pet like that.....”
“Well, uh, okay..... Ahm just thinking, maybe Applejack could give ya money ta buy a different pet?”
Ruby lowered her head, a new, intense glare building up in her eyes. “Why?” she asked.
Apple Bloom continued, despite the warning. “Well, ya see, Atra and Chloro.....” She broke out in sweat. “They are nice and all and ahm sure they're real cute, but..... they are dirty, Ruby. They could make ya real sick, so–”
Apple Bloom didn't come any further in her sentence. The next thing she knew was that a paper ball hit her cheek. “Say that again about my friends, you shit!”
Now Apple Bloom glared, too. “Can't ya see that ahm trying ta help ya?!” She shot a hoof at Atra and Chloro. “They ain't pets, they are pests, Ruby! Pests!”
Ruby did not understand, instead, she flung another paper ball at Apple Bloom, this time with more force. “Eat this, apple bitch!” Her face was distorted in anger.
Now Apple Bloom had enough, too. She made a paper ball of her own and threw it into Ruby's face. Then another one, which she aimed at Atra and Chloro. The two insects fled and hastily took refugee in Ruby's mane.
Ruby's response was shooting glue into Apple Bloom's mane, followed by throwing a paper ball at it that got promptly stuck there. Apple Bloom did the same, aiming for Ruby's face. As it was completely covered in sticky glue, she took the bulk of the remaining golden glitter into her hooves, approached Ruby and blew it at her.
As the kitchen was finally entered by Cloudy Quartz to see what the ruckus was about, Apple Bloom and Ruby Pinch stood in front of her, their bodies completely covered in glue, golden glitter and crumbled paper balls. Neither of their grim faces showed any regret.
The mare chuckled and fainted.


~ .* .~


Marble sipped from a mug of cocoa, sitting at her usual spot in front of the fireplace. Opposite of her was Limestone, a mug in her own hoof. Between them stood a festive plate with cookies. It was afternoon, only two days until Hearth's Warming Eve anymore. Grand Pear was upstairs and took a nap, which Limestone used as an opportunity to talk to Marble.
Limestone took a sip, readying her to address what she wanted to talk about. “I noticed how you looked at Big Mac and Sugar Belle,” she began. Marble looked at her shyly, with the eye that wasn't covered by her mane.
“And I get what you think. I hate it to see them being so shmoopy all the time. It makes my stomach turn around!” Limestone gestured with her hoof, angrily, almost spilling her cocoa. She took another sip to calm down.
“Um-hm. Mine too,” Marble agreed. She looked at her mug, then at the floor.
“Why is everypony getting a special somepony, except for me?!” Limestone smashed her mug down on the wooden floor with full force. Half of the remaining cocoa spilled over and a crack appeared at the bottom.
Marble twitched, but she nodded. “Um-hm. I understand you. I have a crush on Big Mac since the first time I've seen him..... And now it's over.” Marble redirected her gaze into the flames of the fire, where it stayed.
“It's not fair!” Limestone lifted her mug again to take another sip. Tears shot into Marble's eyes and they obstructed her view of the flickering flames. She did not respond this time.
The bitter mood the two sisters found themselves in changed all of a sudden, as Pinkie Pie jumped in between them. “Hey, why the grouchy faces? You look like you could need a distraction!”
Limestone glared at her, while still sipping. “What do you want, Pinkie?!” she said as she had emptied her mug. “Can't you see that Marble and I have a serious conversation. Mind your own business!”
“Awww, but it will be fun!” Pinkie didn't let Limestone deter her. “It's time to make our hearth's warming dolls!”
“We already made our hearth's warming dolls, Pinkie! At the rockfarm!” She put her mug down again, only slighly less audible than the first time.
“Not those dolls, silly! I am talking about crochet dolls! You don't have any of those!” Pinkie chimed and smiled at Limestone.
Her mood didn't prove to be contagious. “Crochet dolls? Why would we need them? We have our own traditional dolls!” Limestone was about to get up and leave, but Pinkie grabbed her.
“You'll see, I have a great activity planned, for both sides of the family!” Eager and hasty, she pulled Limestone away from the fireplace and Marble with her, until they stood in the kitchen together.
All but them were grouped around the kitchen table. Even Grand Pear was there, who looked like he would fall asleep any moment.
“Sit down!” Pinkie commanded and pushed both her younger and her older sister into two of the chairs. Then she took position at one of the far ends of the table, right next to Ruby Pinch and Berry Punch. She ignored that Ruby still had glitter in the face and that the strands of her mane were glued together.
“Attention, everypony!” She clopped with her hooves on the table. “I have a great activity planned for us this afternoon!”
“You already said that!” Limestone complained.
“As you know, both of our families, the Apples and the Pies, have their own, traditional hearth's warming dolls! And we will put them over the fireplace on Hearth's Warming Eve like we do every year! But.....” Pinkie waited a few seconds to increase the suspense. She earned nothing but tired, unexcited looks, though.
“But how about each of our families will also make the traditional dolls of the other family?” She pointed at the things she had prepared on the table; an assortment of rocks, with tiny pickaxes to bring them in shape, and wool in the colors of the coats and manes of each of them, with crochet needles. There also was fabric to stuff the finished crochet dolls with.
The gathered ponies let their eyes wander over the material, but none of them looked any happier.
“I was thinking, once we put up the dolls over the fireplace, a lot of you will probably feel left out.” She pointed at Applejack. “Applejack, you have a crochet doll for years now. But you don't have a rock doll!”
Applejack scrunched her face. “But that's not true, Pinkie. I've made one when we celebrated Hearth's Warming on the rockfarm together, remember? Apple Bloom, Big Mac and Granny Smith have one, too.”
“I remember,” Pinkie clarified. “But this year, you will make new ones together with everypony of our family! That's much better than using the old rock dolls!”
The logic was not completely flawless, but Applejack remained silent. She scrunched her face in annoyance, however.
Pinkie pointed at Marble. “Marble, you've made a traditional rock doll, like every year. But you don't have a crochet doll.”
“Nope.....” Marble responded. She did not voice it, but her expression showed that she was not enthusiastic with the idea, either.
“But this year, that's going to change! Each member of the Pies and the Apples will have a crochet doll and a rock doll to put on the fireplace! Nopony is going to feel left out anymore!” Pinkie's determination washed over the gathered ponies. It did not affect them, though.
“But ah don't feel left out, rock doll or not.....” Applejack whispered. “And it seems that nopony else does. This forced activity isn't fun.”
“Just let her have this, Applejack,” Granny Smith whispered back. “You see how much it means ta her.”
Applejack looked at Pinkie Pie, who grinned widely, and sighed. Begrudgingly, she took one of the rocks and a pickaxe and made herself to work. Berry Punch and Ruby Pinch (and Atra and Chloro) seemed to have genuine fun with Pinkie's activity, but other than theirs, there was no enthusiasm.
Moaning and sighing, the family got to work and started crafting their hearth's warming dolls.


A couple hours later, the sun was setting on the horizon, Applejack and Berry Punch sat on the sofa together, each of them a glass of eggnog in their hooves.
“That was a fun activity, cuz!” Berry's voice slurred slightly, but not as much as on the day before, yet. She lifted her glass and a smile of anticipation formed on her face. In front of her stood three more glasses, all of them filled to the brim with the yellow liquor.
“Ahm not so sure.....” Applejack questioned.
“I am. Didn't have so much fun since the day Ruby carried that bogle into the house.....” She sighed in satisfaction, then sipped.
Hearing the word “bogle” sent a chill down Applejack's spine, as a certain memory resurfaced. She quickly changed the subject. “All those dolls won't even fit on our fireplace.” Applejack sipped, too, now.
“Ah, it will be fine, Jackie..... I'm sure there's a way. And I'm just happy to be here with Ruby this year. You are a generous soul, Jackie!” She pulled Applejack in close and squeezed her.
Applejack's face softened. “Aww, don't mention it, really. Ah know ya and Ruby don't have the best reputation in town, but ah'll be doomed and go to Tartarus if ah ever turn down a member of mah family!”
“Yeah, yeah.....” Berry Punch looked down at her glass, fixating it all of a sudden, with a strange expression in her eyes.
Applejack noticed. “Is there anything wrong?” She frowned at her second cousin.
“Nah.....” Berry Punch waved a hoof at her and took another sip. She emptied the glass with it, put it down on the table and immediately reached for another one. “Everything's fine, Jackie. Don't worry about it. It's just the booze, really.”
Applejack's frown grew deeper. “But ah know that ain't true. Ah might not have seen ya for a long time, Berry, but ah still remember the way ya act if ya hidin' somethin'. Come on, tell me. Ahm family.”
Berry Punch sighed. “Ah, well..... See, I wasn't completely honest to you, cuz.” She sipped again. Her hoof began shaking now and she barely managed to not spill anything.
“Ya..... weren't?” Applejack watched her, nervously.
Berry Punch didn't respond for a few seconds, gathering her thoughts. “See, the real reason why Ruby and I came here is.....” She sighed deeply. “Because we ran out of money. Harvest wasn't too good this year, the water pipes needed fixing..... and then there's Mr. Booze here.” She gulped down the rest of her glass, then put it down on the table with a bang. “Barely managed to pay the loan for the house this month.”
Applejack looked at her in dismay.
“There won't be any hearth's warming gifts for little Ruby this year..... So I brought her here. I wanted that she can at least have a celebration in a warm and cozy house.” Berry Punch sniffed. Automatically, she reached for her third glass and gulped its contents down, too.
“Ahm so sorry, Berry. Ah didn't know life's been so rough for ya and Ruby this year. Ya should have told me earlier.” Applejack's frown grew even deeper.
“Nah.....”
“Ah want to help ya. Our own crops have done pretty well last season, so ah can definitely spare some bits to help ya with making it a nice and happy Hearth's Warming Eve for Ruby Pinch.” Applejack placed a hoof on Berry Punch's shoulder.
“You really sure about this, cuz?” Berry Punch looked at her, a mix of gratitude and modesty in her eyes. “Ruby and I always scraped by somehow..... And you already let us stay here, in your wonderful, warm home. Ah couldn't ask for anything more than that.”
“Ahm sure,” Applejack said. “There's nothin' ah would like to do more than help ya two.”
“Ah, fine.....” Berry Punch surrendered. “You know, I have a list of Ruby's biggest wishes for this year. She has worked on it for months.”
“We'll take it and Ruby to the toy store tomorrow! She can choose any toy she wants!” Applejack nodded at her cousin.
Tears built in Berry Punch's eyes. She chuckled. “Cuz, you are truly the best pony I've ever met!” She leaned to the right and wrapped Applejack into a tight embrace, patting her back.
Applejack reciprocated the gesture. “Ah'll do everythin' ah can to make this a great Hearth's Warmin' Eve for ya and Ruby, cuz.”


Over in the kitchen, Sugar Belle put on an apron. Big McIntosh was at her side, as usual, looking at her dreamily. Apple Bloom and Ruby Pinch were there, too, faces full of excitement for what was about to transpire. To their left, at the kitchen table, Cloudy Quartz was sitting. She had her eyes locked on Ruby, a strict look in them.
“Okay, I'm ready!” Sugar Belle announced. The kitchen unit in front of her was packed with baking ingredients and utensils. She let her eyes glide over everything with a scrutinizing look on her face, then took in a deep breath. “I know I can do this!”
“Really? Ya sure ya can bake such a complicated cake?” Apple Bloom questioned, showcasing a good amount of doubt. “Apple pie would be enough for me.” Her voice sounded contorted, the result of a large clothes pin on her nose.
“I can!” Sugar Belle said again, with utter conviction. “I've never baked a toffee apple cake before, but I think I had enough practice with baking in the last few years to succeed. And since this is the first time the Apples and the Pies are here on Sweet Apple Acres together, I want the dessert for Hearth's Warming Eve to be something special!” her chiming voice engulfed them.
“Eeyup!” Big Mac agreed. He let a hoof glide over the mane of his marefriend, gently.
“Okay. Just saying if it were just an apple, I'd be fine with it,” Apple Bloom tried it again.
The obvious lack of belief in her baking abilities did not affect Sugar Belle's enthusiasm. “I just need to focus. There are many different steps in baking this cake and coating the apples with caramel is tricky, but if I focus, I can do it!” She hummed confidently as she reached for the first ingredients and a mixing bowl.
“Can Atra and Chloro help, too?” Ruby Pinch chimed in, grinning. A bit of golden glitter fell from her face and landed on the floor.
Immediately, Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes. “They better don't,” she hissed, answering for Sugar Belle. “Cause if they do, ah will make sure that they meet their little maker!” She clopped her hooves together in demonstration.
Ruby Pinch gave Apple Bloom a cold stare. She did not snap back, too big was the excitement for watching Sugar Belle bake, but she picked up her cockroach friends and placed them on her head, out of the other filly's reach.
“I'm sure Sugar Belle wouldn't mind if they help,” Ruby mumbled under her breath.
“Just let your friends sit on your head, Ruby. We, uh, wouldn't want them to fall into the batter and get cooked alive inside the oven, right?” Sugar Belle laughed.
Ruby wasn't sure if it was a well-meant advice or another threat against her friends, but she only pouted, not daring to ask.
Sugar Belle was silent for a while, staying concentrated on her baking challenge. Only as she felt secure enough with the procedures, she began talking again.
“I always loved baking,” she told them. “But there has been a time when I couldn't bake what I wanted. I'm still shaking when I think about it.” Her voice turned into low-key wailing during the last sentence.
Apple Bloom and Big Mac immediately knew what she was talking about. Only Ruby Pinch and Cloudy Quartz became curious about her words, the latter shifting her attention away from Ruby.
“Why, what happened?” Ruby asked. “Did they put you into a mental asylum? They did this with sis once! I was living off crackers and soda for three days while she was gone!” Ruby grinned and showed her teeth, many of which were tarnished by fillings, with a few that had fresh black holes. All of them had a yellow tint.
Cloudy Quartz bit her lower lip and looked away. She closed her eyes and started mumbling something, one hoof held at her chest.
“It was an awful time,” Sugar Belle said, giving Ruby a glance before she redirected attention to her work. “I was trapped in a village and brainwashed into thinking that my special talent for baking is harmful..... I got my cutie mark taken from me and my ability to bake got suppressed by a fake one.” Sunken in thoughts, Sugar Belle drew two parallel lines into some flour she had spilled a few minutes earlier.
“Since then, I constantly have to bake. If I don't do it, I start sweating and get hallucinations. The anxiety meds don't help against seeing dancing cakes and pies everywhere I look.”
At the other end of the room, Cloudy Quartz opened her eyes again. She stood up and left the kitchen, a consternated look on her face.
“So I have to bake every day,” Sugar Belle continued.
“You shouldn't go around telling other ponies about this,” Ruby advised her. “That's the shit that gets you into a mental asylum.”
Sugar Belle chuckled at the remark. “It's okay, Ruby, only my friends and family know. I only need to be careful if a pony doesn't like a dessert I baked. The trauma is easy to notice then.”
Done with this explanation, Sugar Belle looked back into the bowl in front of her, to continue preparing the icing for the cake. Just as she wanted to start, she noticed something stirring in mixture. One after another, Atra and Chloro poked their heads out and started nibbling at the icing. Sugar Belle started screaming.
“Get out of my pie!” Her shrieking voice sounded through the entire house. She grabbed the bowl and flung it through the room, until it got shattered hitting the wall.
Ruby's heart sunk. “Atra! Chloro!” She dashed away, a look of shock on her face, and began to search for them frantically between the shards and spilled icing.
Apple Bloom leaned away and puked onto the floor. Wiping away some vomit from the corner of her mouth as she got back up again, she said “That's it, ahm not eatin' that cake.”
“What?” Sugar Belle turned at her in horror. “What do you mean, you're not eating it? You have to eat it, I work so hard for it so you can even have a dessert on Hearth's Warming Eve! How can you be ungrateful like this?!” Sugar Belle's face turned into pure fury all of a sudden. She took a knife that hung above the kitchen unit and pointed it at Apple Bloom. “Do you have even have an idea how it feels if ponies don't eat my baked goods?!” She shrieked again.
“Okay, Sugar Belle, it's time for ya meds!” Big Mac grabbed her from behind and twisted the knife out of her hoof. He pulled her back from the shivering and crouching filly in front of her.
Attracted from the screaming and shrieking, Pinkie Pie entered the kitchen. “Hey, what's going on in here?” In quick succession, her eyes jumped from Ruby Pinch snuggling against Atra and Chloro with some tears in her eyes, to Big Mac keeping his violent marefriend under control, to Apple Bloom sitting in shock on the floor next to a pile of green puke.
Pinkie Pie's pupils shrunk and started pointing into two different directions. “That's fine. We're still going to have a perfect Hearth's Warming Eve. Everything will be okay.” She laughed and it sounded psychopathic. Then she turned around.
“Hey, Berry Punch, do you still have some of the eggnog left?” Pinkie Pie staggered towards the living room.


~ .* .~


Applejack did not wait long with fulfilling the promise she gave Berry Punch. It was late into the afternoon and the day before Hearth's Warming Eve. Ponyville's toy shop was still open for a few hours, so there was plenty of time left to buy a nice toy for Ruby Pinch.
The filly skipped around a few meters ahead of them, steadily aiming for the entrance door. Applejack and Pinkie Pie looked a little worn.
“Not gonna lie, ah wish we still had one day more to make this shopping trip. Ah'd rather sit down with a mug of cocoa after dealing with those pesky con stallions in Rainbow Falls.” Applejack grimaced as she thought on Flim and Flam's latest plan to trick ponies out of their money. “Ahm sure Fluttershy has it nice and cozy in her cottage right now.”
“What should I say?” Pinkie contributed to the complaint. “I just travelled all the way to Yakyakistan and back and also had to search for the grove of the gift givers! And I still don't know what their gift even means.....”
“Ahm sure ya'll find out, Pinkie. And ah definitely know what the gift that waits for us in here will mean to Ruby Pinch!” She smiled and pointed a hoof at the toy store that came ever closer.
“Yeah..... I just hope whatever toy she picks will keep her busy.” Pinkie frowned at Ruby, who entered the story in this very moment. Applejack and her hurried up to meet her inside.
Ruby Pinch still stood near the entrance as they entered the store, as well. She let her eyes wander around; over the colorful interior, the toys in the shelves and the plushie pyramid at the back. Her face indicated that she rarely ever saw a toy store from the inside.
Pinkie and Applejack approached her. The shop assistant behind the cash desk to their left, a mare with a blue coat and an amber mane, looked stoically in front of her with tired eyes. As Ruby entered her field of vision, her eyes bulged a little and she looked at her in a strange way.
“It's just face paintin',” Applejack acknowledged the look on her face with a sheepish grin. She ducked and pushed Ruby ahead of her. “Let's get this done quickly,” she whispered to Pinkie.
“No problem with that,” Pinkie agreed. “Still got a lot of things to prepare before tomorrow.”
Ruby complained about being pushed, but Applejack only stopped once they stood between two of the shelves that were a little further back, out of sight of the shop assistant. They hadn't seen many customers on their way there, which caused Applejack to sigh in relief.
“Now, look around, Ruby. Choose anythin' ya like,” she told the young filly.
Ruby didn't need to be told twice. She trotted to the shelf that was left of her and started to inspect the toys there. One of them was a large, red bird. It had a key on its left side and as Ruby wound it up, the bird started to move its head. It looked from left to right a few times, then flapped its wings and chirped, before it stood still again.
“Hmm.....” Ruby scratched her chin. “Interesting, but also lousy and pathetic.” She looked up. “Atra? Chloro?”
Atra and Chloro appeared between the strands of her mane. Ruby wound up the bird again. The two cockroaches stared at it until it had stopped again. “What do you think?” Ruby asked them. A few seconds passed, then she scrunched her face. “Yeah, I think so, too, that toy is lame!”
It was only now that Applejack and Pinkie became aware of her company. “Ruby? Ya brought Atra and Chloro here?!” Applejack came closer, frantically. “Ah told ya to leave them at the farm! Ya can't bring two cockroaches into a store!” she hissed, slightly in panic.
Ruby Pinch looked at her carelessly and shrugged. “Fuck them!” she said, nonchalantly. A blue stallion who trotted past them gave Ruby a cold glare. Applejack covered her mouth, demonstratively.
“She's, uh, just hungry, is all!” Applejack bent down at Ruby. “Ah told ya this ain't a nice word, Ruby! Don't say this again, alright?” She gave the stallion an apologetic smile, then freed Ruby again.
The stallion lifted an eyebrow, huffed and moved on.
“Whatever!” Ruby said, upset now. “I don't give two shits about what anypony says! Atra and Chloro need to like the toy, too.”
Applejack facehoofed.
Ruby reached up into her mane and let Atra and Chloro climb on her hoof, then set them down on the tiled floor. “Go, my precious roachies, find a toy you like!” The two insects followed Ruby's command and scurried away under the shelf.
“Did she just set them free? Please tell me she didn't set them free, Pinkie!” Applejack looked at her friend, horrified.
Pinkie grinned back at her, slightly desperate. “Welcome to my madness, Applejack. Just take a seat and get settled, there's more where that came from!” Pinkie's eye twitched.
Ruby ignored them both. She trotted alongside the shelf, scrutinizing toy after toy, shaking her head or flicking her tail at them once she decided that she didn't like them. Applejack and Pinkie followed her closely.
Ruby's next stop was in front of a large toy castle. Ruby took it off the shelf and, sitting down, placed it in front of her.
The castle was equipped with a drawbridge that could be lowered and lifted with a lever on the left of it. The back of the castle could be opened. Inside were several figures; knights in full armor, a princess, some ponies in more casual, medieval clothing and even a huge, red dragon. Ruby plucked one of the knights out of it and held it close to her face. Her eyes zeroed in on the sword he was holding.
“You call this toothpick a sword?” she asked the knight. “That's miserable and really sad.” Ruby huffed. She put the knight back and grabbed the princess.
“Why is her dress pink? Sis says fillies who play with this will grow up to become mares who do nothing but cooking and blowing their husbands all night.” She tossed the princess back into the castle, angrily, and hovered the castle back onto the shelf.
Behind her, Applejack and Pinkie Pie cringed. Their faces turned red.
“She's pretty demanding for a filly who never gets new toys,” Applejack whispered. Pinkie only nodded in silence, the shock over hearing a filly talk like this written all over her face.
A few more customers, who were busy getting last-minute gifts for their foals, crossed their paths as they followed Ruby further through the store. Applejack and Pinkie covered their faces and looked away as they all wrinkled their noses and coughed the moment they trotted past Ruby.
Oblivious to the reactions, Ruby trotted around a shelf to the other side of it. There, she stopped in front of a long package that showed a magicity-powered passenger toy train, including a locomotive. The picture on the package showed the train riding through a plastic landscape with several trees, lakes and a river. Even a small mountain with a tunnel could be seen on it. A note on the package said “Opening means paying!”, but there was a small window in the lower-right corner through which Ruby could take a closer look at some of the cars.
“Hmm, that looks better. Seems the train cars can be opened and they look big enough for Atra and Chloro to sit in them.” Wanting to make sure, Ruby got to work and attempted to open the package with her magic, ignoring the warning.
“Excuse me!” Applejack and Pinkie Pie got distracted from Ruby as a mare to their right asked for their attention. They turned around and looked into the face of the shop assistant. The assistant looked anything but happy and eyed them with a disapproving glare.
“Excuse me,” she repeated “but I have to ask you to leave. There is a group of angry customers who threaten to leave the store because of the smell.” She tilted her head into Ruby's direction.
The blushes in the faces of Applejack and Pinkie Pie grew brighter. “W-We'll take her and leave right away!” Applejack answered taut and proceeded to pick up Ruby.
Before she could touch her, though, an eye-piercing screech sounded across the store, coming from the other side of the shelf behind them. “What are these THINGS?! Somepony, get these crawlers away from my daughter before they infect her!” The voice belonged to a mare, who, so they could tell by the tone of her voice alone, was hysterical.
Gasping, Applejack, Pinkie and the shop assistant rushed around the shelf. Ruby followed them suit.
In front of a row of plushies stood a mare with a pink coat and a well-kept blonde mane that formed curls. She was breathing in and out heavily, her green eyes fixated on Atra and Chloro who were sitting on the shelf and turned their heads in confusion. At her side was a filly with a cream-colored coat and a lavender mane. She was frozen in shock, her eyes just as fixated on the two cockroackes as her mother's were. Then she threw back her head and started screaming.
“By Celestia..... Millie..... Of all the mares in Ponyville, why does it have to be her?!” Applejack's head sunk and she sighed in defeat.
“Cream Puff, get away from there!” Millie reached for her daughter and pulled her out of the danger zone. She was making just enough room for Ruby to get past her and reach Atra and Chloro.
“Atra! Chloro!” she shouted and picked them up. “Aww, was that senile gaga mare shouting at you?” Ruby gave each of them a kiss. Atra and Chloro hissed happily.
Watching the scene, Millie's jaw dropped. “T-This..... Who is raising this filly?! I should go and inform authorities about this, she's kissing these icky, bacteria-ridden pests like there's no danger coming from them!”
Ruby shot her head around at Millie, hatred glistening in her eyes. She trotted away from the shelf, Atra and Chloro already hiding in her mane again, and aimed straight for Millie. Ruby's face was completely red from anger.
“I SAID THEY ARE PETS, NOT PESTS!!!!” she screamed at her, a part of her mind apparently remembering Apple Bloom's words from a few days ago.
Millie recoiled and took a protective position in front of her daughter.
Ruby pulled up audibly, then spat in front of Millie's hooves. “That's what the Berry Family does with pathetic, scared little bitches like you!” Ruby staggered away angrily, but with her head lifted in pride.
Millie, however, did not say anything anymore. She just stared, mouth opened wide, while Cream Puff kept screaming like the end of the world had come.
“Please leave now,” the shop assistant mare repeated. “I am not getting paid enough to deal with crap like this one day before the holidays.” She lifted a hoof and pointed at the exit, sternly.
Pinkie bowed down, not sure what else to do in this embarrassing situation, then she hurried ahead, picked up Ruby and carried her out of the store, under loud protest from the filly.
“Ahm really sorry this happened,” Applejack apologized to the shop assistant. “She's normally a nice and clean filly!”
“Yeah. I know.” The sarcasm in the mare's voice implied that she did not believe Applejack.
“Guess Ruby's reputation really precedes her everywhere in Ponyville,” Applejack muttered as the shop assistant trotted away. She sighed and, paying no further heed to Millie and her daughter, returned to the toy train Ruby had admired earlier. Hastily, she picked it up, carried it to the cash desk, paid and, after apologizing once more, hurried out of the toy store.
Pinkie, standing at the side of a still red-faced Ruby, welcomed her with a grin. It looked more psychotic than the one from earlier.


~  *  ~


Back on the farm, Ruby retreated with Atra and Chloro into a corner of the living room, where she started to build up her new toy train.
Both Applejack and Pinkie wheezed as they entered the farmhouse. “Phew, now ah definitely need some of that cocoa to relax and wind down. Ah can't believe that happened!”
“I need a hammer,” Pinkie spoke quietly while she eyed Atra and Chloro. The psychotic grin was still on her face.
Everything happened differently than they expected, though. Just as Applejack was getting ready to settle down, the door of the farmhouse opened behind them and the sound of three ponies entering could be heard. Surprised, and a little startled, Applejack turned around. Her eyes widened.
“Aunt and Uncle Orange! And Babs Seed!”
“Babs?!” Apple Bloom's voice came from the living room. The filly left Maud's side and zipped over. She wrapped Babs up and squeezed her tightly. “Babs, Babs, ahm so glad ya here! It feels like years since ah've seen ya last!” Babs reciprocated and the two fillies rubbed their cheeks against each other's.
Applejack came a step closer. “Gee, in all the ruckus, ah've completely forgotten that ya arrive today! Ahm sorry, if ah had remembered, ah would have come to the train station to pick ya up!” She gave Babs a hug of her own, as much as that was possible with her little sister taking up nearly all of the space, then proceeded to do the same with her parents.
The two of them retreated. “No! No,” Uncle Orange said, lifting a hoof. “Please don't touch our designer clothes with your muddy farm hooves.” Aunt Orange nodded in agreement.
Applejack frowned and looked to the ground for a moment, but then led them into the living room. Apple Bloom was clinging to Babs like somepony had glued them together, making it difficult for the other filly to trot.
“Aunt, Uncle and Babs, this is mah cousin, Pinkie Pie!” Applejack introduced them to the pink mare, who was now lying on the sofa. Her face looked slightly catatonic.
Pinkie did not move, only her eyes shifted over to focus on Babs' parents. “Don't hug me with your designer clothes,” she told them, referencing their harsh rejection from earlier. “I might catch the snob then.”
The mare and the stallion narrowed their eyes and presented Pinkie with angry frowns.
“Jeepers,” Babs blew a strand of her mane out of her face. “Pinkie Pie is really passed out there, did she party too hard?” There was a snark in her voice, but of the friendly and humorous kind. Regardless, the room suddenly grew even colder and Pinkie glared at her.
“How about I show y'all where ya can sleep during your stay?” Applejack intervened, noticing the tension. “Babs, ya can sleep in Apple Bloom's room.” The announcement caused a squeal by her little sister and she squeezed Babs even harder. “Aunt and Uncle, follow me upstairs. Ah've got somethin' nice and cozy prepared for ya!” She trotted away and Babs' parents followed her.


Half an hour later, most of the family could finally relax. Pinkie Pie was under the roof, rummaging in the boxes of the attic. Aunt and Uncle Orange sat at the kitchen table and sipped at a tea they had brought with them. Applejack coud finally enjoy a mug of cocoa and Babs and Apple Bloom were sitting on the sofa, chatting. Both of them made sure that Ruby stayed at a safe distance, by occasionally glancing at the wine-red filly who was still playing with her, now completely built-up, toy train. Atra and Chloro sat in one of the cars while Ruby made “Choo Choo” sounds.
At the height of their excited conversation, Apple Bloom and Babs suddenly heard something getting smashed in the kitchen. They twitched.
“What was that?!” Babs asked, startled.
“Thou shall not look at me like this!” They identified the voice as Cloudy Quartz'. She was hissing a little. “Thou lose the focus on the entire life around thou, Miss Punch! And it is thy daughter who suffers from it the most. Thou ought to become abstinent and curb this addiction!”
“Heeeey.....” Berry Punch slurred. “Whaaaat gives? Those were *hick* my bottles, I-I brought them with me, what gives you *hick* any right to throw them in the traaaaash?” Berry Punch approached Cloudy Quartz threateningly.
Having become aware of the commotion herself, Applejack sighed. She got up and cantered into the kitchen. “Alright, enough now. Come on, cuz, ya need to cool down a bit.” Like last time, Applejack pulled Berry Punch away and directed her up the stairs.
Cloudy Quartz sighed in relief. As her heart had stopped pounding, she made her way into the living room. She could hear Ruby Pinch before she entered it.
“Choo Choo!” it came from Ruby Pinch. “All cockroaches on board, the Shit Express 5000 is leaving the station! Choo Choo!” Atra and Chloro scurried into one of the cars, like actual passengers.
Cloudy Quartz twitched, even though what she just overheard was the exact reason why she was going into the living room right now. Pinkie's mom positioned herself next to the train tracks of Ruby's new toy set. She cleared her throat. “Ruby, young lady, we ought to talk.”
“Buzz off! Four-eye!” Ruby repeated a word she had heard from her big sis earlier.
Cloudy Quartz stayed. “I shall not..... 'buzz off',” she said, sternly. “Thou have a manner problem and I have decided to not watch this any more.”
Unnerved, Ruby Pinch got up. Just in this moment, she could hear Pinkie Pie coming down the stairs. It sounded like she was carrying something heavy.
“You're boring and your lectures suck dick! I go and help Pinkie!” Ruby said, using the opportunity.
Ruby Pinch was trotting past her, not even giving her a look. Cloudy Quartz turned around. “Ruby Pinch! Stop talking like that or I shall clean thy foul mouth with soap!” She felt the anger dwelling in her.
Finally, Ruby Pinch turned at the mare. “Tryyyyyy it!” she said, then pulled down her lower eyelid. She giggled and turned back around again.
In the foyer, Pinkie Pie was struggling with the two flagpoles she had carried down from the attic. She fumbled around, trying to open the door, then knocked down a vase that stood right next to it. It shattered on the floor. Pinkie exhaled between her gritted teeth.
“Wow, clumsy!” Ruby snickered as she came closer.
Pinkie glared at her, gritting her teeth stronger.
“That was really dumb, Pinkie, why didn't you ask another pony for help?” Ruby Pinch ignited her horn. “Here, let me help with the door before you break even more shit!”
It was here that Pinkie Pie felt like something was bursting in her brain. She dropped the flagpoles right where she stood and shot around to face Ruby.
“Yeah, really?” Pinkie huffed. “I am the dumb one? Let me tell you something.....” She inhaled. “YOU ARE THE DUMB ONE HERE!”
The scream blew over Ruby and she stopped in her tracks. All the ponies in the living room and the kitchen looked up.
“You.....” Pinkie continued and stepped up close to Ruby. The filly did a step back, instinctively. “You call me dumb..... But know what.....” She brought her face close to Ruby's. “You..... STINK!” she screamed right into Ruby's face. “You STINK and you are UGLY! Just look at you, you still got ALL this glitter in your face and the GLUE in your mane, because you haven't even bothered to take a shower since you ARRIVED HERE!”
Ruby did another step back, now shaking slightly.
“Why don't you finally go up the stairs and take a bath?! I can't TAKE your disgusting SMELL anymore!” Pinkie's screaming had turned into roaring.
“Nopony can take your smell and that's why NOPONY WANTS TO BE AROUND YOU!” Pinkie caught her breath for a moment. “I'm not dumb..... But YOU ARE! You are so dumb that you are too dumb to CLEAN YOUR FREAKING BODY!”
Here, Pinkie finally stopped. She breathed in and out at a rapid pace, too weak to scream more now.
Ruby didn't say anything. She stood frozen in shock, like a statue made of ice. Staring at Pinkie from big, wide eyes, it took her a few seconds to process what Pinkie just said and until the first sniffing came from her nose. Then another followed and then a third one. Tears welled up in her eyes. For a moment, it looked like Ruby was going to say something in response. But her lips only quivered. A few more seconds passed, then the tears rolled over Ruby's face. She sat down and started crying, first quietly, then louder and louder, until she was wailing.
“Oh, come on.....” Pinkie mocked her with a fake frown. “You really think these crocodile tears can fool me now? HA!” Pinkie laughed loudly. Then she threw back her head. “LIMESTONE!” she yelled, almost as loud as before. “Take that filly, bring her into the bathroom and scrub her clean, or else I will forget what day is tomorrow!”
“What?!” Limestone jumped up from her seat in the living room and trotted out into the foyer with thrusting steps. “Why do I have to clean the filthy filly?!”
“Because.....” Pinkie zipped in front of her older sister “I'M TELLING YOU TO!” Her face was completely twisted now. She grabbed Limestone, pulled her close to her face and whispered. “You are going to do it, because if you don't, you will see how it is when I stop to be nice and show you where I can put these flagpoles! Got it?”
For the first time in her life, Limestone felt intimidated. She nodded. “Fine.....” she said. Not much of her usual, quick-tempered demeanor was left.
“Alright.” Pinkie let go of her. She trotted to the front door and opened it.
Feeling broken and defeated, Limestone grabbed Ruby and carried her upstairs. Ruby began to cry and wail even louder. Her wailing slowly became quieter, until the bathroom door got closed with a bang and then locked from the inside, which reduced it to a muffled sound.
Finally, Pinkie Pie picked up the flagpoles again. She headed outside and let the door stand open. She slammed the two poles into the ground, then picked the equestrian flag she had been carrying on her back the entire time and hung it on the left pole.
“Pinkie Pie?” Applejack spoke to her from behind. “Ya alright?”
“I'm okay.” Pinkie responded, without turning around. “What could be wrong right now?” The cheer in her voice sounded fake.
“Ya pretty stressed, Pinkie. Ya need some relaxation really urgently. How about we head into town, gather our friends and do the gift-giving tonight instead of tomorrow night?”
“Fine.” Pinkie Pie shrugged. “If Twilight's okay with it.”
“Ahm sure she is.” Applejack reassured her. “And most of us have our gifts already.”
“Okay then.” It was more apathy than agreement, but Pinkie Pie joined Applejack's side as they left Sweet Apple Acres and headed down the path to Ponyville.


Maud took a deep sniff through her nose. “Now you smell good,” she determined. Opposite of her, Ruby Pinch was sitting. The glitter in her face was gone, her mane was free of glue and had been brushed and her body was radiating the scent of violets. Ruby did not look like her happiest, though. Furrows were on her forehead, a deep frown streaked across her entire face and her eyes were still red and puffy. On her head rested Atra and Chloro. The only good news, for Ruby, was that the two of them hadn't been forced into the bathub together with her.
Some distance away from them, Limestone sat and was constantly glaring at Ruby. One of her eyes was black, a result of the filly's attempts to flee the bathtub.
Maud looked up at the two cockroaches. “I have a weird pet, too. Wanna see it?” she tried to strike a conversation with the filly.
“I guess.....” Ruby sort of agreed. “This can't fuck me up more now.”
“Okay.” Maud reached into her pocket. To Ruby's astonishment, she put a small stone on the table. “This is Boulder. He is my pet rock.”
Seeing such a crazy kind of pet warmed Ruby up. “A pet rock? And ponies say I'm looney for having cockroaches as pets.” She eyed Boulder in fascination.
“I don't think you're looney,” Maud reassured her. “Neither am I. We both just have our very own definition of a pet.”
“Can Atra and Chloro play with Boulder?” Ruby asked full of excitement.
“Sure.”
“Did you hear that? You can make a new friend!” Ruby beamed up at her cockroach pets.
Atra and Chloro hissed excitedly, then climbed down on Ruby and approached Boulder. They circled him a few times, then they got on top of him and sat down there. Their heads turned happily.
“Look how cute they're playing with each other,” Maud commented on the scene. “Boulder likes them.”
On the sofa next to them, Aunt and Uncle Orange got up and left. They looked creeped out and consternated.


~ .* .~


Finally, the morning of Hearth's Warming Eve was here. Whistling, Pinkie Pie stepped out onto the corridor on the second floor. The gift exchange with her closest friends on the evening before had recharged her spirits and, even though it had become pretty late, Pinkie felt fresh and rested up. Squealing, she climbed on the railing and slid down on it. At the end, she jumped off and did a leap into the living room, where everypony had gathered already.
“Hearth's Warming Eve is here!” she shouted at the top of her lungs.
The gathered ponies looked at her and smiled, happy to see a cheerful Pinkie Pie again after the events of the previous day. Only the Oranges stared at Pinkie Pie in a gleeful way instead and Ruby Pinch looked away demonstratively, focusing on the mug with cocoa in her hooves and the plate with cookies in front of her.
“The big day is finally here! Just a few hours more and all of you will get the best Hearth's Warming Eve you ever had in your entire life!” she proclaimed.
Limestone huffed. “I sure hope so. But I doubt it.”
Pinkie Pie ignored her. “Sugar Belle, Applejack and I are almost done with preparing the dinner for tonight. All we still need is a nice, big bowl of rock soup! And while Applejack and Sugar Belle make it, just enjoy the day and get–”
Granny Smith interrupted her. “Oh, ah can make this rock soup for a! Ya sure look like ya can need a little break today after slaving away in the kitchen for all these days!”
“Granny?” Pinkie cocked her head. “Are you sure you know how to make rock soup?”
“Of course!” Granny chimed. “Big Mama Q here has shown me her recipe, it's goin' ta be easy ta prepare it!”
Cloudy Quartz blushed. “Thou shall not work today, Granny Smith. It shall be my honor to cook our traditional rock soup myself.”
Pinkie Pie blew into a red whistle, which she somehow made appear ouf of nowhere. “No, mom! You are a guest in this house, your only task is to have a nice time here! I'm sure Granny will do just fine with your recipe!” She turned at the older mare. “Isn't it, Granny?”
“Sure thing!” Granny Smith chimed. “Ah will serve a rock soup that ya'll never forget!”
Pinkie Pie nodded. “Okay, so while Granny Smith is in the kitchen, I am going to prepare a few more things for the flag-finding mission in a few hours! Enjoy yourself, everypony!”
Then she bounced away, past Granny Smith, who was already on her way into the kitchen, and then upstairs. Her destination was once again the attic. Pinkie climbed up the ladder and began rummaging through the boxes.
As one hour had passed, Pinkie stuck her head out of the last box with a clueless expression on her face. “Hmm, this is weird.....” She tapped her chin. “Applejack?” Pinkie then shouted, loud enough that it could be heard in the living room. “Are you sure the second equestrian flag is up here in the attic?”
“Yeah, ah am!” Applejack's response came quietly. “Why?”
“Because it's not up here!” Pinkie sighed, then began climbing down the ladder.
“Try checkin' the basement!” Applejack advised her, before she returned her attention to the card game she and Berry Punch were playing.
Back in the foyer, Pinkie Pie pulled open the hatch in the floor and climbed down into the dark basement below. Not far away from her stood Aunt and Uncle Orange and watched her. They wore the same gleeful expressions like earlier.
“I hope she has fun searching.” Uncle Orange commented on Pinkie's efforts, amused.
“I wonder if she will realize that we took it and hid it,” Aunt Orange pondered.
“Probably not. I bet Applejack's farm mentality has rubbed off on her already, there's no chance she will even figure out that it has been stolen. But maybe not finding it can teach her a lesson, for insulting big city ponies like us.”
The couple snickered maliciously and made their way back into the living room.
Unfortunately for Pinkie Pie, their plan was a full success. She had spent the last few hours with searching for the remaining flag, but could not find it anywhere in the house.
Now, Pinkie Pie stood in front of the flagpoles and stared at the one, lonely flag that hung on one of them.
“I guess there won't be a flag-finding mission for my family this year.....” Tears began to build up in her eyes and Pinkie cried silently, the stress and the frustration taking their toll on her.
Without noticing it, the door of the farmhouse opened behind Pinkie and Ruby Pinch stepped outside. She was wearing a scarf and a hat, under which Atra and Chloro poked out their heads. The filly crouched closer to Pinkie Pie, until she stood at her side.
Ruby looked at the flagpoles, then into Pinkie's face. Now she could see the tears that ran down Pinkie's face from up close. Ruby frowned, then looked at the flagpoles again.
“This was really big shit what you said to me yesterday,” Ruby voiced what was on her mind, bluntly. A few tears showed up in her own eyes.
Pinkie did not react and kept staring at the flagpoles.
“It hurt when you said that I am too dumb to clean myself. And your screaming scared me..... Santa Hooves won't like it that you treated me like a retard.” Ruby sniffed and brushed over her nose.
Finally, Pinkie detracted her eyes from the poles. She looked at Ruby, a shattered, broken expression in her eyes.
“I know. I know. I'm sorry,” Pinkie managed to press out. She reached out with her left hoof and squeezed Ruby tightly.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Ruby leaned against Pinkie and placed her left hoof on Pinkie's chest for a semi-hug. “Never say that shit to me again or I'll turn you into the same mold that I found Atra and Chloro in.”
“Okay,” Pinkie promised.
From inside the house, a faint shouting found its way into their ears. The two of them frowned.
“It's not too cold to stay outside, is it?” Pinkie Pie asked the filly.
“Nope!” Ruby responded, simple.
In the living room, Limestone had built herself up in front of Big Mac and Sugar Belle, who sat in an armchair together. She posed in front of them aggressively, while Big Mac and Sugar Belle glared and frowned at her, not much less angry.
“How can you?” Sugar Belle lashed back at the mare. “Big Mac lives here and I'm a guest just like you are!”
“Then go upstairs and take yourself a room! If you want to screw each other, why don't you do it up on the attic where nopony can seen it?” Limestone snorted. Her appearance wasn't unlike the one of an angry bull.
“What? We didn't, we were just sitting here and snuggled until you came by and attacked us for no reason!” Sugar Belle pointed away with a hoof. “Leave us alone, Limestone!”
Big Mac was less lenient. He got up from the armchair and positioned himself in front of Limestone. “That was enough,” he growled.
“Ah know ya have a history of being a troublemaker and jerk, but ya just crossed a line by insulting mah marefriend!” He placed a hoof on Limestone's forehead and pushed her away.
Next to them, Igneous Rock sat. He could observe the scene from his position, but did not intervene. He only stared, stoically.
“Cut it out now, stop!” a faint voice rang through the air. Grand Pear rushed between Big Mac and Limestone, stretching out his arms to separate them. “It's Hearth's Warming Eve, stop fighting, all three of you!”
Limestone pressed on and so did Big Mac. Grand Pear turned at Igneous Rock. “How about you would say something? Don't just sit there when your daughter picks a fight!” He got no response from the stoic father. “What a weird idiot, how can he sit there and just watch during all of this?”
Even the namecalling did nothing to phase Igneous Rock, he kept his straight face.
Grand Pear felt his strength running out. In the last moment, before he had to give up and step away, Marble rushed at Limestone's side. She wrapped her hoof around her aggressive, older sister. Whispering to her, Limestone's expression gradually softened and Marble could pull her away. Together, the two of them headed upstairs. A door got closed, then it was silent.
“This turns more and more into a nuthouse,” Grand Pear sighed.


~ .* .~


Pinkie Pie clinked with a spoon against a glass in front of her on the kitchen table. “Attention, everypony!”
The chatting and bickering of the crowd stopped and all of them looked at Pinkie Pie.
“I know there have been hardships and some complications..... But now, Hearth's Warming Eve is finally here!” Pinkie Pie cheered. She let her eyes glide over the table and all the food that covered it; pies, stews, apples, vegetables, fruits, pudding, a big bowl of rock soup and Sugar Belle's toffee apple cake right in the middle of it.
“Before we eat, let us thank the ponies who made all of this possible: Sugar Belle, Applejack and Granny Smith!”
The entire table jubilated, all ponies clopping their hooves and stomping on the floor in a deafening volume. The cheers lasted for a minute, then Pinkie Pie sat down and all of them began to devour the festive dinner.
Surrounding Pinkie Pie, her mom, her dad and her sisters dug their spoons into the rock soup. Pinkie did the same. As the soup touched their tongues, all of them subtly grimaced. Pinkie shot a panicked glance at Granny Smith at the other end of the table. The old mare was busy cutting off a piece of double-baked pot pie and had not noticed. Pinkie sighed in relief.
It was obvious in the faces of the Pie Family, the rock soup did not turn out as they had hoped. But neither Pinkie, nor her parents, nor Marble or Maud pointed it out. Cloudy Quartz even went beyond that, she turned at Granny Smith and commended her for the “excellent rock soup”, revealing that she was a skilled liar. Then she turned at Applejack and thanked her overwhelmingly for her hospitality.
Everything was peaceful and all of them were in a good mood. Until Limestone started speaking.
“This rock soup doesn't taste nearly as good as the one mom makes.”
Immediately, an invisible, dark cloud hung over the table. Granny Smith stopped eating and stared at her plate with a sad face.
“Don't listen to her, Granny!” Pinkie Pie tried to save the situation. “You know that Limestone is always grumpy, she doesn't mean it!”
“I do!” Limestone protested. “I know mom's rock soup and this one here isn't anywhere near as–”
Pinkie Pie reached out and shoved a bread roll into Limestone's mouth, flashing an awkward grin. The mood had been spoiled, however, and the ponies continued to eat silently, with lowered heads.
As the main courses had been finished by them, Pinkie Pie saw another opportunity to lift the mood again. Once more, she stood up and clinked at a glass with her spoon.
“Now it's time for dessert!” she shouted, with as much cheer as she could still muster. “Sugar Belle has baked a wonderful cake for us and, trust me, she really has slaved away at it and it wasn't easy to bake it! Let's hear it for Sugar Belle!”
Some cheering occurred, though it was quieter than the first time. Sugar Belle crouched down a little and smiled, a cute blush on her cheeks.
Pinkie Pie did not waste more time. She took a knife and cut into the cake, in a ceremonious fashion. The ponies around her held their breaths. At the first try, the knife got stuck. Pinkie pressed down on it harder and, finally, the knife went through, but it was a chore to get it all the way down to the bottom.
Pinkie clenched her teeth. “It's..... really hard.”
Sugar Belle watched her anxiously.
As the first piece was cut off and Pinkie Pie was putting it next to her on Maud's plate, they could see that the inside of the cake was brown and looked crispy. Maud lifted up the piece and bit into it. It crunched loudly between her teeth. “Feels like rock,” she determined.
Hearing this, Sugar Belle broke out into sobs. “I should have known.....” she said. “The recipe was so difficult, I-I should have known I will FAIL!” She started to cry without restraint. Big Mac put a hoof around her and let her cry at his chest.
“No, no, I'm sure it's still good!” Pinkie played the state of the cake down. “Just see how delicious it looks!”
Sugar Belle's cries didn't stop, but Pinkie Pie tried not to become deterred by it and cut off more pieces, until each pony at the table had a piece of it in front of them. Then she sat down and began eating and so did everypony else.
Loud crunching emerged around the table, only interrupted by fake “Mmmmmm” sounds. The only one who didn't fake pleasure was, unsurprisingly, Limestone.
“This cake is a disaster,” she complained. “I didn't think it could get worse after this horrible excuse of a rock soup.”
A new, loud sob escaped Sugar Belle's throat. Pinkie Pie put down her piece of cake with a bang, got up and left the kitchen, loudly stomping. From the living room, they could hear her scream and something getting smashed.
“Ah think it's best if we finish up right now,” Applejack suggested. “We can clear the table later, let's just head into the living rom and put up our hearth's warming dolls!”
Wearing unhappy expressions, all of them followed Applejack's suggestion and moved into the living room. Pinkie stood in the middle of it, shards of a few shattered glasses lying next to her forehooves.
“Pinkie Pie?” Apple Bloom stepped in front of her. “It's fine, really. The rest of the food was good, how about we just go and–”
Pinkie's head shot up all of a sudden and she gave Apple Bloom a cold, blank stare.
Apple Bloom could see the veins in Pinkie's eyes. “Or not..... Nice talkin' ta ya, Pinks!” She made a beeline for the sofa and hid behind it.
Keeping a generous distance to Pinkie Pie, each of the Apples, the Pies, Sugar Belle, Babs and her parents and Grand Pear put their respective dolls on the ledge above the fireplace. All of them eyed Pinkie Pie warily while they did so, fear and cautiousness written in their faces.
As the last ones, Berry Punch and Ruby Pinch went to the fireplace. Ruby Pinch's dolls found their place next to Berry Punch's.
As everypony thought that all the dolls were placed, Ruby plucked four more dolls off her back, two made of chrochet and the other two made of rocks. They strikingly resembled her two best friends.
“Atra and Chloro made those!” Ruby Pinch addressed the weird looks with a grin.
It was at this point that everypony went to sleep.


~ .* .~


Rustling sounded through the living room of Sweet Apple Acres' farmhouse. Apple Bloom, Ruby Pinch and Babs Seed sat on the floor and ripped off the wrapping paper of several gifts they had taken with them into the living room after snatching them from the hearth's warming tree.
The adults sat around them on the sofas and armchairs, sipping cocoa and coffee. They all looked tired and worn, especially Pinkie. Somehow, she had managed to get the gifts from the attic and place them under their tree, in the middle of the night, pretending Santa Hooves brought them. But now, she stared into the room with an empty gaze. The cocoa in her hooves was cold already.
All of a sudden, the near complete silence in the room got interrupted by a very loud sound coming from the foyer. Then another sound happened right after, like something was being dropped to the floor. The mug in Pinkie's hooves began shaking.
“It's alright, Pinkie, ah go and check what it was,” Applejack volunteered. She got up and aimed for the exit of the room. “Whatever it is, nothin' can be worse anymore,” she thought to herself. As she stood in the foyer, Marble disabused her.
The teenager stood, with tears leaking from her eyes, on a ladder, the same one Pinkie and Big Mac had used to hang the hearth's warming lights on the house. She was standing on the last step of the ladder and a noose was around her neck. It hung from a hook in one of the ceiling beams, one that hadn't been there before.
“M-Marble?!” Applejack gasped in shock. “What the hay are ya doin'?! Get down there!”
“NO!” Marble shouted into her face. “Big Mac doesn't love me, everything is pointless without him!” She tightened the noose around her neck.
In panic, Applejack climbed up the ladder to stop Marble from her plan.
Over in the living room, the sudden, new commotion didn't stay unheard for long. “Sweet Celestia, what is happening now?!” Granny Smith wailed. “Didn't this Hearth's Warming see enough heartache already?!”
One after another, the ponies got up from their places. Even Pinkie Pie, who only got driven outside by the voice of her little sister and the sense that she needed help. She somehow made it to the top of the group and saw what happened as the first one of them. Instantly, her apathetic expression perished and pure horror arose in her face.
“Marble..... WHAT?!” Above them, she could see Applejack removing a noose from the neck of her beloved younger sister, then carefully helping her to climb down.
“Marble, w-why?” Pinkie stammered as Applejack trotted Marble past her.
“Not now, Pinkie. Give her a moment to rest,” Applejack said as they passed.
“Why?!” Pinkie asked again. She started wailing. “Why, why, why?! It's Hearth's Warming! WHY?!”
Pinkie's mane deflated and her coat took on an unnatural, dark tinge. Both of Pinkie's eyes started twitching. “This didn't just happen.....”
The faces of all the ponies around her looked at her in concern and with compassion.
“This didn't happen.....” Pinkie repeated again, now thick tears streaming down her face. “Things like this shouldn't happen on Hearth's Warming.....” She sobbed. “The broken lights, Granny hurt herself because of me, a smelly filly and an addict and now attempted suicide..... of my own sister..... I wanted everything to be perfect..... Things like this should never happen on Hearth's Warming.”
Pinkie closed her eyes and trotted absentmindedly into the living room. She aimed for the tiny table with the eggnog, which was occupied by Berry Punch, the only one who had stayed behind in the living room. Pinkie pushed her to the side. “Get out of the way, fool, now it's my time to drink,” she said in a broken, weak voice. Then she grabbed a glass, dunked it into the eggnog bowl and emptied it.
“How did it all go wrong?” She took another glass. “Why is nopony happy? I tried so hard.....” A third glass was emptied by her.
Pinkie kept drinking and quietly rambling, until the bowl was empty. She dropped the glass where she stood, ignoring the shattering sound it made when it burst on the floor, and retreated into a corner of the living room, where she sat down and weeped silently.
The mood was lower than ever. Pinkie stayed alone in the corner, while everypony else sat around, helpless and depressed. After a while, a few of them left the living room and headed up the stairs.
Pinkie's trance was only broken as she heard several quartets of hoofsteps aiming for the front door. She sobbed again, then got up and followed the sounds.
Aunt and Uncle Orange, Babs Seed, Sugar Belle and Grand Pear stood there, clothed and equipped with the suitcases they had come to the farm with. Applejack, Big Mac and Apple Bloom stood with them.
“Ah understand ya'll want to leave after what happened. This Hearth's Warming really wasn't what it should've been, but ah hope some of ya'll will return next year so we can make it better.”
“Yeah, I don't think so.” Uncle Orange huffed. “We won't stay for the holidays in a house after a pony tried to kill themselves there!” Aunt Orange acknowledged the sentence with an affirmative nod.
Applejack's ears dropped. “Ah understand.....”
“Ah don't!” Apple Bloom protested. “Ah want that Babs stays with me!” She held on to her cousin. The look on the face of the other filly indicated the same sentiment.
“And it's all my fault.....” Sugar Belle added on to what Uncle Orange had said. “If I hadn't made out with Big Mac when Marble could see it, this wouldn't have happened.” She looked to the side and tears welled up in her eyes.
“Ain't ya fault,” Big Mac said, giving his marefriend a hug.
“It is,” Sugar Belle rejected his comfort, sobbing.
Grand Pear was the most shocked of all of them. “First Pear Butter, now almost Marble.....” he mumbled. “My old heart can't take this anymore, I have to go.....”
By now, Pinkie had arrived and she had overheard everything. “Oh, no, no, no!” she spoke, hastily. Pinkie grabbed their suitcases and carried them back into the living room. “Nopony is going to leave! Not now!”
Each of the ponies who wanted to leave followed her, upset. They talked insistently to Pinkie, but she ignored them all. “I don't care! We can still save this! We have to!”
Applejack joined her side. “Pinkie..... Ahm sorry, but it's over.” The sentence triggered something in Pinkie, yet, it wasn't what Applejack had hoped for.
Pinkie dropped the suitcases and turned around. “NO!” she yelled. “I won't give up until all of us had the holiday peace we all deserve!” One after another, she went into the faces of Aunt and Uncle Orange, Grand Pear and Sugar Belle. “Don't even try to escape! Nopony leaves this farm on Hearth's Warming and if any of you try, I'll CARRY YOU BACK MYSELF AND TIE YOU UP IN THE LIVING ROOM!”
The four ponies twitched and exchanged scared looks. Face red, Pinkie Pie stomped out of the living room.


After what seemed like an eternity, a time she had spent inside the kitchen alone, Pinkie Pie felt a hoof on her shoulder. Sniffing, she turned around and looked into the eyes of her dad.
“Pinkamena,” he said, expressing stoic patience.
“Dad..... Everything went wrong. I ruined it all.” Pinkie shed more tears.
“Such is the nature of things, daughter,” Igneous Rock addressed her concerns. “Sometimes, we get bestowed with failure. But thou shall not look back, Pinkamena. Thou shall look forward only, learn from your mistakes and make it better.”
“Better, how?” Pinkie dropped her head. “It's already too late..... Everything I planned went wrong.”
Somepony cleared her throat behind them. “Not everything,” a snobbish voice said.
Pinkie Pie turned around. Behind her and her dad, everypony who had come to the farm for the holidays had gathered. At the front stood Aunt and Uncle Orange. Much to Pinkie's surprise, their faces showed guilt and regret. They were holding a piece of fabric in their hooves and as they unfolded it, Pinkie's eyes grew wide.
Uncle Orange cleared his throat again. “We, uh.....” he fidgeted around, until Applejack gave him a push from behind. “We are sorry for hiding this flag. My wife and I took it as revenge for your insult after we arrived.” He stopped. Applejack pushed him again. “But now, I guess this is not longer the right time for this. I'm sorry.” He snorted at the end.
Pinkie Pie darted at them and ripped the flag out of their hooves. “You had it the entire time?!”
The stallion and his wife did not respond. Pinkie looked at the flag in disbelief for a moment, then her face lit up. A squeal left her mouth and she ran outside. Arrived at the second flagpole, she finally hung the flag on it. Then she turned around, just in time to see the rest of the family pouring out the house.
“FLAG-RAISING!” she yelled. Her coat returned to its old color and her mane and tail poofed back into their normal state.
“Aaaaaaah!” Collective sighs of pleasure came from the crowd as they took position in front of the flag poles. Even Marble smiled again.
Pinkie Pie waved Apple Bloom and Ruby Pinch at her side. They followed the command, but Apple Bloom looked at Pinkie in confusion.
“Isn't one of the two flags from ya family, Pinkie? I thought that means Marble is gonna raise one of the flags.”
“You're right, Apple Bloom. But Ruby here deserves it.” She ruffled through Ruby's mane, who acknowledged the gesture by lifting a forehoof and grinning.
“Um-hm!” it came from the crowd. Marble agreed.
Apple Bloom took position in front of the flag of the Apple Family and Ruby Pinch did the same in front of the Pie Family's flag. At Pinkie's command, the two fillies tugged at the ropes and pulled up the flags until they were at the highest position of the poles. Together, the three ponies returned to the others, where they joined them in admiring the flags.
A few seconds of silent admiration followed, then Berry Punch suddenly started singing, with one hoof at her chest. The rest of the ponies scrunched their faces for a moment, but then they placed a hoof on their own chests and joined into the slurred singing of the drunken mare. Even Atra and Chloro hissed melodically to the rhythm of the singing.


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!





-THE END-

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