Inside the Friendship Express...
A really nervous Star Twinkle was sitting next to the window looking out and watching everything as it went by. He was hoping that it would calm him down but it didn't work all too well. His mind was a mess and he could not form a decent though in his head.
"Is something the matter, dear?" A female voice, coming from the pony that was sitting across him. It was his mother, Rainfall Twinkle, who seemed concerned seeing her son in this state. "You barely said anything during this trip. Are you all right?"
Star Twinkle looked at the mare. He didn't even attempt to look not worried as he looked into her eyes. "I'm just a little nervous, that is all," he said.
Right after those words were said, his father, Sunny Twinkle, who was sitting next to him, put his hooves around Star Twinkle's shoulders. "You are just excited, that is all," he said in an upbeat tone. "We are all gonna met some new ponies after all. I sure am looking forward to meeting everyone," he added as he began shaking in excitement.
Rainfall Twinkle rasped. "I think this is precisely why our son is so nervous..." she pointed out before she looked at her son. "You are worried that we won't get along with the families of your friends, right?" She guessed.
Probably the only pony in all of Equestria, that Star Twinkle could never fool, was his mother. She hit the nail right on the head. He let out a defeated sigh. "I think the best outcome would be if we three would get along with both Applejack's and Pinkie Pie's family," he said.
"Oh, don't worry," Sunny Twinkle said in a highly optimistic tone. "It's Heart's Warming Eve after all. There couldn't be any other day where three families could come together and getting to know each other better than on this day," the stallion said with a grin on his face.
Now Rainfall Twinkle began smiling after the words Heart's Warming Eve fell. "I do have to admit that I am quite curious about how the Apple or the Pie Families celebrate this holiday. You think they do it the same way we do?" She asked.
But Star Twinkle shook his head. "No, I asked both Applejack and Pinkie Pie already and from the looks of it, they do seem to celebrate it the same way actually," the stallion said before he started listing up the traditions of the two families.
"There is gonna be a flag raising, an evening dinner, Heart's Warming dolls which are hung above the fireplace, and presents on the next day," the stallion explained.
There was a short pause from Rainfall Twinkle, her face looked rather worried. "I see...I think those traditions go all the way back to the day where Heart's Warming Eve was invented..."
"Right," Star Twinkle replied. He then remembered the stories that he heard about the founding of Equestria, which was the day where Hearts Warming Eve was first brought into existence. "When the three pony tribes were still fighting with each other and the Windigos threatened to cover all of Equestria in snow. The three pony tribes worked together and the fire of friendship drove those beasts away. In order to celebrate their victory, they raised a flag and Equestria was founded," the stallion explained.
"Yes," Rainfall Twinkle replied before she continued. "If I recall correctly, then the dinner is held to remember the shared bounties of our ancestors. And the Hearth's Warming dolls over the fireplace are supposed to remind us of the warmth shared on that fateful night."
"Exactly," Star Twinkle said in response.
Again, Rainfall Twinkle remained silent for a moment and her face looked worried again as well. "Compared to the traditions of Apple and the Pie families our..."
"Yeah," Star Twinkle added before he started to look rather upset, along with his mother.
The two remembered back their own Heart's Warming Eve's. No flag-raising, no dolls, they did eat quietly together and exchanged presents too but there was not really deep meaning behind those "traditions". It was more like a formality that always happened on the same day of the year.
Star Twinkle and Rainfall Twinkle looked upset after realizing how their family had nothing special to offer to the other two families. There were no traditions that they could share, no stories to tell from past Heart Warming Eve's. They started to think about what kind of impression they would leave on them. It was rather discouraging.
Luckily, there was still one pony whose optimistic nature wasn't touched at all. "All the better for us then," Sunny Twinkle said as he looked at his wife and son with a big grin on his face. "We are celebrating Heart's Warming Eve the Pie way today, right? All we have to do is go along with everything and maybe learn from them, to form some traditions of our own," the stallion explained in an unusually calm demeanor.
Sunny Twinkle was having a very eye-opening moment for once, much to the surprise of his family. His wife couldn't help but smile at those words. "You are right. Whether we have some traditions to offer or not, we are guests today and that means that however, the Pie family spends their Heart's Warming Eve, all we have to do is accept their traditions and go along with them," the mare explained.
Star Twinkle shrugged his shoulders. "I guess you're right," he replied. All they could do was being nice and accepting guests and everything would turn out okay.
At least that is what they hoped for...
Later...
The train was just arriving at a train station at, what looked like, the middle of nowhere. The area looked like a wasteland, and every part that wasn't covered by snow was just dirt and mud. Star Twinkle knew that Pinkie Pie moved to Ponyville and that she originally was born on a rock farm but he just now realized that he actually didn't quite know what that meant.
What was a rock farm? The first thing that came to Star Twinkle's mind is that it was a farm were rocks were farmed but that couldn't possibly be right. How would that even work? He would get the answer to that eventually so there was no point in thinking about it too much now.
The three Earth Ponies walked outside the train and were quickly greeted by the Apple family and Pinkie Pie.
"You're here!" Pinkie Pie said in a cheerful tone while jumping on the spot excitedly.
The three Earth Ponies walked up to the five other Earth Ponies. Rainfall Twinkle and Sunny Twinkle greeted Granny Smith, Big McIntosh, and Apple Bloom while Star Twinkle approached Applejack and Pinkie Pie. The Apple Family were no strangers to Star Twinkle's parents, they met each other occasionally back in the day when Sunny Twinkle was still working in the Iron Hammer and had to do some work on Sweet Apple Acres.
Granny Smith certainly remembered the stallion. "If that isn't the little rascal who once tore down barn number five," the elderly mare said in a snapping tone.
Sunny Twinkle quickly formed a panicked expression on his face before laughing nervously. "Y-you have a very good memory, as always..." he said.
But Granny Smith just laughed in response, showing that she was just kidding before. She was actually pretty happy to see him and Rainfall Twinkle after such a long time. The pair also exchanged some words with Big McIntosh and Apple Bloom to get to know them better.
In the meantime, Maud Pie, Pinkie Pie's older sister arrived at the station as well, causing Pinkie Pie to greet her and giving her a hug. "I'm so excited to see you, Pinkie Pie. You too, Applejack and Star Twinkle," she said in her usual deadpan tone. "I hope you had fun sledding yesterday," she then added.
Applejack was quite confused to hear that. "How'd you know that?" She asked. Apparently, she and her family were actually sledding yesterday.
"Isn't it obvious?" Maud replied before she lifted the mare's hoof, revealing some stones on it. "There are specks of extrusive andesite on your hoof. It's a mountain rock," she explained.
Granny Smith seemed impressed. "Oh, she's good," she hushed to Rainfall Twinkle.
The group of ponies then were on their way to where Pinkie Pie's family is living. On their way, the Apple family, Star Twinkle's parents, and Maud were all talking to get to know each other a little better. Star Twinkle, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were happy to see this but there were still some worries that they weren't able to hide.
"What if our families don't like each other?" Applejack asked concerned.
"Glad that I'm not the only one who is worried about that," Star Twinkle threw in.
But Pinkie Pie seemed rather optimistic about all this. "We three are friends, and after tonight, our families are gonna be friends too," she said without a worry in her mind. "Do you know what that means? Number of Apples times number of Pies and Twinkles is twenty four, minus my preexisting friendships plus one for Maud and you makes five from twenty four is...nineteen new friendships!" She exclaimed happily.
Of course, Star Twinkle wanted to know where those numbers came from but it was Pinkie Pie so there was a good chance that she just made all of this up. The important thing was the truth in her words. The three of them were really different and managed to become good friends so there was hope that the same thing was the case for the rest of their families. If Star Twinkle, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were there to steer everything in the right direction, then their families were bound to like each other by the end of the day.
Later...
As it just happened to be, this Rock Farm, where Pinkie Pie grew up on, was an actual farm with rocks that were scattered all over the place and were most likely farmed here. Star Twinkle decided to not question it any further and just followed everyone down to the house downhill, where Pinkie Pie's family was living in.
The whole farm was decorated with lights and some shiny rocks, which combined with the snow everywhere, gave it all a fitting Heart Warming feeling. This already made Star Twinkle nervous. He quickly compared all this with his own Heart's Warming celebrations. He was shocked to realize that there wasn't even decorations in the past of his Heart Warmings.
The stallion had to get those kinds of thoughts out of his mind if he wanted to enjoy his stay here. He would end up feeling miserable if he continued comparing everything that he saw here.
"This place looks amazin'!" Applejack said in awe as she looked at the well decorated and beautiful place.
"Yes! Very festival!" Sunny Twinkle said.
"The Pie's sure put a lot of work in the decoration..." Rainfall Twinkle said. She clearly thought the same thing that her son thought and felt bad.
Pinkie Pie hopped over to the house with an exciting grin on her face. She probably couldn't wait for everyone to meet the rest of her family. Star Twinkle was trying to remember if Pinkie Pie told him some things about her family. Pinkie Pie could talk a lot and without a break, so she must have told him at some point about them but the stallion couldn't remember, it didn't matter anyway since he was about to meet them now.
"Come on, everypony! Meet my super-mega-fun-derful family!" She said. Then, almost on cue, the door was opened by Maud and the rest of the Pie family walked outside.
First, there were her parents...
Her father had a moderate amber-colored coat color, a gray mane, brilliant amber-colored eyes, and a pickax as a Cutie Mark. He also wore a black fedora and a black tie.
Pinkie Pie's mother had a light cobalt bluish-gray colored coat, a grayish opal colored mane, arctic blue eyes, and three rocks as a Cutie Mark. Her mane was tied into a bun and she wore a golden pair of glasses and a black scarf.
The two ponies had a very serious expression on their face, almost as if they didn't even enjoy having visitors. This was definitely not what Star Twinkle imagined when he thought about the parents of the pink party pony from Ponyville, it couldn't be more the opposite of what he expected.
But there were still more ponies coming out of the house, two mares, Pinkie Pie's sisters.
The first mare had a bluish-gray colored coat, an opalish gray mane, and light apple green colored eyes. Her Cutie Mark was a lime with two stones beneath it.
The second mare had to be pushed out by Pinkie Pie since she seemed a little too shy to walk outside herself. This pony had a light gray colored coat, a dark cyanish gray-colored mane, and violet-colored eyes. Her Cutie Mark consisted of three purple marbles.
Shortly after, the two groups stood across each other, looking at the ponies in front of them and Pinkie Pie was highly excited about it. "Everypony, meet everypony!" She said, introducing everyone to each other.
One could instantly tell that the ponies in front of Star Twinkle were related. From the coat and mane colors to the expressions on their faces, and just the air that surrounded them, Pinkie Pie was the only one who visibly stood out with her pink coat and mane and her bubbly attitude.
Pinkie Pie's parents were the first to approach their visitors. "Surely thy name is not but Granny Smith," the father said as he approached the elderly mare before he then looked over to Star Twinkle's parents. "And I presume you are Mr. Sunny Twinkle and Mrs. Rainfall Twinkle?" He added before he bowed to the three ponies in front of him. "I am called Igneous Rock Pie, son of Feldspar Granite Pie," he then introduced himself.
Then Pinkie Pie's mother introduced herself. "Thou shalt know me as Cloudy Quartz," she said before she bowed down as well for a moment.
"May Providence favor thee well, and to thou comfort, our humble homestead bring," Igneous Rock Pie said.
Needless to say, this very well mannered way of speaking caught everyone by surprise at first. "Yes...you too," Sunny Twinkle greeted back, even though he was having some trouble keeping up with the choice of words that Pinkie Pie's parents used.
"Nice to meet you," Rainfall Twinkle said with a slightly confused smile on her face.
Still, Granny Smith was having some trouble keeping up with the Pies. "Y'all gabbin' with words real funny-like. Wh-wh-what'd you say them names were? "Iggy"?" She asked as she pointed towards Pinkie Pie's father, who could only return a confused look on his face. "And I'm just gonna call you "Big Mama Q"!" Granny Smith added before she addressed Cloudy Quartz, who also seemed a little surprised by the elderly mare's behavior.
Worlds definitely collided in this very moment, different farms, lifestyles, and characters met each other and both sides still had to get used to each other, something that would hopefully not be a problem once the day passes.
In the meantime, Pinkie Pie's sisters introduced themselves to the Apple Family siblings and Star Twinkle. If someone could call this an introduction.
"Gaze into the eyes of Limestone Pie," The oldest sister of the Pie's said with a serious and almost intimidating expression on her face. "Ma and Pa may own this rock farm, but I keep it running. Cross me and—"
"Aye aye, Captain Grumpy!" Pinkie Pie said before she pushed her sister away from everyone. She probably didn't want her sister to leave a bad impression. "No one's gonna mess with your precious mine!" Pinkie Pie then assured as she petted her older sister.
But Limestone Pie quickly stopped her sister on that. "Or Holder's Boulder!" She further demanded.
Pinkie Pie sighed in response before she walked over to an egg-shaped giant boulder that would put the size of Tom in shame. "Everypony stay away from Holder's Boulder," she then said in an annoyed tone. It felt as if she was used to doing that. "There, you happy now?" Pinkie Pie said, causing Limestone Pie to remain silent in response.
Star Twinkle didn't think he would be getting warmer with Limestone Pie, judging from that first impression. In fact, he almost feared that she would eat him alive if he would just make eye contact with the giant boulder.
Luckily, there was another sister left, which the apple family and he could still introduce them too. As soon as Pinkie Pie pulled her out of the house before, the mare was hiding behind one of the glowing stones next to the house. Once she saw Star Twinkle, Applejack and Apple Bloom approaching her though, she widened her eyes and got nervous.
Despite that, Applejack tried to introduce herself to her. "And you must be—"
But Pinkie Pie quickly took over. "This is Marble Pie, my baby sister who's only a few minutes younger than me but she'll always be a baby to me, isn't that right?" She said as she grabbed the cheeks of her sister, who could barely do anything in response. "She's so excited to meet everypony! Oh, and she wishes you all a happy Hearth's Warming!" She added.
Pinkie Pie expected some words coming from her little sister but since none came, she poked her lightly in the sides, prompting her to say something.
"Mm-hmm," was the only thing, accompanied by a nod, that Marble Pie said with a smile on her face.
This caused Applejack to hush some words to her little sister. "Guess Pinkie Pie always did the talkin' for her," she said, causing Apple Bloom to giggle in response.
Star Twinkle got some serious Fluttershy vibes from this mare. She clearly did not feel too comfortable to meet so many new ponies at once, something that the stallion could relate to. Still, out of all the sisters of the Pie family, including Pinkie Pie, she seemed the most normal so far.
"Looks like pies come in all kinds of flavors," Star Twinkle mumbled under his breath once he took another look at the family of Pinkie Pie.
Before the introductions could continue though, Pinkie Pie had an announcement to make. "Attention!" She said on top of the giant egg-shaped boulder.
Limestone Pie immediately picked up on that. "What'd I say about the boulder?!" She said asking her little sister to get off from it again.
"I'll just be a second," Pinkie Pie replied before continuing her announcement. "Everypony get settled in! There's plenty of room upstairs. And then it's time for Hearth's Warming Eve dinner!" She said excitedly before she threw some confetti into the air.
Everypony did as Pinkie Pie said and walked up to the house, ready to drop off their luggage and get settled in. Pinkie Pie jumped down from the boulder and quickly joined Star Twinkle and Applejack.
The later one being happy about how things went so far. "So far, so good, cousin!" She said towards Pinkie Pie who smiled in return.
Star Twinkle got a little confused though. "Cousin?" He asked.
"Yes! Did none of us told you that before?" Applejack asked.
"I did!" Pinkie Pie added. "But I guess that it was such good news that Star Twinkle couldn't comprehend them," she figured.
Star Twinkle did remember Pinkie Pie telling him, now that she mentioned it. Pinkie Pie once found a clue in a scroll from Twilight's library so she and the Apple Family went on a trip to find out the truth from another Apple Family member. The truth, however, remained a mystery. But from the looks of it, Applejack and the rest of her family agreed that Pinkie Pie was related to them. After thinking about it thoroughly, Star Twinkle figured that this was the reason why those two families came together to celebrate Heart's Warming Eve in the first place. The fact that Star Twinkle and his family were invited as well felt almost like an honor now. And realizing that put even more pressure on him.
Later...
On the second floor inside the Pie house, the Apple and the Twinkle Family made themselves comfortable. There were only two bunk beds, meaning that four ponies could sleep in them, which ended up being Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, Sunny Twinkle, and Rainfall Twinkle. The rest had to sleep on some mattresses on the ground. Star Twinkle would normally complain about this but he was a guest now so there was no room for that. It was the least of his worries now. He still wanted his family to get along with everyone after all, and judging from how their introductions went, he was sure that it wasn't the worst first impression that anyone left.
Apple Bloom, who didn't have to think about things like that, just jumped up and down on her bed in excitement. "Oh, I can't wait to taste their fresh sweet rolls! They're my favorite part of Hearth's Warmin' Eve dinner," she said.
"I'm more of a six-layer bean dip filly myself!" Granny Smith informed.
"I love that too!" Apple Bloom said happily. "Oh, Applejack, do you think theirs'll be even better than ours?" She then asked her big sister.
Applejack didn't seem worried one bit. She was laying in her mattress next to her little sister as if she was ready to sleep already. "Well, that's a mighty tall order, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least," she replied.
Star Twinkle couldn't help but look at his parents, who were already looking back at him. His mother seemed to have the same thoughts in her mind as he did. She walked up to him and whispered some words into his ears. "Listen Starfall, we are guests here, so whatever we get served, we have to eat plenty of it so that the Pie Family won't get offended," she explained.
Star Twinkle, while looking a little bothered, completely understood. "Yes, no problem," he assured. As it happened to be, he already planned ahead by not eating anything today. Whatever the Pie family would offer, he was planning on eating it to get on good terms with them. Rainfall Twinkle was planning on saying the same thing to her husband but Sunny Twinkle's stomach was already growling, giving them a good indication that he was about to eat everything as well.
Right on time, Pinkie Pie walked upstairs to fetch everyone for dinner. "Are you excited for dinner time? Because guess who is! Spoiler alert – it's me!" She said before she walked downstairs with everyone else following right after.
On the ground floor, the rest of the Pie family were already sitting on the dinner table. The food was already served and with it came a lot of confusion within the other two families. Rocks...inside a bowl of soup. At first, Star Twinkle thought the rock inside of the soup, was some kind of special rock that would make the soup taste better by putting it inside there but then he saw a whole lot more rocks next to it and inside the plates of the Pie family, served like any other food. Combining that with how Maud actually ate a rock in front of his eyes, on their first meeting, he came to the conclusion that this is going to be their food. And knowing that got him quite confused.
It was Applejack, however, who decided to speak up about it. "What about hot rolls and mulled cider and double-baked pot pie?" She asked. There was clearly some disappointment in her voice.
"Uh, what about six-layer bean dip?" Granny Smith further asked.
Maud Pie gave a short answer. "We have rock soup," she said in her usual deadpan voice. That much everyone could see, the thing is, no one really wanted to accept this as reality.
"Potato, po-tah-to. Double-baked pot pie, rock soup! Dinner is dinner. Am I right or am I right?" Pinkie Pie then threw in, in order to get the mood up again, that definitely has sunken as soon as the two families stepped into this room.
Applejack was still confused, disappointed, and even weirded out but she still wanted to deepen the bonds between everyone and tried to not let everypony know what she was really thinking. "Yeah, um, you know what? This is what we were expectin'! Right, everypony?" She said before she looked over to the rest of her family and Star Twinkle and his parents.
But all the mare got as a response were some noises of uncertainty. None of the Pie's suspected anything and already started eating their...food. In the meantime, Star Twinkle, his parents, and the Apple family looked at their plates filled with soup and rocks.
"Are we really supposed to eat this?" Star Twinkle thought. He quickly got his answer by looking at the Pie family biting pieces off from their rocks. He looked to his mother and expected her to push him into eating it but she had pretty much the same expression on her face than her son.
Crunch!
The two Earth Ponies then heard right next to them. Sunny Twinkle just took a good bite off from his rock and chewed on it as if it was an apple. Still, the sounds that could be heard from inside his mouth made it sound rather painful.
Once the stallion noticed the looks that the Apple Family and his own gave him, he looked confused. "I haven't eaten anything...was I not supposed to start?" He asked, oblivious to the actual problem.
Applejack looked at her own soup with a worried expression on her face. She did not want to offend anyone in Pinkie Pie's family so she just had to eat it. But then again, the soup consisted of a rock which was as far away as possible from what she expected from her Hearts Warming Eve Dinner.
In the meantime, Pinkie Pie was happily slurping down her soup but she did notice Applejack's reaction. "Is everything all right, Applejack?" She asked in concern.
Applejack, like before, tried to play it cool again. "O' course, I'm just being a rusty fiddle. Tune me up and let's get back to dinner," she said with a fake smile on her face before she then decided to slowly slurp down the soup under the watchful eyes of everyone, even going so far on swallowing the stone as well.
The expression on Applejack's face was anything but filled with satisfaction but she still tried to smile at everyone. Unfortunately, she spat out the rock again shortly after but no one from the Pie family seemed to mind that and continued eating.
With a smile on Applejack's face, Pinkie Pie quickly misunderstood and asked for more rock, something that Applejack really didn't need right now.
"I would like more rocks as well!" Sunny Twinkle asked, much to the confusion of his family who could only throw confused looks at him. "What? I haven't eaten anything yet," he repeated again.
Pinkie Pie was happy to see that two ponies already liked the food and got excited about the next upcoming tradition. "Eat up, so we can get to our Hearth's Warming dolls!" She announced.
Applejack's facial expression quickly changed into a more positive one. "Now that's somethin' I know all about!" She said happily.
Star Twinkle was actually looking forward to this as well, anything to get this dinner over as fast as possible. First though, he had to somehow get around and eat this rock sitting on his plate.
Later...
Outside, inside a crater not too far away from the house, all the families gathered to make Hearth's Warming dolls. Again, the Apple family expected something different and was confused. The members of the Pie family were all equipped with pickaxes and already worked on some rocks with them. They were familiar with their own traditions of course and left Pinkie Pie to explain what was going on.
"Who wants a Hearth's Warming doll?" She asked around.
Everyone quickly realized what was going on, and they still were confused. "Are you sayin' that rock is a Hearth's Warmin' doll?" She asked, pointing at the rock sitting in front of her.
"Don't be silly, silly!" Pinkie Pie then replied amused before she took her pickax gave her own rock a little smack, which resulted in it turning into a little figure in the shape of Pinkie Pie. "Our dolls are these little pieces!" She explained. "Isn't that right, Marble Pie?" She then asked her little sister.
But the mare was too focused on working on her own "doll" and got surprised to hear her sister's voice. A slow nod and another "Mm-hmm," was all she responded before she went back to work.
The rest of the family did the same and picking some stones and shaping them into the form of their own image, Limestone Pie even going so far and building a life-sized one. They did a good job with them, naturally, they were not doing this the first time and had some practice, not to mention that they were living on a rock farm and were used on handling their tools.
The same could not be said by the other two families though. No one really had any practice in sculpting dolls out of stones and everyone could tell just by watching them. From having trouble working with a pickax and hitting the stones without them breaking, no one really was going to do forge a masterpiece anytime soon. As if that wasn't enough, no one really seemed too excited to create dolls out of rocks, it just seemed weird.
Seeing how her family was struggling and not enjoying this tradition so far, Applejack just had to ask something. "Uh... y'all don't have traditional crocheted dolls passed down in your family?" She said. She was hoping that this way her family would still have something that they were familiar with.
But that wasn't the case. "Aww, you're just a frown factory because you got a weird rock," she said, trying to cheer her cousin up again. "I'm sure you'll do great in the flag finding mission!" She added.
But instead of feeling better, Applejack just got more confused. "The what findin' what now?" She asked.
Pinkie Pie simply smiled in response. "You'll see," she just said before she went back on creating her own doll, leaving Applejack with her own stone.
The apple farmer let out a big sigh. She did not have much fun so far on this visit and it was showing. She was about to go back on her "doll" but her eyes wandered over to Star Twinkle who didn't seem too excited as well. All he did so far was holding his pickax and staring at his rock. She figured that he was feeling the same way she did right now and decided to ask him a few things.
"Say Star Twinkle, is this what you expected this visit to be?" She asked.
Star Twinkle kept looking at his rock as he answered. "No..." he replied.
"I thought so," Applejack said in response. "I bet you also expected some hot rolls as a dinner and crocheted dolls, right"? She further asked.
For a moment, Star Twinkle's eyes wandered towards the mare before then going back to his rock again. "...suuure..." he replied. Of course, with Star Twinkle not having any comparison of his own, that was a lie. He did not expect to eat rocks or making dolls out of rocks though, this much was certain.
Applejack continued. "And I bet, your family is not having the fun of their lives too, right?"
The stallion looked over to his parents. "Well..." he started as he looked over to his mother, who was having some problems holding her pickax and hitting her rock with it. He then looked over to his father who seemed to be a little it more into it, smashing a big rock in front of him into multiple pieces, Celestia knows if he was actually trying to create something or if he was just having fun swinging his pickax around. "Depends..." Star Twinkle concluded. "Does it matter, though?"
"What do you mean with does it matter? Don't you care about enjoying Hearth's Warming Eve with your family?" Applejack asked back.
Star Twinkle thought back about his previous Hearth's Warming Eves and how they played out...normal and boring. Celebrating it in a weirder way this time would not be the end of the world for him but it was still important to Applejack apparently. This didn't change what Star Twinkle was thinking about the situation as a whole though.
"Whether we like it or not, those are the traditions of the Pie family, which means we have to go along with them," he explained. However, as he said those words it almost felt as if he wanted someone to confirm his thought since he wasn't too sure himself if this was the best thing to do.
Another sigh came out of the mare. "If you say so..." she said in disappointment before she returned to her rock to work on it.
Star Twinkle did the same. He grabbed a pickax and tried to create a doll out of it the best he could. He kept telling himself that creating something out of a rock is not that much different than creating something out of wood, something that he is much better at. He came to the quick realization that this was not the case though.
Later...
The next tradition was waiting for the three families. It was called the flag finding mission and Pinkie Pie started preparing everything by splitting the families up into groups. No one, besides the Pie family, of course, knew why but they just let her do it.
"Big Mac, Marble Pie, and Sunny Twinkle, you're team one!" She said pushing the three ponies next to each other. A rather weird combination since two of the ponies were very reserved when it came to words and another one being the complete opposite.
"Apple Bloom, Maud, and Rainfall Twinkle, you're team two!" She said pushing the three together as well.
"Ma, Pa, you're gonna be with Granny Smith. Don't think of it as team old. Think of it as team three!" She said before she pushed Granny Smith between her parents.
"And I'm with Applejack of course since we might be cousins!" She said, putting a smile on the mare, for the first time, what felt like ages.
Star Twinkle noticed how Pinkie Pie was not continuing splitting up the groups anymore which was weird since he was still left out. "What about me?" He then asked.
But Pinkie Pie did not forget about him and explained. "I just thought since you are such a lazy bum, that you might want to be the judge along with Limestone," she said.
As soon as her name was said, Limestone looked over to the stallion with a mad glare on her face. "Whatever," she said, with the happiness and excitement of a stone.
"Great..." Star Twinkle thought. "I can see us warming up to each other really soon..." He clearly was not too excited about this pair up as well.
After that was done, Applejack finally popped the question that she, her, and Star Twinkle's family asked themselves.
"So now that we're all split up, mind tellin' us what we're doin'?"
Pinkie Pie once again jumped up on the giant egg-shaped boulder. "As everypony knows—"
"Stay off Holder's Boulder!" Limestone Pie once again told her sister, seeing how she was again not listening to her.
This time, Pinkie Pie walked off from it, seeing how her sister was not amused at all. The mare then gave everyone a little history lesson. "When the three tribes united to form Equestria, the first flag was sewn by Nimble Thimble. It's tradition to raise a flag on Hearth's Warming to celebrate that famous day," she explained. Everyone present knew about that story of course. There was no sign of a flag, however, which caused some confusion for the families. Pinkie Pie was not done though. "But who gets to put the flag on Holder's Boulder?" She asked.
"You mean on the flagpole?" Applejack asked.
"No, silly," Pinkie Pie replied. "It goes on the highest point! And who's the lucky pony?" She asked further.
Applejack continued. "Traditionally, it's the youngest—"
"On your marks, get set, go!" Pinkie Pie then shouted, causing everyone to scatter and leave the area.
"Pinkie Pie, will you please tell us what's goin' on?" Applejack now asked in a more frustrated tone.
"I'll explain on the way!" Pinkie Pie assured before she pulled her cousin with her and leaving the area as well.
Star Twinkle did not know what was going on but from what he understood, he was a judge, along with Limestone Pie, so he decided to just stay with her, and hopefully get to know her a little better so that he could at least make one friend on this trip. The mare was sitting next to the boulder and sat down, waiting patiently for whatever was going to happen next. The stallion quietly sat down next to her, she didn't even bother looking at him, as if she tried to ignore the stallion. This body language made it quite hard for him to even approach her. On top of that, Star Twinkle was not the best to handle awkward situations like this.
"So...what are we, as the judges, supposed to do?" Star Twinkle asked.
"We wait," the mare replied grumpily.
"Wait for what? Where did everybody go? What is everybody doing while we wait here?" The stallion asked.
He expected Limestone Pie to shut him up or something but she was actually willing to explain everything, much to the stallion's liking. "They are looking for an obsidian stone that I was hiding somewhere on the farm, the one who finds it gets to raise the flag."
That sounded pretty complicated to Star Twinkle. Now he actually appreciated that Pinkie Pie let him literally sit this one out. "Finding one certain stone in a rock farm sounds pretty difficult," he spoke out loud without thinking.
"It's not a stone," Limestone said.
"But you just said they are looking for an obsidian stone," Star Twinkle recalled.
"Yes but they are not looking for an actual stone, they are looking for a picture of one. Looking for an actual stone would be pretty weird after all," Limestone Pie corrected.
From all the things that the Pie family was doing so far, he couldn't believe one of them saying that his idea was weird. Understanding this family is more complicated than trying to fly as an Earth Pony. Now that example might not fit Star Twinkle specifically since he could transform into a Pegasus at will but that is not what was important now.
"Hold on," Star Twinkle then said after he realized something else. "Does Applejack or anyone besides the Pie family know that?" He asked.
"They should," Limestone Pie casually replied.
"How?" Star Twinkle thought. No one knows about those traditions after all.
Star Twinkle didn't know how he would deal with all this, and luckily, he was tasked to just sit and wait. He hoped that someone would just show up and so that he would be saved from this awkward situation.
Meanwhile...
Behind the Pie house, Marble Pie and Big McIntosh were looking around to look for the obsidian rock, or for the picture of one for that matter. Both being the rather silent type, the two of them did not exchange many words and just focused on searching for the rock while occasionally saying some "Mm-hmms" and "Eeyups".
The same could not be said about Sunny Twinkle though.
"Found anything yet!?" He asked as he popped up between them as the two walked past each other. "This sure is fun! I don't even know what an obsidian stone looks like but I still have fun looking for it! What about you!?"
The stallion got some short answers...
"Mm-hmm," Marble Pie replied.
"Eeyup," Big McIntosh replied.
A shorter answer than Sunny Twinkle expected but he still took it. "Great!" He said happily before he continued looking for the stone. The fact, that Marble Pie was too shy to explain that he had to look for a paper though, meant that no matter how eager the stallion was to find the rock, he would never actually find it.
Meanwhile...
A little further away from the Pie house, Maud Pie, Apple Bloom, and Rainfall Twinkle looked for the obsidian paper. Maud did not tell the others that it was one though, given her...unique nature.
Still, both Apple Bloom and Rainfall Twinkle did their best trying to find something. "What does the rock look like?" Apple Bloom then asked.
Maud Pie, being the expert of all kinds of rocks, gave a quick answer. "It looks like something that formed when volcanic lava cooled quickly." She explained.
"Then...it would be black, right?" Rainfall Twinkle asked.
"Yes," Maud replied before she stopped her search for a moment. "Are you interested in rocks too?" She then asked, with a very slight hint of interest in her normally deadpan voice.
Rainfall Twinkle saw an opportunity to bond just now, and she definitely did not want to let it slip away. The problem was, she was not interested in rocks, at least not to the same extent as the Pie family. But there were still options.
"I do have a nice collection of jewelry. I especially like amber stones, the color reminds me of my husband," she explained.
There was a silence between the two. Rainfall Twinkle was hoping that those words were somehow getting on good terms with Maud. The fact that Maud was staring at her so intensely got her really nervous though. She couldn't even begin to guess what the mare was thinking with that expression on her face.
"Amber stones are cool," Maud simply replied. It was a beginning, that much could be said and Rainfall Twinkle was glad about it. "Have you ever wished you could turn into a rock?" Until Maud dropped that sentence and left the mare without a response. There wasn't even remotely anything that she could think of to say to this.
"I had a dream once I was an apple," Apple Bloom then threw in after overhearing this "conversation".
After a short pause, Maud replied. "We seem to have a lot in common," she commented.
If it wasn't for Maud's deadpan way of speaking, Rainfall Twinkle and Apple Bloom could swear that she was happy for a moment, which in turn, made them happy. Whether the traditions of the Pie family were something that they needed to get used to or not, there was at least hope of becoming friends with them. Knowing that, made Rainfall Twinkle and Apple Bloom really happy.
A little later...
The waiting, in front of Holder's Boulder continued and so did the silence between Star Twinkle and Limestone Pie. There was no telling if the mare wanted to be friends with him or anyone else from his or the Apple family, especially given her serious and unamused nature but Star Twinkle didn't want to give up. His goal was that he and his family would get along with the Apple and the Pie family, and he was determined to make this happen, even if he was the one who had to take the initiative.
"So...this boulder..." He said, trying to start something that barely resembled a conversation. "It''s pretty important, I assume?" He asked.
Limestone seemed almost offended to hear this question, much to Star Twinkle's concern. "You bet it is!" She said standing up for the first time in a while again. "It belongs to our family for ages now," she added.
"Really?" The stallion asked confused. It looked like a normal boulder to him, if one would ignore the egg-shape and the size of it. He had to admit that he got a little bit curious now. "Why?" He simply asked.
Limestone Pie seemed annoyed but she also looked at him as if she was about to drop a story on him and only a few seconds later, that is exactly what happened.
"It belonged to our great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Holder Cobblestone. He found that boulder in a dragon's nest, older than time itself! He decided to build this very farm around it," she explained before she looked over to Holder's Boulder for a moment. "It's just a normal ordinary rock but our ancestors and our family believe that it was always bringing us luck. That's why it is so important to us!"
Star Twinkle didn't know what he expected when he asked about that rock but that was certainly not it. That was actually a pretty good story. "Wow..." was the only thing he could say in response after hearing this story.
Slowly, he tried to think that this boulder was the reason why this was a rock farm, or why everything else was so rock-based here. He had no confirmation if that was true but he still felt bad. All those weird traditions were not just random things but had most likely their own stories behind them just like the stories that he heard about Hearth's Warming Eve. He still was not happy to eat rocks as a dinner but he started to respect their traditions a little bit now.
"We're here!" The voice of Pinkie Pie shouted as she arrived with Applejack first, equipped with a picture of an obsidian rock.
"Good job Pinkie Pie!" Limestone Pie congratulated.
"Uh...that means that you are the one who raises the flag, right?" Star Twinkle asked after recalling how the tradition worked again.
"You bet I do!" Pinkie Pie said happily. "Now let's get everyone back so that we can start hiding the presents!" She added before she rushed away to find the rest and tell them that the search was over.
For a moment, Star Twinkle got confused after hearing the last words of Pinkie Pie just now. "Hiding the presents?" He asked confused.
Applejack was nice enough to explain to the stallion that the Pie family was hiding their presents and everyone had to look for them. She also told him that because of this tradition, most of the time, they would end up getting no presents at Hearth's Warming Eve. It was yet another weird tradition that he had to deal with on this trip. The stallion just decided to roll with it, and he knew that his parents would be behind it as well. He was really hoping that there was a good story behind this as well in order for him to get used to it.
Later...
The day was over and it was already dark outside. Star Twinkle, his parents, and the Apple family went upstairs to go to sleep. Space was a little bit limited with two families sharing one room but it somehow worked. With two bunk beds across each other, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom were on one side, while Sunny Twinkle and Rainfall Twinkle were on the other side. This gave both families an opportunity to talk a little bit in private for a moment before going to sleep.
Rainfall Twinkle was looking at her son, keeping a close eye on him, something that Star Twinkle started to notice after a few seconds.
"Is something the matter?" He asked once he noticed the looks his mother gave him.
"Oh, I just wanted to make sure that you are alright, dear. I mean..." she started, trying to find the right words for what she was about to say. "I bet this is not how you expected today's Hearth's Warming Eve to go, right?" She asked with a nervous grin on her face.
The short answer to this question would be "no" but the stallion still wanted to share his thought about all this. "To be honest, I don't know what I expected when we arrived here but eating rocks was definitely not on my list," he explained.
"They were pretty good though!" Sunny Twinkle said, his head popping down from the upper bed where he was already laying in.
Star Twinkle continued. "I'm fine," he assured with a smile on his face. "I spent enough time with Pinkie Pie to get...sorta used to her and her weirdness. This day is almost feeling normal in comparison...weird but normal," he said.
Rainfall Twinkle was happy to hear this and smiled at her son before putting her hooves on his shoulder softly. "That is good to hear, Starfall. I'm glad that you are so understanding to all of this," she said in a caring voice.
With those words said, Star Twinkle went over to the other side of the room where Big McIntosh and Applejack were already putting down their mattresses on the ground. Star Twinkle was readying his own mattress as well but Applejack was quick to approach him as soon as he got closer to the two.
"Hey, mind if I talk with you for a moment?" She asked.
"Sure," Star Twinkle replied.
The two then walked to a corner, away from everyone else and Applejack started whispering so that nopony else in the room would hear them, much to the stallion's confusion. "Say, do you think that Pinkie Pie's family never had a real Hearth's Warmin' Eve?"
"What?" The stallion returned in his confusion. "What gives you that idea?"
Applejack explained herself. "You know, with all those weird traditions, like eating rocks, looking for rocks or hiding presents, don't you think that their Hearth's Warming Eve could be improved a little bit?" She asked.
Star Twinkle lowered his eyebrows. Having all those things being told to him made him realized how weird it all was again. "It's not really what I would have imagined if someone asked me about Hearth's Warming Eve," the stallion had to admit.
"Right, right?!" Applejack replied.
"But-" Star Twinkle continued. "Those are their traditions and that means that we should just let them celebrate the way they want. We are guests here after all," he further explained.
Of course, Applejack knew from where the stallion was coming from but she kept thinking about how her family and she were not really happy during most of the day, celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve the Pie way. In her eyes, something was missing.
"I know they have their traditions and we have ours, but I just want them to see how much better theirs could be," the mare whispered under her breath.
"What?" Star Twinkle asked. He couldn't quite understand what she was saying, even though she was standing right in front of him.
But Applejack quickly brushed it off again. "Forget it, we better go and grab some sleep for tomorrow," she said before she walked to her mattress and laid down, placing her hat next to her before closing her eyes already.
Star Twinkle decided to do the same. He was not looking forward sleeping on the ground and would like to spend the night in a comfy bed as well but seeing how the day was not really in his favor anyway, he just ignored that and laid down to get some sleep as well.
The next morning...
It was to be expected, Star Twinkle was someone who highly valued his sleep and the mattress, where he was sleeping in, was not enough to do satisfy him enough. He ended up having a pretty rough night and decided to get up earlier. Everything was still silent when he woke up so he guessed that he was still the first one to be up now.
The stallion carefully sneaked past the two bunk beds to go to the open window, grabbing some fresh air and waking himself up. It actually was doing wonders, his eyes quickly got blinded from the sun, forcing his tiredness away. What blinded him though was not the sun though. The lights that he saw came from down below, much to his surprise.
There were lights and decorations that were not present yesterday. It was classic decoration that you would see at Hearth's Warming Eve in almost every other town. Of course, Star Twinkle wondered why it looked like that now, and who was responsible for it. The answer surprised him though. It was Applejack.
Did the Pie family give her permission to do this? Unlikely, since no one seemed to be up so far. The memories of Star Twinkle's and Applejack's last conversation then came flooding back. "Is this what she meant with improving the Pie family's Hearth's Warming Eve?" The stallion wondered.
Before any other thought crossed the mind of the stallion, he started to walk downstairs and outside without waking up someone in the house. He needed to do something and fast.
The stallion was outside, Applejack didn't notice him so far and merely continued putting more lights around the farm without a single care in her mind. He approached the mare as she continued decorating the place.
"Applejack, what are you doing!?" Star Twinkle asked.
The mare quickly turned around and greeted her friends with a smile. "Morning, Star Twinkle. What do you think of this place?" She asked.
"Does the Pie family know what you are doing to their farm!?" The stallion asked in a panic.
"Uh...no..." Applejack replied hesitantly. "But I'm sure they'll appreciate it once they see all this," she said confidently and nervously at the same time.
But only a few seconds later, Applejack got an answer to that.
"What. Happened. To. My. Farm!" Limestone Pie said with the rage of a thousand thunders. Clearly not the sound of someone who was happy about Applejack's changes around the farm. Everyone else was standing at the door now as well, and not one looked really happy about the changes that Applejack did to the farm.
The mare sensed how things were getting a little tense so she tried her best to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible.
"It's Hearth's Warmin', Apple-style! We've been doin' everythin' your way, I thought we could mix it up a bit!" She explained before she rushed over to Marble Pie."You could raise the Equestria flag up this pole because you're the youngest Pie! Ma and Pa Pie, we'll cook you up a meal you'll never forget! And look, we all get presents without havin' to find 'em!" She said as she pointed to a pile of presents not too far away.
Pinkie Pie, who also looked a bit too surprised about all these changes "...Yeah, this is gonna be great! All the stuff she's said. Right, everypony?" She said in a poor attempt to support Applejack.
But her father was not sharing his daughter's opinion. "Pinkamena Diane Pie!" He exclaimed in a stern voice. "Truly thou cannot favor this madness!" He asked.
Pinkie Pie quickly got nervous. "Well, I wanna be one big family!" She answered.
"But what about what we usually do?!" Limestone Pie asked.
"I, um, well, I-I don't know!" Pinkie Pie replied breaking out in tears seconds later. "Don't make me choose!"
Applejack quickly realized how she made a mistake and still tried to calm everyone down again. "I didn't mean to cause a fuss... Why don't we just open presents around the flag pole? It'll be fun, you'll see!" She said. It was obvious that she was a little too overwhelmed by the whole situation and the last thing she wanted to do was make everyone feel unhappy about any of this.
"Excuse me," Maud Pie then said in the middle of this mess. She was standing in front of the flagpole that Applejack put in the ground not too far away from the house. "You planted your pole on a fault line," she informed everyone as she inspected the pole closely.
"What does that mean?" Star Twinkle asked.
He soon got an answer to his question. The ground started to shake and cracks were spread across the whole farm. Eventually, the cracks wandered over to Holder's Boulder, making it fall over and drop into the crater just behind it.
"Nooooooooooooooo!" Limestone Pie screamed in anger.
She and her family rushed over to the cliff to see the condition of Holder's Boulder. There didn't seem to be any major damage, which was expected since it was a pretty big and massive rock. Still, it being down in a cliff didn't help to make anyone feel better. Soon, Limestone Pie and Pinkie Pie's parents looked over to Applejack and shot daggers at her with their eyes.
"Oh, boy," Applejack said nervously. She knew that this was not good at all, even a blind pony would see that now.
Limestone walked over to the mare, causing Applejack to take some steps back in fear. There was no telling what The eldest of the Pie sisters would do after what happened to her precious boulder.
"I hope you are happy now!" She said into the face of Applejack.
"I didn't mean for this to happen!" Applejack immediately threw back nervously.
"Well, it doesn't matter!" Limestone Pie replied angrily. "You ruined our farm and threw Holder's Boulder down the cliff!"
Star Twinkle needed to defend Applejack. The latter one was an accident after all and Applejack couldn't be blamed for that. "Applejack didn't mean for anything like this to happen, she just-"
But the stallion immediately stopped once Limestone Pie was directing her angry glare at him. Star Twinkle wanted to help Applejack but he also didn't want to end up in this crossfire.
"It's okay, Star Twinkle..." Applejack then interrupted. "I know I am at fault here..." she added with a frown on her face, taking full responsibility in all of this. "I'm sorry for ruining your Hearth's Warming Eve," she said before she walked away from the group and inside the house again. She stopped at the door for a moment though. "It might be better if we leave," she said in an upset tone.
Limestone Pie only grunted in response, she did not even attempt to stop Applejack from leaving. She turned towards her family. "Let's try and Holder's Boulder back up," she ordered before she was on her way down to the crater to get the boulder back up to its usual spot again.
The rest of her family followed her shortly after. The farm was left in a very bad state because of the cracks from before and was in a desperate need to be repaired but Holder's Boulder was more important now so they focused on this problem first.
Pinkie Pie was still leaving behind, she clearly felt responsible for this situation as well. "I just wanted our families to like each other," she said with a frown on her face and tears starting to form in her eyes.
"Come on, Pinkie Pie," Star Twinkle said as he approached the mare. "It's not your fault or Applejack's, things just...didn't work out too well so far," he added.
"And maybe they never meant to be..." Pinkie Pie said with a frown on her face before she left to join her family, helping them to bring Holder's Boulder back up again.
Star Twinkle felt bad for everyone, if the mood between all the families were bad so far, then there was no hope left at all now. The stallion didn't quite know what to do and just joined the Apple family and his parents on the second floor, where they decided to retreat to at this moment. There he could see how the Apple family already packed their stuff, in order to leave.
"You really want to leave?" Star Twinkle asked.
"Yes," Applejack replied. "We already did enough damage after all," she figured.
Granny Smith agreed to that. "Prob'ly best if we head back to Sweet Apple Acres. Maybe in time we'll be friends again, but for the now it's best if we give them a little space," she explained.
"I wish we didn't have to," Apple Bloom said in an upset tone. "I really like Maud. She's sweet once you get to know her. They all are...This is the worst Hearth's Warmin' ever."
There didn't seem to be much that Star Twinkle thought he could say to cheer them again. They already decided that leaving this farm was for the best. The same could not be said about Star Twinkle's parents though. They stood in the same room undecided about what to do next. They had nothing to do with what Applejack did to the farm and didn't want to end up in the crossfire as well but at the same time, it felt weird staying here after all the things that happened.
"Should we...leave as well?" Rainfall Twinkle suggested much to the surprise of her husband.
"Aw...I had so much fun so far," Sunny Twinkle said with a frown on his face.
Star Twinkle looked around the room. Frowning faces, instead of happy ones, definitely not what he expected from this year's Hearth's Warming Eve. It was not what he expected at all, and his bar was very low, to begin with after being part of some traditions today. Was it really supposed to end this way? Was this how the three families would end up in the end?
That did not sit right with Star Twinkle at all. He looked over at his parents. "Mom, Dad...we need to help the Pie's with the Boulder," he said determinedly before he turned around to the Apple Family. "You need to help too!" He asked of them.
"You really think that's a good idea, after all, what I did?" Applejack asked. She couldn't believe that Star Twinkle was demanding something like this.
"It's better than doing nothing," Star Twinkle casually replied. "I'll be honest, I don't really care which tradition is better or makes more sense but I do agree with what Pinkie Pie said before, that I want us all to feel like a big family on this day. I don't give up on that, that's why I will go down there and help the Pie's," he explained before he walked out of the room to rush down the crater and assist Pinkie Pie and her family.
Mixed reactions were left in the room, surprise, confusion, and even motivation, the latter one being present in Sunny Twinkle now, who walked towards the door now. "They need more than one pony to help them out right now!" He said determinedly towards his wife.
"Yes!" Rainfall Twinkle agreed. The determination of her husband seemed to have rubbed off on her at this moment. She quickly followed her family and decided to help too.
This only left the Apple family who was struggling to make a decision. It felt as if there was still a little push needed for them to help out as well. And it just so happened to come in the form of a big present that popped out from one of Applejack's luggage, that she didn't pack so far.
A card was attached to it, which Applejack quickly read out loud. "To Applejack, from Pinkie Pie. Cousins forever," she said with tears starting to run down her cheeks shortly after.
"You just found your first Pie Hearth's Warmin' present ever!" Apple Bloom, congratulating her big sister on that.
Applejack started laughing before wiping away some tears from her eyes. "Only Pinkie Pie could hide a present in someone else's luggage...What a great tradition," she said in realization.
Meanwhile...
As expected, getting Holder's Boulder out of the crater was pretty difficult. The whole Pie family was trying their best to move it but it wouldn't move an inch even with six ponies pushing it.
"Come on... you... boulder, come on... agh!" Pinkie Pie said in a straining voice as she pushed the egg-shape boulder.
"I'm pushing as hard as I can too," Maud said in her usual deadpan voice.
Eventually, they stopped after realizing that they could not move it one inch away from its spot. "Rrrgh, it's hopeless!" Limestone Pie exclaimed in frustration.
"You need some helping hooves?" Star Twinkle asked.
The Pie's turned around and saw Star Twinkle, Rainfall Twinkle, and Sunny Twinkle approaching them and offering them their help. But given how things turned out recently, Limestone Pie quickly refused their help.
"We can help you too!" Applejack then said with her family standing behind her.
Now there was even more fuel for the Limestone Pie anger train. "What do you want?!" She asked, pushing her help off as well.
But Applejack wanted to set things straight. She needed to speak her mind and tell everyone how she felt. "I wasn't tryin' to take your traditions away, I was tryin' to share ours. I was so focused on us bein' one big happy family, I thought we needed the same traditions right away. What I should've done was to learn about yours and teach you about ours. And over time, we'd make new traditions together," she explained before she took her hat off. "I'm sorry, y'all," she then apologized.
Her speech was definitely leaving an impact on the family, they could see how she felt bad about everything that she caused. They looked at each other but most of them had their sight on Limestone Pie since she was the angriest about the whole situation.
The mare noticed the looks that everyone gave her and decided to give Applejack an answer. "Well, don't just stand there! We got a boulder to move!" She said inviting everyone to help out with Holder's Boulder. "And I'm in charge," she added.
Shortly after all the families started pushing Holder's Boulder out of the crater. It actually started moving now with so many helping hooves pushing it. It was not easy but slowly and surely they managed to get it out with combined efforts.
"I think we've just invented our first combined tradition!" Pinkie Pie pointed out. "Pushing Holder's Boulder out of the quarry! I can't wait for Applejack to knock it over next Hearth's Warming!" She added happily.
Besides that being a terrible idea, Star Twinkle remembered Pinkie Pie to more important things. "Push now, talk later!"
Later...
Holder's Boulder was placed on its original spot and with some repairs around it, it was secured again. All the families worked together to repair and clean the farm as best as possible, leaving it in an acceptable state again. Everyone decided to just forget what happened and continued celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve.
But this time, they combined both of their traditions. They made dolls out of rocks, and placed them over the fireplace, ate sweets and rocks, for those who still wanted them, and presents didn't need to be hidden away.
Suddenly, everything felt a lot happier and enjoyable, not because not everyone had to go through some new and weird traditions anymore but because there was actual hearth warming in this house now. Everyone quickly got along with each other once they had the time to spent some time with each other.
It was nice, Star Twinkle thought that at least. But he could quickly see how everyone else was having fun as well. Apple Bloom spent time with Maud Pie, Big McIntosh and Marble Pie warmed up to each other, the parents and Granny Smith exchanged some nice words with each other, and Limestone Pie started to be nicer to Star Twinkle as well.
"Hey, Star Twinkle!" Pinkie Pie then said before she placed a weirdly shaped present in front of him. Her placing it made the whole ground shake for a moment, given its size and its likely weight.
"Here is your present," she said happily
"Well, I wonder what's inside," Star Twinkle said, of course knowing what was inside just by looking at the shape of it. He quickly ripped the paper away and it was revealed to be a big rock. "Wow, thanks Pinkie Pie..." Star Twinkle said with an amused smile on his face. It was the thought that counted after all, and he was sure that she was putting a lot into her present. Either that, or it was part of another tradition that he didn't know of yet.
"Happy Hearth's Warming!" Pinkie Pie said to him.
"Happy Hearth's Warming to you too Pinkie Pie," Star Twinkle replied before he got hugged by the mare only a second later.
"Applejack told me that you were the one changing the mind of everypony when they were about to leave," the mare said quietly to him.
"She did?" Star Twinkle replied.
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yup, which means that it is because of you that we're having this amazing time now," she explained.
Star Twinkle was a little embarrassed to hear that. "If you say so," he said a little nervously. "I'm just happy everything turned out well," he said.
The stallion was sure that Applejack would have returned either way. They were practically family, after all, there was no way that she would have left without setting things straight again. She would have done something even if Star Twinkle didn't say anything...right?
"Attention, everypony!" Apple Bloom said gathering everyone to the middle of the room now. "Maud wants to sing some Hearth's Warmin' carols that she wrote!" She announced.
The whole family then formed a circle around the mare and listened.
"The first one is about rocks. They're all about rocks," Maud explained in a deadpan voice.
Star Twinkle chuckled. "I would have been surprised if they weren't," he thought to himself.
Shortly after, he could feel the legs of his parents laying on his shoulders as they listened to Maud's singing. All three of them were happy to be part of this visit. The family came here without any traditions to bring to the table but after a day like this, they happily picked up some of them for future Hearth's Warming Eves. Now Star Twinkle would actually be looking forward to this celebration.