//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Regroup at the Castle of Friendship 
// Story: My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever 
// by Postwarmonkey50 
//------------------------------//


Meanwhile, from the Ponyville Train Station



 


From the train station, the train from the Rainbow Falls had arrived. As soon as the carriage doors opened, everypony soon walked out of it, with Applejack, Fluttershy, their husbands and their kids in tow.

‘Boy that was exhausting.’ said Bucky as he stretched a bit.

‘Y’all can say that again.’ said Applejack, feeling just as tired.

‘It’s just too bad that you guys couldn’t get the gifts you had in mind for Rainbow and Spike.’ said Genus.

‘Oh, but thanks to you both,’ said Fluttershy as she managed a smile ‘They’ll have proper presents. I can see why you wanted to come along.’

‘What, and let you guys have all the fun?’ said Genus.

‘Well it was excitin’ to visit the Rainbow Falls again.’ said Apple Slice, until he frowned and said ‘Too bad those two snake in the grass con artists were there.’

‘Seriously.’ said Warm Breeze whilst he wiped the sleepiness from his eyes ‘Don’t those guys have families of their own to get back to?’

‘Con ponies bad.’ said Comfy Breeze with a pout and crossing arms ‘In slammer. Go, bye-bye.’

Fluttershy giggled whilst she was holding Comfy Breeze ‘That’s right Comfy.’

‘But seriously,’ said Applejack ‘Did what they said was true that both Iron Will and Lightning Dust got arrested a while back?’

‘They sure have,’ said Apple Slice ‘From what Sun Gleam wrote, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were still mighty ticked at them for what they did back at the Crystal Empire.’


(For those who do not remember Yabuki’s stories, Sun Gleam is Princess Celestia’s daughter)


‘Seriously,’ said Bucky ‘And Neighsay complained that the other creatures would pose a threat? I mean come on, he forgot that Stygian, Princess Luna, Sombra, Trixie, Starlight and Tempest Shadow, along with Cozy Glow nearly conquered and destroyed Equestria because all of them went down a dark path, and because of them, they brought all of Ponykind a bad name.’

‘Pride can make anyone forget.’ said Genus ‘They say that those who forget our history, are doomed to repeat it. We keep forgetting what we did in the past and we ended up making the same mistake. I mean Pride is one of the seven deadly sins.’

‘Truer words have never been spoken.’ said Applejack ‘Ah know a thing or two about pride. Back then ah was too prideful to ask others for help during the apple harvest when Twilight moved not too long ago to Ponyville, then when ah worked at Cherry Jubilee’s farm to earn some money because ah didn’t want to come back empty handed. Not to mention Grand Pear for abandoning mah ma.’

‘I really wish I could’ve met her.’ said Bucky ‘She must’ve been a wonderful mare. I mean, from what I’ve seen, a part of her lives in you.’

‘Aw, thanks Bucky.’ said Applejack.

‘So what do you think?’ asked Apple Slice ‘Take our things back home and then to aunt Twi’s castle?’

‘Good idea.’ said Fluttershy ‘We certainly don’t want to lose anything else along the way.’

As Applejack, Fluttershy and the others were away from the train station, another train arrived, this time from Sweet Acorn Orchard, carrying Rarity, Silver and Crystal Gem on board. They soon departed whilst Silver escorted them out like a gentleman.

‘Oh that was a dreadful trip.’ said Crystal Gem ‘All this traveling is doing a number on my mane.’

‘I quite agree with you darling.’ said Rarity.

‘So before we go back to Twilight’s castle,’ said Silver ‘What do you say we freshen up, maybe a bath or so. That way we’ll be properly presentable.’

‘Oh, what a marvelous idea Silver.’ said Rarity. She then smirked as she whispered ‘And if you’d like, you’re welcome to join me.’

Silver gave a goofy grin, for Rarity gave a great idea too. He then heard a rumbling sound as he said ‘Anyone else hear that?’

Suddenly, they heard rumbling coming from the fountain, for its waters began to bubble. And right out of nowhere, a large object came out of it, revealing to be a submarine.


(Yeah, you read correctly.)


‘What is that?!!’ shrieked Rarity.

‘Wait,’ said Silver as he looked at it with both a cocked eyebrow and a tilted head ‘Is that a submarine?’

The hatch of the sub opened, and out popped none other than a certain party pony.

‘Ahoy, mateys!!’ shouted Pinkie Pie as she was the first to pop out.

‘We’re here!!’ shouted Peacon Pie as he popped out next.

‘And just in time for Hearth’s Warming!!’ shouted Lemon Pie as she popped out next.

As they jumped out, Frosty followed them out whilst carrying some presents with him too. After they climbed off, the sub automatically sunk back into the fountain, leaving Rarity and the others speechless.

‘Ah, submarines.’ said Frosty ‘The only way to travel.’

‘A boo…a boo…’ said Rarity whilst she pointed whilst her eye twitched.

‘How did you…?’ asked Silver.

‘Don’t ask.’ said Frosty as he said ‘It’s a long and complicated story.’

Frosty walked away, with Rarity groaning whilst she rubbed her templates and said ‘I knew we’d start to regret Pinkie teaching Frosty most of her secrets.’

‘He knew what he was getting into,’ said Silver ‘Besides, you’d have to be a pretty special person to catch up with Pinkie’s shenanigans.’

‘True.’ said Rarity ‘Now, about that bath.’

‘Oh, I do concur.’ said Crystal Gem, agreeing with her mother.


Meanwhile, outside of the Ponyville Hospital




After the excruciating labor in the hospital, Trixie was able to finally get out of the hospital, whilst holding her little Misty in her arms, with her cooing at the newborn foal. Misty couldn’t help but giggle as she held onto her mother’s nose, whilst also holding her father’s finger. Mystic couldn’t help but smile at that.

‘She truly is magnificent.’ said Mystic.

‘I’m just glad the painful experience is over.’ said Trixie whilst nuzzling her child.

‘I’m just glad the baby’s alright.’ said Starlight.

‘I’m glad that Trixie’s not scary whilst she was giving birth anymore.’ said Chance.

Everyone looked at him with flexed eyebrows.

‘What?’ said Chance ‘She was scary. But not as scary as Starlight was.’

Trixie couldn’t help but snort and giggle ‘Trixie concurs. Though Starlight had been very scary, it was hilarious that she kicked the doctors in two separate directions whilst she was literally choking her husband.’

‘I said I was sorry,’ said Starlight ‘Can I help it when I was in pain whilst giving birth?’

‘Though on the plus side you were able to take a good shower after the sweating you put up.’ said Chance, until he blushed and said ‘And I thought you were adorable when you were shaking your tushy whilst you were busy drying…’

‘Ch-Chance…’ said Starlight as she jabbed Chance’s shoulder, clearly embarrassed by that remark.

Mystic couldn’t help but chuckle at that, even Trixie.

‘Well it was.’ said Chance ‘Can I help it if I was attracted to your body? As well as that sweet wonderful and beautiful giggle of yours.’

Starlight giggled at that, which caused Chance to dreamingly look at her whilst he held her close.

‘Say,’ said Mystic as he wanted to changed the subject ‘Seeing that it’s close to Hearth’s Warming Eve, why don’t we go to the castle?’

‘Oh, good idea,’ said Trixie, then looked at Starlight and said ‘And Starlight, you should bring your kids along too, I’m sure that they don’t want to miss out on this too.’

‘Oh, good idea.’ said Starlight ‘Meet at the castle in the hour?’

‘Of course.’ said Mystic before all of them departed.

As they walked, Starlight nudged Chance and said ‘You know I’m going to get back at you for that little tushy comment, right?’

‘I know you are,’ said Chance with a smirk ‘But then you won’t get a special surprise.’

‘Wait, what?’ said Starlight as she looked at him.

‘Remember when Emily and the rest of the guys said that they already had their Hearth’s Warming plans ready?’ said Chance, with Starlight nodding at that ‘Well, they didn’t plan it alone, myself, Mystic, Blade and Ignis had a part in this too.’

‘Wait, you planned with them?’ said Starlight as she was now surprised.

‘Of course.’ said Chance ‘And like we said, you’ll know soon enough the moment we get there.’

‘You know, in a way,’ said Starlight as she held her husband close ‘I’m actually looking forward to it.’




Meanwhile, just about half a mile away from the Castle of Friendship




From far away from the Castle of Friendship, things have been pretty quiet lately. And from the top of the hill, Rainbow Dash, Bolt, Bolt Jr. and Discord had just come out of the forest after catching the Winterchilla. Bolt Jr. on the other hand kept pondering at the little creature, for he had seen it before, but he still couldn’t place his finger at where he has seen it before.

‘There it is,’ said Bolt whilst he looked at the castle, saying ‘Castle Sweet Castle.’

‘Got that right.’ said Rainbow Dash as she held onto the Winterchilla ‘Fluttershy’s going to love this.’

‘Come on, let’s get going,’ said Bolt Jr. as he was suddenly excited ‘The sooner we get there, the sooner we can prepare to visit Grandma Windy for her famous cookies and fruit cake.’

‘You gotta admit Junior does have a point,’ said Bolt with a smile ‘Your mom really does make the best fruit cake.’

‘Obviously she would.’ said Rainbow with a smirk ‘Why else did you think she won first place for best fruit cake five years running?’

As they took off towards Twilight’s castle, Discord suddenly had a sad face as he said ‘Goodbye.’

The three immediately stopped and looked behind, wondering what Discord was doing as he said ‘Enjoy your exclusive pony-only holiday gathering.’

The three of them suddenly felt really bad as they looked at Discord as he was holding a tissue and said ‘I’ll just be home, spending quality time with…myself.’

Another Discord showed up, who also looked just as sad. The two then held hands and walked away with sad faces.

Rainbow, Bolt and Junior felt really bad whilst they looked at the Winterchilla.

‘Well,’ said Bolt whilst he rubbed the back of his head and said ‘He did help us find a perfect gift for Fluttershy. And he’s never spent the holidays with anyone else before.’

Junior then held onto his mother’s arm and said ‘Please mom? Can’t Discord spend Hearth’s Warming Eve with us?’

Rainbow took another look at the Winterchilla that she was holding. After some thinking, she made up her mind.

‘Uh,’ said Rainbow as she made up her mind ‘I wouldn’t have this little feller without you, so…’

The two Discords stopped and looked at Rainbow and her family.

‘If you wanna join,’ said Rainbow as she looked at the Draconequus ‘Fluttershy would love having you. And I wouldn’t totally hate it.’

‘And I’m sure Warm Breeze and the others would love your company.’ said Bolt.

‘And free eggnog.’ said Junior.

Discord was so happy, he went over and gave Rainbow a big hug whilst he was suddenly wearing a green winter hat and what appeared to be a white robe of sorts as he exclaimed ‘Great!! Awesome! In that case…’

Discord suddenly shifted towards the setting sun as it sets behind the Castle of Friendship, whilst pointing at it and said ‘Oh, look. Sunset. It’s officially Hearth’s Warming Eve.’

The sun began to set behind the castle, which they thought was beautiful, especially with the stars starting to shine. Suddenly, something popped inside Bolt Junior’s head. Winterchilla, sunset, and he let out a large gasp.

‘Oh no!’ shouted Bolt Jr. ‘Now I remember!!’

‘Whoa, what is it?’ said Bolt as he and Rainbow looked at their son.

‘Don’t you know about the Winterchilla from what Fluttershy and Genus once told us about?!!’ said Bolt Jr. ‘In the daytime they’re small cute and adorable creatures!! But when the sun sets they…!!!’

When all of a sudden, the Winterchilla groaned a bit as if he wasn’t feeling good. It then jumped off of Rainbow’s hands a few feet away from them whilst it grunted.

‘Uh, what is it doing?’ asked Rainbow in a worried tone.

‘Oh no,’ said Bolt Jr. as he quickly hid behind his mother ‘It’s starting.’

The Winterchilla then growled loudly. It’s pupils began to shrink, it grew new sharp teeth, spouted six little arms and began to grow into a giant. As they looked, their pupils shrank whilst Bolt Jr. Trembled behind his mother and Bolt fell over on his butt as he watched in shock.

‘Oh,’ said Discord as he slapped his forehead as he just remembered something whilst the others looked ‘Uh, did I forget to mention that the Winterchilla turns into a Winterzilla when the sun sets?’

As the Winterchilla, or in this case, Winterzilla roared, Bolt said ‘Discord?’

‘Yes?’ said Discord.

‘Can you teleport a smelly fish into my hand please?’ said Bolt.

Discord did just so. And right on cue, he slapped Discord in the face with it, much to the Lord of Chaos’ annoyance as he said ‘I hate it when people do that.’


At the Castle of Friendship’s front doors




As things were occurring, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, along with their husbands and kids, walked up the stairs. The Mane 4 had somewhat of a disappointed looks on their faces after they got at the top of the stairs.

‘How did Everypony’s shopping go?’ asked Fluttershy.

‘Well…’ said Rarity before she trailed off.

‘Uh…’ said Pinkie Pie, not knowing how to respond.

‘Yeah…’ said Applejack as they were in the same boat.

‘So that bad, huh?’ asked Bucky.

‘You have no idea.’ said a tiring Frosty.

‘Man, I thought the holidays back home was a nightmare.’ said Silver.

‘I know, and it’s even crazier here.’ said Genus.

‘How bad was it?’ asked Peacon.

‘We had a run in with the Flim Flam brothers.’ said Warm Breeze.

‘They sell stupid things.’ said Comfy Breeze before she blew a raspberry.

‘And you guys?’ asked Apple Slice.

‘Had an exhausting travel far beyond Yakyakistan.’ said Lemon Pie.

‘Huge misunderstanding in the mail.’ said Crystal Gem.

‘Derpy?’ asked the kids.

‘Yes.’ said Crystal Gem.

‘Well,’ said a familiar voice ‘Glad we weren't the only ones who had a hard time.’

They turned around and saw Chance and Starlight, whilst brining Starshine Shimmer, Lucky Star and Blessed Night along with them.

‘You guys had trouble too?’ asked Frosty.

‘You could say that.’ said Chance ‘But uh…we had to go to the hospital.’

‘Oh my,’ said Fluttershy as she was worried ‘Did anypony get hurt?’

‘Not exactly.’ said another voice.

They looked down and saw both Mystic and Trixie walking up the stairs, but what caught their attention was a baby in Trixie’s arms.

‘Oh my.’ said Rarity, clearly surprised ‘Trixie, you went into labor?’

‘But I thought the baby wasn’t due till after Hearth’s Warming.’ said Silver.

‘Apparently the baby had other plans.’ said Trixie.

‘She really wants to experience Hearth’s Warming Eve for the first time.’ said Mystic.

Pinkie zipped right on over as she began to squee ‘Ooh, what’s her name?’

‘We called her Misty.’ said Trixie ‘It seemed right.’

‘Sorry we couldn’t have been there Trixie.’ said Applejack.

‘Oh, it’s no trouble,’ said Trixie ‘All of you were too far away to be reached. And from what Trixie is seeing, all of you didn’t fare any better either.’

‘That’s one way of putting it.’ said Bucky.

‘Can we please go inside,’ said Crystal Gem ‘I do not wish to freeze to death.’

‘Yes,’ said Rarity ‘I could also use a warm up near the fireplace.’

Fluttershy walked over to the door and knocked on it.

‘Coming!!’ shouted Spike.

As Spike opened the door, he was completely covered in glitter. The moment he saw them, he yelped in surprise, and sheepishly waved at them whilst chuckling nervously. Everyone else on the other hand were a little surprised to see Spike covered in glitter.

‘Whoa, Spike.’ asked Genus ‘The heck happened to you?’

‘Did you get attacked by a party?’ asked Pinkie.

Frosty ended up snorting and nearly laughed out loud, gaining Pinkie’s attention, with Frosty saying ‘Sorry, it’s just that when you asked that, it kind of reminds me of my sister.’

‘Really?’ asked Pinkie.

‘Yeah, long story short,’ said Frosty as he explained things ‘During Spring Break on her College days, she ended up coming back home covered in glitter. She didn’t want to talk about it.’

He then whispered to her and said ‘She even ended up getting an embarrassing tattoo.’, which caused Pinkie to giggle, for once the holidays are over, she wants to ask Emily.

Spike looked at himself before he crossed his arms and said ‘I fell asleep. On Somepony’s present.’

Spike took a piece of glitter off his nose and flicked it away. As he looked away and felt both nervous and awkward, whilst everyone else were giving him some odd stares.

‘Just be glad you didn’t have to deal with a ton of problems.’ said Silver.

‘At least things can’t get any worse.’ said Frosty.

Suddenly, the guys groaned and slapped their foreheads, with Chance saying ‘Why the heck did you say that.’

When all of a sudden…

‘RUN!!!’ shouted Twilight from within the castle as it took everyone by surprise.

Everyone else quickly got into the room and stared ahead of what was going on as they were confused by what all the commotion was about.

‘The Pudding is coming!!!!’ shouted Twilight.

‘Pudding?’ said Trixie ‘You’re running away over a measly…?’

From around the corner, Twilight, Shining Armour, Cadance, Blade, Sunset Shimmer, Beau and Ignis, with Searing Shimmer, Moonlight Sparkle, Flurry Heart and Raging Halberd in tow, ran for their lives whilst a massive tidal wave of pudding came from down the hall, much to the others’ shock.

‘Uh, never mind.’ said Trixie when she saw the pudding coming in shock.

As they ran, Searing Shimmer shouted ‘What the heck were you two thinking messing with that pudding?!! They called it “Magical Pudding” for a reason!!!’

‘We’re sorry.’ said Flurry Heart.

‘We just wanted to help.’ said Raging Halberd.

‘Next time ask for permission!!’ shouted Moonlight.

As everyone regrouped near the entrance of the Castle of Friendship…

‘RUN!!!’ shouted Rainbow Dash.

‘Oh, now what?’ said a groaning Emily.

For right outside, Rainbow Dash, Bolt, Bolt Jr. and Discord flew with all their speed towards the Castle of Friendship.

‘The Winterzilla is coming!!!’ shouted Rainbow Dash.

‘And it’s really ticked off!!!’ shouted Bolt.

As they came in, the Winterzilla burst right through the door, tearing the entrance apart whilst it roared, with everyone staring in shock as Emily, Frosty, Pinkie Pie, Peacon Pie and Lemon Pie shouted ‘Holy hot Belgium Waffles!!!’

As part of the rubble fell, Twilight quickly casted a spell to shield themselves. As the rubble stopped falling, the Winterzilla roared at them, making Twilight’s shield disappear. They looked at both sides, for not only were they being cornered by a large furry monster, but they were now cornered by an entire ocean of pudding, with some of them gasping.

Emily then looked at Frosty and said ‘You said something that jinxed the whole thing didn’t you?’

‘Uh, maybe?’ said Frosty as he gave his sister a nervous smile.

‘We’ll have this discussion later.’ said Emily.