A gentle snowfall was gracing the Crystal Empire as the holidays was in full swing. Carols was being sung in the streets, hot chocolate was being served by venders, cakes and pastries were sold at stands, and overall, the mood could not be even better. Crystal ponies were greeting their neighbors and sending them good wishes for the holiday before they all turned in for the night. Tomorrow was the big day: Hearth’s Warming!
The sun set behind the mountains leaving behind a beautiful orange sunset, as the moon climbed higher and higher into the sky, the stars twinkling elegantly as a soothing peace settled in the empire. In the households all around, ponies were wishing their families good night as they went to bed for the night, eager for the next day.
That is, all except for two ponies.
High above the town in the Crystal Castle, the lights to the royal suite was still on. Inside, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor were both hurrying around in a bit of an urgent panic, while trying to be as quiet as possible.
“Shiny!” Cadance whispered as loudly as possible “Have you seen my hat? I can’t go out without it!”
“Here Cady!” Shining Armored whispered back as he made is way into their bedroom. He was wearing a warm, festive red hat with a small cotton ball hanging off the side and carrying two large bags, practically bulging from their contents. Shining set the bags down and levitated over a similar hat to his wife, who took it gleefully and pulled it’s warm, fuzzy interior over her ears.
“Thank you,” Cadance said with a grin as she made her way over to him, pausing to give Shining a nuzzle and kiss “Is everything all set for tonight?”
Shining nodded as he carefully opened one of the sacks. Inside were dozens of wrapped presents of various shapes and sizes “I finished packing up everything just now. Did you put Flurry and Thorax to sleep like we planned?”
Cadance nodded “Yup, I put them to bed over an hour ago. Hopefully they’re sleeping soundly now so we can do this without waking them up.”
“I don’t think we’ll get too much trouble; you know how much of a heavy sleeper those two are,” Shining said with a chuckle as he rummaged around the bag, pulling out a few presents, all of which were labeled either “Flurry Heart” or “Thorax”
It was at this moment the door to the royal suite opened slightly and an orange pony stuck their muzzle inside
“Oh, good you’re ready!” Sunburst said happily, fully opening the door as he stepped inside “Are you two ready for that ‘secret Santa’ activity? You’ve been planning it for the past two months.”
Shining nodded “You bet, after we sneak into Thorax and Flurry’s room to give them their presents we’ll head out and leave gifts for everypony in the Crystal Empire while they’re asleep, so they’ll be surprised the next morning for Hearth’s Warming,” he said as he looked lovingly at Cadance “And of course we have this wonderful mare to thank for the idea,”
Cadance giggled and booped Shining on the nose “Well I can’t take all the credit dear, you’re the one who made it a reality by calling in those favors from your old Canterlot friends to help you make all these toys for the fillies and colts,”
Shining laughed at the boop and gave his wife one last nuzzle for good measure “Thanks honey, shall we get started now?” he asked
Cadance nodded with a big, silly grin on her face, grabbing her sack of presents and tipped hooved into their child and adopted child’s rooms.
Light snoring permeated the air as Thorax slept soundly in his bed, a pleasant and content smile on his face. His blankets were skewed all around his black chitin body in a heap, with the young changeling himself sleeping on his back, his hind legs in the air as they occasionally twitched, with their owner having pleasant dreams.
Thorax hadn’t been living with Cadance and Shining for very long, after Spike had found him all alone in the snowy wasteland outside of the Empire, the royal couple had decided to take him in as their own, after past grievances had been dealt with. Fast forward a few months later and Thorax was happily learning about pony culture and traditions as well as going to school now. Making new friends and still keeping in contact with Spike. Shining and Cadance were happy to say that Thorax was practically the son they never had and will always defend that claim whenever it was necessary.
The door to Thorax’s room creaked open slightly and two figures poked their heads inside. After confirming that Thorax was still asleep, Cadance and Shining armor quietly stepped inside. They slowly made their way over to Thorax’s bed as silently as they could, trying their best not to make too much noise. Shining lit up his horn and his present bad noiselessly opened, the magic cloud rummaged around inside the bag for a second before a few parcels floated out, guided by Shining’s magic, and was gently sent down by Thorax’s bed.
“Great job honey,” Cadance whispered as she arranged them in a neat pile.
Shining nodded, resealing the bag with another quick burst of magic. And as he did, Cadance finished arranging the presents by the bed. Standing back up, she quietly walked over to Thorax’s bed and give him a kiss on the forehead, just below his horn.
She stifled a giggle behind a hoof as she heard Thorax squeak in happiness in his sleep at the sudden, but not unwelcomed, burst of love he received in sleep. Cadance turned back to Shining and saw that he was looking on with a gentle smile at the scene.
“He may have been suspicious of Thorax at first,” Cadance thought “But’s it’s undeniable just how much Shiny has grown to care for him,”
A smile graced her features as Shining motioned his head back towards the door. Cadance nodded and the two tipped hooved back outside Thorax’s bedroom, shutting the door behind them with a soft click!
Once they were outside in the hall, the couple made their way over to the nursery, there their daughter Flurry Heart was peacefully sleeping in her crib. Once again, the two parents silently nosed open the door and carefully stepped in, taking care not to make a sound. This time, Cadance had her magic at the ready as she soundlessly opened up her present sack and floated over a few presents to Flurry’s crib, arranging them in a neat pile.
Flurry sleepily cooed at the faint noise the presents were making as they set themselves down on the ground next to her, but aside from that she didn’t do anything else.
“Excellent work dear,” Shining whispered to a slightly blushing Cadace as he quietly made his way over to his daughter’s crib and nuzzled her cheek “Happy Hearth’s Warming sweetheart,” he murmured gently to her.
Stepping back, Shining made his way over to Cadance, who had magicked a book in front of her, and was currently held aloft by her magic. Inside the book was a list of all the houses in the Crystal Empire they the two were going to pay a visit to during the night. They would leave a present by the doorstep along with a special hearth’s warming card specially made by the both of them. It was a secret project that the two had been working on for a little while now. Since they were now the emperor and empress of the Crystal Empire, they wanted to show their thanks to their citizens by doing something nice for them.
“Ready to get started?” Shining whispered to Cadance, who was skimming through the book’s contents. They both had a copy so they could keep track of where they went once they split up to cover more ground.
Cadance nodded “I think so,” she whispered back, closing the book and vanishing it with another flash of magic “Let’s go,”
But as the two turned to leave, Flurry made another cooing sound from her crib, along with the very familiar hum of magic coming from her horn. Flurry was having another once of her magic bursts. The unknown spell built up rapidly in her horn before shooting off at the nearest target.
Shining Armor and Cadance.
The spell collided with them and sent them careening back, but thanks to Cadance’s quick thinking, she casted a quick teleport spell and transported them outside and into the hallway without making too much noise to wake up Flurry Heart.
The pair got up, groaning at the unknown spell’s impact. “Well, that’s one way to say thanks,” Shining said with a halfhearted chuckle, wincing from the pain. Next to him, Cadance was shakily getting to her hooves, shaking her head to clear the slight blurriness from her vision.
But as her eyesight cleared, she noticed that her field of vision was beginning to rise. With alarm, Cadance quickly turned back to Shining Armor, who had a similar expression of panic on his face as he realized what was going on.
“C-Cady?!” he shouted in alarm. From his perspective, only Cadance was remaining the same size in his view, as their surrounding were quickly beginning to get smaller and smaller. With a grunt, the two crouched down as their mass continued to expand, filling up the entire hallway and completely blocking the door. Their back eventually began to press against the ceiling as they duked down their heads to prevent it from hitting the top. Their size continuing to grow as cracks began appearing on the wall as the two royals continued to outgrow the hallway.
Cadance lifted her head from its position on the floor and casted another spell, teleporting both her and Shining Armor outside of the castle and in the courtyard.
The two fell with a yelp onto the frozen ground outside, sliding a little on the snow as they struggled to regain their balance. Once the two had regained their footing, they raised their heads, now well above the tree line and still growing. Cadance watched with growing apprehension as the ground continued to fall away as their height continued to climb higher and higher. Their forms now beginning to rival the size of their castle.
But it didn’t stop there
Bigger and bigger they got, neither one daring to take a step, in fear of damaging a house and hurting an innocent pony inside. Their shadows covering their entire Empire as the two royals towered over everything. Their growth finally coming to an end, with the two giant parents now standing roughly 2 miles in height. Easily towering over their miniature kingdom and the surrounding mountains.
Cadance gulped uneasily and met Shining’s gaze who had a bit more of a thoughtful look on his face as he examined the now tiny world around him.
“Oh, this isn’t good! Not good at all!” Cadance whispers to her husband, trying in vain to not let her powerful voice awaken the little ones scattered around her hooves in the empire and surrounding towns. Cadance looks back down, squinting her eyes as she tried to find where the Crystal Empire had gone.
Spotting it’s diminutive form on the ground, the colossal princess of love lowered her massive head down to the little spot on the ground that her empire occupied, kneeling down on the ground, a little rice sized protrusion sprouting up from the ground indicating where the castle was.
If a pony was to go outside of their home in that very moment, they would see two towering figures occupying the sky as a very large, and very pink nose larger than a comet lower itself to the ground, Cadance’s gargantuan muzzle coming to a halt just above the empire.
“Sunburst!” Cadance whispered urgently, the force of her voice causing the ground to rumble slightly “Sunburst? Where are you? We need you right away!” somehow miraculously, even amidst the shaking, all the good little fillies and colts of the empire didn’t stir from their sleep at the immense whispers of their enormous empress. Even when Cadance had to flick her head to the side a bit to prevent the mountain sized fluff ball on the tail end of her hat from squishing the ground below.
Far below, Cadance watched as a small speck of orange and blue emerge from the balcony in the royal suite. She watched as the tiny Sunburst stumble back in shock at the sight of his gigantic rulers towering over literally everything in the vicinity and even squeaked out in fear at the sight of Cadance’s magenta eye replacing the night sky above as the titanic princess of love looked down at him.
Sunburst seemed to overcome his fear once he reaffirmed to himself that he was really looking at his mega sized Emperor and Empress and not some terrifying monster from legend. Cadance watched as little Sunburst raised his hooves in the air and began waving it frantically as he tried calling up to his gigantic empress. At least, that was what Cadance hoped he was doing and not having a nervous breakdown because at her great height, all she heard was frantic squeaks.
“Sunburst sweetie? I can’t hear you down there, you’re too tiny. But if you can, I need you to return me and Shiny back to normal, alright dear?” Cadance whispered gently to the frightened little mage, her motherly instincts kicking in as she tried to calm the poor thing down the best she could.
But as she told Sunbust this, she felt her husband’s gargantuan blue hoof on her shoulder. Cadance turned around to meet his gaze, and Shining Armor still had that thoughtful expression on his face, but at the same time he seemed to be holding back a grin. And Cadance recognized that look anywhere. It was the same look he had on his face when he was planning something when playing Ogres and Oubliettes.
“Hold on a second Cady,” Shining said “I think you might be rushing to conclusions here just a little bit, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing,”
Cadance raised an eyebrow at the statement “How is this not Shiny? Huge doesn’t even begin to describe how big we are now!” Cadance said as she gestured around them “These mountains are smaller than ant hills for goodness sake, I can barely see our Empire, and our little ponies are no bigger than mites! What if we take a step and accidently squash them? We wouldn’t even notice it because they’re too tiny!”
Somewhere down below, Sunburst whimpered in fear
“Well, this wouldn’t be a problem is we cast a spell on ourselves to negate any damage we could potentially cause,” Shining Armor said with a smile as his horn flashed “And don’t worry honey, I just did. We don’t have to worry about accidently crushing anypony,”
Sunburst sighed in relief, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbing his forehead
“Thanks, Shining,” Cadance said, getting back to her hooves “But why are you so adamant on staying like this?”
“Because I think we can make use of our newfound size,” Shining Armor said, a goofy grin plastered on his face as he lit his horn again. This time their gift sacks appeared in front of them, but this time they were resized to be around the same size as themselves. And inside were millions of tiny, regular sized presents
“Why not make Hearth’s Warming Eve for fillies and colts everywhere? Not just in the Crystal Empire. We can do secret Santa all over Equestria and deliver presents to all the good foals everywhere! We’re definitely big enough to do it. Heck with a few steps we’d be passing by Manehatten. So, what do you think? Because I personally want to go for it!”
Cadance thought for a second: on one hoof, Sunburst could go grab a counter spell and shrink them back to normal in a few minutes and they could go on and do secret Santa as they planned. But on the other hoof, she and Shining Armor could stay as giants and use their size to their advantage and deliver gifts to all the foals all over the kingdom. As much as Cadance wanted to return back to normal, the Princess of Love and maternal side of her felt more obligated to take care of the Children of the kingdom and spread the joy and love in her and Shining’s hearts.
“Alright Shiny,” Cadance said as she nuzzled his cheek “Let’s go deliver gifts tonight all over the kingdom and surprise all the foals,”
Cadance unfurled her wing and dipped it into her gift sack, she scooped out hundreds of tiny presents in her wing and sprinkled them all over the Crystal Empire. Her love magic guiding the presents to their targets.
Cadance looked up with a grin, seeing the tiny world laid out in front of her as she towered over it, taller than a mountain “Well Shiny, shall we go?”
Shining Armor smiled “Of course dear,” he said. Shining Armor levitated his bag over his broad shoulders and tipped his Santa hat further down on his head. Once he had everything secure the gargantuan emperor of the Crystal Empire leaded down to the little castle, where the tiny speck of orange and blue Sunburst was still staring gob smacked at the two royal titans.
“Hey Sunburst? Buddy? Cady and I are gonna head out for a bit, ok? Can you find the counterspell to shrink us back to normal when we get back? Thanks,”
Sunburst nodded at the giant weakly and shakily went back into the castle, a cloud of magic surrounding the presents that had dropped next to him, delivered by the titaness of love personally a little while ago.
Shining smiled a little sadly, noticing that poor Sunburst was pretty intimidated by him and Cadance, but there was no need to worry. The two of them would be back to normal soon. As soon as they finish delivering gifts.
Shining walked back over to Cadance, his hoofsteps shaking the tiny world as he went over to his wife “Ready to go?” he asked.
Cadance nodded “I think we should split up, that way we can cover more towns and cities before Auntie Celestia raises the sun,” she said.
“Ok Cady,” Shining said straightening up “Let’s meet back her in an hour,”
“Alright dear, see you then,” The princess of love giggled, giving her husband one last peck on the cheek.
And with that, the two holiday titans waved each other goodbye and departed, eager to bring some hearth’s warming cheer to all the fillies and colts of the world.