//------------------------------// // Intervention // Story: How Pinkie Pie "Saved" Hearth's Warming // by Alabenson //------------------------------// “Alright, so is everypony here?” Twilight asked as her friends filed into the castle library. “Everypony ‘cept fer Rarity. Last Ah saw, Pinkie was draggin’ her off somewhere to help with her next crazy plan. Somethin’ about findin’ a neglected Hearth Warmin’ tree to decorate,” Applejack said. “With any luck, Rarity will be able to keep Pinkie busy long enough fer us to figure out what to do about her.” “That shouldn’t be a problem,” Rainbow Dash laughed. “Remember that one Hearth’s Warming where the mayor put Rarity in charge of decorating the tree in the center of town? She was taking so long that she’d have still been working on it by Winter Wrap Up if I hadn’t stepped in.” “I always did wonder why the tree had been Wonderbolt-themed that one year,” Fluttershy said. “Girls, can we please focus?” Twilight said. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do about Pinkie Pie. All these plans of hers to ‘save Hearth’s Warming’ are throwing the town into complete chaos. Even more than usual,” Twilight added after a moment. “Well, normally Ah’d suggest just straight tellin’ Pinkie the truth about the situation, but Ah did that mahself at the start of all this nonsense and it didn’t stop her one bit,” Applejack said. “Once that pony gets an idea stuck in that head of hers there ain’t much y’all can do to get it unstuck.” “We could try asking Maud to see if she could talk to Pinkie,” Fluttershy suggested. “Maud’s closer to Pinkie Pie than just about anypony, so maybe she could talk some sense into her.” Starlight, however, shook her head at this. “It’s not a bad suggestion, Fluttershy, but I don’t really think it’d work this time. Not even Maud can get through to Pinkie when she gets really bad. Pinkie was acting similar to this when she was trying to help Maud and I become friends,” Starlight said. “But, you and Maud are friends, aren’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Yeah, and ask me whether or not that stopped Pinkie Pie from trying to ‘help’ anyway. Sound familiar? If you ask me, what we need is to find some way of convincing Pinkie that one of her plans has actually worked,” Starlight said. “In other words, if Pinkie won’t stop until she’s made me embrace Hearth’s Warming, then what we need to do is to convince her that that’s what she’s finally accomplished,” Moonwhisper said. “There’s just one problem with that solution; how in Celestia’s name are we supposed to convince Pinkie of that? I’ve flat out told her multiple times to her face that I’m already fond of the holiday, what more does she need?” “That’s just it,” Starlight replied. “You can’t just ell Pinkie that you love Hearth’s Warming, you need to really convince her! You need to sell her on the idea that you’ve embraced Hearth’s Warming more than anypony since Equestria was founded!” “That…might be easier said than done,” Moonwhisper said uneasily. “My acting range begins and ends with ‘glaring angrily’, not really the sort of thing that’s going to sell ‘embracing the spirit of the season’. Beyond that, Pinkie Pie is an avowed expert at assessing smiles, so I expect she’ll be particularly good at spotting any subterfuge in this case.” “Maybe normally, but I’m pretty sure we won’t be dealing with Pinkie Pie at the top of her game,” Rainbow Dash said. “If I know Pinkie, then all these mess ups of hers are probably really getting to her. And when Pinkie Pie gets stressed, she kinda has a habit of losing it in a big way. All we’ll probably have to do to convince her is to wait for her to try her next crazy plan and then you be all ‘Oh, I finally understand how great Hearth’s Warming is. Thank you, Pinkie Pie,’. And she’ll be so relieved it worked that she’ll completely fall for it. Trust me, I’m a master at tricking ponies, getting Pinkie like this is going to be easy mode.” “First of all, I don’t sound like that. Secondly, I would debate as to whether planting whoopie cushions under every seat in Town Hall qualifies as tricking anypony, but I will defer to your judgement in this case regardless,” Moonwhisper said. “Hey, you can’t prove that was me! Besides, getting those things under every single chair in the place was really hard, so it should still count for something. What, why are you guys all looking at me like that?” “All that aside, I think Rainbow Dash does have a good point,” Starlight said. “Pinkie is probably going to be so relieved that one of her plans actually worked that she won’t notice Moonwhisper’s terrible acting. Uh, no offense.” “None taken,” Moonwhisper replied with a shrug. “Great, it sounds like we have a plan then,” Twilight said. “Now we just need to figure out what Pinkie’s next plan is going to be so we can be ready for it. I just hope things don’t get too out of control in the meantime.” “Oh, come on, Twilight, you worry too much,” Starlight said. “I mean, this is Pinkie Pie we’re talking about. How bad could any of her plans really go?” Starlight’s question was met by an ominously dead silence from the rest of the room. “Okay, on second thought, we should probably get this figured out as quick as possible.” ********* “I’m sorry, darling, I could have sword there’d be at least one Hearth’s Warming tree left unclaimed,” Rarity said in an effort to cheer up Pinkie Pie as her latest plan fell apart before it even got started. “It’s alright, Rarity. If there really aren’t any Hearth’s Warming trees left anywhere in Ponyville, even scraggly little neglected ones, then that means that the holiday spirit must be doing pretty good here. I’ll just need to think of some other way I can get Moonwhisper to embrace the holiday.” “Well, alright then. If you do need any more assistance with your, er, Hearth’s Warming crusade, then do let me know,” Rarity said. “Okie dokie loki, once I have a new plan ready then you’ll be the first to know!” Pinkie Pie replied. The obvious panic behind Rarity’s eyes as Pinkie Pie made her offer completely escaped Pinkie’s notice, as her mind was already preoccupied with a fare more pressing matter. Specifically, what exactly was left that she could try to do to convince Moonwhisper to embrace Hearth’s Warming. “I feel like I’ve tried just about everything I can think of, but it all keeps going wrong for some reason. Maybe I should give up for now. I mean, the holiday spirit is doing pretty well in the rest of Ponyville, maybe Moonwhisper’s happy just being a grumpy Gus by himself.” “I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” Pinkie Pie looked up to see Discord lounging upside down on the bottom of a nearby awning, causally snaking on a candy cane. Apparently satisfied that he had gotten Pinkie Pie’s attention, Discord slurped up the white portion of the candy cane like a noodle, leaving only the red stripe behind. Discord proceeded to form the strike into a circle before snapping it through the air like a rubber band, after which he looked back down at Pinkie Pie with a disapproving frown. “I’d have never imagined one of Twilight’s friends would just give up when things started to look difficult. I mean, really, where was that lack of commitment when you were trying to thwart me back in my evil days?” “I’m not giving up! Well, I’m not totally giving up. I’m just not really one hundred percent sure I really need to do this anymore,” Pinkie Pie said, sounding wholly unsure of herself. “Not sure! You’re not sure you need to keep fighting to save Hearth’s Warming? Think for a moment, what would Twilight do in your situation? Did Twilight let not being sure stop her from confronting Chrysalis when she was disguised as Princess Cadance? Did Twilight let not being sure stop her from enchanting her doll so she’d have a friendship problem to solve and write Celestia about? Did Twilight let not being sure stop her from trying to get you all to drink some potion she got from her Zebra friend?” “I don’t know if those are all really good examples of—” “The point is, that when Twilight thinks that doing something is the right thing to do, she doesn’t let anything stop her from doing it. Even if ponies tell her it’s crazy, or unnecessary, or that it’s a terrible idea, Twilight will persevere and do what she has to do! And shouldn’t we all try and be more like Twilight? She is the ‘Princes of Friendship’ after all.” Discord declared as vaguely patriotic music started to play in the background. “You know what? You’re right!” Pinkie Pie shouted with renewed vigor. “I know that Hearth’s Warming Eve needs me, even if nopony else believes me, and I’m not going to let anything stop me from saving it!” “That’s the spirit!” Discord laughed, clapping his claws together with glee. “And I’m going to be with you one hundred percent of the way!” “Really? You’re really going to help me save Hearth’s Warming?” “Of course! They can tell us we can’t do it, they can tell us we shouldn’t do it, they can beg us not to do it, but we’re going to save Hearth’s Warming anyway!” Most ponies would have been at least suspicious at having the Lord of Chaos appear out of the blue to offer his help in pursuing their goals. Quite a few would have taken it as a sign they needed to step back and rethink what they were doing with their lives. Pinkie Pie, however, was not most ponies. At that moment, all that mattered was her mission, and the fact that she now had the power of Discord backing her up. Nothing could stop her from saving Hearth’s Warming now.