//------------------------------//
// S8 E15: The Hearth's Warming Club (What If?) 
// Story: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?: Volume 16 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

It was winter time in Equestria once again. In fact, it was right before the holiday of Hearth's Warming: Hearth's Warming Eve to be precise. Everywhere in Equestria was aglow in the holiday spirit, and Ponyville was no exception. The entire town was decorated for the holiday, and the local pegasi had cooperated in bringing in tons of fluffy white snow to fill up the ground.

Even the School of Friendhip that Twilight and her friends had built together was not immune from the spirit of the holiday (even if some of its students had never heard of the holiday before, let alone why it was so important). Even though it was well into the afternoon and classes were almost done for the day, the students could barely focus. The anticipation of the holiday and its corresponding break from classes was at the forefront of every creature's mind.

Sandbar, the pony student who had been the first to befriend the group of five students belonging to other species, was beaming bright and grinning from ear to ear as he helped decorate the main hallway of the school. All the while he could be heard singing loudly and proudly for all to hear. "Pony voices fill the night! Hearth's Warming Eve is here once again!" He didn't seem bothered by the weird looks his friends were giving, he just encouraged. "Hey, come on, everycreature! Come sing with me! It's the best way to spread holiday cheer!"

But none of Sandbar's friends would join in. Either because they didn't care for the holiday, or because they didn't know the words to the song their pony friend was singing.

The earth pony colt giggled. "Oh come on, there's no need to be nervous. Just follow my lead," And he started singing again, albeit without saying a single lyric. "La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la! La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!"

Ocellus was the only one who managed to sing out. "Oh, uh, la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la."

Sandbar giggled. "Eh, close enough. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it eventually, Ocellus. You're so smart and everything."

"I sure hope I can memorize all the pony songs," Ocellus blushed. "It's so hard, having to learn everything about the holiday. There's so much about it I never knew."

Yona, meanwhile, protested to Sandbar. "Not everycreature celebrate same way, you know. Yona never celebrate Hearth's Warming."

Smolder chimed in. "Same here. Dragons don't do pony holidays."

But just then, Spike strolled in along with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. And having overheard what Smolder had said, he protested. "Well, this dragon does! I love Hearth's Warming Eve! It's all about friends and presents and family and... presents! Did I mention the presents?"

Twilight then took the liberty of explaining to Smolder. "It's about more than that. It's also about putting aside differences to come together, like the earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns did on the first holiday long, long ago."

"Is that why you put that glowing, heart shaped hearth of flames up on top of the tree, Headmare Twilight?" Ocellus questioned, pointing a hoof to the aforementioned burning heart that rested atop a finely decorated pine tree. "To help us remember their unity?"

"That, and it looks awesome!" Rainbow Dash pointed out. "I'll bet none of you have ever seen anything so fascinating before!"

Silverstream eagerly spoke up! "We never had anything like it back on Mount Aris or Seaquestria," In a somewhat more withdrawn tone she added. "We didn't have a lot of things in either place, really. It's funny what you can miss out on when you spend years living underwater. But hey, it kept us safe, so... can't complain... much."

Yona then excitedly proclaimed! "Yona like any day that is start of winter break. Yona enjoy any break from classes."

Gallus began to tease while ribbing Ocellus in the side. "I know. Two whole weeks without any classes. How will a bookworm like Ocellus survive?"

Ocellus gave off a nervous laugh. "I'll... find some way to pass the time back home," Looking to her friends she added. "And we'll all keep in touch over the break, won't we?" She felt relieved when all of her friends gave confirming nods.

Twilight simply smiled. "It warms my heart to see you've all bonded so much in so short an amount of time. I'm sure your leaders will all be very pleased to hear that when you report back to them. And I'm sure you all have your own holiday traditions to look forward to, wherever you go," Then she turned to face the crowd and declared. "Attention, students! As your headmare, I officially declare that school is out for winter break! Happy holidays, and we'll see you all after the break! You are dismissed." And she, Rainbow Dash and Spike watched as all the students left the main hallway, bound for the dormietries to gather their belongings and head home.

Five very familiar creatures remained in the hallway after all the other students had left: The students from outside of Equestria.

"Hey, you guys can go pack up too, you know," Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Don't worry, we'll take you down to the train station so you don't get lost. After all, if you miss the train, it'll be a very long walk home."

"You heard them, let's go pack up!" Ocellus insisted, and she and the rest of the international students departed without further fanfare.

Now, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike were all alone in the main hallway with just the Hearth's Warming display for company.

A series of carefully wrapped presents lay underneath the tree. And Spike couldn't resist walking up to one of them, picking it up and giving it a little shake. "I wonder what's in here?" He asked in a playful tone of voice while looking to Twilight. "It's that new bowtie I wanted, isn't it?"

Twilight giggled. "Spike, the rules haven't changed just because you've gotten bigger," And she pointed out. "Traditions are traditions. You have to wait. We'll open up our one Hearth's Warming Eve present together later, at the castle."

The dragon with the same body size as Smolder just giggled back. "I know, I know. But while I'm waiting, I'm shaking. Whatever it is, I hope I'll like it!"

Unbeknownst to either dragon or ponies, a mysterious figure was lurking high up in the rafters. Unseen, the figure stood above the tree and the firey hearth. Then it unscrewed the lid of a jar of some kind, and poured it contents down onto the tree.

Without warning, the glowing hearth began to melt into a huge, purple colored goo! It trickled down the tree and hit the groud not unlike a tsunami! It promptly began to cover the entire hallway in goo, and Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike found themselves caught in the wave with no way to escape!

The figure watched, then quickly departed as mysteriously as they had arrived. Its plan was now in motion. If all went according to plan, the holidays would turn out much differently from how anycreature had expected.



"What... is this stuff?!" Spike groaned as he tried to shake off the purple colored goo, only to find that it was stuck to his scales and wouldn't come off no matter what he did. "It's all sticky!"

"Just hold still!" Twilight instructed as she hastily grabbed the dragon with her magic, pulled him close, and carefully wiped him down (Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was grateful that she had thought to fly up at the last second to avoid the worst of it).

Once the shock wore off, the trio beheld a most unfortunate sight. The entire hallway interior was covered in the purple goo. The walls and the floor were stained, and even the tree and wrapping paper of the presents was coated in it.

The young headmare frowned. "Great, everything's ruined! I'm just glad none of the students were here, or this could've ended very badly."

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, commented. "I don't think it was an accident, Twilight. I think someone or something was up there!" She pointed a hoof to the rafters, but there was nothing there.

Twilight, meanwhile, happened to notice a hastily discarded can. But she could find no hoof, claw or talon marks of any sort. No sign that any creature she knew could've used it. And her attention would soon be called to other things as Spike pointed a claw out a nearby window! "There's something out there!"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash rushed to the window, and spotted a figure sporting some sort of long cloak running away! From their distance, it was impossible to see any revealing features about who the cloak's wearer was.

"Hurry, after them!" Twilight instructed to Spike and Rainbow Dash! "Don't let them escape!" Together, they all raced outside to give chase, but the cloaked figure already had a good head start on them.

It wasn't long before the chase led to a very familiar building just across from the school itself. It was a relatively modest, medium sized building.

Spike was the first to identify the building. "That's the students' quarters!" He gasped.

"Of course!" Twilight concluded. "The culprit must be one of the students. Or trying to hide amongst them. But we won't let them get away with it! We'll find them out and punish them accordingly. Hurry, before they get away!" And she, along with Spike and Rainbow Dash, took off as fast as they could for the students' quarters. Once inside, they quickly slammed the door shut behind them.

Rainbow Dash then called out! "Whoever you are, you might as well give up! We've got you cornered!"

And Twilight pleaded. "If you give up now and turn yourself in, we might go easy on you. No one got hurt." But there was no reply, not even a whisper or a whimper.

Rainbow groaned! "Fine, have it your way! You're gonna be in so much trouble when I catch you!" And she zoomed away with a flap of her wings!

Meanwhile, six students who had yet to leave the school grounds emerged from their respective dorm rooms. And each seemed to have a look of genuine surprise upon seeing their headmare.

"What's going on? What's all the noise?" Silverstream questioned. "Is it another decorating party? I thought classes were done until after the break?"

Twilight opted not to tell the students about what was going on, just in case any of them might potentially be trying to help the culprit for the earlier mishap get out of trouble. She instead asked them. "Has anycreature come in here?"

Smolder snorted, blowing a bit of smoke from her nostrils as she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. "Well, yeah. All of us did. You know: To pack? Like you told us to?"

Spike pressed his fellow dragon. "Well after that, did you see hear or anything suspicious?"

Smolder shook her head from side to side. "Uh-uh. Why do you ask? You think I did something? Because if so, think again! I haven't done anything..." Under her breath she added. "Yet."

Gallus then poked his head out from his dorm room as he asked. "What's up, headmare? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

Yona, meanwhile, excitedly proclaimed as she exited her dorm room. "Yona all done packing! Ready to go home!"

"Uh, is something wrong?" Ocellus nervously pondered. "What are you all doing here? I thought we were supposed to pack."

Rainbow Dash came flying back at that very moment, and groaned as she tossed a long, grayish-black cloak down on the ground. "The back door's locked, and so are all the windows. I checked. This is all I could find of that no-good prankster. Whoever they are, they were in a real hurry."

"You don't think they teleported away, do you?" Spike proposed.

Twilight shook her head in disapproval. "That's not possible. If teleportation had been performed, there'd be a magical residue lingering here. And I can't detect at all. That means whoever the prankster was, they came in here to hide," Looking to the six students she then added. "And since it seems that only six of our students were in here at the time, that means only one of them could've done that deed."

Ocellus gulped. "Did what, headmare?"

The young alicorn simply replied in a somber, serious tone. "Better to show you than to explain. All of you better come with me. If any of you tries to run away, we'll take that as a confession." And she instructed the six students to follow her, Spike and Rainbow Dash back to the school.





The six students soon saw with their own eyes the huge mess that had been left by the "prank" performed on the display that had just a short time ago proudly displayed a burning hearth in the shape of a heart.

Sandbar's eyes went wide. "Whoa... That is so not cool. That's worse than the time I accidentally spilled grape juice on my family's couch. I'd never seen Mom and Dad get so upset."

Gallus, meanwhile, ribbed Sandbar in the side with a claw. "What? You've never seen goo powder before? I've seen it all the time in Griffonstone."

"Oh, so that's what it is!" Ocellus realized! "I thought this was all jelly."

Spike pointed out. "Well, whoever did this, we saw the perpetrator run into your rooms. The doors and windows were all locked, so no one could've gotten in or out besides you six."

Rainbow Dash pounded her hooves in protest. "One of you must've done it!" But then she asked in a more gentle tone of voice. "But why would any of you want to sabotage Hearth's Warming Eve? It doesn't seem like your style, not even for those of you who have done pranks in the past."

"I'm telling you, it's not me!" Smolder snorted anew! "You're growling at the wrong cave!"

And Gallus insisted. "You really think I'd do something like this? Come on, my pranks are never this obvious."

Yona stomped her hooves down, offended by the mere suggestion she might have anything to do with the prank! "Yak not do this, and Yona not see anyone who might do it! Yona innocent, and yak not know of any student who want to play prank!"

Silverstream sheepishly replied. "I never even knew goo powder exisited, or that it could make this much of a mess. The worst prank I ever did was spill some squid ink on Aunt Novo's desk, and that was an accident."

"I'm sorry," Ocellus sincerely apologized. "I should've been paying more attention. Maybe then I would've seen something," Then she added. "...But I know I didn't do this! I'm a model student!"

The young alicorn sighed in response. She had expected such a reply from these six students. "Look, we don't actually know who among you did it. Whoever it was might not have even meant to do this on purpose, this could've just been a prank that got out of hoof," And she gently and sympathetically reassured them. "Whoever it is, we're not mad. No one got hurt. Which is why we'd like to give whoever did do it an honest chance to turn yourself in," She proceeded to instruct. "All of you shut your eyes," Once the students had done so, she declared. "Now, if you did this, raise your hoof. Or claw. Or whatever you've got."

A moment of silence passed, yet no creature would confess. None shot up anything.

Twilight sighed anew. "I expected as much, unfortunately," In a more serious tone of voice she added. "I didn't want to have to do this, but it seems I have no choice. Since nocreature took responsibility for this mess, you're all gonna have to help clean it up before you can go home."

Naturally, none of the students were thrilled with the idea. They all grumbled, groaned and generally complained about it.

Twilight could only shake her head in disapproval. "I gave you all an honest chance to confess, but it seems you'd rather keep quiet. Perhaps this will teach you that being dishonest has its consequences," Then she added while floating over buckets and mops. "While you're cleaning up, you'll each be brought into my office one at a time. Since honesty is one of the Elements of Harmony, Professor Rainbow Dash and I want to give each of you a chance to confess. You'll be under no pressure, no one but us and Spike will know you confessed."

Rainbow Dash then ominously declared. "And mark my words: Once we find out who did it, just you wait! You'll be sorry! Cause' we're gonna..." But she trailed off in uncertainty and turned to Twilight. "Uh, what are we gonna do, exactly? I mean, we're gonna punish them somehow, right?"

The headmare nodded in agreement. "Yes. The guilty party won't be going home over Hearth's Warming break. She or he will stay here for some one-on-one friendship lessons. It's clear that they need it."

Then Silverstream gulped as she asked the question lingering on every student's mind. "But what if none of us confesses? What happens then?"

Twilight simply sighed and lamented. "Then I'm afraid there won't be any holidays for any creature. If none of you confesses, I'll be forced to assume you're all responsible somehow. And that means you'll all be staying over the break," In a more optimistic tone she added. "But, I really don't think it will come to that. I'm confident that whichever creature among you who did do this will confess eventually. After all, it would be wrong to make your friends take the fall for something you know they didn't do," And she proposed. "So, does anycreature want to confess now and save everyone the trouble?"

Again, none of the students were willing to come forward and say anything. They all remained silent.

"Oh well," Twilight shrugged her shoulders. "Don't say I didn't warn you," And clapping her hooves, she instructed. "Now, all of you get to work. That mess isn't gonna clean itself, you know."

The six students reluctantly did as instructed, all of them grumbling as they began trying to clean up the goo powder to the best of their abilities.





For a moment or two, Twilight watched the clean up effort as it got under way. If she was looking for any signs of anything unusual among the six students, she didn't seem to see any judging by the expression upon her face. And neither Spike or Rainbow Dash said anything.

At last, however, the headmare opted to break up the silence as she declared. "Alright, time to get to the bottom of this," Turning to the students, she asked them. "Which of you would like to be interviewed first? Any volunteers?"

Gallus immediately threw down his mop as he remarked in an indifferent tone of voice. "Eh, what the heck, I'll go. Beats mop duty any day." And he followed his headmare as she led him out of the room and down the hallway to her office, the doors to said office soon slamming shut behind them.

Smolder snarled. "That's Gallus for ya, always looking to get out of having to do anything," Then she grumbled while fiddling with her mop. "Can't believe I have to help clean this up. Whoever really did this, you better confess now! If I miss the holidays back home because of you, I'll never forgive you!"

Silverstream sweetly replied. "Hey, come on, there's no need to be mad. I'm sure this will all be sorted out. The prankster will surely confess eventually," Then she got an idea! "Ooh, I know!" She excitedly chirped! "We can make a game out of this! Whoever finishes cleaning up first wins!"

Yona was the first to voice her support of the idea! She excitedly grabbed her mop and some sponges, and began scrubbing the walls and floor furiosuly while proclaiming! "Woo-hoo! Yak win! Yak best at cleaning!"

But Smolder was still unhappy, and the orange scaled dragon immediately made that known. "This isn't time for games. I know I didn't do this. So whoever did better confess, now!" Her eyes began scanning the room, looking at all her friends. "Come on, I know it has to have been one of you," Locking eyes onto Ocellus, she said to the changeling. "I'll bet it was you, Ocellus. You'd do anything for more lessons."

The olive green coated changeling protested with a shake of her head. "It's not me, Smolder! I would never do something this horrible! I love Hearth's Warming Eve!" Then she blushed and sheepishly admitted. "Even if we only just started celebrating it back at the hive a year ago. It was Thorax's idea, something he apparently picked up from a trip to Ponyville."

"Oh, so now you celebrate Hearth's Warming too?" Sandbar asked Ocellus. "What was it like? Did you do everything the way we ponies do it?"

The young changeling admitted. "We tried. I think maybe there was a misunderstanding about the instructions, they didn't make a whole lot of sense." And she recalled several memories from that first Hearth's Warming celebration at the new changeling hive, from before she had been picked to attend the School of Friendship with Thorax's blessing.

Thorax had seen fit to distribute to his subjects a scroll that provided detailed instructions on how ponies liked to celebrate Hearth's Warming. Ocellus took the liberty of reading the scroll aloud to her family as they huddled together in one corner of the hive. "Welcome to the traditions and fun of Hearth's Warming! Here's a guide to help you enjoy this celebration of pony history and all it means," Clearing her throat, she read further. "Families start the holidays by putting the tree up!" Then she paused. "Uh, what tree? We have plenty of trees. And where do we put it up?"

None of the changelings knew the answer, not even Thorax. So they all just picked a tree at random from outside the hive, hauled it into the center of the hive, and hoisted it into the air. In the process, the tree ended up being hung upside down.

"Uh, I don't think this is right," Thorax confessed when he looked at the upside down tree. "Maybe we should just move on to the next thing on the list." And so the changelings did.

Looking over her scroll again, Ocellus read further still. "Thirsty? Dive into some holiday punch!" She blinked. "Huh, I didn't know punch was something you swim in. Ponies are weird."

Thorax then insisted. "Well, that's what the scroll says to do. So it must be right. I'll go get the punch." And he left to retrieve a huge bowl, big enough to function as a pool. And with the help of other changelings, he poured a huge batch of punch into the bowl until it was filled to the brim. Several changelings then lined up to jump in and swim around in the bubbly liquid.

After a nice swim in the punch, the next objective was confirmed aloud by Ocellus as the young changeling explained. "Just before bed, everypony exchanges gift," Then she corrected. "I guess it's everychangeling in this case." And so the gift exchanging commenced, the changelings passed hastily wrapped presents around. Several times in fact.

One of Ocellus' siblings inquired. "Uh, how long are we supposed to do this?"

Ocellus hastily looked at the scroll given to her. "...I don't know," She admitted. "There's nothing that says when it has to stop." Nevertheless, the gift exchanging ended a short time later.

The final objective proved to be troublesome for the changelings, and not in the way the other instructions had been. "It says here," Ocellus read aloud. "That to finish celebrating, we can build a fire, light it up, and sing carols."

But Pharynx stomped a hoof down. "Absolutely not! We are not building a fire in the hive! Far too dangerous!"

"But we need to have a fire," Thorax protested. "It says do it in the scroll."

"Well we're not having an actual fire," Pharynx snorted. "Find something else!"

So the changelings took to literally "building" a fire out of wood, and to "light it up" they surrounded it with lanterns. Then there was another problem. They all waited for the carols to begin, but not even Ocellus would take the lead.

A lime green coated changeling eventually asked. "Uh, what carols are we supposed to sing?"

"There's no list of carols anywhere," Ocellus realized upon inspecting the scroll. "I guess... we just have to make them up." And so the changelings did, singing whatever came to their mind.





"Hopefully, this year things will go a lot smoother," Ocellus commented as her recollections finished. "At least now I know what ponies usually do to celebrate the holiday. Hearth's Warming is such a nice holiday."

Sandbar chuckled. "If you didn't know any carols, you should've just said so earlier. I could teach you all the pony carols. I know them all by heart," When the other creatures shot him a strange look he insisted. "What? I do. They're really catchy! And there's no better way to spread holiday cheer than by singing a few. Maybe we should start singing some to help pass the time."

"Not interested." Was all Smolder could say in reply, and none of the other remaining creatures (besides Sandbar) did anything to refute her sentiment.

Just then, the doors to the main hallway swung open as Gallus came back to join his friends. His overall posture and facial expressions were indifferent, no sign that anything had happened during his trip to the headmare's office could be seen.

Twilight, meanwhile, called out. "Ocellus? It's your turn. Don't try to run or hide. Cooperate, and this will all be over soon."

Reluctantly and nervously, Ocellus obeyed. She put down her mop and bucket, and went to follow the headmare back to the headmare's office.

Immediately, everyone in the room crowded around Gallus. And Silverstream plucked up the courage to ask the question on everycreature's mind. "So, what happened? Did you talk?"

Gallus nodded while folding his claws across his chest. "Of course I talked, that's what I was there for. But I told her I didn't do it. You really think I'd confess to something I didn't do?" He grumbled. "I'm telling you, they've got nothing on us. They can't prove any of us did this! We should just get out of here while Headmare Twilight's distracted."

"No way, dude!" Sandbar immediately protested! "If we run away, Headmare Twilight will just track us down and punish us even more. Besides, we can't abandon Ocellus. She said she didn't do it, and I believe her."

"You really believe her just like that?" Smolder questioned. "You sure you're not just trying to protect her, Sandbar?"

Yona had heard more than enough! She lost all patience and stomped all four of her hooves down, causing the ground to shake a little! "Yona tired of everycreature arguing, friends not argue! Friends help friends clean up. Yona want to go home to Yakyakistan. Yaks always home for holidays! This year not be any different."

Sandbar turned to look at Yona and asked the young yak. "Oh, yaks celebrate Hearth's Warming too? Seems like everycreature celebrates it these days."

But Yona corrected with a shake of her head. "Yaks do not celebrate Hearth's Warming. Hearth's Warming silly pony holiday that yaks not know about until few years ago. Yaks have much better holiday," She proudly proclaimed. "Is called Snilldar Fest," And she explained. "Night before, yaks gather things to smash and put them in big pile. Then in morning, we smash them! In afternoon, we smash them again! And in evening—"

Gallus rolled his eyes. "So, what, it's just a holiday about smashing things? Sounds like a typical day in Yakyakistan, don't see why you need a holiday for that."

The young yak promptly protested. "What make griffon think holiday just about smashing? This holiday about so much more. Last year, for example. Most perfect Snilldar ever," And she began to recall the memory of her last Snilldar Fest before she had gone away to Ponyville, back when her hair had been longer and shaggier than it was when she'd arrived at the School of Friendship. "Whole family: Grandpa, grandma yak, Yona's brother, sister, mother, father yak, all go to woods together while singing yak song."

The song simply went as follows (it was very short):

Yak song! 

Yak song! 

Not very long! 

Sing again!

Eventually, Yona's family reached a clearing in the woods to carry out their celebration. Yona was happily recalling the memories, telling her friends in vivid detail. "Calves in family pick out perfect smashing log. Then yaks smash it to splinters! Then yak family build perfect snow fort... and smash it too! Then we hang perfect things on perfect moss pile and—"

All of Yona's friends interrupted in unison. "-You smash it. We know."

But the young yak shook her head in disapproval, and shot her friends a confused look. "What you think yaks are? Barbarians? Moss pile is for special family rituals, not for smashing. Last year, ritual is for Yona," She fiddled with the curls in her hair that Rarity had styled at the beginning of the school year, all the while recalling. "All yak family gather around Yona and braid Yona hair for first time. But Yona like new braided look even better, so now Yona wear look Professor Rarity give yak."

Gallus narrowed his eyes as he grumpily questioned. "So let me get this straight: Your holiday is about smashing things and family."

Yona happily nodded. "Yes! Two most perfect things ever put together. Happy Snilldar Fest!" And she proceeded to smash one of the wooden buckets with the greatest of ease.

Silverstream was excited by the display! "Happy Snilldar to you too, Yona! It's so cool to learn new traditions from new friends!" She proceeded to try to smash her bucket, only to find that she lacked the strength to do so.

Smolder only rolled her eyes, not amused in the slightest by this bonding. "Yeah, that's nice and all, but don't forget that one of these 'friends' of ours has gotten us all into trouble. And they'd better confess soon, whoever it is."





Just then, Ocellus came strolling back into the room with a nervous look on her face. She cleared her throat. "Uh, Sandbar?" When the earth pony colt turned to look at her she added. "Sorry, but they said they want you to go in next. I didn't confess in case you're wondering. Like I said, I would never do something like this."

Sandbar simply put down his mop and bucket, and trotted off to go see the headmare. If he was worried, he didn't show it outwardly. Soon, however, he had departed from his friends. Now the other five students were alone, realizing that half of them had already been called in to try to confess to a possible crime. It was likely that soon the other half would be called in as well, unless Sandbar chose to confess (or rat out whoever among his friends had been the prankster).

Silverstream, hoping to break up the uncomfortable silence filling the room, looked over to Smolder and asked the dragon. "Why the rush to get home, Smolder? Like you said, dragons don't really have holidays, do they?"

Smolder shrugged her claws. "Meh, not really. We've got plenty of ways to pass the time in the dragon lands, no need to add silly holidays to the mix."

Ocellus, however, prodded Smolder. "Come on, you must do something special around this time of year. Even dragons have to have holidays, right?"

The dragon with bright orange scales reluctantly confessed. "Well, we do have the Feast of Fire. I guess that counts," And she explained what it was. "Basically, everydragon gets together and tells stories. The best one wins a pile of gemstones."

Her curiosity piqued by Smolder's statement, Yona eagerly inquired. "Ooh, what story won last year? Smolder know?"

Smolder nodded. "Yeah, it was called 'A Dream Come True'. But I don't think you'd like it as it is, we dragons don't really do 'Happily Ever After'. Our stories are all about doing what you have to do to get by, 'cause that's how life is in the dragon lands. It's push or be pushed."

Silverstream then pleaded! "Aw come on, you have to tell it to us now, Smolder! Even just a little bit!" And she shot off the best pair of pleading puppy dogs! "Please?!"

Try as she might, Smolder simply could not resist the sad long in the hippogriff's face. With a sigh and a groan, she agreed. "Fine, but only this once. So listen up," She cleared her throat and began picturing the story in her mind. "Once upon a time, there was this sad little dragon. Her name was Scales. She lived alone in the wilderness with nothing to eat."

This is how the story unfolded in Smolder's mind:

Scales was a pink scaled dragon with very light green eyes that matched her light green horns. She was smaller than most dragons, hence why she lived alone. On this particular evening, it was raining hard and so she was forced to take shelter underneath some rocks.

Suddenly, there came a great roar! Scales managed to poke her head out from the rocks, and saw a truly massive dragon waiting outside. The dragon had dark blue scales, a bluish-green underbelly that spread across her wings, light yellow and light green horns in an alternating stripe pattern and golden yellow eyes. Atop her head rested a crown made of ruby red gemstones, and in one claw she held out a scepter carved from rocks that housed a fire red ruby inside of it.

The dragon lord looked at Scales and said unto her. "Fear not. I am taking you with me to the dragon lands for a magnificent feast. No subject of mine shall be left out in the cold."

So Scales was brought to the dragon lands proper, and taken into a massive, well lit cave that was full of gemstones! She had her fill of the delicious, savory rocks as she sat among the dragon lord's family, friends and other invited guests.

Suddenly, Scales noticed another dragon, this one a male dragon with dull brown scales and charcoal black eyes make a move for the scepter the dragon lord had resting beside her. Scales immediately lunged at the intruder, and the two tussled, ultimately knocking the scepter from its resting place and drawing the attention of all the other dragons.

Scales was afraid the dragon lord wouldn't understand, but the dragon lord simply chuckled. "Such a magnificent display of power and bravery, Scales. You are more than worthy to sit beside me as second in command, you will never go hungry again."

Scales was delighted with the prospect. But she was even more enthusiastic to see that the dragon who had tried unsuccessfully to prey upon the dragon lord was banished out into the cold for all eternity.

"The end." Smolder bluntly stated as she finished up her story.

"Well... that was kind of a sweet story, until the end anyway." Ocellus commented in something of a state of shock.

The young dragon only replied. "I told you, we dragons don't do 'Happily Ever After'. This isn't like those ponytales the ponies tell where everything always works out for everycreature in the end."

Just then, Sandbar returned as Rainbow Dash entered the room and called out. "Silverstream! You're up next! Let's go!"

Silverstream's earlier excited nature seemed to vanish as she hesitantly followed her professor down to the headmare's office, the door slamming shut behind her.





Smolder immediately flew over to Sandbar, eyeing him with narrowed brows as she tried to read his face for any hint of a change in expression. "So, did you tell them you did it, Sandbar?"

Sandbar immediately protested. "No! Why would I confess to something I didn't do? Heck, why would I let any of you get blamed if I did do something bad? Don't you know me better than that? I thought we were friends."

The dragon snorted. "Yeah, but face it, you've got the perfect motive: You already live here in Ponyville, so staying over the holidays would be no big deal for you."

Even Yona found herself agreeing. "School of Friendship good place for pony to have pony holiday," But then she asked in a more concerned tone of voice. "Sandbar not want to go home to family?"

The earth pony colt with a sandy yellow coat quickly shot down the idea. "Don't be ridiculous, Yona. I love my family, even more than I love the holiday. I'd never wanna do anything to ruin it. I was looking forward to spending the holiday at home with my family, just like every year. This is usually about the time we'd get out our dolls and hang them over the fireplace," Then, suddenly, he remembered something! "Hey, that reminds me! I have a really cool story to share with you all!"

"What is it?!" The other creatures asked, all turning to look at Sandbar in the process.

Sandbar was happy to tell his friends. "It's about the time my Hearth's Warming Doll almost fell into the fire. It was just last year, in fact," And the memory was still vivid and fresh in his mind as he recalled. "Just before we went to bed, my mom, my dad, and my sister Coral all put our Hearth's Warming Dolls up on the mantel, just like we do every year."

"So what happened?" Gallus questioned.

Sandbar snickered. "I told you, it almost fell into the fire. I thought I put my doll up so that it would stay, but I guess I didn't. After Coral put her doll up, mine started to fall. It's a good thing I happened to turn around and see it, otherwise I'm sure it would've gone into the fire and gotten burnt up!"

Smolder frowned and pouted. "What's the big deal? It's just a doll."

The earth pony colt protested. "You don't understand, that doll was no ordinary doll. It was an antique doll that my grandfather made when he was my age. Then he passed it down to my dad, who passed it down to me. And if I ever have foals someday, I'll pass it down to them. It's a family tradition. That's why I couldn't let that doll get burnt to ashes!"

"Ooh! What did you do to save it, then?!" Silverstream questioned.

In a somewhat sheepish tone of voice, Sandbar recalled. "I made a desperate leap for it, and caught it just before it would've landed in the fireplace. My hooves got a bit burnt up in the process, though. It really hurt! But since I didn't have pegasus wings or a unicorn horn, I did the only thing I could think to do in that case," He breathed a sigh of relief. "It was a Hearth's Warming miracle that I saved my doll."

"That's... um... interesting, I guess." Ocellus commented as she tried to feign interest in Sandbar's story.





It was then that Silverstream returned, and with her return Rainbow Dash looked to Smolder and Yona while telling them. "We're gonna do things a little bit differently this time. Smolder, you're coming with me. And Yona, Twilight's waiting for you in her office. This way we'll save time."

Both dragon and yak reluctantly obeyed, departing with Rainbow Dash to talk to their designated professors about what they knew about the prank.

Silverstream, meanwhile, immediately told her friends. "I said I didn't do it, and I repeated it over and over again. That seemed to make Headmare Twilight agree."

Ocellus then commented in realization. "So if neither Smolder or Yona confess..." She trailed off, unable to bring herself to say the obvious.

Silverstream, however, was all too happy to pick up where her changeling friend had left off! She gasped as the realization struck her! "Then we're never going home!" Then she protested. "No, no, no! I can't stay here! I have to get home! I can't miss the Three Days of Freedom Celebration!"

In a mocking and sarcastic tone of voice, Gallus inquired. "How long does that last?"

The pink coated hippogriff was more than happy to explain, all the while ignoring Gallus' sarcasm. "It used to be only one day, but now, to commemorate our escape from the Storm King, we're adding two more days of awesome!" She then produced a book with a sea green colored exterior, and a sandy yellow square on the front. A logo depicting both a hippogriff and a seapony was proudly displayed in the center. "See? It's all here in this book."

The blue feathered griffon blinked in surprise. "There's an actual book on that?"

Silverstream nodded and chirped. "Mm-hmm! My Aunt Novo had these made for the Mount Aris board of tourism to explain it all to guests!" She flipped open the book, showing off pictures that included the depiction of a large, satyr like creature, and of seaponies dwelling underwater. "We'll spend the first night in Seaquestria, thanking the ocean for protecting us from the Storm King. Trust me, he was a really bad dude. He'd have done terrible things to us if we didn't establish Seaquestria to protect us."

"So I've heard." Gallus remarked.

Silverstream, undeterred, just kept explaining while pointing to the pictures. "While we're down in Seaquestria, we'll do lots of things: Sea-dancing, whale-singing, shell-stringing, lots of things like that," Then she flipped the page, showing the seaponies turning into hippogriffs and heading up to Mount Aris. "The second day we'll be up on Mount Aris, with sky-dancing and a wind song in the Harmonizing Heights to celebrate the Storm King's defeat," Turning the page again, she showed off pictures of hippogriffs and seaponies celebrating together across the enterity of Mount Aris. "Then, the third day's when it gets really exciting. On that day, hippogriffs and seaponies alike will all celebrate together. You know,  grandparents, and parents, and sisters, uncles, brothers, acquaintances, neighbors and even cousins."

"Wow! And I thought my family was big!" Ocellus exclaimed! "This is all so fascinating, Silverstream."

The young hippogriff nodded once again. "Yup. I'm really looking forward to seeing my cousin Skystar again. The two of us, we go way back!" Then she flipped to the last page, concluding! "But the best part of all is that at the end of the third night, my Aunt Novo's gonna give out presents to every hippogriff and seapony, just like a Santa Hooves, whatever that is," Then she closed the book, fondly sighing. "Oh, I wish you and the rest of our friends could all come to see it. You'd have a blast for sure!"

But Gallus just blinked as he asked. "Wait, hold on. 'Cousins'? What are those?"

Ocellus was all too happy to point out. "Like you don't know? They're the children of your aunts and uncles, basically part of your family," Then she looked at the griffon and asked him. "You do have a family, right? I mean, you had to have a mom and dad that raised you. Doesn't everycreature have to have a mom and a dad, or at least one of the two?"

Sandbar just waved a hoof and snickered. "Aw come on, Ocellus. Of course he has a family! Gallus is just messing with us like he always does."

Gallus opened his mouth as he prepared to say something, but before he could do so he heard the door to the main hallway open. Smolder and Yona came strolling back in, and the expressions upon their faces conveyed more than words that they were unhappy.

Sandbar saw fit to ask the obvious question on everyone else's minds. "So, I'm guessing neither of you confessed, right?"

"Like I've been saying, I didn't do it! And I don't know anything about who did!" Smolder bitterly complained! "This is all just a big waste of time! They can't prove anything!"

Yona grumbled and humphed. "Yona tell Headmare Twilight she not know about prank. Headmare Twilight seem to believe Yona, but then tell Yona to go back with Smolder and wait here. Headmare not tell yak anything else."

"Ooh!" Silverstream excitedly chirped as an idea came to her mind! "Then maybe that means they're changing their minds, and they're gonna send us all home."

Smolder rolled her eyes. "Not likely. Face it, we're stuck here. And all because someone among us refuses to tell the truth! Whoever it is," She growled and snorted, blowing smoke from her nostrils. "I hope you're happy with yourself!"

Silverstream then gasped! "What if it wasn't one prankster? What if was a whole gang of them, and they're all staying silent because this is a conspiracy?"

Gallus became rather uneasy and backed up slowly as he saw all his friends start to glare at each other. "Um, guys?" He tried to speak up, only to be ignored.

Smolder, meanwhile, glared around the room. "Or maybe, whoever did do this is just acting guilty now to try to throw us off. If so, they'd better confess right now!"

"Guys." Gallus called again, only to again be ignored. Thus, he took a deep breath and prepared to holler at the top of his lungs, hoping to draw attention to himself.





Before anyone could say or do anything further, however, the door to the main hallway again swung open. Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike all came up, all with the most serious expressions on their faces.

"That's quite enough, all of you!" Twilight firmly and sternly lectured the six students. "I will not tolerate fighting in my school, even if classes are not in session! Anycreature who starts a fight will answer to me," Then she cleared her throat while looking across to Rainbow Dash. "Professor Rainbow Dash and I have heard quite enough out of you six. And we've come to a decision."

Rainbow Dash then explained. "We know who did it. But Twilight here," She gestured a wing to the alicorn. "Wants to give the guilty party one last chance to confess."

Nodding, Twilight replied. "Indeed. If you step forward now and confess, you may not even have to miss the holidays by staying over the break. However," Her tone of voice became more ominous. "If you remain silent, then there's nothing either Spike, Professor Rainbow Dash or I can do to help you. The choice is yours: Will you step forward now and save us all the trouble?" There was a long silence, and none of the students said or did anything. The alicorn sighed. "Very well, then. Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow firmly nodded. "Understood, Twilight." She swooped down and joined Twilight as she approached the six students, eyeing them one by one. Strangely enough, Gallus was the one on whom they seemed to linger for a while. And Gallus seemed to flinch ever so slightly.

But both ponies eventually walked past Gallus and made their way down to the end of the line. Then Twilight locked eyes with Ocellus and said to the changeling. "Ocellus, I'm sorry, but you'll have to come with me," To the other students, she told them. "The rest of you are free to go."

Ocellus immediately shrieked as her eyes began to widen! "What?! But... but I didn't do it! I swear! You've got the wrong creature!"

"Yeah!" Gallus shouted out in protest, drawing all the attention in the room to him. "Ocellus can't be the culprit," He swallowed hard and put his claws together as he whimpered. "I did it. I'm the Hearth's Warming Prankster."

Gallus' friends all gasped! Apparently, not one of them had come even close to suspecting he was the one involved in this prank that had gotten out of control.





Yona was the first one to ask the question, once the shock had worn off. "Why Gallus do it? Why griffon mess up decorations?!"

The young griffon reluctantly confessed. "Because... I don't wanna go back to Griffonstone for the holidays. I'd rather stay here! And I thought if I sabotaged the Hearth's Warming display and brought the professors to our dorm, they'd make us stay while we cleaned up the mess."

Twilight and Rainbow Dash simply smiled as Rainbow then told Gallus. "Well, Gallus, we kind of suspected it was you from the beginning. You were the one who seemed the most indifferent about going home. And when you mentioned goo powder even before we'd told anycreature what caused the mess, that just made you seem more suspicious. But we wanted to give you an honest chance to confess with no pressure."

"Then, why didn't you confess earlier, dude?" Sandbar questioned Gallus. "Your plan worked, didn't it?"

The griffon nodded and admitted. "A little too well, it seems. I didn't know they'd threaten to keep us all over the break, but I thought that at least meant we'd all get to be together. But after you all started fighting, and after Ocellus got into trouble, I just couldn't stay silent anymore. None of this was supposed to happen. It was all just supposed to be a harmless prank."

But Twilight then admitted to Gallus. "Actually, Gallus, the bit with Ocellus was something of a test on my part: To see if you would make one of your friends take the fall for something you did. I'm glad to see you didn't, that you've been paying attention in Applejack's honesty classes."

Silverstream then nervously inquired. "What if Gallus didn't speak up? Were you actually gonna keep us all over the break?"

Rainbow willingly answered. "Much as I would've said you needed to be punished, Twilight was just bluffing when she said that."

And Spike reassured the students. "Without any proof that any of you committed the prank, Twilight wouldn't have been able to justify keeping any of you over the break. Not even Gallus."

Twilight explained. "If you'd know that from the start, however, none of you would've felt any pressure to confess," She apologized in a sincere tone of voice. "I'm sorry I wasn't completely honest with all of you," Then she added. "Although, this all could've been avoided if Gallus had simply confessed when I gave him several opportunities to do so. And for the record, Gallus, if you really wanted to stay over the break, you just needed to ask. You didn't need to pull off a prank. You're lucky that no one got hurt this time."

Ocellus (now relieved that she wasn't going to get into trouble for something that wasn't her fault) then turned to Gallus. The question now on the minds of all his friends was the one she asked. "Why don't you wanna go back to Griffonstone for the holidays? Don't griffons have a holiday too? Didn't you say something once about a moon?"

Glumly, Gallus answered. "The Blue Moon Festival. It's a Griffonstone tradition, but it's not a very good one," He explained to the others. "Families get together to eat and then complain about the food and give each other presents they don't like and mostly just try not to yell at each other. At least, that's how Grandpa Gruff puts it. And much as I hate to admit it, he seems to be right."

Silverstream looked into Gallus' sad eyes as she hesitantly asked. "Well, at least you get to be with your family, right?"

But the griffon bitterly answered. "No, I have no family of any sort. As far back as I can remember, I've always been an orphan. I don't know who my parents were or what might have happened to them."

Sandbar asked. "Well, what about Grandpa Gruff? He must be related to you somehow, right?"

Gallus shook his head and then hung it. "No, they just call him 'Grandpa' Gruff because he's so old. And before that, they apparently called him 'Papa'. But he's just some old gezer, he's not related to any griffon at all. Far as I'm concerned, Gilda and Gabby have always been more of a family to me than he ever was," He started recalling what few memories he hadn't suppressed of Griffonstone. "If it wasn't for Gilda, I'm not sure Grandpa Gruff would've even taken me in. I'd have just been left to fend for myself. I started to feel like I never had a place in Griffonstone, that no one wanted me."

Ocellus gasped anew! "That's horrible! Even before I was adopted, Thorax was always there for me and made sure I was cared for. I can't believe anycreature could be that cruel towards another."

"That's just what Grandpa Gruff is like, unfortunately," Gallus lamented. "No one even knows for sure how old he is. But he's the only one who ever remembers what Griffonstone used to be like. So everyone more or less leans on him to keep things running. Gilda and Gabby," He recalled a few somewhat pleasant memories of the two griffons who had made him feel welcome and wanted, if only for a little while. "Bless their hearts, they're trying their best. But they can't change minds or attitudes overnight. Griffonstone's changing, but it's not changing fast enough for me. So you can bet I was glad to be chosen to go to Ponyville, even if it was just so Grandpa Gruff had an excuse to dump me onto some other creatures."

Yona then strolled up to Gallus, and without asking for permission she pulled him into a big hug. "Gallus not alone anymore! Griffon have friends! Friends always be there for griffon! Friends even invite griffon to their holidays if griffon ask."

The blue feathered griffon sniffled a bit, and wiped a tear from his left eye. "Thanks, Yona. But you don't have to feel sorry for me. I don't wanna be a burden to any of you," And he told his friends as he tried to be brave. "I'll be fine on my own, I promise. I've kept you all here long enough. You deserve to go home to your families and be happy together with them, doing what you like to do the most. I wouldn't want to intrude."





However, it was then that Twilight Sparkle declared with a sincere smile. "Actually, Gallus, I would be honored if you would join my friends as a guest of honor at the holiday table."

Silverstream immediately proclaimed as she nuzzled next to Gallus. "If he's staying, then I'm staying."

"Me too!" Ocellus insisted. "I'm not leaving him when he needs me most."

"Yona stay also!" Yona vowed. "Yona want to be there for Gallus as friend, just like Gallus always be there for yak."

Sandbar joined in. "I wanna stay too. No way am I missing a chance to spend the holiday with my friends."

And Smolder reluctantly sighed. "Oh, what the heck? I guess pony holidays can't be that bad. Count me in as well."

"Very well then," Twilight nodded her head in agreement. "You're all welcome to stay," But as the six students all cheered she threw up a hoof and insisted. "After we finish cleaning up. Don't worry, I'll make sure to inform your leaders so they don't start to panic or get upset."

Undeterred by the fact that they still had some cleaning up to do, the six students all cheered together! This was going to be the best Hearth's Warming ever!

In fact, as the students went about cleaning up the rest of the goo powder, they could all be heard singing happily together as one big chorus:

Pony voices fill the night! 

Hearth's Warming Eve is here once again!