//------------------------------//
// Future 
// Story: For Goodness Sake: the Last Hearth's Warming Horror Story 
// by Jade Ring 
//------------------------------//

Diamond Tiara observed as Apple Bloom finished weaving her tale, something that had become a Hearth's Warming eve tradition in whatever house the make-shift family held their holidays each year. She sipped her cider and watched Apple Bloom's enraptured audience for their reactions.

It was the little orange filly who raised her hoof first. "Auntie Apple?" 

"Yes, Pixel?" Apple Bloom acknowledged her with a nod.

"How did you get back home if the train was frozen?"

"Don't you remember? She told us last year." The male half of a pair of copper-coated twins rolled his eyes. He and his sister had just gotten their cutie marks the month before, so he was still in the phase of trying to show off how adult he was becoming. "She broke into the depot's telegraph office and called for help.

"Pence!" His sister punched his shoulder. "We want to hear Auntie Apple tell the story!"

"Bah bah bah bah." The tiniest of the four foals babbled, trying to mimic the scolding tone of the filly who held her. 

"Penny, don't punch your brother." Diamond Tiara called out.

"Sorry, Mama." Penny called over her shoulder before sticking her tongue out at her twin. Pence returned the gesture, much to the little foal's delight.

"Dinner's nearly ready!" Button Mash bounded into the room and swept his little daughter out of Penny's lap. "Is my wittle Aqua behaving herself?"

Aquamarine squealed with glee and grabbed at the full beard that now hung from Button Mash's chin. 

"She's going to keep yanking it if you don't stop her going for it like that." Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes good naturedly as she followed her husband out of the kitchen.

The stallion looked back at her and raised an eyebrow. "I could always get rid of it..."

Sweetie Belle's magic seized said beard and used it to pull his face to hers. "You wouldn't dare." She smirked before planting her lips on his.

The assembled foals all made exaggerated noises of disgust at the display of affection, making Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom share a look and a laugh. Time moved on, but some things stayed the same.

It seemed hard to believe it had been nine years since Apple Bloom had come back into their lives. Nine years since their strange little family really had come into being. Nine years of happy and joyous Hearth's Warmings. Nine years of prosperity and good times. Button Mash was now one of the top-selling novelists in Equestria, though his true passion was writing books of lore for the tabletop role-playing game he'd developed with Apple Bloom. Her first novel was on track to become quite the best-seller itself if the trades knew what they were talking about. Not bad for a former schlock-magazine writer. Sweetie Belle's crisis recovery center had just received another award from the city. And Diamond Tiara? 

Diamond Tiara drank her cider and looked over at the filly and colt that had finally made her life complete. Pence and Penny were the last pieces of the puzzle she hadn't even realized she'd been working on. All of her charity work, all of her success in transforming her father's business trademarks into a nationwide retailer... it hadn't really meant anything until she had someone to share it with. So what if she wasn't going to be anyone's wife anytime soon? Adopting the twins, being a mother? That was what had made her whole. Apple Bloom had been the one to help her see that. All these years later, and she was still helping her friend find out what truly lay inside her heart. 

"Ya'll better not be making a mess of my kitchen." Apple Bloom warned from her rocker beside the fireplace. In the dancing flames and the lights that blinked on the Hearth's Warming tree, her position and the stark white bun her mane was tied into gave her more than a passing resemblance to her grandmother.  

"Oh, you mean like the one you made in mine last year?" Diamond Tiara asked. 

"I cleaned it up..." 

"And we'll clean yours... Auntie Apple." Sweetie Belle crossed the room and gave her oldest friend a nuzzle. 

"Auntie Apple?" Pixel was the only foal still sitting in front of the mare. Aquamarine was still laughing in her father's grasp, and the twins had wandered over to the corner where Apple Bloom always kept a stash of toys for when the little ones came to visit. "Can I ask one more question?" 

Apple Bloom chuckled as she leaned forward and spun the top of Button's old propeller hat. It looked good on the little filly. "A'course you can."

"Why do you tell that scary story every year?" 

Apple Bloom's smile faded a little. "Because... because scary stories have their place."

Pixel cocked her head. "Even at Hearth's Warming?" 

"Especially at Hearth's Warming." Sweetie Belle leaned down and nuzzled her daughter.  

"Stories are how us big ponies best get lessons down to little ones like you." Apple Bloom closed the book on her lap and looked at the cover. A pair of blazing red eyes looked back at her. "Life is full of good things and bad things. Fun things and scary things. That's why there's fun stories..." She ran a hoof over the book's title; ‘A Hearth's Warming Horror Story’ by Apple Bloom Apple. "And there are scary stories. Because you little ones sometimes will heed the lessons of stories more than you will just a plain ol' talkin' to." 

"So… what's the lesson in this story?" Pixel asked. 

Sweetie Belle looked back at Apple Bloom. "Well, for me, I think the lesson is that we should never forget the true reason for Hearth's Warming. It's not the presents, the decorations, or the songs. It's not even really about the founding of Equestria. It's about the things that make us who we are at our core, and how we should never take things like friendship for granted." 

"Not bad, dear. But I think the lesson is more about guilt." Button Mash chimed in, setting Aquamarine on the ground to crawl over to her waiting mother. "About how we can't let it eat us alive. Bad things happen, and sometimes they're our fault, but you can't let guilt over the past cost you your future."

"Hmph. I think it's about sacrifice." Diamond Tiara tipped her cup in Apple Bloom's direction. "Hearth's Warming is the season of giving, and that's hard for a lot of ponies. Because a lot of the time you have to sacrifice something you hold dear to make somepony else happy. That's not always fun, but sometimes? It's necessary. Especially at Hearth's Warming."

Apple Bloom smiled at her friends before looking back to Pixel. "Or maybe it's just fun to get scared at this time of year. The point of a story is that it's a story. It can be more... but it can never be less. Do you understand?"

Pixel smiled brightly. "I think so."

"That's my Pixie-Stick." Button Mash laid a hoof on her head and beamed at her.

The moment was broken by the sound of conflict in the toy corner. The grown ponies looked over to find Pence and Penny each holding a stuffed Nightmare Moon in a tangle of magical auras. "I don't want to be Princess Celestia! I want to be Nightmare Moon!" Pence argued. 

"You're always Nightmare Moon!" Penny whined. "You have to let me have a turn!" 

"You can be Nightmare Moon next time!" 

"You said that last time! Let me have her!"

They yanked the toy between them, and the seams began to fray. Diamond Tiara stood up. "Pence! Penny! Be careful with Auntie Apple's..." But it was too late. With a great ripping sound, the toy was torn cleanly in half. Stuffing fell to the floor like snow. 

Pence's magic faded and he bared his teeth at his twin as his half of the doll fell to the carpet. "Look what you did!" 

"What I did?" Penny was incredulous. "You're the one who wouldn't let go!" 

"You're the worst sister ever!" Pence lowered his horn like he was getting ready to charge. 

"I wish I was an only foal!" Penny mirrored his stance. 

"Wouldn't that be nice!? Maybe then I'd actually get to enjoy Hearth's Warming!"

"I'd rather never celebrate Hearth's Warming again than have to share it with you!"

They likely would have continued, maybe would have gotten into a full-on scrap that would have required their mother stepping and pulling them apart. Instead the fight was silenced by a single, twinkling chime that rang through the room. Silence fell at once, and the four older ponies looked with growing horror at the place where the sound had come from; the mantle above Apple Bloom's fireplace. 

They moved quickly.  

Diamond Tiara dropped her mug and bounded over to her children before forcing them together. "Pence, you apologize to your sister right now!" 

Pence started to push away. "But Mom..." 

"I said apologize!" She snapped, something she did infrequently because of how much she thought she sounded like her mother.

"I'm sorry, Penny." Pence pouted. 

"Good. Penny, you apologize too."

"But I..." Penny's mouth snapped shut at the look in her mother's eyes. "Sorry, Pence." 

"Very good." She practically dragged the twins to the center the of the living room. She grabbed a pair of pillows and tossed them onto the plush carpet. She gently pushed her children onto the make-shift pallet before laying down between them. "Let's just… let’s just cuddle for a little while, okay? It's getting cold." She nuzzled them each in turn before wrapping her legs around them and giving them a squeeze. "You two won't be small enough for me to do this much longer."

Pence and Penny shared a look, confused by their mother's behavior. Ultimately, there was no harm in a little cuddle. With a nod of silent agreement, they shrugged and got comfy in their mother's embrace. 

Meanwhile Button Mash had scooped up his oldest daughter and carried her over to the couch. "Why don't we sing a Hearth's Warming carol with your mom before dinner?" 

"Okay!" Pixel giggled. The grown-ups were all acting weird, but that was something she'd just gotten used to. Their behavior might have been a little scary, but Auntie Apple was right. It was a little fun getting scared sometimes. Especially on a night like tonight when nothing bad could happen.

Sweetie Belle was already laying on the couch, Aquamarine nestled against her and nursing contentedly. "Any requests?" 

Pixel thought about it, then cried out excitedly. "Jingle Bells!" 

Sweetie Belle's eye twitched, and she shared a look with her husband. "Of course." She muttered. Still she took a breath, and then she began to sing. Button Mash and Pixel joined in not long after.

Apple Bloom stayed in her rocker, her eyes hard and cold as she looked out the window. It had already started snowing tonight, and she watched the dancing flakes warily. She watched and she waited to see if the wind was going to start blowing harder. If the dancing snow would begin to flurry. If hard lines of frost were going to start spreading across the glass. 

On Hearth's Warming Eve, four survivors, four friends, who had become a family took the steps necessary to defend their children from a force beyond imagination. They settled in for what might be a very long holiday night indeed. And why? 

Because the sound they'd heard, just barely audible from where it had sat on the mantle for almost a decade, had been the ringing of a single bell.