Day 5, Hearthswarming Eve:
Filled to the brim with so many wonderful activities, the day of Hearthswarming Eve was, to many folks, just as exciting and fun as Hearthswarming Day itself! With family visiting, caroling, baking and decorating gingerbread ponies and the domiciles they lived in, drawing and coloring lovely pictures, playing in the snow and sharing all sorts of interesting stories, the day all passed in a blur! Running about all day to keep playing, giving and helping other out, Flurry was so ablaze with excitement for it all, her parents couldn't help but smile to eachother in pride of seeing their little one so full of joy and Hearthswarming spirit.
Once bedtime came about, Flurry wrapped one of the pictures she had drawn earlier and daintily wrapped it up as best as she could, despite how exhausted she was. The wrapping job was quite wrinkled and messy, but at least she did it on her own! She took the wrapped picture and curled up with it in bed, tucked away under the sheets. With her eyes drooping the moment her head hit the pillow, the little filly could barely whisper the words, "Good night, Mom and Dad..." before her world began to fade away. Her parents both gently tucked her in, gave her forehead a smooch, and smiled to eachother.
"My little champ's all tuckered out. I love just how much she loves Hearthswarming.", Shining Armor took a mental snapshot of this moment and cherished it for several moments before quietly exiting the room with his beloved wife.
"She sure has had a big day! And there's still so much more excitement to come! Ahh, to be that young again, eh darling?"
"I dunno about that... I'm quite happy with where I am, right here, right now.", the loving husband gave her a wink as he ushered her out of the bedroom as well before closing the door.
"Good answer!", chuckled Cadence as they shared a few loving nuzzles before beginning to clean up before tomorrow's big day.
Night 5, The Final Night:
So very eager to see her new friend again and to share her gift, she raced towards that single, sparkling star, giggling along the way. Soon, she was joined by the visage of Luna, once again, this time, wearing a cozy red cap with snowy white fuzz along the brim and a single puffy ball of that same fuzz dangling low on the tip, "Are you ready for this, little one? This is your final night to achieve your Hearthswarming wish! I have faith in you, but I must admit, Tartarus is a terrifying and dangerous place to visit, even if only for a short while! You must be absolutely certain that this is what you wish, before I allow you to physically go there yourself."
Taking a deep breath, and for the first time, Flurry Heart ponders her words before speaking, ".... I have never been so certain of anything in my life, Luna. I have to do this! And, I thank you so very much for going so far out of your way to give me the chance to fulfill this wish of mine. I know that I am asking for a lot, and I will do whatever I can to make it up to you, someday."
The mare constellation smiled wide and bowed her head in respect, the little fluffy bulb at the end of her hat bounced about, "If you can help this pony see the magic of friendship, and help her get one step closer towards finding a happy life, that will be all the thanks I need. Now, go! Your new friend awaits your surprise!"
Giving a respectful bow and a giggle shortly after, the filly swam the rest of the way into the sparkling vortex that was the star leading to Cozy Glow's dreams. This time, the star swirled and hummed with enhanced color and energy, as additional magics powered new, powerful changes to how the entryway worked, making this visit a particularly unusual, yet special one.
Taking her very first hoofstep onto the craggy, jagged stone of Tartarus, Flurry Heart was immediately struck with the sense of dread and fear for her safety as the darkness and forever-reaching crags and pillars of rock stood testament to the evil contained within. Reactively, Flurry touched her cheek before noticing that the staircase leading upwards to what she could only assume would be where Cozy Glow was held. After taking another deep breath and gently taking hold of the gift with Cozy'sname on it in her maw, she began her long and spooky trip up the massive staircase. Every few dozen steps got her higher and higher, revealing to her more and more pillars of stone, each one holding a cage at the center, undoubtedly keeping some unknowable evil locked away. What if she were to fall? What if something broke out right this very minute? What if she was going the wrong way?
She shook her head a few times, clearing her head and trying to keep focused on her goal. She was so close! Just a few more steps, and she was finally going to see her new friend!
Upon breaching the end of the stairs, there was very little for her to see. Just a flat rocky surface, encircled by walls of stone on all sides except for the gap for the stairs. On that barren ground was nary a pebbly, and just a single, massive cage, undecorated and completely overshadowing the tiny prisoner inside.
After clearing her throat and knocking on the huge bars, was Flurry Heart greeting by an utterly astonished Cozy Glow, "F-flurry! Y-you... You came! How... How did you even get here?!" Her eyes were wide in disbelief and she reached through the cage to gently touch Flurry's cheek in that same, fateful spot, desperate to know if she was real. Flurry Heart paused for a few moments in her own bit of disbelief before touching her horn to the cage and casting the royal unlocking spell that her father taught her last year, back when she fell into her own toybox and locked herself in.
With a rather unimpressive keh-tunk, the lock opened and the cage loosely swung wide open with a long, haunting creeeeeeaaaaaaaak! An uneasy lull gripped the moment as they both looked about, half-expecting some sort of alarm or alert for guards or Cerberus to pounce upon! After a few more moments of nervous silence, Flurry Heart gave a smile and a shrug and practically pranced her way in, despite how much working that spell exhausted her limited capabilities. Rarely does her fledgling magic work without a hitch, so it was worth it! Maybe she's finally growing up?
"Woooow! That was awesome, Flurry! I didn't know you had mastered your magic so quickly!", Cozy admitted, eyes wide in bewilderment.
"It was kinda awesome, wasn't it? Normally, things don't work out so smoothly like that, and now I'm rather tired, so... I'm just gonna sit here for a minute...", Flurry Heart plopped her bottom down onto the cold, metallic floor of the cage, looking up, down and around the featureless, empty cage, "Wow... It's really boring in here... There aren't even any spiders in the hard-to-reach corners! Ohh, I almost forgot!" Flurry used the last little bits of her unicorn magic to float in the little package she had put down while focusing on the unlocking spell, hovering it before Cozy Glow's nose, "Merry Hearthswarming Eve, Cozy Glow!"
Taken aback by the gesture, Cozy stared at the package for a few moments before hesitantly accepting it, "But... I have nothing to give you in return...!"
"Your friendship is all that I could ask for, Cozy Glow! I hope that you enjoy it! I made it and wrapped it all by myself!", Flurry dipped a tired bow with a smile.
Cozy nervously opened it, tearing away at the roughly-wrapped gift, with the ribbon simply falling off on it's own. Inside was a folded sheet of paper, "A piece of paper...?"
"Open it! Open it!"
Cozy Glow unfurled the piece of paper and was immediately struck with a surge of feelings that she wasn't used to. On the sheet in her hooves was a child’s-colored pencil recreation of the photo they had taken together from the night prior, with them enjoying giggling and having fun while reading through Flurry's storybook!
Everything that she was experiencing began to overwhelm her, and her eyes began to dart around the rather empty cage, desperately looking for a response! Her mind raced as Flurry Heart sat there, optimistically awaiting Cozy's response. Paralyzed for a few moments, the torrent of emotions welling up within Cozy made her panic! She looked to and fro, as if something in the nearby vicinity could grant her some sort of insight!
Eventually, her eyes set upon the cage door.... The door that was left open, after so many years! Open, at last!
Without a second thought, she bolted through the opening and kicked the door closed on the poor filly inside!
Flurry clutched the cage bars as tears began to well up in her eyes, she reflexively touched her cheek with a whimper, "Noooo! Cozy Glow! You don't want to do this! We can be friends! Please don't do this to me!"
Cozy was free!! The very thing she's wanted for years and years! That naive filly ironically gave her the only thing she's ever wanted for Hearthswarming after all! What a fool!
But it was already too late, as Cozy Glow bolted her way down the myriad of steps, she ran and ran and ran... She kept running, trying to remember the way out, reversing the path she was originally carried in here oh-so-many years ago. It was all a blur to her, though through the ravines, she could hear the echo of Flurry's cries, "Cozy! Come back! Don't you want to give friendship a tryyyy? Just in caaaase?" But her words fell upon deaf ears. Cozy had played nice long enough, and this is precisely the kind of opportunity she had hoped the naive noble would provide her!
Taking a few moments' pause as she knew a constant sprint would fatigue her before she could escape, she noticed something that had gotten lodged in the underside of her hoof. After wiggling it a few times in annoyance, all whilst thoughts of how she would exact her revenge upon those nasty Elements of Harmony wielders, the object flung off without issue and fluttered to the ground.
It was none other than the picture Flurry had drawn of them, albeit beaten and battered after having been trampled over from all of the running. She checked her hoof for imperfections that would've caught the picture, but to no avail. Surely, she wasn't carrying it this whole time! She shook her head free of such thoughts, crumpled up the photo and dismissively tossed it over her shoulder before drawing in a deep breath. Refocusing herself on the prize up ahead, she pushed out that held breath with a newfound sense of finality and took off, once more.
No sooner than she started her heavy gallop, did she harshly ricochet off of.... Nothing? Nursing the sore nose, she slammed into what looked like more of Tartarus ahead of her, she reached out in confusion and felt a solid force blocking her.
Only then, did she notice that everything around her began to melt away.... As the last echoes of Flurry Heart's cries reached her ears, "It's okay, Cozy Glow... I forgive you!" stark realization of the truth of it all hit her like a Hearthswarming tree had fallen upon her, to which she let out an infuriating roar whilst the last bit of this realm dissipated.
This was just another dream!
Snapping awake back in reality within her prison, Cozy Glow raged at everything around her, kicking bars leaving a ringing 'Kung!' to echo throughout the scape, screaming, pouting, grumbling and all things inbetween! She had been had, and worst of all, by a little filly! That little brat had lied to her about coming to see her for real, and was just toying with her emotions! Yeah! That little brat was going to get it once Cozy eventually escapes!
Almost an hour later, as sleepiness set upon her again while she brooded within her cage, something eventually caught her attention outside of her cage. Just within hoofsreach, there was a small envelope right outside of her cage! Upon closer inspection, it had a cute little bow on it, and was clearly labelled as "To: Cozy Glow"
"Great! She left something to further taunt me with! That little whelp!"
Eventually, in what she dismissed as "Mere curiosity", she distastefully grabbed the letter and opened it up, to read it, "Let us see how she gloats..."
It read:
"Dear Cozy Glow,
I am truly sorry that we didn't end up becoming the friends that I so naively hoped we could become over these past five nights. I'm sorry that I invaded the privacy of your dreams, even though I thought it was for the greater good! It was the only option that I had, and I had hoped that I would've been able to make it up to you in some way, in the future. I am sorry that I tricked you like this, even if it was to ensure my own safety.
With the help of a very wonderful pony, I was able to actually come see you and deliver this gift to you. I know it isn't much, but I feel like this might (someday) give you greater joy than any toy or pile of snacks. Just look to the back of this letter to see what it is.
Anyway, I am sorry again that I didn't do a good enough job to make these holidays full of cheer and happy endings for you. Next year, I shall come visit you, and try again, if you'll let me! Until then, I apologize that our friendship didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, though I truly do wish the best for you! I hope that you'll eventually let the magic of friendship back into your heart, whether it's with me, or with somepony else!
Happy Hearthswarming, Cozy Glow!
Your (Hopeful) Friend, Flurry Heart <3"
Rolling her eyes from such a saccharine display, she turned the letter over to reveal the very same colored-pencil drawing of the photo of the two of them enjoying that story book together from the night prior! ... How childish!
".... Yes. How childish, indeed!"
.... Though it was kind of...
"No!", Cozy growled yet again before crumpling up the letter, it rustling out the same 'Crumple-umple' sounds as it did in the dream, "I didn't need your friendship, anyway! I'm perfectly fine being alone!" As she eventually curled back up in her isolation, she faded back into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.
Back amongst the myriad of stars, Flurry Heart floated with Luna in full form, instead of just a constellation avatar, plus her festive red hat. Silence surrounded the pair as Flurry clung to Luna's leg and quietly wept, lamenting her failures from the past few days. The mare held her close and gently stroked a hoof through the filly's mane, "I know that it is hard right now, little Flurry Heart. You tried your best, and it didn't work as as you had hoped. You put forth a valiant effort, passionate one, and although it doesn't feel great now, know that in the future, you will look back at these times with pride. You'll take solace in the fact that you had the courage to stand against the darkness, against all odds, and open your heart to try and save someone from the torment they suffer through."
Flurry took these words to heart, but still couldn't hold back the tears. Luna continued to console her, "Take all the time you need, passionate one. Regardless of how it may seem on the outside, I promise you that your efforts weren't in vain. If nothing else, you may take these lessons that you've learned, and apply them in the future! Even your Auntie Twilight had to face several failures on her own journey to become an Element of Harmony, so don't you fret, little one! Life is a journey, and yours is only just beginning!"
Giving a few sniffles before wiping the tears from her eyes, Flurry Heart looked up to the majestic mare and nodded, "Uh-huh! I know... It still stinks, though... But, thank you for helping me write the letter. You made it sound really nice and it was really great to have help with the spelling, and stuff."
The mare smiled down to the filly again, wrapping a large wing around the filly, giving her a final, comforting embrace, "You're very welcome, Flurry Heart! Now, you're about to wake up, so I want to wish you a very happy Hearthswarming, little one! I'm sure you're going to have an absolutely exquisite day, once you wake up! Make sure that you savor every moment that you spend with friends and family today, alright?"
The filly nodded and smiled as she readied herself for the transition back to reality, "Yes Luna! Ohh! And happy Hearthswarming to you, too! Thank you again for everything!" Her final words echoed throughout the stars as everything around her quickly faded away.