Night had engulfed the small town of Ponyville, leaving only the night goddess’s shining beacon of radiance up in the midnight sky for any light on the small village below. Its light reflected off the still snow on the ground and glimmered past the flakes that descended from the heavens. Everypony was safe and asleep inside their homes. They rested underneath their bed sheets, with smiles on their faces as they slept, for the ponies knew that once they awake Hearth’s Warming will be upon them.
Silence pierced through the small town, not even the dance of the snowflakes had made any noise, but soon, not everyone in Ponyville will be silent and asleep. There was work to be done and it would have to be done quickly. That void in the silence will soon be gone.
Actually, right about… now…
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“AAAAAH! I OVERSLEPT!” Trixie shouted out in panic as her eyes shot open.
Her body now finally awake took her by surprise as the jerked movements in her chair made her fall backwards with the chair onto the ground with a thud. Trixie grunted from the impact and grabbed her head before rolling around to dull her pain.
“Ow,” Trixie said to herself as she hazily got up from the floor.
She looked for her gear, which was settled nicely next to her bag of presents on her bed. Without any further hesitation of interruptions, she takes the red and white silken clothes and dresses herself in them. She heaves the bag onto her back and ends with the placement of her hat (adorned with the mistletoe) snuggly on her head.
She took a few breaths to calm herself down, and once she was satisfied that all her panic from before was minimalized as best she could, Trixie set out from the door of her broken-down cart and into the still night of the Eve.
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Trixie followed through with her mental preparations a few hours ago, going down a chimney was good but it always required a bit of magic, this was going to last all night and Trixie didn’t know if she had the ability to use her magic every single time. The last thing she needs is magic depletion the moment she tries jumping off a rooftop.
Another house was done with, as Trixie successfully made the drop and climbed herself out the chimney. This roof was higher than the average house, so she took a minute to survey the night landscape, and admitted to herself that it was beautiful in its nightly mystery. Snow covered the buildings and yet not enough to still show their decorations, a large tree was in the main town square and was also covered in snow. What was truly extraordinary was the moon’s light reflecting onto the snow, it was nighttime and yet the ground sparkled with some otherworldly glow as if it were alive.
Back to her mission at hand, Trixie shook herself into focus and scanned the horizon before noticing a large farmhouse in the distance. She was going to deliver her gifts from an out to inward formation, she decided. Trixie leapt off the building (this time making sure to use her magic to help her down) and landed firmly deep inside the snow. Her mind assessed how this would affect her and she knew the snow would slow her down considerably. An idea came to her head and she used a spell on her clothes, the light-blue aura surrounded them before combining into the fabric and disappearing. Trixie raised a hoof onto a large snow pile and was pleasantly surprised to see that it didn’t sink inside, at least now she could walk on snow. It was like solid water, and she wondered why no other unicorn in this town has thought up of this idea yet.
The trek to the farmhouse went much smoother because of her simple spell, and within minutes Trixie arrived to a sign that read ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ and behind it, stood a large, red barn. Trixie put a hoof to her chin and looked upwards, what grabbed her attention was a window at the very top. She could simply just pick the lock on the door handle, but with the chance of more ponies living inside as it was a rather large farm. She wasn’t going to risk it.
There will be a time for risks later, she thought. She didn’t know much about the Apple family themselves, but their product and cider were delicious in Trixie’s books.
Without any more delay she found a scaffold she could lift herself and her bag onto. From there, Trixie simply was able to shimmy her way across a railing to the ledge of the barn and hoisted herself up. Now on the roof, she made careful note not to slip (her spell doesn’t help with icy conditions) as falling from this high up would be a death sentence. Carefully, she raised a hoof and placed it on the window frame to support her from falling down.
Just don’t look down Trixie,she thought to herself, as she tries to fight off panic.
She added a bit of force to the window and sure enough it was unlocked, and easily slid open. She heaved her body through the opening and landed inside with a soft noise.
A child’s room. How did Trixie know this? Because there was a sleeping red maned filly lying in her bed, and from what Trixie could perceive was that the filly was tossing and turning in anquish, a nightmare. Trixie shushed herself to not make a single noise, it was a known fact that foals wake up easily and were very, very curious if anything got their attention. It was definitely something Trixie didn’t want to deal with tonight.
She slipped out of the room with her sack and shut the door quietly behind her with a sigh of relief. Her heart wretched with a sadness she didn’t expect; she didn’t want to leave that filly the whole night suffering in that nightmare but Trixie had work to do and she couldn’t waste any time helping a filly she didn’t know. She let the thought out of her mind and descended down the house.
After Trixie examined the other rooms and saw: an orange pony with a stetson, a large red pony, and an old frail green pony, all nicely asleep. Her hooves made it to their living room and placed four gifts, all bearing apple wrapping paper, underneath an evergreen tree.
Trixie was done and now she can forget about this place and head to another house. Before she could even move her ears perked up on movement upstairs, a door opened, and sobs were heard.
Everything was telling Trixie to get out of the house NOW, but she couldn’t bring herself to head outside just yet. She crept up the steps, silent as a mouse and put her back to the wall, with one eye she leaned her head out slightly and saw the little filly, weeping and walking towards the room of the orange pony.
“Sis… can ya’ wake up please, please?”
Trixie was able to have heard and got herself a better view from the door, she carefully pulled it back a bit towards herself before the orange pony could see the door closing.
“Oh… Applebloom, do you know what time it is?” the orange pony said with a yawn.
“I couldn’t sleep, I was thinking ‘bout mum and dad.” At this moment the orange pony beckoned her sister onto the bed with her and gave her a hug.
“Ah know sugercube. It’s been tough on all of us. There’s never been a moment during any holiday or celebration where ah ‘aven’t thought about them.”
“I miss them.”
The orange pony gave a stronger embrace to the younger sister.
“Me too.”
“Applejack… what were they like?”
With a whisper she replied, “They were the kindest, most hardworking parents y’all could ever ask for. They always cared about us, it didn’t matter what business we were in, but they figured out that family was what kept everything together. They couldn’t have been more proud of us,” she said with a smile, the filly smiled too while Trixie who was observing all of this was barely able to withstand shedding a tear.
For some reason she had a bittersweet smile on her face, and rubbed the forming tears in her eyes with her sleeve before she carefully closed the door.
*Click*
OH BU-
“HEY! Who's there!?” an angry voice shouted inside.
Trixie had to move fast, her mind spiraled out of control as the only way she could escape was back the way she came. She dashed through the filly’s room and locked the door behind her before carefully opening the window wide enough. A loud slam and an angry shout came from the other side of the barricaded door.
Trixie stepped back a bit before running full force towards the window with her magic glowing all around her. She leaps up into the empty air of the night, her hoofs flailing for momentum, and vanishes from sight as she falls from the building to the snow below.
Applejack burst into the room and noticed the open window; her orange head poked out and looked towards the ground. All she could see was snow.
“Strange… guess whoever dat varmit was got away…” she said to herself before closing the window and blinding it.
Trixie’s head poked up from under a pile of snow, her body was encased in a light-blue field which vanished as soon as she got herself out under the powder. It may not have been glamorous but she managed to escape, once again by jumping from an incredibly high place. It was exhilarating, but not a chance she would want to take again.
Trixie could see now that this job was definitely not for the faint-of-heart, with the possible chance of death around each house. But Trixie couldn’t die, after all, she still had a job to do.
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The next house wasn’t far; it was just on the edge of the White-tail forest. Plus it wasn’t a house, it was a cottage. Trixie didn’t know why a pony would want to get so secluded from Ponyville but she wasn’t here to ask questions. Before she went for a lock-picking manoeuver her face pressed up against a window, she wiped the fog away and peered inside. She could only see a pink-haired Pegasus lying in her bed; she was snuggled nicely under her covers while holding a white rabbit. The rabbit shuffled around as if it was sleep. Trixie was astounded to see that it was real. She quickly went over to another window and opened it from the inside-out with her magic before carefully sliding through.
Inside the house, her hoof reached inside her sack and pulled out a pink box adorned with butterflies and placed it under a tiny evergreen tree. It was tiny and actually looked really cute. What was next to the small tree was a small plate of cookies. Trixie happily took one and munched it down on her way out; she didn’t need to climb out through the window again so she simply went out through the front door instead.
Seeing the pony sleeping with her animal friend brought in some new thoughts to her head, turns out a friend could be anyone, not just ponies. She happily snacked away on the cookie as she trotted away from the cottage, completely oblivious to what was stalking behind her.
Trixie clumsily dropped the half-eaten cookie onto the snow, she growled at herself, Oh, come on! It compelled the Great Trixie’s taste buds to new heights of flavour!
The growling continued and Trixie knew for certain her growls and snarls didn’t last for more than a second. She turned around and nearly screamed.
A single bear, a pair of deer, some squirrels, a few birds, and a couple of raccoons were tailing her this whole time.
“Aren’t you all supposed to be hibernating this time of year!?” Trixie said with a shocked shout.
Indeed, the scent of one of Fluttershy’s Hearth’s Warming Eve cookies would drive even the most hibernating creature out from their cave, or even reroute a migration course for the birds.
“GET AWAY!” Trixie said with ferocity as the animals approached onto her. “Back, BACK I SAY!”
Trixie let the cold petrifying fear overtake her. She grabbed her sack and galloped as fast as she could, screaming hysterically. The animals didn’t know what got into that unicorn, but it didn’t matter, as they turned their attention back to their true target. Like a pack of wolves (also, three wolves showed up to the party) the animals descended down onto their prey.
That cookie never stood a chance.
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Trixie looked over her soldier periodically to see if they were still chasing her. Her body sidled up to a building, gasping for air as she peered back, it seems they’ve given up. Trixie wanted to feel safe but she could tell that this night was going to be full of hazards. Her heart flipped inside her, she really didn’t want to see those creatures again.
A house or somewhere high was what she needed, a place where they will never reach her, where she could easily lose them, and feel safe enough to resume her schedule freely. So, she scanned the homes all around her. These houses were already visited by her, no need for them to get broken into again. Trixie instead looked up towards the heavens, and a small grin came to her face.
A cloud residence, its brilliant: it looks large, has its own rainbow waterfalls, and is isolated in the sky so the residents would never be bothered on what happens on the ground. To Trixie it all looked rather expensive, she wanted to get a closer look and because she’s Noel Hooves right now, that means she can.
Trixie prepared herself by tapping into her magic reserves, soon her magical aura surrounded her and she levitated upwards into the sky along with her sack. Cloud homes were simple, easy, and they wouldn’t have much security because their clouds and they’re too high up in the sky for anypony to even want to break into them to begin with.
Trixie landed on the cloud.
Did I also forget to mention this was a cloud?
As soon as her magic disappeared from her body, the cloud she thought she was standing on soaked through her hooves in a heartbeat and soon she went entirely through the white puff of water vapour.
Trixie gave a shout of surprise and immediately used the spell to walk on clouds on her right hoof before it slid through the puffy membrane. Only pegasi would be able to walk on clouds, that was basic pony knowledge and Trixie had nearly forgotten about it.
“Whew, that was close,” Trixie sighed with relief. She’s now dangling on the underside of the cloud with nothing but her hoof trapped inside to prevent her from slipping.
She twisted her body around as she applied the spell over the rest of her as well as the sack. Now she can levitate herself properly without the risk of falling through the cloud again. Trixie got to the front door of the cloud house, strangely enough it was locked.
Did I forget to mention this was a cloud?
Trixie slammed her sack into the door and it vaporized in a puff of white mist.
Don’t worry, clouds grow back, they’re clouds! Trixie thought to herself before she nonchalantly stepped inside the home as if she owned it.
Inside the home, it was a large open suite, very spacious but also full of clouds. The doors on the inside only made a small squeak when opened because clouds rubbing together on the hinges aren’t as annoying as metal ones. After looking around for a few minutes and checking every room, Trixie opened a door and saw some sleeping ponies, more importantly she saw a cloud-like tree sitting in the middle of the room. She made her way over there silently, as not to wake up the ponies; it was easy because one of them was excessively snoring and masking her hoofsteps.
Trixie couldn’t focus on finding the right presents, the snoring became to annoying after the first two minutes. She went over to the bed with intent to shut the pony up in her irritated eyes. She got a better view, tt was not one, but two who took the bed, a rainbow-maned pony (which she recognized immediately as that pony she made fun of. Trixie giggled a bit remembering those times.) and an orange filly with purple hair who didn’t look anything like the cyan-blue pony from before.
This startled Trixie for just a moment, They’re not related, that I can obviously tell. But shouldn’t they be with their families?
The rainbow one mumbled something about being awesome and the orange mumbled in reply about how awesome the rainbow one is.
Trixie remembered the recent house she visited, the pink-maned pony sleeping with a rabbit. Instantly something clicked inside her head.
These ponies aren’t related to one another but they still consider each other to be family.
It seemed a bit absurd to Trixie but from a light-hearted giggle, she had to admit it made a bit of sense somehow. She went over to the tree and by instinct, brought out a lightning-bolt styled box as well as one covered in scooters. She still didn’t know how she knew these presents were the right ones to give, but she didn’t doubt the powers of the sack or the outfit she wore.
Trixie got up from the tree and heaved the sack over her shoulder, now all she needed to do was go down. She felt a dissipating force around her, as if something like a spell had just worn off. Trixie’s somber eyes changed to a look of shock.
Did I forget to mention she was standing on a cloud?
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Trixie had fallen through the floor, leaving a gapping wide hole in her path. She fell from the sky, her hooves all spread out and the sack dangled into her chest, held in place by Trixie’s biting mouth. Below her, Trixie spotted an opulent house that looked more like a giant posh circus tent; she squinted her eyes further and saw a chimney. Now this was either going to be the greatest trick Trixie has ever done or the most spine-breaking.
She propelled herself like a projectile so that she was right over it, she got on her sack and casted all the gravity-withstanding spells she could think of.
ALIGNMENT!
She needed to be aligned correctly or the chimney would smash against her fragile unicorn body, it would be more painful than simply landing flat on the ground. She could not afford to mess this up, this was life or death and she didn’t know why she was doing this! Her outfit had sparkled with a small warm glow unbeknownst to Trixie’s knowledge, before fading mere feet away from the chimney. The stack approached below her, faster and faster, Trixie braced herself for impact.
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Soot rose up from the fireplace as a loud thump echoed through the house and a disoriented unicorn stepped out. Once the unicorn stopped feeling dizzy from the impact she cheered quietly to herself. The Great and Apologetic Trixie has done it again! A spectacular performance! Trixie quickly made a mental note to do something similar in any upcoming shows.
Trixie dusted off the black powder as best she could from her clothes, yet they still left nasty stains she would have to wash later. She ignored those and took a moment to look around. This house had a bunch of pony mannequins, and clothes were draped everywhere. This felt like a store to Trixie, which should mean that—yep the front door had a bell, no going out that way.
Trixie grabbed her bag and went over to a tree which decorated the main ‘show-room’. Trixie kneeled down on her hooves and started to shift through the sack.
“Uh, Hello?” a voice said behind her.
Trixie went stiff, and turned her neck slightly to see it was an alabaster filly.
Oh no, this is not what Trixie needs right now, this is not what I need! Trixie you’ve been spotted, ABORT ABORT!
“Are you… Noel Hooves?” the filly nervously asked.
Haha! Nothing is lost yet! Trixie stood up tall and proud over the little pair of hooves below her.
“Why, little filly, yes I am! I am the Good and Charitable Noel Hooves! Ho ho ho!” Trixie tried to lie, it was a mediocre attempt at best. The filly raised an eyebrow, this Noel Hooves’ ho’s weren’t that jolly…
“But I thought you were a stallion? Big pony, belly full of jelly, loads of ho’s?” the filly questioned Trixie.
“Ahem, well… ergh… Noel decided to…. Eat fewer sweets this year! A pony’s got to keep in shape, right?” Trixie said with a nervous smile before giving a chuckle.
“Hmm….” The filly eyed her still, Trixie was starting to sweat. The sweat kept coming, Trixie lifted her hat a bit and a rush of liquid came from it and washed down the floor.
“I… uh… brought presents?”
“YOU ARE NOEL HOOVES! YOU ARE REAL! I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!” the filly beamed with joy.
Trixie quietly shushed her but at least she felt relieved that she tricked a filly about less than half her age, “Shhh… or you’ll wake up the whole neighborhood, is there anypony else in this house?”
“My sister, Rarity! My name is Sweetie Bell!”
“Good… good…uh, nice to meet you...”
Trixie had convinced this filly that she was Noel Hooves, but once morning came and this filly notices her then it would break her heart and it would be Trixie’s fault. Trixie had to do something and she had to do something now.
“Are you really Noel—”
Trixie really didn’t want to knock out this filly, but she has no other option.
This filly needs to be knocked out, now.
Trixie raised her horn, a bright blue aura entrapped it making the filly awe in wonder, a small flash of bright-coloured sparkles came out from her horn and covered the filly in a gentle dust. The filly started to tumble and yawn, a few seconds later she was asleep.
You thought I would knock out the filly by harming her with my hoof? Trixie would NEVER harm a defenseless filly by giving her a concussion! Shame on anypony who thought otherwise, SHAME!
Trixie reached into her bag and pulled out a present decorated in musical notes and another one in gems. Her attention shifted back to the sleeping filly lying on the floor, as much as Trixie wanted to leave her there, she knew that his filly had to wake up in her bed. She levitated the filly with her magic and searched around the house before finding a room that she guessed was the filly’s she was holding. Trixie laid the pony down in the bed and covered her up snuggly in the sheets. The filly moved around a little bit to get more comfortable and a smile spread across her sleepy mouth. Trixie also spread a smile after seeing that.
A nearby window was all Trixie needed to leave this household in its sleeping silence.
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Trixie went around all the other houses in Ponyville that she missed, she saw similar occurrences of Hearth’s Warming Eve bonding and her smile never seemed to have faltered, it helped that she didn’t run into any more hazards yet.
Her heart felt— lighter, than it did before. If this was because of the spirit of Hearth’s Warming entering her soul then she welcomed t with open hooves. More likely that her work is going well tonight, all the little bumps and obstacles she faced were made up when she saw the happy faces of the sleeping residents. Trixie had only a few presents left, but she first had to go right some wrongs.
Her hoofsteps approached towards a house, she was nervous but she knew she had to do this. She knocked on the door lightly and the lights inside flickered on. A moment later the door opened and a mint-coloured pony stood in its frame.
“AAAH! It’s you again!” she shouted out in fright before turning her neck back inside the house. “Bonbon! Take everything of value and run!”
“No wait! Hear me out please!” Trixie begged the mint mare. The mare just stood there on her hooves, she was ready if this unicorn would do any more funny business.
“Fine,” the pony said with a huff.
Trixie didn’t know how to start. Her throat felt like it was stuffed with tissue paper and her tongue couldn’t move around properly, but she managed to get out a word, a single word.
“….sorry.”
“What?” the mint mare said in surprise.
Suddenly it became easier for Trixie to speak, “I’m… sorry for what happened before. I didn’t mean to get so angry. I just wanted somepony to finally accept my apology gift, I know I’ve been not the greatest of ponies but I’m trying to turn my life around. So… I’m sorry.”
“You’re apologizing because I didn’t take your apology gift?”
It seemed a bit funny and a small smile spread across both of their faces as Trixie sheepishly nodded.
“Well, I didn’t open it up. I hope whatever’s in it isn’t broken when it got smashed through the door.” The pony laughed before heading back inside and finding the box. She brought it over to Trixie and unwrapped it, her eyes beamed when the present turned out to be a pair of 5-fingered foamed hands.
“WOW! This is wonderful! Thank you so much Trixie!” the pony gave the light-blue unicorn a hug. “How did you know?”
“I- I didn’t? All these presents I got from that strange Pink pony and they were all wrapped up to begin with. It just felt like the… right gift.” Trixie went surprised, “Oh and before I forget, here’s the present for BonBon.”
“I’ll be sure to tell her then, seems Noel Hooves dropped by our house tonight,” she said with a laugh.
The two exchanged merry hearth’s warmings before going their separate ways. Trixie still had one more wrong to right.
A house down the street had its window boarded up with wooden planks. Trixie torn off its pieces and remembered that this was the house she escaped through the window. Her horn glowed and the snow around her hooves lifted up into the air. Piece by piece they connected and latticed over and through each other on the open hole in the house.
The light died down and Trixie was content to see what she made before grabbing her sack and heading towards Pinkie’s house.
A frosted glass window made of snowflakes.
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The pink pony’s home was a store; naturally the front door would not be the best place to enter, never mind the windows. Trixie looked up and saw the building had a chimney, a possible escape route but her magic was starting to run dry. She would look for another way in. Her hoofs trotted in the snow around the house until she found a door jutting its way up past the snow, she cleared the white fluff away and opened the door leading to a cellar. Trixie jumped down inside and closed it behind her.
Her magic illuminated the room enough so that she could find her way upstairs without bumping into a piece of furniture like a desk or a table. Trixie checked the rest of the house, other than the pink pony she spotted two others and two baby foals. She went back to a tree and deposited her load underneath. Her sack felt nearly empty, soon she would be done.
Suddenly, Trixie heard something coming from upstairs. It sounded like somepony whistling a merry tune to themselves. She had no time to go through a window or back the down the cellar. All she could do was get inside the fireplace and crawl her way upwards.
The pony that woke up was Pinkie Pie. The night was getting chilly so why not make it warmer? She grabbed a few logs and placed them underneath the chimney Trixie was climbing. Trixie paused for a moment and looked down to see the logs being added and a hoof striking a match.
Oh no…
Trixie scrambled her way up faster. The pink pony below hummed her tune some more, it was such a great idea to light the chimney in the middle of the night and she wished she’d thought of it sooner. Finally a single flame came onto that tiny wooden splinter, a smile spread across Pinkie’s lips and she flicked the match into the pile of logs.
A ‘whoosh’ came from the fireplace as the logs ignited. Trixie was still climbing inside. Smoke started to go up into her face and she was beginning to get hotter and hotter. She reached up higher and higher, panic struck in her heart. She could feel the flames burning down her back; Trixie couldn’t stand any more of this heat.
But finally, her hoof reached the end of the chimney and she heaved herself out, coughing and wheezing from the smoke she inhaled. The soot and embers that were on her outfit, rubbed off from her body as it pressed against the snowy rooftop. Once Trixie had caught her breath, she stood up with triumph and shouted into the moon, a winning cheer in the dead silence of night.
Trixie had narrowly escaped death numerous times: glass window jumping, chimney entering and leaving, falls, animal attacks, and nearly being burnt to cinders. This made Trixie feel alive, unstoppable. The feeling passed and soon she was starting to feel the pains of her work weighing down her shoulders and contracting her muscles. She still had one last house to visit, one more house she specifically made it her last stop of the night.
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Trixie climbed through a large tree and reached a balcony ledge. She used her magic to undo the locks on the doors and strolled right in, gently closing them behind her. Immediately she saw a familiar purple unicorn sleeping deeply in her bed, and the purple baby dragon sleeping next to her above the covers. Trixie with a devilish smirk poked her hoof lightly into Twilight’s side.
She is definitely a heavy sleeper. Trixie thought. Her smile grew more devilish as she went for her sack and pulled out two presents, the one covered in dragon scales she put next to the sleeping dragon and the other gift, a purple box with a large magical star, was put on the one place Twilight wouldn’t expect to see it.
Right in between her hooves, Trixie couldn’t help but laugh silently. She knew Twilight underestimated the skills Trixie possessed.
She will be very surprised when she wakes up.
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Trixie left that house and peered into her bag, there was nothing left in it. She let out a yawn and was finally ready to head back to her home. It may be a run-down, nearly broken wreak of a once great stage cart, but it was still her home nonetheless.
She was about to wallow in her self-pity and head home but the snow that was lightly falling the whole night turned into a storm. The flakes pelted her face with ferocious intensity. She couldn’t see anything, nor could hear herself.
The sudden storm began to die down gently, and Trixie could see now, a dark figure was standing before her in the snowflakes where earlier nothing was. Before she could say anything, the figure gave a hearty, merry-filled laugh which pierced through the cold, dark night and left a familiar and somewhat nostalgic feeling for Trixie.
“Hoh ho HO!” he bellowed. He came closer to Trixie; his brown boats were sinking into the snow on each step, he was in fact a very big pony, predominately around the waistline.
“Who—who are you?” Trixie questioned the stranger.
“Many ponies have asked me that, but don’t worry, you may call me a friend,” the pony replied taking a step closer and shaking her hoof.
Trixie could see him properly now, his fur was tan, his mane was white and fluffy accompanied by a large pure white beard on his face. What Trixie did notice was that he was wearing a red and white hat (with the little pom-pom at the end) and his body was draped in the same styling outfit, only what was different compared to hers was a belt (and Trixie was covered hoof to head in chimney soot)
Too much snacking I think, Trixie silently laughed to herself.
“Truth be told, I didn’t expect anyone else to be up this late. I was on my deliveries and figured that I stop by Ponyville for a bit. Did you know that this place used to be just a pile of wasted dirt? Nothing was living here! Ah, I remember back then when that nice green mare came with her family and wanted to do something about this place. Seems she’s done a good job, I might add. I should pay her a visit for old time’s sake.”
Trixie was confused; Ponyville’s been around for a long time, yet this stallion was old so she didn’t know. This pony was strange and so she quickly asked awkwardly, “Um… wait a moment. You’re on deliveries? For mail?”
He nodded his head, “Something like that. My work is demanding, especially since I always need to get everything delivered by one night. Ah, but I’m forgetting myself, now enough about me, how has your Hearth’s Warming Eve been?” the strange pony asked her with curiosity.
“I was up all night long delivering presents to everypony living here.”
“Wow! Now that is a big challenge! But why would you ever want to do that, if I might ask?” the pony said with a small faint grin.
“I wanted to give back to this town. I admit, I wasn’t the best pony I could’ve been, but I wanted to apologize. The trouble was, I didn’t want a simple apology. So I dressed up as Noel Hooves and gave presents out the way he would have done it,” Trixie replied.
“Hmm, that is quite a creative idea! No doubt that if he was standing right here he couldn’t be more proud by what you’ve done,” he chuckled.
“Have you learned anything tonight?”
“What do you mean?” Trixie asked him with a confused look.
“Was there anything you noticed that didn’t have to do with gifting or boxes?”
Trixie thought for a moment, this pony was beginning to get stranger by the minute, but she quickly looked over all the instances she gave tonight and the houses she had visited before coming up with answer.
“Ponies were asleep with their loved ones, their friends and family. They didn’t seem to care that I was there giving them gifts, they were focused more on feeling accepted by ponies that cared about them…” Trixie thought for a long hard moment, tears started to form in her eyes. “I don’t have any friends, no pony cares about me.."
"I’m... alone.”
“Well, you might not be looking in the right place. Don’t see with your eyes, but feel with your heart and then you will see. I know you may consider someone a friend and they might consider you to be one. You just need to look harder, not out there--” he pointed towards the town then moves his hoof over Trixie’s chest. “—but in here. You will never be alone, no matter where you might be, someone out there may consider you a friend. Just... look...”
Trixie could feel something in her heart, from where the strange pony had pointed. Her mind went into a buzz, why would her thoughts go towards this pony she was thinking of? Twilight Sparkle was all she could think about.
“There’s a pony… Twilight Sparkle— b-but that can’t be right! We used to hate each other—”
“Sometimes the greatest of rivals could end up being the greatest of friends. I think you should visit this Twilight in the morning. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind spending some time as friends on Hearth’s Warming Day,” the stranger ended with a chuckle.
You know what? I really think I should do that…
“So what’s the true meaning of Hearth’s Warming Eve?” he asked her with a slash wink.
“Caring for others, enjoying the holidays with friends and family, and accepting others with merry cheer?” Trixie answered and she received a pat on her back.
“You’ve done well tonight Trixie— OH good heavens, I’m late! I was supposed to be in Manehatten two minutes ago! Sorry Trixie but I need to go right now,” the strange pony quickly rushed ahead of her and waved back with a heart-filled laugh.
“WAIT! How did you know my name!?” Trixie shouted after him.
“It’s my business to know! You’ve been a great helper tonight, thank you! I promise to get you something!” he shouted back. Trixie was confused by all his shouting; she didn’t understand anything that he meant.
Who was this pony?
He stopped and the snow storm began to grow fiercer and fiercer, Trixie shielded her face with her hooves. From the corner of her eye she could make out the strange pony as a greyed out figure in the storm.
“HAVE A MERRY HEARTH’S WARMING! HOH HO HO!” a booming voice shouted from all around Trixie.
The snow became too thick; Trixie had to cover her eyes from the barrage against her. A few moments passed and the wind died down, she peeked out and saw that she wasn’t on the same street anymore. She turned and saw her home. It was still wreaked up. Trixie let out a sigh, a long-winded sigh for everything that happened tonight.
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As Trixie stepped through the front door, she took off her soot-covered outfit and tattered hat and placed them on her table along with her empty sack. Trixie was tired, even though she still had the feeling of accomplishment, she realized that she gave so much and didn’t get anything in return. Her home still creaked with every step and chilled with frost every morning.
But this was her Hearth’s Warming Eve, and as her eyes drooped shut and her breaths became silent, she was proud. Those ponies will be happy in the morning, and the best she could do is be happy for them.
One last tired sigh came from her, and the Eve was silent once more, with Ponyville’s last resident having fallen asleep.