//------------------------------//
// 4. Silent Night 
// Story: A Hearth's Warming Carol 
// by Punch Line 
//------------------------------//

Although she was quite sure that the Library door had been shut earlier, Twilight was certain now that the room’s temperature had noticeably dropped a few degrees. Even the nearby fireplace’s flames had died somewhat, indicating cause for the gradual cold. It was strange; although the windows were tightly shut and although the outside weather didn’t indicate anything more than a starry night, Twilight could still feel the coldness in her bones. 

With the apple fritters long gone, the unicorn braced herself for whatever else was supposed to come, as she was sure her night wasn’t over yet. She was right, for just as she thought that, the flames in the fireplace died completely, leaving her with just her lit candlestick for light.

“Who?” Owlicious asked again, wanting to know who had caused the sudden darkness. Not that he was complaining, though. He seemed to like the dark just fine.

Twilight had to repress a shudder. Somehow, her pet’s questions sounded creepier in the dark.

A violent gust of wind then passed by and threatened to blow her candle out. But the light on that candlestick stood its ground, stayed fast, and continued to keep the candle alight. 

After seeing that all was well with her candlestick, the unicorn breathed a sigh of relief, then turned her attention back to her fireplace, dreading to see what else the night would bring her. 

As soon as her eyes landed on her fireplace, it immediately sparked back to life, the flames illuminating the room once again. But before she could relax and dismiss it as the wind’s fault, Twilight held her breath, as she noticed a figure standing in the middle of the room.

The figure’s four hooves were an immediate clue to its Pony Spirit status and Twilight already knew the answer, though she did not know how.

“The Pony Spirit of Hearth’s Warming Yet to Come,” she breathed, not knowing just how long she'd held that breath in. However, the figure’s expression was not visible, as it was clad in a black, hooded robe from mane to tail, hiding any other future expression from the world.

“You’re here to tell me about Hearth’s Warming again, aren’t you?” 

Still, the Pony Spirit refused to answer. 

“Why won’t you answer me?” 

The Pony Spirit only huffed and arched its back. Proud, blue wings slipped out from within the robe and began to beat the air, as though preparing to launch the pony from the ground. As it did so, the wind beneath its hooves lifted up the robe somewhat, thus revealing hooves and legs colored as bright as the blue sky. 

“Wait… Rainbow Dash?!” Twilight asked, upon seeing the coat. “Rainbow Dash, is that you? What are you doing? Is this like Pinkie Pie and Applejack earlier?” 

The robed pegasus continued to beat the air in a faster rhythm, sending the temperature down a few more degrees. 

“Rainbow Dash!”

Slowly, snow began to build up in and around the room, giving the purple unicorn more than a slight shiver because of the cold. Strong gusts of wind were also beginning to make their presence felt. The pegasus pony continued to beat the air, seemingly unaffected by the change in temperature. 

“Easy for you to do all that, you’ve got a robe and wings,” the unicorn muttered irritably, casting a spell about her that enabled her to keep warm. “But this still doesn’t explain one thing! Rainbow Dash, why won’t you talk to me?” 

Finally, the Pony Spirit ceased to beat the air and stood rigidly still. It was still snowing, but the cold winds had stopped blowing. Twilight trotted up to her, so determined to get her answers, that she didn’t notice that she was once again, outside the Library. 

“Look, I’ll even call you ‘Pony Spirit of Hearth’s Warming Yet to Come’ if you'll just say something!” 

As a means of reply, the Pony Spirit raised a hoof and pointed to her right. Twilight’s gaze followed the outstretched hoof and the unicorn gasped when she saw that the pegasus had been pointing to a graveyard. 

The Pony Spirit, still wearing her robe, launched herself into the air and flew towards the cemetery. Seeing the rainbow-streaked tail peek out from underneath the robe, Twilight followed her, now sure that this Pony Spirit had taken the form of her friend, Rainbow Dash. 

The Pony Spirit soared over the graveyard’s gate and landed inside it, the purple unicorn following close behind. Up ahead, there were two gravediggers, wiping their brows and walking on their way out, their job done for the day. 

“Well, I guess that does it,” said one, hoisting his shovel with his unicorn magic.

“I’m just looking forward to some nice Hearth’s Warming dinner, if you ask me,” replied the other, his moustache bobbing a bit as he walked along. 

“But brother, you just gotta feel sorry for that poor pony we just put under the ground.” 

“You got that right. Poor girl, now the only view she’ll have left of Hearth’s Warming is from six feet under!”

The two shared a merry laugh, contrasting the dreary mood that is normally felt at graveyards. 

“Dear brother of mine, I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to get a mite hungry.” 

“Why, you’re right there, brother. Though for the life of me, I just can't remember why didn't eat before the job.”

“Well then, let’s get to it, Flam. We got ourselves some stomachs to fill.”

“Right you are, Flim. A pretty nice change after filling in that hole.” 

Again, the two broters shared another laugh as they continued on their way out of the dreary field. 

“Rainbow… who was that pony they were talking about?”

But the Pony Spirit only remained still and quiet, as if expecting the answer to come to Twilight.

“You know, the one they said they’d just recently buried?” she elaborated, mistakenly interpreting Rainbow’s silence as misunderstanding.

Now, the Pony Spirit began to fidget, no longer caring if her rainbow-colored tail was already out in the open, waving about in uneasiness. 

“Of course, I don’t mean the Brothers, I’m talking about the pony they just put under the ground.”

Now growing both irritated and agitated with Twilight’s utter cluelessness, the Pony Spirit began to gesture wildly at her companion, hoping that the answer would come quicker. 

But it still wasn’t working. Twilight, thinking that the Pony Spirit wanted to play charades, decided to play along.

“Now, Rainbow, I don’t think you’re being fair. Don’t get all mad, just because I haven’t figured it out yet.”

Smoke was now coming out of the frustrated pegasus’ hood, her annoyance now reaching unspeakable levels.

“I really don’t know why you refuse to talk to me. And I thought we were friends.” 

Upon seeing the unicorn pout, the Pony Spirit snorted irritably and shook her head, inserting a hoof inside her hood in a frustrated facehoof. 

“You’re doing this to yourself, you know. Why don’t you make this easier on yourself and just talk to me?” 

Finally giving up, the Pony Spirit made another frustrated noise and pointed wildly to a nearby tombstone. 

“… You want me to look at that nearby tombstone, don’t you?”

The Pony Spirit nodded so violently, Twilight was afraid her hood would fall back and reveal the disgruntled mare covered in it. But the hood stayed fast and the unicorn trotted slowly towards the tombstone, the Pony Spirit still making annoyed sounds behind her.

“Rainbow Dash, the tombstone’s covered in snow.”

The hooded mare stamped her hooves and struck the air in a harsh, horizontal fashion. She repeated this striking motion for some time, until Twilight raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll go wipe it off. Sheesh.” 

So, she began wiping the snow off the tombstone’s face, then recoiled in horror upon seeing what was inscribed on it. Her initial horror then melted away and gave way to a questioning stare. Twilight alternated between staring at the tombstone and looking back at the Pony Spirit. 

The hooded mare gave an irritated snort, as if asking the unicorn what the problem was now.

“… I don't get it.”

And it was at this point that the Pony Spirit could take it no longer. 

“GAH!” she exclaimed, throwing the hood off her head. It was indeed Rainbow Dash. “What the HAY is wrong with you, Twilight! Egghead like you, I’d expect you to figure out everything on the fly, but NOOO, turns out you need my help for every little thing and – ”

“But Rainbow Dash, I really can’t read what it says.”

“… What?”

“Over there, on the tombstone. Take a look.”

So, she did. 

And this is what the tombstone read:


Toran Parildamaq


“Oh, right.” Rainbow fumbled, now feeling immensely stupid for her outburst. “Wrong tombstone. Heh. Sorry, Twi.” 

Now noticeably calmed down, the pegasus turned around and tried to remember which tombstone was which. After squinting her eyes, Rainbow finally settled on one far-off slab of stone, her face breaking into a wide, self-satisfied smirk.

“There it is!” she said, flying over to it. Twilight followed close behind.

“Allow me,” Rainbow grinned at the unicorn and wiped off the snow herself, as a way of apologizing for yelling so harshly. “Ah, there we go! Here’s your tombstone!”

It was true. Now, the tombstone read:


Twilight Sparkle


And this time, there was no denying it. Now, Twilight recoiled in horror, the expression no longer melting away to change into some new one. 

“B-but I don’t understand,” the unicorn stammered. “What does this mean? Why am I on that tombstone?!”

“Well… that’s just ‘cause it was annoying to see you not getting into the holiday spirit like everypony else, so I thought of some lesson that’d stick.” The cyan pegasus puffed up her chest and struck a pose. “Pretty cool, huh? Don’t know what the other Pony Spirits are gonna think about that, but I’m pretty sure they’ll freak!” 

However, Twilight wasn’t paying any attention. Her current expression was still stuck on horrified and it looked like it wouldn’t be changing soon.

“But I don’t understand!” she said, turning to grasp Rainbow Dash’s robe. “I didn’t do anything wrong! Why do I have to get buried here if I didn’t do anything wrong?!” 

Rainbow, now seeing the full-blown effects of her prank, began to feel a little bit of remorse. “W-woah there, Twilight. I didn’t say you did anything wrong, just that you really needed to loosen up some more. Heh.”

“How is this supposed to help me loosen up?!”

The pegasus decided then that it wasn’t just a little bit of remorse she felt – it was a large chunk of remorse that now resided in her heart. Seeing Twilight fall into hysterics like this was definitely not cool and Rainbow knew she had to end things as soon as possible. After all, even Pony Spirits had hearts and she wasn’t about to send Twilight home with nightmares if she could help it.

“Okay, listen up, Twilight.”

Thankfully, the unicorn had quieted down, looking up through huge, teary-eyes to listen to whatever the pegasus was about to say.

“Yeesh.” Rainbow took a half-step back, upon seeing the watery mess that was now Twilight Sparkle’s eyes. “Look, Twi, about this whole Hearth’s Warming business… You really should’ve listened to what the other Pony Spirits have been saying.”

Twilight gave a little sniffle.

“I mean, there really is no scientific explanation to why everypony feels so happy or why ponies forget their problems at this time of the year. It just happens, you know? It’s not even in the gifts either – what’s important every Hearth’s Warming is the company and knowing that no matter what happens, you’re never really alone.” 

Rainbow then stuck out her tongue afterwards, as if to rid herself of whatever sappiness that came out of her mouth. Twilight, in the meantime, sniffled again, recomposed herself, and got up to her full height. 

"So... I did nothing wrong?"

"Not a thing!"

"And I'm not going to... going to die?"

"Nope! Pony Spirit's honor!"

“And... there's nothing wrong with the snow?"

"What?" But after catching the still-tearful look Twilight had in her eyes, the pegasus regained composure and poise. “I mean - Ha! Even if there was, I’d take care of it anyway. Ain’t no cooler Pony Spirit than the Pony Spirit of Hearth’s Warming Yet to Come!” 

Satisfied with this, Twilight gave a nod. “I think I’ve learned enough for tonight. You can take me back now, Rainbow.”

“I really hope you did, Twilight!” Rainbow said with a wink, the snow beginning to build up around them. 

Twilight had to shut her eyes against the oncoming onslaught of snow and wind, as she felt the familiar energy all around her again. This time, however, the cold had diminished somewhat and instead of the biting temperatures she'd felt earlier, Twilight found that the temperatures this time were much kinder - even comforting. Meanwhile, she could still hear Rainbow talking to her in an apologetic tone.

“And forget about the whole graveyard thing! That was just some stupid prank I came up with to make sure you really loosened up this Hearth’s Warming!” Soon, the purple pony felt a bit of warmth breathe some life all around her. "You gotta admit though, that was the coolest prank ever!"

"The best one in the history of Pony Spirits, I'm willing to bet," the unicorn said, but as she opened her eyes, she found herself back home at the Library, Celestia’s sun shining radiantly outside to signal the beginning of Hearth’s Warming Day.