//------------------------------// // Intermission Speical 1: Hearth's Warming Eve // Story: Everharted // by Camlio //------------------------------// Hearths Warming, a Lovely time of year where Ponies, Griffons, and other sentient creatures take a day to foster goodwill and peace between their fellows. Today, is Hearths Warming Day, and in the spirit of the season, we will be taking a break from craziness… to a degree. This story will be in third person. “Hello and welcome to the Equestria Daily’s special Hearths Warming report in Ponyville. My name is William L.L. Blabbermouth and we’re here live for interviews with several select ponies of interest. With me tonight as my escort and royal chaperone is this fellow right here, introduce yourself for the colts and fillies at home son.” The reporter says with a smile as the camera pans to the face of a night guard. “My name is DarkFury.” The pegasus guard responded plainly. “Of course it is.” The reporter said as he hoofed the camera back to DarkFury. “Well, Mr. Fury and I are here today to interview several ponies of interest in accordance with several incidents that have occurred over the past several months since the return and subsequent banishment of Nightmare Moon.” He said with a smile. “The things I do for the Princess…” DarkFury grumbled, so as to be barely audible. “Alright, now then Mr. Fury, let’s get these interviews underway~” William said with a chipper tone as he trotted up to the door of the town library. “Hello, is anyone home?” He asked as he knocked. The door opened with the glow of purple magic, the town’s librarian and appointed friendship expert Twilight Sparkle greeting them with a confused expression but, with a smile. “Um, hello there gentlecolts, is there something I can do for you today? We’re actually closed for Hearth's Warming.” She said with a soft smile as a little voice spoke out. “Purple Mommy, is it Mommy?!” The voice of an excited little filly spoke up from inside the library. The reporter smiled and motioned for DarkFury to start recording. “We only’d like a few minutes of your time, Miss Sparkle. My companion and I are here doing a bit of news work for Channel 4’s Busybee news and we’d like to ask your opinion on several of the things you and your friends went through in… the past year and a half.” “Oh, alright, come on in then. I’ll have some tea made.” She said with an unsure expression as she led the pair into the library and set up a couch and a few chairs in a circle for the interview. Spike walked in for a few moments, just long enough to realize that he should go make some tea and quickly left the room to do just that. Twilight sat down in one of the chairs so that the two stallions could sit on the sofa. “Now, what would you like to ask me?” “What actually happened the night Celestia went missing during the Summer Sun celebration?” Blabbermouth asked. Twilight tilted her head to the side. “Well, mainly my friends and I went into the Everfree Forest in search of the Elements of Harmony which were instrumental in Nightmare Moon’s defeat.” “Really? How was she defeated?” “Well, after my friends and I managed to obtain the elements of harmony and thanks to a timely defense by Spirit, we were able to use the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon… I-I don’t really know what happened exactly because there was this massive rainbow of energy swirling around her but, after it faded, Princess Luna was left lying there in the center with shards of the armor that Nightmare Moon was wearing.” She explained. “Spirit? Who is this Spirit you are referring to?” Blabbermouth asked, becoming rather curious as he started to scribble some notes into his personal notepad. “Spirit is… well, he’s…” Twilight blushed, finding it hard to say what she wanted too but, decided to just get it over with. “S-Spirit’s my mate, h-he appeared out of nowhere before we fought Nightmare Moon as if by some kind of miracle.” “He appeared out of nowhere?” Blabbermouth asked, shocked. “What exactly do you mean? Did he teleport or appear by magic?” “Well, I mean he appeared from nowhere… I mean when we first got to the abandoned castle, we had thought he was just some old golem or statue that had been left there. Apparently, he was brought here from another world to keep Equestria safe.” She explained as she heard someone walking up from the basement. “Twilight, are you alright? I heard multiple voices…” A male voice said as a strange creature opened the door to the basement and stepped into view. He had soft blue hair and piercing green eyes, with a long cloak that flowed around his neck in a manner similar to the manes of the princesses. “Um… well gentlecolts, that’s Spirit.” Twilight said with a blush. Blabbermouth gasped in shock, as he dropped his notepad. DarkFury raised his eyebrow, concealing his shock. “Y-your mate is a… is a… Vessel!?” Blabbermouth sputtered. “Well, this just made my job a lot harder.” DarkFury dryly stated. “W-Well yeah… I-I mean, you at least know about the warding process right? Since you know about him I mean...” Twilight said, trying desperately to conceal her embarrassment. A glowing orb seemed to materialize and float around her, the Magical Lavender one of the potential Cinders of Hope. “Now this is news! This has to be the headline!” Blabbermouth excitedly exclaimed. “No chance in Tartarus!” DarkFury jumped in. “This is staying quiet. The last thing the Princess needs is news getting out that an actual Vessel has not only appeared, but has mated with Celestia’s personal protege.” “I really don’t see the problem with it, Ponyville in general seems to be quite alright with it if you ask me.” Spirit said calmly, drinking from a cup of tea that had appeared on a saucer in the middle of the table, alongside three others. “Sorry if it’s a bit late, but I had a feeling I should make one for Spirit.” Spike said, giving what was practically his step-father a wave before leaving the room. “Would you two like some tea?” Twilight asked as she gently nudged the tray to the pair across from her and Spirit. The vessel sitting in a chair that had materialized from seemingly nothing. “Why, thank you.” Blabbermouth said as he took a cup from the tray, still recovering from this news. DarkFury eyed the tray for a moment, then said, “No thank you, Miss Sparkle. I’m not a fan of tea all that much.” Twilight nodded and levitated her cup to her lips before drinking some. “Alright, now. Since you decided to call off this interview, is there anything else you need?” She asked as another knock sounded on the door. “I’ll get it.” Spike said as he opened the door, revealing the one and only Princess Luna. Blabbermouth stared wide-eyed at the Princess, about to faint from all the twists in todays occurrences. DarkFury, on the other hoof, jumped from his seat and stood upright. Assuming the stance of attention, he saluted Luna and remained motionless. “Oh, we didn’t expect you two to conduct the interview today. Have there been any noticeable developments?” Princess Luna asked as she was nearly bowled over by a pint sized ball of cute and energy known to some of the members of the house as Dream. “MOOOOOMMMMYYY~” The filly cheered as she tackle hugged Luna. This was too much for Blabbermouth. Having had too many drastic surprises in one day, he fainted. “Well… that was rather pathetic for a stallion of journalism, don’t you think Ser Fury?” Luna said trying to hide the giggle she had growing inside her. “Indeed, Princess.” DarkFury responded. Dream was bouncing around Luna with the level of exuberance only a filly or colt could possess. “Mommy, Mommy! Did you bring anything with you this time?” Luna nodded and motioned to DarkFury. “Ser Fury, did you remember the parcel I told you to hold onto?” “Of course, Your Highness.” He said as he pulled out a small package from his saddlebag. DarkFury then gave it to Luna. Luna nodded and smiled as she cast a quick spell on the parcel, causing it to float and triple in size before splitting into three separate and completely different looking packages. “There we are. This one is for you my little one.” She said with a pleasant smile as she gave one of the packages to Dream. “YAY PRESENT!” Dream cheered before tearing into it like she was imitating a honey badger. Luna handed out the other packages to Twilight and Spirit before handing the original box to Dark. “And for you Ser Fury, for all your hard work.” She said with a smile. Twilight opened her gift with a smile as she found contained within a hoof written book containing all the constellations and where to look for them. Spirit’s gift was a glowing Royal Blue sphere that floated around him and seemed to dance with the Lavender Cinder of Hope. “I…” “You forgot that when we last met~” Luna said with a wink. Dream tugged on DarkFury’s tail and looked up at him with a smile, holding a plushy set of her family. “What’d you get Mr. Fury?” DarkFury looked down towards the little filly and said with a light smile, “It doesn’t matter what I got. What matters is that you’re able to spend Hearth’s Warming Eve with your family.” “And so our tale ends for this Hearth’s Warming Eve, with a lovely message and a heartfelt reprieve. So until next we meet, on some future bells chime, I’ll leave you with this. See you next time~” Pinkie said with a smile and wave as the screen faded away to black.