In Canterlot castle, Discord paced about the ceiling of his room pondering about this year's Hearts Warming Eve. "Hmm what shall I do for my first Hearts Warming since my imprisonment? Oh I know I could flood the castle with eggnog, haha the sticky chaos." He thought drinking from a glass that was clearly defying the law of gravity. "No, that's a little too chaotic, this holiday is supposed to be fun and, yuck, cheerful." he says flipping back upright and sitting down on his bed. "Well nothing wrong with chaos you can laugh at right? Oh perhaps I could make all those snow ponies walk around throwing snowballs at everypony. That would be both fun and annoying all the same time." He grins as he walked over to the window and stared out at the bustling streets of Canterlot.
"Perhaps I'll just skip chaos this year." He facepalms at his statement, "Wait what am I saying? Sigh, Fluttershy must be getting to me." He shakes his head as he stares at an image of Celestia and Luna in front of a Hearts Warming tree. He grins wide as he thinks, "Well, there nothing to stop me from pranking Celestia this year, I wonder what I should get her." As he paced about the room he came across one of Fluttershy's photos he had kept for the holidays. The image was a simple snapshot of the Element of harmony all together celebrating last year's holiday. Discord scanned the photo for several seconds and then noticed something. "You know I've gotten so used to Twilight having those wings of her I almost forgot what she looked like before." he said staring at her grinning face in the middle of the frame. "In fact..." he stopped as a fiendish idea came to his mind "Oh yes, this well work nicely I think, haha, Discord you're a genius." Without any delay Discord snapped his fingers vanishing to parts unknown.
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"Check, check, and double-check" Spike said as he marked another item off Twilight's long To-Do list. "So will Shining Armour be able to make it this year." He asked.
Twilight grinned as she happy trotted down the street towards Sugercube corner. "Oh you know him; he wouldn't miss it for the world. Cadence has heard him talk on and on from what I've read in her letters. Oh speaking of which, did you pick up the present I wanted to give her?"
Spike nodded "Yup got it from the post office just yesterday."
As Twilight and Spike entered Sugercube Corner they were overwhelmed with the smells that spilled out from the kitchen. The cakes were busy as usual as they boxed up several containers full of cookies, muffins, and all sort of snacks. Pinkie bounced over to Twilight giving her a big hug "Hey Twilight you're just in time to taste my latest creation, the mint eggnog surprise."
Spike licked his lips eagerly "Oh that sound tasty."
As Pinkie brought the two glasses Twilight stopped as she reached for one "Wait, why is it called a surprise."
Pinkie smiled "Oh because I haven't even tasted it yet that's why. What fun would it be if I knew the taste?"
Spike hesitated for a second as he stares at his glass. After a quick shrug he chugs down his drink wasting no time as he licked every last drop off the bottom.
Twilight who had just taken a sip looked down at her chugging dragon "wow, slow down there Spike I'm sure there plenty to go around."
Spike's glass was soon empty of its mystery contents. "You would say that, you hide all our eggnog on me and won't let me have any till tomorrow." He said looking up at Twilight
"Can you blame me? You chugged like 3 cartons in one sitting last year."
"Hey I told you Rainbow Dash and I were doing a bet."
"So how did it taste." Pinkie asked as she took the glass from Spike's claw
Twilight finished her glass and burped "Oh, excuse me that was a big one." Placing the glass back on the tray she continued "It was...well minty that for sure. It was kind of like drinking a candy cane."
"Yay! I knew that recipe would work." She said hopping up and down. "Hey want to try some other stuff before the party tomorrow?"
Twilight glanced up at the time and noted the still uncheck things on her to-do list "Well, I would love to Pinkie, but I still have a few things to do before tomorrow." She stopped as she looked at Spike who was sighing, most likely at the thought of having to wait till tomorrow to have a sugar overload. "Hey Spike I can handle the rest of my list without help, why don't you stay here and sample the food."
Spike jumped for joy "Sweet, thanks twilight, I'll meet you back at the library later then."
"Sure thing, #1 assistant. Just remember not to over indulge, lots more to come after all." She said as she exited out the door.
As Twilight walked down the street she pulled out her checklist "let's see, did that, did that, do those later. Oh here we are, have fun with discord...wait what that wasn't there before." She said confused as a shadow loomed over her. Glancing up she saw Discord smiling down at her.
"Well good Hearts Warming Eve Twilight, how's your day?" He said wrapping himself up in a snow parka.
"Discord I've told you about 100 times stop messing with my checklists." She said annoyed
Discord laughed in reply "Oh come now that joke never gets old, unlike some mare I know. Is that a grey hair I see?"
Twilight took a quick look up at her mane for a second and back down at her list "Discord I don't have time for your games at the moment I'm getting ready for tomorrow."
"What a surprise so am I. I've even picked out a present for you, isn't that nice." Discord said as he planted himself back down on the ground.
Twilight rolled up her list and started walking away trying to ignore his antics "Yes that very nice of you but I really mu-" her conversation was cut short as she found herself tripping over Discord's tail. Instead of a quick thump into the ground Twilight found herself falling into a black pit. Her wings shot up in instinct as she tried to slow her decent only for them to collide with the narrow walls. Trying to slow her fall she pushed her wings hard against the edges. Her efforts proved in vane as her wings provided no resistance against the frictionless surface. After a second of falling she came crashing down upon the black floor. The floor itself warped as it cushioned her fall like a mattress. As she stood back up the floor became solid once more.
Twilight looked up at Discord giving him a stern stare "Discord what is the meaning of this?"
Discord simple smiled as he brought a giant lid into view. "You'll find out soon enough."
"Discord!" She shouted as he slid the lid into place plunging her new prison into absolute blackness. Twilight stood still for several seconds trying to figure out where she was. There was no sound, no smells, and most disturbing of all, no light. Without hesitation she lit up her horn. The room remained as dark as the sky as twilight's horn glowed.
Twilight reached her hoof forward feeling the wall before here. Knocking on the wall she noted that is sounded like glass. Charging her horn she aimed directly at it. At this range glass shards would certainly hurt her but she pushed that to the back of her mind as she fired. Her spell impacted the wall; its surface shimmered as it absorbed the magic. A moment later the walls surrounding her changed. Instead of an infinite blackness each wall became reflective, shining like mirrors.
Lighting her horn once more she looked at herself gasping at the sight. Her entire body was covered in a red wrapping paper dress. Her head was left untouched except for a Santa hat placed on top. Small green ribbons were tied loosely to the end of each of her hooves, no doubt holding the dress in place. A similar band was around her neck with a little stick on card attached to it. Looking down she read it "To Celestia, From Discord!" Twilight outraged tried to rip off the tag off her. "A present that's what his plan is." The room was filled with the sound of crinkling paper as she pulled at her costume. She panted as her efforts proved futile, neither her teeth nor her magic were able to tear the wrapping paper.
"Where ever I am, there has to be a way out." She thought to herself. After a moment of dead silence she had idea. "That's it a teleport spell, I'll just teleport myself back to the library." Twilight lifted her horn into the air imagining the library as she cast the spell she had down hundreds of times by now. With a quick flash she disappeared. As the flash finished her hopes were instantly crushes as she stared at her equally defeated reflection.
In utter frustration she slammed her hoof against the glass. As she reared up for another blow the ground beneath here began to rise. Twilight looked up unable to see the ceiling as she ascended. As the floor slowed down light started peeking out from the corners of her prison. Just as she thought she would hit the ceiling the platform stopped just enough to let her head touch the top. Looking up at the ceiling Twilight noticed it was made of cardboard. She reached up pushed the lid upwards. To no surprise the lid stayed in place. Using both of her fore hooves she pushed up against one of the corners. The lid gave way just enough for Twilight to peek out. Before her was a large pine tree decorated in ornaments and colourful lights. She looked to her left as the voice of Celestia caught her attention.
Celestia was smiling as she held up a golden pocket watch. "How I love it Luna, even after all these years you still find a way to surprise me.
" She said as she gave Luna a big bear hug.
Twilight's eyes darted about the room as she tried to find out where she was. Her eyes stopped as they come across Discord, who was idle sitting on the couch. As she glared at him, Discord looked in her direction winking as he stood up.
"Celestia I know this is out of turn but could you open my gift next." He said giving a subtle wave in Twilight's direction.
Twilight began to panic both out of the thought of what Celestia would think of her in this outfit and the utter embarrassment of this whole situation. Jumping frantically she pushed all her weight against the lid. Celestia didn't seem to noticing her efforts as she continued walking towards her present.
With one last shove Twilight flung herself upwards, at the same time Celestia had just lifted the lid off the box. Celestia jumped back as Twilight shot out of the container like a jack in the box.
Celestia's eyes widened in utter disbelief "Twilight Sparkle what are you..." Her eyes suddenly narrowed as she turned to glare at Discord "Discord!"
By the time Celestia had turned around Discord was already on the floor laughing "oh, haha, you should have seen the look on your face." Laughing some more he stood back up "Oh wait it is right here." He said as he whipped his paw across his face turning it into Celestia's stunned expression.
Twilight immediately took action as she leaped out of her box and approached Discord with a face redder then a fresh tomato. "Discord get this outfit off me right now."
Ignoring the demand at first he replied "Well happy Hearts Warming to you too Twilight."
Celestia remained her usual calm self as she asked "Discord what is the meaning of this?"
"Well I just thought you would like a nice gift this year, and what better gift is there then friendship." He teased as a smirk came across his face.
Twilight stared back at Discord with shock "What it's Heart Warming Day, but I was only in that thing for about 5 minute tops."
"And here I thought you were the smart one. I merely bent time around your present to speed up time is all." He said patting Twilight on the head.
"Fine you've had your fun now get this costume off me its embarrassing." she said swatting away Discords claw.
"Well as much as I would love to I can't open a gift that wasn't for me." He said pointing at the tag around her neck. "Besides if Celestia doesn't open you, you won't get to see what I got for you."
Celestia walked up beside them glancing over at Discord "Fine Discord I'll play your little game but there better be no more trouble from you, the snowpony army was annoying enough." Glancing back at Twilight she smiled "This should only take a second Twilight."
Twilight didn't have time to react as Celestia magic surrounded her body. Pieces of her dress threw across the room as they were ripped off. Once she had slip the costume in half the rest came off with a quick tug.
Twilight spread her wings relieved to have them free giving a good stretch before retracting them back to her sides. "Was it really necessary to have my wings inside the dress?" she said poking discord in the chest.
Discord smiled as he scooped up the paper quickly disposing it in the garbage can "Well of course it was. I just felt so nostalgic looking at you without your wings." Discord snapped his fingers summoning a full body mirror to him. "So what do you think of your gift."
Twilight jaw dropped as she stared at her reflection. A snow white vest with green outlines was now fitted to her. The soft cotton that lined the inside made the vest very cozy. She smiled as she spotted the fine red thread that spelled out her name just above her left fore leg. All her annoyance melted away like snow as she ran over to Discord giving him a hug. "Thanks Discord it's very pretty, I'm sure Rarity would agree." As if a light switch had gone off her face went serious "But do anything like this to me again and I'll have Fluttershy give you a talking to."
Discord looked at the princesses in the room darting quickly between each one "Understood."
"Oh my gosh, I had so many things to get done yesterday before you wisped me away, what am I going to do now? Oh, Spike must be worried sick." she said pacing around the room
"Not to worry my fine Twilight, I asked Pinkie to take care of things while you were gone, and as for your dragon Spike." Discord snapped his fingers causing a very confused dragon to appear.
"Wow, what, where." He said shaking his head at the sudden change of location. Spotting Twilight he ran over and gave her a hug "Thank goodness you're okay Twilight, Pinkie said you had to do a special job for the princesses at the last minute. Where were you anyway?"
Twilight snuggled Spike as she replied "I'll tell you later, let just say it was Discords idea." As she turned she noticed the time on the grandfather clock across the room. "We've got to get going if we are going to make it to my parent's house before lunch."
Spike eagerly climbed onto Twilight's back as he smiled "Yeah, I hear your parents made me a giant gem pancake yummy."
As Twilight opened a nearby window Luna made one last statement "Farewell Twilight, and happy Heart Warming."
"Merry hearts Warming to you too." She said as she flew out the window and toward Canterlot.
---The End---