//------------------------------// // 2013 Hearth's Warming Short // Story: Forgiveness Pending // by Kiroberos //------------------------------// “Are you sure you’re okay with all those?” Twilight asked yet again, walking slowly alongside me through the light snow. I shivered and nodded, tucking my scarf a little closer as she brushed up against me for warmth, smiling now. “Of course, Twi. At least they’re good for something, right?” I teased, peeking back at my own back as we walked. They were smaller, but a good two dozen tentacles extended off my back, holding various wrapped gifts and presents. Fluttershy shifted up and around them, making sure each of the presents were secure and stable, looking a little concerned as well. Mares… Sheesh. Twilight smirked, and I saw it coming of course. “Oh, they’re good for lots, lots more than that,” she admitted, pushing particularly close to me and kissing my cheek. I blushed lightly and shook my head. Mares. Mmm. Yeah, wouldn’t give up either of them for the world. “Um, everything looks stable up here. We’re just bringing them to the library, right?” Fluttershy asked softly, drifting down on my other side and glancing at us. She got a confused look when she noticed my blush, but Twilight just nodded and smiled. “Yup. Everypony should be there already. But I suppose tactfully late in order to pick up more gifts is acceptable,” the lavender mare muttered, frowning to herself for a moment. Recovering from my flush, I smiled and returned a wave from Noteworthy as we walked past before shaking my head to Twilight. “We didn’t know your parents were coming, so don’t be hard on yourself,” I reminded, focusing my vision in front of me instead as we neared the other edge of the square. I always had to be careful around the edges, as that’s where the most activity took place, and my probability of tripping over something skyrocketed. The whole square was decorated festively at this point, with Hearth’s Warming being tomorrow. A celebration was being held at the library by Pinkie of course, for all our Ponyville friends, and then we were heading to Canterlot to celebrate with Twilight’s and Rarity’s parents, Tia, and Lulu. Or, well, that had been the plan as of two hours ago. Not so much now. “Yes, but did all of them have to come?! I know they didn’t want us to travel but… come on!” Twilight finally yelped, slowly shifting into her ‘freak out’ mode, I noticed, before continuing with, “I mean, what do you even get an Alicorn Princess?! How am I supposed to shop for them?!” Sighing, I kissed her behind the ear suddenly, snapping her out of the deranged look and earning a blush as she looked quickly back to me. Heh. That spot always got her. “Calm down, Twilight. You’ll be fine. I think the best gift is simply being treated like normal and part of the family by us. Hence, we got them a normal gift?” I reminded, lowering the two presents we’d gotten for the sisters, one a light orange and the other a dark blue. For amusement, the dark blue one was for Tia, while Lulu got the orange. Yes, just to confuse them. “Whaaaa, am I late?!” I heard somepony shout, coming in fast from behind us as we reached the door. Twilight’s link registered the voice as Derpy before even I did, and I extended three more tentacles as I turned, barely catching the dive bombing mare, both of us crashing into the door behind me now. The presents all wobbled about, but I managed to keep them all balanced while cushioning Derpy’s fall. “Ow. Ah, thanks, Mender!” she chirped a moment later as I helped her up. Twilight perked, not missing a beat before nodding and adding, “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Derpy. I’m glad you could make it to the party.” Fluttershy nodded and smiled as well as she helped stabilize me again. Eh, at least the presents hadn’t fallen. Oh, wait. Carrot had warned me about that. I counted it. A second and a half was all it took that time. The door slammed open behind me, whacking me in the butt and knocking Twilight off the step in surprise. “Mender!” was shouted by five unique female voices at once. Oh hell. Sweetie Belle and Purdue led the charge with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Babs shortly behind them. I tried bracing for impact, but all five little fillies hit at once, knocking me completely off the step and sending us all flailing into the snowbank, presents flying every which way! Then, everything was tentacles as I caught every single gift and wrapped one around each filly in question, snickering as I pulled them closer. “These things ah so cool! I wish I’d met yoo yeaah’s ago!” Babs muttered, wiggling upside down as she batted at one of the tips. Sweetie just squeaked happily, hugging hers to her, and Purdue giggled, climbing up hers partially and hugging my shoulder. “I knew you’d catch them all, so no harm done, right?” the little blue filly asked, smirking at me. Brat! She could have told them that this was a bad idea… but no. Twilight shook her head and lifted all of us up with a lavender and crimson aura, floating us and bits of the snowbank inside. It was like a totally different place on the inside. Warmer air, happy lights, festive music, and a few dozen ponies greeted me. Yup, it was definitely one of Pinkie Pie’s parties. The mare herself shot past a second later, a happy grin on her face while doing a cartwheel, somehow managing to keep the Hearth’s Warming hat on her head at the same time. I’d long since stopped trying to figure out the pink mare, however. “Everypony made it! Ooooh, and you brought snow in with you! Awesome idea! We can have a snowball fight on the inside, now!” she announced, then quickly was lifted off her hooves by Twilight, who was just entering. “No, Pinkie. So much no. Throwing balls of condensed, frozen water around in a room full of carefully preserved books is a bad idea. So no. Go outside if you want to throw snowballs,” the lavender mare rapidly shot down, heading off the idea before it even started. “Aww!” Pinkie whined as Twilight set her down. I shifted my attention to Fluttershy as she gathered the presents, my tentacles supporting them still, into a neat pile with the others. Every time she’d get one adjusted, I’d slip the tentacle away from it when she gave a mental nod down the link, until I only had five tentacles left out, one for each filly. Derpy trotted past me in the meantime, not seeming to mind that she was covered in powdered snow, as Twilight started after her instead, several towels floating into the air from near the door entry. Well, never a dull moment, I guessed. I set all five fillies down as Fluttershy trotted back over to me, smiling. Well, three of them down, anyway, as Sweetie and Purdue refused to let go, as anticipated. “No damage. Thank you, Mender,” Fluttershy whispered, smiling and nuzzling closer to me, kissing my forehead and managing to squish the two fillies between us. Not that I was one to complain, and they certainly didn’t either. I just hugged her back, nuzzling the side of her neck and taking in the warm ambience of the room. It had been a while since I’d gotten to celebrate something, and I was determined to enjoy every moment of it while I could. “Welcome ta tha party, Fluttershy. Mender. Glad ya made it, as it would be pretty sad ta miss one at yer own house,” I heard Applejack chime in from my right a few seconds later. Looking in that direction, I saw both her and Rainbow approaching from the center of the congregation of ponies in the room. I smiled and nodded to each of them, noticing they both wore a rather festive hat, like most of the ponies in the room. Wait… Peeking up, I saw I had one too, and idly wondered when Pinkie had put it on me. No, in that line of thinking lies madness, so I just accepted it and looked back down again. “I’m glad you two made it as well. Having fun so far?” I inquired, already knowing the answer from Dash’s light flush. The cyan mare grinned however and licked her lips. “Heck yeah! For one, it’s a Pinkie Pie party! But then, AJ busted out her cider reserves and mixed it into the eggnog! Woo!” she cheered, earning a round of celebratory shouts behind her. I blinked, momentarily surprised by the outburst, and swore I heard Fluttershy mutter “Oh dear…” under her breathe. Recovering quickly, I snickered and shook my head. “Let me guess, some of it’s the hard stuff?” I inquired, attention shifting to the farm mare instead. Applejack smirked and winked of course. “O’ course! Labeled clearly on tha table, so tha youngsters don’t get inta it. It’s tha one towards tha back if ya want ah sample,” she relayed mirthfully. I rolled my eyes, knowing that she knew I couldn’t get drunk anyways. “Even without the hard stuff, it’s so good!” Rainbow squealed, shivering and squeezing her own chest as she swayed there. Her eyes flicked open again a second later and she grinned, sliding her gaze up and down me as well. “Mmm, although, I dunno. You look kinda good, too,” she admitted, angling a bit closer. And here we go. I knew it was only a matter of time before she started teasing me again. “Oh no ya don’t. Yer off target, Dashie,” Applejack muttered, snagging the cyan mare around the shoulders as she slid forwards, and spinning her around, capturing her muzzle with her own instead. Oh! Well, guess I didn’t have to worry about it right now, then. If she was upset, Rainbow certainly didn’t show it, melting against the orange mare as she got pulled tighter. Snickering, I grabbed the blushing Fluttershy, and all five gawking fillies, hauling everypony further into the room and around the edge of the groupings of ponies. Those two could have their own alone time. The happy talking, soft music, and warm lights really helped me relax as Fluttershy shifted into walking under her own power. My parade of fillies followed behind as well, with Scootaloo talking excitedly about how awesome it was that Apple Bloom and her were ‘kinda like sisters’ now. It was adorable, and I didn’t have the heart to point out that their sisters, adopted or not, technically weren’t married yet. Although given how stubborn both were, I doubted it was anything short of an inevitability, as they weren’t going to give up on each other anytime soon, if ever. Finally, we got around to the other end of the room where I’d spotted my friends talking, moving around two more groups of ponies, and three very drunk flower mares trying to dance together. Good grief. Hadn’t the party only started twenty minutes ago?! Vinyl sat in the sofa next to Octavia, looking less than pleased while her friend sipped at some of the aforementioned eggnog. I gave her a questioning glance as we slipped past, and I hopped up onto the bigger couch next to them, angled to face the two sofas with a small tea table in-between. “Tavi pulled me away from the record player…” Vinyl finally muttered amidst her sulking. Octavia sighed and shook her head, elaborating with, “It’s a sixty year old masterpiece. This party doesn’t need that sort of music to liven it up and I’ll not have you destroying such a beautiful relic with your exuberance.” Oh, Twilight’s record player. “Oh, I could not agree more! It is truly a beautiful instrument. Why, I was the one that gave it to Twilight when she moved here, and it’s been in our family for decades,” Night Light spoke up, of course sitting on the side of the couch closest to Octavia’s spot. Velvet rolled her eyes next to him, but smirked over at us as we sat down, fillies piling around Fluttershy and I as we settled. As those two broke into a conversation about music players and Vinyl looked about ready to cry, Velvet turned to me instead and gave me a polite smile. “Why, good evening, Mender. It’s so good to see you again,” she greeted politely, followed by a very pleased looking nod towards Fluttershy as well. “Heh. You only saw me about an hour ago, Mom. Still, I’m glad to be back in where it’s warm,” I muttered, puffing my fur up a little as I sank against the warm couch. Velvet perked and shivered happily at my use of ‘Mom’ for her, like she did every time. Fluttershy grinned and snuggled into my left side, taking Purdue into her lap as well, as Sweetie clambered into mine instead. Babs and Apple Bloom stayed on the floor, now arguing over the semantics of calling somepony a ‘sister’ when it should be ‘sister-in-law’. Huh. Scootaloo hopped up onto the back of the couch instead over my head and relaxed, tucking up her legs and resting against the top of my head. Velvet shifted her attention to Fluttershy as well shortly afterwards. “I’m glad you’re both doing okay. Are you sure the cold isn’t too much for you, Dear? Do you need anything? You should try to take it easy in your condition, you know,” she spoke up. And here we go. Again… Fluttershy blushed and held her hoof up, rapidly shaking her head. “Oh, n-no, I’m fine. Um, it’s only been three months…” she whispered, looking away quickly. I smiled and nuzzled into her cheek as she hid behind me a little bit. The mare on the other side of me looked less than convinced however and shook her head. “I know, I know! It’s just exciting! And you have to take good care of yourself. You have to make sure she behaves as well, Mender! You are at least partially responsible, no?” she reminded. I guessed it was my turn to blush, as I coughed lightly and looked away from her. If Fluttershy was bothered by it, she didn’t show that time and instead hugged into my back instead, pushing Purdue into my hip as well. The little filly gave a squeak, and I smiled, rubbing her coppery mane with my left foreleg, while pulling Sweetie against my torso with my other. Sweetie smiled up at me, upside-down to me, but still happy. “I think it’s wonderful! Maybe, when I join the herd too, I’ll eventually get to have a little foal of my own with Mender!” she exclaimed. Okay, that time I coughed in surprise. “Ah, you’re way, way too young, Sweetie! Gah. Besides, we talked about this, remember?” I reminded, shooting her a skeptical glance instead. She pouted and sighed, crossing her forelegs before nodding ever so slightly. “I know, I know. You know I’m looking out for my future as well. Rarity told you all about that, I heard her. Even though it might mean I… I might have to be away from Ponyville for long periods of time, I still haven’t given up on being with you three either. At least let me have that,” she requested softly. Yes, that was spoken like a more mature mare. I smiled and nodded, feeling her relax and tuck her head under my chin. Of course, the way she acted sometimes with me left very little to be transitioned to if she did join the herd. Still, with her upcoming profession’s opportunities, we might want to hold off on that. “My little sister isn’t causing you any troubles now, is she? No poisons yet, right?” I heard eloquently asked from a familiar voice, behind me. Glancing back over the sofa and past the now preening Scootaloo, I saw Rarity calmly walking down the stairs in her Hearth’s Warming gown, looking very pretty indeed. A much wooed Spike followed after her, carefully lifting up the other end of her dress and keeping it off the stairs as she walked, making sure it stayed nice and clean. Sweetie gave out an annoyed groan, but I chuckled and shook my head. “Nope. She’s being a well behaved, extremely mature mare,” I corrected, catching her perk up and smile at me in my peripheral vision as I rotated around to note Rarity sitting down on the other side of Fluttershy. Spike carefully lifted her dress up onto the cushion behind her, smiling towards the pearly mare. “Why, Sweetie? Are we still talking about my sister?” she teased, looking amused at the filly, who shot her a glare back. It didn’t last however, and Rarity soon melted into a more pleased smile and nodded to her, causing her to relax again. “Spike, you don’t have to stay down there, of course. Hop up here,” the white unicorn suddenly spoke up, patting the cushion next to her. Spike perked and hopped up onto the cushion as well, needing no further convincing. There wasn’t really enough room between Rarity and Fluttershy for him, but the requesting mare pulled him a bit closer instead, squeezing him into her side as she relaxed. The little dragon looked like he’d died and gone to a particularly pleasant afterlife at that point, and I snickered. “Hello as well, Spike. I’d ask if you were enjoying the party, but…” I greeted, earning a snicker from both Sweetie and Velvet. “Oh, am I! O-Oh! Mender, uh, hey! We’re uh, cool about that little, um…” Spike suddenly spoke up, shifting to nervous instead. Snickering, I nodded to him before assuring, “Prudentia is an extremely powerful artifact. Sneezing on her, even if your sneezes involve fire, isn’t going to harm her.” Purdue shot me a mildly annoyed glare a second later, followed by, “It was disgusting, still! Burning and highly magical snot is still snot!” Spike deflated, and I gave a light glare to the little filly, who sighed and shrank back a bit. “I… yeah. Okay, it was fine. Besides, the book cleans itself automatically so, eh…” she muttered, turning back to Spike. “I’m sorry, Purdue. I said that…” he apologized, ear fins wiggling as the little filly shook her head. “No, it’s okay, Spike. I know you didn’t mean to,” she accepted finally, giving the dragon a hug. Rarity smiled as well and nodded, patting them both on the head. Woo. Another social disaster averted! I was never going to get used to this… * * * * * The party was dwindling down now, ponies leaving here and there to be with family in private. Some to be with ‘family’ in ‘private’. And even a few more being dragged out, very much unconscious at that point. Regardless, it was just me now, alongside my extended ‘family’ of amazing friends. The wonderful mares that were Element Bearers, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, and Big Mac. Cheerilee had gotten horribly sick about an hour in and he was kind enough to escort her back to her house anyways. It was a little weird that it had taken an hour and a half for him to get back, but meh. I wasn’t going to ask. Now we all rested around the fire, myself tucked down right next to it, with Fluttershy curled up against my chest as I held her. Pinkie rested to my other side in a surprisingly unenergetic manner, looking tired as she watched the flames flicker back and forth. Twilight and Rarity sat talking on the sofa, softly discussing the practical application of a new magic spell Twilight had made involving changing the colors of fabrics on the fly. Spike snored lightly next to Rarity. Rainbow, on the other hoof, snored loudly on the sofa on the other side of me, an amusing looking Applejack holding her close. I heard mention of a bet involving eggnog consumption, and could only assume from there. Sweetie sang softly next to the fire, a gentle sound that had her three other Crusaders enraptured as they swayed along to her voice. It was a happy song, light-hearted and very much feeling like Hearth’s Warming, despite there being no words. Lastly, Big Mac lay across from them, also close to the fire to warm up after he got back. He smiled however as he watched the four, looking relaxed. It reminded me of so long ago, when we all had relaxed by the fire after getting drenched in the rain. Spending time with those we loved was what Hearth’s Warming was really about. I pulled Fluttershy close, kissing the top of her head warmly and feeling her coo, snuggling a bit tighter against my chest. Yeah, that’s what was the most special to me now. Silently, I hoped that everypony, no matter where they were, was having an amazing Hearth’s Warming as well, also celebrating it with their loved ones. Even if they called it something else… Even if they found themselves alone… Deep down, I extended my heart out in silent hoping that they knew, at the very least, one soul was thinking about them all. Fluttershy silently agreed, feeling my intent and sending her love alongside it through my heart, and I smiled softly. It was nice to have a relaxing evening, regardless. Maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay and this would be a nice holiday… Wait, Carrot had said something about that whole ‘tempting fate’ thing… Eh, what could possibly go wrong in the mere hour we had left to the day? * * * * * “How did this happen again?!” I screamed out over the roar of battle, another massive giant of ice and snow crashing to the ground at my hooves, my tentacles tearing half its torso off. Twilight’s magic screamed through the night, a massive beam cutting three of them in half as sixteen full levels of my enchantment came off her horn, her eyes radiating white as she landed again next to me. “The mayor, being greedy, and stealing an ancient artifact from a long forgotten tribe of snow monsters!” Twilight yelled out, pushing us both aside as the one I’d sliced open grew back together and lashed out at us. “They look like giant snowmen to me!” Pinkie cheered, hopping sixteen feet in the air past us and whipping into a tight spin with her legs, the disk blades of light flaring out from each hoof as she went and slicing the offending arm from the creature that it used to attack. It looked momentarily surprised before she landed on its still reforming shoulder, smiled happily at it, and then flicked away again, slicing its head into three pieces as she left. I chuckled at her energy and nodded, bursting forwards again. Timing it right, I hopped over two more leading blasts from Twilight, which clipped the next monster off at the knees, then drove into its chest as I felt four hooves land lightly on my back. Clicking, I signaled to her, and Sweetie leapt off me, slicing the now downed snowman’s head off with her horn’s blazing light extension, rolling to a stop on the other side of it. As expected, its closest ally raged and charged towards us. I raised my hoof and gestured twice before bringing it down towards the creature as it ran. Perfect. Forward momentum. A filly shot past me on both sides, far faster than they should normally be able to run, and I instantly realized that he threw them. Babs and Apple Bloom, both radiating their own inner light from the runes covering them, smashed into a knee each with all four hooves first, snapping the creature’s legs off as it screamed, falling forwards. I ducked as Big Mac leapt over me, sporting his own burning green runes as he bound forwards, meeting the thing as it fell. It never stopped shocking me how absolutely terrifying he was, as he grunted out, smashing through the creature’s back as its entire chest shattered away from the force of the large stallion’s impact. Three titans temporarily down. That left the smaller ones to the town guard, and two more titans to deal with before we could retrieve the star from the top of the Hearth’s Warming tree and catapult it back into the mountains. Let them find it themselves in there somewhere! I’d thought the new ornament looked kinda weird, with its rotating tips and lines of eldritch light drifting out of it and glowing everywhere. Eh. I gave a light click, then a whistle as I booked it towards the next titan, tentacles extending and flinging me into the air. Scootaloo shot past at my signal an instant later, grabbing my extended tentacle loop above me and flinging me hard towards the creature. Rainbow shot past even faster at the whistle, her massive wings flaring with light easily four times her own body size as she zipped in, releasing Applejack from her grip as she went. I hit first, just as the creature turned, realizing its allies weren’t on the offensive on that side of town anymore. Three tentacles tore into its chest, two more ripped its arms off, and I saved the big one to send its head flying, my pure mass easily overwhelming it as I expanded myself slightly. Applejack hit the other one half a second later, letting out a scream of rage as she brought her massive, armored hooves down into the thing, caving its head in and crushing its torso down the middle before kicking off it, the force of her launching herself sending it into the ground in a crumpled heap. “Downed! Dust all five of them!” I shouted out, spinning as I hit the ground and barely managing to throw myself off the thing as the ribbons came in. On it, Dear!” I heard Rarity call out, the green and light blue glows dancing along the ribbons as they flicked around the battlefield like demented puppets, glittering in the dark. While quite pretty, I knew their true form. A few thousand razorblades attached to dozens of wires, the energy and cutting power of Spike’s claw lines mixed with the precision of Rarity’s magic. They found cracks and weak spots, and then sliced. Rarity trotted up while her focus reduced the five titans to nothing more than volleyball sized chunks, Spike still riding on her back with glowing green claws. “Fluttershy!” I tossed out next, noticing all the pieces start to glow purple instead. Every single chunk across the entire battlefield lit up as Twilight lifted them all. Several hundred tons of ice and snow, split into thousands of pieces, and she was still managing to raise them all up. It was moments like these that I realized how scary the mare was. Fluttershy shot up in the back, her wings expanding in yellow glow, soft and warm like the sun. Her lines weren’t harsh or sharp looking like Rainbow’s, but extended like a butterfly as she expanded her wings. She also wasn’t fast at all, but had something else entirely different. Then she flapped. One massive rush as the wings expanded together, with the surface area of a creature a thousand times her size. The wind blast had us all hunkering down just to stay rooted to the ground as snow and ice blasted away. The entire cluster of chunks were sent flying off into the mountains faster than the eye could see, however. Shaking the loose snow off, I stood up again and sighed, watching the titans trying to reform before they disappeared into the mountain range, undoubtedly smashing into more pieces. Heh, it would be a while before they were back. And by then… “Happy Hearth’s Warming!” Rainbow shouted after them before bursting into amused laughter above us. I smirked up at her, and she grinned back. Happy Hearth’s Warming indeed. “And to all, a good night!” Pinkie chipped in before slicing the ancient star off the top of the tree in the middle of the square with her left forehoof. Applejack smirked and hauled up her cannon, looking amused. Hopefully it would be a good night now. But I was done tempting fate, I decided, as Rainbow shot in and threw the star, and the top of the tree, into the massive, floating cannon as its firing anchors shot out into the ground. “Good night indeed, ya varmints!” Applejack agreed, charging the cannon up with her energy before firing the star directly at the mountainside, the explosion of light brightening the entire town up, like a secondary sun expanding on the horizon. Err… Twilight just sighed and rubbed at her temples with her hooves. “Oops…” Applejack muttered weakly, swallowing as we watched the heated cloud of flames expand up into the sky. What had I told her about firing strange ammunition out of that thing?! You’d think she’d have learned her lesson after the last time. “Uh… let’s just tell them that it was a fireworks accident gone wrong and call it a night…” I groaned, sighing and slumping as I watched. Yeah, I wasn’t even going to mention fate from now on… Wait… Damn it! * * * * * It was well into the night now, with all townsfolk accounted for and only minimal property damage. Well then, I guess it was all in a good day’s work. Well, night’s work. Eh. The seven meter tall ice and snow monstrosities stopped coming once we got rid of the five big ones, and shot their stupid star back. The mayor didn’t exactly like my report that I’d used her expensive and shiny star she’d bartered for as ammunition, but after I mentioned that it was what drew all the creatures, she dropped the matter entirely. And this is why you don’t try to barter with strange looking ponies wearing all black with large robes on. There’s usually a reason they want to stay anonymous. All of us slowly headed back to the library, our friends having left their stuff in there anyways when the first ice meteor came in and smashed the fountain. I couldn’t speak for them, but I was a bit sore, and had a few bruises here and there, alongside a nick across my forehead. Given how they looked and walked, I’d say the others were pretty much feeling the same. Well, except for Fluttershy, as I intentionally didn’t let her fight. Not that was too hard. The light was on when we got back, oddly. Eh? We’d just left it off as the fireplace was going. Twilight frowned as well, then walked in first, ears perked up. I readied my armor and weapons, just in case more of the smaller ones had somehow gotten inside. None of us were expecting what we did find, however. “Bu… I… what?! Where did you two go?! You said you were going to get more ‘cider’ for the party from the royal reserves, then never came back!” Twilight yelped as we came to a stop. Lulu sat on the sofa, politely sipping tea, and Tia was across from her, eating cake on the couch I had inhabited earlier. Oh yeah, they had been there before we left for the presents, and gone when we’d gotten back… with their presents… “Oh, we did. It’s right here, of course,” Tia explained, sliding two massive barrels over towards us with her magic. Two? I noticed they were different types. Luna sighed and shook her head, setting her tea down. “My sister here seemed to think our aged Apple Family Reserves was the finest cider we had. I might have disagreed, instead requesting some imported Draconic Firetree cider. My sister refused, and we wasted much time in debate about it,” she explained. I stared blankly at them. What? “No guards were injured during our disagreement,” Tia quickly assured. Wait, was that even needed to be said?! “Regardless, in the end, we brought both. So now, Mender gets to decide. I’m not entirely sure anypony else could drink the Draconic cider without blood filters,” Luna finished, gesturing towards me. I could have sworn I saw Twilight twitch. Rainbow flopped down tiredly on the other side of me, giving out a weak groan, while Applejack just slapped her forehead. “Uh, so ya were arguin’ about cider tha whole time we were battlin’ with tha giant ice thingies that attacked?” she asked in disbelief. True. You’d think they’d have known about that, seeing as a hundred and twenty their royal guard helped push back the invaders. Even though they reported to me, I’d imagine they still gave information to the two Princesses. “Oh, of course not. We came back towards the start of the fight, then rushed when we heard combat. Of course, everypony was doing admirably, and it didn’t look like you needed aid,” Tia assured. I stared in blank shock at her, feeling a spasm go through my left eye. Seriously? Lulu nodded pleasantly and picked up her tea again, adding, “Quite. It was wonderful exercise, too.” They were screwing with me, weren’t they? “Worry not, we at least kept the southern flank busy while you settled the disagreement,” Tia added, taking another slice of the Hearth’s Warming cake for herself. She paused for a second, then smiled warmly back towards us. “This is wonderful cake, by the way,” she complimented after another moment. Please, just let me pass out now… “Oh, thank you!” Pinkie chirped, sounding as if she had just woken up. Whatever demonic or eldritch energy fueled that pony, I wanted it… Twilight ceased responding, letting out a series of low groans as I watched her expression contort into mental ticks. Hmm. Actually, she sometimes sounded like that when… uh… no, stay focused, brain! I shook my head and sighed before asking, “Southern front? There wasn’t… But none of the monsters came from the Southern front…” “Does that mean we did a good job?” Lulu asked, smiling politely up at me while Tia started snickering uncontrollably, blushing. Was… Was she drunk? Okay, I just had to confirm this for myself. I didn’t care at this point. Turning, I looked up and mentally whistled lightly. “Hey, Keela, are you awake yet?” I reverberated through my mind. “Huh? Oh, yeah, of course. I was having breakfa-“ she started to relay, before squeaking suddenly and frantically continuing with, “Oh, oh no! I was supposed to come to your party and I totally forgot to set my alarm and-“ “No, that’s okay, Keela. Could you bring a satellite scan of Southern Ponyville, and then warp in here?” I requested gently, interrupting her. Rarity finally spoke up in my absence of talking, Spike sliding off her back as she cantered around the group. “Not to sound unthankful, but isn’t the party well, over now? This lovely cider is all going to have to be brought back and-“ she started to point out. “Never! We’re partying again tomorrow!” Pinkie adamantly declared, with no room whatsoever for disagreement. Oh, okay! A flickering distortion appeared, and Keela faded into the room a few seconds later, cup of coffee still in hand and yawning as she slid the pictures over to me. “Whoa, wild party, huh?” she asked, blinking as she looked past us and out the door, watching two guards trying to put a fire out on a wagon. I couldn’t bring myself to answer, my jaw dropped as I stared blankly at the pictures. Three kilometers to the south of Ponyville, in the fields before the forest, lay a scene of utter destruction. Ice titan chunks lay everywhere, amidst massive gouges sliced into the rock and earth alike. The destruction spanned almost a kilometer, all the way to the edge of the forest. It even looked like a couple of the titans had tried to drag themselves and their broken bodies away, only to be violently obliterated by high impacts to the head and back by something that blackened the very ice they were made out of. Some of the remains even looked like they’d been… played with or something. One was put back together again upside down and dressed up like a snowpony! Why?! I looked up in horror at the two princesses, but Tia just smiled back over at me. “Mmm, this is really good cake!”