Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shivered at the change in Twilight’s voice. They never did enjoy scary stories, especially the ones that
Rainbow had told during the campout at Winsome Falls. After the camping trip, Scootaloo had admitted to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle that she was terrified of the Olden Pony and Headless Horse. But it had been through those stories, and some help from Princess Luna, that she had finally gained a sister in Rainbow Dash. However they were still scared of scary stories.
“Over a thousand years ago,” Twilight began, “Nightmare Moon was banished, causing Celestia to create the E.U.P guard to help maintain peace and harmony in Equestria.”
Rainbow Dash and Rarity walked over and sat next to the Crusaders. Rainbow put an arm around Scootaloo and drew her close, while Rarity did the same to Sweetie Belle. Both fillies nestled into their sister’s coats and continued listening to Twilight’s story.
“One of the main duties of the E.U.P,” Twilight continued, “was to maintain the gate to Tartarus, which held the greatest enemies to harmony ever. One such enemy was a satyr who was sealed hundreds of years earlier by Starswirl the Bearded. The satyr was banished to Tartarus for abducting hundreds and hundreds of young colts and fillies. His name was Krampus”
As Twilight told the story her horn began to glow and a viewing screen appeared on the coffee table in the center of the room. The screen depicted the banishing of Nightmare Moon and the assumption of control over both the Sun and the Moon by Celestia. Sweetie Belle recognized the scene from the book Twilight had shown the Crusaders during their studies with her. The next image showed the gates of Tartarus, which appeared to be made of black stone topped with glowing black orbs. From these orbs, tendrils of magic came out and connected, forming a portal through which the land of Tartarus was visible. Standing by the pillars was Cerberus, the guard dog of the prison world.
“Krampus, you see, was a result of the magic that gave Santa Hooves immortality. Since he was connected to Santa Hooves, Krampus shared the characteristics we attribute to the jolly old pony, including the ability to see all the foals in the entire world, and to know if they were misbehaving or not. However, Krampus and Santa Hooves differed in how they dealt with good and bad foals. Santa Hooves would simply not visit the naughty ponies and only bring presents to the good ones. But Krampus…”
A picture of Starswirl the Bearded and Santa Hooves appeared on the table, then changing to the image of a satyr. The image displayed what appeared to be a six foot tall satyr not counting the horns. The horns looked to be about eighteen inches in length and they protruded from the side of his head just above the ears. The body of Krampus was covered in black, coarse hair. He had six inch long fangs and a red tongue.
“Krampus would steal the foals who had not been visited by Santa Hooves and take them to his castle far in the north of Equestria, near the border with Yakyakistan. There he would make them do all kinds of chores and punish any who tried to escape”
The image changed again to show a stone castle with high walls surrounded by snowy mountains and next to a large frozen lake. As the ponies gathered continued to watch the image, they saw a large sleigh come flying across the lake. It was pulled by eight deer-like creatures that all wore wooden masks with gruesome expressions on them. In the front of the sleigh sat Krampus, a large whip in his hand with which he would urge the deer onward toward his castle. As the sleigh entered a cave at the base of the castle the image changed to a long line of colts and fillies, chains around their necks and legs, all marching through a large dark corridor.
“Krampus kept all the fillies and colts until their cutie marks appeared. Then he would enjoy a feast made up of the young ponies. Those who he took that already had their marks, he would just eat. Starswirl knew he had to stop this monster before every filly and colt could be taken and eventually eaten. So he traveled to Krampus’s castle and tried to capture the monster. Starswirl was able to overcome the satyr and banished Krampus to Tartarus for his crimes”
The image now showed Starswirl approaching Krampus’s castle. The next image showed Krampus fighting with Starswirl and finally Starswirl chaining Krampus and hurling the satyr through the portal of Tartarus.
“Krampus is still there, dreaming of the day where he’ll finally escape and continue punishing all the bad fillies and colts,” Twilight concluded, “so remember, be good or else Krampus may come for you!”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle each felt a touch on her shoulder and turned to see who it was. Standing right behind the couch on which they sat were two tall robed and hooded figures. The fillies could see protrusions from the top of the hoods like horns. The hands were clawed like Spike’s but the nails were much too long for a baby dragon. Scooaloo and Sweetie Belle both screamed at the tops of their lungs.
“AAAAHHHHH,” they yelled, “Krampus! We’ll be good, Krampus! Please don’t eat us!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both let go of their sisters and clung instead to each other.
Suddenly the lights came back on and revealed that the two figures were in fact ponies standing on their back legs. The two removed their hoods and the fillies saw that what they had taken to be horns turned out to actually be used rolls of paper towels. Then the fillies recognized the two that had scared them almost too death. It was their fathers. Everypony busted up laughing at the fillies reaction, everypony that was, except the fillies in question.
“You almost gave me a heart attack, Dad” Scootaloo said glaring at her father, Ice Maker.
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle fumed, “you know how much we dislike scary stories. What was the point of all this?”
“Well Sweetie,” chuckled Magnum, “it’s a tradition to tell this story to young ponies on the first Hearths Warming after they earn their cutie marks”
“Yeah, squirt,” Rainbow said pulling Scootaloo into a hug and giving her a noogie, “We all heard this story from our parents and we decided that it would be fun to tell it to you two together”
“Gyahh,” Scootaloo groaned trying to escape the older pegasus’s attack, “Does everypony tell this story?”
“Almost,” Twilight chimed in, “the basic story is the same but there are some discrepancies depending on who tells it. In some stories, Krampus leaves behind a lump of coal at the houses he visits and in others he just gives the parents a list of all the foals’ wrongdoings and he lets the parents punish the foal”
“It’s designed as a warning to colts and fillies to make sure they behave throughout the year,” Rarity explained, “years ago, ponies used to dress up as Krampus and run through towns scaring little foals, but Celestia put a stop to that practice when it started causing youngsters to start having horrible nightmares”
“So it’s not real?” asked Scootaloo.
“Nope,” Rainbow said, “and besides, just like I told you that night in Whitetail Woods, if there really was a Krampus, I could totally take it on”
Rainbow huffed on her hoof and rubbed it on her chest as if she was polishing something. The others rolled their eyes and smiled at their friend’s show of bravado.
“Now that the story is out of the way,” Magnum said, “let’s eat”
Everypony agreed with this and they all walked into the kitchen. Inside the kitchen MayBelle and Skater Rink, Sweetie Belle's and Scootaloo's respective mothers, had been hard at work making food for all the guests while Twilight had been telling the story. They had a large selection of food to choose from, including Equestrian pancakes, hay burgers, and hearths cake.
After they had eaten, they sang some Hearth Warming songs around the fire. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle blushed when Rarity and Rainbow raised their mugs of Sweet Apple Acres cider and said, “To Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. We are all immensely proud of you both for discovering your talents. We hope you remember to always look at the good in others and remember that we're proud of you both”
After they had all toasted the two young fillies, the party ended. Scootaloo’s parents kissed her goodnight and left the party having been talked into letting their daughter spend the night at Sweetie’s house. They were soon followed by Twilight, Rainbow and all the rest.
“My goodness, look at the time. Alright you two,” said MayBelle, “it’s time for good little fillies to be in bed”
MayBelle and Magnum kissed their youngest daughter and sent them upstairs to bed. After Sweetie’s bedroom door closed, Magnum and MayBelle began cleaning up the kitchen. Thankfully, they had had the foresight to use paper plates and cups so they just had to throw trash away. Magnum lifted the full trash bag out of the can and carried it outside. As he placed the bag in the trash can, Magnum didn’t notice the massive sleigh that flew across the night sky on its way towards the heart of Ponyville.