//------------------------------// // Hearth's Warming // Story: What Is This Strange Feeling? // by PonySage86 //------------------------------// The Lord of Chaos and the Princess of Night step out of the mouth of the tunnel and into the light of the afternoon sun, but before Luna can enjoy the sunshine she feels a frigid breeze blow through the forest, causing her to shiver in surprise. Luna glances around at the snow covered trees, Luna can see the Zecora give them a nod of acknowledgement from inside her tree home, but the zebra shaman makes no moves to join tgem in the cold outdoors. A loud cracking sound draws both immortals attention behind them, the cavern entrance collapses back into the ground. The earth seems to warp and soon any evidence that the tunnel had ever been there was gone. Luna turns to look at her companion. "Well that was fun." Luna says with a smile. The Lord of Chaos smiles back. "Was it?" Discord asks with a raised brow, Luna nods which causes Discord to take a bow. "I'm glad. I was worried you'd find all the walking boring." "I'm usually stuck in the castle all day." Luna takes a deep breathe of the cold winter air. "It's nice to get out and do something for a change." "Ugh I can't imagine being in the same place for a whole day." Discord groans and rolls his eyes as he talks. Luna looks at her Draconequus friend with a sly grin. "Not even if it was Fluttershy's home?" Luna asks in a teasing tone, Discord turns his head three hundred and fifty nine degrees so he can stare at Luna. "What do you mean by that Lulu?" Discord asks nervously, Luna only laughs as she walks past the flustered Lord of Chaos. "You know I can't go talking about ponies dreams Discord. " Luna says with a teasing wink, which causes Discord to blush, which for him means growing tomatoes on his cheeks. Luna gives a triumpant laugh before spreading her wings. "Now enough play time, we gotta hurry." "Where are we going?" Discord asks with a raised eyebrow. The question stops Luna from taking off, she looks back at her friend with a look of confusion that matches his. "Um... to Canterlot." Luna says while pointing a hoof in the direction of the city. Discords eyebrow detaches from his head so it can raise even higher. "Why?" Discord asks, his eyebrow vanishes from view as it raises ever higher. "Well we have to tell Celestia about the Element of Sin." As Luna says this Discords eyebrow rockets back down and reconnects with his face, as soon as the eyebrow reattaches to Discord his eyes go wide. "Whoa! Hold on there." Discord exclaims as he suddenly appears by Luna. "We can't tell Tia about this." "What?" Luna blinks in confusion. "Why not?" "Because Lulu what is her solution to every problem that shows up in Equestria?" Discord asks with an annoyed look on his face, Luna can tell he's not annoyed at her but more at the Alicorn their talking about. Before Luna can so much as begin to think of an answer to Discord's question he continues talking. "No need to guess cause I'll just tell you. It's Twilight and her friends." "Huh?" Luna raises an eyebrow in confusion, she puts a hoof to her chin. "Twilight and her friends?" "Yeah really think about it, stopping you, Twilight and her friends, stopping me... Twilight and her friends, and guess who she got to stop Sombra." Discord creates some holograms of the several situations he describes. "Twilight... and her friends."Luna says her eyes widening in realization, but it is short lived as she snaps her attention to Discord. "Hey wait a minute I volunteered to go fight Sombra!" "And Princess Sunbutt still only sent Twilight and her friends, sure Cadence and Shining Armor were there too, but why didn't she let you go with them or go herself?" The two immortals share a moment of silence which is quickly interrupted by Discord. "That's a serious question, I honestly have no idea why you and Celestia didn't go to help stop Sombra." "Neither do I." Another moment of silence falls between the two, this time Luna stops it with a shake of her head. "My sisters questionable habit of putting Twilight's need to learn a lesson over the safety of the Kingdom aside. I don't understand why that means we shouldn't tell her." "You heard what my mother said." Discords head transforms into Mother Natures head. "You're immortals and powerful ones at that, the Element of Sin can't kill you, but mortals are vulnerable to its magic." "Oh that's right." Luna puts a hoof to her chin and gestures with the other as she talks. "And she said not to tell any mortals about our meeting or the Element of Sin. But can't we still tell my sister, and just tell her not to tell them?" "No. Because if we tell her we can tell immortals she'll want to tell Twilight and we can't risk Twilight caving in and telling her friends." Discord punctuates his sentence with a firm shake of his head. "Wait aren't Twilight and her friends the Elements of Harmony shouldn't that protect them from the Element of Sin?" Luna asks with a raised eyebrow. Discord looks away from Luna, images of his six friends flash through his mind, his mind lingers on a certain yellow Pegasus. He answers Luna without looking at her. "I'm not willing to risk it." Discord almost growls, Luna blinks at Discords suddenly serious voice, before she can respond though Discord turns to face her a smile on his face and his voice much nicer. "Besides I think we should find out some more info before we tell everypony else and start a panic." "I suppose you're right." Luna chuckles at the thought of Celestia and Twilight getting those surprised looks on their faces. She clears her throat and looks up at Discord. "What do you propose we do?" "Hmm." Discord taps his talon against his chin. "Well I have a lead on who the bearer of the Element of Sin might be..." "You do?" Luna's eyes go wide. "Who is it?" "That's not important right now." Discord says with a nonchalant wave of his paw, this causes Luna it raise an eyebrow in confusion. "How is, who the Bearer of the Element of Sin is, not important?" Luna says slightly annoyed, Discord rolls his eyes at the princess of the night which makes her scowl at him. "Because Lulu I have something much more important to do tonight." Discord turns away from Luna and starts walking away. "So we'll have to pick this up some other time." "Wait, what is so important?" Luna asks as she walks toward Discord with a raised eyebrow. Discord turns back to look at her with a bright smile on his face. "Why my dear Lulu don't you know it's Heath's Warming?" With that Discord raises his talon and with a snap he's gone, leaving Luna alone in the snow covered forest. She scowls at where the Lord of Chaos had just been standing and gives a huff. She turns her gaze to the horizon in the direction of Canterlot and gives a slight smile. "I suppose it is a good idea too enjoy Hearths Warming before we get to work." Luna takes off into the night sky, thinking about what she should tell her sister about her trip, and where she could find the journal that Mother Nature had told them about. Sensing the time, Luna begins raising the moon as she flies, at the same moment she can feel her sister begin lowering the sun. Soon the dark of night has covered the land. Inside Fluttershy's Cottage Fluttershy is sitting on the couch calmly petting the sleeping white rabbit in her lap, she shifts her gaze from the sleeping creature to the clock hanging on the wall, it was late in the afternoon, soon the sun would set and the night sky would get to enjoy Hearths warming. A soft crack draws her attention to small fire burning in the hearth, she takes a moment to watch the flames dance, before shifting her attention to the tree to the side of the hearth, more specifically the delicately wrapped gift underneath it, as her thoughts drift to the Draconequus she made the gift for, her eyes return to the wall clock, a worried look enters the young mares eyes. It's OK Fluttershy, Discord said he'd be back in time for Hearths Warming. Fluttershy's look of worry is replaced with one of confidence, for she knows her friend will be there any minute. Suddenly she hears the flash of a teleport followed immediately by a knock on the front door. "Oh thank Celestia! He's here!" Fluttershy gently pushes Angel off her lap as she leaps off the couch, despite how gently Fluttershy pushed him Angel still woke up from his nap. Angel scowls at the door his care giver is rushing to open. A bright smile appears on Fluttershys face, replacing the faux confidence she had been wearing before. Fluttershy swings open the door and smiles brightly as she looks up high. But her smile vanishes and is replaced with mild confusion, as instead of Discords face all she can see is the afternoon sky. Fluttershy lowers her gaze when she realizes somepony is standing in front of her, she lowers her gaze to see her visitor, her confused expression immediately turns into a slight scowl as she locks eyes with the glowing pony on her door step. "Good afternoon Fluttershy, how are you today?" Moonlight asks with a smile, Fluttershys not sure if Moonlight is being genuinely nice or not. But she decides to be kind in return. "I'm fine Moonlight." Fluttershy flashes her least favorite pony a smile. "How was your trip?" "It was fine." Moonlight speaks with a shrug as she walks past Fluttershy into her home. Fluttershy can't help but watch her uninvited guest with wide eyes as she walks around her home seeming to examine everything, the glowing pony stops and glances down at the present at the base of the tree, a small smirk crosses her lips, her smirk is gone when she turns back to look at Fluttershy. "It was pretty boring without Discord though." "Well he does make everything more interesting." Fluttershy says a slight blush appearing on her cheeks, Moonlight nods. "He certainly does." Moonlight walks near the couch and glances down at the grumpy little rabbit sitting on it, she gives him a sly grin that makes him raise an eyebrow. Angel looks up at the strange glowing mare in annoyance and confusion , Angel doesn't like this pony, then again he doesn't like any pony. His eyes widen as the bizarre mare's eyes suddenly turn completely black, before he can make any noise his vision goes fuzzy and he begins to pass out. Before Angel completely loses consciousness he hears a familiar voice echo in his mind. Your wrath and envy are delicious little bunny, you'll prove useful to me. "What a cute little bunny you have here Fluttershy." Moonlight looks over at Fluttershy her red eyes shining brightly in the glow of the fire. Fluttershy walks over and smiles down at her sleeping friend. "Yeah that's Angel, he's my little sweetheart." Fluttershy says happily, she doesn't notice Moonlight roll her eyes. "Yes he does look..." Fluttershy blinks as Moonlight momentarily sounds like Discord. "Very sweet." "How did you do that wit-" Fluttershy begins to speak but is cut off by Moonlight. "I have something for you Fluttershy." Fluttershy turns to the glowing pony with a look of confusion. "For me?" Fluttershy asks gesturing to herself. Moonlight nods in confirmation, which causes Fluttershy to raise an eyebrow. "Why?" "I believe it is Hearths Warming, a time to give ponies gifts. Correct?" Fluttershy nods quietly, still confused. "Then I wish to give you a gift, I know we haven't gotten along that well. Despite my best efforts you seem to almost hate me." Fluttershy's eye twitches, not just because that last part was a lie, but Fluttershy is once again getting the feeling that she shouldn't trust Moonlight. Fluttershy can't pin point it but there is a small part of her deep down that just seems to know that Moonlight can't be trusted. Fluttershy is snapped out of her thoughts by a bright flash of light, she refocuses her attention toward Moonlight, who is now holding a small round package in her magic. Moonlight speaks cheerfully. "For you." "What is it?" Fluttershy asks as she takes the gift in her hooves, Moonlight smiles brightly. "Open it and find out." Fluttershy begins carefully removing the warping on the package, as she removes the paper she notices that the covering is very warm, after removing the final layer of paper Fluttershy has to shield her eyes as a bright light flows from the package, after a moment Fluttershy can get a good look at her gift. The object looks like a snow-globe, except instead of the glass bubble having water and fake snow, it is instead full of swirling red fire. Fluttershy just stares at the beautiful flames wide eyed. "What is this?" Fluttershy has never seen anything like it, the fire keeps burning despite being in an air tight bubble, the waves of fire produced seemed to dance in a mesmerizing fashion, and while the bubble was being heated by the fire it stayed at a nice comfortable temperature. "It's something I created recently, I call it a fire globe." Moonlight takes the gift out of Fluttershy's hooves with her magic and places it on the mantle above the fireplace. "Thank you Moonlight I love it." Fluttershy frowns at the glowing mare. "But I'm afraid I di-" "I know you didn't get me anything Fluttershy and it's OK." Moonlight says interrupting Fluttershy mid sentence, which makes Fluttershy enter sorry mode. "Are you sure it doesn't seem right for you to give me a gift and for me to not give you one, my parents always told me it was polite to give gifts to those that give gifts to you, but I'm sorry Moonlight I don't have a gift to give you, if I had known you were-" "Stop it!" Fluttershy freezes at Moonlights sudden outburst, the glowing mare quickly replaces her angry look to one of sympathy. "I mean it's okay Fluttershy we haven't known each other that long, besides I don't even celebrate Hearths Warming." "Really?" Fluttershy tilts her head in confusion. "Why not?" "I just find all these new traditions that some ponies come up with to be a tad silly." Moonlight gestures with her hoof as if she is trying to shoo the traditions away. This explanation only leaves Fluttershy more confused. "New tradition? But Hearths Warming has been around for-" Before Fluttershy can finish her thought both ponies hear the familiar sound of teleportation. Before either can react a giant blast of guacamole explodes right above their heads covering every surface in the room, the green goop flies off the walls and floors and fuses into the shape of human. Before either mare can voice their confusion a tiny Discord bursts from the stomach of the guacamole human. Discord laughs as the green human screams while it clutches its stomach before falling over and vanishing into the floor. "Hellooooo Fluttershy and happy-" Discord is swiftly cut off by something yellow crashing into him for a hug. "Oh Discord I'm so glad you're here, I was starting to think you weren't gonna make it." Fluttershy nuzzles Discords chest as she speaks, Discord smikes warmly before hugging her as well. "Hey I promised didn't I? And what kind of Chaos being would I be if I didn't keep my promises?" Discord asks with a sly grin, which makes Fluttershy laugh. "A normal one I suppose." The embracing pair both turn to look at the glowing mare who spoke. Moonlight just stares blankly back at them, after a moment she blinks in realization. "Oh. I'm sorry was that not a real question?" "Moonlight... I uh... wasn't expecting you to be here." Discord says as he lowers Fluttershy down to the ground. "Oh I think deep down you knew I'd be here." Moonlight tilts her head and gives a sweet smile, Discord gives her a nervous smile in return. "Well that's true I knew I'd be seeing you after I got back to Ponyville. I just wasn't expecting it to be this soon." Discord continues his nervous smile. And I was really hoping it wouldn't be around Fluttershy. "Fluttershy could you show me where your tea set is?" Fluttershy turns toward the glowing mare who spoke. "Huh? Why do you nee-" Moonlight interrupts Fluttershy once more. "I want to give Discord the gift I made for him." Moonlight lights up her horn and with a quick flash summons a small collection of tea bags. "Which as you can see is a delicious brew of tea, one of my own invention." "Oh how nice, hold on I'll go get my tea set." Fluttershy smiles as she makes her way toward the kitchen. Discord watches Fluttershy leave with a happy smile, before turning his attention to the now grinning Moonlight. "Hello Discord." Moonlight says sweetly, Discord gives her a half hearted smile, Moonlight doesn't seem to notice. "I missed you while I was gone. Did you miss me?" "Of course I did we're friends after all." Discords smile becomes a bit more genuine. Discord may suspect that Moonlight is the bearer of the Element of Sin, but when he looks at her he can't help but see nothing but his good friend. Discord focuses his attention on the bag of tea the mare is levitating, he pretends to seem interested with it seeming to study it, while in reality he is mentally scanning the tea for signs. Discord doesn't notice any magic on the tea, Discord sighs disgruntled, the Lord of Chaos knows he can't sense the elements magic, so there being no magic on the tea doesn't tell him anything. "I'm glad we're friends." Moonlight says happily through half lidded eyes and a sly smile. Discord flinches a little, Moonlights smile coupled with her tone of voice, make Discord feel a little uncomfortable. Discord zips his eyes around the room to find someway to not reply to her. Finally his eyes fall upon the bag of tea once more. "So a present huh?" Discord asks with a raised eyebrow. " I thought you didn't celebrate Hearths Warming." "Oh I don't." Moonlights says with a shrug. "I just happen to like two of the traditions that go along with it." "Like giving gifts?" Discord asks while gesturing toward the bag of tea. "Honestly I prefer receiving gifts." Moonlight says with a mischievous smile. "But I'm making an exception this year." "I see, how nice of you." Discord nods his head with a pleased smile on his face. "So Discord." Moonlight looks at the Lord of Chaos expectantly, which only confuses him. "So what?" Discord gestures with his talon for her to continue, Moonlight sighs. "So... What did you get me?" Those words make Discords blood run cold, he slowly turns toward the glowing unicorn, sweat forming on his brow. "W-what did I get you?" Discord asks nervously, Moonlight nods in response. Discord nervously taps his fingers together. Honestly Discord hadn't been planning on getting anypony but Fluttershy a gift, even then he's been so busy with work and all the disasters that he hasn't had time to think of what Fluttershy would want. He especially hadn't been thinking of getting a gift for the one pony he knew that didn't even celebrate the holiday. After a few moments Moonlights smile turns into a frown, she looks up at Discord with big puppy dog eyes. "Did you not get me anything Discord?" Moonlight says with a whimper, Discord winces in shame. "I'm afraid so." Discord nervously rubs the back of his neck with his paw. "What would you like?" "Hmm..." Moonlight takes a moment to think, although Discord has the feeling she already knows what she wants. She turns her head and grins at Discord. "How about you come berry picking with me on Monday." "T-that's it." Discord asks in disbelief while raising an eyebrow. "Yep that's all I want, just promise me you'll go berry picking with me, and you can't back out of it." Discord shrugs. "Okay I promise." Moonlight smiles, still curious Discord asks a question. "So what is the other tradition you like?" "You really want to know?" Moonlight asks coyly. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know." Discord says frankly. "Okay. Come closer and I'll tell you." Again Discord feels uncomfortable due to her smile and voice, but curiosity wins in the end and Discord steps closer. "Ok so what's the other tradition you like?" Discord asks quizzically, Moonlight's smile turns mischievous, suddenly her horn lights up and something flies out of her hair, and stops in the air between them, before Discord can react Moonlight lunges forward and plants a kiss on Discords lips. After a moment she leans back and smiles again, while Discord's eye twitches. "Mistletoe." She says with a giggle.