On the Feast of Hearth's Warming

by Diamond Sparkle

On The Eve-Princess Luna's Throne Room

Princess Luna sat in the warm comfort of her throne room and remembered another Hearth's Warming Eve a long time ago, where it was just as cold as this. Back then the Royal Palace depended on log fires to keep it warm, and it was whilst she was warming her wings in front of them when she looked out of her window and saw a poor earth pony gathering winter fuel in the snow, snow that lay deep and crisp and even. She called one of her pages over, a young unicorn with a quill pen for a cutie mark, and asked him

"Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know'st it, telling, Yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?"

The page replied "Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain;Right against the forest fence, by Saint Pinkie's fountain." Even back then the Everfree Forest had been largely fenced off for every pony's safety, given that back then there were even more carnivorous monsters and other nasties.

It was then that Princess Luna had a very sweet idea. It was Hearth's Warming Eve after all, so why not make sure that this poor pony, who most likely had very little to look forward to, at least had a nice Hearth's Warming Day feast this year?

"Bring me food, and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither: Thou and I shall see him dine, when we bear them thither. "

The page went to the royal kitchens and soon came back with a sack full of tasty Hearth's Warming food, and the two set off into the storm. It was cold, very cold indeed, and the page was soon shivering despite the hair on his body. He told the Princess when he thought he could not bear it much longer "Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blows stronger; Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer." Princess Luna turned to him and said "Mark my hoofsteps, good my page. Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter's rage freeze thy blood less coldly." Indeed, when he trod in the hoofsteps of the Princess, there was the warmth of magic radiating from the ground where she had trod.

They made it to the shack of the poor peasant, and the Princess knocked on his door. When he opened it and dropped to his knees she told him "Rise, and a Happy Hearth's Warming to you. I have brought you as much food as you need to celebrate." That, thought the Princess so many years later, was indeed a very happy time.