A Hearth's Warming Carol

by Little-Miss-Minty

The Ghost of Hearth's Warming Present

The clock struck again, signaling another hour. Except, instead of two rings it was only one. Only a singular DONG.

Discord had figured that the castle's bell tower was just broken.

And then he heard that laugh again. A hearty "Ha, ha, ha!" Discord figured that he wasn't going to get much sleep that night, so he got up from his bed and walked out in the hallway.

He saw a quite interesting sight.

A semiopaque sky blue mare with a messy rainbow mane sat upon a glittering throne made of clouds. The pegasus wore a dark green robe adorned with fluffy faux fur. There were holes in the robe for her wings.

"Rainbow Dash?" He asked the mare.

She shook her head. "No! I am the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Present!"

"I don't know..." Discord said, coming closer to the Spirit. "You look a lot like Rainbow Dash to me..." He stroked his beard, smiling.

"No!" She said, confidently. "I am the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Present, and I'm here to guide you."

"Wonderful... absolutely wonderful." Discord rolled his eyes.

"Now, let's begin! Hold my hoof!" She smiled her cocky grin.

"Fine, whatever..." he said, grabbing her forehoof.

The world began to spin. Around, and around and around. Flashes of rainbow light swirled all over the place, making Discord sick. This must have been how it felt to be inside a Sonic Rainboom. Just as Discord was about to throw up, they stopped at their destination.

They were in front of Fluttershy's cottage. Discord looked skeptically at the spirit.

"Why here?" He asked.

"Look inside, Discord," said the Ghost. Discord felt a little bad invading Fluttershy's privacy, but he shoved his nose up against the glass anyways.

Fluttershy was petting Angel, talking to him.

"I don't know what the problem was..." Fluttershy said. "I thought I asked him nicely, but he was just so... so... angry!"

Angel rolled his eyes.

"I wish I had the chance to ask him if he wanted to spend Hearth's Warming with me." Fluttershy looked down at her rabbit friend. "But I just couldn't keep my tears in. I had to run away!" She sighed. "I just don't know what got into Discord!"

Discord sighed. What had gotten into him? Even though Hearth's Warming wasn't really his thing, he still shouldn't have yelled at his best friend! His temper got the best of him so many times. He regretted so many things.

Before Discord could think about anything else, rainbow streaks started to fill the sky once again. The world started to spin... around and around and around...

Soon enough, though, they were standing in front of their new destination. Why, it was Sweet Apple Acres! Discord looked around at the trees, and then back at the Ghost.

"And why are we here?" He asked the Spirit.

"Come on, see inside," she said. With her words, the trees melted to the interior of the barn, and the two were suddenly inside the pink and red wooden building. A long table was set up, and probably half of the Apple family was sitting around it, waiting for the Hearth's Warming Feast to begin.

"Now, I know this isn't much," Apple Jack said, placing a plate of apple fritters on the table, "but I think it'll be sufficient for us all." She said, sitting down at one of the ends.

Big Macintosh added a "Eeyup."

"Now..." Granny Smith started, "who's gonna say the blessin'?"

"I think Apple Jack sure deserves to do it. She's done so many amazin' things this year," Braeburn said, gesturing to the orange mare.

"Aww, shucks," Apple Jack said, blushing a little. "But I'll do it," She added a confident nod.

"This year has brought so many good things to us all. May this upcomin' year be just as generous as the last. This Hearth's Warmin' is surely a joyful one, and I hope the joy continues throughout our future." Apple Jack smiled, looking around at her family.

Apple Bloom then chimed in, "Faust bless us, everypony."

Everypony smiled and started with their meal of apples.

Discord smiled at the filly's words. He had a soft spot for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, especially Apple Bloom.

Discord looked over at the Spirit and the jolly scene melted away. They were in a dark field. He couldn't tell if it was just the light, or something else, but the Ghost started to look different. Her hair was knotted and limp, and drops of sweat formed on her brow. Her wings and ears were flopped down, she looked sickly and skinny, and her cheeks were pink. Her eyes were droopy and had large bags under them. She looked as though she had cried for hours, stayed up for days on end, and was fighting a fatal sickness.

"Spirit?" He said, hardly believing the sight. Then, from under the ends of her robe, Discord spotted four small hooves; two orange and two white. "I see something strange protruding from under your skirt. May I ask what they are?"

Two fillies scurried out. "This is Ignorance," the Spirit said, gesturing to the orange one with a purple mane, "and this is Want," she pointed to the white one with a lavender and pink mane. They looked worse than the Ghost did. Their matted manes and tiny, scabbed bodies intimidated Discord, somehow threatening and terrifying.

"But... they are innocent! Innocent, tiny fillies! They have so much potential... and they look like that!" DIscord was breathing heavily, the sight horrifying him. "How can someone do that to them?"

"This..." the Ghost growled, "This is what ignorance does to ponies... or draconequui, for that matter," she stopped briefly, but then continued, "And this is what want does! Be wary, beware, Discord! You don't want your future to look like this!"

"No!" He yelled, "No! I can't... my future... I don't want my future to look like that!"

"Exactly..." The Ghost of Hearth's Warming Present said. With that, the Spirit, Want, and Ignorance turned to dust and blew away in the wind.

Just as Discord caught his breath, he saw another terrifying sight.

He spotted a figure clothed in a black robe. And somehow, he knew that that was the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Future. And it was coming for him.

Comments

[kurusagi16]

Pretty good! Though, I wish there were a couple more discord and fluttershy moments. Can't wait to see the future that'll await him.

[Little-Miss-Minty]

6766412
Thanks! I wrote that chapter pretty quickly, so the two scenes were both pretty short. We'll see what his future holds....