Fall of Starfleet: A New Hearth's Warming Day

by Legendbringer

Winter Wonderland

Not everyone is Merry/Happy, and bad things can still happen that you should beware of or prepare for

Have a happy jolly Hearth’s Warming
It’s the best time of the year!

Artie gave a small chuckle as he used his magic to finish putting up the holly around the threshold of the doorway. Turning around, he took a good look at his home...their home. Everywhere he looked, he could see his home decorated in bright colors and pink decorations that mixed together in an unique blend of art and holiday sheniaggians. It was something that only an artist and a party planner could make.

Taking a few steps forward, he took note of how everything seemed to connect and blend. From the brightly lit tree, surrounded by bright wrapped gifts, to the various bits of tinsel that littered the ceiling and bannister. IT was hard to NOT look at all of this and smile, feeling the wonderful feeling of the holidays flow through him.

Ho ho,
The mistletoe!
Hung where I can see

“Pinkie?” Artie asked, looking back and forth for his fiancee.

Somepony waits for me.
Think I’ll kiss him once or three!

Out of nowhere, Pinkie hung by her hind legs upside down to look at Artie, and kissed him once, twice, and then ending with a long deep kiss. Artie returned the kiss, giving a moan as he deepened the kiss. After they broke the kiss, Artie looked at Pinkie with a smile, “Happy Holidays, soon to be Mrs. Bristles.”

“Happy Holidays, Mr. Bristles,” Pinkie giggled as she flipped where she hung from and landed on all four hooves. “And now, we are all done!”

“Are you sure? I mean, think we over decorated,” Artie said, looking around him.

Pinkie hopped onto his back, wrapping her forelegs around his neck and nuzzled him, “No, we did it enough. After all, who was the big silly who decided to turn our lights into a landing ramp for Santa?”

Artie sighed and rolled his eyes, smiling as he said, “I did. But it was partly your fault for giving me so many lights and saying, ‘you handle the outside, I got the inside.’ An artist cannot resist a canvas when it presents itself.”

Pinkie nodded with a calm serenity before leaping off his back and skipping to the kitchen, “So, when is the team going to get here.”

“Pinkie, this is really an ex-Starfleet get together. You know you don’t have to fix this up for us,” Artie said, watching Pinkie look around, “I mean, we already had a party back at your parents and-”

Pinkie raced to Artie and looked sat him with wide green eyes, “Arthur Bristles! This is a day where I can design three parties all at once, that opportunity for my family doesn’t happen often. Besides, next month...they’re about to be my family too,” she said, looking down at the ring around her hoof.

Artie nodded silently, tempted to walk to her and kiss her as much as he could and maybe even engage in some marital activities with her when the door knocked and took him out of his mindset. Turning around, he opened the door for the newcomer, “Come on in.”

Two white unicorns came walking in, each looking like weird copies of one another, the only difference being their hair color. The older one smiled and said, “Happy Hearth’s Warming everypony.”

“Dimentia!” Pinkie said, smiling, “Or do you want to be called Galaxia? And-” skipping as fast as she could, she gave Starla a hug, “Starla!”

“Hey Pinkie,” Starla said, hugging Pinkie, “I know this is early, but you know mom. She prefers to be early to corral the troops.”

Dimentia looked over her shoulder, “That’s the way I like to run my regiment, and I think Princess Luna is proud of my work on the army. And besides,” she looked at Pinkie, “You may know about baking, but a mother like myself knows her way around an oven!” and with that, she marched off into the kitchen.

Artie laughed and stood next to Starla, shaking his head, “Enemy, and now your super-mom. Does anything about our lives ever make sense?”

“Hey,” Starla giggled, “I spent last year in hell on a dying planet, I’ll take Pinkie Pie level insanity anyday. Besides, her’s is charming.”

Artie smiled and nodded contently, watching Pinkie work in the kitchen with the former general. Turning to look at Starla, he asked, “When is our former boss getting here.”

“You know Lighting, traveling the world, seeing where he’s needed and wanted. He said he’ll be here when he gets here, no more and no less,” Starla said, looking down and away.

Artie rolled his eyes at this and let out a grunt. Taking a deep breath, he looked back at the kitchen and asked, “Where are your honorary uncles?”

“Rep is back in Horn Kong with Inquirius and Mysterious is with his brother. Mom says later they’ll have an ex-general christmas party together,” Starla said, smiling a little.

“So a meeting of all the ex enemies of the state?” chuckled Artie, shaking his head as he looked back to the kitchen, “Ever thought it would all turn out like this?”

Before Starla could answer, a knock from the door distracted them. Almost instantly, Pinkie raced over to the door and opened it, eagerly hugging Buddy as he stepped through the door, “BUDDY! Welcome to the party!”

“H-hey, Pinkie,” gasped out Buddy as he stepped in, followed shortly by Daphine.

Daphine smiled and looked at Pinkie, “Are we opening presents yet?”

“Nope, but in a few minutes, you can help,” Pinkie whispered, “decorate the tree.”

“Really? Yes,” Daphine said, running to the tree.

Starla looked a little confused, “You seem really excited for this.”

“Ever since dad said we were actually celebrating the holidays this year, I have been really excited to be able to celebrate like I always wanted,” Daphine said, helping to get the box of ornaments.

Starla sighed and left the room, walking to the kitchen to help with Pinkie and the others. As she stepped, she was immediately stopped by Pinkie, who held a little book in her mouth, “Here you go!”

“What is this?” Starla asked, looking at the book.

“It’s your present silly,” Pinkie said, smiling.

Artie looked at the book warmly as he handed Buddy’s copy to him, “It’s yours too. It’s a scrapbook.” As Buddy opened the book and looked at the photos, Artie continued, “You and Starla weren’t here when we gave Lighting his scrapbook, so me and Pinkie figured you deserved your own copies. They are all photos that I could find of us and our friendship through the years.”

Buddy looked through the book, a warm smile on his lips, “Friends huh? Never thought that we would ever use that to describe us. But, here we are.”

“Yeah,” Starla said, looking over her shoulder to smile at Buddy. Then, a coy smirk appeared on her lips, “I take it to mean that a certain member of our team is currently excised from this book?”

Artie let out a laugh and nodded, “Trust me, he is nowhere near that book.”

“Speaking of which, how is he?” asked Budyy, closing the book.

“Trying his third attempt at a divorce,” Artie said, “Though, I don’t think Ball and Chain will let him. She isn’t about to let her child go without a father.”

This made Starla laugh as she finished her walk to the kitchen, “IT almost makes you sorry for the guy who mind raped us, made us do horrible things, and was a traitor to us all.”

Artie and Buddy laughed for a bit as Starla left the living room, leaving only the two stallions standing. After a few moment of silence, Artie began to speak, “I heard that you have been dating Starla for a few months now...how’s that been going?”

“Well,” Buddy said, smiling as he looked at Starla in the kitchen, “I mean, she still gets nervous and flinches when I touch her. Sometimes, she wakes up in a cold sweat or will scream in her sleep about Conquest and the things he did to her body.”

“Have you two been...intimate?” Artie asked.

Buddy sighed and shook his head, “No, not yet. She still is nervous about the idea, but I don’t think we need to be intimate to show that we love each other. We’re fine with just holding hands or kissing each other.”

“I’m happy for you, really,” smiled Artie, just as the doors slammed opened and two brown stallions entered.

“HEY! Did someone ask for a pair of partying brothers?” Dyno asked, holding a box on his back.

Myte nodded, following his brother with some more small boxes, “We’ve been trying to find a good place to show off our new explosive presents and decorations! And we know Pinkie’s is the perfect place.”

“You can do it out-” before Artie could finish, a crash of lighting struck in the middle of the room. Once the light cleared, a white pegasus stood with a lovely flutterpony by his side.

The new arrival smirked as he pulled back his cape and scarf, revealing his face, “It’s all right! I AM HERE!” Lighting said triumphantly.

Krysta laughed at this as she floated around, flapping her wings slowly, “Sorry for being late guys, Lighting just had to make an entrance.”

If there was any anger or disagreement to Lighting’s entrance, it wasn’t shown in any of their eyes as the group of former Starfleet ponies all gathered around and hugged the newly arrived couple. Pinkie watched this from the kitchen, smiling warmly at the sight and taking a deep breath. As she watched the scene before her, the friends eagerly catching up and talking, she said to herself, “And that is what I love about Hearth’s Warming.”

For a moment, Pinkie remembered the feelings around last year, and the years before that. She could see the loneliness and the sorrow behind each of their eyes, how each one felt alone though they could not say it. Then she blinked, and saw the new feelings of friendship and joy in the air. Turning around, she looked outside at the snow, “Hey guys! Look!” she shouted, pointing to the snow.

The others looked to where Pinkie was pointing, and noted she was outside in the snow, singing.

In the lane, the snow is glisten
Out here, the foals are playin
What a wonderful sight, we’re happy tonight
Playing in a Winter Wonderland.

Artie saw Pinkie outside, and nodded with a warm smile on his lips. Running out, he waved his hoof to beckon his friends to join them. The others nodded in agreement, running outside to see Pinkie playing out in the snow. Artie, knowing the song by heart joined in as he made a snowball and threw one at his marefriend,

Gone away is the bluebird
Here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song, as we go along
Walking in a winter wonderland

Buddy laughed as he ducked under a snowball, picking one up to throw back at Starla who smiled and threw one in return. Lighting spread his wings wide and landed onto the bed of snow making a little snow pegasus in the snow. Krysta looked at it, and landed next to him, making one of her own to make it look like they were holding hooves. As she got back to her feet, she smiled and laid her head onto his shoulder.

In the meadow we can build a snow pony,
And pretend his is a parson now.

Buddy, Starla looked up to where Pinkie’s voice had come from, and saw that she was standing next to a white stallion wearing a white collar around his neck. Just as quickly, they felt themselves pushed together by Artie so they would stand close to one another. Just the same, Pinkie Pie gently pushed Lighting and Krysta together, allowing them to walk down the lane alongside the other couple as Artie continued with his part of the song.

He’ll ask, “Are you married?”
And you’ll say?

“No man, but you can do the job while your in town,” was the response from the couples.

The white stallion smiled and nodded, “Well then, call me when you are both ready, and we can arrange things.” the parson said, before walking away and tipping his hat before walking away.

For the longest time, the two couples stood there in the snow. Their eyes opened wide as they took in what had just happened and what was said. After pondering the meaning of the scene before them, Buddy was the first to speak, “Well, I was thinking of...I mean, give enough time and-”

“Just kiss me,” smiled Starla.

Krysta looked to Lighting, and saw the blush on his white cheeks. Smiling, she said, “Well, it’s about time. I had been waiting for a while.”

“Grandma Galaxia, does this mean I get a new mom?” asked Daphine.

In the warmth of the house, Pinkie and Artie watched as the two couples began to talk between each other, making plans. All the while, high hoofing each other with contented smiles on their faces, “And two families are brought together. Nice job, my lovely pastry chef.”

“No, thank you, my little artist easel,” Pinkie giggled, and then kissed Artie on the lips. “Got to get going, the other girls are waiting for me.”

“Go on ahead,” Artie said, looking to the group, “I’ll handle my little family here.”

Pinkie Pie let out a giggle and began to hop away. As she did, she began to hum to herself and hop in tune with the beat. As she looked around, she could feel her heart begin to warm in spite of the snow with the warmth of all of the ponies around her. Then she turned her head to the sound of a pony crying, “Never, I’m never going to be a good writer.”

Pinkie turned to the sound of the crying and saw a navy blue unicorn cying. Curious, she made her way to him, “What do you mean?”

The unicorn looked up and wiped his eyes, “Oh, Lady Pinkie. A knight doesn’t want to hear my problems.” he said, running a hoof through his messy brown mane.

“Try me,” Pinkie said with a wide smile, “It’s the time for helping ponies feel better and smile. Now, let’s start with your name...”

“My name is Stone Heart, but that’s just my pen name, it’s actually Fluttering Pen and I am a writer. Or at least I try to be,” he sighed, “See, I read a lot of stories and keep finding them ending not in the way I want. So I get licensed from the copyright holders to write new endings to those stories and have them end or become the stories I want. It’s just that when I try and publish them,” Stone sighed, “ponies just bash them or say they suck.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” Pinkie said, patting his back.

“I just want to write and enjoy my hobbie, sharing my stories with the world but I suck so hard,” Stone sobbed and sighed, “I just don’t think I’ll ever be a writer.”

Pinkie looked at his cutie mark and saw the image of a broken pencil and a book with pages falling out of it, “Well, there’s your problem, your cutie mark looks like its all about bad writing.”

“But, I love to write. I want to write and make stories for people to read, if I can’t then what good am I?” asked Stone.

“Well, you can still write. Just apply all you know about bad fics and what not to do there, with somepony else’s writing,” Pinkie said with a smile.

“I still want to write though,” Stone said, sighing.

Pinkie got up and showed off her cutie mark, “Look, my cutie mark means I like making ponies happy. Through any means necessary, and this also means baking. I wasn’t an expert in it though, so you know what I did?” she smiled “I went under the wing of the Cakes and trained myself to become a better baker. Rarity is a gem finder, but she loves to make dresses, so she trained at it.”

“So what you are saying?” asked Stone Heart.

“You can still write if you want to, just make it a hobby,” Pinkie said, patting his shoulder, “Don't publish right away, train at it, practice and then see how you improved.”

“Really think it’ll work?”

Pinkie shrugged and then said, “Don;t know, but it’s better then crying about it, right?”

“Yeah, thank you,” said Stone Heart, hugging Pinkie before watching her skip away.

Pinkie smiled to herself as she said, “One of the best things to do during the season, is helping others.”

Author's Note:

Just a little peak into the ex-officers lives and how much they changed.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

That cover art is adorable! Where'd you find it!
9330989
Wait, who's Strings?

[Purple Patch]

Well, this does put a new light on things.

Dear god, Rhymey and Ball-And-Chain actually have a child now?
I dread to imagine what looking in on them would be like!

[themetavoorhes]

9357706
I feel bad for the kid no way are either of them good parents