The Most Horrible Time Of The Year
‘Twas the night before Hearth’s Warming, and all across the land,
Ponies were rejoicing, their holiday was finally at hand.
Songs were being sung. Merry was being made!
Hearth’s Warming was here, and many a joyous game were played.
And yet, despite the worldwide jubilee,
There, in the castle at the heart of the Everfree.
A bitter and bad tempered storm was forming,
As a certain changeling grumpily declared...
“I hate Hearth’s Warming.”
Chrysalis sat in a large, comfy chair by the warm fireplace with folded hooves and a deep, dark scowl across her face, grumbling humbugs about Hearth’s Warming. The Knights themselves were surprisingly amicable when it came to the festive, cheerful holiday, and thoroughly enjoyed a few of the my traditions that came with it. But the former queen utterly loathed it, and despised the season.
“Lighten up, Chryssy,” Jack cried as she trotted passed with a box full of tinsel and fairy lights on her back. More decorations for the already too colourful tree taking up a sizeable portion of the room. Chrysalis twisted her face in disgust at what the mare wore; a cream coloured festive sweater with an image of figgy pudding embroidered onto it.
“It’s the holidays! Aren’t ya gonna wear your sweater?”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” the changeling curtly replied in little more than a growl and kept her brow furrowed. Her own festive jumper, one of black, light green and yellow--embroidered with the image of a cheerful bee--lay in a discarded heap of itself on the arm of her chair. She used a short stick to poke it further away as if the holiday cheer was infectious. “Besides, there are more important things to worry about than your perfectly wretched pony holiday.”
Cozy Glow flapped passed her carrying a small box of baubles and began hanging them on the tree. She wore her own bright red festive sweater, adorned with small images of pancakes, waffles, and gingerbread mares holding hooves in a line. “Aw c’mon, Chryssy. Don’t be such a flat mirther!” she cried cheerfully.
Chrysalis’s scowl deepened, and her eyes flashed bright green. “I don’t even know what that means.”
Tempest snorted from the other side of the room and slurped at her drink of yaknog. Even the grumpy, cynical Commander of the Knights wore a hideous bright blue Hearth’s Warming sweater that showed a bunch of ponies with joined hooves and broad smiles. “Someone who doesn’t like Hearth’s Warming...” she said as she smacked her lips together and tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Now where have I heard that before?”
“Hm hmm hmm hm,” Tirek sang quietly to himself with a wide smile as he also helped decorate the tree. “I believe it was one Snowfall Frost, the protagonist of a Hearth’s Warming Carol,” he said matter-of-factly. “In other words, the villain who almost destroyed the holiday because she didn’t understand it.”
Chrysalis glared at him and crossed her hooves the other way. “Villain? That’s rich coming from you.”
“You’d be surprised how much I actually enjoy this time of year, your highness. Gram-Gram and I used to-” He paused and his cheeks began to turn even redder for a moment as Cozy giggled quietly from the other side of the tree, outside of his vision. “Ahem. Yes, well... the point being I’d happily shatter the soul of anypony or anything that tries to ruin it.” He levelled his gaze at her and flexed his muscles.
The former queen simply raised her eyebrows at him and fixed him with a cold stare.
“Annnnywaaaay,” Jack quickly said before they could come to blows, still determined to poke and prod at the miserable creature. “What kind of childhood did you have? You mean to tell me you don’t like all the singing?”
Chrysalis fell back in her seat and looked towards the fire with a faraway look in her eye.
“Nope.”
“What about the yaknog?” Tempest asked, waving her nearly empty drink at her.
“You make me sick.”
“What about setting up the Baby Celestia Nativity every year?” Tirek queried with a tilt of his head as he held up and booped two small figurines of a certain pair of princesses together, a lopsided smile quickly spreading across his face.
“That’s... mildly intriguing, but no.”
“Alright, alright, so you don’t like any of that. But what about Santa Hooves?” Cozy quipped. “Surely, you gotta like him, right?”
“Santa who?”
They all gasped in shocked horror and stared at the former queen. She looked around at them in turn with uncaring, cold, Scrooge-like eyes.
“What?”
“Uhhhh whaddya mean Santa who?!” Cozy exclaimed and threw her hooves in the air in disbelief until it dawned on her. “Big fat pony, wears a lot of red? Ring any bells? Do changelings not have Santa or something? How could you not have a Santa?”
Jack quickly nodded her head in agreement, eager for an explanation. “Yeah, what gives?!”
Chrysalis snorted derisively at them. “Changeling’s do not stoop so low to celebrate the same pony traditions you do,” she said, unaware that now, thanks to Twilight, changelings did in fact celebrate Hearth’s Warming with all the trimmings. “Especially not Hearth’s Warming.” She glanced over at Tirek, grimacing at the centaur’s uncharacteristically festive and joyous demeanour. “I don’t suppose you wouldn’t believe in this ridiculous ‘Santa’ as well?”
Tirek smiled as he hung another set of baubles on the tree. His horns had some sleigh bells tied to them that ring-ting-tingalinged as he moved, and his own dark red sweater, depicting a happy centaur giving a present to a happy gargoyle, just barely stretched across his chest.
“In my homeland, we would tell our young ones of how once a year, on Hearth’s Warming Eve, a creature of the festive spirit would deliver presents to the children of Nessus whose names were on the Nice List,” the red centaur explained. “Although we called him Santaur, I suppose he is the same as this ‘Santa Hooves’ the ponies have.” He coughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. “I have not been on that list since I left Nessus thousands of years ago, but I still enjoy the holiday!”
“Yeah, yeah, none of us have been on the Nice List in a while I’m guessing,” Cozy said bitterly. Her spirits perked up briefly as she continued, and smiled a broad smile at them all. “That’s why I’m hoping for something good this year! You know, ‘cause we’re the good guys now?”
Tempest chuckled softly and nodded. “That’s what Luna seems to think. Twilight too.”
“Something ‘good’ this year?” the changeling queried with a tilt of her head. “I don’t follow.”
Cozy’s eyes lit up and she flapped to about a foot in front of the former queen with an excited grin plastered over her face. “Welllll, Chryssy, you see on Hearth’s Warming Eve, if you’ve been good you earn a spot on the Nice List, where Santa will then bring you whatever you want the most.” She paused and cast a glance over at Jack, then at Tirek, and with a grin made smoochy noises and booped her hooves together with raised eyebrows. “Maybe for Jack he’ll bring her Terry wrapped up in a nice bow?”
Jack turned scarlet and faced away in utter embarrassment, while Tirek scowled and swiped through the air at the filly. “One more word out of you you blasted pigeon and I’ll turn you into coal!” he snarled at her.
Tempest snorted so much of her drink she began to cough and pounded on her chest to try and catch her breath. “Cozy that’s enough. Leave the lovebirds alone,” she chuckled and wiped a thin trail of nog from her mouth. Her words only incensed Tirek more as he began a tangent, ranting and raving and pointing accusatory fingers at them all, except Jack who remained silent all the way through, although her cheeks were turning a nice shade of rosy pink.
“What we desire the most, eh? Can I ask for Starlight Glimmer’s head on a platter?” Chrysalis asked with a malevolent glint in her eye, ignoring the plight of the centaur.
Cozy giggled once more at Tirek’s discomfort and shook her head. “Nooo only good things like toys or books or candy. Presents! Stuff you give each other. Like socks! You do anything bad and it gets you on the Naughty List, and if you’re on the Naughty List you get nothing but coal, trust me I should know,” she explained. “I’ve had coal for like six Hearth Warmings in a row.” She pointed a warning hoof at the changeling, who only tutted in mild discontent. “Keep going the way you are, Chryssy and we’ll all get what we want, and you’ll get a bag of coal for Hearth’s Warming!”
Tempest nodded in agreement and set her drink down. “She has a point.”
Chrysalis looked the commander up and down and turned her nose up. “Even you as well, Commander? Humph. Well, as interesting as this delightful holiday sounds,” she snarked. “I can think of a thousand things I would be rather doing right now. Perhaps dear old Luna has deigned to gift us with something worthwhile that I could look over.” She pushed herself up from her seat and buzzed her wings gently.
“Ah c’man Chrysalis don’t be like that,” quietly said Jack with a shake of her head, grateful for the quick change of subject away from her and Tirek. “It’s Hearth’s Warming for Celestia’s sake! It was Luna’s orders that we--ah!” She accidentally pricked her hoof with the hook of a bauble she was placing on the tree, causing her to drop it. It hit the ground and slowly rolled towards the changeling. “That we enjoy ourselves over the holidays in the first place and to leave all that stuff to her,” she finished, sucking her hoof.
“Humph.” The former queen scowled again as she turned away. “I can only throw up in my mouth so much listening to you lot babble on about such an inane practice.” She curled her lip at the bauble rolling towards her and batted it away with the same energy she pushed her sweater away with. “Bah. This really is the most horrible time of the year.”
Jack fell into quiet dismay as she watched the changeling of the group stand and walk away. Her ear suddenly twitched as she heard something come from the fireplace, something more than the crackling of wood. To her untrained, Hooflynite ears, it sounded almost like scratching, like nails scraping along hard stone. Curious, she stepped closer to the fire and peered into it.
“Uhhh guys?” she murmured.
The Knights turned to look at her, their own ears twitching curiously as they too heard the unfamiliar sound. Even Chrysalis stopped as she listened.
“You all hear that too, don’tcha?” the secretary whispered. “Sounds like somethin’ freaky’s comin’.”
Before any of them could answer her, the back of the fireplace gave way to a flash of red and white coloured magic. A huge gust of wind blew into the room, knocking out the fire in an instant and sending the chairs rolling over and any loose decorations to be scattered about the room.
“Hold onto something!” immediately yelled Tempest, springing into action as she dug her hooves in and forced herself to hold steady.
Chrysalis changed shape into a heavily armoured creature with a colossal horn for a nose, intending to weigh herself down so she couldn’t get blown away and looked around warily. Tirek shielded Jack with his massive body and grabbed Cozy to hold her steady as some soot and coal knocked out of the fireplace, where it struck his back painlessly.
Just as quickly as the wind started, it began to pull back, creating a vacuum of air that dragged in anything not nailed down. Tirek wasn’t prepared to be lifted off of his hooves, and let loose a small yelp of surprise as he rose into the air. The filly and the mare he had been shielding reached out for him to try and hold him steady, only for them to be also lifted off the ground as the suction seemed to grow stronger, determined to draw them in without any thought of their wellbeing.
“Waaah!” cried Cozy as she fumbled for something to grab a hold of other than Tirek’s finger. Jack reached out to grab her hind legs and tried to hold onto her, shrieking lightly as they tumbled through the air towards the brick wall of the fireplace.
Tempest wasted no time in preparing for what she was about to do and thrust herself forwards, tactically colliding with a chair she fully intended to use as an anchor and grabbed the mare’s tail with her teeth. She planted herself but could still feel the pull of the magic weigh heavily on her.
“Hishalysh! Henn hne!” she mumbled through a mouthful of hair. The chair inched forwards, being pulled in with intense ferocity of the vortex intent on pulling them in. “Hnww!”
Chrysalis, against her better judgement, braced herself and transformed into a large monkey, reaching out with one long, spindly arm to grab one of Tempest’s back hooves, then reached with the other to hold onto something--anything to hold herself still.
She quickly began to feel her tendons stretch and grow taut. It felt like her muscles were scream in pain at her as the vortex only grew stronger, seemingly aware she was trying to defy it.
An odd thing it looked like, the Nightmare Knights strung out like a string made mismatched creatures, thoroughly Discordian in design.
Chrysalis gritted her teeth. The strain was growing too much for her, but she could feel them all start to pull back. Choosing to act quickly, she braced herself and changed form again, this time to a large, squid-like creature that could grasp and hold all of her comrades at once.
“Blubub-blubb!” she cried in whatever languages squid spoke in, translated roughly to ‘Hold on!’.
With a heave and a ho she could feel herself start to win, and slowly but surely she pulled them all back from the vortex, and with a final thrust yanked them all behind her with a gasp. The magic died down and the great suction had stopped, allowing them all to catch their breaths and enjoy to continue to live unharmed once more. Green fire sprung up around her again and her true form was revealed to them.
“Is everyone okay?” she panted.
They all nodded. Jack had landed unceremoniously on Tirek’s chest and quickly jumped up with scarlet cheeks. “Sorry, T,” she mumbled at him, to which he waved a hand at her and gently helped her down not unkindly.
Tempest picked herself up and looked at the former queen gratefully. “Thanks, Chrysalis,” she said, panting lightly. “If you hadn’t kept us steady we’d all be who knows where by now--wait!” She cocked an ear out and heard the scratching again. They all did, although it was too late. “Watch out!”
Chrysalis was suddenly lifted off of her hooves as the magical vortex struck again with force. Tirek grabbed the three ponies around him and held them steady with his bulging red arms and dug his hooves in. The changeling was not so fortunate, however, and with an undignified yelp she was sent hurtling through the air towards the fireplace. She managed to catch herself on the rim and hold her steady for a moment, and stared with widened eyes at the commander.
“Tempest...”
Few things fazed Tempest Shadow anymore, but seeing the former queen’s wide eyes staring at her in fear, and hearing her own name be whispered in despair sent a shiver of unease down the commander’s spine. The room lay still after another flash of light. She took a tentative step forwards as a few snowflakes drifted in from the empty fireplace, falling gently on the ground. An eerie stillness and unnatural calm fell upon the Knights and the old castle. The tree was overturned, what lights they had set up lay smashed and even the baubles they had hung on the tree were shattered to bits.
Cozy joined her at her side only to step on the shattered remnants of a bauble. She looked down and removed her hoof gently, and with a quivering lip asked one simple question none of them had the answer to.
“Guys... Where’d she go?”
***
Teleportation was not uncommon to Chrysalis. Not anymore at least, and being flung to the far corners of the world she was no stranger to either, but this... this was something else entirely. It was like some sort of tunnel she found herself in, being dragged through a great empty space until finally, with a gasp and a short cry, she found herself propelled through an icy blizzard too thick and heavy to fly through, and thudded hard into something freezing cold and crunchy.
Coming to her senses after being dazed for a moment, she quickly jumped up and looked around, only to immediately start shivering and feel her chest tighten as the cold washed over her in an instant.
Changeling’s weren’t like yaks or even sturdy earth ponies, preferring temperate or arid climates more than anything else. They certainly weren’t built for cold weather like this, and as she rubbed her hooves together she immediately felt the cold burrow deep into her chitin. Just as she was about to transform into something warmer, she spotted a pair of large doors in front of her not too far away, and a very bright, warm looking light emanating from within.
Seeing not many other options besides stand out in the cold and turn into a changeling popsicle, she reluctantly trudged through the snow until she reached the door and pressed her hoof against it. Even through the door she could feel the warmth within, and she braced herself to be prepared for anything before she pushed it open.
Stepping inside she saw it appeared to be some sort of waiting room, and the smell of freshy baked bread and cakes assaulted her nostrils. The walls were ginger-coloured, and dotted with pictures of joyful looking creatures with large antlers in various poses typical of what she assumed were Hearth’s Warming traditions. As her eyes traced over the room she saw one such looking creature currently sat at the far end of the room behind a desk, currently flicking through a magazine, in a manner very similar to Jackdaw Inkwell. On the desk to one side of her sat a large bowl full of juicy looking apples.
The former queen brushed some snow off of her back and fluttered her wings for a brief moment before striding up to the desk and cleared her throat, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
“Ahem.”
The creature glanced up at her. “Can I help you?” she asked, sounding bored if nothing else. Her dark purple fur and long eyelashes made Chrysalis think she looked like the commander--and yet her demeanour screamed that creature who fawned endlessly over Tirek. On her antlers were several sets of sleigh bells that jingled with the short movements her head made. “Hello?”
Chrysalis narrowed her eyes even more at her and furrowed her brow. “I was brought here against my will,” she growled, trying to keep her temper. “Where am I? What am I doing here? Tell me quickly before I-”
“What’s your name?” the creature replied with an irritated sigh as she reached over to the strange box beside her.
“My... what?”
“What’s. Your. Name?” the snarky creature repeated slowly, earning a glare and a scowl from the changeling. “So I can look you up?”
“Chrysalis of the Changeling Hive,” Chrysalis replied and puffed her chest out. She remained quiet while there came a clacking sound from the creature as her hooves danced over a smaller rectangle in front of the strange box. “What-”
“You’re not in the system,” said the creature uncaringly after looking at the box for a few moments. “You got another name at all? Changed it recently?”
Recently? Chrysalis thought for a moment until it dawned on her. “Chrysalis... of the... Nightmare Knights,” she muttered bitterly.
There came another clacking sound as the creature did the same motion as before, and turned to the changeling once again. “There you are. Yeah, he’s waiting for you.” She thumbed a coven hoof towards the door behind her disinterestedly. “Go through there, take the third door on the left.”
The changeling looked down at her in a few minutes of silence.
“What’re you deaf or something?” the creature grumped with a heavy snort. “Through there, third door on the left. Big Guy’s expecting you. Don’t keep him waiting.”
Without another word she leaned back in her chair and lifted up her magazine enough to cover her face, her antlers glowing with dark purple magic.
Chrysalis scowled and pushed away, only to pause and look at the bowl full of apples. She lifted one up with her magic and bit into it with a loud crunch as she pushed through the doors. “Third door,” she murmured to herself as she stalked through the wholly unfamiliar territory.
Finished with her apple she cast the core aside, and stopped in front of the door in question. It looked ordinary enough, although the walls and the floor alike were made of some sort of metal material. She listened out s she rapped her hoof on it and waited for a moment.
“Come in!” a muffled voice called for her.
Taking a deep breath and preparing herself to face a potentially dangerous adversary, she pushed the door open.
“Ah! Chrysalis!” a cheery, joyful pony with a thick, white and very bushy beard cried as he saw her. He stood from his seat to greet her as if she were an old friend. “Come in, come in. Close the door behind you would you, my dear? Thank you. Now, I hope the trip over here wasn’t too much for you?” His hat, as faded and red as his coat, jingled with a sleigh bell attached to the top.
“Trip?” Chrysalis growled. “Perhaps you mean abduction-”
“Ah, I must apologise for the intrusion, for I assure you that was not my intention to disrupt your Hearth’s Warming, young Chrysalis,” he chuckled quietly and looked at her over his half-moon spectacles. “Please, won’t you sit?” he asked, gesturing to the small chair opposite his desk. “We have something to discuss.”
“Do we now?” she snapped, and slammed a hoof onto his desk. “How about we start with your total and complete surrender to me?” Her horn ignited in a flash of magic. The old pony simply continued to look at her with a twinkle in his eye. “And I will not destroy you for interrupting Hearth’s Warming?”
“I thought you didn’t like the holiday?” he chuckled nonchalantly, as if there wasn’t a raging changeling queen standing before him.
“Besides the point,” Chrysalis continued with a snarl. “You have obviously heard of me, so why am I here? And where is here? And who exactly-” She jabbed a hoof at him with a barely contained rage. “Are you?”
The old pony leaned back in his seat and folded his hooves over his chest. “Well now. Let us start with a basic introduction, shall we?” he laughed and stood. As he stood he slid off of his chair, and Chrysalis could see now he was much more rotund than he had appeared when he was sitting.
“My name is Santa Hooves,” he said with a polite bow.
Her jaw fell open slightly, temporarily stunned by his words before she quickly collected herself. “Santa... Hooves?” she groaned inwardly as she spoke. “Not the same pony Cozy Glow was just blabbering on about?”
“The very same,” he replied with a joyful smile.
The changeling facehoofed. “I must have gone mad,” she muttered. “Or perhaps I ate something? I told Tirek to wash the dishes more thoroughly...”
“I can assure you your being here is no accident, my dear,” he laughed with a shake of his luxuriously large beard and gestured towards the door she had entered through behind her. “If you would follow me, I will explain everything.”
Chrysalis stared at him warily, continuing to think she had gone insane from the amount of hate she had to repress for her teammates and their inane babbling about Hearth’s Warming. He walked around her slowly but purposefully, and his eyes continued to twinkle with a certain kindness--like an old grandfather speaking to his grandchildren--to them. She joined him at the door reluctantly, keeping her eyes focused solely on him and tensed her muscles up. He placed one hoof on the door and pushed it open.
Instead of the dull grey of the corridor she was expecting, Chrysalis winced as a sickeningly vibrant and colourful workshop, full of diminutive, bipedal creatures, no bigger than a child, dressed in red and green with overly large pointed red hats that bustled about in a flurry of movement met her.
“What...” she whispered as her eyes readjusted to the sudden increase in light. “What sort of enchantment is this?”
“Welcome to the North Pole,” the pony who called himself Santa cried happily and clapped a hoof on her back. “Walk with me, won’t you?” he told her, and stepped into the workshop.
Chrysalis followed him while looking around in awe at the sizeable machinery that pumped and churned around her, then down at the creatures tending to said machines. “What are they?” she asked, genuinely curious as there were not many creatures she was unfamiliar with.
“Elves,” the old pony stated matter-of-factly.
“Where do they come from? Not even the drones of the Hive could achieve such marvels as these machines...”
“Yes, they are quite technologically advanced aren’t they?” Santa laughed as he paused to let a group of the creatures rush passed. “They come from a far off place called Elfland. After I saw the terrible conditions they lived in, I invited them to come and work for me here in my workshop as a means of escape from the vicious trolls and orcs that preyed on them. And I must say, it has been an absolute delight having them here--thanks to their technological prowess, production has risen more than six hundred percent in recent years!” he stated proudly with a wide smile hidden behind his beard. His smile faded, however as he continued. “Although I’m afraid we’re a might behind schedule tonight, as you will soon see why.”
The former queen stopped and stared at the various beeping and whistling machines around her, and gawked as one elf walked around with a small device that made similar noises as he tinkered with it. After rousing herself she hurried to catch up with the surprisingly spry--both for his age and his size--stallion. As they rounded a corner they both stopped, and he turned to her.
“Tell me, Chrysalis,” he said in a kindly voice. “What do you know of the Krampus?”
Chrysalis frowned and readjusted herself as some of the diminutive creatures hurried passed her and through her legs. The tips of their large hats brushed against her underbelly making her involuntary let loose a giggle. “The Krampus?” she asked, quickly reaffirming her scowl and feeling her cheeks burn red for a moment. “Is that another ridiculous pony holiday?”
“Aha! If only it were so easy,” Santa chortled and shook his head. “No, alas, the Krampus is the reason you are here, and the source of my discontent for the evening. He is a troublemaker, the Dark Spirit of Hearth’s Warming. He mines and delivers coal to the naughty creatures of the world, as it has always been,” he explained. “Until tonight, however, when he committed a vile act of ultimate mischief and now threatens to destroy Hearth’s Warming by stealing something very important!”
Chrysalis blinked. “Like what?”
He pointed wordlessly to a large space where a conspicuously large absence of something should be. There was an outline drawn on the ground of some sort of contraption she didn’t recognise.
“My sleigh, my dear,” Santa sighed. “Without my sleigh I cannot possibly travel the world fast enough in a single night.” His smile faded for a moment and he looked down at her over his glasses. “I find myself in need of a Knight, you see, and you will do perfectly, Chrysalis.”
The changeling rounded on him. “Me? Why me, surely Cozy Glow or even Tirek would enjoy this more?”
He shook his head sadly. “I fear they would fall under the Krampus’s spell. He holds a spell that saps at the Hearth’s Warming Spirit every creature who shares in this holiday has. Every creature, that is, except you, Chrysalis.”
Chrysalis made an ‘o’ shape with her mouth and nodded. “I see. You need me because I do not care for your ridiculous holiday, is that it?”
“Precisely. I believe you will be immune to his wicked ways, and the natural combatant for such a foe.” He paused, and his eyes sparkled with knowledge. “Perhaps that is what Luna saw in you when she recruited you to be a Knight in the first place? A way to fight fire with fire as it were?”
“Humph,” she snorted. “You forget though, Santa, who I am perhaps? Why would I want to help ‘Santa Hooves’? What’s in it for me?”
Santa looked into her eyes with the same twinkling kindness he practically oozed ever since she met him. “Because you know it is the right thing to do, don’t you, Chrysalis?”
She felt her lip curl as she looked back at him, and turned her head away. “Ugh. Even so, the Nightmare Knights don’t do jobs for free. I believe there is a payment of sorts to be made?” she muttered.
“That will all be taken care of as soon as my sleigh is returned to me.” He lifted up his hat to retrieve a small watch which he tutted at as he looked at it. “Time is running out. It’s now or never, your majesty,” he said to her. “Will you help me save Hearth’s Warming?”
The movement behind them stopped, and the workshop fell silent save for the odd noise here and there. Chrysalis felt the beady little eyes of he elves on her, and sighed in discontent. “This is peer pressure, but fine,” she begrudgingly muttered. “I’ll do it.”
The elves all whooped and cheered and threw their hats in the air at her words. Several party streamers were thrown above her head, making her curse and grimace as confetti landed down around her head. She shook her hoof as a few of them climbed on top of one another and made a small tower and draped a garland of holly around her neck.
Santa stepped forwards and proceeded to grab and vigorously shake her hoof. “Splendid! I’m more than pleased to hear that, my dear. But before you go-” He nodded at a set of approaching elves carrying warm looking, woollen clothes and gestured to her. “You’ll want to put these on, lest you catch your death of cold out there.”
Chrysalis glared at him and the brightly coloured clothes. “Are you forgetting I can change my shape at will, Santa?” she snapped, and to demonstrate transformed into a thick woolled yak. “I do not need such garments.”
The old pony laughed and nodded. “Indeed you can and surely will,” he agreed. “However it is my understanding that the cold affects a changeling’s powers does it not?”
The former queen paled and lowered her voice to a whisper. “How do you know our darkest secret?” she hissed, and looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was listening as she transformed back into her regular self. “Tell no-one and nothing of what you know, or I will make you wish you hadn’t.”
Santa chortled and shook his head at her. “I know a great many things, my dear,” he replied ominously, ignoring the look she was giving him and turned away. “Now come, time is short and we must act while there are still a few hours left of Hearth’s Warming to save. I will explain on the way, follow me...”
***
Chrysalis stepped into the dark cave and out of the bitter cold of the North Pole with chattering teeth. The warm hat, sweater, scarf and long socks she wore did very little to aid with the cold despite Santa’s promises. But, she supposed, she hadn’t frozen yet, and so they served their purpose.
“Now,” she breathed. “Where is this wretch?”
She tentatively took a few steps forwards and ignited her horn, casting her familiar green magic over the walls and damp tunnels of the mountain, grateful for a reprieve from the outside.
When Santa had told her the Krampus made his lair on the tallest, grimmest looking mountain he wasn’t exaggerating, and it had been a mighty climb for her to do by herself against the howling winds and chest-tightening cold. Her breaths came as wisps on the wind, even in the relative warmth of the cave. She traced a hoof along one of the walls and cocked an ear out, listening as she heard a mad gleeful cackle from up ahead.
She gritted her teeth and readied herself as she followed the sound deeper into the mountain. The laughter grew louder and the words that followed became coherent after a time, so she took light steps forwards and cocked an ear out to listen.
“I’ve done it! After fifty thousand years I’ve finally done it! Hearth’s Warming will be ruined!”
Chrysalis braced herself as she rounded a corner and saw the flickering of a light nearby. If the Krampus lived up to his infamy, then he was surely as deadly as he was ancient, and that if there was to be a fight between them then it would rock the mountain itself. Good. She was in desperate need of venting her frustrations that came with the holiday and those insufferable fools she called teammates out on something, and with boiling blood and righteous fury she prepared herself to face the dreaded Krampus.
“That fat milksop won’t get anywhere without his ‘beloved’ sleigh! Nyehehehe!”
Unaware of her presence quickly approaching him, the Krampus continued to gleefully jeer and cheer for himself, and he began to giggle madly in his lair.
Chrysalis picked up the pace and pressed herself against the wall as she rounded the corner and spied him. There he was, in all his glory.
The Krampus was a giant of a pony, at least the size of Tirek after he had eaten a hefty portion of magic, coated lime green with a blood red mane, his sickly yellow eyes shone like beacons in the darkness, and atop his forehead sat a gnarled and twisted horn reminiscent of a tree root. On all four of his hooves was a large bell attached that rang and jingled with his movement. If not for them, the large creature would have been silent, for Chrysalis couldn’t hear any hoofsteps.
Just as she was about to step out and strike from the shadows, her ear twitched and she heard a sound; a sickening, disgusting sound. The Krampus also heard it and began to scowl.
“Geez I take the fat guy’s sleigh and all he does is start singing?!” he bellowed. “Him and those wretched elves of his!” He flounced around and paced back and forth. “Ooh how I hate Hearth’s Warming! Won’t anything destroy their infernal spirit?”
Chrysalis snorted in agreement with him, inadvertently bringing his attention onto her. They locked eyes and for a moment there was calm between them, until he exploded in a flurry of movement and stormed up to her and looked her up and down with his pale yellow eyes and his lip curled into a sneer.
“How dare you set hoof inside the lair of the Krampus?!” he bellowed in her face, making some spittle fly from his wretched teeth and land on her cheeks. “The impudence!” He raised a hoof and pointed to the ceiling in an overdramatic fashion. “The audacity! The un-mit-i-gat-ed gall!”
The changeling remained unfazed as he jammed his nose against hers and towered over her. “Well?!” he roared. “What have you got to say for yourself, missy?!”
“Are you quite finished?” she growled menacingly without batting an eye. “Or can we get down to business?”
The beast stepped back and ignited his horn in a flash of magic. “Business? Oh I’ll show you business, Chrysalis of the Nightmare Knights!” he barked. “You called down the thunder by setting hoof in my home! And now! Get ready for the boom as I leave you naught but a husk as you left countless of your own victims!” Magic erupted from his horn and fired directly at her, engulfing her in a flash of light. “Have a taste of your own medicine, your highness! Feel the Hearth’s Warming Spirit evaporate from your very bones!”
Chrysalis remembered what Santa had said and braced herself as the beast’s magic washed over her. It felt strange, like a slight tingle in the tips of her hooves but besides that totally harmless. She grinned, flashing her fangs at the Krampus as the magic swirled around her until it dissipated in a poof and a shimmer.
“Are you done?” she sneered.
Without missing a beat the Krampus stepped closer to her and raised a hoof at her in misguided triumph. “Aha! See now you quiver in fear in the face of evil itself! The terror you feel is welling up inside you, yes?” he chuckled with a sadistic glint in his eye.
Chrysalis glared at him as he began to circle her. “Not at all, no.”
“Denial is to be expected when dealing with pure evil,” the Krampus rasped, and flashed a grin at her.
“I’ve seen scarier things than some green lunatic,” the former queen muttered at him, looking him in the eye. “Can we get a move on? I’ve apparently got a holiday to save.”
He pouted for a moment before narrowing his eyes at her. “Hmm. I see the raw, unadulterated fear I cause you to feel has already addled your mind, poor little bug,” he murmured.
“Who are you calling bug?!”
“Very well, seen as how your mind is already ravaged I shall simply take my leave and wash my hooves of you.” He waved a hoof at her and turned his head nonchalantly. “Go on now, be on your way. While you still have use of your legs--whoa!”
Chrysalis hoisted him up in a blaze of her own magic and slammed him into the floor. “Listen to me you... snivelling worm,” she snarled as she looked into his fear-soaked eyes. “I am Queen Chrysalis of the Hive--formerly of the Hive-” she corrected herself with a grunt of irritation. “-Now a Nightmare Knight. I am not a frightened foal, nor do I care for simpletons--especially on a day such as today.”
The Krampus made a gargling sound from inside his throat. Chrysalis lifted him up enough for him to speak and sneered at him. “Something you wish to say, Krampus?”
“What do you want?” he mumbled, losing all of his bluster and self importance in a matter of seconds.
“The sleigh,” she growled.
“Fine, take it. Take whatever you want, just don’t hurt me, ‘kay?”
With a grunt of irritation she spun him around and sat his flank down on the cold hard floor of the cave. “What a wimp,” she grunted and released her magical hold of him. “So much for pure evil. Where’s the presentation?”
The Krampus cleared his throat and addressed her, shaking in fear. “Listen I just mine the coal, alright? Me and the fat guy have a rivalry going on; I do this, break a few things here, kidnap some elves there, steal presents from Equestrian towns every now and then, you name it--but he’s never sent a hit-creature out to get me before! What’s up with that anyway?”
“You’ve never stolen his sleigh before and threatened to destroy the holiday for good?”
He balked and pushed his front hooves together. “Uhh... well no, not exactly.”
“So don’t do it again. Or I’ll be back.” Chrysalis curled her lip at him as she climbed into the sleigh and looked utterly befuddled at all the buttons before her. “How does this work?”
“Push the big red button and tell it where you want to go,” the Krampus quickly answered. “I can show you if you’d like-”
“That’s a hard pass,” she interrupted him with a scowl on her face. She pressed the big red button as indicated and a series of lights lit up. She cleared her throat and narrowed her eyes. “Santa’s Workshop,” she stated, loudly and clearly. Something inside of it hummed to life and the engine hissed and wheezed like a steam train.
The Krampus scrambled to his hooves and smoothed his coat down. “So, uh... we cool?” he asked her as the sleigh began to rise into the air.
Chrysalis fixed him with a cold glare, one of the tricks she had picked up from Tempest. “If you pull something like this again do not think I won’t come back and finish the job,” she warned with a wag of her hoof. “I know where you live, Krampus.”
As her words sunk in the red and green, so-called Dark Spirit of Hearth’s Warming--an exaggeration on Santa’s part Chrysalis believed--gulped and stepped back as the sleigh took off into the night, zooming through the air towards the workshop. He stood there for a moment before tutting and immediately began to draw up plans for next year’s Hearth’s Warming, including designing and preparing to install an alarm system in case of changeling intruders.
“Next time, Nightmare Knight,” he growled. “Next time I’ll be ready for you...”
***
Unable to sleep, Tempest Shadow had taken to reading some of Tirek’s books about magical portals that appeared suddenly and took creatures against their wills. She wondered where Chrysalis was right now, unafraid to show how worried she really was, showing true concern for her teammates.
As she reached the end of the current book she closed it quietly and let loose an irritated grunt of frustration and despair.
She closed her eyes and took a few slow breaths, trying to centre and calm herself. She needed to be slow and methodical, just like Twilight would. But her teammate’s life was possibly in danger maybe, and if not her, then whoever took her was possibly in even more danger, and a lost, raging changeling queen supposed to be in her charge would look decidedly bad for the Knights, and possibly jeopardize their entire standing.
She heard some hoofsteps behind her, and felt the warm glow of the light of the fridge spill out from the kitchen in the adjacent room. She opened her eyes and prepared herself to order whoever it was, probably Cozy stress eating again, back to bed. They had a big day tomorrow, searching for their lost number, and she needed them all to be one hundred percent. Herself included, she realised, and scolded herself for staying up so late.
She cocked an ear out and listened as she waited for whoever it was to come through again, and as she heard the fridge door close she saw a familiar green light lit up the world. Who else of course but the missing Knight herself, Chrysalis in the flesh, stalked through the room, wearing a set of pink, woollen clothes, and sucking on the business end of an entire carton of milk. Her gulps were the only sound as they locked eyes with one another, frozen in time for a moment.
Tempest’s eyes shrunk in a quiet fury. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” she snapped.
Chrysalis slowly took the carton of milk out of her mouth and wiped its opening down with her hoof before offering it towards the unicorn. “I’m sorry did you want some?” she mumbled.
The commander, despite herself, found that she began to smile. Partially in relief, partially in finding the humour in a bad situation. She stood from her seat and moved to stand beside the changeling, and stretched out a hoof. She stopped herself and hesitated, seemingly to grapple with her own thoughts for a moment before shrugging and lunged forwards to give her teammate--her friend--a short but tight hug. With an awkward pat she pulled away and jutted her head down in a nod.
“It’s good to see you’re alive,” she said quietly and looked at her strange attire she was wearing up and down. “I don’t even wanna know. Let’s get some sleep--you look tired.”
The former queen also nodded with a grunt. In the low light cast by her magic, Tempest swore she could see a smile on the changeling’s lips. “You have no idea...” she murmured, and set the now empty carton of milk down. “I hate Hearth’s Warming,” she reaffirmed, earning a light chuckle from the unicorn with a broken horn.
***
A few hours later...
While most ponies were waking up and celebrating Hearth’s Warming Day with their loved ones, friends and family, Director Luna was busy striding up to the reception desk at Canterlot General’s Psych Ward, preparing herself to visit a certain stallion being treated there. She cleared her throat and rapped her hoof on the hard wooden desk.
The nurse behind it jumped in fright at the sudden presence of the midnight alicorn. “Oh!” she cried and whipped off the red an white bobbled hat she wore with an embarrassed smile. “Miss Luna. What a surprise, Happy Hearth’s Warming!”
Luna smiled at her, trying to hide her waning patience. “I’m here to visit a Mr. Crane. I brought him in a month ago?”
After picking up and scouring a clipboard for the information she needed under the intense stare of the alicorn, the nurse quietly and quickly replied. “Crane... Crane... ah yes, he is in 3B-A, your majes--Miss Luna.”
“Thank you. Tell me about him. Is he a danger to anypony?” Luna strode passed her, causing several nurses and orderlies wearing jolly green sweaters to scramble out of her way.
“N-no, miss, but he... um... he’s scary, in a different way,” the nurse stuttered as she quickly rose from her seat to join the dark mare. “We give all our patients some paper to write their thoughts down on, to help them cope you see,” she explained as they walked. “But Mr. Crane, he... he used up all the paper we gave him, and took to writing on the walls and the floors instead.”
“What sort of things?”
“Mad things, miss.”
“I see.” Luna nodded. “How is his health?”
The young mare hung her head sadly. “Bad. Despite our best efforts, he barely eats. Sleeps even less. He barely even keeps himself clean. We had to sedate him just to give him a bath after the first week.”
“And has he said anything?”
“Only the odd word here and there,” the nurse answered with a shiver. “Things like he’s coming, that he must run, that he has-”
“To hide. I see.”
As they reached 3B-A, she noticed the shocked and pallid face the nurses around them had as they looked at the door and furrowed her brow, wondering what in Equestria the skinny, scarecrow-like pony from Shady Hollow could have done to unsettle them all so much. With a deep breath she pressed her hoof against the door and pushed, and stared at the ghastly sight before her.
On the wall, the floor and the ceilings, there were indeed drawings and scribblings belonging to a madpony. His bed was pressed up against the wall, seemingly to give him more space to draw and write, while Crane himself looked on the verge of death, with dark ringed, sunken eyes and gaunt cheeks. His messy mane was greasy and clung to his scalp, and his coat--although brushed and recently washed. He twitched and looked up at the sudden movement in his vision.
His mouth opened and a silent hiss of air escaped him. His lips were cracked and dry, and his teeth looked in as bad condition as the rest of him.
Luna quickly strode over to him and knelt by his side. “Hello Mr. Crane. Do you remember me?”
The scrawny pony moved his head in such a way that could have been interpreted as a nod, although it was too weak to tell for certain.
“Would you like a chair, Miss Luna?” asked the nurse nervously, giving the drawings around the room a wary glance.
“That won’t be necessary, thank you.”
Luna brushed aside some remnants of blackened chalk and sat down on the floor opposite the decrepit stallion. “Well. Down to business, I suppose. I’ve come to ask you if you can tell me anything you can tell me about Shady Hollow, Mr. Crane.” As she finished she saw what looked like a flicker of recognition in his eyes. “Please. Is there anything you remember?”
Crane looked at her gravely before twisting his body around to point with a shaky hoof towards the bed propped up against the wall. “You wish to show me something?” she asked him.
He nodded weakly.
The alicorn’s horn ignited and she moved the bed aside, only to gasp and feel her chest tighten with a sudden and intense cold as if she had just set hoof on the North Pole itself. Though crude, she could plainly see what he had drawn and why he had covered it up, for it disturbed her immensely so, he himself, as well as the nurse caring for him judging by her small shriek.
It was Canterlot, engulfed in flames. A shadow with crow-like wings towered above the carnage that-- even though just a chalk drawing--radiated a sinister presence. And at the centre of it all, Luna could see five figures standing side by side. Four of them she recognised, but the fifth? She had an inkling as to who, but...
“He’s coming...” Crane whispered, breaking her train of thought. He began to shake and quiver in fear at the drawing. “Have to hide... or run...”
As the afflicted pony began rambling quietly to himself, Luna turned to the shocked and horrified mare standing in the doorway. “Get me Princess Twilight,” she snapped. “Immediately. Tell her it’s urgent.”
The nurse nodded her head and darted away to do her bidding. The former princess looked back at the mural and felt her chest tighten in anxiety even more.
“May the stars preserve us...”
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First. Also, I wonder, are we getting foreshadowing of Poner the Ponerian, the Trotter, the Destructor of Stables?
I enjoyed this chapter. Looking forward for more.
Well, very low temparature would affects powers of a lot creatures, I think
Peer pressure is a bitch, isn't it?
This made me laught. That was good.
This is a pretty spot-on.
10598848
I had someone else in mind but Poner the Ponerian is pretty good, I might have to steal that
10598946
I like to think lovebugs even more so
No comment
"Hello 47. Your next target, the Krampus, is located in the North Pole living in a mountain. Eliminate the target by any means necessary, and save Christmas. The client is offering a bonus if the body is never found."
Yeah imagine kidnapping someone only to find out they're amongst the possibly scariest things in existence
10599111
Nah, Chrysalis isn't scary. She is a pumpkin, she wouldn't hurt a fly
But, now serisouly, I really liked how Krampus realized that he is a waaaaay out of his league when comes to dealing with former Changeling Queen
This brings a tear to my eye.
You're a mean one, the Krampus...
10599194
Oh, Krampus, you done f*cked up now.
I imagine Chryssie's very presence sucks out Heart's Warming's joy out of her surroundings, like a tiny black hole.
I guess their powers, cough, shrink on the cold.
You should keep that sweater, Chryssie, it should fit perfectly wrapped around Thorax's head as you hang him under the ceiling like a piñata and beat him with a large stick.
I wonder what she got in return.
'flapped passed her' - past
'coked an ear out' - cocked
10606716
Like a tiny, adorable black hole we all love.
Jeez you been doin' the rounds haven't you?
Thanks for all the spots--no matter how many times I check over them I always miss like a dozen apparently 
Glad to see you're enjoying it so far too
10606727
Yeah, the cutest black hole.
Yeah, as it happens periodically, I'm craving new good fics involving Chrysalis (but not as the main villain who's destined to lose), and by sheer luck I stumbled upon this fic again by iteratively browsing the 'similar' tab, after having forgotten to track it back when it was first published. I'm happy to see it progressing nicely.
I used to work as a translator, so I know that spotting errors in your own work is always more difficult. Always happy to help.
10606716
Well, Chryssie deserves every ounce of joy she can get
That was amusing. Chrysalis is so spiteful towards the holiday, that only she can stop the being that can shut down anyone who loves it. The ending with Tempest was also nice.
I like how you also crammed some important story bits into this seemingly joke chapter. Really ties it to all the other ones. I wonder who the beings depicted by the crazy pony were.
10846672
I can't say I watched that cartoon myself, so this is new to me. Either way, it's pretty fun.
It is a pity that we were not shown what Chryssy received as a reward for saving the holiday.
The episode turned out to be really cute and warm.
Well, between Scrooge-alis, the Grimpus, and that ominous-as-Fyay ending, I'd say this was a darn good chapter!
11383408
Thank you! Not to toot my own horn (thoroughly to toot my own horn) but it gets better in my opinion 
Good to see the size of the "idiot ball" being held isn't TOO large... or so I hope. She could just be being Kind, rather than also continuing the investigation. Outside chance of this not being Crane, but I seriously doubt it.
The ending was... Interesting. So The Headless Horse has allies? Or was the legend somehow NOT true until some schemer transformed Crane to make it real? Is Bones in league with the villians? I seem to recall he wasn't a good person in the original story.