The Hearth's Warming Eve Truce.
"Alright girls, you know the drill! Move, move, move!" Scootaloo shouted as she, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle took off at a full gallop across the snow covered school yard. They each slid in behind three near by snow walls and hunkered down just before several very large and cold snow balls went whizzing by just over head.
Apple Bloom popped her head up just above the wall and yelled out to Pipsqueak, Snips, and Snails on the opposite side of the battlefield, "Heh-heh, y'all couldn't even hit the broad side of a barn!" She then lobbed a few extra large snowballs high into the air in the boys direction like mortar shells, forcing them to break from cover and scurry around to avoid being hit.
After avoiding the snow shells, Snips shouted from his new cover, "Yeah, well, looks like you can't either. Come on out so I can work on my aim!
Apple Bloom ducked back down and whispered over to Scootaloo and Sweetie, "Scoots, you flank left, I'll flank right, Sweetie, you charge straight up the middle causing as much noise as possible to distract them. On my mark, three, two, one, mark!"
Sweetie Belle immediately rolled around the snow wall and gave a loud battle cry, picking up a pre-made snowball here and there along the way and flinging it as hard as she could, as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom charged around the edges all the while pelting the boys with a vicious barrage of snowballs and catching them completely off guard.
"Alright! Alright! We surrender! We Surrender!" The barrage of snow stopped just as quickly as it had begun with the CMC standing victorious on the battlefield once more. Each of the CMC went over and helped up the other team amid a sudden outburst of cheers and whistles. All that were present looked around to see Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash standing, hovering in Rainbow's case, at the gate to the school yard, each with a large smile on their face.
The CMC began to gallop away from the battlefield toward their sisters, but shouted back over their shoulders, "See ya! Same time tomorrow?!"
Pipsqueak and Snips shouted back, "Sure thing, but we are gonna win!"
"That's what you said the last time, and look what happened!" shouted Scootaloo. The boys just waved off her comment with a hoof and started to trot in the direction of their homes as the Crusaders reached their sisters.
"Hehe, whoo-wee, I taught you well, didn't I sis." Applejack said as she gave her sister a playful noogie.
"Eyep!" Apple Bloom replied with a toothy smile.
"And that perfect trident attack! That was awesome!" Rainbow Dash said as she did a back flip.
"I know right!" Scootaloo shouted as she joyfully buzzed her wings and hovered about a foot off the ground in excitement.
"Yes, I must say, that was excellent teamwork there." Rarity said with a smile.
"Thanks, Rar." Sweetie Belle said with a grin just as big as Apple Blooms.
A sudden blast of cold wind tousled their manes and tails and partially took their breath away making them shiver as the sun finally began to dip below the horizon
"Alright, y'all, it's gettin late, we don't want to be late for Twilight's Hearth's Warming Eve party, she'll give us all a lecture on punctuality or somethin like that, and since Pinkie is putting it together with her, it's probably already started." Applejack said with an amused snort.
"Heh, yeah, I could totally see Twilight doing that, and then boring us all to death with that trademarked lecture..." Suddenly an impish smile spread across Rainbow Dash's face as she began to rub her front hooves together.
"Rainbow... what are schemin on now?" asked Applejack as she rolled her eyes at the hovering pegasus.
"Oh, it's nothing big, just a plan to save for later is all."
"Riiight, well, come on y'all, times a wastin."
All six ponies began the short trot to the Golden Oaks Library, all of them eager to get out of the cold and into the warmth and light of the library.
As they trotted down the main street of Ponyville, they all took in all that there was to see and hear on an evening such as this. The freshly fallen snow had turned Ponyville into a winter wonderland. All the buildings looked as if they were gigantic freshly constructed gingerbread houses with lots of icing all over their roofs, and the sounds of laughter and singing could be heard from inside the various houses they passed. As they were walking, it began to snow slightly once more. The CMC, walking next to their sisters, stuck out their tongues in an attempt to catch the icy crystals, causing Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash to chuckle at the admittedly adorable sight. The group soon reached the library where Applejack gave three quick knocks on the door. The door opened almost immediately to reveal Spike just to the side of the doorway. The smell of Pinkie's delicious holiday baking hit each of them in the face like a warm, moist, icing covered brick making their mouths immediately begin to water.
"Hey guys, come on in!" Spike said happily.
The group stepped through the doorway gladly and trotted over to the cushions set on the floor around a short legged table that was set in front of a merrily crackling fire.
"Hey girls." Twilight said as she came around the corner from the small nook kitchen, as well as hovering a plate of Hearth's Warming Eve cookies and mugs full of Sweet Apple Acres brand hot apple cider. Pinkie soon came around the corner as well, bringing a few holiday dishes along too.
"I sure am glad everypony could make it," said Twilight
"Now you know we wouldn't miss this sugarcube, this is a tradition now." Applejack said with a smile as she took her hat off and laid it down next to herself.
"Agreed, we wouldn't dream of missing this." Rarity said as she took a small sip of the hot cider from her mug and gave a small shiver of delight as the warm liquid seamed to melt away all the cold from the tips of her ears all the way down to her hooves.
"Hey, wait a second, where's Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked as she glanced around the room for the yellow pegasus as she landed herself on a cushion.
"Oh, she's just feeding her animals before coming over, she'll be here in just a few minutes." Twilight said. And without fail, a few minutes later there came the sound of a few faint knocks from the large oak door and a quiet "Hello?"
Twilight quickly grabbed the door handle in her magical grip and gently pulled the door open to revel what almost looked like a snow pony somepony had built just outside the door in the mounting snow storm. The snowpony gave a sudden shiver and the snow slid off to reveal Fluttershy.
"Well, don't just stand around in the cold. Come on in and grab a seat, Flutters!" Rainbow Dash called out merrily as she gestured to the one remaining spot. Fluttershy quickly entered and closed the door behind her with some difficulty, against the cold, blowing wind.
"Wow," Rainbow Dash said as Fluttershy slowly hovered over to her place and gently landed, "I knew the weather office ordered some more snow for tonight, but not that much. I sure feel sorry for all those new guys that always get stuck with the holiday jobs."
"Yeah," Fluttershy replied, "If it keeps going it will be a blizzard soon."
"Well then, now that we are all here, dig in!" Twilight proclaimed as she gestured to the various dishes of large haywiches, mashed potatoes, salad, and other vegetables and fruits with a large bowl of gems and minerals for Spike, on the table. There was also a few plates heaped with desserts for after their supper.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
After an hour or so everypony finished up eating and the table had been removed so that they could now all sit around the warm fire.
"That was mighty fine Twi." Applejack said as she leaned back and let out a sudden belch. "Hehe, pardon." She said with a blush and a sheepish smile.
Twilight giggled and said, "No need, I just take that to mean you enjoyed the food."
"Heh, every last bit of it." Applejack said as she patted her full belly.
"Psst, Twilight, can we do the present swap now?" Pinkie asked while bouncing up and down with a huge grin on her face.
"Hmmm, I suppose." Twilight activated her magic and down the stairs ten presents came floating down and landed in between them. "Alright everypony, pick a number out of AJ's hat here and we can get started." Twilight quickly floated the hat around the room allowing all to pick a number for a turn.
Soon the inside of the library was filled with the sounds of ripping paper and gleeful shouts as each picked out the present they thought was most promising or stole one.
Soon everypony had opened all the gifts and were satisfied with what they had and were siting around, gazing at the dancing and twisting flames of the fire in front of them when Rainbow Dash suddenly got up and went over to the door, cracked it open, and peered out to check on the weather. When she had pulled her head back in and latched the door, her face was covered in snow.
"Welp, looks like we aren't going anywhere tonight." Rainbow said as she shook her head to clear off the snow.
"What makes you say that, dear?" Rarity asked as she looked back at Rainbow.
"It's turned into a full out blizzard out there. Now I know the weather office didn't call for this much snow. Dang rookies, I'm going to have to whip them into shape for letting this get out of control, and my lieutenant too. Oh well." Rainbow trotted back to her spot and fell over with a muffled whump.
Suddenly Twilight's head shot up and her eyes seemed to sparkle as an idea suddenly came to her.
"You know, since we are going to be here for a while now, why don't I tell you all a Hearth's Warming Eve story?"
Fluttershy slightly raised a hoof and asked with a confused look, "But, don't we all already know the Hearth's Warming Eve story? I mean, we even acted it out before."
"Yes, that's true, but that's not the story I am talking about. You guys have probably never heard this story before. You see, back when I still lived at home, back in Canterlot, one Hearth's Warming Eve, Shining Armor told this story to me. It's a really old military story that he heard while going through boot camp."
"It all started back just after Princes Celestia and Princess Luna defeated discord and turned him to stone. As the Princesses were beginning to clean up the huge mess discord had left in his wake, the king of the Griffin Kingdom far to the east recognized that Equestria was at the weakest it had ever been. He began to lay plans to attempt to seize Equestria from the Princesses and claim it for himself. He soon began ordering small scouting groups into Equestrian territory to attempt to judge its strength and resources. Then, one night, one of the Griffin Kingdom's scouting parties was spotted by Luna herself. She swooped down out of the night sky like a shadow and captured the three griffins in her strong magic.
"For what reason are thou on sovereign, Equestrian soil?!" Luna shouted as she squeezed them tighter and tighter until one of the griffin's resolve finally broke and told her that the Griffin king had sent them.
With a smirk Luna said, "Go, and tell this to your master, if he sends any more of you, we will take it as an act of aggression against our kingdom and will respond with force... now GO!" and she hurled all three of them as hard as she could. A few weeks went by without incident but both Luna and Celestia knew griffin patrols were still being sent into their territory. Then, everything changed when a lone, heavily armored special forces griffin was seen skulking around the perimeter of the Everfree Forest. Celestia and Luna immediately sent word to the Griffin king that if he wished to attempt a war, then a war he would surely have, and thus, the Equestrian-Griffin War began."
"Oh yeah! I remember this, we talked about that war earlier in the school year." Sweetie Belle said as she looked over at her friends lying beside their sisters.
"Yeah, we did, didn't we? The entire war was fought in huge battles in open ground and in a series of long, deep, trenches." Scootaloo said with a nod.
Apple Bloom looked over at Scootaloo with one eyebrow raised, "You actually paid attention in one of our classes?"
"Yeah, that one was actually interesting."
Apple Bloom shrugged and said, "Anyway, go on ahead Twilight, what happened next?"
"Well, the Griffon Kingdom quickly took the challenge to heart and sent massive invasion forces onto Equestrian soil. Celestia and Luna knew that a large invasion was immanent and had the Equestrian Guard dig trenches all along the borders nearest to the Griffin Kingdom to provide cover for her troops. Each and every one of the battles was fierce and bloody, unicorns shooting spells from the trenches, the pegasi attacking in mid air and on the ground with razor sharp wing blades, and heavily armed and armored juggernaut earth ponies running into the no-pony land in between the trench lines to eliminate high priory targets. All the while the griffins were using their amazing strength and blind fury on anything that came within range of their sharp claws and talons on the ground and in the air as well. Soon though, the war was starting to look more and more like a stalemate as neither side could gain an upper hand and overcome the other. It was also beginning to turn increasingly cold as the middle of winter was fast approaching. Soon Hearth's Warming Eve was upon them all. It was a cold snowy night, with a full moon hovering high in the night sky, bathing all of Equestria in its silvery light. All along the fronts, the sounds of battle faded as the night wore on, until nothing but the sound of the snow falling could be heard as everypony rested for a while. Then suddenly, a lone voice broke through the silence of the night, singing the old Heart Carol from the Equestrian side of one of the battlefields,
The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through (will see us through)
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end.
And as the singing wore on, more and more voices joined in, until it sounded as if a full choir were singing. All the while the weary griffins could hear the singing and one by one began to join in along with the ponies. Each side singing and calling to one another until finally one brave soul from the Equestrian side stood up and crawled out of the trench and into the no-pony land, signalling to the griffins to do the same. After a few tense minutes, the griffins began to crawl out of their trenches as well, so as to meet the ponies they were fighting against, not even eight hours ago. Soon, the night was filled with the sound of laughter, and singing. A few random games of hoof ball broke out as well between the ponies and the griffins while others chose to exchange gifts and trinkets with one another as day break came. And then there were others from both sides that had the much more somber task of retrieving the bodies of their fallen brothers for a proper burial. But soon, as with all temporary truces, the fighting resumed with full force, but it still goes to show, that even at the worst of times, the Hearth's Warming season can bring out the best in everyone, even the most bitter of enemies."
As Twilight finished her story, everypony there applauded quietly for the good story.
"That was absolutely marvelous, Twilight." Rarity said.
"Eyep." Applejack agreed.
"Yeah." Yawned Apple Bloom as she rubbed an eye and began to slowly sink down onto her seat as sleep slowly overtook her and her friends.
Applejack chuckled and smiled down at her sister then looked up at the others and said, "Say, y'all want to sing that song? For old times sake, it just feels right."
Everypony agreed and Rarity started the carol in a soft, sweet voice as the others quickly joined in...
The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through (will see us through)
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end.
As they finished, Twilight looked at each of her friends with a warm smile and quietly said, "I'm so glad I have you as friends, I love you all like family."
"Same here, sugarcube, same here." Applejack said with a warm smile of her own.
Then Twilight said, "You know what, why don't you all just stay here tonight, I don't think anything can move out there in that snow tonight anyway."
"That's mighty kind of you Twi." Applejack said as she snuggled down next to Apple Bloom and wrapped her tail around her.
"Yeah, Twilight, thanks. I was thinking I would freeze my tail off going back to Sugar Cube Corner tonight. Tell you what, in the morning, i'm going to make us all waffles." Pinkie said quietly and with a large grin.
Twilight grinned as well as she laid down next to a sleeping Spike and said, "Not a problem girls, and that sounds great Pinkie. Good night everypony, Happy Hearth's Warming."
Rarity and Rainbow Dash chuckled as they settled down next to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
Fluttershy quietly said, "Happy Hearth's Warming, to you too Twilight." while Pinkie let out a soft snort and then a snore as she laid on her back.
Soon everypony was fast asleep next to the the low burning flames of the fire, dreaming of sweets, gifts, and friendship as the snow outside gently floated down, now at a slow, steady pace.
The End