Legend says that little ponies who don't honor the spirit of friendship on Hearth's Warming Eve will draw the attention of a beast who will take them away forever. Tonight good fillies should hide their heads... because Grogar is coming to town.
The winter’s wind is blowing hard. The air is thick and white. All good foals should hide their heads Because HE comes tonight. Hooks and chains and ringing bells Are among HIS favorite toys. Screams and cries and filly’s tears Are things that HE enjoys. HE comes tonight not to give, HE comes tonight to take So you’d better be good, my little one If only for goodness sake. Tonight the stars will hide their eyes, The good shall make no sound. For tonight is Hearth’s Warming Eve, And GROGAR is coming to town.
Applebloom peered out the window as the blizzard raged outside. She watched as the harsh winds blew around the normally fruitful spaces of Sweet Apple Acres. The wind howled and moaned against the various buildings that made up the farm as a whole. It sounded to her like the melancholy singing of some long forgotten ghost, lost and alone on a freezing Equestrian night. The old wood that made up the Apple family's farm house groaned against the dual assaults of the cold and the wind. The creaking and the moaning would have put another filly on edge, but Applebloom knew better. These timbers had held for long before the day of her birth and somehow she knew they had no intention of giving up the ghost anytime soon.
Others might not have had the same faith that she had.
"Applebloom? Are you sure that the roof isn't going to come crashing down on us in the middle of the night?"
Applebloom sighed rested her head on the window's glass. "Just like I told you the last seven times, Button; it'll be fine."
Behind her, Button Mash pawed at the floor nervously. "...you promise?"
"Button, you are really making me regret asking Applebloom to invite you over tonight." Scootaloo rolled her eyes as she sipped from her mug of warm cider.
"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle's voice cracked slightly as she admonished her friend from across the couch. "What a thing to say!"
Diamond Tiara sipped her own cider as she looked up from the magazine she'd been reading. "That does beg the question; why is Button Mash here? I thought this was a girl's only sleepover."
Applebloom finally pulled herself away from the window and nimbly jumped onto her nearby chair. "I never specified one way or the other. How was I supposed to know that only Button's mama would give him permission to come over?" She spared the brown colt a pitying look. "I'm sorry none of the other boys could come. You must be bored to tears."
Button Mash chuckled. "It's fine. To tell you the truth, Mom only let me come because she says I need to socialize more."
"Well, you do spend all your free time at the arcade." Silver Spoon re-entered the room and reclaimed her place on the floor beside Diamond Tiara. "But let's be honest with ourselves here; we're not just here because 'Bloom asked us over. We're here so our parents could get rid of us for the night."
"Discarded on Hearth's Warming Eve." Sweetie Belle muttered.
"So the stallions and mares can hide from the blizzard in Town Hall and drink enough hard cider to forget they even have kids." Diamond Tiara pouted.
"Man, grown-up ponies suck." Scootaloo grumbled.
"I'll thank you to respect your elders when you're in this house, little missy."
The six young pony's heads turned and watched as Applejack entered the room. She quickly removed her heavy coat and tossed it by the blazing fire to dry. She doffed her hat and began brushing the excess snow from the worn leather. Her eyes remained focused on Scootaloo. "Now... you were saying about grown-up ponies?"
Scootaloo offered an embarrassed grin. "I didn't mean they all did."
"Applejack? That you?" Granny Smith poked her head out of the kitchen. "You make the delivery alright?"
"Yes ma'am." The farmer flipped her hat over and pulled out a crumpled receipt. "Fifteen barrels of hard cider delivered to Mayor Mare personally. She said just bring this to her office the day after tomorrow and we'll get paid in full." She looked back over at the young ponies. "Yer folks say 'Hi.'"
"No they didn't." Silver Spoon muttered under her breath.
Diamond Tiara nudged her best friend in the ribs and looked past Applejack. "Where's Big Macintosh? Did you lose him in the snow?"
"Nope." Came the deep reply as Macintosh Apple strode into the room. He tossed his own coat on top of Applejack's and gestured behind him. "But we did find somepony else out there."
A stone grey mare poked her head into the room and smiled through a curtain of mane the color of gravel. "Um... Hi."
"Marble!" Applebloom ran across the room and hugged the earth pony tightly, much to the mare's discomfort and joy. "What are you doin' here?"
"The Pie family came in to see Pinkie and had to shove themselves into just one room at the Inn. I told Marble's ma and pa that we had plenty of room but Pinkie's parents had already settled in and Limestone didn’t feel like walkin’ in the snow.”
“And Maud?”
Applejack shrugged. “Maud is Maud.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Granny muttered before turning a gummy smile to Pinkie’s twin. “Well, there’s always room for ya in this house. Make yerself comfortable. Cookies are nearly done.”
Applejack made sure Granny was safely in the kitchen before she turned to her brother and the mare next to him. “Why don’t you give Marble a quick tour of the house, Mac?” She made a point of adjusting an ornament on the decorated Hearth’s Warming tree. “Before Granny comes back, I mean.”
Mac and Marble blushed and gave each other small, shy, secret smiles. “Would you… like to see the house?” The great red stallion asked.
“Mmhmm.”
Once the love struck pair were gone and Applejack had joined her grandmother in the kitchen, the five fillies and solitary colt resumed their pre-cookie activities.
“So… is this a Hearth’s Warming Eve tradition?” Silver Spoon asked with an exaggerated yawn.
Applebloom raised an eyebrow once she’d reclaimed her chair. “Is what a tradition, exactly?”
“Sitting around until we die of boredom.”
Despite her recently reformed status, Diamond Tiara could not resist giving a mean-spirited snort of laughter. Upon seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders withering looks, she looked away in embarrassment. “Sorry.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, Silver Spoon has a point. Are we actually going to do anything tonight?” Button Mash jumped onto the couch next to Sweetie Belle and paid no mind to her barely suppressed squeak of surprise. “In my house, we play games on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”
“There’s a shocker.” Scootaloo muttered into her cider.
Button cut his eyes at her. “And what do you do in your house, if I may ask?”
Scootaloo grinned. “Hearth’s Warming Eve in my house is the best. We do this ancient pegasi tradition called the Mystery Gift. Everypony passes around an empty box, opens it, and pretends it’s exactly what we wanted for Hearth’s Warming. The others have to guess what it is.”
Applebloom smiled. “That’s really neat, Scoots.”
“But what do you win?” Diamond Tiara shoved the magazine over to Silver Spoon and propped herself up on the pillow she was stretched out on. “The pony who guesses the most times, I mean. What do they win?”
Scootaloo crossed her forelegs and gave a cocky smirk. “The winner gets to open the first gift on Hearth’s Warming morning. I’ve won the last three years in a row.”
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes at the orange filly’s bravado and looked to Sweetie Belle. “What about you? Do you have some old unicorn traditions?”
Sweetie Belle thought about it as she lit her horn and levitated her mug away from her and onto a nearby coffee table. “Not sure about ancient traditions. My dad drinks a lot, if that counts.”
“That’s not a tradition.” Silver Spoon whispered into Diamond Tiara’s ear. “That’s therapy fodder.”
Diamond Tiara pulled away and glared at her best friend. “Can you please stop being so rude?”
“Well excuse me for actually wanting to have fun on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”
Applebloom looked sharply at the silver filly. “Is something wrong?”
Silver Spoon rolled her eyes and returned to the magazine. “Nothing’s wrong. If we were at my house right now, we’d be opening the first gifts of Hearth’s Warming.” She looked around the room smugly. “I get so many presents each year that we have to start the night before.”
“Wow! You’re such a lucky pony!” Scootaloo let Sweetie Belle’s magic carry her own empty mug away. “I sure do wish that my parents had to buy my love every season!”
“Please, Scootaloo.” Silver Spoon narrowed her eyes at the pegasi’s sarcastic tone of voice. “Don’t get all mean just because your family is so poor that they had to come up with a tradition where you pretend that you’re excited to get literally nothing for Hearth’s Warming.”
Scootaloo’s wings flared and she jumped to the floor. “My family isn’t poor. And at least we know the real reason for the season.”
Silver Spoon pushed the magazine away and stood on her own hooves. “Just what I’d expect to hear from the girl who’s shown up these past few winters in the same ragged coat.”
“I like that coat.” She took another step forward.
“You don’t know any better.” The earth pony mirrored her.
“Stop it, Silvy.” Diamond Tiara begged. She reached out a hoof but pulled back when Silver Spoon yanked her leg away.
“Honestly, if we weren’t in Applebloom’s house right now I’d kick your flank from here to Manehatten.”
Sweetie Belle started to climb off the couch. “Scootaloo, maybe we should all calm down…”
“You wanna fight? Let’s fight.” Silver Spoon’s ears flattened, “It’ll probably make Sweetie Belle feel right at home if you start acting like her dad after too many hard ciders.”
Sweetie Belle froze, and then pulled herself back onto the couch. “I’ll do your homework for the next two months if you break her glasses.”
Button Mash looked around in confusion. “Is this what normally happens at girl’s sleepovers?”
Scootaloo tensed to spring. “Last chance. Take back what you said about my family.”
“Hey!”
“…and Sweetie Belle’s.”
Silver Spoon snorted and pawed at the floor, her tail whipping back and forth. “The only thing that should be taken back around here is that old, smelly, patched, stained, manure encrusted coat of yours!”
“THAT’S IT!”
The two fillies rushed at each other.
“STOP!” Applebloom leaped between them and held out her hooves to stop them. “Just stop all this right now!”
“Now what in tarnation is goin’ on in here?”
The young ponies all looked up to find Applejack staring at them, a tray of cookies and milk balanced on her back.
“Well?”
Granny Smith’s aged laughter drifted out from behind the cowpony. “Don’t you worry ‘bout them none, Applejack. They just want to meet Grogar is all.”
Button Mash tilted his head. “Grogar? What’s that?”
Granny Smith snorted as she made her way to her old rocker by the fire. “Now don’t tell me nopony’s ever told you lot about Grogar? He’s as important a part of Hearth’s Warming as Santa Hooves himself.”
The fillies and colt stared at her with uncomprehending eyes.
Granny Smith hefted herself into her chair and smiled. “I guess it’s up to me to spin the tale, then. Applejack, you pass out them cookies and milk. The rest of you get comfy.”
The ponies all returned to their original seats, Scootaloo and Silver Spoon shooting looks at each other to make it clear that they were nowhere near done.
“Now, what can you little ponies tell me about Santa Hooves?”
“Santa Hooves travels around Equestria on Hearth’s Warming Eve, visiting all the fillies and colts in the land.” Sweetie Belle smiled as she bit into a cookie.
“Very good. And if you’ve been a good little pony and honored the spirit of Harmony all year, then you get a present, right?”
Six heads all nodded.
“And what if you’re bad?”
“You get coal.” Scootaloo muttered.
“Is coal bad?” Marble asked as she and Mac re-entered the room and squeezed into a love seat, dopey grins on their faces. “I like getting coal for Hearth’s Warming.”
Granny Smith ignored her and continued. “Sometimes, if yer a bad pony, yer lucky to get coal. You might just attract the attention of Grogar.”
“Who is Grogar?” Applebloom asked.
“He’s Santa Hooves’ opposite number, his shadow you might say. It’s said that he’s a huge ram with fur the color of a full moon lit night. His eyes burn with the blazing red fires of the deepest pits of Tartarus. His mouth is full of fangs so sharp they can bite right through stone.”
Sweetie Belle gulped and unconsciously pulled closer to Button Mash.
“It’s said that he lives all year round in the ruined city of Tambelon, far beyond the distant North, and he only comes out on Hearth’s Warming Eve. He flies around Equestria listening for anger and sniffing for disharmony. And when he finds it, then he swoops down and snatches that pony in the chains that he always carries with him. He hangs bells from the chains to ring while he flies around and does his evil work. I heard tell that if you hear those bells of Tambelon, it’s already too late.”
The little ponies (and Marble Pie) all flinched.
“Wh-what happens to the ponies that get snatched?” Button Mash stammered.
“Nopony knows.” Granny Smith looked at the flickering flames in the hearth, her mouth set in a frown. “I’ve heard it told that he drags them to Tartarus where they suffer for all time. I’ve also heard it once or twice that he just eats the little ponies he takes away.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened in horror.
“The way my Granny told it though was the worst of all. She told me that that the taken were spirited away to Tambelon itself. They’re stripped of everything that made them who they were until they ain’t nothin’ but husks, neither livin’ nor dead. There they serve Grogar until the end of time, deprived forever of the thing they treated so lightly; the spirit of Hearth’s Warming. The spirit of Friendship. Of Harmony itself.” Granny looked back at the little ponies with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Oh, and one more thing ya’ll need to know.”
The colt and five fillies leaned forward in expectation.
“I’d wager that he heard that little spat ya’ll were havin’ earlier and came a little early.”
A pair of curved horns began to rise from behind the sofa
Applebloom saw them first from her perch on the chair. She pointed a hoof and screamed. “HE’S HERE!”
The other young ponies screamed and panicked, scrabbling madly away from the couch. As if in response to their screams, a deep booming laughter came from behind the cushions, from beneath the horns.
Familiar booming laughter.
Beneath horns that were now shaking loosely.
Applebloom, the first to scream, was now the first to figure it out. Her eyes narrowed with as much rage as her tiny body could handle. “BIG MAC!”
The stallion rose up fully, almost doubled over with laughter. Tied to his head by a flimsy string was a pair of ‘horns’ presumably carved from a log from the Apple Family’s woodpile.
Granny Smith’s wizened cackling soon joined her grandson’s as he crossed the room and gave her a hoof-bump. “Got ‘em good, boy.”
Applejack stared at the two, visibly unamused. “I hope you two are proud of yourselves. Now we got a bunch of little ponies that ain’t gonna be sleepin’ at all tonight.”
“W-whatever, AJ.” Scootaloo climbed back onto the couch and did her best to hide her still trembling wings. “It wasn’t that scary.”
Silver Spoon also scoffed as she settled back on one of the floor cushions, making a point to be as far away from Scootaloo as possible. “Yeah, like there’d ever be something as silly as a ram that snatches colts and fillies away.”
Button Mash made to grab his cap from where it had fell and found his leg and hoof held hostage in the iron grip of a unicorn. “Uh, Sweetie Belle?”
“Huh?” Sweetie Belle noticed what she was holding onto and released it as quickly as she could manage. “Sorry.” She muttered with a forced chuckle. “No idea why that happened.”
Granny’s laughter faded and she fixed her eyes on Silver Spoon. “Oh, this with Mac was all a joke, you can bet on that. But you’d better believe Grogar’s real. As real as Santa Hooves hisself.”
Silver Spoon did not flinch from Granny’s gaze. “I know that. Because Santa Hooves isn’t real either.”
The silence that followed was broken only by the crackling of the fire.
“What did you just say?” Applebloom looked at the grey filly reproachfully.
Silver Spoon rolled her eyes. “I should’ve figured that you of all ponies wouldn’t have it figured out by now.”
“Figured what out?”
Applejack looked between the two fillies in mounting horror. This was not how she had wanted this information to come out. “Alright, I think we all better tuck in…”
“Figured what out?” Applebloom repeated, ignoring her big sister.
“Yeah. I guess I haven’t figured it out either.” Button Mash’s face shared the same look as Applebloom, curiosity and confusion.
Silver Spoon looked at her peers. “Really? Okay, raise your hoof if you think Santa Hooves is real.”
But the hooves of three fillies and a colt were already in the air.
Sweetie Belle gaped at Diamond Tiara, her hooves still flat on the floor. “You don’t believe in Santa Hooves?”
Mac’s attention was pulled from the escalating tension by the realization that somepony was missing. “Hey. Where’d Marble go?”
Applejack looked at the loveseat where the Pie sister had been sitting and snorted in irritation. “You must’ve scared her off with that trick, you big dunderhead. She could be anywhere in the house.”
“Ya’ll go find that scaredy-mare.” Granny said, her eyes still burning a hole through Silver Spoon. “I’ll make sure these six don’t start rumbling again.”
Applejack opened her mouth to protest but thought better of it. Instead she looked to her brother. “You take the upstairs, I’ll take down here. And for pony’s sake, get rid of those horns before you give that mare a heart attack.”
“Eeyup.” Mac muttered sheepishly as he left the carved horns by the fireplace.
Silver Spoon was smirking at Diamond Tiara. “Of course she doesn’t believe.” She removed her glasses and rubbed them against her coat to clean them. “Did you figure it out yourself, or did your parents tell you?”
Diamond Tiara sighed heavily. “Mother told me last week after I found a stash of presents in the attic and asked about them. She said she was glad I’d found them because I was getting too old to believe in old pony tales.”
“Santa Hooves isn’t an old pony tale!” Scootaloo shouted. “He’s the only pony in this whole world that treats all of us equally!”
“Then why does he always bring you gifts that aren’t as nice as what everypony else gets?”
Her words began to fan the flames of anger in Scootaloo’s heart. “Santa Hooves does what he can…”
“I bet your dad told you that, didn’t he?”
“That’s enough, missy.” Granny Smith’s voice was suddenly razor sharp in its tone. “It ain’t your place to be sayin’ these things. I may be up in my years, but I can still tan your hide…”
A ding came from the kitchen.
“Dagflabbin’ cookies…” the old earth pony muttered as she made her way to the kitchen, casting one last wilting look at Silver Spoon.
Applebloom’s eyes were now on Diamond Tiara. “What did your mom tell you?”
Diamond Tiara’s eyes were on the floor. “Our parents made up Santa Hooves. They hide extra presents every year and put them out after you go to sleep on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”
Button Mash laughed uneasily. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Why would they go out of their way to lie about something like that?”
“Because their parents lied to them about it. And their parents did the same thing. It’s a tradition to lie to your foals.” Silver Spoon smirked humorlessly as she put her glasses back on. “How messed up is that?”
“What is wrong with you tonight, Silver Spoon?” Diamond Tiara looked up with worry at her best friend.
“Wrong with me? WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME?!” Silver Spoon jumped off her cushion and started pacing in front of the fireplace. “What’s wrong with all of you?! Newsflash, hot off the presses; all the ponies in this town do nothing but lie to each other and keep secrets! Secrets and lies! Well, you know what? I’VE HAD IT WITH SECRETS AND LIES!”
The wind blew against the house again, creating a low creaking moan as though the house were warning Silver Spoon to stop.
“It is time to grow up, and growing up means facing the truth.”
“I bet your dad told you that, didn’t he?”
Silver Spoon’s jaw snapped shut and she gazed at Scootaloo with unbridled fury. “What did you just say to me?”
“Is that what he told you after he told you Santa Hooves wasn’t real?” Scootaloo met Silver Spoon’s eyes without fear. “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Your folks ruined it for you so you have to ruin it for everypony else?” Scootaloo nodded towards Diamond Tiara. “At least she had the decency to keep that information to herself.”
“Decency?!”
Button Mash raised a hoof. “I wasn’t aware we had decided Santa Hooves wasn’t real.” He looked around in confusion. “Is that still not up for debate?”
“Decency is doing the adult thing and accepting the truth, not hiding behind foolish innocence.” Silver Spoon turned her glare to Sweetie Belle, sitting once again near Button Mash. “Here, I’ll show you; hey Button Mash.”
The colt looked up expectantly.
“Sweetie Belle has a crush on you.”
Sweetie Belle’s mouth dropped open and her blush could be seen clear through her coat. “You weren’t supposed to tell anypony!” She cried, her voice cracking loudly.
“Oh please. It’s not like nopony noticed. He just didn’t because he has the social skills of a Diamond Dog.”
“You’re years away from your first heat and you’re already practically raising your tail for him.”
Scootaloo shot across the room like a bullet and tackled the earth pony to the floor. She stood over her and raised a hoof to strike. “Nopony talks to her like that!”
Silver Spoons eyes rolled with madness. “Like you’re any better! Go ahead and beat me up! Maybe that will impress her so much she’ll stop focusing on the King of the Dorks over there and look at you for once like you’ve always wanted her to look at you.”
Scootaloo faltered, her eyes wide. “W-what…?”
Silver Spoon took the opportunity and kicked straight upward. The orange filly went soaring and landed next to the Hearth’s Warming tree with a crash.
“SCOOTALOO!” Button Mash and Sweetie Belle ran over to check on their fallen friend, Sweetie Belle deliberately keeping away from Button’s coat and trying to process what Silver Spoon had just revealed.
Applebloom jumped from her chair and squared herself. “I don’t give a darn what you’re goin’ through right now. Nopony treats somepony like that under the Apple’s roof.”
Silver Spoon got back on her hooves and giggled madly. “Like we wanted to be under the Apple’s roof in the first place!”
Diamond Tiara saw where her friend was going but it was already too late. “Silvy, don’t…”
“Why don’t you tell hayseed over here what you told me when you found out we’d be coming here for Hearth’s Warming Eve?”
Applebloom froze and looked over at the filly who she had once considered her greatest enemy. “What’s she talkin’ about, Di?”
Diamond Tiara opened her mouth to speak but closed it again, unsure of what she wanted to say.
“I’ll tell you. And I’ll use small words so your bumpkin brain can process it.” Silver Spoon adjusted her glasses, now ignoring how off kilter they were. “She told me how upset she was that we had to spend the most magical night of the year crammed into this dusty, dirty old shack with ponies we get more than enough of at school.”
Each word pierced Applebloom deeper. “Did… did you really say that?”
Diamond Tiara looked away, and it was all the answer Applebloom needed.
“Don’t act so surprised, hayseed.” Silver Spoon was beyond reason now, her body visibly vibrating with adrenaline and insanity. “Did you really think that whole cutie mark incident meant that we were magically best friends forever now? Because that’s not how real life works. Sure, we might pal around now and we won’t mock you for being blank flanks. But in a few years, we’ll start mocking how hideous your cutie marks are.”
Scootaloo looked up from between her doting friends to say something about the insult but found her gaze drawn to the window.
The blizzard outside seemed to be growing… stronger.
“School, foalhood, friendships… they all go away. After school’s over, we’re all going to settle into the roles we were always meant to be in. Scootaloo will always be poor, Sweetie Belle will probably give Button a boatload of babies, you’ll live on this farm until the day you die, and Diamond Tiara and I will rise above you all to be the absolute upper crust of pony society. We’re the only friends we’ll ever need.”
A slap rang out through the room.
All eyes found Silver Spoon holding her cheek in shock.
Silver Spoon stared at Diamond Tiara, her hoof still raised.
Diamond Tiara glared, tears running down her face. “You’re not acting like my friend.”
Silver Spoon’s shock shattered as the rage returned. She squared herself in front of the roaring fire and stared at her former best friend. “Fine! I don’t need you. I don’t need any of you! I don’t need my parents, or their lies, or their stories about mythical gift givers…”
A peculiar sound drew Sweetie Belle, Button Mash, and Scootaloo’s eyes back to the window.
The night outside was obscured completely by white. The panes of glass were starting to frost over.
“I don’t need any of this! And when I have a foal, I won’t waste her time with silly stories like Santa Hooves and Grogar. I won’t waste her time with nonsense like friendship! And come to think of it, I won’t waste her time with Hearth’s Warming at all!”
“No, I hear it too.” Button Mash put his ear to the window and tried to ignore the almost burning cold. “It almost sounds like…”
“Bells.” The unicorn whispered in confusion.
“That’s enough Silver Spoon! Can’t you just stop?!” Applebloom cried.
“NO! I HATE ALL OF YOU! I HATE MY PARENTS! I HATE PONYVILLE! AND I HATE HEARTH’S WARMING!”
The entire house shook as an enormous THUD came from the roof.
A freezing wind blew down the chimney and blew the fire out completely.
Silence descended upon the room.
“…did the roof cave in?” Button asked.
A sudden shriek of metal on stone came from the chimney. The assembled ponies watched as a long length of chain shot out of the hearth and wrapped itself around a frozen in surprise Silver Spoon. It looped around her several times before the hook on the tip locked into one of the links, securely tying the earth pony.
Dangling from the chain was a multitude of gently tinkling bells.
Silver Spoon stared at the others, her mind unable to process what was happening. “What…?”
The chain was yanked back suddenly, violently, and Silver Spoon vanished up the chimney without another sound save for the cruel laughter of the bells hanging from the chain.
Silver Spoon’s glasses hit the floor. The left lens cracked.
Applejack and Granny Smith arrived in the living room at roughly the same time to find the assembled ponies in quite a state. Applebloom was trying to console Sweetie Belle's unyielding screams even as her own eyes ran with tears. Scootaloo was holding a shrieking Diamond Tiara by the tail and using all the strength in her little body to keep the filly from running towards the now dry and cold fireplace. Button Mash simply sat on the couch, unmoving, small streams of tears running from his wide eyes.
All attention was on the fireplace.
"What in the hay's is goin' on in here?" Applejack demanded.
The pony’s heads snapped to her as one and the farmer found herself suddenly besieged by the five ponies. They all talked at once, their words muffled by each other's voices and their own sniffles.
"One at a time!" Applejack shushed the lot as best she could, her eyes locking with those of her little sister. "Applebloom; what happened? Why's everypony so upset?"
Before Applebloom could say a word, Granny Smith finished her headcount. "And where did that Silver Spoon get to?"
Applebloom's resolve broke at the sound of Silver Spoon's name and she plunged her face into her sister's neck to muffle her cries of horror. "Something took her!"
Her sister's hot tears in her fur urged Applejack to action. "Who took her?!"
"We don't know!" Button Mash had taken Applebloom's place in comforting Sweetie Belle, whose screams had now petered off into rapid, panting sobs. "This chain thing came out of the chimney and just pulled her away!"
Granny Smith stopped in her comforting of Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo and froze. "You say a chain took her?"
Button Mash nodded quickly and wiped his muzzle clear of mucus. "Something blew the fire out and then this chain just shot out and grabbed her."
Diamond Tiara's eyes fell upon the fireplace and she made to run to it. "We have to save her! We have to..."
Granny Smith pulled the squirming filly against her and leaned close to her ear. "She's gone, gumdrop. I'm sorry, but she's already gone."
Diamond Tiara looked up at the old mare in confusion. "How do you...?"
From upstairs came the sound of shattering glass and the rush of wind.
Applejack's eyes widened in fear. "The doggone wind blew in a window! I better go see if Mac needs help."
Granny Smith looked apprehensive but ultimately gave a curt nod. "Go check it out. But be quick. And keep away from the windows."
Applejack looked at her grandmother. "Why...?"
"Just do as I say, girl!" Granny's voice was as harsh and severe as the crack of whip. The assembled ponies jumped at her tone, even Applejack. "Nevermind fixin' any broken windows you find. I take it you didn't find Marble?"
Stunned at Granny's taking charge, Applejack just nodded.
"Then she's upstairs. Fetch her and your brother and get back down here lickety split, ya here?"
Again, Applejack nodded.
Granny watched as her eldest granddaughter mounted the stairs and started up. She turned attention back to the little ponies around her. She focused on Applebloom and Button Mash as the two who seemed to be most in control of themselves. "Now it's startin' to get mighty chilly in here already. You two take the others into the kitchen to get warm by the oven. I'll see to this fire."
Applebloom opened her mouth to protest Granny's going near the fireplace but found a wrinkled green hoof blocking her words. "I'll be fine, I promise. I know how to keep safe." Without explaining any further, she nudged the little ponies towards the kitchen door and made for the fireplace.
Scootaloo was the last in line. She cast a paranoid eye at Granny Smith as she set to work rebuilding the fire.
And she seemed to be... singing?
Scootaloo shook her head and turned again towards the kitchen...
...but found herself gazing at the stairs instead.
Applejack shivered as she mounted the landing of the second floor. The freezing wind gusted and blew down the hallway, small flakes of snow floating in the air every now and then. Her teeth chattering, Applejack pulled her hat tighter against her head and looked around for a source of light. The wind had blown the hall's lanterns out. Gritting her teeth to stop their irritating dancing, she nudged open the door to her own bedroom and sighed in relief; her room's lantern was still lit. She carefully clasped her teeth onto the handle and pulled it into the hallway, shielding the dancing flame from the elements with a hoof.
She very nearly dropped the lantern in shock as the candle illuminated the hallway.
The hallway was frozen. Not coated in a little snow but frozen. The walls and ceiling were coated in a fine layer of ice as thin and delicate as glass. The hardwood floors were lost in snowbanks, some almost knee high. Most shocking of all were the icicles that now stretched from the ceiling, reaching down like crystal teeth that beckoned down the frozen throat of a hallway.
Swallowing uneasily, Applejack began trudging her way down the hall.
As the snow crunched beneath her hooves, Applejack did her darndest to figure out what was going on. The blizzard had been bad before, but now it was something unreal. Unnatural almost. Curious, she paused a moment to push against an icy stalactite. It gave easily and broke away, burying itself in the snow.
As Applejack watched, an identical icicle immediately slid into existence.
Even without the freezing wind, Applejack suddenly felt very cold.
She continued along towards the two rooms at the end of the hall; Big Mac's and Applebloom's. Both their doors were standing open. The broken window could be in either one.
Big Mac's doorframe was curiously free of snow.
The wind began to blow in earnest the closer she got to her destination. She felt her hat blow back down the hallway and closed her eyes against the onslaught. Each step took a huge effort, and she swore she could feel icicles forming on her fur. Still she pushed on, as the feeling in her nose wasted to nothing. Deep down, she began to wonder if she would freeze to death right here, right at the threshold of her big brother's bedroom. She took what she imagined must be the final step...
... And stumbled in Mac's room as the wind suddenly stopped.
Applejack's eyes shot open and she looked around in the room, ready for anything.
Almost anything.
This time her jaw did drop, and this time the lantern did fall to the ground and cracked against the hardwood floor.
The hardwood floor that was completely free of snow.
The room was untouched by the elements save for the obviously still freezing temperature. There were no icicles, no snow, and no glassy surfaces of frozen water. The room's main window had been thrown open with such a force that all the panes of glass had shattered. The tempest loomed outside, all howling wind and whirling snow.
But not a gust of wind blew in the bedroom itself.
A whimper came from her left.
Applejack spun to find a shivering lump in the blankets on Big Mac's bed. She inched towards it and reached out with one unsteady hoof. "B-Big Mac?" She asked, unsure if it was lurking fear or cold that added the quake to her voice.
The trembling lump froze... and then lunged at her.
Applejack stifled a scream as Marble Pie tackled her to the floor, her eyes wide and rimmed in red. She was beyond crying, beyond fear and screaming. She gaped at Applejack like a fish out of water, pounding at her chest with almost no real strength.
Applejack forced the mare off of her and forced her to focus on her. "Marble! What happened?"
Marble gulped and gestured at the window, her unblinking eyes not leaving Applejack's.
"Did Mac go outside?"
Marble nodded.
"Did he fall?"
She shook her head.
Applejack grew irritated. "Land's sake girl! If he didn't fall then how did he go outside?"
"P-p-p-pulled."
The chill returned to Applejack's heart as she remembered what her sister had said. "Pulled by what, Marble?"
Marble's reply was the tiniest of whimpered screams.
Applejack shook the mare slightly. "Marble, focus; what pulled my brother out the window?"
Marble's eyes finally closed. One last tear ran down her face. "He did." She slumped to the floor in a dead faint.
Applejack was getting ready to shake the mare awake when she heard another sound behind her.
"It's true."
She spun to find Scootaloo staring at the window with wide eyes. "Scoots! Get your flank back downstairs this instant!"
"It's all true! Don't you get it?!" Scootaloo's tiny wings buzzed frantically. "It's Grogar! He's come for us, just like Granny said! He's gonna take us and eat us or make us burn forever or..."
"Scootaloo!" Applejack actually had to yell to be heard over the filly's continually rising voice. "That's just a story! Here, help me get Marble downstairs."
Scootaloo was hyperventilating now. Her mind was going numb as every nightmare and night terror began to coalesce into a new, singular form; that of a monstrous ram with a voracious appetite for pony flesh. "We have to get away! This might be our only chance! He's probably still eating Big Mac! We have to go now, before he gets all of us like he did Silver Spoon!"
Too late, Applejack realized what the filly was planning. "Wait!"
"HE'S NOT GOING TO EAT ME TOO!" Scootaloo squealed as she bolted to the open window. Her shrunken wings that had never lifted her more than a few inches popped open as she took a giant leap into the air.
Applejack watched in horror as her little orange body vanished into the blowing white.
She left Marble's unconscious body and galloped toward the window. "SCOOTALOO!" She screamed into the void, but her voice was swallowed by the shrieking wind.
For a moment, that shrieking was all she heard.
Then another sound made itself known. It was still shrieking, but in a much higher pitch.
Applejack threw herself backwards as Scootaloo blasted through the snow and back through the window. Her mouth was open in an unending shriek of terror, her eyes wide and pleading for help. Her buzzing wings were held captive against her by several long lengths of chain from which hung a number of golden bells that seemed to be singing harmony with the filly's cries. Scootaloo's one free hoof stretched out into the open air, desperately reaching toward Applejack.
Her screaming stopped, and she peered at Applejack with the eyes of a foal, the eyes of trust, the eyes of knowing that the older ponies can always save the day.
That they can always chase away the nightmares.
"Help me." She whimpered.
The chains snapped tight and she was gone, yanked back out the window and into the nothingness of the night.
Applejack touched a hoof to her cheek and was not surprised in the least to find that she was crying.
The taking of Scootaloo seemed to break some spell. The room was suddenly filled with freezing wind that whipped and snapped in the air. Snow began to pile against the walls and long icicles began to grow from the ceiling. Doing her best to pull herself together, Applejack grabbed Marble's nape in her teeth and dragged her out of the room. She pulled her dead-weight across the hall's ever deeper snowbanks, pausing only to grab her hat before it was blown away forever.
She didn't look back when the wind slammed the door to Big Mac's room. The sound it made was not unlike the sealing of a tomb.
The little pony's heads turned as one to see Applejack fall down the last few days and land in a heap, a slowly stirring Marble Pie beside her.
"APPLEJACK!" Applebloom ran to her sister's side and checked her for injuries. "Are ya alright? Is Marble okay? What's going on up there? What was all that screaming we heard? Wh..." Her rapid fire questions came to a sudden halt. She looked up the staircase. "Where's Big Mac?"
Sweetie Belle, who'd done a head count as soon as she'd gathered her wits by the warm stove, measured her next words carefully. "And... where's Scootaloo?"
Applejack looked at each filly in turn, then closed her eyes and turned away.
"...no." Applebloom whispered. "No." She stared at her sister, unbelieving, and smashed her hoof into the floorboards. "NO!" She began to beat the floor over and over again, punctuating each smash with another scream of "NO!"
Applejack grabbed her little sister and held her close. She whispered reassurances and calming words into her ear until the little filly's rage was nothing more than chest-wracking sobs of despair.
Sweetie Belle found that she no longer had the will to cry. She simply turned and hugged against Button Mash again, who thankfully had the presence of mind to put his foreleg around her.
All alone with her sorrow and fear, Diamond Tiara's gaze fell on Granny Smith.
The old mare had built a roaring fire, four times as big and blazing as the first. Even now she arranged more firewood to be in easy reach. Her shoulders had slumped only a little at the news of her grandson's demise, but still she worked.
And Diamond Tiara decided she wanted to know why.
"You know what's happening, don't you?" She asked, making her way back towards the warm living room. "You've known this whole time."
The others took notice and also filed into the room, either for the talking or the warmth. Marble finally stood on unsteady legs just long enough to throw herself onto the loveseat and resume crying into the cushions.
Granny Smith stared at the crackling pyre she had built and sighed heavily. "I know."
"Granny?" Applejack asked.
Granny Smith snorted irritably. "Figures it would happen on one of my last Hearth's Warmings. Couldn't just enjoy one more holiday with the family, could I?"
"Granny, what are you talkin' about?"
"I figured I was outta the woods after you hit marehood and nothin' happened. You were always such a trusting filly. I shoulda figured it would be one of Applebloom's friends that were the real danger."
"What danger?" Diamond Tiara was at the old mare's side. She looked at her with pleading eyes. "What's out there?"
Granny Smith's eyes reflected the dancing flames. "His name is Grogar. And like I said before, he ain't just an old pony's tale..."
"When I was just a filly, back before we even came to Ponyville, my family lived on a small communal farm up in old Dream Valley. Back in those days there were quite a few of us that helped each other out where we could. There was the Apples, a'course, and the Tops, the Patch family, the Harvests, and Peachy Keen's clan. The Seed family had split away from us at that point. They'd find their way to Manehatten not long after and make friendly with the Oranges.
All we had back in those days was each other, so every celebration was shared by one and all. Birthdays, Nightmare Night, the Summer Sun Celebration... we looked forward to them all in turn. But Hearth's Warming was by far our favorite, because we knew that Santa Hooves was coming and bringing us new toys and sweets that we just couldn't find in the valley.
Everything changed on my twelfth Hearth's Warming Eve.
My best friend back in those days was Pumpkin Patch. Me and that filly were the scariest set of hellions in all of Dream Valley. We were always shirkin' our chores to play in the woods and enticin' the other fillies and colts into staging mock battles between the armies of Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon. Our parents did their darndest to keep us from strayin' too far from the path of what was right, though. When we were smallest, the threat of not getting gifts for Hearth's Warming was more than enough. When we got a mite older, it was the tale of Grogar that made us remember our manners and friendship lessons.
On Hearth's Warming Eve, Pumpkin Patch pulled me aside and confided in me something she'd heard her mama talkin' about; that there was no Santa Hooves. Our toys and sweets were purchased by the adults through the year during the grown-up's occasional trips to nearby Paradise Estate. They'd hide 'em, then give 'em to us on Hearth's Warming morning and tell us they were from Santa Hooves.
I called my best friend in the whole world a liar.
We fought so bitterly that it actually came to blows. Our folks had to pull us apart to keep us from tearin' each other’s tails out. I remember Pumpkin screaming that I wasn't her best friend anymore, because real friends trusted each other.
When she said those words, I swear I could feel the air getting colder.
A horrible blizzard descended on Dream Valley that night, the worst even our oldest ponies could remember havin' seen. The wind howled a banshee's wail and the snow piled high against every exit from the valley. I remember lookin' out the window and seein' huge icicles rising where our crops were supposed to be.
The cabin the Tops lived in became lost in a small avalanche. They took shelter with us since we were their closest neighbors. They were so shocked by the loss of everything they owned that it was a while before they realized their youngest had vanished.
That's when we heard the bells.
My pa didn't miss a beat. He and the other grownups starting boardin' up the windows and buildin' up the fire. He had all us youngins gather in the center of the cabin and stay there.
I was just startin' to fall asleep when I heard somepony bangin' on the front door.
It was the Harvests. They were in a blind panic, babbling about chains and bells. From the storm behind 'em, I swear I could hear the giggling of foals and the crunching of snow beneath small hooves.
Just before pa managed to get the door shut, I know that I saw something else out there in the storm.
I know that it saw me, too.
We spent the night huddled together like baby birds, taking turns keepin' the fire roarin' and singin' Hearth's Warming carols to pass the time. At some point, I must've fallen asleep.
I dreamed I saw Pumpkin Patch at the window.
She was laughing and crying at the same time.
Her eyes were gone.
The next day, the storm vanished as quick as it had come. We looked high and low, but we never found hide nor hair of any member of the Patches or the Keens. Their houses were full of snow and ice, but there was no blood, no bodies.
We packed up and left Dream Valley that very next day."
The ponies stared in awe as Granny Smith finished her tale. Satisfied that the fire would burn for some time yet, she pulled herself into her rocker and looked at them all. "A pony's first Hearth's Warming after getting their Cutie Mark is the most dangerous time of all. Ya'll start feelin' so grown up that you start to question things. First little things like Santa Hooves and then bigger things like friendship itself. That's what calls to Grogar, that spirit of disharmony, that betrayal of the most sacred truth of ponydom. To question the very nature of friendship on Hearth's Warming Eve itself is borderline blasphemy. Some of you have done just that. You have, and now we are all being punished for it."
Button Mash blinked with watery eyes. "But I still believe in Santa Hooves. I haven't even gotten my Cutie Mark yet. Why am I being punished?"
"And why did it take Mac?" Marble asked in a quiet, trembling tone of voice. "He wasn't a foal."
"It ain't about what you believe or how old you are anymore!" Granny snapped impatiently. "He's here now, and he will not stop until he has claimed us all."
Applejack hugged Applebloom close and gazed at her grandmother in desperation. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
Granny Smith sighed and looked out the window. "We stick together. We keep the fire hot. We wait for the sun to come up. And you." She pointed a hoof at Sweetie Belle. "I need you to tell me something."
"W-what?" The unicorn squeaked.
Granny offered the kindest smile she could muster in the situation. "How many Hearth's Warming carols do you know?"
Granny's smile was so warm that Sweetie Belle couldn't help but match it. "A few."
Diamond Tiara watched everything quietly, Silver Spoon's cracked glasses still held in her hooves.
As Granny Smith crooned about how she was dreaming of a white Hearth's Warming, the others all did their best to reflect, rest, and recover. The living room's furniture had been pulled away from the center of the room and used to blockade the doors and windows. Spare linens and pillows had been used to build a huge pallet in the middle of everything and the four remaining little ponies were nestled in the warmth.
Applejack dozed on the couch away from the others, watching the stairs and afraid of the nightmares that would come if she fell into a deeper sleep.
Sweetie Belle poked her head from under the blankets and ensured the coast was clear. Once she was satisfied that Diamond Tiara and Applebloom were either asleep or otherwise occupied, she carefully scooted herself closer to the room's sole male occupant. "Button Mash? Are you awake?"
The colt rolled over so that he was facing her. He offered the weakest of smiles. "Wouldn't it be nice if I wasn't? If this was all just an awful dream?"
She returned the smile and made herself more comfortable in the blankets next to him. "That would be nice."
"It would be nice. But it's not true." Button sighed and nudged at his nearby cap. "Even if nothing else happens tonight, Silver Spoon's still gone, Applebloom's lost her brother and you..." He caught himself and looked away. "Sorry."
"It's alright." Truth be told, Sweetie Belle was still trying to process the idea that Scootaloo was gone. She imagined that it would take quite some time before she stopped expecting the orange filly to come bounding up the stairs of the treehouse with some news of another colt or filly who needed help figuring out their Cutie Mark. Even now she kept catching herself looking towards the stairway like Scootaloo would just come gliding down, giggling that it was all just a big joke.
"Hey Sweetie Belle?"
"Hmm?"
"Is it true? What Silver Spoon said?" When Sweetie Belle did not immediately reply, he made to turn away. "Sorry. I guess now's not really a good time..."
"It's true. I do like you."
Button Mash froze. "You do?"
"Yeah. I've had, like, the biggest crush on you since earlier this year."
Button smiled. "The milkshake?"
She returned the smile. "The milkshake."
"I was such a dork."
"You were so cute."
Button Mash reached out and took her hoof. "Not as cute as you are."
Sweetie Belle blushed as she returned the gesture, hooking their forelegs together. "I hate that you only found out about this tonight."
"Tell you what." Button scooted a little closer. "I'll be Drake the Daring and you can be the Princess Amaranth. And if I can protect you the whole night, then you owe me another milkshake this Friday."
"Interesting idea." Sweetie Belle mirrored his movements. "But I kinda wanna be the Scarlet Avenger. You let me be her, and I promise to protect you just like she protected Drake from the Nine Warlocks of War in Battle for the HurriCrystal."
"Have I mentioned that your gaming knowledge is just as striking as that blush on your cheeks?"
She blushed harder. "That was smooth for somepony who doesn't know the first thing about girls."
He looked into her eyes. "I'm a fast learner. That's how I was able to master Puzzler's Revenge in just three days."
Sweetie Belle broke eye contact and looked away, tormented by the swirling forces inside her. Her sadness, her terror, and her burgeoning attraction all hammered away at her young heart. "I'm... I'm so scared, Button."
He wrapped his forelegs around her and pulled her close. "I am too."
Her soft lips found his as she drew closer to his warmth. It was a short kiss, small and tentative. An average first kiss.
Which is to say that it blew Button Mash's mind.
While he recovered, Sweetie Belle rolled over and snuggled deeper into the colt's embrace. "Do me a favor?"
"Uh huh." He muttered dizzily.
"Talk nerdy to me." She sighed as she finally relaxed. "Until I fall asleep."
Diamond Tiara carefully crawled past the now snoozing Sweetie Belle and Button Mash towards Applebloom. The pink filly still clutched Silver Spoon's cracked glasses close to her as though some part of her were afraid that if she let go of them they would vanish into nothingness.
Applebloom was nestled into the farthest corner of the pallet, barely covered at all. From her position, it was unclear to anyone looking if she were asleep or simply staring at the wall.
"Applebloom?"
The young farmer shifted slightly. She and Diamond Tiara had not spoken since Silver Spoon's taking. "What do you want?"
Diamond Tiara flinched at Applebloom's tone. "I'm sorry. About your brother, I mean."
"Thanks."
"Are... are you okay?"
"Honestly? No. No I am not okay, Di."
"Do you... do you wanna talk about it?"
"Talk about what?" Applebloom rolled over and Diamond Tiara could see her red rimmed eyes. "Talk about my dead brother? Or my dead best friend? Or my other dead friend who had a nervous breakdown first?" She glared. "Or, to focus on the small stuff first, we could talk about how you've been lyin' through your teeth about bein' my friend these past few months."
Diamond Tiara flinched. "That's not fair, 'Bloom."
"Don't call me that!" Applebloom snapped. "You don't get to call me that!" She growled, her eyes burning a hole through the richest filly in town. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why did you lie to me?"
Now it was Diamond Tiara's turn to glare. "Now who's not being fair? I wasn't lying about being your friend, Applebloom."
"Then why would you say that about comin' over tonight?"
"Because I wanted to spend Hearth's Warming with my family, in my house!" Her grip tightened on Silver Spoon's glasses. "Is that so wrong of me?"
"Horseapples, Di." Applebloom huffed. "Just cuz yer mad at yer folks don't mean that you could say something so hurtful about me and my friends."
"There! Right there!" Diamond Tiara sat up and pointed a hoof at the yellow filly. "That's what's been getting on my nerves!"
"What in the hay are you...?"
"How come I don't get to be in the same class as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo? Even after that day, you've kept me and Silvy at hoof's length. Why? What makes us outsiders?"
Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Because me and those two have been through a lot these past few years. We're more sisters than friends at this point."
"You helped me find out who I was!" Diamond Tiara hissed. "You saw deeper in me than even I saw! You gave me the strength to change the very nature of my being, to even stand up to my own mother! Applebloom, you changed me!" She looked away. "And then you just moved on. You carried on like nothing had changed."
"You make it sound like I was ignorin' ya."
"You may as well have been." Diamond Tiara collapsed onto the blankets and rolled over. "I thought, after that day, I would finally know what it was like to really have friends. It had always been just me and Silver Spoon, y'know? I kept waiting for you to invite me back to the treehouse or to go hang out at Sugarcube Corner. I thought that's what friends did."
Applebloom rolled over as well. "It is."
"Then the only real friends you have are Sweetie Belle and..." Diamond Tiara bit her tongue. "You only ever hang out with them. The most I've gotten out of this friendship before tonight is a greeting on the street or somepony eating lunch with me at school. Besides ponies at school not hating me anymore, nothing's changed at all."
Applebloom considered in the silence that followed. "You could reach out to other ponies, y'know. You could be friends with just about anypony now."
"I... I..." Diamond Tiara sniffled. "I don't know how." She wiped her eyes and looked at the glasses nestled in her fur. "Silvy was my only real friend. And now she's gone. So what do I have now?" She curled into a ball. "The occasional wave on the street and fifteen minutes of conversation on schooldays."
Applebloom stared at the wall as she processed what Diamond Tiara had said. It was true that she most often hung out with her fellow Crusaders, but surely the rich filly was wrong about everything else. She had other friends. Like Twist... but she hadn't had a serious conversation with her since the day she'd gotten her Cutie Mark all those months ago. But there was Pipsqueak... who she hadn't said a word to in between Nightmare Night and the Student Pony elections.
She racked her brain, but she couldn't find a single pony that she spent as much time with as she did her best friends.
"Do you... still hate me?"
It was Applebloom's turn to flinch at the cracking in Diamond Tiara's voice. "What?"
"For all those times I tormented you and made fun of you. Do you still hate me?"
Applebloom measured her next words carefully. "I never... hated you. Not exactly, anyway."
"But you still hold all that against me, don't you?"
Applebloom hated herself for it, but it would be a lie to say otherwise. "Yeah. A little bit."
The two fillies lay in silence a while longer, the only sounds in the air that crackling fire and Granny Smith's aged vocals.
Granny Smith yawned hugely. This was later than she'd been awake in the last thirty years but she knew she could hold out just a while longer. Applejack could use a little more shut-eye, now that she’d finally given up the ghost and headed to dreamland. She owed her granddaughter that much at least.
But, my, did sleep ever sound nice.
She yawned again and launched into a sleepy version of the Hearth's Warming Carol. She could feel her eyelids drooping, but she paid them no mind. She knew she could stay awa...
The elder mare went limp and began to snore.
The singing stopped.
Silence descended on the room.
Outside, the wind’s howling began to rise in pitch and strength.
Something huge on the roof shifted as though it sensed a change in the air.
Foalish giggles and sobs echoed down the chimney.
A blast of wintery wind blasted down the brick structure and reduced the once roaring fire to a pile of icicles. It spread through the room, jolting everpony awake at once.
Granny Smith stared at the ponies she'd failed.
She heard the chains shoot down the chimney before she felt them wrap around her body. The hook snapped into place and pulled tight, splintering her rocking chair to pieces. The dangling bells danced and sang as they mocked her failure.
"Run." She whispered.
The earth pony was yanked back up the chimney less than a second later.
"NO!" Applejack and Applebloom screamed together.
The windows shattered inward all at once, the howling wind filling the air of the house with freezing snow. The strong wind blew the furniture away and scattered it. The front door blasted open so hard that it flew off its hinges. Icicles began to grow from the ceiling and floor, spreading towards the panicking ponies.
"We've got to make a break for the barn!" Applejack yelled over the wind. She bolted for the front door, trusting the others to follow her.
Applebloom and Diamond Tiara followed closely, Marble not far behind.
Button Mash and Sweetie Belle made to follow but a sudden gust of wind caught their small bodies and lifted them wholly into the air. They screamed as the rogue gust blew them up the stairs and into the second floor hallway.
Button Mash was caught in a downdraft and blown against the door to Applejack's bedroom. The impact knocked the colt senseless and smashed the door to splinters. He smacked against the room's far wall and hit the ground, groaning in agony.
"BUTTON!" Sweetie Belle cried as the wind carried her further down the hallway. She was spun around just in time to see herself rapidly approaching the end of the hallway.
A wall of razor sharp icicles waited for her like spikes.
Marble cried out as her ankle twisted. She collapsed into the snow and watched as the other three ponies ran to the barn. She tried to call out to them, but her screams were swallowed by the storm. "HELP ME!" she cried in desperation, trying as hard as she could to put weight on her damaged limb.
The sound of chains behind her, crystal clear above the winter's wind, made her spin and stare.
Standing on the roof of the farmhouse was an enormous shape. It stood on four legs, wrapped in a shroud as black as night. It stared at her with red eyes blazing from beneath a heavy hood.
Two huge horns curved past the hood's rim.
Hanging from the beast's neck was a single golden bell.
Marble opened her mouth to scream.
Chains emerged from the shroud. The bells that hung from them jangled merrily as they struck like serpents and claimed another soul for Grogar.
Button Mash rose with a groan on unsteady hooves. He reached a hoof back and felt the goose egg already rising beneath his mane. He shook his head to clear his blurred vision and took in his surroundings. He was in a bedroom, plain and sparsely decorated. A spare Stetson on the bedpost gave the room’s owner away as Applejack.
Any further analysis was pushed away by a noisy groaning coming from above.
He looked up just in time to see the ceiling give way completely. He jumped back against the wall as debris and snow fell with a massive thud into the room. He coughed away the dust and shivered in the new cold that found its way into the house via the sizable hole in the roof.
“And Applebloom p-promised the c-ceiling wouldn’t collapse.” He muttered through chattering teeth.
The dust cleared completely… and revealed a nightmare.
The thud had not come from the debris and the ceiling had not given from the snow.
The beast that now stared at Button Mash was huge, easily eight feet tall with another foot or two added from the enormous curved horns that emerged from beneath the hood of the creature’s black cloak. The creature shifted its position on jet black hooves that contrasted with the midnight blue of the beast’s fur. A tangled white beard hung down from the chin, blowing softly in the wind. It stared at Button with eyes that burned like red-hot coals and grinned with a mouth full of dagger-like fangs.
Around the beast’s neck hung a great, golden bell that jingled softly with every move it made.
Button Mash’s mouth became dry as sand. “G…Grogar?”
The beast’s grin grew wider and it tilted its head in acknowledgement.
Button was no longer sure if his shaking was from the cold or from fear. “I… I was good this year, wasn’t I?”
Grogar seemed to pause a moment in consideration then nodded his head again.
“So… how about we trade that for a free pass tonight.”
Again Grogar seemed to consider… then shook his mighty head with a chuckle.
Button Mash’s upper lip trembled. “But that’s not fair.”
Grogar shrugged his huge shoulder and took a heavy step towards the cowering colt.
“Hey! Goat face!”
Both Grogar and Button Mash looked to the room’s doorway.
Sweetie Belle squared herself and glared, her minute horn lit with the same emerald light that had saved her from impalement. She was done being scared and was now furious that the same monster that had taken her best friend was now threatening the recipient of her first kiss. She reached out with her magic and seized the heaviest thing she could find. “GET YOUR BIG BLUE TAIL AWAY FROM MY COLTFRIEND!”
Applejack’s bed, bathed in Sweetie Belle’s magic, rose into the air and swung like a huge, oblong golf club. It struck Grogar full on and knocked the ram right through the wall and into the howling storm.
Button Mash stared in wonder.
Sweetie Belle raced to his side and looked him over. “Are you okay?” Seeing his amazed stare, she grinned. “Yeah, I had no idea I could lift something that big.”
“You called me your coltfriend.”
Sweetie Belle’s pride deflated like a balloon. “What?”
“I have a marefriend!” Button Mash whooped with joy before remembering where he was. “I also might freeze to death.”
Sweetie Belle shook her head and grabbed his foreleg in hers. “Save it for later, Drake. We’ve gotta get out of here.”
Button Mash let his new marefriend pull him along with a bemused smile on his face. “Whatever you say, Scarlet Avenger.”
“Now ya’ll keep calm and quiet.” Applejack lit another lantern and passed it to Diamond Tiara who passed it along to Applebloom. “We’ll wait here a while and…”
The roof of the barn suddenly came crash in as an enormous form came crashing into the room. The three ponies screamed as the huge ram landed on all four hooves and shook off whatever impact had sent it plummeting into the room. He quickly focused its attention on the ponies, its hood falling back as it turned its head sharply.
Applebloom saw the horns and screamed again.
“Grogar.” Applejack whispered in terrified wonder. She shook off her amazement and placed herself firmly in front of the fillies. “Not one more step, you overgrown goat!”
Grogar narrowed his burning red eyes and drew from his cloak an enormous burlap sack. The top was wrapped in chains that coiled like snakes and were adorned in jingling bells.
Whatever was in the sack was still moving.
Applejack called on her last reserves of courage and returned the beast’s glare. “You ain’t gonna take these fillies. I’ll die first.”
Grogar grinned and nodded, as though she had just described his exact plan.
“Applejack?”
The farmer looked back at her little sister, her last remaining family member, and remembered the promise she’d made to their dying mother. “I’ll take care of this, sugarcube.”
Applebloom stared at her, frozen with fear.
Applejack looked back at the beast. “You’re not a mindless monster. You can make deals, right?”
Grogar tilted his head curiously.
“You’ve already taken two fillies, my brother, and my granny. That’s a pretty good haul for you, I imagine.”
Grogar crinkled his eyes and grinned. His teeth glistened in the lantern light.
“If I make it a nice round five, and I go willingly, will you leave these two alone?”
Applebloom’s paralysis broke and she darted forward. “Applejack, no!”
A quick thinking Diamond Tiara snatched her tail in her mouth, holding fast. She stared at Applejack with complete shock, that this mare would sacrifice herself for her.
Grogar’s grin faded and he curled his lip in obvious distaste for the deal.
“It’ll work out for you in the end. These two will tell everypony what happened here tonight. You’ll be more feared than ever.”
Grogar’s grimace faded as he considered the bargain.
“Applejack!” Applebloom screamed. She kicked wildly at Diamond Tiara’s muzzle. “Let me go!”
Applejack ignored her sister as best she could. “Well? Have we got a deal?”
Grogar’s eyes narrowed… and he nodded.
Applejack finally looked back at her sister and smiled, tears in her eyes. “I love you, sis. Be good.”
Applebloom wailed as the chains unwrapped themselves from the bag and darted out. They wrapped themselves around the earth pony and locked securely in place. The sack fell onto its side and opened wide. Within there was a great black void from which the only sounds that could be heard were wailing winds and screaming ponies.
Applejack stood fast as the chains began to drag her towards the sack.
Tears flowed down Diamond Tiara’s face as she held as tightly to Applebloom as she could. As she stared at Applejack’s approach to her fate, she noticed something amazing.
Applejack was getting… younger.
Every inch the chains dragged her seemed to take the years away from the mare. Soon she was a stocky teenager. Another few inches and she was a filly on the cusp of marehood. At the threshold of the sack, she was a filly not much younger than the ones she had just given her life to protect.
Even her Cutie Mark was gone.
Grogar watched the scene with quiet amusement… and then he took a step towards the fillies.
Applejack looked back with terrified eyes. “NO!” It was a filly’s cry, shockingly similar to Applebloom’s own. “WE HAD A DEAL!”
Grogar simply laughed and took another heavy step.
Applejack began to struggle against the enchanted chains, her honed by farm work muscles no longer at her call.
She felt her hoof touch the edge of the sack.
She looked back at the void and felt her blood freeze. Standing just inside the bag were a colt and two fillies. The colt was red and unnaturally tall for his age. One of the fillies was slate grey with a mane and tail that seemed to be as perfectly cut as stone. The other was the green of a young apple with hair the color of sunshine.
They were all smiling at her and laughing.
Tears ran from their eyeless sockets.
Applejack felt the chains loosen and turned to flee…
…and watched as the sack drew itself closed, held tightly closed by the enchanted chains
Her last wail echoed through the barn.
Applebloom screamed in agony and fell limp upon the floor of the barn. Diamond Tiara spit out her tail and sat heavily by her side.
The huge ram took another step, chuckling loudly. The bell on his neck danced and sang with every horrible peal of laughter that came from his throat.
Diamond Tiara lowered herself beside Applebloom, resigned to her fate.
“I’m sorry.” The yellow filly muttered.
“What?”
“I’m sorry I was such a crummy friend to you.” She sobbed as she met Diamond Tiara’s eyes. “I’m sorry that I held a grudge against you for so long.”
Diamond Tiara sniffled. “I’m sorry, too. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you my problem sooner.”
The fillies embraced, their tears running into each other’s coats.
“Yer a good pony, Di. I never told you that. And yer a good friend.”
“You saved me, ‘Bloom. That’s the best thing anypony’s ever done for me.” Diamond Tiara felt her tiara fall and clatter to the floor. “You’re the best friend anypony could ask for.”
Grogar leaned towards the cowering fillies.
The lanterns all died as one.
The barn was suddenly filled with blazing light.
Grogar drew back with a surprised roar. He looked at the roof of the barn in confusion. The sun was not supposed to rise for hours yet.
But the light was not coming from outside.
Grogar looked back at his prey… and found they were on fire.
The two fillies were coated in a dancing violet flame that gave an unearthly light. The heat that came from the flame was comforting and strong but not overwhelming. The light was the light of safety and security.
Applebloom and Diamond Tiara were emitting the light of Friendship’s Flame itself.
Grogar roared in fury, determined not to be denied his prize. He reached out a hoof to grab the pair…
…and was touched by the flame.
Grogar cried out in shock and anger as his hoof caught flame. The fire spread across his entire being. He struggled against the fire’s heat and light, tried to retreat into his comforting cold and darkness, but the flame would not be denied.
Friendship decreed that Grogar had had his fill of misery this Hearth’s Warming.
The fire spread across the whole of Grogar’s enormous frame. He bellowed in defiance, but it was far too late. The light and heat grew and grew, forcing Grogar’s essence back to Tambelon for another year. The chains seemed to scream as the sack was caught as well, the bells finally ceasing their infernal jingling.
For an instant, the inside of the barn was brighter than the brightest daylight.
Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the light was gone.
Grogar’s final roar faded into silence. The howling winds petered out and died.
Applebloom and Diamond Tiara pulled apart and stared at each other in wonder. “Did we…?”
“Is he…?”
Wide grins broke out on their faces and they embraced again, squealing with joy.
“Hello?”
They looked up to see Sweetie Belle and Button Mash standing in the barn’s open doorway.
Button Mash was staring at the ground beside the two fillies. “Uh… is that what I think it is?”
All eyes fell on the enormous golden bell that now rested on the ground. Engraved in ornate writing along the bell’s rim was a single phrase, repeated over and over again;
For Goodness Sake
The four little ponies screamed as a small shape jumped in from the hole in the roof.
It was a filly. Her fur was grey and her mane was shining silver. She reached out a hoof and caressed the bell reverently.
Diamond Tiara swallowed. “Silvy?”
Silver Spoon looked up sharply. Her mouth was frozen in a rictus grin. Her eye sockets were empty and staring, tears still running down her cheeks.
Diamond Tiara reached behind her and carefully handed her best friend her glasses.
Silver Spoon cocked her head in confusion at first, then seemed to freeze in sudden remembrance. She lifted the cracked frames to her face and adjusted them until they were perfectly centered.
For a single instant, the old Silver Spoon was back. She smiled at Diamond Tiara with kindness in her eyes. “Thank you. I’m sorry.”
“Silvy…” Diamond Tiara started.
But the spell was broken. The grinning ghoul that Silver Spoon had become bent down, grasped the heavy bell in her mouth, and vanished out the hole in the roof and into the night beyond.
The silence that followed seemed to stretch on forever.
“Well.” Button Mash clapped his hooves together and looked around at the three fillies. “At the risk of not sounding cool in front of my new marefriend, I could really use my mommy right about now.”
The blizzard had cleared completely by the time the sun began to rise. The four little ponies emerged from the barn at first light and started the trek back towards Ponyville. For the rest of the night, they’d comforted each other and did their best to get some sleep.
Now it was time to find the others and tell them what had happened.
Diamond Tiara pushed her tiara back into place and looked at Applebloom. “What’s going to happen to you now?”
“I dunno.” The filly shrugged as she walked. “S’pose they’ll send me off to Manehatten to live with Babs until I get old enough to inherit the farm.”
Diamond Tiara sniffed indignantly. “And have my new best friend leave for a few years. Nonsense. You can come live with me until the farm is fixed back up.”
Applebloom gave the rich filly a small grin. “And I suppose you’ll have no problem getting’ your mom and dad to agree to that?”
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “It’s not like somepony didn’t help me understand that my special talent is getting other ponies to do what I want or anything.”
Behind them, Sweetie Belle was briefing Button Mash on what to do around Rarity. “Most importantly, do not tell her that we’re together.”
“Why not?” Button pouted. “Embarrassed of me already?”
Sweetie Belle pecked his cheek. “Of course not. But if she catches even an inkling of the fact that we’re special someponies, she’ll start fitting me for wedding dresses.”
The two ran right into the tails of Applebloom and Diamond Tiara. The two fillies were standing frozen in the middle of the road.
“I… I don’t think Rarity’s going to be a problem, Sweetie Belle.” Applebloom muttered.
Sweetie Belle and Button Mash pushed up until they could see what had spooked the other two.
Button Mash fell face first into the snow in a dead faint.
Sweetie Belle started screaming uncontrollably and raced ahead as fast as she could.
Diamond Tiara sat back on haunches and started to laugh uncontrollably, tears running down her cheeks as the sound became not that much unlike a high, keening wail.
Applebloom looked back on the night before.
“We’re here so our parents could get rid of us for the night.”
“Discarded on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”
“…we are all being punished for it."
"It ain't about what you believe or how old you are anymore! He's here now, and he will not stop until he has claimed us all."
Ponyville was ruined.
Huge icicles pierced upwards through the roofs of houses. The buildings that were still standing were either frozen solid or packed so tightly with snow that it poured from windows like waterfalls. An enormous snowdrift had buried the center of town, the Town Hall only visible by the uppermost part of its roof.
There was no sign of anypony anywhere.
They were all gone.
With a sudden stirring of wings, Princess Celestia herself landed in the snow. She took in the devastated town with shock and horror. She looked down at Applebloom and touched her shoulder with a hoof. “My little pony; what happened here? Where is everypony?”
Applebloom looked up at her with sunken eyes, her once red mane now the same white as the snow. A single tear ran down her cheek. “Grogar. Grogar came to town and punished them. He punished them all.” She grinned. "You better be good, Princess. You better be good... for goodness sake."
Without another word, she wrapped her foreleg around Diamond Tiara’s shoulders and joined her in her screaming laughter.
The sound of madness echoed in the emptiness of Ponyville.
And above that, just barely audible, was the ringing of a single bell.
