> The Princess and Her Little Elf
>  by MorbidTheBrony
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> Where's the spirit?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

T'was the day before Hearth's Warming Eve, and the ponies of Equestria could not be any more excited. All over the town of Canterlot, ponies from all over Equestria gathered and decorated the entire town in red and green. Choirs were sung, lights were hung and bells were rung. Yes, the Hearth's Warming spirit sure was strong this year round.

Alas, the spirit may be strong in the town, but it most certainly wasn't within the town's crown jewel, Canterlot Castle. No choir, no decorations and no bells. Only knights, empty white halls and an orange filly trotting around the castle with a smile. Sunset Shimmer, the Princess' loyal student, has always been a big fan of Hearth's Warming ever since she was a younger filly, and on the day before the holiday, she wanted to spread joy throughout the castle.

Sunset walked through corridor to corridor, greeting every pony she passed and wishing them a happy Hearth's Warming, right up until she reached the large doors to the throne room. Using her magic, she swung open the doors and trotted along the red carpet leading to her majesty, Princess Celestia.

The princess smiled as the filly bowed before her. "Why, hello there, Sunset Shimmer. What brings you to the castle today?" 

Sunset looked up to Celestia. "Oh, nothing. I just thought I should stop by and wish everypony a happy Hearth's Warming!" she explained happily. "And I noticed that the castle isn't exactly... well, decorated for the occasion."

Celestia giggled. "Well, that is awfully kind of you, my student, and you are right, I haven't decorated the castle for the holidays, nor have I hired anypony to."

"Are you going to?" Sunset asked. "Because Hearth's Warming Eve is tomorrow, y'know?"

Celestia put a hoof to her chin. "Hmm. I've actually decided not to, only for the fact that I still have very important work to attend to outside of the castle. Speaking of which, have you been doing your studies lately, Sunset?"

Sunset let out a sigh. "Yes, I've been doing my studies, but I've just been thinking that maybe you, or we, could just put up a holly or two? Just to show our appreciation of the holiday?"

"Sunset, it's a really kind offer, but I really have my work cut out for me this year, and I must make sure I stay on schedule. Speaking of which..." Celestia made a long list appear. "I must leave for a meeting. I will be back soon, my student." She left Sunset alone in the throne room.

So, the Princess apparently had a lot of errands to run today. Like that's much of an excuse to not decorate the castle for the holiday. Sunset would just do it herself if she really wanted to.

An idea came to the filly's mind, and she smiled wickedly when she thought of it. She thought that it would be a good idea to surprise her teacher when she eventually comes back by making the castle look Hearth's Warming appropriate. Sunset could put up decorations, put Hearth's Warming hats on all of the guards and maybe even prepare some cookies in the shape of trees and snowponies. So, with her plan in mind, she set out to make this Hearth's Warming Eve one to remember.



First things first, Sunset Shimmer wanted to bake cookies. She already knew a thing or two about baking from Princess Celestia's cake baking, so this should be simple enough. Flour, sugar, salt, butter, eggs, baking soda, vanilla extract, red and green icing and the cookie shapes. She was sure she had everything to make the perfect Hearth's Warming cookies. 

From what Sunset had learned, first things first was to pre-heat the oven at approximately 180°C. Then, she looked out a couple of mixing bowls and emptied the butter and sugar into one and the baking soda, salt and flour into the other and she began mixing both bowls. After a few minutes of mixing, Sunset saw that it was time to mix the egg in with the butter and sugar. So, she took an egg out of the bin and cracked it open against the rim of the bowl. She carefully separated the eggshell, allowing the yoke to fall into the bowl. Then, she added the vanilla extract to the same bowl and began mixing it again. And lastly, once the ingredients had combined, she added the other bowl into the mix, mixing it once more until it had gone a little drier and sticky. 

Happy with her mix, Sunset looked out a metal tray and dumped the mix onto it and smoothed it out as much as she possibly could. She then got her shapes and pressed them onto the cookie dough. One had the shape of a tree, another had the shape of a present, and the last had the shape of a snowpony. She pressed the metal down hard as she removed the mix surrounding the shapes and placed it back into the bowl. She might use it again another time. She opened the oven with her magic and placed the tray inside. The only thing was, however, she couldn't remember exactly how long the cookies had to be in there for.

She placed a hoof on her chin. "Hmm. Was it one hour? Or was it...? Uuuhh... I'll take my chances," she said, leaving the kitchen. "I'm sure I can give out those hats and be back in time."

While Sunset was out shopping, she made sure to buy hats for all of the guards to wear. They were green and red and they all had a little golden ball dangling off the tip top of the hat. 

Trotting with joy down the large halls with a large box surrounded in her magic, she handed out hats for every guard she passed. The guards all looked at the filly confusingly, as they all heard that the princess wasn't doing anything for Hearth's Warming this year.

"Excuse me, Miss Shimmer, but what are all of the hats for?" a guard asked.

Sunset turned around and looked up at the guard. "Well, I felt as though this castle was missing a little something and it's almost Hearth's Warming Eve, so I'm fixing that, and I'm trying to do it before the princess comes back," she explained.

The guard smiled. "Hmm. And what have you managed to finish so far?" 

"So far, all I've done is made Hearth's Warming cookies, now I'm putting these hats on all of the guards, and later I'm putting decorations all over the castle."

"I see, and were you given assistance with your holiday treats?"

Sunset shook her head. "Nope! I baked the cookies all by myself from scratch. No help. Just me!"

The guard chuckled. "My, my, you must be a very well taught filly."

"Yeah, I am. Well, gotta go. I still got a lot of hats to give out." And with that, Sunset gave the guard a hat and began trotting down the halls again.

There were a lot of guards in the castle. There was at least a few guards in almost every room with the obvious exceptions. Sunset knew there were lots of guards, but she never thought the search would be so tiring. Her last destination was at the top of the tower and she barely made it up all of the stairs. As she reached the top, she fell to the floor huffing. The guards standing at a nearby door both looked at eachother confusingly than at Sunset.

"Umm. May we help you, little filly?" one of them asked.

Sunset held up a hoof, showing them to give her a second as she slowly got back into all four hooves. "I... I've- Oh my Celestia..." She tried to speak inbetween breaths. "I've... brought Hearth's Warming hats for you." She levitated the hats and dropped them on top of the guard's helmets. 

The guards both replaced their helmets with their new hats. "Thank you, Miss Shimmer," they said. "We will wear them until Hearth's Warming is over."

Still trying to catch her breath, Sunset smiled at the guards. Then, she turned around and looked down at the long spiral staircase. She let out a loud whine and began her journey back down. At least there was one thing left for her to do anyway. 

The last thing Sunset had on her shopping list was decorations. She had green, red and gold tinsel, banners that read 'Happy Hearth's Warming Eve', and even small Hearth's Warming trees which she put up in the throne room on each side of Celestia's throne. Then, she hung up the tinsel along the hung up flower pots in the castle halls. The flower pots were high up,  so she had to get assistance from a ladder she found. Now, all she had left was the very large banner and she knew the perfect place to put it.

With the ladder and banner within her magic, she travelled through the castle until she entered the room by the main entrance. Sunset wanted this banner to be up high, so that anyone who entered the castle would see it, the Princess included.

She placed the tall ladder against the wall and climbed up, banner, hammer and nails in her telekinesis. She climbed almost to the top of the ladder and looked down. "Yeah, this looks high enough," she said, bringing a corner of the banner to the wall along with a nail. She brought the hammer behind her and started hitting the nail. After a few swings, Sunset almost lost control of her balance; the ladder was rocking side by side. She held on tight to the ladder as it set itself straight again. She carefully climbed back down the ladder and set it up on the other side. Repeating what she did last time, while also keeping her focus on her balance.

Just as Sunset felt as though she was finished, the castle doors opened, revealing Princess Celestia. She looked up and saw her student. "Sunset?! What are you doing up there?" 

Sunset was caught by surprise and shot around to look at her teacher, now being unaware of the ladder's terrible balance. The ladder fell backwards onto the floor and Sunset held onto the banner. Unfortunately, the banner couldn't support her weight and began ripping off around the nail and before she could realise, she was falling to the hard castle floor.

Celestia acted fast and caught Sunset just before she could touch the ground. Sunset opened her eyes and saw she was only centimetres from the floor. She looked at Princess Celestia, who was breathing hard. Then, she let out a "Phew," and put the filly down. As soon as Sunset was safely on the ground, she rushed to her teacher and hugged her leg. Celestia knelt down and returned the hug. 

"Thank goodness I was back on time. What were you doing up there, Sunset Shimmer?" Celestia asked her, pulling her away. "That was very dangerous!"

Sunset nervously smiled. "I know, I'm sorry. I was just hanging up a banner," she said.

The princess perked up. "A banner? A banner for what?"

Sunset let go and retrieved the banner, which now had two letters ripped off at the end, and held it up for her teacher to see. "I wanted to surprise you by decorating the castle for Hearth's Warming Eve, and the banner was the last thing I had to do before the castle was ready."

Princess Celestia carefully looked at all of the details on the banner. It was bright pink and had a large message written in a bold, red font that said, 'Happy Hearth's Warming Eve!' There was also images of trees, presents and even Windigoes flying around the text.

The princess smiled and hugged Sunset close again. "Oh, Sunset! This was very sweet of you, but if you're ever going to hang up something like this again, ask somepony for help, okay? I really don't want to see you hurt, and around the holidays no less."

Sunset smiled warmly. "Okay, fine, I'll ask for help next time. I really thought I could do it on my own, though," she mumbled.

Celestia chuckled and stood up. "Come on now, my little pony. I want to see what else you've done to the castle."

Sunset jumped up and followed after. "Oh, sure! I bet you're gonna love it! I spent all day on all of this."

Sunset Shimmer gave Princess Celestia a tour of the Hearth's Warming version of her castle. The princess was amazed at everything the little filly had shown her. Literally, all of her guards had replaced their helmets with traditional holiday hats; there were long lines of tinsel hanging up high from one side of the room to the other; there were even small Hearth's Warming trees sitting on each side of her throne. Her student had put in so much work just so they could have a real Hearth's Warming to spend together.

Princess Celestia was at a loss for words. "Sunset, I... I honestly don't know what to say. It is truly amazing that you managed to do all of this." She hugged Sunset once more. "You truly are my faithful student."

Sunset was getting a little embarrassed now with how many times her own teacher has hugged her now. "Yeah, yeah, you're a great teacher too," she said quickly, trying to escape the hug.

"So, uh..." Princess Celestia began. "Is there anything else you'd like to show me?"

"Actually, yeah! You see, I managed to bake-" Suddenly, something clicked in Sunset’s head. "OH HORSEAPPLES, I FORGOT THE COOKIES!!!"

Back in the kitchen, there was now a big fire coming from inside the oven, which also had Hearth's Warming shapes of coal.

And while it only comes once a year, Hearth's Warming Eve is still and will always be a way of bringing families all together and to help spread the cheer, giving appreciation to the annual holiday, no matter how many cookies one must burn to literally an inedible lump of coal. 

Even when it seems that one may not want to celebrate it like everypony else, there will always be a pony to be there and help fill the hole in their holiday cheer. Which is a story ponies can share and will forever enjoy, a story about The Princess and Her Little Elf.

Happy Hearth's Warming!