WARNING: The following three chapters are not part of this story yet.
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Happy Hearth's Warming Day! Part 1

Ponyville. A quiet little place, but a spectacle in winter time. The snow on the ground, grooved with tracks from ponies with places to be. Chimney smoke from cottages full of ponies with nowhere to go. Golden Oaks Library is one of the latter. Twilight paced around the statue in the library. "What do I do, Spike? I've never needed to do this before..."

The purple dragon sat on the steps, looking through a comic. "It's easy. Just get your friends presents."

Link and Navi came in with some groceries, Epona following close behind. "We're back~ And we got the last asparagus spears from the salespony. I don't know why he runs out so often." They go to the kitchen and begin putting stuff away.

"Hey Link," Spike began, "do you know about Hearth's Warming Eve?" Spike closed his comic and went to the kitchen, leaving Twilight to pace.

Navi flew down to his level. "Actually, very little. We didn't do anything for it in the royal guard, and we were almost always too busy the years before."

Spike looked at her, then to Epona. "How 'bout you?"

"Well, not exactly. I've been on my own for so long, I forgot what it was like to get presents," she replied.

"I only ask because she has no idea what to do. Now that she's got friends, she wants to do something special for them, but can't decide what."

"It's in a few days, so there's time," she paused a moment, "but I do have an idea." She flew back to Twilight, who sat down from dizziness.

"If I had the money I would get them all something special... What would you do, Navi?" Twilight addressed the fairy.

"I'm glad you asked. See, since money would be an issue, and all those gifts would be a pain to carry, not to mention the mess they'd make in unwrapping, I got this idea. We do a Gift Exchange." Navi said, landing in front of her.

"Buy a gift, then trade it with another that someone else bought? I don't th-"

"No, no, no. You put your name in a hat, Link's hat, along with everypony else. Then you take turns drawing a name from the hat. Whoever you draw is the pony you buy for," Navi corrected. "It'll be better than just wasting money on everypony, and instead it's a heartfelt gift for one."

"Hmm... Well, I guess that'll work. I hope the others are in agreement." Twilight got up and headed to the kitchen.

"-age to get another comic this year, I'll add it to my small collection. Oh hey Twilight. Figure out what to do yet?" Spike looked from Link to Twilight, Navi upon her head. "Without going into freak-out mode?"

"Actually, yes. With Navi's help. I'm going to need your help though." She told them of her plan, taking the time to explain it right.

Link sat on a chair, and Navi sat on him. "Best part, is everypony is happy at the end of it."

"Oh? I'm already interested." Epona sat on the floor, her body a little big to fit on a normal chair.

"Yeah, so here's where I need your help. Link and Navi, can you go to Fluttershy's cottage and tell her? Then ask her to tell Rainbow Dash? She'll be doing maintenance work on the weather. Spike, you can tell Rarity, then ask her to tell Pinkie Pie. Though knowing her, she already knows what we're up to." She paused. Here it came. "I-I'l go tell Applejack," she hesitated. She quickly recovered and continued, "but we all are to meet back here in an hour, got it?"

A collective "Yeah!" came from the group, minus Link who rose a fist in the air.

"What about me?" Epona asked, leaning forward.

"Easy, you'll be coming with us, being part of our team and all," Navi replied.

"Rarity..." Spike liked the idea of telling his crush this plan. He quickly set out.

"Don't forget to tell Pinkie!" Navi shouted after him.

Pinkie emerged from the fridge fast enough to scare Link off his chair. "Tell me what?" the pink pony asked, wide smile on her face.

"I knew you'd do something like that. I don't know how, but You'll have to wait. It's a surprise," Twilight assured, looking at Link get back on his feet. Epona leaned away from the fridge in shock.

"Aww, ok then. Have fun!" With that, she closed the door, disappearing inside. Link opened the door, and felt around it to find some sort of secret hole. Unsuccessfully.

"Give it up, you're never going to understand how she does that. I don't even know," Twilight assured. "Anyway, Fluttershy is most likely in home, so she'll be the easiest. And since she can fly, Rainbow will be next."

Link turned towards Twilight, and nodded his head. He closed the door, and started for the door with Navi on his head. In these wintry times, she found warmth in his thick hair. His trusty steed following behind. "Wish us luck."

"All that's left is... Applejack." Twilight bundled up, and made for Sweet Apple Acres.

Spike knocked at the door of Carousel Boutique. His long time crush lived behind its doors. His shock was apparent when Sweetie Belle opened the door.

"Hey Spike. Sorry, no Crusading today. Or, for the rest of the week," Sweetie Belle said, looking a little down. "Oh, but do come in anyway, it can't be warm out there." She stepped aside and let him in.

"Thanks," he replied, "but I'm actually here for Rarity. Is she here?"

Sweetie looked to her sister's designer room. "She's in there. Got an order from a pony in Canterlot for a gown. It's almost done."

"Thanks." He walked to the door, knocked, and walked in. "Rarity, hello." Closing the door behind him, he continued, "I got some great news for you."

Rarity stopped sewing for a moment, and looked at Spike. "Oh? Some news? Hmm... Is it, Twilight related?"

"Actually, kinda involves all of us. Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, Twilight, Link, Navi, me, and yourself. 6 ponies, a dragon, a fairy and a Hylian." He continued to tell the details of the meet-up. "Lastly, if you can, she wants to meet back up at the Library in," he takes a moment to look at the wall clock, "50 minutes. If that's fine with you."

"That sounds splendid, darling. I look forward to it." She returned to her work.

"Also, if you could tell Pinkie on your way, that'd help a lot," he finished. Heading for the door, she added to Sweetie, "See ya later Sweetie. Belle. Sweetie Belle." After his almost slip up, he left for the Library to get started on some food preparations.

Rarity looked back to where Spike was. Shouldn't Pinkie have picked up on the party with her sense? ... Oh well, I suppose I can detour from the primary route to bring her she thought, continuing her work.

"And, we get to tell Fluttershy." There was an apparent sigh of happiness from going to see Fluttershy. She had enjoyed it when Fluttershy brushed her hair. The pair were almost at her door, when they were stopped by a bear. "Mr. Bear, is something wrong? We need to see Fluttershy, it's very important." The bear moved, and they could cross. "Well done for not attacking it again... I know you didn't mean it, but you got what you deserved back then." Link huffed at the memory.

"He attacked a bear?"

"Sure did. Left it wounded too. Thought it was attacking Fluttershy and jumped in."

After knocking at the door, they could hear a faint "coming" from behind the door. A few moments later, a yellow-colored pegasus answers the door. "Oh, good morning you two. Come on in." She flew aside to welcome them.

Navi looked at Angel, who was still hesitantly eating his meal. "Uh, is this a bad time?" She asked, landing beside him.

"Oh no, not at all. The animals are all fed, and I've got the rest of the day to myself." Fluttershy landed on her couch.

Navi quickly followed, landing in front of her. "Good, because we just made plans for all of us."

"Us? As in ..." she stopped a moment.

"Us, as in you, me, Link, Spike, and the rest of the elements," Navi confirmed. Link took a seat on the floor. It was soon that animals crowded around him to be petted, which he couldn't resist. "We've got a plan: A gift exchange. It's wh-"

"I know what that is. We did a few of them at flight camp. Names in a hat, gift for one, yeah, it was the closest thing I could call fun." Fluttershy sounded upset, but didn't let it bother her.

"You're really good with animals, you know." Epona had once again sat on the floor, there being little room elsewhere.

"Oh, good. Then that takes care of that. Meet up at the Library in about 40 minutes? And bring Rainbow Dash, please. I know she's busy with the clouds, but come on. She's Rainbow Dash," she finished.

The pegasus took a small brush from her drawer and began brushing Navi's hair. "Link, you really sure you don't want one of these brushes? She really enjoys this. I'm sure she would more if you did it too."

Link shook his head, and looked at Navi, who spoke up. "That's because you're boring. And you don't know how hard it is to have unmanageable hair." He responded by pointing to his own mess of hair. "Doesn't count. You run your hands through it and it looks fine, but I'm a lady."

Epona stifled a laugh. "She really does, you know. Would it hurt you to brush your own fairy's hair once in a while? And mine too. It's hard to do with hooves. wouldn't mind a braid now and then, either..."

"Point for Epona. And as much as I like your company, I'm going to have to head out for Rainbow if I have a hope in catching her. Thanks for stopping by." She got up after finishing Navi's hair, and headed for the door.

"Thank you for the hair brushing~" Navi called after her. The three headed out as well, into the forest.

"Well, that was fun. But... Why are we going to the forest again?"

"We might be paying Ruby a visit. It's been a while since we saw her," Navi said.

"All that's left is... Applejack." Twilight bundled up, and made for Sweet Apple Acres. Since it was on the outskirts of Ponyville, she decided not to give herself another target to invite, as it would already take almost half an hour to get there. Along the way, Twilight tried to think of what to say, and before she knew it, she was making a mental checklist of conditional statements.

Arriving at Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight spotted Big Mac in the fields with Apple Bloom. They were enjoying the downtime by making snowponies. Apple Bloom was the first to notice. "Hey, Twilight's here," she said.

Big Mac responded by looking, and a hearty "Eeyup" afterward. The two went to greet her, as she drew nearer. "Hey Apple Bloom, Big Mac. Is your sister around?" Twilight asked, looking around for the orange mare.

"Actually, um, Applejack's down in the cellar takin' inventory of the apples. Hopefully, the year's harvest is plenty to last us the winter," Apple Bloom responded. "Ah can go get her if ya want."

"That'd be great, thank you." Twilight continued to their house, where she waited. Applejack came in minutes later, with her bags on her back and her Stetson on her head. "Hey, Applejack. H-How are you today?"

"Fine, thanks. Looks like we'll have enough for another two months after winter ends, so we're all set! What can Ah do fer ya, Twi?" The farmpony asked as she unloaded her stuff.

"You see, I was wondering if... you wouldn't mind coming back to the Library, with me?" Twilight could barely force the words out. Applejack took no notice.

"Why's that? Got a party planned fer me, do ya?" Sitting next to her on the couch, she continued, "Ah know ya didn't, but ya wouldn't o' asked otherwise. What's goin' on?"

Twilight shuffled nervously. "I-It was Navi's idea, to have a gift exchange between all of us. That way, we don't spend unnecessary money, and still ensure that we properly gift give," she finished. Looking at the mare beside her made her blush a little.

"Gift exchangin' sounds like a great idea. Almost surprised ya didn't come up with it yerself. Ah'd love to join ya, When's it at?" She asked.

"You'd have to come back with me to the Library, so we'd still be on time. Knowing Spike, he'd prepare some food for everypony," she continued. "And, I'll make something to drink as well."

"Ah don't see why not," the farmpony agreed. "Let me just get some things, and we can go, okay?"

Twilight nodded her head, and waited to head back to the Library. On their return trip, they saw Fluttershy talking with Rainbow and waved to each other. Also, Pinkie was eating a small meal with Rarity in Sugarcube Corner.

Rainbow Dash was in the middle of cloud busting with her team for the day. She was keeping herself warm by exercising between bursts. She noticed Fluttershy trying to get her attention, so she flew down to meet her half way. "Hey Flutters, what's up?"

"Um, Link and Navi stopped by my cottage earlier, and they invited all of us to come to the library, for a gift exchange," she replied, rather quietly.

"Haven't had one of those in a while, I don't see why not. Sounds like a lot of fun, but I'm gonna have to wait on it a while. The cloud machine from Cloudsdale is messing up the clouds, not making them cold enough. If we don't get them all busted within the hour, it'll rain, instead of snow. So, I gotta get back to it. If you want to wait, you can." Rainbow finished, and returned to her work, taking another 20 minutes to do so. Her team wasn't fast, but Rainbow more than made up for it on her own, and with an incentive, she got it done faster than she would have without it.

Fluttershy did wait, because she wanted to fly with Rainbow. Once done, Fluttershy continued explaining, "See, we're supposed to be there in about 15 more minutes. You may be fast enough, but I don't know if I can."

"Fluttershy, I know if I fly with you, you can keep up. I mean you helped with the tornado lifting the water. I'm impressed at your growth. I've never seen a pony rise 5 points in wingpower as fast as you did. You can fly fast, just believe you can." Rainbow's words of encouragement had lifted her spirits once more. "Speaking of our purple friend, there she is~"

Fluttershy waved as Twilight passed underneath, and received a wave in return. "I wonder who I'll draw. And, what if I draw my own name? Unlikely, but possible."

"I doubt it, but if I draw mine, it just means I'm awesome. But, personally, I want to draw Applejack's name, just so I can give her an apple. Joke gift, I know, and a bit ironic, but still good." Rainbow, the prankster, smiled at the idea of giving a joke gift to anypony. "We should probably get going. Twilight's a stickler for being on time."

The two make their way to the Library, arriving moments after Twilight and Applejack.

"All I'm saying, Pinkie, if I'm saying anything, is that you cannot simply make cupcakes for everypony. That's not how it works. You can make, trade, or buy a gift for the name you draw, and then give it to them, wrapped, and tied, without putting your name on it. It is a surprise after all." Rarity joined Pinkie in having a salad.

"I know what a gift exchange is, silly. I've only thrown, like, 2 of them so far. They're really fun." The party pony giggled and ate a leaf of lettuce from the bowl.

Rarity countered, "Then why would you ask me how it works?"

"Because it's been years since I threw one. It was back when I was on the farm. Granny Pie enjoyed fun, and threw them often. It was rocks, rocks, and more rocks. But I decided to throw my own, and change it up a little. The rule was, nothing rock-related. Which is actually how I learned how to bake."

"I see... Anyway, we don't have to be there for another 10 or so minutes, and it's right down the road, so we still have the time to eat." Rarity hadn't eaten all morning because of the order she had to fill.

"Rarity, I should let you know. You shouldn't tell me what you're going to give them. It's not how it works." Pinkie chimed as she had another leaf.

"I know how it doesn't work. I was telling you how it works." Pinkie simply didn't answer. "Oh, there's Twilight now. Perhaps we should get moving soon?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," she replied. Then, she finished the remainder of the salad, and the bowl, in one quick movement.

"Pinkie, the bowl! You ate the-" Pinkie spat out the bowl to where it was, landing on the table with a clank. "bowl... I don't even want to know how that's possible." She gets up and heads out, Pinkie bounding after her.

The mane 6, Link, Navi, Epona and Spike gathered in the center of the room in a circle. They each wrote their name on a piece of paper, and put it in Link's hat. Navi had hid in his hair in the meantime. Link had the honor of holding the hat for the others to draw from. Twilight went first, then Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Epona, Spike, Pinkie, Fluttershy, then Navi and last was Link. He drew for both himself and his fairy companion, as they were the only two left.

"Okay, Hearth's warming is in a few days, so you have until then to get the gift for who's on your paper," Twilight stated. "Now, you can ask others for suggestions, but not the name you drew. It's not special if you already know what you're getting."

Rainbow was the first to respond. "What even am I supposed to get? This is difficult!"

"Never thought you'd back away from a challenge, Rainbow," Applejack replied.

"Girls, I think it was a lovely idea, especially since we're great friends." Fluttershy was as timid as ever.

"Oooh, this is gonna be so much fun! I can't wait to see what I get!" Epona exclaimed.

With their names drawn, they all finish the meal Spike had made for them. They were welcome to stay the night, but none agreed to it besides Link and Navi, who had to stay there anyway. Later that night, Twilight thought to herself I don't even know what Fluttershy would like. Link also thought of a gift. Navi wasn't too worried. She had things planned from the start. Spike was something else entirely. He was too busy planning his gift to fall asleep. He eventually did so, but only after coming up empty clawed for ideas.