Cheese in Griffonstone's Jinglemas

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"I feel it. I FEEEEL IT! This is going to be a doozy—"

A PostPony stepped up, "Sorry to interrupt you joyful exposition, Mr. Cheese Sandwich, but you have a card."

Cheese's exposition receded back into him, "Really? I travel alot. Who would possibly..." He gasped. "IT'S A DOO—"

"NO!" Random PostPony coughed. "I have a serious phobia of energetic joy."

"Really?"

"Mhmm."

"I'll wait, but please hurry. It's hard to hold for this long!"

A light popping sound was heard. "I didn't think we earth ponies could teleport."

And on that day, as they say, Cheese Sandwich's doozy grew two sizes. The resulting shockwave blew over a cactus in the Mopony Desert next to Las Pegasus. Quick as a flash he stuffed the tree up.. wrong story. He grabbed the card and read it.

Dear Cheese Sandwich,

Every year you go around and spread Hearth Warming joy to those even if they cannot afford a large party. I think Griffonstone would be a great place to go this year. Even though that

>Turn card over to continue

griffons don't celebrate the founding of Equestria, my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmare says that they in fact do have a tradition a little before Hearth's Warming.

>Turn card over to continue

I would suggest to get to Griffonstone early in order to make sure you catch the holiday. Hove fun!

>Turn card over to continue

- From Pinkie Pie

PS: Sorry my hoof-writing is so large! I bet you had to turn over this card so many times!

>Turn card over to continue

 PSS: Griffons are kind of mean and sort of greedy!

PSSS: I think you should meet my friend, Gilda. Here's a picture of her. It's on the back!

"That was definitely a doozy! Pinkie has such a good idea, Boneless 2! Although, it worries me she can pinpoint my location in the middle of nowhere..."

Three weeks later, a pegasus flight, a buffalo ride, a train trip, a boat float, and a mountain climb, Cheese Sandwich silently stepped into Griffonstone. "It's three weeks to Hearth's Warming Boneless 2. I've got a good feeling about this."

Griffons milled around without traditional scowls since a couple of ponies visited and befriended (refriended?) Gilda. Instead, they looked around with less than eager frowns and hostility toward assertive outsiders.

"Sir, a moment of your time," Cheese stepped out of shadows.

The griffon grumbled back, "Pay me."

Cheese became slightly offended, "Two bits?"

Without a word, the griffon snatched them up. "One question."

"Where's Gilda? I hear she's friendly 'round these parts."

"That way." He pointed toward the main area of Griffonstone. "Good day, pony."

Cheese tipped his hat and trotted toward the square. He saw several griffons crowding around a stand with what looked to be pastries. He spotted a female griffon with purple highlights. "Must be Gilda."

"Don't grab what you're not gonna buy, geezer. Get your paws off!"

"I take offense to that; it's racist because I'm a hippogriff."

"I take offense to you backing away with my scone!"

"Touché."

It was at this point Cheese stepped in. "I take it you're having some griffon trouble, Gilda?"

Closing the lid over her cart and making sure no griffon had any unbought pastries, Gilda turned around to face the mysterious pony in a hat and blanket on his back.

"Do I know you?"

"Maby. I'm," he flung off his hat which was caught and stolen by a passing griffon, "Cheese Sandwich!" The reveal created a nice breeze.

"Cheese Sandwich? I think Pinkie Mentioned you in one of our letters. You're that pony that made her feel unnecessary, but it was resolved with song, ewe. What're you doing here?"

Cheese explained that Pinkie's letter said to try something new. Gilda's voice contained a shard of anger, "Hmm. So you came here to throw some sort of holiday party for free because we're charity cases? That's not how it works. We have pride—"

"It's wasn't about the charity thing. Sorry about mentioning that. I've never visited Griffonstone, and Pinkie said you had some traditions around the same time as Hearth's Warming, so I came to have a party with you all."

At the mention of tradition, the thought of Turkey Feast came to her mind. "The image of what a pony would think about the brutality — no he will never know," thought Gilda. "H-hey listen. We have some things that are personal to us around that time, so I would appreciate if you would just leave."

"Wawawait. I came all the way over here with my own bits, and Pinkie said that it would happen a little before Hearth's Warming. Is there any chance I could at all—"

"Before Hearth's Warming?" Gilda's mind hoped that Cheese was sincere because she could avoid all the questions.

"Yeah. Why? Were you thinking of something else?" Gilda politely coughed into her balled up claw.

"Actually, we have a tradition before the one I was thinking of."

"Yippee!" Cheese flipped. He literally did a 720 flip in the air while Gilda praised whatever religion griffons have for the scapegoat, Jinglemas.

"Yeah it's called Jinglemas. But hey, it's a little public out here. Want to talk back at my place?"

"Sure! I'm kinda pooped - party pooped - from all my hiking to get up here." Besides faceclawing (that sounds violent) from his cheesy joke (Oh God, I really just typed that), Gilda rolled her cart back to her home with Cheese Sandwich in tow.

Her home was a usual griffon house, but with the increased income from her baking business thanks to Pinkie, she was able to refurbish it.

"So," they sat with cups of water, "what do you want to know about Jinglemas?"

His eyes dilated with the pupils glittering like a thousand stars, "EVERYTHING."

"Oh, crap! He's a weirdo," thought Gilda as sweat dribbled off of her beak.

"The first Hearth's warming, or the second year that Equestria was founded, a pony came into Griffonstone. She was pink, and looked something like Pinkie Pie. However, the thing that stood out was the red hat that was on top of what looked to be pudding, and it had silver bells literally covering it. She wore an entire red suit covered in hundreds of silver bells."

"It was about a week before Equestria's founding had happened, and she came to see if any griffon wanted to join in on the party. Of course, we couldn’t' stop laughing at the dork, covered in bells."

"She pranced around us, trying to convince us to join her. Those who could speak through their mirth vehemently denied her. At the time, griffons disliked ponies with a passion. They took lands claimed by the griffons even though were rarely used."

"So, in the end, three griffons went to the king and proposed an interesting petition for a holiday. They would call it MerryMock, to make fun of the pony of bells. He agreed after listening to the story, and that eventually came to be known as Jinglemas."

"Sorry to disappoint, but it really isn't that fascinating."

Cheese smiled, "Maybe not, but I really like stories." Gilda's mouth puckered. "In any case, it sounds like it changed a bit over the years to be renamed Jinglemas. SO, what exactly do you do? It sounds like it could be fun."

"Well, we usually all have some sort small garment, like a scarf or cap, with bells sewn on it. If not, then you can usually get one at the town hall if you return it. They take bits as collateral, just in case."

"Then what do you do with the bells?"

"Well," she scratched her head, "we usually just make jokes of that pony or other than that, just have a good time with some hot cider. Other than that, it's just a regular party."

"No songs to commemorate it?"

"Bruh, singing's illegal here." Cheese passed out. For all of two seconds, Gilda was worried until he awoke. "So, whatcha gonna do Cheese?"

"I think I'm going to take page out of Twilight's book. Is there a library here?"

She groaned at the pun, "Yeah, but Jinglemas starts in a week. Don't spend too much time reading, or if you have any ideas, you won't have time to prepare them."

Cheese darted off, but he came back with an embarrassed smile. "Where's the library?"

"Whatever he thought of, it better be good. I haven’t seen him except for the time he spends asleep on my couch." Gilda unclenched her fist as she spied Cheese coming down the road with a fairly large box.

"Hey Gilda!"

"Hey yourself. What's in the box? Jinglemas is tomorrow, since clearly you haven't left yet."

"Oh just a," he put on a Nightmare Moon grin, "surprise to —" he innocently waved his hoof "— liven up the party. But there's still more! I found out that singing is illegal for all, but on holidays, singing is legal! The book said something about stifling the creative side of griffons."

All day he set up his new packages of stuff: torches, tables, and fire pits. Nothing was safe or out of the way. Eventually, the entire town was decorated with the help of a few of the more friendly griffons, including Gilda.

"You know Cheese, I've seen you bring many more of those boxes of secret, surprise stuff. I can only wonder..."

"Wonder no more! Midnight is coming, and then we party for the entire day!"

"Uh..."

"YEP! The book said it was a 24 hour deal."

"Now hold on just a minute." She placed her claws on his shoulders. "I know you're really nice and all, but we like to sleep. We haven't done the whole 24 hour thing in my lifetime."

"Oh."

"Nah, don't be sad. We usually awake around ten in the morning, so it shouldn't be too long to start partying!"

And ten in the morning it was. The boxes of stuff were enough to keep most griffons on edge with the promise of free stuff; what could be better than free?!

Bells jingled as griffons walked out of their houses. Lo and behold, cider was everywhere! On the benches, on the counters, just everywhere!

"Alright, to get this party started, I want to start with cider and a jaunty tune."

A griffon yelled in the background, "That’s illegal, crazy pony!"

"Not on holidays! Sing with me now!"

Eventually, griffons walked into each other due to inebriation, and Cheese jingled around in a body-suit of bells. The day had been celebrated by everyone in all sorts of joy. Rare small talked passed between citizens, and thanks passed to Cheese for the boxes of cider.

"So Cheese, have a good Jinglemas?"

"Oh, it's you, Gilda." Cheese turned around the bench to look at Gilda at the torchlight. "It's pretty late, I'm going to pack up and head back to Ponyville for Hearth's Warming."

He contemplated the day. "It was nice to see the griffons lighten up some. Pinkie wrote that they are usually mean. I just wanted to spread some cheer to liven up and lighten up every griffon. Did it work?"

"Yeah.. I think so. After Pinkie and Dash were here, griffons livened up from my goods. I'm pretty sure they'll be friendlier after this. Thank you Cheese." They shook forelimbs.

"Pleasure doing business. I enjoyed Jinglemas for the most part. However, I still find it kinda mean that they all mock Pinkie's ancestor."

Gilda coughed on her cider, "Ech. I'm not sure if they'll ever stop that. But hey, good party! Better get going now!"

And so, Cheese packed up and left Griffonstone. Later that very week, Turkey Feast was celebrated. No griffon was left out, and they all toasted to good will as demonstrated by that yellow pony. Turkey was fervently devoured in the Great Hall. Jubilation painted the walls with meat. Next Chapter: Pinkie Pie Goes on a Rollicking Adventure Through Time and Plushies, Almost As If She Was Launched From a Love Trampoline, and Then Doughnuts Happen (for Super Trampoline) Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 50 Minutes