Snow swirled around the spires of the Castle of Friendship and blew through the streets of Ponyville. Only ponies who were desperate to finish their shopping or utterly insane were outside, trying to push their way through the howling wind. Most ponies were curled up near a fire within their own homes, with their windows locked tight against the wind that chilled to the bone.

In short, it was the perfect weather for Hearth’s Warming Eve.

Fluttershy lifted her Hearth’s Warming doll onto the mantel, then turned for Discord to place his. He’d created them both out of plastic--a relatively new development in Equestria, and rare to see, but Fluttershy loved their unique look. Most Hearth’s Warming dolls were stuffed fabric that flopped all over, but these were stiff and shiny, and she liked their poses.

Discord reached out and placed his doll on the mantelpiece, then stepped back and surveyed it. “Hmm… no.” He snapped, transforming it into a different pose. “No.” Snap. “No.” Snap. “No, no, it’s just not right.” With another snap, he’d brought Fluttershy’s doll over, and the two were hugging. “Perfect!”

Fluttershy smiled. “I love it!”

He glanced around the room. “Hold on, at every Hearth’s Warming celebration I’ve ever seen, they had these piles of presents.”

Fluttershy giggled. “No, those only show up on Hearth’s Warming morning, when Santa Claws brings them!”

“Santa who now?”

Fluttershy gave a light gasp. “You’ve never heard of Santa Claws?”

He shrugged. “Spent the last thousand years encased in stone, remember?”

“Oh, this won’t do! I can’t let this stand!” Fluttershy joked, flying over to a bookshelf and pulling out a book. All the animals that hadn’t hibernated or migrated gathered around to listen to her read the story.

“Once upon a time, there was a young dragon.” She pointed her hoof at the picture of the dragon, brilliant red with green and white highlights, sleeping on a large pile of gold and gems. “His name was Santa, and even though he was very young, he’d amassed a huge hoard. He did nothing but sleep on his hoard, all day and all night, except when he was gathering more. But one day, a noise disturbed his slumber.” She turned the page, revealing the next illustration, one of a small village deep in winter drafts. “Unbeknownst to him, ponies had come to settle near his cave. But it was the middle of winter. Nopony could grow food, and they were too poor to buy any. Their moaning with hunger was waking up the dragon, and he was angry.

She turned the page again. “He tried to drive them away, but they were too stubborn. Their village was the only home they knew, and they didn’t want to leave. So he tried to find a different solution. Finally, he came to a conclusion.”

The next picture showed the dragon putting handfuls of gold into small bags. “One night, he flew over the village and dropped gold into each pony’s chimney. Now they could afford food, and they weren’t keeping him awake at night.” She turned another page. “Santa went back to sleep and pretended it had never happened, but the next year, the village was going hungry again. This time he didn’t hesitate so much, but slipped the gold down their chimneys on the very first night he woke up.

“Soon, he was giving the ponies a piece of his hoard each year, and lighting their fires to boot. And one year, he realized something very important. He was much, much happier now than he had been when all he did was sleep on his hoard year-round.” The picture on the next page showed the dragon much older. He was almost entirely red now, with green highlights on his wings and a white stripe wrapped around his tail like a candy cane. “He decided to go farther out, and help other villages. But soon his hoard began to run low, so he searched all across Equestria for a good place to find gold. Far, far in the north, above even Yakyakistan, he discovered a huge vein of gold running underground. With his dragon senses, he could tell just how far it ran, and he realized it was big enough to supply all of Equestria for thousands of years!”

Discord snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous, that’s impossible.”

“It’s just a story, Discord. Over the years, he built up a huge base, with lots of helpers to make presents for everypony, instead of just giving out gold.”

“Really? What helpers did he have? I’m pretty sure ponies could never survive up there.”

“He has breezies!” Fluttershy held up the book, showing a picture of tiny breezie workers in pointy hats, all standing at a table making toys. “They’re very delicate, I know, but remember, Santa is a dragon! It’s like he’s a warm fireplace standing right next to you. That’s what Twilight says about Spike, anyway. So, over the years, Santa Claws started trying to supply all of Equestria, but that was really hard, so he found some ponies to help him--twelve pegasi! They all helped him deliver presents, and they wore dragon masks so they’d look like him and everypony would know they came from Santa!”

She turned the last page, this one depicting a rather elderly-looking dragon with a beard. “Santa Claws is very old by now, of course, but he still hasn’t stopped delivering presents. Every Hearth’s Warming Eve, he and his team of pegasi travel Equestria, and leave presents for all good little fillies and colts.”

“Dragons don’t have bea-”

“Discord, if you’re just going to criticize the story, I don’t know why I read it to you,” Fluttershy groaned, as she closed the book and flapped over to the bookshelf.

“You’re right, sorry. It was a pretty good story. Is that what parents tell their foals these days?”

“Mmm-hmm!” Fluttershy mumbled around the book as she placed it in its spot. “Since Santa only delivers to good foals, it motivates them to behave around Hearth’s Warming. Plus, when they wake up on Hearth’s Warming and see a pile of presents where there wasn’t one before, it’s like magic! It makes them so excited. Especially with the traditional pegasus performance!”

Discord turned around. “The what?”

“Oh, when Rainbow Dash and I first moved to Ponyville, we decided to put on a show for the little foals, pretending to be pegasi from Santa! We handed out a few bits and some small toys. Everypony loved it! It became a Ponyville tradition, and we have more than twelve volunteers every year. We actually have to turn some ponies down! Rainbow Dash left the performance to give other ponies a chance, and now she just choreographs some really great aerial routines. I wanted to leave, too, and make even more room--but they actually wouldn’t let me!” She laughed. “They said that since it was my idea in the first place, I had the right to be there if anypony did. But the ponies who can’t be in the show--including earth ponies and unicorns--help out by donating bits and toys. Recently, I’ve even started to hope that we might someday get a dragon to play Santa Claws!”

Discord grinned. “You certainly seem excited about this.”

“Oh, I am! It’s one of my favorite parts of Hearth’s Warming. Even before I started singing and did the Hearth’s Warming pageant one year, this was a way for me to express myself in front of other ponies--and since I was with a group, I felt a lot less self-conscious.” She opened the window and looked out. “Oh, good, the snow’s clearing up! We’re planning to practice our routine one more time before tonight. The weather team knows well enough not to have a blizzard of that size on the night of Hearth’s Warming Eve, but it’s perfect to have in the morning.” She grabbed a dragon mask, forced the door open, and flew out. “See you tomorrow, Discord!” she called as the door closed again.

Discord, left behind, stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Maybe sooner…” he mused.

With a whoosh, the twelve pegasi chosen for this year’s show swooped low over the foals’ heads, entering the scene from behind. They wove in and out of each other, passing often over the heads of little fillies and colts and showering them with toys. The routine appeared intricate to those watching on, but for each individual pegasus, it was a simple matter of up and down--it just happened to be up over this pony and down under that one, giving it the appearance of an extremely difficult maneuver.

As they ran out of toys and bits, they began to move into the finale, when suddenly a whoosh sounded overhead. A brilliant red dragon, with green wings, a white tail stripe, and a beard, was flying over them. The pegasi forgot their routine and stopped, staring at him as he executed a few flips and spins. As Fluttershy squinted, she could clearly see his eyes, yellow with red pupils, and how he had one spiralling blue horn and one that was brown and forked like a deer’s. As he dove again and passed by her, one large eye winked, and she winked back.

He turned and spiralled into the sky, fireworks erupting from his body. Sparks from the fireworks traced down towards the foals, each one transforming into a tiny present box. Eagerly they opened them and took out small toys, but these ones were clearly chosen especially for them. For Dinky, who loved music, there was a small flute; Sweetie Belle had a harmonica. Featherweight got a camera, and Zipporwhill a squeaky toy for her dog.

As the fillies murmured among themselves in awe, Discord vanished in another barrage of fireworks. Like the last ones, these drifted down and came to rest in front of each filly and colt. This time, they were little Hearth’s Warming dolls, plastic ones like he’d made for himself and Fluttershy. The pegasi shook themselves and finished out their routine, but it was clear what part of the show the foals would remember.

EPILOGUE
“And as the foals grow, the dolls will change with them! If one gets their cutie mark, so will their doll. They change their mane style? So does the doll! It’s some of my best work, if I do say so myself.”

Fluttershy and Discord were sitting in the cottage on Hearth’s Warming morning. Fluttershy had already given her animals their presents--special Hearth’s Warming treats she’d whipped up with Pinkie Pie a few days ago. Each of them had a present to give the other, as well.

“You were great, Discord,” Fluttershy smiled. “They’ll remember that for years!”

“I certainly hope so. I always strive to be memorable. And I hope your present will be memorable too! Here, open it.”

Fluttershy took it and gently tugged at the ribbon, then eased off the paper underneath. As soon as she opened the lid of the box, a winged teapot flapped out and began to wander around the room, bumping into things. Fluttershy beamed. “Oh, I love it! But Discord, what will you use for our tea parties now?”

“Oh, it was getting a little boring anyway. I’m chaos--I shouldn’t use the same teapot all the time, even if it is an exceptionally interesting one.”

Fluttershy picked up her present. “Open mine now!” As he took it, she added, “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to get you at first, but after yesterday, I had an idea.”

Discord placed the present on a table, and his hands started spinning around like buzzsaws, shredding the wrapping paper off of the box. The lid simply vanished as he reached into the box. “A- A fake beard?”

“I know it seems odd,” she said, tracing her hoof across the floor, “but I wanted you to have something to remind you of yesterday and how happy you made those little fillies and-”

The rest of her sentence was cut off as he lifted her into a massive hug. “I love it.”