It was the middle of the winter in Ponyville. Almost everypony was in their houses, making sure that they weren't going freeze with the cold outdoors. However, right at the Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple family was on the edge of the Everfree Forest. They were trying to collect as much lumber as possible, making sure that everypony had something to warm their houses for the coldest winter days.

“Thanks a lot for yer help Twilight.” Applejack said as she, Big Mac and Caramel were pulling a rather large load of freshly-cut trees. “Ah don't think we might 'ave got this many trees if it weren't yer fancy magics,” Applejack thanked her now-blushing unicorn friend, eying the load they had.

They had so much that even three earth ponies couldn’t pull it together, but thanks to Twilight's spell, the load was as light as a feather and also had helped them a bit on piling the wood. “Ah can't believe how the hay we've been able to do this without ya. Now we have enough lumber to keep the whole town warm for rest of this winter!” Applejack grinned at Twilight, who was looking rather embarrassed from the shower of compliments.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac added in his usual tone.

“P-please Applejack...” Twilight almost muttered. “I'm sure if you had asked any other unicorn in town you would have done fine...”

“But none of them have the same kind of cool magical skills and knowledge like you do!” Caramel suddenly said loudly, waving both of his hooves.

“Heh. Ya stole the words right out of mah mouth Caramel.” Applejack chuckled. “But, say Twilight, how long did ya say this spell would last again?” She asked, quickly glancing at the load.

“Well, if my calculations are correct, it should last eight hours at least,” Twilight said in pondering tone. “It might last even a bit longer, but I'm not sure...”

“Well I'll be!” Applejack laughed. “If that's what ya say is true, then Ah guess this means that we can store all of these logs in no time!”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac said.

“Oh yeah! That means I can have much more time with my marefriend!” Caramel exclaimed excitedly.

“Uuuh... Caramel. I think ya already spent most of yer time with yer littl' marefriend,” Applejack said, amused.

“Oh... ehehe...” Caramel laughed embarrassedly, while rubbing back of his head. “Well, Hearth's Warming Eve is only six days away and we still need to get new decorations and stuff...” he trailed off, not wanting to tell more.

“Alright, alright there ya charmer.” Applejack chuckled. “Ah get it. Alrighty boys, ready to go back to the farm?” she asked. They both nodded.

“Are you sure you won't need me help you out with storage?” Twilight asked, feeling a bit -- well, for the lack of better words -- useless.

“Naaw, no need to Twilight. You've done already enough.” Applejack smiled. “But Ah suggest that ya'll better be here in time tomorrow if ya want the best logs for yer fireplace,” she remarked, grinning.

“Oh, you have no need to worry about that, Applejack.” Twilight laughed. “You know I'm always early!”

“Can't argue with ya there,” The orange workpony commented humorously. “See ya later Twi!” Applejack waved goodbye as she, Big Mac and Caramel started pulling the full carts.

“Later then!” Twilight waved back. When the three ponies had left, she couldn't help but notice how cold it actually was, the sun was really close on setting. Just a few more minutes and it would be quite dark. “I better get back quickly,” she thought.

As she walked towards the library, Twilight noticed the air was slowly getting colder and colder as sun fell lower and lower. She soon could already see the first star. “The Northern Eve Star...” Twilight thought as she watched it, the largest star that was lighting the semi-dark skies.

The Northern Eve Star was a typical star that only appeared around the Hearth's Warming Eve, and it was also the first one to appear in the sky. It was said that the star was created when three tribes formed their bonds and created the kingdom of Equestria, but it has never really been proved by anypony whether it was true or not. It was just speculation, a legend, a myth... But an interesting myth nonetheless.

Suddenly, Twilight felt something collide with her nose, and she let out a small, pained cry. “What in the...” She then noticed that she had reached her house, quite literally. “Well, that went faster than I anticipated,” she thought while rubbing her sore nose. Thankfully, it seemed like there wasn’t any damage.

“Hey Twilight. Are you okay?” She heard her number one assistant, a baby dragon known as Spike, calling through an opened door, sounding a bit concerned. No doubt he had heard her cry when she had collided with the tree.

“Yeah, no worries Spike,” Twilight assured him, rubbing her nose once more. “Just losing myself in a trail of thoughts... Again,” she added, a bit embarrassed.

While Spike didn't say anything, his face had a look that told Twilight enough, to which she promptly gave her own little glare. “Come on in, unless you plan on freezing yourself,” Spike said, ignoring the look the mare gave him.

“So, I take it that everything went well with Applejack?” Spike asked when she got inside.

“Oh yes!” Twilight said, returning back to her cheerful self. “I had great time helping AJ out!” she said while taking her winter jacket off. “By the way Spike, have you made anything edible? I'm starving here!” Twilight groaned, while her stomach followed in suite.

“Yeah, I had a feeling that you might be bit hungry.” Spike said, strolling to the kitchen. “Since you were gone for almost six hours or so...”

“That long, really?” Twilight wondered out loud. She quickly glanced at the clock and couldn't help but notice that Spike was right. She had left for Sweet Apple Acres around two o'clock and now it was almost around eight in the evening. “Time really flies sometimes,” she thought. “So, what food do you have exactly then?” she asked Spike when her stomach growled at her

“Well, just the regular.” Spike shrugged. “Just a few salad sandwiches and one rose sandwich, and of course some apple juice.”

“Thanks a lot Spike!” Twilight blurted as she quickly seated herself front of the table and took a bite of her sandwich. “So, did anything happened while I was gone?” Twilight asked.

“Not that much,” Spike replied in bored tone. “Just Lyra coming here for some books...”

“Oh,” Twilight said with muffed voice. She quickly swallowed the second bite, before talking again. “What kind of books did she ask for this time?” she asked in an amused tone.

“Well, this time it wasn't any of those history or animal books,” Spike started, still sounding bit bored. “Just some romance novels and books about dates...” he muttered.

“Huh... that's a bit different from her...” Twilight thought out loud. “Anything else?” Twilight asked, before eating rest of the sandwich and moving on the next one.

“Well, nothing much after that brief visit. I just re-shelved the books like you wanted,” Spike explained. Twilight let out a small giggle at the comment. It was rather funny, since she had planned on doing by herself, but then Applejack had come to her and before she knew it, she was helping her friend out, finding a good chunk of firewood for everypony at Ponyville.

And poor Spike had to do all that by himself. “Now that I think about it... he surely did it rather quickly without any magical help...” Twilight thought, confused. “Hey Spike, how exactly were able to re-shelve these books?” she asked. “I mean, you did it all in about six hours, without any magical help.”

“Well...” Spike rubbed his neck. “...I maybe sort of had little help from...” whoever’s name he tried to say, was too quiet for Twilight to hear.

“I'm sorry, didn't quite catch that,” Twilight teased, already having an idea of who Spike was talking about.

“Urgh...! Rarity alright!” Spike cried, a little too loudly, in defensive tone. “She came here looking for some books at some point,” he then added, before Twilight could get any ideas of teasing him about him and Rarity. He was somewhat irritated that Twilight didn't have anyone she might be crushing on so that he could tease her about it.

“Heheh, I'm sorry Spike, I couldn't resist,” Twilight replied, her voice between humored and apologetic. Finishing her second sandwich, she was finally feeling bit filled, but she still could eat the rose sandwich. Her mouth started watering a bit as she smelled a sweet aroma, coming from the flower.

“So, that's all?” Twilight asked, taking a large bite of her sandwich.

“Yeah, I guess,” Spike said thoughtfully, trying to remember if there was anything else he might’ve forgotten to tell. He then suddenly snapped his fingers, “Oh yeah!” he exclaimed. “I also got a letter from Princess Celestia!”

There was loud spitting noise and lot of coughing coming from Twilight ,who seemed to have swallowed bit of her sandwich down the wrong pipe. “Wha... aargh!” Twilight hacked, attempting to say anything in vain.

“Drink your juice!” Spike shouted, to which Twilight returned with a small hard look. She quickly downed the entire glass nearby..

“We had a letter from Princess Celestia and you didn't come to inform me!?” Twilight broke out, sounding a bit out of breath, while Spike was getting really uncomfortable.

“Great job Spike...” he thought to himself. “Sorry Twilight...” Spike apologized, trying to calm the now-panicked unicorn, but wasn't doing a good job. “I just kind of forgot it and-”

“Forgot? FORGOT!?” Spike was now slowly walking away from the purple unicorn, who had suddenly got really close to his face, while holding a rather crazy and panicked look in her eyes. Again. “How could you forget something like this!?” Twilight exclaimed loudly, her voice taking on more of a distressed tone.

“Uuuh... Twilight,” Spike tried to say, but was interrupted, like usual, by Twilight's ranting.

“Did you forget that this Princess Celestia we’re talking about!? How could you forget something so important from her? What if there was something she wanted my opinion on something, and now I missed it?”

“I don't know...” Spike muttered.

“What if a dark creature has escaped the Gates of Tartarus and has been causing havoc across Equestria as we SPEAK!?”

“Uuuh, Twilight...” Spike tried to break in, but was interrupted by Twilight again.

“What if Canterlot is, right now, a pile of rubble, while I was picking up trees with Applejack?!” Spike could have sworn that he saw strands of Twilight's mane shoot up off her head.

“Okay Twilight. I think that's eno-” Spike tried again.

“And what if Discord got out again, and is right now inflicting unimaginable damage upon Equestria?!”

“Twilight!” Spike now said with raised voice.

“And what if-”

“TWILIGHT!” Spike screeched.

“WHAT!?” Twilight yelled back.

“Good, I have her attention,” Spike thought.

“You are doing it again,” he said, now bit more calmly. Although, the same couldn't be said about Twilight.

“What do you mean “I'm doing it again”?” Twilight asked, her voice still sounding borderline-hysterical. “Can't you realize that something horrible might be...” Twilight slowly trailed off when she noticed the look Spike was giving her with his arms crossed. “Aaah...” Twilight realized, woefully embarrassed. “I... I was over-worrying about something that might not need to be worried about, wasn't I?”

Spike simply responded by a nod.

“Sorry...” Twilight said quietly, while having an embarrassed smile on her lips. Her eyes were trying find something interesting to look at. “So... uuh...” Twilight tried to say as if the whole scene hadn't happened, but it was really hard for her. “What did the letter exactly say...?” she asked nervously. Her eyes avoided Spike's, hardly even looking in his direction.

“Hm, I don't know.” Spike shrugged. “I haven't really read it yet.”

“You didn't read the Princess's letter!?” Twilight said, her over-reacting getting best of her once again. “What were you thinking Spike...?” Twilight's voice trailed off again when Spike gave her the same look. “Sorry,” Twilight remembered, smiling nervously again.

“Well I got it like five or ten minutes before you came back, when I was still making supper for you. So, I decided to wait until you would be back,” Spike explained, to which Twilight let out a small sigh of relief.

“Well, can you show me the letter now?” Twilight asked. But her raw impatience, that she tried to cover, leaked from her voice.

“Just a sec,” Spike said, leaving the kitchen. He shuffled slowly, much to Twilight's distaste, and she had a small hunch that Spike was doing it on purpose.

“Here it is,” Spike waved an all-too-familiar scroll in his hands.

“Soo...” Twilight started.

“You want me to read it?” Spike asked.

“Sure...” Twilight replied. She didn't want to read it herself, since, no doubt in her hurry, she might miss something. Usually she did.

“Okay... here’s what it says.” Spike cleared his throat, all too slowly, making Twilight even more uncomfortable and impatient. She threw up her hooves in frustration. “My Faithful Student...” Spike started. "It is with great pleasure of mine to invite you and your friends for this year’s “Winter Solstice” celebration for my dear sister Princess Luna, which is three days away.”

She was relieved that it hadn't been anything serious, but that also made her felt really... well, dumb. But at least she hadn't caused any village-wide havoc like last time. “And somepony always brings that up now and then...” she growled annoyedly in her mind.

But then there was the “Winter Solstice” celebration. Last time she checked, there hadn't really been any “Winter Solace” celebration at Canterlot. Well, before now they didn't have the Night Princess with them, at least for a long, long time. But why now? It has been two years since Luna had returned. Why would they hold out for two years?

“For this is going to be her very first “Winter Solstice” celebration in a long time, and I was hoping that you and your friends would attend this celebration. And of course, if you accept, you may also stay for the Hearth's Warming Eve.

Inform me soon as possible wherever you and your friends are able to join us.

Your Teacher, Princess Celestia.” Spike finished the letter.

“Well...” Twilight started with a small sigh in her voice. “It wasn't as bad as I imagined.”

“Hold on Twilight, there's little more.” Spike suddenly said, causing Twilight to tense up. “PS: I really hope that you are considering this. Luna is rather lonely here and would probably like to see a familiar face, as well as meet some new ones.” Spike rolled the parchment back up.“That's pretty much it.”

“That's it? Are you sure?” Twilight asked in suggestive tone, as if Spike was probably hiding something from her.

“Yeah. Take a look for yourself.”

Twilight's magic wrapped around the scroll, opening it and scanning it over. She then proceeded to read it through twice, before giving it back to Spike. “Well... that was completely different from what I thought,” Twilight commented about the letter. “However, I can't help but wonder why didn't we get this kind of invitation last year,” Twilight pondered.

“I mean, we did get the invitation for Hearth's Warming Eve, but never for the Winter Solstice,” she said in questioning tone. “Why, didn't they have anything like this last year?”

“Maybe Princess Luna didn't feel like it last time?” Spike shrugged, while trying to give Twilight some suggestions so she wouldn't start freaking out.

“That doesn't make any sense,” Twilight laughed. But then her face grew a thoughtful look. “Or maybe it does. I mean, she had been rather isolated when we freed her from the bind of Nightmare Moon,” Twilight started explaining, which was mostly for herself and her thoughts. “And last year’s Nightmare Night proved that, that Princess Luna hadn't really been in any kind of contact with anypony,” she continued, while rubbing her hoof on her chin.

“Well, maybe you can ask her when you go to the celebration,” Spike suggested. “You are going to the celebration, right?”

“But of course!” Twilight gasped, as if Spike had grown a second head. “This is a request from the Princess of the Equestria for pony's sake! I can't just ignore it!” But within an instant, another realization hit Twilight.

“Oh no! I still need to ask my friends if they’re coming, and there’s only three days left!” Twilight's eyes started shifting once again, looking around anxiously. “I need to tell them immediately!” Before Spike could say anything, Twilight had already ran back to the living room, putting on her winter apparel.

“Hold it Twilight! You ain't going anywhere!” Spike called from the kitchen as he ran after Twilight. “Why can't you wait for tomorrow?” he asked, as he reached almost-dressed up unicorn.

“Because if I don't ask them soon enough, I won't be able to send my response for Celestia in time!” Twilight replied hurriedly. “And give me back my scarf!” Twilight yelled when she noticed that the baby dragon was hiding something behind his back.

“No way! And you need to calm down again Twilight.” Spike tried to placate Twilight once again, beginning to sense a rather familiar pattern here. “Do you really think Celestia is going to mind if you don't give her an answer today?”

“Well...” Twilight started, but didn't say anything. She knew that Celestia really wouldn’t care if she didn't give her the answer immediately. But what if... No! She can't let her fears take the best of her again.

“And besides, I really think everypony are resting back in their homes.” Spike remarked. “It’s late, they’re probably tired too.”

For a moment, Twilight stood before the door. Changing her gaze from Spike, to the letter, and to the door, she measured her options. On the one hoof, she could do this really quickly and be done with it. But as much as she hated to admit it, Spike was right. It was already getting really late, and no doubt some of her friends like Applejack were exhausted and needed some rest right now... And truth to be told, she was quite tired herself as well.

Twilight proceeded to let out a defeated sigh. She would go tomorrow to tell her friends about this, but she hoped they wouldn't take too long with their answers. “Okay Spike, you win.” Twilight finally admitted, taking off her clothes.

“Glad that's done with,” he replied, giving Twilight her scarf back.

“But we’re going to wake up early tomorrow,” Twilight then suddenly remarked, as if remembering something she had forgotten.

Spike looked worried. “Why?” he almost whined.

“Because we need to get some firewood, to keep our library warm of course,” Twilight stated. “And this also gives a great opportunity to ask Applejack to come with us to Canterlot!” she finished with a happy tone, clapping her hooves, which didn't sit well with a certain baby dragon.

“Great... good night, sleep tight...” Spike grumbled as he sulked off towards the bedroom.

Author's Notes:

NOTE! THIS STORY HAS NOTHING TO WITH SEASON 3! THIS WAS PLANNED WAY BEFORE! But there are going to be some refrences time to time...

Here it finally is my good readers! Sorry for taking this long. It has been a crazy road for me and my proof-readers. Well, I hope you were able to enjoy the first chapter of this REALLY long planned story of mine and will hopefully join for the future chapters as well.

And sorry if the description is bit sucky, I was bit out of ideas since I've mostly concentrated on the story mostly.

So, don't forget to comment! And constructive criticism is welcome!

Till next time, THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT!!!!