Hearthswarming Festival by DCFTEF

 

 

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Hearths Warming time is a big deal all over Equestria but nowhere is it bigger than Canterlot. Every town has their own public decorations and festival but the one in the Capitol is legendary. Every pony loves looking at photos of it in the magazines but that's as close as most of us ever get. Every hotel in Canterlot is booked up months in advance so unless you have friends who live in the city you're out of luck. Enjoy the Ponyville festival.

One year, however, my best friend Holly Star & I caught a huge stroke of good luck...and then we screwed it up.

 

See, Holly's dad, Piston Ring, works for the railroad. He's the on-call mechanic at the Ponyville station, responsible for basic maintenance and topping up the fluids on trains as they pull into the stop. As such, he's got to be qualified on every train that might roll into Ponyville. With the new streamliner models arriving from the Crystal Empire he needed an upgrade class, only available in Canterlot.

 

The Equestrian National Railroad owns a house in Canterlot. They use it to entertain bigwigs and as a place their own employees can stay when they're in town for business. Lots of big companies do this so they don't have to worry about hotels for their ponies and it meant Piston Ring had the keys to the company house. Right in the middle of the Hearths' Warming Festival.

 

When she heard Holly Star nearly exploded with excitement. There was plenty of room at the Railroad company house and Piston Ring's family was welcome to come along. The instant Holly's parents said “Yes” they could go she let out a shriek of excitement so loud I heard it next door. That's when I found out because Holly came sprinting up to my bedroom to tell me the good news and that I was going as well. Of course Holly's first question had been “Can Buster come too?” and her folks agreed.

I admit, maybe I shrieked a little too.

 

It was pretty normal for Holly's family to take me with them on a trip. My folks did the same, Holly frequently came along on our family vacations. We'd been neighbors & best friends since we were little blank-flanks, it was tough to separate us.

Now we had the company house for a whole week, right in the middle of the holiday season. My own parents admonished me to be on my best behavior...that was normal though. Holly and I spent so much time together it felt like we each had two sets of parents. We got into trouble together a lot too so I knew with painful certainty that if I misbehaved for Holly's Mom or Dad I'd be dealt with just like their own foal. It had happened before.

 

None of that concerned us as we rode the train to Canterlot. This week was going to be perfect, what could go wrong? Holly and I spent every minute of the trip pouring over old magazines, planning everything we were going to do once we arrived at the biggest Hearths' Warming festival in Equestria.

 

It did not disappoint.

Even before we arrived at Canterlot Grand Terminal the city holiday decorations took our breath away. On the platforms carolers greeted and sang for every train as it arrived. Hot cocoa and cookies were provided before we even left the terminal; we almost missed the nightly fireworks going on outside. Total sensory overload for two adolescent ponies from a small town, Piston Ring & Maple Cake could barely keep Holly & I on track as we made our way to the loaner house where we'd be staying. There was a lot to be distracted by.

 

When we finally did arrive the railroad's company house was nice. It was a 2 story villa and we had the whole second floor to use. That mattered little to Holly & I; as soon as we had put our saddlebags down we were begging to go back out and hit the festival. Despite being tired, and Piston Ring having a full work day ahead of him tomorrow the grown-ups indulged us and we all got our first good tour of the festival together.

 

So far, everything was awesome.

So far.

 

The next day Holly Star's father had to leave early for work. The first part of his upgrade training was an overnight trip aboard one of the new streamliner engines...back and forth to the Crystal Empire. We would not see him for a few days.

Holly's mother wanted to visit friends who lived in the city. That sounded totally boring to Holly & I so we begged Maple Cake to let us go out and enjoy the festival alone. We were old enough...and Canterlot was a safe city. We promised that we wouldn't get into any trouble and waited for an answer, practically bursting with excitement.

“Okay.”

It was the greatest thing Holly & I had ever heard. A whole day on our own at the Canterlot Hearth's Warming Festival; we could barely stand still long enough for Maple Cake to give us our instructions.

“Be polite, do not get into any trouble, stay at the festival, no exploring back alleys & side streets.

“And be back by 8pm.”

We whined a little at the early curfew; both of us wanted to see the Diamond Dogs Jackass Stunt Show but that didn't even start until 10pm and a warning growl from Holly's mom told us she was serious about 8 o'clock. Okay, no big deal; the Diamond Dog show had always been a long shot. We would still have plenty of fun. Once Maple Cake told us we could go we almost burst thru the door.

 

The Festival and our freedom were intoxicating. Music, games and spectacular decorations were everywhere. The streets were flooded with free holiday treats...we didn't even have to pay for anything.

See, the way it works in Canterlot is that every business wants to look good for the public around the holiday, so a bank or a factory or something will sponsor a bakery...or a band or an artist. Wealthy ponies even try to outdo each other. Mr. Fancy Pants paid to have Countess Coloratura play a concert on Friday night...so Filthy Rich, who owns all those cheap department stores, got the Coltie 5 to play on Saturday. Acrobat shows, fireworks, circus acts...businesses and rich big shots sponsor it all so for young ponies Holly & I it was all free.

The coolest thing was an actual roller-coaster set up right in the streets of Canterlot. The railroad paid for that and it was Holly & my favorite. Sure, it wasn't as big as the mega-coasters in Las Pegasus but for a temporary thing it was awesome, blasting through the tight streets and around the Festival at thrilling speed. It was kinda like doing high speed dive-bomb flights down the streets & alleys in Ponyville...ask me some other time about how Rumble & I got busted for that; or better yet don't.

 

Holly & I must have ridden that coaster a dozen times and when I let slip that her Pop worked for the railroad we got treated like VIP's. You'd think other Festival goers would get angry about that, seeing two random foals pushed to the front of the line and seated in the lead car, but no pony was jealous. Most everybody had arrived in Canterlot by train so the ponies in line actually applauded and gave a cheer for Holly Star's Dad, and all the railroad workers. Holly blushed, and acted embarrassed, but I could tell it made her feel really good.

That was how we met up with a group of local kids, a little older than us. They thought it was cool that Holly's father worked for the railroad and invited us to tag along with them. They knew all the best places! We followed them up to a rooftop to watch the Wonderbolts perform, we took shortcuts through back alleys to get around the Festival quickly, they showed us which street vendors didn't check I.D. for mugs of hot cider. As the sun went down (it's winter so the sun goes down early, still plenty of time until 8 o'clock) and we all got chilly our new friends brought us to a coffee shop where a cool band was playing. We had a blast...Best Day Ever. So far...

 

Once that show was over one of the local fillies proposed a next stop: “So are you two brave enough to check out the Royal Guards' Dungeon Museum?”

The Dungeon Museum is not open all the time. Originally it was a temporary thing the Royal Guards opened up on Nightmare Night; a creepy collection of old-school punishment and execution devices. Perfect stuff for a scary holiday. It was so popular that the Guards now open it up on all holidays, whenever there's a big crowd in Canterlot.

 

I did not think it was a good idea. You might remember from our other stories that Holly is really jumpy about even hearing the word 'spank'. It actually goes deeper than that, she's super empathetic about any pain or fear. See how walking into a museum of medieval torture implements might be a problem? But I didn't say anything because I didn't want to look like a dweeb in front of our new friends. Holly wasn't thinking about that at all, she was having fun and eagerly agreed to the next stop. “Heck yeah, we're brave enough! Let's do it!” I took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

 

We did have to pay a few bits for this attraction, but that was no big deal, the money paid for the Museum upkeep. The first couple rooms of the Dungeon Museum were not scary at all. Wax figures of unhappy caged inmates in striped prison pajamas, shackled by the hoof to heavy iron balls. The displays were even a little funny. Foal stuff. Downstairs is where they kept the really scary things and that's straight where our new friends led us.

 

I stayed close to Holly Star as we descended the creepy circular staircase, lit only by torchlight to add to that dark and scary vibe. Not very Hearthswarming-ish but Holly was focused on having fun with our new friends and showing them we were not a couple of small-town dorks. So far so good.

 

The main gallery was in the basement with a few Royal Guards down there to answer questions and act as tour guides. Unlike the prison displays upstairs there was nothing fake down here. These were the actual relics of the bad old days before Princess Celestia reformed the justice system. Before that it was pretty much whatever the Unicorn Lords commanded and they commanded some pretty evil shit.

Our friends led the way, occasionally giggling and pointing something out but they kept their voices hushed. This was a creepy, somewhat scary place. The artifacts were ancient but if you looked close you could see undeniable blood stains on every piece of sinister equipment. Saws for cutting Unicorn horns and axes for chopping off Earth pony hooves still looked sharp. A chill went down my spine when we passed a whipping post where Pegasai had their wings mangled, taking away their ability to fly in the days before Princess Celestia limited whipping to the rump only.

 

The place made me so nervous that I forgot to keep an eye on Holly Star. When I finally checked on her it was worse than I even expected. Holly was a wreck. This had been a bad idea, she was wide-eyed with terror, barely even blinking and shaking all over. It was bad enough for me and the others to see an ancient torture rack and know ponies once suffered there but Holly could practically feel the fear & pain they had endured centuries before. Most of the unfortunate ponies who had been burned, sawed, pierced and stretched upon these historic devices had done nothing wrong beyond getting on the bad side of their local Unicorn Lord. The chopping block where condemned ponies lost their heads had been used so many times its surface was in splinters. Poor Holly was sweating and shaking like it was her being dragged to the executioner's ax.

“Hey, you wanna get out of here?” I asked. Star couldn't even answer, she just nodded and we ducked out the closest door.

 

Aww crap, we went straight from the gallery containing ancient torture methods into a room full of modern discipline tools. Holly and I were surrounded by rows and rows of paddles, whips and spanking straps in glass cases with little placards describing their history and use. For two youngsters still living with the day to day danger of a blistered bottom it wasn't much better than the torture room. The Royal Guards on duty as tour guides must have had a chuckle as they saw two foals bail out, running for the exits and no longer caring if we looked like dweebs.

 

Thankfully our new friends barely notice Holly & I wimping out and running from the museum. While I was holding Holly's mane so she could throw up down a sewer grate they all exited the museum, laughing and eager to continue the Festival fun.

“Wow! That was creepy, but awesome!” one of them commented.

Holly wiped her muzzle and tried to act cool “Yeah....awesome.”

 

One of them suggested the next attraction; “So are you Ponyviller's cool enough to check out the Diamond Dogs Jackass Stunt Show?”

“I wish” I groaned, “but that doesn't even start until 10 o'clock.”

A local teen filly pointed at a big public clock and replied “That's just a few minutes, we can catch the beginning if we hurry.”

 

The two of us looked up at the clock and read the little hand and the big hand with horror. 9:53. As we stared at the clock, desperately hoping it was wrong, another of the locals commented; “Wow, when I was your age I was never allowed to stay out this late. Your folks must be pretty cool.”

Holly's face twisted up in dismay. She grabbed me and set off running at full speed, wailing “THEY'RE NOT COOL AT AAALLLLLLLLLL!”

 

Canterlot's cobblestone streets were wet and snowy but Holly and I sprinted as fast as our eight legs could carry us. I admit, I usually enjoy following Holly Star's rump but tonight I could barely keep up. The crowd was thick but it hardly slowed her down, she ducked around, over, even under ponies. We knew we were running toward certain doom, Holly's Mom was going to absolutely furious with us, but two hours late is better than two hours and thirty seconds late so we charged as fast as we could. Our lungs and legs burned...I tried to keep my mind off of how our rears would certainly be burning soon.

 

Any hope that we could just sneak in unnoticed was dashed when we reached the villa. Waiting at the base of the staircase, tapping her hoof impatiently, stood Holly's Mom. Holly slid to a stop right in front of her Mother, already babbling excuses and apologies. Maple Cake listened for a minute until she'd heard enough. She shut her filly up quickly with a raised hoof and with us both silent scolded “It's 10:13pm! I told you 8 o'clock...get your butts in the house, NOW!”

Holly inhaled to apologize again but her Mom gave her an angry glare that stopped the words in her mouth. Maple pointed to the stairs and Holly scampered up obediently, catching a sharp smack on her rump as she passed her Mom. Maple Cake looked at me. I did not attempt to make excuses like Holly, my ears just drooped as I admitted “I'm sorry, we just lost track of time.”

“Upstairs, Buster” she growled. I kept my rear end down low as I passed but still got the same painful smack Holly had. I was sure it wouldn't be the last one.

 

I found Holly pacing nervously in the living room. Already crying in fear she hugged me and sobbed “I'm SO sorry for getting you in trouble!”

“What do you mean?” I asked her, “We were both late.”

“It's my fault for asking you to come!” she wept “You'd be safe at home if I hadn't!”

I was going to tell Holly she was being silly but Maple Cake followed me up the stairs. Both of us watched her in terror as she sat down on the sofa, rummaged thru her purse and withdrew a big wooden manebrush that we'd both seen before. “Holly Star, get over here.” She did not waste time lecturing, it was already late and we both knew what we had done wrong.

 

Holly whimpered at the command and looked like she might resist but a stern glare from her mother melted all resistance. Maple still needed to pull her daughter to her but she came without a fight. “Mom, please, we didn't mean it...we just didn't see any clocks.” Bad defense, Canterlot is full of public clocks, we really didn't have any excuse. Holly kept trying though, begging for mercy as her mother maneuvered her into that terrible position over her lap.

“Buster, sit there.”

I dared not disobey and took my place right in front of them on the opposite sofa. My heart was broken, watching poor Holly Star plead for her rear end, but it was still pounding in my chest as I considered that I'd be in the same position soon.

Holly knew she would be getting it with the brush but she still squealed in fear when her Mom picked it up. “Two hours, young filly! You better hope I don't paddle your bottom for every minute you made me wait and worry!” I knew it was a bluff but hearing Maple Cake say that doubled my already pounding heart rate. Holly must have been scared out of her mind.

 

She was right to be scared. Her mother did not lecture, she just started. There was no slow and gentle warm-up like some of our friends' parents did...Holly's Mom targeted the tenderest parts of her daughter's rear straight away, locking the bawling filly in place for a long, painful ordeal. My friend kicked and squealed, she tried to move her butt into some position where it would be safe from that awful brush. It was all to no avail, Holly's mom hit her mark every single time and all Holly could do was scream out her apologies and beg for it to end quickly. It did not end quickly.

 

As I sat on the sofa, watching my best friend get her spanking and awaiting my own I cursed every time we had passed a clock and not looked up. A lame 8 o'clock curfew didn't sound so bad compared to this. I wish we had made it but knew even a time spell wasn't going to save Holly & I from such a clearly earned paddling. More than two hours late...I felt bad about how we'd made Ms. Maple Cake worry, especially after she'd been nice enough to include me in their trip. We totally deserved this, but as I listened to Holly wail and watched her butt turning more and more red I sure wasn't looking forward to my turn.

Escape was impossible. Sure, I could have run out the door but then what? Back to Ponyville where I'd be in even more trouble for running away? Maybe I could just get on a train and disappear somewhere like Appleoosa. Nah, that wouldn't work, I'm scared of scorpions. Besides, I have no money for a train ticket anyway. All I could do was sit on my twitching, itching behind and watch Holly endure her punishment, knowing mine would be just as bad.

 

Maple Cake did not start slow but she didn't end with a grand finale either. While Holly lay over her lap, bawling in misery she just stopped and ordered “Up!” Poor Holly was slow to obey and needed one more hard spank to get her moving, but when Maple Cake delivered it her filly didn't need to be told a third time.

“Sit!” Holly's mother ordered and even though she winced and struggled to settle down on her sore heinie my friend did not dare disobey. We made eye contact for a moment, Holly's eyes were red and puffy from crying but I could see in them the sorrow and pity she held for me, about to face the same torment. As Holly Star sat where I had been, wiping tears and snot from her muzzle, I did not wait for Maple Cake to summon me.

It was hard to be brave but I tried, making the short 3 step journey to her on wobbly legs. I was out of my mind with fear, if there was any way to escape this spanking I would have taken it but there was no escape. Already feeling miserable I felt even worse when Maple scolded in a low tone “Buster, when you take a filly out on the town it is very bad form to bring her home two hours late.” Holly's parents were like a second Mom & Dad to me, but I was also the one who had taken their daughter out on a date a screwed up massively. All my young stallion-ish pride was washed away in that moment like a sandcastle in a storm. I gave no resistance when Maple Cake pulled me over her lap and tucked my tail out of the way. After that I didn't have to wait long for the pain, which exploded onto my rear-end like a forest fire.

 

Holly Star's Mom is a SCARY spanker.

I'm not saying she's cruel, or abusive or anything, but when you go across her lap you know every single spank is gonna hurt. With both of my folks a spanking is a miserable ordeal that you just have to get through. Some whacks are gonna hurt more than others but overall it's a steady buildup of pain that leaves a sorry, sniffling coltie with a well baked rear and lots to think about.

With Holly's Mom it's different. Every single smack is aimed precisely and meant to hurt like its own spanking. No matter how much the last whack hurt Holly's Mom will always find a fresh, tender spot to deliver the next one. The worst is when you expect a spank but it doesn't come. I totally panic when that happens because that means she's lining up for a real stinger. Maybe it's just one nasty smack or a whole salvo of them but it's always gonna be awful, no matter how much your rump already hurts. Of course, I freak out when this happens and always make it worse. In that moment of hesitation I always jump or struggle in terror, exposing my cheeks to even more agony.

 

I was getting a classic Maple Cake spanking. The brush never struck the same spot twice unless that spot was the absolute worst, most tender spot to get a spank on. It hurt so bad that I tried to pull myself forward to escape the terrible whacks. That just put the most vulnerable spot at the base of my rear right in the target zone. When I regretted my bad move I tried to slide back but Maple Cake did not let me and I was stuck in that horrible position for the rest of my spanking.

 

It went on FOREVER, or at least it seemed that way as I howled and cried my eyes out. How did Maple Cake have the strength, the endurance to deliver two punishments this long? My foalish brain was probably exaggerating something that only took a few minutes but when you're helpless over a mare's lap, your bottom absolutely on fire and still receiving sharp explosions of pain that take your breath away it feels like an eternity.

 

After a few minutes eternity finally ended. I wasn't hurried off Maple Cake's lap like Holly had been. There was no third customer waiting so I got a merciful minute to compose myself while Maple scolded both of us about coming home so late. When I finally did get back on my hooves we were both ordered to bed. “It's almost 11 o'clock. You two get washed up and get to sleep. You have a busy day tomorrow.” Both of us dreaded what that could mean but it probably didn't mean more fun at the Festival. We obediently hurried to the bathroom, washed our tear-streaked, snot covered faces and brushed our teeth before carefully getting into bed. Neither of us would be sleeping on our backs tonight.

 

We slept in the same bed. That might seem weird, since we were a colt and a filly right at the age where colts and fillies start to 'experiment' with sexy stuff, but Holly's parents had nothing to fear. Sexy stuff was the last thing on either of our minds and after a final, milder lecture from Holly's Mom sleep came quickly to both of us.

 

At 6am Holly's Mom blew a whistle like a drill sergeant and after last night neither of us wasted a second getting out of bed. With rear ends still throbbing and sore we were assigned a whole day of chores. While the rest of Canterlot was outside enjoying another day of the Festival we had to clean every inch of the railroad villa. This was pointless, since the house was professionally cleaned by pony maids and completely spotless but Maple Cake made us do it anyway.

Holly was unwise enough to complain about this and was promptly dragged back into the living room for a quick but painful hoof spanking.

Watching that I resolved to be on my best behavior all day but as it happened I too was doomed to a second round. Once a break for lunch was over I was assigned to wash the dishes. I thought I'd done an okay job but I was soon summoned back to the kitchen where Maple Cake pointed out all the places I could have done a better job...plus I neglected to clean the sink up when I was done. No big deal, right? I expected to just finish the job but to my dismay this time it was me being dragged to the living room sofa where I got a second spanking for saying the job was done when it was not. Maple Cake only used her hoof but on an already sore butt...ouch! I think she had already decided we were both getting a next day warm up; Holly gave her an easy excuse but she had to wait a little longer before I gave her a reason. At least Holly & I were even now, but I sure wish I could have avoided it.

 

The next day we were still grounded in the house but at least there was no more cleaning to be done. The three of us played board games until Piston Ring returned from his rail journey aboard the new train engine. Holly was nervous about her Dad being angry when he found out what had happened but thankfully we only got a stern but good natured “Well, I guess you'll never do THAT again.”

That night we all went and enjoyed the Festival together, and after that Holly & I were restored to full freedom for the rest of our trip. We were home at least 10 minutes early, every day.

 

It will come as no surprise to you readers that Holly Star & I stayed best friends and eventually joined our two families by getting married. We never got another opportunity to go to Canterlot for the Hearthswarming Festival with a free luxury villa again but we told the stories every year around the Holiday. Thankfully we left out the part about the spankings.

Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to have been spanked by your Mother-in-Law?

Pretty embarrassing.

 

END

 

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Side story by Pan at line 1162: