The Young Six, Darla, Amber, and Annabelle began to start cleaning.
"Darla, that was nice of you to offer to help." Amber smiled to her best friend proudly.
"Thanks, Amber." Darla smiled back.
"And this way, we can help make the cleaning go faster." Annabelle said.
The doors soon came open as they were cleaning.
"All right, let's get to the bottom of this," Twilight said to the others. "Who wants to be interviewed first?"
"Eh. I'll go," Gallus smirked before tossing his mop towards Silverstream. "Beats mop duty."
'He sure was eager to go first.' Darla thought to herself.
"Hey, I know! We can make a game out of this!" Silverstream suggested. "See who finishes cleaning up first!"
"Woo-hoo!" Yona beamed. "Yak win! Yak best at cleaning!"
"Cleaning can be fun." Darla smiled.
"Hey, I live on a farm, chores are my whole life." Clark chuckled weakly.
"Yeah, and where you get yours done in seconds flat." Cherry smirked.
Clark smiled bashfully to her.
"Let's save time and cut to the chase," Smolder decided. "Which one of you did it?"
"I would never do something this horrible!" Ocellus replied. "I love Hearth's Warming Eve, and I do not want to miss going home for it!"
"Huh, I didn't even know Changelings celebrated Hearth's Warming." Sandbar said.
"Um... I didn't either." Cherry spoke up.
"Oh, yes! It's our favorite holiday!" Ocellus replied. "Well, since Headmare Twilight shared it with us last year. She gave our hive very clear instructions."
"And you followed them correctly, right?" Patch smiled.
"Of course!" Ocellus smiled back. "We put the tree up in the air, we swam in some punch, passed presents all around, and sang carols."
"Hmm... I think I can guess what happened..." Cherry commented as she imagined the Changelings taking some of the instructions too literally.
"And let me guess; you also built something that looked like a fire?" Mo guessed.
"Oh... Is that not right?" Ocellus asked.
"...It's good for a first try." Cherry replied so not to hurt her feelings.
"You might have taken them too literally." Patch said, trying to be nice.
"Eh. We may not have done everything exactly the way you do, but we made our own traditions, and I can't wait to do it all again this year!" Ocellus replied.
"If we ever get out of here." Smolder scoffed.
"Of course we will." Clark said.
"Ocellus? Your turn." Twilight called to the young Changeling.
Ocellus soon followed Twilight as Gallus came in and Rainbow Dash followed Ocellus into Twilight's office.
"What happened?" Silverstream asked the griffin.
"What do you think happened?" Gallus scoffed. "I told her I didn't do it."
"Ugh! Yona tired of waiting!" Yona complained. "Yaks always home for holidays!"
"What do yaks celebrate?" Darla asked.
"Our holiday much better," Yona replied. "Is called Snilldar Fest. Night before, yaks gather things to smash and put them in big pile. Then in morning, we smash them! In afternoon, we smash them again! In evening-"
"So it's just about smashing stuff, like all your other holidays?" Gallus guessed.
"No! How griffin get that idea?" Yona replied. "This holiday about so much more. Last year, for example. Most perfect Snilldar ever."
"How did it start?" Darla asked.
"Whole family, grandpa, grandma yak, Yona's brother, sister, mother, father yak, all go to woods singing yak song," Yona explained with a happy smile. "Calves in family pick out perfect smashing log. Then yaks smash it! Then yak family build perfect snow fort... And smash it! Then we hang perfect things on perfect moss pile and-"
"You smash it?" The other guessed.
"What you think yaks are, barbarians? Moss pile is for special family rituals. Last year, ritual for Yona," Yona replied. "All yak family gather around Yona and braid Yona hair for first time."
"Oh, Yona, that sounds so nice." Annabelle smiled about a family bonding together like that.
"So, your holiday is all about smashing stuff and family?" Gallus guessed.
"Two most perfect things ever put together," Yona smiled. "Happy Snilldar Fest!"
"Well, that sounds nice, Yona." Annabelle smiled back to the yak.
"It sure does." Amber added.
"Happy Snilldar to you too, Yona!" Silverstream gushed. "It's so cool to learn new traditions from new friends!"
"Yeah... It is." Darla agreed.
"It sure is." Amber smiled.
"Yeah, well, one of these new friends has gotten us all in trouble, and they'd better confess soon." Smolder scoffed.
"Now, Smolder..." Clark sighed. "Show some patience. I don't know who did this, but I'll tell you this, it wasn't me."
"But whoever did it must have a good reason, like if he or she didn't want to leave, feeling like you guys were family to him or her." Darla said.
"Sandbar?" Ocellus called to the colt. "Sorry, but they said they want you to go in next."
Sandbar nodded and soon walked off.
"He reminds me of Atticus." Cherry commented about Sandbar.
"Yeah, kind of does reminds us of him." Patch smiled.
"Why the rush to get home, Smolder?" Silverstream asked the tomboy dragon. "Like you said, dragons don't really have holidays, do they?"
"Meh." Smolder shrugged.
"You do celebrate a holiday, don't you?" Clark guessed.
"That's so sad!" Ocellus gasped. "You must do something in the winter for fun."
"Well, we do have the Feast of Fire," Smolder replied. "Every dragon gets together and tells stories. The best one wins a pile of gemstones."
"Which story won last year?" Darla asked.
"It was called 'A Dream Come True'." Smolder replied.
"Come on, now you've gotta tell it!" Silverstream begged.
"Yeah, come on, please!" Darla added.
"Ugh... Fine..." Smolder groaned as she told the story for all of them. "Once upon a time, there was this sad little dragon. Her name was Scales. She lived alone in the wilderness with nothing to eat, but one night, as she sat alone in a storm, she heard something. It was the Dragon Lord! Scales was scared, but the Dragon Lord told her not to be afraid, that he was taking her to the Dragon Lands for a great feast. Scales sat with the Dragon Lord's family and friends and had the biggest, best dinner of gemstones she'd ever eaten! Then, while the dragons were telling stories, Scales thought it would be so easy to seize power from this feeble and sensitive Dragon Lord. She saw her chance... And took it! She claimed the Bloodstone Scepter and took over the Dragon Lands, and forced the Dragon Lord to live out in the cold, just as she used to!"
"That's a horrible story!" Annabelle frowned.
"Maybe to you, but dragons like hearing about weak, kind creatures getting defeated." Smolder replied.
"Hmm..." Annabelle still frowned.
'Well, at least none of us will have to tell any stories with that kind of ending.' Amber thought to herself.
"Silverstream! You're up! Let's go!" Rainbow Dash called out.
Silverstream soon went with Rainbow Dash into Twilight's office.
"So, did you tell them you did it?" Smolder asked the colt.
"What?! No way!" Sandbar replied. "Why would I say that?"
"You already live in Ponyville," Smolder told him. "Staying here over break is no big deal."
"Yeah, but that means he wouldn't go home to his family." Darla frowned.
"School of Friendship good place for pony to have pony holiday." Yona said.
"I'd still rather spend it with my family at home," Sandbar replied. "Oh! That reminds me! I have the best holiday story ever! It's called... 'The Day My Hearth's Warming Doll Almost Fell into the Fire'!"
"Atticus, it's you!" Cherry teased.
"Oi." Atticus rolled his eyes playfully.
"Just before we went to bed, my mom, my dad, and my sister all put our Hearth's Warming Dolls up on the mantel, just like we do every year," Sandbar soon told his story. "But this year, I put my doll too close to the edge, and it fell!"
"And...?" Patch asked.
"My doll hit the floor, but it could have gone in the fire!" Sandbar replied.
"That's it?" Mo asked.
"Mm-hmm." Sandbar smiled and nodded.
"That's a great story," Gallus deadpanned. "And you told it really well."
"Yeah. It was a Hearth's Warming miracle." Sandbar smiled.
"I'm sure it was." Amber said.
"Next!" Rainbow Dash called out. "Smolder, come with me. Yona, Twilight's waiting for you."
Smolder and Yona soon began to follow Rainbow Dash to Twilight's office.
"The last two," Ocellus gulped. "So if neither one of them confesses, that means..."
"We're never going home!" Silverstream panicked.
"Oh, my..." Annabelle frowned.
"We'll be here forever!" Ocellus cried out.
"Beyond forever." Sandbar frowned.
"But I can't miss the Three Days of Freedom Celebration!" Silverstream yelped.
"Now, now, let's just calm down." Cherry tried to calm them down.
"How about you tell us about the Three Days of Freedom Celebration, Silverstream?" Patch suggested.
"How long does that last?" Gallus deadpanned about the holiday.
"It used to be only one day, but now to commemorate our escape from the Storm King, we're adding two more days of awesome!" Silverstream beamed as she took out a book. "See?"
"There's a book?" Gallus asked, referring to how there's a book about it.
"Mm-hmm! Queen Novo had these made for the Mount Aris board of tourism to explain it all to guests!" Silverstream smiled and nodded.
Gallus rolled his eyes to that.
"So, what do you do for each day?" Darla asked Silverstream.
"We'll spend the first night in Seaquestria, thanking the ocean for protecting us from the Storm King," Silverstream began. "Sea-dancing, whale-singing, shell-stringing... Lots of 'ings'."
"Sounds like our summer breaks." Darla giggled about her and Atticus as they usually visited Atlantica during the summer.
"So then what do you do for your second day?" Amber asked Silverstream.
"The second day will be on Mount Aris, with sky-dancing and a wind song in the Harmonizing Heights to celebrate the Storm King's defeat." Silverstream replied.
"Sky Dancing... That sounds familiar..." Cherry commented.
"And for your third day, do you celebrate in the sea or on land or both?" Annabelle asked Silverstream.
"Both!" Silverstream smiled. "Everycreature will party together, on land and sea! Grandparents and parents and sisters, uncles, brothers, acquaintances, neighbors, and cousins. And at the end of the night, Queen Novo is gonna give out presents!"
"Wow..." Annabelle smiled back as that sounded amazing.
"Wait, cousins? What are those?" Gallus asked as he looked confused.
"You don't know what cousins are?" Amber asked in surprise. "Your aunts and uncles' children."
"You know, part of your family," Silverstream added. "Oh, you're teasing us again, right?"
Darla could tell from Gallus's eyes that he wasn't teasing. Yona and Smolder were soon seen coming in.
"I'm guessing neither one of you confessed." Sandbar said to them.
Yona sighed in frustration. "Headmare Twilight say wait here."
"Maybe they're changing their minds about sending us home?" Silverstream suggested.
"Why would they? Face it, we're stuck here." Smolder told her.
"But-but-but I have to go home!" Ocellus sniffled as she began to cry.
"Aw, Ocellus, don't cry..." Cherry frowned to the young Changeling.
"My mom makes the best kelp fritters!" Silverstream cried.
"I really wanted to experience my first Hearth's Warming." Clark frowned since he was new in Equestria altogether.
"How can you be so cool about this?" Sandbar asked as he pointed to Smolder, Yona, and Gallus.
Gallus looked away.
"We're mad," Smolder replied. "We just show it differently."
"More like you don't show it at all." Sandbar grumbled.
"What pony getting at?" Yona glared at Sandbar.
"Maybe it wasn't just one prankster," Silverstream piped up. "Maybe there were three of you. And you're trying to hide your guilt by not being upset!"
"...That's kinda smart." Cherry commented.
"It does make sense." Ocellus said.
"Guys, stop it." Gallus spoke up.
"Or maybe whoever did it is only pretending to be upset to throw us off." Smolder soon suspected.
"Me?! But I didn't!" Ocellus replied nervously.
"Now that's going way too far, Smolder; Ocellus would never do this!" Darla glared at the dragon.
"Oh, sticking up for your accomplice, huh?" Smolder glared back at Darla.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Darla glared back.
"Come on, let it go." Gallus said.
It seemed like everyone else was now arguing.