The next day soon came. Drell snored as he was still sleeping until his crystal ball went off so he turned over in his bed, putting the pillow over his head with a groan, but his crystal ball seemed to just become louder.
"Drell... Please..." Hilda begged.
Ambrose soon woke up crying from the loud noise.
"I'll get it!" Drell soon dashed off, sliding across the floor and crashing into the wall. "I'm glad no one saw that."
"Same here." Hilda said.
Drell soon answered his crystal ball. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" he then complained.
"Hello..." An elderly voice greeted.
"Oh! Hello there, Lao Shi," Drell then said. "Let me guess; Jake's coming today?"
"Yes," Lao Shi replied. "I'm glad you remembered."
"I never forget anything," Drell said. "Especially Sabrina's cute little boyfriend...Harold."
"Harvey!" Hilda told him as she soothed Ambrose.
"I totally knew that!" Drell replied.
"Yes, I'll be sending Jake along, it's just being rather difficult." Lao Shi told the warlock.
"Well, I have a feeling this Hearth's Warming will give him a perspective that Equestria isn't mushy and girly." Drell said.
"Yes... Quite..." Lao Shi replied. "He thinks his little sister should go for him in fact."
"Need my help?" Drell asked.
"I'd wish you a lot of luck in that case." Lao Shi replied.
"Oh... I can be very persuasive." Drell smiled darkly.
"It's true." Hilda smiled as she carried Ambrose.
"Oh... Who do we have here?" Lao Shi asked.
"My son," Drell introduced. "Ambrose."
"I can see a resemblance." Lao Shi said as he saw Ambrose lifting a statue like it was nothing.
Ambrose giggled to that.
"Ambrose! Don't play with that!" Hilda gasped.
"So need me to convince Jake to come here?" Drell aske Lao Shi.
"Um... If you don't mind," Lao Shi replied. "It might be difficult. Jake is a brilliant boy, but a bit hardheaded. I never had this much trouble with his mother."
"I'll be right there." Drell smirked.
"Thank you." Lao Shi bowed to him.
Drell soon teleported away for a second.
"He'll be back in a minute." Hilda assured her son.
Ambrose sniffled a little, but huddled up to his mother.
After a short time, Drell came back, and where he brought Jake along with him.
"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Jake complained as he was a red pegasus colt with spiky black mane with green tips.
"Welcome to Equestria, Jake Long." Drell smirked.
"Huh, I would have thought he was going to be in his dragon form." Hilda said.
"I guess that's for transforming," Drell shrugged. "Anyway, welcome."
"Aw, man, why am I here?" Jake complained. "I'd rather sing Christmas carols with my parents and little sister than be stranded in a pony land."
"Would you rather like to be in Tartarus?" Drell smirked at Jake.
"Uh... Tartarus?" Jake's eyes widened nervously.
Drell showed him what Tartarus was through his crystal ball.
"What the-?!" Jake gasped.
"It's up to you." Drell smirked.
"Uh, I think I'll stay here for a little bit." Jake said nervously.
"That's what I thought," Drell smirked. "You can stay in your dragon form while you're here."
"There are dragons here?" Jake asked.
"You'd be surprised." Drell replied.
"Well... Okay... Dragon UP!" Jake replied as he transformed.
"And just try to bear the singing." Drell said.
"Oh... Great... Singing..." Jake muttered.
Hilda grinned as she looked excited while bundling Ambrose up before they would go out into the cold.
"And the first song should be starting soon." Drell said as they went out.
They soon walked out together as the ponies were all cheerful and excited about the holidays.
"'Twas a single day left before Hearth's Warming Eve, Everypony was busy, so much to achieve; They hustled and bustled, their heads were a-spin, And it's here that our holiday story begins..." Hilda smiled to her son as she carried him.
"And cue the song." Drell said as they saw a Pegasus flying past them.
"What am I doing here?" Jake groaned to himself.
"Hearth's Warming Eve is almost here, There's so much left to do~" The ponies sang.
"Still shopping for all my friends, but what to get, no clue!~" Rainbow Dash sang as she flew around, trying to find perfect presents for her friends.
"This one is nice, and that's so cute, Although that's pretty, too~" Fluttershy sang as she explored in the marketplace.
"Why do I make all these gifts each year?~" Rarity sang as she was leaving her boutique. "I doubt I'll make it through~"
"One more day before the cheer~" Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity sang.
"Shop! Pay! Box! Wrap! Bow! Repeat!~" The ponies chorused.
"One last chance before the holiday's here~" Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity sang.
"Box! Wrap! Bow! Again!~" The ponies chorused.
"One more day to make the holiday great~" Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity sang. "One more day until we celebrate~"
"One day, and then it's here~" Rarity sang as she bought tools for her boutique before paying the bits.
"One more chance to bring that holiday cheer~" Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity sang as they passed by other ponies.
"Hearth's Warming Eve almost here, a time for us to share~" Pinkie Pie sang as she bounced her way to her family.
"Friends and family all together~" Applejack sang as she was with her own family, including another family member who was Grand Pear.
"Pies and Apples and a Pear~" Pinkie Pie smiled.
"Together families, lots of work, There's so much to prepare~" Applejack sang as the families helped each other out.
"With all the planning we still have to do, We've got no time to spare~" Applejack and Pinkie Pie sang together.
"One more day before the cheer~" The Apple, Pie, Pear, and Kent families sang as they went in the Apple's house.
"Stuff! Box! Wrap! Card! Bow! Repeat!~" Pinkie Pie sang.
"One last chance before the holiday's here~" The ponies sang and Pear Butter had happy tears in her eyes about her father joining in the festivities.
"Stir! Pour! Bake! Again!~" Pinkie Pie sang.
"One more day, and I can sleep at night~" A stallion sang as he served apple cider to thirsty ponies.
"The family's almost here~" Applejack sang.
"One more chance to bring that holiday cheer~" The ponies sang as they were all excited. "Before the fun, there's preparation, (Just around the corner), Shopping, cooking, decorations, (The complications), It's all worth it in the end, Spreading joy to all your friends, Even when it never, ever, Ever seems to end~"
Spike was seen running in the castle as the decorations weren't put up.
"Hearth's Warming Eve is getting close, We're not prepared, I fear, Twilight, you should take a break~" The young dragon sang to himself frantically.
"No time for rest, that much is clear, I made a list and checked it twice~" Twilight sang to him. "There's lots to do on here, Oh, if I can't get everything done, I'll have to wait and celebrate next year~"
Cherry yelped as she seemed to get tangled in Twilight's long list of things to do.
"One more day before the cheer~" Everyone sang. "Shop! Pay! Box! Wrap! Bow! Repeat!~"
Cherry cried out as she got stuck and dragged with some others.
"One last chance before the holiday's here, Box! Wrap! Bow! Again!~" The ponies continued to sing. "One more day to make the holiday great, One more day until we celebrate~"
"Please, oh, please make it really, really great!~" Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Button Mash, and Timber all sang together.
Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were soon tangled up in the list next and were dragged along.
"One more gift, try to hurry, don't be late!~" The mail pony sang.
"Box! Wrap! Bow! Repeat! Gotta concentrate!~" Three mares sang before startling Doctor Whooves awake.
"Just one more day until we all celebrate!~" Everyone sang as Spike tried to run after Twilight, but got stuck since the list tangled up a lot of the others.
"Seriously?! Why?!" Cherry complained.
"Do we wanna know why you're wrapping up everypony in town?" Rainbow Dash grunted to Twilight.
"Not wrapping paper," Spike replied. "A to-do list."
Twilight soon teleported frantically as she had a lot of shopping to do.
"Wow." Cherry said.
"She's like your mom on Black Friday." Atticus said to Cherry.
"No kidding." Cherry replied.
"She looks really stressed out." Mo said.
"You said it." Patch said.
Clark and Applejack were seen coming over together.
"Two of these! Three of those! I'm gonna need ten of those! Just in case!" Twilight flipped out.
"Twilight, darling, are you all right?" Rarity asked.
"Sure!" Twilight replied. "Just-grabbing-a-few-things-do-I-need-this-no-that's-silly-I-need-eight!"
"Hey, y'all! What's everypony-?" Applejack was about to ask until she saw how Twilight was acting. "Ohhh. Traditional holiday meltdown?"
"Uh-huh." The others told her.
"And you might need to calm Twilight down before she explodes." Cherry told Applejack.
Applejack nodded in agreement before doing so. "Hey, Twilight. How's your day?"
"I got way behind grading midterms, and Cadence and Shining Armor are coming here with Flurry Heart for Hearth's Warming Eve, and I haven't started decorating, and I don't know what to get any of you, and-~" Twilight panicked.
"Stop! Take a breath." Applejack told her.
Twilight soon took a deep breath.
"Now let it out sloooooooooowwww..." Applejack then said.
Twilight then exhaled slowly.
"Now, Ah think Ah ave an idea that might help," Applejack spoke up. "What if we change up how we give gifts this year and do a Hearthswarmin' Helper?"
"What's that?" Patch asked.
"Whenever the whole Apple family got together, there were just so many of us, it didn't make sense to buy everypony gifts," Applejack began to explain. "So we'd put our names in a hat-"
"Ooh, a game of chance!" Pinkie Pie smirked. "Tell me more."
...Then we'd pull a name, but keep it a secret." Applejack continued.
"A dash of mystery. Good. Good." Pinkie Pie replied.
"Instead of buyin' everypony a present, you just get one for the pony you picked from the hat." Applejack then concluded.
"Wait. So instead of lots of presents, I only buy one of you a present?" Pinkie Pie then asked before freaking out. "What kind of game is this?!"
"Let's try it." Atticus said.
"Well, it would save time." Rarity commented.
"And you could get the pony you pick something really nice." Spike added.
"Yeah." Mo nodded.
"The less shopping, the better. In!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Will that help, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.
"I was stressed about shopping." Twilight had to admit.
"Fine..." Pinkie Pie sighed. "I will only buy one present for my secret Hearth's Warming Helper buddy."
"This way we won't have to go overboard with the shopping." Clark smiled.
"We just need to put everypony's name in this here hat." Applejack told the others as she took out her hat.
Twilight soon used her list to put everyone's names on the back of it and split it up into even parts to go into Applejack's hat to be picked out.
"Well, here we go." Atticus said.
"Y'all ready? No peekin'." Applejack smiled as she shuffled the names up.
Everyone then took a name out each for themselves.
"So excited! Aah! Too excited! I don't wanna give anything away!" Pinkie Pie squealed before hopping off happily.
"Oh, I know what I'm getting my secret pony." Atticus smirked.
"Ooh, this should be good." Mo giggled to her boyfriend.
"Um, so when does the gift exchange happen?" Cherry asked Applejack.
Applejack paused to think about this.
"How about Twilight's castle tomorrow night, Hearth's Warming Eve?" Rainbow Dash suggested.
"That's perfect!" Applejack approved. "Pinkie, Clark, and Ah can spend the evenin' with y'all and the next mornin' with our families!"
"Perfect." Patch smiled.
"And thanks to all of you, I should be ready to celebrate by then!" Twilight smiled to all of her friends.
"Oh, this is so exciting!" Fluttershy beamed.
"Yeah, totally." Patch and Cherry smiled nervously.
Everyone then split up to begin their Hearth's Warming shopping for their Hearth's Warming Helpers.