'Time to cast this spell once again.' Estelle thought herself.
"You sure you both wanna go through with this?" a voice asked.
This startled Snowfall instantly. "Huh?! Who's there?!"
The cauldron was bubbling which brought both Estelle and Snowfall to examine it.
"Could that voice have come from here?" Estelle asked confused as she examined the cauldron.
"It sounded like it did..." Snowfall said, but she wasn't too sure. "Who are you?!"
"The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Past, that's who," The ghost pony emerged from the cauldron. "And you and me have got to have us a little chat."
"A spirit?" Estelle asked, confused of why there wasn't any spirits coming out of her cauldron when she did the spell.
"I didn't cast any spirit summoning spell," Snowfall eyed the ghost suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"
"Yeah, besides, you didn't appear when I casted it back in Ponyville." Estelle said and then suddenly covered her muzzle.
"What did you say?" Snowfall glanced at her.
"Uh, I'm worried about this spirit loose where the ponies are." Estelle covered up, not that good at lying.
"You don't think a spell like that would get by without some powerful forces noticin'?" The spirit looked firm to Estelle. "You've got our attention, Estelle 'Twinkletoes', and we've got some pretty strong opinions on this spell of yours."
"We?" Snowfall and Estelle asked.
Twilight stopped the story then. "Wait, I don't remember this being in the book!"
"I don't remember it being in the book either." Spike said.
"Keep reading." The kids, pets, and Pokemon said.
"Are you sure you just don't remember those parts?" Cherry asked.
"That's impossible, I read this book every year..." Twilight said, then shrugged. "Oh, well... Umm... Where was I? Oh, yes..."
Back in the story...
"They'll be along in a bit," The Spirit of Hearth Warming's Past told Estelle. "For now, it's just you and me. Let's get a move on. We got a ton to see and barely any time to see it."
"She is not going anywhere, she is my new apprentice," Snowfall glared to the ghost. "And she doesn't need a history lesson about Hearth Warming's Eve!"
"That's right." Estelle nodded.
"We're not going to learn about the past, we're going to learn about you two." The Spirit of Hearth Warming's Past told them both as a lasso came out and lassoed Snowfall and Estelle.
Snowfall and Estelle yelped as they were taken away by the spirit to take them back to the past.
"As a young thing, life sure is somethin', You go makin' choices large and small, Always growin' like a seedlin', And playin' is like dreamin', And before you know it, big and tall, And every little bitty choice you make, Sends you down a path to who you are today, So let's take a little trip down memory lane, And see just what the past has to say~" the Spirit of Hearth Warming's Past sang as she traveled with the unicorn mare and alicorn filly.
The three of them watched as a pegasus filly, an earth pony filly, and a unicorn filly rush off happily towards a younger Snowfall about their age.
"Aw, look at how cute you were," The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Past smiled to Snowfall as she wore a cute sailor dress. "Looks like you're not too upset it's Hearth's Warming Eve either."
"I don't understand, Spirit," Estelle spoke up. "If this is about Snowfall, then why am I here?"
"To learn about how she got turned into the pony she is now." The Spirit of Hearth's Warming past told her.
"Ohh, okay, please continue." Estelle said.
"The seeds of the past, They grow pretty fast, Just look at who you were back then, The seeds, as they grow, Look what they can show, Reveal the truth time and again~" the spirit sang.
Young Snowfall was now taking out a box filled with festive decorations which made her happy and cheerful as everypony should be on this most wonderful time of the year.
"Just what do you think you're doing, Snowfall?" a dark unicorn stallion glared to the young filly.
"Who's the grumpy unicorn?" Estelle asked.
"My old instructor..." Snowfall realized.
"Decorating the classroom for Hearth's Warming Eve, Professor Flintheart!" Young Snowfall informed her instructor on what she was doing in the classroom with her box.
"You said you wanted to learn to be a powerful unicorn, did you not?" The stallion glared harshly to the filly.
"I do!" Young Snowfall replied.
"And what is the way that one becomes a powerful unicorn?" Flintheart prompted.
"Here it comes." Estelle said with a playful smirk.
Young Snowfall cleared her throat. "'Work hard, learn, and use your skills to better Equestria'."
"And how do these help you to learn magic?" Flintheart prompted.
"I want to be strong enough to stop windigos and help ponies!" Young Snowfall beamed as she took out a beautiful ornament.
"That's just a story we tell little ponies, real magic takes time to learn," Flintheart glared as the ornament then seemed to shatter along with Young Snowfall's hopes and dreams. "It's your choice. Spend your time learning to become a powerful unicorn or play with your toys and make nothing of yourself."
"That was cruel of him!" Estelle gasped. "How could you have had him as your instructor as a filly?!"
"He just was..." Snowfall drooped her head down as she watched the memory of her school days.
"Please, continue, Spirit." Estelle said, wanting to see what happened next.
"Then some distress, Words so careless, Standin' there, you don't know what to do, Feelin' helpless, You can't make it hurt less, So you go and change your point of view~" the spirit sang as Snowfall's dramatic change in life became as such very then. "And in that moment, though you didn't know it, Your defenses set up walls you built to last, Leading to the pony you've become today, And the spell you're about to cast, It all comes from your past~"
"The seeds of the past, We grow up so fast, Some hurts never go away~" Snowfall sang out of sadness.
"The seeds, as they grow, This we can't let go, All tied to this one holiday~" The spirit sang once Snowfall saw her rather depressing past.
The three of them were then sent from Snowfall's past right into Estelle's past which wasn't that far as it would just be a year. The spirit stayed as she was showing them the past to show a not too much younger Estelle.
"I don't understand..." Estelle said as she was being faced with her own past, why was she being punished? Snowfall was on trial, not her.
"You don't think casting the same spell before Snowfall would leave you unpunished, did you?" The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Past asked with narrowed eyes before revealing the alicorn filly's true name. "Estelle Fudo."
Estelle flinched slightly.
"Surely you are mistaken, Spirit," Snowfall spoke up. "This is Estelle Twinkletoes."
"Um, actually it's true, Snowfall; my name really is Estelle Fudo and I'm actually a human, this is just my Equestrian/pony form." Estelle admitted.
"A human...?" Snowfall asked like she had never heard that word before.
"I'll explain later..." Estelle sighed, then looked to the ghost. "Alright, Spirit, what do you have to show me?"
"This." The Spirit of Hearth's Warming past said before showing Belle and Adam's castle.
Snowfall and Estelle looked to see the castle of one Christmas before she came with her family to celebrate their first Hearth's Warming Eve.
Twilight put the book down again and rubbed her head with her hooves. "This can't be possible..."
"Uh, Aunt Twilight, I think Estelle might be inside the story." Akito said after raising his hoof.
"How can you be so sure, Akito?" Twilight asked.
"Because she isn't next to me or Vincent or even next to either Dot or Teddy." Akito said.
The others then looked to see that Estelle had in fact been missing from the storytelling room.
"Aunt Twilight, I think Estelle got into the book somehow." Flurry Heart said to her aunt.
"I think if we continue to read, maybe it will give us some answers of how she got into the story." Atticus said.
"I suppose that's possible..." Twilight wasn't sure herself. "I've heard of getting lost in books, but this is ridiculous... This must've been how Moondancer felt when I showed her I could travel into her book just to get her attention so she would forgive me." She then opened the book back to where they were.
"Okay, um, so what's Estelle's past about?" Strawberry Pie asked.
"Let's see, shall we?" Twilight cracked the book open again to where she once was. "Ah, there we go..."
The Spirit took Estelle and Snowfall into Belle and Adam's castle to see all about the little girl's past. They looked inside and saw everyone there and where they saw Past Estelle happy with her brothers and cousin.
"What's so bad about this past? It doesn't seem so bad." Snowfall smiled.
"Wait for it." Estelle frowned.
Chip poked his head into the room. "Hey, guys."
"Hey, Chip." The cousins greeted the kind boy who lived in the castle with his mother.
"Um, Felicity, I have something for you..." Chip said softly as he hid his hands behind his back as he came to the court composer's daughter, then held out a rose for her. "Merry early Christmas..."
"Oh, Chip!" Felicity beamed at the kind gesture and gift from the boy she really liked. "It is lovely!"
"So?" Snowfall asked.
"There's more." Estelle sighed.
"Guys!" Jenny's and Emi's voice called out.
Past Estelle, Past Akito, and Past Vincent looked to see Past Emi, Past Ash, Past Misty, Past Brock, Past Pikachu, and Past Jenny there, along with Past Oliver.
Akito and Vincent beamed and ran to Emi and Jenny. "Girls!"
"Hi, boys." Emi and Jenny replied.
Oliver came up to Snow White as he even had a flower in his mouth for her and bowed to her. Snow White smiled as she accepted his flower. Past Estelle sighed as she watched them. Estelle began to tear up, remembering how she felt that day since she didn't have a lover back then and still didn't have a lover now.
"So, all of this because you don't have a special somepony?" Snowfall asked Estelle, not quite understanding.
"No, because I was jealous of them." Estelle told her.
"Jealous?" Snowfall asked before tutting.
"Ah know you want someone special in yer life, but someone will come for you, someday." The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Past told Estelle. "There's somepony out there for everyone."
"I know, I know." Estelle groaned.