It's been a while since I made these characters, for Christmas. Or, Hearths-Warming in MLP stories. I laid out the pony version of Santa and the Krampus, but gave them a more... epic backstory, as some versions will do. They have the elements. Gifts, coal, reindeer, just a little different.
The Hearthkeeper is depicted as a mighty sage of varying race or equuid species once called Crisp Crinkle. He was a wandering hero type, who had just performed service for the High King of the griffins, who rewarded him with a wizard's robe and cornauthaum made of rare and fine fur. He traced a dark force that had stolen the color from the aurora borealis to find a splinter group of Unseelie Pooka led by a king who kept them as slaves and used them to suck the joy out of griffins (its a cautionary tale, reflecting an old adage that fae males should never be fed royal jelly all the way to kinghood). They fight, Crisp wins but the king refuses to accept defeat. So he frees the Pooka as promised but comes back every winter solstice to fight again.
That's the basic story. Pooka, being fae who eat happiness and change into animals, were perfect for going around as mere beasts, as a herd of reindeer. They were that way so long even in natural form they still keep their antlers, they have to focus to be purely in their natural chitin. So, he raised up a huge stone lodge, and heated it with a giant hearth filled with flowing lava, which he tended, getting a new name. That first night he was thanked by a shy but forever cheerful member of the herd, Saana Klåsa. They got closer over time.
The redirecting of the lava flow brought a bold investigator who wanted to make sure the natural order was kept, and nothing was being hurt. That would be Kampfite, once a high-ranking safety inspector for the United Colonies (hence the hardhat) he started doing his own thing because, well, he was tough enough. He burst into the stone lodge to find answers. Because Crisp wanted to learn more about him, he was invited to stay, and was given a tour by Klåsa's slightly sedate but earnest sister, Kråmpa. That relationship blossomed as well.
To be more brief, they make toys and give them out using magic ice mirrors, every year after the Hearthkeeper defeats the king Pooka. All younglings get toys, even nymphs, Seelie and Unseelie. Bad ones get cheap fuel like peat and lignite.
I thought it was time to make some nice pony work. It makes a change from much of what is out there. Also, the look on Kråmpa's face is a MOOD. Free of enslavement, Klåsa is free to be her overexuberant self; most Pooka are but she launches up to Pinkie Pie levels. She loves her sister but sometimes Kråmpa is DONE with her sister's stuff.
capthairball
