Fireside Friendship
by Crystal Secret
As the sun slowly descended behind the rolling fields in the distance, its afternoon light streamed into the Golden Oaks Library. Inside the Library however, its residents were preparing for the special night that was soon to be among them, and a certain purple unicorn was being a bit too fussy about the way the room was going to be arranged for the evening.
Twilight levitated several cushions around the room, she wanted to make sure that the room was arranged in such a way that all of her friends could sit together. She had tried pairs, threes and even fours but she just couldn't get the arrangement right.
"No, no, no! It just isn't working! Why can't all of my five best friends all sit together?"
"Uh, Twilight?"
"Yes Spike?" said Twilight, letting out a sigh.
"Why don't you just put all the cushions in a circle?"
"Why didn't I think of that? That's perfect Spike!"
She levitated the cushions into a circle and gradually lowered them onto the floor.
"Great now all we need now is for the guests to arrive and this hot chocolate night will really be going."
"How did you think of the idea anyway?"
"I read about it in 'An Egghead's Guide to All Social Conventions.' Neat huh?"
1 hour later...
There was an abrupt knock on the library's front door.
"I`ll get it!" called out Spike.
When Spike opened the door a familiar looking cyan pegasus was standing on the other side.
"Hi Rainbow Dash. It's good to see you came." she greeted her friend.
"Hi Twilight, I can smell that hot chocolate from here."
"Well actually Rainbow Dash I was going to wait for everypony else to arrive before I start serving the hot chocolate. But in the mean time, why don't you make yourself comfortable?"
Rainbow Dash seated herself down on one of the cushions. Since it was a cold winter's night, the fireplace that had been installed warmed up the pegasus's wings fairly quickly, allowing her to relax and enjoy the warmth of the fire on her coat. She had never really enjoyed a warm fireplace such as this before and since she lived in the sky it would be physically impossible to have one installed in her home.
Suddenly, there was another knock on the door and once again Spike went to answer it. Only this time it was Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy who had arrived.
"Oh Twilight, it smells so nice in here," commented Fluttershy who was already taking in the smell of hot chocolate.
"Thanks Fluttershy, I've got some hot chocolate prepared. I`m just waiting for everypony else to arrive, that's all."
"Did somepony say chocolate? Where? Where?" said Pinkie Pie who was already looking around the room in search of this aforementioned chocolate.
"Calm down Pinkie Pie, it's in the kitchen. But you`ll have to wait for everypony else to arrive first."
"Ok Twilight, I`ll wait. Just as long as it's extra hot when I get it."
With those words the pink party pony went and joined Rainbow Dash on the floor and Fluttershy silently followed. A few moments later there was another knock on the door and Twilight went and answered it.
Standing at the entrance to the Golden Oaks Library was none other than Rarity and Applejack who seemed pretty pleased with themselves. To add to the confusion and awkwardness of the moment their cheeks were a shade of bright red.
"How do ya do Twilight? Sorry we're late but I promised Rarity here that I would pick her up on the way over. Unfortunately she was taking too dang long to get ready." said Applejack
"I was putting the final touches to my overall appearance. I just had to make sure that I looked positively fabulous!" exclaimed Rarity
"You always look just dandy Rarity."
"Why thank you so kindly Applejack." Rarity's cheeks turned a brighter shade of red at the compliment, and another as she realized that Twilight was still with them.
"Why don't you girls come inside? There's hot chocolate and a warm fire waiting for you." offered Twilight.
As the pair entered the library Twilight quickly closed the door behind them before the cold winter wind blew into the room. As Rarity and Applejack took their places on the floor, Twilight went into the kitchen and came back out levitating six mugs of hot chocolate before her.
"Now that everypony is here and have made themselves quite comfortable I shall serve you all the hot chocolate I prepared earlier. It's a special mixture of mine and I even put a stay warm spell on it so it wouldn't go cold."
She passed out the mugs of hot chocolate before taking a seat on the floor in between Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
"Um Twilight? Would ya mind telling us all why we're here? I mean ya didn't explain it to us in your letters." asked Applejack.
"That's a very good question Applejack, I was just about to get to that. Now that you mention it, there is a story I would like to share with all of you. If of course, you're interested." offered Twilight.
"Oh do go on my dear. I would be more than delighted to know what the meaning of all this is." said Rarity encouragingly.
"Okay then." she took a sip of her hot chocolate. "When I was just a filly back in Canterlot...."
It was a cold winter's night and the sound of the wind's howl made the unicorn filly realized that there was a full blown blizzard outside. The unicorn filly was seated in her mother's lap by the fire place. As the wind howled again she ducked her face into her mother's chest and let out a cry.
"Oh Twilight...itll be alright. Your big brother is a very strong and courageous pony and Im sure he`ll be just fine." said her mother as she stroked her daughter's hair comfortingly.
"But mommy what if he doesn't come back? What if the blizzard carries him someplace far away?" she said amongst her tears.
"He'll come back Twilight. I`m sure of it. But don't you know that in the coldest and most feared of times ponies used to drink hot cocoa?"
The unicorn filly stopped crying, her attention was now focused on her mother as she looked at her with her adoring eyes.
"That's right. Ponies would make hot cocoa to drink at times like this. Nowadays will call it hot chocolate but it's all the same thing."
Her mother picked up a steaming mug of hot chocolate and carefully rested on her lap.
"Why don't you have a taste? Careful though it's hot."
The little unicorn filly took a sip of the hot chocolate, heeding her mother's words. It was indeed hot but it also had a very sweet, soothing flavor.
"It's delicious!"
"I`m glad you like it Twilight. Now, doesn't that feel better? You know, there is believed to be a magical and ancient essence in the hot chocolate that eases your mind and calms you down. But that's just an old mare's tale though. However, I bet that the earth ponies who grew the cocoa are the ones who gave it it's flavor. They spent generations growing and selling the cocoa. They were the ones who planted the beans and made sure the ground was fertile for the cocoa to grow. Without them, the cocoa beans wouldn't have been planted and there wouldn't be any hot chocolate today. So the next time you have hot chocolate, just remember those earth ponies who planted those beans and be thankful for their prosperous labor."
"That's a really great story mummy. Don't worry, I`ll always remember what you said about those earth ponies planting the cocoa beans."
Suddenly the door to the bedroom opened and a familiar young colt stepped through it.
"Twily!"
"Shining Armour!"
The two ponies entered an embrace as Shining Armour wrapped his forearms around the filly. Both were excited to see each other again.
"What have you been up to Twily?"
"I've been drinking hot chocolate and mummy told me a story about earth ponies and cocoa beans."
"That's nice. It's good to see you Twily."
"It's good to see you too Shining Armour. I didn't think you were coming home but then the hot chocolate made it all better."
"That was a really great story Twilight. But I still don't get why we're all here?" asked Rainbow Dash who was confused by the whole prospect.
"You see Rainbow Dash, since I knew there was going to be a blizzard tonight, I decided to invite you all over for some hot chocolate. It's kind of a tradition really." replied Twilight
"Well, I guess that sort of makes sense." she replies.
A howl of wind could be heard from outside and the ponies all let out a giggle.
"How did you know there was going to be a blizzard tonight?" asked Pinkie.
"Well, to be perfectly honest, I didn't. I just made that up. But it is the middle of winter so I guess I just got lucky. Besides, I actually found the idea of a hot chocolate night in a book I've just recently read." said Twilight,
"And what book was that Twilight? An egghead's guide to slumber parties?" teased Rainbow Dash
"No actually, it was in 'An Egghead's Guide to All Social Conventions.'" replied Twilight.
Twilight's response sent the cyan pegasus pony into a fit of laughter and soon she was rolling around the floor her eyes with tears.
"What's so funny?" inquired Twilight.
"Oh nothing. Just that you actually need a book on how to hold a social gathering. I knew you were an egghead Twilight but seriously!"
"You know Rainbow Dash, you're quite the egghead yourself. As an librarian I should know, because I do believe that you've read the entire Daring Do series. I am not correct?"
"Well, uh..sure Twilight."
The pegasus pony suddenly went quiet and all eyes were on her. A smile ran away from her face as she lowered her head in resent.
"Now, is everypony enjoying their hot chocolate?"
"Of course Twilight! It's the best!"
"I`m glad you think so Pinkie Pie."
Everypony else nodded in agreement except of course...for Rainbow Dash.
"Hey Rainbow Dash you okay?" asked the purple unicorn.
"I`m fine, just fine."
"Did I say something to make you upset?"
"No! Of course not!" she yelled out. "Just, have your hot chocolate night without me ok!?" she yelled out as she opened the door before slamming it behind her.
The library grew very quiet for a few moments. The only sound to be heard was the howling of the wind as the blizzard continued to blow around outside.
"Uh, Sugarcube? Do you think she`ll be alright out there? I mean if she takes off into the air she'll get hurt." suggest Applejack.
"I don't know Applejack, I honestly don't know. I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. I guess I didn't realize how personal she considers reading books is. But you guys are her close friends so I didn't think she would so embarrassed. Now I don't know what to do." she replied.
"Well Twilight, I think you should apologize. It wasn't kind of her to pick on you like that but I think she deserves your apology. You see, you embarrassed her, she didn't embarrass you. said Rarity
"I see your point Rarity. I guess I should go out there and I find her, before she gets herself hurt."
Twilight stood up, walked over to the front door before opening and quickly closing it behind her, leaving the other ponies to entertain themselves.
The howling wind and the pelting rain made it very difficult for Twilight to see. She lit up her horn as she kept walking. Soon, she could see a figure in the distance. As she came closer the figure became more identifiable. It was Rainbow Dash and she was sitting down crouched over.
She put a comforting hoof on her friend's shoulder. She could hear the sniffles that were coming from the pegasus and she realized that she had been crying. After a few moments Twilight decided to speak.
"Rainbow Dash, Im sorry if what I said embarrassed you. I guess I didn't realize that the fact that you were reading books was so personal. Im sorry."
The pegasus then stood up and turned to look at her friend. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were covered in tears.
"Twilight, I`m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have been such a hypocrite by calling you an egghead. I guess that I didn't exactly consider myself one so I just thought that I could call you one. It was careless of me to be mean like that. However, you didn't seem all that offended by it so I thought that you would just take it as a joke."
"Don't worry Rainbow Dash, I guess we both need to apologize. Look, I can't feel my hooves so why don't we go back inside."
"Yeah. I guess we should."
The two friends walked back to the Golden Oaks Library with smiles on their faces and a blissful feeling in their hearts.
The End