My Favorite Hearth's Warming Eve Story
Author's Note - I wanted to credit the story that gave me this idea but I cannot seem to remember what the name was or who the author was. If anyone reads this, please comment or message me if you happen to recognize it. Thank you.
My Favorite Hearth Warming Eve Story
I’ll never forget when I first started to see things differently. Growing up in Manehatten, especially the upper class ponies like me and my family see Hearth’s Warming as a day of expensive gifts and tickets. A time when our bodies are covered head to flank with the most expensive winter clothing money could buy. My overcoat’s expense alone could feed half the starving homeless ponies in this city and sadly that may not be an over exaggeration. There was a time when we were no different, ‘we’ being my family. My great grandfather worked his hooves to the bone and gave his entire life to pulling our family away from the slums and into a life of luxury. My dad never expected that things would grow to such an extent that buying a ten thousand bit overcoat with boots to match would be what he carried in his pouch from day to day. Ten thousand bits… Pouch money. He never gave to the less fortunate, a trait that I inherited when my father passed away.
I had no legacy. No child of my own. I simply never found the right mare for me. No pony was worth the time. I made more bits being alone and I aimed to keep it that way. Having a mate meant spending on things I didn’t want or care about and having a child made would make things twice as bad. Children had no value to me and so they were of no use to me.
But I remember that day, the day I took a stroll down the streets lit with holiday lights and stores filled with expensive toys, clothes, an jewelry specially made for the holiday. I was on a mission to buy a most precious gift for the most important pony in my life. Me. I was in the market for something exquisite, something different. It was hard to shop for a pony that had everything. It was that day I noticed a mare following me. She had been since I passed her in the streets and the only reason I noticed her was because she was the only homeless looking rabble that didn’t hassle me for bits. Now she followed close behind me to the point where she was almost beside me. Part of me wanted to confront her. Put her down and send her on her way but instead I waited. It wasn’t long before she stopped following. She turned a corner on the next street, moving out of sight. It was a relief until I realized that my wallet had gone missing from my coat pocket. I grew irritated. The filthy little pouch picker made off with my hard earned money and the first thing that shot through my mind was how she would look behind bars. I followed her down the street she had traveled earlier, hoping to catch up. I would confront her and have her arrested by the local guards.
It didn't take me long to find her. She casually walked down one of the shopping plazas probably looking for another mark I presumed. She stopped in front of a jewelry store displaying fine gemstone hoovlets and necklaces. I cannot say for sure what stopped me then but it was a tie between curiosity and amusement, curious being what she would buy and amusement being how she would look in whatever she bought. Her mane was a curly dark blue though I imagine the dark color was simply dirt. Any of the mane ordainments would look just as good on a pig, I thought to myself. Her hooves were filthy, so grimy that no hoovlet would mask it. In the end she came out with a necklace. If I were not in public I would have laughed aloud at this mare’s attempt to be classy. It was almost adorable. Like putting a diamond necklace on a street cat.
This was too entertaining and so I continued to follow her. Next she stopped at a clothes store. It wasn’t a high class store in the least and I would guess with all the other big stores around the only business it ever got was from the lower middle class ponies that happen to wonder into the plaza. It didn’t take her long for her to get what she needed. I spied her going in for only a few minutes before returning with a single bag of clothes. The look on her face was priceless, so full of joy. Once again I could think only imagine her in jail and I wondered if she would still have that joyous smile when rotting in a cell. Still, I followed to see where her next destination would take her and my bits.
The last stop was a spa, probably the most expensive of her purchases. It was here that I planned to intervene. I waited outside the spa, taking up almost an hour and a half of my day. It was torture. Almost two hours of my day spent on the street as if I were some commoner. It made me ever angrier when I saw her finally come out. She was cleaned up, the grime on her mane and hooves gone and her coat shiny. It must have cost a fortune to turn that mess of a mare into this new, more glamorous mare. She was wearing all the outfits and trinkets she had bought throughout her adventure and I thought, what better time to end the game now? And so I grabbed her from behind and forced her to face me. She gasped with surprise, probably thinking I was some sort of burglar. I imagine her surprise when she saw my face.
“Y…You!” she cried out.
“I do believe you are the mare who has been spending my hard earned bits all around town. It was fun while it lasted but troublesome. It will be a hassle for my servants to return it all once the guards confiscate everything you bought.”
Her eyes filled with tears, an expected reaction. I almost wanted to laugh at her despair but I kept myself from it.
“Please, before you turn me over to the guards, could I ask one favor of you?”
“A favor?” I asked with anger. “Certainly you cannot be serious.” The nerve of this mare disgusted me.
“I beg of you… Hear me out.”
I sighed and pulled a gold pocket watch from my overcoat. My time was almost as precious as my bits but it must have been the “holiday spirit” that made me nod my head and open my ears to her. And so, she told me her tale…
“For the last five years, I have been forbidden to see my daughter. It was only a few minutes I was able to hold the filly in my arms before she was taken by my husband. He no longer wanted anything to do with me and so he left, taking my child with him. Many times I have tried to get her back but bits speak louder than words and as you can see, I haven’t one to my name. And so, each year before Hearth Warming Eve, I sent him a letter, asking if I could just see her for just an hour. An hour is all I ever asked for and the only gift I ever wanted since the day of her birth. For four years I was refused. It was just this year that my request was finally granted.” She wiped away her tears and despite my angry glare she forced a smile. What a pitiful mare she was. Why would she care for someone so much? What was the point? I could not grasp the concept.
“Tonight, at midnight, he will open his doors to me and I will get to see the filly I so longed to hold again. For one hour, as agree, I will get to see her. That is why I stole your bits and why I fixed myself up. I didn’t want her to meet her mother looking as bad as I did. So please, come with me. After the hour is done I will surrender myself to the law and everything I bought will be returned. I will even work the rest of my life to repay the spa visit. Just please… For one hour. That is all I want in my life.
This one hour.”
Again all I wanted to do was laugh in her face as I watched the guards take her away. This was the kind of stallion I was. I was silent for what seemed like hours, wondering what my next move was. I looked to the street corner to see a pair of guards looking our way. I slowly lifted my hoof… Only to place it back into the snow that covered the street. With a sigh I forced the words out…
“One Hour.”
Her face lit up like a candle. Such happiness over something so small and pointless. Unbelievable. Still I was a stallion of my word. If one hour is what she wanted, one hour she would have. I waited with her for hours, passing the time by talking. The entire time she described every detail about the newborn filly she held in hooves. Beautiful eyes, perfect coat and mane, that sort of thing. I pretended not to care but a part of me was interested. I wondered if I came out so perfect, so handsome or cute.
After hours of wandering the city we finally came to a large house at the other side of town. The stallion was obviously rich like me though I would brag that my estate looked a lot better. It was ten minutes to midnight; the hour of Hearth Warming was upon us. Not a single mare or stallion walked the streets, save for us and a few guards.
“This is it.” She said, taking a breath. “You can wait here if you wish.”
“And let my investments get away? Hardly.” I replied coldly.
We waited a few minutes until the door opened to the estate and a tall stallion stood at the door, looking down at the top of the stairs. “Well…” He said with a deep voice. “Come in. She is waiting for you.”
He hardly took notice of me as I entered with the young mare. I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out the golden watch. Only a minute to midnight.
I watched the second hand tick as we approached the door at the end of a long hallway. The stallion stood aside and as the second minute hand reached twelve, the mare pushed the door open gently.
Across the room was a large bed, flowers spread all around. In the bed was a small filly under the covers. She did not move, only lying in bed as stiff as a statue.
“She was sick for a long time.” The stallion said. “It was on the day your stupid letter arrived that she had just passed away. And it was then I decided to grant you your wish.”
He turned around and began to walk away. “So go on then. Have your hour then get out.” And with that he walked out of sight.
The look on the mare’s face was unforgettable. No tears came, no sounds or sobbing. It was as if she was frozen in time, a half smile still on her face. It was about a minute that her smile faded and she went to the filly’s side. I saw her bump her nose against the filly’s cold and color faded cheek. I watched her for what seemed like hours. What happened to me then I can scarcely describe. No matter how hard I tried, no matter what I told myself, it made no difference. Tears ran down my face as I saw the mother and child reunited in this dark room. Was I as cold? As heartless as this stallion?
What seemed like a day that went too slow was suddenly going way too fast. Soon her hour would be spent, the hour she longed for. She spent every second by the filly’s side.
One o’clock on the dot she finally lifted herself from the filly’s side and walked out of the room with me close behind. There was no hiding her tears. She didn’t say a word as she walked down the hallway and out the door. After passing the gate, she stopped, her h ooves sinking into the snow that fell around us.
“I am ready” she said. “I will not run. You kept your word and now I will honor mine.”
I raised my hoof but did not signal anyone. I simply brush a string of hair from her mane away from her face. Her eyes were red and tear filled. Snow covered her mane and coat. She was so imperfect. And the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. She looked away, breaking eye contact. I moved to meet her gaze once again, wanting to look into her eyes. Wanting to be lost in them.
“Forgive me if this seems forward but…” I gulped, almost swallowing my words. My hooves and legs shook but not from the cold but from the nervous, heart pounding feeling in my chest. “Would you spend Hearth’s Warming with me?”
The look on her face was priceless and not even the greatest of artists could capture it. It took her a minute or two to answer but finally she nodded and smiled.
“Yes…” she said, tears still falling from her eyes. “That would be lovely.”
We walked side by side the entire way home, talking every step of the way.
It feels like ages since that day and ever since then we have lived a happy life together. My watch is set at the table. One minute to midnight. Right on time, you open your eyes and saw your mother and father for the very first time. As we lay here together with you, your mother holding you tenderly, I am glad to be able to share my favorite Hearth’s Warming Eve story with you.
The End
