The 12 Pains of Hearth's Warming
Chapter 1 - Finding a Christmas Tree
Rarity was awakened by Sweetie Belle jumping up and down on her bed. "Rarity, Rarity, there's only three weeks left until Hearth's Warming! We need to get a tree! Everypony else is putting theirs up!
Rarity lifted her head and pulled off her sleep mask to see her sister grinning into her face, her bright green eyes wide with excitement, her smile almost seemed to reach her ears. The unicorn filly backed off a little bit once she saw her older sister's azure eyes open, quickly sitting down on the bed and still smiling. "So can we get a tree today?" Sweetie's voice cracked with excitement.
Rarity, opening her eyes all the way, looked at the smiling filly on her bed. She knew Sweetie Belle waited for Hearth's Warming every year to spend more time with her sister, mainly because picking out the perfect tree was the highlight of it all. Sweetie just couldn't be disappointed.
The purple - maned unicorn sat up and stretched her front legs, placing her sleep mask on her bedside table. Turning to face Sweetie, the fashionista smiled slowly. "Alright Sweetie, but let me get ready first."
"Yay!" Sweetie shrieked, the young unicorn's voice cracking again. Sweetie jump off the bed and ran downstairs. Rarity got out of bed and followed her sister down to the kitchen where Sweetie was looking in the cupboards and pulling out a box of cereal, a two bowls, spoons, the milk, and some glasses. The green - eyed filly somehow managed to carry everything to the table at once, hurriedly setting up the table for breakfast.
The older unicorn walked over to the table and gently put her hoof out to stop Sweetie from going so fast. "Now Sweetie Belle, not so fast! You have to do it slowly and carefully, like so." Rarity said, her horn glowing and a blue aura surrounding the breakfast items on Sweetie's back and the cereal box in her mouth. Rarity gently placed the items on the table in their proper places. A bowl for her and Sweetie, spoons, glasses, the cereal, and the milk.
"Now remember Sweetie, the trees will still be here after we eat."
Breakfast for Rarity had been a rather annoying ordeal. Between mouthfuls of cereal, Sweetie Belle hadn't stopped talking about what kind of tree they would get and how beautiful it would be, both before and after it was decorated.
Right now, however, the two unicorns - bundled up in scarves - were walking towards a small tree farm on the outskirts of Ponyville, the most popular place to get a Hearth's Warming tree. Other ponies passed the pair, dragging their own trees.
Upon closer movement to the tree place, Sweetie Belle broke into a gallop, a grin on her face. Rarity, a bit startled, took off after her sister. Since she was bigger, she caught up to the smaller unicorn in a few seconds. "Sweetie Belle, please! Don't run off like that! There are still plenty of trees left." Rarity said, as continued walking, Sweetie at her side.
Sweetie looked up at her sister with an apologetic look in her green eyes. "I'm sorry, Rarity...."
The purple - maned unicorn looked down at her sister. "Oh, it's alright, Sweetie. Just don't do that again." she said.
The pair continued walking, getting closer to the trees, their hooves making prints in the fresh fallen snow. At last, after what seemed like hours of walking, the two unicorns finally reached their destination.
"Welcome to the Apple family tree farm!"
Rarity turned around. Behind her was Applejack, wearing a festive hat instead of her usual stetson.
"I didn't know you ran this place, Applejack." Rarity said, surprise in her voice.
"Yeah, we sometimes do this here business sometimes to keep up the income for the winter months until we can get the apple trees going again." Applejack replied, smiling. "Y'all here for a tree? We have plenty of good trees left. Both real trees and the fake metal kind."
The white unicorn looked at her friend. "They make metal trees? How ridiculous! Who in Equestria would want something like that?"
Applejack shrugged. "I dunno, but some ponies do."
The white unicorn nodded. "I see. Well, I have to go and find a nice real tree for my boutique. See you later!" she responded, waved, and continued walking into the tree farm with Sweetie Belle.
"How about this tree, Rarity?" the white unicorn filly said, pointed to a bright pink metal tree with fake decorations painted on. While the height of the tree was almost perfect for the boutique, the tree itself was rather ugly.
"Absolutely not, Sweetie Belle! That tree is just......horrid! Simply horrid!" Rarity grimaced at the thought of an fake metal tree in the living room in the back of the boutique. "How about a normal tree, Sweetie?"
The smaller unicorn looked up at her sister, still grinning. "Ok, Rarity."
The unicorn sisters continued to walk through the tree farm, looking for trees. Occasionally they spot a possible candidate as the perfect tree, but those trees were soon turned down. They had a found a wooden tree that was the perfect size and shape for the boutique, but near the top of the tree there were no branches, so it had a bald spot, as Sweetie Belle had called it.
After a while, the older unicorn was beginning to get fed up with not finding a good tree. They had been looking for a good half hour, and the fashionista was getting bored. She was actually starting to drift off in thought until she nearly ran into her younger sister.
"Sweetie Belle, why did...you...stop...." Rarity stopped and followed her sister's gaze. In front of the green-eyed filly was the perfect tree.
Rarity gasped. "This is it, Sweetie! You found the perfect tree!" The purple maned unicorn walked around the tree, admiring it. While doing so, she spotted a sign out of the corner of her eyes on the tree.
SOLD
The smile dropped off the azure-eyed pony's face. After they had looked so long and finally finding this tree, it was sold to somepony else.
Rarity walked back to where her sister was standing, disappointment in her eyes. She shook her head. "It's sold already, Sweetie."
For a second, the purple and pink maned filly looked disappointed as well, but only for a second. She smiled again. "Let's keep looking!" she said, and started walking.
After a few seconds, Sweetie Belle called for her sister. "Hey, Rarity, how about this one?" Rarity walked over to find her sister pointing to a very tall and skinny tree. It looked like Sweetie had found the tallest tree in the farm, and it was way to big to fit in the Carousel Boutique. Rarity said no.
The rest of the time they were there, that pattern repeated itself. Over the course of the next hour, Sweetie Belle had managed to find the fattest tree, the skinniest tree, the smallest tree, which was about as big as Sweetie herself. Other trees included a fake wooden tree with white branches, giving it the appearance of a snowy tree, a fake palm tree, and even a tree on fire, but luckily the fire was put out. Rarity said no to all of them.
By now it was getting close to lunch. Both unicorns were tired of walking, but the younger unicorn wouldn't give up until they found the perfect tree.
After walking around the farm for an hour and a half, Rarity decided it was time to go home. Turning around to call Sweetie, the azure eyed pony found her sister staring at another tree. Rarity called to her sister again. "Sweetie Belle, we're leaving now!"
Sweetie didn't respond, so the older pony walked over. In front of her was the real perfect tree they had been looking for. "Oh, Swetie, you really found it this time!" Rarity said, checking to make sure it wasn't sold.
It wasn't.
Sweetie came over and hugged Rarity. "This is the perfect tree, Rarity."
Rarity hugged her sister back. "It truly is, Sweetie."