Spike skipped through the street alongside Twilight, his feet making distinct prints in the powdery snow. Strands of multicoloured lights strung all the Ponyville rooftops together, and the storefronts on Spike’s either side were decorated with all manners of wreaths, bells, garland, and the like. Even the air was awash with holiday spirit—smells of gingerbread and candy canes and warm apple cider wafting to and fro. “I can’t believe it’s already Hearth’s Warming season again,” Spike chirped.
“I know,” Twilight said, gazing around the streets herself. “Feels like we just celebrated it yesterday! And it looks like everypony’s getting even more into it than usual.” She levitated a list from her saddlebag—the top of the list, anyway, as the other few meters of it remained coiled in her bag—and brought it to eye level. “But remember, Spike, we have to complete our holiday checklist like every year before any true merriment can be had. Even though it’s our longest list by far, I’ll bet we can complete it in record time if we stay focused!” She smiled at him. “You ready?”
For his part, Spike had somehow amassed five candy canes, all of which jutted from between his teeth as drool seeped from the sugary prison and down his chin. He gave Twilight two thumbs up, to which she smirked and rolled her eyes. She looked back at the checklist and said, “Okay, first thing’s first: we need all-new decorations for the castle. Let’s start with—”
“Mistletoe! Get yer mistletoe ‘ere!” Spike and Twilight both stopped and stared. A sweater-clad reindeer stood down the street, pulling a cart filled with sprigs of ragged leaves and red berries. “Trust Blitzen’s Travelling Mistletoe Emporium for all your mistletoe-related needs!” he bellowed. “Three percent better kisses guaranteed, or you get a three percent refund!” Several ponies swarmed to the wagon waving bags of bits above their heads.
Twilight arched an eyebrow. “Hold on a second, Spike.” She trotted towards the reindeer, her expression firm.
Spike gulped down the last of his sweets before shouting, “Wait up, Twilight! What do we need mistletoe for anyway? It’s not like—”
“There you are!” Before Spike could even move, magic wrapped around him and plucked him off his feet. The magic felt like fresh, soft silk against his scales, and he instantly knew who had grabbed him.
“Rarity?” he said mere fractions of a second before the magic dropped him onto Rarity’s back as she galloped past. “Whoa!” He clutched her scarf to steady himself as the speed caught up with him. “Where are we going?!”
“Time is of the essence, darling!” Rarity whipped around a corner and zoomed forward at full throttle. “This is a Hearth’s Warming emergency, and I require your assistance this instant. Not another word until we arrive at the boutique.”
“But—” A smattering of gingerbread cookies shoved themselves into Spike’s mouth.
“Thank you, Pinkie,” Rarity said, smiling to Pinkie Pie who had appeared at her side with a baking sheet strapped around her neck.
“Awnytwme!” Pinkie spat, crumbs flying from between her lips. She stopped on a dime and trotted off in another direction. Spike watched her go, shrugged, and savoured the mash of gingerbread and frosting melting on his tongue.
***
The door to Carousel Boutique flew open, and Spike shot through the air into a mound of fabric as Rarity screeched to a halt. Spike untangled himself from the chiffon and looked over to see Rarity peeking between the drapes drawn across one of the windows. “She didn’t follow us, did she?”
“Naw,” Spike said, pulling a large, decorative feather from his ear. “Looked like she was headed towards the train station or something.”
“Not Pinkie, darling,” Rarity said. She turned to him, an immense frown pressed across her face. “Twilight! She can’t know that you’re here helping me.”
“Uh…” Spike scratched his head. “Okay. Helping you with what, though?”
Rarity pulled in a massive breath and sighed it out gracefully. “For a grueling several weeks now, I have searched frantically. I have browsed every shop, stall, boutique, and outlet in both Ponyville and Canterlot. I have considered every facet of my friendship with Twilight in every way imaginable. I have pored over catalogues and magazines from The Alchemical Inquirer to Zodiac Magic Monthly.” She slumped down on her haunches, looking on the verge of tears. “But it’s simply hopeless! No matter what, I simply cannot find it.”
Spike blinked. “‘It?’”
“Don’t be silly, Spike,” Rarity said. “Not ‘it.’ It!” She brought a hoof to her forehead and struck a long pose. When she winked an eye open and saw Spike’s baffled expression, she let out a huff and rolled her eyes. “The perfect Hearth’s Warming gift for Twilight! I have all my other gifts wrapped gorgeously in my upstairs closet, but Twilight’s still eludes me. What in Equestria do you give to a Princess of Equestria, let alone your best friend who seems to already have everything she needs?” Rarity stuck out her bottom lip and scuffed a hoof.
“Aw, come on, Rarity!” Spike walked forward and pulled her chin up, looking her in the eye. “Twilight will love anything you give her! Why don’t you just make her one of your amazing outfits like you do every year?”
“Because I do it every year,” Rarity said, prodding Spike in the chest. “No matter how marvelous a garment I create, it simply won’t do. Twilight deserves something much, much more. Something that she truly wants, not something that I truly want for her.”
“But Twilight loves the clothes you make for her!”
“Who wouldn’t? They’re spectacular.” Rarity’s face lit up a little. “But love does not always equate to desire, Spikey-Wikey. Surely I could give her a gift she would love more than any dress—something that screams more ‘Twilight’ than ‘Rarity’s gift for Twilight.’”
“Think about it though, Rarity.” Spike leapt up on a nearby dressform and pulled a picture from the wall. It was one of Twilight and Rarity posing side by side at the previous year’s Hearth’s Warming party. Twilight wore a sleek sweater sewn by Rarity, and Rarity wore a luminescent pendant crafted by Twilight. Spike shoved the picture in Rarity’s face. “Remember why you always make her clothes for Hearth’s Warming?”
Rarity blinked at the picture. “Because… I’m a horrible, self-indulgent friend who would rather spring for the easy, could-sew-it-in-my-sleep gift rather than putting the slightest effort into finding a truly appropriate present?”
Spike stared at her with a slack jaw and quirked eyebrow. He shook his head and said, “No! It’s because it’s something only you could give her.”
“Anypony could have given her clothes.”
“But not your clothes.” Spike let his hand fall to the side with the picture. “It’s like how Twilight always gives me a book for my birthday. Sure I don’t always like the books, and maybe I would’ve preferred something cooler, and yeah there was that time where the book was so big that I sprained a claw trying to lift it, but I still appreciate ‘em cause they’re from Twilight! She still put the thought into giving me a gift in the first place, just like how you put in the thought to make her an awesome outfit every year, and it’s the thought that counts.”
Despite herself, Rarity smiled. “That is such a cheesy expression.”
“Doesn’t make it any less right.”
A silence fell through the boutique. Rarity closed her eyes and sighed through her nose. “Perhaps you have a point.” She opened her eyes and stared at Spike. “But you’re absolutely certain she will appreciate one of my designs above anything else I could give?”
Spike rooted himself to the spot. “Yes.”
“But what about—”
“Nope.”
“Not even—”
“Nuh-uh.”
“A book?”
Spike paused. He crossed his arms and asked, “About what?”
“Magic.”
“She’s already read all of those.” Spike hopped up and hung the picture back on the wall. He dragged the dressform towards Rarity and said, “I have an idea, though. Twilight’s been going on and on about what to wear to the Firework Lotus Celebration this year. Maybe you could make her something for that.”
Suddenly, Rarity’s eyes widened. “Oh my stars! I’d completely forgotten that the celebration has a theme of formal attire this year! Spikey-Wikey, you’re brilliant!” She whisked Spike and the dressform in her magic and trotted for the stairs. “Come! We must create!”
Spike grinned. “That’s the Rarity I know and…” As if having hit a wall, his expression flattened. He blushed furiously. “Uh…”
“Love?” Rarity offered, not even batting an eye.
“Y-yeah.”
“That reminds me,” Rarity said, throwing open the door to her inspiration room. “As I recall, isn’t Princess Cadance performing the Firework Lotus Ceremony this year?”
“Yup,” Spike said, the heat slowly fading from his cheeks. “First time, too.”
“That gives me the perfect starting point for Twilight’s dress. Something… auroral.” Fabric, needles, and thread jumped from around the room as the creative process began anew.
***
“Hmm…” Rarity hmm’d.
“Hum…” Spike hummed.
Rarity’s eyes darted across every inch of the new dress, analyzing it the same way Twilight would analyze a spellbook. “Je ne sais quoi qui manque,” she mumbled. “I know something is missing, but what?”
“Got me,” Spike said. “It already looks incredible.”
Peering over her glasses, Rarity stuck her tongue out the corner of her mouth. “Incredible, yes. But not impeccable. What in Equestria could—”
“Mistletoe!” came the voice from the conveniently open window. “No real toes? No real problem! Blitzen’s finest mistletoe’ll give you the mistle-iest toe of all!”
Sparks went off in Rarity’s eyes. She stared at the center point of the dress, right above the chest. “That’s it,” she whispered, and then she bolted out the door.
“Wait up, Rarity!” Spike gave chase. He scrambled after Rarity, following her out of Carousel Boutique and into Ponyville’s marketplace. He glanced sideways, saw her galloping for the Travelling Mistletoe Emporium, and shot after her.
A wayward rock decided this would be an appropriate time to catch Spike’s toe, and he tumbled forward down the street. The scaly tumbleweed slammed straight into Rarity, sweeping her into his death whirl and accelerating even more. Together the unlikely tornado caught up to the reindeer merchant and whisked him away too. Finally the group plowed smack into the mistletoe-laden wagon, and the whole scene erupted in snow and sawdust and festive colours.
Wincing a little, Spike opened his eyes. His face sat an inch away from Rarity’s which was coated in sawdust and stray leaves. Spike coughed up a berry and said, “You okay, Rarity?”
Rarity spat out a woodchip. “Fine, although I daresay that situation escalated rather quickly. Thank goodness we—” Her eyes focused slightly upwards, and she blanched. When Spike followed her gaze, he blanched too.
An unblemished sprig of mistletoe hung in between them from the wagon shrapnel, swaying lightly. Feeling his heartbeat quicken, Spike locked eyes with Rarity. “Uh…” he said. Rarity’s face went stark red.
“There you are!” Both of them looked up and saw Twilight standing over them, her eyebrows drawn in a stern, straight line.
“Twilight?!” Spike blurted. “Er…”
“Th-this isn’t what it looks like,” Rarity stammered as she scrambled to her hooves.
“Yeah!” Spike hopped to his feet too. He snatched the sprig of mistletoe from sight. “We weren’t gonna… I mean not that we weren’t gonna, but we didn’t plan on… we just needed mistletoe for—” Rarity nudged him hard, winding him a little.
Twilight trotted right past them to the reindeer still slumped on the ground. She levitated a book from beneath her wing, flipped to a page, and shoved it in his face. “See?! I told you! You’re selling holly, not mistletoe! Mistletoe has white berries and round leaves, not—”
“That proves nothing,” Blitzen said. “Who knows how old that book is? Times change. And how can I tell that you didn’t forge that book yourself? You’ve got nothing on me! If anything this makes my product more valuable.”
Twilight’s eye twitched. “No! It doesn’t! Stop conning ponies, you no-good…”
Her voice trailed off as Spike and Rarity snuck away. Once secluded, Spike opened his hand and looked down at the piece of holly. “Not real mistletoe, huh?”
“Thank goodness!” Rarity smiled, holding a hoof to her heart. “That means we don’t have to k—” She froze as she looked at Spike’s slumped form. She frowned.
Spike sighed. “At least we got a piece for the dress…”
“Indeed, but you know what they say, dearest.” Rarity stooped down and planted a warm, gentle kiss on Spike’s cheek. Spike perked up, touched his cheek, and turned to Rarity. She was smiling fondly.
“It’s the thought that counts.”
