“Mom! Mom! Wake up! It’s Hearth’s Warming!”
Rarity’s yawn collapsed into a weary smile as her magic finished tying her robe’s belt. “Coming, dear. Just let me get my coffee…”
“I already got it for you.”
Rarity froze on the last step of the stairs and looked towards the kitchen for any signs of smoke. “Did you?”
“Yup.” The filly poked her head out of the sitting room, a mug of steaming liquid clutched in her magic. “Pinkie Pie dropped it off a few minutes ago.”
Rarity mentally face-hoofed. “Of course. Pinkie’s special Hearth’s Warming blend.”
Sweetie Belle sipped from her own mug as Rarity accepted the cup gratefully. “She gave me a hot chocolate. She said she had to run.”
“Is she trying to give everypony in Ponyville something to drink again?” She took a deep breath of the coffee before taking a dainty sip. “Bless her heart.” She went to take another drink but stopped short when she noticed the white filly bouncing up and down. “Yes?”
“Can I?”
“Can you what?”
“Mom.” Sweetie’s eyes hardened. “Presents.”
Rarity laughed and waved her hoof in a ‘go on’ gesture.
Sweetie Belle was under the tree in an instant, marveling at the foil wrapped packages. “Here you go, Opal.” She tossed one box over her shoulder where it smacked Rarity’s cat right in her face. Opal hissed and swiped at the box in anger… then fell into a purring mess when a cat-nip ball rolled out and under her nose.
“Looks like quite a haul from Santa Hooves this year.” Rarity observed. “Why don’t you open mine first?”
Sweetie Belle looked out from under the pine tree and raised an eyebrow. “Which one is it?”
“The small one. In the green paper.” Rarity folded herself onto her couch and took another sip of coffee.
After a bit of searching, Sweetie Belle successfully held the sought after package in her mouth. She gave an experimental shake, trying to ascertain the contents.
“Ah ah ah. Is that how a lady acts?”
Sweetie Belle let her magic lift the box and begin to tear off the paper. Inside was a small box carved from oak. “What is it?”
“You have to open it, you silly filly.”
Smiling, Sweetie Belle found the latch and carefully opened the box. Inside, on a bed of velvet, was a golden necklace. Hanging from it was a shining emerald, perfectly cut and gleaming in the morning light. Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened. “Wow! It's so pretty! Did Spike make this?”
Rarity laughed and shook her head. “No. That gem was carved by master artisans from Saddle Arabia almost two hundred years before Spike was hatched. Your great, great, great, great grandmother received that as a gift from a prince as a parting gift after she turned down his marriage proposal. It’s been passed down our family line for generations, mother to daughter, and now it’s come to you.”
“Huh.” Sweetie Belle looked from the shimming stone and back at the pile of gifts.
Rarity narrowed her eyes. “Don’t be rude, Sweetie Belle. That’s a tremendous…”
“When I woke up this morning, I was trying to figure out what was different about the tree this year.” Sweetie Belle looked back at the gem, then back to the presents. “There’s two presents missing.”
Rarity’s jaw almost dropped at her daughter’s lack of appreciation.
Sweetie Belle looked into her mother’s eyes with tears flowing down her cheeks. “It’s because they’re not here.”
Everything clicked in Rarity’s mind and a hoof shot to her mouth. Of course.
It was the first Hearth’s Warming since the accident.
Rarity dropped her mug and quickly lay down next to her sobbing daughter. She nuzzled her and put a leg around her neck. “Don’t cry, darling. Please don’t cry.”
Sweetie Belle sniffled. “I s-s-still miss them.”
“I do too, my little one.” Rarity felt her own tears coming and did her best to hold them back. “I miss them every day. But I know that wherever they are, they’re still watching over us. And they wouldn’t want us to still be worrying about them. Right?”
Sweetie Belle sniffled again and nodded, her gaze again focused on the emerald.
“Mother instructed me to give that to you when you got married, to claim it was a wedding present if I hadn’t have told you the truth about us just yet. But something told me to give it to you this year.”
“…I promise to take care of it.”
“I know you will.” Rarity kissed the top of her little daughter’s head. “That’s why I gave it to you.”
Sweetie Belle wiped her eyes free of the last of her tears and pulled a large package from under the tree. “Open mine?”
Rarity smiled gratefully. “Oh, Sweetie Belle! You didn’t have to get me anything.”
Sweetie Belle shrugged. “It was supposed to be a birthday present, but it took a while longer to finish.”
Rarity’s tearing of the paper paused and she looked at Sweetie Belle as seriously as she could. “I’m not going to find a trunk that's supposed to be full of gems empty again, am I?”
Sweetie Belle shook her head quickly. “I didn’t make this one. But I had to make sure it was perfect.”
Now intrigued, Rarity finished pulling off the paper and gasped.
It was a portrait, carefully and laboriously painted, of Sweetie Belle and herself. Her image was looking down at Sweetie Belle with the utmost love in her eyes, a look that was being returned by a looking-upwards Sweetie Belle. The detail was tremendous, the colors were nothing short of extraordinary.
“How…?”
“When you took me to Canterlot that first time, I talked to a street artist while you were seeing a client. She was testing this new spell that allowed her to pull memories and emotions from a pony and put them down on canvas as a painting.” She offered her biggest smile. “After she saw my mind, she offered to do the painting for no charge.”
Rarity was still amazed. She looked at the canvas’ edges for a signature. She would have to inform the Canterlot elite of this artist as soon as possible. After several moments, she settled on what might have been a signature, though to her it just looked like a tangle of swirling lines. “Does it have a name?”
“She called it 'I Found You.’”
Rarity felt her tears starting to threaten a comeback, so she simply lowered the gift and grabbed her little filly in the tightest hug she could. “Happy Hearth’s Warming, little one.”
“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Mommy.”
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
“You sure yer ready fer this?”
“AJ, you’re acting like I’ve never been to a family function at your house before.”
“It ain’t that. It’s just…”
“Just what?”
“It’s Scarlet’s first Hearth’s Warming.”
“…And?”
“And Mac and Fluttershy might have gone a little overboard.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she reached for the Apple’s front door. “How bad could it…”
The door swung open and Applebloom raced out, screaming. “I DON’T WANT TO TAKE ANOTHER GAL-DERNED PICTURE!”
“Applejack! Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy gripped them both in a fierce hug. “Come in out of the snow.”
“Uh… what about Applebloom?”
Fluttershy smiled and took notice of the trail of hoof prints the teenager had left in the snow. She whistled shrilly and waited. In seconds, Winona and her three puppies were at her hooves. She pointed them at the hoof prints. “Fetch.”
The dogs were gone quicker than they’d arrived.
Applejack laughed and shook her head. “Bein’ a mama has made you scary, ‘Shy.”
Rainbow Dash joined in the laughter. “Are you kidding? Fluttershy’s always scared the mess out of me.”
Fluttershy looked away sheepishly. “Sorry. I just want everything to be perfect for…”
“Little Wing!” Macintosh’s voice called out from the living room. “She’s playing with the tinsel again!”
Fluttershy was gone. Several yellow feathers floated to the ground where she'd once stood.
Rainbow Dash looked at her marefriend. “They do know that she’s not going to remember any of this, don’t they?”
Applejack shrugged and led the pegasus into the house proper. A teenage pegasus stallion came trotting from the living room. “Hey guys.”
“Hey Rumble.”
“Did you see where…?”
“That way.” Applejack pointed out the door. “But hurry. Fluttershy set the dogs on her.”
Rumble sighed. “Not again. That’s the third time today.”
The laughing marefriends watched him fly off and headed into the living room. Hearth’s Warming decorations covered every inch of space. Enchanted baubles sung carols, filling the air with holiday music. Angel hopped this way and that, flashing a camera almost as big as he was at anything Fluttershy told him to.
At the moment, his subject was baby Scarlet.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash smiled down at the mewling foal, the first born from Mac and Fluttershy’s union. The tiny red earth pony swiped at some tinsel stuck in her yellow mane and gurgled, both actions causing her parents to coo and exclaim in delight.
Rainbow Dash’s smile faded and she looked to Applejack. “She’s still really small.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “’Course she is. Little thing was born three months early.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, remembering those harrowing weeks following Scarlet’s birth. “Is she… alright?”
Applejack nodded. “Doctors say she’s gonna be rail thin for her entire life, and she won’t have the strength to apple-buck, but other than that she’s gonna be right as rain.”
Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. “That’s good.” She waved at the filly’s father. “Hey Mac.”
“Eeyup.” He responded, not tearing his eyes from his most precious creation.
“The house looks nice.”
“Eeyup.”
“So I’m gonna drag Applejack upstairs and make a mare out of her. Again. In your bed. Sound good?”
“Eeyup.”
Dash clutched at her belly as she guffawed at the scandalized look on Applejack’s face.
Applejack’s reprisal was cut off by a shout of rage from the front door. “Get offa me ya dumb colt!” Rumble floated through the door carrying a squirming Applebloom underneath him. Winona and the pups playfully barked and nipped at her waving hooves.
Rumble spied Rainbow Dash and cleared his throat. “Granny Smith wants to see you on the porch.”
“Me?”
He nodded.
Flashing a bewildered look at her love, Dash trotted back outside and made her way around the porch.
She found Granny Smith in her rocker, an envelope in her lap, staring at the setting sun. She motioned for Dash to join her who dutifully, but still confusedly, plopped herself on the wood next to the ancient chair.
“My pa always used to watch the sun set on Hearth’s Warming. Not sure why, but he did. In this very chair. Right up to the day he died.” She sighed heavily and looked at the lightning blue mare. “Applejack’s very fond of you.”
“I hope so.” Dash smiled. “I’m pretty head over hooves for her myself.”
Granny returned the smile. “I’m glad. Glad that I got to see her find somepony special.” She looked back at the sun set. “That’s what I was most afraid of, y’know? That I would leave before they all found somepony to love. Now Mac’s got Fluttershy, AJ’s got you, and Applebloom’s got that Rumble fella.”
Dash chuckled. “They are cute together, but I hardly think those two are thinking marriage just yet.”
“But you and AJ are?”
Dash’s mouth slapped shut and she looked away. “I won’t say the thought hasn’t crossed my mind.” She looked at the Apple matriarch in embarrassment. “I know I’m supposed to ask your for permission, aren’t I?”
Granny laughed and shook her head. “If you were asking today, you would. But I‘ve got a feeling that when the time comes, it’ll be Mac yer askin.’”
“What are you…?”
“I can feel it, Dash. Ain’t got long left. Could be a day. Maybe a week. A few months if I’m real lucky. But it won’t be a year. Nope.” She smiled sadly at the fading light. “I’m perty sure this is my last Hearth’s Warming sunset.”
Dash followed her gaze. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you love my grand-daughter. And she loves you. And she’s gonna take me leavin’ perty hard.” She looked at Dash, her wrinkled face tight with seriousness. “She’s gonna need you. Especially once she reads this.” She indicated the envelope on her hoof. “I need ya to promise me you’ll be there for her.”
“Why?”
“Call it an old mare’s last Hearth’s Warming wish.”
Dash considered, then nodded. “I’ll always be there for her.”
“I had a feeling.” The last of the sun’s light faded and the ancient pony hefted herself down from her rocker. She groaned as her joints popped. “Element of Loyalty and all. Just needed to hear you say it.”
Dash made for her side. “Need some help?”
She shook her head and headed for the door. “Perty sure I got this one. Now come on. Let me send Rumble and Applebloom to town to drop this with Pro Bono and then you can help me with dinner.”
Dash hesitated. “Isn’t the law office closed today?”
Granny grinned gummily. “Eeyup. That’s why they’re gonna slide it under the door then go hide in the treehouse for a bit.”
Rainbow Dash grinned back. “You’re pretty cool for an old pony.”
Granny Smith rolled her eyes. “Honey, I may be nearly a hunnert years old, but I ain’t dead yet. Speakin’ of…”
“Ahem.”
Dash turned to find Flim, one half of the charlatan Flim Flam Brothers, waiting at the bottom of the porch steps, a bouquet and a stack of presents hovering in his magic. “I’m not late am I?”
Granny waved him up. “Not late at all, my little bacon biscuit. Now get up here and give mama some Hearth’s Warming sugar.”
