The Crystal Empire... a beautiful place to live, unless you are homeless and starving. A young colt and his little sister know this lesson all too well. They have been homeless for a few months after the death of their parents.
“S-Sister, I miss mommy and daddy, e-especially now during H-Hearth's Warming Eve” the little colt says as he shivers next to his younger sister, his stained and shriveled dark blue mane and tail blowing in the soft, but stinging cold breeze as a light blanket covers his once goldenrod body, now almost unrecognizable in color.
"I... I know brother... I miss b-being ho-home and feeling safe and w-warm," the little sister replies as she cuddles up against his side to try and keep them both warm despite having little to no protection against the stinging cold.
“W-Why did they have t-to die? We’re t-too young to be homeless!”
"I... I don't know... I just do-don't know if we can survive out he-here another week.”
“W-We haven’t e-eaten for three days. I-I’m so hungry…” the colt moans as he hears his belly growl in hunger. The young colt and filly have survived this long by themselves by either looking through scraps or, in some desperate cases, steal with one acting as a distraction or both using stealth to eat for a day, maybe two if they were lucky. “It’s Heart’s Warming Eve and we have no mommy, daddy, f-food, home, o-or toys! W-Why’d i-it have to be us?” he curses, quivering as tears of anger and sadness form in his eyes.
"If we d-don't find a pl-place to stay... I think this may be it," She replies and winces as her belly rumbles loudly and remembers every house they had stolen from or looked through the trash of. "Br-Brother? Wh-What will we do?”
“I-I don’t know…” he moans, hearing his belly rumble again. “C-Come, let’s get s-some food if w-we can…”
"W-We've tried... th-there's no place that'll put their trash out now," She says fearing starving to death in the cold on Hearths Warming Eve.
“W-We’ll have to try to steal something… anything…”
"I can't move... but could we try the castle?”
“I-It’d be too far away… T-There’s a bakery just nearby. M-Maybe we can try to steal a… a loaf?” the colt suggests, shivering as a gust of wind travels through his bones, trying to help his sister up.
"I-It's our only ch-chance... l-let's give a shot," She says struggling to her hooves and uses her bother as little as she could so he wouldn't be carrying all of her weight.
The two young foals shiver as they make their way towards the nearby bakery as snow begins to fall around them. As they make their way to the bakery, they stop and look at a toy store, its display full of various toys such as colorful balls, dolls, plushes, and wooden crafts. “I-I’d give a-anything for a toy now, sister. I’d love a ball or a toy soldier.”
"I know brother... I'd like one t-too," She replies and then slowly starts looking over the toys and eyes them with envy before looking away as tears start building in her eyes.
“Oh… why couldn’t mommy and daddy buy toys like those?” he asks, placing a hoof on the display glass, near a colorful ball.
"I... I don't know... Mommy and d-daddy did the best they co-could..." She says and slowly looks at her brother's hoof then at the ball.
“I know, but, why not buy us something like this?” the colt asks her before hearing an angry voice begin to shoo them away.
"Go on! Get out of here!" The owner of the shop says as he opens the door.
“Come on sis! Let’s go…” the colt says, taking his younger sister’s hoof, and making their way towards the bakery with a tear in their eyes, wishing one of those toys, just one of them, could be theirs to own.
"Wh-Why are th-those ponies so cruel?" She asks as the tears start flowing down her cheeks like small rivers as her small horn aches from the cold air.
“I… I don’t know…” he replies, feeling his tiny wings shuffle against his body, the tears in his eyes almost freezing due to the cold and wind hitting their frail bodies. After several agonizing minutes in the cold, they manage to reach the bakery, seeing a few customers in it, acting as a perfect distraction, or so they had hoped.
"So... nor-normal plan?" She asks, looking at her brother and then starts lifting her hoof to look “injured.”
“Mmhmm. When you hear the bell ring, that’s your cue to leave and meet me outside for our escape," he affirms her. "I hate to do this. Even though mommy and daddy said not to steal, w-we have to.”
"I know... ju-just don't take long... I do-don't want to get caught," She says as she starts stumbling toward the bakery hoping their plan would work.
“I’ll try not to. I’ll grab the first thing that looks good and then get out. Ready?” he asks, approaching the building, smelling bread in the air.
"Ready..." She says as she weakly pushes the door open causing the bell over the door to go off, alerting all inside to her appearance: despite managing to quickly slide a small block of wood into the door to keep it from ringing the bell as it closed.
'I hope this works…' the colt says to himself before sneaking in the store, past the customers, making it past the counter and towards the bread rack. He looks at the many delicious options to him and his sister. After several moments, he decides to get a simple loaf and snatch it from the basket. Score! he says to himself as he makes his way past the counter before hearing a bell. 'No! No! Not now!' he thinks in a panicked state, knowing that was their cue. But this time, it was premature for his sister to stop her act, leaving him exposed.
As she turns around, she sees her brother at the door looking fearfully at the ponies in the bakery before turning her attention back to the owner of the bakery and then starts running to her brother and pushes the door open hoping her brother would be behind her.
The colt makes a break for the door as the loaf begins to break off. 'Nonononono! Please hold on! Please hold on!' he thinks as he runs towards the door before feeling the loaf fall to the ground as he runs to the door. Knowing that their plan backfired and there was no chance of him going back for the loaf, he swallows the small bite he managed to get of it and calls out to his sister, “Run sis!”
As she runs after her brother she tries to make a quick pick up only to grab a couple slices of the loaf of bread between her teeth and then feels a small bolt of weak energy strike her flank, nearly making her drop the bread as they ran as fast as they could.
After several moments of running back into the striking cold, they hide in a side alley and huddle again. “I-I’m sorry sister, I did what I… I could,” he apologizes, tears forming in his eyes again, wishing he hadn’t dropped the bread, their only source of food in a three days.
She pants around the bread in her teeth and then gently releases the bread onto her small foreleg. "H-Hey...I got so-something..." She says and then steps forward and then nuzzles his cheek softly. "You did we-well.”
“I-I know, but… this won’t feed us enough t-to make us not hungry…” he sighs, taking a slice in his hooves and nibbles on it.
"It's so-something, not a lot but... we tried," She says and then starts nibbling on one of the other four slices she managed to grab then winces at the stinging on her flank.
“Y-You okay? Does it hurt?”
"It just stings a li-little, not that bad," She says and then bites into the bread she had started nibbling on.
He nods as the two hungry ponies savor every bite of their “meal” of bread, even though it wouldn't completely satisfy their hunger.
"That wa-wasn't even enough to fi-fill me up..." She says softly and then looks at her brother who looked just as sad.
“I-I know sis. I’m still hungry… and thirsty.”
"C-Can we find any snow?”
“T-There’s not enough o-on the ground to e-eat sister. I-I’m sorry…” he says softly and nuzzles her, a tear sliding down his cheek.
"Do-Don't worry... we'll think of so-something," She says as she cuddles up to her brother and then hugs him close as his wings shuffle gently against her sides.
A hard blowing wind starts to pick up and mercilessly hits them, making them shiver. “K-Know any warming s-spells?” the brother asks her, feeling the biting wind and snow run through his blanket and bones.
"I do-don't have enough energy... sorry," She shivers and starts crying again, her tears flowing down her cheeks.
“I-It’s o-ok-k-k-kay…” he sighs, shivering heavily, huddling as close to her as he could to keep warm, feeling the end of them was near.
—
"Honey? Do you see that?" a soft voice, belonging to a mare asks while walking down the street and then pauses at an alley and looks into the shadows.
“I do, my love. The poor things…” a stallion’s voice replies. “We should take them back home with us. They’ll freeze to death out here on a night like this.”
"That's a great idea love, I'll carry the filly," She says and then gently lifts them both up while moving the filly to her back and the colt to her husband’s.
“Come on little ones, you’re coming with us…” the stallion says softly to the colt on his back as he makes it back to the carriage with his wife in it, laying the young colt next to his sister. He closes the door to the carriage as his wife tells the driver to take them back home, giving the young crystal ponies a second chance at life.
The Greatest Gift of All...
(Sometime later…)
"W-Where are we?" The young filly asks softly as she feels the warm air covering her body and she saw that their scenery had changed; large crystal pillars, lavish rugs and even a small fountain.
The colt slowly opens his eyes, rubbing his eyes, observing the scenery. “W-We’re alive? H-How’d we get here? Is this where mommy and daddy went?”
"I... I don't know..." She says and then starts to get up only to feel a large and warm blanket covering their bodies. “H-Hello?"
“Ah, looks like you two are awake,” the stallion’s voice says to the young ponies, seeing that they had awoken. “Do you like what you see?”
"Y-You're the Prince?!" the filly asks, shocked and then looks between the stallion and her older brother.
The white stallion nods to her. “Do you know what that would make my wife then?” he asks with a grin as a pink mare with a curled purple, magenta and cream white colored mane and tail comes to his side with a grin on her face.
"P-Princess... are you go-gonna punish us?" She asks softly and then feels her brother's wing drape over her back gently from under the blanket.
“Punish you? For what? Why would we punish two small, innocent ponies like you two?” the mare asks the young filly before whispering something in her husband's ear.
"A-Aren't we going to be punished because we stole?" The colt asks softly looking between the Prince and Princess.
‘Go and start a bath for them,’ the Princess whispers into her husband's ear then looks back at the foals letting her husband tell them otherwise. “Stole what if I may ask?” she asks them, laying near them.
"W-We stole so-some bread to eat... but, w-we haven't had a home for several months," the filly says softly as the Prince gets to his hooves and then lifts them gently with his magic aura.
“That long without a home? That’s horrible for any young foal to go through!” the princess says, shocked to hear the filly say that. “Didn’t you have your parents to care for you? Or relatives?”
"Th-They died several months ago..." The colt says as tears start flowing down his cheeks.
“I’m sorry…” the mare says softly, closing her eyes softly. “If I may ask, what happened to them?”
"W-We don't know... they were ju-just gone o-one day and..." The filly starts sadly before closing her eyes letting the tears flow and her voice begin to crack.
“That’s horrible…” the stallion says, seeing the two ponies cry softly as he gently places them in the warm bubble filled tub.
"W-Why are you do-doing this for u-us?" The young filly asks as she actually started to enjoy the warm water soaking into her dirty fur.
“We found you two huddled together in an alley and knew we couldn’t leave you there. Besides, it’s Hearth’s Warming Eve and felt like you two needed a home,” the mare explains with a grin, seeing the foals grin as they enjoy their first bath in a long time.
They look at the Princess and the Prince before starting to cry again, but not from sorrow, but from happiness; the first time that they've really been happy in a long time.
“Sister! We can be clean again! Clean!” he grins, crying happily, as the colt uses the warm water to wash his goldenrod fur and blue mane clean, happy to see his true colors return.
"I know! I can't believe it! We can fi-finally be clean again!" She says and then ducks her head under the water and then comes back up and then shakes her wet mane getting the area around her wet.
The mare and stallion giggle as the filly washes her mane. “Glad to know that you two love your bath,” the mare grins at them. “I have a question to ask you two, do you know what you two are?”
"Wh-What do you mean?" The colt asks softly looking up into her eyes.
“Do you know where you two are? You did notice the surroundings such as the pillars and the carpet, yes?”
"No... where are we?" The colt asks looking around slowly and then gasps softly. "W-We're in the…"
“Are we in the… the Crystal Palace?” the filly asks, finishing her brother’s sentence.
"That's right... we thought that you to deserve a nice warm meal and a warm place to stay for Heart’s Warming Eve," The mare says with a motherly smile.
The foals stand from the tub and hug the princess happily, more joyful tears coming from their eyes. “Oh thank you! Thank you so much!” the two say happily.
"It's ok... I can't bare the thought of you two being out there on a night like tonight. It's Hearth's Warming Eve after all," the mare says with a smile as she hugs the two back gently.
‘Honey, the chefs have arrived with their meals,’ the stallion whispers in his wife’s ear, looking at the foals with a grin.
"Of course. How would you two like a hot meal?" The Princess asks with a smile looking between them both.
“I-Is there a drink also?” the colt asks the mare as he rinses his mane in the water.
"Yes there is... you two must be hungry and thirsty," the stallion says as he lifts the colt out of the bath and then slowly starts drying his fur with his magic. "Would you like to know our names?”
The two foals nod to them as they are dried with their magic.
"My name is Prince Shining Armor, and this is my wife; Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," Shining Armor says introducing them to the young foals.
“Wait… T-THE Prince and… Princess?” the filly says in awe, looking at them.
"Surprised?" Cadance asks with a smile as she gently sets the filly down on her back, between her wings and then starts walking with her husband to their bedroom where the food would be served to them.
“Sis! I-I can’t believe it!” the colt says in shock, not believing that the Prince and Princess of the Crystal Empire were caring for them, smelling some hot delicious food.
"I know! I... I can't believe how lucky we are..." She says with the biggest smile she had used in many months.
Both of them giggle happily as they are laid on the comfortable bed, seeing plates of food and drink prepared for them, the first hot meal they have had in a long time.
"Now please enjoy the food. We aren't sure what you'd like so we had a little bit of everything made for you two," Cadance says as she looks over at Shining.
Both of the foals thank them numerous times before starting to eat their food happily.
“Now don’t eat too fast now. Don’t want a belly ache before you open your presents…” Shining says teasingly to them.
"Presents?!" The two both asks shocked as they turn their attention from the food to Shining Armor who was whispering something into his wife's ear.
Shining nods to them. “Mmhmm. It is Hearth’s Warming Eve and what’s Heart’s Warming Eve without little ones opening their presents?”
"Y-You did that for us?" The young filly asks looking at them both with so much shock that they were surprised she didn't become a ghost.
“Of course, why wouldn’t we for cute foals like yourselves?”
"C-Cute?" The filly asks again and then feels Cadance gently ruffle her mane.
“Well, you two are…” she grins, fixing the filly’s mane into a ponytail. “Now eat you two, but not too fast, then we can open presents.”
"Thank you Princess... Thank you both so much," The filly says with a smile and slowly starts eating the hot food, loving how it filled her belly and gave her a warm feeling.
Cadance and Shining Armor grin as the two foals enjoy their hot meal and drink, letting the food warm their empty bellies.
—
“How was the food you two?” Shining asks with a grin, seeing them finish their plates.
"That was great!" They both say patting their full bellies as they relax as the food inside them makes them feel kind of sleepy.
“I’m happy to hear that. Now, want to open your presents here or by the tree?” Cadance says happily, giggling to herself as the colt burps.
"Excuse me... umm, what do you think sister?" He asks after covering his mouth with a hoof.
“W-Why not under the tree… I-It’s been a while,” she replies, burping shortly after with a blush afterwards. “Excuse me…”
"Don't worry about it you two. After all, I think Shiny and I can overlook it this one time; your burping anyway," Cadance says with a teasing smile.
“Besides, Hearth’s Warming Eve comes only once a year,” he grins at them. “Now come on! You have presents to open!”
"Thank you both so much!" The two excited foals say with smiles on their faces as Cadance and Shining Armor both pick up one of them and gently lay them on their backs as they walk to where they had put their tree.
—
The foals gasp as they enter the room with the beautifully decorated tree. The tree had ornaments and lights of every color and size imaginable on it. They also see presents surround it, wrapped in colorful paper and ribbons.
"So? What do you two think?" Cadance asks as they enter the warm and decorated room of the castle.
“I-It’s… It’s…” the colt gasps at a loss for words as he hears his sister finish his sentence.
“…so beautiful!” she says, finishing his statement with awe in her eyes.
"Now who wants to open their present first?" Shining Armor asks as they set the foals down on the carpeted floor and then sit on the couch against the wall.
“I-I don’t know… It’s been a while since we’ve done something like this…” the colt softly says, looking at Shining Armor before turning back to his sister. “Do you want to, sister?”
"Go ahead brother... I can wait," She says then boops his nose gently with a hoof.
“But, you’re the younger one though…”
"Ok if you insist," She says then steps toward the small mountain of presents before the young ones. "Are they all for us?”
Both Cadance and Shining nod to them silently with grins. “However, the ones with hints of pink are for you,” Cadance points out, looking at the filly.
“And the ones with a hint of blue are for you. Don’t worry, you have an equal amount of presents,” Shining adds.
"Thank you both so much," the young filly says then pulls on of the presents from near the top of the small mountain and slowly tears into the wrapping paper with her stronger magic.
The filly gasps as she pulls out her present from the box. “A stuffed bear! I’ve always wanted one!” she grins happily and cuddles with it, feeling its soft material against her fur.
"You're welcome... We did some shopping before we found you and if I remember right, I saw you looking at that toy before," Cadance says with a smile.
“Oh thank you so much Cadance! I love it!”
"You're welcome, now let's let your brother open a present," Cadance says and then nuzzles Shining's cheek gently as the colt flutters his wings and starts lifting off of the ground slowly.
“I think he should like his presents,” Shining whispers to his wife before hearing the colt gasp, seeing his present.
"Oh my goodness! It's that ball I w-was looking at before. But ho-how did you two know?" He asks happily as he picks the ball up with his hooves.
“Lucky guess?” Shining grins at him, seeing his eyes glow with happiness.
"Oh! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" He says as he hugs Shining's and Cadance's forelegs tightly.
“You’re most welcome little one. But that’s just one present. You and your sister have many more to open,” Cadance grins at him, patting his head softly.
"We can't begin to thank you both!" The young foals say smiling up at them, being the happiest they've been in a while after spending several lonely months on the street.
“There is no need to. Every young colt and filly, like yourselves, deserve to have a gift to lift your spirits,” Shining says to them, encouraging them to open more presents as he and his wife see the glow in their eyes with every new present they open.
—
"Looks like you two have lots of toys to keep you occupied for a long time huh?" Shining Armor says with a smile as the two little ponies are surrounded by toys.
“I think so! I love every one of them!” the colt says to Shining, playing with a wooden train.
“I do too!” the filly adds, hugging one of her stuffed animals.
"We knew you'd love them and we still have one more big gift for the two of you," Cadance says with a smile and winks at her husband.
“What? There’s another present? Where is it?” the colt asks, not seeing any more wrapped presents around the tree.
"It's not a wrapped present, we have a question for you. Since you were homeless before we took you two in, would you like to be our foals?" Cadance asks the two young foals before her.
“Y-You mean… a-adopt us?” the filly asks, tears of joy filling her eyes, hearing her brother quiver.
"Yes. We talked it over and since I'm unable to have foals of my own, we thought that adopting would be our best bet to have a family," Cadance says softly.
The young colt and filly quiver for a few moments, letting her words sink in, before running over to them and hugging their legs happily, beginning to cry tears of joy.
Cadance and Shining Armor hug the foals gently and then nuzzle the one who they were hugging gently. "So that's a yes?" Shining asks softly already knowing their answer.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” the colt says as he hugs Shining’s leg tightly.
"Cadance, I think we've made their Hearth's Warming Eve the best one ever," Shining says and then feels the colt he had been hugging pull away from him only for the filly to take his place.
“I would think their, and our best, ever,” Cadance says softly to her husband, kissing his cheek. “Little ones? What should we call you?”
"Um... to be hon-honest... it's been so long since we've even said our names..." The colt says softly being completely honest.
“Would you like new names for you and your sister then?”
"We-We'd be honored," The filly and colt say with a smile.
“Alright then. How about Bright Shield for you…” Shining Armor says to the colt.
“…and Crystal Light for you. What do you think?" Cadance asks her.
“I-I love it!” she grins, hugging her leg as does her brother with Shining’s leg. “Thank you… mommy and daddy!” both say in unison.
Cadance and Shining Armor look at each other with happy smiles then lean down and nuzzle their children gently knowing that they'd be happy for a long time. "We love you both too," Cadance says with a smile.
Both of the young foals nuzzle their new parents before looking up in the night sky, through the massive glass windows and see two comets slowly streaking in the sky. “Sister! Look!” the colt calls out.
The other three look up out the window and see the last lights of the shooting stars as they vanish from sight. "Shooting stars? What luck!" Cadance says with a smile as Crystal Light trots to the window.
“Do you think its…?” Bright Shield says, looking at the twin comets.
"Maybe it could be, your parents telling you that you'll be ok," Shining Armor says walking up to the window with Cadance as they all look up into the sky.
“Hi mommy… Hi daddy… We’ll make you happy, we promise…” the colt says softly, pressing his hoof on the glass, looking at the comets in the night sky, a lone tear running down his cheek, feeling his sister nuzzle him.
"Don't worry... we'll make them proud, I just know it," Crystal Light says earning a gentle pat on the back from Cadance.
“You both will. Both of them will make our lives full of joy and happiness,” she says reassuringly.
"Thank you mother," Their daughter says happily and then looks back up into the night sky.
The newly formed family watches the comets streak across the clear sky, knowing that both Cadance and Shining Armor, along with their children, Crystal Light and Bright Shield, would be a happy, loving family, making this Hearts Warming Eve, the best ever for all of them.
Author's Note
A few days past Heart's Warming, but still, relatively close enough. X3 Hope you enjoyed it! 
