Hearthswarming Trials
Ever since Canterlot's founding, estimated to be around 1400 years ago, the Hearthswarming play has been performed annually under the supervision of a princess. Of course, there have been exceptions. In the millennium under the rule of a single princess, Celestia sometimes failed to muster the strength in herself and delegated the task. But ever since Twilight Sparkle had performed in the play herself a long time ago, she had been proud to have been a part of it, first as an actor, and after her ascension, as the supervisor.
As she stepped out from the theatre into the cold, snowy night, her mind remained on that first time. How long had it been since then? She had been… 17. But how old was she now? Back then, she would have laughed at the notion of a pony forgetting her own age. Now, she found herself struggling to remember, even getting annoyed about the cursed number changing every single year.
A gust of cold interrupted her thoughts and she flapped her wings in an attempt to warm them up. It was dark and one look at an illuminated clock showed it was close to midnight. Twilight felt a sting in her chest and she hoped that Shetland had gone to bed in time. Her daughter had not been happy when Twilight explained that she couldn't stay at home today.
“But it's Hearthswarming!” she had protested. “Everypony else can celebrate with their family.” she had also attempted the sad puppy-eyes, but unlike what some of Twilight's novels suggested, most children were actually rather bad at looking sad on purpose. And Shetland’s dirty look only gave Twilight the impression of a bulldog with toothache.
“It´s only one day, Shetty” Twilight had said. “most pegasus families celebrate it a day later, too” She had expected her daughter to maybe look perplexed or ask why, but she just stomped her hoof.
“I´m not a pegasus!” she exclaimed.
And not a unicorn either, Twilight thought as her eyes darted to Shetland's barren forehead. Of course she loved her daughter all the same, but her last three kids had all been unicorns and not seeing a horn always felt just a little strange. “And I'm at least one third pegasus, dear, it counts” she said sternly. Of course that practise was only common in families where a pegasus worked in public transport, so the traffic wouldn't break down on Hearthswarming and the day after at least earth pony transport was available, but Shetland didn't need to know that. At least, not right now.
“We'll have a great day tomorrow, Shetty” She had assured the child while she reached out a hoof to pet her.
Shetland sat there, pouting, her blue eyes fixated on Twilight's hoof. “You´ll come back tonight, right?”
“I'll be there to tuck you in, sweetie” Twilight said and before Shetland could protest, she added: “No”
“But-”
“No staying up all night, Shetty, you'll go to bed on time like every other filly”
“But-”
“That´s not negotiable!” she said sternly.
Shetland lowered her head and shot a glare in her mother's direction. “Hmpf. Fine!”
Obviously, Twilight had not left her daughter alone, instead leaving her with a babysitter until she returned. But it felt like this year, everything went wrong. First an actor had slipped on the way and broken his leg, which delayed the presentation for half an hour while Twilight hurriedly employed a changeling from the audience and rehearsed the lines, then the narrator had confused the order of scenes and they had to start again from the beginning, some noblemare made a big fuss over having to leave early, interrupting the play with her loud demeanor… all of it had left Twilight with a massive headache.
She spread her wings out and flew over the largely-empty streets and felt the stress diminish already. Normally not the sporty type, over the years she had taken to flying as an excellent method of clearing her head. From above, her troubles always seemed to shrink down to little points, just like the lamps gleaming up from the streets of Canterlot: dozens and hundreds of tiny lights like multi-colored stars. Twilight savoured the sight, as on most other days, Canterlot's streets were filled with an excessive amount of lamps, billboards and floating advertisements, bathing the streets in bright light, even in the darkest nights. But on Hearthswarming, most were turned off, giving a precious view back in time at how the city had looked over a century ago.
With a smile, Twilight pulled her eyes away from the streets below and focused on her destination. Ponyville, in contrast, had changed to a much lesser extent. Sure, it had grown over the years and many buildings had been replaced with new, modern variants, but the old Ponyville was still clearly recognizable. From afar she saw the town center with only a couple of upper stories built on top of the old structure, Carousel Boutique, which had remained virtually unchanged, and of course, her own castle.
The frigid wind blew against her, making her wish she had taken clothing. On the other hoof, had everything gone as planned, she would be sitting in a nicely cushioned and heated pegasus taxi now.
The castle stood on the outskirts of Ponyville, at a bit of a distance from the closest house. It wasn't gleaming and twinkling as it would be in bright daylight, but occasionally, the shine of a star would reflect on its walls. Its roof was covered in a thick layer of snow, as was most of the city, and only a few narrow streets were free from the white masses, as they were heated from below. Relieved, Twilight saw not a single light shining through any of her home's windows. It seemed her daughter had indeed gone to bed like a well-behaved filly.
She flapped her wings faster, speeding through the large door, which she opened with her magic, and slid across the smooth floor, coming to a halt in the middle of the room. She pushed the door shut again to keep out the cold and trotted up the stairs towards her living room, her hooves emitting a quietly-echoing clip clop on the floor tiles.
The living room had the most functions in the entire castle, and was both practical and very comfy. The irony of living in a huge building, Twilight had learned, was that she only ended up using a fraction of the available space. She had twenty guest rooms, large halls dedicated solely for political and diplomatic interactions, several rooms containing nothing but memories of events and ponies in her life, and still, entire sections of her home remained unused, only there to annoy her cleaning staff.
In the middle of the wall opposite the door stood a large chimney which, when turned on, would give off enough heat to turn the large space warm and cozy within a few minutes. In the corner stood a large sofa, rivaled only by Celestia's own in Canterlot palace. The walls were covered in bookshelves, except for one space, in which a television screen was fitted, although it was currently covered by a beautifully decorated Hearthswarming-tree.
Twilight frowned as she looked at the comparatively small dinner table, which was fully set, although amateurishly so, with silver cutlery next to plastic plates holding stiff, uncooked noodles and uncut bread, a wild assortment of fruit and vegetables just set directly on the table, without a tablecloth or anything to hold them. In fact, Twilight saw two apples lying on the ground. Wondering what had happened, she opened the door further and stepped in, but as it hit the wall, she heard clattering. Looking behind the door, she spotted the remains of two or three plates, hastily swept out of sight. At least it explained the plastic dishes.
Twilight lit up her horn, which illuminated the chimney, and in the light of the awakened fire, she saw the chaos´s perpetrator. Lying underneath the Hearthswarming tree, her short hooves clutching a badly-packed present the shape of a thin square, slept none other than Shetland Sparkle.
Shetland was a tall filly for her age, but being only six years old, she was still only a few inches higher than Twilight´s knee. She had a plain, earthy, brown coat and a cream colored mane, which looked really nothing like Twilight´s. It was one-colored and unorderly scruffy, but Twilight had given up on catching her to forcefully brush her mane. Such tasks could be delegated. A band aid covered her left forehoof, where she had probably cut herself on the shards of the plates she had broken.
Twilight shook her head, but she could not suppress her own smile. No matter how long you lived, children always had a way of surprising you. With utmost care, she gently enveloped the filly in her magic and carried her up to her room. Shetland barely seemed to notice, quietly mumbling something about a chocolate catapult and Twilight wondered what she might be dreaming about, storming a gingerbread castle with an army of gummy bears? Or maybe she just completely missed the context.
Entering Shetland’s room felt almost like going into another building. Instead of the crystal look of every other room, her walls were painted in varying shades of green and covered with posters of her favorite Hoofball team, photos of her own sports group, of Twilight, herself, friends, TV characters and a voidmarine posing in his full armor suit. These things littered one of the four walls and started to sprawl over another, while the others were mostly blank, with only a single bookshelf hanging above her bed. Twilight gently put her daughter into the bed, tucked her in and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
For some reason, the bookshelf caught her interest. It was filled with adventure novels, just the right thing for her adventurous little filly. For this Hearthswarming, she had obtained another one, “Little Wasteland Pip”, an aged down version of an incredible novel she had read multiple times herself. She knew for a fact Shetty would love it, as it was aged down, but actually still only allowed once she was ten… but Twilight knew she would enjoy it even more because of that, and she was willing to bend the rules when it came to Hearthswarming Eve. Maybe she should place the gift on top of the shelf now, so Shetty could open it right when she woke up? In the free corner, right next to the dusty copy of “The Iron Horse” perhaps?
Twilight's mind halted as she suddenly grew aware of the uncleanliness of the entire shelf and annoyance grew in her chest. Shetland knew to keep her room clean, Twilight had taught her as much. It was not too much responsibility even for a child to keep a single room orderly! Suppressing a groan and pushing back the temptation to wake her daughter to berate her this instant, she instead levitated a rag out of a wardrobe and began cleaning. It was probably a fair punishment for coming back too late. Yet it probably took weeks or even months to gather this much dust and the rest of the room looked alright! Why not here? Her eyes shifted from the rag she was levitating down to her daughters sleeping body, piercing her with a soft glare. She was about to concentrate on cleaning again as a thought entered her mind. She looked back at Shetty, then at the shelf, measuring something she realized she should have done years ago.
Shetland was an earth pony.
Measuring the shelf, it was comfortable to reach for Twilight, of course, and it had never caused any problems to her prior children.
But Shetland was an earth pony.
Of course it was dusty if she couldn't even reach up there! Of course… of course that also meant each of these books, Twilight´s gifts for Shetland's last two birthdays, last Hearthswarming Eve, every gift she had ever given to Shetty since she had learned to read…
Shetland had never read any of her books.
The dusty rag dropped and Twilight was only barely able to snatch it with a hoof before it could fall on the sleeping filly's face. She felt a sting in her chest, as if a thorn had wedged itself into her heart. Such a tiny oversight. Four-hundred years of experience, countless scientific achievements and yet she felt as dumb as a rock, because she never truly got it in her head that her own daughter wasn't capable of magic! These books? Unreachable. She pulled them out of the shelf. “Starswirl’s adventures”? A book all about discovery of magic? How would her daughter understand any of it? “Neverending magic”? A unicorn as a main character! Twilight dumped the book over her shoulder, throwing it at the opposite wall. “Little Wasteland Pip”? UNICORN! With an angry shout, Twilight seized the copy, piercing it with a fiery glare as if it was the book's fault it's main character was not an earth pony. She strengthened her magical grip around the covers of the book.
“Mom?” A high-pitched, confused voice said, shortly followed by a yawn Shetland just couldn't suppress. “H-how late is it?” She asked, her voice slurry.
Twilight silently looked down at her, and her inner thorn dug itself deeper. She remembered how disappointed the filly had been when Hearthswarming was postponed and now she was about to live through another letdown tomorrow?
No! Twilight was not about to let that happen!
She leaned down to her daughter, the now most important pony in all of Equestria, and whispered: “Happy Hearthswarming Eve, Shetty.”
Shetland stared at her as if she had grown a second head. “Mom! It's almost midnight!” She said, rubbing her eyes with her hooves.
“Almost, Shetty. Not completely,” her mother grinned. “The day isn't over until the last second has passed.”
Shetland jumped up, startled at the magenta aura covering her, lifting her out of the bed while she helplessly struggled until she was dropped on Twilight's back, right between her large wings. Before she had a chance to say anything, Twilight shouted: “HOLD TIGHT!” and she grabbed the lavender fur as her mother suddenly started to run out of the door, the rapid echos of her gallop resounding through the castle. Shetland screamed as the alicorn stampeded towards one of the larger glass windows, but in the last moment, they were forced open with magic. Twilight jumped, straightening her body like an arrow and then spreading her wings in the cold winter air. With a majestic flap of her wings, she carried her daughter up into the sky.
Shetland quickly overcame her initial fright and her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as she saw the myriad of lights that made up ponyville at Hearthswarming Eve, the occasional little speck that was a pony running in the streets. She let go of Twilight's fur with one forehoof to hold it in the roaring airstream, then she sat up with both hooves in the air, whooping with joy and jeering constantly.
Twilight carried her for three full rounds over the city, then she incorporated a trick or two: after telling Shetty to hold on very tight she would perform a barrel roll, a looping or even a doubled dashing diving screw, which she failed miserably and had to teleport herself upwards almost two-hundred metres to regain control. But she didn't care, as her little filly couldn't conceal her joy and made no effort to. She didn't perform that particular maneuver again, though, and Shetty, ever the smart filly, didn't ask her to.
But while Twilight felt warm enough due to her constant exercise, she soon recognized Shetland´s shivering and the chitter in her voice. In a wide swoop, Twilight dashed only a metre above the ground, fast enough to throw up the snow below her, causing Shetland to squeal in excitement and shield her face from the cascading white. Then Twilight came to a skidding halt in front of a building with shining bright lights and multi-voiced Hearthswarming songs sounding out of the windows, a building whose sight always turned Twilight wistful. Carousel Boutique had not changed in the slightest in all the centuries. She could almost imagine the sound of Rarity´s sewing machine and her voice, cultured, expressive, elegant-
The not-so-nostalgic sound of a little filly noisily snorting up her running nose brought Twilight back into the present and she knocked on the door, which interrupted the song from above. A few moments later the door opened and a changeling mare stood in the doorway, her expression first of annoyance, then surprise, and finally curiosity.
“Princess,” she exclaimed in her multi-layered voice. “W-what brings you here tonight? I mean, not that you're not welcome…”
“Happy Hearthswarming, Charis” Twilight interrupted the startled mare. “Don't worry, I'm not here to stay, I just wanted to ask if maybe you could lend Shetty here a scarf and a beanie?”
“Not a beanie!” Shetland said resolutely.
“Not a beanie,” Twilight repeated with a smile, before she leaned down to the stunned changeling and whispered, “Yes, a beanie, she won´t recognise it if we tell her it isn't one”
Charis nodded, then she turned around to the staircase. “CILOAAA! BE A DEAR AND COME DOWN HERE WITH SOME OF YOUR WINTER CLOTHES!”
“I don't wanna, mom!” Came the annoyed answer.
“PRINCESS TWILIGHT IS HERE!”
Twilight simply chuckled as she watched the display, and as the small changeling filly ran down the stairs and offered a wide assortment of beanies, socks and scarves, Twilight made sure to thank her, which brought a huge grin to the filly's face.
“Thank you, and happy Hearthswarming,” she said. “And if you feel like, Ciloa, come visit us at the castle whenever you like, I'm sure Shetty here would love a new friend”
Shetland grunted something that came close enough to an agreement and Twilight waved goodbye and trotted in the direction of the town center, just as Shetty opened her mouth wide and let out a big yawn.
“Ready for bed already, sweetie?” Twilight asked jokingly.
“Nuh-uh!”
Twilight shook her head. All reason told her to bring Shetty to bed very soon, but there was one more thing she wanted to do before that.
As she approached the old building of Sugarcube Corner, she felt a little heartache when she saw the billboard proclaiming “Donut Joe's”, but the anticipation blended out that impulse.
Ten minutes later and well after midnight, although Twilight had no idea of the exact time, she and Shetland laid on top of the castle's roof, staring into the sky.
The “Donut Joe” for Ponyville, the owner of the establishment, had fortunately held a Hearthswarming party inside and when Twilight Sparkle suddenly dropped in, there was chaos, but ultimately Twilight managed to leave with two full packs of donuts, a cup of coffee, and a cup of Nexus-Cola, which they had happily dug into on the roof. Shetland demanded to try the coffee, but after one sip spat it out and ranted about how Twilight was able to drink such “distilled disgust”, then she had pulled the straw out of its wrapping and stuck it in her cup of cola.
Now they stared up into the sky, and Shetland attentively followed Twilight's hoof as she pointed out the star formations. “And this is the Manticore’s head over there, you can see the stars that form its mane…”
“Mom?” Shetland interrupted the rambling for the first time.
“Hmm?” Twilight looked over to her once-again shivering daughter and covered her with one wing, shielding her from the wind.
“Is it true ponies have gone up to the stars?”
“That's common knowledge, Shetty,” Twilight answered.
“But I've never met a pony from there!” She argued, which made Twilight chuckle.
“Oh, Shetty, colonising space is still in its infancy, we've only managed to land around a thousand ponies on our real colony, we don't own several worlds yet. It's not like you imagine.”
“But we're in more than one space place!”
“Yes, but those are just little colonies for a specific purpose. like one that mines minerals, or do research or try to find some life on planets where there could potentially be some… those aren't planets we can really live or expand upon. We only have Equus… and maybe sometime in the future, that other planet,” Twilight turned to face Shetland and as she saw her frown, she knew exactly what to say: “I will take you with me.” She said with certainty.
“Huh?” Shetland shivered and Twilight squeezed her to her chest with her wing and pointed up into the sky.
“One day, Shetty, I will take you with me. Up to the stars. We'll go up there, we will see them, explore them and maybe, we will find a second home somewhere up there.”
And as Twilight looked down at her daughter and saw the limitless joy in her eyes, she couldn't do anything but hug her little filly, nuzzle her and kiss her, regardless how loud she would scream “Eww...”
***********************************
Ultimately, Twilight had to bring Shetty to bed, but even though Shetland protested loudly, she knew it was the right thing to do, as the filly fell asleep before they even reached her room. Twilight gently placed Shetland into her covers, tucked her in and kissed her forehead (she could have sworn Shetty gagged in her sleep). She looked around and quickly placed all the books she had thrown around back onto the shelf. She would have to remember to put it lower. As the copy of “Little Wasteland Pip” floated past her, she hesitated. It was still the wrong gift. Did Shetland even really like reading? For a moment she felt the thorn again. But then she shook her head and confidence filled her. With a pride-swelled chest, she knew she had given her daughter a perfect Hearthswarming Eve, without the need for a present. No, she could just give the book away to some other filly, maybe Ciloa. She knew there was only one perfect Hearthswarming gift, and that could wait for a few more hours.
As Twilight yawned and made her way to her own warm bed, she wondered if Luna would enjoy handling the theatre.
Author's Note
MERRY CHRISTMAS
I hope you enjoyed reading this little thingie and if you did, please give me some feedback, i desperately need it. Thank you and have a wonderful holy night.
SHOUTOUTS: my buddy kildeez for being an awesome buddy and for his awesome editing work for me. English is not my first language so without him, this would look like a piece of sh... doodoo.
The Hatmann for inspiring me to begin writing Void Trials which then lead me to write this here.
Greenfinger for creating this beautiful artwork for me (oh my good her cheeks are so fuzzy, i didnt specify this, how did you make it so perfect)
Lastly, after hearing a few opinions, I decided that this story doesn't need a sci-fi tag, despite the mention of space travel, as it is not what the story is really about
