Mistletoe
Heartwarming eve has once more arrived in Equestria, with homes decorated for the festivities. Ponies were buzzing around town, quickly finishing up last minute gifts. Or simply went out to sightsee the festive decorations ponies put up on their homes.
"A little bit more to the left...." Twilight stood in front of the castle’s doors. She backed away slightly, eyeing the Heartwarming ribbon luna held up. It needed to be perfect! Centred, align and perfectly placed, she couldn’t really help herself for being a perfectionist.
"Love, I love you more than the moon itself.... but why aren’t we using our magic?" Luna commented flapping her wings to ensure she stayed in place.
"If we used our magic it wouldn’t be special. We both decorated the castle together," Twilight explained smiling at the ribbon "Now! It’s perfect just like that"
The lunar princess sighed in relief. She placed the ribbon against the wall and flew down making a soft landing. The two mares looked around the castle with every inch of the crystal castle decorated, even Spike was decorated in a festive sweater.
"How long do I have to wear this?" he whined scratching through the sweater with his claws.
"Until Applejack leaves. Granny Smith made that sweater especially for you, after all." Twilight said closing her eyes with her magic bringing over gifts.
"Oh! Are any of those for me?" Spike asked as he watched, Twilight neatly place them under the tree. Ensuring the taller ones were in the back, not wanting the larger gifts to overshadow the smaller ones.
"Don’t even think about it, mister. I already had to hide them. You can’t open them until Heartwarming." Twilight said turning her attention to the dragon.
"Aw.... come on, Twilight. Just one? Please? It’s Heartwarming eve, after all...." Spike whine, holding his claws together and giving the purple mare, big and teary eyes.
"Come on, love," Luna said nudging the mare slightly, "It’s just one tiny gift after all"
Twilight groan in annoyance, "Fine! But just one." Twilight said. She lit up her horn and brought over one of the smaller gifts and placed it in front of the dragon.
"Thank you, Twilight!" Spike said before tearing open the box. He smiled as he pulled out the latest issues of The Power Ponies.
"And this one isn’t enchanted," Twilight said smiling at him.
"This is amazing!" Spike cheered giving Twilight a quick hug, "Thank you!"
Twilight smiled as she returned the hug. Spike soon took his comic and ran off to read it.
"We won’t see him for a few hours now," Luna said with a soft chuckle.
"Well, at least he liked his gift" Twilight said readjusting the gifts to fill up the empty space.
"When is everypony arriving?" Luna asked as she brought over two hot chocolates from the kitchen.
"Cadence, Shining, and Flurry heart should be arriving any minute now. I told the girls to come at 4 o’clock, and when is Celestia arriving?" Twilight asked as she took one of the mugs in her magic.
"She has to finish up a few things in Canterlot, but she should be here any minute as well," Luna said before she took a sip from her mug.
Twilight walked over and sat down on some cushions, Luna had prepared earlier. "I just love Heartwarming," Twilight said.
"I never liked the holiday before," Luna said as she settled next to her wife. "I never had anypony to celebrate with"
Luna placed her mug down and draped a wing around the pony beside her. "But, what about Celestia?" Twilight asked nuzzling up against her. "Didn’t you two spend the holidays together?"
"Well before my banishment, Heartwarming was a new thing for ponies. They were just starting to figure out how to celebrate. It was nothing like this, back then. And then, of course, I was banished for a thousand years. Celestia didn’t have the heart to celebrate this holiday, and I was too busy plotting my revenge upon my return. And when I return because of you..." Luna said smiling with a quick kiss being shared between the two mares, "I had to learn about Heartwarming all over again. Took me a few years to fully understand it. Celestia did her best to help me, but I just got annoyed about it. But that all changed when we started dating."
"I’m glad you found happiness, Luna," Twilight said nuzzling Luna’s coat.
The moon princess smiled as she returned the nuzzle. She lit up her horn and levitated a mistletoe above their heads, "Oh…. Well, would you look at that! A mistletoe, love."
Twilight looked up and stared at the mistletoe, "What a coincidence. How in Celestia’s name did that appear," Twilight teased.
"I have no idea, love." Luna replied leaning closer to the purple mare, "But you have to kiss the pony next to you when you’re under a mistletoe. I’m sure you knew about this, my love."
Twilight gave a soft chuckle with a small nod of the head as a response. She leaned closer and was about to kiss the navy-blue mare on the lips.
"Oh my.... should I return?" Celestia said with a smirk on her muzzle. The solar princess had just finished the last of her paperwork and had decided to simply teleport to Twilight’s castle, instead of taking a carriage. She was expecting to see Twilight and Luna decorating. She hadn’t expected to see her former student bright red in embarrassment, and her sister fuming over the interruption.
"Tia! We’re you raised in a barn! You’re supposed to knock!" Luna groaned in annoyance. She quickly put the mister away before getting back on her hooves, "You don’t teleport into somepony's home without warning!"
"Well, I knew you two would be expecting me," Celestia said with a smirk, "I didn’t expect to see you two.... lovemaking."
"TIA!" Luna shouted with a blush, "You are being very inappropriate!"
"Oh! I’m just teasing, Lulu," the solar princess said with a snicker.
Twilight smiled as she watched the two sisters argue. It was moments like these, where they weren’t immortal alicorns. Just two sisters arguing, two normal ponies having a little disagreement. A knock was soon heard at the door followed by a loud sound, of a certain party canon being fired.
"TWILIGHT! OPEN THE DOOR! IT’S TIME TO PARTY!" a very excited high pitch voice cried out.
Twilight opened the door with her magic, she laughs softly seeing all her friends with her brother and his family as well.
"Happy Heartwarming eve!" everypony shouted.
"Happy Heartwarming eve, every pony!" Twilight said before letting every pony inside.
"This place looks amazing, Twily" Shining said giving a quick glance at the decor
"Well, somepony did help me," Twilight said smiling at her wife.
"Well, this place is stunning," Cadence said placing Flurry down.
"Oh! Hello Flurry," Twilight said picking up her niece in her magic. Flurry smiled and giggle, as Twilight gave her a hug.
"Too bad mom and dad couldn’t make it," Shining said
"Well, they were planning that cruise for months now. You can’t really blame them too much," Twilight replied, not noticing Pinkie Pie preparing her party cannon.
"Enough talks everypony! Time to PARTY!" she yelled before firing her canon.
"How about we get something to eat first? We prepared a fantastic dinner for tonight," Twilight said smiling at Luna.
"I made sure to bring desserts!" Pinkie shouted pulling out a tray of cakes from her mane, "Who wants cake!"
"Oh…. I could partake in a slice," Celestia said with a small grin on her muzzle.
Typical of Tia, Luna thought rolling her eyes. Her horn lit up and brought the tray to the kitchen, ignoring the annoyed look her sister had. "After dinner, Tia."
"Very well then…." Celestia grumbles in annoyance.
Everypony shared a laugh as they took their seat in the dining room table. Twilight smiled as she brought over the Heartwarming dinner and placing them on top of the table.
"This sure looks delicious!" Applejack said watching a bowl of cranberry sauce being placed down in front of her, "But I’m more of applesauce kind of pony."
Twilight rolled her eyes before she placed down a bowl of applesauce next to the orange mare. "Don’t worry Applejack, I didn’t forget," Twilight said.
Everypony smiled as they started to serve themselves and eat their meal. Twilight couldn’t help herself but smile, as she heard ponies enjoying their meal. She glances over at Flurry who had a large bowl of applesauce in front of her.
"What do you think, Flurry? Don’t you think your aunty Twilight is a wonderful cook?" Twilight asked giving the small filly a bop on the nose. Flurry laugh in response, "I’m glad you enjoy it."
"Love," Twilight’s ears twitch slightly. She sat back up and turn her head to her wife, "You got something here." Luna said pointing to her side of her lip with her hoof.
"I do?" Twilight asked as she attempted to look down at her own face. She frowns and rubbed both sides of her lip with her hoof. "Where? I can’t find it."
"Right here," Luna said with a smirk. She leaned over to kiss Twilight on the lips when suddenly, a bowl of applesauce hit the lunar princess in the face. Luna let out a yelp with the bowl hitting the ground, shattering into pieces.
"Flurry! That was very naughty," Cadence scolded taking the filly out of her high chair, "I’m so sorry, Aunt Luna."
"Uh…. No…. it's alright," Luna replied taking her napkin to whip away the sauce from her muzzle.
"FOOD FIGHT!" Pinkie shouted grabbing the bowl of mash potatoes.
"Wait! Pinkie don’t-!" Twilight yelp as she suddenly received a spoonful of mash potatoes being thrown at her, hitting her on the side of the face.
"Oh! It's on Pinkie!" Rainbow shouted grabbing the plate of roasted potatoes.
"Rainbow! What are you doing?! Don’t you start a food fight," Applejack said crossing her hooves. She smiled seeing Rainbow placing the plate down. "Good," she said before being hit with the cranberry sauce.
"AH! Cranberry Jack!" Rainbow Dash mocks before erupting into laughter. She held her side when she in return, received cranberry sauce in the face.
I just wanted to kiss my wife…. is that too much to ask? Luna frown as she sat at her seat; food was being thrown all over the place, with Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow having a food fight. Rarity was too busy being disgusted with food almost hitting her beautiful mane. Fluttershy and the others simply watched in shock and amusement.
Twilight sighed as she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, she wiped off the last bit of potatoes from her mane. The food fight didn’t last long when a stray roasted potato knocked off Celestia’s cake, she had snuck from the kitchen. She had never seen Celestia get so angry over a piece of cake.
"Well…. At least some of the food went inside of ponies’ stomach," Twilight said as she placed the towel down.
"Dining room is cleaned up," Luna said before entering the bathroom, "Along with everypony covered in food. I believe they started to dance now or something."
"I never expected a food fight," Twilight said as she turned to face Luna, "Or Celestia getting so mad over cake."
"You never get in between my sister and her cakes," Luna said with a chuckle to her voice. She narrowed the gap between them, smiling down at her wife. "I never got that kiss yet," Luna said with a mistletoe suddenly appearing above them.
"Oh, you’re right. We never did kiss under the mistletoe yet," Twilight commented with a smirk of her own. Luna smiled as she started to lean in closer. Finally! Luna thought as she could feel Twilight’s lips brushing against her own.
"Dear sister!" Celestia said interrupting the pair, "You must come down! They're playing my favourite song! I’m walking on sunshine!"
"TIA!" Luna snapped back in anger and annoyance, "LEARN TO KNOCK!"
"The door was open, dear sister," Celestia pointed out, motioning to the open door frame.
"Maybe later, Luna," Twilight said as she gave Luna a kiss on the cheek, "We should probably head down before…. well…. Celestia knows what."
"I agree," Celestia said smiling before she followed Twilight downstairs.
"I JUST WANTED A DAMN KISS!" Luna shouted throwing her hooves in the air. A loud groan left the moon princess’s mouth, as she stopped her way downstairs, making her annoyance very clear to anypony.
A few hours passed, and the party was still underway. Everypony was currently dancing to their heart's content. Shining and Cadence had already put Flurry to bed since it was well past her bedtime. That alone was a battle on itself. The little filly didn’t want to sleep, she wanted to party along with her parents, and their friends. She had eventually given in after a few… several stories. By the time Shining Armour and Cadence had rejoined the party, most ponies had stopped dancing for the exception of Pinkie Pie.
Twilight trotted over to the table set up with refreshments. It was a good thing; Pinkie Pie had set up this table before the dancing started. "Where does Pinkie find the energy?" Twilight mumbled to herself, glancing over at the pink pony who was currently hopping around the castle like a bouncing ball. "Why am I even questioning? It's Pinkie Pie."
Twilight saw something move from the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see Luna motioning her over. Twilight looked back at her friends, who were all taking a moment to rest after their intense dancing. Her brother and Cadence were busy being all romantic with each other, while Celestia was stuffing her face in cakes. Twilight smiled and followed Luna as she disappeared behind a door that led to the kitchen. As Twilight entered, she noticed the kitchen was messy from supper preparations. Oh…. I should probably clean up later. Twilight thought, not wanting to do this tedious task later at night.
"Love," Luna smiled as she walked towards the purple mare.
"Luna, why are we sneaking away like school fillies?" Twilight teased as she approached Luna. The two mares stood in the middle of the kitchen, "What’s wrong?"
"I just wanted to give you my gift," Luna said with a small box appearing in a flash of magic, "Happy Heartwarming eve, my beloved Twilight Sparkle."
"Luna, I thought we were doing gifts on Heartwarming morning," Twilight said smiling at her moon princess.
Luna gave a small shake of her head. She grabbed Twilight’s hoof and placed the box in her hoof, "I want you to open your gift now."
Twilight smiled with her magic gently removing the wrapping around it. She lifted the lid of the box and took out two crystal pony figurines. "Is… that us?" Twilight said noticing the figurines were two mares, sitting on a cloud and sharing a kiss, with a crystal night sky behind them.
"Had it special made… it's our first kiss," Luna said smiling tenderly at her wife, "Where it all began."
"I… I don’t know what to say, Luna," Twilight said as she shed a few tears, "I love it… you have no idea how much I love this."
"I thought you would," Luna said smiling at her
A light blush appeared on Twilight’s cheeks, she motioned the lunar princess to bend down. Luna gave a questionable look before she lowered herself to Twilight’s level. Twilight gave a quick lick alongside the lunar princess’s ear, before whispering something into her ear.
"Really now?" Luna asked with a grin on her muzzle with her cheeks turning a bright red, "Is that my Heartwarming gift?"
"Well, one of them at least," Twilight replied looking away from her wife, "I hope you’ll like it."
"Anything from you, love," Luna whispered as she pulled Twilight against her, "I’m going to love it."
The two princesses stared at each other, simply enjoying each other’s embrace. Twilight gently placed her hoof against Luna’s chest, she brought the crystal figurine closer, so she could admire the craftsmanship even better.
"Happy Heartwarming, Twilight," Luna whispered as she gently placed her forehead against Twilights. Twilight looked up, she leaned closer to once more attempt to kiss Luna on the lips. The young couple finally thought, they would be able to share a long overdue kiss until Shining and Cadence burst into the kitchen.
"What the…. What’s going on?" Twilight asked as she parted from Luna’s embrace.
"Flurry! No! It's time for bed!" Shining shouted stopping in his tracks, trying to find his little teleportation daughter of his.
"Just be careful," Luna said when Flurry suddenly appeared in front of her before disappearing once more.
"Wasn’t Flurry’s magical surges fixed?" Twilight asked jumping slightly as Flurry appeared beside her.
"She does this… when she’s upset or annoyed," Cadence replied flying over to Flurry Heart before she could disappear.
"Just be careful alright? Luna just gave me this gift and its fragile," Twilight said as she attempted to keep her gift out of harm's way.
"Flurry!" Shining shouted. He leaped into the air and accidentally knocked the crystal gift out of Twilight’s magic, as he caught Flurry in his hooves.
"NO!" Luna cried out. She quickly lit her horn in attempts to catch the figurines, but it was too late. The beautiful crystal figure hit the ground and shattered into pieces.
"Oh, no…." Shining mutter backing away slightly. He glances at Cadence, as Luna picked up one of the broken heads of the crystal figurines. "Luna, I’m so sorry…." He said feeling terrible. He had known about the crystal figurine for a month already. Luna had sought their advice on the ‘perfect’ Heartwarming gift for his sister.
"Maybe we can fix it," Cadence said while she took Flurry in her magic, "There has to be a spell for this."
"WHY CAN’T YOU TWO CONTROL HER!" Luna shouted dropping the pieces to the ground, "WHAT KIND OF PARENTS ARE YOU!"
"Luna!" Twilight said a bit taken back from Luna’s outburst, but she did understand why Luna was so angry about this. She hated to admit it, but Flurry did get away with a lot of things. Her brother and sister in law didn’t like to punish Flurry Heart too often.
"What’s going on?" Celestia asked entering the kitchen, noticing her sister almost at the brink of tears, "Luna? What happened?"
Luna shouted in anger. She pushed Celestia to the side and stormed out of the kitchen, she groans in annoyance when Pinkie brought out her canon once more.
"Luna! What’s with the frowny face?" Pinkie asked taking out a Heartwarming theme party hat, quickly placing it on top of the lunar princess’s head.
"Pinkie, just leaves Luna alone," Twilight said quickly exiting the kitchen with her brother, Cadence, and Celestia behind her.
"Just SMILE!" Pinkie Pie shouted ignoring the warnings she was being told. She smiled and fired her party canon; confetti and sparkles shooting out of the canon and hitting Luna’s face.
"YOU ANNOYING PEST! HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF SELF CONTROL!" Luna shouted. She walked over the refreshment table and flipped it over. The refreshments hit the ground with the sound of bowls, plates, and cups breaking. She glared at everypony, who stared in shock. "Why can’t anypony just leave me ALONE!" Luna shouted before bursting out of the castle.
"Luna wait-!" Twilight cried out. It was too late, Luna was already outside with the castle’s doors slamming behind her, filling the castle with the loud sound of angry doors being shut.
"Twilight…. we’re so sorry…. This is all our faults," Cadence said glancing at Shining Armour
"No, its mine, I broke Luna’s gift for you," Shining said sighing deeply, "I’m so sorry, Twily."
"I might… have gone overboard with the party," Pinkie whispered as she removed her party hat from her head. "I’m sorry Twilight…."
"Its okay everypony," Twilight said waving her hoof slightly, "Luna is just upset over the gift, but we can easily fix it with a spell."
"I should go talk to her," Celestia said glancing at the main entrance.
"No, it's alright. I’ll go," Twilight said smiling at her sister in law, yup. Twilight was still not used to the fact! That her former mentor and solar princess was her sister in law.
"We’ll clean up then," Spike said turning at the others, who all nodded in agreement.
"Thank you everypony," Twilight said smiling at her friends and family. She sighed and proceeded to go outside. Once she had closed the doors behind her, she looked around and noticed it had started to snow. "Luna?" Twilight called out. Twilight’s eyes stopped when she saw Luna sitting on a bench, not too far from the castle.
I just wanted a damn kiss…. all these interruptions. And then this…., Luna sighed remembering her gift smashing against the floor.
"Is this seat taken?" Twilight said smiling at her
"I just want to be alone, love," Luna replied turning her head away.
"Well too bad," Twilight replied as she sat down next to her. She smiled and nuzzled against Luna, "Want to talk about what happened?"
"What’s there to talk about? I got mad and flipped over a table," Luna mumble
"I’m not too sure if Celestia told you about this, but everything that happened back there? That’s all normal for Heartwarming, friends, and family doing crazy things its normal." Twilight said as she placed her hoof on top of Luna’s. "That’s what family and friends are for. Driving us crazy to the point of pulling our mane’s out."
Luna let out a sigh as she turned to face her Twilight, "I’m sorry, Love. I yelled at Cadence, Shining, and Pinkie. Not to mention running all those refreshments…… oh! And the broken dishes."
"Luna, it's alright." Twilight said as she pulled Luna against her with her wing, "Heartwarming is a new thing for you, but that’s why I’m here. To show you that all of that madness is a normal occurrence."
"So…. Every year we’re going to have this?" Luna asked with her eye twitching slightly. Twilight smiled before giving a small nod of the head, "Just great…."
Twilight laugh as she wrapped her hooves around Luna’s midsection, "Look, let's go back inside and have fun. My friends will be returning home after tonight. We’ll just have to deal with my brother and his family, and your cake-loving sister."
"Alright," Luna replied returning the hug.
Twilight and Luna returned to the castle, seeing everypony had just finished cleaning up the mess Luna had left behind. Luna let out a sigh as she slowly approached everypony, knowing full well she owed them an apology.
"Aunt Luna, you’re back," Cadence said smiling at her
"Cadence…. Shining, my apologies for my behaviour earlier. You two are fine parents and handling a baby alicorn isn’t easy. I’m sorry for what I said." Luna said smiling slightly at the pair.
"Don’t worry about it, Aunt Luna," Cadence said as she placed her broom down. She walked over to her aunt and gave her a hug, "Shining and I, do let Flurry get away with certain things."
"Still, it doesn’t excuse myself for my outburst," Luna said as she hugged her niece back, "I do hope you can forgive me."
"Of course, we can," Cadence said.
"I owe you an apology as well, Luna," Shining said with his horn lighting up, "You worked so hard to get that crystal figurine, and I foolishly broke it."
"Its…. Alright, I suppose," Luna replied with a sigh.
"But we did fix it for you," Shining said as he brought over the crystal figurine. Luna gasp softly with her eyes quickly examining the gift. She smiled not seeing a single crack or fracture, no signs it had been broken before.
"Thank you, BBBFF," Twilight replied taking the figurine in her magic.
"You better keep it in a safe place, before anything else happens to it," Cadence said with a wink.
"I couldn’t agree more," Twilight said before she disappeared in a flash of magic.
Luna smiled before turning her attention to the pink pony. She took a deep breath and walked over to her. "Pinkie Pie, my apologies for yelling at you earlier. Your parties are well known throughout Equestria, and I do hope you throw us more in the future."
"Its alright Luna," Pinkie said wrapping her hoof around the lunar princess’s neck, "I did go overboard slightly…. But I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen for the after-heartwarming party!"
The what…...? Luna quickly forced a smile on her face, "That’s…. great…."
Twilight and the others all settled around the Heartwarming tree. They had just finished exchanging gifts to each other, and of course, eating whatever cakes Celestia hadn’t gotten her hooves on. Luna stared down at her hot chocolate, still annoyed she couldn’t kiss her wife under the mistletoe. It was something she had always wanted to do when she had returned from her banishment and started to relearn this century customs.
"Well, well, would you look at that," Cadence said with a smirk on her muzzle.
"What?" Twilight asked with a confused expression.
"You’re both under a mistletoe," she said as she motioned to look up with her eyes.
Twilight and Luna both looked up and noticed a mistletoe was above their heads, surrounded in a familiar light blue magic. Twilight and Luna look at each other, not too sure what kind of interruption would happen if they tried to kiss again.
"Go ahead you two lovebirds," Celestia said smiling at the others, "No interruptions this time."
"And it's Heartwarming rules! You must kiss under a mistletoe or bad luck will happen," Rarity said
"We already had this ‘bad’ luck tonight," Luna pointed out
Rainbow groan in annoyance, "JUST KISS ALREADY!"
Twilight opened her mouth to comment about Rainbow’s outburst when she suddenly felt a pair of hooves grab her face. Her head quickly turned to face Luna with the lunar princess clashing her lips with Twilights. The two kissed for what seems to be an eternity before they finally parted from each other.
"Worth the wait," Luna whispered before giving Twilight a quick peck on the nose.
"Happy Heartwarming eve, Luna," Twilight said kissing Luna on the lips once more, "Happy Heartwarming eve, everypony!"
Author's Note
Happy Heartwarming everypony!
