Eclipse Family Christmas

A warm glow radiated from almost every inch of the Eclipse household, the colorful lights outside blinking in tune with the cheerful music that was playing.

Silver and Scarlet sat on their couch dressed in their finest Christmas sweaters, apparel that was mostly unnecessary given their fur, but apparel that kept them nice and cozy in the chilly desert weather all the same.

Their dog Cosmo sat on the ground curled up next to Orion, who was happily chasing his tail every time the dog would wag it. With a smile Scarlet gently lifted Orion up and carried him over towards the tree, setting him down near a large present.

“Well, go ahead, Orion, they’re all yours,” She said with a big smile.

Orion slowly stepped forward and took a few curious glances at the colorfully wrapped presents that sat under the tree, hesitantly nudging the side of one with a hoof.

Silver excitedly nudged Scarlet’s side, leaning in close, “Do you think he’s gonna like it?!”

She smiled, “We just have to wait and see.”

“Should I go help him open it? I mean he’s never had a Christmas like this before.”

Scarlet looked towards Silver and raised an eyebrow, “Silver, he hasn’t had any Christmas before, he’s barely going to be one. Just give him some time to take it all in.”

Silver nodded, snapping a few photos of the colt, “Well I know… I’m just so excited, it’s our first Christmas as parents, you know how I get about this stuff.”

Scarlet smiled, “I do,” She quickly gestured towards Orion who was tapping the side of the box with a very confused look on his face, “Oh Silver look! I think he’s going to try and open it. Why don’t you go show him how.”

Silver slowly trotted over towards Orion, getting down to his eye level, “Hey buddy, are you excited for your first Christmas?”

The colt looked up towards him and then back towards the presents, seemingly unsure of what to do.

Silver pulled a present over and gently pulled at the wrapping paper, tearing a small piece away, “See, just like this,” he pushed the present over towards Orion, “Now you try.”

The colt began to nudge at the paper as Silver excitedly snapped a few dozen photos. A big grin spread across the colt’s purple face and he began to quickly tear at the paper, giggling at the sound it made. More interested in the sound than the presets themselves, Orion jumped up and ran towards the rest of the boxes, roughly tearing at the paper and kicking it around, earning a laugh from Scarlet and a panicked reaction from Silver.

“Wait wait wait! You gotta be more careful! You’re supposed to look at your new toys!”

Orion giggled as he jumped into the pile of torn paper with Cosmo, ignoring Silver’s pleas entirely. Amused at the sight, Scarlet let out another laugh and began taking a few pictures of her own, much to Silver’s dismay.

“You mind giving me a hand here? I want to make sure he likes his toys!”

“Just relax, Silver, he’ll get to that in his own time. Just sit back and enjoy it, it’s so cute watching him play with the paper like that.”

Silver nodded, hesitantly looking between Orion and Scarlet, “I… okay you’re right,” he said, giving her a quick nod.

“I’m going to go make some hot chocolate, do you want a cup?”

Silver smiled, “I’d love that, you want some pancakes too? I could whip up a batch real quick.”

“Only if you’ve got some more of that mango syrup.”

“Ha! Is that even a question?” Silver retorted with a smirk.

“Nope!” She replied, glancing over at Orion who was now snuggled up with Cosmo and a large pile of plush toys in a nest of torn wrapping paper.

Silver laughed, pulling Scarlet in for a warm hug, “Merry Christmas, I love you two so much.”

Author's Note

I know this is a very short chapter, but it's just a surprise Christmas entry that was completely unplanned. Wrote it out as a little writing exercise on Christmas Morning that was meant to accompany some art I didn't have time to make, and hadn't planned on publishing it anywhere. I figured it'd make a nice little prologue to some more of the tender family moments in the next chapter, it doesn't really have any impacts on the story itself.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you all had a wonderful day!

After writing this I had some ideas on how to flesh it out and better integrate it into the New Horizons story as a whole, so consider this a little preview of what’s to come down the line. I’ve got a nice long outline of scenes I want to add in sometime soon!