Hearth's Warming on a Stranded Train
A JingleMas 2019 present for Undome Tinwe
Twilight tapped her hoof on her throne, staring alternately at the clock and at the Friendship Map. Where was she? It had been thirty minutes since Twilight's cutie mark lit up, and she made it all the way from the Crystal Empire—granted, via teleport—whereas Rarity only needed to make it halfway across Ponyville.
The throne room door slammed open. "Twilight, dearest, happy early Hearth's Warming, and I'm ever so sorry I'm late. Have you been waiting long?"
"Just a little while," Twilight replied.
Rarity shook the snow off her cape, scarf, and hat ensemble, then stomped her boots. "A friendship mission at three in the morning on the day before Hearth's Warming? Who could have imagined such a thing? I needed to grab some warm clothes, and leave a note at Mother, Father, and Sweetie Belle's house, telling them to let themselves into my boutique and avail themselves of the presents that I now can't give them face to f—"
She stared at the map, agape. "Where is that?" Rarity asked.
"Kirin Grove, in the Peaks of Peril," Twilight replied.
"Ohhhh, but Applejack and Fluttershy juuuuuuust sorted the Kirin!"
Twilight shrugged her wings. "A mission is a mission."
Rarity circled the map table, cocking her head, studying it. "That shall be many hours on the train. Even if the mission goes swimmingly, we'll be hard pressed to be home by tomorrow for Hearth's Warming."
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, I was up in the Empire with Spike and my whole family. Flurry cried when I snuck into her room and gave her a kiss goodbye."
"Well," Rarity said, "Maybe it won't be a long and drawn-out mission."
"Well," Rarity said, looking at the clock on the train car's wall the next night, "It's midnight. That long and drawn-out mission cost us Hearth's Warming with our families."
Twilight, lying stretched-out across a bench on the empty train, nodded her head. Her ears and wings drooped sadly.
Rarity stretched out on the bench opposite her and curled up on her left side, tail wrapped around her hooves.
"I bought Flurry Heart a custom Philomena plushie," Twilight mumbled. "I wanted to see her face when she opened it."
"Sweetie Belle saved her allowance and bought me a ten-yard bolt of fabric. It's... not fabric I would have ever purchased... ahem... for myself... perhaps I could try my horn at shower-curtain making... It was supposed to be a surprise but I accidentally saw it hidden in Father's tool shed. I was going to act so surprised, and she was going to be so proud of herself... she must be devastated I'm away today. Yesterday, now."
"At least the Kirin..." Twilight said.
Rarity thrashed her tail, and poked at the bandaged burn on her right foreleg. "And the Niriks. We can take pride in a job well done. That was a difficult mission, indeed."
"Too bad Kirin don't celebrate Hearth's Warming," Twilight said. "It might not have felt so strange if their village had been decorated."
Rarity levitated a blanket over herself, shivering from the cold that snuck in through the train's closed windows. Her breath fogged lightly.
The steady clack-clack-clack of the train's motion slowed and stopped.
A light-gray earth pony mare in an Equestrian Rail uniform and hat hustled into the train car. "Princess, madam Rarity! The engineer's compliments, and he requests your presence in the locomotive."
They both looked at each other and stood. Rarity wrapped the blankets over herself, covering up from withers to rump.
"What's your name?" Twilight asked.
"Snack Trolley, Princess."
"Call me Twilight."
"Yes, Princess."
Twilight sighed.
They followed Snack Trolley through several train cars. There were only three other passengers on the entire train: Vinyl Scratch, better known as DJ P0N-3, was asleep flat on her back in the middle car, a blanket pulled up to her chin against the cold. Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail were in the front car. Vapor was snoring with her head in Sky's lap, a blanket over herself, and another over Sky's shoulders. Sky smiled, waved, and made a 'shhh' motion with his hoof to his lips as Rarity, Twilight, and Snack Trolley trotted forward.
Unlike the enclosed gangways between passenger cars, the gap between the front car and the locomotive was open, and the blast of snow took Rarity's breath away.
"My... goodness..." Rarity said, pulling her blanket tight. "The temperature has dropped markedly, hasn't it?"
The conductor, All Aboard, let them into the locomotive.
"Princess, Madam Rarity, I'm Steamer," said the engineer. "The snow is coming down too fast to see even a few feet in front of the train, and the rails are getting so cold they'll get brittle. We're going to have to stop here for the night, and get going again once the sun is up. The pegasi's weather schedule is for the blizzard to pass before dawn. We'll make Ponyville around noon."
"Oh," Rarity said. Her tail drooped and she chewed her lips.
Twilight asked the engineer a few questions, and then they headed back to their car in the rear of the train.
"Why are we stopped?" Sky Stinger whispered.
Rarity explained.
"Oh, darn," he said quietly. "We missed our connection in Manehattan and had to take this last train. I guess we've missed our next connection in Ponyville now, too. By the time we get home to Stratusburg, it'll be time to turn around and head back..."
"Why don't you two fly?" Twilight asked. "Wonderbolt cadets could easily fly over this weather."
Sky Stinger grinned, patted the blanket over the sleeping Vapor's belly, and whispered, "The obstetrician said, 'Keep it under two thousand feet.'"
Rarity crammed her left hoof in her mouth before she could squeeeeeee! Vapor awake, and Twilight's wings poofed out.
"Congratulations," they both whispered.
Sky Stinger blushed and mouthed thank you!
In the middle car, Vinyl Scratch was now sitting up, sunglasses behind her horn, looking out the window into the snowy night, the blanket around her shoulders.
She turned to look at Rarity and Twilight. Raising her forehooves, she began gesticulating in Equestrian Sign Language.
"No, darling," Rarity replied to Vinyl. "The train had to stop for the blizzard. They think we'll be in Ponyville around noon."
Vinyl's face fell. She bit her lip and signed more slowly.
"Octavia will not kill you," Rarity replied. "I assume you had a gig for a Hearth's Warming party somewhere?"
Vinyl nodded yes.
"Octavia's a professional, too. She'll understand."
Vinyl's ears perked up slightly. She signed again.
"You're welcome, and happy Hearth's Warming to you, too!" Rarity replied, and trotted toward the back train car again.
Twilight followed, and called "Happy Hearth's Warming!" over her shoulder to Vinyl.
Once they were alone, Twilight asked, "You read sign?"
"Vinyl and I have known each other since birth. Her parents live two doors down from mine. I learned sign after she lost her voice, but I'm rusty, as we don't see each other that often nowadays."
"Oh."
They both lay down on benches and pulled blankets over themselves. Rarity dimmed the train car's lights.
"Hearth's Warming on a stranded train," Twilight said. "Not my idea of fun."
Snack Trolley barged in with her snack trolley. "Princess, we know how much alicorns need to eat. All we have left are one box lunch and some apples; our resupply train got snowed in Manehattan."
"Have you fed Vapor Trail?" Twilight asked.
"Who?"
"The light-colored mare in the front car."
Snack Trolley frowned. "She's asleep, Princess."
"She's also expecting," said Twilight.
Rarity said, "Shoo shoo! Offer her the lunch. Being of few calories short won't hurt either of us."
Snack Trolley looked at Twilight and cocked an eyebrow.
Twilight levitated an apple from the cart, and nodded. Snack Trolley withdrew from the car.
"Could you teleport everypony to your castle?" Rarity said. "Or to the Empire? I suspect Cadance's banquet is still in full swing."
Twilight crunched the apple. "I can't hit the Empire from here, not without crystal surrounding me to shunt off the kinetic energy. The difference in latitude is too much. You see, rotational velocity is proportional to the sine—"
Rarity looked at Twilight and raised one eyebrow.
"Nevermind. Besides, the crew won't leave a stranded train unattended," Twilight said, "and it's illegal to teleport a pregnant mare for anything less than a life-threatening emergency."
"Hmmph!"
"I could teleport us," Twilight said. "My castle is close enough. And Vinyl, too, since she lives in Ponyville."
"No..." Rarity said. "No..."
"You're having an idea."
Rarity grinned at Twilight. "Who are we?"
"A jumped-up librarian and a fashion designer?"
"Generosity and Magic. Tune up your horn, darling. You have some teleporting to do."
"What—" Twilight began.
"Twilight, darling, I think you know exactly what I'm suggesting."
Twilight smiled, and stood up. "I should've thought of it myself!"
Pop! She teleported away.
Rarity trotted to the middle car. "Vinyl, darling, can I assume this wasn't the Hearth's Warming you envisioned?"
She nodded and signed, Octavia and I had planned a candlelit dinner. An empty train reminds me how lonely I was before I met her.
"Well, come along to the front. I can't say I'm Octavia, but any company is better than none, don't you think? Have you a record player or boom box in your carry-on?"
Vinyl nodded, and levitated a small case from the overhead bin.
They went to the front car. All Aboard, Steamer, Snack Trolley, Sky Stinger, and Vapor Trail all sat together around a table, Vapor eating the last box lunch, the others eating apples.
"Vinyl? Would you mind?"
She nodded and placed her record player on a bench, opened it, and spun up a disk of Hearth's Warming carols. Granted, they were dubtrot remixes of carols, but could one be picky when stranded on a train in the middle of the night?
"My good friend Vinyl Scratch, and I'm Rarity," she said.
Vinyl signed.
"She says, 'It's my pleasure,'" Rarity translated.
"I'm Sky Stinger, and my wife Vapor Trail," Sky said.
"Thanks for saving me the meal," Vapor said between bites. "I woke up famished!"
"I understand there's a reason for that?" Rarity said, her voice deep and warm.
Vapor blushed, leaned her head to rest on Sky's shoulder, and nodded with a smile.
Pop! Twilight returned with a teleport.
Twilight carried overstuffed saddlebags over her hips.
Octavia staggered away from Twilight and plopped down to her bottom. "Oh, dear. I've never—never teleported—"
Vinyl's sunglasses slid down her nose and her jaw dropped open. She ran to Octavia and hugged her, and the two shared a quick kiss.
Turning to Rarity, Vinyl signed desperately.
"I don't need to understand sign for that one," Twilight said. "While I was in Ponyville, I dropped by your house to tell Octavia you were sorry your train was late. She wouldn't allow me to come back without her."
Vinyl—with tears in her eyes—placed her right hoof just in front of her mouth and lowered the hoof toward Twilight.
"You're welcome!" Twilight said, smiling.
Rarity lit her horn, lifted Twilight's saddlebags off her hips, and began rummaging through them. "Oh, Twilight, excellent work!"
Twilight levitated out a steaming pot and a number of bowls. "I was able to get some potato soup from my School's cafeteria," she said. "It's nothing fancy but it's what they had hot!"
Rarity found a carafe of pineapple juice in Twilight's bag and poured it into mugs from the snack trolley, distributing the mugs around the table.
Rarity unfurled garland from the other saddlebag and draped it around the overhead luggage racks and sconces. Vinyl switched records to one of traditional carols sung a capella by the Canterlot Palace Choir. The voices of the most skilled choir in the world filled the train car.
Twilight served bowls to the train crew first. "It's a shame you're all away from your families on Hearth's Warming!"
"It's the job," All Aboard said. "Most ponies just yell at us for being two minutes late, instead of asking about our families. Thanks. And thanks for the meal."
Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail leaned against each other, sipping soup, Sky resting one hoof lightly on Vapor's belly.
Vinyl and Octavia signed back and forth, giggling.
The train crew took off their uniform caps and dug into their meal.
Rarity and Twilight settled next to each other, and levitated up spoons. After a few minutes of eating, Rarity said, "Not the Hearth's Warming I envisioned, dearest, but certainly one I shall remember!"
Twilight waved a hoof. "Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns... and me... together around a meal, sharing Hearth's Warming together. I miss my family, but I don't think it can get more Hearth's Warming than this!"
They sat quietly, enjoying the smell from the soup and the music from the record.
Rarity wrapped a foreleg over Twilight's shoulder. "Happy Hearth's Warming, Twilight. I know you could have teleported back to the Empire via your Castle and been with your family. Thanks for sticking with me."
"Happy Hearth's Warming, Rarity."
