Gearing’s mother closes the front door to their modest cloud home and pays careful attention to the piece of paper she’s holding up with her wing as she’s coming in from checking the mail. While she’s still reading it she pauses walking and calls out, “Gearing?”

“Yeah, ma?” a meek voice answers from a side room before an especially small Gearing peeks his head out around the door frame and looks over at her. But, having just heard the door close, his eyes jump back and forth rapidly between her, the paper she’s holding, and the closed front door. Repeatedly. With a lot of attention being paid to the door.

She holds the paper up towards him, and waves it lightly, with one of her glittering wings as she looks over at him and smiles. “We’ve been invited to a Hearth’s Warming party by one of my clients.”

“Oh?” Gearing asks flatly.

She nods and looks at the paper as she continues smiling. “Yes. It’s on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

Gearing stares at her for a few moments before very slowly pulling back behind the door frame. “Have fun…”

She shakes her head as a slight smirk crosses her muzzle. “You’re invited too. She’s been really eager to meet you.”

“No thank you,” Gearing replies from the comfort of his chosen place of concealment.

She sets the paper on the small kitchen table as she’s passing it, and heads towards where she’s sure he’s retreated to, as she says sweetly, “There’ll be lots of kids your aaaaage theeeere.”

“No thank you,” comes the same meek reply.

She walks to the doorway of his room before she asks, “It’ll be fuuuuuun?”

“Says you,” Gearing’s voice grumbles back.

She walks over and sits down on the floor next to his bed as she looks down at it. “You really don’t want to go? But you always loved Hearth’s Warming.”

“Yeah… before,” Gearing’s voice grumbles from under the bed.

The smile slowly melts off of Heartly’s face before she says quietly, “Oh, honey…” She closes her eyes and hangs her head. After a few moments of absolute silence she takes in a deep breath and says softly, “I know you’re worried about going out. But you won’t be alone. I’ll be there. You’ll be safe, I promise.”

“No thank you. It’s too pony-ey out there,” Gearing replies flatly as he sticks a foreleg out and waves it away dismissively with a limp hoof.

“You can’t stay inside forever, Gearing,” she says softly as she looks down at the gap under the bed where his leg just disappeared to again.

“Yes I can,” Gearing obstinately replies back.

She lets out a long sigh before she says with concern coloring her tone, “You haven’t left the house since you got back from the hospital…”

A bit of shuffling noise later and Gearing just barely pokes his tiny head out from under the bed, with just enough clearance for his eyes to look at her. She has just enough time to recognize the sullen look on his face before Gearing says, “Yeah… and the last time I left here , I ended up there.” He scoots back under the bed as he mumbles, “For, like, ever…”

Heartly winces at the declaration. It hurts. Even more so because there’s nothing she can say, beyond outright lying to her own child, to deny it and try to erase their history. She lies down on the floor and sticks her nose under the bed as she looks at him, and in doing so sees how he’s tightly pulled in towards himself. And, how he’s avoiding looking at her as he stays stone cold still. “I know, baby… I know…” She reaches in slowly and starts rubbing on his mane as she says, “But nothing like that will ever happen again.”

“Not if I stay inside,” Gearing mutters.

She gently rubs on his cheek with a forehoof as she gives him a warm smile, “You can’t spend your entire life avoiding ponies.” She shakes her head slowly. “You can’t stay in forever; you’ll have to come out sooner or later.”

Gearing looks off to the side and lowers himself as much as he can against the cloud floor without actually pushing through it. “Nuh uh… I don’t have to leave… Ever!”

She smirks as she tilts her head and asks, “How do you figure that?”

Gearing looks around quickly before his copper eyes glance at her sideways and he puffs up his cheeks in irritation. “Because I dun needa eat… and I dun needa poop… So I dun needa leave… Ever!”

Heartly lets out a sigh as she looks around and continuously rubs on his mane as she tries to think of something to convince him otherwise. She glances over at his bookshelf, and a smile starts growing across her muzzle before she glances at him sideways and asks, “Well… what about comics? Those are worth leaving for, right?”

“Nuh uh… I ain’t gotta leave for comics… Mailmare brings them…” Gearing retorts just a bit too quickly for Heartly’s liking.

Which lets her know he’s been thinking about this far too much for her to take this lightly anymore.

She narrows her eyes as she asks flatly, “And just how are you going to earn money to pay for those comics to be delivered?”

“Well… uh…” Gearing says as his eyes go wide. He looks around and looks over at her as he gives her a wide smile and tilts his head adorably. “Eh?” He gives her a sheepish shrug.

She nickers and rolls her eyes. “Oh uh uh, young buck. You’re gonna grow up eventually. And you’re going to have to buy your own comics.”

“Nuts,” Gearing mutters as he looks off to the side.

“So, you gotta come out sometime to be able to make money, to buy your comics, so you might as well start getting used to it now before you start missing new releases,” Heartly says with a smile as she gives a prim nod and is sure she’s breaking through to him.

Gearing looks over at her and smiles as he says, “I’ll just.. do like you do, Mom!”

Her eyes go wide as she asks, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Mail order work… Ya know?” He waves over towards the kitchen table as he says, “I can just work from home… Never have to leave.” He brings a wing around and starts counting on his tiny pinions as he rattles off, “Find jobs through the mail... Apply to mail jobs through the mail... Do the work, like you do. Send out stuff through the mail… Get paid through the mail… Order comics through the mail… Pay for them through the mail… Get them through the mail…” He nods as he grins at her. “See, never have to leave!”

She narrows her eyes as she asks, “And you’re going to live where for the rest of your life? Here?”

“Porca Porca,” Gearing replies quickly.

“What? Where? Where’s that?” Heartly asks with a quick shake of her head.

Gearing points over to his book shelf as he says, “I read about it in an in-psych-lo-peddle. Iz a small swine country. Not many ponies. So I just gotta make a cloud cave above it, and just use a big ole fishing line to pick up mail from below.”

She groans as she looks at him and can’t help but feel conflicted about having such a smart son. It’s usually something of immense pride for her, but at times like this it just makes life extremely difficult. As harebrained as the plan sounds at first, she’s sure he’d simply find a way to make it work. She knows this isn’t something she can try and force him to do. It’s too delicate. It’ll just cause too many problems. She has to convince him to do it of his own will; otherwise there could be even more long term consequences to what had happened. Right now she’s the only one he trusts. And if she were to violate that, it would only serve to reinforce his fears.

Heartly lets out a sigh as she closes her eyes. “You’ll still have to meet them face to face to set everything up.”

“Iz fine… they swine…. Not ponies…” Gearing replies as he looks at her.

“You’d rather live with swine, than ponies?” Heartly asks with a pained frown on her face.

“I’d rather live with greedy dragons than ponies,” Gearing snaps back. “At least then I could bribe them into not being mean.”

“Gearing, that was one bad pony-” Heartly starts, but instantly gets cut off.

“But he’s not the only bad pony, and you know it!”

Heartly tilts her head as she scoots in closer to him, sticks her head under the bed, and whispers, “No… you’re right, Gearing… He’s not the only bad pony out there.” She gently starts caressing the side of his face with a hoof as she says, “But there is far more good in the world than bad. And that more than makes up for it.” She leans in and nuzzles him gently with her muzzle as she says, “You can’t hide away, and deprive yourself of the good in life, just because something bad might happen. That’d be like letting that bad pony win. Like he’s the one in control of your life, and not you…”

“But I don’t wanna get hurt again…” Gearing mumbles as he avoids looking at her and actually stops reacting to her loving affections.

“I can’t promise you won’t get hurt again, eventually…. But it won’t be as bad as that, and … It’s just a fact that getting hurt along the way is just a part of life. It’s the risk we take for enjoying life and it’s never as bad as it seems at the time.”

Gearing looks her right in the eye and says flatly, “Historical evidence contradicts your statement.”

She narrows her eyes at the atypical-for-his-age phrasing and sighs. “Gearing, Hearth’s Warming is all about coming together for mutual benefit and joy. If you come along, I promise you’ll see that not everypony’s bad, and who knows, you might actually have fun.”

Gearing lowers his head to the ground and doesn’t even look at her as he asks, “Do I have to, mom?”

Heartly stretches over and nuzzles him gently. “No, honey. You don’t. I’m not going to make you… But I want you there with me. I don’t like you staying home alone all the time.” She lets out a sigh. “And I’m not leaving you home alone on Hearth’s Warming Eve. So if you really don’t want to go, I won’t go either.”

“That’s not fair to you, mom. You should go have fun with your friends,” Gearing replies softly.

“You should too,” she replies quickly.

“Dun have any,” Gearing replies as he keeps his gaze on the floor.

“You won’t make any hiding inside,” she comments reasonably.

Gearing tightens up to himself as he mutters, “But what if something happens… Again…”

Heartly looks around as she tries to think of something to say to convince him. She slowly closes her eyes and silently prays to the universe to not make her a bad mother and make what she’s about to say a self-fulfilling prophecy. She nuzzles him tenderly as she says, “Gearing… if you go with me this time… and something happens… I’ll never ask you to go anywhere again.”

He slowly lifts up his head and looks at her with an eyebrow raised. “What?”

She smiles warmly as she says, “Think of it as a scientific experiment… you’ve had good experiences before… and you’ve had a bad experience before… This one will be the tie breaker and if it seems like the bad really is out weighing the good, I won’t argue about wanting to stay inside anymore. Deal?”

Gearing frowns as he looks around, but avoids looking at her. “Promise? Promise that if something happens you won’t make me go anywhere anymore?”

She gives him a wide beaming smile, though her heart is aching on the inside as she constantly begs the universe not to be cruel to such a young colt. “I promise, Gearing.”

Gearing lets out a long sigh as he practically melts into the floor. “Uhhhggg… okay. Fine…. But can we at least get there early?”

Heartly tilts her head as she asks, “You don’t wanna go, but you wanna get there early?”

Gearing frowns as he says, “That way I can see if any trouble shows up and we can leave when it does before it gets too bad…”

Heartly pulls back and out from under the bed as she slowly nods her head. “Yeah, Gearing, we can. But, please, give it, and others, a chance. You won’t be disappointed if you do.”

Gearing pokes his head out from under the bed and looks up at her as he frowns. “We’ll see…”

* * *

Heartly drops down from the sky and into the orchard section that makes up the backend of this family run farm. Given it’s winter, all of the trees are bare and practically appear dead. But that will change once spring arrives. At the center of the farm, and not far from the orchard, is a collection of large buildings. There’s the family home, that’s practically a mansion by some standards, but then there are large barns where their equipment is stored when it’s not in use. Although, unlike the typical care that would be shown to the various wagons and farming equipment, it’s all parked out in the fresh snow for a change.

Heartly flutters along, zipping around as she makes her way to the largest pole barn on the entire farm. When she spots a long trail that’s actually had the snow plowed off of it for easier travel, she finally lands and starts walking towards the building surrounded by farm equipment.

But not before she sets down the most precious cargo that she’d been carrying the entire time with her forehooves.

Gearing stays under her, completely hidden by the large winter cloak Heartly is wearing, as he asks, “We’re not going in the house, are we?”

Heartly smiles and shakes her head as she says, “No, Gearing, the party’s in the barn. There’s not enough space in the house for everycreature to mingle anyway.”

“It doesn’t have a basement, does it?” Gearing asks worriedly.

Heartly giggles as she replies, “No, Gearing, there’s no basement. So don’t worry, the floors good old solid dirt.”

“I’d prefer solid cloud,” Gearing mutters sullenly.

“Well, this is an earth pony farm, Gearing. There’s not many clouds down here,” Heartly says with a grin.

“I could go get one,” Gearing replies quickly.

“But with how long that’d take you, we wouldn’t get here as early as we are, now would we?” Heartly asks as she looks down under herself where her little colt is huddled and trotting in time with her to stay under her and hidden from the world.

Gearing puffs up his cheeks in irritation before he looks off to the side and says, “You win… this time…”

Heartly rolls her eyes and continues on into the large pole barn that’s bigger than most ponies’ houses, by magnitudes. Once through the small pony sized door set into the large double doors that make up the majority of the end of the pole barn, it becomes clear on why there is so much equipment parked out and exposed to the elements.

The entire inside of the pole barn, that almost seems more like a small hoofball stadium, has been converted over to celebrate Hearth’s Warming. Decorative strands of lights hang from hoops, are wrapped around the support pillars, and are mingled with multiple colored strands of garland. Though, by the look and smell, the natural freshly made pine tree branch garland seems to be the biggest representative of the decorations. Then there’s the ribbons galore that seem to be hanging from or attached to nearly everything. Ceiling included.

And as Heartly is politely closing the door behind her, to keep the warmth from the various braziers and space heaters inside, it’s clear that the preparations are still being finalized.

There are tables set up at regular intervals, and some have the beginnings of a buffet being set up. With carefully arranged foodstuffs and drinks covering the surface, but not quite ready for the herd of hungry ponies the owners are expecting to be raiding it today. But then there are also a couple tables around that seem to be set up for other things. The table with the multiple rolls of wrapping paper, tape, staplers, spools of ribbon, glitter, and other crafting supplies almost seems to be out of place. But, then again, not really as a mare quickly scurries in from outside, uses the supplies in a mind boggling blur, and happily trots away with a freshly wrapped present towards a pile stacked against the wall.

Heartly, after looking around and taking in the sights, looks under herself and asks, “Well, we’re here… What did you have in mind?”

Gearing peeks out from under the cloak just enough to see who and what is around. He spots the gift wrapping station set away from everything else, with its festive table cloth that goes all the way to the ground, and points towards it as he says, “Over there.”

Heartly looks over, smiles as she sees where he’s pointing, and then dutifully trots over. After she gets to the table, she looks around at the supplies covering the surface and asks, “Yeah? What about it? Need something?”

Gearing jets out from under her cloak, and slips in under the craft station table. He gently separates the overlapping cloth near the table leg and looks out at her through the sliver of a gap. “This’ll work.”

Heartly’s jaw drops as she sees him peeking out at her. She frowns as she asks, “Were you just intending to hide here all night?”

Gearing narrows his eyes at her for a few long seconds before he says, “It’s an experiment… I’ll observe from here… If it seems safe, I’ll come out later… I wanna see who’s coming first.”

Heartly hangs her head for a moment as she sighs. She bobs her head around a bit before she says, “Okay… okay… that’s fair…” She kneels down and looks at him face to face as she slips a hoof around the fabric and rubs on his cheek tenderly. “You’re here. And that was the deal… but try to enjoy yourself… And if anything happens, anything at all you don’t like, just call for me, or come and find me, and I’ll take care of it and we’ll leave. I won’t be far away, I promise.”

“Kay,” Gearing says flatly as he keeps his covert position.

She slowly pulls back and looks around as she says, “Well, since we’re here early, I might as well go and see if I can help with anything.”

“Kay,” Gearing replies back with the exact same tone as before, drawing a sigh from his mother before she turns and trots off.

And while his mother is meeting, greeting, and schmoozing with her client’s extended family, and helping them get the place ready for the party, Gearing stays in the exact same location.

As wooden kegs of cider are rolled in and set up, and the tables are excessively laden with more food and treats, Gearing watches. His eyes look out through the small gap in the tablecloth as the various ponies go about their business. Most of them seem rather excited and giddy at the tasks they are performing. And the ones that use the supplies on the table he’s hiding under do so with the joy of some kind of dance that he’s never participated in.

They never notice him, as they are too busy trying to focus on their own tasks, but even so, Gearing always pulls back further under the table whenever anyone approaches to avoid being seen. The table he’s chosen is particularly well placed to keep an eye on the surroundings. Its near central location for ease of access and use provides Gearing with a wide view range from the safety of the concealment provided by the festive tablecloth. True, he can’t really look up. But considering the vast majority of the ponies he’s been seeing are earth bound, he’s not worried about it.

He suspiciously stares at everyone as they go about the large pole barn working, greeting, and talking with each other. The pony population density just keeps growing as time goes on. And the age range increases as well, as he starts seeing some older mares and stallions walk through the far door. And then there are the younger ponies. Foals and other youth, colts and fillies, zipping around and talking excitedly in a chattering language that amounts to garbled nonsense to Gearing. Somewhere along the line someone turns on some holiday music that starts playing through cleverly hidden speakers throughout the barn. If it were anything other than the Sweetie Bell Hearth’s Warming song that’s so popular that even he knows what it is from the first few soft tones, it would have startled him into further hiding. But as her melodious voice fills the pole barn with festive joy, Gearing can’t help settling in more within his chosen fortress.

And it doesn’t take long after the official start time for the pole barn to get pretty crowded with ponies of all ages as they celebrate the season. One corner of the barn gets dedicated to hanging up jackets and clothes to give them a chance to dry and warm up again after their owners’ trip through the fresh snow storm that’s closing in. Another section, where a terminal sitting on an old workbench is located, has been converted over to a karaoke kiosk where even the completely sober feel comfortable singing along to one holiday song or another. And the ones that have been delving into the cider apparently seem to feel obligated to join in.

Somewhere along the line, as Gearing is watching from the relative safety of the gift wrapping table, a chiming noise signals the time for the passing of presents. And boxes start getting passed around quickly from the communal pile against the one wall. The excitement is palpable as ponies as far as he can see tear into brightly wrapped packages and uncover the surprise hidden within. Usually accompanied by excessive cheering and hopping around.

And that behavior is not limited to the foals.

Although while the majority of the adults seem to stow their gifts in order to resume focusing on the party’s festivities, the youth in the barn take exception to such carelessness. All around the kids show off their gifts to each other, and start playing with what they had been given.

And as the evening picks up and carries on, Gearing keeps his watchful position. Although, despite his wary vigilance, nothing of note has happened. At least, nothing to cause him any real concern. And, in actuality, the ongoing festivities give way to another emotion. Because he doesn’t feel nearly as frightful as he had been when he first came here. And, because of that, he starts feeling another unpleasant emotion. Bored. A type of boredom so thorough it’s actually draining. He doesn’t even bother stepping away from the cloth anymore when somepony comes near and, in truth, he just wonders when his mom is going to be finished so they can finally go.

While he’s laying on the dirt floor of the barn, sullenly regretting not at least bringing a book with him to read, a couple of fillies come running over to the table he’s hiding under. The older, and bigger, filly looks the decorating supplies over and squeals, “We can use the ribbons for our hair!”

The youngest filly, carrying the toy she’d just got this very night in her mouth, happily puts it on the table as she looks over the supplies. “Ouuuu I bet this red ribbon would look super cute in your tail!”

They start rummaging through the supplies, and gluing some glitter onto bows that they make from the ribbon. And as they are excitedly chatting with each other, the older filly abruptly swings around, to try and put the ribbon bow she’d made on her tail, and she bumps the table rather hard with her rear.

Gearing startles and hops up and back away from the point of impact as the table suddenly jerks and shakes and creaks from the hip check.

And a second later there’s a crack as the younger filly’s toy hits the ground and can be heard even over the chatter and music.

The younger filly screeches, “You broke it! I’m telling moooooom!” Then starts stampeding away as she begins crying.

The older filly chases after her as she yells apologetically, “I’m sorry! It was an accident! Maybe we can fix it! Please don’t tell mom, she’ll ground me for eternity!”

Gearing pokes his snoot out around the fabric and watches the fleeing fillies stampede off through the crowd. He glances down and over at the offended toy and scrunches up his nose as he looks it over. He quickly grabs it with a hoof, and then hides with it under the tablecloth. As he’s looking it over, it’s clear to see why the young filly was so distraught without even touching it.

The toy in question is of a floofy-maned pink mare that’s standing vertically on a cannon and seems to be juggling boxes with her forehooves as she balances one box on the tip of her nose. Gearing’s pretty sure it’s supposed to be the ministry mare from the Ministry of Morale, judging by the color scheme and the balloons on the mare’s flank. The gizmo that makes it look like she’s juggling the presents is in fact nothing more than a metallic hoop with the brightly colored gifts attached. He gently twists the hoop and watches as the hoofs of the mare go up and down in time with the packages. He listens carefully as the mechanisms whirl with his manual manipulations. Above and behind her is a giant arc covered in lights. It looks like something that would be set up for a stage somewhere at some point with a lattice of metal to support the lights. But, in fact, the entire ‘lattice’ is only held up by two points, with one of which being the wire that the power cable travels through. And considering it’s bent at nearly ninety degrees away from the pink juggling mare, and the wire had been pulled up and out of the toy’s base before breaking in half, the lights and such are probably never going to work in this condition.

Gearing gently rubs a hoof over it and, when his hoof makes contact with the bare wires, the lights on the toy instantly pop on and the miniature mare begins her juggling act for a few seconds as an electric arc sparks to Gearing’s hoof from one side of the wire, then across to the other wire. Causing his hoof to complete the circuit accidentally and painfully. Gearing drops it and jerks away from the toy as he shakes his hoof. “Ow… It was still on… Ow.” He shakes his hoof and looks at it as he frowns. He reaches over with his wing, knocks the toy over onto its side, and looks at the underside. As he’s flipping the little switch on the bottom to the ‘off’ position, he can’t help but notice the label on the bottom. “Flim Flam Brothers Toys of Joy… yeah, right…”

He rolls his eyes as he grabs the toy and sets it back upright again. He quickly taps the wire, with the same hoof, and confirms that it’s off. He sits there staring at it for a few seconds before a slight smile crosses his muzzle. “No books… but this’ll keep me busy until we’re ready to go…” He scrunches up his nose one way then the other as he tries to figure out what he should do.

* * *

Heartly, wearing a festive Hearth’s Warming robe that’s covered in images of various decorations made of sparkling beadwork and a delicately made tiara made to look like a hoop of decorated garland on her head, casually sips from a tankard as her eyes slowly drift around. As much as she naturally sparkled before, the pair of new gifts make her doubly so as the colored lights all over the pole barn seem dead set on twinkling off of the various sequins stitched along their entire surface with each and every movement she makes. Though the robe is highly decorative in its appearance, it’s also quite warm and functional. Given that the fluffy trim along the edges would keep the lucky pony wearing it especially warm.

A soft pale green unicorn mare with her green mane put up into a beehive shape, but decorated like a Hearth’s Warming tree and complete with dangling ornaments, walks up next to Heartly and asks, “How’s it going? You seem a bit more pensive…”

Heartly keeps her gaze locked in a single direction as she replies with a sigh, “He’s coming this way. I’m not sure what happened. But… it looks like he’s finally wanting to go home.” She frowns as she mutters, “It’d been hours, I’d hoped he’d started enjoying himself… instead of staying hidden.”

“I’m sorry, dear. I know he’s had a rough year,” the walking ponification of a Hearth’s Warming tree replies. “You both have…”

Heartly looks over at her and gives a slight bow of her head before she says, “Well, thanks for the invite, Madam Garland. It was worth a try.”

The green unicorn mare waves at her dismissively as she says, “Oh, posh! Call me ‘Piney’, we’ve known each other too long for that… or, at worst, Pine Garland.” She looks over at Heartly and gives her a warm smile as she says, “And you’re welcome here anytime you please. Both of you.”

Heartly closes her eyes and sets her tankard down on a barrel nearby as she says, “I doubt he’ll ever be back… I made a deal with him, that if things went bad I wouldn’t push him out anymore.”

“Really?” Piney asks as her eyes go wide. After Heartly gives her a sad nod she asks, “But why, dear?”

Heartly shakes her head as she says, “It’s a last ditch effort. He wasn’t going to come otherwise so… I had to do something. I don’t want him stuck in the house, afraid to leave or interact with anypony else for the rest of his life.” She looks over at Piney and asks with a hitch to her voice, “What k-kinda life is t-that for a f-“ *click* “foal?”

“Oh, honey… I’m so sorry,” Piney says with a sigh as she steps over and wraps a foreleg around Heartly’s shoulders and gives her a gentle squeeze. After a few moments she whispers, “Kinda… taking his sweet time on it… ain’t he?”

Heartly looks up and watches as the tiny green winged pony zips from table to table. All the while coming her way. But, when he’s getting closer she notices something that simultaneously confuses her, but gives her a bit of hope. He’s taking detours. Intentional detours.

From trash can to trash can.

She walks over to a table not far away as she sees him zipping through the crowd, under all of the adults without them even noticing, and disappearing behind the table. She stands there, on the side of the table facing everyone else, and simply stares at the underside of the table expecting Gearing to say something from the comfort of the hidden space below.

Instead she’s surprised by a bit of shining brass slowly rising on the other side of the table.

She looks up, and stares at Gearing as he looks right at her. She looks his face over, but it’s kind of hard for her to read at the moment. But, he’s not saying anything as he peeks over at her. After they share hard eye contact for a while, she asks, “Did something bad happen, Gearing?”

“No,” Gearing replies flatly.

“Is everything okay? Why’d you come over here?”

Gearing maintains hard eye contact as he straightens up just a bit and uses his wing to grab the end of a plastic straw from the group that’s sticking out of the mason jar that’s being used to keep them ready for use and clean but near the drinks covering the rest of the table. He slowly lifts his wing, ever so slowly lifting the straw until it’s out of the jar. Then starts retracting it towards himself as he says, “I need this…” And then, after pulling it back to himself, he slowly starts sinking back behind the table.

All the while maintaining hard eye contact with Heartly as he seems to ride a slow elevator back down into hiding.

Piney walks over from the side and asks Heartly, “Are you okay? You look perplexed… I figured you’d already be making your way out.”

Heartly looks at her and gives her a sheepish grin as she says, “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on. And, frankly, I don’t care… He didn’t say anything about going home, so... he’s obviously found something he likes.” She shrugs. “If he’s got a reason to stay, I’m not trampling over it.”

Piney’s grin practically explodes across her muzzle as she asks, “Really?! Well then how about we pay the karaoke kiosk a visit to celebrate?”

While they are walking towards where a large group of ponies are sitting around singing along, mostly badly, to one song or another, Gearing makes good on his return trip. Although, along the way, he grabs one final item, a low burning candle in an old brass chamberstick, and scurries back to his hiding place as quickly and carefully as he can. Along the whole way he protects the flame of the candle by wrapping his wing around it like a wind shield as he makes good on getting back into hiding.

Once back under the present wrapping table, he quickly gets to work with his supplies.

He’s pretty sure it’s a simple fix. That the bent metal isn’t really a problem, that it’s the exposed severed wire that’s made it stop working. So he quickly puts the bits back together as carefully as he can. After reconnecting the severed wire, by nibbling off some of the insulation and twisting the exposed copper back together, he uses the scissors from the packaging table to cut the plastic straw into a few pieces. He cuts slits into a piece that’s a bit bigger than the exposed copper, and slips it over the damaged section of wire. Then, while carefully holding it in place, he runs the candle flame under it back and forth quickly. It gets covered in soot, and he’s not exactly sure how much it’d take. But, after a few tries, and him poking at it after each pass, he figures out how much is needed to soften it. A few moments after that revelation, he quickly starts melting and shaping the straw so it seals in around and over the broken wire. After using a couple more pieces of straw, and having to nibble off some plastic that accidentally got melted onto his own hoof, he threads the wire back into the base. And after that’s done, he starts tweaking the metal hoop supports and lattice until he’s pretty sure they are where they are supposed to be. And the smile on his muzzle just grows by the second, along with how far his eyes open, as he switches it on.

Because Pinkie Pie starts juggling the packages right before his eyes as the stage lights blink and flash above and behind her.

After watching it for a few moments, he quickly turns it back off again. It’s not his. He knows this. And now he has to figure out how to give it back to the pony that it belongs to.

He pokes his snoot out, looks around to see who’s around, and then quickly slides the little juggling toy back to the location where it was originally. After getting it to the spot where it had gotten broken, he sets it upright, tilts it just enough to get a wing under, and flips the switch. As soon as it clicks on, he jerks his limbs back into hiding and pulls back away from the sides as the toy goes about its business of blinking, flashing, and juggling.

It doesn’t take long before a familiar filly’s voice cries out, “I found it!” and a moment later several sets of small hooves some stampeding over.

“I thought somepony threw it away cuz it was all brokey,” the young filly comments as she walks over and plops down right in front of her cherished toy.

The older filly grins widely as she says, “See, it’s not broke though! It’s fine! No need to tell mom, right?”

The little filly puffs up her cheeks as she says, “It was though… I saw it.”

A young colt about her age looks it over as he says, “Well, it works now.”

“But how? And it was gone. Now it’s back…” the young filly says as she tries to comprehend the turn of events. And the other children around her likewise seem to be at a loss for an explanation.

The younger colt asks, “Maybe it was like a Hearth’s Warming spirit or something? My mom’s always talking about a spirit of the season spreading joy to everypony…”

The older filly sniffs the air a bit, then starts leaning towards the present wrapping table. “What’s that smell?” She suddenly pokes her head under the tablecloth as she says, “Smells like something burning under-”

She comes face to face with Gearing, as he’s huddled under the table, and he instantly recoils from her as he huddles in close to himself and stares at her with wide-eyed fright.

She perks up and says cheerfully, “Oh, hello! Did you fix my sister’s toy?” She looks around and the grin on her face just gets wider as she excitedly sways and swishes her tail. “You had to of with all this stuff under here!”

Suddenly Gearing gets surrounded, on all sides, by a collection of foalish faces as they all poke in under the table cloth to see what she’s talking about from every direction.

The young filly pushes her toy in front of her as she asks, “You fix this? Thank you!” then gives him a smile so large that it’s hard for him to comprehend how it actually fits on her head. Because it doesn’t look like it does.

The younger colt asks, “How you do it? You a Hearth’s Warming Spirit? I never met one before!”

Gearing keeps looking around as he’s huddled in tightly to himself, and warily stares at them as he stammers, “N-no... I… I just seen… I mean…” He looks over at the younger filly swaying as she looks at the toy and replies, “I just read the Marechanist and… they did it… and it worked… so I just… I just tried to see if it would in real life… and… it did…”

The young colt perks up as he asks, “You read the Marechanist?!”

Gearing looks over at him and nods slowly.

“You read any other comics?” the older filly asks as she looks him over.

Gearing stares at her for a few moments before he nods. “Yeah… any I can find.”

Another younger filly crawls in under the table with Gearing and gets right next to him as she says, “It’s like a secret hideout under here!”

The young colt climbs in under it too and squats down on Gearing’s other side as he says, “This is so kool! He’s got like a fort under here!” He starts practically prancing as he giggles, “It’s like a secret superhero lair!”

“Uhm… I guess…” Gearing meekly mutters as he quickly looks from pony to pony to try and see if and when anyone is going to try anything. But, of course, none of them do.

Except trying to get closer to him and learn more about him. Which makes him uncomfortable enough as it is.

After a lot of chattering among the group the older filly finally asks, “Do you like Power Ponies?”

Gearing nods as he says, “Yeah…”

The younger filly waves at her older sister and says, “She just got a new Power Ponies board game, wanna play?!”

The older filly looks at her and raises an eyebrow as she says, “Heeey… you said you didn’t want to play it?”

The younger filly pointedly looks away and says matter-of-factly, “I didn’t want to play with you because you broke my toy… but it’s fixed now so… that’s different.”

The older filly shrugs before she looks over at Gearing and asks, “Well?”

* * *

While Heartly is helping move a fresh keg into place to replace an empty one, the young filly with the juggling Pinkie Pie trots up next to her and asks, “Are you Gearing’s momma?”

Heartly looks down, and quickly sets down the keg as Piney walks around to see what’s going on. Heartly nods as she says, “Yes, I am. Why? Is something wrong?” She starts looking around over the crowd for some kind of disturbance before the little filly even has a chance to respond.

“I thought so, pretty wings too…” she mutters as she looks Heartly over before looking her in the eye again. “He wants to know when you’re going home,” the little filly asks plainly.

Heartly lets out a sigh as she hangs her head. “I guess he’s done and wants to go home.”

“Uh uh,” the little filly says as she quickly shakes her head. “He just wants to know if he has time to play a game, and said we had to ask you.”

“A game?” Piney and Heartly ask at the same time.

The little filly nods quickly as she says, “Uh huh… He’s reading the rules and it says the game can be short, like half an hour, but said it says it could take up to four and he don’t know if we have enough time before you all have to leave…” She leans in and says quietly, “You know how much four hours is? That’s a lot!”

Heartly’s eyes go wide as she stares at her with the edge of her lip curling into just the hint of a smile as she asks, “He wants to stay longer?”

“Uh huh, can we? Just for one game?” the little filly asks with a near whine.

Heartly looks over at Piney and says flatly, “Well... that’s not really up to me… The party normally ends around ten and it’s already getting close to nine…”

Piney raises an eyebrow as she says, “You kids just want to play a game?”

“Uh huh! Can we?!” the little filly asks excitedly.

Piney waves her on as she says, “Well, let’s see what’s so attention grabbing and we’ll figure it out from there.”

The little filly squeals with delight as she jumps up in the air, spins around, and her hooves are already motoring to run back the way she’d come before she even touches down.

Heartly and Piney share glances before they likewise hurry after the excitable filly before they lose sight of her. It doesn’t take long before they find the group of kids set up behind the package wrapping table and sitting around a large colorful board that’s covered in comic book characters.

Gearing has the rule sheet held up in front of him, unfolded almost to its max, and is practically hiding behind the massive sheet of paper as he reads over it carefully.

“Find a game you wanted to play?” Heartly asks as she swings around to look at him from the side with a warm smile on her face.

“Uh huh,” Gearing replies before looking over at her. “But it might take a while… we don’t know the rules yet so… probably will… is that okay?”

Heartly looks over to the side, behind Gearing and at Piney, as she says, “Well it’d be okay with me, but I’m not really the one to ask…You have to make sure it’s okay with Pine Garland, it’s her party after all.”

Gearing follows her gaze and spins around to look behind himself. And instantly brings the paper up like a shield to hide behind as he peeks over it with just his eyes, as his ears lay back flat against his head, and lets out a soft ‘eep’ as he sees the soft pale green unicorn behind him.

“Just call me ‘Piney’.” Piney smiles at him warmly and asks, “You enjoying yourself over here?”

Gearing squats down a bit as he says softly, “Umm… I guess?”

“Well, your friend said you all want to play a game but we normally end the party in about an hour,” Piney comments as she taps on her muzzle.

“Awww…” Gearing moans as he hides his head behind the paper. And his voice is accompanied by foalish groans from the rest of the youth as well.

“What to do… what to do,” Piney says as she looks over at Heartly, and then gets a mischievous smile on her muzzle. “You know what, I think I have an idea…”

Gearing cautiously pokes his head over the paper and his ears perk up as they focus on her, and obviously give her his undivided attention.

Piney tilts her head as she gives him a grin. “I know you don’t really remember me, and haven’t seen me, but I know a lot about you…So I’ll make you a deal, okay?”

Gearing looks around at the other kids, at his mom, and at Piney as he tries to figure out what to do before he asks suspiciously, “What kinda deal?”

“Well… it’s my party, and we always end at ten, so everypony that needs to can get back to work tomorrow… but if you wanna play the superhero tonight… you can play your game, as long as you do one thing for me… just one… and it can only be you. Okay, Gearing?”

Gearing looks over at his mom, who only shrugs and waves towards Piney, before he asks, “Like what?”

Piney’s horn glows as she turns to the side, and a moment later a small box wrapped in golden paper with a green ribbon binding it floats over in her levitation field. She holds it up in front of him as she smiles widely. “If you finally open your present!” The box tilts top side towards him so he can clearly read the label on top. The one with his name on it. “It’s the last one left; you’re the only one who hasn’t opened their present and it’s gotten kinda lonely over there… And I really wanna see you open it.”

Gearing’s eyes go wide as he looks at it and he asks, “For me?”

Piney nods and carefully sets the box down in front of him as she says, “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Gearing.”

Gearing quickly folds up the rules again, and sets them back on the game board, as he looks the box over. He glances over at his mom for some kind of guidance, and she simply nods and waves towards it. “Well… okay…” Gearing sheepishly replies as he gently grabs the box and starts pulling it to himself.

As he’s carefully undoing the ribbon holding the lid on, Piney gets a sheepish smile on her face as she says quickly, “I’m sorry if it’s a bit weird. I wasn’t sure what to get you, but your mom said you’d like this so I hope it’s okay. I don’t get it myself, but she said you would… so…”

Gearing unties the ribbon and lets it flop to the side before he grabs the thick cardboard lid and lifts it straight up with both of his forehooves. As he’s lifting it up, he’s surrounded on three sides by the other kids who crowd around and look in with him to see what he’s got.

“What is that?” the younger colt asks as he tilts his head.

“Kinda looks like … junk…” the older filly replies as she likewise tilts her head in confusion.

“Is… is that a piece of a Saddle Rager figurine? And that one looks like Radiance’s costume!” the younger filly says excitedly as she points a hoof at different pieces. She looks up at Piney and raises an eyebrow as she asks, “Why are they brokey? They get dropped like my sister dropped my toy?”

The older filly balks as she says, “It’s fixed! Quit tattlin’!”

“Well… uh…” Piney starts with a sheepish smile as she tries to figure out how to justify the pile of crap she just gave the young brass foal.

“No! It’s not!” Gearing says as the grin on his face just starts getting bigger by the second. He starts rummaging around inside the box as he says, “These are pieces of the model kits. You always had to put them together yourself… and… and there’s a spring wound pocket watch in here… and other parts and… what’s this?” At the bottom of the box is a stack of papers and he carefully fishes them out from under everything else. And once out of the box he realizes they aren’t papers at all, but a few well used magazines. He tilts the worn cover a bit and then reads out loud, “Tee El See… Squared… Tender Loving Care for Totally Lost Causes…”

The younger colt to his side comments with his tongue hanging out, “Sounds like mushy stuff…”

“Nuh uh… it’s a repair manual with tips and tricks…” He shuffles it around so he can read the next one’s title. “And this one is more for electronics… Equestrian Robotics: From Circuits to Sentinels…” He looks in the box, and then goes back and forth between the pile of parts and the magazine before he waves his hoof at Heartly. “Mom! Mom, mom, mom! Can you get me a solder gun? I need one… see, see… They show you how to practice with it on page fifteen!”

“Sounds boring,” the younger filly says as she rolls her eyes and goes back to her seat on the opposite side of the game board.

“Uh… I don’t think that’d be such a good idea… at your age… might burn yourself or the house,” Piney says before looking over at Heartly and asking quietly, “Did I make a mistake with this?”

Gearing waves a hoof at Piney as he says, “Nuh uh! Clouds don’t burn and neither do I!”

Heartly grins widely as she looks at Piney and says, “No, I think it’s a perfect gift.” She looks at Gearing and nods as she says, “Sure, Gearing, I’ll get you a practice set if you want.”

Gearing bounds up straight into the air and starts kicking his legs in various directions as he flaps his wings to stay aloft. But, despite his struggles, and furious flapping, he’s barely able to stay aloft because of his relative mass and tiny wings. But, he’s just excited enough to manage to hover for a few seconds before he starts sinking back down to the ground. “Yes! Wooohooo! Best. Hearth’s Warming. Ever!”

Piney grins as she watches him soar up into the air, and her eyes go wide as she sees him hover there for a few seconds, completely recognizing that he’s managing it under his own power. “Well now, I can see you’re excited! So you enjoy your gift? I did good?”

Gearing hops over and wraps his forelegs and wings around her right foreleg as he nuzzles it and looks up at her with a massive grin on his muzzle. “Yes! It’s the greatest thing ever in the history of ever!”

For a change Piney is startled as she most certainly wasn’t expecting that reaction. And by the sudden placement of Heartly’s jaw on the floor she wasn’t either. Piney gingerly reaches over with her other foreleg, and gently wraps Gearing in a hug as she leans down. But she does so in such a way to make sure she’s not moving too fast or can stop if he gets uncomfortable. And, to her further surprise, he actually nuzzles into the sign of affection as he happily sways side to side. “I’m glad you’re happy, Gearing. That’s the whole point of Hearth’s Warming, to come together and enjoy each other’s company and mutual happiness.”

“Well count me in!” Gearing cheerfully replies as he looks up at her with a toothy grin.

Piney looks from him to Heartly, and notices that she’s not only speechless, but has completely stopped moving as she stares at Gearing wide-eyed. Piney looks down at Gearing and replies, “Well… it’d be a shame to make the fun end prematurely… so… how about this… You all can stay here and play, and have fun with each other, as long as you want.” She looks over at the other children and adds, “As long as your parents will allow it, that is.” Then looks over at Heartly and comments, “And I’ll just keep the party going… And I bet Heartly won’t mind watching you kids overnight while you play, so your parents will be able to enjoy themselves to the fullest as well. Isn’t that right, Heartly?”

Heartly looks over at her, and locks eyes for a few seconds before she squeaks out with a wide smile, “It’d be my pleasure.” All of the kids start bounding around and chattering as they blurt and scream out their thanks to both Heartly and Piney in such a ruckus that it’s hard to really make out anything any single one of them is saying.

Except Gearing.

He simply nuzzles Piney’s foreleg a bit more and looks up at her as he says, “Thank you, Miss Piney!”

“My pleasure, Gearing.” She looks them all over as she starts pulling back and away from them as she says, “Now you kids have fun, Heartly and I will go spread the word around, but you probably want to go check in with your parents real quick just to make sure.”

The foalish congregation says in unison, “Okay!” before they run off in various directions to find their parents.

Piney motions Heartly to follow her, which she does silently, as Piney makes her way to the karaoke area. She marches right up to the kiosk, stops the music dead, and grabs a microphone from the table next to it that functions as an override for the entire speaker system. She floats it in front of her mouth as she rears up and yells out, “Alright everypony, as you know my family’s Hearth’s Warming Eve parties normally end at ten… well it’s currently about nine thirty…”

There’s groans from the group as a whole as, like the kids, the adults were obviously having fun and hate to see it end.

Piney hops around on her hind hooves as she yells out, “Well it’s been brought to my attention that the kids really don’t want to see the night end, and have apparently just got started having fun… And I’m in no hurry to see that end… So, in the spirit of togetherness, and Hearth’s Warming… there is no curfew this year!” She starts hopping around as she says excitedly, “If you wanna party all night long, then so be it! With it being winter the farm helpers have all gone home, so there’s plenty of room for everypony when you want to crash if you decide to stay!”

She hops up onto the workbench next to the karaoke table and sways her hips side to side as she yells into the microphone floating in front of her. “To use an old family phrase… ‘We’ve got a barn burner here tonight folks!’ There’s no going down until the sun’s coming up so let’s get this party started for real!”

An old stallion off to the side yells up at her, “Did you get into my stash of cider reserve?!”

She grins at him as she says, “Nope! I’m just feeling the excitement of the foals enjoying Hearth’s Warming, and it’s infectious! So let’s take their example, and forget about the rest of the world for one night!” She looks around as she says, “My ponies, no work for a few days. Shop’s closed until further notice! Enjoy your time off with your friends and family!”

A laughing cackling sound comes from the side and draws her attention. She sees the old stallion heading for the door so she yells after him, “Hey! You’re the one always complaining about the party ending too soon, why you going to bed now when I finally say okay?”

He looks over at her and cackles some more. “I’m not! I’m gonna go get a cask from my stash. If we’re throwing a proper barn burner of a party, we need the good stuff!”

Piney drops the mic and hangs her jaw as her eyes go wide. “Oh have mercy! What have I done?!” She shakes her head then yells after him, “Just one, you hear me, dad?! Just one cask! No more!”

The same cackling comes from the side door before the old stallion’s gruff voice calls back, “One for me, one for everypony else, got it!”

Piney nickers off to the side as she rolls her eyes. Then she looks around at the giggling crowd and shrugs as she says, “Hey, it’s only once a year, right?”

She quickly kicks the music back on and hops back down to the side as she says, “Have fun everypony!”

And as if all they were waiting for was permission, the party ramps up to full swing in an instant as Piney walks back over to where Heartly is standing.

Piney looks at her and arcs her brows worriedly as she asks, “Are you okay, dear? You look like you’re about to cry?”

Heartly looks at her and the pained expression on her face can’t be hidden, even with the forced smile on her face. “It’s… it’s just…” *click* “I’ve been so-” *tick* “so afraid…” She turns around and looks over past all of the adults to where the kids are bounding around and chattering about the game and the party. “But… look…” She limply waves a forehoof towards them as she says, “I got my b-” *tick click* “Baby back… He’s been so miserable… and afraid…” She looks over at Piney and gives her a warm but pained smile as she says quietly, “You’re the best at gifts, Garland… You found a way to give me my baby back… to help him find joy again… Gearing was right… this is the best Hearth’s Warming ever.” She reaches over, wraps a foreleg around Piney, and jerks her over with her ridiculous strength. As she starts abrasively nuzzling Piney she mumbles in her mane, “Thank you for making this the best Hearth’s Warming ever… And making my greatest treasure shine again…”

Piney nuzzles in with her and replies softly, “That’s what Hearth’s Warming’s all about… Ponies coming together to help each other out and for mutual joy…”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Piney.”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Heartly.”

Footnote: Happy Hearth’s Warming, everyone.

Author's Note

As a reminder, this is a canonical side story for the story Fallout Equestria: Clockwork Precision. And, like others, this one introduces more lore to the story. Although this one has some particularly strong connections to a particular incident that’s referenced in this one. It’ll be talked about in the main story in the future, but that won’t be for quite a while (referencing the most recent release being chapter 75). So, in case you were wondering, ‘what happened’ WILL actually be brought up in the main story.

Happy Holidays everyone. Wherever you are and whatever you celebrate. May the season bring much joy and happiness into your heart.