Author's Note
There need to be more stories focused on this unusual family, especially considering the real world circumstances surrounding their voices.
The title comes from a lesser known Charles Dickens Christmas story: Cricket on the Hearth
The Greatest Gift of All
Despite knowing that Ponyville was where Rainbow Dash resided, Quibble Pants had never made it a priority to go and visit her there. Even after Rainbow had helped him out twice he hadn't felt like he really needed to call on her unless maybe it was to go to another Daring Do convention. Besides, he had his new family with Clear Sky and Wind Sprint now, that was enough to keep him busy.
Yet now here he was, in Ponyville and once again in need of Rainbow's help. Hearth's Warming was still a ways away and he could only hope that meant she wasn't too busy. He had no one else he could turn to on such short notice aside from Clear Sky, but he didn't want to be asking her for fear that Wind Sprint would overhear or find out.
"So this is Ponyville," Quibble thought as the stallion took in all the sights and sounds of the quaint little town. "Not the sort of place you'd expect to find ponies like Rainbow Dash, but I guess it has a certain charm to it."
The first order of business for Quibble was tracking down his pegasus' friend's exact whereabouts, or at least an address at which he could hopefully call upon her. He didn't know where she might choose to live in a town such as this and the subject had never come up in any of their conversations before. But if she were truly as big a deal as she made herself out to be then there had to be somepony in Ponyville who knew where to find her.
As luck and good fortune would have it, there were plenty of ponies who knew Rainbow well. The first shopkeeper Quibble asked was able to give him precise directions to the cloud house that the pegasus called home. And it only took a few more stops to find a unicorn willing to cast a cloud walking spell on Quibble so that he wouldn't have to worry about catching Rainbow on the ground, and one more trip after that to rent out a hot air balloon to take up to her house.
The earth pony stallion soon reached his destination, hoping his friend was home since he wasn't sure how long he'd have to wait if she wasn't. It felt strange to be walking around on clouds. "Just don't think too much about it and you'll be fine," He mentally reassured himself. "Besides, you've been in worse situations than this." Even so he quickened his pace to the front door and frantically knocked on it. He wasn't really that desperate but he didn't like the fact that his hooves weren't firmly on solid ground.
Rainbow was indeed home, having just gotten off weather duty a short time ago. The brash speedster was most surprised to see Quibble Pants show up unexpectedly and unannounced on her front step. "Quibble Pants? What brings you to Ponyville?"
Quibble immediately threw himself upon his pegasus friend only for her to step aside and have him smack firmly onto the surface of her home (how it was possible to replace a cloud floor he had no idea). He was quick to pull himself up, barely able to maintain his composure. "You gotta help me, Rainbow Dash!" He pleaded in desperation! "Hearth's Warming is coming up!"
The brash speedster shrugged her hooves. "So, what exactly do you need my help with? Shouldn't you be asking Clear Sky and Wind Sprint?"
"That's the whole point!" The stallion protested in a rapid fire tone of voice! "It's our first Hearth's Warming together as a family and I have no idea what to get Wind Sprint for a present! I was so focused on getting the perfect gift for Clear Sky I didn't think about what Wind Sprint might want! And now I've got less than a month to find the perfect gift for her!"
Rainbow surprisingly managed to understand every word her friend and fellow Daring Do fan had just said. It helped that she'd had experience with motor mouths before. "Okay..." She slowly blinked. "I'm not sure why you came to me. I'm not really much of a gift expert."
Quibble felt a knot form in his stomach upon hearing those words! "But you gotta help me! I don't know who else I can turn to! I don't wanna ask Wind Sprint, because then it won't be much of a surprise because she'll know what I'm gonna get her. I want it to be a surprise and I want it to be special."
"I suppose another book is out of the question?" Rainbow questioned even though she needn't have asked.
"I tried to get her into Daring Do but she just wasn't interested, same goes for stuff like Power Ponies or Smash Fortune," Quibble commented and then lamented. "What's a geek like me to do in that situation? I don't want it to just be some random sports book or something."
The brash speedster could only shrug her hooves. She was a mare who knew her strengths and this kind of situation was not one of them. "Look, I'm not the kind of pony to ask. I don't really bother much with gifts unless it's for somepony important. And even then I don't really tend to think much about them," But then something came to her, a memory from a Hearth's Warming a year ago that she wouldn't be forgetting any time soon. "However, I think I know somepony who might be able to help."
Quibble's ears perked up as his heart began to flutter with hopeful relief. "Really?! Who?!"
Rainbow began scratching her mane with a hoof, trying to think of what she could remember on such short notice. "Well... I think Pinkie Pie said something about seeing 'The Gift Givers of the Grove' or something like that. It was all she'd talk about for days after last Hearth's Warming, alongside this riddle they apparently told her."
The earth pony blinked anew. "Who's Pinkie Pie?"
"One of my best friends. She's a little on the crazy and random side but once you get to know her she's not as annoying as you might think," Rainbow answered with a shrug. "She's also really big into parties, sweets and pranks. In fact, she takes parties so seriously she has a not so secret party planning cave where she keeps tabs on everypony and everycreature."
The more Quibble heard about this "Pinkie Pie" the more he was convinced she was just what he was looking for. Somepony like that would surely know how to help him out of his current predicament. "Okay, so where can I find her? Is she nearby? Oh please tell me she's nearby!" He pleaded in desperation!
The pegasus mare nodded as she gave the reply. "She should be. She lives and works at Sugarcube Corner. You can't miss it, it's a building with a roof that looks like cupcake frosting. Besides, you've seen her before."
"When was that?" Quibble briefly wondered before realizing. "Oh wait, she was on the Ponyville buckball team you were coaching, right? Can't believe I forgot about that."
"Hey, I get names and faces mixed up sometimes too," Rainbow chuckled before regaining her composure. "But if anypony can help you find the perfect gift for Wind Sprint it's got to be Pinkie Pie. At the least she'll be able to direct you to those gift givers, assuming they exist."
So it was that Quibble Pants made his way to Sugarcube Corner as quickly as he could! It was partially motivated by his desire to have his problem be solved and also partially motivated by his desire to be back on solid ground before the cloud walking spell could expire.
To the stallion's dismay he found that the humble little bakery was all but packed to capacity due to ponies like him who were still fussing about what to get for their friends, family and other loved ones for Hearth's Warming. He couldn't blame them, he was in the same situation. But he wished more than anything there weren't so many of them when they probably didn't need to see a specific pony like he did.
Fortunately for the stallion he didn't have to wait nearly as long as he thought. Pinkie Pie was bouncing from table to table to help deliver sweets to hungry customers and run their orders back to the kitchen. When she passed by Quibble Pants she recognized him in an instant! "Oh, it's you again!" She happily chirped! "Are you geeking out about buckball now?"
Quibble swallowed a lump in his throat. "I'm not and I wish I was because then I might know what to get Wind Sprint for Hearth's Warming," He quickly explained. "I talked to Rainbow Dash and she said you could help me. She said you once visited The Gift Givers of the Grove, whatever those are."
Pinkie nodded and giggled. "Yes indeedy! Can't tell how I found them though, that's a secret and I promised not to tell. But I know who told me the secret so I could tell them to tell you if you really wanna know. It's a long journey though."
"How long are we talking?" Quibble nervously pondered, knowing he didn't exactly have the benefit of time on his hooves.
"Reckon it would take at least a day or two to find them if you left now," Pinkie Pie replied. "Although I don't know if they're still where they were last time. They might have moved. Wouldn't surprise me if they did."
The nervous feeling in Quibble's stomach only deepened with every word he heard. It sounded like those gift givers were hard (if not impossible) to find, especially on short notice. "You sure you couldn't just take me to them yourself? I promise I wouldn't tell a single creature where they were or how I got the gift they'd give me."
The pink party pony only shook her head and seemed to laugh. "Nope, no can do I'm afraid. Aurora, Bora and Alice wouldn't like that, I think."
"Just my luck. Guess it's back to square one." Quibble sighed and lamented. He'd been really hoping to meet those gift givers since it sounded like they knew everything there was to know about finding the perfect gift.
Pinkie, sensing Quibble's distress, decided to ask him. "Why do you need them, exactly? I only went to see them last year because I was having trouble thinking of the perfect gift to get for one friend."
"That's kind of my problem, except I'm not getting it for a friend," Quibble explained. "You remember Wind Sprint, right? The filly I was trying so hard to get to accept me."
"Her? She was such a big buckball fan," Pinkie commented as she recalled the encounter. "But I thought you two worked things out."
Quibble glumly replied. "We did, really. But it's our first Hearth's Warming together and I spent so much time looking for the perfect gift for Clear Sky that I completely forgot to get something for Wind Sprint. I want it to be something special, something better than that buckball almanac I got her. I want it to be something she'll actually enjoy on her own, not something she enjoys because I got it for her. You know what I mean?"
The pink party pony surprisingly nodded in response. "Sounds exactly like that riddle those gift givers told me. And lucky for you I know exactly how it went," She recited it perfectly from memory. "'The greatest gift is more precious than gold, but it cannot be sold. When it breaks, it's not ended, for quickly it is mended. It can never be bought yet is easily sought.' And do you know what it is?"
The stallion gulped anew and began to sweat ever so slightly. "No. Should I know though?"
Pinkie giggled. "Yeah, because it's so easy! The answer is: Friendship! It was so obvious even I didn't think of it at first!"
"And how is friendship going to help me find the perfect gift for Wind Sprint?" Quibble questioned. "Like you said I can't box it or sell it."
Pinkie just laughed and explained. "Well, you worked so hard to get Wind Sprint to accept you as part of the family, right? That's kind of like friendship, trying to understand what someone else likes because you want to spend time with them."
"So, what, you're suggesting that I be the gift?" Quibble concluded.
"Not what was I going for but yeah, that totally works!" Pinkie Pie nodded and smiled. "Wrap yourself up all nice and present yourself to Wind Sprint. The rest is up to you," Then she bounced away. "Sorry I can't help you more but those tables aren't gonna wait themselves you know. Trust me, I tried and it didn't work."
And just like that, Quibble Pants seemed to know what he had to do to get the perfect gift for Wind Sprint. And he knew Clear Sky would probably be on board with it.
When Hearth's Warming rolled around at last, Wind Sprint woke up bright and early and Clear Sky woke up with her. It was a little bit of a surprise to the pegasus filly not to see her new dad anywhere. Had he already gotten up to make breakfast or something?
The two ponies made their way to the decorative tree they'd set up and where all their presents were kept. Clear Sky then used her magic to pull a rather large box in front of her daughter. "Here you are, sweetie," She told Wind Sprint. "Read the tag."
Wind Sprint did so, eyeing the large and clumsily written hoof writing displayed next to the bright red bow: "To Wind Sprint, From Dad". Being naturally quite curious, Wind Sprint pulled on the bow and tore up the wrapping paper to see what was inside. But it seemed to be just a regular, plain old cardboard box at first.
But then suddenly the box burst open, and out popped Quibble Pants who pulled his new daughter into a big hug! "Hey, kiddo!" He hugged her tightly.
Wind Sprint blinked in surprise. "Dad? You're the present?"
Quibble nodded as he trotted on out. "Yep, sure am. It was actually harder than you might think to put myself in a box before you woke up, your mom had to help me a little," Then he cleared his throat as he noticed Clear Sky giving him a look. "My present to you is me. You know, as your father."
"I don't get it." Wind Sprint remarked in confusion.
Clear Sky took the liberty of explaining it to her daughter. "Q here knows how much you still miss your old dad, and he knows you're still getting used to him as your new dad. So he wanted to show you how much you mean to him as his new daughter."
"Figured you'd like that better than some stuffy old book." Quibble pointed out.
Wind Sprint just buzzed her wings in excitement! "Oh, you're so silly, Dad! But that's what I like about you!" She hugged him again. "You didn't have to do any of this, but it means a lot that you did. Happy Hearth's Warming."
"Happy Hearth's Warming to you too, Wind Sprint." Quibble replied with a coo as he returned the hug. And Clear Sky joined in on it as well. It was truly a happy moment for all three involved, one they would never forget.
