Hearth’s Warming Trepidations

by Admiral Biscuit

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dinky Hooves, Other, Romance, Derpy Hooves, Slice of Life
Length: 5663

Dinky invites Lily Longsocks, her new fillyfriend, to celebrate Hearth's Warming with her family and friends. She just needs to tell Derpy that the two of them are more than just friends.

Every year, Dinky is part of a big Hearth’s Warming gathering, and this year she impulsively decided to invite Lily Longsocks, her fillyfriend. Of course Derpy says yes; the more ponies, the merrier.

The only problem is, Dinky hasn’t mentioned that she and Lily are more than just friends, and she’s worried what Derpy might think.

This was written for Emotion Nexus as a part of Jinglemas 2020! For more information about Jinglemas, checkout our group!

Published 2020-12-24 00:10:03 UTC
Last updated 2020-12-24 00:10:03 UTC

Wassail

Hearth’s Warming Trepidations
by Admiral Biscuit
For Emotion Nexus

Lily Longsocks set her tray down on the cafeteria table. “Hey, Dinks, you looking forward to Hearth’s Warming?”

Dinky nodded. “Yeah . . . well, sorta. I’ll miss you, but it’s only a coupla days.”

“Weird, isn’t it?” Lily frowned as she settled into her seat. “Last year, I was really looking forward to the winter holiday, to having some time away from school and playing in the snow and making snowponies and baking cookies and opening presents and stuff.”

“Yeah.” Dinky bit into her sandwich. “Do you do the usual earth pony thing and have a big gathering with all your friends and family?”

“That’s an earth pony thing?” Lily shrugged. “I mean, yeah, I guess, we open presents and just sort of relax. It’s kind of fun, Mom usually wants to make nice meals but on Hearth’s Warming she relaxes and we just eat whatever. I—I would have thought that unicorns would be more into the tradition, although I guess since Derpy isn’t a unicorn. . .”

“She’s the one who told me that the tribes coming together was important, which was why we had earth ponies and unicorns and pegasi all celebrating as a big family.”

“That sounds nice. We’re a lot more laid-back, just close family.”

“Mom gets together with a bunch of ponies; she’s been doing it as long as I can remember. We make a big feast with more food than any of us can eat. The big ponies pass around a bottle of wine that Berry made special, and even though I shouldn’t have Sparkler let me have a sip last year.” Dinky rubbed a hoof on her chin. “I’ve been told that wine is bad for fillies, but not for adult ponies and sometimes I don’t know where I fit in.”

“If your big sister says its okay, then it is,” Lily declared. “Sisters are supposed to tell you what’s right and what’s not, just like friends, and I don’t think that Amethyst would lie to you.”

“No, of course she wouldn’t.”

“So you said a bunch of ponies?”

“Yeah, Cherry Berry and Comet Tail and Golden Harvest and Written Script and Noi and Berry Punch and Pinchy, and Sparkler sometimes has a stallionfriend, and sometimes there are other ponies, too. White Lightning shows up some years and not others, she used to work with Mom when she was a weatherpony, but they’re not super close.”

“Sounds like fun! Can I come?”

“I’ll have to ask Mom, but I bet she’ll be okay with it.”

•••

What had seemed like a good idea during afternoon classes faded as Dinky walked home. She hadn’t told her Mom about Lily, at least not about how she really felt about her, she hadn’t mentioned the sneaky nuzzles when nopony else was looking or how their studying sessions together were often anything but. And a few years back she’d overheard a conversation between Sparkler and Derpy she was never meant to.

”Is he the one?”

A moment of silence, then: ”If you get . . . Grandma Derpy, I’d just melt.”

New foals were the cutest thing ever, and everypony knew that having a special somepony led to having foals to fawn over, but what if a couple couldn’t have foals? Was that wrong? Dinky wasn’t sure, so she’d kept quiet even when her mind screamed at her to tell the truth. Lily was a classmate, a close friend, a study buddy, and as far as Derpy and Sparkler were concerned, nothing more. Nevertheless, there was a flutter in her chest whenever she thought of Lily, and it weighed upon her to keep such a secret.

The pegasi had been ramping up the snow, getting ready for Hearth’s Warming, but they hadn’t put enough cover on a well-travelled road yet to completely hide the rock, and Dinky punted it, once, twice, three times, her route ambling to follow it and kick it along again.

She’d spent enough time around farmponies to know that rocks just sprang up out of the ground because they could, and everypony knew that rocks on roadways should be cleared whenever they were encountered so that nopony would step on them. She could have picked it up with her mouth or her field and set it aside, but her mind was in a knot and kicking the rock was simple, kicking the rock was easy. Knock it down the road, and a few steps later there it was again, ready to be kicked anew.

She could keep it up forever, kicking it all the way home, like a stray. In the morning she could kick it back to school, a never-ending cycle.

•••

Ponies weren’t rocks, and problems weren’t either. Dinky sat at the kitchen table poking at her homework while Derpy made dinner. She told herself that it was the dual distractions of science and stew that put her mind into a tailspin, not Lily’s innocently-asked question. The two of them were a pair, practically everypony knew it.

Practically everypony.

“Hey, homework got you down?” Derpy paused, dribbling soup spoon still in her mouth.

“Kinda.” It involved school, so it wasn’t entirely a lie. “It’s, uh, magic stuff.” That was a lie, and her cheeks burned as she said it.

“Oh.” Derpy frowned around the spoon. “You could ask Sparkler, I bet she knows.”

“She wouldn’t—” Dinky began, before catching herself. Amethyst, older sister, sometimes confidant, maybe she would know. And there was no harm in asking, in suitably couched terms, of course. Sparkler had had a few coltfriends over the years. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

Derpy paused long enough to rub her daughter’s mane. “That’s my muffin.”

School work was cover, so as eager as she was to trot upstairs, Dinky gathered her notebook and corralled her textbook—decidedly not a spellbook—and considered stuffing them into her pass-me-down saddlebags before rejecting the idea, it was only upstairs and while she still wasn’t entirely confident holding things aloft with her magic, both of them would fit in her mouth if her field didn’t hold out.

•••

Sparkler had a small writing desk in her room, and she was bent over it penning a note. Dinky knocked on the frame of her big sister’s door before entering—the door was open, but it was still polite to announce her entrance.

“Whatcha doing?”

“Writing a letter.” Sparkler set the quill back in the inkwell.

“Oh.” Dinky dropped her books on the floor. “I shouldn’t have interrupted.”

“It’s okay. You look pensive.”

Dinky scrunched her forehead. “Pensive? What does that mean?”

“Deep in thought, like the weight of Equestria is on your shoulders.”

“Well—”

“You can spill.”

“Promise you won’t tell?”

“Filly Scout’s honor.”

Dinky hopped up onto Amethyst’s bed. “So I was telling Lily about how Mom celebrates Hearth’s Warming with her friends, you know, we were talking about it ‘cause it’s coming up, and she said that her family doesn’t do anything big, they just laze around and open presents and make sandwiches or whatever for lunch, which I thought was kind of odd but then I know that different tribes have different traditions for Hearth’s Warming, even though it’s a day to remember the three tribes coming together and working together, and I thought that most of Mom’s adult friends aren’t pegasi, and I’ve always thought that making a big feast was more of an earth pony thing, even if we participate and you’re a unicorn and I’m a unicorn, and even if we take away me and you and Pinchy and Noi . . . and I guess Comet Tail and Written Script ‘cause they’re unicorns too but they weren’t always with us.

“Maybe having a big feast is really a unicorn thing, and I was wrong thinking that it was an earth pony idea, and maybe that was why Lily’s family doesn’t have a big get-together like we do.”

“Trust me, different ponies celebrate in different ways, and there aren’t any rules about how it should be done. Do you have an idea of what we should be doing? Or are you worried that you don’t really get any say in it? Or that you don’t know what the unicorn traditions are? And who’s Lily, is she also a unicorn?”

Dinky shook her head. “She’s an earth pony and she’s really strong.”

“I don’t think I know her.”

“We’re, uh, pretty close friends.”

Sparkler narrowed her eyes. “Are you.”

Dinky nodded. “Yeah, we play together and eat lunch together and groom each other after gym and she doesn’t like Diamond Tiara either.” She pressed a hoof against her mouth before she could say anything else, but it was too late; amusement twinkled in Sparkler’s eyes.

“Remember Snapshot?”

Dinky nodded.

“And remember you dancing around on your hooves after I told you about him, after I bared my soul to you? Do you remember how you were chanting ‘Sparkler’s got a coltfriend’ like a bratty little sister?”

“Yeah.”

“And I tried to get you to shut up ‘cause I wasn’t ready to tell Mom about him yet? But you couldn’t or wouldn’t keep your muzzle shut and so she did find out? And then she started asking me all sorts of questions about him, questions I wasn’t ready to answer because I didn’t really know yet.”

Dinky’s ears fell. “I’m sorry.”

“What’s Mom doing right now?”

“She’s, uh.” Her eyes darted around the room, looking for an escape. “Maybe she stepped out for a minute ‘cause we’re both big ponies and can be left on our own and stew doesn’t have to be stirred all the time, it can simmer on its own.”

“You’re squirming like a filly who’s gotten caught with her hoof in the cookie jar. I bet she’s in the kitchen, and I bet if I shouted out that you’ve got a fillyfriend she’d be right at the door and want to know all about her.”

Dinky shook her head. “I’d tell her you were being mean, and, and I’d tell her that you were making things up.”

“But I’m not. Am I?”

“Don’t be mean.”

“I’m not.” Amethyst abandoned her chair and climbed onto the bed, next to Dinky. “Do you want it to be a secret?”

“I don’t know. It seems like it should be.”

“Why?”

“Because . . . because I overheard Mom telling you she wants grandfillies. And Miss Cheerilee says that only a stallion and a mare can make them.”

“No.” Sparkler wrapped her foreleg tightly across Dinky’s back. “She wants you to be happy. And if Lily makes you happy, she’ll be happy. Listen, when I was in the orphanage, I heard ponies talk. They said that Mom wouldn’t be happy with a unicorn, they said that she belonged in the sky and I’d forever have my hooves on the ground, they said that I’d drag her down, and sometimes they said that as if I wouldn’t hear but I did. I heard it enough times that I started to almost wish that the paperwork wouldn’t go through, that they’d find some way to reject her, that they’d find some way to reject me, and I should have known better—even though in my heart I knew different, ‘cause she came to see me every day, to encourage me and keep my spirits up, to hug me and let me cry into her mane when I needed to, and I pushed those other voices away because they didn’t matter, because every night when I laid down to bed I could count on her being there the next day, ready to fight for me again.” She tapped a hoof against her breast. “If a pony’s heart is a light in the darkness, Mom’s is a beacon, a bonfire. Lots of pegasi live in cloudhouses, and she used to live in a cloudhouse, and have you ever heard her complain that she can’t live in a cloudhouse anymore?”

Dinky shook her head.

“As sure as Princess Celestia raises the sun, she’s happier with you and I than she ever would be with a cloud mansion—a cloud castle, even. Don’t be fooled with your mind’s doubts, follow what your heart says, because it knows best.”

“Do you promise?”

Sparkler nodded. “Sister to sister, cross my heart, hope to fly—”

“Stick a cupcake in my eye,” they finished in unison.

•••

Dinky couldn’t fly, but she was still walking on a cloud as she returned to the kitchen, buoyed by Amethyst’s words.

“Did you get your problem solved?”

“I think so.” Brief doubt crept in, pushed aside by the confident press of her older sister. “Hey, can I invite a friend from class to our Hearth’s Warming celebration?”

“Of course.” No hesitation. “Hearth’s Warming is about unity, about ponies being together, anypony is welcome.”

“It’s not an inconvenience?”

“Between Cherry and Goldie, they’ll make enough food to feed us until the New Year at least, and if we let her, Berry’ll bring enough wine to keep us soused until Winter Wrap-Up. Remember last year?”

“I almost got sick of cookies.”

Derpy nodded. “That’s how you know we’re doing it right.”

•••

“She said no, didn’t she?”

The two fillies were at their table in the lunchroom, enjoying their first opportunity together out of class.

“She said that anypony was welcome,” Dinky said. “That it’s about unity and coming together.”

“Really?”

Dinky nodded. “Yeah, and Sparkler told me that she—well, never mind, the point is that you’re more than welcome to join us.” She started wagging her tail, unconsciously, her mind already locking on the image of them snuggling in the living room, stuffed with more food than anypony should eat.

“Awesome.” The two fillies exchanged a hoof-bump, then a nuzzle. “So should I just come first thing in the morning, or. . . .”

“Later in the afternoon, we don’t get off to a quick start on Hearth’s Warming. When I was a filly, I’d get to open gifts before we got together, but now that I’m older and more patient and don’t believe in Santa Hooves anymore, we kinda take our time in the morning and sometimes we open a few presents, but . . . usually Mom wants to make snacks instead, so we’ll have something to share, and it’s more fun to help her than to open presents.”

•••

Dinky was mostly-prepared for Hearth’s Warming. She’d gotten gifts and wrapped them—most of them with Sparkler’s help.

She was still nervous. She hadn’t told Mom that she and Lily were more than just friends, and still worried how she might react. I could tell Lily to just act like a classmate, like she did before—how did she act before? No, she’d hate that. I could . . . I can’t uninvite her, that would be really rude and she’d hate me for it. I could pretend to be sick, but that would ruin Hearth’s Warming for everypony.

“You still stressing out?”

Dinky blinked and snapped her head around. “What, me? No, I was just thinking.”

“You were looking at the wall for like, five minutes.”

“I’m just nervous.”

Sparkler snorted. “You’re nervous? I’ve got to be on stage in front of everypony playing Clover the Clever tonight, I should be the one who’s nervous.”

“Nuh-uh. You do that every year; you even say her lines in your sleep sometimes.”

“I . . . do?”

“Every time after the weatherponies bring the first snow, for as long as I can remember, back when we were sharing a room. This year, I stayed up and I was watching the snow fall and I heard you. ‘The more hate the spirit feels, the colder things become.’”

“’And now our bodies will become as cold as our hearts, all because we were foolish enough to hate.’” Sparkler rubbed her hoof through Dinky’s mane. “Did you know that Commander Hurricane’s shield has his lines printed on the back of it, ‘cause last year he couldn’t remember them?”

Dinky started chuckling. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. My first year, I was so nervous, I thought I’d forget, so some of the pages of my script were tacked to the scenery or mixed in with Princess Platinum’s documents. Nopony watching had any idea . . . some of those are still with Princess Platinum’s documents, since we keep using the same props year after year.”

•••

Dinky and Derpy left for the town commons just before sundown. Sparkler was already gone; she had to put on her costume and makeup and be ready for when the play started.

All through town, ponies were collectively making their way to the stage. Nearby roofs were clustered with pegasi, and a few clouds had been tied to chimneys as additional viewing platforms.

Near the commons, enterprising ponies had set up stands selling cookies, cakes, and candies; hot chocolate for the young or young-at-heart and hot toddies for the adults. Derpy stopped long enough to buy a bag of chocolate-dipped mint cookies from the Filly Scout’s booth, while Dinky trotted ahead, scanning the crowd. A familiar pink coat caught her eye, and she waved a hoof in the air, nuzzling Lily when she finally made her way through the throng of ponies.

“Are you here with your family?”

Lily shook her head. “We used to go when I was a little filly, but they don’t come anymore, so I just went by myself.”

“Did you sneak out?”

Both fillies jerked—they hadn’t heard Derpy come back.

“No, ma’am. I asked if I could come see it, and they said that as long as I stayed with other ponies and didn’t come home too late, I could go.”

“I’ll keep an eye on you, then. And don’t call me ma’am. It makes me feel old. Do you want a cookie?”

“Yes, please.”

“Dinky?”

“Uh, not right now.” I should have said yes, Mom’s going to think something weird is going on. She risked a glance up at her mother, half expecting a disapproving look, but Derpy just had her eyes forward, scanning around the crowd.

Before too long, ponies started to cluster in more tightly as the commons filled up. Cherry Berry and Comet Tail found them first, and they were followed by Golden Harvest, Written Script, and Noi. Berry Punch was tending one of the drink stands with her daughter, and would watch from there.

•••

Dinky didn’t see much of the pageant. She really only paid attention when Sparkler was on stage; for the rest of it, she concentrated on the warmth of snuggling up against Lily—it was more than just warmth, it was comfort and completeness and security.

All too soon the play was over. The hoofstomps threatened to bring the stage down, and it wasn’t until things quieted down that Derpy leaned over to Lily. “Would your parents be mad if you went to Sugarcube Corner with us?”

“They might wonder,” Lily said. “Since some of our neighbors will be coming home, and if I’m not with them they might worry.”

“Well, next year then. Do you want us to walk you home?”

“I could,” Comet Tail suggested. “She doesn’t live that far from my house, and I’ll just meet you at Sugarcube Corner.”

“Thanks! See you tomorrow, Dinky!” Lily nuzzled Dinky and then fell in with the unicorn as they made their way across through the crowd.

•••

The rest of the evening passed in a blur. Dinky barely tasted her dessert and couldn’t remember any conversations at all; her mind was still on the feeling of being pressed up against Lily and wondering if Derpy had noticed or not and if she was going to say something about it when they got home.

•••

Derpy was staggering on her hooves by the time they made it home. The last few days before Hearth’s Warming were insanely busy for a mailpony, and she’d worked dozens of extra hours making sure all the mail got delivered. The sugary treats had given her a short burst of energy, but when she got home she went straight to bed, while Sparkler and Dinky sat on the couch.

“I saw you from backstage,” Sparkler said. “I always look over the crowd to see if I can spot you. Was that Lily you were snuggled up with?”

Dinky nodded. There was no point in pretending otherwise.

“Did Mom say anything?”

“No . . . I don’t know if she noticed.”

“I’m sure she did. Maybe not with her eyes, but I’m sure she felt the happiness radiating off you.”

“I’m still nervous.”

“Tell you what.” Sparkler lowered her voice. “Let’s us both be fillies again and we can nap together on the couch and wait for Santa Hooves.”

“I’m a big pony, and I know Santa Hooves isn’t real.”

“Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. How will we know if we don’t wait for him?” Sparkler pulled a blanket off the back of the couch. “Get comfy.”

“I’m not going to sleep,” Dinky protested. “I’m too nervous.”

“Then wake me up when Santa Hooves arrives, okay?”

“Okay.”

•••

Dinky did sleep, and the enigma of Santa Hooves was not solved. In the morning, she was still nestled against Sparkler, and there were presents arranged around the hearth, presents that hadn’t been there the night before.

I’d make a terrible guardpony. A few years ago, when she was younger, she had tried to stay up all night waiting for Santa Hooves—back when she really believed he was real. She’d never caught him then, nor anypony else.

Breakfast, then baking. All three ponies worked together, Dinky and Derpy mixing dough and forming them into gingerbread ponies, while Sparkler put them in and out of the oven, and built up a fire in the hearth as well. Soon enough their friends would be coming over and the house should be warm and inviting.

The thought of presents was pushed to the wayside, there was lots of other preparation to do. They might ultimately get opened a day late and that was fine by her.

“Who do you think is going to be first to arrive?” Derpy asked as they started washing dishes.

“I’ve got a bit on Carrot Top,” Sparkler said.

“Cherry said she was going to come early,” Derpy reminded her.

“Yeah, but she’ll forget something and have to go back to the farm.”

“I think Sparkler’s right,” Dinky said. “’Cause I see Golden Harvest out the window right now.”

A moment later, a knock and then the side door opened, and Noi trotted in. “Happy Hearth’s Warming! Mom’s got a lot of food in her wagon if you want to help.”

“Sure.” Sparkler headed outside while the two fillies hugged.

•••

By noon, the house was filling up with both ponies and food. Cherry Berry and Comet Tail arrived, bringing salads and fruitcakes. Sparkler put a holiday record on the turntable; Noi and Dinky went to the front yard to make snowponies.

After they’d finished their second, they were joined by Berry Pinch, in the company of her mother.

Dinky almost got so distracted with her friends that she forgot Lily was supposed to come. She did completely forget all her apprehensions about what Mom might think.

Especially when she saw a familiar pink pony making her way down the street, checking house numbers.

Dinky abandoned the ball of snow she’d been rolling and trotted down the street, nuzzling her fillyfriend. “You came!”

“I said I was going to. Here, I got you something.” She turned, revealing the present on her back. “They’re copper birds.”

“Copper birds?”

“Sure, for building your field. Go ahead, lift one out. They’re responsive to unicorn magic, more than a lot of things, so that makes them easy to grab, but they’re also heavy so you’ve got to work at them which is good for strength and dexterity.”

“I’ve got something for you, too. Inside, with all the other presents. What did you get?”

“I got socks and a dress and some new dolls and a new harness that’s more my size, a proper strong sidebacker. Maybe I’ll be able to make some bits towing a snow-roller. How about you?”

“Well, we haven’t opened presents yet. There was a lot of cooking and baking to do—there’s so much food, it’s hard to choose. Me and Noi and Pinchy are making snowponies, want to join us?”

“Sure.”

•••

“You weren’t kidding about all the food. And all the ponies. I think my Mom would freak out if we had this many guests over for Hearth’s Warming.”

“It’s nice.” Dinky rubbed her muzzle on Lily’s shoulder, then boldly kissed her ear. “Hanging out with friends.”

“Even if if was just the two of us, I’d be happy.”

“Eww, sappy,” Noi muttered. “You gonna get back to making snowponies?”

“Sure, come on.”

Lily stuck her tongue out at Noi, and then the two fillies started pushing Dinky’s half-finished snow-roll.

•••

By mealtime, all four fillies were dusted with snow and had mud on their hooves and fetlocks. After scraping their hooves off, they were set in front of the fire to dry before the meal was served.

That, too, was holiday tradition; every year they spent the first part of the day playing the yard, and every year they had to get cleaned up before being allowed to eat, even as the tantalizing aromas of the food teased them.

They were not alone; while Golden Harvest refused to leave her post in the kitchen, and Derpy kept her company, the rest of the ponies all crowded into the living room, taking up the couch and more room on the floor. Cherry Berry and Comet Tail snuggled on the couch, while Sparkler and Berry Punch chose the floor.

“Our house, we have our naps after eating,” Comet Tail offered.

Cherry punched him in the withers. “Shut up, we’re resting up so we’ll be good and hungry when it’s time to eat.”

“I wouldn’t mind a short nap,” Noi said. “It’s cozy and all this heat makes me tired, on account of how I have to tend to carrots in the snow all the time. Any other day, I’d still be outside taking care of them but the carrots get the day off for Hearth’s Warming, too.” She glanced down the line of fillies, imparting a great secret. “Some of the carrots in the stew are ones I grew, the Chantenay carrots. Those are the fat ones. They’re really tasty.”

“I helped make the wine this year, but I can’t tell you what kind it is, that’s a secret. But I helped trim all the elderflowers off their stems.”

“Is it elderflower wine?” Lily asked.

“I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.”

“Food’s ready!” Golden Harvest announced. “Has everypony washed their hooves?”

“Aww.” The line of eager fillies all turned tail and headed for the sink.

•••

Dinky and Lily had eaten lunch together in the cafeteria plenty of times, and with lots of other ponies around them, so it shouldn’t have felt that weird to be eating food together at home, but it did.

She normally sat between Sparkler and Derpy, but this time she was next to Lily, trying to eat while also carrying on a conversation with Lily and participating in all the conversations going on around them. It was overwhelming, but in a good way. Families and friends of all three tribes, gathered together in the warmth of a house, food aplenty.

Good most years; this year she was next to her fillyfriend, who was eagerly explaining how the copper birds were used to increase both field strength and dexterity. Noi also listened in with interest from across the table; Berry Pinch was completely distracted with a discussion between Cherry Berry, Comet Tail, and Berry Punch about the different techniques for flower wines, and the advantages of using thinned blossoms to produce them.

During a lull in conversation, Lily asked Written Script if he knew who to talk to about rolling snow—besides being a public service and a way to earn bits, it was also good exercise—and Sparkler got up to change the record.

Dinky leaned over and nuzzled Lily. She liked watching her work out, and she’d even been persuaded to try some exercise herself. Weights weren’t fun and pulling a stone-boat hurt, but trotting was fun, even if she was winded at the end.

Lily didn’t mind; Lily was supportive and assured her that the more she did it the better she’d get, and in return she was encouraging when Lily lifted weights when she increased the amount of weight she could lift or the number of repetitions. She’d become quite adept at putting Lily’s harness on and taking it off again, and the field weights were a perfect gift for building up magic; she could use them while Lily was on an exercise machine in the gym.

It was only as she pulled her head back that she remembered she wasn’t in the school cafeteria, she was in front of everypony, a council of adults all gathered around the table and surely at least one of them had seen her, at least one of them had noticed and soon the conversation would stop and accusatory hooves would point in her direction, they’d shun her for being different like some of the ponies at school did.

Any moment.

The conversations didn’t stop. Conversational partners shifted; Comet Tail told Lily which kind of shoes were best for snow, and then Cherry Berry patiently explained why he was wrong. In a larger town there might have been a following debate about who was the best farrier; Ponyville only had one.

Eventually, by mutual consent, dinner was cleared, and then it was time for dessert. Gingerbread ponies, sugar cookies, cinnamon stars, carrot cake, and springerles. And, of course, two bottles of elderflower wine.

Even the fillies got a small splash—it was Hearth’s Warming, after all.

•••

Ponies scattered through the house during the postprandial period. Four briefly gathered to play a round of Quadrille—which only Written Script knew the rules to; after losing, Derpy dragged out a battered Battlecloud game and proceeded to destroy him.

Comet Tail suggested playing Tablut, and Cherry Berry reminded him that Hearth’s Warming was about friendship and maybe that wasn’t the best game to foster friendship.

That didn’t stop him, and even faced with the fearsome duo of Dinky and Lily, he won. Twice. Playing both sides, because they demanded a rematch after their first loss.

By the time at least some of the adult discussion had turned to the best types of firewood for particular hearths or stoves, and some of the other adult conversation had turned to which stallions were cute and also available, Dinky and Lily retired to the living room couch.

One end was already taken by Noi, who always burned bright and then crashed hard.

All the adults were occupied, and everything was absolutely perfect. They were not alone, but they might as well have been, gazing into the dancing fire, the conversations around them as heard and unheard as the music on the record player.

Her belly was full and her spirits were high and she’d only opened one present so far but so what? She was on the couch with the pony she loved, surrounded by family and friends, and their eyes locked and then the two fillies leaned in for their first kiss. Quick, and then they backed off, cheeks burning, but it was right, so they tried again, this time lingering, savoring the moment, the capstone to a perfect Hearth’s Warming.

Epilogue

“Daddy!” Derpy dropped her plate and galloped to the door, nearly knocking her father off his hooves. “You made it!”

“I would ha been ‘ere sooner but t’engine broke in Canterlot an there wasn’t owt ta do but fly t’rest of t’way. These auld wings aren’t as strong as they used ta be.”

“Oh, you should have sent a telegram, I could have flown out to meet you or sent a cab to get you.”

“Nay, I’ll be aright. Day I ride a cab to ma daughter’s house is t’day they send me offn a cloud.” He nuzzled up against her head. “Fillies and colts, they allus want good snow for Hearth’s Warming and we’re reight busy, but it allus fills my heart with joy ta see them playin’ outside, I couldn’t be disappointin’ them.”

“You gotta relax, your wings must be so tired. Eat a cookie, that’ll get your strength up. And have some wine, it’s elderflower, Berry made it. It’ll warm you up inside.”

He picked up a cookie and started nibbling on it, then set it down on the counter. “Are your tykes ‘ome?”

“Of course, everypony’s here, we hosted at my house this year because I was hoping you’d come.” The two of them started walking out of the kitchen; the two of them both saw Dinky kiss Lily; the two of them both stopped in their tracks.

“So I was right,” Derpy muttered. “Good for her.”

“Who’s ‘er fillyfriend?”

“Lily Longsocks, they go to school together.” Derpy giggled. “She’s afraid of what I might think, so she’s been trying to pretend they’re just classmates. Her and Sparkler spent the night on the couch, I think she’s afraid of how I might feel about them.”

“What you done already, and she’s got doubts? Nobbut a fool would think owt.”

“I’ve never told her.” Derpy pressed a hoof against her father’s lips. “And I never will. There’s no need to burden her with that, not today, not ever. She’s happy and that’s all I care about, that’s all I’ve ever cared about.”

“Aye, t’would be rude t’interrupt them. Mayhap I’ll ‘ave a glass of elderflower wine after all.”

Author's Note

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