Scootaloo’s foster parents… they weren’t bad. As far as fosters go, anyway. Roseluck and Noteworthy had reasonable rules and were flexible with them. She had her own space, which was more than she could say for the orphanage, and the pair had a quiet, thoughtful way of listening when she had something to say.
Pretty good fosters, really. When Scootaloo asked to spend Hearth’s Warming with a friend, they had all the right questions. They made sure she knew she was welcome to spend it with their family, and called the other house to check if all the adults were on-board. That morning they started the present parade a little early, gifting Scootaloo with a fair chunk off her wish-list. Scootaloo gave them presents in turn, a habit she’d never considered for any of her old fosters. Breakfast was a delight of sugary holiday cereal, and off she left with an extra present snuggled on her back between the wings.
Hearth’s Warming was a social, public event for ponies. The whole town had turned out by noon: caroling, watching plays, and generally trying to wish every single one of their friends and family a happy holiday. Scootaloo used to spend it all with the crusaders, but… well, they had all grown up a little as high school neared its end. Sweetie was busy with one of the plays, and Apple Bloom helped her family run their hot cider stall. Scootaloo stopped and chatted with both, but this time they weren’t the goal.
She left the hustle and bustle behind her for a side road, holding pleasant little houses and one in particular with snow-stained yellow walls and darkened windows.
Scootaloo trotted up to the front door and knocked hard. A light went on inside. She could hear hooves galloping down from the upstairs, then a skid, then a smash. Then a quick clambering back upright, and a shrimpy brown colt appeared in the door’s window.
“What’s the password?”
“Button Mash you dweeb, it’s freezing out here!”
A lock clicked and the door swung open, letting his voice emerge clearly. “Wrong, but I’ll let it go this time. The correct password is ‘Hello Button you handsome devil, it is I, your beautiful and awesome girlfriend here to–”
“Nerd!” Scootaloo roughly noogied his hair, longer than hers in a red-brown mullet. Button squealed, but there wasn’t much he could do to get away. Though a shortie herself, Scootaloo was wiry and athletic in a way scrawny, wimpy Button could never match.
Their impromptu wrestle turned to a hug, followed by a quick nose-nuzzle.
“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Button.”
“Right back at’cha.” He pulled back and gave her a wink. “And with the guest of honor here, the feast shall begin!”
Excitable as ever, he sped down the hall ahead of her. Scootaloo followed at a sedate pace, stopping to hang up her coat and hat.
...They were an odd pair, that was for sure. Of course, she supposed any filly would seem odd with Button Mash. Back in Cheerilee’s class he was a tiny little whirlwind who lived in his own mind, fighting dragons in sandcastles long after the others grew into hoofball and hopscotch. A kid who had to take meds just to sit still, who asked Scootaloo over to play video games just as the rest of the class realized a boy and girl together meant ‘dating.’
But it was fun. Chill, relaxed, with a boy who took his excitable nature and poured it upon her. Scootaloo liked the feeling of being liked so much. Enough so that when Button finally caught up and asked to date her for real, she gave it a go.
“Did your mom leave us leftovers?” Scootaloo called, meandering into the house. She arrived in the kitchen to find Button kneeling on the counter, head-first in a cabinet as he rummaged for fancy plates.
“Not really. She worked the last few days and is doing a twelve today. Nursing, you know.”
He slid a few dishes with a green-pine pattern onto his head and pulled it out. “Fear not! Button Mash has leveled up in cooking, and can do it on my own.”
Scootaloo had never seen him cook, and hid her flinch. “I’ll help. What do you need?”
Button flipped his plates onto the table and hoofed out one seat. “Sit down and look pretty.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.” Button trotted back to the kitchen. “It’s our first Hearth’s Warming as a couple. Today I shall serve you, just as you deserve.”
There – that was it. Why she dated the boy everyone said was beneath her. Friends were friends and fosters were fosters, but Button treated her like she was really, really special.
So Scootaloo obeyed, sitting down to watch and admire the guy so many looked down on. They hay-ham came from the oven looking fine, though it was store-bought and pre-seasoned. He sliced vegetables for salad slowly and carefully, then with dings of the timer produced steaming biscuits and pie. Not half as elaborate as her dinner with Apple Bloom’s family last year, nor the most complex of dishes, but Button had clearly made the effort.
The effort for her.
The taste of everything was predictable, but predictably hot and hearty. They swapped news as they ate – Scootaloo’s hoofball season was going okay, though they wouldn’t take home any trophies. Next year she might be team captain. Button, meanwhile, had managed to raid the last dungeon in World of Horsecraft and retired that character at the maximum level.
With dinner done, Button put eggnog on a low heat and made a third plate, which he covered in plastic wrap and slid into the fridge. He put away the leftovers, and with such responsible chores out of the way spun to Scootaloo with a grin. “Wanna see my loot? Mom gave me my presents last night so I wouldn’t have to wait.”
Scootaloo hoofed up the wrapped box she had set on a chair. “Not before you open mine, I don’t.”
“Oh, right! Wait a sec.”
Scootaloo sat calmly, listening as Button stampeded up the stairs, then back down, then skid and crashed. He arrived with not one, but two holiday-wrapped parcels.
“Here we are! One from mom, one from me.”
Their exchange was, by its nature, a brief affair. Button’s mom had given Scootaloo a good winter coat, which every adult believed was a very responsible and useful gift for an orphan. Scootaloo knew this, because she had two others in her closet and wore a third here. Button got her a laminated life-sized Washouts poster which was honestly way more friggin’ cool.
She got him a gaming mouse. Which felt a little dumb and useful, but hey, it glowed in the dark and he went through a few each year. Noteworthy let her do some extra chores for the money.
At least Button seemed happy to get it. Though he did quickly put it to the side, rocking excitedly in his chair. “NOW can I show you?”
Scootaloo gave a humored snort. “Eggnog me, babe. Then let’s go.”
With steaming mugs, they made their way to the living room. Debris of wrapping paper laid around a shiny new game system… or at least, it was clean and shiny like it was new. A simple rectangular box of dim gray, with wired controllers leading out. Button turned on the TV and leaned over to press in a strange box with a colored image and title, ‘Super Alicorn Rider 2.’
The series was on 8. Scootaloo sipped her nog. “You got an old Neighntendo.”
“A Haytari,” Button corrected. He turned on the system and launched himself to the couch. “This baby is older than me!”
Scootaloo sat down beside him. “Help me out, here.”
Button sucked at explaining things. He stuttered a bit, just like in grade school, and even when he caught up only managed fits and starts. “It’s like… I do video games, you know? They were way harder back in the day and I think it’s cool to like… see the evolution. A lot of games now are just graphics and boring, whereas these used to push you. Make you actually develop skill to beat them.”
“I get that.” Scootaloo found herself nodding. Honestly she just saw video games as a fun time-killer with Button or her friends. But as somepony who spent a solid five years idolizing Rainbow Dash before settling in to just ‘being a fan,’ she understood what it meant to seek challenge. To build skill and strength to surmount an objective, even if you set it yourself.
Button’s addiction had turned to passion, somewhere over the years. Honestly, Scootaloo admired that. She didn’t have anything like it in her own life – she wanted to graduate, get a job pushing clouds, and relax in her off time. It was kind of cool, seeing Button’s weird, high-key joy in action.
She maneuvered to lean her chest behind him, letting Button rest back into her tougher frame. She wrapped her hooves around his barrel and rested her chin atop his head.
Lights and colors appeared on the screen. Hardly modern, but not bad. Simple, cartoony graphics that looked pleasant and appealing.
“Wanna go two-player?” Button asked.
“Nah.”
With hot nog and warm snuggles, Scootaloo was in heaven. Her wing reached over to slide a blanket over them for maximum coziness. Their breaths moved out of sync, each rocking the other gently. Button instinctively tried to lean forwards to the television, but Scootaloo held him back.
She liked watching others play, weirdly enough. Just like relaxing in front of a good show, if a bit more pixelated than usual. The bright pink alicorn and her earth pony rider were clear enough (the game predates Princess Cadence’s rise), as were the enemies Button either jumped on with the alicorn or stabbed with the rider’s lance. There was a story, too, told with minimal text of the alicorn plucking the earth pony from Equestria to help save her world.
Button breezed through the first two levels, but soon enemies began to come thick and fast. Progress slowed, and after his third death he tilted his head back to look up at Scootaloo. “Do you… want to do anything else today? See the plays or carols, or whatever?”
“The plays?” Scootaloo gave a snort-laugh. “Spoiler warning, the power of friendship drives back the windigos. I’m cool where I am now.”
She took another sip, relishing the sweet taste of the nog. She hesitated, wondering if what came next would be too sappy, then pressed on. “This is… where I want to be.”
Silence.
Then a shy little kiss brushed under her chin. “Love you, babe.”
A warm squeal built in Scootaloo’s throat. With no one watching, she allowed herself to grin goofily to the ceiling.
He returned to the game. Scootaloo gave it a good few minutes before setting her own kiss to the top of his head. “Love you, too.”
Cream Heart tried to enter her home quietly, but it was an old house. Wood panels creaked as she hung her coat and scarf, sore and sighing. Holidays or no, twelve-hour shifts were never going to be fast. At least she was done for the week.
After Hearth’s Warming. Her lips turned down.
That was why she broke half the rules of parenting and allowed Button to have his girlfriend over. Two unsupervised, dating sixteen year-olds. But the alternative was to leave him alone on Hearth’s Warming, with no family in the area and no interest in chatting with strangers.
The lights were low, but not off entirely. She slipped into the kitchen to find a note pointing her to the fridge, where a plate was made up and ready for the microwave.
Button – cooking! Who would have ever guessed? She laughed silently and turned to the living room.
There they were, with the television off and asleep where they sat. No sign of sweat or any impropriety – just snuggled down peacefully within a blanket, surrounded by half-empty mugs and bitten cookies. Button rested into Scootaloo’s chest, dozing. The tougher girl had set her head to a pillow, sleeping with her hooves around him.
Cream Heart put her food in the microwave, though removed it before the timer went off. She turned on some Hearth’s Warming music with a low volume to let songs of comfort and joy creep softly through the house.
Then she sat down to eat, watching the pair with calm happiness and the strange, contenting knowledge that not only would everything be okay, but it was all okay right now, too.
Author's Note
Happy Holidays to all! And especially to you, Akataja. I hope you enjoyed it. 
