Hearth's Warming Presence
"And you're sure Spike will be okay here?" Twilight Sparkle asked her mentor as she finished packing her travel bag.
Princess Celestia gave a mirthful chuckle at Twilight's maternal concern for the dragon hatchling that had been in her care for barely six months. It filled the alicorn with a pride that she might never be able to fully articulate in all her eternal years. Twilight was never meant to be the dragon's caretaker, but the young mare insisted on taking responsibility for the life she 'brought into this world'. "Twilight, I'll make you the same promise that I made to your mother when I took you on as my protégé; I will make caring for his wellbeing my personal responsibility."
Twilight stuck out her chin and gave a serious look up to the alicorn more than twice her height. "You had better."
Celestia returned her seriousness in kind with a solemn oath, "I swear it, Twilight. I will not let him leave my sight until the moment you return. Now go on, go home and enjoy the holidays with your family!" Twilight gave the baby dragon one last concerned look before turning to leave. "Oh, and Twilight," Celestia called out. She put a pouch into the unicorn's hoof. "For your work, volunteering in the campus bookstore."
Twilight opened it and gawked at the bits inside, the total value she could only hazard an estimate. "Princess I-"
Celestia hushed her. "Uh uh! Call it a... holiday bonus. Go get yourself something pretty like a new dress or pendant or-" Celestia remembered who she was talking to. "Or perhaps a signed, first-edition manuscript. You deserve it."
"Thank you, Princess!" With nothing else to give in exchange, Twilight could only offer her a gracious hug.
Celestia gladly accepted the embrace, confident that she had gotten the better deal.
The Executive Officer stood at the podium in front of the crowded auditorium of Royal Guard Officer Academy cadets, dryly reading off the command memorandum for the holiday leave.
"... And for the unicorns, I know it's going to be the new year, but fireworks spells within the city limits are still illegal. Pegasi corps, remember, no drinking and flying. Use the buddy system. Have a designated chariot. And... *sigh* watch out for fireworks spells on New Year's Eve. Everypony is to report back at zero nine hundred the day after New Year's. And... that's it. Stand by for the Commander." He stepped down and opened the door to the side of the room. "ROOM TENCH HUT!"
Everypony stood at attention as the commander walked to the podium. "As you were." Everypony sat back down. "Alright, y'all know me, so I'mma keep this brief: Don't get arrested, don't get anypony pregnant, and don't be late getting back! Is that clear?"
Everypony shouted in unison. "YES SIR!"
"Happy holidays, maggots. Dismissed!"
The cadets filed out of the back of the auditorium. On the way out, Spearhead flicked Shining Armor in the ribs with his wing. "Hey Shining, you coming out for drinks at Marshall's Court on New Year's Eve?"
"I'd rather spend the holiday with my family. Wouldn't you?" Shining asked.
"Pssh! All the trains are booked and I'm not flying all the way back to Las Pegasus just for a long weekend. I'd spend most of the time traveling. So me and the other bachelors are gonna get riggity-wrecked! You should come with!"
"Thanks Spear, but you know I don't like to drink that much."
"I know, Sergeant Straight Edge! But that means you can be our designated chariot!"
"Spear, I'm not even a pegasus. And I'm not carting your drunk asses all over the city by hoof."
"Alright, fine. We'll get a taxi. But you should still come. You know the mares there love a pony in uniform!"
Shining looked away. "You know my heart already belongs to somepony else."
"Bruh, it's not like you guys actually dated. She was your sister's foalsitter. Move on. Besides, why would she notice you? You're not even a lieutenant yet."
Motivation if ever Shining Armor had heard it.
"Have fun at the bar, Spear. Stay out of trouble."
"Hey, you know me!"
"Yeah... that's what I'm afraid of."
Spending the previous night in her foalhood home, Twilight Sparkle could barely sleep. Even though she knew the academy's schedule was even more regimented than her own, she still held out hope that he might come home early. She waited eagerly in the fogged window, her snout cold from being pressed up against the glass. She knew he was too frugal to splurge on a luxury like a taxi. And even at his brisk stride, it would be an hour's walk across the city. She wiped the window fog with her hoof once again to clear her view. Sure enough, fifty nine minutes past dawn, the pristine white stallion rounded the corner onto his parents' street.
Shining Armor reached the door and it flew open before he could even touch the handle. Inside the doorway was a purple unicorn with eyes the size of dinner plates and a smile that was uncomfortably wide.
"Oh. H-" Shining's greeting was cut off as the mare leaped at him, tackling him and wrapping her hooves around him in a tight embrace, squeezing his trachea and carotid arteries. Shining gasped as his vision started to go dark. "Twi- can't- breathe!"
Twilight let go of his neck, but still pulled him along into the house. "Hi! Oh my gosh I missed you B.B.B.F.F! I stayed up all night waiting for you! Who knew sleep was a disease you could cure with alchemy? It's this new potion I discovered called Folgers! Everypony at school uses it!"
"What, you mean coffee?" he asked. "Yeah I can smell that."
"You can? Is it me? Oh wait, did I not brush my teeth? Do I have morning breff? Breff!? Breff. B~r~e~a~t~h. Wait is that a word? It sounds made up. Wait, all words are made up. Mind. Blown. Words are funny. You're funny! You are hilarious!"
"Uh, exactly how much coffee have you had, Twilie?"
"Oh just the one... pot. I made more! You want some? I'll share!"
Shining rubbed his neck and sighed as he walked into the kitchen. "Yeah, I think I need some. You, however do not need any more. Like, ever." He poured himself a mug. "Listen, this is my first day of leave from officer school since the semester started, and I have a lot that I need to get done. Like, I still need to go gift shopping and-"
"I can wrap!" Twilight said. She dove into the other room and came back with a bin of wrapping paper, tape, and ribbon. She reached into the box and grabbed a pair of scissors. Her hoof trembled, dropped and tried to catch the scissors, tossing them in a volley.
Shining's magic grabbed them out of the air. "I don't think you should be handling anything sharp until you come down off this buzz. Have some water or something."
"Is somepony making coffee?" Night Light asked as he came downstairs.
Twilight giggled as she grabbed some ribbon and tied it into a bow around Shining's neck. "What is this?" he asked.
"Hehehe! A bow tie!" she said, bemused with herself. "You're my present this year."
Shining almost choked on his coffee. "Wait, what!?"
"Velvet, wake up!" Night Light yelled. "That thing we were always afraid of is happening!"
"Yeah! I'm gonna give you to Princess Celestia! I don't think she's ever had a coltfriend." Twilight jingled her pouch of bits. "She gave me a holiday bonus, and I didn't have anything to give back to her in exchange. Now I do!"
Night Light sighed. "Oh, thank goodness!"
Shining balked. "This is a joke right? You're not seriously going to pimp me out to Princess Celestia."
"Pimp? What's that?" Twilight asked.
"Uh, ask Dad."
"Uh, ask your mother," Night said.
"Nopony is pimping anypony!" Velvet growled, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she shuffled across the kitchen. "There's no need for anypony to be this loud this early in the morning." She grabbed the pot of coffee and poured a mug. She grabbed the creamer from the fridge and added some. The fridge groaned and shook as the compressor motor kicked on. She took a deep swig and then waited a moment, closing her eyes and taking a breath. Her eyes opened and her entire demeanor shifted. "Now then, it's Hearth's Warming weekend!" she said in a sing-song way, looking at her children. "Now that everypony is home, you can do your gift shopping! Just give me an hour or so to put myself together and I can take you two out to shop for your father."
"And then I'll tag in to shop for your mother this afternoon," Night Light said, as was tradition.
"Actually..." Twilight objected. "I have my own money this year, and I'm old enough to go gift shopping myself."
"Oh," Night Light said. "I guess that mean we can sleep in..?"
"Ehhh..." Velvet groaned nervously.
"I can handle it!" Twilight insisted.
"I'll go with her," Shining said. "That we we can shop for both of you at the same time and be done even sooner." Night Light raised a dubious eyebrow.
"I- I suppose that's a good compromise," Velvet said. "Just make sure to be home before dark."
"Mom, it's the solstice," Shining reminded her. "Dark is at like, four in the afternoon."
"Fine. Be home before dinner time then," she said.
"The usual time?" he asked.
"The usual time."
"Fine," Twilight huffed. "But I'm still going to get the better gifts for them and win back the Hard-Won Helm of the Sibling Supreme!"
A modest trot through town found Twilight and Shining in the Canterlot commerce district. "Well, we're here," Shining said.
"Yes! Now what are we buying for Mom and Dad?" Twilight asked.
Shining gave her a blank look. "I thought you knew."
"Why would I know?"
"This was your idea! I thought you already knew what you were getting!"
"What? No! Mom and Dad always each took me to shop for the other."
"Yeah, me too!" he said.
"What? Still? You haven't gone shopping on your own yet?"
"With what money?" Shining asked. "I've been at the academy all year. It's not like they pay me to be a student. All they give me is chow, a bunk, and a laundromat."
Twilight checked her bits. "Okay, I can cover for us. But you at least have some gift ideas right?"
"..."
"Right?" she asked again.
"I'm thinking! Besides, I thought you were the smart one!"
"There's no instruction manual for shopping for your parents' Hearth's Warming gifts!"
Shining tapped her horn with his hoof. "Get your head out of the library! Welcome to real life. There's no instruction manual for it."
"Okay, it's fine," Twilight tried to convince herself. "We're fine. Let's just try to remember what they like and what we've gotten for them before." Twilight's eyes lit up. "Dad likes books!"
Shining sighed. "No, Twilight. You like books. Dad just liked getting books to read to you. But you don't need bedtime books anymore."
"Oh."
"At least we don't have to worry about Mom," he assured her. "We can get her a set of snow boots. She loves getting boots and going sledding with me!"
"Mom already has like, a dozen sets of snow boots because you get her that every year!"
"Alright, alright. We can get them each something else based on what they like." Shining scratched his head.
"... Like what?"
"... Oh horse apples. We've known these ponies our whole lives and we have no idea what they like."
"No no no!" Twilight tried to deny. "Let's just... shop around for a bit and see if we can find anything." The streets were bustling with distraught ponies scrambling with their last-minute gift shopping, and now, they were a part of that chaos.
"Maybe for Dad, I can make something with macaroni again..." Twilight mused. "Last Hearth's Warming, I gave you my art."
"And the very next day I threw it away," Shining added.
"What!?"
"Yeah. What, did you think I was going to put that on the fridge in my dorm? You're not a blank flank. That sort of gift isn't very endearing anymore."
"A fridge!" Twilight said, pulling him into a home goods store. "We can get them a new refrigerator!"
"Something practical... yeah," Shining agreed. "Whoa, these are expensive!"
"I can see why Mom has been putting off getting a new one," Twilight mused aloud. One had a much lower price than the others. "Huh, I wonder why this one is on clearance."
"It's haunted," the store clerk said in all seriousness.
Twilight opened the fridge. A voice inside growled at her.
"T̞̞h͎̬e̜̭̗̮̼͕ͅr͉̩̪̼e̹̦͍̜̱̘̻ ̺ͅi͉͍̜͙s̡͈̪̰͇̯ ̱͕̠̮̹̞͙n̶̘͙̤̫̘͙̩ơ̺ ͉̩̞̗̳̙̳H͜e͚̲̱̬̲͖͞a̧̞r̰̕t̩͔͖̺̞̣́ḥ͈̳͡'̡s͘ W̘̖̝̖̼a̧͖͕͈̝͖̹̥r̶͙͚͍͙̹͓m͡i̜̻̮̹͚ng̮̱̤̻̬̹͜.̭̥̟̳ ̠T̕h͏͓̞̺̣̙̥e̜̪͔r̴̘̫e͙͝ ͓͉̯͍̥̱̀i͔̞̫̹̻̤͍s̰̻͉͖̞̗ ̡̗o҉͖͈̤̫͈ṋ͙͚l̸̲̬̫̼̜͍y̬͍̣̦̼̤̟ Ý̙̪̦̣̣̰u̷̯̳̞͚̣ḷ͍̗̺͇̙͇ḛ̤̠̺̳̝.͙̫"
Twilight closed the fridge. "Okay. New rule. Something within our budget that isn't haunted."
"Yeah."
An item on the front counter caught Twilight's attention. "Ooh! A peach scented candle! That'd be a great idea!"
"Are you just looking at random things and calling them good ideas?" Shining asked. He picked up the peach candle. "You know what this is? Something you re-gift. You'd just be giving her the gift of having a gift to give away."
"I'm kind of wishing we had something like that right now," she said. Shining worked on shuffling her out of the store when her eyes saw the candy at the register. "Ooh! Red Ryder bubble gum! I've always wanted to try that! Is it true that it's made from real red peppers?"
The clerk behind the counter laughed at her. "You'll chew your eyes out, kid!"
Shining pulled on her hoof more insistently. "You don't need candy, either! Come on, we have a job to do!" Outside on the sidewalk, foals were making a snowpony, complete with a broom tail, charcoal eyes and a scarf.
"Ooh, let me help!" Twilight said, grabbing the top hat with a bit of magic to complete the ensemble, giving it just a little something extra.
As soon as the hat was placed on the snowpony's head, it started screaming bloody murder. "Ahh! Why would you give me sentience! Existence is pain! Now I know what frozen dinner feels like!"
Shining quickly took the hat off the snowpony, turning it back into a lifeless sculpture of ice and snow. "Twilight, we talked about this! You can't just use your 'come to life' spell on random stuff!" He disenchanted the hat and gave it back to the traumatized foals.
"Sorry about that," Twilight apologized to the colt that had clearly been out in the cold too long.
He brushed his blue mane out of his eyes. "Izz okay," he said with the nasally voice of a stuffy nose that was runny and red despite his orange fur.
Twilight giggled. "You're voice is funny! I think it's cute!"
The pegasus colt was practically giddy as he took off into the air. "I'm cute! She said I'm cute!"
Shining snorted as he and Twilight moved on down the avenue. As silly as the display was, he could vividly remember the first time he felt the same way when a certain somepony called him cute, too.
"Come one come all!" a street vendor barked at the passers by, "Come get the must have gift of the season from Cut-Co!" He held up an ornate display box with a knife in it. "Something everypony needs in their kitchen!"
Twilight was dazzled. "Ooh! Shiny!"
"What?" Shining asked.
"No, I mean look at it! It's literally shiny!" Twilight said, pointing at the cutlery glittering in the sunlight.
"It's A Wonderful Knife!" the salespony said, pointing at random ponies in the crowd. "Everypony has one! It's in Bill's house, and Fred's house!"
"I'm sure Mom has a knife at home," Shining said. "And if she ever needs a new one, she can buy it for herself."
"But isn't that true of anything?" Twilight asked. "I mean, they're not poor."
"I know," Shining sighed. It was hard trying to shop for anypony that had everything. Because it meant that everything they saw was either something they didn't need, or they already had. "We need to try to get something more personal. Something meaningful."
"An exotic pet?" Twilight suggested, pulling him into the next store excitedly. A small, furry critter looked at her from inside a dark box. It made a cute little cooing sound like singing. "Aww, it's adorable! What is it?"
"Mogwai," The clerk answered simply.
"Oh, you are just the cutest thing!" Twilight said, lifting it out of the box. "I'm gonna take you home and we're going to stay up all night waiting for Sandy Claws together, and if he doesn't show up by midnight, then I'll let you have the milk and cookies that were meant for him. And if you make a mess of yourself eating, then I'll give you a nice bath!"
"I'm just going to take that away from you now," the clerk said, placing it back in the box and locking it. "Might I suggest a pet more suited for somepony like you..." He placed a rock on the counter. "Pet rock?"
Shining nudged her shoulder. "I think Dad is more of a plant pony than a pet pony anyway." He pointed at the large potted plant in the corner of the store, labeled Audrey II.
Twilight shook her head. "Not since what happened at my entrance exam."
Shining blushed. "Oh. Right. I heard about that." They shuffled back outside.
"Well, what about something consumable then?" Twilight suggested, pointing at the candy shop across the street.
"That's... not a bad idea," he agreed.
"Ooh, look!" Twilight said, pressing her face up against the glass. In front of her was a display of little yellow marshmallow baby chickens. "We could get Mom a chick in a box!"
"What!?"
"Mares love a chick in a box! You know, like in that Hearth's Warming song! You cut a hole in the box, you put a chick in the box, and get her to open the box. And that's the way you do it!"
"Twilight, I have no idea where you heard that song but I am positive that you misheard it."
Twilight threw her hooves in the air. "Well I don't know, Shining! I'm just trying to connect some dots here! We have the biggest shopping center here besides the Mall of Equestria in Whinnyapolis. All I know is Mom's an adrenaline junkie, and we can't exactly gift-wrap a roller coaster. And Dad likes bingo. What are we supposed to do, just get him bingo cards?"
Shining smacked his forehead. "Cards! We still need to get them Hearth's Warming cards!" Twilight opened her mouth. "And no, we are not making them out of macaroni art!" Twilight closed her mouth. Shining sighed. "Look, we've been out here all day and the sun is starting to set. So let's just get something!"
Inside the corner general store, Shining's eyes scanned across the rows of holiday cards. None of them felt very personal. None of them seemed like they were suited for either his mother or father. And none of them felt suited to be coming from him. As much as he had made fun of his sister's macaroni art cards, she certainly put her heart into it. "Hey Twi, I've been thinking... Twi?" His head spun around looking for her. "TWI!?"
The bell on the front door rang as the young mare walked into the store. "Are you still looking at cards?" Twilight asked, carrying a large box wrapped in plain brown wrapping paper. "I already got Mom's gift, and... I just got a book for Dad. I know you said he doesn't like books, but I'm out of ideas and we're out of time."
Shining looked outside at the clock illuminated in the market square. It was almost five, and stores would be closing soon for the holiday. He turned and grabbed a card off the shelf.
Twilight grabbed the loudest, most obnoxious musical card on the rack and squealed in delight at her success as they went up to the front counter to pay. On their way out of the stationary aisle Twilight grabbed a star-shaped stamp. "For Dad's bingo games."
Heading out into the cold winter night, Shining was still managing to sweat with anxiety. "I have nothing! I have nothing to show for all this today!"
Twilight sighed. "Look, we'll just put everything together and just say that it's from both of us, okay?"
"Really?" he asked in surprise. "That's not really fair to you."
Twilight shrugged. "I was going to pay for everything anyways. So really, what does it matter? If you want, you can count this as my gift to you. Beats macaroni art, doesn't it?"
"Heh, okay. I'll take it. But I didn't get anything for you, either."
She leaned her shoulder against him as they walked. "Coming out with me today was nice. I know you didn't have to do this, but it was good spending time with you. So, thank you."
He tussled her mane with his hoof. "You're welcome."
"Hey, HEY! Shining!" a pegasus said as he flew down from the night sky, landing awkwardly and skidding across the ice before tumbling into a snow bank. He popped up an instant later and shook the snow out of his wings like nothing happened. "And sticks the landing!" he hiccupped. "Yo, look at you! Got a new marefriend?"
"She not my marefriend."
"Oh really?" Spearhead leaned over. "Hey there, how you doin?"
Shining moved himself between them. "Do not flirt with my sister. Besides, what's the matter with you? You heard what the Ex-Oh said about drinking and flying!"
"Pssh! I'm fine!" he said, clearly not fine. "Wudd-a-ya-gonna-do? Narc on me!?" he asked, poking Shining in the chest with his hoof.
"No. Just get a chariot!" Shining begged.
"Chariots are for ponies without wings!" Spearhead argued. "I told you, I'm fine."
"Please?"
Spearhead shook hit empty bits pouch. "I... may have drank my cab money."
Shining turned around to ask, but Twilight already had the bits in her hoof to give. "Look, I'll cover you," Shining said. "Call it a Hearth's Warming gift." Shining hailed a cab.
Spearhead narrowed his eyes. "Fine. I'll take a lame chariot, IF you do a fireworks spell!"
Shining balked. "We are in downtown Canterlot! I can see the castle from here!"
"Aww, is the narc a chicken too!?" Spearhead teased. "BRAWK! BRAWK!" he mocked.
Shining groaned. "That's real rich coming from the pony with feathers!"
"Do the spell! Do the spell! Do the spell!" Spearhead chanted.
"No."
Twilight joined him, "Do the spell! Do the spell! Do the spell!"
"Not you, too!"
Twilight begged, "Come on, just one! You can make it my present!" She gave him the doe eyes that were the equivalent of emotional blackmail.
"Fine. I'll do one! And then you'll get in the cab and go back to the barracks. Not another bar!" Shining said to the cabbie, who gave him a nod. "You got that?" he said to Spearhead.
Spearhead stood straight and put his hoof up. "Guard's honor."
Shining focused his magic and fired off a bolt into the sky. a few seconds later it burst with a loud report in a bright light and a shower of colorful sparks.
Spearhead laughed maniacally. "Damn dude, I didn't think you'd actually do it!" Several other fireworks spells started going off across the city and distant sirens started to wail. "Time to bail!" The nervous chariot cabbie took off, keeping low of the colorful air bursts. Shining and Twilight galloped home themselves before they got nabbed by the local law enforcement, or worse, showed up late for Hearth's Warming dinner.
The cards signed and sealed. The gifts were wrapped, decorated, labeled and placed under the tree. Dinner was delicious but otherwise uneventful. Their mother was just relieved to have them home. "Well I'm glad to hear that you two had fun. At least you made it home before those city hooligans started setting off those fireworks spells."
"Mhmm," Twilight hid her smirk behind her drinking glass.
"Twilight, I know you're growing up and you're not a little filly anymore," Velvet said. "But you'll always be my foal." Twilight smiled. "But I bet you're not too old to still want to open presents tonight rather than wait until tomorrow!" Twilight hopped in her seat. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Alright everypony, into the living room."
"Shining, what don't you go first?" Night Light said. "Your gift was not easy to obtain, but your mother and I are sure you're going to love it!"
Shining Armor peeled back the wrapping paper and the tape on the box. Inside the box was another box, with more packing paper. Inside that was a rigid envelope. Shining opened the flap and slid out the plastic bag.
"An original Smash Fortune #1 issue!?" Shining cheered.
"Mint in bag!" Velvet added. "Signed by the original artist before he died."
"I don't even want to guess how much this must have cost!"
"Then don't," Night Light said flatly.
"I'm afraid to even open it!" Shining added.
Velvet pointed at the other envelope in the box. "Don't worry. We also got you the five-bit pulp reprinting for you to actually read."
Twilight looked back and forth between the two copies. "They look the same."
Shining gave a smug snort. "Oh Twilie, I wouldn't expect you to understand the subtle differences. You see-"
Velvet interjected, "Why don't we let Twilight open her present before you get into all that?"
Twilight carefully opened her gift. She was already excited. The size, shape and weight of it made it plainly obvious that it was a book. Her eyes went wide when she read the cover.
"Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Arcana!"
Shining squinted. "I don't think those are actual words."
"It's Olde Ponish," Twilight said. "This book was written by Izebra Neighton!" Twilight looked at the Second Edition annotation. "Okay well not this one. I'm pretty sure the only first editions left in existence are in a glass case in the Canterlot Historical Museum."
"Am I supposed to know who that is?" Shining asked.
"He was one of the immediate successors to Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever!" Twilight said. "He formalized the exact art of magic, defined the unit of mana, and created the first maps of the Equestrian Ley Lines! He's the grandfather of all modern magic!"
"Huh... Well mine's signed," Shining said.
Twilight hugged her book. "Ooh! Thank you! I'll treasure it always!"
"And... we also got you..." Velvet passed Twilight a second gift. It was clearly another book. "This one is a bit more practical."
Twilight opened it. "The Alchemist's Cookbook."
"It's just some practical potion recipes for the modern mage," Night Light said. "Especially for a pony in college. There's a great hangover cure in the second chapter."
"And I bookmarked the contraception page," Velvet added.
Shining snorted. "Pfft! Twilie would probably sprout wings before she gets a coltfriend!"
"Nuh-uh!" Twilight slugged him in the shoulder.
"Alright, settle down," Night said. "Let's see what you guys got for us while you were out today."
"Oh, no," Shining said. "It's not going to be anything nearly as good as these."
"It's alright, really," Night said.
"Just having you both home is our gift," Velvet said. "Pretty soon you'll be moving away to other cities, making new friends and starting families of your own. And you'll only see us when you have a foal, or we win a family vacation or something."
Shining scoffed. "I've travelled enough in the guard to see most of Equestria. Canterlot is by far the best. So unless some fancy new city just materializes out of thin air then I'm pretty sure I'm not going anywhere."
"Same here," Twilight agreed. "The only way I'd ever leave Canterlot would be if it was a direct order from Princess Celestia. And even then, I wouldn't like it."
"Well even so," Night Light said, "You'll get your own places and forget all about us once you get married and have a foals of your own."
"I'm never having foals," Shining said. "That'd be dumb."
Velvet just gave her husband a knowing smirk. "The point is, your father and I really treasure this time with you. So we want you to understand that it's not your presents that we care about; It's your presence, here, now, with us."
"Aww!"
Velvet and Night Light hugged each of their children.
"That said," Night said, opening his card.
"BEE, EYE, ENN-GEE-OH! IT'S HEARTH'S WARMING TO-DAY-OH!" the tinny speaker in the card screeched on repeat until he closed it.
Night Light laughed. "It's perfect."
Velvet opened her card's envelope and slid it out.
This is your Hearth's Warming card.
She opened it.
This is the inside.
"Thank you, Shining. It certainly... gets right to the point."
Night Light unwrapped his ink stamp, giving it a strange look.
"For bingo," Shining said.
"Ah. Yes. Practical."
"And-" Twilight gave him another gift that was the exact size, shape, and weight of a book. He opened it. "Just some light reading for the next time you and Mom go on one of your trips."
Night Light read the title, "The Grand Unification of General Relativity and Quantum Theory."
"Spoiler alert," Twilight said with a grin, "I skipped to the end in the book store and the solution was actually pretty obvious when you think about it. A certain Ale Stein forgot to carry a one."
"And Mom, this one if for you," Shining said, pushing the largest gift yet across the carpet. He glanced at Twilight. "It's from both of us."
Velvet peeled back the wrapping paper to reveal a plain, carboard box. She pulled up the strip of tape and opened the flaps to look at what was inside. She looked up at them, and then back to what was inside. Night Light leaned over and looked inside. "This is, uh..."
"It's the Adventurous Kit!" Twilight said. "Since you're so adventurous! I'm not sure how all of it works, but there's stuff for rock climbing!"
"Uh..." Velvet lifted out a spool of rope. A harness. Hoof braces. A red rubber ball on a leather strap. And a variety of other things that she didn't want to take out.
"The lady at The Crop said it's a great gift for couples! Maybe you can get Dad to go spelunking!"
Night Light almost choked on his cocoa.
"Wait, you went to The Crop!?" Shining asked. "When?"
"When you were card shopping!" Twilight said.
"That's an adult store!" Shining said.
"Psh, well duh! We weren't shopping for foal gifts!" Twilight said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The kit even comes with a ball cage! But it didn't look like the one in the bingo hall. Maybe it's a travel version? Here, let me see it-"
"That's quite alright, Twilight!" Velvet said, shoving everything back into the box and closing it. "Thank you very much. I'm just going to... bring this upstairs. It's been a busy day for everypony, I'm sure. I'm feeling pretty tired. So I'm going to head to bed early." She gave Night Light a subtle jab with her elbow.
"Uh, ah, yes, yawn," Night Light said, stretching his hooves. "I am also tired." He followed her upstairs. "Don't stay up too late waiting for Sandy Claws."
Shining could taste his dinner coming back up.
Twilight just gave him a smug grin. "Nailed it! Did you see how happy Mom was? The Hard-Won Helm of the Sibling Supreme is as good as mine!"
"Uh huh." Shining just stared into the fireplace for a while.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked. "Sore loser?"
"No it's just- I was thinking about what Mom said. About us moving away."
"We're not leaving the city."
"No, I know. It's not just that. She's right. This is the first time we've seen them in months. I mean, you're in a dorm now, I'm in the barracks. And after we're done there we'll end up getting our own places. Even if it's in the city."
"We'll still visit," Twilight said.
"When we have time," Shining said. "How much free time do you have these days?"
"Uh..."
"Exactly. Twi, ninety percent of all the time you'll ever spend with your parents is before you move out. Which means that we're already in the last ten percent."
Twilight frowned. "Well that's a downer. Now I want to go give them another hug!"
Shining grabbed her hoof and shrieked. "NO! Uh, I mean, no, it can wait until tomorrow morning. Besides, we need to wait up for Sandy Claws, right?"
Twilight smiled. "Yeah." She sat back down on the couch and leaned against him while they watched the burning logs in the fireplace. He brushed her mane with his hoof as her sleep debt from the previous night caught up with her. She dozed off against the fur of his chest.
Just like she always did.
