Starlight gave Maud a hug at the train station out of Ponyville. “Thanks for sending me off, you two. It means a lot.”
“Of course!” Trixie said, grabbing Starlight into a hug the moment she let go of Maud. Not that Maud minded. She wasn’t much of a hugger though she would never deny one from her friends. “Since you are abandoning us to go see your parents we have to send you off one final time. It is the only chance we have for a sliver of Hearth’s Warming with the glorious Starlight Glimmer.”
Starlight laughed at Trixie’s overdramatics. “Now it’s not that bad. Me and Sunburst will be back the day after and we can have Friends Warming then.”
“Sounds good,” Maud added, “see you then.”
Trixie opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted by Sunburst popping his head out the train door. “Starlight, I got all the bags stored away. Are we ready to go?”
Trixie sniffed indigently. “And goodbye to you too, Sunburst.”
The stallion smiled sheepishly. “Goodbye Trixie. Goodbye Maud. Do you two have any Hearth’s Warming plans?”
“Not really.” Maud answered for both of them. Pinkie was going to throw something together but she got pulled away for some Princess thing last minute. So now Maud had pretty much nothing to do. Except study how the cold affects the local rock formations. She was excited about that.
And she knew that Trixie didn’t have any plans. Exactly all of her friends were right here.
“Ah, well,” Sunburst said, “have fun with your rocks then.”
“I will.” Maud appreciated Sunburst’s thoughtfulness.
“Okay,” Starlight waved as she boarded the train, “see you guys soon. Bye!”
Trixie waved wildly as the train started to pull out of the station. “Goodbye Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst! Have a joyace holiday. Or as joyace as you can without the Great and Powerful Trixie!”
She continued to wave until the train disappeared. Maud watched the train leave too, just as enthusiastic.
As soon as it was out of sight Trixie turned to Maud, flaring her cloak out behind her. She didn’t often wear it anymore but it was particularly chilly this winter so the cape was more comfort than fashion.
But sometimes it was used for fashion. Like now.
“Maud!” Trixie cried, using her stage voice, “Now that they are gone do you know what we have to do?”
“What?” Maud asked, putting as much enthusiasm into it as she could. For Trixie’s sake.
“We must go,” she pointed in a random direction, “and acquire for them the greatest Hearth’s Warming Presents the world has ever seen. When they get back they will be so in love with our gifts that they will have forgotten all about their dumb little trip and their dumb little parents.”
Maud hadn’t really planned spending Hearth’s Warming with Trixie but she didn’t have any reservations against it. If Trixie wanted to spend it with her this much then who was she to refuse? “Sure.”
Trixie grabbed her arm and started dragging her away. “Fabulous. Let us off! Together we will wow the world with our gift giving!”
“Woo.”
***
They managed to make it to three stores before Trixie got angry.
“No kites. Again! Can you believe this?” Trixie ranted as she exited the general store. The last general store in Ponyville. It was a small town. Three was honestly a lot. “What kind of town doesn’t have a single kite in it?”
Maud looked up at where a gentle snow had started to fall. “Supply and demand issue.”
Trixie followed her gaze and snorted. “I don’t care that it’s the middle of winter. It’s the season of presents. And that means they need to have anything a pony’s heart could desire! Did you at least find anything for Sunburst?”
Maud held up her present. “I found a candle in the shape of a book.”
Trixie reared back like the little hoofsized decoration might reach out and bite her. “A candle? Maud these are our best friends. We can’t just get them the first cheap chachki that catches our eye.”
While Trixie was right that the candle had been cheap, Maud personally couldn’t see the problem with it. Sunburst loved silly little things like this. He’d probably hold off on lighting it just so he could keep it around longer.
Maud put the candle into her bag. “Alright, we can get something else, too. Do you have any other places you want to look?”
Trixie put a hoof to her chin. “Twilight has all those advanced spell books he’d surely love. Maybe we could raid her place?”
“I think Starlight might be upset if we raid her house for presents.”
“Uhg.” Trixie stomped her hoof in frustration. “Well, do youhave any ideas? Trixie can’t be brilliant at every moment!”
Maud stared blankly at her for a couple moments as she thought. Trixie quickly broke eye contact to pout, obviously taking this pretty seriously. She seemed to want the presents to mean something more than just following tradition. In times like this Maud turned to her own experiences. Specifically making rock candy with Pinkie Pie. “If you want to get Starlight a kite you could always make it yourself.”
Trixie seemed confused at first but quickly perked up as the idea settled in her mind. “Yes… yes! What better gift to give then something created by moi? What could be of higher quality than the work of the Great and Powerful Trixie? We must get supplies.”
And then she was dragging Maud off again, this time to the craft store.
***
After buying supplies they ended up heading back to Maud’s cave. Her cave was much better suited for arts and crafts than Trixie’s wagon. Mostly because it was big enough to fit more than one pony at a time.
They laid what they had bought out in a big pile on the floor. It mostly consisted of random pieces of paper and cardstock and other things the employee at the store had recommended. Neither Trixie nor Maud had any experience with building kites so they had simply grabbed everything they could afford and were hoping for the best.
Not that that seemed to deter Trixie. She smiled proudly at their bundle and started grabbing things with her magic. “Let us make one for Starlight and Sunburst. That way they can both share in the excitement of a gift made by Trixie!”
“If we make some for ourselves then we can all go out and fly them in the spring.” Maud hadn’t had any interest in kite flying before meeting Starlight but the Unicorn had turned her around on it. It was peaceful standing in a field and just watching a piece of fabric bob in the sky. Different from what Maud’s days usually consisted of, being underground so often, but she found she liked the change.
“Yes!” Trixie jumped at the idea. “A bonding activity! Never has there been a better present.” She held her hoof out for a hoofbump which Maud provided. “Let us start.”
***
Maud had actually made a kite before, surprisingly enough. Pinkie had seen one when they were little and begged their parents to get it for her. Of course, they couldn’t afford to, but Maud had taken it upon herself to gather materials and piece together a serviceable flying diamond for her little sister.
Who immediately got it stuck on top of the silo but it was impressive that it managed to fly that high.
Even though her experience was limited, Maud still found the task to be fairly simple. You simply took some strong paper, stretched it between some rods for stability, and gave it a tail. It was never going to win any kite contests but after about half an hour Maud had a decent orange and white kite that she was fairly confident would fly.
She still thought Sunburst would appreciate the candle more but it did feel nice to make something unique with her own hooves.
Once Maud was completely satisfied with her creation she looked over to her fellow kite maker to see how Trixie was coming along.
The answer was… not as well. Trixie’s work area was a mess, with scraps of paper and rods and even glitter spread out everywhere. She had even managed to get some glue in her mane and now her forelock was sticking oddly to her horn.
Said horn was glowing brightly as the kite levitated an inch away from Trixie’s screwed up face and she tried with desperate precision to stick the tail onto the right place.
Though where the ‘right place’ was was hard to say. Instead of being a uniformed diamond, Trixie had somehow made an unsymmetrical lump. The paper had obviously been ripped at one point because tape covered the whole thing like a seal. It seemed like she had tried to bring out the dark purple of the paper she had used by dumping some glitter on it. But instead of sticking to anything the glitter had just slid off the slick side of the tape and was now in a pool at the bottom of the kite. Which leaked a bit every few seconds as the paper wasn’t as securely attached to the rods as it should have been.
Trixie placed the long scrap of fabric that was the tail of the kite on the end and held it there. She waited a good five seconds before releasing her magic, holding her breath the whole time.
As Maud watched the tail stayed for one… two… before the glue gave up and the fabric fell to the floor.
Trixie’s face changed from her normal light blue to a deep red. “Stupid hunk of trash!” she shouted, throwing her kite on the floor and stomping on it. “Horrible horrible!”
“Trixie,” Maud said, reaching out a hoof, “calm down.”
“Calm down?” Trixie barked, stopping her stomping but turning to glare at Maud. “Do you see this… this horrendous piece of trash? It’s nothing! It’s worthless.”
Maud looked at the kite again. Sure, it was misshapen and now a little more bent but Maud had certainly seen worse.
But Trixie was obviously upset by it. And maud needed to be there for her friend.
“Trixie, it’s fine,” Maud tried to reassure her, putting a gray hoof on top a blue, “I think it’ll still work.”
“That’s not good enough,”Trixie snapped, pulling back, “I don’t want it to be fine. It’s not enough for it to just work. It has to be perfect! Perfect Maud. Do you understand?”
“No,” Maud said honestly. She had no idea why Trixie was reacting this way. Sure, her kite attempt wasn’t very good but it would probably still fly. And she did honestly make it herself so what more could one want from a custom made present?
Trixie groaned and rubbed at her face. “Of course you don’t… I’m not like you Maud! I can’t… I’m not… I’m not good at things Maud. I’m not a good friend. You three are my first real friends. And so I need this present to be the best thing in the entire world. I need these kites to be masterpieces of craftsmanship to prove that I am worthy of your friendships. And this?” She held up her kite and waved it around frantically. “This doesn’t cut it! This is nothing and proves only that I am nothing.” With one surge of her magic she tore the kite in half and threw the pieces on the floor.
Maud watched the display silently until Trixie was done, the Unicorn panting from the effort of her announcement.
Then, Maud stood up from where she had been seated and reached one arm out to draw Trixie into a hug.
The Unicorn stiffened but didn’t pull away.
“I don’t think you’re a bad friend,” Maud said into her shoulder, “You’re a good friend. I like spending time with you and I can tell Starlight and Sunburst do too.”
“But I’m not good,” Trixie said through gritted teeth, “I’m not worth anything. I can’t get ponies to come to my shows, I can’t beat Twilight Sparkle in a magic duel, and I can’t even make a stupid bucking kite.”
“I like you more than Twilight Sparkle,” Maud admitted, getting a snorted laugh out of Trixie, “Don’t tell Pinkie I said that.”
“Well, that’s because you’re weird,” Trixie said, backing away and wiping her eyes.
“You’re weird too,” Maud continued, “and I think Sunburst and Starlight are also weird. That’s why we work so well together. And why we like you.”
Trixie sniffed and held her nose high. “I resent you calling me weird.” Her face softened and she glanced away. “But I appreciate you trying to cheer me up. So… thank you.”
Maud looked down at the ripped remains of the kite. “Do you want to just start over?”
Trixie bit her lip and nodded. “Fine. Would you… be willing to help Trixie with her kite? You seem…better at it than me.”
Aw. How sweet. Trixie really was growing. “Sure.”
***
The day after Hearth’s Warming found Maud, Trixie, Starlight, and Sunburst all sitting on beanbags in Maud’s cave.
Starlight and Sunburst had already regaled their friends with adventures from home and now the four were exchanging presents.
“You really didn’t have to get us anything,” Starlight said as she magically grabbed the package that Trixie had presented, ignoring that both Starlight and Sunburst had gotten them something from their parent’s hometown.
“Well we did,” Trixie sniffed with gleeful smugness that meant she was honestly in a good mood, “so don’t waste any more time discussing it and discover what the Great and Powerful Trixie, and Maud, got you.”
Starlight and Sunburst both opened their presents at the same time and held them up like they were trophies for all to see.
Sunburst held up the orange and white kite Maud had made while Starlight unveiled a blue and purple kite twice the size.
Starlight gasped as she examined her gift. It still wasn’t very good, in Maud’s opinion. The paper was a bit loose and the rods a tad uneven, plus there was too much pink glitter for Maud’s taste. But it was big and the colors meshed well and the tail flowed long and beautiful.
And Starlight really seemed to like it. Which was a plus. She leaped up and grabbed Trixie in a hug, which the showpony gladly returned. “This is amazing! Thank you so much you two.”
Trixie’s and Starlight’s smiles made it a pretty perfect Hearth’s Warming in Maud’s opinion.
“Oh, there’s something extra in mine,” Sunburst spoke up, lifting the book candle out of the wrapping, “Oooo, a candle that has the scent of a fresh book. You girls know me so well.”
Author's Note
Happy Holidays Mindscape! I hope you like the story and good luck in the Species Swap Contest!
