A Hearth's Warming Wish

by ThePeer

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Dark, Sad, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance
Length: 5793

A homeless pink pegasus filly has a wish for Hearth's Warming, and she is going to help as many ponies as possible to make it come true.

Cadence wants a small wish to come true for Hearth's Warming. She knows that wishes come true when you're a good pony, so she's going to be the best pony she can be.

Even if that comes with some self-sacrifice.

Published 2023-12-25 09:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-12-25 09:40:00 UTC

Just a simple wish

Snowflakes fell lightly on the cold concrete streets of Canterlot. Each one stacked on top of the other forming a large white blanket that covered the entire city. Every home and storefront was lined with blinking Hearth’s Warming lights. The streets were crowded with colorful ponies running about, either grabbing last-minute holiday items or families enjoying a walk on Hearth’s Warming Eve.

Hiding in the alleyway between two stores was a small pegasus filly, with colorful striped hair, and bright pink fur. She silently stalked the pairs of ponies that walked by, narrowing her eyes intently on any that could be of interest to her, while drawing in the snow with a broken-off tree branch. Despite the cold temperature the little filly had nothing to cover her but her messy dirty fur, so she shivered in the frosty air.

A smaller gray stallion earth pony, wearing a dark brown coat, grunted as he struggled with a large green rectangular present, which he dragged through the snow, it looked to be about the same size as himself.

The filly’s eyes lit up. She popped up from her hiding place and ran over to the stallion dodging a dozen ponies walking by. “Sir! Sir!”

The stallion’s eyes drifted towards the sound approaching him. He raised a brow when he saw the pink pegasus rushing right towards him, “Uh?” was all he was able to get out before she collided with him. He lost his balance and fell into the snow, along with the large present that he was carrying, which raddled in its box.

“Sorry! Sorry!” She ran around the fallen stallion, and held out a hoof to help him up, despite that when fallen she was still at eye level with him. “Can I help you up?”

“That won’t be necessary.” He used his forehooves to push himself back on his hooves, and looked down at the pink pegasus, “What are you doing?”

“I want to help you sir,” The pegasus pointed towards the fallen present on the ground, which had gained a small layer of snow on its top. “Can I help you sir?”

The Earth Pony looked between the large green present and the pegasus, “I don’t know that seems a bit… big for you.” His eyes then focused on her dirty messy fur and skinny construction, “Where are your parents?”

“They run a store here,” She said immediately and pointed down the street at nothing in particular. “There.”

The Earth pony looked at where she was pointing and saw a large variety of different shops shining with Hearth’s Warming lights, “Okay. Well, it's still too big for you to help with.”

The pegasus hopped up and down, sending small pieces of snow flying from the floor, “I know a way, please sir, please let me help you.”

The Earth Pony pursed his lips, and took one last peak at the heavy present, “It is a long way to the train station.” He said to himself, “What do you propose?”

“Thank you, thank you so much” She gestured her head back towards the alleyway, “Come with me, I know just the right thing.”

“Okay…” The Earth Pony hesitated as he watched her spin around and run towards the alleyway, before sighing and dragging his present across the street towards where she ran. He stopped right at the entrance of it and rested his present on the stonewall. He looked down its dark corridor and squinted. The light barely reached the end of it, so he could only barely make out her figure rummaging around in the dark. “Are you okay there, Maybe I should just get you back to your parents.”

His ear twitched when he heard the Filly grunt and something heavy fall to the snow at the end of the corridor. His heart skipped a beat, and his eyes widened, “Are you okay down there?!” He ran down the alleyway plunging himself into the darkness.

“I’m okay!” She said cheerfully, as he came to a screeching stop in front of her, just when she emerged from the dark, tugging a large slay behind her with a brown strap in her mouth. “Will this help?” She said with a muffled voice.

“It… will.” The earth pony said as slowly he walked over to the filly. He looked over the long dark wooden slide, and then took a quick peek at the green present behind him. “In fact, It’ll fit my present perfectly.”

“Really?” The filly’s eyes widened and sparkled with anticipation.

“Yes really. Thank You.”

The pink filly started to hop up and down, kicking puffs of snow up around her, “Your Welcome, Your Welcome, Your Welcome.”

The earth pony smiled at the joyful display, but that smile morphed into a frown when he took another good look at the filly’s condition, she looked thin for her age, and her hair and fur were a complete mess. “What’s your name?”

The filly stopped, jumped, and looked up at the stranger’s concerned face, she hesitated leaving them in silence, before finally saying, “Cadence.”

“Cadence. How about you get home? You know it's going to get very cold tonight, the weather ponies scheduled a snowstorm.”

A gust of wind blew some snowflakes into the alleway, causing his coat to ripple slightly, and some snow to rest on its brown back.

“No, I'm fine.” She then pointed towards the present resting on the stone wall at the end of the alleyway, “Who’s it for?”

He looked to the present, again. “... My daughter. She wanted a Cello for Hearth’s Warming.”

“Then get her that cello. I’ll be fine, I’ll go home to Mommy and Daddy before dark. I promise.”

He turned back to Cadence, “You promise?”

“I promise. I’m only staying to do good deeds for Hearth’s Warming, then I'll go back to a warm house.”

The gray earth pony nodded, before reaching his hoof towards the buttoning on his coat, and undoing it.

Cadence tilted her head in confusion, as she watched the gray earth pony slowly slide off his brown coat, and hold it out to her with his hoof. “I can hardly let you stay out in this cold unprotected, especially after you helped me with my gift-carrying situation.”

Cadence frowned, “I… can’t.”

“It's the least I can do.” He shook the coat in his hoof, causing it to sway, “I insist.”

She paused, pursuing her lips, before slowly and nervously reaching out and taking the oversized coat, in her hoof. The thing nearly completely dwarfed her in size.

“I know it's a bit big, but maybe it can provide you a warm space you can snuggle in while you’re out here. Oh, and there is a match box in its left pocket, you can keep it. I’m trying to quit smoking anyways.”

“..Thanks..”

The stallion grabbed the sley strap with his mouth and dragged it over to the end of the alleyway, before grabbing the large present with a free hoof, and carefully placing it on the dark wood. “It's the least I can do, I really appreciate your help.”

He started dragging the sley and present out of the alleway, unknowingly stepping on the drawing the filly was working on in the snow. “Merry Hearth’s Warming.” He gave her a wave goodbye as he left the alleyway, “Remember to get home before dark.”

The filly tucked the coat close to her, as she watched the gray stallion turn out of the alleyway. She noticed the musical note cutie mark adorning his flank, which was previously covered by the coat in her hoof, then she looked at the stepped on drawing, and felt her heart sink. She smiled and slowly waved back at the leaving gray stallion, “Merry Hearth’s Warming to you too.”

When he turned the corner, she let the coat unceremoniously drop to the snow, and frowned.

⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ✿ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹

The dusk darkness had slowly settled upon the city. The brilliant Hearth Warming lights partly revealed their true shine in the darkness, while still being muted by the little sun that was left. The snow and wind had picked up, Cadence had heard some ponies murmuring about the weather ponies putting too much juice in the Hearth’s Warming snowfall. She didn’t have the coat anymore, she had given it to some mare who was freezing in the cold, she didn’t mind, because she didn’t mind the cold much, she was used to it.

She smiled as she finished redrawing her little picture in the snow, sitting in the snow. She discarded the tree branch to the side, and smiled in satisfaction at her creation.

“It's going to be perfect.”

She looked up at the sky, searching for the few stars that had begun to appear in the dusk sky. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “For Hearth-”

“SHIT!” Her eyes shot open, and she swiveled her head to the source of the masculine yell, just outside the alleyway in the empty street.

“Shit?” Another much young filly’s voice repeated the word, before saying, “Shit! Stop those Daddy!”

She instantly jumped up to her feet and ran over and help with whatever problem these ponies happened upon.

Right as she turned the corner, her face was covered by a piece of paper, carried by the strong winds outside the alleyway, blinding her. She shook it off by shaking her head and looked to her sides as she saw a flurry of papers pass her by.

She heard a horn sparkle alive, and a couple of the papers were engulfed in a blue aura and stopped dead in their tracks, but the ones farther down the street continued to fly with the wind and snow. She leaped into action, turning around and chasing the runaway paper.

She ran as quickly as her little legs would allow to keep up with the paper trail, leaping in the air and using the slight lift from her fluttering wings to jump high enough to grab the papers in her mouth. The first couple were easy to catch, but the further they got from her the faster they went as they picked up more speed from the wind.

Her heart started thumping in her chest, as she felt her legs start screaming at her. She didn’t have much energy to be running like this, especially since she hadn’t eaten in a while. She hopped up and grabbed a few more in her mouth until there was just one left.

There was a major gust of cold wind which pushed the last paper even further away from her, but the wind was also blowing in her direction. She jumped up and flapped her little wings as hard as she could to sail the gust. The wind pushed her little body forward just enough to grab the final piece of paper at the tip of her teeth before she went tumbling to the ground. She crashed on the ground and rolled uncontrollably in the snow as she lost her momentum, holding onto the stack of papers she collected tightly.

She took hard breaths from her nose, as her head rested in the snow. The extra blood flow from her pumping heart made her feel lightheaded and sick, as it was all powered off of an empty stomach. She heard the hoof steps of a large pony approaching through the snow, “Are you okay?”

She weakly turned her head sideways and saw a large blue unicorn stallion carrying a small purple filly with a horn on his back, who looked much younger than Cadence. His horn was alight engulfing the pair in a blue warming spell. “Are you okay?” He repeated, slowing his running as he got closer to the small pink filly.

“Do you know what shit is?” The little purple filly asked, looking down at Cadence from over her Dad’s shoulder.

He twisted his neck to look at the filly on his back, “Twilight! Don’t use that language.”

“But you said it.”

Cadence pushed herself up. Her legs wobbled weakly in the snow, and her body wanted her to collapse again, but she fought against it. She stood as straight as she could, to create the illusion of strength, and in the strongest voice she could muster, she weakly muffled out, “I’m fine,” through the stack of papers in her mouth.

The stallion looked back at Cadence, and twisted his head in confusion, “Are you sure?”

She nodded quickly, “Hmhm.” She hid a slight frown under the stack of papers, as she looked between the filly and her father with a sparkle of longing in her eyes.

“Well uh, thank you for grabbing these.” His horn sparkled to life surrounding the papers in a blue aura, which he lightly tugged out of Cadence’s mouth. His eyes trailed over her, noting her skinny features and messy coat. “Those, uh, papers were very important to Twilight.” He quietly extended his warming spell to Cadence, causing her to shiver slightly at the sudden temperature change.

The filly on his back nodded, “It's a science paper I wrote! Daddy was just delivering it to the scientific journal of Canterlot, for Hearth’s Warming, when it was swept away in the wind.” She hopped off her father’s back and walked through the snow to approach Cadence, with a large smile adorning her face. She noted that despite being much younger than her, Twilight was almost her size. She pointed to her father, “This is Daddy,” and then to herself, “I’m Twiwight, what’s your name?”

“Cadence.” She said quietly, looking nervously down to the snow, “My name is Caden-. Ah!” Before she could finish her sentence she was completely engulfed in the warmth of Twilight's purple hug.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Her hooves tightened around Cadence, “You saved my Hearth’s Warming. I worked so hard on those papers.”

“Your welcome.” She said with a muffled voice. She initially felt the urge to push her away, but the warmth of Twilight’s body temperature, and the soft feeling of rubbing against her fur enticed her to stay. She felt a warm flame alight in her heart, a flame that had been unlit for a long time, and inexplicitly she could feel a warmth in Twilight’s heart as well.

She lifted her hooves and embraced the filly back. She looked at the father and quietly imagined the perfect life he probably lived with his daughter. Then she focused on the warmth of Twilight’s embrace, and savored it, like a fine delicacy.

She then looked up to the dusk sky, slowly morphing into night from the setting sun, and wished upon the brightest star she could find. Under her breath, she whispered, “Exactly like this.”

Twilight pulled away from her grateful embrace, “Happy Hearth’s Warming Cadence.” Twilight said with a big smile on her face.

“... Happy Hearth’s Warming Twilight..” Cadence looked back to Twilight’s father, “What’s your name?”

“Night Light.”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming to you as well. I hope you two enjoy it together.”

“And Shinny and Mom,” Twilight added.

There was a small pang in Cadence’s heart, “I hope you all enjoy it.” The wind blew a bit stronger.

Night Light gestured Twilight to him, “Come here Twilight, we have to get to the scientific journal and home before it gets dark.” He then looked over at little Cadence with an air of concern, “You have a place to stay tonight. Right?”

She pointed down the road again, “Just there. I’ll be home before dark, I promise.”

“You promise promise to stay safe?” Twilight asked up at her.

Cadence smiled, “Yes I promise promise.”

“Just, be quick, I wouldn’t want you getting a cold after all your help.” Twilight climbed back on top of Night Light, “Speaking of, why did you help us?”

Cadence paused, and lingered on the question, “Because… I have a very special wish and wishes only come true when you’re a good filly that helps people. Right?”

Night Light smiled, “Right.” He then started to trek down the street through the snow with the young purple filly on his back, giving Cadence a wave when he passed her by, “Merry Hearth’s Warming. Get home safe.”

“I will.” Cadence gave a half-hearted smile back, and watched as the father carried his daughter down the road. Twilight remained facing Cadence, waving her goodbye from her father’s back, until she faded away into the growing snowstorm. Slowly Night Light’s warming spell faded away, leaving her exposed to the cold once again.

The street was empty beside the lone pink pegasus in the middle of the road, the dusk sun set behind the horizon, and the mare in the moon rose to replace it. Revealing the beautiful arrays of stars in the night. The Hearth’s Warming lights lit up the street into a beautiful spectacle of flashing colors, and silhouettes of families enjoying the Hearth’s Warming Eve with each other could be seen through the orange-lit windows.

Cadence trekked through a rising blanket of snow, squinting her eyes to keep snow out of her vision. She collapsed in her alleyway from exhaustion. She'd been out all day and hadn’t searched for food, but it was worth it, as it was soon all going to be over.

She looked over to her snow drawing which was slowly fading away from the storm, it depicted two large ponies on each side of a much smaller one, and smiled. She then looked back to the stars once again, finding the brightest one in the sky, and made her wish.

⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ✿ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹

Cold.

The storm's frigid winds thrashed the falling snow violently in the direction of the constantly shifting tides. Cadence could not see what was outside of her alleyway, the constant snowstorm made the outside look like a flurry of white, and the dark storm clouds blocked out the moonlight. She was nestled in an incomplete home made of crates and boxes tucked at the back of the alleyway. It used to have a roof in the form of an abandoned dark wood sley, but now it was missing that, letting in the cold snow that crept into the alleyway.

She pulled out another match and lit it. The small dancing fire provided warmth, and it washed her home with a flickering orange light, which provided a sense of safety against the darkness of the quiet alleyway. She could see the fog coming out of her mouth with each exhale.

She looked up at the black sky, and thought about the countdown she was making in her head, “Just half of an hour.”

She looked down at the matchbox with a musical note cutie mark emblazoned on its front, there were only three left. A gust of wind blew into her alleyway, snuffing out the orange light and engulfing her in darkness again. She grabbed the matchbox and tried to re-light the match again multiple times, only for it to produce sparks. She dropped the used match on the snow and lit another.

Two left.

The cold had felt like it was crawling under her skin and stabbing at her, but now her entire body simply felt numb. She shivered uncontrollably but didn’t feel it anymore. She could feel each breath growing weaker, she didn’t mind it that much.

Her mind was on all the families that had seen walking by on the street. She remembered sensing the love in each one of them, physically feeling the burning flames in their hearts. She then thought about the flame in her own heart, weak but with the potential to grow into a massive inferno just waiting for something to latch onto. It would latch onto something for sure, she knew it, she’d done everything to be the best she could for Hearth’s Warming.

She coughed and felt something leave her body but she didn’t know what.

The match went out. She reached into the box, grabbed another one, and lit it.

One left.

She held the match closer to her heart, trying to shield it from the strengthening wind of the snowstorm. This match gave less warmth than the last.

Twilight had so much love in her, she hadn’t seen such a large blazing flame in anypony else. Hugging her was almost a euphoric experience, being so close and physically feeling the warmth of her love, the mere thought seemed to create its own source of warmth in Cadence’s heart.

It was the first time she’d been really hugged, in such a long time. There was a memory of two ponies who loved her very much before, but their faces were blurred. Each time she thought about it she felt a painful pang in her heart, like that of an unknowable loss.

The match went out.

“Shit.” She said weakly, a smile grew on her face, shit was the first word she ever heard Twilight say.

She told her hoof to lift and grab the last match from the box, but it didn’t listen. She saw the match box slip away from her grip and hit the snowy floor, as the last match rolled out into the snow next to it. She saw her body slump and collapse into the snow, sending small puffs of snow into the air, but she didn’t feel a thing. It felt like a third person observer only seeing through her eyes.

The whole world became distant, like she was looking at a memory. The snow, the match, the boxes surrounding her, it all felt far away.

You’re dying.

So close to twelve o’clock, so close to her wish coming true, and she was going to give up now. She tried willing her hoof to move, but only got a slight twitch. She tried mentally kick her body into movement, but it refused to function.

Far away, somewhere she heard the distant shuffling of snow. She didn’t think about it, she couldn’t think about it, she only thought about the last match.

The darkness around her eyes slowly started to close in, almost as if she were walking away from her own eyesight. She heard muffled voices in the distance, she couldn’t make them out. Her mind kept moving, but her body became still, no matter how many times she screamed at it didn’t move.

“Behind you.”

Her heart froze.

Cadence whipped her mind away from her fading vision.

They were here. There were two blurred figures of ponies, a blue and pink blob, who sat next to each other. “Come.”

Her wish came true, they were both there in front of her, beckoning her to come to them. All of the hard work, all of the long months of trying her very best to be the perfect mare just so this one small wish can come true. It was all worth it.

The blue blob lifted their hoof and gestured her towards them. “Come here.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing happened, she realized she didn’t have a mouth. She looked back to her fading vision, to the match and matchbox right next to her mouth, then back to her parents.

She couldn’t see them, she squinted at the blurry figures to pick up on any small detail, but she couldn’t, she couldn’t see them. The pink one smiled, and leaned their head on the blue blob, “Come on sweetie, we made dinner.” She couldn’t make out any smile with her sight, but she felt a smile.

She moved a little closer, then a little more. The blue blob nodded happily, “Just a little more. You’re so close now. Take those first steps.” She felt a jolt of joy in her motionless heart, they were right there, they were so close.

“Remember your promises, Sweetie.” Cadence stopped, she was close enough to reach out and hug them. They both stretched their blurry hooves out to embrace her. “Just one more step.”

She thought about Twilight, the fire she felt in that little filly. She didn’t know how, but a part of her knew that she would see her again if she just let go. She promised Twilight she’d stay safe. She looked up at the two blurry figures again, she still couldn’t make them out. They were just blurry blobs of colors, they were fake, they had been fake for a long time.

“I’m sorry.” Cadence moved back a little bit, feeling her heart cry out in pain as she did so. “I can’t.”

Both blob’s frowned, but nodded in acceptance, “Then leave.” They both said at the same time. Cadence felt her lip quiver, her real lip, she wanted to cry, she needed to cry, she needed a body to cry with. She turned back and ran as fast as she could, back towards her fading reality, back towards her vision, back towards the match.

She screamed at her body with all of its remaining energy. She didn’t have to do this to herself, she could’ve gone back, there was no point in regretting now. Her lip quivered again, just a little bit of movement would be enough. She made her mouth open just slightly, and forced her head forward towards the small match sitting next to the matchbox. She grabbed the match with her mouth, and with the last energy she could muster, she pushed her head to scrape the match on the box and bring it alight.

A brilliant light of warm orange hope engulfed her home and the snow in it, as the small match made the most beautiful dance she’d ever seen in her entire life. A tear slipped down her eye, and froze to her fur, a tear of sadness, a tear of joy, she couldn’t tell the difference.

There was shuffling in the snow again, this time much louder, it was moving closer to her. The shuffling turned into the sound of trotting hooves, the trotting turned into a gallop. A heavenly glow surrounded her completely, out shining the tiny little match which burned slowly in the snow.

“Oh my Celestia, there is a fucking filly here!” She didn’t register their words, but she did register the warm orange aura that engulfed her and slowly lifted her from her boxes.

“Is there a pulse Pokey!?” She felt something warm and fuzzy press on her neck, she could feel her neck.

“A weak one. We have to get her to the castle, now!” She felt something wrap around her, a large furry object, like the coat from the gray stallion. The orange aura rested her on the back of a large pony. She caught a glimpse of their gold armor, which shone beautifully with light dancing off of it.

“How did you find her?” She felt the pony she was on top of start to gallop.

She heard the pony she was on top of speak, “I saw light.”

⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ✿ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹

Celestia watched the snow lightly bounce off her throne room’s window. Hearth’s Warming day would only be in a couple of minutes, and for the nine hundred and eighty third time, she’d be spending it alone. She tried not to look at it, her stain on the world, her mistake that haunted her in the sky every night. But she couldn’t help it, she stared at it, the mare in the moon stared back, mocking her.

“Princess!” The doors to her throne room burst open, followed by a pair of galloping guards. It took her off guard, no pony ever dares entering into her throne room without knocking unless it was an absolute emergency. She looked away from the window and towards the approaching ponies, two lower-ranking royal guards, both stallions, one orange unicorn that didn’t have a winter jacket on, and a blue Earth pony with the issued winter jacket. The orange stallion was carrying something on his back, wrapped in the winter jacket he was supposed to wear.

“What is it?” Celestia shot up from her seat immediately, and trotted down from her throne towards the approaching guard ponies. They both screeched to a stop, panting heavily from all of the running they’d been doing.

“They’re is a filly!” The blue stallion said between heavy breaths, “They were in the snow. They… they are freezing.”

The orange stallion lifted the wrapped-up filly from his back with an aura of orange magic and placed it on the ground in front of him. “She’s dying, and freezing. I tried my best to warm her up with my magic, but she’s still shivering.”

Celestia took the coat and the filly inside with the golden aura of her horn, and slowly unwrapped it. Revealing the small skinny shivering pink pegasus underneath it. Her eyes were closed, and she breathed irregularly. Celestia could feel how cold she was in her magic, and how close she was to death. Her eyes widened in horror.

Celestia’s white horn instantly went ablaze with a strong burst of golden magic, to the guards it looked like her horn was suddenly engulfed in flame. They took a step back, as the magical aura around the filly intensified with bright golden magic. Celestia closed her eyes and concentrated an intense warming spell as well as a healing spell on the dying foal.

The golden light lit up the entire room like an intense fire, completely engulfing and muting the candles and chandeliers that previously provided its lighting. The guards instinctually shielded their eyes from the bright light to avoid being blinded by it.

Then the magic in her horn dimmed, and the light stopped. The entire room seemed darker than it was as everypony’s eyes readjusted to the sudden change in light.

They all remained silent, until the filly let out a cough, and took in a deep breath, followed by a steady flow of regular breathing. Celestia let out a sigh of relief along with the two royal guards.

Celestia gently cradled the little filly with her magic, and looked down at her with an almost motherly smile, “Are you okay little one?”

The filly gently opened her eyes, looking up at the Princess of Equestria, and gently nodded.

“Where is your home?”

She frowned and sniffled. A small tear slowly slid down from her eyes, followed by another. The filly shook her head, as she started to cry.

“There. There. It's okay, you’re safe now.” Celestia hovered her into her puffy white chest and covered her up with a large wing span. The little filly made loud sobs as she buried her head in Celestia’s fur coat, rubbing against it.

Celestia looked up to the two guards who had brought the filly in, as she patted her back. “Thank you so much for bringing her to me. What are your names?”

They both saluted simultaneously, “Private Pokey Snow ma’am.” The orange stallion said, followed by the blue stallion, “Private Puffy Blue.”

Celestia frowned as she looked at the filly in her chest with concern and sadness, “Where did you find her?”

“We were out making sure no pony was out in the unexpectedly strong snowstorm, I found her in the back of an alleyway, almost dead.”

“And, we were notified by the local orphanage a couple of weeks ago about a missing filly of her exact description by the name of Cadenza,” Puffy Blue added.

“Orphanage?” Celestia’s frown deepened. She loosened the grip of her wings, allowing the filly to look up at her. “What’s your name?”

“C-... Cadence.” She said between sniffles.

Celestia’s expression softened, and in a soothing caring voice she asked, “Cadence. Why did you run away?”

Cadence looked up at Celestia with watery eyes, “I... I… I wanted to do as much good as possible… for… a wish. To come true.” Before pulling back into Celestia’s chest, “It didn’t… it didn’t happen.”

Celestia tucked the filly closer to her chest, with her winged embrace. “What was your wish?”

“A… a mommy, or a daddy, or both, I don’t care I just want somepony, anypony, like the foals that play outside every Hearth’s Warming, like Twilight, I want it like them. Exactly like them,” The filly cried out between long muffled sobs.

“So… uh, are we going to send her back to the… um.” Puffy Blue said slowly.

Pokey Snow’s head shot over to his partner with a scornful look on his face. “Are you serious?” he whispered.

Celestia’s gaze lifted to the two guardsmen and softly said, “You two have done more than enough today, go home and get some rest with your families.”

They shot back to attention and saluted, “Yes ma’am.” Before spinning around and leaving through the large doors, shutting both behind them.

Celestia’s eyes rested on the small pink pegasus tucked in her wings, she was so young, and in so much need, like too many of her little ponies. Her eyes then drifted to her throne window, where she always made sure she had a clear view of the moon every night. The mare on the moon remained still, just as it had for the last nine hundred and eighty-three years. Then her mind drifted to the mirror covered in a blanket in a secret locked room of her palace.

You’ve failed every single time. Why even try?

She then looked at Cadence sobbing in her hooves, the warmth she ensued on Celestia’s chest, her large cute blue eyes, the noble cause of wanting to help as many ponies as possible, and the simple wish of having a parent, of having somepony at all.

Celestia felt her heart melt, just as it did for so many ponies before, and will for more ponies to come. But, at that moment she didn’t care. Celestia took in a deep breath, “Maybe I can be like a mom to you. How does that sound?”

Cadence’s head shot up to stare at Celestia, “Really?” She said quietly between sniffles.

Celestia smiled back warmly, “Yes really.”

Almost all at once, Cadence’s face lit up all at once as she embraced Celestia, crying both cries of joy and sadness, Celestia couldn’t tell the difference between the two. “Thank you. Thank you so much. It… It came true.”

Celestia closed her eyes and quietly nuzzled her head next to Cadence’s. “Sometimes miracles do happen.”

In the distance a bell bell rang out, marking the start of Hearth’s Warming Day.

Author's Note

It's 4 am. I'm sick, exhausted, and going to fly tomorrow (actually today). Hopefully, my mental state when writing it isn't reflected in my story.

But, at least I was able to scratch my Christmas season writing itch in time for the big day. I hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading, and have a merry Christmas/Happy Holidays.

:)