It was no secret that Hearth's Warming was a magical time. A time where ponies got together, ate good food, exchanged thoughtful presents, relaxed, and had fun. There were all sorts of things to do, from building snowponies to going on simple constitutions in the frosty weather.
By far, though, the light shows were the best. At least that's what Sweetie Belle thought.
There was one neighborhood in particular that was just on the outskirts of Ponyville that had lights set up in a mesmerizing manner, set to classic Hearth's Warming carols that ponies would sing as they trotted by. Sweetie didn't know how they did it, but she had a feeling that their electric bill for the month would be through the roof.
As she and her friends took a break from her Crusader duties for the holidays, they walked through neighborhood after neighborhood, seeing all sorts of pretty displays. Some were simple, others fantastical. Sweetie and Scootaloo preferred the more fantastical ones, while Apple Bloom was more of the simplistic kind of pony -- which made sense, considering how Sweet Apple Acres didn't really dress up the place in lights bright enough to blind the Pegasi of the skies.
Still, seeing the displays gave Sweetie an idea. Not so much of a wicked and awful idea as it was something that she thought of as "recycling for the holidays".
The day after Hearth's Warming, she awoke to the sound of crashing and then the sound of an elegant mare letting loose a string of not-so-elegant curses. Sighing, she rolled out of bed, washed up in the bathroom, and trudged downstairs, her vision still a little smudged.
"Rarity...what are you doing?"
"Oh, Sweetie Belle! Good morning!" Rarity called from the next room. "I could use some help with getting the Hearth's Warming tree outside for trash collection. If you could be so kind as to lend a hoof, please?"
"Sure." Rubbing her eyes so she could see better, Sweetie made her way over to her sister, who had the top half of the tree in her magic and was making a great effort to not scrape its wooden base on the floor lest it get scratched. Using her own magic, the filly gripped the base, lifting the tree up, and together the two sisters began heading for the door.
"Don't rush, now." Rarity warned, moving backwards. "Do help guide me out of the doorway."
Sweetie did so, giving her sister directions as to where to turn and where to go. Eventually, after a few minutes, they set the tree down just outside of the Carousel Boutique.
"Hey, Rarity..." Sweetie pointed at the plant. "Did you take the lights off of it?"
"Why, of course I did. If I hadn't, we might have tripped on them...or worse, broken a bulb." Rarity went wide-eyed for a moment, adopting a stare that made Sweetie think she once had a bad experience with Hearth's Warming lights. If she did, she certainly wasn't around for it. "I put them away in a cardboard box, though I should perhaps seek out a more sturdier plastic box..."
"But why?"
Rarity tilted her head in confusion. "Why did I remove the lights? Well, it's past Hearth's Warming, darling. Nopony has holiday lights up anymore."
"Why?"
Ah, yes. Rarity knew where this was going. Sweetie knew it too, but it wasn't her intent. Still, her elder sister gave a mighty sigh. "They are called holiday lights, Sweetie Belle. There is a reason stores sell them around Hearth's Warming and at no other time of the year."
"Is it illegal to leave them up or something?" Sweetie gave a shrug. "I like the light displays ponies put up every year. But it stinks that it can only be seen in one moon. Why does nopony leave them up all the time? It'd make Ponyville much more..." She tapped her chin as she tried to think of a word other than "festive" that would describe how better the town would look to her. "It'd make the town more...lively?"
Realizing that Sweetie might have a point, Rarity took pause at her words. Sweetie watched eagerly, hoping that her big sister would change her mind about leaving the lights to rot in some boring brown box for moon after moon until it was time to bring them back out again, and string them around the boutique.
"Um...Sweetie, what say you and I go for a little walk, hm?"
"A walk? Why?"
"I just...ah...w-well, let's just say I want to...see something."
Sweetie opened her mouth to protest, but quickly closed it, deciding to go along with Rarity's flow. "Sure. Lead the way."
Adjusting her scarf, Sweetie had a look at what was around her. Lights dazzled her from every angle, dancing around in her peripheral vision and creating all sorts of designs. Hearth's Warming music played in the distance somewhere, no doubt synced up to its own individual display.
She had to admit, it was surprising to see. In Hearth's Warmings past, most ponies took down the holiday stuff the very second daybreak came around. But then again, she hadn't really been paying attention all that much to removals. Taking down lights and decorations and putting trees out was just a part of Ponyville life, including that of hers and Rarity's. After years of bearing witness to the same events over and over, it tended to become dull routine for a pony.
"Ah, I see there are some ponies packing things away for the season...but surprisingly, a few are keeping up the lights..." Rarity mused.
Although it wasn't intentional, it was loud enough for Sweetie to pick up on, and she would take the opportunity and gallop with it as fast as her tinny lil' hooves would take her. "See? Other ponies are keeping the lights up!"
"Or they might not have found the time to put them away yet." Rarity took a sip of the hot coffee that levitated in her sparkling blue aura, then gave a satisfied sigh.
"Or they're aware that there's no law covering holiday lights being allowed to stay up for the whole year." Sweetie perked up with an idea, nearly spilling the hot chocolate that was in her own magical grasp. "Oh, oh oh oh, I know! Why don't we go ask Mayor Mare about it? Maybe if you get her approval, that'll convince you!"
"Sweetie, it's not just the legality of the matter I'm worried about. Having holiday lights up far past Hearth's Warming...what impact would it have on my business? I don't know if ponies would like it, or, Celestia forbid, they would think I was lazy in taking them down..."
"I don't think anypony would think that."
"Well, do you know of anypony who has lights in their home year-round? Hmm?"
"Yeah. Haven't you seen the Crusaders' clubhouse? I insisted we put up some lights and keep them on all year for if we need to meet in the dark. Apple Bloom let me borrow some of Sweet Apple Acres' holiday lights, and Scootaloo managed to snag some spare boxes that Rainbow Dash had."
Rarity stopped. Blinked. Tried to process that last bit of information. "Now why in the world would Rainbow Dash have spare boxes of lights...?" She shook her head furiously. "No no, Rarity, don't think too hard about it, you'll only end up hurting yourself..."
Another sip from her cup of hot chocolate marked Sweetie's change of facial expression from innocence to confusion.
"Anyway!" The illustrious mare of beauty straightened, attempting to piece back together her composure. "I am still not convinced. I think I've seen what I need to see here. Let us go back home. I must start dealing with the holiday backlog."
"But what about the lights?"
"Young filly, I shall hear no more talk about the lights! They are going in a box until the next Hearth's Warming, and that is final!"
Again, Sweetie's mouth opened to protest. She wanted to point out that they had only visited one neighborhood out of many, and that Rarity's opinion really shouldn't be influenced by only seeing one set of homes that still had lights up. But something in her mind told her that she would be doing nothing more than wasting her breath, and so she gave a sigh, took a swig of hot chocolate, and followed her sister back to the Carousel Boutique.
Two weeks passed. Much of the Hearth's Warming decorations had been taken down in Ponyville, and the same was said for most of the light displays.
Key word being "most", because Sweetie was not a filly to lose hope. Not over something she found the finest beauty in.
For two weeks, she had weighed the possibility of surprising Rarity with lights strung everywhere when she returned home from whatever place she had gone off to. But given past experiences of doing stuff to the boutique while her sister was away, she figured out that...wasn't exactly the brightest of ideas. And Rarity hadn't gone out much anyway due to the constant flow of work.
She had decided to take alternative routes in the form of Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack. When asked if they kept up holiday lights after Hearth's Warming, answers ranged from "no, but it's not a bad idea" to "no, what kind of crazy talk are you uttering?" to "no, but thanks for reminding me that I need to send Spike to the stores to take advantage of after-holiday sales". Not a single "yes" answer was to be found, except maybe Pinkie's, who had told her that "I've been trying for years to find the right color combos and nothing's been sticking yet!"
Out of curiosity, she had paid a visit to Town Hall, where Mayor Mare had told her that there was no law in regards to keeping up holiday lights after Hearth's Warming, but there was a law concerning keeping trees in households after Hearth's Warming and Sweetie better make sure she took her tree to the curb lest Rarity get fined for 50 bits. (Okay, she didn't know advanced finances yet, but common sense told her that seemed like a very low fee. Far be it from her to question it, though. She wasn't the one who had to pay the bills.)
So basically, nothing got accomplished over the course of fourteen days. Sweetie was right back where she started.
Using the bits she had accrued and saved up from her share of pay in her job as a Crusader, she went to the store and looked for holiday lights. To her surprise, all of them were half-priced BOGO deals, which made it easy for her when it came to how much she was going to get.
The only problem was, the lights came in a vast variety of styles and colors, and she spent longer than she felt she needed to just envisioning what designs and hues went best with the interior of the boutique.
Attempting to get into her sister's mind and see through her creative eyes didn't really work, in part because Sweetie wasn't super-involved with the fashion industry and thus didn't really know what would appeal to her sister. At best, she was a model for filly's clothes and accessories, but that was about it. The pair had radically different tastes when it came to all sorts of things, and holiday lights were no exception. And the lights that were in that plastic box in the basement? Hoof-me-downs from her parents, who had no sense of fashion whatsoever. They looked decent enough for Rarity to put up every year, but Sweetie got the sense that she didn't really like them too much.
As she carried the shopping bag up the stairs to her room, she kept her sense of hearing on high alert for any sign of Rarity. The sound of a sewing machine whirring, the sound of airy humming, the sound of hooks shuffling against metal rods...the way she focused on them hard enough made her almost feel like she was in a horror movie. Almost.
Luck was on her side, though, and she made it to her destination without incident. Setting the bag down and letting her horn take a well-needed rest, she sighed and began looking around the area, her mind whirling with all sorts of ideas about what lights she could put up and how she could arrange them.
It didn't take long for her to settle on a design. A design that would be so mind-blowing that even Rarity would have to stop and give her audible approval.
...At least there was a hassle-free extended return policy valid until the middle of next month.
The easy part was plugging the lights in.
The hard part was making them stay on the walls and not fall down.
Luckily, Sweetie knew of a solution. She had seen Rarity use items called "sticky hooks" before, usually to hold clothes or hold other small trinkets with loops on. So, after going back to the store and using a few bits she still had to buy a set of 30 small ones, she returned home and applied them accordingly. It was rather easy to do as a unicorn with magic -- she couldn't imagine how much trouble Earth ponies and Pegasi had when the strips stuck to their hooves.
Once that was done, she separated and looped the cord of the lights around the hooks accordingly, and she had her gorgeous display.
She turned off the overhead lights and took a step back to admire her work. She had decided to go with off-white holiday lights instead of anything crazy-colorful, and looking at it now, she realized it was a good decision to make. More colorful lights belonged on the trees, now that she thought about it.
All she needed to do now was show Rarity.
"Hey...Rarity?" Sweetie called, trotting down the stairs. "Are you here?"
"In the kitchen, dear!"
Odd. The kitchen was right across from the stairs. Surely Rarity would have heard her. She supposed Rarity had her back turned. Or she was too absorbed in what she was doing to pay much attention to her sister.
Said sister made her way inside, where she could take in the smell of dinner. "When you're not busy, can you come up to my room? I wanna show you something!"
"Hm? I can spare a few minutes...just let me stir this." Igniting her horn, Rarity gripped the handle of the ladle that was sitting on the stove, dipping it inside of the large pot and giving the soupy mixture a few good stirs. Once that was done, she levitated the egg timer towards her and set it for five minutes. "Right. Let's go."
The pair ascended the stairs and made their way to Sweetie's room. All the while, the little filly had a knot of anxiety in her stomach, unsure of how the big mare would react. She reminded herself that Rarity had dished out a lot of verbal punishments, and she had survived each and every single one of them, even if many of them were devastating to receive. And as Celestia was her witness, she would make Rarity realize the value of having holiday lights long after Hearth's Warming was over and done even if it killed her.
Slowly, Sweetie pushed open the door to her room and gestured to the lights on the walls. "Ta-daaaa! I put up Hearth's Warming lights in my room! Do you like them?"
Rarity stared at the lights wordlessly. Her lower jaw dropped, and then lifted, and then dropped, and then lifted again. Her expression was unreadable to Sweetie. It felt like hours before she could give a proper response.
"This...I..." Rarity blinked. "You...where did you get these, Sweetie?"
"I bought them. With money I made from my Cutie Mark Crusader stuff. The store was having a sale, so I bought a whole bunch of boxes and tried to figure out which ones would look best in my room."
"But...I...but why?! You- you never said anything about wanting lights in your room before!"
"Because they look pretty any time of the year. Just like how they would look pretty any time of the year on the outside." Sweetie went over to the bag that contained the other boxes of lights, pulling out a set that had multicolored lights in the shape of spherical bulbs. "Plus, they come in all sorts of cool designs! There are so many of them that it seems like a waste just to put them on trees and houses for one single holiday."
"Sweetie, I have already told you this. I'm not sure how ponies would react if they saw the Carousel Boutique with Hearth's Warming lights still up. It could hurt my business."
"Aww, c'mon. I bet they'd love it."
Rarity simply scoffed.
"Look, why don't you just put some lights up? If ponies don't like it, then you can always take them down." Sweetie shrugged. "You don't even have to put them around the entire boutique! You can just hang them around the door. Or around those pole thingies!"
"Banisters."
"Right, those." Sweetie got an idea right then and there. She smirked. "If you won't do it, then I will."
"You wouldn't."
"I would. Mayor Mare said there's no law against having Hearth's Warming lights up year-round either."
Rarity had no rebuttal to that.
"Please, Rarity? There has to be somepony out there in Ponyville who keeps Hearth's Warming lights on all year! They would look so pretty, and- and you could even string them up inside if you wanted to! I still have a ton of boxes here!"
If Sweetie looked hard enough, she could see Rarity's lower jaw clench. She wasn't sure whether it was in anger, in thought, or in some other kind of emotion. Whatever it was, though, she could definitely hear her heart beating fast in her chest as she awaited an answer.
And then, a heavy sigh.
"Fine. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to put up some lights around the boutique...both inside and out." Rarity jabbed a hoof into Sweetie's chest. "But if I get enough complaints from customers, then they are coming right down, and you shall never even dare to bring up the idea again. Do you understand?"
"Yep!" Sweetie, riding the high of her sister's approval, rubbed her hooves together as all sorts of wicked and awful ideas came into her head that were clear crimes against style. "Now come and help me pick out lights!"
With the help of the other Manes, the setup of the lights went quicker than expected. Soon, the outside of the boutique was covered head to toe in gorgeous multicolored lights in all sorts of designs. Twilight had rigged them to turn on automatically when Celestia lowered the sun and Luna began raising the moon, so they didn't put so much of a strain on the electric bills.
On the inside, Applejack helped Pinkie untie herself from where she had gotten herself tangled in lights. Fluttershy hung the last of the lights on the sticky hooks, just above Rarity's sewing machine.
"Okay. Sweetie Belle, can you plug them in?"
Sweetie complied, sticking the plug into the outlet and watching as the blue lights lit up.
"Oh goodness, they're the same color as Rarity's magic aura!" Fluttershy said. "They look so pretty."
"I have a few boxes left over if you wanna take some home."
Fluttershy whirled on Sweetie with a shocked look on her face. "No, I-I couldn't! Those are for the boutique! I can just...buy my own..."
"Don't worry, Fluttershy. I saved up a ton of bits. I have a lot of boxes." The filly went towards the bag that had been moved next to the door.
"Do you have enough for everypony?"
"No. But if I can convince my sister to realize the beauty and appeal of Hearth's Warming lights outside of Hearth's Warming, surely I can convince her to spare a few bits so I can buy a few more boxes for..." Sweetie looked in the bag. "...three more ponies."
Fluttershy considered this for a moment, and then nodded. "All right. I suppose I can take a box home. If it's not too much trouble."
Sweetie waved a dismissive hoof, levitated the bag over to Fluttershy so she could pick out what she wanted, and then began moving over to the sound of high-pitched laughter.
"Applejack? You can put those away."
"You sure, sugarcube?" Applejack gathered up the freed lights in her hooves. "I'm not sure if these'll fit back in th' box. They're a little, uh..."
Somehow, Sweetie wasn't surprised to find the intertwining cords separated six ways from Sunday. "Pinkie Pie. Yeah." she responded, with complete apathy and half-lidded eyes. "Well, I don't think the store's gonna want the lights back in that condition...so you can keep them."
"Really now?" Applejack chuckled. "Thanks, Sweetie Belle. Gotta admit, the lights we got back at Sweet Apple Acres are fadin'...but I haven't been able t' get t' th' store to buy some more." She smirked. "'Sides, ain't no harm in dressin' up the barn a lil'."
"Yes! That's the spirit!" A squeal slipped from Sweetie before she could stop it. One by one, Rarity and her friends were becoming convinced that keeping holiday lights up year-round was a good idea. At the rate she was going, she could convert everypony in Ponyville. And eventually...everypony in Equestria.
...Okay, that was a bit of a far-fetched goal.
...
Maybe if she got Princess Celestia and Princess Luna on board...
...
Nah, still a far-fetched goal.
As things wound down and everypony left with their lights (or in the case of Twilight, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, a lack thereof), Rarity and Sweetie closed the door and took a moment to admire the lights that hung throughout the boutique.
"Sweetie Belle..." A knowing smile crept onto Rarity's features. "Would you be a dear and help me with something upstairs?"
Sweetie, baffled by the smile, only gave a confused "Uh...sure?" before she began to follow Rarity. She knew something was up, but what, exactly, was a mystery to her. Along the way, she eyed the lights that were strung around the railing and on the wall, a smile forming on her own face as her heart swelled with happiness.
They stopped in front of Rarity's room. Rarity pushed open the door.
There, sitting on her neatly-made bed, were a few boxes of Hearth's Warming lights.
Sweetie's jaw dropped. She levitated a box over to her, peeking inside and finding a neatly-wrapped cord tucked away. It was clear to her what her sister wanted to do now, and she was at the cusp of letting out all of her excitement the same way Pinkie Pie did on a regular basis. A grin slowly crawled across her maw.
Rarity chuckled. "'Tis always the season to sparkle and shine, my dearest sister. Thank you for helping me realize that beauty doesn't have to be just for the holidays."
Author's Note
This story comes from a believer in Year-Round-Christmas-Lights supremacy. To find out how you can convert to Year-Round-Christmas-Lights supremacy, please ask your local hardware store owner for a free brochure when you purchase any holiday lights from 1/1/24 - 12/31/24. Restrictions apply. See your local hardware store owner for details.
Happy holidays! I will most definitely be participating in Jinglemas next year. Reading this year's stories has been really enjoyable, and since I missed the deadline for submitting, I figured I would take a swing at it with a Jinglemas story made in spirit, as it were.
Here's to a positive and very productive 2024 filled with more ponyfics for all of you (and for me, because laziness and negativity stabbed me in the back this year).
