Holiday Spirit

by Nailah

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Dinky Hooves, Pipsqueak
Length: 2440

Rocking around the Hearth's Warming Tree

 It’s Hearth’s warming eve, and the Cutie mark crusaders had a big holiday party for all of their fellow classmates. Pipsqueak talks to Dinky about what she’s doing for the holidays.

He also tells her how much he wants to make a name for himself, be some pony someday, like how the Crusaders inspire so many ponies.

Pre-reader: Chryssy

This is a Breezie gift for: The Iguana Man for Jinglemas 2023

Art by: skyheavens

Published 2023-12-28 18:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2023-12-28 18:00:01 UTC

Glitter, Glitter, Everywhere!

“Woah, Scootaloo that was crazy!” Sweetie Belle said, mouth agape in shock at the moves Scootaloo was able to do in the snow with her snowboard.

“Wicked, right?” Scootaloo said, grinning.

“Come on, you two, that's enough fooling around. We’ve got a party to attend,” Applebloom said, shaking her head, and giggling as a snowball hit her right in her bright red mane.

The crusaders had been planning this party for weeks, and it would be exciting to see if any of them got cutie marks from it!

Pipsqueak gathered his things he’d need for the party. His present for his Hearth’s Warming Helper, a few smaller gifts for the rest of his class, and lots and lots of candy canes.

“Oh boy, I can’t wait!” He proclaimed.

Pipsqueak hadn’t noticed how much of a mess he was, he had a bunch of small pieces of tape all over his forehooves, glitter in his mane and tail, and at least one of the presents was sticking to him.

“Pipsqueak!” His mom cried out. “You need to get cleaned up or no party.”

Pipsqueak smiled innocently.

“Oh, whoops,” Pipsqueak said, taking a look at himself. “I guess I might have overdone it just a bit.”

Pipsqueak with the help of his mom, got cleaned up and finished getting ready for the party. He had made a checklist of everything he needed, he wanted to show the entire class what he was capable of, and if he impressed the Cutie Mark Crusaders then that was just a bonus!

Pipsqueak counted the small stocking stuffers he had made to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anypony.

“One, Two, Three…” Pipsqueak counted, pointing to each stocking with his hoof, as he checked his figures.

“Pipsqueak!” His mother called. “If we don’t get going you’re going to be late.”

Dinky stood outside the treehouse, watching the snow fall from the sky, and stuck her tongue out to try to catch one of the many snowflakes as they fell down to the ground, with a plink.

“Snow’s cold,” She whispered, shivering.

Other ponies were already upstairs, gathered together.

“Hey Dinky!” Pipsqueak shouted, waving towards her as he pulled his little wagon, with his one big gift for her, and the rest of the small stocking stuffers for the rest of the class.

Dinky jumped straight up into the air, and fell backwards into the snow.
“Whoops, um hello,” Dinky said, as Pipsqueak let go of his wagon to help her back up onto all fours.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, I promise,” He said, smiling at her, while dusting the snow off of her.

Dinky shivered, wrapping both forehooves around herself. “Snow is cold!”

“Yeah, it is but it’s also a lot of fun too!” Pipsqueak said as he pointed to snow angels in the ground, and a snow pony right in front of the tree house, and also pointed to the little round discs near the bottom of a freshly made snow hill.

Pipsqueak and Dinky both headed up to the party.

Scootaloo was dancing in the center of the room, on her hindquarters, her forehooves in front of her as she twirled around, while jumping up and down, and landing back down on all fours, panting.

Sweetie Belle was going around the room, seeing if any of the fillies or colts needed any drinks, or cookies, or maybe even one of the many scarfs she had knitted.

Apple Bloom was all the way in the back of the clubhouse, helping to exchange presents with every pony. She had a chart behind her filled with a list of preparations for the party. She also had a lot of her family’s freshly baked apple desserts, mainly pies and cookies.

There were decorations all over the clubhouse. They had a small tree strung with various assortments of lights, candy canes, and ornaments of all kinds. A bright star on top of the tree, lots of wrapped presents underneath, and even a little choo-choo train going around the tree.

“Hello, Crusaders!” He said, bouncing up and down in place.

“Hello, Pipsqueak,” Apple Bloom said. “Welcome to our party, Scootaloo can ya help with his gifts?”

“Sure, Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo replied, jumping up from her spot in the center of the Clubhouse, and hurrying down the ladder to bring up each present one by one.

She wrapped a rope around the big one, and once it was tied, she called out to Sweetie Belle, who then used her magic to lift the box up into the treehouse.

Then Scootaloo went up and down the ladder, two to three times to collect the smaller stocking stuffers.

“Phew, you sure did bring a lot of stuff, thanks!” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah, I did,” Pipsqueak said, rubbing his forehoof behind his head. “Did I bring too much or too little?”

“Oh, I think it’s just right.” Sweetie Belle said, putting the big gift under the tree, and setting the smaller gifts onto the table.

Pipsqueak trotted over towards Dinky.

“Hey, Dinky, how's your Hearth’s Warming Eve going?” he asked her.

Dinky looked from one side of the room, to the other, and realized Pipsqueak was talking to her.

“It’s uh good?” Dinky replied.

Pipsqueak blinked, and shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, if you say so,” Pipsqueak said.
Of all his classmates, Dinky was one of the quietest ones. She never said a lot, but she always worked hard in school.

“It’s time to exchange gifts, every pony!” Apple Bloom called out to everyone.

Each and every pony gathered in a circle.

Pipsqueak sat next to Dinky, and then next to Dinky was Twist, and each and every pony sat together, while Apple Bloom handed out gifts to everyone.

“This one's for you, Dinky.” Apple Bloom said, very carefully sitting down the obscure and oddly shaped gift that Pipsqueak had gotten her.

Pipsqueak gulped.

Every year, Cheerilee would assign the students to get another student a Hearth’s Warming gift, and this year, Pip had gotten Dinky.

There was just one little problem.

He didn’t know what she liked!

Dinky began tearing into the wrapping paper, giggling as a few pieces of tape got caught in her mane.

“Oh, a Teddy bear!” She said, her eyes sparkled like the lights on a Christmas tree, and she hugged the bear, closing her eyes, a big smile spreading all across her face. “I love it!”

Pipsqueak sighed, lifting a hoof and wiping a drip of sweat from his forehead. There was nothing to be nervous about after all.

The party continued on, each pony exchanging gifts with one another.

Pipsqueak went ahead and got himself some cookies and milk from the table and went to sit down on one of the pillows, Sweetie Belle laid out for them.

He kept looking over to Dinky, watching her snuggle the bear, burying her face into the top of it's head. His eyes lit up, seeing how happy she was.

Watching the others get their gifts too, and seeing all the ponies filled with cheer, laughter and joy filled the space around them.

“I want ponies to feel like this all the time,” He said, putting a hoof to his chest, and standing up straight, looking up towards the star on top of the tree. “But how…”

Pipsqueak pondered on it, scratching his mane, his eyes narrowed.

“How do the Crusaders do it?” He asked, tilting his head from one side to the other.

I want to be a good leader, but I’m not sure how…” He whispered under his breath.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, and jumped straight up into the air.

“Oh, sorry,” Dinky apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Pipsqueak landed on the ground with a light thud, the pillow being there softening the blow.
He would have to thank Sweetie Belle, later.

“It’s okay, I was just uh…” Pipsqueak stumbled over his words. “Thinking about stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“I was wondering how the Crusaders do it, how they always seem to know how to make every pony happy, and I want to do that too, for all of us,” Pipsqueak explained.

“Oh, that sounds hard,” Dinky said, gently patting him on the shoulder. “I’m sure you can do it.”

“But…” Pipsqueak began, looking down to the floor. “What if I can’t? What if I’m not good at it?”

Dinky held her teddy bear in one arm, and leaned in to give Pipsqueak a hug.

“I think you’d be good at it,” Dinky said. “You’re always trying so hard to stand out, and be seen, and it’s inspiring.”

“How do you know?” Pipsqueak asked.

“I don’t know, I don’t think any pony does,” Dinky replied. “Well, maybe Cheerilee, she knows a lot of things about all kinds of stuff!”

Pipsqueak sighed, and looked at Dinky as she hugged her teddy bear close to her heart.

“I didn’t even know, if you’d like that,” Pipsqueak admitted nervously.

“Not knowing what you are going to get is half the fun of Hearth’s Warming!” Dinky exclaimed, smiling.

“Yeah, that’s true,” He said as he turned to look at the gift he had gotten from Scootaloo. It was a Monster truck with big wheels, and came with a remote controller, it was also mostly yellow with painted flames on the sides.

Dinky hugged Pipsqueak and held out her teddy bear.

“Would you like to hold it?” Dinky asked.

“I’d love that,” He replied, taking the teddy and giving it a soft squeeze. The fibers of the material felt so squishy, and smooth, like hugging a cloud.

He handed the teddy bear back to her.

“Thanks, Dinky.” He said.

“No problem,” Dinky replied.

“Are you doing anything exciting for Hearth’s Warming tomorrow?” He asked her.

“Opening presents!” Dinky cried out.

He noticed how she pushed her teddy bear in front of her, trying to hide.

“It’s okay, Dinky,” Pipsqueak giggled. “I get excited about presents too.”

Dinky giggled.

“What happens if some pony doesn’t like their gift, and they’re sad?” Dinky asked, her big yellow eyes a glow against the warm lights from the tree.

Pipsqueak put his hoof under his chin. “That’s a tough one,” He said, “I suppose I don't know what I’d do, I guess I’d try to understand why and maybe get them something else?”

Dinky looked at the other ponies throughout the room, and then looked back at him.

“That’s how I know,” Dinky said.

“Hmm?” Pipsqueak asked. “What do you mean…”

Dinky giggled, and booped his snout.

“That’s how I know you’d be a good leader,” Dinky giggled, “Oh and you missed some glitter.”

Pipsqueak ruffled his mane with both hooves and pouted.

“Argh! Glitter is so hard to get off!” Pipsqueak said. “I sure am glad I didn’t get any on your present.”

Dinky giggled to herself.

The teddy bear did indeed have a few specs of glitter still on it, but she loved it anyways. She hugged her teddy bear tightly.

“Pipsqueak…” Dinky began, and stuttered.

“Oh, I’m so frazzled!” Pipsqueak stated, trying to fix his mane. His mom was not gonna be happy, if he came home looking like he just came from a barn!

“Um, Pipsqueak do you ever wonder,” Dinky asked, looking all around the room. “If other ponies know how hard you work?”

Pipsqueak blinked, and laughed.

“Every single day,” Pipsqueak said. “It’s hard knowing if others notice or not, but that doesn’t bother me, I work hard anyways!”

“I work hard too.” Dinky nodded.

“Oh, yeah I know!” Pipsqueak said, a big wide grin spreading across his muzzle. “I see you all the time, working on so many things. I’m sure whoever got your gift will love it!”

Dinky nodded.

“Are you worried they won’t like it?”

“No.” Dinky said.

“Then what are you worried about?” Pipsqueak asked, wanting to help however he could.

Dinky stared at him.

“What if…” Dinky began. “What if they don’t notice me?”

Pipsqueak chuckled so hard, that he landed onto his back, right onto the pillow once more.

“Oh, Dinky,” He said, panting, catching his breath, as he sat up on his hindquarters, looking right into those soft eyes.

“What’s so funny?” Dinky asked, burying her face into her teddy bear.

“Ponies do notice you, I know I do!” He said. “You do so much for every pony, and just look how happy you made Twist,” Pipsqueak said, pointing over to where Twist was sitting next to Apple Bloom, the two of them working together to figure out how to make jewelry bands with her brand new bead kit, filled with various beads, little tiny ropes for around a pony’s hooves.

“This bead kit is so amazing!” Apple Bloom said.

“It really is,” Twist stuttered. “It looks homemade, I can’t believe I got such an amazing gift.”

“Ya, Dinky must’ve worked very hard on it.” Apple Bloom replied.

“I hope whoever got mine loves it, as much as I love this.”

“See?” Pipsqueak pointed. “You're kind of quiet, so sometimes maybe ponies don’t know what to say?”

“That’s another reason,” Dinky said.

“Hmm?” Pipsqueak asked, tilting his head towards her.

Dinky chuckled again.

Pipsqueak shrugged his shoulders.

Dinky trotted over towards Apple Bloom and Twist, a giddy in her steps. He watched her, smiling to himself.

Pipsqueak sat there, staring up at the star a-top the tree, his eyes sparkling.

“I know I can do it,” He said to himself. “I can do anything if I put my mind to it, that’s it, I’m going to do all I can to help every pony, embrace this warm, fuzzy feeling all year long!”

Author's Note

Notes: The prompt I received for my Breezie assignment was as follows:
Characters I'd like are Pipsqueak and Dinky Doo/Hooves (either's fine as long as her mother isn't "Muffins"). Nothing too dark, would prefer nothing 'post-show' (Twilight on the throne, last-episode relationships, etc...) was a big part of it, other than that fine with most things. Fine with shipping the two or not, to your preference.

I had an immediate idea of Hearth's Warming helper, and having Dinky help Pipsqueak to realize he could become a good leader, and help other ponies, similiar to how the CMC help others. I really wanted this NOT to be romance, because while romance has it's place, these two are kids. The setting is before the CMC's get their marks, so set around Season 5 and before.

I hope you like what I came up with, and if there's anything else you would've liked to see, I'd love to know!