The snow was falling lightly outside, the flakes building up on the windowsill turning it white along with the rest of the landscape. The sky was covered in dark gray clouds that I had set up earlier in the day. I shivered a bit and turned back to the hearth. I stared into the sputtering flames and stoked the fire, giving it life. The fire crackled and grew, glowing merrily with renewed vigor. I stared into the flames. They gave off warmth but I didn't feel it. I felt cold and hollow. I closed my eyes and laid down in front of the fire, consciousness gave way to dreams.
~~~~~
I shivered and shook, closing the door behind me. I was very cold, but quite happy. My early morning work finished, I was home. I brushed the snow off my coat and trotted into the main room. The room was completely decked out in festive decorations, garlands hanging from the bookshelves and a large tree covered in ornaments by the window. Underneath the tree were piles of gifts, wrapped in glossy paper, taunting me every day.
It was funny how so much could change in just a year. I'd never really celebrated Hearth's Warming before. Sure,I'd give gifts to my close friends, but I never decorated and since they spent the day with their families, I just did my own thing every year. This year was different. Twi usually went to spend Hearth's Warming in Canterlot, but now we both had someone here to be with.
I smiled, the crackling fire warming my up my chilly body. I headed into the kitchen and straight to the kettle. Twi wasn't up yet, so I set some water to boil and put some bread in the toaster. A few minutes later and I was heading up to our room with breakfast ready for her when she woke up. I opened the door a crack and glanced in.
She was fast asleep, lying splayed out on the bed, the slightest frown on her face. I opened the door the rest of the way and set her breakfast on the bedside table. I went over to the bed and crawled in, moving over to her as quickly as I could while not disturbing her. I leaned into her body and she moved her forehoovesaround me, pulling me into an embrace. She was still fast asleep. I wrapped my forehooves around her and her frown disappeared. I bent in and kissed her on the cheek. She mumbled something in her sleep, so I kissed her again. Her eyes opened slowly as she woke up. I kissed her once more for good measure.
“Wow, I wouldn't mind being woken that way every day.” I just smiled and kissed her again.
“Good, morning Twi.” I said as I gave my wings a quick flap and flew over to her breakfast tray. I brought it over to her, still lying in bed. “Happy Hearth's Warming!”
“You made me breakfast?” She said, sitting up. “Dashie, that's so thoughtful!”
I smiled as I felt the blood rush to my face. “Oh, It wasn't anything special. I was up for work anyway this morning.”
She dug into her breakfast with gusto, downing her usual toast and coffeeand looking much more alive afterwards.
We stayed in bed for a while, enjoying the warmth and each other. We didn't even really talk. Later on,, we finally got up and decided to go open presents. She headed downstairs to get another cup of coffee and to get everything ready, I headed to wake Spike up. I opened the door to the second bedroom and looked in. There Spike was fast asleep, snoring quite loudly. I chuckled, thankful for Twi’s soundproofing charm.
“Hey, big guy. Time to get up.” He’d grown quite a lot over the past couple year and was now about the same size as anypony else. He groaned and didn’t budge. “Come on, It’s Hearth’s Warming. There’re presents downstairs.” At the word presents, he shot up out of bed and ran past me.
“Come on Dash! Presents.” I shook my head smiling. With a quick lift off I followed him downstairs, simply flying over the banister and descending next to the fire.
The day flew by, filled with laughter and love. We opened our presents admiring the kindness and generosity of our close friends. We went out to lunch and had a snowball fight with each other. Spike had the advantage of being able to stop any of them from hitting him with a quick burst of fire. We played out in the fresh snow for hours, but it felt like seconds. The sun was setting and we went home. We relaxed until dinner, Twilight and I reading by the fire, my wing draped over her back. We all headed off to bed early, tired from the long day. The day was perfect. It was everything I could’ve wished for. It was a memory that I will never forget.
Before we went to sleep. I kissed Twi and looked into her eyes. “Twi, I love you so much. I wouldn’t give this up for the world. You make everyday feel so much more real.”
“Oh, Rainbow. I love you too. Promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Promise me we won’t ever lose this.”
“Twi. I Promise.”
~~~~~
When I woke up, everything was freezing. Smoke billowed from the ashes of the fire, and tears streamed down my face. I stumbled to my hooves, crashing towards the door, knocking over the desk on my way out. I burst through the door, not bothering to shut it behind me. I barely remembered it had snowed. I collapsed onto the ice, feeling the cold bite into me. I needed that. I needed to know that it was real. My tears fell into the snow, and I couldn’t stop.
“Dash?”
I kept crying.
“Dash, you need to come inside. You’ll freeze.”
“I promised her.”
“Come on Dash, let me help you up.”
Spike lifted me to my hooves and pulled my limp body towards the door.
“I’ve lost her.”
“Shhh. It’ll be okay.” He closed the door.
My sobs didn’t stop.
“Everything w-will turn out okay in the end.” Tears streamed from his eyes as well.
He lit the fire with a quick breath, and we sat there until dawn.
We held onto each other and held ourselves together.
Barely.
