Our Gifts

by The Descendant

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Cadance, Spike, Other, Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 11953

You know that feeling? You know, the feeling that you've forgotten something important? It is 10:32 p.m. on Hearth's Warming Eve, and Twilight just got that feeling...

You know that feeling? You know, the feeling that you get when you realize you've forgotten something that is very, very important? It is 10:32 p.m. on Hearth's Warming Eve, and Twilight Sparkle has just gotten that feeling...

Published 2012-12-21 14:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-12-21 14:40:01 UTC

Chapter 1: Hearth's Warming Eve

Our Gifts

Written by The Descendant

Cover Art by AnneHairball

Chapter 1: Hearth’s Warming Eve

Twilight Sparkle was feeling, in all honesty, just a little bit giddy.

Just a little bit though. Say, just giddy enough to go bounding into her childhood bedroom, and spring herself upon the bed.

Seeing as how she was now no longer a little filly, she tumbled straight across it and landed on the floor in a heap.

Within moments there were the familiar sounds of clawed feet at her doorway, and as she tossed amid the pile of her sheets and comforter, Twilight heard a little voice call for her.

“Twi?” called the familiar tone. “Twi, you came in here, right?”

She peeked over the edge of the bed. Spike stood at the door, panning his eyes back and forth across the room.

His eyebrow arched when he saw her peeking back at him from amid the mess.

“What’d you do, Twi? How’d ya’ end up over there?”

The little dragon jogged across the room. As he jumped up on the bed he carefully balanced his candy cane so that its sticky sweetness didn’t touch her sheets.

He reached down with his free hand, offering it to help her out of the pile.

Twilight Sparkle though was feeling, in all honesty, just a little bit giddy.

She reached her neck forward, towards his other hand, and stuck her tongue out towards his candy cane…

“Twi!” he called, drawing it back as her tongue came closer. “Hey, if you want some just…”

She jumped upon the bed, fixing him with a mischievous smirk.

“I’m gonna get your candy cane, Spike,” she whispered.

“Uh oh!” he called, and in one smooth motion he rolled off the bed and began to pelt across the room.

“Gonna get it!” she called, barely hiding the laughter in her voice.

Even as Spike scampered away his voice too began to betray giggles. He knew Twilight. He knew her better than perhaps anyone else in the world. If she were truly trying to take his peppermint prize then a snap of her magic would already have claimed it.

No, he realized as he began to laugh, she was just playing at a little chase game. She was just happy, just playing with him…

...and that made him happy.

So, around her childhood bedroom they went, their laughter only interrupted by her calls of falsified greed and his replies to the contrary.

They went past the rocking chair where her nana had sat and rocked her when she’d first come home from the hospital as a newborn. They went past the toy chest where Shining had hid her when one of her first magic spells had gone wrong. She remembered listening as he had taken the blame for the fires, cataclysms, and invasions of small rodents. They went pelting past the old wind-up alarm clock that had awoken her each morning. Immediately she’d begin practicing her spells so that she could enter magic kindergarten at the School for Gifted Unicorns.

They went past a little crib, the one where she had laid a dragon whelp. As they pelted past she recalled the first time that her family had brought him to stay with them on the weekends, when she was home from school.

They went past all of these things that spoke of her childhood… and then they went past them again. And again. And yet again.

“Twi! Twi!” he called through a fit of giggles, trying to get her to end their long elliptical orbits of the room.

At once she was upon him, and as she pressed him gently against the windowsill she snapped her teeth first on one side of his head and then the other, making large comical biting sounds.

“Nom!” she said, leaning against his back. Her face touched against his right cheek, and then his left, playfully trying to claim the candy cane, and carefully keeping from doing just that.

“Twi!” he called through his giggles, moving the candy cane from side to side to keep it out of her reach. “If... if ya’ want some of my candy cane, just ask! Just ask!”

She sat there, giving a few chuckles, and simply rested her head against his.

Twilight Sparkle was feeling, in all honesty, just a little bit giddy.

And who wouldn’t? It was Hearth’s Warming Eve, and her childhood home was now filled with those she loved the most.

From the hallway came the sounds of her parents, her brother, and her sister-in-law all wishing one another a good night. Before her the little dragon sat scrunched up in a happy ball as she held him close.

Twilight Sparkle was just a little bit giddy. Just like a little filly that had once lived in this room had been on Hearth’s Warming’s more than a decade ago when she prepared her little dragon fingerling for bed.

“Spike?” she asked as a broad smile fell over her face. She lifted her head and peered down at him from above. “May I have a lick of your candy cane, please?”

“Sure, Twi,” he said as he leapt up to the broad windowsill. He patted it, motioning for her to come near, and she too sat in the wide window.

Together they sat there as Spike munched and crunched happily on the candy cane, lifting it to her so that she could take little licks. As they did they looked out the window to Canterlot beyond.

The city was bathed in Hearth’s Warming colors. The tall spires of the palace were highlighted in floodlights, and beneath them the city itself seemed to glow in a peaceful light as thousands upon thousands of buildings sat bestrewn with lights and candles, each one adding to the radiance of the night. A gentle snow sat drifting about the royal city as the pegasi made sure that it was all picturesque and tranquil.

Spike scooted across the sill and leaned against her. He settled against her flank as he fought to undo the rest of the wrapping from the cane. Her magic came alight, undoing the rest for him, stealing another lick, and then placing it back in his claws.

He smiled up to her in thanks, and the two looked out of her window at the city for quite some time. The taste of peppermint lingered on her tongue as the snow drifted in the tiny currents and their breaths steamed the window, making the lights beyond disappear into a misty blend of color.

Spike suddenly felt a soft feeling go through him, and then there was a noise that made him jump.

“C’mon, Spike,” she said, “let’s get washed up for bed.”

In mere moments another raspberry fell through him, and he leapt from the windowsill as Twilight shepherded him along towards the bathroom. He leapt with a small laugh with each one that she placed against his neck and cheeks.

“Twi!” he called again, giggling as he sped up to stay ahead of her. “What in the world’s gotten into you tonight?”

Twilight Sparkle was giddy. She was happy. Why shouldn’t she be? It was Hearth’s Warming Eve, and those who meant the most to her were gathered here in the home where she had grown up.

A short time later she flopped back on the bed, this time being careful to avoid the plunge off of the other side. She had washed the candy cane’s stickiness from her little dragon. Now, he sorted through their belongings in the saddlebags nearby, returning toiletries that they had brought from Ponyville.

The taste of her toothpaste battled with the remains of the candy cane’s flavor in her mouth, and she smacked her lips to try to be rid of it.

Her eyes fell across her dresser. A ceramic Hearth’s Warming tree stood there, the little crystal ornaments catching the magical light from within.

The colors that rose from it danced across her ceiling, and once again Twilight felt like a little filly. She remembered her nana giving her that tree, one that the talented mare had made herself. Now she once more lay in this bed, and once more she felt the colors of it aiding her anticipation for the day to come.

“Spike,” she said, softly, as she heard him trying to lie in his old crib, “I have the most unusual feeling. I feel like I’m a foal again. I feel like it’s old times…”

There was a momentary silence.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice a shadow of sardonicism, “I suppose I can see why you’d feel that way. I can’t really say that I feel the same, I guess…”

Twilight lifted her head and peered towards where he lay at the foot of her bed. The sight of him brought another giggle from the unicorn.

Spike’s arms and legs lay splayed out over the edges of the crib. His tail swished back and forth, denoting how uncomfortable he was, and his head hung over the head of the bed as well. In short, the dragon was entirely too big for a crib he had used last a few scant years before.

Twilight chuckled to herself and lit her horn. Very well, if they couldn’t go back to when Spike was old enough to sleep in his own crib, then they’d have to go back to a time just slightly before that…

At once Spike and his blanket were lifted from the crib. He was only momentarily startled, as there were few feelings in the world as familiar to him as Twilight’s magic. To him, it was as comfortable and familiar as the blanket she now wrapped him in, his old one that they’d brought up from Ponyville.

The whelp was only slightly surprised when he realized where it was bringing her.

“Really, Twi?” he asked, looking on as she guided him towards her. “Are you gonna have enough room?”

“It’s going to be a little cozy,” she said, shifting to the side as she settled the little dragon atop the bed, wrapping him tighter. “But, well… heh, it will be cozy!”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve, Twi,” he said, reaching an arm out to her.

“Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve, Spike,” she said, reaching out to him through the top of her sheets and comforter, pressing a hug into him from above. “Are you happy we came home for it?”

She lifted her forelegs off of him, and as she did she looked down to see his emerald eyes looking back up to her. He blinked a few times, and then simply said, “Home?”

Twilight arched an eyebrow and watched as he pulled the blanket back over himself. He muttered something under his breath as he did, and she failed to catch it.

Still, he soon disappeared into the blanket. There was the slight feel of him leaning closer to her, and then he was asleep. She looked down at him, or at least the blanket-covered lump that he was, until the shallow breathing started.

Twilight smiled. She turned her body gently so that it would not disturb the sleeper who rested on the other side of her comforter. After a moment she found a position that let her rest comfortably, more or less.

She found that she could still see the ceramic Hearth’s Warming tree that her nana had made her. As she studies the colors she felt that giddy, happy sensation one more time…

Twilight snuggled down into her blankets, as happily anticipating awaking to Hearth’s Warming Day as she had when she was still a foal.

No, that wasn’t quite right. She was still giddy with the thought of waking up tomorrow, but it was for other reasons.

She was a young adult now, mostly, and her reasons for anticipating tomorrow were rather different. She and Spike had planned everything so carefully, and their long lists of all of their friends had carefully been filled with the best presents that they could find.

She felt a smile cross her face as she imagined the girls awakening in Ponyville far below and out across the valley. She imagined the delighted squeals of Rarity and Pinkie Pie, the small gasp of appreciation that Fluttershy would give, and the hearty cheers of Dash and Applejack.

Their gifts had been perfect. They were sure of it.

She imagined the princesses giving their greetings to their courts as they made for their private chambers. There, before the great Hearth’s Warming tree that only they and their closest confidants ever gazed upon, they would find the silver packages that she and Spike had left for them.

Twilight giggled at the thought of the princesses marveling at the gifts, and was very proud that she and her little dragon had found the perfect presents for supposedly immortal beings… something that they alone in all Equestria knew that the sisters did not own.

They had found the perfect gifts for ponies that owned, and had seen, essentially everything. She giggled once again, silencing herself to keep from waking Spike.

She was an adult now, sort of, and her joy was in seeing her closest loved ones be filled with happiness as their presents were revealed to them.

Oh, how they had listened! How they had picked up on every little detail in every note for months! Together, she and Spike had found gifts for her parents, for Cadence and Shining. They had literally danced together up and down store aisles as the ideal present lay sitting there before them.

Now these presents lay under the Hearth’s Warming tree in the living room below, sparkling beneath the magical lights that were left blazing as they all retired for the night.

More presents lay there, too.

She could just barely make out the lump on the bed, the blanket still rising and falling with the deep breaths of her little dragon.

Her face was starting to hurt from all of the smiling, but this last one was worth it. How secretive and sneaky she’d been, providing all of her friends with hint after hint… or even outright information, about all of the things he could have.

How careful she’d been to gauge each against the part that dwelt inside of him.

Yes, she’d planned it perfectly. She’d made up a list of things that she knew beyond a doubt would not launch him into another fit of greed-growth. It was essentially perfect. Yes, the list had been very short, but in the end, her family and friends were each going to give Spike a very happy day tomorrow. How he’d be so astounded to finally have a Hearth’s Warming where they could all give him presents, where they were free to give him more than just candies and books!

How amazed he’d be by her own gift, the one that she…

That she…

That…

…

…

…

Oh, buck!

Twilight bolted straight up in bed.

Her eyes flew to the saddlebags, and at once she leapt from the bed, sending the sleeping whelp tumbling from it with a surprised cry.

“Jeez, Twi!” he said as he spun about in the blanket. When he freed himself, Spike looked up to see her digging through the saddlebags. She tossed items to the floor, searching for something deep within.

“Aww,” he moaned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I’m gonna hafta clean all of that up again, aren’t I?”

Twilight barely heard him. Instead she dug out a ledger, one that she had been using to keep careful tabs on all that they had done as they prepared for the holiday.

Her magic flipped through the ledger. She turned past pages where they had scientifically accounted for the exact amount of eggnog necessary to obtain merriment, and where they had studiously accounted for the right amount of snow-white berries necessary in a sprig of mistletoe to induce a kiss.

Rarity had been happy to volunteer, despite Spike passing out after the third, fifth, and seventh attempts to obtain a control level.

“Twi?” Spike said, holding a finger in the air. “Is everything okay?”

One of Twilight’s bangs sprang upon her head, springing into the air with a metallic twang.

“Uh oh,” said Spike as he wrapped himself in his blanket, hiding in it so that only his emerald eyes shone out from beneath. “That’s not good! That’s never good!”

Peering over the ledger, Twilight stopped at the long list of names, each written in her secret encryption. There, each one sat crossed out, and a tally of number of presents provided, cost, and location of the return receipt sat next to each one.

All except one.

All except one that she, it seemed, had forgotten.

Twilight danced her hooves, and she spun to face the alarm clock that stood on the bed stand.

It was 10:32 p.m. on Hearth’s Warming Eve, and she had no present for…

“Twi? What’s up? What’s the matter, Twi? Are you okay?” Spike said, peeking out from beneath his blanket. Spike, perhaps better than any living creature in the world, knew what it meant when she was like this. In his head he was already imagining where her hysterics would lead… explosions, fires, perhaps she’d even keep with the festive season and deluge the city with fruitcakes.

But as she turned to him, Spike saw something that he had not expected. What he saw was not his caregiver about to go off into another one of her fits of hysteria. Instead, in many ways what he saw was worse.

“Twi!” he exclaimed, leaping out of his blanket, the dragon trying to reach up to her…

… to wipe away the tears that were forming in the corner of her eyes.

Suddenly, Twilight was no longer giddy. She was no longer happy. She drew her face along his, and then wrapped him in her magic.

In an instant they were pelting down the hallway.

In all honesty, Twilight’s parents were thrilled to know that their children were in the house.

They loved knowing that Twilight and Shining were back in their bedrooms, and that the ghosts of Hearth’s Warming Eve’s they’d thought gone from their lives was once more sitting around their charming home.

They were very glad that all of their children were here… all four of them.

That Cadence was here meant that their world was somehow more complete. Yes, having an alicorn princess in one’s home was unusual, but that was mitigated by family photo albums that showed the aforementioned alicorn as a foalsitter, one bestrewn with peanut butter and jelly as she attempted to give a little filly and dragon fingerling a bath. She was their daughter by law now, just as their son was that of the neighbors who they honored… and they were very happy for it.

That Spike was here completed it. He was the last of the children to enter this home, and at first they had been dubious. They had spent the first weekends just trying to figure out what he ate and reminding each other not to scold him like a puppy when he was naughty. Years later, they could barely picture a time without him. When the time came for Twilight to take him to live with her at her new apartment at the school they had bawled almost as hard as they had when Shining and Twilight had left their home.

Yes, it felt good to have the kids all home. It felt wonderful, and they had begged that the fates would let it happen.

They did their best to remind themselves of that as one of their children sat banging on their bedroom door, jarring them out of their sleep and making Twilight’s father fall from the bed.

As he grumpily stood he mumbled something indelicate, and then opened the door.

He immediately had a very surprised looking dragon whelp pressed into his face.

“Dad! Talk with Spike for a little bit!” called his daughter, rushing past him, dropping Spike across his visage.

“Mom! Mom! Mommy! Mom! Mom! Mommy! Mom!” Twilight called, bouncing up and down at her mother’s side of the bed.

“Twilight?” answered her mother blearily. “Dear, what’s wrong?”

Twilight’s mother had very little time to ponder any of this as her daughter shoved her towards the door so forcibly and powerfully that her rear legs came off the ground.

“We’re getting too old for this,” she whispered to her husband with a sigh, and with that their daughter slammed the door shut behind them.

Spike blinked and rubbed his hands across his frills. He then looked up into the impassive glare of the stallion.

“Hi, Mr. Dad!” called Spike in a tone that was far too cheerful to match the hour.

“She’s right,” the stallion answered, “we are getting too old for this.”

“Yeah,” answered Spike in an innocent tone, “you are starting to get some grey in your mane, especially at the temples…”

The stallion arched an eye at the little dragon that he held in his foreleg.

“What?”

Outside, a whispered conversation drew towards an obvious conclusion.

“I’m sorry, dear,” Twilight’s mother told her, looking down into the watering eyes of her little filly, “but with how strict and clear your list was, we had difficulty finding the one gift at all. I’m so sorry, dear, but we only have the one. Do, do you want…”

“No!” brayed Twilight as quietly as she could. “I don’t want what you and dad got for him. You deserve to give it to him. I-I want something to give him myself! Oh, how could I have forgotten?”

She leaned her head across her mother’s shoulders. Two large sniffles arose from the unicorn as her mother held her and the two swayed back and forth.

“You’ll just have to be honest with him, that’s all that there is to it, Twilight,” her mother said. “Though, I’d check with Cadence and Shiny, first…”

Twilight stood upright, and a sudden look of hope shot across her. Yes, yes, maybe her brother and…

The two mares suddenly bolted in place, and their faces turned back towards the door of the master bedroom.

Loud voices arose from within. With surprise on their faces they threw the door open, not knowing what to expect, neither guessing what could cause such a ruckus.

Seeing as they had left two males in a room together, it very clearly became clear what they were arguing about.

“Hay Ton Maneing?!” exclaimed Spike, driving his finger into the palm of his other hand. “He’s just gonna bolt from the Broncos like he did from the Colts!”

Her father pounded his hoof on the bed. “Yea? Like your colt Drew Breeze is some kind of saint! Who…”

“Are you two really arguing about hoofball at eleven o’clock on Hearth’s Warming Eve?” interrupted Twilight as both she and her mother looked upon them with falsified judgment.

The two males looked at one another, back to the mares, and shrugged their shoulders.

“C’mon, Spike,” Twilight said as her voice deflated again and she raised her hoof to him, “we… we have to make another stop.”

Spike raised his hand again, but before he could ask what this was all about he felt himself gathered into a strong set of forelegs, probably the only stallion’s forelegs in the world where he felt truly comfortable. It began as a noogie, but soon it became a bear hug, one he tried to return.

“Good night, Spike. Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

“Good night, Mr. Dad! Happy Hearth’s Warming!”

He was passed to Twilight’s mother, and he lingered in her gentle hug for a long moment before she softly kissed the top of his head.

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Spike, dear.”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Mrs. Mom!”

He had expected Twilight to grab him with a waft of her magic. To his surprise they departed the room with Twilight carrying him in one of her forelegs, a way she’d not carried him for years, perhaps nearly a decade.

“Twi?” he asked in confusion. The word and the question it implied lingered around the hallway before fading away.

Twilight’s mother quietly closed the door.

“What was all of that about?” asked her father, reaching up his hoof to guide his mare back into the close, warm folds of their bed.

When she told him, he sighed heavily. There was a momentary silence as they settled together once again.

“You sent her off to Shining’s room, right?”

“Of course,” she said, tucking herself closer to him. “Why should we have all the fun of being awoken at this time of night?”

“That’s my girl,” he said, and with that he wrapped her in his forelegs, kissed her ears, and settled around her as the snow fell gently outside their window.

Shining Armor wasn’t a complicated stallion. He wasn’t that deep, and intellectually speaking he knew he wasn’t the top shelf model. He had always known what he wanted though, and his single-minded drive had won him many things.

He had wanted to be a dutiful soldier. He wanted to achieve all that he was meant for… and, since the day he’d first realized his feelings for his baby sister’s foalsitter, he’d wanted her in this bed.

Now, a decade later and their marriage all properly arranged and behind them, he completed the trifecta.

It wasn’t exactly as he’d imagined it. In fact, it was ridiculous.

The bed was so small that the two grown ponies, a large stallion and the alicorn mare, had to press close to one another.

She had to tuck herself deep into the crux of his body, and she had to lay her head upon his neck, making it so that every little movement of the two drew their faces along that of the other.

Thank Celestia for ridiculousness.

Ever on the alert, the captain and prince raised his head as sounds lifted from the end of the hallway beyond his bedroom door. He listened as a door slammed, and the familiar voices of Twilight and his mother came down the hall to him in muffled tones.

“Pillow?” asked Cadence in a tired tone. “Would you please rest your head once more? You make a wonderful Shining Armor.”

He put a soft kiss upon her forehead and then lifted his ears once again. It was definitely a conversation, and not a happy one. He wondered what the two in the hallway could be talking about at this hour.

He was distracted as a certain alicorn princess began to nibble softly upon his neck.

“I’m sorry that you got woken, Babe,” he said as her tender administrations continued. “There’s something up in the hallway. I’m just listening to see if they are gonna need my help or not. Heh, if I hear dad get up and fetch his toolbox from under the sink…”

“Tomorrow night, when we stay with my parents, I suggest that we will have no such issues to deal with,” she said, wiping her face along his neck.

“Tomorrow we’ll have the exact same situation,” he said with a laugh, “except that it will be in your foalhood bed instead of mine.”

Cadence wasn’t a complicated mare. She wasn’t that deep, and intellectually speaking she knew she wasn’t the top shelf model. She had always known what she wanted though, and her single-minded drive had won her many things.

She had wanted to be a dutiful princess. She wanted to achieve all that she was meant for… and, since the day she’d first realized her feelings for the brother of her favorite filly, she’d wanted him in her bed in the house next door.

It seemed, to some small carnal part of her, that she would now be completing the trifecta.

“Babe,” he said with a small laugh, “if you don’t stop wiggling like that, then we’re going to have another guest in this bed, one who’ll need a nice warm place to spend the night.”

Cadence giggled, shifted her hips...

… and with that their door flung open, and Spike was dropped between them.

“My,” said Cadence in a rather disappointed tone, “this is not what I thought you were referring to at all.”

“It wasn’t!” hissed Shining as only a male who was just interrupted at the very edge of some rather sweaty snuggle-bunnies could be. “Twilly! What’s up with that?”

Shining looked up to see that Twilight’s hair was a mess, and a look of subdued hysteria was sitting across her face.

“Uh oh!” he said, looking down at Spike with startled alarm. “That is never good, dude! That is never good!”

“I know, right!?” replied Spike, staring from one of the Sovereigns of the Crystal Empire to the other as confusion swept over them. “Somethin’s really got her tail in a twist tonight… dunno what, though.”

“Twilly, what in the Well is…” began the older brother. At once a great arc of her magic settled over him. All in the room were suddenly reminded of which of the two siblings had once impressed a supposedly immortal and seemingly divine alicorn with her massive, raw magical abilities.

Twilight began to drag Shining from the bed, and as she did he turned around and tried to gather the sheets into his hooves.

“Not good, dude! Not good!” he said, looking up to Spike with noticeable concern as he was dragged away.

“I know, bro! Believe me, I know!” Spike called, dancing upon the bed and waving his arms about frantically. “Oh, uh… try to go limp, bro, go limp!”

“Tell my wife I love her, dude!” Shining called, reaching his foreleg towards the bed and its occupants. At once the moonlight showed him spin around to look upon the form of his younger sister. A single cry escaped him as the door slammed shut.

Spike stood upon the bed, running his clawed hand through his frills.

He sat upon a pillow, watching the door. When no blood-curdling cries of horror reached out from behind it, he turned to face the Crystal Princess.

“Hey, Cadence?” he said.

She smiled down at him, remembering the little dragon fingerling that had fallen asleep in her lap time and time again as Twilight had studied nearby.

“Yes, Spike?” she answered.

“Shining said… well, kinda screamed… that he loves ya’, just so you know,” he said, “just in case you missed it or somethin’.”

She gave a single giggle, and then looked back down at him.

“Yes,” she said, lifting her forelegs, “I love him, too. I love him so very much.”

With that she wrapped her forelegs around the little dragon, embracing him closely as she giggled. Together they lay there upon the bed, Cadence simply giggling happily at the absurdity of it all as Spike’s eyes sat wide.

“Whoa,” he breathed.

When Shining had been dragged into the hallway, he either expected to find Twilight wrapped in currents of black magic or grinning maniacally.

He wasn’t sure which he’d rather have faced.

In reality, he stood up to discover himself looking down into the watering eyes of his little sister. At once all of his upset washed away, and that part of him that was a big brother came marching up to the forefront, set up base camp, and began launching catapults full of love and concern.

“Twilly, what’s wrong? Why are you so upset, sis? It’s almost eleven o’clock and you are…”

Twilight interrupted him with a few whispered remarks. He shook his head, and looked down to her once again.

“Nothing?”

She shook her head. More whispered words fell from his little sister, and as they did Shining did his best to think tactically, like a real captain of the guard.

In short, he ended up saying practically the same thing that his mother had.

“No, Twilly, we don’t. We only have the one gift, the one you suggested. I’m sorry. It wasn’t easy to find anything else. You know, what with how strict your list was of what he could and couldn’t have. I’m sorry, Twilly.”

He watched her head sink. As it did his mind raced to find a way to help his baby sister.

“I… I could send a message to the quartermaster depot. Somepony should be on duty. We could search through a catalog and I could start the requisition process.”

“Process?” she said her eyes coming alight. “H-How long would that take?”

Shining’s head sank low. “Four to six weeks. It’s a bureaucracy, after all.”

Twilight cursed. He lifted her head and placed it across his shoulder.

“Just… just tell him the truth, Twi,” he implored her. “He’ll understand. He’s always been a great little guy about stuff like that.”

“I shouldn’t have to tell him anything,” she whimpered. “I should have checked twice. I just got so wrapped up. He’s been through so much this year. I-I’ve…”

“Shhhh,” he whispered as he rocked his baby sister. “Twilly, shhhh, it’ll be okay. Everything’s gonna be fine...”

The door came open, and Shining walked back towards his bed.

“Dude,” he said, hovering his face over the little dragon, pretending to be incensed by what he discovered there, “love ya’ like a bro, but get up out of my bed and away from my mare.”

“He’s sleeping, Shiny!” Cadence exhorted. The return of words to the darkened bedroom brought Spike out of his slumber. As it did he lifted his arms, searching through the darkness. In an instant he was caught in that familiar magic, and soon he felt himself settle across Twilight’s back. Her familiar scent caught in his nose, and the soft wafts of her mane rested beneath his cheek.

He brushed his hand through her mane once, and in an instant he was slumbering against her.

Twilight craned her neck to look at him. He looked extraordinarily peaceful, what with the way his little breaths were catching amid her mane.

She lifted her head with a tiny smirk, and as she did she imparted her meaning to the two who were attempting to make room for one another upon the little bed.

And how long before you two have a little one, or little ones, to carry around? her smirk told them.

You’d be an aunt a lot sooner, their smirks replied, if you’d close that bucking door!

“Good night, you two,” she said with a giggle, closing the door in a waft of her magic. “Sorry to wake you. Happy Hearth’s Warming.”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Twilight.”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, sis.”

Chapter 2: Hearth's Warming Day

Chapter 2: Hearth’s Warming Day

Twilight did not return to her little bed.

Instead, she found herself walking back and forth across the landing at the top of the stairs. Below her a multitude of colored lights fell across the floor, streaming out into the night that hung around the downstairs hallway.

The Hearth’s Warming tree stood there unseen, at the opposite end of the living room below her, casting its light upon the sleeping household.

Well, mostly sleeping. Twilight was in fact standing there, prancing in place, and pondering all sorts of horrible crimes against magic and nature.

She… she, she, she, she could summon a gift with her magic! Right! Just use her magic to summon some sort of gift out of thin air… sucking it through the reaches of time and space and opening a chasm between dimensions.

That could work! There might be a few monstrous abominations involved, but hey, it’s Hearth’s Warming!

Or… or, or, or, or she could go down into the basement and dabble in some alchemy! Right! Okay! Just make a transfiguration circle and call on the good old-fashioned rules of equivalent exchange! Good! Yeah! Why not?! There was only a moderate chance that she’d actually summon hordes of the undead!

Her hooves danced as she allowed her analytical mind access to places she’d never usually consider going. Anything. She was willing to do anything to save his Hearth’s Warming. Please, she begged, she just wanted him to…

Her grin went wide again and her bang once more lifted from her head with an unsubtle “twang!”

“Uh oh,” came a little voice, and at once she stopped her prancing. “Uh oh,” came the voice again. Twilight hung there in mid-air, holding her breath and hoping he’d go back to sleep, until physics refused to be ignored anymore and she went clattering to her hooves.

Twilight felt the sensation of Spike lifting himself. He leaned across her neck, reaching all the way up across her head. He gently brushed past her horn, and with that he pushed the bang back down so that it rested upon her once more.

“Ya’ know, Twi,” he said as he rubbed the spot behind one of her ears, the sleep still hovering in his voice as he did, “ya’ know that I’ve always hated that sound…”

She felt him leap from her back. His feet made little pitter-patter sounds across the rug as he walked forward. He ran his hand across her until he arrived at her shoulder. She looked down at him as he ran his hand up and down her foreleg, the little whelp seeming to both fight his tiredness and search for his words.

“That sproingy sound… I dunno what causes it, but whatever does it means that you’re going off the deep end again. I’ve always hated it,” he said as he walked in front of her. She lowered her eyes to look into his emerald ones.

Spike extended his left hand, and as though knowing that he had something that he wished to say she lowered her head into it, resting her jaw there. It didn’t surprise her at least when he lifted his right hand and began to draw it up and down the space between her eyes, gently stroking her from her horn to the tip of her nose…

… trying to get her to calm down. Trying to help her center herself.

“I’ve hated it ever since we were little, that noise, ‘cause it always meant that you were upset.”

He continued to look into her eyes as he stroked her, tried to draw out whatever was upsetting the pony.

“I don’t like seeing you this way, ya’ know? It really bothers me whenever you get this way, Twi. It really, really does.”

He searched the purple of her eyes. He gently traced the space up to her horn and down to her nose for long minutes as the Hearth’s Warming lights of neighboring houses fell upon them through the window.

Downstairs, the smells of holiday foods lingered long after the dishes had been washed and put away. Candies and cookies offered up their scents, lifting off of the buffet table in the hallway and settling around the pair that stood at the top of the stairs.

Spike stopped drawing his fingers across her nose.

“We’ve been running and running and running around the house for a half an hour now. Won’t ya’ tell me what it is this time, Twi? I wanna help. You know that I always wanna help. I’m your number one assistant, Twi, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Won’t you tell me, please?” he implored, putting his free hand beneath her chin as well.

Twilight gave a great rolling sigh. She closed her eyes, blinked, and then looked back into the emerald of his.

“Promise you won’t get mad?” she asked in a small tone.

Spike stepped back and looked up to her. He danced his fingers together, sighed, and stared back up to her.

“No,” he said, “I can’t promise that I won’t get mad. I mean, we don’t have any control over that sort of thing, huh? But, Twi, I can promise that if I do, I won’t mean it.”

He smiled up to her, and she smiled back down at him. She lowered her haunches, and he leapt up to his familiar place upon her back.

She lifted her hooves, and together they committed the cardinal sin of Hearth’s Warming, one that every foal knows not to do, or risk having the windigos whisk their presents away.

Or, discovering their parents putting them there, which is sort of the same on a psychological level.

In short, Twilight and Spike looked upon the Hearth’ Warming tree and all of the presents beneath it before Hearth’s Warming morning.

“Holy smokes! Look at all the presents!” cried Spike, leaping from her back. She watched happily as he waddled his way over to the great stacks of gifts, the colors of the lights falling across his scales as he looked the piles over.

Nearby the fireplace reacted to their presence, roaring to life as a few tea candles in their colored cups came alive on the mantle.

Twilight sat in front of the sofa, not wanting to get too comfortable. She watched with a small smile as he went from standing, down to all fours, and back to standing again, as though not knowing how to react as he studied the glimmering paper and tall towers of gifts.

She laughed to herself as his tail swished back and forth a few times, as though he were a happy puppy, something that she could not remember him ever doing before.

“Twi!” he called, leaping in the air. “There’s… there’s gifts for me here! N-Not just candy and a book or two… but real gifts, Twi!”

He called out the names on the “From” side of each tag. Cadence and Shining, Mrs. Mom and Mr. Dad (as their titles became long ago). Even great silvery and golden packages from the princesses themselves sat there, awaiting their opening tomorrow morning. He could not know, she assumed, that even more awaited him from their friends upon their return home to the library.

Only one name was missing, and her face creased in disappointment. It seemed that he was about to discover whose.

“You did it, Twi! You really found a way for all of my favorite ponies to get me gifts that… that, don’t… that don’t set off my problem!” he said, trying to chuckle through the admission.

Twilight winced. She wondered if, perhaps, if they’d begun giving him gifts long ago, maybe he’d have developed some kind of immunity to the greed growth? But, where was a dragon fingerling supposed to keep toys? Where was some creature with no real home like Spike supposed…

No, wait. Something had been said. Twilight’s mind raced back to Spike’s statement.

At once she sat up, her eyes going wide.

“Spike,” she whispered, “you… you knew about the lists I was giving our friends? The criteria for gifts that wouldn’t… well, set off that part of you? You knew, Spike? I swore that I kept that…”

“A secret?” he said with a laugh. To her amazement, Spike was smiling. He settled down in front of her, just far enough away that the tree lights still danced around him, and his legs crossed in front of him as he leaned towards her.

“C’mon, Twi, you know that we don’t have any secrets. I mean, not after this year. W-We both know what our greatest fears are, we both know what our hopes are. You know what’s in the little book I keep under the stairs, I know what’s in the long box in your nightstand…”

Twilight’s jaw dropped open. Well, okay, wow. That was unexpected… and embarrassing. And true.

Twilight put his little admission aside until she could formulate a discussion about privacy. Hopefully, that was a few months away. Instead, she focused on his words as he continued a litany of revelations.

“… but, that’s not really the point, Twi. The point, ummm, is that it means… it means the world to me. It means the world to me that you were doing that. It really, really, really did. So, when I saw you getting all tired and worn out… well, and when I saw that there was only one name left on the list of ponies, and creatures, you needed to buy for…”

Twilight sucked in a deep breath. It had been right there in the ledger. She’d thought that she’d hidden her list deep in her encryption… but then again, who was the only other living soul in the world who had rested against her as she’d made the thing? Her eyes stayed wide as he admitted his act… as he admitted…

“… I just let it slip. You were all wore out, and it was already so late. It’s okay, Twi. I know ya’ didn’t mean to forget to get me a gift. It’s okay, really, I don’t mind.”

He sat there smiling at her, just rubbing his hand across his head. He just sat there, in the light of the tree, scratching his frills and smiling a big dopey smile.

He was right. It had been a massive undertaking. Not just developing the criteria for his own gifts, but the work they had done together to find just the right gifts for their friends and loved ones. When they arrived here at her parent’s home they had fallen across the sill of the doorway like a pair of marathon runners finishing a race.

Twilight just shook her head slowly from side to side.

“It… it would’ve been easy for you… to just leave the page open, or mention…” she began. Soon that ended, and she reached her foreleg forward to him.

“I’m so sorry Spike. I’m so sorry! I really wanted to find something perfect, find something that really told you how proud I am of you, how happy I am that you’re with me, especially after this year. I am so sorry that I forgot to get you a gift! I really am!”

He stepped forward into her hug, and she wrapped him close.

Twilight, you ninny! she scolded herself. This year, of all years, to forget to get him a gift!

This year, after he’d become a monster… and now knew that he’d be dealing with that part of himself forever. This year, after he had journeyed to discover whom he was… and was horrified by what he discovered. This year, after he had hatched his little phoenix… just to end up having to be strong and brave enough to give Peewee up to Philomena so that the bird could learn the ways of its kind.

This year, after his great fear had been shown to her... that the worst thing that could ever happen to him was being separated from her. This year, a year in which he had dutifully stood by her side, and had gone beyond himself to help restore a race of ponies whom he had never met.

Why did it have to be this year, of all years, to let her little dragon down?

With all of that in mind, she wondered, why was it that her eyes were watering but he was standing there in her embrace and taking it like a champ?

She held him, and she stroked his frills. She took a few large breaths, and then she felt him move, unexpectedly lifting from the warm spot between her forelegs and chest.

He smiled up to her again.

“You still think I’m sad about it, huh?” he said with a giggle. Twilight’s eyebrow arched, and she watched a smile cross his face. “Twi,” he said in a factual tone, “I’m gonna give you your gift now, okay?”

Before she could stop him, he had waddled across the room once more. He sprung into the pile of presents, fishing around for the little package that she had just barely seen tucked into the corner of her saddlebag.

She held her hoof over her mouth, stifling her giggle. Only his tallest frill stuck up above him as he searched beneath the tree. He looked very much like a festive shark, one that was swimming amid a coral reef of tree lights as their colors cascading around him.

“Aha!” he called, bounding out from beneath the tree, sending an ancient ornament, a cord of garland, a string of beads, and some of the lights crashing to the floor amidst the presents.

He padded back over to where she sat, lifting the present up to her.

“Oh, ummm… sorry about the wrapping paper. I’m not so good at that yet,” he said.

He’d always been a truthful dragon, mostly, and the gift bore that out.

It wasn’t so much wrapped in the paper as beaten into submission by it. The crinkled, uneven surface was swathed in enough transparent tape that it seemed to be glazed like the surface of a doughnut. The label, the tape roll, a pencil, and her missing pair of good scissors all seemed entrapped within, like insects caught in ancient amber.

“Yeah, ummm,” he repeated, “not so good at that, yet. Or, at all.”

She took it from him, and as her magic settled over the package he looked on, almost jubilantly happy as she tried her best to buzz saw through the glazing.

She set her good scissors aside where she could retrieve them later, and then settled her eyes across the gift itself.

It stole out her breath.

“Do you like it, Twi?” he called, his joy bubbling over in a way that was almost obscenely adorable.

He lifted the shaft of the jewel from the paper. It wasn’t more than three inches long, but the perfect pink of the ruby shone with its own light. That alone would have been enough, but…

“Look, Twi, look!” he called, holding it up so that she could study it better. She had to blink, almost believing what she saw to be only a trick of the colors that fell from the tree.

Inside the central shaft of the ruby was transparent, and inside of it…

“The inside is methyl, so each of the figures float! Look, Twi… it’s us!” he said, bringing it even closer to her eyes.

She peered down into the transparent core. There, two tiny figures floated, ones that she could now pretty much see as being the both of them… now that he’d explained it. Around them floated confetti, or something similar, that he must have placed inside over the long months that it took to grow such an intricate ruby.

He must have been growing it since… well, since last Hearth’s Warming.

So much for not having any secrets from one another!

The one he’d given to Rarity was a master’s class in facets and pure, unadulterated mass and light. This? This was delicate, tiny. He was only getting better at this craft, and she caught herself before she began to ponder if he was going to get a cutie mark in gemology, like a mother would ponder… that is, if dragons could get cutie marks.

She spread her forelegs around him as they settled back to the floor. The light of the fireplace, the tree, and the candles twinkled through it as he turned it over and over, explaining each piece of confetti that caught in her eye.

“The leaves?” she asked as he settled against her neck and shoulder.

“All the seasons we’ve been together…”

“The sparkles?”

“Your magic!”

“The letters?”

“All of the writing we do…”

“The button?” she asked as a small, round button went tumbling the length of the transparent chamber.

“Ugghhh!” sighed Spike, pinching the bridge of his nose. “That fell in there as I was sealing it up!”

Twilight giggled, and then waited for him to settle once again.

“The hearts?” she said with a knowing smile.

To her surprise he stood. He looked down over her, and then he nervously ran his hands through his frills once more.

“Twi?” he began, quietly. “When we were saying good night upstairs, and you asked if I was glad to be… well, home, did you catch what I said?”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Hmmm,” she hummed with a touch of introspection. “No, actually, I didn’t!” she admitted. “What did you answer, Spike?”

Spike sat in front of her again, leaning forward slightly, gathering his tail into his hands.

“When I was living in the nursery… it, it never felt right. I only felt safe and happy when you came to play with me,” he began. She cocked her head to the side, remembering him once saying that his first memory was her playing “peek-a-boo” with him in his crib.

“When… ummm, when they started letting me come here, sometimes, it was great. It was really great. But, when you were at school, and it was just I and Mr. Dad and Mrs. Mom, or even Cadence… well, it just didn’t feel right, either.

She watched him play with his tail, as though he were gauging his words.

“Do you remember when we were living in your rooms at the school? Do you remember the first night when you put me in that bassinet, the first night you said I couldn’t sleep with you in your bed anymore?” he said with a soft chuckle, as though hiding his embarrassment.

“You wailed all night,” she said, adding a soft chuckle of her own. “You kept promising to be a good boy, as though you thought I was punishing you for something. I just couldn’t get you to understand that when you molted it was getting in my mane!”

The two laughed, their voices rising through the holly and winter greenery that sat around the decorated room.

“I just didn’t want to be put away from you, you see. That’s all I ever want, Twi, is to go with you, be near you. I-I love all of the adventures we have, and I’m not afraid to do anything if you’re there when we go off to do it. I was excited to go to Ponyville, because it meant seeing new and exciting things with you.”

He lifted his eyes back up to her. He gripped his tail tight.

“It’s funny, I guess… but, Twi, home? Home, Twi… that’s wherever you are. I’m only home when I’m with you, I guess. Does, huh, does that make any sense?”

He struggled with his words, looking for them like any boy of about twelve years would do.

“Twi, the hearts are how much I love you, how much you matter to me. You’re the most important pony in my life Twi, and you matter a whole bunch! I-I can’t picture what my life would ever be like, well, without you in it…”

“Oh, Spike!” she said, lifting her foreleg to him. He smiled wide as she leaned towards him. He expected to be drawn into a hug, but to his surprise a soft touch fell through him. He blinked, and found his nose pressed to hers.

Slowly Twilight rubbed her nose to his, beginning first with a little motion, one that soon expanded into a circle, and then a figure eight. As she sighed a happy sigh she wiped her face against his once, twice, three times, and then brought him forward into a vast hug once more.

“The hearts are how much we love one another, Spike,” she said, running her hoof across his back as he sat pressed into the warm, comforting place at her chest, “remember that, okay? Watching you grow up from the little fingerling, watching you learn to read and write, being there when you started to talk… that was amazing for me, Spike. You’ve been there for me in some of the most important times of my life. You are right Spike, I guess we don’t have any secrets from one another. There’s nopony, or dragon, who knows more about me than you, not even mom, dad, and Shining.”

She lifted her hoof briefly, drawing it across her eyes.

“We take care of one another, we worry about one another, and we love one another. You’re so special to me, Spike. So special I don’t think that there are words…”

They sat there together as Hearth’s Warming Eve continued to fly away. As she rocked him slowly, running her hoof across his frills and back, she tried to think of those words.

She had done this before. She had done it many times over the years. For all of her vast knowledge she simply could not conjure a word.

They simply would not come. Motherly? No, they argued too much, were too much like equals. In many ways he was more mature than she was… even though it pained her to admit it.

Sisterly? Perhaps. But, then again, perhaps not so much. He had duties that no sibling would be assigned, and he was far too independent of her now to try to claim him as a little brother.

Best friend? Did she love him like a best friend? That would imply that she loved him just as much as she loved the girls back in Ponyville. They were all dear to her, and she loved them all deeply… but, she’d known them for what, three years?

They had not been there for her for more than a decade, had not shared so many of her memories. They didn’t know her in the same way Spike knew her. Despite all of the wonderful things she could say about all of them, all of the praise and love she could heap on them… none of them loved her like Spike loved her.

Like she loved him.

He’d always been her cheerleader, her confidant, and her jester. He believed in her completely. He was always the first to try to comfort her when she failed and the first to yell at her to get back up.

Best friend? No, that was just some small part of what she felt for him, and the way she knew he felt for her. But that could not define it all.

She smiled and once again admitted to herself that it didn’t account for all the times she’d felt like, and wished to be, his big sister.

And it didn’t fit with those most rare and most beautiful of moments, those when some small part of her dreamed of what it would be like to be his mother.

None of the words fit. It was so unique, the way that the little dragon that was cuddled close to her fit into her world. The way he fit just so. All of the words worked, and none of them worked. It was all just a complicated, bubbly soup. The one ingredient that held it all together was love. It was the odd, unusual, unconventional… beautiful, rewarding, honest love they shared.

Whatever they were to one another, whatever perfect, happy, and seemingly non-existent word could define it… in the end she was his big one, and he was her little one.

The little one lifted his head from her, smiled, and then reached for the discarded wrapping paper. The big one watched as he pulled something long and shiny from it.

“I forgot, Twi,” he said with a laugh, pulling a thin gold braid through a hidden loop upon the gem. “Here, you can wear it like a necklace, too, if you like.”

She leaned forward, and as she felt the tickling touch of his clawed hands trace her neck she smiled at him. It was the second piece of jewelry he’d given her, if the cheap necklace made of something almost entirely unlike gold he’d won for her at the fair three years ago counted.

And, yes, she counted it… despite how it had turned her coat green where it had rubbed against her.

You’re going to make some girl very, very, very happy someday, Spike, she thought to herself, fighting to keep from giggling as she felt the tickle of his hands as he fought to latch the necklace.

Soon he stepped back into the colored lights that fell from the tree. As he looked up to her the jewel shone upon her neck.

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Twi,” he breathed. “Do you like it?”

“I love it, Spike,” she answered as she lifted it. She gave it a little shake, and all of the elements within spun around. Inside the tiny Twilight and bitty Spike figures bounced against one another, and settled against one another in what seemed a hug. “I love it so much, Spike. Thank you so much.”

She let it rest against her chest, and together they stood there as the last of Hearth’s Warming Eve began to wash away. He came back, seating himself between her forelegs, leaning into the warmth of her chest and running his hands up and down her forelegs.

Together they watched the fireplace, the candles, and the tree. The joy of the holiday washed over them as they sat there together, close to one another.

Twilight took a deep breath. She could feel him starting to fade. All of the familiar signs of sleep coming to claim him joined them there among the presents, lights, and candles.

She had to try, at least once, before he drifted off to sleep.

“Spike?” she asked. The dragon stirred beneath her, and as she leaned back he sat up between her forelegs, looking up to her with bleary, tired eyes.

“Spike, it means a great deal to me that you saw that I was tired, that I seemed all used up. It was nice that you didn’t want to trouble me with your gift,” she said, reaching down to give him a small disciplinary noogie for allowing her to forget something. He had a job, after all.

“But, Spike,” she continued as he smiled up to her. “Well, I want to be bothered by stuff like that. Since the day the princess gave you into my care… I’ve wanted to be bothered. Spike, our gifts, they show those who we love what we mean to them.”

She leaned down so that he sat between her forelegs once more. Their noses touched once again, and he leaned forward for another nuzzle before she continued her words.

“Spike,” she said, laying her head in her own forelegs, making it so that she was looking up to him, “isn’t there anything I can get you, or do for you? Is there any, any, any gift I can give you this Hearth’s Warming? Just so I can show you how much you mean to me?”

He smiled a tired smile, and ran his fingers through her mane a few times. A sudden look of shock went through him, and he startled. Twilight’s own eyes matched his surprise as a blush went over him…

“Spike?” she asked, softly. “Spike, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” he said. He calmed, and then repeated his statement. “Nothing, Twi, just a funny thought…”

“Well,” she said with just a hint of exasperation in her voice, “what is it?”

Spike stood and looked around the room. To her amazement he went to the nearby sofa and began pulling the cushions off. He then went to the settee, the loveseat, and the other chairs.

Wherever he could find cushions, pillows, throws, and blankets, he gathered them up and placed them in the middle of the room.

Twilight watched, perhaps thinking he was making some kind of nest, or hut… a piece of abstract art, perhaps?

Soon he had finished, and before him a futon of sorts stood upon the floor, very near the warmth of the fireplace and the light of the tree.

“Twi,” he said without turning back to her, “if, maybe… do you think that we could go back in time, just a little? Back… back to when we were just a little smaller, when I wasn’t molting as often…”

He heard her soft, familiar hooffalls behind him. Twilight leaned her frame down across him, and slowly she gathered him into another hug.

“Spike,” she asked, “are you saying that all you want for Hearth’s Warming… is a nice long cuddle?”

“Heh,” he laughed as he drew his hand through his scales. “Well, yeah… I guess you could say…”

She could do that. That was doable. That was within her budget, her means… and her wants.

There is no delicate way to say what happened next. There was nothing graceful or serene about it. It wasn’t beautiful or poised. There was nothing elegant about the way she scooped him up and then pounced upon the cushions.

In short, she flopped there.

Pillows and blankets fell around them as he lifted himself, and as he tried to repair the structure he found himself looking down at her.

“A nice long cuddle,” she said, leaning her neck forward. “One that lasts until about… oh, shall we say, until mom wakes us for breakfast? Does that sound like a good gift, Spike? Would you like that?”

Spike blushed slightly as he held a pillow up for her to rest her head upon and finished arranging everything. “Yeah, Twi,” he said self-consciously. “I-If you are okay with that. A-Are you okay with that?”

“Spike,” she said, “I’ll always give you hugs and nuzzles. Is there any creature I give them to more?”

She leaned her head closer to where he sat, looking up to him slightly.

“I’ll still be giving you hugs, cuddles, and nuzzles if I ever have foals of my own. I’ll give them to you when I’m an old granny. I’ll give them to you when you’re huge and you can barely feel me wrapping my forelegs around your wrist. And, Spike, do you know what?”

She leaned her head even farther still, reaching out to him until her face sat inches from his body.

“What, Twi?” he asked as the purple of her eyes caught the firelight.

“I’ll still be doing this, too.”

With that she planted a raspberry on his tummy.

The laughter of the dragon whelp rose around the room as she continued her assault. Soon she was touching her hooves to the ticklish spots she had long ago discovered, making his happy tones sing out around the living room.

He pretended to defend himself, but as her soft touch fell to the space beneath his arms, the base of his neck, and the spade of his tail, he did little more than simply sink closer to her and giggle happily.

After a few moments, it came to an end. He slid down into the space where her body lay upon the mountain of cushions, settling there and going quiet.

Twilight looked down over him. She ran her hoof across him once more, watching as his eyes reflected the lights from the tree and he stared out across the holiday scene.

“Twi, thank you,” he said, still facing away from her. His body began to relax against hers. “No other dragon gets to have Hearth Warming’s. No other dragon has so many adventures. No other dragon has got so many friends who love him.”

He wriggled his back against her further, sinking closer to the warmth of her mammalian coat.

“I love my life so much, Twi. I really, really do,” he said, his voice becoming quieter. “And it’s all because you’re with me… that I get to go with you. Thanks… thanks so much, Twi.”

She didn’t answer with words.

Instead, Twilight extended her forelegs. One slid beneath his head, lifting it up to the same level as hers. Their heads rested together upon the pillow as her forelegs wrapped around him. His little arms encircled them, pulling them closer to him, and she could feel the smile grow on his face as his hands ran up and down her forelegs.

From the spade of his tail sitting between her knees, across his body pushed and wrapped to hers, to the very top of his head sitting beneath her chin, Spike was awash in the dearly familiar feel, warmth, and scent of the creature he loved most in the world.

He wiggled just a little bit, sinking just that much farther into her warmth, and he was a very happy little dragon.

Twilight Sparkle was feeling, in all honesty, just a little bit giddy.

Yes, she was feeling giddy again. She had found it, the perfect gift for her number one assistant, her little dragon whelp… her great little guy.

It was one that she could give happily, freely, completely. It was the gift of being there for him, for just being the strong part of himself that he saw in her. Even as she lay there with him she could feel him falling into a peaceful sleep. She could feel his little hearts slowing their syncopated rhythm against her foreleg as his body calmed.

“Twi?” he said, his voice muffled slightly his tiredness and the closeness of her body. “We… we are our gifts for one another, kinda, huh?”

“That was very well said, Spike,” she answered. “And it’s true, too. We are our gifts… and having you with me makes me very, very happy.”

She lifted her head slightly, just enough so that she had an angle to run her face across his, nuzzling him over and over as he came closer and closer to slipping off into the realm of dreams.

“Twi,” he breathed in a distant tone, “I love you. Happy Hearth’s Warming.”

“I love you too, Spike,” she said, whispering the words over him gently. “Sleep tight, Happy Hearth’s Warming.”

She lifted her head, smiled, and then softly touched her lips to his forehead.

And, as there seemed to be no reason not to, she did it again.

She kept looking down over him until she felt the small, steady rhythms of his breath.

She placed her cheek against his for a moment, feeling the coolness of his scales. Lifting her head she began to place it back upon the pillow, but she halted herself.

Upon the mantle the candles, sensing the sleep that was drifting over the room, began to go out one by one.

She placed her lips to his cheek, letting them touch there for a long moment. As she lifted her head the corners of his mouth turned up in the slightest of smiles. That was the image that stayed in her mind as she placed her head back upon the pillow, resting her chin above his head.

She just managed to hear the tall hallway clock quietly chime the hour as her eyes closed. As midnight flew away a new day began. Hearth’s Warming Day was upon her, and she couldn’t be any happier with her gifts.

In a few moments the fireplace sensed that there was no creature left awake in the room, and it settled its flames to keep those who slept there warm while the room grew darker.

The tree remained lit, the magical lights shining proudly in the dark. They fell over the two who drifted in the colors, the cheerful shades reaching them even in the happy dreams they shared as they lay so close together.

So, the big one and the little one, that is how they passed that night, held close to one another…

… just as they had many years ago, when the excitement of Hearth’s Warming had washed over a little filly and her tiny dragon fingerling.

Outside the gentlest of snowfalls drifted around the capital city. The flakes glided soundlessly, catching in the holiday lights that arose from the houses, filling the dreams of those within with glad tidings and sweet memories.

End.