//------------------------------//
// Epilogue 
// Story: A Hearth's Warming Dream 
// by Anzel 
//------------------------------//

Silent and Crystal were lounging in bed, enjoying each other’s company and happy to have all their foals asleep at the same time. They didn’t need to speak to know what the other was thinking or feeling.

From out in the living room, the quiet but rapid sound of a hoof knocking at the front door worked its way to their ears above the snores and mumbles.

“That will likely be the princess, here to apologize,” Silent murmured softly.

Crystal nodded and whispered back, “Probably. Don’t keep her waiting. Get her inside, too, it’s below freezing out there.”

As carefully as he could, Silent shifted out of the bed, leaving his wife and three children to enjoy the warmth.

He trotted casually out of the bedroom and over to the front door to pull it open. “Listen, it is completely fi—” Silent came to a sudden halt.

The figure in front of him wasn’t a majestic alicorn of the night, but a lithe nox pegasus with gangly legs and large wings. 

It was Soothing Breeze, and she looked excited. She never looked excited.

“High Marshal, I was wrong before! So wrong!”

Her dark purple coat was covered in snow, no armor or even a jacket to protect it. She must have forgotten to put on anything, Silent guessed. The way she gasped for air that came out in heavy puffs against the chill meant she had probably forgotten about her wings, too, and galloped the whole way.

“I found it,” she said in a trembling voice. “I know where it is!”