Chapter 1
The snow lay heavy around Ponyville, much more heavily than Twilight was used to, having grown up in Canterlot, where the snowfall was always carefully monitored and controlled, for a most perfect Hearth's Warming every year, year after year. In some ways, the... *impreciseness* of the snowfall was exciting to Twilight; oh, sure, getting around town was a bit more difficult than usual, but where else but a book was she going to encounter real, honest to Celestia snow drifts?
Still, Twilight found herself with far more pressing matters weighting upon her mind than the interesting interplay between wind, frozen water, and lazy pegasi who may or may be her friend. Particularly, her Secret Stocking Surpriser. It was a concept that Twilight was not overly familiar with, prior to setting hoof in Ponyville, but, again, the concept intrigued her. It was a simple Earth pony tradition, according to Pinkie Pie; rather than trying to get everypony a gift, names were placed into a hat (Applejack’s in this case) and each pony would draw out a name. The name of the pony they were to get a gift for. Secretly. The name of the pony in question was accompanied by a brief description of what that pony might like as a gift.
It was an interesting concept, not to mention taking a great deal of the frustration out of trying to deduce what somepony might like as a gift. As a bonus, it also cut down on the anticipated expenses associated with the holidays. In years past, Twilight would only ever expect to buy something for her brother, Spike, and of course her parents. THough she loved her new friends dearly, Twilight loathed to think of what would happen to her budget if she had to extend gift giving to all six of them.
However, that was just the concept. Twilight’s Secret Stocking Surpriseree, as it would happen, was Rarity. Which was fine enough, if it weren’t for the fact that Rarity’s accompinging hint was so maddingly vague.
Something creative, darling (it hadn’t actually said darling, but Twilight read it there anyway.)
Creative! Well, Twilight didn’t know much about that. She was good with magic, that much was true, but creativity wasn’t something that came easy to her. It wasn’t so much that the sciences and the arts were opposites, but Twilight would be the first to point out that strict adherence to scientific method meant that creativity was at best an afterthought in such fields.
Plus, Twilight doubted that Rarity was thinking of a well designed experiment to test the strength of a magic field, no matter how creatively Twilight might use a lump of Orcarium and mithril wires to do so.
“I just don’t know what to get her, Spike,” Twilight grouched as she trotted through the main street of Ponyville, glanced with certain desperation at the shop displays, hoping, somehow, someway, for something to leap out at her, which would speak of “creativity.” She hardly worried about bringing Spike in on the Secret Stocking Surpriser dilemma. He was easy to buy for, after all. He loved books, just like herself.
“Yeah, you’ve said like half a dozen times,” Spike said, rolling his eyes. “Why don’t you, I don’t know, draw her something?”
“Draw her something?” Twilight paused mid stride, her hoof held up in the air like a carousel horse. It was an intriguing idea. It would satisfy the creativity portion of the prompt, to be sure, and a nice drawing could be a worthy gift… But, alas, Twilight had no talent in that direction. It was difficult enough, making up diagrams for her publications, and those were only creative in the barest sense.
“No, that won’t work. Besides, Spike, she draws all the time. If I tried, it’s just look like… look like….” Twilight struggled to come up with what it would look like, short of it simply just not looking good. “Bad. No, I need something else.”
“Alright, but that’s pretty much all I got for ideas,” Spike said. “Unless you want to go through some sort of big romantic gesture. Maybe get her a date with me— I mean, Big Mac.”
Twilight allowed herself a small smile as she looked down at the small dragon, before giggling and rolling her eyes at the very notion. “Spike, please. I don’t think that’s the sort of thing that’d go over well. I mean, if we were dating, or something, maybe then… but we’re not.”
Spike shrugged. “There’s only so many ways you could be creative Twilight.”
“Yes, I know,” Twilight said with a certain air of frustration that could only come from several days of racking her brain over and over trying to think of some sort of “creative” gift. She wished her mother had learned to accept dragon mail, because she was certain that her mother would be able to offer her some sort of guidance to her on the question.
Her letter to Celestia has proven to be a rather maddeningly vague pegasus chase.
“You could ask Pinkie or Rainbow or something,” Spike said, eyeing Sugarcube Corner as they walked past. That was a bad sign; the bakery, despite its name, wasn’t actually located at the corner so much as it was located at the end of Main Street, where every shop of note was located.
“I’m not sure they’d have very good ideas either, unfortunately,” Twilight said. She didn’t want to think less of her new friends, but she suspected that Pinkie’s idea of creativity would be throwing Rarity a party— an idea that was fraught with all sorts of complications, not to mention Twilight didn’t think she could create the sort of party that Rarity would like— and Twilight wasn’t completely certain Rainbow would just tell her to make some sort of… mud… sculpture… thing. It was perhaps fortunate that Rarity’s name hadn’t gone to Rainbow Dash.
“Well,” Spike said, as he ran ahead to one of the snow covered chairs outside of Sugarcube Corner, and brushing the errant snow off before sitting on it. “You have to give her something. I mean, if worse comes to worse, you could always just get her something you’d think she’d like. Just something that isn’t necessarily creative. Like a dress.”
“Who could I get a dress from, where I wouldn’t be insulting her, Spike!” Twilight shook her head, sweeping the table’s other seat off and plopping down herself. “I mean she’s a dress maker. Anypony I buy from, who isn’t her, is going to be competition for her, you know! It’d be insulting, I suspect, and the very worst present ever!”
“Right,” Spike said, sounding thoughtful. “Why don’t you just make her a dress yourself? That’d be creative, right? And it wouldn’t be buying from her enemies.”
“Competition, Spike, not enemies.” Twilight corrected. Well, to hear Rarity tell it, they weren’t just her enemies, but her sworn enemies, like one of Daring Do’s bigger villains. “And I don’t know the first thing about making a dress. Much less one that Rarity might feel up to wearing.”
“Yeah, but you’re Twilight Sparkle, Student of Princess Celestia, Bearing of the Element of Magic,” Spike intoned with a smile. “But more importantly, you live in a hollowed out tree filled with books, right? Go Twilight Sparkle it.”
“I am not a verb,” Twilight said crossly, then added, in a much more thoughtful voice: “But, perhaps you’re on to something…”
***
Hearth’s Warming day was when they were supposed to exchange gifts, which left Twilight with only a few weeks in which to conduct her research, assemble her materials, and execute some sort of dress that wouldn’t cause her friend to explode (literally) with laughter when she opened the box on the day of. It was a tall order, even by Twilight’s standards, if only because she rarely wore dresses to begin with, and to her eyes of the height of fashion was not smearing her cheeks (too much) with ink, or sloping food all down her front. At least, that was how her sense of fashion had been, prior to becoming friends with Rarity.
Rarity had helped, of course, by insisting that Twilight include more fashion magazines and books in the Library’s catalogue. It hadn’t included such subjects originally, and Twilight had the impression that Rarity had rarely visited the Golden Oaks Library prior to becoming friends with Twilight. Changing the catalogue wasn’t a big deal, and perhaps Rarity would come to read something other than fashion magazines, and appreciate the finer points of magic, just as Twilight had come to appreciate a nice dress. Or at least, that was the hope. She seemed like an easier pony to convert to her way of thinking than, say, Rainbow Dash. But she had a few tricks under her hat for that mare too… she just needed the right book, and the right situation.
Nevertheless, it was fortunate that Rarity had made such requests of Twilight, because now Twilight had a wealth of information to draw upon, even if what she was drawing upon didn’t quite seem to make all that much sense. Fashion seemed to change week to week in Twilight’s eyes, and what was in and out of fashion rarely made sense.
The technical side of things were much more easier to understand, and while Twilight had no talent specifically for sewing, or tailoring, or dresscraft of any sort, she did have a well developed magical dexterity that would help her. In some ways, sewing a hem was not unlike assembling the proper secondary rune structure for a teleportation spell, which had always been something of a speciality for Twilight.
In the end, Twilight thought simplicity would be for the best. After all, she was never one for big fancy dresses, and a simple style wasn’t simply easier, but it was also easier to envision, which was useful, considering this was Twilight’s first attempt to making a dress.
Finally, every seam was sewed, and every edge hemed. It was ready, and just in time for the big day.
In Ponyville, just as in Canterlot, everypony attended the local Hearth’s Warming Eve pageants, and generally spent time admiring the decorations and effort that the community had gone through in order to show their pride and excitement for the holiday. But the actual gift opening came the next day, on the actual Hearth’s Warming day.
Twilight had offered the library to her friend when Pinkie had first came to her with the idea for a Secret Stocking Surpriser, as it had seemed like a good place to exchange the gifts together, not to mention giving Twilight the perfect excuse to have her friends actually over on the big day. It was well into the morning when her friends started to arrive; she had left Rarity’s gift under her local tree, although the various books that she and spike had exchanged were already unwrapped and on something of display under it.
Slowly, one by one, her friends arrived. The weather had turned frightfully cold over the night, and her friends arrived bundled up, and rosy cheeked, but no less excited for the gift exchange. While her friends had known of one another prior to Twilight bringing them together, they had never had an opportunity to, well, be friends with them prior to Twilight’s arrival, save for some ponies like Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie who claimed to be friends with everypony in town and a bit beyond. So it was their first Secret Stocking Surpriser too.
Twilight served hot cocoa as she waited for everypony to arrive, while stoking the fireplace and making the library as warm and cozy as possible.
Perhaps naturally, Rarity was the last to arrive, dressed in truly elegant clothing that would not be out of place on a runway. It was enough to make Twilight blush, as she invited Rarity into her home, and helped her put her scarf and other winter things somewhere safe to dry. After all, her ensamble was almost certainly hoof-crafted by Rarity herself, and it made Twilight’s dress— her attempt at a dress— look quite poor indeed. Surely Rarity deserved better.
Regrets or not, Twilight had no choice but to settle down in front of the fire in a circle with her friends, gift in her magic, and participate in the exchange. It was far too late now.
Everypony opened their gifts; Pinkie and Rainbow Dash almost competed to rip the paper of their own gifts respectively, while others, like Fluttershy (who used her feathers to undo the tape holding the paper in place rather than rip it) and Applejack went more slowly. Rarity, for her part, had apparently gotten Applejack’s name, and was watching the farmer mare with a certain air of concern as she unwrapped her present.
“Well, ain’t that somethin’,” Applejack said, as she emerged from the elegantly wrapped box wearing a hat other than her normal stetson. It was a woolen hat, oddly plain for something Rarity had clearly made herself, but even from a distance Twilight could tell that Rarity had put her own flair into the design… just not so much as to offend the practical pony’s practical sensibilities. “Well, thank ya kindly, Rares, I reckon this’ll keep my ears nice and toasty.” Applejack turned to Twilight with a slightly worried expression herself; “I’m not sure I got you anything you’d like, Twilight, but I tried. Hope that’s okay.”
“I’m sure,” Twilight practically squeaked. In her worry, she had been sitting there for nearly a minute with a wrapped gift from Applejack in her hooves. It was heavy, and Twilight had no doubt it was a book, even as she hastily unwrapped it. It was a worthy enough distraction from trying to watch Rarity open her gift.
It was indeed a book, but not one she was expecting. It was hoof crafted, and apparently homemade.
“I don’t rightly know much about books, you understand,” Applejack said. “That there is somethin’ Granny’s been workin’ on for a long time— with some help from me and Applebloom. It’s somethin’ of a history of the Apple family, but mostly it’s a history of Ponyville. Thought you might be interested.”
“Oh I am,” Twilight said, genuinely impressed. It was almost too much; that sort of first hoof account of Ponyville history couldn’t just sit in her private collection, but be shared with the whole town. She loathed to share her gift with the public, though. Especially some of the foals, who thought eating over a book was perfectly acceptable. “Thank you very much, Applejack.”
Her gift opened, Twilight found herself turning her attention back to Rarity, who was slowly undoing the wrapping with as much care— if not the same amount of kindness— as Fluttershy had. The suspense was killing Twilight, so much so that she nearly ripped the gift out of Rarity’s aura and opening it herself. But that would be rude, to say the least.
Slowly, Rarity opened the box, and paused a moment looking at its contents; Twilight’s heart thundered in her chest.
“Oh my, whatever is this?” Rarity asked, lifting the dress out of the box with her magic and holding it up to the light.
Oh no! Twilight’s heart stopped. Her attempt at making a dress had gone so badly awry that Rarity couldn’t even recognize it as a dress! A disaster, totally and completely. Her only option now was to teleport to Canterlot and hide under her bed until Rarity had forgotten about this abomination, if she ever did! Twilight started to build the spell required for her egress.
“Where ever did you manage to find such an enchanting dress, Twilight?” Rarity asked, as she held it up for all her friends to see.
“You like it?” Twilight managed, letting the half formed teleportation spell collapse into a mostly invisible mass of magical motes. “Isn’t it a bit… plain?”
“Plain?” Rarity repeated with a certain puzzlement in her voice, peering at the dress as if uncertain what Twilight meant. “Well, I suppose it is a bit simple, yes, but, darling, there’s beauty in simplicity as well as complexity. And this dress is just so… focused, refined in what it does. Who made this for you? I must know her name!”
“I made it,” Twilight said slowly. “You asked for something creative.”
Rarity seemed surprised, for a moment, then thoughtful, looking at Twilight as she had just done with the dress, as if seeing something else for the first time. “Mhmm, so I did. So I did. You’ve got an eye for it, I must say. Dressmaking, I mean.”
“I don’t know about that,” Twilight shook her head. “I’m sure you could do better.”
“It’s hardly a competition, darling. No, I won’t hear another word of it. It is a lovely dress, Twilight, and I thank you for it.” Rarity’s eyes took on a sort of gleam. “Yes, thank you Twilight. It is as good of a Hearth’s Warming gift as one could ask for, I think.”
“Yeah yeah,” Rainbow Dash interjected, gesturing with her hoof. “Listen, are we going to get something to eat or what? Gifts are great and all… but I’ve been looking forward to Applejack’s apple pie all year.”
“Uh, yes, of course,” Twilight said brightly, even as she leapt to her hooves. She was a poor hostess indeed to have forgotten about the food. Even, so, with the weight of her gift off her mind, and the fact that Rarity had enjoyed it so much, Twilight thought on whole, the Secret Stocking Surprise tradition was off to a good start. Hopefully, though, next year it would be much easier.