Rainbow Dash let her eyes drift to a nearby window. In the faint moonlight, she could just make out the heavy snowflakes, some sticking to the glass and others falling out of sight. Despite it being a familiar sight, she was struck by a sense of strangeness. On nights like this, she was used to the faint chill seeping into her cloud home, the whistle of high winds against its outer layers and her own breaths as she tried to drift off to sleep.
Instead, she felt warmth from the thick sheets over her, and also the body pressed against her beneath them. She heard the faint crunch of snow, likely from small critters scampering around at night. And louder than her own, she heard Twilight’s shallow breaths, each exhale tickling her neck. The feeling finally made her turn around to look at her marefriend.
That too was odd, thinking of Twilight in those terms. Even if they’d been dating for months now, every moment of it felt strange and new. She shifted beneath the covers, turning fully to face the sleeping unicorn and unfolding a wing beneath the covers. Dash extended her wing just enough to graze against Twilight’s coat, to feel the warmth through her feathers, and rouse Twilight from her slumber in the process.
Twilight’s eyes twitched as they opened, one hoof reaching out to touch Rainbow Dash’s barrel. Her voice was quiet and raspy, but carried a hint of concern with the question, “Can’t sleep, Rainbow?”
Dash extended her wing further, wrapping it around Twilight’s withers to pull the two of them closer. She lifted her head up as they came together so that Twilight’s face was nestled in her neck. “Nah,” Dash said quickly; she could probably sleep if she wanted to. “I was just… thinking. You know, about us.”
Twilight fell quickly into the wing hug, pressing her muzzle down to let her mane be rustled by Dash’s chin. Her hooves wrapped around the pegasus’s shoulders, pressing into her back.
Dash fought to keep her wings from fluttering at the sensation.
“Why’s that?” Twilight asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer. “Is it something I did? Something I said? Something I didn’t do?” The worry in her voice grew as Twilight tried to pull back, but Dash kept her there with a steady hoof and a curt, dismissive laugh.
“No, Twi, it’s just… I remembered what’s coming soon.” Her hoof moved back and forth against Twilight’s mane and coat. “If you’re tired, we can talk about it in the morn—”
Twilight giggled, slowly worming her way down and back out of Dash’s grip, still in the embrace of her wing, but free to look her in the eye. “You aren’t sleeping because of Hearth’s Warming?”
Dash blushed, looking away from Twilight after another spat of giggling. “It’s like… the first big gift holiday, you know?”
Twilight pressed her cheek against Dash’s. They nuzzled softly, until Dash was finally able to turn her eyes back to Twilight. With a kiss, all that mounting worry melted away. “I’ll be fine with whatever you get me, Rainbow. As long as it’s from you, it’ll be perfect.” Twilight pushed Dash gently until the pegasus was on her back and Twilight was resting on top of her, cuddled up beneath one of her wings.
Rainbow Dash looked up at the ceiling, smiling. “Yeah, it’ll be just as awesome as me.”
As the weeks went by, Dash did what came naturally: procrastinating. The idea of shopping for Twilight’s Hearth’s Warming present would resurface when she tried to sleep; however, she’d quell her worries with something like “I can start thinking about it tomorrow” or “it’ll be easy” and close her eyes, content. That continued past when the first Hearth’s Warming decorations went up in Ponyville. It continued past when Dash got to try Pinkie Pie’s first batch of gingerbread cookies. It continued past when Rarity fretted about some package not arriving in time and asked Dash to fly to Fillydelphia.
On the way back was about when the urgency hit Dash.
And so with nothing left to do two days before Hearth’s Warming, she sat on a cloud above Fillydelphia, light flakes falling around her and a thick scarf wrapped around her neck. Her hooves moved up and down, idly in time with a carol drifting up from the streets below. “Okay, Dash, you put it off a while, but you’ve got plenty of time.” She put one hoof to her chest, sitting up and stretching her wings. “You can find a totally awesome gift in an hour, tops.”
The only question for Dash was where to start. Taking off from the cloud, she flew through the streets, scanning the storefronts until she found her answer in a shop with a stack of books on its sign. Of course, Twilight will love a book. Just have to find the right one. Diving down and landing with a rapid flap of her wings, she rushed inside. She was met by a packed bookstore; aisles were stacked from floor to ceiling with books, sections separated by bright yellow signs that denoted genres and letters. Dash took a bold step towards the adventure section and then stopped.
She thought about the Golden Oaks Library. While it wasn’t as stuffed with books as this store was, it was about as unknown to Rainbow Dash. She didn’t have an encyclopedic knowledge on all of the books, fiction or nonfiction, magical or historical, read or unread, that littered the shelves there. Truth be told, she could basically count the number of those books she had read with the Daring Do series. Looking from aisle to aisle, genre to genre, she didn’t know where to start, or how to avoid getting something Twilight already had.
Duh, Dash, just go and check, she thought, turning around to head for the door. And then what would follow played out in her head.
“Hi, Rainbow. Why are you looking through the library?”
“No reason, Twi. Just uhhh… curious about all these books you have!”
“That’s not worth questioning at all.”
No, Twilight wouldn’t say that.
“Are you trying to find something I don’t have to pick my Hearth’s Warming gift?”
Not only would the surprise be gone, but Twilight would know Rainbow Dash had put it off for so long. Can’t get more not-awesome than that, Dash thought. She did consider taking a gamble. The chances of finding something Twilight would like and didn’t own, though? Twilight could certainly rattle it off, but Dash didn’t have a clue. That was just thinking about fiction too; she was certain there wasn’t a single nonfiction book in the store that the cute egghead hadn’t at least perused.
Heading for the door, Dash thought about where else to try next, only to catch sight of a small set of shelves beside the front counter. It was stocked with various writing supplies: ink, quills, pens, parchment. She dismissed it quickly; Twilight already had plenty of writing supplies, after all.
Exiting the bookstore, Dash took off into the air, looking for another shop. “Twilight must need something,” she muttered while her mind drifted. What did Twilight spend a lot of her time doing? Reading was the first thing that sprang to mind, but books were obviously out of the question. Friendship study stuff? Dash couldn’t exactly buy spending time with the girls. There was a fair amount of cuddling since they started dating, but that didn’t spark any gift ideas. “Wait.”
Dash’s thoughts caught up with her when saw another sign, this time with beakers and test tubes. Twilight did do a whole lot of research in her spare time, so maybe some special science… stuff would be a good idea. She glided leisurely down to the shop and stepped inside.
The store was barren of customers, and a stout green stallion looked up from a book at the chime of the door’s bell. “Can I help you, Miss?”
Rainbow Dash’s attention was on the myriad of gadgets and equipment that lined the walls of the store. Some of it seemed familiar at a glance, whether from spending time at Twilight’s or from what little she remembered of the science classes she napped through, but naming any of them was a guessing game at best. It felt even more daunting than the bookstore; at least she was familiar with books and paper.
Eventually, she looked to the salespony and stepped up to the counter, offering him a smile and nod. “Yeah, I was looking for a gift. Do you have any recommendations?”
“Well, that depends.” The stallion took a breath, and Dash was unprepared for the onslaught that followed. “Are they doing research? General or something specific? Magic? Chemistry? Solids or Liquids? Maybe gases? What’s their level of experience? If it’s not research, some equipment is more general. Cooking? Gardening? Maybe electronics?” He finally exhaled, followed by a deep chuckle. “Sorry, I tend to ramble a bit.”
Dash’s mouth hung open, a long, dull “uhhh” of confusion seeping out. She managed to stop it, coughing to clear her throat. “They… do a lot of research, yeah. Science stuff. They know a lot of magic, and I saw her use some beakers, I think?” The smile she’d offered before returned, though much more sheepish. Inside, her doubts were mounting.
I don’t even know the first thing about whatever science-y stuff Twilight does, she thought as the salespony began to lead her down the aisles, pointing out different items. The most I ever did was pull pranks while she was doing them before we were dating, and now… She remembered one weekend when she stayed over while Twilight was doing some research, and couldn’t even begin to remember the topic. Outside of meals and cuddling together, Dash had spent the time rereading Daring Do books and playing cards with Spike.
Her wings started to fidget as she backed away from the salespony. “Sorry,” she said, interrupting him as he was talking about some device that took readings of something probably worth measuring. “I think I might just check somewhere else.” Not waiting for a reply, she sprinted out of the store and took to the skies again.
“Come on, Dash,” she muttered, looking frantically at the shops below, “there must be something. You can do this. Find, something, anything for Twilight and… No!” She came to an abrupt halt, “Relax.” She flew to the nearest cloud, laying down and pressing her head into the fluff. Amidst the cold moisture, taking slow, steady breaths, she was able to calm herself.
“Better,” she muttered, laying back to spread out her legs and wings. “So books and science stuff are out of the question.” She rubbed her chin, and stopped herself as she turned to look down at the stores. “No looking, just think.” Closing her eyes, she brought both forehooves up to her temples, rubbing them gently. “Maybe… Maybe, maybe, maybe…” she repeated, as if the mantra would summon an idea on its own. “Maybe, maybe, I could get her something I’d like? That she might be interested in?”
Rainbow Dash remembered the Running of the Leaves, when Twilight had mentioned reading books on running. Maybe some exercise equipment would be nice if she wanted to train some more. Some awesome Rainbow Dash-approved training regimens would go perfectly with it too. Twilight would love i—
Then Dash remembered two Hearth’s Warmings ago, when Rarity had broken one of her windows because some fabric supplier sent her a scale as a present.
“... Maybe that would send the wrong idea.”
Dash went through several more ideas in much the same way. Twilight wouldn’t really appreciate jewelry or clothes; she was certainly more practical than fashionable. She considered tickets for them to take a vacation. That wasn’t really a gift for her though, and it certainly seemed a little extravagant. Besides, it wasn’t like Rainbow Dash had been anywhere outside of Ponyville, Cloudsdale, Canterlot and now Fillydelphia in a while; she couldn’t give something the “totally awesome” stamp of approval without visiting it first.
Something cooking related? Spike seemed to have a better knack for that, despite all the experimenting that Twilight got up to now and then. New saddlebags? Twilight kept the ones she had in perfect condition; in fact, it seemed like Twilight never let anything wear out if she could help it. Tools? Did Twilight need tools to fix things if she had magic? Bits? Was she really out of ideas already?
Soon, rather than rubbing at her temples, her hooves were covering her eyes. She let out a long, raspy sigh. “This is hopeless.”
Dash thought about Twilight, probably back at home wrapping up the perfect gift for her. There was no way Twilight would have waited this long to start shopping. In fact, she probably knew exactly what to get Dash the morning after they talked about Hearth’s Warming presents. That was partly why Dash asked her out in the first place. It wasn’t just how the unicorn looked or smiled or laughed it was…
She would have struggled for the words if she hadn’t said them to Twilight months ago.
She’s driven, passionate, smart. Twilight put everything she had into something, just like Dash did with flying, or racing, or her friends.
She’s shown me new things. Rainbow Dash would have thought of books as an “egghead” thing to her grave if not for Twilight. And she wouldn’t have all the friends she did if Twilight hadn’t come to Ponyville.
She’d never turn her back on me, on us. Rainbow Dash may have been the Element of Loyalty, but Twilight was just as fierce in her loyalty too. For her friends. For Dash. For them, now.
For all of that… what more had Dash learned about Twilight since then? How much they both liked Daring Do still, or cuddling?
And then something, a glimpse, returned to her. Next to all of those writing supplies at the bookstore, there had been a journal. Rainbow Dash could only remember parts: vivid purple cover, silver accents and a glint of gold. “As long as it’s from you, it’ll be perfect.” Even if Twilight had plenty of parchment and supplies, even if she already had a journal, Rainbow Dash could give her something alongside it. Something that would matter.
She bolted upright and dove off the cloud. Flying as quickly as she could, she made her way back to the bookstore, coming to a halt just in time to avoid slamming into the door as it swung open.
Galloping inside, she looked to the small shelf, and there next to the quills and some parchment was barren shelf space. She turned to the cashier who was passing a newly wrapped gift to a customer. “Excuse me, was there a journal over there?” she asked, pointing to the blank spot on the shelf, not minding the other, simpler journals that filled out the shelves around it.
“Can you be more specific, ma’am?”
Dash moved up to the counter, hooves resting on it. “It was purple. And it had some silver bits, I think?” The image wasn’t clear in Dash’s mind, but it would have been enough to stick out amongst the rest.
“Oh, I think we sold that one a few minutes ago. Sorry if you had your eye on it. This is pretty much all of our stock until after New Years.” As another customer came up, the cashier shooed Dash away.
Rather than defeated like before, Dash left the shop emboldened. She flew through the city to every bookstore she could find, looking for anything that sparked that feeling in her. When all of them were fruitless, she flew to the next closest city.
She had to get it right.
It was Hearth’s Warming Eve when Rainbow Dash finally got back to Ponyville, long after sunset. Five cities in two days, more stores than she could count, and all she had to show for it was a small, plain black journal, bought just before the last store closed. Exhausted, she flew to her house, laying down in bed with a bitter frown. And yet, as she held the journal in her wing against her barrel, and drifted off to sleep, the frown shifted to a content smile.
Rainbow Dash arrived long after Twilight and Spike had woken up on Hearth’s Warming. At least, she assumed as much because of the half-finished mugs of cocoa they were sipping from, and the lack of yawns being fought back. Still, there wasn’t a sign of any opened presents as Dash took her gifts and laid them next to Twilight and Spike’s. She kept the journal, now wrapped, tucked under her wing.
They spent the time opening other gifts first. There were sweaters from Rarity, cookies from Pinkie Pie, a few bottles of cider from Applejack; Twilight set that case in the kitchen to keep Dash from drinking more than one. Gifts from their parents passed without much excitement, Dash rushing to push aside the Wonderbolt poster and ear muffs that she received while Twilight giggled at a book from her mother.
Spike made a mug from scratch for Twilight, and knitted an itchy scarf for Rainbow Dash. She held it close, looking at the mangled spots where blue and purple overlapped. “It’s great, Spike,” she said as she hugged him.
When she pulled away, Twilight was holding up a small box in her magic, smiling wide. Dash took it in her hooves, examining the tag with Twilight’s cutie mark scribbled on it. She shifted back in her seat, the journal slipping from under her wing and falling into the cushions.
“Open it, open it, open it,” Twilight urged her excitedly, and Dash tore into the wrapping paper as quickly as she could. Inside was a simple, bulky black box, like the ones that they put jewelry in. As Dash opened it, however, she found a pair of flight goggles. They were clean, pristine, the glass glinting in the light. Dash pulled them out to examine them as Twilight giddy started talking.
“They’re top of the line. Polarized to prevent glare, frost and fog-resistant due to a few layers of glass, and the frames are made of an alloy that’s supposed to be light and durable. The strap is even adjustable, if you like to wear them a certain way.”
Dash ran her hooves over them, and that lingering doubt started to well in her. She fought to keep the tears at bay, and managed for the moment. “They’re great, Twi.”
Spike let out a curt cough. Dash looked up to see that Twilight’s eager expression faded, and she was moving a hoof back and forth on the furniture. “Well, ummm, they will be, when you get the actual pair. Those are just a placeholder.” Twilight tugged them out of Dash’s grip and put them back in the box, shutting it in the process.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I kind of, sort of, bought something a bit more specialized than the shop was used to.” Twilight gave a sheepish smile, blushing. “So, you won’t get the really good pair until… well, the time frame was very bro—”
“Two months,” Spike said simply.
Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry. I just spent all this time trying to make it perfect and… maybe it was a bit too perfect.”
Dash leaned forward, looking back at the messily wrapped journal sticking out of the cushions. She smiled and held back a laugh for all of two seconds. Snickering and then bursting out into infectious laughter, she leaned forward and hugged Twilight tight, getting her hooves around the box to wrestle it out of her magic. “That’s so you, Twi. I love it, but…” Loosening the hug, she nuzzled her cheek against Twilight’s while holding up the box “I’m gonna need to borrow these until I get my real present.”
Spike, for his part, was snickering at the sight, while Twilight blushed and giggled. “Okay,” she finally got out, giving Dash a peck on the cheek as she pulled away. “So, what did you get me?”
Rainbow Dash’s cheer dampened, but it wasn’t gone completely. Setting the goggles down, she pulled out the gift and passed it to Twilight. Twilight took her time, peeling at the tape and seams with her magic. Dash sat in her seat, fighting to keep her wings and hooves and everything from fidgeting. As the last of the wrapping paper fell away, Twilight grabbed a hold of it with her hooves. She opened it in the middle, flipping through the pages.
“A journal?” Twilight’s eyes were focused on the pages, searching for something that wasn’t there. Still, she smiled when she looked at Rainbow Dash. “That’s so sweet, Rainbow.” As Twilight moved to offer a hug, Dash stopped her with a raised hoof.
Throat aching, she swallowed and then pointed to the front cover. “There’s something else,” she said in a raspy whisper. When Twilight flipped to it, there was a blue feather taped to the cover at its quill. Dash slid as close to Twilight as she could manage. “It’s one of my flight feathers.” The tears she fought back before were starting to win, but not fast enough.
“Honestly, I didn’t really look for a gift for a while, and when I tried to I couldn’t think of something… anything. I was worried I’d get something you already had or didn’t need, but…” She choked back a sob, extending her wing to rest on Twilight’s back. “I realized I haven’t really tried to do a lot of what you enjoy since we started, you know, dating. I know you probably have journals or parchment or whatever for experiments and stuff, but… Could we do some together, sometime, maybe?”
When Dash went to look at Twilight, the unicorn was already lunging at her, pulling her into a tight hug with a wide smile on her face. “Ohhh, Rainbow! I’d love to!” she shouted with glee.
The tears finally won out, warm on Dash’s cheek as she held Twilight with her hooves and wings. “Perfect.”