//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: The greatest Gift of all // Story: My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever // by Postwarmonkey50 //------------------------------// After the whole ordeal dealing with both the Winterzilla and the massive pudding wave, everyone had settled in the living room. Twilight was about to walk in whilst carrying more pudding in their bowls, until Bolt stopped her. ‘Twilight, we need to talk.’ said Bolt. Twilight wanted to say something, but noticed that Bolt had a guilty look on his face. ‘Look, what I said back there was out of line.’ said Bolt ‘I know you still felt bad about using your friends like that and about the pearl. I know you were stressed and you were desperate. But you had to understand, what all of us went through whilst you were gone. We never felt so helpless. We did the best we could, but when I saw Beau hurt like that, and what happened to Moonlight. It drove me crazy. I may have defended Junior and all, but I felt like I failed Beau. He was my best friend too. We cared about him too much to lose him.’ Bolt kept his hands behind his back and said ‘What I’m trying to say is…I’m sorry.’ Twilight looked down and sighed. ‘If anypony should apologize, it’s me.’ Bolt looked at Twilight as she said ‘I’ll admit, I wasn’t perfect and I’m still not. You were right, I’m a fully grown mare and I still panic like a child. What I did back at Mount Aris; trying to distract the queen and used my friends just to steal an artifact. I know we weren't in Equestria, and I know they were masking their own fears and pain, and I know different countries act with their own laws. It’s just…’ ‘I know Twilight.’ said Bolt ‘But when I told you about your husband and daughter…’ ‘I was horrified.’ said Twilight ‘I was so focused on one thing, I barely paid attention to anything else. Now I know how Sunset felt during the whole memory stone debacle.’ She crossed her arms as she still levitated the pudding ‘But when I saw the state Beau and Moonlight were in. I can’t believe I was that reckless.’ ‘You’re still learning.’ said Bolt. ‘You know, back on my world, I remembered a shaman saying something wise.’ ‘Oh?’ said Twilight as she looked at him. ‘He said that he may be old,’ said Bolt ‘And the thing about getting old, is that you never stop learning, even when your teacher happens to be a shaman’s assistant.’ He held onto Twilight’s shoulder and said ‘The point I’m making Twilight. You may be a Princess, but the thing about being one, is that you never stop learning. And your friends can be your greatest teachers.’ ‘And yet I ignored them.’ said Twilight as she looked down again ‘I was supposed to be honest, kind, generous, loyal and sometimes laugh in the face of danger, but I ignored it and acted like a child. I keep forgetting the lessons I learned.’ ‘Like how your friends forgot to learn their lesson by taking your worries seriously when they didn’t believe you about Chrysalis?’ said Bolt. ‘Yeah, that.’ said Twilight, still remembering that day. ‘Remember Twilight.’ said Bolt ‘You’re not alone in this. Beau and every human who came to Equestria felt the same way you did, but it was because of you lot, we had hope again. We just want all of you to be happy.’ ‘I know.’ said Twilight ‘I wish I could’ve done the same.’ ‘Can we…move on please?’ asked Bolt ‘And still be friends.’ Twilight couldn’t help but smile and said ‘We’re still friends.’ before she hugged him. After they broke the hug, Bolt said ‘We’d better get in before my wife thinks I’m cheating on her.’ Twilight couldn’t help but laugh and said ‘Yeah, and she’d kick you all the way from one part of Equestria to another with her Sonic Rainboom.’ The two of them, now finally settling their differences, walked in the living room, with everyone enjoying their pudding whilst sitting near the fireplace. Most of them chatting happily and were glad to put all of their problems behind them and were enjoying their Hearth’s Warming puddings. Twilight walked over to Pinkie to give her some pudding as she said ‘Sorry for failing as a Hearth’s Warming helper Pinkie.’ ‘What?’ said Pinkie as she sat up straight with a smile on her face ‘With no pudding disaster, my gift with the exact ingredients wouldn’t have made any sense. This way, it was perfect.’ ‘I’ll say.’ said Frosty whilst Pinkie was stuffing her face ‘Going all the way to Gift Giver’s Grove was quite exciting, not to mention the deer over there were really nice.’ ‘And so beautiful.’ said Peacon as he smiled and giggled like a schoolgirl, much to the others’ confusion. ‘One of the deer kissed him.’ said Lemon ‘You should’ve seen the look on his face.’ ‘Let me guess,’ said Starlight after she fed one of her children some pudding ‘Like Pinkie, he got so excited, he flew in the air and exploded like some fireworks display and ended up going all crazy?’ ‘Yep.’ said the Pie Twins. ‘I wanted to give you guys some pudding too.’ said Moonlight as she looked at the Pie Twins ‘I know how much you two love pudding, so I thought I could also use half of the gift to give you guys some too. But it couldn’t be just any pudding, but one that’s special.’ ‘Aw, you didn’t have to do that Moonlight.’ said Peacon as he and his sister hugged Moonlight. ‘That’s right,’ said Lemon Pie ‘Any gift you give us is always gonna be the best, because seeing us happy is all that you want.’ Moonlight hugged them too, for in a way, it turned out right. ‘Speaking of which.’ said the Pie twins as they showed her an entire stack of a total of eight books ‘We got you this.’ Moonlight gasped as she accepted them and said ‘And entire encyclopedia set of Equestria? Thank you.’ Moonlight hugged them again, for it was so thoughtful of them. ‘Speaking of which.’ said Peacon and Lemon as they dashed close to Comfy and Warm Breeze ‘For you too.’ Both of them opened their gifts. ‘Whoa, a flute.’ said Warm Breeze ‘Now I can play music for the animals.’ Comfy got two different kinds of plushies, both that look like her parents, causing her to giggle as she hugged the both of them. Moonlight hugged them again, for it was so thoughtful of them. Rarity sighed as she said ‘At least Twilight has something to show for her effort.’ Rarity looked at Applejack and said ‘I ordered you a fabulous farm hat, Applejack. Alas, it decided it belonged to somepony else.’ ‘Yeah, the hat she ordered for you was really special.’ said Silver ‘She carefully instructed the designers to make you a hat that’s brand new, but would feel like it’s been part of your family heirloom for years.’ ‘You would’ve really liked it Aunt Applejack.’ said Crystal Gem. Applejack removed her hat and looked at with a smile whilst she said ‘Pops said sometimes the hat chooses the pony when he gave me this.’ ‘Yeah, you didn’t have to go through all that trouble Rarity.’ said Bucky ‘Applejack would never part with her hat. The hat’s the only thing that’s left of her father. In a way, from what she told me, that whenever she wears it, a part of him would always be with her.’ ‘In a way she does have a point.’ said Apple Slice ‘Whenever Granny would go out for special visits, she would sometimes wear a bunch of different hats. All of them who once belonged to both her father and brothers long before they passed.’ ‘Exactly.’ said Applejack after she put her hat back on ‘Hopefully my gift inspired whoever’s wearin’ it to be the best farmer ever.’ ‘Uh, ooh, something like that.’ said Rarity. ‘It turned out that there’s a pony named Pistachio from a farm called Sweet Acorn Orchard.’ said Crystal ‘And surprisingly, he has quite the fashion sense. He was able to pick up on how the hat was made and how they made it.’ ‘However,’ said Silver as he pulled out a box ‘This one is for you.’ Applejack accepted the gift and wondered what it was. She opened it and was surprised, for it was Granny Smith’s scarf inside. She wondered what it was until… ‘Look underneath the folding of the scarf.’ said Silver. Applejack flexed an eyebrow and opened up the scarf. To her surprise, they were words that were stitched onto the scarf itself. ‘Apples forever to the core Applejack,’ said Applejack as she read it out loud ‘Ah’m proud that y’all would lead the Apples to a better tomorrow and the deeds ye accomplished made the Apple Family proud.’ Applejack was taken aback by this whilst she slowly looked at them. ‘Granny Smith came along about a month before she passed.’ said Silver ‘She asked Rarity to knit that onto the scarf, saying that no matter how far she is, she’ll always be with you in spirit.’ (Truth be told, Granny secretly came to Silver and asked him to stitch it up for her, and she asked him to add those words onto her scarf, so that she could give it to Applejack.) Applejack was so taken aback by this, she shed tears of happiness and hugged Rarity. ‘Thank you Rarity.’ said Applejack through her tears of happiness ‘Thank you.’ Rarity wanted to say something, but one look from her husband, he winked at her, showing that she can take the credit for this, which she smiled and mouthed “Thank you.” ‘Oh, speaking of which.’ said Crystal as she handed a gift for Apple Slice ‘Granny Smith asked me to make this for you too.’ Apple Slice opened the gift and to his surprise, it was his very own hat, similar to his mother’s. From underneath the hat, Slice read out loud ‘Now y’all can make a story of yer own, just like ah did when ah first started out. Granny Smith.’ Apple Slice couldn’t help but shed tears of this and wiped it. He slowly placed the hat on his head and wouldn’t you know it, it was a perfect fit. ‘Thanks so much Crystal.’ said Apple Slice whilst he also hugged his mother. ‘You’re welcome Apple Slice.’ said Crystal with her own smile. At the same time, Rainbow enjoyed her gift, which was an autograph book of every single Wonderbolt throughout history, as well as their own flying maneuvers that they made and perfected throughout their prime years, which she eagerly looked over, whilst Spike was enjoying his gems, all of that were in different color, arranged as if they were a box of chocolates. ‘We’re really sorry that we couldn’t get the gifts we had in mind for you.’ said Fluttershy. Applejack rubbed the back of her head and said ‘We got a bit distracted with Flim and Flam’s shenanigans.’ Sunset groaned as she said ‘No matter which world, Flim and Flam will always be rip off artists.’ ‘I assume you had trouble with them when you were in the human world?’ asked Emily. ‘You have no idea.’ said Sunset. ‘During her high school days she had a run in with them in a pawn shop helping Applejack,’ said Ignis as he explained ‘Then that time at the theme park before they caught wind of Vignette’s misuse of magic, not to mention them trying to sabotage the Apple Family’s Cider business.’ ‘Unbelievable.’ said Applejack as she slapped her forehead ‘Ah’m surprised that the humans on that world didn’t attempt to arrest them.’ ‘Even they know when to avoid the law.’ said Ignis. ‘But Genus and I beat the tar out of them.’ said Bucky. ‘What? Why?’ said Twilight. ‘Well you see…’ said Genus. (One complicated recap later) ‘And that’s why we did what we did.’ said Genus. Everyone stared at them with mouths agape. ‘Wow,’ said Rainbow ‘No wonder you two hated Flim and Flam when we last encountered them.’ ‘Though,’ said Fluttershy as she wondered about something ‘I wondered how Flam got two black eyes in the first place?’ ‘Apple Slice did it.’ said Comfy Breeze. They stared at Apple Slice wide eyed. He sheepishly smiled and said ‘I sorta bucked Flam in the face. Then I also punched him in the face.’ ‘Why would you do that?’ asked Starlight. ‘Well…’ said Apple Slice. ‘First part, was that we didn’t fall for their scam.’ said Warm Breeze. ‘Second uh…Flam insulted Granny Smith by calling her an old fart.’ They were shocked again. ‘Okay, that is so not cool.’ said Starlight. ‘Trixie concurs.’ said Trixie ‘Though she didn’t know Granny Smith that long, Trixie knows that Granny Smith is among the most well respected Ponies in all of Equestria. Well, except for the snooty ponies in Canterlot.’ ‘They ended up receiving rip off dolls from the brothers,’ said Bucky ‘But Apple Slice and Warm Breeze threw them out, because thankfully we had a backup ready for just in case.’ ‘Thanks again anyway,’ said Rainbow as she looked through the book ‘I have no idea how you could get an awesome gift like this.’ ‘Well it pays to help when you know a certain unicorn who had learned the power of time traveling.’ said Warm Breeze. They were puzzled about it at first until Warm Breeze said ‘Dad had a chat with Starswirl and we asked for his permission to help us time travel throughout the more famous Wonderbolts. Not only did they sign them, but they also wrote down their maneuvers that would be really helpful to future generations.’ ‘Warm Breeze had to do it though,’ said Genus ‘We didn’t want the ponies of the past to freak out over the fourth human of Equestria, or Starswirl, who wasn’t supposed to be there whilst he was in limbo.’ ‘Didn’t they detect that something was off about Warm Breeze?’ asked Twilight. ‘Thankfully not.’ said Warm Breeze ‘Remember when Aunt Rainbow Dash kept joking about you being an “Egghead”? Well the Pegasi from back then were total airheads.’ Some laughed over the joke. ‘Well, except for Sock Wind.’ said Genus ‘I can’t believe he was the first ever Earth Pony to become a Wonderbolt.’ ‘I know, right?’ said Rainbow as she closed the book ‘Even I was surprised to hear about that.’ ‘Why did you think I brought him up when I talked things over with Scootaloo when she joined the Washouts out of spite.’ said Bolt. ‘As for the gems.’ said Bucky ‘I know Spike likes gems and I happen to find them assorted in different colors as if they were different flavors of chocolates.’ ‘How much was it?’ asked Applejack. ‘Nothing.’ he responded. ‘What?’ said everyone in the room. ‘The guy who sold it to me said that it wasn’t worth anything and said that it was useless.’ ‘Are you for real?’ said Spike ‘These are actual real gems. Gems that happen to be the rarest (and also tastiest) gems in all of Equestria.’ ‘The guy can’t tell the difference between gems and glass beads.’ said Bucky. They were silent for a moment, causing everyone in the room to laugh. After they calmed down, Apple Slice gave his gift to Warm Breeze. ‘Whilst we were there,’ said Apple Slice ‘Ah know how much y’all want to entertain the animals and y’all already have a flute there, ah gotcha this here flute. It has a special kind of magic to soothe even the most dangerous predators the moment you play it.’ Warm Breeze accepted the flute and said ‘Wow, thanks. Now I can play music to the animals when they need their naps.’ ‘Play for Angel bunny.’ said Comfy Breeze ‘Rabbit always cranky.’ ‘He’s got a good point there.’ said Genus ‘Though it pays to have a certain canine to help keep the animals in line like a sheep dog.’ Trusty barked once, causing some to laugh whilst the dog rested himself on his master’s lap. Rainbow then said ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t get a better gift.’ Rainbow looked at Fluttershy and apologized ‘Sorry about the Winterzilla.’ ‘Yeah, I can’t believe we didn’t recognize it sooner.’ said Bolt. ‘Neither can I.’ said Bolt Junior ‘I mean we remembered that you said that we needed to avoid them, but we forgot about what they looked like.’ ‘Oh,’ said Fluttershy as she giggled ‘He’s a big sweetheart. And he ended up being really helpful.’ ‘I’ll say.’ said Genus ‘He was able to help clean the entire castle of pudding. Now thanks to him, we have enough pudding to last long for a week.’ ‘Winterzilla like pudding too.’ said Comfy Breeze ‘Winterzilla have pudding as reward.’ They then saw the Winterzilla coming in with its own bowl of pudding and began to purr like a kitten whilst he was licking the pudding. ‘It was actually kind of nice to be the pony who saved the day for one?’ said Fluttershy with both a blush and a smile. ‘But don’t you already do that like a dozen times?’ asked Chance. ‘Yes,’ said Fluttershy as she blushed once more ‘But this one actually felt good.’ ‘Oh really?’ said Discord as he sauntered over with a smirk on his mouth and a raised eyebrow. Rainbow sat there and ate her pudding with a deadpanned expression as she held her spoon with her wing whilst Discord popped all over the place and said ‘You mean a giant beast that only Fluttershy could tame, making her the hero of Hearth’s Warming Eve, was a great gift?’ Bolt on the other hand focused on Rainbow, for she looked really cute at that expression with pudding in her mouth. ‘Aw,’ said Bolt as he ended up holding her close with the pudding still in her mouth and said ‘You are so super cute when you do that Rainbow.’ Rainbow blushed and felt flustered at the same time, but mumbled whilst she was eating pudding. Bolt Junior on the other hand had a devilish smirk as he darted over to her mother’s hooves. The moment he tickled them, Rainbow ended up spitting out her pudding in her husband’s face. The two of them were surprised whilst Junior fell flat on his back and laughed. Both of the parents looked a bit irked at him, until Crystal Gem had a devilish grin of her own. She ended up using her magic and within a split second, Junior ended up in a baby carriage, whilst wearing a diaper, a hood and a pacifier, taking them all by surprise. That made both Rainbow and Bolt laugh the hardest as they fell over. However, Discord gained their attention as he suddenly placed Fluttershy on a stone pedestal that rose until Fluttershy was at his height, with a #1 medal over her neck, a red feathery scarf around her neck and a trophy in her hand that also said #1. ‘Imagine that.’ said Discord with a smile before confetti fell from the roof. Rainbow stuttered, blew a piece of confetti off of her nose and was a bit ticked. ‘You mean,’ said Rainbow as she flew face to face with the Draconequus as she said ‘You tricked me into putting my friend in danger on purpose so you…?’ However, Discord cut her off as he placed his claw finger on her lips and turned her to Fluttershy whilst he pointed at her. She saw Fluttershy giggling and cuddling the Winterzilla as it purred, whilst Comfy Breeze rested on its head and nuzzled it as if it were the world’s biggest teddy bear. Rainbow, seeing that Fluttershy is happy, decided to let it go whilst she pushed Discord’s claw down and said ‘Let’s just say, it was a gift from, both of us.’ Rainbow shook Discord’s hand, showing peace between them. For now. ‘And what do you know,’ said Bolt ‘I didn’t had to interfere or anything.’ When all of a sudden, a fish, but not smelly fish, appeared out of nowhere and slapped Bolt in the face. Bolt rubbed the side of his face whilst Discord said ‘That was payback for slapping me with a fish.’ ‘Eh, fair enough.’ said Bolt. Junior, after taking the baby stuff off of him, walked over to Crystal and said ‘I uh…got you this. I made it myself.’ Crystal wondered what kind of gift it was, so she slowly opened it. The moment she did, she was surprised to see what appeared to be an Alicorn with a beautiful dress in what appeared to be a type of globe. The others were also surprised by this, with Junior saying ‘Uh, turn the dial.’ She did just that. The moment the dial was fully turned, the figure began to slowly spin, whilst beautiful music began to play. They were quite surprised by this gift, with Crystal looking at him once more. ‘When did you have time to make that?’ said Rainbow, clearly surprised. ‘Well…’ said Bolt Junior ‘Whilst dad and the others were helping into getting things ready, I went to that place that sells music boxes, but I wanted to make my own one, so the owner helped me. It took me a while, but I was able to make it.’ As the music continued to play, Crystal looked at Bolt Junior whilst slowly smiling whilst he said ‘And I know I can get a bit overboard with a few things, but I wanted it to be special for Hearth’s Warming, so after a while I put it all together and…’ And just like that, catching Junior off guard, Crystal kissed him by the cheek, taking him by surprise as his face was red like a tomato. Within a few moments, Junior fell over, whilst Crystal slowly nuzzled her gift, for it was really thoughtful. ‘Huh,’ said Bolt as he crossed his arms whilst flexing his eyebrow ‘Who’d thunk that our boy has a romantic side.’ ‘Well,’ said Junior whilst his eyes were spinning a bit ‘It helps when mom read a certain book called “Time for Two, a Romance Story” that she read from last month.’ Everyone looked at Dash both shocked and surprised, with her face going red, looking away as she said ‘Uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ ‘Trixie is sorry about not finding a proper gift too.’ said Trixie as she looked down, then to Starlight ‘Mystic and I wanted to petition to open a club that was for kite flyers only.’ ‘What?’ said Starlight as she was surprised by this. ‘Yeah, we know how much you like to fly kites and you really enjoy them.’ said Mystic ‘Heck, even Chance loves to do it with you. He even taught your kids how to fly a kite on the weekends.’ Starlight looked at Chance and was touched as she said ‘Aw, Chance.’ before she kissed her husband, for it was really thoughtful of him. ‘But sadly.’ said Trixie as she looked at her child ‘Like Trixie, our child was not patient. She wanted to come into this world and see it with her own eyes.’ Little Misty cooed whilst playing with her father’s finger , with Mystic saying ‘But on the plus side, our daughter can now experience Hearth’s Warming. Without uh…something chaotic happening like it did tonight.’ ‘We’re just sorry we couldn’t get a gift either.’ said Starlight as she was somewhat sad too. ‘We wanted to buy you guys a house near a lake, but someone else already bought the place.’ said Chance. ‘Wait,’ said Trixie ‘The one where the ducks like to swim?’ ‘That’s right.’ said Chance. Trixie and Mystic looked at one another, then ended up laughing. ‘Uh, what’s so funny?’ asked Starlight. ‘Oh, sillies.’ said Trixie ‘We bought that house weeks ago.’ (…) (…) ‘I’m sorry, what?’ said Chance. ‘When we were traveling for our latest show,’ said Trixie whilst she nuzzled Misty ‘And before Trixie found out she was pregnant, Trixie wanted to settle down and wanted to find a proper home to live in.’ ‘So before the holidays came along,’ said Mystic ‘We were able to buy a house that Trixie had her eye on for some time. True to form, we were able to get the house. But we had to make sure that everything was set before we moved in.’ ‘Bought a few things here and there,’ said Trixie ‘As well as making a shed to place my wagon in.’ ‘And the sales pony told us that as soon as the holidays are over, we’d move in there immediately.’ said Mystic. ‘But…’ said Starlight as she was surprised ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ ‘We wanted to keep it a surprise.’ said Trixie ‘Well that, and Pinkie wanted to prepare a “Welcome to your new home” party. Once we move in, we’ll have it.’ ‘Yup.’ said Pinkie whilst she was licking her pudding bowl clean ‘I never spoil a party for the next pony.’ ‘Except that time you nearly ruined your own because you thought your friends didn’t like you anymore?’ said Frosty with a flexed eyebrow, with Pinkie giggling sheepishly at that. Applejack rubbed the back of her head and said ‘Ah guess Hearth’s Warming Helper was kind of a disaster.’ ‘I don’t know,’ said Cadance whilst she watched as both Raging and Flurry ate their respective puddings ‘Ponyville always seems to have way more exciting holidays than the Crystal Empire.’ ‘You’re telling me.’ said Ignis ‘I have never seen Searing Shimmer act so crazy with the sugar during his first Nightmare Night, whilst also butt naked at the same time.’ ‘Dad.’ said Searing as he tried to hide his blushing face. ‘And I thought Canterlot High had its ups and downs when it came to magic based problems.’ Sunset with a smile. ‘Hey, at least you and our human selves got lucky that you’re facing ones who are corrupted by magic,’ said Rainbow ‘We had to literally fight against monsters like that Bug Bear a while back.’ Spike looked down in sadness and said ‘There’s one gift left. But…I messed up too.’ As Spike stood up, the Winterzilla handed Spike his own hand crafted guitar, with Spike accepting it and said ‘Your present’s only kind of finished Rarity. But I guess it’s better than nothing. And…this one is for Emily too.’ Both were puzzled by what he meant, until Emily noticed the smile on Sunset’s face, as well as a wink to her, much to her surprise. Spike then played his guitar as he played his song. (Spike) I wanted to get you something oh, so rare A gift to show I care But nothing can compare Yo you, that’s easy to see Both Rarity and Emily were suddenly touched by the song that Spike had begun to sing for them. (Spike) But I got stressed, and over thought Until the day was shot And it was all for naught But now it’s clear to me Spike walked to his left whilst everyone watched, for it was truly a heartwarming song. (Spike) I’m not gifted at gifting It’s really pretty sad I tried to show that I care But it turned out bad I’m not gifted at gifting So all that’s left to say Spike then finished his song as he stood near both Rarity and Emily. (Spike) I really hope my gifting Didn’t ruin your holiday ‘Oh Spike,’ said Rarity with her genuine smile ‘A song is a lovely present.’ ‘It’s so beautiful Spike.’ said Emily. ‘I wanted to get you two the best gift ever.’ said Spike ‘I just couldn’t figure out what it was.’ Within a split second, Rarity kissed Spike by the cheek, whilst Emily kissed him on the lips and pulled her husband close to her, which Spike couldn’t help but blush at the kisses he received. ‘Ooh! Ooh!’ said Pinkie as she realized something. ‘The Gift Givers told me that. Oh, what was it?’ ‘The best gift is more precious than gold.’ said Peacon Pie as he helped her remember. ‘But it cannot be sold.’ said Lemon Pie. ‘When it breaks, it’s not ended, for quickly it’s mended.’ said Frosty. Then Pinkie finished as she said ‘It cannot be bought, but it can be easily sought.’ Twilight giggled for some reason, then a puzzled Pinkie asked ‘What’s so funny?’ ‘It’s a riddle.’ said Twilight ‘And the answer is; Friendship.’ Twilight stood up and took a few steps forward, with her husband Beau joining her. (Twilight) The most magical gift That I can recall Twilight and Beau, with their daughter Moonlight in tow, walked towards the fireplace, whilst the Winterzilla nuzzled against Fluttershy, with Comfy Breeze hugging its chin, with Rainbow looking at it surprised, whilst Bolt hugged her close, whilst at the same time, Rarity and Applejack hugged one another, with their kids hugging them too. (Twilight) It could’ve been big or small Or even nothing at all As Twilight, Beau and Moonlight stood in front of the fireplace, with the dolls of the Mane 6 above it, she held her husband close, until they looked at their friends. (Twilight) It doesn’t matter, you see If it’s from my friends on whom I depend Twilight and Moonlight flew up above their friends, whilst they used their magic to levitate Beau between them whilst hugging him. (Twilight) No matter what you spend It will be perfect to me As Twilight flew above the young, namely Flurry and Raging, along with Misty, Starshine Shimmer, Lucky Star and Blessed Night clapped their hands, enjoying the song whilst Emily hugged her husband close as he kept on blushing, even after he gave her the gift he got her as Flamethrower sat between them, whilst she flew over and handed Pinkie another bowl of pudding, which she happily accepted. (Twilight) The true gift at gifting Is what it means inside We can show we care Spreading love far and wide As they enjoyed the song, Fluttershy handed Discord a present, much to his surprise. He accepted the gift with a smile and opened it, revealing to be his own teapot with its own cozy. Sure enough, Fluttershy hugged Discord with a smile, with Warm Breeze and Comfy Breeze following suit, which Discord truly enjoyed and returned their hug in return. (Twilight) And you’re the best there is at giving it With the Friendship that you give to me Soon enough, everyone began to sing together. (All) We’ve all been friends forever And look how far we’ve come (How far we’ve come) As they sang, everyone from everywhere, began to enjoy their holidays. The Pie and Apple Families were having a great time. Limestone, Artifex, Marble, Rocky, Apple Bloom, Mud Briar, Maud, along with the youngins, Pebble Pie and Boulder Pie, were carving on their respected rocks. Big Macintosh and Sugar Belle were enjoying the snowfall, whilst Igneous Pie and Cloudy Quartz were having a conversation with Grand Pear, whilst talking about Granny Smith (May she rest in peace) From Canterlot Castle, Princess Luna was standing alone outside on the balcony in the cold, until she felt a warm blanket being wrapped around in a blanket by her sister Celestia. And accompanying alongside them were their Celestia’s husband Platinum and their children Sun Gleam and Bright Day, whilst on Luna’s right, was her husband Nebula and her son Dark Void, to which she smiled gratefully. Back at the Oak Farm, Pistachio opened his gift from his parents. He was surprised and pulled out a hat similar to his with acorns attached to it, which he let out a hearty laugh, with his parents joining in. (All) The Holidays brings us close And now it’s time for fun (It’s now begun) (Pinkie Pie) The greatest gift you give to me Is more precious than gold (All) Ah-ah-ah-ah (Pinkie Pie) Never ended, always mended And it can’t be bought or sold The Yaks were enjoying their festival by smashing things, whilst from Canterlot Jail, the Flim Flam brothers were sulking as their business were ruined. But they weren't alone, for folks like Lightning Dust and Iron Will were with them, just as much in a bad mood as they were. Back at Ponyville town hall, the citizens went home for the holidays with their families, whilst the Changelings were also celebrating their own holiday. And thankfully, they were not the only ones enjoying their own special holidays, for the humans and their lovers, were too having a fun time. In Canterlot, Fleur De Lis and her husband Fortis were sitting in front of their fireplace, with their daughter Graceful Charity fast asleep between them. And from one of the houses nearby, Tempest Shadow looked out in the open, until her husband Ventus, whilst holding their child Swizzle Berry watched the snowfall, with Tempest resting on her husband’s shoulder with a smile on her face. In the Dragon Lands, Dragon Lord Ember was enjoying the warmth of the lava as they bathed in it together, until their kids did a cannonball into it, taking them by surprise. They were soaked, but they laughed at their shenanigans. From atop of the Tasty Treat, Saffron Masala and her husband Rasoiya were spending their time with Coriander, cooking their Hearth’s Warming Dinner for tomorrow, whilst Saffron’s son Agni ended up pouring flower over himself and pretended to be an Agni Cake, which they couldn’t help but laugh at that too. From their respective home, Moondancer and her husband Lunar were spending the holidays with Moondancer’s sister, with Comet enjoying the first book he was reading. From their hometown, Rara and her husband Tenor sang their child Vocal Tone a lullaby. At Mount Aris, Queen Novo, Princess Skystar, Silverstream, Terramar, Ocean Flow and Sky beak were having the time of their life with the festivities, whilst Queen Novo’s husband Bellator’s hand as their children were fast asleep in their cribs. From their respectful home, Casus had just tucked in his daughter Freedom Feathers as she fell asleep, with Daring Do standing beside him and watched with smiles on their faces on how precious their daughter is to them. From her respected mansion, Upper Crust and her husband Salvator sat near their fireplace together whilst they tended to their sleeping twins, Grand Fortune and Elegant Riches. From Griffonstone, as the snow continued to fall, Gilda, as usual, tried her best to be nice for the sake of the holidays, but she suddenly felt arms being wrapped around her, which she smiled when she saw her husband Garuda holding her close, whilst close by, their child Goliath was flying close to them and sat on his father’s shoulders. Within the Everfree forest, Shujaa sat close to his wife Zecora and took good care of her whilst she was pregnant. (All) The true gift of gifting Is what it means inside We can show we care Spreading love far and wide The true gift of gifting Is totally free They then gathered together as they sang their final verse, whilst the Winterzilla hugged them all. (All) And you’re the best there is at giving it With the friendship that you give to me As they embraced the hugs, the humans in the room heard a slight jingle noise. They looked at the direction of the window and noticed it was none other than Aurora, Bori and Alice, floating together as they held up a sign that said “Everything’s ready”, causing them to smile widely. Genus signaled the Winterzilla to put them down, which it did. ‘And now,’ said Beau ‘Now that all of you are done with your gifts. It’s time to show you, our gifts.’ They wondered what they meant, which they signaled for them to follow. They walked down the halls of the castle, wondering what was going on. Frosty and Emily placed their hands on the large doors to the next room as they both looked at everyone. ‘Now then,’ said the siblings ‘Prepare to be amazed.’ The moment they opened the door, they were all in awe of what they were seeing. From within the room were tables that were placed in three long lines, covered with a white tablecloth, with fancy plates, spoons, forks, knives, drinking glasses and so on. But from between them were the tons of food fit for a true Hearth’s Warming Eve celebration, with decorations hanging all around them that had Cutie Mark symbols of all of them in the room. But near the same spot where Starlight and her friends had received their medals, stood the tallest Hearth’s Warming tree there was, decorated more than Pinkie Pie would do. And surrounding the tree were tons and stacks of presents, all of them so high it reached the tree halfway. ‘What…’ said Twilight as she and her friends were amazed as they walked in ‘What’s all this?’ ‘We’ve all been planning this for months.’ said Silver. ‘We had to make a ton of calls from Canterlot and a few other places.’ said Ignis. ‘And thanks with the help from Gift Giver’s Grove,’ said Chance ‘We were able to get this done in no time.’ Pinkie looked at them surprised and said ‘Wait, all of you already know about Gift Giver’s Grove?’ ‘We can thank Frosty for that.’ said Mystic. ‘When we were last at Yakyakistan for their annual festival,’ said Frosty ‘Prince Rutherford explained to me about Gift Giver’s Grove. I once visited there and I asked them if they could help us out setting this up.’ ‘And once we did.’ said Emily ‘All we had to was to keep all of you distracted long enough for us to set everything up.’ ‘Wait,’ said Applejack as she realized something ‘So y’all came along with us to not only help us find presents, but also wanted to keep us distracted long enough for y’all to set this whole place up?’ ‘That’s right.’ said Bucky. ‘Twilight we didn’t need to distract,’ said Beau ‘Because we all know how easily distracted she gets whenever she goes all research mode.’ Twilight’s jaw dropped at that, not knowing how to respond to that. ‘I even asked Discord to help distract Rainbow Dash so that she wouldn’t get suspicious too.’ said Genus. Rainbow’s jaw dropped at that, with Rainbow looking at Discord and said ‘You were in on this?!!’ ‘Well of course,’ said Discord ‘I felt obligated, considering I was the godfather of Warm Breeze and all.’ ‘The guys and I weren't the only ones.’ said Emily ‘We also had Ignis, Chance, Mystic and Blade pitch in too.’ Cadance and Shining Armour looked at Blade surprised. ‘Wait, you’re part of this too?’ said Cadance. ‘Well of course,’ said Blade ‘This surprise is for you two too.’ ‘We pitched in when the guys were planning this.’ said Chance. ‘It was really hard trying to hide this from you guys.’ said Ignis. ‘And there were a few close calls too.’ said Mystic. ‘Now for the last part of the gift.’ said Silver. The humans departed from their wives and kids and stood a few inches from them, but they had smiles on their faces too. Ignis handed Beau the large letter, gaining his attention. ‘Thought the first human of Equestria would gain the honor.’ said Ignis. Beau smiled and accepted it. Twilight and the others wondered what they were doing, with Beau starting off. ‘All of you.’ said Beau as he began reading from the letter and partially looked at them at the same time ‘Each and every single one of you know how all of our lives began. When we were born in the human world, we lived a life through pain and loneliness. Each of us going through hardships that none could imagine. We were alone, we were neglected from our loved ones, we were cast out and we have lost our parents and siblings to the cruelty of fate, even isolated by people who would do us harm, whilst also struck down by illness that there was no cure from.’ Beau then looked at the letter again and back to them ‘But ever since we came to this world after our passing, we were scared and thought we would never be accepted by society. But then we met each and every single one of you. All of you accepted us for who we are without a second thought, looked at us as if we were the same as all of you. We never realized we had so much in common. When we first met, we were strangers, but within a short time, we became friends. And in time…we became much more than that. We felt appreciated. We felt comfort. We felt safe. And most importantly, the one feeling we have long lost; we felt loved.’ He looked at them again, and nearly shed a tear, but kept his composure ‘And look at where we are now. All of us are now happily married, living a life we never thought would be possible. And in turn, we created the most wonderful and beautiful children. We experienced parenthood and raised so many great kids. All of you may be heroes who save lives and go on adventures together when spreading the magic of friendship. Being with all of you is the biggest adventure we ever had. You are heroes to the eyes of Equestria and beyond, but to the ones you’re married to, and the ones who helped father the children of those who are alive with us, all of you are our heroes, because all of you have saved us the day we all first met, then accepted us as you became our first friends. And we hope to continue to live a life that we had always wanted. From all of us standing here. We just want to say…we love all of you. And we hope all of you will have the best holidays ever, as well as the lives we now live with all of you.’ The said ponies and dragon in the room, all of them had shed tears, barely being able to contain them. For it was the most sweetest and heartwarming speech they had ever heard, even the kids could barely contain themselves, as well as the smiles all of them have received. ‘Oh.’ said Twilight in a whimpered, but happy tone, zipped right over and hugged her husband tightly, with Beau doing the same. Sure enough, the rest of the Mane 6, Starlight, Sunset, Trixie and Spike, including Cadance and Shining Armour hugged the humans in the room, even the kids. ‘This is the best gift ever.’ said Twilight. ‘Thank y’all so much.’ said Applejack. ‘We really appreciate it.’ said Fluttershy. ‘You guys are so awesome.’ said Rainbow Dash. ‘You truly shine like true diamonds.’ said Rarity. ‘With a heap of cupcakes on top.’ said Pinkie next. After the hug, they wiped the tears away, and Ignis saying ‘And we also invited some folks who would love to join us.’ And right on cue, the Mane 6’s parents (Minus Applejack’s, may they rest in peace), their siblings, as well as Scootaloo and her family, along with Starlight and Trixie’s parents, all arrived as they greeted them. The said ponies were so happy to see them as they rushed over for hugs. Sunset however, noticed something from within the crowd. She saw the Mane 6, which left her surprised. However, the Twilight among them was wearing glasses and she didn’t have any wings, whilst they were accompanied by their own husbands. For they were none other than her fellow Rainbooms and former students of CHS. ‘Girls!!’ said Sunset as she rushed right over. ‘Sunset!!’ said the Rainbooms as they were really happy to see her, whilst they were really happy to see her. ‘It’s so great to see all of you.’ said Sunset. ‘It’s great to see you too Sunset.’ said Sci-Twi. ‘What are all of you doing here?’ said Sunset. ‘We were almost prepared to set out to visit our families for the holidays,’ said Sunset’s Applejack ‘But then Ignis wrote to us and asked us to join y’all for the holidays.’ ‘Plus it was to another world, so how could we say no.’ said Sunset’s Rainbow Dash. ‘Not to mention the pudding.’ said Sunset’s Pinkie as she began to drool. ‘Also, we missed you terribly darling.’ said Sunset’s Rarity. ‘We wouldn’t dream celebrating the holidays without you.’ said Sunset’s Fluttershy. ‘So we can also make a tradition by coming here.’ said Sunset’s Twilight. ‘Yeah, cause this place ain’t bad.’ said Sunset’s Spike, now that he’s also turned into a dragon. ‘This is great.’ said Sunset as she got excited ‘Now we get to hang out for old time’s sake.’ ‘Well then what are we waiting for?’ said Ignis. ‘Let the holiday festivity begin.’ said Beau. Soon enough, everyone began to find their respected seats, and all of them began to mingle and chatter, smiling and laughing, enjoying each other’s company. The food never tasted better, the gifts were all amazing, and most importantly, they get to do this as one big happy family. Twilight sat next to her husband with a smile that never faded during the entire festivity, whilst she and her husband looked at one another. ‘Happy Hearth’s Warming Beau.’ said Twilight. ‘Happy Hearth’s Warming Twilight.’ said Beau. Twilight hugged her husband, as Beau hugged her back, with Moonlight in the center, enjoying her parents’ embrace. And not just her, but so too did the humans and the ponies they’re married to, for this was truly the best gifts they had ever given them. Though they may have kept it a secret, it was truly worth it in the end. From right outside, Alice watched the whole scene as she said ‘And so it worked out, and a lesson was learned. There’s no need to obsess.’ She floated right next to Aurora and Bori as they too had smiles on their faces, with Alice saying ‘Gift giving is simple, as long as you recall.’ As they flew away back to their home, Alice said ‘Friendship and Family is the best gift of all.’ And from within the Castle of Friendship, everyone enjoyed the feasts as laughter and joy were spread among them, for it was truly the best Hearth’s Warming Eve ever. I know it’s long passed. But happy holidays to one and all.