Discord and Fluttershy both appeared in their living room with a flash of light, both of them wearing warm winter coats and boots, with a few small snowflakes stuck to their coats and manes. "And a Happy Hearth's Warming to yooooou~!," Discord belted out, his voice quickly veering off-key. Before she could either laugh or wince, he scooped her into his arms and pressed his lips against hers. Though a little startled, she wrapped her forelegs around his neck and returned the kiss.
They eventually needed to separate for air, and Discord set her gently back down on the ground. She noted that his face was flushed—either from the kiss, the cold, or the Hearth's Warming eggnog he had helped himself to several glasses of. He smiled and stretched his arms above his head.
"All in all," he said, snapping his fingers. The candy cane coat hook in the corner jumped to life and rushed over to them. "I think that Hearth's Warming Eve party went rather well."
He dropped his coat onto the first of the hooks, then bent down to help Fluttershy out of her own, floating in the air and kicking off his boots at the same time. "I think so, too," she said as her coat was dropped onto the hook. "...at least the castle didn't flood with magic pudding."
Discord chuckled. "And no one seemed to have a panic attack over finding the perfect gift," he added. "Speaking of which..." He held up a brown paper bag and started rustling through it, before pulling out a carved bird whistle and handing it to her.
Fluttershy smiled and looked over it, once again admiring the craftsmanship of it. The applewood was perfectly smooth, and...she pressed it to her lips and blew a clear note, a very bird-like whistle coming from the end. She smiled. "Applejack must have spent a lot of time on this gift."
"Probably," Discord said with a nod, pulling out a windsurfing board that couldn't have possibly fit into the small paper bag. "The Hearth's Warming Helper system seems to be working great, as usual." He smiled and looked over the board. It was striped black and purple with a white spot towards the front, which held a tornado with his two mismatched wings on the side. "I wonder how long it took Rainbow to get a custom board..."
"It looks really good," she said, looking it over. He beamed and nodded, hugging it close to his chest, nearly pressing his cheek against it. She had the feeling he would soon be looking for strong winds to surf on, or even whipping up some of his own. "...I hope that Cheese liked my gift. It feels like everyone has something magical they can do, or connections to use, but..."
"But you know how to find perfect, personal gifts at that Craft Fair," he pointed out, tapping his finger against her nose. "A case of multiple colors of party string is so Cheese Sandwich! And then you topped it off with knit sweaters for Boneless Six and Boneless Seven and a hat and scarf for Lil Cheese. You gave him an amazing gift, trust me."
"If you say so," she said with a bashful smile. "Still...it wasn't quite like the necklace you gave Rarity."
He raised his head, puffing out his chest. "It is one of a kind, since no unicorn has figured out how to capture fire in gems yet," he said. "But why don't we agree that we're both amazing gift-givers?"
She giggled. "Alright, alright." She smiled and set the bird whistle next to their record player before turning back to Discord.
Discord hung his board on the wall above the couch, then sighed and pressed his hands against his back, which made popping sounds like bubble wrap. "As fun as Hearth's Warming Eve is, especially with Canterlot Castle decorated so much...being home feels good."
"Mhmm," she said, nodding in agreement. She couldn't help but smile as she looked over all the Hearth's Warming decorations that dominated their living room. Tinsel of all colors of the rainbow (but mostly in red, green, and silver) was strewn through the entire room. Wreaths hung on both their front door, the kitchen door, and probably a few other doors, as well. A piece of mistletoe dangled above the couch, though she knew it would change positions throughout the room (Discord was coy about whether he was moving it, or it had been enchanted to move by itself). Red stockings with their names stitched on them hung from the mantleplace, where the knit Hearth's Warming dolls they had made of each other sat.
Finally, in the corner, sat their Hearth's Warming tree. This year, they had compromised on it—since it was a real, traditional pine tree with the traditional Flame of Friendship on top, Discord was allowed full creative and chaotic liberty in decorating it.
As soon as they had entered the room, its bright lights lit up, slowly blinking and alternating through different colors. Pink and black, blue and white, red and green, all six colors of the rainbow...and then there were the ornaments. Popcorn on strings wrapped around the tree, in plain, caramel, and cheddar flavors, accompanied by dangling popcorn balls in various dyed colors. Candy canes hung from the branches, each one a different flavor. A few of Fluttershy's favorite ornaments, such as the soft reindeer and framed family photos from when she was a filly, were hung in prominent places of honor. There were also framed photos of her and Discord together, sometimes including their friends. Sealed glass jars twirled in place, flickering, colorful images of her and Discord spending their previous Hearth's Warmings together captured in time.
And, of course, there was a large pile of presents under the tree, all with different kinds of wrapping paper. Discord had shoved anything he had gotten for her under the tree, and as the holiday approached, she snuck a few of her presents for him into the pile. All but a few last hidden ones had been added to the pile...and thankfully, it didn't look like Discord had tried sneaking a peek into any of his yet.
Speaking of which...she glanced over and saw that Discord had moved over to the mantleplace, plucked his stocking off of its hanging hook, and was taking a peek inside. "Darn, still nothing," he said, clicking his tongue and shaking his head.
She bit her smiling lips, resisting the urge to giggle. "Discord, you know stockings aren't filled until the night of Hearth's Warming Eve." In fact, since they were always magically full and bulging with candy and fruit in the morning, he was the one filling them!
"Still," he said, stepping away. "It's close enough to nighttime that it should be full. That's what I think, at least."
A small giggle escaped her. "You have to be asleep, too, silly." Hopefully he would sleep deeply enough she could slip her stocking stuffers into his before he realized she was gone. Friendship: the Gathering cards had seemed like the perfect one for this year, and fortunately, he hadn't found them tucked at the bottom of her wardrobe.
Undeterred by the lack of stocking loot, Discord turned his attention to the tree...or more accurately, the stack of presents underneath it. "Now, why don't we open up a couple of these parasites?" he said, rubbing his hands together before dropping to all fours and sifting through the pile of presents.
"Parasites?" she asked in confusion as she stepped closer and watched him.
He shrugged. "They're not green, so they're not plants. In normal circumstances, the tree would slowly die through the season..." He paused to pour a little water into the large pot at the tree's base. "...While they retain their color and thus, health. Therefore, presents parasitize Hearth's Warming trees." He looked over his shoulder and gave her a grin.
"That's..." she started to say, before pausing. "...if presents were alive, that could be...a possibility."
"And my other question?" he said, wagging his tail a little. "Can we open a few of them up and remove their insides?"
She pretended to think, though this wasn't an unusual request. After a few years of celebrating, they had eventually settled into this tradition. "Let's make a deal," she said. "If we each open up one tonight, you won't sneak in here and open the rest until tomorrow morning."
"Deal!" he said quickly, grasping her hoof and shaking it. "Now, let's see here..." He dropped onto all fours, his belly low to the ground, and began to sniff at the ground like a wolf going after its prey. She smiled and took a seat on the couch, watching as he disappeared into the pile of presents with lots of loud sniffing and snorting noises.
His horns poked up above the gifts, and after a while, she saw him freeze, sneeze loudly, and then poke his head out with a rectangular present in his mouth. He bounded over to her, not landing on a single present, and dropped the gift next to her.
"Here's one from me to you," he said, tapping against his scrawled handwriting in the corner. It barely stood out against the snazzleberry-colored wrapping paper with neon ornaments. "You could open this one, or you could pick out another one you'd rather do."
"No, I think I'll stick with this one," she said, picking it up. "Did you see any of mine that you want to open?"
He groaned, throwing his head back. "I spied two in there I want to open," he said. With a snap of his fingers, two of her gifts to him teleported in front of the couch. One was a regular-sized gift bag, the contents hidden with paper, while the other was large and lumpy, covered in wrapping paper with tape and ribbon holding it together.
"What to choose, what to choose?" he said, looking back and forth between them. "The small one probably has more things inside. But the big one has one big thing inside!" He licked his lips. "Fluttershyyyyy..."
"Just one present," she said, covering her mouth with a hoof to hide her smile.
"Drat," he muttered. His eyes continued to swing back and forth between his options. After a minute or so of thinking and mumbling to himself, he tapped his finger against the larger present. "This one. I'll open this one." The gift bag floated back over to the tree and settled itself underneath.
Fluttershy smiled. While she was sure that he would have enjoyed the mug in that bag (custom-made, with a picture of them making silly faces at the camera), along with the novelty tea bags and hot chocolate packets, he would like the big present a lot more. At least...she hoped so.
"Why don't you open yours first?" he said, bouncing up and down on his heels before plopping onto the couch next to her.
"Are you sure?" she said, brushing her hooftip along the edge of the wrapping paper. She smirked teasingly as his tail quivered behind him. "Maybe you'd like to go first..."
"Yes, I'd like you to go first, you tempting tease," he said, tapping her nose. "But if you don't hurry, I might just change my mind."
She smiled and gripped the paper, carefully peeling it away and revealing...a second layer of wrapping paper. Discord chuckled beside her, and she smiled and peeled the next one away, revealing a thick paperback book. She flipped it over to read the cover.
"A Guide to the Birds of Paradise," she read aloud.
"I know you already have a few guides...if you haven't memorized them already," he said. "But trust me, you'll like this. Give the inside a peek."
She would have enjoyed even just a new guide, but his pleased smile told her there was something special about this. And so, she opened the book to a random page in the middle. Interestingly enough, there were extra photos of the birds of paradise taped into the book, notes scrawled in the margins of the page with a purple glitter pen, and...blue buttons next to each description?
Discord grinned, pressing one of the buttons. To her surprise, noise came from the book—the mating call of the Lesser Bird of Paradise, so clear and loud she could have sworn the birds were really in the room. "It took a while to collect all of their calls," he said. "And take good photographs...and take a couple of notes."
"You...added all of these?" she said, gesturing to the writing, the photos, and the buttons.
"Yep!" he said proudly, holding his head up high. "Some of those birds weren't exactly cooperative, and a couple of the photos might be blurry, but I think I did a pretty good job."
She smiled, flipping through more of the pages. The guide was peppered with colorful photos and personal notes that made her smile. "I think this is wonderful," she said, leaning over to wrap her forelegs around him in a hug. "Thank you, Discord."
He grinned, patting the top of her head. "...I'm glad you like it." His eyes gleamed as he turned his attention towards her present for him, rubbing his hands together. "Now, let's see what's inside this particularly bloated parasite!"
He leapt forward with claws unsheathed, tearing into the wrapping paper like a predator might tear into its prey. Fluttershy shielded herself with a wing as scraps of paper flew everywhere.
Once he had soundly defeated the wrapping paper coating, Discord stood triumphantly to look over his prize...and paused, his jaw dropping as he stared at it.
His present was a full-size throne knit from yarn. The seat was red, with one blue and one yellow armrest, with wavy lines of the opposite color along the outsides. The back of the throne was a mixture of brown and purple yarn, with a black outline and back. She couldn't see it from where she was sitting, but there was an image of two wings on the very back identical to Discord's. Two mismatched horns drooped from the very top, and the entire thing had been stitched compactly enough that anycreature would be able to actually sit in it...she hoped.
Discord was still silently walking around it, absentmindedly screwing his jaw back into place. She fidgeted a little—she really hoped that he liked it, even though it definitely wasn't perfect. He stared blankly at it for a few more moments...then gave a happy cry, grabbing her and pulling her into a tight hug. "Oh, this is wonderful!" he said, squeezing the air out of her and smooshing his cheek against hers. "Thank you, thank you!"
Just as quickly as she was pulled into the hug, she was dropped, and he teleported onto his new throne. He sighed, sprawling his arms across the armrests and stretching his back up against the back. "Oh, this is fantastic," he said, raising his head and posing, looking to any observer a smug, confident monarch. "How...how long were you working on this? And how did I not notice?"
She smiled. "It...did take a few months," she admitted. "I had to make the stitches really close together, so it'd be compact enough to sit in." Her smile morphed into a pleased grin. "And I hid it in one of the yarn piles in the knitting cave when I wasn't working on it."
"Clever mare," he said with an approving grin. His arms stretched out and grabbed her, pulling her forward and onto his lap. She smiled and tilted her head up to look at him, and his grin widened as he stroked her mane.
After a few moments, though, she yawned. "E-excuse me," she said, covering her mouth with a hoof.
Discord just chuckled, snapping his fingers and teleporting them both back to the couch. "It has been a long day, hasn't it?" he said. "A little bit of rest before bed wouldn't hurt. And as wonderful as the throne is, the couch is probably easier for us both to get comfortable on."
"Probably," she said with a nod of agreement. Just laying down for a bit did sound pretty good, but first...she turned her attention to Discord, giving him a soft smile.
"Happy Hearth's Warming, Discord," she said, gently caressing his cheek.
"...Happy Hearth's Warming," he murmured, wrapping his tail around her waist.
She yawned and laid down on the couch, finding a throw pillow placed under her head. She heard Discord shuffling, and felt him wrap his long, serpentine body around her, his arms holding her close to his chest.
Smiling, she shifted to be a little closer to him and make herself comfortable. Her hoof gently tapped against one of the buttons in her new book, and an elaborate birdcall filled the room. She relaxed, keeping her ears perked up to absorb every sound, while Discord chuckled behind her.
"I take it my gift meets your approval?" he said, stroking her mane.
"Mhmm," she said, "And...you like the throne?"
"I love it," he whispered into her ear. "I'd sit in it for hours right now...if it wasn't Hearth's Warming Eve and you'd tell me we have to sleep in bed because 'tradition'."
She nudged him in the ribs, making him laugh. She yawned. "...I think I might go to bed soon," she said, closing her new book. Her exhaustion from their celebration with friends was starting to catch up to her.
"Well, what kind of husband would I be, leaving you alone with a cold bed?" Discord said, standing up and scooping her into his arms. She shifted, holding the book close to her chest, while he used his tail to drop a white furniture cover over his new throne.
He carried her down the hallway and towards their bedroom, sipping a mug of peppermints he held in his tail. She continued to yawn, using his shoulder as a temporary pillow. Though she was tired, there was still a wide smile spread across her muzzle. And when she glanced up, she saw a smile equally wide and warm spread across Discord's.
She relaxed, closing her eyes as he scratched behind her ear. It had been, and was still, a happy Hearth's Warming.