*tap, tap, tap*
“Ugh, these boots are so noisy, but they were the best Rarity had left. Okay, I need to stop talking to myself.”
About two hours after Eric Reed said he was going to sleep, and with Starlight Glimmer and Spike also asleep in their bedrooms, Twilight Sparkle crept down her castle’s hallways, heading toward Eric’s bedroom.
Wanting to emulate Eric’s father when he dressed up as Santa Claus, Twilight wore a red coat, a floppy red cap capped with a white pompom, a fake white beard, and boots. Lastly, she carried a sack over her back. However, awkward taps cut through the air with each step from Twilight’s boots, making her wince with each unwelcomely loud step.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have worn the boots, but if I’m going to play Santa Claus, I need to do it the way his dad did.’
As Twilight reached Eric’s room, which he had luckily left open, she further slowed her steps to minimize her boots’ clinking, and threaded into the room. Eric lay motionless on his bed, fully covered by his blanket. Twilight glanced toward his room’s mirror hanging on a wall, and smiled. It wasn't a sight she hadn't seen before, but as she and Starlight did with their mirrors, Eric had decorated the edges of the mirror with pictures of her and/or their friends to “surround” him whenever he used his mirror.
‘Wait, what am I doing? I need to give him his copy of Equestria’s Top Ten Exotic Insects before he wakes up. I hope he likes it!’ Twilight shook herself out of her thoughts, and snuck across the room and to Eric’s bedside, low taps from the noisy boots continuing to plague her. She floated her gift out of her sack, wrapped in purple wrapping paper with a blue bow, and laid it beside him. The alicorn smiled warmly and whispered, “Happy Hearth’s Warming.”
“Happy Hearth’s Warming.”
“Eep!” Twilight yelped with widened eyes as she jumped backwards.
Hearty laughter roared from under Eric’s blanket. He flew his blanket off his head, wearing blue, light-fitting pajamas, and fought to hold in additional laughs. “About time you showed up, Princess Claus! I was getting bored.” He looked to his gift lying by him and tittered. “A new book, huh? You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t give–”
“W-wait just a second! How did you know I was planning to pretend to be Santa Claus?! I didn’t even tell Spike or Starlight about it!”
“Because ever since you took me in after finding me in Equestria, you always jumped at the chance to make me feel more at home.” He pointed a finger toward Twilight’s boots. “I almost fell asleep for real, but those boots woke me back up.”
Twilight glanced at her boots. Her shock of being caught swapped with embarrassment, and she grinned sheepishly. “Oops. I knew I shouldn’t have worn them, but I wanted to play Santa Claus just the way your dad did. When I leave a gift beside Spike and Starlight, I will have them off.”
“Good idea, and I’m one for two in countering your fun with my own this Hearth’s Warming. Maybe you’ll get me twice next year.”
“Hehe, we’ll see.”
The pair shared a long, affectionate hug. After they broke it up, Eric gently flicked one of Twilight’s ears, coaxing her to giggle, then she countered by playfully rubbing the top of the young man’s head. As she trotted out of his room, Twilight made a mental note to ensure she had quieter boots for the next Hearth’s Warming.
Later that night…
In Twilight’s bedroom, a pink earth pony, dressed in Santa’s outfit, also wearing a fake beard, and with a sack on her back, hopped from the inside of a dresser. As the pony was Pinkie Pie, it didn’t have to make sense for her to be able to do it. Nor did it have to make sense why her boots remained absolutely mute when they made even hard contact with the floor.
Pinkie took a quick glance around the room, then crept to Twilight’s bed; Twilight herself snored away peacefully under her blanket. She pulled out a stack of books from her sack and laid them beside Twilight’s bed.
“Ho, ho, ho, you have been a very good filly this year, Twilight,” Pinkie whispered, lightly patting Twilight’s head. She slunk to and dove back into the dresser in which she had entered the room.
With this being Pinkie’s first year of being Equestria’s first-ever true Santa Claus, the Element of Laughter had many more gifts to deliver.