Cozy had exactly three friends. Sweetie Belle was her first real friend, Flurry was her study buddy and friendship-study-friend, and Rumble was her coltfriend, the closest pony she had in her life. They were not many, but they were precious.
Precious enough that every Hearth's Warming gift mattered! This was her chance to express just how much they all meant to her. Cozy knew she could be difficult at times. She could be abrasive, dominant and manipulative. Conveying how much somepony meant to her was not easy, and even when she haltingly and mumblingly did, a gnawing uncertainty would still linger. Had they really understood? Did they know just how important they were to Cozy, even if she wasn't always the best at showing it?
But at Hearth's Warming everypony gave gifts and explained these things! Then she'd be confident too, and she'd bring nice gifts to all of her friends so they knew she was genuine when she said it! And she'd have Twilight with her to help too if she needed.
It was the perfect plan (like all her plans were); all that was left was the execution.
This she had thought three days ago. Plenty of time to figure out her gifts, buy them, quietly bring them to her castle and wrap up neatly before handing them over to Twilight for safekeeping until the big day!
Again, the plan was perfect.
So how did she let herself come to this?!
Of course, Cozy hadn't actually ever bought a genuine gift before in her life, but she had figured it'd be an easy thing. Everypony did that for every Hearth's Warming, so how hard could it really be?
This was how hard it could be! She had only three hours until sundown and she still didn't have a single gift, despite having been out all day looking for anything that would catch her eye!
After a whole day of flying and walking to and fro in Canterlot, she had decided on a small break, so now she sat on her own by a small café with a mug of hot cocoa in front of her. It wasn't Rumble's hot cocoa, but it was sweet and warm in the nip of winter.
Flurry was a Princess. What does one give a princess? Anything Cozy could get with this short notice, Flurry's parents could already give her three gold-plated copies of. Same thing with Sweetie Belle, for that matter. With a big sister like Rarity, Sweetie Belle would also already have everything that was nice enough to have! Rarity knew style and beauty like the back of her hoof, and she was the living embodiment of the concept of generosity! How was Cozy supposed to match up to that?!
And then there was Rumble, simultaneously the easiest and the hardest to shop for. Easiest because he at least didn't already own anything Cozy may want to give him, hardest because that gift had to really touch his heart. She was supposed to be his special somepony. Her gift had to match that commitment, or she wouldn't be able to forgive herself for a long time.
Yes. Cozy Glow was worried for her conscience. She grumbled and took a sip of her cocoa. How did she, Cozy Glow, the filly who had struck fear in a world, come to this?
"Hi, Cozy! Are you out shopping too? I'm out shopping because Minuette told me she needed extra help preparing for the Hearth's Warming party for her friends, and as the premier pink party planner pony I stepped up to the task!"
Cozy looked up from her cup, straight into the ice-blue eyes of Pinkie Pie, who had invited herself to Cozy's table with a supreme-mega cocoa-marshmallow combo in front of her and a small truckload of colourful gifts on a cart next to her.
Weighing the options, Cozy decided to skip the first five questions she had herself and instead answer the one Pinkie had given her. "Uh-huh. But it's not going well."
"Oh…! I know all about that!" Pinkie chirped, sounding much too happy for Cozy's liking. Didn't she understand Cozy's predicament? "You should visit the gift-giver's of the grove! They give great advice on gifts. I would never have come up with the perfect gift for Twilight without them. Because who would ever think to give their friend two candy-canes, a pint of mulled cider, three-quarters pomander with cloves and a candied apple for Hearth's Warming?”
"Wha-?” Cozy stopped herself. The last thing she had the time with was exploring one of Pinkie's random tangents. "Well I don't know any gift-givers of any grove, so that doesn't really help me, now does it?"
"Hmm… I guess," Pinkie said with a hoof to her chin. "Well, maybe I can help! Who are you shopping for?"
"Sweetie Belle, Rumble and Flurry Heart," Cozy said.
"Well, Sweetie Belle is easy!" Pinkie said with a dismissive gesture. "No need to ask the gift-givers for that, I know exactly something she wants that neither Rarity or her friends will think of!"
"What's that?" Cozy asked curiously. In all honesty she hadn't been sure Pinkie's advice would be of any help. In fact she had expected one of two things. Either it would be some random thing that nobody except Pinkie could even spell let alone buy for a gift. Or it would have been some silly metaphorical thing like 'just give them your friendship' or something. Sure, Cozy knew the power of friendship, but that didn't mean she didn't want new things too for her Hearth's Warming!
"You know what Sweetie Belle's hobbies are?" Pinkie asked.
"She likes singing, crocheting, and her work as a cutie mark consultant pony," Cozy answered. "But I can't help her with singing in a way her parents or Rarity can't do better, and both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo will already give her any gifts related to her work. And Rarity knows crocheting too."
Pinkie giggled. "Rarity doesn't like crocheting. She thinks it's just like stitching, but worse! I'm sure if you get her some stuff for crocheting, she'll be happy!"
"Hmm… maybe," Cozy admitted. If Rarity wasn't going to cover that gift already, then it sounded sensible. "She does like crocheting, so it can't be all wrong."
"Great! And I know just where to go!" She gulped down her massive hot-cocoa drink in one gulp and all but bounced up from the table. "Come on, let's go!"
Cozy barely had the time to finish her cocoa and still grab ahold of Pinkie's cart before the pink pony took off. They didn't stop until twenty minutes later outside a rather obscure shop in the middle district of Canterlot. The finest shops in the capitol were the ones closest to the castle, so with a bit of luck, Cozy may be able to afford something nice here. She went inside, leaving her grinning pink companion outside.
This was some sort of sewing shop. There were large bundles of yarn in all colours behind the counter, and all other manner of sewing supplies about the smallish shop, from needles and thread to sewing machines and also crochet hooks.
"Welcome," a mare with a blue coat and pale-red mane said behind the counter. A pair of wings revealed that she was a pegasus, a rare thing in the capitol. "If you need help finding anything or need advice, let me know."
"Uh-huh," Cozy nodded. "My friend has taken up crocheting, and I wanted to get her some stuff for Hearths Warming."
The shopkeeper nodded. "How far has she come? Maybe she wants a pattern book or extra hooks? Or maybe some yarns? One can never have too many!" She made a sweeping motion to the wall behind her. There sure were a lot to choose from.
"Golly…" Cozy stammered, feeling a little bit overwhelmed. "I guess… How much does the yarn cost?" That should be a good gift, right? Cozy didn't know if Sweetie Belle already owned a pair of hooks, so yarn was probably safer.
"That depends on the colour and type," the shopkeep explained. "Ewe wool from the Crystal Empire is the most expensive and normal wool is cheaper. The price varies with colour too, however, and purple and blue colours are the most expensive."
"Hmm…" Cozy hummed, looking around.
Her eyes fell on a fresh green-looking spool. It looked a bit like Sweetie Belle's eye colour. "How much for that one?"
The shopkeep followed her pointing hoof. "Five bits for a step. Green isn't very expensive." She pulled out a piece of wood, a bit shorter than her own foreleg. "Lengths of yarn are measured in steps, allegedly based on Nimble Thimble's step. She was the pony who made the first Equestrian flag."
"I didn't know that," Cozy admitted. "I… suppose I can take a little bit of that yarn then."
*****
"Okay, that's one down," Cozy mumbled to herself and put the spool of yarn in her saddlebag.
"So now it's just two left!" Pinkie chirped. Her massive pile of presents were nowhere to be seen, but Cozy decided not to question it. Probably that friend Minuette who she talked about before had come and picked them up… yeah, that was definitely it. "And lucky for you, I have just the thing for both Flurry and Rumble! Just listen to good ol' Pinkie, and this will be easy as cake!"
Cozy cocked her head to the side. "Isn't it supposed to be easy as pie?"
"What can I say, I like cakes," Pinkie shrugged. "But then again, I like pies too. Especially Maud, Marble, Limestone, mommy and daddy Pie."
Cozy blinked, feeling slightly dazed from that unusual composition of words you don't hear every day. Briefly, she thought they might be Pinkie's family, but she decided not to continue this subject. "Okay… well, what do you have in mind?" Cozy asked. Slowly but surely, Cozy had begun to understand that giving Pinkie any more tangents to go off on was not in her best interest.
"Well Flurry is a princess, so I could see why she'd be hard to shop for," Pinkie admitted, scratching her chin with a hoof. "But I know precisely what we can get her, if you are okay with asking Twilight for some help!"
Cozy nodded. If it helped her with finding a perfect present for her friend, then she absolutely was going to ask Twilight for help. "Well, since she lives here now, I think she misses her mom and dad. And I know Twilight has had a pair of books where if you write in one of them, the same words appear in the other! If she can make a pair of books like that, then Flurry could write to her mommy everyday and not have to wait for the mail to get to the Crystal Empire!"
Cozy immediately felt her spirit swell. Not just was that a great idea for a gift, but also really complex magic. At times, she forgot that Twilight's love for books and learning could actually have a practical use, rather than just be reading for reading's sake.
"Yes, that's great! Definitely something she'll use!” Cozy nodded and fluttered her wings in excitement. Pinkie was scary good at coming up with gift ideas. "What about Rumble?"
"Pff, that's easy. If there is one thing every baker and chef likes, it's saffron. And I don't think he's ever used that before."
"Saffron?" Cozy cocked her head to the side. She recognized the word, but that was all. She didn't know what that was. "Is it an herb?"
"Spice," Pinkie corrected. "Reeeeeally expensive stuff. It's from the crocus flower, so it's harvested in spring and then sun-dried for many moons! There is nothing that tastes like it! It's like eating sunshine!"
"And what does sunshine taste like?" Cozy asked, trying not to scoff. She knew Pinkie was… odd, for the lack of a better term, but she didn't like it when that oddity made things more difficult than they had to be.
"Like saffron of course! I just said that, silly!" Pinkie chirped.
Cozy rolled her eyes and decided, again, to abandon that line of questioning. "How do you know what Rumble has used and not?"
Pinkie giggled, then moved her face closer to Cozy's. "Oh that's easy. I see everything!"
Somehow, despite Pinkie's carefree grin and happy eyes, that statement sent shivers down Cozy's spine because she somehow knew it to be true.
"Come on Cozy Rosey, let's go to the spice hall!"
"Cozy Rosey…?" Cozy asked quietly as Pinkie started half walking and half bouncing away. "Hey, wait!" She fluttered hard to catch up, but luckily Pinkie slowed down to a normal walking speed. Cozy tapped down next to her.
"So… how's Twilight treatin' ya?" Pinkie asked once Cozy had caught up.
"Golly… Good, I guess. She's… kind and… things like that," Cozy stammered, trying to find good words. "But I haven't forgiven her yet," she added, mostly out of habit.
"My Pinkie-sense says you aren't angry with her anymore though," Pinkie replied with a little smile. "Heh, silly me! I already know she's treating you well, since you like her now."
"Do not," Cozy scoffed, with a scrunch.
Pinkie giggled. "But you just said she's treating you well."
Cozy rolled her eyes, but then she suddenly remembered something. She suddenly realized where she had heard of saffron before. "I know a pony with that name! Saffron Masala! She has a restaurant here in Canterlot, The Tasty Treat."
"Ohhh! You've been there? It's nice, right?" Pinkie said, ears perking up.
Cozy nodded. "Do they have saffron in their food?"
Pinkie put a hoof to her forehead to think, somehow without slowing down in the slightest. "Hmm… dunno. Maybe?"
They continued to talk about the restaurant for a while, comparing dishes and prices. Cozy had actually been there a few times. It was almost her's and Rumble's favorite place. Just the fact that it was the place of their first date made it special. "Ah, here we are!" Pinkie said and rounded a corner. "The Canterlot Spice Hall, for all your spicy needs!"
Cozy looked around and quickly recognized the place. She had actually been here before when Ramson sent Rumble out to buy things for the castle pantry. Even if she still didn't know half the stuff he did, she enjoyed going with him. His enthusiasm for the strange pieces of plants was contagious.
Pinkie, however, took her to a shop she had never been to before. There was a heavyset pony in a green uniform outside, and there seemed to only be enough space for one adult pony inside the shop itself, aside from the shopkeep. She was a yellow unicorn pony with short-cropped red mane. Behind her she had several metal boxes with colourful insignias of varying intricacy and names stamped on them, all stacked on a lacquered red shelf. Sunhome Hill's Saffron, Sandy Loam Blooms, and Sandsong Farm were a few names. Cozy guessed they must be names of the producers. On a rack to her left, there was also a row of glass bottles filled with something that looked oddly dark orange, almost like honey.
"Hiiii! Crocus Bloom," Pinkie chirped and went inside the small shop. The pony at the entrance glanced at her, a warm smile quickly spreading on her face.
"Pinkie!" The shopkeep waved. "Need more for the Saffron Buns?"
"No, we have plenty! We're here to buy Hearth's Warming gifts! Me and Cozy Glow," Pinkie gestured to Cozy. The shopkeep noticeably stiffened.
"Oh… I… don't…?" The shopkeep stammered, eyes darting between Cozy, Pinkie and the uniformed pony. "I didn't know you were friends with Cozy, Pinkie," Crocus said carefully.
"Is there a problem with that?" Cozy spat angrily, feeling her coat bristling. It was not common, but it did happen that ponies didn't want to serve her when they realized who she was. As with most insults, it was not a thing Cozy took lightly to.
"The problem is that my sister nearly fell from Cloudsdale with the stunt you pulled," Crocus snapped, glaring down at the filly. "They could have died! And I don't serve criminals in my shop!"
Cozy's eyes narrowed. "I'll just take my business elsewhere then!" Cozy shouted. She flew up on the counter to match Crocus's increasingly angry stare with her own. "And you can bet that my coltfriend will hear about this too! And he's the castle's apprentice chef, so you had better-!"
"Is there a problem here, m'am?" The uniformed pony came inside the shop, effectively blocking the exit.
"Hey!" Pinkie shouted with a big frown, silencing all three ponies. "That's not what Hearth's Warming is about! Apologize, both of you!"
Cozy was just about to whirl around on Pinkie to continue her tirade on her instead, but Crocus Bloom was quicker. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I shouldn't… have said anything. It wasn't nice, or in holiday spirit." Cozy didn't think she looked very sincere though.
Cozy glared at Crocus's awkward expression. She didn't want to apologize. She hadn't done anything wrong, so why would she have to apologize for? Crocus had started it, and completely unprovoked too. Cozy huffed angrily. In fact, she'd rather leave and never come back anyway.
"Cozy?" Pinkie pushed her gently with her muzzle. "Show some Hearth's Warming spirit! Do you think the mean Windigos would have ever left if everypony acted like that? Crocus said she's sorry."
"She's just saying that because you're here and she doesn't want to lose a customer," Cozy said sourly.
"Nope," Pinkie said. "My Pinkie sense is telling me that's not it!"
"I was just… surprised to see you that's all," Crocus chipped in meekly.
Cozy glared at both Pinkie and Crocus. "Well, thanks for your help, Pinkie, but I think I'll do the rest of my shopping alone." She hopped into the air and flew off, anger and just a thimble of shame still smoldering inside her chest. Rumble was going to hear about this. No one in the castle was going to buy saffron anymore. Serves that nasty shopkeeper right.
Cozy would have loved to return to her room and spend a few days thinking of a variety of intricate and humiliating ways to exact vengeance, but sadly she did not have the time. She continued stewing in anger as she made her way to a nearby bookstore. It shouldn't be hard to find something for Flurry that could work for Twilight's magic.
But that left her to find something new for Rumble… and she was still out of ideas. Saffron would have been good; just like Pinkie said, she couldn't remember him using that spice for anything he had ever made for her, so it probably was as exclusive as Pinkie said it was.
But she couldn't go back there now! No way she'd humiliate herself like that!
Even if she wanted a nice present for her special somepony.
Cozy shook her head. She was going to make this work. And she didn't need Pinkie or Crocus or anypony else.
She slunk into a bookstore, stomped her hooves on the mat inside and started looking through the selection of notebooks. She wanted to find something pretty for Flurry. Maybe something with a cover motif from the Crystal Empire, if they had something like that.
Could she give the same gift to Rumble? Would he like a book to communicate with his brother? Cozy rejected that idea with a scoff. Cozy could not really see that. It didn't feel like something Rumble would do. Also, doing the same present for both of them would mean that neither of them were special anymore, and they had to be.
There were notebooks with Twilight on the cover. The other princesses were also popular, as was a large aerial picture of Canterlot. Cozy grabbed a notebook with Cadance on the cover. If she didn't find anything better, this could do.
What else… could she do anything to give Rumble an easier time with Ramson? In her own opinion, the head chef did still keep Rumble occupied a bit too much. But what could Cozy do about that that wouldn't land her or her coltfriend in trouble?
She sighed and reluctantly pushed the idea away. Deep down she knew that Rumble liked his work, even if Ramson was difficult. And it wouldn't be right of Cozy to mess up what he wanted to do for her own sake. That wasn't what friends did, and absolutely not special someponies.
Walking down the aisle of notebooks back towards the counter, she glanced to her side and spotted something that made her stop.
This notebook had a phoenix on the front cover, rising in a burst of violet and orange flames towards the sky. Flurry liked phoenixes; that was perfect! She picked up two copies in her hooves and flew back to put the other one in its right place.
Speaking of not messing up what Rumble wanted for her own sake… Couldn't one take the same argument in reverse? That it wasn't right of Cozy to do something that was easy for her but made things worse for Rumble? A friend ought to care more about their friends than themselves, right? If they can?
And then…
Cozy felt like a block of lead had suddenly appeared on her back. She didn't want… to go back. She didn't want to apologize to that nasty pony.
And if it was for her own sake, she wouldn't. But this wasn't for her own sake, this was for a pony she loved. She wanted to give him a Hearth's Warming gift that meant something for him.
So, would she be able to stomach going back and apologizing for Rumble's sake, if not her own?
…Yes.
Yes, she could. Because that's what a special somepony should do. He would have done the same for her, so how could she call herself his special somepony if she didn't do the same?
She sighed forlornly and paid for Flurry's notebook. Her wingbeats were slower on the way back to the spice hall.
Pinkie was still there, talking with Crocus and the guard or whatever the uniformed pony was. Cozy looked out from a nearby corner, took a deep breath and started towards the small shop, keeping her head up. If she was going to do this, then she was not going to cower. She held her head high and went inside, fighting down her frown.
"Oh, hi! I didn't think you'd come back so soon!" Pinkie smiled. "But it's good you did. I still need to get some more presents today. I mean, I have to give something to Cranky Doodle Donkey and Mathilda too, right! Cranky especially, since I'm his bestest best friend!"
Cozy did her best to tune out Pinkie's chattering. She fixed her stare at Crocus instead and took a deep breath. "I'm not going to… tell anypony anything. I'm sorry for saying that before."
Crocus looked back. "I'm sorry too. Princess Twilight wouldn't have made you her student unless you were sorry and… and nopony can change the past, right? So I shouldn't have said anything..." Her eyes flashed over to the still rambling Pinkie, as if asking permission. Pinkie didn't answer; she was busy explaining some gift-giving game to the uniformed pony.
"I want to buy… something for my special somepony," Cozy said tentatively. "He likes cooking."
"Some oil, maybe?" Crocus gestured towards the rack with the many red vials. "Easy to work with and keeps better than the fresh spice, even if the taste isn't quite as intense."
"Okay, that's good. And just a little bit of spice too," Cozy said. She wanted to have a little of the real thing too, for her gift. Just to really hammer it home.
"I recommend the Sunhome oil, and the same farm for the spice, to make sure the taste is similar." Crocus said and fished down a small flask with a red wax-stamp on the bottleneck. Her magic was dark yellow. "How much saffron do you want? Three folds maybe? Or four?"
"Folds?" Cozy asked. She didn't know what that meant. It sounded like some unit of measurement.
Crocus nodded and took out a thin piece of silk cloth and put it on a scale. From the myriad of gears and springs, Cozy guessed that scale must be made for very small weights only. Or maybe it was just very precise? Either way, she didn't quite understand why Crocus had it.
That is, until she picked out a small shovel and picked up a few saffron threads from a barrel with the same stamp on it. Just a few on the scale made the indicator swivel until it stopped inside a small green field on the display. With gentle hooves, Crocus folded the silk cloth over the saffron.
"That's one fold. Saffron is regulated by law to be sold in folds, each one containing precisely half a gram of spice," Crocus explained and neatly folded the silk cloth over the precious strands of spice.
"How much do they cost?" Cozy asked, internally bracing herself. Supposedly this was the most expensive spice of them all, and she knew some of the stuff in the castle kitchen were already plenty expensive.
And none of that stuff was required by law to be sold like this. The unit of trade was half a gram! That was practically nothing!
"Sunhome oil is fifty bits for the bottle, and one fold is seven bits," Crocus answered.
That meant Cozy didn't even have enough money with her for more than two folds after all the other gifts she had brought. But then that would have to be enough. At least Rumble definitely knew this stuff was expensive, so it wasn't like she'd have to feel bad. Or, that's what she told herself.
"I'll take two folds then," Cozy mumbled. Hopefully that was enough to actually do anything with. With just one gram of spice in total she was not sure.
"I can buy one for her too!" Pinkie said. "Since she was a good filly who came back and apologized and everything!"
Crocus quickly measured up two more folds and put it all in a small paper bag. Cozy paid in silence. Both she and Crocus were still clearly wary of each other, but they both tried to not make it awkward.
"Happy Hearth's Warming," Crocus offered.
"Yeah. You too," Cozy took the paper bag in her mouth and left the shop.
"Bye! See you soon!" Pinkie waved to Crocus and went after Cozy.
Only now did the pressing feeling in her stomach disappear. Cozy perked up. She had gone through with something she absolutely had not wanted for Rumble's sake, all on her own accord. No pushing from anypony needed! That must mean something, right?
Of course it did! It meant that this was going to be her best Hearth's Warming ever! How could it not; she had friends to celebrate it with this year. Flurry, Sweetie Belle, Twilight.
And her special somepony!
She grinned around the bag she was holding. Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough!