The Crystal Empire was a place that stayed a comfortable climate all year round, thanks to the spell cast by the Crystal Heart and powered by the love of the crystal ponies. It pushed back the powerful and unrelenting blizzards of the Frozen North and ensured a climate where the ponies and their farm crops could survive.
Of course, that wasn't to say it never got cold here. The enchantment that protected the empire was crafted in such a way that the changing of seasons was still observed, which meant that the summers got warm, and the winters got cold. I had been given fair warning about this change in the climate, but had not taken that warning as seriously as I should have. After all, if ponies could banish the harsh blizzards from here, why not the cold?
One day outside towards the beginning of the winter season was all the confirmation I needed that the ponies had not been joking about the cold weather of winter still being present here in the Empire. Fortunately, a few days’ wait had allowed me to obtain some winter clothing from Miss Rarity of Ponyville. Provided with a winter coat, hat, and boots, I was once again ready to brave the chill that was common for this time of year.
My time in the Empire today was spent with my teacher and friend, Sunburst. In my short stay here so far, he'd shown me a great deal about living with ponies, and even shared some of the love he had with me so I would no longer be starving. I could never thank him enough for all that he had done for me. I just had to make it up to him someday.
Currently, we were standing underneath the palace and looking at the Crystal Heart. He was telling me all about the event that had attracted me to this place to begin with: The Crystalling.
"...and when the shard is joined with the heart, everypony in the empire pours out their love into the streets, and it rushes to the heart, which not only pushes the winter back, but also gives anypony here in the Empire a crystalline appearance, even going as far as to make them translucent."
"Wow," I remarked in surprise, never realizing how strong magic generated from love could be. And to think that my hivemates only looked at it as something to be consumed without a second thought...
The topic of love popped into my mind again as I took notice of something. My senses told me that the love in the Empire was growing again, and since there was not going to be another royal baby born or a crystalling anytime soon, I was at a loss for the cause.
"Um, Sunburst," I began timidly, "can I ask you a question?"
"Of course!" Sunburst replied enthusiastically. "What would you like to know?"
"Well..." I trailed off for a moment, unsure of how I should ask the question. A few times already, I'd made ponies around me rather nervous asking about things related to love, especially if I made mention of noticing how much was around. "I've noticed that there seems to be more love in the air than usual."
"Well, that's not too surprising," Sunburst responded, "what with this being the domain of the Princess of Love, but I'd have to guess what you're feeling is because-"
"Careful with that sled!"
Sunburst was interrupted by a stallion shouting at another group of ponies who were pulling a large sled. Resting atop the sled and held in place by heavy ropes was a large fir tree. They were moving it underneath the palace.
"What's that?" I asked innocently.
"That would be what I was just about to explain to you." Sunburst told me. "That is the Hearth's Warming tree."
"Hearth's Warming?" I said with slight confusion.
Sunburst nodded. "Yep. The tree is one of the symbols that we put up every year around this time. Hearth's Warming is a very special holiday."
Holiday. I'd only ever heard infiltrators coming back from missions talk about them. They always said it was the best time, because ponies produced more love then than they usually did during normal days of the year.
Sunburst looked at Thorax with a little concern. "Please tell me you've heard of Hearth's Warming at least?" he asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Maybe?" I offered with uncertainty. "We don't really have holidays in the hive, and Chrysalis would probably boil a changeling that even thought of celebrating anything to do with ponies."
Sunburst grimaced slightly at the mention of one of Queen Chrysalis' punishments, but then grew a smirk as he saw his opportunity. "Well then, I guess I'll have to teach you about it."
We watched as the ponies moved the tree underneath the palace and set it upright. Once it was in place, they brought in a multitude of wooden crates. Opening them, the workers produced all kinds of decorations: glass balls of many colors, strings of multicolored lights, long strands of garland and equally long strands of a silvery material that kind of shimmered like freshly-fallen snow did. As the workers decorated the tree, Sunburst began explaining the holiday to me.
"Hearth's Warming is the day ponies celebrate the founding of Equestria. Long ago, before even the Princesses were born, ponies lived in separate tribes and had a very tense truce with each other. They only cooperated enough to survive, with earth ponies growing food for all three tribes, the pegasi making sure the crops had good weather to grow, and the unicorns using their magic to move the sun and moon to create days.
"Unfortunately, a massive blizzard forced the leaders of the three tribes to seek out a new land to call home. Chancellor Puddinghead of the earth ponies, Commander Hurricane of the Pegasi, and Princess Platinum of the unicorns all traveled the world until they found the land that was to become Equestria.
"Unfortunately, they all found it at the same time, and began fighting over who had ownership, and not long after, another blizzard came and caused the three to be frozen in ice.
"Their subordinates, Smart Cookie the earth pony, Private Pansy of the pegasi, and Clover the Clever of the unicorns all sought refuge in a cave and spent the time there trying to weather the storm. Meanwhile, Clover deduced that the blizzard was caused by creatures called windigos, who thrived off the hate that ponies had for each other.
"Realizing this, the three chose to set aside their differences and elected to live peacefully with one another. They shared songs and what little food they had around a campfire, and eventually the love and friendship between them created a powerful blaze that destroyed the windigos and ended the blizzard. It was the Fire of Friendship.
"Ever since that day and after Equestria was founded, ponies celebrate the event by decorating their homes and towns during winter, using many different items as symbols."
Sunburst then gestured with his hoof at the tree, and then the ornaments. "The Hearth's Warming tree represents the fortitude of the three ponies who stood strong together against the windigos, and it's a fir tree because they're one of the few trees that keep their color, even in the coldest parts of winter."
He then gestured to the various objects that were being placed on the tree by the ponies. "Those ornaments represent the food and merriment that was shared by the three ponies in the cave."
His last gesture was to point at a heart-shaped decoration being placed at the top of the tree. "The heart at the top of the tree represents the Fire of Friendship, and is placed there as a symbolic gesture of keeping the windigos away for good."
"Wow, that sounds amazing!" I said upon hearing the explanation of the holiday. A time of year to celebrate the joining together of ponies and the original friendships that helped found the country? It only made sense that they would celebrate in such a grand way. "So, what do ponies do to celebrate, besides all the decorations?"
"Lots of stuff!" Sunburst continued explaining. "The most common ones are pageants held by each town in Equestria where they reenact the events of Hearth's Warming. Besides that, most ponies elect to go to their friends' and families' houses and spend time together, singing songs and giving gifts."
Gifts, I thought to myself. I understood those from previous lessons and conversations I'd had with Sunburst. Essentially a representation of the gratitude one felt towards another pony, gifts were a part of friendship that weren't a necessity for it to work, but one that did help strengthen the bond.
Thinking back to everything that had happened to me since coming here, I came to realize how much gratitude I owed to so many ponies. I owed a great deal of thanks to Spike, my first real friend, who gave me a chance and convinced everypony else to do the same. I also owed gratitude to Princess Twilight, as she was the first pony to accept me as a friend after hearing Spike out. I especially owed thanks to Cadance, as she’d permitted me to stay here so I could learn what I had about friendship and sharing love, and that I hoped to continue doing.
My thoughts then turned to Captain Shining Armor, whom I had a hard time finding gratitude for. Since the first day we'd met, he'd shown me a great deal of mistrust, and insisted that I be watched when not in the company of Princess Cadance or Sunburst. Even the few times I tried to start a simple and polite conversation, he was quick to rebuff me.
Of course, I couldn't blame him too much for his treatment of me. Queen Chrysalis had left a very bad taste in his mouth in regards to my kind. I would probably not be too quick to trust a changeling if I had been hypnotized and had the love I felt for another pony taken against my will, and then seen it used to cause harm to one of the most important ponies in the whole world, one which I was charged with protecting.
My thoughts drifted again upon thinking of protection, moving quickly to another pony that I owed thanks to. Well, not so much pony as changeling.
"Thorax?" Sunburst asked me with concern. "You doin' okay?"
Shaken from my thoughts, I flashed a small smile. "Sorry. I was thinking of my older broodmate."
"You mean Pharynx?" Sunburst asked, seeking confirmation. I nodded; we'd discussed family in a lesson and I'd mentioned Pharynx to him.
"Yeah," I answered. "I was thinking how much thanks I owe him, for all the times he protected me from bullies as a nymph. I wish there was a way I could show him my appreciation, but I don't think going back to the hive would be a good idea."
"Probably not," Sunburst agreed, "especially after you told me what you had to do to get away from there."
I nodded in agreement. My leaving hadn't exactly been allowed by the Queen, so if I ever went back, chances were it would be the last thing I ever did.
"It's probably for the best anyways," I admitted. "Even if I could go back without problems, I doubt Pharynx would much appreciate me showing him gratitude. Knowing him, he'd probably 'show his own gratitude' by giving me a pony wrapped up in a cocoon."
Sunburst looked uneasy at the mention of a cocooned pony. I was about to apologize for making him uncomfortable, but he changed the conversation topic before I had the chance to. "Why don't we head back to the palace now?" he suggested. "I can give you a book on Hearth's Warming to read, and even a few about other holidays in Equestria."
"Okay," I replied as we headed back towards the palace and out of the cold.
A few days had passed since my conversation with Sunburst about Hearth's Warming, and I still had the thoughts in my head about giving gifts. That was something that I definitely wanted to do, but the question in my mind was: what should I get everypony?
Some of the ponies I wanted to get gifts for were fairly straightforward. Sunburst had given me several books to keep so that I could study things on my own, and I remembered Princess Twilight saying she wanted one of the books he'd given me, but had a hard time finding a copy. Giving that book to her seemed a good choice, and I was sure Sunburst wouldn't mind, seeing as I had gotten my share of use out of it, and it would be going to a pony that would definitely take good care of it.
Spike loved comic books and gems, and a recent adventure with Sunburst into some caves allowed me to gather some gems that I knew the dragon liked to eat, so a box of delectable dragon treats sounded like a really good idea. How could you go wrong with food?, I thought to myself.
Sunburst and Princess Cadance were the hardest to think of gifts for. I had very little else I could give either of them, and most of that were things that they themselves had given to me. To gift them things back after they had given them to me seemed rather rude, or at least that's what I thought.
I spent a great deal of time pacing back and forth in the room the Princess had provided me, trying to think of something I could give them to show the gratitude I felt towards her and Sunburst. As I absentmindedly turned around, I bumped into a stack of stuff related to a hobby I'd recently taken up: painting. Fortunately, I had not left my paints sitting out, so only a blank canvas and easel tumbled to the floor.
Grumbling to myself, I picked up the easel and set it back up and returned the canvas to its proper place. As I did so, a thought crossed my mind. There were many paintings in the palace, but none that featured the Princess, Captain, or their young filly. Surely that was something they would have done at some point.
In that moment, the proverbial candle flame flashed into existence. "Of course!" I said to myself. "I'll paint them a portrait!" The thought made me happy as I knew this would be the perfect gift to give them. Without further thought, I went over to my dresser, where one of the drawers held my painting supplies and started to grab several brushes and a palette. Deciding on colors, a thought then caused me to stop and reconsider.
The canvas I had on the easel was not particularly large, only marginally bigger than my head. Something about that made me feel that the portrait was going to be inadequate, and that before I got started properly, I would need a much larger canvas. Hopefully a guard wouldn't be too annoyed with following me to the craft store to get one.