“That’ll be 5 bits!” said the zebra with the curly hair and the golden earrings behind the counter, dressed in a festive apron complete with holiday lights. “Oh! And what name do you want me to put that under?”
The pink pony with the purple mane and the light blue accents put down the 7 bits on the counter, pushing them toward the zebra barista with a hoof, and gave a warm smile. “Starlight glimmer, and here’s an extra couple bits just for you!”
The zebra gave a big smile as she worked the register. “Thank you so much, Ms. Glimmer, I will call you when it's ready,”
With that, Starlight went to where her friends were sitting; all six elements of harmony plus Twilight’s little dragon assistant/pet/whatever you consider their relationship to be, sitting around with various sizes of drinks, all of them seeming to have a riveting chat about something.
While this was not Starlight’s favorite holiday, she couldn’t deny that the ambience of cozying up somewhere warm, all the lights and decorations, the singing of foals, and just being with friends did warm up her heart the more she thought about it. The snowing clouds above Canterlot could not dull the bright and warm feeling in the air.
“-And then Mr. Cake looked at me and said, ‘Pinkie! That’s not a cake sculpture, that’s my wife!'” Pinkie Pie practically yelled that out at the top of her lungs, prompting the crew to burst out in uncontrollable laughter.
“Girls, I see we’re having fun over here,” Starlight said before taking a seat next to an Applejack, who was calming down from the giggle session.
The girls, still trying to get a hold of their laughs, all greeted Starlight, some more coherently than others. But once they seemed to calm down enough, Starlight would be addressed properly.
“Just a few fun stories about holidays. OH! Starlight! Do you have any funny stories about the holidays?” Pinkie pie asked in her usual jittery way.
“Funny stories? Mmmnnn… I mean I have some good memories from when I was a filly, but besides, I can’t exactly say any of them were ‘funny’. Once you get past that age where you stop caring about toys, the holidays all just kinda melt together, you know?” Starlight remarked, giving the gang an apathetic shrug.
“Toy, toys…” Twilight began rubbing at her chin with a hoof… And a horrified gasp escaped from her. A realization; an expression on her face of worry as the purple alicorn began to nervously rub her hooves, attempting in vain to soothe her nerves.
Applejack picked it out immediately. “Sugarcube, don’t even try to lie to us, you totally forgot to get gifts this year, right?”
“What? Gifts? Me? Of course I got gifts! Why I got gifts for every pony in Ponyville! Not an issue here,” She said with a sheepish grin. Her friends all around her all seemed to frown in unison, even Spike looked disappointed.
“Come on Twilight, you know you told me to keep pushing back the buying of gifts on your schedule because we’ve been busy touring Equestria and giving Hearth’s Warming speeches and attending parades, weddings and well… We just never could find the time,” Spike remarked, going to the defense of Twilight.
Twilight gave a long sigh. “Yeah, I’ve just been so busy going to all these events to really assume these Princess duties that I forgot about that… and I know Hearth’s Warming isn’t all about the gifts but I still feel bad I haven’t gotten anyone anything yet. Worse still, I still have to coordinate the main event in town hall. I just don’t have any time to buy gifts this year,”
Starlight stood up, a sense of duty rising inside of her, “Why didn’t you just tell me earlier? Twilight, I would be happy to get gifts on your behalf,”
Twilight shook her head, “You realize I give gifts to everyone in Ponyville, yes? That’s not even to mention my parents… Oh gosh, what am I going to do for my parents? My brother? Candance? Little Flurry? I want it to be perfect for them! Or what about the event organizers? Wouldn’t a benevolent princess want to give something to the actors and the ponies behind the scenes? Oh Celestia! what am I going to do?!”
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who were at Twilight’s sides, gave their friend a rub on the back.
Starlight’s smile did not fade or budge. She was committed to this, “Twilight, please, I can handle this, just give me a list of everyone I need to get a present for and I will be happy to help,”
Spike popped out from underneath the table. The young dragon was now floating above all the ponies, looking down at Starlight. “I think you should give this task, in my humble opinion. Would help ponies to completely forget about what you did to that time you tried building a cult town…”
Starlight was a bit taken aback by Spike’s words but didn’t press him on it. She beamed a look of agitation at him, but she’s known that those actions are hardly the kind of thing you just forget overnight, over a week or even a few years. It was a bitter pill to swallow for the pink unicorn.
“Spike, we’ve talked about this. You don’t have to forget but all of us have forgiven her for that.” Twilight scolded the purple dragon. It was not unlike a mother, the way she said that. “Look, Starlight, it’s really nice of you to want to do that, but I’m not just talking about getting one or two gifts last minute. I get letters all the time in the mail over the course of the year from little foals just learning to write to the most elderly of ponies of Ponyville all asking me for a gift for Hearth’s Warming. It’s a monumental task, and that’s not even beginning to mention that I have to get something for the event organizers. I have no one else to blame but myself for this,”
“Nonsense, there’s no shame in asking your friends for help, right girls?” Starlight looked around, a bit disappointed to see that the other elements were looking away.
“Gifting things to the whole town is just a Twilight thing,” Spike said after a moment of silence.
“Ms. Starlight!” Called the zebra’s voice. Starlight grabbed the drink from the zebra’s hooves with her magic, mouthing her thanks. She took a long swig of the sugary caffeinated hot drink before plopping it down assertively.
“Twilight. I. Can. Handle. This. Trust me, please!” Starlight begged, putting her hooves together.
Twilight looked at Spike. The two locked eyes, and already a displeased look on Spike’s face because he knew what was to come for him before a word was said.
“...Alright. Only because you insist. Take Spike with you, he has a comprehensive list for everyone including the show ponies. Please remember, just one gift! Oh! And Spike has the Royal Credit Card. No evil or malicious gifts or gifts that can be abused like love potions, power-enhancing runes or spells for summoning the undead,”
“We had to learn that one the hard way last year…” Spike said, making a gesture with his hand that made Starlight Glimmer’s eyes widen.
“You’re going to be short on time, so I won’t ramble on. Spike will help you with the gifts. Thank you so much for this,”
Later that day…
Starlight and Spike, once they were back in Starlight’s abode, had begun to unfurl the list of names and every single gift that was requested.
To Starlight’s right, a black marker, a blue highlighter, an orange one, and a yellow.
“Let’s see, Chitin the Changeling wants an Equestrian guard uniform? I don’t think those are for gifting…” Spike nodded in agreement and proceeded to strike out the gift with a black marker.
“Button Mash wants the new Gamerboy 4D Gaming System? Yellow highlighter, we can get that at the mall.” Starlight said as she sipped at her coffee, gagging a little from the lack of sweetener.
“This year, what does Scootaloo want? A Pro-Grade Hartford JL-8 Speed Motorized Kick Scooter? Uhhhh, I guess I can get that. Put that in orange, that’s definitely going to be heavy,” Spike says before highlighting Scootaloo’s wish in orange.
Starlight and Spike had spent at least half of the day reading through the names. Thankfully, Ponyville wasn’t such a massive city like Applewood or Manehatten. There were a hundred or so ponies plus all the performers and organizers on these lists.
Spike got up from where he was sitting, yawning audibly. Stretching his arms before a pop could be heard. “I need a break, do you know where I can take a nap?”
Starlight looked annoyed at Spike. “Uh, no! We are just barely getting started on the list! And that’s not even addressing the blue problem,”
Spike gave an annoyed groan. He picked up the list and looked at all the blue that was all over the list.
“I think you’re overreacting, I think the blue problem is not a problem at all. Just means we didn’t have to put in as much effort as we originally thought,” Spike then proceeded to lay down on the couch. His eyes closed as he was ready to drift off-
“SPIKE, I’m being serious.” She had yelled so loudly in his face that he proceeded to jump awake. “How do you think it is going to look when we go with practically no gifts for Hearth's Warming? I can already imagine all the questions like ‘oh, you mean, we could have made a request? How was I supposed to know?’ Think Spike, we have to get the perfect gifts for everyone, no matter what the cost!” Starlight said, making a pointing gesture at her own head with her hooves.
“Why did I ever encourage this idea, alright, just…” The dragon put his hand on his head, rubbing at the top of his head in a soothing motion. “One second,” the defeated little dragon says.
And with that, for the next few hours, Starlight and Spike would go over-
“Light-show mare specialist Amor “Cassy” Castaña… Darn it! Another blue, Spike!” Starlight growled.
The lists with all the gifts…
“I swear I’m going to go blue in the face, I feel like I’m going to scream if I keep seeing blue!” Spike said in a distressed voice.
…and though the journey only seemed to get all the more frustrating with time…
“BLUE BLUE BLUE BLUE BLUE. IT’S ALL BLUE!”
The pair of Starlight and Spike went into the night, carefully reviewing every name.
“Spike! Spike! Speak to me! Can you see anything else but blue? Because I swear my eyes are hurting from seeing all this blue!” Starlight had her hooves over her eyes, all in a ball in a corner.
“Just two more! Just two more!” Spike said, sounding almost on the verge of tears.
“Read them loud and clear, who remains?” Starlight says while trying to rub her eyes.
“Firstly, Mic Check the bat pony, one of our back-up singers, looks like he wants… a new suit! That's yellow!” Spike sounded happy beyond belief.
Starlight hopped up onto her hooves and began to tap them, a whinny of happiness, not just because they only had one last name to get to, but because there was a break from all the blue.
“And the last guest is a deer exchange student here to learn the Equestrian ways, his name is Fen. His wish is for… an authentic Hearth’s Warming experience? What does that even mean?” Spike’s eyes narrowed. Maybe it was the fact he wasn’t allowed to enjoy his naps or maybe the request was just that annoyingly vague.
Starlight stood up, looking out her window. It was now well into the night. The streets of Canterlot blanketed in white snow, the multi-colored lights upon the roofs of the buildings all around them. Starlight began to reminisce. A blank stare out of the window as the snowflakes kissed the dividing glass. The sight of snow-stallions in the streets, taking Starlight back to the days her and her father would build them together.
She could hear the sounds of her own cheering, the wind in her hair as her father helped roll a big ol’ ball of snow to complete the head. Having her dad grab a big ol’ top hat from his satchel. The sound of his voice, her squeals of excitement as they pulled back to admire the smiling snow-stallion. Then being called in by mother to enjoy a nice hot glass of warm apple cider.
The howling wind, the freezing cold on her hooves, the snow in her mane. She loved the feeling of it. Was her mind breaking? Why was she so caught up in this moment of nostalgia? And why did she have tears escaping from her eyes?
She gave a sniffle before turning around to see Spike.
“It means… he wants to see just why so many ponies just want to be with their families, why so many put down wanting to see family members. Some they haven’t seen in years, some they can only see in memories…” Starlight creeped over to the list.
“I… I can’t provide that,”
A huge wave of blue with sprinkles of black, yellow and orange throughout.
Spike looked down at the list, staring blankly for a moment, but as his mind began to flair with ideas, it looked like something was changing on his face. But it was what Starlight repeated what he had said earlier…
“Applebloom wrote that for Hearth’s Warming, she would love to hear from her… parents,” Starlight was getting choked up.
So was Spike, who was having trouble not showing his emotion.
“We spent so much time obsessing over getting things when most of us just want to be with family,” Starlight began to shake her head.
“What are we going to do?” Spike asked.
Starlight hung her head down. There was no way she was going to be able to make everyone magically arrive all in one night. Would she have to concede defeat?
The Next Day in Ponyville… (Hearth's Warming Eve)
The Ponyville event center was far from full. Though it was decorated to the nines with holiday wreaths, bells, holly, and Hearth’s Warming adornments. Rarity’s touch for decor and Applejack’s knack for hard work were on full display as everyone from the production team to the back-up singers to the bakers were getting everything down pat.
“Thanks for bringing those gifts in, soldiers!” Spike said while giving a salute. The earth pony soldiers wheeled in all the gifts they had bought the night before. Though it looked like quite a bit, anypony could see that there definitely wasn’t enough for everyone.
When Twilight caught a look of the gifts, she began to count then recount and recount the gifts. The alicorn turned to Spike with a worried look.
“Uh, there’s more to come, right? I promised everyone I would,” Twilight said, a nervous twitch in her voice.
“Twilight, I wanted…. I tried- I…” Starlight stumbled over her words. Starlight got jittery, groaning before she dropped the list in front of Twilight.
“I… failed you. What ponies want is their families, and unless you know a way we can magically teleport hundreds of ponies here, right now… Then… I failed you,” Starlight’s voice started to crack. She hated having to admit defeat, and on what was supposed to be the happiest day of the year…
Spike hung his head low. Not even wanting to look Twilight in the eyes before he dropped the list at her feet. Twilight would see for herself all the blue with her eyes.
Twilight read it out. A smile began to creep on her face. A big, wide smile began to creep upon her face as she put the list down. Twilight hunched her face over the stage and began laughing. Spike and Starlight looked at each other quite worried. Had they destroyed the poor alicorn’s psyche?
Would this be the moment she snapped and went full psycho mode. The two of them began to step back uncomfortably before Twilight lifted her head up.
“What’s so funny?” Starlight asked, a bit puzzled. Was Twilight making fun of her? “Twilight, stop! This isn’t funny!” Starlight was starting to get really annoyed and upset. She started to light her horn, ready to teleport out. If before she was lukewarm about this holiday, she now was going to resent this holiday for-
“Spike, do you remember that day we wrote invitations all day? Like a month ago?” Twilight said with a wide smile.
Spike had his head buried in his coat, but when he heard that, his head popped out. His eyes were red, and he looked stunned at Twilight.
“We… We…” He looked at the list one more time.
Starlight got closer, blinking a lot as the words finally escaped Spike’s mouth.
“We invited all these ponies,”
Starlight looked down at the list with grit teeth. “What? What do you- Are you saying? Then what was- I…”
A growl and a scowl….
That slowly creeped into a smile… and that smile turned into a laugh.
Starlight began to giggle, followed by Spike and finally Twilight. The two of them spent a good amount of time just having a good laugh.
Just then, Pinkie Pie popped up from seemingly nowhere, somehow managing to get into the middle of the three of them. She too was laughing with them.
“Twilight, our guests are here.” She said, pointing to the crowd of pony, seemingly being led by a brown stallion with a mustache and gray hair, standing next to a red mare, both in cozy sweaters. So many new ponies, all from all over. The stage hands ran over and went to go hug their family members. Starlight could see it in their eyes. The joy of having family in their arms. It was moments like this that made everything worth it.
“I still have some questions. What about those who asked for those that… can’t be here? Like at all? Like Applebloom’s parents?” Spike asked.
“Applejack and her family honor them during the holidays. It’s why she’ll be a little late,” Twilight said. “Starlight, sorry for making you worry so much about this whole gift thing,”
“Hey, at least it’ll make for a funny story for years to come!” Pinkie Pie said, stifling a giggle. “Ooh! I need to get the cups for the hot chocolate! Alrighttalktoyouguyslater,byeeeeee” she said in less than a second before leaving in a quick dash.
The bells began to ring, and the music began to play loudly. A familiar tune filled the air, the bat-pony choirs harmonizing as the lights began to drop. The trio now were making their way to the stage to sing the first song, but as they were getting mic’d up by two assistants, Starlight just had to get a little comment out. Was it the most appropriate time? Maybe not, but Starlight just had to get one little gripe out of her system.
“Twilight?”
“Yes, Starlight?”
“Next year, just promise to get gift cards, okay?”
The three of them laughed one more time as the spotlights fell upon them. Twilight flying in and leading the song. All the ponies now with their loved one nearby as they sang and hummed along for what would be an unforgettable night.
A fun way to end a stressful yet funny Hearth’s Warming Eve for the pink unicorn and the purple dragon.