It was snowing outside on that jovial Hearths Warming. And Rainbow Dash was happier than Braeburn had seen her in months. Even before they moved here together. She was probably glowing because it was the first Hearths Warming day together. Even he had to admit, her attitude during this time of year was absurdly contagious. "Braeburn, hurry up and light those candles!" He'd also never seen her so bossy. "I want everything rocked and ready before everypony gets here."
So he did what she said. It was still cold as hay outside, even in doors, so they were both wearing winter sweaters. Braeburn was sporting a dark brown turtle neck while Rainbow Dash went with a green sweater, no doubt to express her festive nature. "Sugarcube!" he exclaimed humorously. "I'm gettin' everything ready as fast as I can!"
He had no idea why she didn't just set up all the decorations as fast as he knew she could. Maybe she just wanted him to work for her. Or maybe she just did it slowly to savor every moment of the holiday. The two of them did have a rather turbulent time the past few months, after all. "Well, do it faster," she walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "I want everything to be awesome when everyone shows up." He only shook his head in amusement. She'd invited all six of her friends from Ponyville for the day. Combine that with the fact the tree had a few gifts from her, Braeburn, and even Trixie, and chances are he would get to see Rainbow Dash get even happier before the day was out. "How's the food coming?"
"The carrots are still cooking, but the apple pie should be done in 3... 2... 1..." They both heard a ding from the oven.
"Done!" He said with a self-satisfied smile.
"Nice timing, chief," she said as she went back to decorating. "And all my friends should be here in just a few minutes. "How long till all the food is finished?"
He took a sigh with a smile. "Dashie, I already said it'll be finished in a lil' while!" He took another laugh. "Would you calm down?"
"I can't help it, Brae! They're going to be here any-" and as it on cue, she heard the doorbell to their apartment sound off. Truth be told, she was worried what her friends would think of their place. It wasn't small. In fact, they were able to spring for a decently sized apartment with Rainbow Dash's pay. Being a weather manager did pay well, after all, and there were only maybe four or five in the whole city. She was relatively important and she knew it because she was dang good at her job. Another fear she had, though, was whether or not Applejack would be able to look her in the eye after what she saw her cousin and Rainbow Dash doing on the couch... and on the counter... and then again on the floor. Rainbow hadn't been that exhausted since the guitar incident. Luckily, though, she had the key to her apartment on her that night.
She looked through the seeing eye-hole to see all of her friends, including Trixie. She smiled at all them just waiting for her to open the door. She saw Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Spike was about the height of Princess Celestia, which worried Rainbow Dash. He was only little shorter than her a few months ago. Then she saw AJ, who looked embarrassed after what she saw her and Braeburn doing a couple of weeks ago. Rainbow gave herself a chuckle. Served her right for not knocking. After considering the hypocrisy of what she had just said, herself being a prime offender of not knocking, she finally found her own honorary little sister, Scootaloo. She was leading the pack.
Finally, Rainbow Dash was ready for all them to come in. She muttered a few words and then braced herself. "Alright... time to get this show on the road."
As she opened the door, she was tackle-hugged by her former protégé, Scootaloo. "Rainbow Dash!" She knocked her clear off her feet.
"Haha!" she ruffled up her mane. "How you doin', Scoots?" She had to have grown at least two inches since she left ponyville. "It's been forever since I've seen all of you!"
Scootaloo helped up her mentor. "I know! You'll never guess what I did when you left!"
"Oh really?" Rainbow knew. AJ told a couple of weeks ago. "Would it happen to be how you created your own sonic boom?"
The happiness was still there, even with the spoiled reveal. "Yeah! Fluttershy wondered into a crowd in Cloudsdale and her wings locked up again. That's when I whooshed in and," they said the next part in unison. "SAVED THE DAY!!"
"Good work, Scoots!" She punched her in the arm. "I always knew you had it in you. I was your teacher, after all!" Scootaloo just beamed with pride after that. For two years, Rainbow acted as Scootaloos big sister and mentor. She finally learned to fly and, because of all the years she spent grounded, she had much better control than Rainbow Dash had at her age, even if she wasn't as fast. "And how are-" she was abruptly cut off by a group hug that included everypony that showed up. Even Trixie threw herself in... next to Fluttershy. It went about as well as you would think.
"Oh, we all missed you so much, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy said, afraid of the white haired mare next to her.
"Darling, you really shouldn't wait so long to visit us!" Rarity threw in, happily.
"We all missed you and everything!" Spike said. Rainbow Dash needed to remember to ask how he got so big.
"It's been so boring in Ponyville without you, Dashie!" Pinkie Pie shouted, kind of hurting Rainbow Dash's ears.
"I can't believe it's been almost four months already!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I know!" Rainbow Dash was happier than she had been in months from the embrace of her friends. "I know! But first things first... WHO'S HUNGRY!?"
"I'M HUNGRY!!" Pinkie Pie answered in her shrill voice.
Rainbow just sighed. "WHO ELSE IS HUNGRY?!"
Within the next 20 minutes, Braeburn had everything set out on the table, ready to eat. Even Applejack was amazed at how much her cousin cooked. "And then, and then... we were all WHOOSH!!" Scootaloo was just telling the story in full of her first broken sound barrier.
She laughed and then went to Fluttershy across the table. "So where's Thunderlane? I thought for sure he would have showed up with you, Flutters."
"Oh, well, um..." Fluttershy started in her meek voice. "He, um, couldn't make it. He had a family dinner back in Fillydelphia to go to. He sent his best wishes, though."
"Too bad, I looked forward to a real race," Then she turned to Spike. "So, um... Spike… You've gotten big."
His mild smile then went to an ear to ear grin as he grabbed Rarities hoof. So that happened, apparently. "Yeah! Twilight and Rarity did it! They're using super controlled greed induced growth to age me up!"
"And why would that be, Spike?" Of course she knew the answer, but she could tell he was dying to tell her himself. "There something special going on now?" she not-so-subtly hinted to the once baby dragon.
His face turned a shade of red and as he was going to answer, Rarity decided to do it for him. "My little Spikey-Wikey and I are, well..." now it was Rarity's face that was scarlet. As Rainbow Dash took a bite of her boyfriends candied yams, she eagerly awaited her to finish the answer. She took a sigh and forged onward. "Twilight is giving us the best possible thing. Do you, by chance, remember when she was turning that apple into an orange?"
Rainbow Dash wore an excited but very slight grin. "Yeah, why?"
"Twilight has been practicing with doing it to ponies!" Pinkie Pie announced, immediately covering up her mouth after blurting it out.
Then Spike got all excited again. His deeper voice was going to get some getting used too. He took a sigh in an effort to calm down, but it only works slightly. "Twilight has been researching some heavy transmutation research. She thinks that if she figures it out, there's a chance that she could turn me into a pony like you guys!"
Even though the news was old, Rainbow Dash was still legitimately surprised. They had all known Spike had always had the biggest crush on Rarity, but none of them wanted to look at the forty pound dragon in the room. Even if they did make it work on an emotional level, they were all concerned about how that would work in other areas. Not to mention that dragons aged much slower than ponies. They looked at each other longingly and then realized that she could never realize how big of a deal this was to them. "Congrats, you two!" She lifted up her glass to them.
"At first I was a tad hesitant because, well," she began to shed a tear. "But my Spikey-wikey was so adamant about it that even when he was told that he wouldn't live half as long as a dragon, he simply said "Any day living with you would be more than worth it." They both looked at each other and even Rainbow Dash found it hard not to get choked up. Braeburn, however, was barely holding himself together.
"So when were you two going to tie the knot?" Applejack asked from the other end of the table. Rainbow and Braeburn both spit out their mashed potatoes at the two sitting in front of them... who happened to be Rarity and Spike.
"What?!" Rainbow Dash was shocked at what AJ just asked. And now it was her face that was turning red, or purple, because of her blue coat and all.
"Well, y'all are getting married, ain't ya?" Rainbow Dash just took a long drink of water. "I mean, y'all moved in already, so why not?"
"AJ, that's moving a bit fast, isn't it?" She was obviously playing off of what she saw the other day. This was either her being old school kicking in or bitter, bitter vengeance. At any other time, Rainbow Dash would have been impressed by it. She didn't think AJ had it in her. "I mean, I love Braeburn and all, but..." And there she was stuck. She honestly couldn't think of anything bad to finish that sentence with. And then it happened.
Everypony was quiet as they saw the small black cube laid out on the table in front of Celestia and everypony. Rainbow Dash just stared at it, then Braeburn, then it again then back to Braeburn, and then it repeated once more. But he didn't look stressed at all. In fact, he looked cooler than she was. Even Pinkie Pie was dead silent. "You... what?" She was so lost she couldn't even talk right.
"I actually got this about a week ago when I went to Canterlot. You remember that one race you said you would have called, Dashie?" She only nodded, still reeling from the shock. "Well, I did it for you. And I went there and collected. And this here," he took the ring out of the box and placed it on her hoof. "This here is what I won. And I ain't just talkin' about the ring." Everypony was still dead quiet. And by the time time decided to keep moving, nopony decided to join it. "Rainbow Dash," he got down on three hoofs. "Will you marry me?"
Rainbow Dash was through with staying silent. "D-d-DARN IT!" She burst into tears and embraced Braeburn more tightly than she ever had before. "YES!!"
And then everypony joined in a unanimous congratulation to the newly dubbed fiancés. It would have been easier for Braeburn, had he and Spike not been the only guys there. And then Rarity started being, well, Rarity. "OH! This is big! I'll need designs! And I'll need to find an ideal location and and and..." Yep. Totally Rarity.
Then something else unexpected happened. Rainbow Dash heard the door get knocked on and had to go see who it was. And to her great surprise, it was him. She sighed and opened the door. "Hey, everypony!" It was Summer Blaze.
Rainbow sighed again. They might have owed him their lives, but she didn't remember inviting him. "Summer, what are you doing here?"
"Trixie invited me. I assumed you knew." Trixie just tried to hide her blushing face.
"I-" she wasn't totally sure how to proceed. Here he came with two gifts and here she was about to tell him no. She sighed and decided to let the mercenary through. It was Hearths Warming after all. "Sure. Come in."
He casually walked in, aware he was a guest and then took a look at everything. "Wow. This place is nice!" He pulled up a seat next to Twilight and he was given some food.
"So how do you know Rainbow Dash anyway, Mr..." Twilight asked him.
"Summer Blaze, and I helped them out of a jam the other night. They got lost on the other side of town and I helped them get home. They wanted to reward me, but I declined." All of that was true, certainly. And he was kind enough to word it so that they wouldn't get suspicious. "And it's nice to meet all of you..." he was angling for names. They gave him a roll call. "Well, it's very nice to meet you all."
For nearly three hours they played games and told stories. Even Summer got into the act and challenged Applejack to a rainbow drinking contest, which was the first gift. The rainbow itself was 50 years old. Well, he was descent enough to make sure it wasn't an alcholic drink. He won, but it took nearly two pounds of pie to take out the spice. "That was not a good idea!" He shouted after winning. So yeah, he "won". When it came to opening gifts, they were all great. Rarity gave Rainbow Dash a really durable scarf made with her colors and Twilight gave her an autographed copy of Wonderbolts: The Story Behind the Fearless Flyers.
While everypony was busy opening each other’s gifts, Summer saw Trixie just hanging out on the balcony Summer walked up to Trixie as she stared into the cloudy and snowy night. She didn't fit in with them, he knew that much. "Beautiful night, eh?" His opening line could have been better.
She didn't respond until after a second or two. "Yeah. It is."
"Something on your mind Trixie?" He was digging, but carefully. He came here to make friends after all.
"No... nothing." In reality it was a blatant lie. This time of year was always sad for her. After she was seven, she hadn't celebrated a single Hearths Warming., and she hardly celebrated them before.
Summer Blaze took a deep sigh. "It stinks, doesn't it? Growing up without a real family, I mean."
She was absolutely surprised by what he said to her. How could he have known? "How-"
"I know the feel." He moved up and watched the winter night with her. He sighed again. "I..." it sounded like he was going to say something else, but then changed subjects. “I got you something?"
"Oh?" This was a surprise.
“Just like the one you lost, right?" He pulled out a first edition of the Canterlot Elite: a Beginners Guide to Unicorn Magic. It was in impeccable condition to say the least.
It seemed as though this colt was full of surprises They'd spent time together for the past two weeks, sure, and she'd told him how she lost it down a river, but didn't think he actually listened. Nopony ever really listened to her like that. "You... what?"
He only smiled. "I happen to be a really good listener. I just don't do as I'm told."
"Why did you get this for me?" She seemed genuinely curious. She considered him friend enough to invite him here, but she didn't really think he'd get her a gift. "What did you have to gain?"
"A friend, maybe. It is a gift, so it's not like you have to give me anything back."
Trixie and Summer looked into each other’s eyes and, for the first real time, took notice of the kindred spirits they had. Trixie, who feared that all she could do was run, and Summer, who could never run. "Well, maybe Trixie thinks that she does." They both closed their eyes and moved their heads closer and closer to one another until they...
"Summer!" Rainbow Dash called him. "Pinkie Pie got her head stuck in the Vintage Rainbow bottle!"
He wanted to yell back a response, then a question on how, and then he just let it go. Talk about a moment killer. "Looks like I'm needed elsewhere, Trixie. I guess I'll see you later."
She rushed in a kiss on his cheek just before he walked off. "You had better."
"Heh," he rubbed the back of his neck and blushed, turning his orange coat into a more crimson shade.
Eventually, everypony left. Pinkie and Scootaloo had been the most reluctant, but they understood they couldn't stay. Scootaloo, though, was particularly attached. Rainbow Dash promised she'd be back soon to visit, though. Finally, there were the four of them. Trixie and Summer offered to help clean up, and, after a few hours, the area was clean enough.
The next morning, Braeburn woke up and walked into the kitchen in his robe to see Summer up and making coffee.
"Shhhh!" He hushed the colt, pointing to Trixie asleep on the couch with his black jacket over her.
"What are you doing?" Braeburn asked, slightly annoyed.
"Making you guys some coffee. I thought you might like a special blend of hickory wood."
"You can't just make another colt a pot of coffee in his own home!" They were still whispering.
"Why not?" It was a valid enough question.
"Because it's weird!"
He simply went back to what he was doing. "Well, it's too late now. So do you want some or not?"
Braeburn just sighed. "Sure." He realized there was no use arguing with it now that it was already done.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Summer opened up first. "So... you and Rainbow, eh?"
"Yeah, me and Rainbow," he gave a smile that wasn't clearly just awkward polite or happiness.
"Nice, um... pull there," Summer was not great with his people skills at all. He was a morning person, though, and if he wasn't, then it would have made the issue a lot worse. "She has a very nice, ah... mane. She has a very nice mane. Congrats on the proposal."
"Thank you. It was planned for yesterday." The awkwardness only got worse from there. These two would not have been friends under normal circumstances. That much was clear. But they both felt a kind of debt to the other, so they grit their teeth and dealt with it.
"Rainbow Dash seems nice," Summer didn't really like silence, so he wanted to keep the conversation moving. "Very spirited."
"Yeah, she is... So did you see the last Wing ball game?"
"Oh, I don't really..." And he was struck silent by the sight of what he saw next. As he lifted his cup back to his mouth, he dropped it, shattering it on the tile floors. "What in Celestia's name is that?" If there was any indication to what would happen next, then it was this: The next few days would in New Maredrid City would be hell.