“Spike?” Twilight shook the sleepy dragon gently in hopes of waking him. “Spike?” It was 8:00 A.M Hearth's Warming Eve, and a big day was in order for Ponyville. Spike and Twilight mostly. The previous year Twilight and her friends had been in charge of putting on the play of the first Hearth’s Warming Eve. This year Twilight had turned down the ability to do so again in favor of just celebrating the marvelous holiday with her friends. But first she needed gifts!
The previous night she and Spike had devised a large checklist of gifts that would be perfect for her many friends. In al hindsight she should have probably done her shopping earlier... But she had to create the checklist and check it many, many times much to Spike’s displeasure. So today they had a very large checklist to check off.
“Spike?!” The tiny dragon grumbled much like usual... But Twilight couldn’t just let him sleep. “SPIKE!”
“I’m awake! Jeez Twilight, can’t a guy sleep around here?” Twilight walked over to her mirror and began to comb her hair in preparation of the day before her.
“Sorry spike... But you know we have a big day of shopping!” The small dragon grunted in displeasure as he stood from his bed and yawned.
“And I have to go shopping because...?” Twilight levitated her winter coat that had the money in it and placed it snugly onto herself.
“Who else is going to read off the list?” Twilight finished combing her hair and turned around to the small dragon who was heading down the stairs. She followed him and as she tried to find a way to console her tiny assistant.
“Can’t you do it?” They entered the kitchen where Spike immediately walked to the refrigerator.
“Oh come on Spike! We can stop and get you some gems.” Spike’s eye widened as the mention of gems entered the conversation. He reached in and grabbed the milk; taking a big drink before he responded.
“Fine, but it better be a big sapphire!” Twilight placed her head on her favorite assistants head and proceeded to mess up the scale on the top of his head.
“Nothing but the biggest!”
“Hey, cut it out!” Twilight laughed and took her hoof off his head.
“Hurry up so we can get started. It’s going to be a long day!” Twilight walked over to the door and levitated it open as she awaited her assistant. He turned the corner a moment later holding the checklist that they had devised the night before.
“Alright, I’m ready!”
“Maybe we should check the list again...” Spike rolled his eyes and pushed Twilight out the door before she could even consider checking it again. The pegasi had done a good job on the snow this year. There wasn’t too much and there wasn’t too little.
“We are NOT checking the list again!”
“But... Okay. What’s first on the list?” Spike opened the scroll and looked at it.
“Let’s see... A new lasso for Applejack!”
“Okay, that’s simple enough. I’m pretty sure that the general store will have one...”
“Actually... You said you were going to have one custom made, remember?” Twilight stopped in her tracks as she remembered. And who better to ask for making something than Rarity?
“Ah yes... Think Rarity would be able to make one?”
“Rarity...”
“Spike, now’s no time to start daydreaming about Rarity.”
“Oh, sorry Twi. It wouldn’t hurt to ask.” Twilight levitated her assistant onto her back and proceeded to make her way to the Carousel Boutique.
“We can stop and get you some gems after we cross a couple things off.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
-----
The door to the Carousel Boutique swung ajar as Rarity opened it for her friend. “Oh Twilight! You simply must wear something warmer in this weather... Can I recommend a sweater? I have all the ones that are in season right over here!” Rarity pushed Twilight over to a large wardrobe filled with many marvelous sweaters.
“Actually...” Twilight teleported herself back to the entrance, causing Rarity to lunge forward almost hitting the wardrobe. “Sorry!”
“It’s quite alright dear... Just please warn me before you do that?”
“Anyways, we’re here to see if you could possibly make a new lasso for Applejack. She’s been complaining that her old one has loose twine and hurts her mouth to use. What better present than a new lasso?”
“Ooh! Marvelous idea dear! That old thing is an eyesore... I suppose I could make one. Tell you what, come back in an hour and I’ll have one ready for you.”
“Thank you Rarity! Come on Spike, let’s go to our next destination.” Twilight opened the door and trotted out as Rarity prepped to make the new lasso for Applejack.
“Next on the list is some more of that edible golden coating that rarity uses for edible boots...Isn’t that stuff extremely hard to find?” Twilight began to think where she could get some.
“Spike, I need to search the library for any books mentioning the dust. In the meantime why don’t you go and get yourself gems? Here are some bits to cover the costs.”Twilight levitated the bag of bits from her winter coat and pulled out enough to buy a good sized gem. “Meet me back at the library once you’ve had your breakfast.”
“Okay.” Twilight parted ways from her assistant and began to make her way back to the library. Once there she began to search her library vigorously for any mention of the dust. Book after book she grew more frustrated as nothing showed itself.
“Nothing... Nothing! Do I not have one book that mentions edible gold dust!” Twilight grunted in frustration as she tossed the second to last book into the searched pile... She was going to have to do a bit of organizing after this mess.
“Okay let’s see...” Twilight searched through the book until she found what she was looking for. “Ahh! There it is! Why is it always in the last book I check...” She quickly scanned through the mentioning of the gold dust in hopes that she’d find any mention on where to find the dust.
“Whoa! You really made a mess in here...” Spike avoided the piles of books that littered the main room as he took his place next to Twilight. “Find anything?”
“Yes! It says here that we can find some in a cave that lies within the Everfree forest.” Twilight dropped the book and clapped her hooves together in excitement.
“That’s nice and all... But you do realize that we have to go into a cave... Inside the Everfree forest right?” Twilight’s eyes opened wide as that realization struck her.
“You have a point... But we enter there all the time to visit Zecora, so what’s the difference now?”
“Oh I don’t know... Maybe a dark cave that’s filled with who knows what? What if a minotaur lives in there!”
“Oh Spike... Nothing bad is going to happen! We just go in there grab some then get out. Easy as pie!”
“I hope you’re right...” Spike walked over to the door and opened it for Twilight. Once she was through, he exited and hopped onto Twilight’s back.
-----
“Well... Here it is.” They were standing in front of a large cave mouth that was dark as the night.
“I don’t know Twilight... That looks pretty scary to me.”
“It’s fine Spike. But if you want, you can wait outside.”
“I’ll just do that then...” Twilight laughed and levitated Spike off her back.
“I’ll be right back, okay?” Spike nodded to her as she neared the mouth of the cave. She was actually a little scared, but nothing bad was going to happen. With a gulp, she entered the darkness of the cave and activated her magic to use as a torch.
Through the cave she walked until she came upon a split path. She stopped for a moment to think about which path to take. After a moment she took the right path and hoped that it would be the right one. The cave seemed to grow larger and larger until she found herself in a large cavern like area that was illuminated by holes in the ceiling. On the other side of the cavern was a large pile of gold dust that seemed to have eroded from a large rock made of gold.
“Ahh! There it is!” she happily pranced over to the gold dust and levitated a bag full then placed it into a her saddlebag. “Gold dust, check! Rarity will be so happy with this... She’ll have to make it edible though. Wait, why am I talking to myself again?” She sighed and began to make her way out of the cave. Unfortunately, her exit wasn’t that simple.
“GAH!” Twilight fell backwards as a minotaur woke up near her. How had she not seen it when she came in? Knowing it wasn’t going to listen to reason, she did the only thing she could. Ran. She ran through the darkness hoping that she wouldn’t run face first into a wall until she saw sunlight coming from the open mouth.
“Spike! RUN!”
“Wha-” Twilight levitated him onto her back as she ran out before the little dragon could even see her coming. Once he saw the minotaur right on their tails, his eyes widened. “I told you there would be a minotaur in there!”
“I know, I know! I’m sorry I didn’t listen. Can you save the ‘I told you so’s’ for when we get to safety?” She kept running until she was sure she was near the border of the Everfree forest. All they had to do was make it out of the forest and they’d be fine.
“Teleport us already!”
“Oh... Yeah!” Upon realizing that she could have just done that, she fired up her horn and blasted both of them out of the forest and into her library.
“Told you so!”
“Maybe next time I’ll just have some delivered... Anyways, check off the edible gold dust.”
“Are you sure that’s edible?” Twilight pulled some of the dust out of the sack and examined it.
“I have no idea. Oh well, it’s gold dust... That alone with make Rarity happy.”
“Good point.” Twilight placed the bag of gold dust on her kitchen counter and looked to Spike.
“So what’s next?”
“Let’s see... Ah! The entire Daring Doo book series for Rainbow.”
“That should be easy enough, I have all the books right... Over...” Twilight’s eye twitched as she realized that she did not in fact have the entire series. She was missing the fourth book! ”Where is it?!I know I have it...”
“Uh... Twilight?”
“Did I read it and forget to put it back on the shelf?!” Twilight pranced around anxiously as she looked in every nook and cranny to find it.
“Twilight?”
“Did I accidentally pick it up while I was looking for the reference to gold dust?” Spike sighed and walked over to Twilight.
“TWILIGHT!”
“What?”
“You loaned that out to Lyra.” She blinked twice. How could she have forgotten that she had leant out a book? She was normally so organized about that.
“I guess we have to stop by her house then... she’ll understand if I tell her it’s a present won’t she?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Come on then!” Before the little dragon could protest he was already on Twilight’s back and out the door. Within moments they were at Lyra’s door. Twilight knocked and hoped that Lyra would respond. Thankfully she did.
“Oh hey Twilight!”
“Hello Lyra. I hate to ask, but do you still have that Daring Doo book you borrowed? I am trying to give the entire series to Rainbow as a present.”
“Oh sure! Let me just go...”
“Please tell me there isn’t a problem...”
“I think Bon Bon has it. She was reading it the other day and asked if she can borrow it.”
“Okay, thank you.”
“Stay warm!” Lyra shut the door. Not wanting to waste any more time that she already had, she galloped over to Bon Bon’s house and knocked.
“Hello Tw-”
“Do you have that Daring Doo book that you borrowed from Lya? She told me you had it.”
“Oh, uhm... Actually I just had Derpy deliver it to your library.” Twilight’s eye twitched once more as a smile enveloped across her face.
“Come on Spike... Back to the library!” She teleported both of them to the library where she -thankfully- found the book sitting on her doorstep. For once Derpy had managed to deliver something without breaking something in the process! Twilight hadn’t even realized that Spike had jumped out of the way.
“Spike? What are you doing over...” She looked up above her where her balcony was hanging awkwardly. “There...” The balcony fell before she could even have time to react.
“Twilight? Are you okay?” The rubble of the balcony moved as Twilight revealed herself.
“Yeah... Just peachy.” Spike recoiled a bit as he saw that she had wood chips in her mane and tail and that her coat was now covered in dust from the never once cleaned balcony.
“You... Might want to go clean up.”
“No time Spike! What’s next on the list?” She levitated the debris out of the way for later cleaning, then entered her library and collected the rest of the books. Once they were all gathered she placed them in a neat pile next to the bag of gold dust.
“Okay... Next is a new prank kit for Luna.. That doesn’t sound like a good idea to give the Princess...” The dragon shrugged to himself knowing that Twilight wouldn’t heed his concerns. “Only one pony I know that’d have one of those...”
“Pinkie Pie!”
“Twilight... It’s been two hours. We were supposed to pick up Applejack’s new lasso an hour ago.”
“How has it already been two hours?!”
“Well... You did spend 45 minutes searching for that reference to gold dust and another 20 trying to find the cave...” Twilight grunted in frustration.
“We’re never going to get all the presents at this rate! Okay, you go pick up the lasso... I’ll go see Pinkie Pie.”
“I’m on it Twi.” The assistant dragon exited the library. After ensuring that nothing was going to fall on her again she exited the library and made her way to the Sugarcube corner.
“Oh hey Twilight! Are you here for that prank kit?”
“Where are you?”
“Up here!” Twilight looked up to see Pinkie on the roof.
“What are you- Never mind. Yes, how did you know?”
“I ran into Spike outside of the library. After he told me that you needed one, I ran back here to get one of my emergency kits that I stash in this birds nest up here.”
“At least something is going right...”
“Incoming!” She looked up to see a small pink case flying down at her from the roof. Unfortunately it never made it down on account of the bird that snatched it in mid air. All Twilight could do was stare into the air where the kit had just been with her mouth agape.”Oh fiddlesticks... That was my last one! Guess you’re going to have to chase the bird down!”
“But... But...” Twilight watched as Pinkie jumped off the roof and landed softly on the ground as if gravity didn’t exist.
“Good luck finding that bird!” Pinkie hopped back into the sugarcube corner and closed the door.
“Why does everything always have to go wrong in this town?!”
“Uh... Twi?” She turned to see her assistant standing there. But he did not have a brand new lasso in his hands.
“Let me guess... Something happened.”
“Uhh... Well... Rarity accidentally placed it in an order that she already shipped to... Canterlot.” Twilight’s ear twitches as Canterlot was mentioned. Now not only was she going to have to chase a bird around Ponyville, she was also going to have to go all the way to Canterlot.
“Who did she ship it to?”
“Actually... I don’t know. She didn’t say. She said she can make another if you bring her the materials though!”
“Okay... How hard can that be? Fluttershy probably has the materials in her shack... She’ll happily give us some.”
“Do you want me to go get them?”
“You’d do that? Oh thank you!” Twilight pulled the little dragon onto a hug. “I’ve got a bird to chase!” Twilight ran off leaving her assistant behind.
“A bird to chase...? I knew I should have stayed asleep...” Spike made his way to Fluttershy’s cabin where he knocked. After a seconds knock Fluttershy appeared at the door.
“Hello Spike! Didn’t expect any visitors today!”
“Hey Fluttershy. I’m not here to visit actually... Do you have any materials to make a rope?”
“I have quite a bit of yarn for when I’m watching Opalescent.”
“Rarity needs something stronger... It’s to make a lasso for Applejack.”
“Well I have some twine out back... But I don’t think you can use that to make a rope. Oh, I do have some plies!”
“Plies? What would you need that for?”
“That’s exactly what I said! I think Rarity just wanted me to hang onto them... And she must have forgot about them. They’re in the back...”
-----
“Would you stop flying away! GAH! Where’s Fluttershy’s stare when you need it?” Twilight took a heavy breath before resuming her chase with the bird that had gone on for about an hour. She hoped that Spike was having better luck than her...
Twilight reluctantly teleported herself onto the roof of the city hall where the bird had just perched itself. “Alright... Nice and easy now.” She carefully reached her hoof out to grab the kit from the bird talons. “Gotch- Wha?” Her celebration on grabbing the kit was short lived as the bird took off with Twilight still in tow. “How is it carrying me?!”
She screamed out in panic as the small bird -which was quickly losing altitude due to the weight- flew off the roof and over the town of Ponyville. “Just let go of the kit!” She laughed a bit as she felt the bird's talons release their grip on the kit. That laugh quickly turned into a scream as she realized that she was now falling down the the earth below.
-----
“Thanks again for making the rope Rarity!”
“It was no problem Spikey Wikey. Just ask if you need anything else.” The door closed behind Spike as he exited once more into the cold outside. Rope in hand, he began to make his way back to the treehouse. Upon nearing it however, he looked up when he heard Twilight yelling from somewhere above her.
“Just let go of the kit!” Spike watched with wide eyes as the bird did as told and released the kit that Twilight was hanging from. He closed his eyes and recoiled as she fell down towards her treehouse. Seconds later the sounds of loud crashing and wood breaking could be heard.
He quickly made his way upstairs to the second floor of the treehouse to find Twilight lying on the ground holding the pink kit. “I.. Got it!” She passed out with the kit still in her hooves before Spike could even attempt to help her.
-----
“Twi?” Twilight’s vision was blurry as she opened her eyes to see her assistant standing over her with a rag soaked in warm water. It took her a moment, but she eventually remembered that they still had a few gifts to get.
“Quick Spike! No time for me. We have to get the rest of those... Gifts.” Her eyes widened in anxiety as she realized that dusk was falling over the town. “Oh no! Spike, what time is it?!”
“It’s 6:00, but I really think you should-”
“SIX?! We only have four presents. Quick, what’s next on the list?!” Twilight began to pace about the room in eager anticipation, ignoring Spike’s warning for her to rest. With a sigh, Spike pulled out the list once more and went down to the fifth item.
“A salad making kit for Fluttershy? That seems like more of a gift for Angel than anything...”
“Oh... Where are we going to get one of those at this time of night?”
“Well... Applejack does do quite a bit of creative cooking. Maybe she has one laying around?”
“That’s brilliant Spike! No time to waste!”
“Uh Twilight? I really think you should-” Twilight dashed out of the door leaving the dragon in mid sentence. “Why do I even bother...” With a sigh he made a mad dash to catch up to Twilight who was already down the street.
A couple minutes later the duo found themselves on the front porch of Applejack’s home; sounds of laughter coming from within. With a single knock Big Mac appeared at the door and looked lazily at Twilight.
“Hello Big Mac. Is Applejack home?”
“Eeyup.” He side stepped to reveal Applejack sitting on the couch with Applebloom and Granny Smith.
“Hey Sugarcube! Ya’ll need something?” Twilight and Spike both entered; Big mac closing the door behind them and taking his spot on the chair.
“I’m looking for a salad making kit. You wouldn’t have one by chance would you?”
“Well I reckon I do somewhere. Let me just go check the kitchen.”
“We’ll help you look.” Twilight followed her friend into the kitchen with her small assistant in tow. What could possibly go wrong this time?
“So, what do ya’ll need this for? Surely you can toss up a salad right quick with that fancy magic of yours?” Applejack began to open cupboards as did Twilight and Spike.
“It’s a gift for Fluttershy. I overheard her talking about how Angel is getting more and more demanding about his food.” The cupboard searched, Applejack began to open drawers left and right in hopes of finding the salad kit.
“Ya’ll know she doesn’t care about gifts. Just being her friend is enough for that pony.”
“I know... I just wanted to give something material this year.”
“That’s mighty kind of ya. Did ya’ll find it yet? I can’t find it anywhere.”
“No... Anything on your end Spike?”
“No, sorry.”
“Well I guess I just don’t got one. Mighty sorry Twilight.”
“Thanks anyways AJ. See you tomorrow morning.”
“Be there sure as the rain falls Sugarcube!” Applejack waved her hoof as Twilight and Spike exited the back door. After the door closed she raised her hoof to her chin and began to rub it. “Wait... Didn’t I put that kit in the attic?”
“Well that was a bust... Know anywhere else we could get a salad kit this late at night?”
“Why worry about it Twi? You know Fluttershy won’t care if you get her a gift or not. Besides, you need to rest!” The two made their way down the street towards Twilight’s library as the sun continued to set rapidly. Well, to her it seemed to be setting rapidly.
“Because I already got everypony else a gift! I’m not going to give them a gift and leave out Fluttershy. Plus there’s still a gift for Shining Armor and Cadence...”
“Oh, I forgot to mention that... Shining armor had Celestia send a letter stating that he’s not going to be able to make it. He was chosen to do this years royal parade. And Cadence is going to be with him during the conducting.” Twilight stopped dead in her tracks with a hoof still in the air upon hearing the news.
“CAN NOTHING GO RIGHT?!”
“Quiet out there! We got fillies trying to sleep in here!” Twilight smiled sheepishly at the pony who had stuck her head out the window to quiet Twilight’s yelling.
“Sorry!” The pony gave Twilight a unamused look as she shut the windows carefully. “Well I guess we can cross of Shining Armor and Cadence... They’ll be too busy to make it around any time soon.”
“Okay... That just leaves Fluttershy, Celestia, and Pinkie Pie. Wait, does Celestia really need a gift?”
“Of course she does!”
“Doesn’t she kind of... Have everything? What’d we even put on the list last night?” Spike quickly opened the scroll to Celestia’s name. “Uhh... We accidentally used the invisible ink on her gift.”
“No we didn’t... We never decided on what to get her, remember?”
“Oh yeah. So we saving her for last then?” Twilight opened the door to her the treehouse to allow Spike and her access.
“Guess we have no choice. What did we write for Pinkie Pie?”
“A lot of cotton candy flavored icing... That project she’s working on needs cotton candy flavored icing? I don’t like the sound of that...”
“Now... Where can we get cotton candy flavored icing...” Both started thinking until a light dinged in both of their heads.
“Donut Joe’s!” Both exclaimed at the same time.
“But he’s in Canterlot...” Twilight’s smile turned upside down into a frown of disappointment.
“Looks like we have to make a trip to Canterlot.”
“He’ll be closed by the time we get there.” Twilight placed her hoof firmly on her face as she tried to think of something to do.
“There’s only one pony who could make it there in time... Spike, let’s go to Rainbow Dash’s house.”
“Can’t we take a- I guess not...” Spike sighed again as Twilight ran out of the door before he could even protest again. “I better get to sleep in tomorrow...” They began to make their way to Rainbow’s house until they realized that shadows were darting around on the ground from the Pegasi that were flying overhead.
“Oh I forgot! The Pegasi make it snow around this time... Quick! See if you can see Rainbow up there.” The two began to survey the clouds in hope of seeing their Rainbow maned friend.
“Hey guys! Looking for something?” Twilight looked down the see Rainbow Dash standing in front of her.
“Actually, we were looking for you.”
“What a coincidence! So was I. Applejack had me deliver a salad making kit to your place. That was quite honestly one of the strangest deliveries I’ve ever made.”
“She did?!” Twilight pulled her unexpecting friend into a hug before she could even say ‘sonic rainboom’. “Thank you!”
“HEY! Don’t get all mushy on me, alright? It’s just a salad making kit...” Twilight released Rainbow from the random hug and smiled sheepishly.
“Sorry... Are you busy?”
“No, I’m off weather duty for the night.”
“Great! Can you do us a big favor and fly to Donut Joe’s?” Rainbow Dash stared at Twilight and blinked twice.
“Donut Joe’s? As in... Canterlot Joe? In Canterlot?”
“I’m sorry... But I need a ton of Cotton Candy flavored icing by tomorrow morning.”
“Oh for Pinkie, right? She told me she needed that by tonight as well. She’s apparently making something for us all for in the morning... I think she has a party planned.”
“When doesn’t she have a party planned?” The three laughed as Spike chimed in with a very good question.
“So can you do it?”
“Yeah I can. How am I supposed to get it back here? Can’t quite carry that much stuff without losing speed.”
“Can you get some other pegasi to help?”
“Well... Tell you what. I’ll take care of it. You just go get some rest... You look terrible.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying...” Once again Twilight ignored the comments that would be in her best interest.
“Thanks Rainbow. Just go ahead and take it to Pinkie. Tell her its her Hearth’s Warming Eve present early from you and me.
“Can do!” Rainbow Saluted Twilight as she flew into the air fast enough to cause Twilight’s mane to lift into the air.
“Well now all we have to do is think of a gift for Celestia...”
“Twilight... Maybe you should just go and get some rest. Quit worrying about it!” He sighed as he realized that Twilight was just going to ignore him again.
“You’re right Spike...”
“Fine, bu- Wait, what?”
“I said you’re right. I should have listened to you all day. Come on... Celestia will just be happy that I’m happy.” Spike and Twilight smiled to each other as they made their way back to the treehouse to get some well earned rest.
-----
“Twilight?” Spike shook the sleepy pony gently in hopes of waking her up.”Twilight?”
“Spike? Did I oversleep?”
“Only by an hour. Everypony will be here in a couple minutes. I wanted to give you as much rest as possible.” Twilight carefully pulled herself out of the bed and glanced into the mirror. Anypony could easily tell she had went through a lot the previous night. Her mane was still a mess and her coat was still scruffy from crashing through the ceiling. Nothing a good day at the spa with Rarity wouldn’t fix.
“Go ahead and go greet our guests. I’ll be down in just a moment...”
“You got it! Oh and Twilight? Comb your mane.”
“Don’t worry my little assistant. Already had it planned.” She gave Spike a playful noogie before sending him down the stairs. She turned to the mirror and grabbed the brush; brushing her mane back to it’s usual luster. Afterwards she shook her body so that the woods chips stuck to her coat still went flying across the room. “We’re going to have a big day of cleaning tomorrow...” After cleaning herself up to presentable standards, she made her way down the stairs to see all her friends sitting around the table which was decorated with a plethora of food. Including a large cake made with cotton candy flavored frosting.
“There she is! Spike already told us about your adventure last night... You didn’t have to do that for us darling.” As soon as Rarity finished, Fluttershy chimed in.
“You don’t have to get us anything... Just being our friend is all that matters.”
“Speak for yourself! I’ve been looking all over for these books!” Rarity nudged Rainbow as she hugged the books. “Oh I uh... I meant to say Fluttershy is right. You didn’t have to get us all this.”
“I know... But I wanted to do something special for you all as a thank you for being such great friends!”
“Oh silly Twilight!” Pinkie began to hop around the room. “Just being our friend is thanks enough!” Before Twilight could protest, Pinkie had already tackled her in a hug. Shortly thereafter all the ponies quickly joined in on the embrace.
“Thanks girls. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t get you presents! Spike, get them the presents.”
“On it!” Spike went into the kitchen and grabbed the presents, returning a moment later holding them.
As Spike passed out the presents, Twilight explained what she went through to get each. The stories quickly became a mean of which to add laughter to the party, since even Twilight found them funny. They continued passing out the gifts until there was none to pass out. Twilight could always give Luna her present later in the day.
“Thanks Twilight!” All of the ponies exclaimed; hopping into another group hug on the lavender pony. All of the ponies turned to look at the door as it opened. Twilight’s mouth dropped as Shining Armor and Princess Cadence entered into the treehouse.
“Hey Twilley! Sorry that we’re popping in on such short notice. The parade got cancelled at last minute, so we made our way over here.”
“Shining Armor!” Twilight jumped onto her brother in a loving hug which he promptly returned. “I’m so glad you made it!”
“Glad I could be here with my little sis.”
“Come on in! We were just about to get started.” Shining armor and Cadence both entered and took their places around the table.
“Well? What are you all waiting for? LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!”
“Pinkie NO!” Pinkie pulled out her party canon and blasted it into the air before Twilight had time to properly protest. If she didn’t have to clean before... She definitely did now! But she didn’t care for now... All she cared about was having fun with her friends.
So that’s exactly what she did.
-----
The party had just ended and everypony had went home. It had been a great evening, and the best Hearth’s Warming Eve Twilight had even had. But there was one last thing Twilight had to do...
“Spike... Take a letter.”
“Can do!” Spike grabbed his usual writing utensils and a scroll and prepared to write whatever Twilight said.
“Dear Princess Celestia...
“Today I learned that your friends don’t need you to get them presents to show you care for them. True friends only care that you are there for them as a good friend. They’ll also do the same for you. Material possessions don’t mean anything if you don’t have a friend there with you.
“Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.”
“And done! Should I send it now or wait until morning?”
“Go ahead and send it now. Come on... We need to start cleaning!”
“Wait for me!” Spike breathed his magical fire on the note, sending it to Celestia. The letter traveled to Canterlot via the magic where it appeared in the air in front of Celestia who was preparing for bed.
“A letter from Twilight this late?” She opened it and read over the contents. After finishing she placed it carefully in the stack of all the other friendship report and laid down in her bed with a smile.
“What a nice Hearth’s Warming Eve present.”