Chapter 15: Hearthswarming: Family, Friends, Kickass Music, and just a bit of wanton destruction…
Canterlot during the time of Hearthswarming was breathtaking. The already white city was made even more beautiful by the snow that had fallen over it; making it look like one giant ice sculpture. The palace as well looked great whether you were looking in from the outside; or out from the inside. And if you did happen to be looking inside you could see that things looked a bit busier than usual palace day to day operations. And it was not just that the staff was working harder. On the contrary; the princesses had given their staff the holidays off. It turns out that the two rulers had taken this holiday to invite not only the bearers of the elements of harmony to the castle for the holidays; but also their families as well.
All through the palace different families were doing different things. Applejack along with her brother and parents were busy moving a gigantic pine tree in while Granny Smith was sorting through the decoration into apple shaped one and non apple shaped ones. All the Pies were baking; with Pinky, Inky, and Blinky doing the actual cooking, while Ma Sue Pie was sorting and Pa Clyde Pie was taste testing. Rainbow Dash and mother Firefly flew circles around and in the castle while her father Blue Streak tried his hardest to keep up.
In the room where the tree was being set up Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were reveling in their break from running a country in a different way than usual. They sat on cushions while two other ponies who looked like they were tourists told them stories of their travels. Next to them how ever was the dear element of generosity; Rarity; who as she listened struggled to not bash her head against the nicely tiled floor while her “uncouth” parents told the princesses every tourist story in the book. And the princesses weren’t the only ones listening right next to them were Fluttershy and here two parents; they all seemed to be the same type just sitting their quietly listening.
And going back between all the sections of the castle; making sure things were prepared, checking off those things on check lists, and checking off that those checklists had been done on the major checklist were the five members of the Sparkle Family. Twilight had been the one to make the lists. Her mother sorted them according to family member capabilities. Cadence gave the orders. And Shining Armor and Night Light did what any good husband would do and just followed their wives orders.
That left four unaccounted for in the large group. One earth pony filly, one unicorn pony filly, one pegasus pony filly, and one human; and none of them were inside the castle at the time. They had taken the time to look at the grounds of the palace and found something to their liking. Now at a fair distance from the castle on a fairly high hill; the four looked out into the distance while contemplating their choice.
“Oh man this hill is awesome; this is going to be the best sled ride ever…period.”
“I don’t know Dan this seems kind of dangerous; we could get hurt.” said Applebloom.
“Said the earth filly that seems indestructible at most times in here crusader adventures.” I countered.
“We could get our nice winter clothes dirty.” said Sweetie Belle.
“With snow which turns into water which can be dried by unicorn magic.” I countered again.
“And this hill is kinda high Dan.” said Scootaloo.
“Says the pegasus that wants to fly in the clouds. Girls trust me we’ll be fine it’s just a sled ride plus after walking all the way up here I am not walking down.” I said moving the sled to the edge and looking over.
“So you can either climb on up or walk down.” After a couple of seconds I felt the telltale sign of little hooves climbing over me.
“Alright then everyone ready?” I asked.
“We guess so…” the said in unison.
We sat there on the edge for a minute before leaning forward and beginning our descent. It wasn’t that steep of an incline but after awhile we picked up some serious speed. Not to mention we still had to go around some obstacles in our path. For some reason though a question kept coming up in my head and I felt like I had to ask it.
“Hey girls… Do you think pony nature is good or evil?” I asked.
“WHAT!?!?” was the answer is got back from three screaming voices.
“I mean, do you think ponies are good with a few bad tendencies, or basically bad with a few good tendencies?”
“Watch out for that TREE!!!” Scootaloo yelled.
“And those ROCKS!!!” Sweetie shouted.
“Or, as a third possibility, do you think ponies are just crazy, and who knows why they do anything?”
“Why is there a loop-de-loop made of SNOW OUT HERE!?!?!” Applebloom shouted and pointed ahead of me.
Sure enough there was a loop and since if was made of snow it didn’t really hold together when we hit so and so now we were three fillies and one human covered in a mass of snow on a sled.
“Well? What do you think? Are ponies good, bad, or crazy?” I said as I somehow didn’t notice that we had somehow sledded of a cliff and into the open air.
Castle Common Room
After my BBBFF, mom, dad, and sister-in-law had finally gotten all of our checklists done and synced the checklist checklist we headed back to the common room where all my friends and their family were getting ready for a Hearthswarming brunch. Although it seemed that we were missing someponies and someone.
“Has anyone seen Dan and the Crusaders?” I asked the group of ponies who were gathering at a fairly large table.
Before anyone could answer Pinkie started shaking. “Ooh ooh twitchy tail, knee pinch, ear flop, eye flutter, achy back; someone open those patio doors there.” She said pointing to one of the doors that let outside.
Not one to disregard Pinkie’s Pinkie sense Rainbow Dash flew over and opened the doors as quick as she could.
“Ok now what Pink’s?”
“Now wait about ten seconds.” She said and for ten seconds everyone held their breath until all of a sudden a white blur fell and landed in the room. It took a second before the dust settled and the large group of ponies looked on to see a pile of snow with 4 pairs of legs sticking out of the top of it and also a sled sticking out of it.
“Well I think we’ve solved where Twilight and the girls are.” said Applejack dryly.
After a minute or two the Crusaders and I were dug out of large snow pile and I came face to face with a stallion larger than Big Mac but still smaller than Princess Celestia; and he had a fairly stern face on.
“So you’re the so called “human” that saved my little Applebloom and her friends from the fire.” He stared at me while talking; and I had the feeling that I knew who he was, but the slight trauma I had from sledding off a cliff and crashing into the palace had really obscured my memory.
“Um yes sir?” I said putting on a shaky smile.
He stared at me for a couple of seconds before breaking out into a wide smile. “Well I guess I owe you a thank you then don’t I son?” he said before he draped a leg over me. “Nice to meet you I’m Applebloom’s father Jonagold Apple and this is my wife Gala Apple.” He pointed to a mare who wasn’t as nearly as large as him.
“It’s nice to meet you Dan and I guess I owe a thank you two for helping our family the way you did.
“Well Mr. and Mrs. Apple thank you and it’s nice meeting you but I have to ask the question; if your kids run the farm what are you guys doing? My knowledge of your world never covers that.”
“Oh that’s easy to answer dear.” Gala answered me while the other headed to the table. “My special talent is learning to grow things in unsuitable habitats. I go around the world helping people try to grow crops in areas like hot deserts or icy tundra’s.”
“While I…” her husband said waling up beside her. “Since I was young I realized that I was a bit stronger than most ponies; so I signed up to be in the guard; it was actually how I met my wife; I was on palace duty when she came in with a group of scientist types trying to get a royal grant for their hazardous growing experiments. We met by accident when she got lost after trying to find her way back from the mare’s restroom; I thought she was so beautiful that I asked her out right there. She didn’t answer right then as much as she just…ran away; but later she found me and said yes; and the rest is history.”
“Wow that is awesome I never would of thought of that.” I said to the pair as we took our seats at the table. It was a nice brunch everything; besides Applejack’s parents I got to have some nice conversations with Rarity’s, Fluttershy’s, Pinkie’s, and Rainbow Dash’s parents. After the brunch came the usual time of Hearthswarming where everyone would exchange gifts. Everyone headed back to their respective room where we gathered what we had brought. Twilight and I much to her brother’s chagrin were sharing a room.
“So it seemed like you had an eventful morning.” she said to me as we got back to our room.”
“Nice to know you’re picking up sarcasm better than you were a couple weeks ago. And yes I did; and due to the number of checklists I saw I guess you had a good morning as well?”
“That’s true enough.” She said as she charged up some magic and used the spell she had made to turn her self part human. “So how do you think that everyone will handle my little “change”?” she asked.
“Well as long as you put on clothes I don’t think they’ll have a problem…except for your brother.”
“Why do you say that?” she looked quizzically at me while putting some clothes on she had made secretly from Rarity. She was the only other pony who knew about the spell Twilight had made.
“Because he’s so protective of his “little” sister; and who knows if he’s ready to acknowledge the point where her sister has a special somepony. Especially if that somepony or someone is a being who knows how to get on his nerves cause he will walk into every punch line there is.”
“Dan I thought I told you to be nice during the holidays?” she chided me.
“I will Twilight; for you; but I am going to let my gift speak for itself…you are sure that it was ok that I didn’t get a gift for everyone?”
“Oh yes; since your new and don’t have good access to funds I’m sure they’ll be fine with whatever you can give.
“Ok then I guess it’s time to face the music.” I said holding my arm out so Twilight could intertwine it with hers. We walked out of our room and back to the area where the enormous tree was set up. The reaction Twilight got was pretty much positive all around. After the comments came we all sat down to give our gifts.
Everyone took turns giving their gifts out; and everyone seemed to get something. I sat there enjoying the scene before a group of ponies stood in front of me.
“No don’t ya think we forgot about you Dan?” Applejack said as she pushed a present in front of me that was oddly hat shaped. It turns out that Applejack had got me a brand new Stetson hat; honestly I loved it I had always wanted one.
“And this one if from Pinkie and I” Rainbow Dash said as she tossed me a cylindrical shaped present. I unwrapped it to find a can that said “Reusable Lightning in a Can: For the Prankster on the Go!!!”. “Quick hint…” Rainbow whispered to me. “Do not use it indoors.”
Fluttershy was next and she gave me some toys to give to Titanus so that I could pay with him. I gave her a hug which seemed to comfort her in her little moment of embarrassing herself.
“Ok Darling I hope your ready to look fabulous because her is my gift to you. She handed me a box; and inside was a suit like the costume I wore on Nightmare Night but in this suit I didn’t have to have illusions make me look like a skeleton.
“Thanks Rarity this is awesome; I’m sure I’ll look very handsome in it too.” From behind me while I was checking out the suit I swore I heard Rainbow Dash say “Heh swag.” But I wasn’t to sure.
And last but not least Twilight strode up to me and handed me something that seemed to be a picture frame. Upon opening I noticed I was right about the frame but wrong about what was in it; and here I was thinking my marefriend was not good at practical joke gifts. I started laughing which made everyone look at me.
“Hey Dan what’s so funny about my sister’s gift to you?” Shining said being a little protective.
“Oh sorry I guess I should read this. Ahem…The holder of this certificate after being studied by a professional can now be clearly said to legally be Morally, Ethically, Spiritually, Positively Absolutely Undeniably Insane. And this is only said after an examination which that the holder is really most sincerely insane.” I could barely get the ending of that said without laughing a bit. And I wasn’t the only one who was holding back laughter either; looking around the room everyone was trying not to laugh.
“Honestly Twilight this is probably the most thoughtful and funniest gift I have ever gotten.”
“Well then I guess you don’t want this one maybe?” I looked to see she had changed back to her pony form and on her back; like I had described it to her days ago was a back Gibson SG guitar.
“Oh my…” those were literally the only words I could say; other than that I was speechless. I started to reach out for it but then remembered something.
“Ok wait now before I start messing out with my guitar and give Twilight all the love and affection in the world; how about I hand out the presents I have.”
“Oh dear you didn’t have to get us anything will all the brave acts you’ve done for us.”
“Your mouth says that but your eyes say something else.”
“Oh you know me to well…so what did you get us?” she asked knowing that I had her figured out this time.
“I went over to the tree and pulled out the giant sack that I had hidden. I pulled out on package and gave it to Rarity.
“Since we always are battling our wits against each other I figured this would be a nice touch.” She unwrapped it to find a chess set I had carved out of wood.
“Oh Dan this is lovely; and so well made to. Very well then I will see you on the battle field.” She said with a dramatic flourish.
I pulled out two boxes and handed them to Shining and Cadence who were surprised.
“Oh Dan that’s sweet you shouldn’t have.” Cadence said opening hers first.
“These are T-shirts; I wear them all the time and with Rarity’s help I had these two made especially for you two.” I said to Cadence as she pulled her out of the box. The room burst into laughter as they got a glimpse of her shirt; even the princesses were laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Shining said as his wife used her magic to move the shirt so they could both see what was on it. On the front of the shirt in big writing was the message “I’m With Stupid” and underneath it was an arrow which in this case pointed to Shining. The laughing continued as Shining sat there dumbstruck for a minute before he was able to speak again.
“Ok so you got Cadence that and let me guess my shirt says the same thing except with an arrow pointing to here huh?” he said as he magicked his shirt out of the box for everyone to see; except in stead of his prediction his shirt simply read “I’m Stupid”.
I think everyone was literally out of breath by the time they finished laughing; Shining had taken up the position of being a sad blob on the floor. Knowing that Twilight would give me a lecture for that I reached into the bag and pulled out something else and put it in front of Shining.
“What’s this another joke?”
“No that’s you real gift no open it you big baby.”
Carefully Shining un wrapped it until he was left with a box. He just stared at it for a minute before he opened it to find a new set of poker chips. “Poker chips? What are these for?”
“Read the note on top.” I answered to him.
“He picked it up and read aloud the message I left for him. “Dear Shining; sorry for being a as Pinkie Pie would call it “A big meanie pants” so these are to make up for it; also the rule is that the owner of a brand new set of poker chips has to host the first poker night at his place; no exceptions…oh so that’s what you mean…I guess; apology accepted then.” He said to me to which I replied with a simple nod.
I passed around a couple more gift before I came to the princesses. “Now don’t think I forgot about you two. The first is for Luna.” I said pulling out a rather large rectangle and letting her catch it in her magic. “This is my favorite painting ever and it took me awhile to recreate it an hopefully you like it Luna.” She tore of the wrapping paper and looked at the painting in awe for a couple minutes before she spoke any words.
“Dan this….this is simply beautiful…I…I don’t know what to say…thank you I am going to go hang this in my room right now.” And with that she teleported out of the room before anyone could see that she was crying in happiness a bit.
“Well if you did that to Luna I can’t wait to see how extravagant my gift is.” Celestia joked.
I reached back into the bag and pulled out an envelope and hand it to the princess who looked at me weirdly as I sat down in Luna’s spot. She slowly opened it and pulled out the card. It was a hand made card where on the front I had drawn two things. One: an Alicorn to represent her, and two: a human to represent me. And on the card as well was a speech bubble coming from the Alicorn which said “What!?! I let you live in my magical peaceful land, date my precious student, and be my friend all this time and all you got me for Hearthswarming was this crummy homemade card?” and under it was a smaller bubble coming from the human saying “just open it…” She chuckled at the humor I put into the card and opened it. The inside was a lot simpler it just stated
“I know that you gave a lot on your plate so my gift to your is a little less material and a bit more sentimental. Whenever you want you can call me here and just use me…as a way to vent out your frustrations and things like that…what did you think I meant? Although you will be asked to provide snacks.
Sincerely your friend;
Dan”
Celestia read that over for a bit while thinking while I prepared my next and probably biggest present. I was about ready when she laid a hoof on my shoulder and softly with the warmth of the sun said “Thank you Dan it is a fantastic present.”
“Your welcome…just don’t make it to….slumber party-ish.”
“I’ll try not to.” She said before I turned to Twilight.
“And that leaves you for last dear.”
“I feel like I should be kind of scared…”
“Don’t worry this is just a straight up gift; no jokes or anything, no close your eyes.”
“…Ok?” she said as she closed he eyes; Once she did I started to grab and set up her multi piece gift up right in front of her.
“Alright you can open them now” upon doing so she was greeted by the sight of ten new books.
“BOOKS!!! OH THANK YOU!!!” she said jumping on me and knocking me down.
“Hey you should see what they are about first.”
“Oh right.” She said picking one of them up with her magic.
“The complete history, biology, and other topics of humans???”
“It took me awhile and some help from a friendly lyrist but I finally put them together.”
“And the filled ten books?”
“Actually it was only nine books worth of stuff; the tenth is a little something else.”
“Huh?” she said picking up the tenth book a levitating it over. Upon opening it she found a necklace with jewels in the same shape and color of her cutie mark going across it.
“Dan…this is…beautiful. Thank you.” She said before giving me a kiss.
“And would you believe that I still have something left to give to the group? If all you mares and stallions would follow me out side.” I said walking out of the room. Everyone followed me to just to the palace gates where a stage had been set up and some familiar faces could be seen.
“Hey Vinyl, Octavia are we all set up?”
“Yes and honestly I think it would have been easier if we didn’t need all the lights!!!” Vinyl yelled at me in her trademark fashion.
“Dan may I ask what exactly this is?” Octavia from her place on stage asked.
“An idea someone where I came from thought up of to bring rock and classical music together.”
“And does it really require all theses lights?”
“Just wait and see…oh crap I almost forgot. Twilight I need my…guitar.” I said turning around to see that Twilight had already gotten my guitar for me.
“Knock em dead.”
“Don’t I always?” I said turning to the group who had found their way to a seating area facing the castle. “Now mare and stallions I always find that it is quite nice to close a holiday night like this with a little music. This first song is called
I and the other musicians that Octavia had gathered started to play. And as we did the light moved with our playing it was something nice to watch for the ponies I had prepared it for. When I could steal a glance I could see the even the princesses were staring at their castle lighting up; like a child would it was nice to know that I could just help someone be happy during the holidays.
The song ended with a big crescendo and we heard applause not only from the group but also from ponies that were forming a crowd outside the gate to watch the spectacle we had just put on.
“Ok then time to address the crowd I guess.” I said walking up to a microphone. “Um merry Hearthswarming everyone; this was just intended to be a gift to my friends and their families but I don’t see a problem sharing it with you as well. But being as it is kinda late we have tome for one more. This song is called
I said before starting to play again.
Later that night…
The music had gone off without any problems and everyone enjoyed it including Vinyl and Octavia who afterward went off together to celebrate. And now I was going to get some rest after a great holiday. I opened the door to the bedroom me and Twilight were staying in.
“Hey Mr. Rockstar.” said Twilight from the bed where she was already reading through one of the books I made for her.
“I guess that means you liked the show?”
“I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t like that show. Oh by the way I’ve been looking at the traditions of a holiday like this back from your home.” She said getting off the bed and walking towards me.
“Yeah; Christmas; what about it?”
“There was one tradition that I did find kind of…cute.”
“Which one” I couldn’t tell where she was going. She gave a small giggle and pointed above me. I looked up at the doorway to find a sprig of mistletoe hanging above me.
“I don’t think I have ever had a problem with that tradition.” I said chuckling as I knelt down and kissed her.
Afterwards she looked at me and said “Merry Christmas Dan.”
And I returned “Merry Hearthswarming Twilight.