//------------------------------// // IX - Happy Hearth's Warming Day! // Story: A New Kind Of Party // by Wolfie 03 //------------------------------// December 21st, 1004 A.D. (After Discord) While Twilight and Pinkie did have to rush to be on time for their practice of the traditional play done at Hearth's Warming Eve, 'the founding of Equestria', the hyper mare made sure that her marefriend had a fun time just going to the large castle, using the snowball fight as a means of speeding up their progress while still having fun. Once they reached the large hall where a temporary stage was set up, they found their friends waiting to start the practice with lines only since the set and costumes were currently being worked on. Once the greetings were finished, they had a few of the scripts nearby in case they needed a reminder but since it was a traditional play that was done every year for Hearth's Warming Eve, it wasn't as needed. The main cast that the story was focused on were well known historical figures: Princess Platinum, Clover the Clever, Chancellor Puddinghead, Smart Cookie, Commander Hurricane, and Private Pansy all had their own quirks making it necessary that the ponies who were able to closely identify with these traits were to act as them for the performance. Even though Clover the Clever, Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead were stallions in real life, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were the best of those who tried for the parts and adjustments were made considering the changes. For the moment, they merely stood on the stage to rehearse, starting with the scene that required the majority of the cast; Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity in a circle while the others (who weren't busy finishing the sets or costumes) sat in a half circle around them. Spike cued them in with his lines that would lead to their own and gave a small cough to clear his throat. “Hem hem... 'Perhaps the three tribes could finally settle their differences and get through this disaster.'” With the line set, the three 'leaders' began to argue at the same time, cutting one another off and trying to be heard over top of the others. “This stupid blizzard is not our fault-” “Honestly, put a stop to this at once-” “It's too cold, we can't work or have fun-” “It's all the pegasi's fault-” “Maybe if you dumb unicorns did your share of the work-” “You're all ruffians and can't do anything-” While they argued back and forth, slowly growing more agitated with each other, Pinkie lost her amused smile at the 'fight' and started to stare in concern at her friends who seemed to be well into their argument. Just as they were getting to the individual lines, the others noticed how worried Pinkie was at the fighting and stopped to check on her. “Pinkie, darling, is everything ok?” “Yeah Pinks, what's up?” At the concerned voices of her friends, Twilight looked up from the script she was reading (it never hurt to see how close they were to what was written) and looked to her marefriend in worry. “Pinkie?” At the soft call from the lavender unicorn, Pinkie came back from her worried daze to find everyone was staring back; as she looked around at the faces gazing back, she settled on the one of a familiar book-loving unicorn as an idea came to mind. “Twilight, can-can I ask you something?” The others shared bewildered glances while Pinkie lead her marefriend off to the side. “What's wrong, I thought you were excited to do this play?” The party mare scuffed a hoof along the ground as she tried to think of how to pose her question, stalling slightly by trying to explain what she felt. “Well, I was/am! But, but, the girls are really angry and yeah, I've seen Rarity and Applejack fight before (they're just denying their feelings, I can tell!), but Dashie and Rarity don't normally fight and they seemed so angry and upset and it's my duty to make sure all my friends are happy and since everypony is my friend, I have to make sure everyone is happy and fighting is not how you make everyone happy!” Twilight rolled her eyes at the almost expected answer and grabbed the other mare into a tight hug while resting her head on top of the puffy pink mane. “Oh Pinkie Pie, yes our friends don't normally fight but they're just pretending this time.” “Yeah, but what if they forget they're pretending and actually start fighting for real?” “They won't, they know it's just pretend.” “Yeah, but what if they do forget?” “They won't -” “But what if-!?” “Pinkie Pie! They won't forget! And-and,” purple eyes shifted around, trying to think of the strongest argument she could against her marefriend's fears, “if they did forget, they all become friends at the end! You remember right? They have another big fight and then they learn the true meaning of friendship and help melt all the snow from the blizzard.” At the reminder, Pinkie sat up straighter as blue eyes lit up in excitement; with a swift clap of her hooves, Pinkie grabbed Twilight in a tight embrace and nuzzled into her side. “Oh, you're totally right! I knew you're the smartest pony ever! Thanks Twilight!” The lavender mare smiled in relief at the return of the hyper mare's usual behavior and nodded. “No problem at all, was there anything else wrong?” Pinkie sat back and thought with a hoof on her chin as she stared towards the ceiling. “Hmmmmmmmmmmmm..... Does, does everypony become good friends? Like, like Clover and Puddingehead?” Twilight raised a brow at the question but decided to humor her mare nonetheless. “Yes, according to what has been recorded, the six ponies that go to explore the new land became close friends and learned many things from one another... If I remember correctly, as the pegasi became less militant, Private Pansy was the first to retire from the military and Commander Hurricane asked for her hoof in matrimony.... Due to Smart Cookie's level headiedness, her and Princess Platinum became friends, allowing the princess to become a better ruler and Puddinghead helped to teach all of them, Clover especially, to have fun and be more relaxed than they were.” Pinkie grinned at this and gave the other mare a quick peck before hopping back to the stage where everyone went over their other lines while waiting for the pink earth pony to return. Twilight couldn't help but shake her head at the sudden change in behavior but was glad all the same, walking up as well and picking up her script book once more. The rest of the evening's practice went better after the pep talk and they ended late into the night; luckily the girls didn't have as far to go in order to reach their rooms. As they started to go their separate ways with the older siblings (and Dash) going to check on the fillies along with Fluttershy following timidly after them, Pinkie didn't stop her bouncing as she followed her marefriend back to her room. Once they reached the door to the room Twilight was currently using, the lavender mare turned hesitantly to the pink one only to find Pinkie staring back with a smirk and hooded eyes; the party mare took a single step to be able to lean into the frozen unicorn. “Welllll, you did do really good with telling others, when did you want your 'prize'?” Pinkie tried to keep her gaze steady while fighting back laughter at the flustered unicorn's reaction. “I-well, I mean, I don't think I'm, well, maybe eventually, but I don't-I need to, to study before we-uhm, that is, I didn't realize that you-you wanted... to... uhm, have, intercourse...” Twilight could feel her cheeks burning as she tried to form a coherent thought, which wasn't helped by the feel of the warm body pressed against her; at the last word that was uttered, Pinkie tilted her head and thought about what her instincts had been leading to. (Well, let's see, I was thinking of maybe an even better kind of cuddling, but, 'intercourse'? I don't think either one of us is ready for that... Though Twilight's face sure does look funny.) With a bright smile and almost sudden return of normal behavior, Pinkie slung a hoof around Twilight's shoulders and gave her a little shake. “Gosh Twilight, I didn't mean to freak you out so much! I was thinking of trying a different kind of cuddling, I just wanted to see what kind of reaction you'd have if I tried flirting with you. It's ok if you aren't ready to do that kind of thing yet... Actually, I'm not sure if I am either, I'll have to look into what kind of party goes with that...” As Pinkie held a hoof to her chin in thought, Twilight relaxed with a soft sigh at having more time to think about those kinds of activities. The two mares sat in front of the door for a moment longer, each lost in their thoughts until Twilight heard a small cough coming from behind them and turned to find Spike waiting with a single brow raised at their behavior. Blushing once more (and furiously hoping that he didn't hear what they had been talking about), the librarian turned to the other mare with a small smile. “Uhm, did, did you want to cuddle tonight or when we got home again?” Pinkie came back from her thoughts and found herself looking to the young dragon who still waited to see what would happen. “Oh, well since they gave each of us a room to use, I wouldn't want to hurt the room's feelings by not staying in it; besides, we might keep Spiky up if I stayed with you tonight.” The hyper mare giggled at the return of the blush on lavender cheeks since she said it in an open ended manner. “Night Spike, night my little star!” Twilight scrubbed at her muzzle, trying to get ride of the blush but paused at the call and quickly gave her marefriend a swift kiss goodnight with a smile of her own. “Good night Pinkie Pie. Come on Spike, it's way pasted your bedtime.” “Awwww, can't I stay up a little bit?” The young drake tried to plead his case, which didn't work considering how he could barely hold up his arms to beg. Heh heh, nice try but you're not the only one who’s tired. Good night Spike...” Spike watched to be sure that his guardian made it into the large poster bed before going for the small one given to him. “Good night Twilight...” “... Spike?” The youngster rolled onto his side as he had only start to doze off before being called. “Yeah...?” “What-what did you hear, back there in the hallway? Did you hear what we were talking about?” Twilight couldn't bring herself to look at her assistant and stared at the ceiling instead with a blush on her face at just remembering the topic. “Not really, something about more cuddling? Which would be interesting to see since you guys cuddle all the time anyways...” Twilight blushed even harder at the embarrassed tones of the young dragon and became concerned about how much public (or even private) display of affection they had gotten to. "Oh, would you want to have your own room so we don't bother you?” Spike sat up, the chance to have his own room waking him up further than all of the rest of the conversation. “Could I...? But, what if you need something in the night?” “Well, I do have Owlowiscious to help if I need something at night and you should have gotten a room to yourself soon anyways.” "Okay, sure.” Spike grinned to himself at the thought of being able to stay up late without Twilight knowing and wrapped himself in his blanket pleased with the proposition. The lavender unicorn didn't notice this smug grin as she turned only in time to see him settle back down completely, leaving her along with her thoughts for the night. The next day and a half was a blur of practice, with sets and then again with the costumes and sets to be sure they were ready for the live event that drew closer rapidly. With so much practice they had to do, the seven friends couldn't visit the town once again and stuck to the castle grounds on their breaks instead. After such a rush of practice, the actual play didn't feel that much different (though Fluttershy seemed to realize that there was many more watchers) and the friends soon found themselves tramping off for bed, exhausted after working so hard the past 36 hours. They had plans to spend Hearth's Warming Day together in one of the cozier rooms of the castle that offered a fireplace for their use, with permission from the Princesses to do so (along with a chance of them stopping by as well to give their holiday greetings). The morning of Hearth's Warming Day shone bright and clear, and while this would normally help ponies across the land wake up peacefully, Twilight was jolted awake by a sudden weight that bounced her and itself into the air briefly before landing once more. Disturbed and annoyed purple eyes sought the cause of this unusual way to get up and found herself looking into bright blue orbs that sparkled with joy and excitement. “Gaahh!” At the sound of muffled pain, the purple and green dragon jerked away with a shout of his own. “What is it?! What's wrong?!” Pinkie could only giggle as she lay on top of the lavender unicorn at how well her surprise wake up was working. “Pinkie! Why did you do that?” Twilight pushed the pink mare back while rubbing her stomach which had suffered the most of the damage; as Spike located what the issue was, he merely rolled his eyes and laid back down while covering himself with his blanket, not really wanting to see how cuddly they were going to get so early in the morning. “Because, it's Hearth Warming morning silly! You have to get up early and bounce down the stairs and find all the cool neat and surprising presents waiting for you! Though, I guess since we're on the ground floor and using that one big room that's a few hallways down we can't really bounce down the stairs, though we can still bounce there.” The hyper mare giggled in place, making it harder for the still sleepy mare to get up from the bed as the entire bed shook from Pinkie's laughter. “... Do you always bounce down the stairs for Hearth's Warming morning?” Twilight dragged herself over to the dresser to try and arrange her mane properly before trying to find coffee to help her wake up and deal with her overly hyper marefriend. “Of course! It's the best part, all the surprise and making others happy!” The unicorn sleepily smirked at Pinkie's desire to bring happiness at all times and levitated her hair brush into place; as Twilight made herself presentable (if only she wore her mane like mine, she wouldn't have too much trouble with it! Actually, that'd be interesting to see... Hmmmm), Pinkie hopped over to the young drake who tried to shut out the conversation happening nearby. “Wakey wakey Spikey-wikey! You got to get up if you want any of your presents!” At the last word, Spike gave up his quest for dreamland while sitting up rapidly with a surprised smile. “Presents? Who would give me presents?” Pinkie shook her head in teasing disappointment while breezily waving a hoof. “Spike, Spike, Spike... Of course we'd get you presents! We're all going to share gifts and play games and sing songs and everything! But to do that, we have to get up!” With heavy emphasis on the last word, Pinkie pushed Spike slightly to get him to move; with a smile at the plans for the day, Spike leaped from his bed and the two of them went to pester the lavender unicorn who now was openly smiling at their antics. “Come on sleepy-head! We don't want to be late!!” With a light laugh at the urgency of the calling, Twilight allowed herself to be pushed by both Pinkie and Spike out of the room to where they were to meet the others for the day. They traveled down the empty hallways with laughs at the antics of the hyperactive pony and soon found themselves in a large pale-gray room that had windows along the wall facing the door while a large fireplace took up most of the one wall with a large pine tree on the other side covered in decorations and with presents nestled underneath. As Pinkie and Spike raced over to the tree, Twilight paused in the doorway with a frown. “Pinkie...?” The puffy maned head popped up from the pile of gifts and looked towards the unicorn with a large grin. “Yes, Twilight?” The unicorn deadpanned the party mare as she waved to the empty and fire-less room. “Did you get us up and here several hours early?” Pinkie tapped her fore-hooves timidly with a shy smile. “Maybe...? But I didn't want to miss a moment of our first Hearth's Warming Day together!” Twilight heaved a large sigh at the almost usual behavior of the excitable mare and rolled her eyes while giving her head a brief shake. “... How early are we per say?” “Uhm, it miiight be... 5am.....” Twilight hung her head at the answer and could feel her bed calling for her, but looked up to find Pinkie was staring back in worry at the possible reaction to the knowledge of how early they were. “Ughhh, alright, alright... Sigh, let's get something to eat and see about getting the fire started...” Twilight couldn't hold back a small smile at Pinkie's joy of spending the morning together and bounced after the lavender unicorn. They were soon traveling towards the kitchens to see if anyone else was awake and try to make something to eat; Twilight was nervous about potentially using the kitchen without the actual chefs there but Pinkie was quick to assure her that the cooks wouldn't mind at all and even said the party mare could use the kitchens however she wanted. Once they entered the industrial sized kitchen, they found that they were not the earliest ones awake; one of the chefs from the day before was already working on a breakfast of hay-hashbrowns and pancakes as well as a large brew of coffee for the solar Princess who was already enjoying a cup after starting the sun on it's course for the day. "Princess! I'm sorry, I didn't realize you would be here!” Princess Celestia looked up with a smile from her white cup with the words 'I hate Mondays' stamped along the side; a precious gift from Luna that had been given moments ago as they met while changing the sun and moon. “Good morning Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Spike; what are you doing up so early? I had thought you would still be asleep at this early hour due to your exhaustion while doing a wonderful job with the traditional play.” As the trio stepped forward, the princess signaled they could join her at the small kitchen table while the chef added more supplies to the stove to compensate for the extra hungry mouths. Spike and Twilight watched Pinkie bounce over to the cook to help with the extra workload before turning to the just waking princess once more. “... Pinkie Pie was rather, enthusiastic, about being in time for us to open and share gifts for the day.” Celestia smiled at the tender gaze the lavender mare gave the other even as annoyance rang softly in her words as she explained why they were awake so early. “Indeed, she does seem to like holidays, especially given how much she seemed to like Nightmare Night according to my sister.” Spike snorted and held back his laughter at the statement with both claws on his mouth while Twilight eyed him briefly before nervously smiling at her teacher. “Yes... You, don't mind if we had breakfast with you, do you?” The sun princess smiled warmly after having taken another sip from her coffee while Twilight asked her question. “Not at all, it's my great pleasure to be able to see you to wish you a 'happy hearth's warming day'... Happy Hearth's Warming Day Twilight, Spike and Pinkie Pie.” At the last name, the others looked up to find the pink mare standing before them with plates of food stacked along her head and back while the chef levitated drinks behind her. “Happy Hearth's Warming Day Princess! GASP! I forgot to say it to you guys! I was too excited to give you your presents, I gotta fix that! Happy Hearth's Warming Day Twilight, Happy Hearth's Warming Day Spike!” Twilight rolled her eyes at the loud well-wishes while they both smiled back to the ecstatic mare. “You too Pinkie Pie.” “Same to you Pinkie.” The hyper mare bounced in place before turning her attention to the food before her, starting to eat with a fever; with another smile at the behavior, everyone began to also start eating while taking in the peaceful winter morning. The group ate in relative silence (with only some high speed chatter from Pinkie Pie) before Princess Celestia urged the two mares and drake to continue with their day. The pink mare started to rant about what could be done while they waited for the others to wake up (Twilight was interested to hear how only she and Spike got the early bird treatment), which mostly included things that could be done with a fire; something that the solar princess remembered wasn't currently set up in the room they were going to use for their private friends' holiday preparations. After making sure that the fireplace would be set up by the time they got back to the room, the three early risers returned to wait for their friends while playing various mind and imagination games. The others didn’t get up until several hours later, making Spike an impatient mess while Twilight tried to keep back her annoyance at how early they had been up. Pinkie gave each pony that walked through the door a great big hug and sat them all in a semi-circle facing the pine tree; once everyone was present, Pinkie couldn't hold back her eagerness for the day's activity and gave everyone a gift that was from her. While the other other ponies were amused at the impatient and hyperactive behavior, the reaction and anticipation of the younger members made them all the amused and forgiving of the slightly rushing of gift giving. The next hour and a half was spent exchanging presents, the kids (and Spike) were thrilled by all the gifts. After a reminder to not get too worked up about the gifts (mostly for Spike's benefit since he had only celebrated holidays with Twilight and her small family before), the close friends sat in front of the large fireplace and made smoores (with a few light jabs at the fashionista about the last attempt at doing so) as well as singing the more traditional songs of the season. The couple sat leaning into one another as they enjoyed the company of their friends, laughing and joking along with bright smiles; every so often they would share a smitten glance and blush at how close they sat without caring about what anyone thought. With a content sigh, Pinkie rested her head on Twilight's back and whispered for lavender ears only. “I'm really proud of you and really really happy to spend today together, and to be with all our friends too.” Twilight smiled softly as she reflected on the pleased tones of the other mare with a small frown at why she hadn't heard this particular phrase before. (If only I hadn't been so worried about what they would think about us dating, she wouldn't have waited so long to say this kind of thing... I'll definitely make it up to her! I'll, I'll... Oh, I've got it, the perfect surprise!) Twilight smirked to herself as she rested her head on her hooves, watching the trio of fillies reenact their favorite parts of the play and their favorite characters, plans forming rapidly in her mind as the warmth of Pinkie on top of her added to what was created by the fire before them. The group of friends and sisters stayed for one more night at the castle before heading home once more, arriving by mid-afternoon to give season greetings to the family that hadn't traveled with them to the capital. The winter weather made things easier on everyone's workload, giving plenty of time for Twilight to finalize her plans while the bakers at Sugarcube Corner found that a lot of ponies wanted warm, freshly baked goods to cuddle with loved ones with; an activity that Pinkie took full use of when she could with her special mare, barely noticing the extra scrolls and books that seemed to always be piled around the tree house whenever she visited. With her marefriend visiting every other day made the winter less cold and isolating than it usually was for the studious unicorn, making it seem warmer than usual. Something that didn't go unnoticed or appreciated by the unicorn, and was something that Twilight made sure Pinkie knew. (This time, I'll make sure to be ready in advance for the next holiday and show her just how much I care...)