Yet Another Human in Equestria Story
By: Bardic Knowledge
Chapter 27: December 24-25, A Christmas Story
Twilight paused on entering the house, a bag of what I guess were presents in her telekinesis. Considering I was only just introducing the idea of Christmas to Equestria, I decided to sort of ease things in with a gathering where the gift exchange would resemble the SCA event referred to as “Wassail.” “You've had all month to decorate for both Hearth's Warming and Christmas, and all you have to show for it is a sparsely decorated tree?”
“And some coloured candles,” I pointed out, gesturing to the red and green candles on the table. “Honestly, my family sorta petered out on the decorating side of things as the years went by. Pretty much the only reason we even put up a tree last Christmas was because my nieces were going to be coming by.” I smiled wistfully. “I still remember the days when I was a kid, and me and my big sisters would have little arguments about who got to put the Rainbow Brite ornament on the tree.”
“It is so weird to hear you reminisce and remember the same thing,” muttered Twilight. Apparently not all of my memories had faded completely from her mind in the past few months. She then floated the bag over to the tree in the living room. “I imagine everypony's going to be coming by over the course of the day to drop stuff off for the party tomorrow. This has both Spike's present and mine.”
“Alrighty. I'll be seeing you guys tomorrow.”
“At two, right?”
“Yeah.” I started.
“Technic-” “Oh, good, I-” We said at the same time. There was a brief pause before I gestured for her to go ahead.
“I, ah, was going to say that Spike and I are headed back to Canterlot tonight, to spend Hearth's Warming Eve and morning with my family. We should be able to get back by the time your get-together starts.” I nodded. “What were you going to say?”
“I've... forgotten,” I muttered, scratching my neck. “Still, you have a good day with your family, alright?”
“Yeah. You-” She cut off. I'm pretty sure I could guess what she was about to say. “I'll see you tomorrow.” She said instead, and left. As soon as she went out the door, my face fell.
“Family...” I whispered. The longest I'd ever gone without seeing at least one member of my family was just over a week. At least, that had been the case before I wound up in Equestria. It was good to have all these friends, Trixie was definitely a bright spot of every day, but...
Will I ever get to see Earth and my family again?
“I believe the phrase is 'a penny for your thoughts?'” said Trixie said from behind me.
“Vastly overpriced,” I replied, turning. “I have so many, after all.” She stood by the doorway from the bedroom hallway to the living room, at least until she saw my face. She quickly trotted over to me, then reared up and hugged me. I did my best to hug back with my arms pinned under hers. I heard the glow of her horn and some paper shuffling about, then she practically carried me to her room.
“It's okay, you can let it out.” she whispered. As if that was a trigger phrase, tears started to spill out my eyes.
“I miss them, Trix,” I whispered. “I miss them so much.”
“I know... I know... My first few nights on the road I kept thinking of home, until I eventually broke down and went back. I never even made it to a town the first few times I set out.”
“Shh.” I whispered. “No words are needed.” I hugged her tighter, still crying. “I take comfort in your presence alone.”
I don't remember how long we sat like that.
---
I woke up early the next morning to start on cooking for the arrival of the others. And by “early” I mean 9:00 in the morning, which meant only about four hours of sleep. For the almost massive gathering we were about to host, this was necessary.
Trixie assisted where she could, while making certain the presents everypony else had left by the tree were all laid out for easy access and unwrapping. Half-an-hour before the gathering was scheduled to begin, the Apple guests (Big Mac, Applejack, and Apple Bloom) arrived, with some additional food.
“Howdy, ya'll!” said Applejack. “You ready for the big shindig?”
“Close enough. Granny Smith couldn't make it?” I asked.
“Nope,” answered Big Mac. “She's a bit too old to go around in this weather.”
“Understandable.”
“Are these the presents?!” cheered Apple Bloom, almost climbing on the pile of presents.
“Eeyup,” I answered. Big Mac just rolled his eyes.
Rainbow was next to arrive, landing on the front porch hard enough to shake snow off the roof and onto her head. We all got a kick out of that, even her, once she shook the snow off. The last to arrive was Twilight and Spike, who appeared in a teleport right at two.
“Did we make it?!” were the first words she said upon entering the door.
“Yes, you're right on time,” I said. “Now, before we get to the presents-”
“Awww,” groaned the Crusaders.
“-we eat,” I finished, smiling. The Crusaders and Spike got what was technically the “kiddie table,” but that was mostly because there was only barely enough room for nine chairs at the table, let alone thirteen. After the food was set out, I raised my hands. “Now, if everyone would join hands – and hooves – I'll say a prayer. The question is, do we want a mildly really quick-but-irreverent prayer, a short-but-proper prayer, or a long-and-appropriate prayer?”
After a bit of conferring, the long prayer won out (I was mildly hoping for the irreverent prayer, but oh, well). Everyone closed their eyes.
“Dear God who art in Heaven, we thank thee for the gifts though hast given us. For our friends and family and their safe journey here. We ask that thou bless this food we are about to eat and keep us safe this day. In the name of the Christ Jesus, Amen.”
Twilight was the only one to echo the amen, but that was to be expected since she was the only one who actually knew what it meant.
As I started passing the food around, Dash asked, “So what's the quick-but-irreverent version?”
“Dad does it on occasion as a joke: 'Good friends, good food. Good God, let's eat.'” There was quite a bit of snickering in response to this. We all dug in, with bits of conversation around the table. I felt a small lump in my throat at how full the table was. I did my best to keep my face schooled as I talked with Twilight about all the books I'd been getting published.
“How many books are you planning on doing? You've only been here six months and you've already published more books than A. K. Yearling!”
“I'll probably take a break after I'm done with the Chronicles of Amber. With all the money one book series got me, I don't even need the Royal Liaison job these days. I have enjoyed all the fan mail, though. Stories are the core of my being, and it's always good to see people enjoying stories I've shared, even if they aren't ones I've come up with.”
Twilight smiled at my own little grin and we continued eating. With this many ponies (and a dragon and myself), I was almost assured no leftovers. Even if there were leftovers, I was more than willing to eat it.
At 3:00, we had finished eating and gathered on the three couches in the living room. Everyone who had brought a present (which was everyone) got a random number to figure out who would choose a gift first. The rules were: when your number came up, you got to take a present, even if it's a present that's already been unwrapped. If someone's present is taken, they're allowed to take another, save for two exceptions: you can't take one that's just been taken from you, nor can you take one that's already been taken three times.
Apple Bloom had “1” so she went out and grabbed the largest box she could find. I smiled cattily because it was my contribution and I had pulled a little trick. As she ripped the wrapping paper off, took off the taping holding the box shut, and pulled out... another gift-wrapped present in a different wrapping paper. She went through three more boxes, each one wrapped differently, until she finally got to an envelope.
“Finally! What is it, a gift card?” she said, opening the envelope. “'This card is good for an autographed, zeroth edition copy of every book ever transcribed by Joe McCord.' The hay?”
“Essentially, whoever has that card in their possession will get the copy of the book I get sent for being the author, which is usually the first one off the line, and I'll autograph each one.” Twilight looked intrigued, but Apple Bloom just kinda stared at me. “What? I've always wanted to pull the nested box trick. It's not my fault you picked that one.”
Next up, Sweetie Belle took her turn. She picked through the boxes until she pulled out one that was rather hefty, if her struggle to move it was accurate. As she began to pull it open, I decided to make a joke.
“It's a puppy!” Everyone kinda stared at me. “It's a traditional Wassail joke. Not sure how it started, but we've had fun with it every year. The other one is when you unwrap the present you say 'It's a box! Just what I've always wanted!' or similar.” Everypony rolled their eyes in response.
It turns out that Sweetie's chosen gift was a hoof-crafted bottle-shelf-thing that came with bottles of cider from Big Mac. When Dash's eyes lit up, I had a feeling she'd be stealing that first thing when her turn came around. I had had Apple Family Cider by now, and I had to agree that it was one of the best things I had tasted, so I'm probably going to go for it myself.
Rarity was next, and she apparently grabbed Applejack's contribution, because the hat in the box was exceptionally similar to the hat AJ wore. She looked rather dubiously at it, though.
As predicted, when Dash went next, she took the cider rack from Sweetie, who didn't mind hopping back into the pile for another present. This time she got Trixie's gift, a book about sleight-of-hoof magic tricks for beginners.
Scootaloo went straight for what was, from the wrapping paper, obviously Rainbow Dash's gift, which turned out to be a set of weights.
Fluttershy surprised me by going over to Apple Bloom and taking the book certificate. I hadn't thought she'd actually steal something in this game. Apple Bloom went back to the gift pile and found a box of fancy chocolate, which Sweetie claimed came from her.
Applejack dug into the pile and pulled out a rather small-looking gift, which wound up being a very shiny jewel. I thought it was Rarity's contribution until Spike said it was from him.
On Trixie's turn, she floated the cider rack over to us, which made Dash glare (Trixie just smirked haughtily). Dash fluttered into the pile and grabbed Pinkie's gift, which wound up being an expertly crafted Christmas cake.
Spike pulled out some candy canes, which Apple Bloom said she got from her friend Twist. It was nice to see that she had stayed friends with Twist when she helped found the Crusaders.
Big Mac glanced around the room before taking the chocolates from Apple Bloom, who then took the magic tricks book from Sweetie, who took the gem from AJ, who took the weights from a put-out Scootaloo. Scoots then got a mildly devious glean in her eyes as she grabbed the cake from Dash, who took the opportunity to take back the cider rack. Trixie's smirk failed to diminish as she took from the pile a calligraphy set from Twilight.
“Now that's how the game is played,” she said, winking at me. I chuckled darkly. As long as neither Pinkie nor Twilight took the cider from Dash before my turn, I'd have incontestable ownership of the cider rack.
I crossed my fingers as Pinkie hopped off the couch, she liked the cider enough herself to take it before me. Luckily she just jumped straight at the remaining three presents and pulled out a rolled up Wonderbolts poster that Scootaloo had contributed.
Twilight took the book certificate from Fluttershy, which in retrospect wasn't much of a surprise, and Fluttershy simply sighed before going for the present left that wasn't hers, which turned out to be a certificate from Rarity for a free wardrobe makeover.
At last, it was my turn. And I went straight for the cider rack. Dash groaned and looked around the room. She grabbed the Wonderbolts poster from Pinkie, who hopped over to Big Mac and swiped the chocolate. Like Fluttershy, instead of going for another present, he just sighed and grabbed the last present, a bird-watcher's guide from Fluttershy.
“Now that every gift has been chosen, it is possible to make a trade for the one you wound up with for another if both parties agree,” I announced. Dash looked hopefully at the cider. I made a short gesture with one hand, prompting Trixie to float in thirteen mugs (I had taken to collecting interesting Equestrian mugs, such as the lightning-themed one from the Lightning Art Museum near Las Pegasus) that she then filled up with cider, emptying all but one of the bottles.
“In honour of you, my friends, my Equestrian family, I raise a glass in toast. Without you, all of you, I have doubts I would have been able to stay here in Equestria without being a miserable wreck of despair.” I paused, then glanced into my mug. “That sentence turned a lot darker than I meant it to be. Still, I am thankful to have each of you. Here's to you!”
“Here, here!” they cheered, before taking a drink. Trixie shifting a hoof to lay on my leg. I put my hand on it, rubbing the side of her leg in silent thanks.
We spent the rest of the day singing what traditional Christmas and winter songs I could remember.
It was nice.