//------------------------------//
// A Perfect Holiday 
// Story: Their First Hearth Warming Eve 
// by MysteriousStranger 
//------------------------------//

 Ponyville’s streets were almost empty as usual during winters. During the day, ponies played in the snow but they returned inside as the sun started to set. But this afternoon in particular was different. It was Hearth Warming Eve. Ponies used to spend the night with their loved ones, and Trixie was no exception. 

This was the first Hearth Warming Eve that Trixie spent with somepony since she was a Filly, and she was way beyond excited about it. She was wearing a lavender winter coat that Rarity made for her and she was carrying a bag which contained Rarity’s gift. I’m almost there. This coat is really warm, I barely feel a thing! Oh, there’s the boutique! The showmare hurried to the door and knocked at the door a few times.

“Coming!” Came a voice from the inside that Trixie knew very well and loved. Moments later, the door opened, revealing Rarity. “Trixie-Bu, you made it!”

“I wouldn’t miss this for anything in Equestria.” Trixie said before giving her a peck on her lips. “Merry Hearth Warming Eve, beautiful..”

“Merry Hearth Warming Eve, my darling. I trust my coat worked.” Rarity said as she closed the door behind her marefriend and heading to the kitchen.

“Indeed it did. You do wonders with your hooves.” Trixie said as she took off her coat and put it on the coat rack.

“Thank you, Trixie. Hot chocolate?”

“Yes, please!” the blue unicorn sat on the couch, near the fireplace. Rarity came back moments later, levitating two cups of hot chocolate, she sat next to her marefriend and gave her one cup.

“I took the liberty of putting a marshmallow inside for you.”

“Thank you, Rarity.” she took one sip and let out a relieved sigh. “Much better.” Trixie, then, gazed at Rarity. “You’ll never guess what happened today! Angel finally accepted my food!”

“Really? He’s really stubborn, it took all these months to finally accept you.”

“Well, I don’t think that he completely accepted me. He still doesn’t let me pet him.”

“Give him more time. Did Twilight arrive by the time you left?”

“Just when I was leaving. She asked me to give you this.” Trixie magically opened her bag and gave Rarity a book.

“Oh! I forgot to look for it myself! I’ll thank her tomorrow.” the mares finished their chocolate before sitting closer to the fire and exchange their gifts.

“This is for you, my lady.” the showmare said as she gave Rarity her gift.

“Thank you, my darling.” the fashionista opened her gift to find a perfume inside. “Is this...”

“Your favorite French perfume!”

“B-But, Trixie, this perfume is really expensive!”

“Don’t worry about the bits now, Rarity, I’m fine! I still have many bits in my bank account.”

“Thank you so much, Trixie-Bu. I’ll use it on special occasions so it lasts more.” Rarity said as she hugged Trixie. “Now, my turn.” the fancy unicorn took Trixie’s gift from one of her drawers and gave it to Trixie. “I believe that you will love it.” Trixie smiled and carefully unwrapped her gift to find a photo frame decorated with gems that matched her eyes. “I noticed that you keep a photo of you and your brother under your pillow last time I visited Fluttershy and I thought that, since she already knows, get a photo frame for it. I decorated it myself to make it more special.” Trixie was dumbfounded. She stared at her gift for several moments before she smiled and hugged Rarity.

“I don’t know what to say… thank you so much, Rarity.” a single tear of happiness escaped from one of her eyes. 

“I’m glad that you like it.”

“I love it. I will put the photo inside once I get back to the cottage.” they moved their heads so they could see each other and shared a long, passionate kiss. Rarity wrapped her hooves around Trixie’s neck and Trixie hugged her marefriend tight from her waist. “Why are you always putting your hooves... around my neck?” Trixie softly whispered between kisses.

“Because I like it... it makes me feel safer... keeping you close to me.” Rarity whispered back, also between kisses.

“Trixie isn’t… going anywhere.” Rarity giggled.

“Oh, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They kissed for several minutes, losing track of time, when there was a knock on the door. Rarity quickly stood up.

“Sweetie Belle is here!”

“Already? I thought that she would arrive in about twenty minutes!” Trixie stood up as well and accompanied Rarity to the door.

“We must have lost track of time!” Rarity added before opening the door. “Sweetie!”

“Hi big sis and Miss Trixie!” the filly exclaimed as she hugged the mares.

“How have you been, Sweetie Belle? I haven’t seen you in a week!”

“I’m fine, thanks, Miss Trixie! Oh, sis, I brought somepony...”

“What? Sweetie, we already discussed this. Tell me in advance if you’re going to bring somepony with you.”

“I know, but the snowstorm was too strong and he couldn’t make it home and mine was closer, so...”

“He?”

“Yes, Button Mash!”

“Bu-Button Mash? As Rarity said his name, the gamer colt appeared at the door.”

“Good afternoon! Sorry for coming without a warning, but...”

“It’s OK, Button, I already explained to them!”

“Please, come in so I can close the door.” Rarity spoke.

“Oh! Sorry.” Button said as he entered the boutique. Rarity closed the door and headed to the kitchen.

“Let me get you something hot.”

“I would like that, thanks!”

“Button, this is Trixie, my sister in-law!” Trixie blushed hard by this statement.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity exclaimed from the kitchen and quickly returned with Button’s hot chocolate and gave it to him before speaking again. “W-We are not married!”

“Yet. But one day you will, right? I would love to have Trixie as my Sister in-law!”

“W-Well, umm...” Rarity didn’t know how to continue so Trixie decided to intervene.

“Rarity! What did you want to show me in your workshop?”

“Oh, oh, yes! Sweetie, Button, please wait here, we’ll be right back!”

“Okay!” Trixie grabbed Rarity by her hoof and lead her upstairs, to the workshop, before letting her go and closing the door.

“Sorry about that. You know that she sometimes does that.”

“Yes. She talked about love with me even before we started to date. I know it’s soon to talk about marriage, we still don’t have an year dating.”

“I will never forget that day. It was just before Summer started...”

“Yeah...” they gazed at each other romantically for a few moments before Rarity changed her face to a shocked one.

“We can’t leave them alone for too long!”

“Why not?” Trixie confusedly asked.

“Sweetie Belle likes him, and I’m most certain that Button Mash likes her back, they can’t date just yet, they’re too young!” 

“What do you suggest us to do?”

“Tell them to wait! I’ll take Sweetie Belle to one side and you talk to Button, we have to convince them to wait until they are older.”

“Okay, I’ll try. Let’s go.” Rarity nodded and both of them quickly headed back to the kids. They found Sweetie Belle very close to Button Mash. Rarity cleared her throat loudly to be noticed.

“Oh, hi big sis! Button is showing me the new game his mother gave him!”

“Oh, oh!” the fashionista a huffed, relieved. “Sweetie, darling, can we talk for a moment?”

“Sure!” the filly stood up and trotted to her sister. They left the room moments later. Trixie slowly walked to where Button was. He was still playing his game.

“So… you like that?” Trixie asked with a smile.

“Hay yeah I do! Amazing graphics, amazing gameplay, amazing story and portable! Overall, amazing! Do you play video games?”

“They never called my attention, really. But it seems like Sweetie Belle likes it too.”

“Yeah! We often game together, as a team or against each other. She’s really a great friend, she’s the only pony that plays with me.” the gamer colt spoke about Sweetie Belle with a tone Trixie recognized, it was the same tone that herself used when talking about Rarity or the tone that either Twilight or Fluttershy used when talking about the other. 

“You like her, huh?”

“What? No way!” Button Mash nervously said. His blush was noticable.

“You can trust me, I won’t tell her.”

“I barely know you!”

“I’m a pony of trust. Sweetie Belle told you about me, right?”

“She did.”

“Did she say something negative?”

“Not really.”

“Then, you can trust me! I promise not to tell anypony.”

“You promise?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then… I… "Button Mash hesitated, but he felt confident after seeing the warm smile of the mare before him. "I like Sweetie Belle… She’s so beautiful and hangs out with me more than anypony. She stands up for me when somepony bothers me, but, I’m afraid of telling her.”

“Then, don’t. At least not for now.”

“Why not?”

“You two are too young to worry about love. Remain as friends for now and confess your love later.”

“But, what if she falls for somepony else?”

“If she’s the pony for you, she won’t. She will wait for you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” Button Mash put one of his hooves on his chin and thought for a few moments.

“Fine, I’ll wait. I might have more courage by then.”

“Great! Trust me, it’s better if you wait. If your feelings are real, they will only grow.”

“Okay. Thanks! I’ll do that”

“You’re welcome. So, tell me, what’s that about?” Trixie wasn’t really interested on Button’s games, but she thought it was a good way to know him better. After all, he was the crush of the sister of her marefriend. She cared about Sweetie Belle just as much as Rarity did. Button spent a few minutes speaking with Trixie before Rarity and her sister returned.

“We’re back and we are ready to celebrate Hearth Warming Eve!” the fancy unicorn said as she walked in the room.

“Great! Oh, wait.” Trixie turned back to Button. “Does your family know that you’re fine?”

“Oh, yeah!” the gamer colt happily replied. “Before leaving, I told them that if the snowstorm was too strong, I would spend the night here since it was closer.”

“Oh, you had everything planned!” Rarity pointed out. As expected, Button Mash slightly blushed. The fancy unicorn knew that the colt did it on purpose to spend the day with Sweetie Belle.

“Don’t worry, Button, we’ll have fun! Right, big sis?” the young crusader said as she skipped close to him.

“Of course we will! I can prepare dinner for one pony more, after that, we’ll sit by the fire to relax and talk while we listen to music.”

“Yay!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as Button stared at her. Trixie and Rarity shared a look after seeing that. Both of them convinced the kids to wait so there was no risk now.


***


After dinner, everypony sat by the fire. The mares were drinking coffee whereas the kids had hot chocolate. Rarity sat beside Sweetie Belle and Trixie beside Button Mash to keep an eye on them.

“Sweetie Belle, darling, how is your crusading going?”

“Good! I think that we’re getting closer to get our Cutie Marks! I have the hunch that one of these days will be the day.”

“Crusading? Oh, you mean your club!” Trixie spoke.

“Yes!” the filly answered. “Rarity and her friends got theirs when they were around my age, which is why we’re trying more often. We don’t lose hope!”

“Never lose hope. Be patient. One day you’ll get your Cutie Marks.” the magician pony said, smiling warmly. “You can even find what you want, when you stop looking for it.” Trixie advised.

“How do you know?” the filly asked, full of curiosity.

“Because I stopped looking for happiness a long while ago, but I found it last summer.” Trixie was blushing and Rarity was too. The fancy unicorn was gazing at her but Trixie didn’t return the gaze, although she knew that Rarity was looking at her. Trixie was focused on Sweetie Belle.

“Oh, with...”

“Yes, that’s right. Believe me, it feels way better the more you wait.” the young crusader smiled confidently and nodded. Then, a yawn was heard. They forgot about Button Mash. The gamer colt was almost asleep.

“I guess it is bedtime!” Rarity whispered. “I’ll look for sleeping bags for you two.”

“I’m coming with you!” Trixie called and followed her marefriend. “Will they sleep there?”

“Of course not! They will sleep with us. We have to keep an eye on them.”

“Don’t be overprotective, Rarity. She won’t do anything. I just told her the more she waits, the better it will be. Besides, she won’t do anything after you talked to her.”

“But… she’s my little sister...”

“Everypony grows up eventually, you can’t stop them. They will be fine. Give her space or else you’ll end up pushing her away.” Rarity sighed. 

“When you’re right, you’re right. I’ll give them the sleeping bags and we’ll go to bed.” Trixie kissed her cheek, making Rarity blush.

“That’s my lady.”

“I’m not a cat!” Rarity faked to be angry, making Trixie giggle. Rarity looked at Trixie until her laughs died and she noticed Rarity.

“Yes, beautiful?” 

“You're a wonderful mare, you know that?” the fashionista smiled.

“Thanks to you... Now, let’s give the sleeping bags to Sweetie Belle and Button Mash so we can go to bed.”

“Agreed.” Rarity and Trixie delivered the sleeping bags to the kids and waited for them to fall asleep before going to bed. Rarity laid first and Trixie followed. The fashionista wasted no time to embrace her love. Opal was at the feet of the bed.

“Trixie, what you said before about finding happiness...”

“Yeah?”

“You… you really gave up and stopped looking for it?” Trixie’s smile faded and she turned, giving her back to her love but still having Rarity's forelegs around her. 

“I did… not long before arriving here for the first time. I decided to dedicate my life to my magic shows. But, that didn’t end up well.”

“So miserable, with no friends…” Rarity said as she cuddled more against Trixie’s back. “What made you come here after your last big failure? You never told me...” Trixie turned and faced Rarity.

“Twilight was the only pony who was nice to me. I thought that she would help me. But the storm was too strong and I ended up at your boutique.” the magician pony said, smiling. Rarity returned the smile.

“I took care of you...”

“And I fell in love with the nurse, like the war times.” the white pony giggled softly.

“Trixie-Bu, this is your home now. You found your happiness here and you have made my life even better.” Trixie embraced her marefriend.

“The nomad chapter of my life is over. I have everything I love right here.” Rarity looked at Trixie’s eyes and the blue unicorn returned the gaze. Rarity kissed her before snuggling against Trixie’s whiter.

“Good night, my darling.”

“Good night, beautiful.” Minutes passed before Rarity fell asleep, with a smile on her face. Trixie remained awake, to watch her sleep. She’s so beautiful and such a good pony… I would die tomorrow and I would die happy… Sweetie Belle called me her sister in-law, I liked the sound of that. I could get married to Rarity one day. In that moment, Rarity happily muttered Trixie in her sleep. Trixie’s smile became even wider and kissed her forehead before closing her eyes. Yes, I’ll get married to her… one day…