Side Chapter: Hearths Warming Eve
Ditto and I had been practicing our aim at long distance. My aim was incredibly more accurate compared to Ditto, but not by a great deal. Since the type of gun you shoot can only have such accuracy. Anyways Ditto and I had been practicing as we went to town to stock up on sweets. We have meat and water, all we need. But we don't have sweets, which is what we want. We walked into town as there was snow falling. I just looked up and saw the pegasi moving the clouds into several spots around the town. I began to shudder from the cold and activated fire to keep myself from turning into a block of ice.
"T-This place is fucking freezing!"
"You're cold?"
"Yeah! How are y-you not?"
"I'm used to being cold I guess. It never really bothered me. Besides its not even that cold."
"Not f-for you."
I was beginning to warm up again. It wasn't enough though. I touched the ground and made myself a big fur coat. This is much better! At least I wasn't as cold now. We saw Twilight and Fluttershy.
"Hey you two."
"Hey Mimic, hey Ditto."
"Hi Ditto, hi Mimic."
The two looked at me. They could see I was cold. Not that is was hard to notice. I had a small fire near me and even with my big fur coat I still rubbed my arms so that the friction would bring warmth.
"Mimic, what are you wearing?"
"A fur coat, why?"
"D-Did you k-kill something to get it?"
"What? No, I just made it using alchemy. No animals were harmed in the making of this product."
"Oh, okay that's good."
"Well, sorry if it’s too cold for you two."
"Mimic is feeling the cold but not me. I'm okay with it. I mean, the cold never bothered me anyw-"
"Watch out!"
We both looked up to see Rainbow coming for a crash landing. I quickly changed from fire to air to blow vast amounts of wind toward her. It slowed her down but she still crashed on the floor.
"Thanks for softening my fall."
"No problem."
"Even though you just made me slightly cold in the process."
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"It's okay."
It was at this point I actually stopped thinking on how cold I was and looking at the town. It seemed festive. Ish. Do they celebrate Christmas too? No that was a human thing,so what are they celebrating?
"Hey Twilight?"
"Yes?"
"Why is it festive like in town today?"
"Oh that? It’s Hearths Warming Eve."
"Hearths Warming Eve?"
Hearths Warming Eve? Is it like Christmas? I know it’s the same world and shit but the similarities are too close. I just thought about it for a second.
"First Nightmare Night being Halloween. Now this Hearths Warming Eve being just like Christmas."
"Christmas? Is that another Human holiday?"
"Yep. I know it’s the same planet and shit but with all the similarities i'm just calling bullshit."
Twilight then gave us some background on the holiday. It may have had a different way of coming about to be the holiday that these ponies celebrate today but it still practically identical to Christmas.
With that we just talked some more. Apparently the ponies also give an exchange of gifts. Should I give gifts to the girls? What would I even give them? I decided to talk to the girls. I got the to talk about things they were interested in, things they liked, and things they wanted. They never even suspected me. From what I could tell Apple Jack loved a rare type of apple that grew near the edge of the forest. I decided to go get some and even give her a few recipes with what she could do with these apples. Pinkie mentioned all the cakes she loved but didn't mention a strawberry cake. Either she didn't like that one, which was extremely doubtful, or it didn't exist...yet. Rarity was working when I passed by. She was having some trouble when I thought of giving her a sewing machine. Three down, three to go. I would probably make her some silk as well.
Twilight and Rainbow where in the library reading a book. I looked at the title as I saw it read Darin Doo and the adventure something something. I didn't get a good angle from here. But from the cover page it looked like a rip off of Indiana Jones. Once I asked them about it I knew for sure, it was a rip off of Indiana Jones. I wonder how they would react if I showed them the Indiana Jones books. They might like Harry Potter as well. But there is the thing with magic existing here. I thought about it and shrugged. It might still interest them.
We talked about the book for a while when I asked about strawberries. Her answer had surprised me. Strawberries were hard to get because the were mostly found in the Everfree. Just my luck. I'll have to find them then I guess. That left me with getting a gift for Fluttershy. She does take care of the animals. Maybe she would appreciate a donation of money? Well with that in my head I just had to go get the gifts ready.
I was in the forest when I turned a tree into a sewing machine, the first book in the the series of Harry Potter and Indiana Jones. Wait. . How do I know exactly what it says? I looked through booth books. I knew they were right but. . . how did I know every word? Photographic memory? No that can't be since I can't remember my past life. I thought about it some more before giving up. One day I will have my answers. With that I left to go look for some strawberries.
~One Hour Later~
"Why is it so hard to find some fucking strawberries!?"
I had been out here for an hour and I was loosing my patience. I had traveled closer to the center of the forest. I knew because I had flown up and saw that I was far away from my house and ponyville. That's it. I gave up and turned a branch into a dozen strawberries. I bit on the and immediately spit them out. They taste like shit! I tasted the others and they were all horrible. I guess you can't just make food from alchemy and replicate the flavor. I looked around and saw a hole in the ground that lead to an underground cave. I entered and saw some strawberries near a pool in the center.
"Finally!"
I ended up with several berries that I had to turn a piece of the wall into a bag to carry them all. This should be enough for a cake. I looked at the around and saw that the cave was just this big underground hole. The pool was just a calm bit of water. I got closer and looked at the pool. Something was. . . calling me. I got closer to the edge and looked down. At the bottom of the little lake of water I saw something shine for a second. I reached closer to the water. Something was calling me. I was suddenly snapped out of my trance like state when I felt the entire place shake. It wasn't to violent and nothing had collapsed. An earthquake? I came back outside and saw something I didn't expect at all. I was staring at the castle I called home. . . . What? I flew up and looked around me and noticed I was not where I had been.
"What the f. . ?"
I came back down and looked around. What startled me now was what I didn't see. Where's the entrance to that cave? I looked around but didn't see anything. This is getting weird. I just flew over to my house and decided to have my gift ready. I went to my room and got my backpack and took out two bags of bits. Each bag was half the size of the backpack, so yeah that was a plenty amount for Fluttershy. Not like money is a problem for me. Now I would give the presents to them later. Right now I was going to take a nap. I laid down but got back up quickly.
"Almost forgot to make the cake."
I quickly made a strawberry cake and had a decent amount of strawberries left over. I'll just give these to Pinkie. I'm sure she'll love it.
~Later~
I was carrying my backpack to ponyville. I had their gifts in there since I didn't really want to haul around the weight. Yeah I was somewhat lazy with carrying things around. We were all in the library. There was a small Evergreen tree inside just to the left of the fireplace. They were all around the room adjacent to the library part of it. Does this tree have the same logic that my backpack? This place is definitely bigger on the inside. The fireplace was nice and warmed up the tree. There were two couches one by the wall that, with the table in front and a smaller couch to the side of the table. They talked with each other as I put my backpack on my lap.
"Okay girls, may I have your attention?"
"Huh?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Get closer to the table."
They all moved in closer. A confused facial expression was evident of all of their faces. I just waited for them as they came and got comfortable.
"Twilight, you said that you would have an exchange of gifts on this holiday, right?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
"Because I have a few."
Their ears perked up at that. I found it amusing how their ears had a major role in body language from what I have seen. Their faces changed from that on confusion to understanding what I said to being curious at what I could have got them. They all got slightly closer.
"So let's see how well I chose all your gifts, eh?"
"It's the thought that counts darling, i'm sure we are all fine with whatever you got us."
"Well lets see then. So Rarity what would have you wanted as a gift?"
"Well, personally I would have liked a new sewing machine but as I said I am fine with whatever you have chosen to give me."
"Okay then."
I took out the sewing machine and presented it to her. She just looked at me smiled and got it. She was about to move aside when I called her.
"Hey Rarity."
"What is it darling?"
"Catch."
I threw the woven silk her way as she caught in in her magical grasp. She looked at it for a second as her eyes went wide. She just looked at me.
"Is this what I think it is?"
"Yes. Unless you don't think it's silk, then no."
She put the stuff on the table came over to me hugged me, said thank you, and went to go see her gifts. Well I nailed what she wanted. Now lets see the others.
"Me next!"
"Okay Pinkie. What would you have liked for as a present?"
"Anything really! Especially your cooking!"
"How about a cake?"
"Sure!"
I took the cake out and she looked at it.
"Wait. . . is this a . . . a . . . a strawberry cake?!"
"Yes it is pink one."
Her eyes seemed to grow in size for a second as she gave me a hug. A bone crushing hug I might add. Are all ponies this strong or is it just these six? She finally let me out of the bear trap hug. I instantly got a gulp of air as she said thank you rapidly.
"Okay now Twilight, Rainbow?"
"Yes?"
"Huh?"
"My gift is for the both of you. Books."
"That stuff's for Twilight, why would you get me one?"
Twilight seemed to shoot a glare at Rainbow since she didn't appreciate what I was giving her.
"Well. You did like that one book, Daring Doo."
"Yeah, but I only like that series."
"Well here is a book called Indiana Jones which is the human version of Daring Doo."
"Really? A human ver-"
"Mine!"
She quickly got it from my hands and began to read. Well then. That was better than I thought. I turned to Twilight.
"And a different book I thought you would be interested in."
"What is it?"
"It's called Harry Potter."
I began to explain the concept to her and the more she heard the more eager she was to read the book. She took it out of my hands put it on the table and gave a strong ass hug saying thank you over and over. Soon Rainbow joined in on the hug as well. After a few seconds they let go of me as I had to take big breaths once more.
"Hey Apple Jack, catch!"
I threw the sack of apples her way as she caught it. She opened it and saw what it was. She smiled as she made her way to me. I braced for impact and took in a big breath of air. But I just felt a soft hug. She then just let go and stood a few feet away from me.
"Wow. I thought you would give me one of the strongest hugs here along with Rainbow."
"If yah wanted a strong hug yah just had to ask."
She evilly smiled and was about to jump on me.
"No, no, no!"
She squeezed the air out of me. She stayed in the hug for a while as she released me. I just tried to get air back into my system. I was taking big breaths as she was laughing.
"Had to open my fucking mouth."
Apple Jack laughed at that. Fluttershy came up to me.
"So. It took me a little longer to think up of a gift for you. I didn't really have anything for you since you took care of animals. Though I thought you could use some money to help take care of them."
I took the two bags of bits and gave them to her.
"I can't accept this."
"I don't see a reason why you can't. Beside you taking care of the animals, all of them, you could use some extra money."
I gave her the two bags of bits. She came at me at gave me the strongest hug even if the hugs from all the others were combined. Holy fucking shit she's strong! She released me as she thanked me and apologized for the strong hug. Strong hug being the understatement of the year.
"Wow, she hugs stronger than you five combined."
"Oh really?"
I saw all of them look ready to hug me again. I held up my arms as a method to tell them not to hug me but the all just piled on me. FLuttershy just watched slightly laughing. They all got off me and looked at me.
"I still say Fluttershy was stronger than all of you combined."
They all looked surprised at that. They turned to Fluttershy and then to me with a questioning look.
"Yeah I don't know how it is either."
They all thanked me. Ditto looked at me and sarcastically asked,
"What no gift for me?"
I laughed at that.
"My gift to you is my presence."
We just laughed. The girls kept thanking me. After they stopped thanking me, we all sat and talked. Eventually Ditto and I were going to leave when Twilight called me as I was about to close the door.
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted to thank you again for our gifts."
"It's nothing."
"Thank you though."
We suddenly heard Pinkie laugh. Everyone turned to Pinkie. She pointed above us. I looked up and saw a mistletoe hanging from the doorway. Huh.. a mistletoe-aw shit.
"Um... does a Mistletoe have the same meaning as humans gave a Mistletoe during this holiday?"
"What was the meaning of it for humans?"
"Well if a male and female found themselves under one they would kiss."
"Same here."
"Don't forget that it’s actually bad luck to not kiss under one."
I actually think I remember that from somewhere. I looked at Twilight and noticed her face was red. This is going to be awkward. Is there any way around this?
"Does it specify where I have to kiss the female?"
Twilight thought for a moment as she sighed in relief.
"No, it doesn't."
"Okay then."
I crouched down slightly to her level and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She then proceeded to give me a kiss on the cheek. With that she apologized for the Mistletoe, and thanked me again for the gifts. With a quick hug I was on my way home.