//------------------------------//
// "Happy Hearth's Warming, Anon" 
// Story: Dash Tries to Win Your Heart 
// by Flutterpriest 
//------------------------------//

	"B-but, Anon. We shouldn't."

"Come on. You know you want to."

"What would the others think?"

"They'll never know. Come on, Dash."

"W-well. Okay, but we'll have to be quick."

"That's the spirit. Now then, on the count of three."

Dash takes a deep breath and steadies her nerves.

"One..."

A bead of sweat forms on your brow.

"Two..."

Dash takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

"Three!"

The two of you leap up from behind a snow barrier and begin tossing snow as hard as you can at the unsuspecting dragon. Spike turns with wide eyes, holding his delicately made hot cocoa with trembling hands. The ball collides with his forehead, catching him off balance and tossing the drink into the air. The baby dragon falls to the ground slowly, screaming for the loss of his cherished treat. The two of you dip back down behind the snow barricade, trying desperately to contain fits of laughter.

"Oh COME ON! Three times?! This is getting old guys. I'm running out of chocolate," he calls out to his assailants.

"Oh god. That's priceless."

"You nailed him in the forehead!"

You dust some snow off your shoulders and act casual.

"Oh, well, you know. I'm just good at some things."

Rainbow laughs and rises to her hooves.

"Well, I think we've probably tortured Spike enough for one day."

You simply stare at her blankly.

"What?"

"Do we haaave to stop?"

Dash glares at you angrily. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

"Fine, fine. Then what should we do next? I've got the day off since it's the day before Hearth's Warming Eve."

"You too?" Rainbow asks.

"Yeah, I mean. Apples are kinda hard to grow in the snow, so I've just been doing maintenance around the Apple's farm during the winter."

"Oh! I see, so-"

"Wait a minute," you say interrupting her. "If you work the weather, and it's snowing right now..."

You hold out your hand to look at the gently falling flakes that were collecting on your coat and scarf. The whole town of Ponyville had a few inches of white flakes that turned the whole landscape into a winter wonderland.

"Then who's controlling the weather?" you ask.

"Oh! That's easy. We have special clouds at this time of year that last for a few days. They always produce just enough snow to ensure that we have a white Hearth's Warming Eve and then they disappear. Until then, we're kinda just on call in case one gets out of hand."

"Oh. I see. Huh," you say, staring at the clouds. "That's interesting, we never had anything like that on Earth."

"Really?" she asks. "Sounds like Earth was a pretty boring place. N-no offense."

"Nah. None taken. It honestly was a really boring place."

"Is that why you never talk about it?" she asks.

With a sigh, you shake your head.

"Anyway. What are you doing today?" you ask.

"Nothin really. I was going to see if you wanted to... well. Hang out?" she asks.

"Oh! Yeah! Sure. That'd be awesome. I just got one errand to make if you don't mind. I gotta swing by the Apples and give AJ her gift. I got everyone else but her and you done."

Rainbow's eyes widen and a smile curls on her face.

"You got me a gift?" she asks sheepishly.

"Well, yeah. Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?"

She lets out a nervous chuckle and shakes her head.

"I-I dunno. It just took me off guard is all. I got you something too."

"Really?" you ask.

Awww yeah. Free stuff. Your favorite kind of stuff.

However, your mind wandered to the two gifts that sat under your tree at home. It wasn't really a Christmas tree per se, because Christmas didn't exist in Equestria. Even decorating trees wasn't a very common practice, while there was still some holiday over-lap from Earth. So, your tree is actually more of a potted plant with party streamers on it. 

Nailed it.

One was wrapped in a bright, vivid orange, and the other in a light-cyan wrapping paper. You could make some sort of comment about trying to sync it up with the color of their fur, as a kind gesture, but it was honestly the only way you could tell apart who was getting which gift. And the paper was on sale at the store. Because all of the holiday paper sold out.

BUT! It's still special.

You kinda hoped that Dash would like her gift, but you were more nervous about Applejack's.  It wasn't particularly cheap, but it seemed like her style. More than you spent on anypony else this year, at least. Rising to your feet, you stretch and take a deep breath of the cool winter air.

"Hey, do you want some hot chocolate or something? My place isn't far from here."

Dash's lights up and her wings pop out.

"That sounds nice. Do ya wanna exchange gifts at the same time?" she asks.

You eye her curiously.

"Uhh, wouldn't you have to run home to grab your gift?"

"Oh! Right! Start counting."

"Wha-"

And in a burst of rainbow light, Rainbow is gone.

"Oh. Right."

Well, okay. At least Dash is pretty-

And before you could finish your thought, she stops dead in front of you, nearly leaving skid marks in the snow.

"Time! What was that?" she asks excitedly, setting a present on the ground.

"Uhhh."

You look down at an empty wrist.

"Four seconds?"

She grunts, wearing an expression of frustration.

"I could have done way better than that. I need to stop taking so many naps."

Turning towards your house, you chuckle.

"You should probably not do that in general. You'll just be awake all night. Then what? The only fun things you can do at night are going on walks and snooping on other ponies sleeping?"

Rainbow remains silent as you look straight ahead on the path.

"Uh... R-right! And that would be bad! To do! That is. Because night is for sleeping."

You wear a devilish smile and look back at her.

"Heh, well, not ALWAYS, but, that's a different topic."

Redness fills Dash's cheeks as she nervously chuckles.

"Y-yeah! Good one."

Still got it, Anon. You better pick up the pace though. If Rainbow's cheeks are getting red, it's probably because it's too cold outside. Naturally, you pickup the pace, wanting to get home. Plus, the hot cocoa sounds really good.

Glancing over your shoulder at the pegasus who has to slow herself down to keep with your pace, you notice that she looks pretty excited. For your cocoa, she should be. The secret is just a little bit of cinnamon sugar, but of course, nopony will ever know that.

Wait. She isn't excited about your gift is she?

Cause, it's really nothing too special.

Plus, it's kinda cheap.

You just thought it might be something she'd like. Heck. It might even be too girly for her.

It's hard to tell sometimes.

One moment, she can be all "Look at me, I'm awesome." And the next, she'll be sitting down next to you, listening to you talk when you're down or having friendly advice. She's such an amazing friend.

Once you hit the front door, you open it for her and follow her inside. Taking off your snow covered coat and scarf, Rainbow heads over to scrutinize your Christmas tree. You head over to it and pick up the blue package.

"Uhm, Anon?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm kinda scared to ask... but did the plant do something wrong? Or something?" she asks.

"Uh, no."

"Then, why are you punishing it?" she asks.

"Well, back on Earth... there was this holiday called Christmas, and I mean... it was basically Hearth's Warming Eve, but slightly different. We'd take pine trees and put ornaments and lights on them to make it all dressed up."

Rainbow looks from the plant, then to you, then back to the plant.

"You... You know that's not a pine tree, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then why-"

"This may shock you Dash, but I'm not strong enough to carry a whole tree by myself."

Rainbow looks out into your front lawn.

"What about the tree out there?"

Moving to her, you look out your front window to the various trees that dot the more remote part of Ponyville that you live in.

"Well, I mean, the whole 'land' thing is confusing, and I don't want to make Fluttershy or some animal near the Everfree mad. So, I figured it was too much work."

"Oh," she says.

"Anyway! Did you want to open your gift?"

Dash turned back to you, nodding with a wide smile as you grabbed the small blue container.

"Well, it's not really much, but I hope you like it," you said, handing the package to Dash as she set hers down. "Happy Hearth's Warming."

A dorky grin crept on her face as she carefully looked for the side of the wrapping and tried to begin by undoing it carefully. Then, in excitement, she tore the wrappings off. Inside was a tiny box with a light lid. She lets out a tiny, almost inaudible gasp and just stares at the box.

"A-anon. You shouldn't..."

"Open it," you say with a smile.

She looks up at you with a look you couldn't recognize and opens the tiny lid with apprehension. Then, confusion washes over her face.

She pulls out a small bracelet that you created in your free time. The bracelet was kinda thick, but carefully braided using a strand of yarn from each color of the rainbow. 

"Anon..."

"It's a bracelet. I, uh. Made it myself," you say with a smile.

She looks down at it and back to you.

"It stretches a little. So it should be able to go on your hoof."

She takes it and places it on her front right hoof. Dash examines it carefully with a wide smile.

"Anon... This is..."

"And look!" you add, pulling up your pant leg. "We match."

Sure enough, wrapped around your ankle is a bracelet of all the same colors, but smaller to fit your ankle. Truth be told, it was a botched attempt at making hers, but she didn't have to know that.

"Oh my gosh... Anon," she says. "Why did you do this?"

She looks up at you with a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes. You smile and shrug.

"Well, you know, you're a cool pony. You deserve nice things. I know how to make these silly bracelets and just thought. Well, why not? I kinda considered it risky cause you don't wear jewelery, but still-"

"N-No!" she quickly interjected. "I love it. It's... really nice, and heartfelt."

She looks down at your gift and then to you.

"Oh, uhm. You know. Uh. Maybe you shouldn't open your gift yet," she sputters, grabbing her gift.

"Wait, what?"

"Uh, yeah. I mean, you got me something so nice that... well, I feel really out done."

"Psh. Are you kidding me? I didn't even really work that hard on it."

"But still, look at all the time and effort," she says, looking at all the weaves.

"Oh, come on. This is nothin. I'm sure you probably outdid me."

Dash looks hesitantly down at her shoddily wrapped gift in Rainbow paper.

"Will you promise not to laugh?" she asks.

"Of course," you add.

She sighs, grabbing the gift and handing it to you.

"Just... uhm. Remember, you promised."

Tearing off the paper, you look down at a simple, brown cardboard box. Opening the flaps on top, you pull out a piece of Rainbow cloth that keeps going. And going. And going.

"Oh my god, it's a new scarf!" you exclaim.

It looks like it was knit carefully with some high quality wool. Which is surprising, because this doesn't look like Rarity's work, but you'd imagine she'd be the only person to get wool like this.

"Do you like it?" she asks, looking away.

You toss it around your neck, and sure enough, it's already warm, heavy, but not too scratchy.

"I love it."

Rainbow smiles, her ears perk and wings relax a little bit.

"Really?" she asks.

"Yeah! Who made it?" you ask. "Was it Rarity? Because it's really well done."

"Well, I mean. She may have taught me a few things, but..."

You turn to her in shock.

"You made this?" you ask.

"U-uhm. Yeah," she said.

You smile and kneel down beside her. 

"This is a really awesome, thoughtful gift, Dash."

You wrap your arms around her and she lets out a tiny 'eep'. But, after a moment, she leans her head into your shoulder and wraps her wings around you. Letting go, she has a dazed look on her face and you stand up and stretch.

"Hey, did you still want to hang out today?" you ask. "I'm sure we can get a movie or something goin. I just gotta run that errand."

"Y-yeah. I'd like that," she says.

"Sure thing. Don't go too far," you say, stopping at your tree to grab AJ's present.

Heading to the door, you grab your coat and head out the door wearing your new scarf and package in hand. You set off at a jog, heart leaping through your chest.

Oh god. Oh god. This is happening. You are going to give AJ your gift.

Maybe she'll finally see how you feel about her. A dorky grin forms on your face as you turn towards the farm. They're probably doing family stuff, but you'll only be a moment.

Once she opens it, heck you might even be able to ask her on a date. Your stomach turns over at the thought. Okay, Anon. One step at a time, no need to get too hasty.

You run through the gates of the farm and butterflies form in your stomach. What if she doesn't like it? 

Relax, Anon. Of course she'll like it. It'll be fine. Deep breaths.

The farmhouse approaches in the distance, so you slow down to prepare yourself.

"Hey, AJ. I got you a gift for Hearth's Warming. Here. I hope you like it," you say under your breath.

You hold the gift in front of you mechanically, like a forklift. Just relax, Anon. You can do this. Raising your hand to the door of their home, you can hear the hustle and bustle of the family.

"How's dinner going, Granny?"

"Aaaalmost ready!"

"Applebloom, are you done with those decorations yet?"

"Ah was supposed to decorate?"

"What in tarna- Big Mac! Can you help Applebloom when you're done getting boxes from the attic?"

"Eeyup!"

Okay. Okay. You can do this.

Closing your eyes, you whack the door three times. There's no going back now. You take a deep breath and wait for it all to end.

"Ah'll get it!"

The door opens, to her. Her signature brown stetson. Her glorious freckled face. Her luscious mane. Suddenly, the words are lost in your throat.

"Heya, Anon. Uh, right now is kinda a bad time. Did you need something?" Applejack asks politely.

You look down at the box and hold it out.

"I got you a thing. For Christmas. Erm- Hearth's Warming," you stutter.

"Oh! Uh. Thanks... I guess. I'm afraid I really didn't get you anything though. I dunno how comfortable I am accepting this."

"Here," you say, thrusting it in her hooves. "It's yours. Open it."

She looks down at the box as Applebloom walks around a corner, tangled in lights. Applejack tears off the orange wrapping to find a similar white box. She looks down at the box for a moment and looks up at you. You open your mouth to speak, but opt to nod instead. Applejack uncomfortably opens the lid and closes her eyes.

"Anon."

"What?" you ask.

"I really don't think I can accept this."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, this is way too expensive."

"No it wasn't! It was on sale."

It wasn't on sale.

"And, I mean, while the Apple pendant is nice and all," she says, critiquing it. "I don't really wear jewelery. I mean. I'll probably never wear it."

You find yourself short of words as you look away from her. She looks at you with concern, then looks back to her sister.

"Well, I mean. If you want me to have it, I'll take it. But, it just doesn't really seem right."

"Yeah. I, uh. Should have realized. Sorry. Just have it. I'll. Uh. I'll talk to you later."

You turn on the spot and power walk away into the cold. The sun quickly begins to set on the horizon as AJ called out to you, but you dug yourself into your scarf and the words were lost on you.

Stupid Anon. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course. Of fucking course. You knew this was a bad idea. You just knew it.

Maybe you can just watch a movie with Dash and get your mind off things. You'll have to think of some other way to win AJ's heart. Who knows, maybe you should just give up. What's the point?

You don't really deserve a mare like that.

Somepony who's caring, smart, competitive, athletic, honest and loyal.

You close your eyes, following the path that you have memorized back home. But, as you get closer to home, light assaults your eyes. 

That's weird. Why is there light? You open your eyes, and sure enough, you're close to home, however, there's a new light source you didn't expect.

The tree in your yard.

From a long extension cord that went from your house all the way to the tree, a blue pegasus was hovering in the air, covering the tree with white holiday lights. You walk up to the old pine tree, covered in white snow and gentle lights, your jaw slightly open.

"Wow..." you mutter.

Rainbow jumps, and drops the rest of her lights.

"Oh! You're back. I didn't expect you so soon," she replied with a chuckle.

"It looks... just like home."

"Really?" she asked. "That's what I was hoping. You know. Have a way to be a little more like Earth and Christmas."

You smile, walking up to the tree and holding a light between your fingers.

"Well, you nailed it."

You look up to her and she hovers down to stand beside you. A moment of silence fell between the two of you as the snow gently fell. All you did was look up at the Christmas tree and beam.

"Merry Christmas, Anon," Rainbow said.

"Merry Christmas, Dash."

You put a hand on the top of her head and ruffle her mane a bit. She remains quiet, not seeming to mind.

"Hey, how does cocoa and a movie sound?" you ask.

She smiles, turning towards your home.

"Sounds cool to me."





Rainbow Dash lies in her bed, staring at the ceiling of her room, watching the clock turn from 12:59 to 1:00 AM. The snow still gently falls outside as she stares at the bracelet on her hoof. The room is completely silent, as she lies still and alone, remembering the awesome time that she spent today with Anon. She closes her eyes, grabbing one of her extra pillows and pulling it in close to her. The pegasus sighs, clutching the pillow tightly and resting her head on top of it.

"Just pretend..." she mutters.

She keeps her eyes closed, trying to clear her mind of the nagging thoughts that keep her awake. The imaginary scenarios. The what-ifs. The things that could have been said differently. But it's fruitless.

The thoughts might as well be minor kicks to the butterflies in her stomach.

It hurt to think.

She rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling again, trying to find the answers etched in the ceiling's molding. She groans under her breath, slowly building up into a roar.

"WHY IS HE SO DUMB?!"