Of Flame and Shadow

by Garuda IV


Chapter 45- Happy Hearth's Warming

Dark and Twilight were both peacefully asleep when first of the sun's rays cracked the horizon. However, while they were still sleeping, Spike shot up from his bed basket and jumped up onto their bed.

"Wake up you two! It's Hearths' Warming! It's Hearth's Warming!" he excitingly exclaimed while trying to shake them awake.

Groaning, Twilight shifted around from under Dark's wing and looked at Spike with tired eyes.

"Already?" she groggily asked.

"Yes, already! It's morning, so there'll be more presents under the tree! And let's not forget about the Hearth's Warming breakfast!"

"Well, I do love the cranberry sauce that mom makes for the flapjacks."

"What are you waiting for then? Let's go!"

Jumping off of their bed, Spike ran over to the door and opened it to head on down. As soon as he opened it though, a small, pink blur zoomed through the open doorway and latched itself onto Dark's face. Knowing what today is, Skyla giggled happily as she tried to poke Dark awake. After a few attempts of poking him, Dark opened his eyes a crack to see the baby filly looking anxiously at him.

"And a good morning to you too, little one," Dark greeted her.

As Dark sat up in their bed, Skyla was still attached to his face, enjoying the small ride. Feeling like she was done with him, Skyla turned her attention to Twilight and flew off to her. With a small laugh, Twilight caught Skyla in her forelegs and held her to her chest while nuzzling her.

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Skyla," Twilight said to her giggling niece.

Leaning over, Dark too began to nuzzle the little foal before turning his attention towards Twilight and giving her a kiss.

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Twilight."

"Happy Hearth's Warming to you too, Dark."

Draping his wings around her, Dark pulled Twilight into a hug with Skyla giggling happily between the two. After a minute of them enjoying the company of each other and the foal, Cadence poked her head through the open doorway, blushing as she thought that she was interrupting something.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I'll leave you two alone," she hastily said.

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Cadence," Twilight greeted. "Did you need something?"

"Yes, actually. Have you two seen Skyla by any chance? She woke Shiny and I up and then flew out of our bedroom."

"Oh, we might have an idea," Dark chuckled, opening his wing to let Skyla out and wave to her mom. "Apparently, she wanted all of us up. And since Twilight was already awake, she decided to latch onto my face and start poking me awake."

"Do you want her to stop it?"

"No, it's fine. I actually find it pretty cute."

"Okay then, but you two should come on down. Once we open our presents, mom will want us to start breakfast, and I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to it."

"Not as much as me!" Shining said as he ran past Cadence and towards the stairs. "Mom's homemade cranberry sauce is mine!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it, Shiny!" Cadence returned before chasing after him.

Fully awake now and giving a small chuckle, Dark and Twilight got up out of their bed, put Skyla on her back, and made their way down to join her family. Along the way, Dark's mind began to wander. While he was happy to share this Hearth's Warming with Twilight and her family, he was starting to miss his own family. As he continued to think about them, he let a small sigh slip, one that Twilight heard.

"You alright, Dark?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I'm fine."

Not buying it, Twilight started to glare at him, which was quick to break his stubbornness.

"I'm just missing my family is all," he admitted. "It's my first Hearth's Warming without them."

Seeing his sorrow, Twilight stopped and pulled him into a comforting hug. Even Skyla could feel his sadness, so she jumped off of Twilight's back onto Dark's and hugged him as best as she could. Feeling the love and comfort of his fillyfriend and the foal, Dark soon melted into their embrace and hugged her back.

"We understand that this might be difficult for you to deal with," Twilight softly spoke as she began stroking his mane, "but we also want to try and make this as enjoyable and comfortable for you as we can so you can feel welcomed with our family."

"I know," Dark quietly spoke, "and I'm sorry for acting like this."

"It's alright."

They remained together like that for a few more minutes for Dark to collect himself. Once he was calmed down enough, he smiled to Twilight and gave her a thankful kiss before turning to Skyla on his back and giving her a small kiss on the top of her head, causing her to coo. With him feeling a little better, the three resumed their way down stairs to meet up with the others. As they walked in, Dark immediately noticed that there were at least twice as many presents under the tree than he remembered from last night. That, and the lights strung around the room, which again, he didn't remember being there before he went to bed last night.

Making their way over, Dark and Twilight took their usual spots on the couch before letting Skyla slide off of Dark's back and sitting herself on Twilight's lap. With Shining and Cadence sharing the love couch, and Spike jumping up on the other side of Twilight, they were now waiting for Night and Velvet to come to join them. Soon enough, the two came out from the kitchen and took their seats with the others. With everyone finally present, they could start opening their presents.

"So," Velvet began saying as she held up a Santa Hooves hat, "who's going to be hoofing out the presents this year?"

"I think we should let the newest member of our family do it," Cadence suggested. "What do you think, Dark?"

"What?" he hastily said. "But, I'm not actually apart of this family."

Maybe not yet, Cadence thought with a smirk, but from the love that I was feeling from you two last night, I'm sure that you will be... eventually.

"Well, you may as well be," Velvet spoke.

"But only as an honorary family member though," Night said strictly. "I'm not ready to marry my daughter off any time soon."

"Okay," Dark replied with a hint of meekness.

"Good. Now then." Night took the hat from Velvet and placed it on Dark's head, "go on ahead."

"What am I doing exactly?"

"It's a long-standing family tradition of ours," Twilight began to explain. "Each year, we have somepony wear that hat, and whoever does has to hoof out the presents from under the tree."

"Oh, okay."

Getting up from his spot, Dark walked over to the tree and picked out a random present from under it. Taking a look at the nametag, he saw that it was a gift for Velvet from Night. With his magic, Dark levitated it over to her, to which she took it in her own magic and sat it down. With a quick thanks to Night, Velvet began to gently open the gift. Once opened, Velvet was greeted with a fine china tea set. Happy, Velvet leaned over and kissed Night.

"It's wonderful, honey," she told him.

"Hehe, I thought that you would like it," Night chuckled before returning her kiss with one of his own.

"UH! Mom! Dad! Please not in front of us!" Twilight complained.

"Oh, you're one to talk, sweetie," Velvet said. "At least it's just in front of our kids and not an entire ball room filled with ponies."

Immediately silenced, Twilight blushed from embarrassment and looked away.

"Okay, Dark, next present please," Cadence said, diverting the attention away from what was just said.

Nodding in agreement, Dark went back over to the tree and picked out another random present, this one for Shining. Giving it to him, Shining saw that it was from both his parents and thanked them before opening it. With the wrapping paper gone, Shining was greeted with the sight of a hoofball.

"What's that?" Dark wondered.

"It's an autographed hoofball from the Broncos!" Shining happily answered. "They were my favorite hoofball team when I was a young colt, and they even won the cup this year for the Equestrian Hoofball League."

"Sweet. So, that makes this much more valuable then."

"Yep. Thank you, mom and dad."

"You're welcome, sport," Night proudly replied.

With this one done, Dark returned to the tree and picked out another, this one from Night and Velvet to Cadence. Once she was finished opening it, she saw that it was an old doll, much like one that she lost one day while foalsitting for Twilight. As memories of her old and most favorite doll came flooding back to her, Cadence let a few happy tears flow before running over and giving both Night and Velvet a thankful hug.

"H-How did you find one?" she shakily asked.

"Hahaha. This old stallion has his own connections. You know the saying of how old ponies know each other?"

Did Night really just call himself old? Dark smirked in thought. Oh-ho-ho, this is gonna be fun.

Noticing the mischievous smirk on Dark, Twilight smiled before giving him a subtle head shake. Listening to her silent request, Dark held his tongue and waited until Cadence was done thanking them. Once she did and returned to her seat with her new-old doll held tightly to her chest, Dark went for the next present. The next one was for Night from Velvet. Hoofing it over to him, Night unwrapped it to reveal a bottle of cologne. Happy for the gift, he thanked Velvet before Dark went back for the next one.

Smiling to himself, Dark took the next present into his magic and brought it over to Skyla, who began happily giggling when he sat it down in front of her. Eagerly, she tried to open it with her hooves, but was finding it rather difficult for her. As she was starting to pout for not being able to open it, Cadence began to help her daughter in opening it, though only did enough to get her started. With the wrapping paper opened enough for Skyla to do it on her own, she quickly tore off the paper and squealed in joy as she received a set of My Little Human dolls, causing everyone to laugh in joy at her expressions. With a little help getting them out of their box, Skyla wasted no time in playing with them.

Once they calmed down a bit from the cuteness that Skyla had shown, Dark went back to the tree and picked out the next one for Spike. Taking it into his claws, he opened the lid of the decorated box and saw that it was full of gems that made his mouth immediately start drooling. Giving a quick word of thanks, Spike began munching away on the box-full of gems until he was reminded of the breakfast that they were to have. With that reminder, he popped the lid back on and put the box of gems on the floor beside the couch.

Giving a small chuckle, Dark turned back around to the tree. Before he picked out the next one though, he went through a mental list of everyone who had gotten a present so far. As he went through it, he realized that Twilight didn't get one yet. So, looking over the gifts and passing over the one from him to her, wanting to save that one for last, he soon found one for her from her parents. Taking it in his claw, Dark walked over and gave it to her. With her thanks, she took it and started to peel off the paper. Once she got it off, her eyes lit-up as she read the cover title.

"A first edition of Starswirl the Bearded's Auto Biography!" Twilight squeed. "How did you find this?!"

"Your father isn't the only one who knows ponies," Velvet bragged.

Overjoyed, Twilight darted straight for her parents and wrapped her forelegs and wings around them.

"Oooh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't wait to start reading it!"

"You'll have to wait until later, sweetie. Right now, there are still more gifts that need unwrapping."

With that reminder, Twilight went back to her spot on the couch and sat back down. As she looked from her new book to those around her, she noticed that Dark hadn't picked out one of his yet.

"Hey, Dark, why don't you open one of yours next?" she suggested.

"Thanks, but I'll wait until everyone's opened theirs," Dark tried to humbly decline.

"Nope. Everyone already opened one of theirs, so it's your turn to open yours."

"Really, Twilight, it's alright-"

"Dark, if you don't pick one, then I will."

Knowing that she meant it, Dark smiled and sighed in defeat before looking under the tree for a present of his own. After a minute of looking through them, he only noticed one, and it was from Twilight.

"Umm, that might be a bit of a problem."

"Why?"

"Because there's only one, and I'd like to save it for later."

"Really? Just one?" she asked questionably. "You mean that my gift to you is the only one there is?"

"It's alright, Twilight. I wasn't even expecting any, anyway."

"Sorry, Dark," Velvet apologized. "We tried shopping for you, but it's hard to shop for somepony when you don't know what they like."

"We thought about getting you a weapon from the Coliseum," Night began explaining, "but after remembering how easily you broke that one sword that you borrowed from them, then after seeing you summon all of those weapons when you and Shining fought, we didn't think that you would want another."

"Again, it's alright. Besides, we've met only a few times, which isn't nearly enough for you to have known what I like."

"We still feel bad though."

"Hey, don't be. I'm just happy to be spending this Hearth's Warming with Twilight and all of you. Especially since I no longer need to worry about any surprise dragon attacks."

"Are you sure?" Cadence asked. "We wouldn't want for you to feel left out."

"I'm sure," Dark said with a reassuring smile. "Besides, I must admit that I didn't exactly know what to get all of you either."

"What about Spike?" Night wondered.

"Eehhh, funny story, actually," Spike chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Remember when I said that I saw Dark working at his forge and it gave me the idea to make Twilight's gift?"

"Yes."

"Well, as it turns out, when I went to go see Dark at work, I might've caught a glimpse of his Hearth's Warming present to me."

"Yeah. Kinda hard to hide it when he's already seen it," Dark sighed in agreement. "And here I thought that hiding it in the forge amongst the other weapons was a good idea too."

"So, what did he get you, Spike?" Velvet asked.

"Made, actually," Spike corrected. "And what me made me was retractable staff."

"Why a staff?"

"After hearing about how much danger Spike would get into, especially after his run-in with those teen dragons, I thought that it would be a good idea for him to have some kind of self-defense weapon just incase," Dark explained. "I was thinking of making him something else, but Twilight didn't want him using anything dangerous like what I had planned until he's older."

"Do you have it with you?" Shining asked curiously.

"Sorry, Shining," Spike apologized. "I left it back at home in my room. I didn't think that I would be needing it for the holidays."

"I suppose not, but you'll have to show it to me someday. Right now though, would you mind continuing, Dark? Or would you rather prefer that somepony else take over the gift giving for you?"

"Thanks, Shining," Dark thanked, "but it's alright, I'm good to continue."

Resuming his gift giving, Dark went back and forth from the tree to whoever the present he picked belonged to. During that time, Dark made sure to avoid picking out his gift, or Twilight's, causing her to frown anxiously from not getting to see it yet. After almost an hour later, there were only two left. One being Dark's from Twilight, and the other being Twilight's from Dark. With a smug grin, Dark looked from the last two to Twilight.

"So," he began, his grin growing, "which one should I pick next? Everypony? What do you think? Who's present should be opened first?"

"Dark's," Cadence and Velvet voted simultaneously.

"Twilight's," Night voted.

"Twily's," Shining voted. "I'm curious to see what it is after you told me where you were going for it."

"Where did he go?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry, not telling."

With a grumble, Twilight looked back to Dark. "I was going to say that you should go first, but after what Shiny said, I want to know what mine is now even more."

"Looks like it's your call, Spike."

Tapping his chin with a claw, Spike thought about it for a few moments before looking up, his mind decided.

"I say Dark's first," he finally answered before looking over to Twilight. "No offense, Twilight, but he's only got one, and he hasn't even opened it yet."

"It's alright, Spike," Twilight said before hopping off of the couch.

Walking over to Dark and the tree, Twilight used her magic to take the Santa Hooves hat off of Dark's head and placed it on her own. Taking her gift to him in her magic, Twilight levitated the wrapped box over with her back to the couch and motioned for Dark to follow. Grabbing his present for Twilight, Dark walked over to the couch and took his place on it. Then, with slightly nervous smiles and blushes, the two exchanged their gifts to each other.

With a gesture to go on ahead from Twilight, Dark slowly began to open his gift from her. As he began to tear away the wrapping paper, Dark started wondering what it was that she could've gotten him. Besides having Twilight in his life and having his forge, he couldn't think of anything realistic that he could want. He soon found out though as he unwrapped the paper and opened the lid of the box, revealing a radiant-shaped, topaz. Taking it in his claw, Dark examined it.

"It's... a gem?" he said confusingly.

Stifling a giggle, Twilight smirked knowingly as she watched Dark.

"Not just any gem," she told him. "Take a closer look at the face of it."

Shrugging to himself, Dark held the gem flat in his claw and looked at the flat surface of it. After a few seconds had passed, he started to wonder what she was talking about until he saw it. His breath catching in his throat, Dark continued to look at it as an image of his fifth birthday party was shown on it, a memory of which he himself had no memory of. However, it wasn't just a still image as he originally thought, but it was more like that the entire scene of his birthday was being played all over again.

"But- how is this- when did you- how-" Dark tried speaking, stumbling over his words to make a coherent sentence.

"How was I able to do this?" Twilight figured, getting a slow nod from Dark. "I actually got the idea from the chandelier that my friends made me with the roots of the old Ponyville Library. That gem there holds the memories of a pony in them, and can be viewed whenever anypony wants to see them. However, this model doesn't just hold and show a single image, but can hold and replay the entire memory with sound if you want. And, it doesn't hold just the one memory, but a lot of them."

"How though? How are my memories in here?"

"Did you forget about the time I saw into your memories when I had the Feather Flu? Just from that time, I was able to see much of your past, though Nocturne blocked me from a few that he didn't want me to see. Anyway, what I put in that gem are all of the memories that I thought that you would like to see. So, what do you think?"

While Twilight waited anxiously for her answer, she eyed Dark for his reaction. As he continued to simply stare blankly at the gem, she started to become a little nervous that he didn't like it. That worry became increased when she saw that Dark's eyes were beginning to tear up. Feeling as though she might've done wrong by this gift, Twilight was about to hug him and apologize, but before she could, she found that Dark had instead started hugging her with a slight sniffle.

"Dark?"

"Thank you."

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that."

"Thank you, Twilight," Dark tearfully thanked. "Thank you for this gift."

"So... you like it?" she hopefully asked.

Pulling back, Dark wiped his eyes clear. "I love it. I don't even have any memory of this birthday. How is it that you can remember it?"

"Well, unlike the nineteen years for you, I recall seeing it just a few months ago. Besides, I have a good memory when it comes to remembering things... usually."

"So, how many memories did you put in here?"

"About a hundred... or so."

"... that's a lot of memories."

"I know, but it was all worth it."

Smiling gratefully, Dark leaned forward and lovingly kissed Twilight on the lips. It didn't last for long though as the sound of Night's throat clearing caused Dark to recoil back and look at him in worry.

"Oops. Sorry about that, sir."

Sighing, Night shook his head. "Considering what day it is and the emotional ties you have to your gift, I'll give you a pass. Just try to refrain from doing that in front of me from now on."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, Twilight, I believe that it's your turn."

With an agreeing nod from Dark, Twilight smiled eagerly and excitingly as she tore apart the wrapping paper. With it gone, she was met with a red and gold-rimmed, wooden box, reminding her of a smaller version of Dark's own chest. Clicking the lock open with her magic, Twilight opened the lid and looked inside before bringing a hoof to her mouth and letting out a short gasp. Now, it was Dark's turn to smirk as Twilight was now the one staring at her gift.

As the moments went by in silence, Dark was starting to worry, thinking that he might've overdone it a little bit. Thinking for sure that he'd overdone it, Dark was about to reach out to her before noticing a smile creeping up on her lips. Taking that as a sign that she liked it, Dark quietly sighed in relief while Cadence walked over towards them.

"Twilight?" Cadence spoke. "What's in the bo- oh my."

"Is it what it think it is?" Night half-nervously, half-threateningly asked.

"No, dad, it's not," Twilight said with a joyous smile.

"So, do you like it?" Dark tentatively asked.

"Like it? I love it! It's the most beautiful gift that anypony has ever given me! Thank you, Dark, thank you!"

"Well, don't leave us hanging in suspense, sweetie," Velvet told her. "Go on and show us."

Lighting her horn, Twilight levitated the object out of the box to show to everyone. In her magic, Twilight held a silver, byzantine-style necklace with six diamond-shaped, purple gems, and a single purple gem in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark hanging from the center. As everyone eyed the necklace, Dark thought that this would be a good time to explain it.

"As you've probably already noticed, the necklace itself is made of silver, but the gems that are embedded in it are all twilight amethysts."

"How did you get this?" Twilight asked.

"I had it ordered after we were done with Blueblood's trial."

"That must've costed you a pretty bit," Night commented.

"Well, we can't say that he isn't cheap," Velvet said to Night.

"Actually, we settled on a trade," Dark told them. "In exchange for the customized order and materials of this necklace, I traded in my fire ruby for it."

"Is that all?" Cadence questioned as she eyed the details of it. "I'm no expert, but judging by the craftsmareship and materials, even if you traded a fire ruby, it should've costed you a few hundred bits at least."

"Well, as it turns out, the fire ruby that I had was considered to be flawless, which increased its value. I honestly didn't know about that part of it until I was told."

"You said 'she'," Shining noticed. "Does that mean that you went to see Miss Gem Cutter?"

"Yep," Dark proudly answered. "By the way, thanks a lot for sending me to her for this."

"No problem."

"Umm... Dark?" Twilight meekly spoke with her necklace held in front of her. "Would you mind?"

Getting what she meant, Dark walked around her and took the necklace with his claws, brought it around her neck, and attached the ends together. Now wearing it, Twilight looked down to see the necklace as it hung from her neck. Smiling again at how beautiful she found it, Twilight turned around and kissed Dark like he did her before. As she held their kiss, Night sighed knowing that he couldn't blame Dark since it was Twilight who initiated the kiss this time, and got up from his seat.

"Well," he began saying, stretching his stiff legs, "now that all of the presents have been opened, who's ready for a Hearth's Warming breakfast?"

Setting their presents aside for now, they each followed after Night into the kitchen. Once everyone took their seats, Night and Velvet opened the oven and pulled out a large plate full of flapjacks, another of hay bacon, and a pot with the cranberry sauce, which Shining was already drooling over at the sight of it. With the food placed on the table, they went to the fridge and brought out some milk and orange juice for everyone to drink, and some maple syrup for those who didn't want the cranberry sauce.

Taking a moment to give thanks, they each then filled their plates with their breakfast feast. Even after each of them had filled their plates with a healthy number of flapjacks and hay bacon, there was still plenty for each of them for seconds. Unfortunately though for the cranberry sauce, it was very popular with the family. Even little Skyla was eating it, with Shining and Cadence monitoring her of course. Fortunately though, Dark was able to get himself some of it before Shining finished it off and licked the pot clean, and he must admit that it was rather good and saw why Twilight's family looked forward to it each year.

Another hour later, everyone's plates were cleared of their Hearth's Warming breakfast and they all began helping cleaning up the mess. Once the dishes where cleaned, dried, and put away, they returned to the living room to watch some Hearth's Warming programs on the gem projection together. While they went through the three shows, the one they agreed that they enjoyed the most was "A Year Without A Santa Hooves".

Once they were finished watching their programs and spending the morning together, they each gathered to join Celestia and Luna for lunch. With their winter clothing on, they exited the house, locked the door, and made their way through the snow-covered sidewalk to the castle. Along the way, they enjoyed the quiet that surrounded them, the company of each other, and the sound of the snow crunching beneath their hooves and claws.

Arriving at the gate, the two guards saluted and allowed them in, but not without receiving a "Happy Hearth's Warming" from the group and their thanks. Crossing the courtyard, they entered through the large doors into the castle where a group of servants took their jackets. Relieved of their winter wear, they walked down the halls towards the dining hall. Along the way, a glint of light from Twilight's neck caught Dark's attention.

"You brought the necklace with you?" he questioned surprisingly, seeing that she was wearing it.

"Of course I am," she happily returned. "I want to show it to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. You're alright with that, aren't you?"

"Sure, I'm alright with it. After all, it is yours."

"Good, because we're here."

Before them were a familiar pair of doors leading to the dining room. Taking the front, Dark and Shining both took one of the doors and opened them for the others to pass through, showing Celestia and Luna approaching them from hearing them enter.

"Happy Hearth's Warming, everypony," Celestia welcomed them.

"Yes, Happy Hearth's Warming," Luna mimicked.

"Happy Hearths' Warming," they all replied.

Motioning with a hoof, Celestia walked them to their seats. Once everyone was seated, she noticed the jewelry adorning Twilight's neck.

"My goodness, Twilight," Celestia spoke, "where did you get that necklace?"

"It's Dark's Hearth's Warming gift to me," Twilight answered her before affectionately nuzzling Dark.

"Well, that's quite the gift there," Luna said, walking over to take a closer look. "And it has twilight amethysts too. Pray tell, Dark, how did you accumulate the funds for such a piece of jewelry?"

"Turns out that the fire ruby that I found back on the outskirts of Stonewall Village was flawless, and covered it," he explained to them.

"Such a gift could make one curious as to how you'll outdo it when it comes time to buying a ring."

Oh, not again, Dark mentally groaned before speaking, "Isn't it a bit early to be thinking about that?"

"I agree," Night said with a nod. "I'm not in any hurry to be walking my daughter down the isle anytime soon."

"You know, Mr. Night Light," Celestia began with a small smirk, "I remember a time when ponies would be engaged and married after only a month of courting."

"Not with my little filly."

Even though he was being serious, everyone at the table still laughed at him, finding his fatherly protection to be amusing and somewhat funny. Right as their laughing died down, the waiters brought out meals for them to eat. But, before they started though, a somewhat troubling and disturbing thought came to Dark.

"Umm, excuse me, Princess Celestia?" he spoke, gaining her attention. "As nice as this is, what about everypony else?"

"I'm sorry, Dark, could you be a little more specific?" she requested.

"What I meant was what about the other ponies who can't eat like we are?" he clarified. "You know, ponies who are poor and stuff?"

"Ahh, I see now. You do not need to worry about them. Luna and I make sure to have plenty of food delivered to the homeless and orphanages during this time of year in each city. And don't think that I haven't forgotten about our castle staff, or the royal guards."

"We send them enough so that they too could have themselves a grand feast," Luna added proudly.

"So nopony is going to get left out then," Dark sighed in relief.

"Is there a reason why you ask this?"

"Not really. I was just curious was all."

"I understand," Celestia softly spoke. "Just know that I try to watch over all of my little ponies. While I admit that I can't be there to help all of them, I do try and do what I can for them."

"We understand, Princess," Twilight said, placing a reassuring hoof over her mentor's. "You may be a Princess of Equestria and be seen as a goddess to most ponies, but in the end, you're still just a single pony. Same with Princess Luna. Not even she can be in everypony's dreams to help them at once."

"That is true, Twilight. That is so very true," Luna reluctantly nodded. "But enough of this topic. Let us eat and enjoy our time together while we can."

With cheers of agreement, everyone continued to eat and talk about their morning. As they ate, they talked, laughed, joked, and much to Celestia and Luna's entertainment, embarrass Twilight and Dark. And once they were done with them, the two sisters turned their attention towards Cadence and Shining.

After enough time had passed, they finished their lunch, and thanks to Celestia, all of the desert. Feeling a sense of food coma coming about, they got their winter clothes and decided to take a walk around the castle's garden to help wake themselves up, and to work off some off the calories that they'd packed.

As they walked, Twilight found herself leaning up against Dark, who in turn draped a wing over her. Once they started to get comfortable though, Dark felt a snowball hit the back of his head. Stopping to turn his head around to look, he saw Night smirking at him with another snowball levitated in his magic before throwing it at him. Reacting on instinct, Dark took the flying snowball with his own magic and flinged it back at Night... only for him to duck and hit Celestia in the face instead.

Frozen in place, Dark looked fearfully as Celestia looked back at him. Then, unexpectedly and disturbingly, Celestia grinned as she gathered several snowballs with her magic and hurled them at Dark, each hitting him in the face and knocking him onto the snowy ground. While Celestia was laughing at him, she felt another snowball hit her in the face, this one coming from a smirking Twilight. Before anyone knew it, they'd been split into two teams and had built snow walls with piles of snowballs behind them.

For the next hour, they had themselves the funnest snowball fight they could remember. After some time had passed, they even gotten some of the royal guards to join them, turning their snowball fight into a small war. Before too long, each side had over twenty members on their respective teams. Unfortunately though, even though they were all having a lot of fun, exhaustion caught up with them and they had to call it a draw in the end. While the guards thanked them for letting them join, the group left the garden and headed on back in to have some hot chocolate by the fireplace in Celestia's private study.

As they sat on chairs, together on the couches, or laid side-by-side on the floor with their own blankets and cup of hot chocolate, they all remained silent, enjoying the company, the taste of their warm drinks, and the sounds of the crackling fire. And as much as everyone was enjoying their time together, mostly Cadence who was snuggled with Shining, and Twilight with Dark, the sound of Skyla and Spike yawning reminded them that they should probably be going home soon. Giving their thanks to Celestia and Luna for the Hearth's Warming lunch and fun day in the garden, they returned back to Night and Velvet's house.

With how tired everyone already was, the rest of the afternoon went by rather fast. Dinner went by quickly and without much talking, mainly due to everyone still being tired from their fun with the snowball fight. But, before they decided to call it a night, they asked if Dark could show them some of the memories within his memory crystal, mainly to see what his home and family were like, along with how he looked as a pony. Not seeing the harm in it with it since Twilight chose which memories would be in there, Dark held the crystal out for everyone to see.

During his storytelling of the events that were being shown, Shining soon asked what was up with Light's wings, noticing that his feathers were white instead of a metallic-blue like his fur coat. Taking a moment, Dark went over to explain to them that nopony knew how or why he was born with them like that. One theory was that it was because Light was born three months prematurely. Hearing that tidbit though caused everyone to look at him disbelievingly at how a pony who was born so early could end up being one of the heathiest and fittest ponies to live in the village. And, by the request of Twilight, Dark went to explain Light's cutie mark of a golden crown with wings that was being bathed in a ray of light piercing the clouds.

"From what we've gathered, Light's cutie mark shows his usage of light and his flying skills," Dark explained.

"Alright, but what about the crown?" Shining inquired.

"That's another thing," he sighed. "Like my cutie mark, Light's has two different meanings. While the wings show his skill with flying, the crown represents his ability to get ponies to do what he asks. Over time, he began calling it 'The Voice of the King'."

"'The Voice of the King'?" Twilight repeated. "So, what's up with the ray of light illuminating the rest of his cutie mark?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say that it represented his ability to blind others with the light he could emanate from his wings."

"Twilight," Cadence spoke, "didn't you say that the fugitive that got away blinded ponies with a flash of light?"

"Yes, but that pony was of a darker shade of blue than Dark's brother, and his wings were blue like his coat, not white. That, and we can't forget that he also had a curved white horn with a blue tip," Twilight reminded.

"Not to mention that Light's been presumed dead since nopony has heard back or seen him and the others after he and his team left to go get help," Dark added.

"I suppose," Cadence sighed before looking to Skyla sleeping in her forelegs. "I think that I'm going to follow Skyla's example and call it a night."

"I think that's a good idea too," Velvet agreed, along with everyone else besides a sleeping Spike.

Turning off the lights, everyone made their way up to their respective bedrooms for some sleep. Before Twilight and Dark went to bed, they brought the snoring Spike up with them and tucked him in his bed basket. With him hunkered down for the night, the two slid beneath her bed sheets and snuggled with each other, ready to fall asleep.

"So, Dark," Twilight whispered, trying to not wake Spike, "did you enjoy your Hearth's Warming?"

With a soft smile, Dark gave Twilight a small kiss. "Thanks to you I did. Thank you again for the wonderful gift, Twilight, and Happy Hearth's Warming."

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Dark."


A few hours later, Dark awoke with a parched mouth. Tenderly slipping out of Twilight's hold, Dark Shadowported himself down to the kitchen for a glass of water. Once he downed the drink, he was about to return back to bed when he saw a dim light in the living room. Curious, he peeked his head around the corner to see Shining sitting on the couch, looking at the lit fireplace with a red gem similar to Dark's floating by his head.

"Hey," Dark quietly spoke, trying not to spook him, "you alright?"

"Hmm? Oh, hey, Dark," Shining said. "Did I wake you?"

"Nah. Just came down to grab a drink of water is all. What about you?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Any reason why?"

"Yeah."

"... do you want to talk about it?"

Sighing, Shining patted the spot beside him. Getting his meaning, Dark walked over and took his seat, ready to listen.

"It's about you, actually," Shining finally answered after a few moments of silence.

"Huh?"

"Remember when we first fought you asked me why I was so hostile and distrusting of you because of you being a kirin?"

"Yeah, kinda hard to forget that," Dark chuckled briefly. "Come to think of it, you never really did give me an actual explanation, only vague hints."

"Yes... and I believe that it's about time that I told you."

"Hmm?"

Taking a deep breath, Shining turned to face Dark, his face both serious and almost sorrowful and regretful.

"You deserve to know why I acted like I did to you, and for that, I need to tell you about what happened that week, about why I hate kirins."

With a silent nod, Dark prepared himself for what he suspected was going to be a bloody and sad story.

"Before I tell you though, you can't tell anypony about this. Besides Princesses Celestia and Luna, and Captain Iron Guard, nopony else knows the details about this. Not even my own family. Can you promise me that?"

"I promise," Dark nodded.

"Good. First of all, you should know that at one point in time, Cadence and I had planned to start a herd with another mare."

"What?!" Dark quietly shouted. "When was this?!"

"I'll be getting to that," Shining said slightly irritated. "Anyway, her name was Silica, and while ponies knew that Cadence and I were together, nopony knew about Silica being with us too."

"Why the secrecy though?"

"This was before I was Captain of the Royal Guard, and things were already stressful enough because of Cadence and I dating at the time. Plus, the addition of another pony, one being a soldier under my command no less, would've created even more problems for all of us. At least, until I would've become the Captain of the Royal Guard that is. After that, ponies wouldn't had judged us so harshly."

"Okay, but what does she have to do with you hating kirins?"

With a sigh, Shining rubbing his temples. "For this story, I'll have to start at where it all began. That is, if you don't mind staying up for a while to listen?"

"No, I don't mind."

"Alright then." Shining paused to take a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say and using his magic to show the scene from the gem. "Along with my story, I'll also be using my memory of the event within this memory gem of mine so you can see for yourself what happened. Now, it all started seven years ago when my squad was called to the office of Bastion, the Captain of the Royal Guard at that time..."