A TWP Hearths Warming
Main Characters: TWP, Cadence, Shining, Twilight, Night Light, Twilight Velvet, Rei, Spike, Del
Cameos: Applejack, Apple Bloom, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Trixie, Stormy, Pinkie, Inkie, Blinkie, Fluttershy, Surprise, Celestia, Luna, Octavia, Vinyl, Daring Do, Lyra, Bon Bon, Lucas, Mimi, Chrysalis
Original Start Date: December 4, 2012
Shining Armor lets out a loud yawn as he climbs into bed. Cadence laughs as her husband collapses beside her. She cuddles beside him and nuzzles his cheek.
Shining smiles and gives his wife a kiss. ‘Before you ask, I am probably going to say “yes”.’
‘What makes you think I want something?’
‘Dear, this is how you always get when you want to ask me something.’
Cadence laughs again. ‘Okay.’ She takes a breath. ‘Since you were away guarding Full Moon the past few weeks, I hope you don’t mind that I put some Hearths Warming plans in motion.’
‘Anything you planned is fine with me.’
‘Good. Because I booked us a mountain villa for a week and your family already is looking forward to joining us.’
Shining is shocked. ‘Villa? Family?’
‘I know it is a bit much, but I want a big Hearths Warming this year. It will be fun.’
‘I know it will,’ the unicorn sighs. ‘It will be great getting together with the family again.’
‘Plus, I’ll finally get to know Mr Wanderer.’
Shining stares at his wife in terror. ‘Mr... Wanderer...’
‘Oh! When I invited Twilight and Spike, she mentioned that Mr Wanderer and his family don’t have anywhere to go this year so I invited them too. Rei is such a sweet filly, and I really want to get to know her father.’
‘We’re going to be tra-, I mean, sharing a secluded villa with him?’
‘Not that secluded. We are only borrowing Fancypants’ getaway. There will still be neighbors only a few kilometers away.’
‘Suddenly, following Full Moon back to Neighpon doesn’t sound that bad...’
Cadence glares intensely at her husband. ‘Shining, I want a big family holiday and if it happens that somepony not yet in our family is included and gets some enjoyment from our celebration, then it is even better. You will not ruin it with your petty worries.’
Shining hangs his head and sighs. ‘Yes, dear.’
‘Good.’ Cadence nods then rolls over, away from Shining. ‘Besides, you married me, not her. That first wedding was just a fluke.’
Shining laughs and gives his wife a hug. ‘That is what I kept saying!’ He sighs. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll have a great Hearths Warming, just like you want. Nothing will go wrong.’
Cadence smiles and cuddles against her husband as she goes to sleep.
A carriage pulls up to a large mountain chateau. The earth ponies pulling the carriage remove their reins and start unloading the travellers’ luggage. The workers stop when magical auras surround the luggage. The carriage doors open, and two unicorns step out. A light grey mare smiles at the workers as a blue stallion marches towards the chateau.
‘We can take care of our own bags,’ Twilight Velvet says. ‘Thank you for you help.’
Night Light turns back and nods. ‘Yes, the journey was quite pleasant.’
The stallion levitates several bits to the workers. The earth ponies bow, hitch up their reins and gallop away with their carriage in tow. Twilight Velvet trots up to her husband, and they go to the front doors together. Already waiting for them, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence greet their guests. Twilight Velvet immediately hugs her son.
‘Great to see both of you,’ Cadence greets.
‘So happy to see you, mom, dad,’ Shining adds.
‘How have you been, Shining?’ Night Light asks.
‘Doing well, dad. How about you?’
‘Glad the semester is over,’ the professor sighs. He bows to Cadence ‘Thank you for inviting us on this holiday.’
‘Do you know when your sister is getting here?’ Twilight Velvet asks.
‘She called from the train station right after you called from your home,’ Cadence replies. ‘She and Mr Wanderer should be here shortly.’
Night Light shudders. ‘He is coming too? Is it too late to call the carriage back?’
‘Mr Wanderer is a nice pony,’ Twilight Velvet scolds.
Night Light and Shining groan in unison. Another carriage is heard down the way.
‘You’re almost there!’ Rei shouts as she flies around the carriage.
The pegasus does a loop around the courtyard before landing beside the carriage. She waits until her father, Twilight Sparkle, Del and Spike exit before trotting up the steps to the waiting group. Twilight gallops up beside the young mare.
‘Sunshine! Sunshine! Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!’ Twilight, Cadence and Rei sing before hugging each other.
‘When did you learn that?’ Twilight asks the pegasus beside her.
‘Ai-hime played with me when Luna-sama was busy,’ Rei says with a smile.
‘So great to see you again,’ Cadence greets. ‘Rei, have you gotten taller?’
The young mare blushes. ‘Maybe a little.’
‘She let her mane grow out more on top,’ The Interfering Parent reports as he trots up. ‘Good to see you all again.’ He bows to Night Light. ‘Twilight’s wonderful father.’ He bows to Twilight Velvet. ‘Twilight’s caring mother.’ He bows to Cadence. ‘Twilight’s amazing foalsitter.’ He kisses Twilight. ‘Twilight.’ He bows to Shining. ‘Twilight’s handsome brother.’
Shining groans. Night Light shakes his head. Twilight Velvet and Cadence giggle. Rei and Spike hold back laughs. Twilight hits her coltfriend in the gut. Del stares up at the new ponies before her. Cadence notices the filly staring at her.
‘And you must be Del, right?’ the princess greets.
Del bows slightly. ‘I am Del. Are all of you Sparkly Twilight’s family?’
‘Yes, they are, Del,’ Twilight explains. She goes around the group and introduces them. ‘This is my father, Night Light.’
Del bows. ‘Mr Night.’
‘My mother, Twilight Velvet.’
‘Velvety Twilight.’
‘My brother Shining Armor.’
‘Mr Handsome.’
Shining groans. James gives Del a candy bar.
‘And my sister-in-law, Princess Cadence.’
Del stares up at Cadence again for several seconds.
‘Nice to meet you, Del.’ Cadence extends a hoof in friendship.
Del sighs and shakes the hoof before scratching her ear and adjusting her tiara.
‘Sorry,’ James apologizes. ‘She is usually a lot friendlier when meeting new ponies.’
‘It is okay.’ Cadence smiles at her guest. ‘Come on in. We’ll get you settled in your rooms, then we can catch up.’
Cadence and Shining turn and show their guests inside. The unicorns levitate their bags and follow. Most of the guests gape as they take in the estate. James calmly takes photos on his mobile.
‘This place is amazing,’ Twilight Velvet comments.
‘Thank you,’ Cadence replies. ‘We are renting it from Fancy Pants for the holiday while he and Fleur are vacationing in the tropics.’
‘Very impressive,’ Twilight Velvet muses again.
‘Does it have an onsen?’ Rei asks.
‘It has a bit of a hot tub area, Cadence explains. It is semi-open to the elements, so you can still enjoy it when it gets colder.’
James nudges his fillyfriend. ‘Hot tub, Twi.’
Twilight blushes and looks away. Shining shudders as bad memories return to him. The royal couple leads their guests upstairs to a hallway with bedrooms.
Shining stops by a room. ‘Cadence and I are in here. Mom and dad, you can have the room next to us.’
‘Smashing,’ Night Light comments as he goes to inspect the room.
Cadence goes to another room. ‘Twilight, you and Mr Wanderer can share this room.’
Shining trots over and clears his throat. ‘Um, Cadence, is that really a good idea?’
‘Shining, it is okay. They are both adults. And they’re in love. We shouldn’t stand in their way.’
‘Besides,’ Spike interrupts, ‘Twilight stays over at James’ place all the time.’
‘Spi~ke!’ Twilight complains.
Night Light pops out of his room. ‘What did he just say?’
A light grey aura surrounds the stallion and drags him back into the room. Shining looks at his sister. Twilight blushes a little and smiles politely. He looks at James, who winks at the other stallion.
‘Just behave yourself,’ Shining tells Twilight.
‘Don’t worry,’ Twilight assures.
‘Rei, you can have this room to yourself,’ Cadence says from another room.
‘Yay!’ The young mare cheers as she gallops into the room and leaps onto the bed.
Cadence covers her mouth and leans towards James. ‘I figure she should get her own room in case she needs privacy.’
‘We’ve been working on that,’ James replies. ‘She does it a lot less now.’
Shining groans. ‘If you are talking about what I think you are talking about, I am not looking forward to the dry cleaning bill from Fancy Pants.’
‘Just think of how much we will owe for our room,’ Cadence jokes.
‘Cadence!’ Shining and Twilight yell.
Night Light pops out of his room. ‘What did she say?’
‘Nothing, dad,’ Shining groans. ‘We were just showing Spike and Del to their rooms.’ He nods and leads the dragon and filly away.
Cadence notices something amiss. ‘Wait. Didn’t any of you bring bags?’
‘Are you kidding? With baggage check fees?’ James scoffs. ‘We just left everything in my closet.’
The princess raises an eyebrow. ‘You left them in a closet?’
James gets out his mobile. ‘It should be here any moment now.’
Spike comes out of his room. ‘Mr Wanderer, Del isn’t sharing the bed with me.’
There is a fillyish scream, and Shining scrambles out of the room, too. ‘New idea, Spike: don’t try lifting her with magic unless you want to hear an unholy hiss.’
‘Del! Your bags are here!’ James calls. The filly bolts from her room but is stopped by the stallion. ‘You have to share the room and your candy.’
‘But...’
‘Good ponies share, Del. And only good ponies get presents on Hearths Warming.’
Del frowns. ‘Fine.’
James lets the filly free to dash into his room. He looks at the other adults. ‘And you wonder why I said “just get her candy” for a Hearths Warming gift.’
Cadence looks at the group gathering in the hall. ‘If you are all settled, Shining and I would like to show you around the manor.’
James trots to his room. ‘Have fun with that.’
Twilight levitates her coltfriend back out. ‘James, you’re coming with us.’
Rei giggles from her room as she watches the adults.
‘Rei, you’re coming too,’ James punishes.
The young mare groans and follows as Cadence leads everypony away.
After the tour, Shining flips through a book in the chateau’s study. The stallion moans contently as somepony starts massaging his shoulders.
‘My sister is going to kill you if she catches you doing that.’
‘Can’t say you don’t like it,’ James laughs as he backs away.
The unicorn growls, ‘If I could have one thing for Hearths Warming, it would be for you to never harass me ever again.’
The other stallion laughs again and goes where Shining can see him. ‘But where would the fun in that be?’
‘What do you want, Mr Wanderer?’
‘I was wondering if I could have a private moment with you some time during this trip.’ He holds a hoof up to stop Shining before he can object. ‘It will be the perfectly innocent. No harassment or anything. We can even stand on opposite ends of the room. I just have something important to talk to you about without Twilight finding out.’
Shining stares at the stallion before him. James smiles sincerely.
‘I think we can find some time to talk,’ the unicorn huffs.
‘Excellent!’ James cheers. ‘Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to see somepony’s sister about visiting a hot tub.’
Shining shudders as the other stallion trots away.
Del trots out of a washroom and encounters Cadence waiting outside. The filly looks away and trots around the princess.
‘Your turn,’ Del mumbles.
‘Actually, I was looking for you,’ Cadence replies. ‘I was wanting to do a tree trimming later. You should join us.’
‘Is that something normal ponies do?’
‘Of course! It will be very fun. I promise.’
‘Okay. I will be there.’
Del trots away. Cadence follows.
‘Are you upset with me?’ Cadence asks. ‘You don’t seem happy to see me.’
Del stops and looks at the ground. ‘I like meeting new ponies, but I don’t know what to think of you. I am very confused.’
‘You can tell me. I don’t bite.’ Cadence gives a wide smile.
The filly stares up at the princess. ‘I don’t think my sister cares for you, and I want to agree with her. I am sorry. I will try to be more friendly.’
Del picks up her pace and leaves the princess standing in the hall, confused.
Everypony has gathered in a living room to trim the holiday tree Cadence picked out. The mages use their magic to decorate while Rei flies around placing ornaments. James sits off to one side beside boxes containing strings of lights, going over each of them individually with his sonic. Night Light trots over and frowns at the working earth pony.
‘What are you doing?’ the unicorn asks.
James looks over his glasses for a moment before returning to work. ‘These bulbs are old incandescents, and we don’t know how many are non-functioning. I am modifying them to be more energy-efficient LEDs guaranteed to last until the sun goes nova.’
‘Well, then hurry up. You’re taking forever.’
‘This is a delicate process, sir. Each bulb has to be modified individually.’
Night Light groans and holds his head. Beside the tree, Shining levitates an ornament to a limb. Twilight immediately removes it. Spike groans as he holds the bauble box for the siblings.
‘Twilly, what the heck?’
‘You can’t place that there. It is not optimally placed. See!’
Twilight shoves a page of equations in her brother’s face. Shining groans and levitates the ornament again.
Twilight grabs the bauble in her magic. ‘I said “no”! Your princess commands it!’
‘Well, I’m your big brother, and I say “yes”!’
Shining wraps the ornament with his magic, and the siblings start tugging it back and forth. Twilight Velvet sighs at her children and goes back to decorating. She turns to a small box next to her and notices it is empty. The unicorn looks to see Del eating a candy cane.
‘Del, did you eat all of the candy canes?’
The filly shakes her head. ‘I only have the one you gave me.’
‘Then where are...?’
Rei jumps from behind the tree with two candy canes hanging from her mouth. ‘RAWR! I’m a candy cane changeling here to suck your holiday cheer!’
The pegasus growls at Twilight and Shining, who ignore her and continue fighting over the ornament. She growls at her dad, who just sonics one of the candy canes to change its color before continuing to work. She growls at Twilight Velvet and Del. The unicorn giggles. Del scowls.
‘Just like Shining when he was your age,’ Twilight Velvet observes.
Rei smiles then growls at Del again. The filly narrows her eyes then leaps at the older pegasus. She hisses and tries to bite Rei. Rei uses her slightly bigger size to her advantage to hold her attacker at bay. She charges her hoof slightly and zaps Del. The two pegasi jump back from each other and growl. Before they can fight again, James rushes between them.
‘Stop it, you two!’ the parent shouts. ‘Del, why did you attack Rei? She was just playing around.’
Del looks up at James then at Rei. She hisses again and gallops away.
‘Oh, geez,’ James groans. ‘I’ll go talk with her.’
The stallion gallops after the filly.
‘Are you okay, Rei?’ Twilight Velvet asks.
The young mare glares at everypony and gallops away. Cadence sighs and trots after Rei.
‘We bonded when she was in Canterlot. I’ll have a word with her,’ the princess sighs.
Cadence sighs again as she looks for Rei. Twilight Velvet huffs and turns back to the tree. Twilight and Shining are arguing over the ornament again. Spike sits and watches the siblings. Night Light picks up the plug to the string of lights and plugs it in. The lights spark, and he immediately covers them in an ice spell. The unicorn looks around and tries slinking away from his mishap. Twilight Velvet groans and holds her head.
…
Cadence sits with Rei in the young mare’s room. There is a knock. The princess uses her magic to open the door. James escorts Del inside. The filly stares at the ground the whole time. The stallion pushes the filly forward.
‘I am sorry for attacking you,’ Del apologizes. ‘You were only trying to have fun. I may have overreacted a bit.’
‘Sorry for zapping you,’ Rei amends. ‘I didn’t know my joke would upset you.’
‘Just don’t do it again, please.’
Rei nods. Del snorts and trots out of the room. James gives his daughter a hug and follows the younger pegasus out of the room. Cadence hugs Rei too and gets up.
‘Come on. Let’s get dinner started,’ the princess invites.
Rei hops up and trots out with Cadence.
Everypony has settled for the night. Cadence is still up securing the manor. She trots down the hallway with the bedrooms. The princess closes the door on Del and Spike. The drooling filly lays across the dragon. As she passes the next room, Cadence laughs when she hears Rei moaning ‘Inkie...’ in her sleep. The princess stops when she hears noise coming from James and Twilight’s room.
‘Okay, James,’ Twilight giggles. ‘I hid mistletoe somewhere in this room. If you find it, you get a prize.’
James groans. ‘Not now, Twilight. I don’t want to alert your parents or brother.’
‘Oh, pfft. They know by now. Now, I’ll give you three clu...’
‘I just don’t want them hating me more than they do already.’
‘They don’t ha... Well, it is not like they actively try to keep us apart.’
‘True, but I want to make a good impression on them this trip.’
Twilight is heard kissing James. ‘I understand. Doesn’t mean we can’t still cuddle.’
‘Sounds like a plan. … Can you take the mistletoe from your tail?’
Cadence giggles as she leaves the door and goes to her room. She climbs into bed with her husband.
‘You know, Shining...’ Cadence coos, ‘how about a game of hide the mistletoe?’
‘Meep,’ the unicorn squeaks.
In the morning, Del explores around the manor grounds. She stares at a pine tree. Part of its bark is missing and sap seeps out. The filly creeps forward. She extends her tongue to taste the sap, but something else lands there instead. The filly looks up. She closes her eye as something lands on her head.
‘Cold!’
Dels head darts around as she watches more snowflakes falling from the sky. The filly screams and gallops back to the house. She charges past Shining as he comes to investigate the screaming and under Rei as she comes out of the kitchen with a snack. The small pegasus bursts into the lounge and hides behind James as the stallion works on fixing the lights that were broken last night. Twilight, Cadence and Night Light look in on the panicking filly.
‘What is wrong?’ James asks, not looking from his work.
‘Ice! Sky! Falling!’ Del shouts.
‘Sentences.’
‘Ice is falling from the sky!’
Night Light looks out a nearby window. ‘You mean the snow?’
‘Snow comes from the sky?’
The unicorn stallion facehooves. Twilight moans. Cadence giggles.
‘To be fair,’ James begins, ‘ever since school got out for winter, Del has been sleeping through the scheduled snowfalls. It is her first winter in Equestria.’
‘Your weather team only does snowfall during the night?’ Night Light asks.
‘Since she lost a bet, Rainbow Dash’s teams have to handle all the snowfall for Ponyville, and she runs night and morning crews,’ Twilight explains.
‘And in all honesty, unmanaged weather, like out here, is way better than the artificial stuff,’ James grumbles.
‘James...’ Twilight growls.
‘It is snowing!’ Rei cheers as she flies into the room.
Del hisses and cowers behind her caretaker.
Cadence giggles. ‘We know already.’
Rei cheers again and flies out to play in the snow.
‘Come on, Del,’ Twilight calls from the door. ‘You like playing in the snow back home. Don’t worry about it falling.’
Del looks up at James. The stallion nods. The filly slowly comes out if hiding and joins Twilight. Night Light leaves to find his wife. Cadence goes to the door as well.
‘Mr Wanderer?’ the princess asks.
‘I’m good.’
‘Mr Wanderer... It would be very fun if you would join us.’
James looks up. Cadence smiles at her guest. The stallion groans and follows the princess outside.
…
Everypony trots around the chateau in the snowfall. The new snow adds to the cover already on the ground. Del trots under James to hide from the falling snow. Rei flies through snowfall.
‘It is so pretty out,’ Twilight Velvet comments.
‘Yes, you are,’ Night Light replies.
The kids groan at their parents. Cadence giggles.
Rei yells, ‘Sneak attack!’
The pegasus shakes a branch. A large mass of snow drops towards the group. The mages quickly raise shields to block the prank. Del hisses from under The Wandering Umbrella.
‘Aw! That is cheating!’ Rei whines.
‘You’ve never been in a snowball fight with an unicorn before,’ Spike grumbles.
‘I have... But Helios and Alba never cheated like that before!’
‘It’s okay, Rei,’ James says. ‘I’ll hook up the Wii U when we get back so we whoop them in some Neightendo Land games or Raypony Legends.’
‘You got a copy of Raypony Legends! It doesn’t come out until next year!’ Twilight gasps, grabbing her coltfriend’s hooves.
‘Early Hearths Warming gift for myself.’ James leans in close and whispers, ‘Yes, it is that awesome.’
‘We’re teleporting back now!’ Twilight tells her family while powering up a spell.
‘Twilight, Mr Wanderer, Rei, stay here,’ Cadence sighs. ‘We should be doing things as a family.’
‘We will be,’ Twilight argues. ‘Well, five of us at a time will.’
‘She makes a great argument,’ James adds, nodding.
Cadence stomps and growls.
‘Don’t worry, Cadence,’ Shining assures. ‘Twilly is just scared I’ll whoop her in a snowball fight like when we were younger.’
Twilight faces her brother. ‘What was that?’
‘Just saying until you went to Ponyville, I would teach you a thing or two about snowball fights every winter.’
Twilight laughs derisively. ‘I think when Chrysalis controlled your mind she changed a few memories. I know a certain colt who would cry to mom if so much as a snowflake touched his horn.’
Shining snorts. ‘Obviously somepony you made up when you were Discorded.’
The two siblings growl at each other and levitate several snowballs each. Cadence steps between the siblings.
‘Okay, okay. Calm down you two,’ the princess sighs. ‘How about a nice, friendly snowball fight to settle things?’
The siblings look at each other and smirk.
‘Now, for the rest of the teams...’
‘Teams?!’ the siblings exclaim.
‘Well, to make things fair for us. That way, we can all have fun.’
‘Oo! Me, Rei, Del and Spike with Twilight versus the rest of you,’ James speaks up.
‘Is that really fair?’ Night Light asks.
‘You have all of the magic users, including a princess and the captain of the royal guard. I think that balances things.’
‘Fine. Whatever.’
The princess claps her hooves. ‘Great! How about we take a few minutes to build forts and get ready? That way we can have a lot of fun.’
‘Deal,’ the siblings agree. ‘You’re going down.’
After one last laugh, the groups split up to be preparations.
…
Shining inspects his small fort. He and his father have made a small wall while Cadence and Twilight Velvet have a large pile of snowballs. The unicorn is proud of their work. He turns to mock whatever battlements his sister has built, but she is not around.
‘Come on, Twilight,’ Shining calls. ‘Where are you hiding?’
‘We’re almost ready!’ Twilight shouts back. ‘One moment.’
Shining groans. He and Night Light follow Twilight’s voice but quickly come to a halt. Before them stands a large ice fortress complete with a pegasus flying patrols and a dragon armed with an ice spear. Del peeks from a window before popping back inside. At the top of the multi-story fort, Twilight uses her magic to reinforce the walls while James sonics the snow into a solid structure.
Twilight notices her brother and glares. ‘We’re not ready let!’
‘Oh, my,’ Twilight Velvet comments as she trots up. ‘Very impressive, Twilight.’
‘Thanks! I am glad I read that book on provisional military structures on the train ride.’
Shining stammers, ‘Th-that’s cheating!’
‘Jealous much?’ Twilight taunts.
A snowball is launched at the smug princess. Twilight growls and fires one back at her brother.
‘What’s going..?’ Cadence begins to ask as she trots up. She sees the fight started and giggles. She levitates all of the snowballs she made earlier. Twilight Velvet notices and joins in the fun.
James looks up from his work. ‘We started already? Thanks for the warning.’
The stallion ducks behind a parapet and tosses snowballs over his shoulder. One hits Night Light in the head. He snorts and starts launching snowballs upwards. Rei flies overhead, throwing snowballs at everypony below her. That is until she gets hit in the face. The pegasus looks up to see Cadence flying in front of her, levitating several snowballs all at once. Rei laughs and shoots into the air. She returns with a cloud and kicks it, shooting a barrage of snowballs at the princess. Cadence laughs and flies away.
A snowball hits Shining in the horn. ‘OW! That had a rock in it!’ the stallion shouts.
‘Did not!’ Twilight shouts back. ‘You’re just a weakling.’
Twilight hits her brother with another snowball.
‘MOM! Twilight’s putting rocks and ice in her snowballs.’
Twilight Velvet groans and facehoofs. She catches a snowball with her magic and fires it back at Spike, knocking the dragon over. She props Spike back up. ‘Sorry.’ A snowball hits her in the side of the head.
‘Ditto,’ Spike laughs.
Spike runs off with Twilight Velvet chasing him. James looks up from his hiding place.
‘Am I hitting anypony?’ the stallion asks.
‘Maybe if you actually aimed,’ Night Light taunts.
James aims and throws, but Night Light raises a shield at the last moment. He blocks several more snowballs, frustrating the physicist. James raises another snowball to throw, but Night Light shakes his head and points behind the other stallion. He turns to see dozens of snowballs levitating behind him.
‘Oh, frak.’
Night Light pelts James with snowballs, eventually knocking the stallion off the fort. The earth pony lands hard in the snow in front of the unicorn. Night Light laughs over the fallen stallion. The laugh is stopped by a mass of snow to the face. James starts laughing from where he lays.
Above the fort, Rei dodges Cadence’s snowballs while bucking clouds to shoot back at the princess. The pegasus turns back to taunt her pursuer but gets hit in the wing with a snowball. She loses control of her flying and crashes into the fort. The structure starts shaking. Twilight yells and teleports to safety. The fort collapses into a large pile of snow. The unicorns shield themselves from the small avalanche. Once the snow is settled, Rei pops up from the wreckage. She shakes the snow from her head, then gasps.
‘DEL!’ Rei shouts and starts digging in the snow.
Rei quickly uncovers the cowering pegasus. Del looks up at the older pegasus then gallops to James crying. The stallion holds the upset pegasus.
‘Del! I am so sorry!’ Rei begs. ‘I’m really sorry.’
Del does not reply. She just keeps holding James and crying.
‘I think it is time we headed in,’ the stallion sighs.
The others nod. Twilight and Night Light prep teleportation spells and return them to the manor.
Back at the mansion, everypony is gathered in the lounge. Night Light watches as James finishes with the lights. Twilight, Rei, Shining and Cadence play Raypony Legends while Spike supports them with the gamepad. Twilight Velvet watches the younger ponies playing the game.
Twilight growls, ‘Damn it, Shining. Stop sucking!’
‘Slow down a bit so I can catch up.’
‘We’ll slow down once you stop sucking.’
Spike groans and uses the gamepad to help Shining out. Del trots in, having come from a warm bath. She looks around then gallops to James for a hug.
‘Feeling better?’ the stallion asks.
Del nods and nuzzles the stallion’s chest. Rei drops out of the game and goes over to the smaller pegasus.
‘I’m sorry,’ Rei apologizes. ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you. It was an accident.’
Del lets go of James and hugs Rei. Cadence joins them.
‘I’m sorry too,’ Cadence adds. ‘I was the one who hit Rei and knocked her into the fort.’
Del looks up and growls at the princess. ‘Of course it was your fault that I was hurt. You hate my sister, and you hate me.’
‘I am not really sure what you are talking about.’
‘Tsk. Stupid princess. You abuse your power over love and punish those with similar skills.’
‘Del, what are you..?’
‘Quiet! You’re mean, and I don’t like you.’ Del looks back at James. ‘I know I’m going to be in trouble, so I’ll be in my room until dinner.’
The angry filly gallops away.
‘Um, what just happened?’ Cadence asks.
‘She’s just overreacting,’ James sighs. ‘I’ll go talk to her.’ He gives his sonic to Night Light. ‘Here. You finish up.’
Night Light examines the tool. ‘How do I..?’
‘Just point and sonic. Sheesh. It is not rocket science... which is actually pretty easy when you know what you are doing. Transdimensional information tunneling, now, that is hard.’
James gallops away, leaving a confused pony in his wake. Night Light fumbles with the sonic. It goes off briefly while he is holding it to his face. Rei groans, takes the device and shows how it is used.
‘Rei, are you the sister Del keeps referring to?’ Cadence asks. She frowns. ‘I thought you liked me.’
Rei shakes her head. ‘I still love you, Ai-hime.’ She looks at Twilight. ‘Um, are we allowed to tell her?’
Twilight looks back. ‘Del’s sister is Full Moon. Sorta. That was an interesting morning.’
‘Great. So we have bloodthirsty monster staying with us,’ Shining groans.
‘I have fought them more often than you have,’ Twilight snaps, ‘and yes, while they do feed on love and can stomach meat better than normal ponies can, they are a lot more like us that we are willing to admit. They still love and have families like we do. You could have learned something if you actually paid attention to Full Moon during her trip.’
‘He paid attention when we were in the spa together,’ Rei teases.
‘Shut your yap!’ Shining yells. He takes a breath. ‘Listen, it is not like I think they are all bad. I mean, I have one with my personal unit. Just Full Moon...’
‘My name is Full Moon, too,’ Rei growls. ‘Twilight’s right. You have to learn to stop sucking.’
The young mare stomps from room. Twilight snorts at her brother and follows. Shining stomps the floor and storms away. Night Light holds the sonic to his ear to examine it further. It goes off, and he screams and holds his ear.
Cadence looks around, panicked. ‘Please. Somepony tell me what is going on. I am really confused.’
Twilight Velvet tends to her husband. ‘Don’t worry, dear. We all are.’
Cadence moans and kicks at the ground.
Dinner is extremely tense. Del continually glares at Cadence, unnerving the princess. Twilight and Shining grumble at each other. Spike watches the ponies he considers to be older siblings and sighs. Rei stews in her seat and barely touches her third helping. James talks with Twilight Velvet, catching up on what he missed. Night Light eats calmly, his hearing slowly returning.
‘This is pretty good,’ Night Light comments. ‘Rei, can you pass the salt?’
Rei gives the salt to her dad who offers it to the unicorn.
‘It is not going to explode on me or anything, will it?’
‘Only if you separate the elements and ignite them,’ the physicist replies.
‘The way your magic wand behaves, I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened.’
James groans. ‘You just point and sonic. Nothing complicated there. Twilight has one. She could have given you pointers.’
‘Pfft. Like she would have gotten it right,’ Shining snorts. ‘Probably rob a bank or something.’
‘And the captain of the royal guard was where when Nightmare Moon returned?’ Twilight chides.
‘You know I was still in Canterlot! I saw you off that morning for Celestia’s sake! She ordered me to stay behind.’ Shining slumps back in his chair. ‘You would never have met your friends or became a princess if I hadn’t had to stay in Canterlot.’
‘Twilight! Shining! Stop it!’ Twilight Velvet scolds.
‘He started it!’ ‘She started it!’
Rei pushes away from the table. ‘I’m done. I’ll be in my room.’
Del hops up. ‘Me, too.’
‘Rei, Del, don’t you want to play games with the family?’ James asks. ‘We can have a great game of Cards Against Ponies.’
‘Not if she is playing,’ Del spits.
‘There is nothing wrong with her!’ Rei snaps. ‘Stop blaming her! No Full Moon, neither your sister nor myself, would hold a petty grudge like you are!’
‘You don’t know my sister!’
‘I know her better than you!’
‘ENOUGH!’
Cadence slams her hooves on the table, cracking it. Everypony stops and stares at the princess. She is on the verge of tears.
‘This isn’t supposed to happen! I wanted the whole family together so we could be happy and loving and caring. Instead, you have broken into petty arguments, and I am getting blamed for something I have no clue about. Twilight, Shining, I love you both, but you haven’t stopped fighting since you got here. Night Light, Mr Wanderer is just trying to help out. Give him a chance. Del, I have no idea who your sister is, but I am sorry for ever hurting her. That doesn’t mean I hurt you too. And Rei, Del is practically your sister. You should be comforting her when she is upset, not picking a fight with everypony. I have powerful love magic, but I doubt even that can fix the horribleness I see before me.’ Cadence breaks down crying. ‘I just wanted everypony to be happy for Hearths Warming! Now you all ruined it! I can never have a happy Hearths Warming! Never!’
The princess gallops away, sobbing. Everypony is left stunned. Rei and Del look at the others for a moment before trotting off to their rooms.
‘Way to go, Shining. You upset your wife,’ Twilight shoots.
‘Me? It was your fault!’ Shining yells back.
‘TWILIGHT! SHINING! Go to your room!’ Twilight Velvet snaps.
Twilight is so scared that she instantly teleports away. Shining gallops away. Spike groans and heads off. Night Light gets up and trots away, levitating a bottle of wine with him.
‘That went swimmingly,’ the unicorn comments as he leaves.
Twilight Velvet and James are left alone in the dining room.
‘For what it is worth, I am sorry for my part in all of this,’ James apologizes.
‘None of it is your fault,’ Twilight Velvet sighs. ‘The kids are like this every year. It was impossible to shop for them and Spike without them having present envy. And my husband... He’s just being an ass, and not the good kind like you see everyday in the market.’
‘Makes it really tough for me to ask him what I wanted to ask him...’
‘What were you going to ask him?’
James takes a deep breath. ‘Well, I guess I should talk about this with you too...’
Twilight paces in her room. Spike has a quill and paper out.
‘Furthermore, his complete lack of discipline and failure to attend to his wife’s most basic needs makes him unfit to command the Equestrian military or even a single unit of soldiers,’ Twilight raves. ‘These points and many more are why my brother should be stripped of his rank and title and banished from Equestria and put in jail in the place he is banished to. Faithfully, Princess Twilight Sparkle.’ She turns to Spike. ‘Did you get all of that?’
Spike stares at Twilight in disbelief. ‘You really want to send all of that to Celestia over a little tiff with your brother?’
‘He crossed a line, Spike! One he should never be allowed to cross again.’
There is a knock on the door.
‘Twilly?’
Twilight looks to see Shining step into her room.
‘Speaking of crossing lines...’
‘Twilly, can we talk?’
Twilight snorts and turns away.
‘Listen, I know we both said some pretty outrageous things but if you were offended, I am sorry.’
‘IF! You have been a pain this entire time!’
‘You are our guest! And not a very good one at that,’ -- he snorts -- ‘princess.’
‘Not like you are being easy to get along with,’ -- she snorts -- ‘brother.’
The siblings growl at each other. Outside the room, ‘YAMATTE!’ is shouted. The siblings turns away from each other.
‘Jerk,’ Twilight huffs.
‘Brat,’ Shining spits.
‘Will you two give it a rest!’ Spike yells.
‘What!’ The siblings snap their attention to the dragon.
‘Every single year, you two fight about nothing,’ Spike growls. ‘You have fought every year since I was hatched. It is like you pick some stupid little thing and argue non-stop. He gets more presents. She has bigger presents. He threw a snowball at me. She has a coltfriend. He has a glass of water. She slept in past ten. Enough already! You two love each other every other day of the year but as soon as presents are involved, you make make a dragon look as generous as Rarity!’ He snorts a small flame. ‘Is it really that hard to get along on the one day where you are supposed to get along?’
The siblings kick at the ground, ashamed.
‘Do we really fight like this every year?’ Shining mumbles.
‘Yes!’ Spike snaps.
Twilight looks up at her brother. ‘You still are my BBBFF.’
‘And you’re my LSBFF.’
Shining puts a foreleg around his sister. Twilight hugs her brother in return. She looks over and motions Spike over. The dragon walks over and joins the siblings for a group hug.
…
Night Light trots around the lounge with his wine. He stops in front of the holiday tree. The box of lights sits in front of him. The unicorn sighs and levitates the lights onto the tree. He takes a deep breath and plugs them in, lighting the tree.
‘What do you know? It actually works.’
Night Light turns to leave, but James is standing at the door.
‘Mr Wanderer.’
James trots into the room. ‘Sir, can we talk for a moment?’
…
Del hides under her bed. She growls and hisses at nothing in particular. There is a loud scream from the next room.
‘YAMATTE!’ Rei shouts as she is levitated into the room.
Del lets out an unholy hiss at the older pegasus. Rei growls at the younger pegasus and bolts for the door. She is deflected by a purple barrier. Twilight Velvet steps through the barrier. She magically drags Del from under the bed and sits both pegasi on the bed.
‘Now, I haven’t had to deal out punishment too much with my kids,’ Twilight Velvet snorts, ‘but it should come as no surprise where Twilight got her ability to give lectures.’ She paces in front of the pegasi. ‘I have heard stories from Twilight about both of you. What went wrong? She used to say you were a pest, Rei, but lately, she has had nothing but good to say. I enjoyed hearing about how responsible you had become. Now you are just being mean for no reason.’
Rei looks away and whimpers.
‘And you, Del. You are being just nasty! Cadence did nothing to you except try to be your friend. Yes, there have been some accidents, but she was not at fault. I know your father is trying to bribe you with offers of presents. I have heard of his temper, so it is luck you haven’t set him off. Why can’t you be the sweet little filly I have heard so much about?’
Del covers her head and whines.
Twilight Velvet sighs. ‘I know you two are good girls. You are probably feeding off of the bad vibes from my husband and Shining and... Cadence.’
‘Ai-hime...’ Rei squeaks.
The unicorn sighs and sits with the pegasi. ‘I guess I can talk a bit about her foalhood.’
…
Cadence stands on a balcony atop the manor. She leans over the railing, crying. She looks up when she hears hooffalls behind her.
‘I know it is a little late, but we are finally making up,’ James tells the princess.
Cadence wipes her tears. ‘That is good.’
‘We can finally have the family Hearths Warming you wanted.’
‘Can we? Can we really?’ The princess starts crying again. ‘I just wanted everypony to be happy, but we just ended up fighting. We always fight.’
James trots beside Cadence. ‘Princess?’
‘My parents used to fight all the time. Even on the holidays. That is why I went to live with my aunt. They are better now but every holiday, I would still remember their fighting. Ever since I married Shining, I wanted to have a happy Hearths Warming with the family, but that doesn’t seem likely now.’
‘Cadence, you are the princess of love. You have to have sensed what I have been up to since I got here.’
‘Yes... Your love for her is quite strong.’
‘And for my daughter and Del and everypony here. We all deeply care for each other. It just took us a while to realize it. Even without your magic, you awakened the love within us.’
‘But the holiday is ruined.’
‘Night Light decorated the tree and is playing cards with Shining and Spike. Rei and Del are making cookies with Velvet. We had our slip-ups, but the holiday is coming together nicely.’
‘That does sound nice...’
‘And if that is not enough cheer for you, Twilight and I would like you to join us in the closet.’
Cadence turns and looks at the smiling stallion. She raises a questioning eyebrow.
Stormy lays in his bed in his father’s mansion. He is trying to catch up on his sleep after staying up late playing with Lemon. He rolls over and faces the ceiling. The young stallion yawns and wakes a little. His eyes go wide, and he tries screaming. The scream is cut short as Trixie lands on him, muzzle to muzzle. The performer’s hat wafts down to her head. Trixie breaks the sudden kiss and turns up to the ceiling.
‘A little warning would be nice!’ Trixie shouts.
Stormy laughs. ‘Trixe, look out.’
She looks back down. ‘For what?’
Stormy wraps his forelegs around Trixie and pulls her in for another kiss.
Before their big day celebrating with the family, Applejack and Apple Bloom are examining gifts left for them by their beds. Apple Bloom sets up her new telescope. She steps around a small card that reads ‘For when you want to spend all night with Starlight. - TWP’
‘Now, be careful,’ Applejack warns. ‘Ya don’ wanna break it befer ya can set it up in yer clubhouse.’
‘Ah won’t!’ Apple Bloom groans. ‘Sides, ya can fix it with yer new screwdriver if anythin’ happens t’ it.’
The sisters look at a basket on Applejack’s bed. It is filled with oranges with a shiny, new sonic screwdriver sitting under a card reading ‘You might enjoy a Satsuma sometime. - TWP PS: Enjoy being able to fix anything or go on ghost hunts.’ Applejack laughs then quickly hides the basket when she hears a knock on the door.
Lyra gallops around her family’s mansion in Canterlot. Her magic shines bright as she levitates something beside her. She rounds a corner and almost runs into Bon Bon.
‘You have been playing with that all morning. Aren’t you even going to have any of my sweets before your parents eat them all?’
Lyra frowns. ‘But, but...’ She levitates an oddly-shaped action figure in front of her. ‘Super-Spider-Iron-X-Bat-Human cannot save the world without me!’
Bon Bon groans and leaves her wife with her new toy.
Stormy lays in his bed as a dark purple hoof strokes his mane. Raspberry coughs a bit as she gets up. She kisses her son on the forehead before trotting out of his room. She sighs as she trots to her room. She jumps at the sight of a box on her bed. The unicorn nervously opens the box from a safe distance with her magic. Her shock is replaced with calm as the scent of fresh scones reaches her nose. Raspberry trots to the bed and levitates one of the treats. She lifts a letter from beside the box.
‘Don’t forget to share these with me and teach me everything you can. - Strawberry PS: Mr Strawberry sends his love.’
Raspberry smiles at the note and eats the scone. An odd whooshing sound can be heard as the mare eats.
Inkie examines a rock with an eyepiece. Beside her, a greyish-purple mare moans in boredom.
‘It is just some rock. What is the big deal?’ the mare groans.
‘Blinkie, this isn’t just some rock. It is an asteroid,’ Inkie replies. ‘This is a piece of the universe.’
Blinkie groans louder and trots away. ‘At least Pinkie is acting stupid over something not as stupid.’
Blinkie leaves her sister and passes Pinkie’s room. Inside, Pinkie has a huge grin on her face as she flips through a photo album containing pictures of all of her friends from across their lives. The pink pony squeals with joy with each new page.
Beside her is a note: ‘Don’t forget your friendships, no matter what complications may be born.’
Full Moon trots into an hotel room after a day of performing. She nods to her bodyguard who seals the room behind her. Chrysalis drops her disguise and collapses on a couch. A small box bounces beside her muzzle.
‘What is this?’
Chrysalis opens the box. A small key is attached to a note.
‘In case you ever want to visit your sister. Try it out!’
The changeling groans and gets up. She trots to a door and inserts the key. The door opens, and Chrysalis cringes. She steps into the pinkest room she has ever seen. The changeling recoils at everything she sees until she notices a wall covered in shelves. She looks at every shelf, reading the names on every label. Chrysalis climbs onto the overly-pink bed. She smiles as she rests on Del’s bed.
Fluttershy trots to her room with a book under her wing. She hops on her bed and opens it up. Surprise looks in the room and leans against the door frame.
‘You know,’ the older pegasus begins, ‘the helmet last year and a book on spear combat this year, I would think your “husband” was on my side and wanted you to follow in my hoofsteps.’
Fluttershy huffs. ‘James has his ways, mother. Just because I may not be interested in combat doesn’t mean he got me this book without reason.’
Surprise sighs. ‘I know. I know. Although, if he gets you a book on air force rules and regulations, I will take you to the academy and have you replace Spitfire in an instant.’
Fluttershy groans and rolls her eyes.
Surprise laughs and goes to her daughter. She closes the book. ‘Come on. Let’s get back out there with the family. I mean, what pegasus wouldn’t want to be with her family on Hearths Warming?’
…
Rainbow Dash is passed out in her home, something her parents are used to, given her sleep habits. This time she is not asleep. She has fainted. In her hooves is an autographed photo. It is of a young dark blue pegasus stallion with a rainbow mane dressed as a Wonderbolt. The autograph reads: ‘To my biggest fan. Thanks for one day teaching me everything I know. Chrome Blitz. PS: Scootaloo is the toughest wing commander!’
Rainbow Dash’s leg twitches. A slightly older pale blue mare looks into the room and rolls her eyes.
‘Not again, Rainbow. What would your protege think?’
…
Scootaloo is passed out in her home, beside the holiday tree. Her mother fans the fainted pegasus. In Scootaloo’s hooves is an autographed photo. It is of an older version of herself and Rainbow Dash dressed as Wonderbolts. The autograph reads: ‘To me. Hang in there and keep training. Rainbow Dash will help out along the way. Me. PS: Time travel is SO AWESOME!’
Scootaloo’s leg twitches.
‘Come on, Scootaloo,’ her mother calls. ‘It is not like this was that big of a spoiler.’
Rarity yawns and stretches as she wakes up. Thanks to her Time Lord acquaintance, she has been getting holiday gifts from all of her friends the past six days, including rare gems from around the world and planets beyond. She is looking forward to what she will get for her actual Hearths Warming gifts. Before styling her mane, Rarity notices a letter next to her makeup. She lets out a happy squeal and rips it open while beginning her primping.
‘I hope you enjoyed the gifts so far. To top it off, here is something I promised to get you after you made me watch Sweetie Belle when Stormy was visiting his mother’s family last month. PS: She LOVED the movie that much.’
Rarity sets down the letter, confused. There is a knock on her door.
‘RARITY!’ Sweetie Belle shouts. ‘You have to see what Mr Wanderer got me!’
The older unicorn groans and magically opens the door. The younger unicorn haphazardly drives a small, electric go-kart into the room, crashing into everything.
‘Make way for Venelope von Sweetie Belle!’ the unicorn cheers before driving out of the room.
Rarity’s parents gallop past the room as they chase the filly.
‘Well played, Mr Wanderer,’ Rarity growls, her eye twitching. ‘You got revenge on me. It. Is. ON!’
Diamond Tiara sighs as she sits in the middle of all of her presents. She has stacks of new games, toys and dresses, but she does not seem happy. Even the life-sized Celestia plushie she got after seeing Apple Bloom’s Cadence plushie does not raise the filly’s spirits. Filthy Rich trots up with one more gift in his mouth. He sets it in front of his daughter.
‘I found this under the tree,’ Mr Rich says. ‘I don’t recognize it, but it says it is for you.’
Diamond Tiara sighs and looks at the tag. ‘To Diamond Tiara, From TWP.’ She groans at the thought of what he might have gotten her. The filly opens the box and gasps. Inside rests a tablet. Diamond Tiara’s face lights up as she picks up the electronic device.
‘That looks pretty impressive,’ Mr Rich comments.
‘Yes... Very nice...’
‘Just don’t forget to thank your friend.’
Diamond Tiara just nods as she examines her tablet. Mr Rich smiles, pats her on the back and leaves her to play.
Octavia sits in her apartment in front her sound system. A symphony is playing. Vinyl trot over and sits by her friend.
‘I might not know this classical stuff as well as you, but don’t you have this already? ‘ the DJ asks.
‘Shh!’ Octavia hisses. ‘This a recording of my favorite Beethooven symphony. The first time he performed it, too...’
Vinyl smiles. ‘He’s really awesome, ya know.’
Octavia leans her head against her friend’s shoulder. ‘Vinyl. Just shut up and listen with me.’
Vinyl’s smile grows, and she leans back against her friend.
Lucas’ family is getting to know Mimi. During their gift exchange, they are quizzing the mare about her past. Mimi is careful to skirt around the fact that she is really a changeling. Earth changes her seat and plops down beside her little brother.
‘I’m impressed, little bro.’
‘Why is that?’ Lucas asks, sipping some cider.
‘You found a really great mare to settle for you,’ Earth replies. ‘Here I thought you would settle for the first pony you slept with, even if she turned out to be a changeling.’
Lucas chokes on his drink. Earth smirks.
‘Oh, Lucas. You have another one,’ Paula says, levitating a small package to her son.
Lucas examines the package. ‘Looks like it is for you too, Mimi.’
‘I wasn’t expecting to get anything,’ Mimi comments, moving closer to see the package being opened.
Lucas opens the package. His jaw drops. Earth’s eyes go wide. Mimi picks up a card resting atop a set of keys and a deed.
‘Just a small starter place so you don’t have to share that crapped apartment when you start a family,’ Mimi reads. ‘PS: You’re fired.’ She looks at the card. ‘I don’t get it.’
Lucas puts a foreleg around his fillyfriend. ‘It means we have the best boss ever.’ He kisses Mimi. ‘The best.’
Daring sits in her apartment reading her new book. A sound from outside catches her ear. She sets down the book, but she does not get far as she looks at the cover: Return of the Sapphire Stone by Dashing Drake. She smiles as she turns the book over. The picture on the back is of a handsome light purple pegasus stallion with a messy monochrome rainbow mane wearing a vest and pith helmet standing next to an older Daring Do. The mare shakes her head.
‘You already saved me,’ she mutters. ‘You didn’t have to do anything else for me.’
She hears another sound outside and goes to the window. Daring looks across the street and laughs at what she sees. Chrysalis is looking around James’ apartment. The pegasus whistles at her friend and waves. The changeling jumps in surprise when she turns to see the pegasus fly across the street and knock on the window.
‘I didn’t know you were here,’ Chrysalis says, helping Daring inside.
‘I don’t really have anywhere else to go. Thought you were touring the Griffin Empire?’
‘I was invited to see my sister, but it appears she is not in.’
Daring laughs. ‘She should be in Canterlot with your ex-husband.’
‘What do you mean “ex”?’ Chrysalis snarls.
The pegasus smirks. ‘Ya know, I have a pretty decent stock of booze back at my place...’
Chrysalis smiles wide and nods towards Del’s room. ‘Bring as much as you can carry and meet me in my suite.’
Daring laughs again and flies out the window.
Celestia stands outside Luna’s room. She knocks on the door while levitating a graphic novel in front of her.
‘Busy!’ Luna answers in her Royal Canterlot voice.
‘Dear sister, when are you coming out?’ Celestia asks. ‘I want to show you this adorable comic about the most adorable pony princess.’
‘Can’t. James bought me some games on Steam, and I have to download them.’
Celestia sighs and opens the door. ‘Oh, what did he get you?’
Luna starts laughing nervously. ‘All of them.’
Celestia’s jaw drops.
‘Oh, and he got me a few new hard drives too,’ she adds, motioning to a ceiling-high server rack.
Celestia snorts and turns away. ‘Where is my mistletoe headband? I have the urge to teleport to Fancy Pants’ mountain chateau. Somepony owes me a better present...’
Luna just nods and stares at her monitor as Celestia storms from her room.
At the manor, the family gift exchange is going full swing. Everypony is in high spirits as they receive their gifts. Del sits in the middle of a pile of cakes and candies she received from James, Cadence and Twilight Velvet, ignoring the book Twilight got her. Spike inspects and samples the intergalactic gems he received. Cadence smiles at James in thanks for the new tiara he added to her collection. Night Light opens his current gift. His eye instantly twitches.
‘A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawk? Mr Wanderer... You shouldn’t have. Literally.’
‘You’ll love it, dad,’ Twilight assures. ‘He is the greatest griffin physicist to ever live.’
‘He gets a few things wrong, but that happens to all of us from time to time,’ James adds.
‘Smashing...’
Night Light drinks a cup of cider and rolls his eyes. Twilight Velvet investigates the simple letter James gave her. She looks inside and sees a ticket.
‘Yeah,’ James speaks up. ‘Theta told me you never traveled with him when you knew each other. That is good for one trip.’
‘One trip where?’ Twilight Velvet asks.
The Wandering Physicist grins. ‘Somewhere spectacular.’
Twilight Velvet raises a curious eyebrow. She returns the smile and tucks the ticket away.
‘My turn!’ Rei cheers.
James reaches into a bag and gives his daughter a small package. She quickly rips it open then gasps in shock and her wings stick straight up. Rei looks around at everypony looking at her. She blushes and hides her new game.
‘Thank you,’ she says, kissing her father on the cheek.
‘What was that?’ Twilight asks her coltfriend while he gives Shining his gift.
James covers his mouth and whispers, ‘It is a custom-built eroge using her and her friends as the character models.’
The princess cringes. ‘Ew.’
‘I don’t know what is worse: that it was exactly what she wanted or that Rarity’s notebooks had everything the animators needed to make it anatomically accurate.’
‘Double ew.’
Shining finishes opening his gift and facehooves. Cadence giggles.
‘What is it?’ Twilight Velvet asks.
‘It is the complete discography of Full Moon,’ Cadence answers. ‘Ooo. I might have to borrow it sometime.’
‘We got it signed, too,’ Twilight adds. ‘That way it would be a tragedy if it ever got lost or ruined, Shining.’
Shining shudders. ‘Thank you, Twilly, Mr Wanderer.’
‘Almost near the bottom here...’ James comments as he gives Twilight her gift.
The princess unwraps a book almost as big as Del. ‘The Complete History of the Rise and Fall of Pre-Dracoequuian Equestria?’
‘Just some light reading.’
‘It is wonderful,’ Twilight replies, kissing her coltfriend.
‘Anything else in that infinite bag of yours?’ Night Light asks.
Twilight smiles at her coltfriend. Her family exchange glances and lean forward. Rei hides her game again and looks at her father. James laughs and reaches into his bag. His hoof touches a small purple box and recoils. He looks down and tries reaching again, but his leg will not move.
James looks up and smiles at everypony. ‘I guess not at this time. Hey! Who is up for a game? We have Cards Against Ponies.’
The family sighs. Twilight looks around, not knowing why they reacted that way. She levitates a box of cards and starts setting up the game. James looks back at his bag.
Soon... The stallion thinks as he turns to the game.
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You know, it was a really bad idea to find a link to one of the last chapters, wasn't it?
2517102
To put another way, you have caught up with the series in the time it has taken me to get the next chapter written. (Though, I have written three other chapters besides that one in the meantime.)
well if that is not a double meaning i do not know what one is.
4156326
And what did she do just two chapters later?