We Three Crusaders
Applejack’s quest ended the moment she stepped out of the kitchen into the Carousel Boutique’s ample showroom. Despite her relationship with the owner and her familiarity with large barns, Applejack had historically never felt comfortable in the large round chamber that accounted for most of the first floor. The luxurious sangria curtains that cordoned off the fitting areas were as jarring to her as the mauve diamond pattern on the ceiling, and the number of mirrors made her feel as though she was being constantly watched. Regardless of her trepidations, however, Applejack’s appreciation for Rarity’s unique sense of style made her come to see the boutique as a cozy, lavish suite in a five star hotel over time.
Rarity had moved eight of the mannequins to the small round stage, half-surrounded by mirrors, that her clients used to model her creations. The crowded assemblage of faux-ponies had no eyes to appreciate Rarity’s work, but the dedicated fashionista toiled away, using the increased perspective from the mirrors to arrange and rearrange the crudely crocheted caps on all of their canvas heads.
“No, not like that…” Rarity muttered, adjusting one cap slightly off center while swapping two others with her magic, “…perhaps a little to the left…oh yes that’s quite fetching…”
Applejack took note of the fact that there was no trace of the recently destroyed caps. The bare heads of the victim mannequins had already been covered with new caps, in shades so similar to one another that they strayed outside Applejack’s spectrum of color recognition. Rarity was humming a spirited tune as if nothing were amiss. Applejack approached the stage and stopped on the floor beneath it, silently appreciating the mannequins in the mirror before daring to speak.
“…you alright?”
“You know I’m not alright, dear,” Rarity said bluntly, her eyes never coming off her work. “But this is how I cope. Tell me you wouldn’t be out bucking apple trees right now if you were in my position.”
Applejack couldn’t argue the point. Thrown off by the ease with which Rarity admitted her distress, she spoke awkwardly, searching for anything useful to say. “I’m sorry for what I said about all these caps before. I guess they’re not really so—”
Rarity held up a foreleg. “No, no. Every single one of them, from a high fashion standpoint, is positively hideous. Everything you said about them is correct, and I won’t have you compromising your honesty now just to save my feelings. Because I know that’s what you’re doing.”
Applejack scratched her forehead, adjusted her hat, and began staring uncomfortably around the room. Rarity remained silent for a full minute, shuffling around the caps obsessively, until she finally gave voice to her thoughts-
“I suppose I don’t need to explain these hats, do I.”
“…I suppose ya don’t.”
Applejack put her attention on her friend again. Standing on the slightly elevated platform, Rarity was on her hind legs, with her forelegs planted on the flank of one of the mannequins. Her red cheaters were back on her muzzle, and she had a length of measuring tape loosely wrapped around her neck. Applejack couldn’t quite fathom what use either accessory was at that moment beyond mood-induction, but it was obvious that Rarity’s activity was little more than busy work. Applejack stepped up onto the platform and laid a hoof gently on Rarity’s shoulder from behind.
“You’re a great sister,” Applejack stated. “Prolly the most devoted one I ever met. You can say anything you want about feelin’ like you ain’t done enough for Sweetie Belle, but I bet you’ve spent hours and hours this month standing here makin’ ugly hats in colors and styles only a filly would like, using a technique you don’t even like, because you want your sister to feel beautiful again.”
Rarity stiffened. Applejack backpeddled, instantly regretting the one extra word.
“I…I didn’t mean ‘again’…I mean she’s beautiful now, just…”
Rarity spun a levitated orange cap around slowly in the air, examining it. “It’s alright. This is just…all I can do for her. Make her feel comfortable, and try to make her feel pretty.”
Applejack made a face, “There’s a lot more to beauty than how your mane or tail looks. Even I know that.”
“That may be so,” Rarity nodded, “But it doesn’t make us covet our appearances any less. Some of us are not so narcissistic as others, but that begs the question-” Finally she turned her head, catching Applejack’s face only out of the corner of her eye, “Would it not be easier for you if you simply shaved your mane off? Your head would be a lot cooler while you’re working, and you wouldn’t have all that extra hair getting in your way, no?”
Applejack glanced down at her long, lush blonde locks and the single tie that held them. “W-well I…”
“But you wouldn’t do that, would you,” Rarity filled in the blanks. “Because one some level, you want to feel pretty. You want to feel like a mare, or at the very least, you want a subtle way to convey your uniqueness to your world of strong-backed stallions that labor in fields.
Applejack blushed slightly and looked away. “…somethin’ like that.”
Rarity adjusted her glasses and sat the cap back on its perch, turning fully to her friend. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be harsh. You’re absolutely right – beauty is far more than skin deep. I simply meant that even knowing that, some ponies still want to…feel pretty.” She stepped off the platform and moved into the center of the room, her gait and lack of immediacy suggesting she had no destination in mind. Left on the platform and surrounded by mirrors, Applejack favored her attractive mane and tail with a tiny appreciative glance, and again looked for something to say.
“Did you see the girls go through here a minute ago?”
“Hm?” Rarity replied, “Oh yes, they asked me for some supplies I don’t keep down here. I believe they were headed for my room upstairs.”
“Supplies?” Applejack repeated, “What’d they say they were up to? You sure you’re okay with them rooting around in your stuff?”
“…if they can her to come out of her room I’d be okay with anything…” Rarity muttered.
“Hm? Say again?”
“O-oh, nothing dear,” Rarity adopted a more spirited look, “But you’re only half right in what you think you know about the origin of all these caps.” She hesitated, “Would you…like to know the rest?”
Applejack nodded dumbly, “Sure?”
Rarity found her way over to her fainting couch. Shunning its normal purpose, she sat down comfortably upon it and took a moment to situate herself. “Do you recall the opening of Rarity for You in Manehattan?”
Applejack welcomed a chuckle, “Sure do. Hard to forget somethin’ like that. Real humdinger of a party when it all came together though.”
“It was quite the soiree, wasn’t it?” Rarity agreed. Her smile vanished as quickly as it came. “A week after that, I took another short trip to Manehattan. It was only for the day, and my goal was merely to make certain everything was well stocked and operating correctly in the short term. It was…” she glanced upwards at nothing, “…around seven in the morning on a Tuesday. Not a particularly productive time for fashion sales, but since I was there anyway, I opened the shop. Only one customer came in - an old Neighponese stallion. He was knobbier in the knees than bent further over than ever I’ve seen an old stallion before, and he had a heavy knit scarf around his neck.”
“A scarf?” Applejack interrupted, “Wasn’t that still summertime?”
“It was. He claimed, however, that his ‘old bones are always chilly these days’. He was a delightfully friendly fellow with a sharp wit, but it turned out my only customer of the morning wasn’t actually a customer of mine at all - he was looking for a repair service for the scarf, and had wandered into the wrong shop. He said it was something his late wife had knitted for him when they were still dating, which he claimed was ‘long before you were born, young filly’.”
Applejack smiled warmly. “That’s sweet. I bet it was pretty rustic lookin’.”
“That doesn’t begin to describe it,” Rarity returned the smile. “He was indeed in the wrong place, but he was such a friendly sort - how could I turn him away?”
“Generous to a fault,” Applejack chided.
“I examined the scarf and knew I could fix it, so I set to the repairs right then and there. He spoke something of its history as I worked - told me tales about it’s travels to nearly every city in Equestria, and some beyond. He and his wife met sixty-seven years ago, though she had been dead for nearly eight.”
Applejack whistled, “Whew. If any of us could say we found love fer that long. That’s a fine thing.”
Rarity’s smile disappeared again. “He was an…amazing stallion, in my opinion. I never once saw him without a smile on his face, even though three months prior to the day I spoke to him he had lost his daughter also. She succumbed to, of all things…cancer. The same cancer Sweetie Belle has.”
Applejack quieted. Rarity went on.
“He was saddened by the loss of course, and the fact that he ended up outliving his own child, but he took comfort in the belief that we all return to the stars when our time comes. He was lonely, but he was happy that his loved ones had lived good lives.”
Rarity paused for a solid minute, idly examining her hooves. “He had made peace by the time I met him, but he told me how it felt to watch his daughter fade away, when he, her father, was powerless to stop it. He told me of an ancient Neighponese legend. It claims that if a pony can fold one thousand origami paper cranes, that pony will be granted a miracle.”
“A miracle?” Applejack looked skeptical, and then snorted. “Well, that ain’t something I would ever be able to prove. I can’t do artsy stuff like that.”
Rarity shook her head, “According to him, it’s less a question of the object being created as it is devotion to the task. The idea that anypony who can fold one thousand paper cranes is not only capable of accomplishing anything, but worthy of whatever wish they might make.”
Applejack put two and two together, “But, his daughter died, right?”
Rarity nodded soberly. “He failed. When she passed away he had only completed eight hundred and forty-seven of them.”
“Eight hundred and…paper cranes?” Applejack looked amazed, “Those little things? Was he a unicorn?”
“No,” Rarity replied simply, “he was an earth pony.”
Applejack glanced at her hooves. They were fine tools for running, bucking, digging, and many other pursuits, but she couldn’t fathom how an earth pony, despite her tribe’s natural tenacity, could fold even one tiny, delicate, origami crane.
“I fixed his scarf,” Rarity smiled wanly. “He offered to pay me. I wouldn’t take it of course. He went out into the morning with a tune on his lips and I never saw him again.”
“Do you think he really folded eight hundred and forty-seven paper cranes by himself?”
Rarity shrugged. “Who knows, darling? Even with my magic and my skill with small details, I doubt I could accomplish a feat like that. I’m not much for working with paper, I’m afraid.”
Applejack stood there until a spark flickered to full flame in her mind. Her eyes opened wide, realization setting in. “The caps…”
“I’ve made fifty-two so far,” Rarity answered the unasked question. “Minus the few casualties of my outburst earlier.” Her voice began to crack, and her pauses lengthened. When she smiled again, the gesture was helpless, coupled with a peaking of her eyebrows in the center of her forehead. “If one thousand folded pieces of pretty paper can grant a miracle…can you imagine what a thousand garish, fully-functional crocheted caps can accomplish?”
Applejack didn’t know what to say. The image of her friend sitting alone, knitting caps in despair while she was out having a good time with thoughts of presents and seven-layer bean dip filled her with pity and shame. Uncertain what do to, she walked over to the couch and clicked her heels, coming to a measure of military attention and puffing out her chest.
“I can’t sew,” Applejack admitted, “Or knit. Or crochet. But so help me I’ll try. O-or maybe we could get Twilight to—”
“That would be cheating, dear,” Rarity’s wan expression never changed. “Even though I’m unaware of any rules pertaining to the task, I’m sure the powers that be would consider any magic beyond what I would use to hold the yarn and the hooks as a violation of the spirit behind it.” She dipped her head. “I have to do this myself. Much like that old Neighponese stallion, this is...all I can do, for her.”
Applejack deflated. She sat lightly on the couch, and for a time, the two friends watched the snow fall under the canopy of Luna’s grace that gave birth to the moon. The carolers were closer, such that Applejack couldn’t help but lightly hum a few bars of ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Hearth’s Warming.’ Rarity took up the melody, and the both of them sat there, softly humming out the song without words. When they emerged from their reverie, Applejack glanced at the nearby clock.
She rose, knowing that her attempt had been made - there was nothing she could do at this point but leave. “We’ve been in your way long enough. I’ll go round up the fillies. You…take care, okay? You an’ Sweetie Belle both. If there anything…and I mean anything I can do—”
“Rarity?” A small voice descended angelically from above, emitting a single word that solidified all the air in the room until it was nearly tangible.
In Rarity’s current state of self-loathing the sound of her name meant nothing, but the voice speaking it shot her up to instant high alert. She stood straight up on the couch and gaped like a minnow drowning in oxygen towards the stairs.
There, standing on her own but closely flanked by her two best friends, stood Sweetie Belle. Unfettered by the heavy olive-drab blanket she was always enshrouded in during Rarity’s visits to her room, the elder sibling was finally able to survey the entirety of the damage inflicted by the younger’s ‘treatment’. Sweetie Belle’s lovely tail was little more than a feather duster-sized stump wiggling at her backside. She was not skin and bone, but it was plainly obvious she had lost weight, and her pallor was pale even despite her natural coloring. Her body was marred by blotches of the dark flesh beneath that gave her white coat hairs their natural gray tinge, making her look like she had been rolling in chimney soot. Her left cutie mark had a large gash of missing hair straight through the middle of it, while the right one had been reduced to little more than a collection of unrecognizable colored fuzz.
Healthy foals always had a look of blooming towards their ultimate goal of adulthood. This one looked as though she was wilting.
Atop Sweetie Belle’s head was one of the raggy winter caps. It matched the primary color of her mane, but there was no mane whatsoever spilling out from underneath it.
She smiled weakly, thick bags under her gray-green eyes, and said simply-
“I…really like it, Rarity. Thanks for making it for me.”
Frozen in place, Rarity held a hoof over her mouth to steel her response. Applejack wasn’t so well prepared. A gasp escaped her lips; the sound intensifying when her eyes trailed over to Sweetie Belle’s companions.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were each wearing one of the sloppy crocheted caps. Apple Bloom’s bow was tied around the base of her tail, and much like their ill companion, neither of the two healthy Crusaders had even a single strand of their beautiful manes poking out from under their headgear.
“Sugarcube, what…” Applejack felt a shiver run through her. “What did you do…?”
Withholding an immediate answer, the two flanking Crusaders took to helping their companion slowly manage the stairs. Both of the adults were too stunned to react, and could do little but watch the three fillies descend from the heavens, until the last pair of their hooves reached the bottom floor of the boutique. Applejack was now in a position to view Sweetie Belle’s flank. She managed to bite back the gasp this time, but shock wrapped itself around her synapses and climbed back into her brain when the rest of the scene was revealed to her.
Where Apple Bloom’s cutie mark should have been, there was nothing but a blotch of completely shaven, slightly pink flesh.
Noticing her big sister’s stare, Apple Bloom showed no fear – she spun slowly in place, revealing the matching shaved spot on the other side of her body. Scootaloo did the same, until it was beyond the shadow of a doubt what the crusaders had done to themselves.
“B-but…you…I…” Applejack had no words. Her lower lip felt like concrete, and she forced herself to wet her whistle before she dared speak again.
“…why? Y’all…cutie marks mean everything to y’all…”
Apple Bloom’s smile was soft, honest, and beautiful. She replied easily.
“We’re all Cutie Mark Crusaders, or ain’t none of us Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
Scootaloo elaborated-
“Until Sweetie Belle gets her cutie mark back, neither one of us are going to have ours. We don’t want them if we can’t all have them together.” She went slightly cross-eyed staring up at her own head. “Same with our manes.”
“Besides,” Apple Bloom grinned, inclining her head as well, “Washin’ my mane is kind of a pain in the rump anyhow.”
Rarity had separated herself from her perch on the couch. She was standing before her little sister, and her lips were moving…but no words emitted from her. She reached out as if to touch Sweetie Belle’s cheek, retracted the limb before making contact, reached instead for her shoulder, and again failed - it was as if she was afraid of breaking the little filly with so much as a touch.
Sweetie Belle winced, misinterpreting, “Rarity, uh…I’m…” She swallowed, “…sorry I’m not pretty anymore.”
Rarity mouthed the word ‘pretty’ twice. She placed a hoof over her mouth again, trying to still the gyrations of her lips, but the torrent of raw emotion she had kept at bay was smashing against her mind so hard that she could feel it slamming into the back of her eyes. One tear slipped through – it ran down a worn, well-used track in her cheek and pooled where her wrist met her chin.
“You…you’re standing up…”
Sweetie Belle looked oblivious. “Yeah?”
“You’re…out of your room…”
Sweetie Belle blinked. “I…I guess so?”
“…you smiled at me…”
“I-I’m sorry—“
The ill crusader never managed to get the rest of the apology out. Rarity was on her knees, her forelegs wrapped around her sister so tightly that it seemed her life depended on it.
Maybe it did.
Rarity peppered Sweetie Belle’s beleaguered brow with butterfly kisses. “Oh darling…oh my sister…” She blubbered, “…how could you ever say that…pretty…what’s pretty…” She buried her face in Sweetie Belle’s cap, her shoulders and chest heaving with the sobs that would no longer be denied. “…of course you’re pretty…you’re the most beautiful sight to ever grace my life…I’d burn every scrap of fabric in this building and never touch a sewing needle again in my life, so help me Celestia, just to see you smile like that again…there’s no gemstone that shines like you…no couture that could ever compare…”
Sweetie Belle, overcome with sniffles of her own, only stood there. She bowed her head slightly, closing her eyes and smiling a sweet, serene smile as her sister bathed her in tears. Their horns both sprang to life with a soft glow – emerald and sapphire lights that danced affectionately around one another in the still air.
“I’m sorry…” Sweetie Belle muttered, “…for almost giving up.”
“I-I’m sorry too,” Rarity whimpered, “…for the same.”
Applejack motioned to the remaining crusaders. When they were by her side Apple Bloom opened her mouth to address the unicorns, but Applejack held up a silencing hoof.
“Shush,” She commanded gently. “They need this. Let ‘em have it.”
Applejack walked her two young charges to the window, where the three of them politely watched the snow fall. Applejack wrapped a foreleg around each of their necks and held them close.
“…I’m dern proud of y’all,” She said simply. “Both of you.”
“You’d never have let me do it if I asked first,” Apple Bloom said, her tone without malice.
Applejack shook her head honestly. “Nope. I wouldn’t have.”
“...we had to do this,” Apple Bloom commented. “We had to get her out of there. She was drownin’ in there, an’ she needed us. I know you understand, Sis."
“Applejack…” Scootaloo meeped, “Don’t be mad at Apple Bloom.”
Applejack said nothing. For a time there was silence save for the conversation between the reuniting unicorns, but Apple Bloom jarred back to life when something wet stuck the back of her bare neck.
She looked up, and there stood her big sister. The most stoic, steadfast, reliable pony she had ever known.
Crying like a foal.
Apple Bloom smiled carefully. “I thought you told your friends you only cry on the inside.”
Applejack retracted her foreleg and gently nudged her sister’s cheek with the tip of her hoof, her tears flowing without shame. “Heh…dernit…you just shush and gimmie my moment too…”
Scootaloo was looking back at her own flank. “I can’t believe we really did this.”
“Me either,” Apple Bloom grinned, “I wanted a cutie mark for so long, and I know it ain’t really gone, but…don’t it feel good?”
The young Pegasus smiled broadly. “…I think I might feel even better than I did when I got my cutie mark.”
Apple Bloom shook her head simply to feel the odd sensation of no mane brushing her neck. “Guess we need to wear our scarves out in the cold even more than ever, huh?”
The two Crusaders shared a moment of lighthearted laughter. Applejack stepped back from them to rub her eyes, and nearly trod over Sweetie Belle in the process. The filly’s reflection in the window became evident when Applejack stepped out of the way, and all eyes fell upon her.
“I’m really sorry,” Sweetie Belle began again, this time to her friends.
Apple Bloom spoke right up, “Y’all don’t have nothing to be sor—”
“Maybe not,” Sweetie Bell cut her friend off, “but I’m sorry anyway. Sorry I said that I didn’t want to see any of you. The truth is, I’m…really scared. It hurts, down deep inside me...and I didn’t want you all to see that. But you’re all my friends, and...I can’t do this without you. I know that now.”
Applejack gained a measure of control over her emotions and summoned the openly weeping Rarity with one foreleg. The two adults shared an embrace.
“Ain’t a pony worth a thing without friends,” Applejack contributed to the Crusaders’ conversation from over Rarity’s shoulder.
Sweetie Belle began to look dizzy. Apple Bloom was by her side in the flash of a second, but Sweetie Belle shook her head, waving her friend off.
“I…wanna stand up on my own.”
Scootaloo approached from Sweetie Belle’s other side. She shared a knowing look with Apple Bloom, and the two fillies gently pinched their friend between their flanks, supporting her in a more passive way. Sweetie Belle favored each of them with a look of appreciation, and continued her confession-
“After I told you both to go away the first time, I thought to myself, if I died tomorrow...who would come to my funeral?”
Applejack looked grim. She stroked Rarity’s back and wanted to dismiss the pessimistic turn the conversation had taken, but found that she had no stomach for chastising the afflicted little filly.
“A-and I realized,” Sweetie Belle turned to Apple Bloom, “That you would be there. And you-” She nodded to Scootaloo, and then turned to the adults. “And you Rarity, and you Applejack…and a bunch of other ponies too. And then I realized how much I’m cared about, and how silly I was being for wanting to keep everything to myself...but I was still scared. I didn’t know what to say to anypony.”
“You told us you weren’t a crusader anymore,” Scootaloo said. “But if you’re not, then we’re not either.”
“We’re gonna be by your side every single minute till you get better,” Apple Bloom announced. “You’re gonna beat this, ya hear? And then we’ll all be back together, better than ever!”
Sweetie Belle held her hoof out. Each crusader laid their own atop it.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders FOREVER!!” The trio announced in unison.
As the disheveled crusaders made merry, Applejack took Rarity aside. She nodded at the empty tree skirt on the floor.
“First thing in the morning I’m bringin’ you the finest evergreen anypony in this town ever saw, cut ‘n ready. And I ain’t takin’ no for an answer so don’t even try.”
Rarity, her lenses and measuring tape discarded, wiped her eyes on the back of her hoof and glanced into a mirror, as though she hadn’t seen her own reflection in weeks.
“Goodness,” She said through a rattling chuckle, “I look positively dreadful.”
“Yep,” Applejack replied bluntly. “Like you’ve been to Tartarus and back.” She stood beside her friend in the mirror. “But ya did come back.”
Rarity turned her attention to the fillies, who were still standing by the window, chatting as they marveled at the illustrious blanket of snowy night. “I can’t give in to despair anymore. I won’t.” She sniffed once, “Look at me. I’m not even the one who’s sick. My little sister needs me.”
“That’s right, she needs you,” Applejack agreed, touching Rarity’s chest to drive home the point. “Not winter caps, and not miracles. She needs you to be the best you y’ever done been.
Rarity’s eyes began to shine the way they did when inspiration was knocking at her door. “If she can smile, so can I.”
Applejack looked hopeful, “No more talkin’ about if she might die?”
Rarity shook her head defiantly. “From now on, it’s going to be about when she gets better. We’ll strut down every runway when we come to it. Together.”
A sudden pounding at the door, followed by a muffled voice, commanded the room’s attention.
“Hey! You guys in there?”
“We’re havin’ a cup of cheer, Dash!” Applejack called merrily. “Sorry but it ain’t cider!”
Rainbow Dash appeared in the doorway, shaking the freshly fallen snow out of her boots. “Huh? How’s every…pony…” She trailed off when she noticed the crusaders, all of the crusaders, fixing her with broad grins. Scootaloo trotted over, bright as a torch...with a cap on her head, no mane, and a blank space where each of her cutie marks used to be.
“Hey Rainbow Dash!” She greeted. “Did you get the sleigh ready?”
“Sleigh?” Sweetie Belle brightened. “Are we going for a sleigh ride?”
“Better’n just a sleigh ride,” Apple Bloom chimed in, “A sleigh ride in the sky!”
“Can I go!?” A spring returned to Sweetie Belle’s step, and she managed to close the distance to her sister with renewed vigor. “Please? I’ll bundle up, I promise!”
Applejack turned to Rarity. “That alright with you?”
Rarity weighed the consequences. Considered the cold. Bit her lip. Finally she looked at Dash. “A short flight, yes?”
The crusaders let out a communal whoop - as they frolicked in victory, Dash was left gaping, stupefied at the physical condition of all three. She regarded them with the hard stare of a pony who was on the brink of failing to solve a Rubik’s Cube.
“What…happened here?”
Rarity’s smile was characteristically suave. “Oh, nothing darling. Just a little impromptu gathering to celebrate that tomorrow’s a brand new day!”
Dash ended up ruffling Scootaloo’s cap as the filly sought to scamper by. “Hey little buddy, um…what’s up with your mane? And your cutie mark? Are you okay?”
Despite the apparent abnormalities, Scootaloo was beaming with a warmth Dash hadn’t seen in over a month. She reached out and affectionately punched Dash’s shoulder. “I’m better than okay. We all are.” She grinned mischievously, “You wanna shave!?”
Dash chuckled nervously and let the filly go. “That’s, eh heh…that’s alright.”
As the fillies frolicked, Dash approached the adults with her ears down. Whenever her eyes strayed to Rarity, they immediately diverted away.
“Rarity, uh, I’m…sorry I haven’t been around. I just-”
Rarity reached out and touched Dash’s lips with a hoof. “Darling, please. It’s Hearth’s Warming. Thank you for coming.”
Applejack could see the embarrassment and uncertainly on Rainbow Dash’s face. All her bluster, all her pride...the champion flyer clearly wanted so badly to comfort her friend, but she was uncertain what to say or do, so she had kept her distance. Applejack would not let Dash’s apprehension regress into the fear that was compromising her sense of loyalty. She came up next to the pegasus and slapped her withers gently.
“Dash here’s been workin’ on that new sleigh she got for weeks now, and its kept her busy! I hear it’s smoother than six-hour churned applebutter cuttin’ through the sky.” She smiled reassuringly at Dash, “Ain’t that right?”
Dash flashed her friend an instantaneous look of appreciation before her grin split into something more daring. “You bet it’s right!” She exclaimed, speaking loud enough for the fillies to hear. “You guys are gonna wanna create an airborne division for the Cutie Mark Crusaders after tonight!”
A chorus of yays and excited squealing bled into the sound of voices from outside. Everypony exchanged momentary confused glances, but one by one their trained ears tuned in on the sound, and each face lit up with holiday cheer. Dash made it to the door first.
There in the snow stood no less than twenty denizens of Ponyville. Decked out in top hats, holly-bough hair ornaments, and various cozy looking scarves or coats, the group was made up of ponies of all ages, voices raised in constant song as they went between the various homes and businesses to share Hearth’s Warming cheer. Everypony in Ponyville knew of the tradition – for the final week leading up to Hearth’s Warming, the caroling group was as constant as the flame that burned throughout the Equestria Games. Ponies continually joined and left, the whole town pitching in to keep it going.
They sang-
“O, rest ye, merry gentlecolts
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember that togetherness
Keeps windigos at bay.
We’ll save ourselves from icy pow’r,
In fertile fields we’ll lay-
O-oh tidings of Hearth’s Warming joy
Hearth’s Warming joy!
O-oh tidings of Hearth’s Warming joy!”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the doorway of the boutique, each one backed by her literal or figurative big sister.
“I’m dern proud of you,” Applejack squeezed Apple Bloom’s shoulder. “Your friends are luckier than an intact snake after a wagon race just to have you.”
Apple Bloom beamed. “I got good role models, that’s all.”
Rainbow Dash tapped Scootaloo’s withers to the beat. “I dunno what you did here little buddy, but I’m taking you on a private, one-Wonderbolt-powered flight tomorrow, and I can’t wait for you to tell me all about it!”
“Really?” Scootaloo beamed, “Can we go fast?”
Dash made a clucking noise with her cheek. “Tch, are you kidding? We’re already there and back, your eyes just haven’t caught up yet!”
Scootaloo shut her eyes tightly and giggled, “Awesome!”
Rarity was gently stroking the back of Sweetie Belle’s bare neck just above her scarf, in a place she knew used to soothe her sister as an infant. “Things are going to be different, dear. Tomorrow we’re going to make the boutique the most seasonably fashionable locale in the whole town. And then we’re going caroling, and we’re going to buy the biggest, most beautiful carrot cake from Sugarcube Corner that bits can buy.”
Sweetie Belle blushed, her voice small. “I’m sorry I tried to push everypony away. I know you care.”
“We-I love you, darling,” Rarity replied. “With every piece of my heart. You have a beauty that outshines the stars themselves. You must never forget that, and I will be by your side every day to remind you.”
Sweetie Belle leaned back into her elder sister, appreciating her familiar scent and warmth. “…thanks, Sis. I love you too.”
Behind the carolers, flickering in the glow of warm lamplight, a streamlined sled with lightning bolts painted on the sides patiently waited. A high moon and starlight sky twinkled down on a Ponyville that was slightly brighter than it had been just hours before.
Three friends were whole again. Together they shared the magic of friendship. A magic that can accomplish anything - if only you believe.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Silver Inkwell · 1.1k words · 11 1 · 780 views
- Noir de Plume · 1.8k words · 14 3 · 431 views
Stats
Page generated in 0.103 seconds
Total duration
732 users online
1,114,879 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
That was beautiful. Incredibly beautiful. I'm sorry I can't say more, but honestly, it's a little hard typing through the happy tears.
7818567
That it made a difference to anypony is enough.
Happy Hearth's Warming
And coming back is what is important. This has been an awesome Hearth's Warming tale, you went and made me cry again.
, in a good way. Good friends to share life your with, that is what makes life worth living. It isn't the journey you make, but the company you keep.
7819021
Well...it's just really nice to hear when somebody has an emotional response to something I write. Warms me like the season
Glad you enjoyed it. If it does anything to brighten anypony's day, I'm happy for the time that went in. Happy Hearth's Warming!
This was so emotional and well written.. absolutely beautiful. It was sad, yes, but at the same time.. it wasn't. I'm about as good as Rainbow Dash at expressing emotion, but I won't lie, this hit me right in the feels. <3 Wonderful job!
7894086
I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's nice to know when anybody can take something away from a story like this.
I'm surprised this doesn't have a lot more votes and comments. It's very poignantly written and still very optimistic. The subject matter certainly isn't one I would expect from most pony stories either, but was really nice to see addressed.
9622876
Well, thank you for looking at it, and I'm glad you enjoyed.
Princess's Dang it, that was beautiful. Here, have a like and a fave.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/10/10/998940__safe_animated_screencap_big+macintosh_crying_cropped_solo+focus_crusaders+of+the+lost+mark_spoiler-colon-s05e18_liquid+pride.gif
It's nowhere near Hearth's warming, and I'm a guy, but dang it all if I can't help but cry from the sheer wonderfulness.
Happy Hearth's Warming or whatever you might celebrate.
The emotional impact of this story is just as strong as it was the first time I read it, perhaps even more so.
There were a few minor typos or odd word choices that I noticed if you were interested in a helping hoof
11459680
I'm glad to hear this story is still being enjoyed for the holidays! Thanks for checking it out and remembering it! An emotional response is one of the best reactions I can expect to get, so thanks for sharing.