• Published 17th Dec 2018
  • 561 Views, 30 Comments

Hearth's Warming Helper - Lunaverse - Talon and Thorn



In order to try and simplify their Hearth's Warming shopping the Lunaverse Mane 6 decide to have a Hearth's Warming Helper so they only need to get one present each.

  • ...
2
 30
 561

Hearth's Warming Helper (Talon and Thorn)

“Happy Hearth Warming!” Trixie exclaimed, waving at a passing pony. Her target looked startled, but managed to mumble a reply before disappearing into the crowd. Trixie shrugged. Maybe not everypony was in the same holiday mood as she was. She quickly put the thought aside as she stepped deeper into the Ponyville marketplace. The place was packed with last minute shoppers, all bustling from stall to stall. They were looking for the ideal present for friends or family, and Trixie wasn’t any different. Her cousins’ presents had been sent by post almost a month ago, although she still needed to buy gifts for all of her fellow element bearers. She glanced over at a nearby table covered with various works of art ranging from statues, to paintings, to... something made out of spoons. Maybe Raindrops would appreciate a nice picture? she thought.

She considered the artworks on display and selected a landscape for further scrutiny. It was attractive, most certainly, showing the nearby woods on a sunny day, but maybe it was a little bland. Raindrops needed something with some depth to it, like Raindrops herself.

Maybe not.

She tossed the painting back on the table and looked around again before something just perfect caught her eye. A gramophone, one of the latest models, which would make Lyra so...

Trixie carefully let go of the price tag and took a precautionary step backwards.

Certainly not.

She really wasn’t used to shopping for quite so many friends, it was a new experience. She idly checked the price of a nearby wide-brimmed hat which she thought would complement Carrot Top’s mane, and an expensive experience at that. It wasn’t that being a representative didn’t pay well, it was just that windows were so expensive, even when you bought in bulk.

“Hey Trixie!” came a call from nearby, derailing Trixie’s train of thought. She looked up to see the smiling pink-coated face of one her friends, who had braved the chill with only a hoof-knitted scarf for warmth.

“Hi Cheerilee,” said Trixie, as the teacher pushed her way through the throng. “Shopping for presents?”

“Yep. It’s a bit last-minute, but what with the school pageant, Longest Night, and preparing for next terms syllabus, well, things just got away from me. You here for the same?” she asked, cocking her head.

“Yeah, I still need to pick up a few things around the market. Have you seen anything you’d like?” she asked hopefully.

“Oh, you don’t need to get me anything special,” said Cheerilee, waving a dismissive hoof.

Trixie briefly scowled. That didn’t help much. “Any suggestions for Ditzy? You’ve known her longer than me.”

“You could just ask her,” suggested Cherilee, nodding over towards the Apple Trust stall where the grey pegasus was chatting with Big Mac. “Looks like she might like an Apple in her stockings this year,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Trixie stuck out her tongue in disgust. “I don’t want to think about that.” She considered for a moment. “Actually, maybe I should drop a hint or two that I don’t want anything expensive from her. I know it’s not always easy for her and Dinky. I wouldn’t want her to think she needs to splash out on me.”

Cheerilee nodded. “Try to be a bit subtle about it. She has her pride, and she’s one of the best shoppers I know. She probably had all her presents sorted out months ago. Now Carrot Top...” she pointed towards the orange-maned earth pony who was staggering past the shops, weighed down by a large pile of parcels. “She could probably use a hint or two that she doesn’t need to get presents for everypony in town.”

“Actually, that gives me an idea,” said Trixie, striding forwards into the crowd and smiling what she considered her most winning smile. “Hey, Carrot. Let me give you a hoof with those.” Her horn glowed as she lifted several packages off her friend’s back.

“Huh, oh hi Trixie,” said Carrot, looking rather frazzled. Her normally immaculate mane was sticking out in various directions.

“You look like you could use a break,” said Trixie, steering her friend towards some seats next to a stall selling steaming mugs of hot chocolate.

“Thanks,” said Carrot Top, dropping off the rest of her presents. “The holiday seems to get busier each year.”

“Not a problem.” Trixie sat down next to her friend and motioned to a nearby waiter to get them drinks. “Even the Great and Powerful Trixie can find things a bit hard going at this time of year.”

“Everypony feels the stress,” Cheerilee agreed, coming up behind Trixie. “Room for two more?” she asked, nodding towards Ditzy who had also joined them. “I finally managed to pry her away from her shopping. I guess she was really admiring the Trust’s fine products.”

Ditzy’s face glowed a bit, and one of her eyes seemed to find something fascinating to look at on the ground. “You’ve all still got shopping to do?” she asked, quickly changing the subject.

“We can’t all be as organised as you,” said Cheerilee.

“Actually, I’ve still got a few things I need to pick up,” Ditzy admitted, glancing around the table.

“Well, I’ve got an idea to make our holiday’s a bit easier,” said Trixie. “Although it might be better if we go get Lyra and Raindrops first, because-”

“Hey guys, what you are doing here? Plotting?” came Lyra’s voice from behind her. “Ooh, that hot chocolate looks good!”

“Speak of Tirek,” mumbled Trixie as she turned to see her minty friend standing there with a long blue and pink striped scarf wrapped around her neck and a smile on her face. Raindrops stood nearby looking rather more self-conscious. “You want to join us?” she asked as the waiter placed further steaming mugs in front of the new arrivals. “You buying your Hearth's Warming presents as well?”

“‘Tis the season to spend money!” admitted Lyra.

“I’ve still got a lot to do,” said Raindrops, yawning. “Dash has the weather team running double shifts laying all this snow. This is the first time I’ve had off for weeks.”

“Well, I’ve got an idea to make the holiday a little easier on all of us,” exclaimed Trixie. “Rather than everypony buying everypony else a present, why don’t we do a Hearth’s Warming Helper?”

“A what?” asked Raindrops, raising an eyebrow.

“Instead of the six of us each buying five presents, we randomly pick a name from the hat, and only buy one present for that pony,” explained Cheerilee. “It makes things a lot simpler, and cheaper.”

“It leaves us with more time to enjoy the holiday rather than having to stress over the whole thing,” added Trixie. “We can have a party at the residence tomorrow evening and exchange gifts there. Sound good?”

Cheerilee quickly nodded, followed by Lyra and Raindrops. Ditzy looked a little unsure, but eventually agreed. Carrot Top finally joined in as well. “I guess it does make things simpler,” she admitted.

“Good,” said Trixie, levitating her hat off her head and waving a hoof over it. “Abracadabra,” she intoned, and six folded pieces of paper flew out of it and into the waiting hooves of her and her friends. They carefully opened them and glanced around at each other. “Everypony happy?” she asked. Her friends all nodded. “Good, see you all tomorrow then!”

Author's Note:

So I really liked Best Gift Ever and thought it might be a good idea to carry out a similar story in the Lunaverse. I threw the option out to other writers to see if they'd like to write their own stories about each character shopping for their selected pony and Rainbow Double Dash, Striker and Rixazu agreed.

Thanks to Striker and Georg for their editing of this chapter

As always comments are always welcome.