Happy Hearth's Warming Eve?
Snow swirled outside the window, blanketing Alicorn Spire and Canterlot in a powdery, pristine white covering. From the vantage of the palace commander’s office, the view was dominated by rooftops and chimneys. The city looked like a miniature diorama a foal would make for school.
Silent Knight stood quietly, looking outside and watching the fading rays of sunset disappearing beyond the horizon. Another day was passing and the inbox on his desk was barely any smaller. Most days were like that.
The office of the Captain of the Canterlot Guard was one of the larger ones, built as such so that he could hold meetings like this. Meetings that included all the House Guard officers, a pool that was noticeably larger than when he had been one himself years ago.
“Just so we’re clear,” came Major Day’s voice from behind him. “Are we having a meeting, or did you call us here so that we could watch you staring out of the window all broody?”
That yielded a few soft snickers from the other ponies in the room. Silent turned and shot the mare his best stern captain’s look. Despite her familiar attitude, she looked the part of a model officer in her perfectly fit, custom, golden armor. Even her orange mane was styled per regulations and tucked beneath her helmet.
“Captain,” Silent corrected before moving to his chair and taking a seat. “Did you call us here just so that we could watch you staring out of the window all broody, Captain.”
Sunny Day gave an exasperated sigh. “What are we doing here, Captain?”
Satisfied, Silent nodded. “We’ve had a lot going on with parliament lately and, even as ponies are calming down for the holiday season, I want to be sure we’re still keeping up with our duties.”
Captain Snow lifted her hoof. Before she could get a word out, Sunny swatted it down. “This isn’t school!”
In her dark purple armor, Midnight Snow was a stark contrast to Sunny Day, not just in color scheme but also in style of command. She had been Silent’s chosen successor to protect Princess Luna.
Midnight gave Sunny a sideways glance. “We should show proper respect and decorum in front of our subordinates,” she said softly before motioning to the three lieutenants that had kept themselves near the door, trying to look as small as possible.
Lieutenants Merriweather, Lily, and Violet were all relatively new to their House Guards. Merriweather and Fire Lily reported to Sunny, and Violet reported to Midnight. In all three cases, they’d been chosen by their commanders… with Silent playing very little part in it.
The last few years had forced him to learn how to delegate. That was probably the hardest part of his job. Of course, he didn’t have any problem with their choices. He’d just hoped for some diversity, because they were all mares. At work or at home, he was always outnumbered.
Silent cleared his throat. “I happen to agree with Captain Snow. We should be setting the example. With that said, what’s on your mind, Captain?”
If Midnight enjoyed the praise, she didn’t show it. She was always the model guard that way. “Sir, I wanted to know if we’re here to address a specific concern you have or is this a meeting to remind us of heightened vigilance given the situation on the ground.”
Silent nodded. “Heightened vigilance. And because I don’t see the five of you as much as I’d like these days.”
“That isn’t exactly our fault!” Sunny put in before hastily adding, “Sir.”
Silent waved a hoof to dismiss her typical familiarity. “I know. I’m not blaming you, Major. To be honest, I never thought this role would end up being so political. If I had, I’d have recommended you for it instead.”
“Gee, thanks.” Sunny rolled her eyes. “So that’s it, you just want to see us? You called us all up here, tonight of all nights, just for that? I can pose, if you like.” She turned her flank to Silent and peered over her shoulder at him, puckering her lips in that strange way his teenage niece Dot did a lot.
Silent stared at her, only allowing one eyebrow to move into an arch. The rest of him remained impassively still. Finally, he asked in a flat tone, “Tell me why I haven’t relieved you of command?”
Sunny grinned and flicked her tail at him before turning back around. “Because under all of that grumpy stonewall expression, you actually like me. At least, you used to before you became a bureaucrat.” Her grin widened. “That and Celestia would never let you fire me at this point.”
That respond yielded a gasp of surprise from Lieutenant Lily, who literally threw her hooves over her eyes. The other two lieutenants stared in wide-eyed fear and awe.
Midnight Snow cleared her throat and took a step back. “Should we give you two the room, sir?”
Silent shook his head. “No, Sunny’s right. She gets a pass. If any of you act like her, though, make no mistake, I’ll have your bars.” Then he blinked. “Wait. What did you mean, tonight of all nights? Is there something happening I’m not aware of?”
“Oh my gosh, really?” Sunny threw a hoof over her mouth to smother a laugh.
“What?” Silent glanced at her and then the rest of the mares in the room.
Other than Sunny’s muffled laughter, there was no response. They just stared at him with the strange looks of disbelief.
Then, finally, Lieutenant Violet cleared her throat. “It’s Hearth’s Warming Eve, sir.”
Silent’s tufted ears twitched and his brow furrowed. “Lieutenant, you must be mistaken. Today is—” he trailed as he looked at the calendar on his desk. “Hearth’s Warming Eve.” He frowned. “That’s unfortunate. I thought I had more days to shop.”
The door to the office, which had been left slightly ajar, pushed further open and Miley Hooves poked her head inside. “Don’t worry, sir. I did all of your shopping for you. All of the foals have gifts and I got something that will look great on Crystal! Everything’s already all wrapped and at your house.”
“Thank you, Miley,” Silent replied before chuckling to himself. “Alright, well I apologize. I’ve kept you from your families. Why would you let me do that?”
Sunny pointed at Midnight Snow. “She follows orders exactly,” she started before pointing at the trio behind her. “And they’re terrified of you.”
“Obviously, but what about you?”
“Oh, me?” Sunny put a hoof to her chest and fluttered her eyelashes, the perfect picture of innocence. Then she dropped the act to mutter, “I gave my girls the night off since I’m not doing the family thing.” She waved the hoof at Fire Lily and Merriweather. “Shoo, dismissed. Go home.”
Both lieutenants looked at Silent and didn’t budge an inch.
“Dismissed,” he said before turning back to Sunny. “What do you mean? Won’t Soarin and Azurite be upset?”
“This year is Soarin’s year to go home, and I don’t do the in-law thing. You know I’m not the kind of mare you take home to Mom. Azurite, on the other hoof, is perfect, so he took her. Let his folks pester her about why we don’t have any foals.”
Sunny cleared a bit of emotion from her throat that Silent ignored and she’d deny anyway. She shrugged and put a grin back in place. “Besides, Celestia and I are going to play with Asvoria. Princess Luna was invited, too, of course. Just so you don’t think we’re leaving her out. She declined. Her choice.”
Midnight Snow started to raise a hoof from where she stood next to her lieutenant.
Silent motioned to Midnight Snow and Violet. “You two are dismissed as well. Have a happy Hearth’s Warming.”
“Thank you, sir,” they replied in unison before trotting out.
When they were gone, Sunny took her helmet off and set it on one of the end tables. “You suck when you act like that.”
Silent pulled his helmet off, too, and placed it on his desk. “They’re officers of the Royal Guard. What do you expect me to do? I can’t be friends with all of my subordinates. Honestly, I shouldn’t even be friends with you. There has to be a line.”
While he opened his desk drawer and produced a bottle of rich honey-colored liquid, he asked, “Why do you see the need to keep pushing it in front of others?”
Sunny shrugged, capturing two tumblers in her magic and bringing them over. “I’m trying to get a rise out of you, I guess.” She gave him a lopsided grin. “So, did you really forget Hearth’s Warming?”
As he poured, Silent shook his head. “Not really. I picked up something for Crystal last week, Runic and I made Coral a sword—”
“Oh, Crystal is going to love that,” Sunny said before scooping up her drink to take a sip.
Silent shrugged and picked up his own glass. “She’s more or less accepted that Coral is just a smaller, louder me.”
“Sure, sure. What about Clem and Cherry?” Sunny asked.
“Clement gets a scooter that he has been eyeing for months, and Cherry gets an outrageously plush lion to sit on.”
There was an exasperated groan outside of the door. Miley’s head poked in so fast, her black mane whipped against the door frame. “You could have told me you shopped! Now we have too many gifts!”
Silent didn’t even look at her as he shouted, “Go home to your husband!”
“You go home to your husband!”
“I don’t have one!”
The little mare stomped a hoof. “Then go find one, get married, and go home to him!”
Silent sipped from his glass again. After a brief staring contest where she stared at him and he explicitly didn’t stare at her, his voice returned to its normal tone. “Are you going or not?”
Miley huffed. “Yeah, I am. I’ve been home late too many days this year. If he didn’t know better, he’d think I was having an affair.” She beamed at them. “You two play nice, now. Night!”
“Be sure you check your top drawer before you leave, Miley,” Silent called after her. “I bought something for you, too. I thought you’d have found it by now.”
The response from Miley was not words so much as various noises. First a huff, then the sound of a desk drawer, a squee followed by a sniffle, and finally a door closing.
Sunny waited a moment before asking, “Do you think she actually left?”
Silent shrugged. “No idea.”
With a small snicker, Sunny took another sip. “What did you get her, anyway?”
“A little charm bracelet. Everypony in the office got her a charm that would be special between her and themselves.” He tilted his head to level a curious look at her. “Now, back to you. Are you really alright being alone? Crystal and I would be happy to have you.”
The drink in Sunny’s magic swirled slowly as she gazed at it. “First of all, thank you. Second, no thank you. I’m not going to be your hostage foalsitter. Third, I’m not alone, because I’m going to hang out with Celestia and Asvoria. We’ll have way more fun.”
“That isn’t what I meant,” Silent replied, sipping from his drink and giving Sunny a meaningful glance.
She looked away as if burned. “I know. To answer your indirect question, the three of us are great. There are no red flags to look out for. In fact, I’d say we’re stronger than we have ever been, at least when it comes to our lives.”
Silent nodded, the tension leaving his shoulders. “I’m glad.”
Her hoof waved in a lazy circle. “Our families just don’t get it is all. No wedding, no foals, no clear explanation of typical family roles. That seems to give them license to ask rather awkward questions. Soarin’s parents are the absolute worst. They’re so straight-laced it’s ridiculous. At least Azurite’s try to understand.”
Over the rim of her glass, Sunny grinned up at him. “Mr. Sapphire calls Azurite kitten and Soarin champ. He doesn’t know what to do with me, though, so I’ve been buddy, sport, tiger, and—lately—precious.”
“Precious?” Silent asked.
“Yeah, like a precious stone. I hope. I don’t know. Our families are fine in general, but sometimes I get tired explaining that Soarin and I are like bread and Azurite is peanut butter.”
Silent’s ear twitched. “I have no idea what that means.”
“Right, well, you see, it’s like this. Imagine that we’re all in be—”
There was a soft clearing of a throat at the door.
Sunny turned to look at the door and then rolled her eyes. A purple mare was standing in the doorway, her obsidian armor looking out of place in the vibrantly colored palace.
“And that is my cue to leave,” Sunny said. “You keep doing your secret thing that I thought we were past.” She stood up and levitated the drink to Silent’s desk. It dropped down from a few centimeters or so up, clinking loudly, letting the stallion know her displeasure.
As Sunny walked out, she looked over at the mare. “Breeze.”
Breeze nodded in return and replied, “Captain Day. Happy Hearth’s Warming.”
“Yup,” she replied in a clipped tone before trotting off.
“I don’t think she likes me,” Breeze said as she entered and shut the door behind herself.
“It isn’t you,” Silent explained, putting his helmet back on. “She doesn’t like that I’m keeping secrets from her. The last time I did that it, didn’t go so well.”
Breeze looked at the door and back at him. “But she knows you’re keeping a secret?”
“Yes, I told her. I just won’t tell her what. It’s how our relationship works. Tell me you have good news.”
The pegasus shook her head in frustration, her eyes dropping to the carpet. “No, High Marshal, my hypothesis was wrong. It was a waste of time and resources without anything fruitful to show. I have failed again.”
Silent stood up and came around the desk to set a hoof on her shoulder. “I’ve asked you to stop saying that. You haven’t failed, you just haven’t succeeded yet. We can talk about this in a day or so, but I need to get home to my family tonight. Can I convince you to come with me?”
Breeze quickly shook her head again. “No, thank you, sir. I’m going stay here and go through all the research again. Maybe I missed something. Maybe one of the others were unclear.”
“If that is what you want to do, but know the offer remains open. Drop by anytime.” He trotted to the door and pulled it open. He hated to leave the young knight to her own devices; she was always hard on herself, harder than anypony else.
Tonight, however, was not the night to deal with that. Tonight was Hearth’s Warming Eve and he had a family waiting for him and, unfortunately, just his family. He and Crystal had invited everypony they knew to join them, and almost every one of them had declined. Even Princess Luna!
It was a shame that this Hearth’s Warming would be small again, just like the last few. Everypony was getting older and starting their own families, which all took priority. He understood that, but it didn’t make him miss his friends any less. His own mother wouldn’t even arrive until the day after due to some critically important work she needed to do for the Flower Foundation.
Silent mused over it all as he pulled on his cloak before trotting through the palace and out into the courtyard. When the wind hit him, he gave the briefest of shivers, then spread his wings and leaped into the air. With a few mighty pumps he was airborne and on his way.
Canterlot looked calm and quiet beneath him. A stark contrast to how parliament and the palace had been over the past couple years after the revelations about alicorns came to light. It was nice to get away from all of that political in-fighting; he much preferred it when everypony just got along.
He flew down until he spotted golden light spilling into a familiar little yard. There were two hooves pressed up against the largest window with two big eyes staring up at the sky. Both belonged to his eldest, who was growing into a gangly filly.
When Silent landed in the yard, the front door burst open and Coral Knight tumbled out into the snow, squealing in delight, “Colonel!”
“Coral!” came a started cry from inside and Crystal Wishes appeared at the door.
Silent scooped the filly up in his wing. She was getting too big for that, a fact he lamented. She was going to school now, and soon she’d be an adult. Then she’d be off to an academy and, for all he knew, she’d literally be reporting to him. He preferred her little.
“I’ve got her,” he called, smiling.
Crystal waved a hoof. “Would you two get in here? The weatherponies have it freezing out there!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Silent replied, trotting in and pressing a soft kiss to his wife’s cheek. “I’m home early.”
Crystal laughed, pushing a hoof against his face. “Early for you, late for anypony else. Welcome home.” Her brow arched up at him. “Do you have any idea what it is like having three foals to deal with on Hearth’s Warming Eve?”
“Hey!” Coral squeaked.
Silent grinned slyly. “About the same as it was last year, or the year before?”
Crystal’s eyes narrowed, and she glared. “Oh, ha, ha, ha. Coral, let your father get changed. You can help me with Cherry.”
Silent let Coral down but not before pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Do as your mother says, Cadet.”
“Yes, sir!” she replied, trotting off towards the nursery.
“Why won’t she just do as I say?” Crystal asked, exasperated as she took Silent’s cloak from him.
He shrugged. “You’re not a soldier.”
“Well maybe you should consider giving me a commission?”
Silent trotted over to the door of the master bedroom and stopped there to look at her with a playfully stern expression. “I’m almost entirely sure that is the definition of nepotism.”
Crystal’s head shook. “No. No, it isn’t. I just want to pull rank on my daughter. I’m sure the Royal Guard would understand.”
“I’ll check with Pony Resources.”
“You do that first thing when you get back to work.” Her horn illuminated, and she levitated Cherry into the crook of her foreleg. “Now, did you have any luck convincing anypony to join us this holiday?”
Silent shook his head with a sigh. “I’m afraid not. Miley went home, Sunny rejected me, and Breeze couldn’t put her work down. How about you?”
“Poor Breeze. She’s so much like you,” she muttered, then huffed. “I’m afraid I came up mostly empty, too. Even Velvet and Velour canceled at the last minute. Everypony else sent a no, too.”
“Even Dream Pop?” Silent asked as he walked into the bedroom.
Crystal came over to hover in the doorway, lightly rocking Cherry back and forth. “Dream Pop didn’t realize it was Hearth’s Warming. She’s out west somewhere with her sister at a dig site.”
“Which sister?”
Crystal hummed and looked up at the ceiling. “Hmm. Not Sugar. Let me think. Rock Candy?”
Silent shook his head. “That doesn’t sound right.”
Coral’s voice shouted from the nursery, “Pop Rocks!”
“Yes, Pop Rocks,” Crystal replied before her brow furrowed, she turned her head, and yelled, “We don’t yell in this house!”
As she trotted off to put Cherry to sleep, Silent chuckled and made his way over to the armor stand. It was the first one he’d ever received, one of the few gifts from Stratus Knight. A necessity he’d said when Silent had finished training.
The old wooden pony had worn a lot of different suits over the years, but it always held up. Silent pulled his crested helm off and set it on the stand. After that, the process was slower. These days he had so many ceremonial badges and medals that his kit took twice as long to remove than it used to.
The removal was a ritual that occurred every time he came home, one he’d started when his duties took more and more of his time. It was a transformation of sorts, from Colonel Silent Knight, Captain of the Canterlot Guard to Silent Knight, Dad.
Dad was his most cherished title. It came right before husband.
As the last hoofguard came off, Silent felt like an entirely different pony. All of the responsibility and weight was gone. Now he only had one focus: his family.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! We're proud to present to you the Q&B 2018 holiday special. Crystal and I hope you enjoy this view into the future.
If you are enjoying this story, please consider taking a look at Crystal and my's website QuillnBlade.com for extra content such as mini stories, Q&B AU wiki, and special rewards for the awesome folks who support our Patreon. We have monthly art give aways, a Q&B Discord RPG, a several other fun gifts for patrons.
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Cool, I like this story
Such a lovely little glimpse into the future!
So cute. Dad Silent is great
Wait for it. Wait for it.
:3c
Have I ever mentioned that Anzel is on of my favourite authors? Because Anzel is one of my favourite authors.
Happy Hearth' s Warming Anzel, and a Merry Christmas too.
Silent has a 3rd kid now? The last story in this vague time period he only had 2, I think? And wow, it's been a while since I've seen some of these characters. Miley and Midnight Snow....and Asvoria...? Was that....I'll put this in spoilers even if it's been a while... I don't remember her name exactly, but the blonde mare who died in the final battle of "Trials"..she got reincarnated, right?
9368338
In the Hearth's Warming story of last year—which, well, in-universe actually happened on Hearts and Hooves day—Crystal Wishes was pregnant with their third kid. So, yep, that's Cherry.
As for Asvoria Yeah, that's Ferrel.
9368373
Oh yeah. I forgot about that detail. I remembered the Hearts and Hooves Day bit because of Dream Pop.
And glad I at least remembered Asvoria correctly.