A Lovely Gift

by Alaborn

Making A List

A Lovely Gift

By Alaborn

A Jinglemas gift for MOOSEWHISKER

Chapter 1: Making A List

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Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Magic, monarch of Equestria, could only look over the scene and sigh. It was still a week before the Running of the Leaves, yet the Room of Gifts was overflowing with Hearth’s Warming gifts.

The Room of Gifts had another name, the Frostfire Suite, one of many such rooms named after ancient noble ponies whose generous contributions had funded the construction of Canterlot Castle so many centuries ago. But only a few ponies used that name now. She thought back to that first day. She sat on the throne, her throne, awaiting her first petitioners. She had absolute power at her control, the energy of the sun and the moon contained within her magical core, and she did not know what to do. She panicked, but then remembered one of her lessons from Princess Celestia. Choose one task, one small task, and complete it. So she ordered a guard to move a pile of gifts left over from the coronation party to one room of the castle, and the Room of Gifts was born.

Nothing could stop the gifts from coming. As ruler of Equestria, her word was law, but nopony would listen to her when she said she neither needed nor wanted gifts. And Hearth’s Warming was the worst time of year. The season was full of parties and celebrations, each resulting in countless obsequious nobles casually mentioning the Hearth’s Warming gift they had sent to their princess, and when she could only respond to most of them by changing the subject, it convinced the nobles that the way to get their princess’s attention was to send their gifts earlier. And so, with the leaves still on the trees, she already had more gifts than anypony could ever use.

Each gift had been scanned for dark magic and dangerous substances, of course. The castle staff knew to separate any gifts from a list of friends, acquaintances, and former students that grew longer with each year. The diplomatic corps handled any gifts from foreign nationals. And her advisors had wide discretion to bring individual gifts to her attention. That still left a huge stack of packages.

Twilight Sparkle could see that many of the unopened gifts were books. One of the few benefits of being saddled with the moniker “Princess of Books” is that she received a lot of books. And as a result, even the smallest villages in Equestria found their libraries expanded by the anonymous donation of “gently used” books. Still, it was hard to mention to those same obsequious nobles that these gifted books she “surely hadn’t read” either were ones she had read, or ones where there was a clear reason why she hadn’t read them.

Yet despite the overwhelming nature of the task, Twilight Sparkle set to work reviewing the contents of the Room of Gifts. She knew the chance of finding something she needed was small, but there might be something that would interest her friends.

It was never the wrong time to think about gifts for her friends. She had learned years ago that the most important gift she could offer was her time, something beyond their monthly Council of Friendship meetings. But to share her time with a friend and bring a gift that fit her interests? That was even better. But she promised herself she wouldn’t be stressed if she couldn’t find the right gift. She remembered all too well the dangers of seeking one perfect gift.

Twilight Sparkle felt a familiar surge of magic as a scroll materialized before her. She read it, and then vanished the scroll. Speaking of gifts, one special gift for Fluttershy had arrived.

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Princess Twilight Sparkle materialized in her throne room and took a seat. She adjusted her crown and shifted her wings until they were settled into place. She made a slight nod, and the two guards opened the door.

“Announcing Long Tusk, of the Hippopotamus Kingdom, and... friends.” The herald almost concealed his disapproval, but that pause at the end ruined it.

It was a testament to the construction of Canterlot Castle that Twilight Sparkle could not feel the vibrations as the humongous hippo bull walked into the throne room. He wore a pith helmet and khaki shirt, much like the attire Daring Do favored. His “friends” were several exotic animals, species that didn’t live anywhere near Equestria. Most were being transported in ornate wicker caged balanced on the bull’s massive back, but three birds with bright yellow beaks were instead perched on his head.

Long Tusk bowed deeply. “On behalf of Queen Adhela of the Hippopotamus Kingdom, I am greatly honored to accept your invitation to visit Equestria, Land of the Ponies.”

“In the name of friendship and harmony, the ponies and peoples of Equestria welcome you, Long Tusk. Please rise.”

Long Tusk rose, and the three birds on his head trilled excitedly. “Now be polite,” he whispered to them. “We are guests here.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled as she saw the hippo using his special talent. One of her goals as ruler of Equestria was to travel far beyond the borders of Equestria, beyond the lands of her allies and trading partners, and see the entire world. The things she saw when she and her friends escaped the Storm King’s invasion had shook her, and she was determined to spread friendship everywhere, and hopefully prevent the rise of another Storm King. And when she finally made it to the hippo lands, she happened to meet a hippo with a remarkable affinity towards animals, one that was very familiar to her.

“Long Tusk, I am proud to welcome you and your friends to see the flora and fauna of Equestria. Today, you will visit the Royal Gardens in the company of my dear friend, Fluttershy.”

A side door opened, and Fluttershy stepped out, accompanied by a few more animal friends than normal. Almost immediately, pony and hippo started chatting amiably, accompanied by animals chittering and chirping.

“Have fun, you too,” Twilight Sparkle said.

“Princess, if you would, we have approximately fifteen minutes to discuss today’s correspondence.”

Twilight Sparkle turned to her secretary, who had somehow approached her without being seen. Again. “I’m sorry, Miss Quill, but I have something to attend to before court opens.”

And before her secretary could protest, Twilight Sparkle teleported away.

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Twilight Sparkle reappeared in the Room of Gifts. She summoned her special Hearth’s Warming checklist and made a mark next to Fluttershy’s name. She was proud of the gifts she had found for her dearest friends.

For Rainbow Dash, she had introduced her to a pair of parrot sisters who were remarkably acrobatic fliers. Even if she was no longer actively performing with the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash was involved in designing their routines. She expected the visitors would inspire her.

Across the ocean, Twilight Sparkle visited a duchy of dogs who insisted they were not related to Equestria’s diamond dogs, despite looking a whole lot like them. They were civilized and industrious and exceptional farmers, despite having no magic like that of the earth ponies. She brought a group of them, along with some new fruit cultivars, to Applejack, to talk shop. And if their ideas were good, Applejack’s extended family would quickly spread them around Equestria.

Pinkie Pie was always easy to please. Every year, she’d introduce her to a new kind of dessert, or a new kind of celebration, from the creatures she had met during her travels. This year, it was a celebration about a cake, which would make her doubly happy.

Similarly, her travels exposed her to different cultures with different attitudes towards clothing and fashion, and Rarity simply adored it when Twilight Sparkle brought her “inspiration”. This year, it was silk fabric and clothing from the Empire of the Qilin, who also claimed no relation to the kirin of Equestria despite looking similar.

These hinted at problems far deeper than friendship problems. But Twilight Sparkle was patient, and she had a long reign to bring the world into harmony.

Flurry Heart was at that age where no gift would please her. But Twilight Sparkle invited her on some of her royal trips, as a fellow princess, but more importantly treating her like an adult. It was a treatment she wasn’t getting from her parents, especially her overprotective father.

Speaking of Shining Armor, her gift to him was to participate in his game of Ogres & Oubliettes. She had even learned the magic Discord used to immerse them in the game, and made the spell a little less, well, Discord-y.

And that left one glaring gap on her Hearth’s Warming checklist.

Cadance.

It wasn’t like bringing an apple to Applejack or a pie to Pinkie Pie. Her domain was love. As an alicorn, she was both the avatar of love and innately understood love in all of its forms. She could suss out physical and emotional attraction, familial love, and relationships built around mutual respect and understanding.

She couldn’t even offer her the gift of her playing matchmaker. Being the ruling princess of Equestria brought with it certain duties, and that precluded a relationship like the one Cadance shared with her brother.

Which made it all the more important that she find something in the Room of Gifts.

Twilight Sparkle felt a pulse of magic. She turned her head and focused on a thick book, resting atop a crate. She looked closer, and blushed when she saw the title: The Pony Sutra. She thought back to one frazzled Hearth’s Warming season where, in a fit of desperation driven by a certain draconequus, she convinced herself that this book was the right gift for Cadance. Later, in private, her sister-in-law explained that she already knew the book, and explored it.

She probably had said something more detailed, but Twilight Sparkle had worked to strike those memories from her head.

The book was still sitting there. It was a quality book, thick, with a brown cloth cover that would make it blend in with the books on the bookshelf of some noblepony’s estate. There was even an ink smudge near the spine, just like the copy of the book she had....

Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on her magical core. And just to be safe, she placed a stasis spell on the Room of Gifts.

Then, she unleashed the full Royal Canterlot Voice™.

“DISCORD!!!!!!!”

With a pop, the offending book grew and morphed, taking the shape of a familiar draconequus. He was still colored like the old book. He looked at his arms, shrugged, and then shook himself, restoring his natural coloration. Or as natural as anything could be for a draconequus.

“It was the perfect gift, my dear Twilight,” Discord said. “She was the Princess of Love, you were the Princess of Books, what could be a better gift than a book about love?”

“She opened the book, pointed to one of the illustrations, and then she started talking about how she and Shining Armor....” Twilight Sparkle shuddered.

“Oh? Do go on,” Discord said, munching on a handful of tiny red-and-white-striped paper boxes being held in a giant, hollowed-out popcorn kernel.

“I’ve spent twenty years trying to erase that memory!” Twilight Sparkle shouted. “Look. Cadance made an unexpected visit, I didn’t have a gift, I was frazzled, and you TRICKED ME!”

“Just trying to build lasting memories,” Discord said. “Now, weren’t you looking for a gift for dear Princess Cadance?”

“I was, until SOMEPONY interrupted me.”

“Why don’t you share with her a love story? Two ponies, deeply in love, and you can even say ‘I learned something today’.”

“She already knows that, instinctively!” Twilight Sparkle retorted.

“Are you sure she knows the love that exists between every couple in Equestria?” Discord replied. A clock chimed, and Discord looked at his wrist, which now sported a miniature grandfather clock on a strap. “Would you look at the time? Gotta go!” And with that, Discord disappeared into an astral rift.

He did stick his arm back out, dropping off a tacky lamp with a tag reading “To the Princess of Books – Happy Hearth’s Warming”.

Twilight Sparkle would have to thank Discord later. Not for the lamp—that was going straight to the sun—but for helping her with her gift dilemma.