Hearths Warming Traditions

by Redback Spino

Chapter 1

The pegasus tightened the scarf that wound around her shoulder, knitted in the yellow and blue colours of the Wonderbolts, as she flew slowly through the air over Ponyville. Every now and then, she would descend slightly to give a little nudge to a nearby cloud, which would then release a puff of snowflakes. Behind her, the sun was just falling below the mountains, and before her the dim glow of the moon was just beginning to appear over the horizon.

That was one thing she did like about Hearths Warming Day in Ponyville. She could have the dusk sky all to herself. There wasn’t a single other pegasus in the sky, apart from her. And where, pray tell, was everypony?

Well, that was one thing she quite frankly did not like about Hearths Warming Day in Ponyville. Everypony was at home, huddling around a fireplace, opening presents and singing winter carols. Together. As a family.

Not to say she had none of that herself, not even close! Earlier that day Pinkie Pie, never one to pass up an excuse for a party, got as many ponies as she could get a hold of together for her annual Hearth’s Warming Day party, and any and all manner of fun was had. Twilight impressed everypony with all manner of magically-conjured decorations, ranging from ringing sleigh-bells, little green holly wreaths, sparkling candy-canes and mistletoe bundles that hovered over the partygoers (Which, as Rainbow noticed, Rarity seemed particularly attracted by, as she followed them around the room). Fluttershy and her bird-choir provided the music as always, chirping out carols and old Hearth’s Warming standards. And the less said about Pinkie Pie after downing a dozen-or-so eggnogs, the better. Needless to say when it came to Pinkie, copious amounts of alcohol and sugar combined as a drink, isn’t exactly a bright idea.

But by 4pm, the festivities had long since died down as ponies began to amble to their homes, before they became too stuffed with food and drinks to enjoy their Hearths Warming dinners later on. It was at this point that Rainbow and her friends had to say goodbye to Twilight Sparkle, Spike and Pinkie Pie for the weekend, as they headed to the train station to catch the last trains of the day. Twilight and Spike were headed straight up to Canterlot, where they would be spending the majority of Hearths Warming with Twilight’s family. Nightlight and Mrs. Velvet were hosting the family dinner, and even Shining Armour and Cadance had travelled down from the Crystal Empire for the weekend to spend the holiday with their in-laws.

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was headed in a different direction; to her family out south of Ponyville, on the Pie family rock-farm. In some bizarre mockery of both basic physics and chemistry, Pinkie had managed to completely sober-up by the time she left the party. With a bounce in her step, she boarded the southbound train, a variety of cakes and puddings heaped in boxes with her.

Rainbow Dash envied them both. Heck, by the same reasoning, she envied Applejack too. Everypony in Ponyville, even! Every single one of them had somepony to spend Hearths Warming with. They all had a family.

Slowly, this thought eroded the feeling of cheer that had warmed her heart on the way home from the party, leaving the chill of the evening air to bite at her, causing her to huddle down into herself more and flap faster through the sky above the little town.

In minutes, she was at her home, an elegant miniature castle, sculpted from clouds, into columns and arches, complete with ever-flowing rainbow streams which poured down into the air below. Pushing the door aside, she was greeted by a low whirring sound that came from within.

“Hey Tank,” she called as she shook the snow from her coat. Right on cue, the tortoise flew through the doorway connecting the living room to the hall, his tiny propeller spinning away atop his shell. He floated in close to the pegasus, who nuzzled his cheek affectionately. “Did ya miss me? Here, I brought some snacks from the party.”

She held out a forehoof, with a tiny paper plate balanced on it, laden with a couple of cakes and mince-pies. As a smile slowly (And I do mean slowly) crept onto Tank’s face, he hovered closer to the plate and took a leisurely bite of one of the cakes. Rainbow smiled, and together they went through to the living room, where the pegasus sat herself down on a puffy cumulus couch.

“Man, that party sure was fun,” Rainbow said, half to herself, half to Tank. “Though remind me to keep Pinkie Pie away from eggnog from now on…” she chuckled. “I don’t think I’ll ever get that image outta my head.”

Tank continued to munch ponderously at the sticky cake, a chunk of fondant-icing hanging from his beak.
Rainbow sighed. “Well, Talk ol’ buddy, looks like it’s just the two of us this Hearths Warming.” One better than usual, to be honest, whispered a voice in her head.

The tortoise nodded.

“But hey, we can still have a good time! We got some good food goin’, we got presents to open, we can play some games… Heh, maybe we’ll even break out that old Daring Do Holiday Special book!”

The pegasus laughed. Tank’s smile grew wider, which I suppose was his way of laughing. True enough, there had been a Daring Do parody book, written by the same author, as a Hearths Warming special. One of her friends had bought it for her last birthday as a joke, and since then it had remained at the back of her bookshelf. Perhaps tonight would be the night to finally read it.

“Yeah, we’ll be alright. We got eachother.” Rainbow smiled, laying back and patting Tank on the shell. “We don’t need anypony else, we don’t need…family, or… Oh who am I kidding!”

She sat up again, her smile gone. Tank’s propeller came to a stop and he landed with a gentle poof by her side. Rainbow began absent-mindedly stroking his shell as she gave voice to her thoughts:

“I dunno, Tank… I mean, I know it’s Hearths Warming and all, and that I’ve had it like this before, but… I just wish there was somepony else I could spend it with! Everypony else does, so why can’t I?”

She was silent a moment, before continuing, “Well, I guess I know why. I guess family’s outta the question. I got no brothers or sisters, and Dad?” she chuckled humourlessly. “Well, let’s just say me and the Brigadier don’t exactly get along well.”

Tank nodded slowly, and the pair fell silent once more. Looking around, the tortoise took to the air once more, flying towards the hallway again. Before he passed through the doorway, he looked back and gave Rainbow Dash a slow beckoning with his head.

Curious about the little guy’s actions, Rainbow followed him, as he went through the hallway, up the stairs to the second floor, and finally floating into Rainbow’s bedroom. As the pegasus entered, she saw Tank stood atop her bedside table. As she drew closer, she saw what he had led her to, which he was now staring at.

It was a simple photo, that stood in a frame on the table. Nothing too fancy, it was just her and her friends, all smiling together, no doubt at some Pinkie-hosted party. Rainbow understood the tortoise’s suggestion, but shook her head.

“Nah, I couldn’t do that. It’s a nice idea, but… c’mon, it’s Hearths Warming.”

If tortoises had eyebrows, Tank would be raising one of his.

“Well… Y’know,” Rainbow replied. “For starters, I can’t go see Twilight or Pinkie, they’re outta town for the night. Applejack, she’s over with her family at Sweet Apple Acres… Heh, you can hear them singin’ from the middle of town!” she added. “And Rarity’s over at her parent’s place.”

Tank gave her a look that seemed to say “So what’s the problem?”

Rainbow Dash picked up on Tank’s look and replied, “Like I said, it’s Hearths Warming! Any other night would be fine, but tonight… I dunno. Call me sappy and old-fashioned if ya want, but this is a family night. If I went over there and joined any of them, It’d just be weird. I’d feel like I’m intruding or something.”

She sat down on the bedside, deep in thought. Tank nodded, appearing to ponder the matter himself for a moment. He even tapped his chin with a front foot, in a slightly comical sort of way. About five minutes passed with no noise from either friend, when Tank had an idea.

Croaking to get his master’s attention, he turned back to the photo-frame, tapping on the glass cover with his nose. Rainbow Dash looked up and was about to stop him, when she saw that he was tapping on the image of a specific pony.

“Fluttershy?” And then it hit her. “Of course, Fluttershy! I could go see her! Tank, yer a genius!”

After a swift, but extremely affectionate, hug with the tortoise, Rainbow Dash whizzed down the stairs and out the door. Tank followed, hovering in the hallway a moment. Then, he simply gave the tortoise equivalent of a shrug and headed back into the living room, licking his chops for more food. His was a simple mind. Practical too.

---

It was not a well-known fact around Ponyville, and for Fluttershy’s sake it was a topic that her friends typically avoided around her, but Fluttershy actually had very little family to speak of. Ever since she fell from the world of the clouds and started her new life as an earthbound pegasus back when she was a filly, she had pretty much lost all contact with what little family she had even had at the time. She had been an only child, her grandparents had passed away long before she was born, and her parents were both sadly gone too. All Rainbow knew of the matter was that a run-in with a wyvern was the cause of it. That was as far as Fluttershy could ever get before bursting into tears. And she had no contact with any other relatives she may have had, if any.

“She’s bound to be lonely this time of year,” Rainbow though aloud as she soared through the air towards her cottage. “She’s bound to need somepony to keep her company! Why didn’t I think of I sooner?!”

However, just as she was beginning her descent to arrive at Fluttershy’s cottage, she noticed that the cream-coloured pony appeared to be rushing out to greet her already!

“Rainbow Dash!” called Fluttershy. “Hello, hello!”

Rainbow waved, “Hey Fluttershy. Happy Hearths Warming.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Heh, and to you too. What are you doing out here?”

“I was just comin’ to see ya!” explained Rainbow. “Y’see, being Hearths Warming and all, I was wondering if you’d like some company. I mean, I’m all on my own this year, and…”

“You’re all alone on Hearths Warming?!”

The blue pegasus nodded with a sigh. “Yeah. I’m feelin’ kinda bummed out about it, so I thought…”

“Oh Rainbow Dash, you’re more than welcome! That’s actually why I was out as well, I was wondering.. you know, if you don’t mind, if you’d like to…um, well, join me…”

“Really?” Her formerly drooping ears perked up in an instant. “I wouldn’t be, like, intruding or anything?”

“Oh no, not at all! Please, come on in!” Fluttershy said, eagerly leading the way through the snowy path to her cottage.

Rainbow Dash could only just hide the slight spring in her step. What better way to spend the holiday evening than keeping one of Ponyville’s loneliest ponies company?

“I’m sure my uncle won’t mind.”

Wait, what?

Comments

[temerarii pulsat]

awws even flutters has fam i wonder if this'll be a dash scoots fic

[pinkiepie4th]

Lol what?

AN UNCLE?

IM LAUGHING AND DYING