The Warmest Place
It was winter in Ponyville. The ice had taken its hold on the town and didn’t seem to be relenting any time soon. Those brave enough to venture into the icy conditions did so only when the situation grew dire. This was mainly when their aunt’s knitting fell apart and left them even more exposed to the cold. It was for this reason that business was booming in Ponyville as ponies all tried to find the hottest spots in every store around town.
Twilight Sparkle couldn’t quite believe it. The library, for all the time she’d been here, had never had this many customers at once. Ponies kept pouring into the library, picking a book off the shelf and settling down in the general vicinity of the fire to read. What baffled her more though, was how not a single book had been leant out yet.
Having thought about it, ponies hadn’t really approached her at all today, preferring to find their own books, even as she saw some of the more bizarre items in her collection be taken from the shelves. She swore she’d seen a pegasus quickly slide ‘Magic for Beginners’ from a shelf on more than one occasion. If she didn’t know better, she would have said that they were taking the first book they saw before gathering around the fireplace.
Having said that… she’d seen a lot of ponies go towards the fireplace and not many come away from it… Curiously, she lowered the book she’d been glancing at and edged around the table. Even the ponies that had arrived a few minutes after the library opened hadn’t returned yet. Surely they’d simply become enthralled in the books they’d picked up… Skippy the Kangaroo goes to the Shops and Advanced Fluid Dynamics her brain reminded her.
She edged around the library, trying to be quiet when she saw the first discarded book. The book was revealed to be the smallest of several hastily stacked piles of literature. Further around still and she saw the tell-tale shimmer of magic surrounding several hooves back from the fireplace.
She lit her horn and dispelled the barrier quickly, bringing a blast of heat and chatter as it fell apart. No-one noticed as the barrier went down, continuing their jovial conversations and laughing and joking.
Twilight coughed politely, trying to get their attention as they kept talking. She frowned and lit her horn once again, snuffing the fire out instantly.
The conversation froze as around twenty ponies all turned behind them to the sight and sound of Twilight tapping her hoof against the floorboards impatiently. A few of the crowd shuffled their hooves guiltily as they were each confronted by Twilight’s frosty gaze.
“Five minutes,” Twilight finally said, sweeping her gaze across the crowd. “Five minutes before I shut the library for the day. If all the books aren’t back where you found them by then, then I will find each and every one of you and make you review and re-shelve every single book in this library,” she finished archly before turning and returning to the table, grumbling quietly under her breath as the sound of many trudging hooves echoed through the library. A few moments later, the fire sprang up in the grate again, causing a pony trying to get warm from the embers to jump back, yelping.
It was the third time this had happened this winter; bitterly cold by anyone’s standards. She was going to have to find a way around that at some point or another. One by one, they started leaving the library, the books back where they’d been except for the odd one or two. She considered pulling the few ponies in for a few moments before deciding against it. They’d only try to stay in the relatively warm tree for longer and longer.
The door shut for a final time as the last pony nodded a quick goodbye to her before leaving and shutting the door behind him. The few books that were out of line were quickly switched and Twilight turned the sign on the door around, marking the library as closed to any more hopeful ponies. Not ten seconds later, the door was pushed open, bringing the cold wind through and making Twilight shiver as Rainbow Dash fought to close the door behind her.
The door slammed shut as Rainbow pressed it into the frame before smiling at Twilight. “Afternoon,” she greeted, “D’ya have a fire going anywhere? It’s freezing outside.”
Twilight, somewhat shell-shocked, nodded and pointed vaguely towards the crackling flames soundlessly.
“Great,” Rainbow replied, quickly darting towards Twilight and wrapping her in a brief-yet-cold hug. “Could you get me something warm too, Twi? Some of that hot chocolate stuff you have would hit the spot,” she continued, breaking the hug with a peck on Twilights cheek before moving towards the fire.
Twilight broke out of her stupor and watched Rainbow flop down in front of the fire before she sighed and turned towards the kitchen, shaking her head slightly with a crooked smile. This was also becoming quite a common occurrence as Rainbow dropped in after finishing work. Just as predictable in fact as-
She heard the door swing open and shut again as another pony joined the two of them.
“Hello? Anyone home?” Rarity’s voice echoed through to the kitchen.
“Evening, Rares,” Rainbow greeted, “I’m over here, by the fire. Twilight’s in the kitchen making something warm, you interested?”
“By the fire you say?” Rarity replied, her voice moving towards the fireplace. “Oh, and I’ll have a cup of tea please, Cherie,” her voice floated through to Twilight who was already adding another two cups of water to the kettle.
“Coming right up,” she called back, three mugs floating down from the cupboards and resting themselves onto the worktop. More cupboards opened and hot chocolate, tea and coffee all emerged onto the top along with three small spoons. She added each of them to their respective mugs whilst the kettle started to boil, adding liberal amounts of hot chocolate to Rainbow’s mug.
Once the kettle had boiled, she lifted it in her magic and added the water to each mug, their spoons twirling and stirring each concoction as Twilight instructed. Once she was sure that all the drinks were of a satisfactory quality, she lifted them all in her magic and went to join the other two by the fire.
Rainbow was sprawled out in front of the fire, her topmost wing raised slightly to catch the heat coming off the flames. Rarity was knelt in front of it on the other side of the fireplace; simply staring into the flames as Twilight arrived, bearing drinks. Twilight knelt down beside Rarity, resting a wing over her back and passing over her mug of tea. Rarity murmured her thanks and leant her head against Twilight’s neck.
“Hey!” Twilight looked over to see Rainbow’s head raised slightly off the ground. “How come she gets her mug first, I’m cold here too, y’know.”
Twilight opened her mouth to reply before Rarity cut in from beside her, “Well maybe some of us are colder.”
Before Rainbow could get a chance to throw in a retort, Twilight stepped in. “Girls, please. I gave Rarity hers first because, unlike you and I, Rainbow, she doesn’t have any wings to keep her warm. Anyway, here is yours now,” she continued, placing the mug next to Rainbow’s head.
“Thanks, Twi,” Rainbow replied as she rolled onto her hooves, sending a glare towards Rarity as she did so.
“Can you two give it a rest for one night, please?” Twilight implored, fully conscious of the death glare that Rarity was returning from under her wing. “I love both of you; can’t you two just… get along at the very least?”
Rainbow met Twilight’s gaze and looked down into her mug after a second or two. “Sorry, Twi…” she murmured which Rarity echoed a moment later, fidgeting beneath Twilight’s wing.
Satisfied for the moment, Twilight settled down and started drinking away at her own mug, keeping Rarity warm beneath her wing as she drank her tea. The three of them remained silent as they all looked into the cracking fire for a while, keeping the cold at bay.
“Twi?”
Twilight looked over, then up in surprise to see Rainbow standing beside her.
“Listen… I’m not good with the wordy stuff - you know that - can you let me say sorry to her in my own way?”
Twilight looked beside her to meet Rarity’s half-lidded eyes. “Of course,” she answered, carefully unwrapping her wing and disentangling herself from Rarity, taking her mug with her. She smiled at Rainbow before taking the spot she’d had on the rug and watching the two of them.
Rainbow answered the smile with one of her own before she leant down and wrapped her own wing around Rarity, holding her much closer and probably with a much softer cocoon than Twilight could ever manage. Twilight thought she saw Rainbow rest her head over Rarity’s neck and smiled. Leave it to Rainbow to find the perfect way of apologising to somepony; it usually worked with her after all.
An idea formed in her head and she smiled to herself, getting to her hooves quietly and leaving her empty mug where it was. She crept around the other two quietly whilst they continued looking into the fire soundlessly. Once she was on the other side of Rarity, she knelt down against the bared side of Rarity, stretching her own wing across both of their backs.
Rainbow looked over in surprise before she smiled back at Twilight and settled back down, leaning against Rarity as Twilight copied her, wrapping Rarity in the warmest blanket around. The three of them leant inwards, keeping the coldest of them as warm as they could.
“Listen,” Twilight started, still looking into the fire, “It’s far too cold to be sleeping alone these days… I’d like you two to stay over here with me, out of the cold.”
Rainbow turned her head over Rarity’s back and opened her mouth as if to complain, only to stop when Twilight met her gaze with her own. Sentences were said in complete silence as Rainbow realised that Twilight knew exactly how cold her house could get in winter and how she really didn’t have an argument. She sighed and shut her mouth again; leaning back onto Rarity as she pondered on just how much Twilight was caring for the two of them.
“But… what about Sweetie?” Rarity spoke up from between them, “I really don’t want to leave her alone either; it’ll be freezing in the boutique.”
“Didn’t you say that she was staying with Applebloom and Scoots tonight, Rares?” Rainbow prompted from beside her.
“Well… yes,” Rarity started cautiously, “but what if she gets sick and has to come back home? I don’t want her being locked out in the cold.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and lit her horn momentarily. “There,” she said. “I’ve sent Applejack a message that you’re staying with me for the night. Now she knows where to go and you have no choice in the matter,” Twilight continued with a bright smile.
Rarity sighed, sinking down between the two of them with an anxious expression.
“Cheer up, Rares,” Rainbow chirped, “If it’s really a problem for you, I can go and fly over to AJ’s house and pick her up. You just have to be the one to explain why to her.”
Rarity shook her head slightly. “No, it’s fine,” she answered, “I’m probably just worrying pointlessly. As you said, Twilight, Applejack knows where I am now and there’s no point changing that now.”
“Wonderful,” Twilight said cheerfully, her smile widening. “I’ll go and refill the drinks; I don’t think it’s time for bed just yet.” So saying, she stood up again, leaving Rarity’s other side exposed to the air as she took the three mugs in her magic and went back to the kitchen and the liquid warmth inside.