Happy Giftsgiving!
A day like any other it was, as snow fell in a small town. Ponyville was its name, and all its inhabitants were preparing to celebrate Hearth’s Warming Eve, each with their families spend time together, as everypony knew that was the way that it went.
A pair of ponies trotted through the snow, or at least one of them did, as the other seemed to be in place, with tongue sticking out, and while this may be an odd act to some, this was but a normal event when it came to this specific pony.
“Two-hundred and ninety eight, two hundred and ninety nine, three hundred!” the pink pony celebrated joyfully, savoring the rest of the falling snow in her mouth, and just in time, as it suddenly stopped without warning.
“Are you quite done, Pinkie Pie?” asked the purple unicorn next to her. “It’s cold!” she complained, rubbing her sides with her hooves as a way to warm herself.
“Oh! Sorry Twilight! I was savoring the taste of snow!” the fittingly named Pinkie replied, skipping to her friend without much of a complaint for the cold, a strange looking alligator biting her tail as she did, of course, she didn't complain.
"Is it okay for Gummy to bite your tail like that?" Twilight asked, motioning towards the slow looking alligator.
"Nah! It actually tickles at times Tee hee!" she laughed as a small ticklish spasm passed.
“If you are okay with it... Wait, on to the topic. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?” asked Twilight with a mix of curiosity and annoyance.
Pinkie frowned to her friend, and made a zipping motion.
“I take it you won’t tell me until we are home?” a nod from Pinkie was the answer she received. “I thought so.”
The pair continued their trot towards the library, with the occasional minor complaint from Twilight while on the way, thankfully for her, they finally arrived at the entrance of her much beloved tree.
“Oh, thank Celestia! Heat, warmth, not cold!” she said joyfully as she entered her home.
“ Happy Giftsgiving!”
Twilight shrieked and flew into the air, landing a mere seconds later as she recovered from the shock, she eyed the ones responsible for the scare and grinded her teeth.
“What is going on here!? Twilight shouted, demanding to know what the four ponies standing in front of her were up to.
“Oh, I’m sorry dear, did we scare you?” said the white unicorn in the group with sincere worry.
“You think, Rarity?” she replied harshly before realizing her attitude. “Sorry! But yes, you guys did scare me!”
“Oh, we are so sorry, Twilight…” apologized the yellow pony next the one called Rarity.
“That’s alright, Fluttershy, no harm do-” her brain backtracked a few lines of sentences until she came to the point she found strange. “Wait, did you guys say ‘Happy Giftsgiving'?”
The others looked at each other in confusion before turning to Twilight.
“Ah‘ take it Pinkie hasn‘t told you about it yet?” asked the southern accented pony in the group.
“Told me what? What are you talking about, Applejack?” she asked, her confusion -but most importantly, her curiosity- growing.
“Pinkie Pie! I thought you were supposed to tell her about it before she arrived here!” reprimanded a cyan Pegasus flying over the rest.
“Oh! Sorry Dashie! It must have slipped my mind! Woah!” she yelped as she suddenly tumbled backwards.
“Whoops! Sorry, Pinkie!” apologized a purple dragon who only watched the conversation from close by. “I forgot to throw that away!” he apologized, picking up a banana peel that laid close to Pinkie‘s fallen self, giving Twilight a sheepish smile in apology.
“It’s honky dorry, Spike!” Pinkie called from her place on the floor.
“So… Can anypony tell me what Giftsgiving is already? I‘ve never heard of it” Twilight asked, growing irritated as more time passed.
“Right, well, that’s because we only celebrate it in Ponyville, Twilight,” explained Rarity. “I suppose with this being your first Hearth’s Warming in Ponyville, you wouldn’t know of it.”
“I suppose you are correct, but that still doesn’t explain what it is,” Twilight pointed out.
“Oh, right!” Pinkie called out, quickly closing in on Twilight and wrapping her hoof around her withers. “You see, it’s an interesting story that happened in a place, far, far away…
Away..
Away…”
“Please don’t fake echo, Pinkie,” Twilight told the grinning Pinkie.
“Sorry!”
~~~~~
It was a normal hearths warming night, much like any other year’s, and as anypony would, a family spend the night celebrating it with sweets, and candy, and games, and all you could ever define as fun! That is until one of the ponies yawned, signaling the first signals of exhaustion in the family, making the mother in the group call off the festivities.
“Alright dears, it’s time for bed!” the cries of foul instantly reached her ears, but she would not yield! “Now, now, we can continue tomorrow, what do you say?” a few murmurs between the ponies later, and they had gladly accepted the conditions, instantly going to bed without no more than a peep.
“Peep!” called one of the more restless of the bunch.
“Now, don’t be like that, I told you we would continue tomorrow, didn’t I?” the filly in question sighed, but nodded in understanding.
“Okay mom! Goodnight!” she said with cheer, nuzzling her mother with a giant smile on her face, and as her mom left the room, the filly felt herself passing out, as the crash of the sugary treats and all out fun took its toll on her.
And she slept, and slept, and slept, and slept, and slept, and sl-
~~~~~
“Pinkie!” interrupted Twilight. “I think I understand that she was sleeping, maaaaybe you can get to the next part?” she asked Pinkie Pie, who nodded.
“Well, yeah, I KNOW that, I was about to! You should know better than to interrupt anypony telling a story, missy!” reprimanded Pinkie.
“Bu-” a hoof from Rainbow Dash stopped a rant that was incoming, something that brought a sigh of relief from the rest.
“Just let her continue,” Dash told her.
“Fine,” and with a roll of her eyes, Twilight motioned Pinkie to continue.
~~~~~
… And slept, and slept, and slept but wait! There was a sound, and the filly woke up instantly, jumping into action and looking around for said noise. And with a hop, a skip, and a jump, she was out of her bed and its comfy safety, and into the hallway where the noise came from.
“Um… Hello?” she whispered, slowly creeping towards the source of the noise. “If it’s a ghostie let me tell you that I’m not afraid of no ghost!” she said as she slowly made her way through the dark hallway.
She reached the end of the hall which led to the living room, and peeked from a corner. Her eyes grew in surprise at the strange sight.
The pony was barely visible in the shadows, but it looked male due to its size and posture, he sported a long fake-looking white beard that nearly reached the floor, he had a red coat over his own, and a funny looking hat on his head, he seemed to be rummaging through the different foods that were left on the table.
Of course, the filly couldn’t let their hard work be eaten by some strange pony… At least not until she introduced herself first and vice versa, that is!
“Hello!” she said loud enough for him to hear and low enough to avoid being too loud, wouldn’t want to wake the family up, right?
“Wo-” he began, nearly shouting out loud, but covering his mouth with a hoof to prevent any noise from leaving it. “What the!?”
“Hi!” said the young filly to the stranger.
“What do you think you are doing up, a kid like you is supposed to be in bed!” he said, with a very valid motive, I must admit!
“O-oh, well, I heard a noise and I came to check it out, and I found you! Happy Hearthswarming, by the way!” she greeted him, causing the strange pony to drop the food he was eating.
“Wait, you are not afraid of me?” he asked her curiously.
“Of course not! You obviously aren't a bad pony! So, what’s your name?” she asked the stranger, who seemed a bit reluctant, I don’t know why, that’s a good question to ask.
“Well…” he sighed and walked into the little bit of light there was, revealing his yellow coat, he was quite tall as well, probably reaching Big McIntosh in height. “You can just call me, er… Mister.”
“You got it, mister!” the filly agreed instantly. “So, you wanna eat some food! I’ll gladly share some with you, you seem to need it,” she said to him, giving him a grin and pushing a bowl of salad to him.
“I-I’ll gladly accept it, thank you, little missy… Do you mind if I call you ’little missy’ while I’m here?” he asked sheepishly.
“Of course not!” she agreed happily.
For the next hour or so, they stayed up, talking to each other, sharing some stories -mostly from the filly who had a lot of them!- as the stallion ate, and ate, that is until he was satisfied and fell on his back on the floor with a silent grunt.
“Oh boy… That really hit the spot,” he grunted happily.
“Yay! Glad to have you put on some weight, mister!” she giggled.
“… You know, little missy, you’ve done me a kind favor,” he said, smiling more than he ever did during their time there.
“Oh shucks! I did nothing, all I did was give you some food, everypony deserves to eat, especially during Hearthswarming,” she explained.
“Well,” he began, putting a hoof over her head and ruffling her mane. “Trust me, you gave this ‘mister’ some hope,” a sliver of light appeared from the window, signaling the upcoming sunrise.
A yawn from the filly sorta, kinda told what was to happen next.
“I think it’s time for you to go to bed, little missy,” the filly grunted, but wasn’t able to do much, as she found herself being picked up, and after some search, she was back in her room.
“Thank you, mister!” she said grateful, fighting the need to sleep and trying to stay awake with the stallion.
“Here you go,” he said, placing a lazily wrapped item on her bed.
“What is this?” she asked, looking at the strange oval shaped object.
“Well, let’s just say that I greatly appreciate how good of a filly you are, and I’m giving you this to show you, would that be fine?” the filly only smiled and nodded her head, too tired to respond.
“Aww, but now I feel bad, I should have given you… Something,” she managed, her words slurring out, barely audible.
“Well, I don’t need anything, not anymore… But you can try giving your family gifts instead of me, wouldn’t that be nice?” he said with a very nice suggestion.
“Yeah… That sounds like a plan,” she managed, reaching for the oval thing and putting it between her hooves, as she slowly passed out.
“Goodnight, little missy… Maybe we’ll see each other again.”
~~~~~
“The end!” finished Pinkie Pie, bowing to the ponies present. “So, did that answer your question?”
Twilight stood, seemingly mulling over the story Pinkie had told, she patted her chin with a hoof, processing what she had just heard.
“But, wait… Who was that filly? And that stallion? And what kind of filly doesn’t yell when some strange stallion goes into her home and not call her parents, and did she create the holiday to simulate the kindness the stallion did? Not to me-” a cyan hoof stopped her rambling, causing Twilight to simply sigh.
“Just go with it. You can’t really question the one pony who created the holiday, can you?” Rainbow Dash said.
“Wait, what!?” Twilight’s eyes became huge, looking from Rainbow to Pinkie, then quickly stopping. “You know what? I can believe that…” she seemed thoughtful for a bit, as she remembered bits and pieces of the story, piecing it together as she did. “But you know, some of what you said sounds a bit odd… Also, why ‘Giftsgiving‘?”
“Well, I thought about naming it ‘Giftmas’, but that’s not as catchy!” she explained.
THUD, THUD
“Um? Coming!” called Spike, reaching the door in a few seconds and opening it, revealing Mr. Cake behind it.
“Oh, good evening, Twilight,” he greeted her.
“Good evening Mr. Cake. Pinkie, I think it’s for y- Oh,” she turned once again to see Pinkie already by his side. “Never mind.”
“Um Pinkie, sorry to interrupt, but the twins are getting antsy,” he explained.
“And you need my help, don’t you say another word, Giftmas commander Pinkie at your service!” she monologued, instantly donning a huge beard, a red coat and silly hat, Gummy now riding her back without much of a twitch from him as she moved.
“I take it you are leaving now, well, thank you for the story, and the presents… Happy Giftsgiving/Hearthswarming to the both of you!” she said, as the pair left the house after saying their goodbyes.
“Um… It‘s still bugging me a bit, the way the ponies in her story acted…,” Twilight began as Spike closed the door.
“Do you mean Pinkie’s story, eh, we didn’t really question it much, if Ah’ have to be honest,” Applejack said nonchalantly. "Not like we could really get anything out of it, really."
“I suppose, but…“ Then something clicked in Twilight's head. “Nah, it couldn’t be.”
“What is it Twilight? Did you figure something out?” wondered Spike who held a small box of his own, more than likely a present from Pinkie Pie.
“… No, it’s nothing,” she finished, trotting towards her friends. “You know," she replied, dismissing the subject. "Anyway, I feel bad that I wasn’t able to get you guys anything for today,” she said, her ears lowering in a hint of sadness.
“Oh, it’s okay Twilight!” Fluttershy said, nuzzling her friend. “You didn’t know after all.”
“Yeah!” concurred Rainbow Dash. “Besides, this just means you can get me double the presents next year!”
Twilight glared at her instantly, but that didn't last as she burst out laughing on the spot, the rest of the girls laughing in effect, knowing in her mind that it had been a successful Hearthswarming.
~~~~~
“Hey, Pinkie?” called Mr. Cake as they made their way home.
“What is it, Mr. Cake?”
“I was wondering… You didn’t tell Twilight the story… Did you?” he asked, looking a bit nervous, a normal habit of the poor baker.
“Um? Well, of course I did! She DID ask,” she explained as if it were an obvious thing.
“Did she…?”
“Nope!” she replied before he was able to ask anything.
“I-I see…”
They continued their walk, a soft mantle of snow falling in their path, it had been getting colder as nightime arrived, but neither of them complained.
"You know, Pinkie... I remember that the egg I gave you was a chicken egg," he recalled, as he stared at Gummy curiously.
"Isn't that funny, Gummy? You were gonna be a chicken!" said Pinkie surprised, grabbing Gummy and nuzzling him.
"I-I see," he said. feeling silly at the awkward way he ended the conversation.
“Mr. Cake?" Pinkie called.
"O-oh? Yes, Pinkie?"
"Happy Giftsgiving, 'mister'” Pinkie said, nuzzling Mr. Cake without warning, bringing a huge smile on his face.
“Happy Giftsgiving, little lady.”