> A Hearth's Warming Gift > by The Bricklayer > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > A Question: How many ponies does it take to get a perfect gift? Two to three apparently... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lyra and Bon-Bon's home: Bedroom Lyra moaned in pleasure as she felt the soft creamy fur of her marefriend snuggle into sides as they cuddled under the warmth of the covers. It was a cold December's morning, and nothing felt better than just to have your marefriend's soft warm fur sharing it's generous bounty of heat and softness. Lyra nuzzled into her Bonnie's fur in response and gave her a slight nibble to the ear in an affectionate manner making Bon-Bon give a moan of pleasure of her own. All around the room were pictures of the twosome, doing everything together from just doing something as simple as baking cookies to going out on a Lady and the Tramp style dinner in Canterlot with the two's spaghetti strand ending up in each other's mouths. To put it simply, Lyra and Bon-Bon did everything together and that was that. "Time to wake up Bonnie..." Lyra whispered as she felt the warm heat of the sun rising due to Celestia's will coming through their window even as a cock crowed somewhere in the background. "But I just don't wanna." Bon-Bon murmured back in response. She just wanted to stay here and lay in bed with her beloved forever till the end of days came and just continue their snuggle. Bon-Bon loved to snuggle with her marefriend, it was her favorite activity to do besides making candy and all other sorts of sweet treats. Bon-Bon chuckled in response to a memory to how red Lyra's faced had blushed when she called her "My Little Cuddlebug" and told her that she was getting that trademarked. It was like seeing Big Mac's fur on Lyra's normally minty green face. "Bonnie, I'd like to request something." Lyra replied in a seductive tone. "A special commission for a type of sweet treat." "And what would that may be, pray tell?" Bon-Bon asked in an eager tone of voice as she closed in on her marefriend's face. "A chocolate tongued kiss." Lyra whispered and Bon-Bon grinned lovingly as she whispered back in an equally seductive tone. "Well, good for you as we just have one left..." Bon-Bon smashed her lips into Lyra's and their tongues did battle and Lyra let out a soft moan as she let her Bonnie's tongue explore her mouth before slipping her tongue into her marefriend's own mouth in response and let each other's hooves roam their bodies. After a few short minutes of making out, both Lyra and Bon-Bon had to pull away for air, gasping for breath. "I love you." Lyra smiled. "I love you too, My Little Cuddlebug." Bon-Bon responded in kind and laughed out loud as Lyra's face went just as red as it did the first time around when she got called that. Later that day, Lyra found herself going for a walk on the town after a nice refreshing breakfast of eggs and daisy sandwiches. All around her, snow fell and the wind whipped through the air, making Lyra shiver even in her fur booties and personally hoofknitted scarf, a last year's Hearth's Warming gift from Bon-Bon. Despite the snowfall and the windchill, Lyra loved the weather. She didn't know why, maybe it was perhaps her ancestors came from the Griffin Kingdoms where the high winds blew off the snow covered mountain tops back during the times when the two species lived together in harmony. Actually, nopony else seemed to mind the cold either. All around her, ponies played in the snow, there was Rainbow Dash and her marefriend Twilight Sparkle throwing snowballs at each other alongside their adopted daughter Scootaloo on Rainbow's team and Written Script's adopted eighteen year old son Potion Bubbles (A white furred and black maned and winged bat-pony with two bubbling beakers as a Cutie Mark) on Twilight's, whom she was babysitting for the day. Script himself was out in Canterlot teaching a drama course for this year's Hearth's Warming Eve play. In a park nearby, the two other members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were making a snowpony alongside Twist and their former nemesises Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Next to Sugarcube Corner, with a couple ponies gathered in front of him and sitting on a wooden crate was a purple furred unicorn pony wearing a light blue star spotted cape with a grape vine wrapped musical note for a Cutie Mark playing his acoustic guitar, also painted purple and wrapped in grape vines singing "Sleigh bells ring, are you listenin'? In the lane, snow is glistenin', A beautiful site, we're happy tonight, Walkin' in the winter wonderland..." with the gathered ponies gently bobbing their heads to the beat and humming along. It warmed Lyra's heart, just like a fireplace inside her body, to see so many ponies out enjoying the cold. "Beautiful, isn't it?" A familiar voice said from somewhere beside Lyra. It was a high class, upper crust Canterlotian accent that Lyra recognized and broke out into a huge grin when she heard. She turned to see a stone grey mare, with a black mane and tail wearing a pink bow-tie as always, with a treble clef as her Cutie Mark. "Octavia, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to be putting on a special Hearth's Warming Eve concert up in Canterlot?" The minty green mare questioned her fellow musician. While they may have shared two completely different genres (Lyra with folk music, and Octavia with classical) the two had formed a resounding friendship all because of their love of music in all of it's many myriad forms. In fact, Lyra was instrumental, you might say in giving Octavia the big push to confessing to her marefriend Vinyl Scratch also know by her stage name DJ-PON-3 that she loved her. To be honest, actually all of the local musicians in Ponyville kept up with one another, from Vinyl and Octavia, to Lyra and the Ponytones and even the wandering blues, southern rock and country musician Grape Vine (Known by his stage name The Lone Guitarist) via letters or annual meet-ups every few months in Ponyville. Although if I was to be honest with you, Grape Vine rarely attended, due to his tendency to stay out of Ponyville due to all the weird stuff that seemed to constantly go down there. To even see him here today was like Faust coming down from the sky to bless somepony and turn them into an Alicorn. It simply did not happen. They even at times made collaborative works, such as last years "Do they even know it's Hearth's Warming?" "Well, I was, but the lead concerto director apparently got sick with the Feather Flu and had to drop out, so the whole thing had to be canceled rather unfortunately." Octavia replied before muttering "Blast..." to herself. She was really disappointed about the whole affair to be honest, as she'd heard Luna and Celestia themselves were going to attend, something that happened only once in a blue moon. "So, that's what brings me to Ponyville." Octavia sighed sadly while hanging her head. Then she noticed her friend's expression. It didn't show on her face, but in her eyes and the fact that she looked lost in thought and to be honest, it was as if she didn't seem to have heard anything Octavia had said in the past few minutes. "Hello, Equus to Lyra Heartstrings? Are you there?" Octavia asked while waving a hoof in front of her friend's face. Lyra blinked and shook her head to clear her thoughts before flushing in embarrassment once she realized she'd had her head in the clouds. "Sorry, what were you saying? I didn't catch that last part." Lyra admitted, face still red, although not due to the cold. Octavia sighed before she looked directly at Lyra, her gaze seemingly boring into her very soul. "Something's nagging at you, isn't it?" Octavia questioned, although it felt more like an interrogation as Lyra tugged nervously at her scarf. "N-No, nothing's bothering me. Nothing at all!" Lyra denied, and Octavia gave her a deadpan stare. "Ly, I know you're lying. Now tell me the truth." Octavia told her in a no room for argument tone of voice and Lyra finally fessed up. "A-Alright, you got me. It's just... This yearly tradition me and Bonnie have, every year we exchange anniversary gifts, and... and this year I have no idea what to get her! I-It's just very important to us, you know, and I don't want to show up with absolutely nothing at all and look like a big doof!" Lyra confessed, before holding back a small sob even as Octavia brought her friend into a comforting hug. "There, there Lyra. I'll help you find the perfect gift for your girl." Octavia said in a calm and reassuring tone and dabbed away at the now blubbering mare's tears with a handkerchief. "But there's one thing we gotta do first." "A-And what's that?" Lyra sniffled. Octavia sighed, what she was about suggest was the most hated thing in the world for her. "Shopping." Octavia growled out even as she mentally mused "Oh, this is going to be soooo much fun." in a sarcastic tone. Lyra let out a loud squeal and Octavia just groaned before letting out a very unenthusiastic "Yay." Rich's Barnyard Bargains Ah, Filthy Rich's Barnyard Bargains, that place where everything a pony could need is in one place for low, and I do mean low prices! (If I sounded like a commercial guy there, I apologize profusely.) It's pretty much the closest Ponyville will get to a strip mall, only much smaller. On every aisle, you could find many different things, ranging from officially licensed toys of the Elements of Harmony, the Princesses and the Wonderbolts among others to clothes to various foods and drinks. All on low, low prices! (Again, sorry.) Currently our musical duo was in the clothing section looking through clothes that Bon-Bon might desire. "Hey, what do you think about this?" Lyra asked eagerly as she held out a Prench Maid's outfit. Octavia gaped and was unable to form words for a few seconds before she finally regained the power of speech and fixed her friend with yet another deadpan stare. "Is that for Bon-Bon or more for you?" Octavia asked dryly. Lyra never replied and Octavia slapped a hoof to her face in resignation and thinly veiled disgust. She reeeeeaaallly did not want to know what exactly the twosome got up to in the bedroom or any of Lyra's fetishes for that matter. "Why not try something a bit more classy, and cute for that matter, like socks?" Octavia suggested before holding out a pair of socks that just so happened to match Bon-Bon's mane colors. "Weeeeellll, I have to admit, they are cute, but I would need a matching pair." Lyra mused, and Octavia with a smile, held out some socks that looked exactly like what Lyra was looking for. Then Lyra pulled out the most horrible of horrible foods, the fruitcake. "Hey, what do you think about this for a Hearth's Warming Eve dessert treat?" She asked, and her friend/shopping partner shuddered. She remembered when Vinyl got one, and when Octavia tried it, all she ended up doing was nearly breaking her teeth. "Aren't those things always regifted?" Octavia asked, still holding the socks in front of Lyra's face, hoping she'd get the point so they could go already, all the while remembering the old joke that there was only one fruit cake in the entire world, it just got regifted. "Hmm, I see your point." Lyra admitted, before throwing the fruit cake behind her, with it hitting Spoiled Rich in the face and knocking her clean to the floor and into unconsciousness. "And as for those socks, I'll take them!" Lyra exclaimed making Octavia sigh in relief as now they could finally get out of here before a thought struck Lyra. "Hmm, but is it enough? I mean, just socks? I want to do something... more." And then another thought struck the lyre playing mare even as Octavia groaned audibly from Lyra's previous statement. "Hey, just asking here, but what are you doing to keep Bonnie from finding out that I'm shopping for her?" Ponyville Spa What exactly Octavia was doing was having Grape Vine keep Bon-Bon occupied by giving her a spa and hair treatment. Mind you, he had no help from the local spa ponies, the sisters Aloe and Lotus, so he had no idea what he was doing but at least he was trying, all to the tune of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "I Know a Little" playing in the background. "Hmm, maybe it needs more shampoo!" Grape Vine exclaimed as he poured a whole bottle of shampoo onto Bon-Bon's mane and even tried to style it. He was failing miserably. Musician he may be, but mane-stylist he ain't. Bon-Bon's mane was a hot mess as the ponies say nowadays and her face was one of a pony who was not very pleased and looked as if she was thinking up various brutally horrible ways to murder Grape for doing this to her. Nearby, Aloe whispered in her sister's ear. "Uh, should we tell him he's doing this completely wrong?" She asked nervously. "And ruin a perfectly good laugh? Tartarus no! Sister dear, you wait here, I need to go get my camera!" Lotus laughed before trotting off still giggling to herself. Carousel Boutique "Oh, don't worry, I have a plan." Octavia said to Lyra with a smirk on her muzzle as they waited on a special custom order from Rarity. It wasn't a dress or some other article of clothing, as you might have expected. It was a little known fact, but Rarity did other kinds of stitching as well. The very cuddly kind. After about an hour, Rarity emerged with a life size Lyra plush, which looked like her to the very last detail. And I do mean EVERY last detail. "Uh, Darlings, I... I hesitate to ask, but are you sure you want a plushie this accurate?" Rarity asked with a good amount of trepidation. Octavia raised an eyebrow in curiosity, before she then saw what Rarity was talking about. At the upper end of the plushie's tail, was... well, oh, how do I put this delicately... A very good representation of the female parts. Octavia's head whirled around to face Lyra's, who was grinning madly. "This way we can be with each other even if I'm not there!" Lyra exclaimed and Octavia just groaned. A nice glass of champagne was sounding very good right about now. "We'll take the order..." Octavia said and Lyra let out a loud "Yes!" in happiness. "...Without the custom "Modifications". Octavia finished and Rarity nodded in turn. "Yes, probably best dearies." As they walked home, shopping bags in hoof, with the sun beginning to dip below the horizon casting the sky in beautiful shades of pink and orange, Lyra sighed. She still hadn't found anything worthy of her Bonnie. "I failed... No, we failed. Bonnie's going to hate me, and then break up with me and we'll never speak to each other again, all because I failed to get her a gift!" Lyra sobbed, her tears freezing to her cheeks, but Octavia wiped them away all the while wondering if she could borrow one of Rarity's Fainting Couches for Lyra, as she certainly looked like she needed one. "You do realize there's one possibility neither of us... Well, I have anyways... considered yet?" Octavia asked and Lyra looked at her, tears still dripping down her face. "A-And what's that?" Lyra sniffled, and Octavia simply gestured to her Cutie Mark. "And what's your special talent again?" The cello playing mare asked dryly. "You know perfectly well what my special talent is, Tavi, it's..." Lyra shouted before her voice took on a slower tone as she realized what her friend was getting at and let out a small "Oh." as Octavia grinned. "Thank you, thank you!" Lyra said rapidly before she grabbed the shopping bags out of Octavia's hooves and rushed off with a shout of "I'm coming Bonnie!" Octavia chuckled to herself. Now all she had to do was just prop herself up with a nice glass of champagne and the day would be just perfect. Lyra and Bon-Bon's House Bon-Bon was in an angry mood, and grumbled to herself about idiotic southerners who knew nothing about manestyling even as she walked through the front door of her residence, only to find her jaw dropping. The whole home's lights had been dimmed, with the only illumination being provided by candlelight, and on a table sat two glasses of red wine and a jar of poinsettias. And there, sitting on the couch was Lyra in the Bon-Bon themed socks holding a CD player. "Wh-What is all this?" Bon-Bon asked, her bad mood immediately evaporating and being replaced with shock. "Your gift, from me, to you." Lyra said simply, and set the CD on play, and a very familiar song from Coloratura and the Glitz and the Glams began to play. Lyra brought out her lyre and gently picked at the strings and sang along to the song in a seductive tone. "I don't want a lot for Hearth's Warming, There's just one thing I need, I don't care about presents, Underneath the Hearth's Warming tree. I just want you for my own..." Bon Bon found her bad mood going further and further away from her and being replaced with something more... intimate as she smiled and wrapped her hooves around Lyra gently pushing away the lyre with a foreleg and kissing her passionately, and after a few minutes the two pulled away gasping for air. "Happy anniversary Bonnie. I hope you liked my gift to you." Lyra said. "Oh, believe you me, I did, but that's nothing compared to what YOU'RE going to get..." Bon-Bon trailed off while looking at her love with her best bedroom eyes and slipping on the Lyra socks before trotting off towards the bedroom, swaying her hips as she did so. Lyra grinned, and followed after her, making sure to shut the door behind her... THE END