> Share the Warmth
>  by Bantam
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> Share the Warmth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cold morning air caresses your skin, steadily strengthening the shivers moving through your body until they shake you from your sleep. You groan at the unwelcome awakening, eyes pinched shut as your half-awake hands hunt around you for the heavy blankets you shrugged off in the night.

Your groan grows to a growl as your blind search fails to find its quarry.

Eyes open then immediately close, wincing at the single ray of sunshine that somehow slips through the slight opening in your curtains to shine squarely across your face like a skilled sniping from Celestia.

You roll over to turn from the light, and immediately regret it as your body brushes against the brisk bedsheets.

You pull back to the safety of the spot you slept in, where the sheets are still snug with stolen body warmth. You let one eye half-open, braving the bright light of the waking world to search for your covers while trying your best to keep from coming any more conscious.

You find the blankets bundled at your calves and tug at them, fighting back a fury as you find them helplessly knotted around your leg. You kick and pull to no avail, finally sitting up with frustration, forcing your leg free and nearly tearing the fleece in two as you untangle it.

You lay back down, wrapping the blanket so tight around you that every ounce of your warmth is trapped beneath it, a tiny oven slowly heating you back into hibernation. You're almost wholly awake now, but don't dare leave the cozy comfort of your cocoon. Slowly your shivers subside, slumber slipping over your senses once more.

You flinch at a loud hammering at your door. It stops and you lay still, staring wide-eyed at your wall, futilely hoping it won't be followed by a second-
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Fate has decided it's time for you to wake.

Fuck fate.

You pull your blanket around you and shamble through the chill towards your front door.

"Fuck."

You violently throw your door open, then wish you hadn't, the force of it fanning a gust of frigid winter air into your home. You push the door nearly closed again, peering out the crack with a scowl.

A pink unicorn with a mane cut in curls of varied violets with a single teal streak stands on your porch, her hoof raised to knock again while her wide indigo eyes meet your glare. She shrinks back with a smile too wide under apprehensive eyes, her hoof drawing back to hold her sky blue scarf in place as the wind whips it and her mane against her saddlebags.

"Ooooh! You're awaaaake! Good. Good morning, Anon!" She forces a friendly smile, failing at faking it only slightly less than than her greeting failed at sounding sincere.

You rub your fist in the corner of your eye, scrubbing the sandman's spooge away as you let out a sigh. "Starlight? What are you doing here?"

The pony gives a patronizing smirk, lifting one eyebrow. "It's nearly noon, Anon. The better question is: what are you still doing in bed?"

So she knew you weren't awake. You let out a louder sigh, holding the bridge of your nose in your hand. "I meant, it's Hearth's Warming Day. Shouldn't you be off celebrating with someone?"

"Me? No~! Everypony is spending time with their families this year. Remember? At Twilight's Hearth's Warming Eve party last night, she said she and Spike would be going to Canterlot today, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are in Cloudsdale, Rarity's family took a retreat, and... Well, the Pies came to celebrate with the Apples this year, and, to be honest, after the way they were fighting at the party, I've been steering clear."

"Shouldn't that be 'mareing' clear? Because a steer is a male ox. And your a female pony. And you guys love your horse puns."

"Different etymology, Anon. And you're the one that loves puns. You're always say silly human-based things like, 'man up,' 'got to hand it to you,' and 'can't put my finger on it,' and it's honestly a little cringey, but nopony tells you because-"

"Fine, be a steer. My point is: Didn't you say at the party that you'd be staying with your family too?"

The mare makes a face like she's been caught with her tail raised, then tries to cover herself with the most pitifully stilted "laugh" you've ever heard.

"Oh. OH! Ooo~h ho~ ho~ hooOH, A-nonnn! That's SO funny! I didn't think you'd remember that! That's...!" Her feigned smile falls and she hangs her head. "That's just what I told Twilight so she wouldn't feel bad leaving me behind. I don't mind being left behind! But I didn't want to impose on anypony's families, but I knew they'd feel sorry for me even if I told them I'd be happiest spending a few days alone skimming through some of the rarer spellbooks in Twilight's library."

"Uh-huh. So, again why are you here, instead of doing... that?"

"Well, Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurryheart arrived today, and it turns out Twilight's family has decided to stay here with her instead of going to Canterlot. But I already told her that I would be leaving to see my family, so she'd know I lied if I stayed... so I left." She frowns at her saddlebags.

You hug your blanket tighter around you as a sliver of wind slips past Starlight into the open door, draining more of your warmth and your patience. "And yet again, then why are you here at my house making me stand half-naked in an open winter doorway instead of going to see your family like you told her?"

Starlight blinks dumbly. You can see the gears whirring as her mind races for an answer. She finally forces another smile. "Well, I know you don't have any family in Equestria, so I thought I'd stop by so that you didn't have to spend the day alone. I could put it down as a friendship lesson for Twilight!"

You prepare to point out that she's not Twilight's pupil anymore, but can't bring yourself to. Her barely maintained smile is begging you to accept her story as her teeth chatter together. You only notice then that's she's trembling in the cold.

You peer behind her at Ponyville, the streets surprisingly vacant as most ponies are either huddled indoors or on vacation. Though the morning sun has melted its fair share of ice, frost still fills the streets, and heavy piles of snow still hide in the retreating shadows of every home.

Starlight is still trying to smile, but no longer succeeding. You sigh and open the door. "Alright, come on in."

She gallops past you, trailing snow across your floor as she glances about. Confusion crosses her face after a moment, and she turns to you. "Where's your fireplace?"

"Don't have one. Got a wood-fire oven if you want some heat, but it doesn't put out much."

She looks like she's not sure if the offer is a joke or not, but the cold convinces her to turn and trot her trembling body to the stove. "Not much of a Hearth's Warming without a proper hearth, is it?"

"Why do you think I came by Twilight's on Hearth's Warming Eve?"

Starlight busies herself with the oven, peering down to confirm the half-charred logs in the minuscule fire chamber at its base. Her turquoise magic sparks a flame to them as she opens the small oven above to let the heat flow freely out. "I keep telling you that you should just move into Twilight's castle. She has more rooms than she knows what to do with, and they're all a lot nicer than this place."

"Yeah, no thanks. I feel like living under a princess's roof would force me to live up to some standards I don't really want to deal with."

She pauses, appraising the cleanliness of your home. "On second thought, she'd probably like to keep those rooms nice. You made the right choice." The unicorn settles onto her haunches in front of the small flame, shivering as she waits for warmth.

You look down at the fleece hugged tightly around you, then glance around the room for a spare blanket. You're not sure why you bother; you already know you only have the one. Still, you don't dare give it up. You don't have a natural coat like her, and you're slightly shuddering as is.

You let out a sigh as you settle onto the floor beside her and open your blanket, offering her into its embrace.

Starlight smiles, equal parts grateful and sheepish as she drops her saddlebags and steps into the opening you’ve made, huddling against you for warmth.

You're on your feet in a flash, leaping out of the blanket with a shout to escape the pony's ice-cold coat.

Starlight stares up at you in surprise as the blanket slowly settles back over her, hanging off her horn and over one eye.

"Christ you’re cold! I’m practically naked and I'm not that cold! How are you that cold!?"

"S-Sorry! You left me standing out there for a long time!" Starlight sounds almost as annoyed as she does embarrassed. But she also somehow looks even more pathetic now that she's shivering under the blanket. It really completes the whole "little matchstick filly" look. "You can have your blanket back."

"No, keep it. I’ll just make some hot chocolate instead. Pinkie decided to give me a whole damn barrel of chocolate as a present, so I've been using the stuff to keep warm."

You pump the lever over your sink, half-expecting the pipes to be stopped with ice, but in a moment you instead have a saucepan full of frigid, but at least not frozen, water.

Starlight keeps her muzzle buried in the blanket, staying silent as you sit the saucepan on the stove, too focused on warming up to speak or even fix the fleece hanging off her horn.

You wait, wondering how long she really plans to stay here. Now that you're awake, a little company isn't unwelcome, but won't Twilight's family be staying a few days? A few days of Starlight sounds like more company than you can take.

You're going to have to have a talk with her about that.

Several minutes pass, but before the water's warm enough to simmer, you're cold enough to shiver. The warmth from the oven keeps your front comfortable, but your back is ice. You turn around to remedy the situation, and your backside's relief pales to your front's panic. You look at Starlight, who seems to have finally stopped shaking. "Looks like you're warm enough to not put me into shock anymore. Let me back under that thing."

Starlight's horn gives an aquamarine glow, lifting the blanket until you're back beside her, then wraps it around you. As your sides touch, you brace for the cold, but to your pleasant surprise her body is now blissfully warm. You find that you're now the one huddling against her soft coat for heat, and while the close contact make her uneasy for a moment, she sees you shudder, and then gives a sympathetic smile as she presses closer to you.

Having two bodies now bundled beneath the blanket brings the temperature up in the blink of an eye, and with a good heat finally flowing from the tiny fire, you even feel cozier than you had in bed.

You close your eyes, enjoying the tranquil moment as you listen to the sound of Starlight breathing softly amidst the crackling pops of the fire. The sleep you'd struggled for earlier now seems as if it could take you unawares at any moment. If Starlight were willing to be your heated body pillow throughout her stay, you might not mind having her around as much as you'd thought.

You let your mind lazily wander through ideas of how the days might pass if she really did stay through the holidays, steadily slipping into increasingly nonsensical scenarios.

You're in the middle of fantasizing about having her temporarily transform the inside of your home into a sunny beach when the sweet smell of cinnamon snaps you from your daydream.

Opening your eyes, you find Starlight is no longer snuggled beside you, but reared up in front of the stove, a pot-holder in her mouth and around a baking pan as she pulls it from the oven. You'd be upset that a pony slobbered all over your pot-holder if you weren't distracted by the dozen cinnamon buns on the tray, a white glaze melting across their spiralled sienna-speckled surface.

Starlight carefully sits the tray on your counter and the pot-holder beside it, then turns to you, smiling as she sees you're awake. "Oh hey! You're just in time for the cinnamon rolls! Want one?"

"You baked? How long was I asleep!?"

Starlight chuckles. "Just a few minutes. I baked these this morning and brought them in my saddlebag. I just thought I'd use the oven to warm them up, since it was already on. The hot chocolate's done, too." She levitates a pair of plates and mugs after her as she joins you beneath the blanket again. You take one of each in your hands, and just holding the hot refreshments is a wonderful feeling.

You take a large bite of warm, fluffy dough, savoring the sweet flavor almost as much as the warm, sugary icing. You breath in the rich aroma of chocolate as you wash it down with a sip of hot cocoa, sighing in satisfaction as you feel yourself warmed from the inside.

Starlight gives a sigh that echoes your own, holding the sweet roll in her magic as her hooves hold her mug between them for warmth.

You eat and drink in happy silence, and only after you've filled up on cinnamon buns does the silence start to grow awkward.

"So. If you're going to be spending the day, did you have anything in mind?"

"Oh. Well, I brought some board games."

"Yeah? Whatcha' got? Life? Settlers of Catan? Arkham Horror?"

"I've... never heard of any of those, Anon. I have Clue, Candy Land, Monopoly..."

"Right, Hasbro brands only. Risk, then?"

"Yeah, I have that one! 'The game of strategic friendship,' right? They have that where you're from?"

"Close enough."

"Great! I'm going to be blue! What color do you want?" Glimmy gets to excitedly setting up the board, her magic hovering the cardboard box from her saddlebag.

"Uh, red, I guess. You sure you wouldn't prefer something simple like Candy Land?"

"Of course not! Risk is my absolute favorite! Now let's see who can make all of Equestria their friend first!"

When you hear it like that, it makes more sense why that one's her favorite. "Well, that'll get us through today. And, actually, I am happy you came by. But maybe you should go see your family after, like you told everyone you would."

Starlight pauses. "I'd rather not, Anon."

Seems like a sore subject. You decide not to pry. "Well, you said you'd be happiest reading alone. Why not sneak back into the castle and hide in that Andalusian Amplifier room you told me about?"

She drops her ears and frowns. "I may have lied to you."

"I knew it! Candy Land really is your favorite."

Starlight laughs and playfully shoves you with her hoof. "NO!" She smiles sadly as her magic tugs at her cinnamon bun, slowly unspiraling her work. "I mean... I lied about why I tried to stay behind at Twilight's Castle. It wasn't because I didn't want to intrude on anypony's family. And I don't want to be alone, either. I would've been happy to have gone with any of them."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because... When everypony got to talking about their holiday plans, they noticed I hadn't said anything. And I guess they felt sorry for me, because they all offered at once for me to come with them. But I didn't want to choose any of them over the other. So, instead of picking one... I turned them all down."

The mare drops her unwound confection onto her plate and turns to you with her mouth curved into an awkward smile. "That's pretty stupid of me, right? I've supposedly graduated from being Twilight's first friendship student, but I can't even handle a basic situation like that. I'm still no good at friendship."

"Nah. It just shows you care too much about your friends to risk disappointing any of them."

"Really? All I was thinking about was how I would feel if I offered to let someone spend time with my family, and they turned me down. I didn't want any of them to feel that way. You think I did the right thing?"

"Well, no. Because they would've understood that you picking one of them this time didn't mean the others didn't matter to you. You didn't hold it against any of them that they wanted to spend it with their families instead of you, did you?"

"Well, no, but I wouldn't expect anypony to want to spend time with me instead of their family." She says it so matter-of-factly, you don't think she even knows how sad that sounded. "So I did mess up..."

"Your heart was in the right place. Even if wasn't a great decision, it was still a really sweet one." You boop the snoozle.
"And, for what it's worth, I'd happily spend time with you instead of my familam, Glimglam."

Starlight normally gives a glare if you boop her. But your words win this time, and instead she gives you the first genuine smile of the day, beaming brightly as she wraps her hooves around you.

You chuckle and hug her back. "So, do you think you might want to go back to the castle now?"

"Honestly? Not while Flurryheart's there. She was crying up a storm when I left. A literal magic storm. Twilight's probably still trying to recast Fledgling's Forbearance for her."

"You could still head to Sweet Apple Acres. I bet they'd be happy to have you, especially Maud."

She seems to consider for a moment. "That does sound nice. But I can't." Starlight's magic readjusts the blanket, pulling it tight over the two of you as she nestles next to you and levitates her hot cocoa to her muzzle. "I'm already comfy."

"I hear that."

You clink your cup to hers, a few miniature marshmallows splashing from one mug to the other. Each of you take a long sip then smirk at the foam left tickling one another's nose or muzzle.

You reach out in unison, giving a mutual boop to eachother, and then break into shared laughter. As it dies to a chuckle, Glimmy finally extends a hoof from the blanket, pushing her first player piece across the game board. You take your turn and the game goes on, each of you huddled to the other for warmth as you strategize each move.

Staring down at the wide map of Equestria, and all the areas on it neither of you have brought friendship to yet, you're reminded of the cold world outside.

You take a sip of the hot chocolate Pinkie gave you, followed by a bite of cinnamon bun, then smile at the feeling of Starlight beside you.

It may be a cold world out there, but it's really not so bad when you share the warmth.