New Plans and Warm Hearths
Twilight hummed gently to herself as she finished tidying up her office. She wouldn’t be back in the room until after the holidays and she refused to leave any paper unsorted or surface uncleaned. As she scanned the space, her checklist of closing duties ran through her head for the third time.
Winter marks posted? Check.
Maintenance schedule set? Check.
Students sent home? Check. Mostly. Most of a check.
The ringing of Ponyville’s clocktower brought Twilight back to the world around her. She looked around at her admittedly spotless office and decided that she should probably stop “cleaning” before she missed Hearth’s Warming. Without Spike around to keep her on track, Twilight found she could be a bit absent-minded.
She locked the door behind her and started down the quiet hallways. It was almost unnatural to see these halls so empty, even after the past two years of being the school’s headmare. Standing in the horseshoes of an educator showed her just how silent a school could often be.
Twilight suddenly noticed that she had subconsciously started to search the holiday decorations for mistakes as she walked. A shake of her head and counting the number of tiles she stepped on helped to focus her thoughts until she stepped out into the school courtyard.
She took a deep breath of the winter air. Twilight usually loved this time of year. Well, she still did, but…
Thoughts for another time, she decided. For now, she still had one more thing to do before heading back to the castle. Taking a left on the path, Twilight entered into the student dorm building. It was just as silent here as it had been in the school’s main building. She might have thought it was empty as well, if she didn’t already know better.
“Hey, Gallus!” Twilight called out. It’s true that she could have simply knocked on his door, but it wasn’t like there were any other students to disrupt with her volume.
After a few moments, the second door on the right opened and the young griffon stepped out.
“Hey, Headmare Twilight. What’s up?”
“I just have to ask one more time,” – Twilight gave a gentle smile – “are you sure you don’t want to come stay in the castle? We have plenty of guest rooms. And you won’t have to walk in the cold to get meals.”
“Nah. I’m used to this room. It’s not hard to fall asleep in here anymore. That’s…a problem I usually have with new places.” Gallus scratched the back of his head. “Thanks, though.”
“Of course, Gallus. If you change your mind, let me or Starlight know. Speaking of Starlight, you might not want to oversleep. If you don’t show up for breakfast, I have no doubt she’ll march up here and burst into your room to make sure you get a full meal.” Twilight couldn’t stop herself from giggling at that thought.
“I thought you were supposed to sleep in when you have days off.” Gallus gave a pout before breaking character and chuckling quietly. “But yeah, I’ll make sure I get up on time.”
After checking in with Gallus and wishing him a good night, Twilight stepped back out into the evening air. The walk back to the castle would give her plenty of time to think about the upcoming days. Tomorrow she would spend the day with her friends, watch Ponyville’s Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant, have a nice dinner with Spike and Starlight before exchanging gifts, and then…
Twilight’s anxiety skyrocketed as she once again thought about Hearth’s Warming day. Every other year, she and Spike had traveled to Canterlot for the holidays. It allowed them not only to see Equestria’s biggest and best Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant, but also to spend time with their family. The change in plans this year was due to one small, but also very large detail.
This would be Twilight’s first Hearth’s Warming with her marefriend.
She had planned out everything. She had created a comprehensive schedule for Hearth’s Warming day, even including time slots for general cuddling and contingency plans in case they lost track of time. Yet, Twilight still couldn’t shake the feeling that her plans would end up being useless. After all, trying to get Rarity to adhere to a schedule is like trying to teach a bugbear tricks. An exercise in futility.
As she pulled open the doors to her castle, Twilight told herself to relax for the fifteenth time since she left the school grounds. Whatever happens, happens.
“Come on, Fluttershy! We’re gonna be late!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Rainbow. Just a little longer, I promise.”
Fluttershy could hear grumbles of malcontent from her living room, but knew well enough that Rainbow wouldn’t actually be mad. She had to make sure that all her little critters wouldn’t miss her while she was celebrating Hearth’s Warming with her and Dash’s families. Simple, or so she had thought.
Most of the animals that lived with Fluttershy had been understanding and promised to be on their best behavior while she was away. Unfortunately there was a single animal who was making it very difficult to leave.
“Angel, I’m only going to be gone for a few days. I’ve made a lot of trips recently. Why are you so upset about this one?” Fluttershy lowered herself to the ground and inched her face closer to the sulking bunny. In response, Angel blew her a raspberry and spun around to face the wall.
“I know you’re upset, but I can’t do anything about it unless you tell me why,” she cooed. As the two sat there quietly, Angel’s ears began to droop. He slowly beat a rhythm out with his foot. Fluttershy listened closely and reached a hoof out to pull Angel into a hug after he had finished.
“I’m sorry, Angel. I should have known you would want to celebrate Hearth’s Warming with me. Since I’m going to Cloudsdale this year, I didn’t even consider that you might want to join. Since you can’t walk on clouds, of course.” She broke the hug and stood up, smiling at the snow-white creature looking up to her. “But I don’t see why anypony would mind. I’m sure my parents would love to meet-”
“Fluttershy!” Dash called out again, followed by the sound of approaching hooves. A very perturbed pegasus poked her head around the corner. “What’s the hold up?”
“Oh, well, Angel here didn’t want me to go, so I was asking him about-”
“Of course he didn’t.” Rainbow ran a hoof down her face and sighed as she entered the kitchen. “I’ve got this.”
In a flash, Fluttershy felt a pair of hooves wrap around her midsection before she was suddenly deposited on the path outside her cottage. In another moment, her saddlebags were placed on the ground along with Rainbow Dash’s. Fluttershy was about to protest Dash’s careless solution, but the words died on her lips as the blue blur streaked back into her home.
“…Well, I’m sure Angel will understand. Maybe.” She stood there in silence, counting out the seconds. In the portions of her living room that she could see, her animal friends were staring into the kitchen with fearful expressions.
“Ouch!” Fluttershy heard Rainbow yelp shortly before shooting out of the cottage with a burst of wind, rubbing her nose and shutting the door with a hoof. “Your rabbit has a hell of a kick.”
“Watch your language, Dash.”
“Right, sorry.” Rainbow trotted past Fluttershy and hefted both mares’ saddlebags onto her back. “Anyway, you’re ready to go now, right?”
Fluttershy hesitated, but eventually nodded and spread her wings. It would take some time to fly all the way to Cloudsdale, but at least she would have Rainbow Dash to keep her company. Hopefully Angel wouldn’t be too mad.
In a room at the top of Sugarcube Corner, a baby alligator stood motionless on a bed.
“I know, Gummy! Even I can’t believe everypony was willing to come to Ponyville for Hearth’s Warming!” The pink pony bounced back and forth in front of the bedroom’s window. “They must be really excited to party with the Apples!
“And I get to show Mom and Dad and Marble and Limestone around Ponyville! I can introduce them to the Cakes! Ooooh, this is going to be so much fun! They probably can’t wait to learn what the Apples do for Hearth’s Warming!” With impressive control, Pinkie stopped bouncing almost immediately. “What do they do?
“Ooh, I bet they eat a lot of apples! And I bet they decorate the tree with apples!” Pinkie let out a loud gasp and brought herself nose-to-nose with Gummy. “Do you think they carve their dolls out of apples?” she whispered.
The alligator flicked his tongue upwards and licked his eyeball.
“You’re right, Gummy!” Pinkie bounced back up to her hooves. “No matter what traditions Applejack and her family have, everypony is going to have a great time!” With that, the pink pony leaped onto her bed accompanied by a large yawn.
“Anyway, I’m tired! Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite!” Like a switch had been flipped, snores began emanating from the blanketed lump.
In a room at the top of Sugarcube Corner, a baby alligator moved two steps to the right and laid down next to the pony that took care of him.
“…and then the entirety of Ponyville could be in danger!” Twilight’s ragged breaths filled in the space after her rant as Spike and Starlight stared at her incredulously.
“Okay, firstly, you know that’s not going to happen. Don’t–” Starlight pointed at Twilight to cut off her response “–say that it might. Because it’s not. Secondly, you’ve been with Rarity for how many months now? Just be your normal self.”
“But it’s Hearth’s Warming!”
“She’s got a point,” Spike chimed in. “Rarity isn’t one to do things in half-measures. But at the same time, that means she’s the one doing stuff. Twilight, just relax and let Rarity take the lead.”
“And do not keep mentioning your ‘Hearth’s Warming Day schedule’, for both of your sakes,” Starlight added.
Twilight breathed deeply and held it for a few beats before exhaling, raising and lowering her hoof in tandem with the action. “Right. You’re right, Spike. I need to just…prepare for whatever Rarity might want to do.”
The other two occupants at the table shared a glance they had both shared many times. Spike turned back to Twilight first. “Yeah. That’s good enough. Tell you what, I’ll take care of the dishes. You go take some sleep aids or whatever you need to do to get some rest.”
“No, I’m…” Twilight paused as she thought the suggestion over. “Actually, that would be great. Thank you. Good night, Spike. Good night, Starlight.” Starlight responded in kind as Twilight made her way out of the kitchen.
A peaceful silence settled in the room as Spike collected up the plates and utensils from dinner and ferried them over to the sink. Starlight looked down to her still mostly-full mug of tea. Plenty left for one of her patented nights of self-reflection. Perhaps she could convince Trixie to come relax by the fireplace with her.
“Sorry that we didn’t get to talk much about your plans, Starlight,” Spike said as he hopped up on a stool he had placed in front of the sink. He turned the water on, soaped up the sponge, and began to wash the dishes that the three had just used.
“It’s alright. I’m just glad that we were able to help Twilight get rid of some of those worries of hers. How about you? How goes the meal prep?”
“Good. I got all the doughs and whipped cream and the rest of the ingredients for the final products prepared earlier today. Everything will be ready and tasty in time for us to eat it.”
“Are you sure you won’t need help with any of the food? Hearth’s Warming meals can be pretty large.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve actually been dying to make some of Twilight’s mom’s recipes on my own for years now. She wouldn’t let me see them before, but since we aren’t going up to Canterlot this year, she caved and let me copy some pages. And besides, I really love cooking.”
There was another lull in conversation as Starlight went back to sipping her tea. The sound of the running water from the sink was surprisingly soothing and helped with her musings. Eventually, Spike spoke up again.
“Thanks for letting me celebrate Hearth’s Warming with you guys. I’m honestly surprised you’re okay with it. Would have expected you and Trixie would want some alone time like other couples.”
“Oh, yeah, no worries!” Starlight perked up and waved a hoof back and forth in front of her. “Trixie was actually the one who suggested it. She gets kind of…weird with usual relationship stuff and asked if I wanted a chance to give Gallus a family to celebrate with. Then I remembered Twilight’s plans and where that left you and then we’re here!”
“Speaking of Gallus, does he eat meat?”
The suddenness of that question threw Starlight for a loop and she wasn’t quite sure where Spike was headed with it. “Yeah, griffons can eat meat.”
“I know. Does Gallus eat meat, though? From what I’ve read, it’s a delicacy even in Griffonstone. So I’m not sure if Gallus is expecting something like that or has even had meat before ‘cause…y’know.”
Now that Starlight was thinking about it, that was a very good question. Just how much of his own species’ cuisine was Gallus familiar with? If she wanted to stay authentic with the Blue Moon Festival portion of their celebrations, then a traditional meal was the obvious choice.
“I’ll have to ask him tomorrow morning,” Starlight finally responded.
“Just let me know and I can have something cooked up by the end of the day. That goes for anything you, Trixie, or Gallus might want.” Drying his claws with a dish towel, Spike turned around and hopped off the stool. “Anyway, I’m gonna go get some sleep. Twilight will probably wake up early and she’ll need someone to keep her imagination limited to small-scale destruction. Good night, Starlight.”
“Good night, Spike.” As the drake left the room, Starlight’s thoughts turned back to Gallus as well as her own friends. This year’s Hearth’s Warming would be a new experience for most of them. Despite the multitudes of things that could go wrong, as Twilight saw fit to remind her of constantly during dinner, Starlight had the feeling everything would turn out alright.