> Old Habits
>  by Shakespearicles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Naughty List
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike's dragon wings flapped in near silence as he hovered next to the Hearth's Warming tree. He helped Twilight Velvet with hanging the ornaments on the up-high branches that she couldn't reach. Though he was hatched by her daughter, Twilight Sparkle, she raised him just as if he was her very own son. And likewise, he had always considered her his mother. Certainly, she could have just used her magic to hang the high ornaments, but after so many years of Spike being stuck getting only the down-low branches, he was delighted to be able to reach the top, and she was delighted to let him. 

Twilight Sparkle smiled as she watched from the couch, donned in her warm, winter sweater. She reminisced on Hearth's Warmings of bygone days, when her father, Night Light, would be the one affixing the star to the top of the tree. And then that responsibility passed to her older brother once he was able to use his magic. He shared the task with Twilight once she could use her magic. And now it was Spike's honor.

The familiar old chime of the doorbell rang in the Sparkle family's Canterlot residence. Twilight practically leaped from the couch. "I'll get it!" she said as she trotted excitedly to the door. She knew exactly who it was before she even opened the door.

And there he was. Her heart fluttered. Those familiar blue eyes just under his two-tone mane of the same hue, framed by his fur, white as the driven snow piled up on the sides of the old city streets, that same warm smile he always wore when he saw her. It was her brother, Shining Armor. Twilight was half-a-heartbeat away from pouncing on him with a hug before she, herself, was tackled.

"Auntie Twilie!" Flurry Heart cheered as she bounded through the doorway and leaped up into Twilight's hooves to embrace her. Twilight hugged her niece back. "It's Hearth's Warming Eve! Aren't you excited!?"

"So excited!" Twilight replied, trying to match the filly's seemingly-endless energy. "I hope you've been a good filly this year. You don't want to end up on Sandy Paws' naughty list. Otherwise you'll only get a lump of coal."

"Nuh uh! I've been so good!" Flurry said with defensive pride. "I did all my homework and chores and everything!"

"Oh yeah?" Twilight asked playfully. She glanced past Flurry to the proud father, giving just the slightest of nods in confirmation.

Flurry bounded away to go hug her grandfather, Night Light. Twilight stepped forward towards Shining but he was intercepted by their mother, Velvet. "It's been too long since you last visited," she said, giving him an earnest hug. "The Crystal Empire is too far away."

"I know," he replied. "That's why I keep saying you guys should come up there to retire."

"And be away from Twilight and Spike? Shining, don't make me choose," Velvet said. "Canterlot has always been our home. You would do well to remember that. And you-!" Velvet shifted over to hug her daughter-in-law, Princess Cadance. "When are you going to get Flurry a little brother or sister?"

Cadance blushed. "I assure you, we've been trying."

Twilight looked at Shining, who was also blushing and avoiding her eyes for the moment before regaining his composure. Freed from Flurry Heart's clutches, Night Light stepped between them. Shining extended his hoof to shake his.

"What's the matter, kid? Still too cool to give your old man a hug?" Night razzed. Shining smiled and hugged his father.

"Twilight," Cadance greeted. "It's so good to see you outside of official forums. Those peace summits are sooo boring!"

"A necessary evil," Twilight sighed. 

Cadance hugged her with sympathetic understanding. "Still, I think you could take a page form Aunt Tia's playbook and invite Discord occasionally. That always seemed to liven things up."

"Cadie, please!" Twilight bemoaned, "We've only just finished putting the poor castle back together again after what Tirek did to it last time."

"Well, you should at least have Pinkie Pie crash a summit again," Cadance insisted. "This things the Prime Minister said after she had that spiked punch, I have never heard!"

Even Twilight had to smirk at that memory. "I'll consider it."

"Speaking of," Cadance opened her bag and pulled out a couple bottles of wine from the Crystal Empire. "Pre-Sombra wine! So it's technically a thousand of years old. But I think it's only aged about twelve."

"Like me!" Flurry said excitedly.

"I didn't forget about you," Cadance said, lifting out a fancy bottle of grape juice.

"Let's get those in the fridge," Velvet said. Cadance and Flurry followed her into the kitchen, along with Night Light. At last, Twilight and Shining could finally-

"Bro!" Spike flew forward and extended a fist to Shining's hoof bump. "Have you read the new Smash Fortune reboot?"

Shining rubbed the back of his neck. "I've been meaning to, but I've just been busy, you know?"

The young dragon's excitement diminished a bit. "Right. Being a prince and all."

"And a father," Shining added, with a bit more gravitas.

"Right." Spike's demeanor brightened again. "Well, I have the first two issues that I brought with me! We could read them now!"

Shining smiled softly. Spike had grown a lot over the years, but he was ever the little brother. "Sure. Why not?"

"Cool!" Spike zipped away to go upstairs to his old bedroom. 

Alone at last, Twilight finally stepped forward to hug Shining. He hugged her back.

"I've missed you."

"I've missed you too."

"You know Shiny, you could take a turn representing the Empire at the summits occasionally."

"I know. I've just been-"

"Busy. I know."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I understand." Twilight smirked. "But you can start making it up to me right now."

Shining smiled.

"Shining!" Spike called from upstairs. 

Shining's smile faltered.

Twilight sighed. "Go on. He misses you too. We can catch up later."





Twilight sat in the chair by the fireplace and swished the wine around in her glass. She wasn't the biggest fan of wine, but as Celestia would say, it was usually a far cry better than tea. The wine was so dark that it was nearly opaque. She watched it cling to the sides of the glass in little fingers dripping down the inside. Being Celestia's protégé meant learning how to discern good wine from cheap wine. And this was really good wine. Not that there was anything wrong with that fruity pink stuff that Pinkie Pie liked to drink out of boxes with a bowl of ice cream. Or those breakfast Mimosas that Rarity like to have as a pseudo-classy excuse to day-drink.

Cadance walked downstairs and joined Twilight in the living room. "Thank you for giving Flurry your old bedroom, Twilight."

"Of course! What is a Best Aunt Ever for after all?"

Shining Armor walked down a short while later. "Gosh that filly is excited," he sighed. "That splash of sleeping potion in her grape juice did the trick. I was barely half-way through A Hearth's Warming Tale before she zonked out."

Cadance just tapped the side of her nose with a knowing wink. "A little tip your mother actually told me."

Twilight blushed. She remembered how excited she used to be for Hearth's Warming as a filly. She looked over at her brother sitting on the couch. How excited they both used to be. And now... She looked at the wine swirling in her glass and felt almost... melancholy?

"Is she asleep?" Velvet asked from the hallway. Shining nodded. 

Night Light walked past her and opened the door to the basement. Shining got up without a word to go help him as they both carried sacks of wrapped gifts upstairs to distribute under the tree with care. It didn't help that Night Light was wearing the Sandy Paws costume. "Just in case Flurry wakes up."

Twilight sipped her drink. She remembered the night when she caught Mommy kissing 'Sandy Paws'. Twilight felt a subtle unease in her belly. It wasn't the wine. It was that general disappointment of watching a magician explain how a trick is done, shattering the grand illusion. They say that foalhood is over the moment you know that you are going to die one day. But for Twilight, that moment came much sooner.

A younger version of herself believed in the absolute truth of empirical evidence. Test it. Prove it. Disprove it. Test it again. A younger version of herself would have announce to the world that Sandy Paws wasn't real, and telling little foals otherwise was doing them a disservice. It was an insult to their intelligence. It was setting them up to have their hearts broken.

Princess Celestia would often talk to her about the difference between knowledge and wisdom. (Not just the stat modifiers in Ogres & Oubliettes.) A younger version of herself did not see the difference between the two. She didn't understand the difference. She couldn't. Celestia had forgotten more knowledge than any mortal pony could hope to learn in three lifetimes. But her wisdom... that she kept.

Twilight was older now. A bit smarter, maybe. But most definitely wiser. The thoughts of her younger self, fantasizing about being the tyrannical queen of an objectivism meritocracy, made her cringe in revulsion. Her older, wiser self took some solace in understanding that if your past self makes you cringe, it means that you have improved. 

She thought about the young filly, asleep in her bed upstairs. With fanciful visions of Sandy Paws magically bringing gifts to all the good little colts and fillies of the world. Shining and Cadance had done well to shield her from some of the more hard truths about the world. For now. As Cadance would say, "She has the rest of her life to be an adult."

~
"Princess Celestia, I don't understand why grown-ups drink wine if it's bad for them."
Celestia's eyes shimmered for a moment before she sipped her drink. "One day, Twilight, you will."
~

Twilight's eyes shimmered in the low firelight. She understood now. Only too well. Deep down, in a place where she didn't want to admit it, least of all to herself, in her heart of hearts, Twilight really and truly envied the bliss of Flurry's ignorance. 

May it last forever.

Shining Armor sat down on the couch next to Cadance and poured himself a glass of wine. Night Light finished arranging the last of the presents under the tree. He stretched with a yawn. "About that time, eh Mrs. Paws?"

Velvet smiled and gave his fake beard a playful tug before he turned to go upstairs. She followed after him before she looked back at the others. "You kids don't stay up too late, now." The three of them watched in silence as the older couple went into their bedroom.

Cadance leaned over and snuggled against Shining Armor while she sipped her wine. 

"Kids..." Shining mused.

"Haven't heard that one in a while," Twilight agreed.

"You'll always be her kids, to her," Cadance said.

Twilight thought that it might have made her feel younger to hear it. But like so many things these days, it only made her feel older. Sitting in the armchair, her eyes drifted away from staring at the flames in the hearth. On the sofa next to her, Shining and Cadance were sharing quick little kisses and nuzzles. They were still very much in love, just like her parents, even after all these years. She should be so lucky. Everypony should be.

Twilight sipped her wine and stared at the fireplace and thought about what a lazy name it was for such a thing. A place for fire.

"Oh, Twilight, I'm so sorry! Are we keeping you from bed?" Cadance asked, realizing that they were sitting on the sleeper sofa that was to serve as Twilight's bed for the night. Before Twilight could even object, Cadance and Shining were both on their hooves.

"I'll pull it out," Shining said.

Cadance smirked. "That would be a first!"

Twilight blushed. Shining blanched, "Cadance!" Cadance reached over for the wine bottle to give herself a refill. Shining pulled it away from her. "No, I think that's about your limit. I'm cutting you off." 

"But Mr. Frostfall, it's Hearth's Warming Eve!" Cadance playfully pouted. Shining remained stern. "Aww, you're no fun."

"Come on now," Shining said, waving her towards the stairs.

Cadance couldn't keep up her begrudging façade for long. Before they got to the top of the stairs she smirked again. "Do I get to sleep in your bed tonight, Shiny?"

"You promised to behave!" he groaned, leading them to his old bedroom.

Still downstairs in the armchair, Twilight snorted and rolled her eyes. There were some things that would never change. She looked up at the old photos on the mantel of her and Shining playing as foals. 

Some things do change.

She sipped her wine and set her glass down next to the bottle on the end table. She stood up and pulled the cushions from the sofa before unfolding the bedframe up and out of it. She grabbed the spare blanket from the linen closet and laid it out on the bed cot. She set the cushions as the pillows, finished her glass of wine, and laid down.

...

Luna's dreams did not find Twilight. She rolled over and laid on her side to watch the fire slowly burn, casting half the room in a warm, orange glow. The other half was a cool, pale blue from the moonlight streaming in through the frosted window glass. Snowflakes gently drifted down outside in silence punctuated only by the intermittent crackle of the burning logs... and the quiet hoof steps coming downstairs. The steps walked down the hallway to the restroom. After a bit of running water, the door opened again and the steps walked out into the living room, behind the sofa where Twilight couldn't see.

Shining's silhouette walked past the hearth to the armchair and the bottle of wine. He took a swig and stared at the fire. 

"Can't sleep?" Twilight asked.

Shining was startled briefly but it passed just as quickly. "Nah... The wine was going right through me, but Spike's sleeping in the bathtub upstairs, so I came down here..." he looked over his shoulder at the hallway and trailed off. "Then I saw this bottle just sitting here getting warm, thinking, that's alcohol abuse."

Twilight smiled. "And Cadance?"

"Out like a light."

"Lightweight," Twilight teased. Her magic lifted her glass. Shining smiled and got up to sit next to her on the edge of the bed. She propped herself up and he refilled her glass.

"I just wish she wouldn't get so..."

"Naughty?" Twilight suggested.

Shining bristled. "I was trying to think of a different word... but yeah. At home I normally wouldn't care..." Twilight frowned. "What's wrong?"

"At home..." Twilight echoed. "Are we not?"

"Well, Twi, I mean..." Shining started to say, "You know what I mean. My current mailing address. But come on, this is Mom and Dad's home. It hasn't really been our home for years."

"I know..."

"Is that what's bothering you?"

Twilight shrugged. "Maybe. I guess."

"Nostalgia is a hell of a drug," he said.

"Yeah..." Twilight agreed. She looked over at him sitting next to her. "I think I mostly just missed... this." She put her hoof on his. "Cadance doesn't have the monopoly on being naughty, you know. Do you remember the last time we were on this bed?" she asked with a coy grin.

Shining smiled back and nodded. "Yeah. I remember. How could I ever forget?"

"I can't believe Mom and Dad trusted us to be alone down here together," she said.

He chuckled. "That was their mistake."

"I was certain that Sandy Paws was going to skip out house for years after they caught us doing that," she giggled. She shuffled her hooves nervously. "But you know... I was thinking... everypony else is asleep..."

"Twi... no, we can't."

"Oh, come on! I've missed this! It'll be fun! We'll be quiet."

"I don't think you've ever been capable of being quiet when we do that!"

"Please? I want to so bad! It's been so long," she begged.

Shining sighed. He never could say no to her. "Okay. But we need to be quiet. On the carpet?"

"On the bed."

"It squeaks too much."

"Then do it slowly."

"Okay, let's get started."

"I'm so excited!"

"Yeah, me too. My heart is racing."

"Look what I've got for you..."

"Ooh, is that for me?"

"It sure is."

"I thought it was for Cadance."

"This one is for you."

"Should we keep going?"

"We're already past the point of no return."

"If we keep going, we're not going to be able to hide the mess."

"Hold on, I need a break to get some water."

"That's fine, I can just play with this while I wait."

"Tease."

"..."

"Okay I'm back. Ready to keep going?"

"You know I am."

"Good because carrying these are heavy to carry around."

"Well yeah, they're so big and full."

"How about we empty them?"

"Way ahead of you!"

"You like that?"

"Ah! I'm already soaked!"

"So is the bed!"

"Hey, be careful!"

"Slow down, I'm gonna!"

"Shiny! Did you really just-"

"I'm sorry!"

"There's so much of it!"

"That's gonna leave a stain."

"We can flip the cushions over later."

"Fine, but we need to clean up before-"

"Shining! Twilight!" Velvet scolded from the top of the stairs.





Dawn was approaching. It would soon be Hearth's Warming morning. Shining and Twilight sat at the kitchen table with their heads hung low like a couple of foals with their hooves caught in the cookie jar. Across from them at the table sat their parents, holding mugs of Folgers® Classic Roast coffee, and glaring at them in disapproval.

"I honestly can't believe this," Night Light said. "I can't believe the two of you would do that again!"

"I wish I could say I was surprised when I found the two of you last night in the middle of it..." Velvet said.

"We're not angry. We're just very, very disappointed," Night said.

"It was one thing when you were both younger and curious, but you're both older now and you know better!" Velvet started.

"What if Spike woke up and saw that?" Night said.

"Or Flurry Heart!?" Velvet added. "Perish the thought! What kind of an example would you be setting for the poor filly if she saw that!?" Night Light huffed beside her as she continued, "Knocking over wine onto the couch while you two played with squirt guns after opening Hearth's Warming presents early... Shame on you both!"