The Final Hearth's Warming Eve
Even in the store, it was bitter cold, and everypony's teeth were chattering as they grabbed their final gifts for Hearth's Warming; this meaning the crowds were insane. Some got lucky, grabbing what they needed just in time, while others not so much. They had to improvise. But through this ruckus and rush, one little filly was all alone. No, she was not lost. She arrived alone, and she was going to find that one special gift. Something that was extremely special, something that really was heart-warming and something that could be a memory...
With a small bag of bits clutched in her mouth, Scootaloo fluttered through the crowd, inspecting each and every shelf carefully, wondering what would be the best gift ever. It had to be. No exceptions.
And when she ran by the jewelry section, a thought came to her mind. A nice, pretty necklace might not be the ideal gift for Scootaloo, but for the pony she was buying the gift for would love something of the sort.
"Excuse me!" the filly exclaimed as she zipped over to the counter, looking through the glass.
A tall, thin unicorn mare wearing green cat's-eye glasses with a light pink mane and matching coat, her cutie mark being a shining ruby, turned to Scootaloo and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"What's the coolest, fanciest, prettiest necklace you have?"
The jeweler frowned as she levitated a golden diamond encrusted necklace over to Scootaloo. "Are you interested?"
Scootaloo nodded frantically and gave a wide grin. The piece of jewelry might've been outrageous to her, but nonetheless, the gift was perfect! "Yeah! How much is it?"
The mare knit her eyebrows and let out a sigh, only giving away the information to entertain the filly. "It's a hundred bits, dearie. And from the looks of that bag you have," her gaze focused on the tiny sack on the floor next to Scootaloo. "I doubt you can afford it."
"What? Of course I have enough!" the filly protested, stomping a hoof onto the floor. "I... think." She picked up the bag between her teeth and dumped all of the bits onto the counter. Several were there, but like the cashier had said, it probably wasn't enough to buy the fabulous necklace.
"Well, then." the jeweler said simply as she placed the necklace down and began to count the bits one by one silently.
Scootaloo was practically jumping up and down in both excitement and nervousness. She couldn't wait to buy the necklace, but did she really have one hundred bits? She had saved a lot over the months, but was it enough?
"Hey, you got anything with lots of, y'know, jewels or whatever?" a familiar voice said from across the way.
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo called, with a wide grin. "What're you doing here?"
Said pegasus looked over to her biggest fan and smiled back as she noticed the filly heading her way. "Hey-a, squirt."
"Is this alright?" the cashier attending to Rainbow questioned as he pushed a silver band with amethysts over to her.
"Oh, are you buying a Hearth's Warming gift?" Scootaloo inquired, not even giving her idol a chance to reply. "Me too!"
"You got that in gold?" Rainbow Dash said, her eyebrows knit as she inspected the band carefully.
"One second." the stallion said as he walked off to the back room.
Scootaloo looked through the glass cabinet, the shiny gems and glittering metals fascinating her, even if she disliked jewelry. "So who's that for?" she asked as she looked up and pointed to the piece before the cyan pegasus.
"Uh, it's for, uh..." Rainbow decided to ignore the question, giving a nervous smile to the filly. "Whatcha buying?"
It was now Scootaloo's turn to be paranoid and she bit her lip, managing a pointless shrug. "Oh, you know." She pointed a hoof to the case of expensive accessories. "Stuff."
"Sweetheart?" the mare who was waiting on Scootaloo called over the young filly, waving her hoof. "Come here."
"You're buying jewelry too?" Rainbow said, heading over to the cashier with her biggest fan.
Scootaloo managed a nod and her breathing became rapid. She salvaged up one hundred bits, didn't she? She had to have. That was her life savings. It was plenty. It had to have been. She would buy that necklace and be on her way... right?
"Dear, I'm afraid you only have seventy-five bits here." the mare behind the counter said simply. "This necklace..." she lifted the shimmering diamond and gold necklace for the filly to see. "Is out of your budget."
Scootaloo's heart fell into her hooves. It wasn't enough? Only seventy-five? She couldn't buy the jewelry? What? Why? How come? She could've sworn it was all enough.
"Whoa, you got expensive taste." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Who's it for?"
"Do you have anything like that?" the filly asked to the cashier; ignoring her idol. "Just, you know..." she frowned and bit her lip. "A little less?"
The unicorn mare shook her head. "According to what you're asking for, this is all we have. However, if you wish for something less outrageous..." the employee placed down the necklace and took out a simple silver band. "This is within your expense."
Scootaloo's frown only grew bigger and she looked down. That wouldn't be enough. She wanted this gift to be better than anything she had ever bought, for anypony. She was going to give this present to somepony who really deserved it.
"Hey, kid." Rainbow nudged the filly slightly. "You ok?"
"Can you cut me a deal, please?" Scootaloo begged to the cashier. "I'll have the bits soon, I promise!" She was lying. She actually didn't know how long it'd take for her earn twenty-five bits. She just needed this necklace.
"I'm afraid I can't do that." the employee began to put both pieces of jewelry away and the filly felt a single tear run down her cheek.
"Please!" she squeaked. "I'll do anything!"
Both the cashier and Rainbow Dash gave Scootaloo glances that were a mix of worry and confusion.
"I just really need that necklace..." the filly whispered. "Please... It's Hearth's Warming Eve, for pony's sake."
"Sweetie." the employee said, kindly, trying not to get frustrated. "You had an option to buy something else. You cannot afford the necklace, alright?"
"But..."
"That's that."
A silence filled the air and the cashier walked away from the two pegasi standing at the counter, one of them now a crying mess.
"But it's the perfect gift." Scootaloo murmured. "It's what she needs."
"Kid." Rainbow wrapped a hoof around her biggest fan. "Who needs the necklace?"
Sniffling and sobbing, the filly shook her head. "I can't..." she let out a small hiccup. "I can't tell you, it's... it's secret."
"C'mon." the cyan pegasus urged. "You know good 'ole Rainbow won't tell anypony."
With her lavender eyes glossed over, Scootaloo managed, "It's somepony who needs it."
Letting out a sigh, Dash looked up at the necklace that the filly was previously attempting to purchase only moments ago. Each and every flawless diamond was carefully inserted into the sparkling gold, it wasn't rocket science to figure out on why it was so highly priced. And as she kept staring at the necklace, only one thought ran through Rainbow's mind.
'Scoot must really care about this pony.'
Without another second to think, the cyan pegasus zipped over to where she left her own bag of bits and arrived back to the side of the filly, dropping the sack onto the counter.
"Hey, lady!"
The mare from only minutes ago trotted over to Rainbow, "Yes?" she muttered, quite annoyed at the rudeness of the pegasus.
"Give me that necklace." Dash pointed a hoof at the diamond encrusted gold necklace Scootaloo had been trying to buy.
"Miss, you do realize that..."
"Shut up and take my bits already."
Scootaloo looked up as she watched the cashier take the necklace once more and now, she handed it over to Rainbow Dash, who gave a grin to the filly before her.
"Thanks." the cyan pegasus said, pushing her bag of bits toward the mare behind the counter.
"You... who's the necklace for?" Scootaloo managed to say, trying to look cool once more. She couldn't believe that she had just cried in front of the amazing Rainbow Dash.
"It's for you, Scoots." the astounding flier replied. "Or, whoever pony you want to give it to."
The jaw of the filly nearly dropped and she shook her head. "No way, no way, no way, you can't..."
"Kid." Dash interrupted. "Take it. I didn't buy a gift for you yet anyway. So this counts."
Tears formed in Scootaloo's eyes once more, but these were tears of joy. "Thank you." she whispered, hugging her idol tight.
"No sweat." Rainbow laughed as she watched Scootaloo snatch the necklace and run off at lightening speed and the cyan pegasus smiled even wider as the true meaning of the holiday began to swarm her thoughts. "Hey, Scoots, wait up!"
Catching up with the filly no problem, Rainbow was soon walking by the side of the extremely ecstatic filly.
"Thank you, Rainbow Dash, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Scootaloo shrieked as the two of them walked through the store, towards the exit. "This will be the best Hearth's Warming ever!"
The cyan pegasus chuckled, ruffling the filly's violet mane playfully. "I'm glad." she said simply. "Whoever's getting that necklace is really gonna like it, I bet."
"Oh, she will!" Scootaloo replied, soon looking nervous after saying this. "I mean..."
"She, eh?" Dash questioned. "Who?"
Once again, the filly was reluctant to tell her idol who the gift was for, but, then again, Rainbow had just spent all of her bits on this necklace. It was only fair.
"My mom." Scootaloo said, softly.
"Who?" the cyan pegasus asked once more.
"My mom." she repeated.
"Scoots, speak up." Rainbow urged. "C'mon, tell me, who is it?"
"My mom." Scootaloo said again.
"Kid, I'm not gonna ask again, but if you don't want to..."
"It's for my mom, ok?!?"
An awkward silence formed between the two pegasi and Scootaloo hung her head, feeling tears form in her eyes once more... Sad, depressed ones...
"Hey, what's with the tears again?" Dash questioned.
"I've got to get this to her." the filly declared. "This is going to be her last Hearth's Warming Eve. I wanted to get her the best gift I could find. She'll really like this. And now," she eyed the exit. "All I have to do is get to the hospital." Her voice cracked on the last bit.
Rainbow blinked slowly at this statement from her biggest fan. Last Hearth's Warming Eve? Hospital? ... That could only mean one thing.
"Kid..." When she noticed tears in Scootaloo's eyes, the cyan pegasus pulled the filly into a tight hug. "Let's get to that hospital."
Between sobs and wails, Scootaloo managed a nod. "O-ok..." she stammered, gripping the extravagant necklace tightly in her hooves.
Rainbow met the gaze of the filly who idolized her and smiled, lifting the little pony onto her back.
"Hold on." the cyan pegasus whispered, shooting out of the store at supersonic speed; sweeping a few shoppers off their hooves, their protests heard from afar as a rainbow shot through the heavy snow outside.
And as they flew together, with that precious gold in her hooves, Scootaloo silently prayed to Celestia that everything would be alright. She'd get her chance. The gift would be given. And it would all be just fine. She'd get one last Hearth's Warming Eve with her mother... Scootaloo could just imagine it. And maybe, by some miracle, her mother would last to the new year.
"Kid?" Rainbow said. "Scoots?"
Scootaloo snapped herself out of her own trance and nodded. "Yes?"
"We're here."
Glancing to the side, the filly took in a deep breath as she read the sign of the building before her. 'Ponyville Hospital'.
"Let's go." Dash urged as Scootaloo hopped off of her back.
Biting her lip nervously and hanging the necklace around her neck, the filly followed her idol into the hospital; taking every ounce of courage she had not to run away, crying. She was too worried and scared to even go inside, but she had to... or else.
"Go on." Rainbow whispered, nodding to the desk where a nurse sat, going through papers.
Scootaloo gulped and gave a nervous smile, slowly trotting over to the desk. "Excuse me." she whispered, almost inaudibly.
The nurse looked up from her work and grinned at the filly. "Hello, dearie, what can I do you for?"
"What room is Firefly staying in?"
Blinking slowly, the nurse let out a sigh, taking a paper from her mess of them all; handing it to Scootaloo. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. You're too late."
Refusing to look at the piece of parchment, the filly dropped the necklace and ran outside, into the cold.
"Kid!" Rainbow Dash shot out after her. "Scoot!" She quickly caught up with Scootaloo. "Scootaloo, what's wrong?"
Said filly was too occupied crying and wailing into the storm to answer. That was enough to make the cyan pegasus realize one thing.
"It's ok." she whispered, embracing Scootaloo in a tight hug. "I know how you feel."
The howling winds whipped around the two of them and the snowflakes, instead of feeling airy and light, felt like tiny daggers; piercing them everytime it came in contact with their bodies.
"I know how you feel." Rainbow repeated as a vision of her own mother creeped into her mind.
'Take care of yourself, Rainbow, and whoever else needs it. Hold them close.' The last words.
On Hearth's Warming Eve.
Dash hugged Scootaloo just a little tighter and held back her own tears. They had one more thing in common now. But it didn't matter. Rainbow was going to keep that promise.
"I'll be there for you now, Scootaloo." she murmured.
Hot, salty tears trailed down her cheeks and felt onto the almost frozen snow, Scootaloo managed a weak nod. Her heart warmed only ever-so-slightly, as the rest of her was as cold as the current storm brewing...
~Fin~