A Hearth's Warming Evening
Twilight sipped from her mug of hot cocoa, savoring the warmth that infused her.
“You know, this is the first Hearth’s Warming I’ve spent outside of Canterlot.”
The others looked at her, knocked out of their own reveries.
“What about last year – ah, that’s right, the play kept us there until the day of,” Rarity said, half to herself.
“Been quite a year, ain’t it?” Applejack added.
“Absolutely! I got 473 parties in this year! That’s a record!” Pinkie Pie was always energetic during holidays. It may have been less due to her personality and more due to her inordinate sugar intake.
Everypony laughed, and Twilight sipped some more of her cocoa, looking around. Most of the group lounged on different pieces of furniture in Twilight’s library, circling around the fire. The one exception was the fact that Pinkie Pie was draped on top of Rarity, the two of them in the initial stages of dating. Twilight silently chuckled – a more mismatched pair, she didn’t know if she could find one.
“Dear,” Rarity began, looking back at the pink mare, “I think she was more referring to our number of events.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, her own mug of cocoa nearly forgotten. “Between random trips and the wedding, it’s a wonder we got anything done.”
That elicited another laugh, though a more subdued one. Twilight adjusted the heavy blanked laid over her back as they fell into another comfortable silence. It really had been quite the year. Though it had been more than a year, closer to two, in fact, since Twilight and Spike had travelled to Ponyville to ‘make some friends,’ she felt it all truly started after that first Winter Wrap-Up, when she became a member of the Ponyville populace.
She marveled sometimes at her situation – the personal protégé to the Princess of the Sun, not spending her time on magic or politics, but friendship instead. There was that little clause that “Friendship is Magic,” but that was just semantics.
Twilight briefly entertained the notion again of creating a book. With all the letters she had sent to her tutor, it would be easy to use them in case she forgot important aspects of her life. She wanted to show others how wonderful friends could be, how important it was to be tolerant and loving towards all people. A book would be an amazing way to do it – get it to the most ponies as she could.
But she was still young, and anything worthy of a book was long off. She wasn’t finished here in Ponyville, not anytime soon if she could help it.
“I do miss my parents, though, and Celestia.” Twilight found the words slipping out of her before she thought better of it.
Her friends again focused their attention on her, each forming their own reaction to the statement.
“That’s natural. We all do, our first Hearth’s Warming away from ‘home’. It’s the friends that make it bearable. We spend all our time around them, but I think it’s these times of year that really show how important they are.” Rarity finished her reply with a little nuzzle to Pinkie’s coat, which elicited a small giggle from the party pony.
“That’s right, Twi. We’re all here for you. We’re here for each other,” Applejack added.
“Besides, you’ve still got Spike,” Fluttershy put in. Twilight smiled as she glanced to the basket at the top of the stairs. It had gotten far too late for the dragon and he was sleeping soundly, all curled up.
“That’s true. Thanks everypony for coming.”
Rainbow waved a hoof at her. “It was no biggie. It’s what friends are for.”
Pinkie Pie giggled, lifting herself off of Rarity. “Absolutely! We wouldn’t have left you here by yourself, Twilight!” She plopped herself down next to the white unicorn, nearly causing the violet-maned pony to drop her cocoa. Rarity gave Pinkie a faint frown, but rolled her eyes when the pink bubble of energy just smiled at her.
“I appreciate it quite a bit, girls. I’m just glad to have a night where nothing crazy is happening.”
The six mares fell silent again, contemplating different parts of the room, or each other. Twilight surreptitiously watched Rarity and Pinkie, enjoying the couple’s happiness. It had initially been a strange point for the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony, but everypony had eventually gotten over it, and the pair being together was just another everyday thing. Twilight herself found it enjoyable that she had, at least a little bit, contributed to the pairing, if only by coming to Ponyville in the first place.
Maybe it wouldn’t work out, but Hearth’s Warming was not a time to entertain such thoughts. She thought of her parents and brother in Canterlot, and hoped that they were also enjoying themselves on this beautiful night. Glancing outside, she observed the fantastic arrangement of stars in the night sky. All of them weren’t usually visible, as Luna expended a lot of effort to make it so, but on this one night, the lunar princess had painted the sky with beautiful multitudes of stars, bringing the feeling of warmth that cut through the chill that pervaded Equestria.
Twilight felt herself getting drowsy, and went to take a sip of her cocoa. As she did so, she found herself staring at an empty mug, and she smiled ruefully. That’s why she was so tired all of a sudden – the drink had created a warm, happy feeling in her midsection, and the mare looked contentedly around the room at her five best friends.
“Of all the nights of the year… I think that this is the most ordinary. I think I will try to always remember this night,” the unicorn said, closing her eyes.
“Ordinary? What do you mean? It’s Hearth’s Warming,” Rainbow put in.
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Twilight responded, opening her eyes to look at the pegasus. She saw in her peripheral that they were all close to falling asleep, and the fire was beginning to die down.
“On this night, we could be putting on a play. We could be saving Equestria. We could also be spending it alone, or out of town, or any number of ways. But instead, five of the ponies I care most about in the world have gathered her with me, and here we are, doing nothing special, just enjoying each other’s’ company.”
Twilight closed her eyes again and settled in, giving a great yawn. “And that, Rainbow, is the most special thing possible. Spending time with the ones I love.”