You are Selene, and you are… asleep.
You are vaguely aware of your surroundings, and all of it is comfortable and warm. The curtains of your room are closed shut, not allowing a single ray of sun to pass through them, and you are under several thick and warm blankets, the deepest layer of them being the crocheted ones that you brought back from the place where Mrs. Velvet found you.
You really like this, right now. All of this. The way that you are only dimly conscious, just enough to know that you are warm and happy, together with the slightly coarse feeling of the crochet around you, that for some reason feels incredibly soothing and familiar. That sensation that, although you don't know why, almost feels like there is somepony… hugging you?
There might be a smile on your face, but you are too out of it to be sure of th-
*BLAM*
"WAKE UP!"
But all of that is lost in an instant, as your door is brutally slammed open.
A panicked yelp escapes your lips, the soft covers around you suddenly turning into a tangled mess as you roll around while trying to get your bearings, your confused mind utterly convinced that you are falling towards the ceiling for a few desperate moments.
Whatever sense of balance that you are about to regain is quickly lost, however, as you are assaulted by the sudden feeling of something repeatedly hitting you.
No, not hitting you.
Jumping on your back…?
"Wake up Selene! Wake up wake up wake up!"
You are flat on your bed now, lying on your belly with your legs sprawled around you after your mind finally gave up on trying to understand which way is up and which way is down.
It takes a few more seconds for you to realize that the oddly rhythmic thing jumping on top of you is, in fact, Silky Stream, with the several layers of covers between the two of you turning the weight of her hoofs as they hit you into a soft pat against your back.
Yes, your mind is finally getting its bearings for you to notice that much. What you cannot understand yet, though, is what exactly she is shouting about.
"Wake up! It's time! We have to go! C'mon c'mon c'mon!"
You try to mumble a question as you start disentangling yourself from your bed, but your mind is still too hazy for the words to form properly. But she must have heard you, or at least felt you fumbling around, because you can feel that Silky has stopped jumping and that she flew away from you, followed by the tippy-tappy sound of her excitedly trotting in place right next to your bed.
You finally manage to at least pop your head from underneath your blankets, being immediately greeted by Silky's beaming smile when you do. Your expression is probably the opposite of hers, you idly think, but that doesn't seem to faze her in the slightest.
If anything, her trotting-in-place only grows faster when she finally sees you.
"What?" you manage to ask, your voice hoarse.
"Get up Selene!" is all she answers, and you can tell that it is taking all of her willpower to not grab you from your bed and drag you out of your room, "we have all sorts of things to do today!"
You slowly, slowly, start crawling out of your bed, although you know that you will only stop regretting it a few hours from now.
"Why…? Did anything happen?" you ask, also noticing that the air is surprisingly cold, actually, "and why is it so cold?"
You have no idea why, but for some reason your question makes Silky literally jump in excitement, not even bothering to fall back to the ground as her wings hold her in midair.
"Because today is Hearth's Warming!!!"
And acting as if that answer is supposed to be enough of an explanation to you, Silky simply grabs you by the hoof and finishes dragging you away from your bed, what little willpower she had left in her finally deserting her as she rushes to pull you out of your room, and then down the stairs.
You don't even have the breath to ask her what in Equestria that answer was supposed to mean before the two of you are already on the main hall downstairs.
But when you finally finish descending the stairs, your confusion focuses on something else entirely.
Specifically, you are wondering when exactly they put that giant decorate tree in the middle of the entrance hall, since you are absolutely sure that it wasn't there last night.
- - -
A wave of cheers erupts around you as countless ponies shout their cheers and praises, hoofs clapping against the ground to the point you almost feel like the earth itself is trembling with the joy radiating from everypony present.
You are also amazed, for your own part, but you are not sure how to express it. It takes a few moments for your to realize that your mouth is gaping open, but nopony seems to have even noticed that.
The four of you are standing in the middle of a crowd at the central park of Ponyville, where a great stage had been built and where a group of ponies has just finished singing the last song for the night. You had no idea that it was even possible for ponies to sing that well, and although you had been given a brochure with the lyrics in case you wanted to sing along with he crowd, you simply couldn't take your eyes away from the group for long enough to find what song they were currently singing.
You are still wide-eyed at the spectacle. The entire day, in fact, has been a sequence of things that, to put it simply, didn't give you a single moment of pause.
It began with Silky waking you up, of course, with three times the usual energy that she seems to have. But her rush to bring you downstairs soon made sense. There was the tree in the entrance hall, sure, but there was also Mr. Stormchaser and Mrs. Velvet waiting there, smiling while they sipped from mugs filled with hot chocolate.
Calmly sitting next to a small mountain of wrapped boxes.
You have been living with them for some time now, less then two months, and their family has already given you a lot of things. Way more things than you are comfortable with, or that you even know how to thank them for. They gave you a house to live in, and your own room, and all other sorts of things.
They also care for you, although you have no idea why considering how Mr. Stormchaser and Mrs. Velvet literally fought when you first arrived. And as if that wasn't enough, Silky also… well, Silky is also there for you.
You know that they have already given you far more than you deserve, or that you will ever be able to give them back.
So it goes without saying that… well, that you had no idea how to react when they sat you down by the decorated tree, and Mrs. Velvet floated three of the wrapped boxes towards you.
It was strange. They had already given you so much, but for some reason you couldn't help but think that that moment was also the first time you had ever received a "gift".
And then there was the storytelling by the fireplace, and then you all went out together for you to find out that the world was covered in soft and white snow, and then you went to the houses of some of Mrs. Velvet's and Silky's friends where they joined in with your group, and then you went all together to the central park of the town where a giant festival was going on, and then, and then…
Well, a lot more things happened, and now you are here, holding on to Mrs. Velvet's back so you can see better over the crowd, with Silky right next to you sitting on top of Mr. Stormchaser.
You also have to point out that, for all the snow and cold going on, you couldn't be warmer, seeing that you are currently wearing the gifts that you received on the beginning of the day. Silky's gift is the red scarf that you have around your neck, that seems to closely resemble the ones she and Mr. Stormchaser are also wearing. Mrs. Velvet gave you the dress you are wearing, dark colored to go with your coat and with several ruffles that, by her own words, "makes you look like a cute doll". And Mr. Stormchaser gave you a set of shinny horseshoes with small feather-like details graved on their sides.
Mrs. Velvet is also a bit warm as you hold on to her, of course. That surely helps.
"So? What did you think?" and speaking of which, Mrs. Velvet's voice snaps you back to the present, as you finally tear your eyes away from the stage and look down towards her.
"I…" you try to answer, realizing that at some point your mouth had gone wide open again. You shake your head a little before trying again, "I didn't know that anypony could sing so well… They were all so talented at it."
The crowd slowly starts to disperse around you, but still not enough for you or Silky to be able to dismount from the grown-ups, so they simply start walking away as well while carrying the two of you.
"Well, it is true that they practiced a lot," Mr. Stormchaser says, agreeing with you, "but they are not as talented as you think."
You tilt your head at that, not really sure of what Mr. Stormchaser meant by that. You are pretty sure, after all, that all those singers were amazing. Beyond amazing, even!
But for some reason, he simply laughs when he sees your quizzical expression.
"No, I don't mean it like that Selene," he says, "they can all sing very well, but there's two things that set them apart and that made them go up on that stage tonight. The first is that they put a lot of hard work into training, so it wasn't all just talent. Nopony is good at everything, and I'm sure that most of them don't even have cutie marks that are about music, so there was a lot of time and hoofwork on that show as well."
"He's right, dear. Rarity was up on the stage, remember?" Mrs. Velvet joins in on the conversation, "that's why we parted ways from her and Sweetie right before the show began. And as cute as her cutie mark is, it surely doesn't have the first thing to do with how well she can sing."
You can't help but mumble a low "ohhh…" at that.
"And second, again, nopony is good at everything," Mr. Stormchaser says once again, "that's why they were working together as a group."
"As a group? You mean the band they were all in, Mr. Stormchaser?" you ask, trying to make sense of what he was talking about, "so you are saying that they can all sing well together because… none of them can sing that well?"
This time you hear Mrs. Velvet laugh a little bit, and you feel your cheeks warm up at that, since you clearly just asked something extremely silly.
"It's called a choir dear, and well… it's a little bit of what you said, but it's honestly a lot more than just that," she says, looking up at you as she walks. "It's all about teamwork, really. Remember how some of them only sang some of the notes because of how deep of high their voices were? Well, thanks to having the rest of their friends there, thanks to the rest of the choir, they could all practice only the parts and notes of the music that they were really good at, so they could give us this show tonight."
"Yes, and more than that," Mr. Stormchaser continues without skipping a beat, "I can guarantee you that some of them were very scared of walking onstage. But having their friends there with them gave them the courage they needed. Both because they trust each other, and because they know that they each… how can I say it… Well, they each complement their friend's weaknesses, so to speak."
Ohhh… yes, it does make sense, you think, when they say it like that.
"Yeah! Just like how a family is supposed to be!" Silky speaks up, saying that with a smile on her face.
And you see all three of them smiling at that, her parents nodding at what she just said.
You can't help but smile at that, seeing them all together and happy.
But still…
Well, still, you can't really say that you are smiling with them.
After all, they might care for you, and be there for you, and give you all these incredible gifts. But deep down…
Deep down you know that you are not really one of them. Silky is your friend, of course, your very best friend in the whole world. But you understand, for some reason, that you are not really a part of their happy fam-
"Yes, that's why choirs work so well, because they are like that," Mrs. Velvet says, interrupting your thoughts while, for some unknown reason, her calm smile turns rather…
Rather mischievous?
"Being there for each other, helping out with the parts that the others aren't so good at, giving each other courage. Just like our family. You can even say that we are like a little choir, so to speak, and that's why it works so well," she continues, as if she somehow had read the thoughts you were having just now.
You see her horn glow in front of you, and on the next moment you and Silky are glowing as well, Mrs. Velvet using her magic to gently float the two of you so you would swap places.
Now you are sitting on Mr. Stormchaser's back, and Silky is on Mrs. Velvet's.
But why did she just…?
"The same way…" she calmly continues speaking, as Mr. Stormchaser sits down on the ground while Mrs. Velvet walks to stand in front of him. "The same way that you can count on us, Selene, because you are part of our family now."
You feel Mr. Stormchaser lean down slightly, to the point where you are on Mrs. Velvet's eye level.
And only now do you realize that Silky, just like her mother, also has that same wry smile on her face.
Although a part of you is conflicted at what Mrs. Velvet just said, a much larger part of you is simply confused at what exactly is going on.
"So, dear Selene, consider this our warm and loving welcome, for joining our little choir," she says as, for some reason, she uses her magic to gently make sure that the scarf around your neck is tight.
"Silky dear, is your sister's scarf properly tied?" she asks.
And for some reason some instinct of yours that you can't explain is telling you that something is about to happen. You have no idea of what, but you can feel your heart starting to beat faster now.
"Yes mommy. She's ready for takeoff!" Silky answers, after carefully looking at your scarf for a few moments.
Wait a second…
Takeoff?!
The next moment, you see Mr. Stormchaser opening both his wings on your sides,, and you barely have enough time to grab at the back of his neck before he flaps them down, sending the two of you flying towards the skies.
- - -
- - -
- - -
You watch as your husband abruptly takes to the skies, with Selene holding on to him for dear life while she screams.
You feel a laugher forming inside your chest, and you try to hold it in. You fail, however, when Silky herself starts laughing while on your back.
The two of you laugh for a few more moments as you see the pair break through the snow clouds and away from your sight.
Heavens, you are glad this all worked out.
The dress itself that you gifted her, made by Rarity of course, is insulated for flight, but you also know that the scarf, Silky's gift, will ensure that Selene won't feel any cold.
It is, after all, a scarf for flying, the kind that Silky and your husband always wear when they go out in this kind of weather. You know that it is an unusual present for a non-pegasus filly, but Selene didn't know enough about this sort of thing to catch on to the ruse earlier today, when she opened the gift.
The horseshoes, as well, are the enchanted kind for cloud-walking, so you are sure that soon enough she and Stormchaser will settle down on the top of those clouds. After he finishes pirouetting her through the night sky, of course.
Sure, it strains and pushes at your every instinct to know that your non flying filly daughter is currently away from the range of your levitation magic, but… Well, this was Stormchaser's idea, and Silky wholeheartedly agreed with it, so you suppose you can bear with it.
For a few more minutes, at least.
"Mommy," you hear your daughter calling you from your back, and you already know what she is about to ask even before she says it, "can I go as well? Pleeeease?"
You let out a sigh. You knew this would happen, of course, and you categorically dislike having your daughter go to that sort of altitude unaccompanied. And already you can feel the slight knot forming in your heart as you prepare to say the only answer that you can really give. But... you also know that, deep down, you don't really have a choice.
You can't deny her this moment, not when she was born with wings.
"Promise you'll fly straight up until you reach the clouds," is all you say, before the small ball of happiness on your back thanks you between cheers and zips towards the sky.
Causing the knot on your chest to become a lot tighter, of course, but you do your best to not let it show on your face as you watch her disappear in the lightless sky.
Well, nopony ever said that being a mother was always comfortable.
"I did notice that you three were planning something," you hear a voice coming from next to you, "but I didn't think it would be this."
You turn towards Filthy Rich, seeing Diamond Tiara riding on his back as well. The filly still has her eyes turned towards the clouds, and you think that perhaps she was just a little scared at how loudly Selene screamed when your husband took her away, but you can tell from Rich's humored expression that the surprise wasn't really that startling.
"Well, she has a father and a sister who are pegasi," you say with a smile, "so she'd better get used to that sort of thing."
Rich chuckles at that, and the two of you follow the crowd as you all head out of the park. You know it will get colder soon enough since, from what Stormchaser told you, the clouds have a full week's worth of snow that will fall down every night. So everypony knows that they ought to get home sooner rather than later.
"And I have to say," he continues, although you can feel that he is being rather careful with his words, "that it was a very nice thing of you to take in little Selene. She's lucky to have you three."
You nod at that, understanding why he is being rather roundabout when it comes to that sort of thing.
Not because of you or your family, you know, but because of his.
After all, when you dropped by his mansion for them to join in with your family, you did notice that his wife was nowhere to be seen. A part of you even started to think that he was perhaps a widower, until he offered a small remark about how he "asked if his wife wanted to come with, and that she gave him a few choice words about the festival as a whole before refusing", so she wouldn't be coming with that day.
He also mumbled something about him not having told her that your family was going to the festival with him and his daughter, but at that point Silky had tackled Diamond so the subject changed rather abruptly.
You realize, then, that his choice of words and hesitation is because his own family is rather… well, you understand.
"We are the lucky ones, I think, for having her," you answer, before turning to face him as well, "as we are all lucky to be your friends, Rich," you say with a smile, "you too Diamond, thank you for being Silky's friend."
The filly doesn't know how to respond, but you can see Filthy Rich smiling at that. A complicated smile, sure, but one that you can tell that deep down is honestly warm.
It makes you a little worried, truth be told, as you can clearly see that Rich and his daughter seem to have some sort of real problem… Diamond is your daughter's friend, and you honestly think that Rich is a good stallion so you care for him as well, so it surely is something that you might want to take a closer look at.
But… not right now.
Today is Hearth's Warming. Tonight is a night that you all ought to be happy.
Worrying can come later.
"Oh, and I think some of the stalls haven't closed for the night yet," you say, seeing his daughter's eyes light up at that, "so why don't we get something hot and sweet to drink before we head back to our homes?"
You see Rich's smile grow at that, as he looks up to his daughter and says a very badly faked "I don't know… what do you think dear?", to which Diamond Tiara answers with a very obvious "Yes!"
And with that, the three of you head towards the warmth of the food stands around the park, while the night slowly deepens around you, and your youngest daughter plays on the cloud-tops for the first time in her life.
The first lesson, taught in innocence, was the certainty that there is one who will always be there for her, no matter what.
The second lesson, taught in warmth, is that more will be there for her, if she but accepts them.
Selene's Winter is now level two.
And more importantly, Selene now has a family.
He is a good father, and a dedicated husband, but something tells you that there might be a waste in some of his efforts. At least, you hope, he will consider asking you for help if he really needs it… although something tells you that by his very nature, he is not the kind of stallion that easily asks for help. You are now Friends with Filthy Rich.
This is a gift. Happy New Year to all of us.
