EThe Perfect Hearth's Warming

• MLP: FiM
• Slice of Life

Celestia spoils Luna for Hearth's Warming. Actually, maybe she spoils Hearth's Warming for Luna.

• Celestia
• Luna

wishcometrue · 2.5k words  ·  63  2 · 1.4k views

We’re going to continue the apparent trends of talking about Christmas and wintertime stories in the middle of summer with today’s story, The Perfect Hearth’s Warming by wishcometrue.

If you’ll remember, the last story we reviewed was That Isn’t Me, also by wish, and in my conversations with her she largely considers this story to be a step up from that one, and we’ll be taking a look to see if that holds true, but spoiler alert: it does. Let’s hit it.

The story picks up around the time of Hearth’s Warming, but not just any Hearth’s Warming. This is the first Hearth’s Warming since Luna’s release from the moon and her reformation. Which makes it extra significant to both Celestia and Luna.

The plotline of the story actually reflects the morals of the show incredibly well, in fact I can even see this becoming an episode at some point. The entire plotline is super cohesive and the character motivations are also incredibly well established. While the plotline maybe isn’t the most creative or unique in the world, it accomplishes what it does in a way that’s so natural and so charming that it really feels like it was ripped straight from an episode.

Which of course is a good thing! I guess I don’t have much to say about the plot because it’s deceptively simple, but what sells this story for me isn’t the plotline, but rather the characters.

Celestia and Luna are extremely well portrayed here. The story mainly follows Celestia and her personal quest to make this Hearth’s Warming especially significant for her sister, and she does everything in her power to ensure that the day goes perfectly. The actions she takes are comical and fun to follow along, but the real payoff is with the final confrontation with Luna.

It is in this conversation that we see these two characters played at their strongest: Celestia grows fearful that she has let Luna down in her efforts, or worse she is afraid that Luna resents her, not only for outcasting her to the moon, but for being a horrible sister.

But Luna explains the true reason she’s upset: that in preparing everything by herself, Celestia has forgotten what made Hearth’s Warming so special to them. Luna looks forwards to spending every Hearth’s Warming with her sister and preparing together, but since Celestia has busied herself with all of the preparations by herself she’s neglected to spend time with Luna.

The reconciliation is very cute and heartwarming, and the ending is very light-hearted and happy, making it a perfect story for the holidays… even if I’m reading it in July. Celestia and Luna are shining with characterization here, and the pain, regret, and sorrow shine through in Celestia’s admissions, but above all the author displays her love for Luna extremely well. 

Technically I didn’t notice anything worth commenting on. The prose was really smooth and well done, making this piece super clean and a joy to read. Great work! 

All in all, this was a very beautiful read. The plot may not have been something brand new, but the execution was brilliantly done and the characters felt extremely real. The story is a light read but warms your heart, and it says a lot in quite a few words. This was a gentle story about two very vibrant characters, and the execution of ideas by the author was pretty much flawless. Very well done!

Up next we’re going to be finishing off TheLegendaryBillCipher’s series with Sweet Tea, ideally by tomorrow but we’ll see. See you then!

If you’re a fan of Celestia and Luna, and if you like slice of life fluff with a great message at the end, I’d highly recommend you check this one out! 

Hi wish :)

I think this work is exemplary, and I might even like it more than That Isn’t Me. Your execution and characterizations here are so incredible and everything hit when it needed to. Great work, always looking forward to reading more of your stuff! 

Plot: 6
Characterization: 9
Grammar: 9 

Average: 8