Happy Hearth's Warming
The morning sun shone softly on the snow covered landscape of the Pie family’s rock farm, its golden rays causing the snow to almost glow in its whiteness as it illuminated the dawn sky with delicate hues of pinks and purples. All across the farm, snow covered boulders stood up proud against the white ground while large bare branched trees laden with snow slept the winter away. It was as picturesque scene, as though Mother Nature herself had decided to take out her colours and brushes that morning in order to paint this wonderful scenery for all her creatures.
Big Macintosh breathed in the crisp morning air, his eyes roaming the landscape as he and his family boarded the train. He had never expected a rock farm to look so beautiful. Between the gleaming crystal decorations of the Pie’s homestead to the pastel coloured sky, it would not be a very difficult task for him to wind up completely lost in the beauty of it all. However, Big Mac found that he couldn’t bring himself to enjoy the scenery as the Apples boarded the train with heavy hearts. It had all gone wrong; everyone had assumed that by sharing the holidays, the Pies and the Apples would have been able to bring their two families closer together. However, due to the tumultuous events caused earlier that day, it had become abundantly clear that this was not going to happen. Taking a final look at the rock farm before boarding the train, Big Macintosh found his thoughts drifting away to the memory of a certain mare that he had met there.
Marble Pie was her name, Pinkie Pie’s little sister and the youngest member of the Pie family. She had a pale grey coat and a two toned mane in shades of grey that she wore long and covered most of her face. Her eyes were a soft violet and her cutie mark bore the image of three purple marbles. Given the drab tones of her coat and mane, most ponies would hardly notice the young mare. However, when Big Macintosh first met Marble Pie at the Pie homestead, he had found himself almost instantly smitten with her. He couldn’t quite explain what may have caused him to feel so strongly for a mare he had just met but there was a certain elegance in her demure demeanour that he found so utterly endearing that he ended up blushing furiously whenever he found himself close to her.
He could barely sleep the night before as his thoughts had constantly circled around Marble the whole time. He had been given the good fortune of having been paired with her for the flag finding mission earlier that day but despite the opportunity that had been provided, he could barely carry out a conversation with her. Spoken words had never come easy to him, having preferred to express himself in other ways. Singing and writing songs for the Ponytones, turkey calling, metalwork and wood carving were some of the many hobbies he busied himself with. However, it was those very hobbies that caused him to become less adept in interacting with other ponies as he always prioritized his interests over social situations. Pondering his current situation over in his bunk, inspiration suddenly struck him when he realized that tomorrow was Hearth’s Warming day. Having heard from Applejack that the Pies would traditionally hide their presents, he figured that he could very easily express his feelings if he could craft something for Marble Pie and hide it somewhere easy for her to find. It was a fool proof plan and before he knew it, he found himself hunched over block of wood as he carefully carved his gift for her.
Illuminated only by candle light, Big Macintosh found that it was a difficult task to carve with such poor lighting. It didn’t stop him though and as the hours passed, his present began to take shape. Finally, he completed it, smiling triumphantly at its workmanship as it was one of the finest things he had ever carved.
It was a wooden love spoon, a decorative item that Apple stallions would traditionally carve for a mare that they had the intention to court. The spoon itself was made from solid apple wood with symbols lovingly carved along its handle. A carving of flowers that signified his blooming love was carved at the neck of the spoon, followed by a carving of keys which represented him giving her the keys to his heart. A wheel was carved in the middle of the spoon to signify that he would provide for her, followed by a lock to depict his secure loyalty to her. Finally, at the end of the spoon, a heart was carved to represent a lasting love. It was a fine spoon and as he carved the meanings of the symbols at the back of the handle, Big Macintosh felt sure that Marble Pie would be pleased with his gift.
Satisfied with his handiwork, Big Mac carried his present downstairs as he wrapped it in festive green paper and looked for a suitable hiding place that wasn’t too difficult to find. Scanning the dimly lit room, Big Macintosh noticed the worn wooden cupboard where the Pies kept their silverware. Realizing that this would be a perfect hiding spot for his spoon, ironically, Big Macintosh slowly pulled the drawer open and was about to deposit his present inside when he heard a soft but surprised gasp from the other side of the room.
Turning to the sound of the noise, Big Mac felt his eyes widen at the sight Marble Pie sitting alone on the dining table. Wrapping paper lay beneath her forehooves on the table along with what appeared to be a newly wrapped present. Her face showed a slight mixture of surprise and dread, an expression one would normally have if they had just been caught with their hoof in the cookie jar. Standing in silence for about a minute as the realization that the two of them were alone together sunk in, Big Macintosh figured that she was probably wondering what he was doing awake this late at night and decided that the best thing to do was to come clean with her. Walking up to the table, he noticed her shift nervously in her chair while avoiding eye contact with him. Normally, such a reaction would have given him reason to pause but he could catch glimpses of her tiny smile as she avoided his gaze. Taking her smile as an encouragement, he placed his present across from her on the table and nudged it towards her with his muzzle.
Her violet eyes were wide as she saw the present being moved closer to her and when she looked up to him, she pointed to herself with one of her hooves in an attempt to ask if it was for her.
“Eeyup,” he answered her with a smile.
Big Macintosh watched excitedly as Marble Pie slowly reached across the table with her forehooves, grasping the gift and then pulling it up close to her chest. Looking up at him from the grey bangs that covered her eyes, she gave him an appreciative smile and a nod of thanks. Satisfied that he had given her his present and that she had accepted it gladly, he gave her a nod and a smile in ways of wishing her goodnight before heading back to sleep.
He had hoped to have been there when she opened her present, to see the surprise on her face and perhaps to tell her in person what the present was meant to be; but all those hopes faded once Big Macintosh had stepped out into the Pie family’s front yard that morning. Unbeknownst to him and his family, Applejack had set about to decorating the Pie homestead with decorations more akin to those the Apples used in an effort to share their traditions. As was to be expected, the Pies were not pleased and had considered this act an insult to their traditions and that Applejack was trying to force Apple traditions onto them. Perhaps the tensions between the families could have been eased before it escalated further but when it was discovered that Applejack had accidentally planted her flagpole on a fault line, which had the unfortunate luck of sending Holder’s Boulder rolling off into the Pie family’s quarry, it was clear that it was the last straw for the Pies.
There was complete silence as the four of them took their seats, no one having the courage to speak up. Applejack looked out of the window in silence, Applebloom curled up quietly in her seat while Granny Smith took out a book from her satchel to read. As the train began to move, Big Macintosh glanced towards Applejack and saw his sister looking longingly out the window. Feeling his heart fall in his chest, Big Mac longed to say something to her. He knew his sister and he knew she never meant any disrespect to the Pie family or planned to force their traditions on them. She had the best intentions in heart but, as her nature tends to be, didn’t think things through and it caused her to act rather impulsively. While he considered what words of encouragement to say to his distraught sister, Granny Smith broke the silence as she closed her book while addressing Big Macintosh and his sisters.
“You want to know why Holder's Boulder's so danged important?” she asked as she exhaled onto the train window to draw a picture. “Well, now their great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Holder Cobblestone, he found that boulder in a dragon's nest, older than time itself! He built the family farm around it, even though it was just an ordinary rock. It always brought them good luck.”
“Oh, Crickets,” exclaimed Applejack as she placed her hoof to her head before rising from her seat. “That is important. I got so caught up in the things they were doin', I never asked why they did 'em!”
All of sudden, as the train shook on the tracks, a large object fell loose from the train ceiling onto Applejack’s head. All four Apples looked in surprise as the large, clumsily wrapped object bounced a short distance and came to a stop a couple of feet away. Walking up warily to it, Applejack took hold of a scrap of paper tied to the object that seemed to be a label.
“To Applejack,” said Applejack, her eyes tearing up as she read the label of what appeared to be a present for her. “From Pinkie Pie. Cousins Forever.”
Watching quietly from his seat as Applebloom jumped up from hers to take a look at the gift, Big Macintosh smiled to himself as he considered the unusual hiding place the present was hidden. Only Pinkie Pie would hide a gift in a moving train, he thought to himself. As he thought of gifts, he wondered if Marble Pie had kept his and whether she would be willing to accept it at this point. All of sudden, he heard Applejack give a loud gasp, drawing him away from his thoughts, as he watched in shock as she suddenly ran up the box car while yelling out to the conductor to stop the train.
Big Macintosh didn’t know what to expect when Applejack decided to head back to the rock farm. After the trouble they had caused the Pie family, Big Macintosh had to agree with Granny Smith that it might have been better to have given them some space. However, Big Mac knew his sister and if she had set her mind on something, she’d move heaven and earth to see it done. Now here they were, standing before the Pies who all, with the obvious exception of Limestone Pie, were surprised that they had come back.
“What do you want?” snapped Limestone Pie, who was none too pleased to see them.
“I wasn't tryin' to take your traditions away,” answered Applejack as she walked towards Limestone, “I was tryin' to share ours. I was so focused on us bein' one big happy family, I thought we needed the same traditions right away. What I should've done was learn about yours and teach you about ours. And over time, we'd make new traditions together. I'm sorry, y'all.”
Silence fell amongst the Pies as each of them looked to each other, each giving one another silent expressions of their acceptance of Applejack’s apology until they finally all looked to Limestone. Her face still held a stony stare as she regarded Applejack and her family but soon an accepting smirk spread across her muzzle.
“Well, don't just stand there!” she said enthusiastically. “We got a boulder to move! And I'm in charge.”
Working together, the two families finally pushed Holder’s Boulder out of the quarry, the massive boulder now standing tall and proud in its original resting place. Despite being completely exhausted and drenched with sweat, the Pies and the Apples exchanged contented smiles among one another before finally deciding to retreat to the comfort of the Pie’s home to resume the Hearth’s Warming festivities. It had been awkward at first but slowly the two families started to reconcile with one another and before long, started to develop a mutual degree of respect and care for each other.
Taking a seat near the fireplace, Big Macintosh watched with interest as how Applebloom petted Maud Pie’s pet stone, Boulder, while Limestone Pie brought them a fresh batch of sweet rolls that she and Pinkie had just finished baking. It amazed him just how fast Maud and Applebloom had bonded but then again, seeing the usually rough and tough Limestone Pie baking sweet rolls was just as surprising. Turning his eye to the dining table, he was greeted with another surprise when he saw Granny Smith having tea with Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz, each pony trying to imitate the other’s manner of speech. However, the biggest surprise was how Marble Pie had taken a seat not too far away from him. She sat a couple of spaces away from him, smiling the daintiest of smiles and glancing over in his direction every once in a while.
He had wondered if he should say something to her as it was rather awkward just sitting next to each other in silence and as a stallion, Big Mac felt that he should be the one making the effort to initiate a conversation. Considering that it was best to keep things between the two of them simple at first, he decided that he should start with simply wishing her Happy Hearth’s Warming but no sooner had he made eye contact with Marble Pie and opened his mouth, Pinkie Pie came crashing down in between them, pulling the pair closer.
“Marble Pie,” Pinkie said to her sister with cheeky grin, “you want to wish Big Mac a Happy Hearth's Warming, don't you? And you too, right Big Mac?”
Looking over in Marble’s direction, he noticed the smile on her face was still there, and with a quick nod, she gave him a shy but enthusiastic ‘Mm-hm’ to which he replied with a chuckle and a pleased ‘Eeyup’.
Seemingly satisfied with her work, Pinkie Pie walked off to join Applejack, leaving the couple alone together. Alone for the moment, Big Macintosh and Marble Pie regarded one another, enjoying the now comfortable silence that seemed to envelop the two of them. It only after a minute of this silence when Marble Pie suddenly reached for his forehoof with hers and motioned to him to follow her. Surprised at her sudden forwardness, Big Mac hesitated for a moment before getting off his haunches to follow her lead. Leading him to one of the cupboards in the living room, Marble proceeded to pull open one of the drawers and pick up an item that Big Mac instantly recognized as his present. Still wrapped in festive wrapping paper, it seemed that Marble had wanted to wait until Hearth’s Warming day to open it. However, instead of opening it, she reached into the drawer again and pulled out another gift and presented it to him. Looking over the package, Big Mac realized that it was the same present he saw her wrapping the night before. Feeling his heart flutter in his chest at the thought that she, just as he, had gone to the trouble of preparing a present for Hearth’s Warming, he hopefully pointed to himself with his forehoof as if to confirm if it was really for him.
“Mm-hm,” she replied with a shy smile, her eyes avoiding his as Big Mac reached out and accepted her present for him.
As the two of the sat across from one another, their individual presents laid out before them, they gave each other a final nod before finally opening their Hearth’s Warming presents. As Big Macintosh peeled the wrapping off, he caught glimpses of pink from in between the paper and wondered what the present might possibly be. Finally, after a few seconds of unwrapping, a beautiful rose quartz, polished and shaped into the form of a heart, lay in front of him. Engraved on the face of the stone were both of their names, his own on the top and hers on the bottom. Smiling at the gift, he looked up to find Marble Pie admiring the love spoon he carved for her the night before. She must have noticed his stare because she looked up to him a few moments later, smiling gently as she cradled the spoon in her hooves. It was then when Big Macintosh finally said his first words to her and she in response, responded in kind.
“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Marble Pie.”
“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Macintosh Apple.”