maretime bay Sugar's Hearth's Warming Bash(open)

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

 

Things had been quite a bit different in Maretime Bay the last few months. There's been an influx of both pegasi and unicorns coming to the city, and many of them settling down. She had to admit even to herself, there were a lot of interesting stories that she'd heard over the past few months, and it was shocking how similar everything was yet how completely different as well. Like she'd found out on the boat right that Sunny had taken them on, there were so many different things that everypony had been taught about each other that she could't believe how they actually believed some of them.

 

But that wasn't important now. What was though, was after everypony had come together again, it was Sugar's turn to give into her impulses and actually do a bit of research into Ancient Equestria. She always kinda wanted to know what it was like, and if all the stories from the past were actually true. After all, Sunny had already proven that everypony had been friends once before and had done an amazing job of single-hoofedly uniting all three races. Sugar couldn't help but wonder though just how deep everything went beyond that. At once point in her research, she'd found something. A mention of a holiday that the ponies of olden times would celebrate. It was called Hearth's Warming, and she was able to determine that it had something to do with the togetherness and the unity of ponies, but that was about all that was mentioned of it. Nothing else came close to going back even that far. There was also mentions of some weird spirit of hate thing that made the world freeze, but that just sounded positively silly. There was no way that kind of creature could exist. Unity and friendship though, that was something that she could put a hoof behind.

 

Sugar had made fliers and she had distributed them through out the city. She briefly wondered if this was how Sunny felt all the time when she was posting all of the stickers around town, but all of that had lead up to today. The fliers invited ponies of all kinds to join this Hearth's Warming festival, and added that they should bring a surprise gift. Sugar also had a cake made for the event as well as some of her Maretime Bay famous Sugar Cookies! She was excited to share them with all of her new friends! She just hoped that ponies would actually take the fliers seriously and come. She wanted nothing more than to help celebrate the newfound unity in her city, and she actually felt a bit of panic take her over. What if no pony came? What if no pony truly cared and she'd gone through all of this effort for nothing? Sugar shook her head. No, ponies would come. She didn't know who, or how many, but she knew ponies would come.

 

She had just finished putting the last bit of decorations around in her yard and inside her house to make it more festive, trying to match the couple of pictures that she'd found. It looked silly at first, but there was a quaint charm about it that just felt right. The way the colored lights were shining, and the way their breath's hung in the air, it was going to be a perfect evening. She had the tables set up and with it being outside, it would be open for everypony walking by to attend! Besides, depending on how many ponies actually showed up she might not be able to fit them all in her house. If this gets enough of a turn out she might have to rent a park or something next year. As it was, Sugar looked back over all of the decorations one more time. With a smile, she brought out the cake, the punch and the other snacks and arranged them on one of the tables while leaving another table blank for the guests to leave gifts on. Once everything was in place, Sugar took her place by the gate to her fence and waited for ponies to arrive.

[Blueblood]

 

 

If there was one thing Queen Haven knew, it was where the wind was blowing.  Proverbially, all pegasi knew that.  Heck, now that their wings were fully restored, they probably all knew it literally too.  But the Celebrity ruler had long gotten a good sense of where the public was going, and a lifetime of skill in getting out in front of the wave.  It didn't always pay to sail the very crest of it, of course, but now that reunification was in the air, publicly being seen at a celebration of togetherness of all three ponies would most likely ensure her family a place in whatever new order was to come.

 

Not to mention, spending some time with her daughters, who would most certainly be coming, would be a good opportunity to catch up and bond.  Clearly, there had been things she'd missed in their lives, given how much their actions lately had caught her by surprise.  A nice surprise, all told, but she'd rather not be caught so off guard next time!

Speaking of guards, a full coterie was accompanying the Queen as she made her entrance.  "Announcing, Queen Haven of Zephyr Heights."

"Thank you, thank you!"  The Queen stepped into the entrance, still keeping the air of a red-carpet strutter, even in these more modest circumstances.  "Friends all, it is my great honor to- oh."  She stopped, on seeing only the hostess to greet her so far.  "Ah, I seem to have arrived unfashionably early, I do apologize.  But I should hate to miss the festivities through vain delays!"

[SteelEagle]

There was a chill in the air that permeated everything and anything a pony held dear except for the heart. That, Sunny knew better than most, blazed best when in the presence of friends. It was one of the biggest reasons she had decided to attend the Hearth's Warming Eve celebration that Sugar was holding. They were celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve, how cool was that? It was an ancient pony holiday with even more ancient stories predating them. Much of the history of the celebration was, at best, vague. All three cities had some form of winter holiday roughly around the same time that emphasized unity and family. All of them had their origins, it seemed, in Hearth's Warming Eve. Unity, love, and family. Even if they didn't know as much as they wanted to know about the past you didn't have to know about the past to understand how important those qualities were to all ponies. No matter how they practiced the holiday, they would do so with the same love of one another as they did in the ages past.

 

Of course, Sunny would do her best to try and bring some traditions back. There was so very little written that remained about the holiday itself, let alone how to celebrate it, that she had to fill in some of the blanks herself. So as she approached Sugar's house her mind was mostly in the three saddlebags she wore with gifts, books, and the various necessities for some good old fashioned Hearth's Warming Eve celebrations. A cold wind snap tore her mind away. She didn't much care for the cold. Earth Ponies were supposed to be much better suited to all weather and maybe that was true, maybe she was better in the snowbank than a unicorn. But she didn't have to like it. Her teeth chattered as she approached the house, her mind completely lost as she looked at the sky and the likelihood of snow, knocking the door...

 

Instead, she knocked on the flank of a guard.
"What is the-" The guard said as he turned around as if under attack. When he saw it was Sunny he took a step back and looked Sunny up and down.
"Since when did Sugar get...pegasus guards?" Sunny asked him, head tilted as her mind slowly came back into focus. "Wait, is Zipp here? Pipp?"

[StrongCopper]

He knew he was being foolish and reckless as he walked through the chilly streets of Maretime Bay. Even with the illusion up and with a little bit of confidence from his earlier surprise trip on a boat, Allegro still couldn't help but feel deeply conflicted and scared of attending an actual party. But the coastal cave that he called his home was chilly despite his best efforts to try and keep the cold out... and the bonfire that he had prepared in the center was reserved for the worst of nights and the weather simply hadn't turned that icy and cruel to justify the effort of rebuilding it with fresh wood yet.

 

It was also the time of year where his family would celebrate their winter traditions together... and the lack of both parents ached all the harder because of it. His father had always brought earth pony traditions to the holidays, even if the unity and love those traditions promised and tried to promote was limited to a small family of three rather then the wider community. The tradition of joining his mother in diving for clams, snails and other cold blooded sea life that came to a stop as the waters grew colder in order to add some sea food to dinner was always a treat... Winter clams were always the absolute best!

 

Of course, his current living arrangements made trying to create some of the recipes that his mother had created to take advantage of the range of ingredients that living on land provided that weren't a normal part of her people's traditional diets rather... difficult, but there was a rather simple one that he could prep in advance and actually cook once he got to the party easily enough. So while it felt wrong to go out along, he had gone diving out in the bay and gathered together enough clams to fill his old pot.. as well as scratch some money together in order to buy a few things from the store. Even as he traveled the streets with his sealed pot on his back, there were some... doubts in the back of his mind about trying to introduce the meal he had in mind to a crowd that might not be as open to the idea of sea food as his father had been... but it felt like it would have been a disservice to his mother not to at least try to introduce her cooking to the wider world. Worst case in his mind, if they didn't like it that just meant that there would be more for him to enjoy. 

 

As Allegro carefully walked down the street, he would pause on occasion to check the address on the invitational flier in his possession to make sure that he was heading in...vaguely the right direction. He had gotten turned around and lost at least twice, which made the fact that he had started a bit earlier all the more important. However, via the power of determination (and stopping to ask for directions at least twice) he finally found the building he was looking for! It was the correct address and even better, there was Sunny out the front!... with a winged pony who seemed to be prepared to attack her!.. Only to take a step back as whatever hostile intent disappeared in a flash.

 

Allegro's heart raced in his chest as he had felt... something almost happen, but the instant ceasing of hostile intent had snuffed it out before it had a chance to surface. Very skittish, the 'earth' pony slowly started to make his way forward before he softly and nervously asked "H-Hi Sunny. Is... this the place on the flier?" He even showed the flier in question as if to further cement it. Granted he didn't exactly look like much; Just an ill kept Earth pony that had a pot on their back and smelt strongly of sea salt.

[PyroBlaze]

Moonage once again found herself wandering the streets of Maretime Bay, not entirely sure where she was going. Sure, there was an address on the flier, but to be fair she had only been to this city once before. The unicorn was wearing a heavy cloak with the hood up as she walked around, nowadays just to help bundle up against the cold. She used to use it as a way to walk around in towns that didn’t look too closely at visitors, drumming up business and resupplying, but that wasn’t necessary anymore. 
 

It had taken her a while to figure out what to bring as her gift, but she had eventually figured something out. She glanced over at the box floating along beside her before some nearby commotion drew her attention to a building with armored pegasi outside. And soon enough, Sunny and Allegro too. Looking back at the flier, she shrugged at her good fortune and made her way over to the group. 
 

“Hello again, Sunny, Allegro. Is this Sugar’s house?” Sunny probably knew, at least. Or at least she was probably the most likely one to know. Either way, she was pretty sure she was in the right place. “What’s with all the pegasus guards?”

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

Sugar waited, almost a bit impatiently for her guests to arrive. She had been excited about this since she'd fist read the idea about it! This was the first time in well... forever as far as she was concerned, that ponies got to do something like this again! She knew that thought didn't make sense, but at the same time it did. The books themselves were proof that the ponies of olden days celebrated the holiday, but she'd never heard of it until now. Here they just had a week where they didn't have to work and they could just spend time with their families. Come to think of it though, there were an exceptionally large number of single ponies in Maretime Bay. Sure, there were some couples and plenty of foals around, but... Sugar shook her head. That wasn't what they needed to be thinking about right now, though she did hope that all the lonely ponies of Maretime Bay, and now the surrounding areas would come out. They could make new friends and not be lonely any more!

 

The first of her guests to arrive, did so with a flourish that left Sugar's mouth agape a bit, and then even moreso when she heard the mare start to introduce herself. Her little party had gotten the attention from Queen Haven herself? The Pegasus Royalty!? She wasn't too surprised, given that she knew Pipp, but how cool was that! and she brought her entourage of guards with her as well! So that was already... one twothreefour... five ponies already! "Oh it's not a problem at all!" Sugar said, replying to the apology for being so early. "Actually if you ask me you're right on time! and I totally understand what you mean. When I modeled for the factory, there were so many times we'd be waiting on something simple that would delay the film shoot. We don't have to worry about that here though! When the other guests arrive feel free to mingle and get to know everypony! This was celebrated as a holiday of unity after all, so united we shall be!" Sugar said, smiling as she raised an eyebrow as she watched Sunny start walking up the street to her house. She knew that Sunny would be here. Having been the one that actually unified everypony, a holiday for it would be right up her alley. She did have to raise an eyebrow though when she saw her knock on one of the guard's flanks. She couldn't help but giggle a bit at both of their reactions, and took all of her restraint to not make a joke there.

 

After that, there were two more ponies that started walking their direction. She recognized both of them from the boat trip! Come to think of it, everypony that's here were the same ponies that came out with them on the boat trip except for Queen Haven, and even then, she kinda counted as being there right? Pipp was there and that was an extension of royalty so did that mean that counted or no? She was actually a little confused as to how all that royalty stuff worked now, but that would be questions for later. She heard Moonage and allegro both ask if this was her house, but could tell the question was directed towards Sunny. With a smile Sugar waved at them. "Yup! you're both  in the right spot! Please, come on in! Gifts go on the empty table! Snacks and Cakes are over there! I baked them myself!" she smiled, looking to Sunny. "You got a lot more than gifts there Sunny! Whatchya bring? Also no, they aren't my guards. Those guards belong to Queen Haven!"

[Blueblood]

 

Giving a warm smile to her hostess, Queen Haven stepped forward, deliberately shedding a bit of the 'royal air' she usually had about her.  This time called for a real 'pony of the ponies' approach.  "Ah, you did modeling work?  I must say you do seem quite suited for it.  Back when I was a Princess, I modeled for a line myself.  Of course, these days I'm rather too busy for that sort of thing, but I think Pipp would be interested in talking with you over the business."  She looked around.  "Pipp?  Zipp?"  Unable to find her daughters yet, she sighed.  "Neither of them seem to have arrived, Miss Starscout."  She called out to the Earth Pony 'unifier.'  Or was she still technically an earth pony, after all that?  She definitely remembered seeing wings and a horn on that mare, last they met.

 

More guests seemed to be trickling in, and earth pony, and a unicorn!  "Well, it does seem we have representatives from all tribes now!  I suppose that is as good a signal as any to officially begin the party?"  Queen Haven  readjusted her wings, putting the regal attitude back on like a jacket.  She didn't think this would be all that formal, but as a Royal, it was always better to overdress than underdress, as it were.

[StrongCopper]

As the situation seemed to calm down and their host reveled that yes, they were in fact in the location... a great tense knot seemed to relax its tight grip on Allegro's chest. They were in the right place. Of course, the presence of a team of ponies wearing armor who looked like they lived for professionally beating up other ponies ensured that the knot of tension never completely went away, but as long as he didn't do anything that would draw their attention like that he would hopefully be fine. Just an ordinary earth pony with a pot on his back...

 

As much as he would have liked to just stay and talk with Sunny, Allegro did have something they needed to do first. Carefully walking past the guards and up to Sugar, the salt smelling stallion offered a nervous smile as he requested "H-Hi. I... know the flier said to bring a gift so I decided to prepare a dish that my mother created and absolutely loves... but since it's best freshly cooked... can I borrow your kitchen for a bit? I've brought everything I need, I just... need a stove or a fire pit to cook it on."

[SteelEagle]

She was embarrassed and then some by what had happened. She was often accused of having her head lost in the clouds but if that was true you would think she would have detected the pegasus guard whose flank she had just tapped with her hoof. Well, hey, you only live once and if she was ever asked, "Did you ever get physical with local security forces excepting life long friends?" she could say yes, yes she had. Of course that was a weird question to ask specifically, but there were always weird critters that asked weird questions. As she pondered this, Allegro showed up! It was nice to see him. He still seemed really shy. Hopefully more contact would help with that. Close behind him was Moonage, the unicorn that Sunny needed to get to know better. There was something strangely powerful about the unicorn that Sunny couldn't put her hoof on. Maybe it had something to do with...luminescence? She didn't know. Needed to ask Izzy more questions.

 

"It sure is the right location! Happy to see you two!" She said with giving him a side hug. She loved herself a nice, good hug. Some ponies were afraid of friendly affections but she didn't hold back. Why do that? Speaking of holding back, Allegro wasn't, not with that dish. Sunny caught a whiff as Allego passed. "That smells deeeelicious," she commented to Moonage before trotting inside, greeting Sunny. "Happy Hearthswarming Eve! Ooooh I am so excited to be saying that, teehehehehe!" She gave Sugar a hug and jumped up and down a few times. She then found open table and laid down her saddlebag. It landed with a deep-boned thump. "I brought some gifts and also what I think are some old traditions I found in some books. It should be a lot of fun!" She trotted in place before she noticed that she was making a foal of herself in front of Queen Haven. She had to relax, tone it back a little. It was going to be a little less exciting without Zipp and Pipp but Haven was a pony worth getting to know better, Queen or not. "Well, I'll just have to send their gifts out then. In any case, I'm really happy you decided to come, Your Majesty!"

[PyroBlaze]

Moonage nodded to Sunny and Sugar confirming this was the right place, listening to what the others were saying. It seemed the guards were here for the pegasus queen, now that was an interesting guest to this party, but not an unwelcome one. Seeing as she had never met royalty, except Pipp on that boat, so she wasn’t entirely sure about what kind of niceties were expected. 
 

“Indeed it does.” She responded to Sunny’s comment about Allegro’s food, chuckling slightly as she fully entered the home. Allegro was an interesting stallion to be sure, smelling like the sea. Though in a coastal town like this, that was more common than one may think.

 

“This is a lovely home, Sugar, thank you for hosting this party.” Moonage said, smiling at the hostess and setting her gift box down on the table. “I am glad I got to come back to this town and see you all again.”

[IceStorm]

~~~Sugar Moonlight~~~

 

 

 

 

Sugar was quite happy with the ponies that showed up! They all seemed to be in the spirit of the event. She heard Queen Haven tell her that she should get in contact with Pipp if she was interested in doing more modeling work. She was a bit surprised to hear that she too had modeled for a few lines herself, but wasn't surprised when she said that Pipp would be more her style for talking with about that. "Indeed! I actually got to meet her a couple months ago when she came for the boat outing with Sunny! That said, I hope that they are able to make it! I would love to see Pipp again and Zipp seems like a fun pony to meet too!" Sugar said, turning to Sunny who apologized for her unusual entrance and then came up to embrace her with a hug, confirming to Moonage and Allegro that they were in the right spots. She loved seeing Sunny excited again, and Sunny's excitement was contagious to herself. She was ecstatic to be saying the phrase happy hearth's warming again.

 

"I know right? We may not know everything on how it was done in the olden days, but that may not be a bad thing! We can make our own traditions too! Though of everypony here, you are kind of the expert on everything Olden Pony. What are we supposed to do outside of gather and mingle?" Sugar asked before Allegro mentioned using her kitchen for the gift that he was providing. He said that the meal that he was giving was best served fresh so he wanted to prepare it here. The idea of a fire pit was nice as well. "Oh! I like the idea of a fire pit! It is a tad bit on the chilly side outside so a fire pit to help everypony stay warm while we're out here would be perfect! Plus maybe the smell of your delicious treat will attract more ponies to come by!" she said, grabbing some of the wood that she'd use for her own fire place and making a small pyramid of logs. She also looked around for some stones or something that she could use around the base to keep it from spreading. Much to her dismay she didn't see any.  She gave a small smile as she heard Moonage compliment her home and say that she was happy that she got to come back and that Sugar was hosting the party.

 

"Of course! I'm glad to see everypony again! Hey, I know this is probably a long shot, but neither you or Sunny happened to bring about ten large stones that I can put around the base of the fire did you?" She asked with a hopeful, but almost rhetoric look on her face. Of course they wouldn't have brought anything like that to a party. Who in their right minds would think to bring anything like that! She was mentally kicking herself for not realizing that the holiday was in winter and that they might need a fire to stay warm. She had made sure that all the preparations were right except for apparently the most important one. Now her guests were going to be uncomfortable and it was all her fault for not preparing properly...

[Blueblood]

 

Queen Haven nodded at the mention of the boat party.  She'd been quite thankful that Pipp and Zipp had been invited to it, as it gave her the opportunity to do the necessary smoothing-over work with the media and ponies of Zephy Heights.  She never wanted her two princesses to face the kind of vitriol that was unleashed in the wake of the... incident at Pipp's concert.  Seeing all those nasty comments had been hard enough on the poor filly...

 

She shook her head.  That was in the past, and not the kind of past now being mined for happy holiday Hearthswarming... happenings?  Alliteration aside, Haven was really hoping her two fillies would show up soon.  "I know Pipp was quite excited about the boat party when she was telling me about it; thank you for making her feel welcome here.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at how well you host parties!"  She addressed that remark to both Sugar and Sunny equally, as she might in a speech to all Earth Ponies.

 

"Now then... what was this I was hearing about special treats?"  Her ears perked up, eyes seeking out Allegro.

[StrongCopper]

While Sugar seemed per-occupied with searching for some large stones in order to set up a fire pit, Allegro took her permission towards his request as acceptance as he started to look around for a suitable place in order to dig out the pit in question. For him, the presence of stones in order to ring the pit in order to better highlight where it was and provide an extra layer of protection from the fire spreading was somewhat optional. You just had to dig the pit correctly with the right degree of depth and steepness along the sides and it would be fairly self contained.

 

Finding a spot that looked like it had nothing else happening with it (Because digging up someone's garden would be a terrible idea) while also being central enough that it could serve as a source of warmth for those gathered here even after the cooking was done, Allegro started to dig at the ground with his hooves. As he dug, he glanced over at the other ponies... namely the winged mare who looked rather familiar to Pipp. His ear had twitched as she had been talking after all. "It's nice to meet you Pipp's mum. You don't seem old enough to have a daughter her age." He offered earnestly, if a bit shyly. His mother had always told him that mares liked to be complimented about looking young. 

 

Pausing in his digging of the fire pit for a moment in order to remove the pot from his back and place it safely on the ground in order to ensure it didn't fall off and spill, Allegro offered a small smile at the encouragement he had been getting from the ponies there. "To my knowledge, this isn't a typical pony dish... my mother created it herself. She absolutely loves making use of the various bounties the sea has to offer and I wanted to share a bit of that with you all. I even went diving earlier in order to collect them myself!" He said somewhat proudly before he went back to digging. The pit didn't need to be too deep but... he was using his hooves to do it. It also seemed to answer the mystery of why he smelt of the sea; It was because he had been swimming in it.

Edited December 15, 2021 by StrongCopper
Forgot to change speech text color.