"And...check!" Spike marked off the last item on his list with a flourish, then looked up. "Thanks for dropping this off, Rarity! Now I can make my deliveries in time for you to all open your presents tonight!"
"Lovely, darling!" Rarity gushed. "I just can't wait to see what my secret Santa wrapped up for me. It will be something lovely, I'm quite sure, since all of my friends have such wonderful taste!"
"I'm sure it will!" Spike replied with a decisive nod. "Oh, and Twilight asked me to remind you that she's invited all of you over for tea and pancakes tomorrow morning."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Rarity grinned and turned back towards the door.
Spike grabbed a box from the stack, checking it against his list. It had no label; he had written down who it had come from. He frowned; was that the right matchup? He thought so. Her name was next to her name, and...yes, he supposed it must be right.
"Here, Rarity, take yours with you right now," he said before the white mare was halfway out the door. "That will save me a bit of trouble. But don't forget - no opening it until tonight!"
Rarity used her magic to levitate the box to her back. "Thank you so much for coordinating this for us, dear," she told Spike. "Now, I must see to Opalesence - she is expecting her dinner soon. Ta ta!" With a swish of purple tail, she was gone.
-
After eating her evening meal - and feeding dear Opalesence, of course - Rarity turned her attention to the box Spike had given her after she'd dropped off her own gift. She had no idea who it was from - Spike was keeping track of the givers and recipients of their little exchange. She used her magic to remove the wrapping paper from the box, being careful not to tear it so she could use it again - it was a very pretty floral print. Once the paper was set neatly aside, she cut the tape on the box and lifted out what appeared to be a handmade set of wooden dispensers.
Tilting her head, Rarity set the thing on the floor. There were three carved and polished containers, all attached together in a row, with a latch for dispensing something from within. They were empty; Rarity assumed they were to be filled with food. She wasn't quite sure what she'd put in them, though. She supposed she could use them to feel Opal, but Opal took only one kind of cat food - the finest variety, of course - and with her magic it was easy to scoop what she needed into the bowl. Maybe she was missing something?
-
Fluttershy finally got a moment's rest late in the evening, once all of her forest critter friends had been fed and sent to bed. With the cold winter weather, she had more friends visiting her now than at any other time of the year, and she was exhausted. Twice she had almost given an animal the wrong kind of food - she needed to hover all over the kitchen to get it out of different bags all along the counter.
With a sigh of relief, she pulled the package Spike had delivered earlier that day across the quaint cottage table towards her and gently used her teeth to undo the ribbon. Once the paper had been removed and thrown away, she opened the box and pulled out its contents.
The box had only one item: a shiny new pair of flight goggles with a Wonderbolts insignia on the straps.
With a squeak Fluttershy dropped the goggles on the table. Was this a prank? Rainbow Dash bugged her enough as it was to fly more and take risks in the air that made her shaky to the bones. With these in her possession, Fluttershy would never hear the end of it. But she couldn't very well keep hidden from her friends what she'd gotten…"What do I do with these?" she moaned softly, resting her head on her hooves.
-
Rainbow Dash did a loop in the air on her way back to Cloudsdale, excited to open the box that Spike had passed to her from the ground not a moment before. The air stung her eyes as she climbed higher and higher, increasing her speed, and performed an expert barrel roll just after rising above the edge of the village in the sky and zoomed to the front door of her modest house in the clouds.
Once inside, Rainbow Dash gobbled down her dinner, anxious to see what her gift was. With an excited grin, she tore off the wrapping and opened the box.
Inside the long, rectangular box was...cloth? Rainbow Dash picked it up and squinted at it. Maybe she saw it wrong...no, it was definitely cloth. Two bolts of the finest Canterlot satin, in fact. Well, Rainbow Dash didn't know if it had come from Canterlot, but where else had something so shiny come from? Not even Rarity had cloth this fine in her shop.
But...what would Rainbow Dash do with it? It was pretty, sure, but Rainbow Dash hardly knew one end of a needle from the other. Maybe it was supposed to be a new set of curtains?
Nah, she'd need to ask Rarity for advice on how to use it. Setting the cloth aside, Rainbow Dash grabbed a bowl of oat chips and stretched out to finish her third re-read of Daring Do and the Hidden City in the Sky.
-
Pinkie Pie walked to her bedroom in the cozy home overlooking the shop with a spring in her step. No, the spring wasn't just in her step - it was in her whole body! Pinkie Pie didn't walk, she bounced until she flopped into her bed on her back, kicking her new present up in the air with her hooves. She probably shouldn't have kicked the box, but how could she help it? Presents were just so darn exciting!
She supposed, though, that it would be even more exciting to open it than just look at it and bounce it around. Hardly had she given it the thought than the paper was on the floor in shreds, and Pinkie Pie opened the box to pull out the sweet surprise inside.
A fine wooden box came out of the slightly larger cardboard box. Boxes within boxes! Would this one have another box? But no, it opened to reveal a velvet lining with four impressions on the bottom. They contained four brightly colored feathers.
On closer inspection, the feathers were actually quill pens. And they were so pretty too! Pinkie Pie set them on her bedside table and admired them for a moment in the fading evening light from her window. But soon she started to wonder: what to do with these? It wasn't like Pinkie Pie did a lot of writing. She was a baking girl, not a writing girl, and when she wasn't baking she liked to be a partying girl! She supposed she wrote a little bit, but would she ever get around to using not one, but four quills of the finest quality?
After another moment she shrugged and went to go brush her teeth for bed. Maybe some of her friends would have some ideas.
-
Twilight waited until Spike was tucked into bed before turning her attention to the single box left in the study after Spike's deliveries, which he'd said was the gift for her. She didn't know who it was from, but Spike was keeping track of all of that, of course.
Pulling it across the floor to her with her magic, Twilight cleared off space on her desk to open the gift. A few extra rolls of parchment fell to the floor along with three old writing quills. They would need to be replaced soon, but that wasn't a problem for tonight. Once it would have worried her, but she'd learned that it was wise to take problems she couldn't solve today, and not concern herself with them until tomorrow.
Peeling the paper away from the box with her magic, Twilight opened a large, flat box and lifted the lid to pull out a garment of burlap and linen, with a tightly-woven, oiled cloth covering to make it waterproof. Lifting it in the air and turning it, pulling aside straps and buckles, Twilight could see that the item was a work-saddle, sewn with pockets and latches for carrying various items and with a padded adjustable girth. It appeared to be a custom-made item.
She set it gently on the desk, frowning. She supposed she could use it to run errands - it did look nice, and it was sturdier than the one she had - but she didn't wear a work-saddle often and she didn't need one with quite so many pockets.
Well, she should be grateful for what she had, of course. It was a nice gift, if unexpected. Twilight hummed to herself and trotted into the kitchen to get ready for tea the next morning.
-
Applejack sat by the fire with her family, keeping warm in the cold winter night. Big Macintosh was reading on the hearth, Granny Smith knitting in her rocking chair, and Apple Bloom was laying down in front of the couch with her homework. Applejack sat up on the couch with the box Spike had delivered earlier that day set in front of her. Carefully tearing the paper off, she opened the box and pulled out its contents.
It was a bright, pink-and-green, feathered-and-sequined party mask.
Applejack put the mask on and poked Apple Bloom on the shoulder. Her little sister looked up and giggled, then asked, "Who's it from?"
Applejack shrugged. "Don't know. It's a Secret Santa Twilight decided to set up and Spike was coordinatin'. I suppose this is a...fun little thing, though I'm not really sure what I'm supposed ta do with it…"
"Wear it to parties?" Apple Bloom suggested.
"It's not really my style, now, is it? But maybe I can bring it to breakfast tomorrow and see if anyone has any ideas on personalizing it a little bit."
"Yyyup," Big Mac agreed, looking up briefly.
Applejack smiled and put the mask back in the box. It was a strange little gift, that was for sure, but somegirl had picked it out for her, so of course she'd need to be polite and thankful all the same.
-
Six ponies sat around the small tea-table in Twilight's kitchen, and six gifts were arrayed in front of them. Six ponies gazed with admiration at a gift...but not the one in front of them.
Spike seemed confused as well. He'd just walked in with a fresh pot of tea per Twilight's request, and he scratched his head spines.
"I'm sure I delivered them right," he said. "But let me double check…"
He walked out, and at once all six ponies burst into laughter.
"I suppose we can forgive him his confusion," Rarity giggled, "but Applejack, dear, I hoof-sewed that work-saddle for you to use in the fields."
"Oh...wow, shucks, Rarity! It's amazin'!" She glanced at Rarity. "That makes me feel a good mite better, Rarity, because those wooden food dispensers were actually meant to go to Fluttershy."
"Oh, my, that's just the sort of thing I needed, Applejack! It will make my evenings with the animals much easier. Oh, would you be a dear and hand me back that mask? I made it with feathers from my birdie friends, but it's actually meant for Pinkie Pie."
"Ooooh-wee! I knew I recognized an amazing party mask when I saw one!" Pinkie Pie snatched the mask from a startled Applejack and put it on. "It's awesome! What do you think, Rainbow Dash? You know, those first-edition, just-released-last-week Wonderbolts flight goggles are actually for you, not Fluttershy. Er, sorry, Fluttershy."
"These. Are. AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash put the goggles on and did a mini-loop in the air above the tea-table. "I've really been needing a new pair, and I've had my eye on the new Wonderbolts model for the past month. They're even better than I expected! Here, Pinkie, give me back those quills. Twilight, I got some molted pinion feathers from some of the other pegasi, and commissioned this set of writing quills for you."
Twilight grinned. "Thank you so much, Rainbow Dash! These are beautiful!" She held out her hoof. "If you'd be so kind as to hand me those two bolts of fine Canterlot satin? I actually bought them, with the princess's help, for our friend Rarity here."
Rarity gave a happy sigh and stroked the satin. "Oh, it is so soft...and shiny...oh, whatever to make with this beautiful fabric…"
When Spike walked back in, he found a much different scene than the one he'd left. He shuffled his feet and cleared his throat until the ponies stopped gushing over their wonderful new gifts and gave him their attention.
"Uh...sorry girls. It seems I had a slight mix-up. I, um...I delivered your gifts...but I did it backwards."
They looked at him for a moment with amusement, then started laughing again.
"Oh, Spike, it's okay! Everygirl makes mistakes! And, I guess every dragon does too! It all turned out okay in the end. But come over here. We bought something for you, to thank you for your hard work in helping out with our exchange!" Reaching under the table, Twilight produced the most gorgeous diamond Spike had ever seen.
"You girls...you girls are the best!" Spike cried with a grin. And all mistakes forgotten, he sat down to have tea with his friends and enjoy a merry Hearth's Warming morning, warm and snug, away from the winter snow.