Everything was perfect.

The morning of Hearth's Warming Eve was peaceful, quiet, and refreshing. Trixie felt as if fate, or karma, somehow knew about the needs of the survivor camp, and mercifully granted this one special day to them to rest and recuperate, without any interruptions or difficulties.

By this time, so many things had gotten better for all of them. Gilda's wings and Gustave's talons had healed. Everyone in the survivor camp was coexisting in harmony, none of them experiencing any major problems aside from the circumstances they had been stuck in for quite some time.

In their hut, Trixie, Hope, Gilda, and Gustave were enjoying each other's company and opening presents. Earlier that morning, they had decided to toss convention out the window and eat dessert for breakfast, just because they could. Although it took much more time and hard work than their previous attempts to recreate otherwise impossible meals in these parts, the combined efforts of Trixie and Gustave was ultimately successful in making Hope's favorite dessert; a watermelon ice cream cake, with green apple cake on the exterior, cherry ice cream on the interior, and grape candies for the seeds. As an added bonus, each of the three distinct features were accentuated by another variation of Trixie's mirror mix, enhancing the meal. They wasted no time in eating it all.

While they had the fortunate opportunity to create surprisingly exquisite foods given their location on seldom occasion, they unfortunately didn't have quite the same luck regarding presents. The occupants of the hut, and the entire survivor camp, had to do their best with what they had, mostly managing to create small trinkets out of their surroundings. Regardless, everyone appreciated each other's gifts.

"Well, I guess that's all of them this year," Trixie said. She then perked, and facehoofed. "Oh, silly me; how could I have forgotten? I have a few gifts left for you, Hope!"

The filly beamed excitedly. "Really?!?"

"You bet! Hang on just a second, I'm going to get them for you..." Trixie then levitated a box that she had barely managed to conjure wrapping for while she prepared the gift quite some time ago.

Hope gasped. "Wow! That looks like such a big present! It has to be something really cool! What is it?"

The unicorn chuckled. "You'll have to open it to find out!"

She placed it on the ground before the filly, who excitedly tore away at the wrapping with her forehooves. She opened the box, and smiled from ear to ear.

"My violin!!! You made one just like it!!!"

Indeed, an almost exact replica of Hope's specific instrument lie waiting for her in the box. As an added bonus, Trixie even autographed it again, this time as "The Great And Powerful Trixie".

The filly leapt at Trixie, seizing her in a hug. "Thank you so much!"

The showmare happily hugged her back, cuddling against her. "Your welcome, Hope..."

She gently set her back down on the ground. "There's one more thing I'd like to give you..." Trixie closed her eyes, and conjured a bouquet of Jennet Orchids. She smiled as she levitated them into the filly's forehooves. "This time, they'll last for as long as they could if I didn't conjure them," she explained. "Just come to me whenever you want some new ones."

Hope deeply breathed in the scent of the flowers, savoring it. "Thank you so much..." Tears of joy brimmed in her eyelids, extremely grateful and happy towards the sentimental gifts that her hero had given her.

Trixie smiled, just as happy as the filly was with her reactions to the gifts.

She could have given her the lachrylus right then, and considered it, but she wanted to wait until her birthday. As tempting as it was, she thought it would be best to give it to her on the same occasion that her mother did.

Hope and Fiona played their respective violin and flute, getting the entire camp into a musical spirit at the end of one of Trixie's shows as the last performance. It was a part that she was trying to get everyone in on, or as many of them as she could manage, at least. One by one, the unicorn welcomed in the other griffons who had a knack for musical talent, conjuring an additional flute for Adia to use while Roul joined in with his guitar.

Perla and Tristan were laughing and dancing. Their experience performing acrobatics for entertainment allowed them to come up with some pretty interesting moves, especial Perla, who utilized her contortionist abilities to be even more creative and perform intricate maneuvers that would have otherwise been impossible. Gilda and Gustave were dancing with them, while Renard kept Trixie relaxed enough to keep focused on her magic by softly brushing her mane with a brush.

They all had so much fun. By the time the music stopped, all of them started talking at once, praising each other's talents and skills, and how together, they were able to create such a wonderful, musical experience.

Trixie was so happy to see all of them at peace and getting along so well. They each had enough problems without worrying about conflict within the camp; things between them all had greatly improved in general, and as far as she could tell, it was going to stay that way long enough for them all to be able to finally flee the canyon unscathed.

Once Trixie was alone, Adia took advantage of the opportunity to have another private conversation with her.

"Hey," she said.

Trixie was startled by her approach. "Hi," she replied awkwardly.

Both of them were quiet for a moment.

Finally, the unicorn chuckled. "I'm sorry, it's just that you're so quiet that you always catch me off guard..."

Adia shrugged. "It's a force of habit... Have to keep quiet around the dragons, and all."

"Mmhm," Trixie nodded. "So... Did you need something?"

The griffon smiled. "I just wanted to thank you again for everything you've done," she explained. "I know I've said it before, but... It's really helped a lot. Now, more than ever, that's been proven... I think we might've... Torn ourselves apart if you didn't come here, bringing everything and doing everything that you have."

The young mare blushed modestly, slightly looking away. "Surely, you know that it's not all me... You all were holding up really well on your own in the first place... Especially thanks to you," she sincerely complimented Adia on her leadership. "I'm just glad that this is all going so well, or, as well as it can with everything else going on, anyhow..."

Adia nodded in agreement. "... There's something else I never got the chance to tell you, though..."

"Hmm?" Trixie looked at her.

"... I've told you before about how the dragon attacks wiped out my entire tribe. My entire family. But, the part of me I never shared with anyone else here in the camp is the conflict I've had in my soul, ever since before I started this camp. When they were alive, my family was split in half... All of them belonged in the tribe at one point. But, over time, some of them drifted apart. While most of us remained a part of the oldest griffon tribe still alive, the others were tired of the limiting lifestyle when there was so much technology and luxuries in the modern world. They sought them out, and were shamed in the eyes of my other relatives.

"I always tried to remain neutral in the civil conflict, although I stayed loyal to the traditions I was raised to uphold. But, I missed the ones who left, and couldn't help but notice how much happier they seemed whenever I did see them, however often that was. I wanted to find a way to convince the family to come together again, to show them that living a modern life didn't mean abandoning our tribe's roots, but neither side wanted nothing to do with the other anymore. Eventually, I was convinced that I would never find a resolution to this, doomed to live a life of confusion, my heart constantly torn between two different lifestyles.

"When the dragons attacked, they killed all my relatives in the tribe... So, I tried to go to the modern city where the rest of my family was staying, only to find that they were killed by a dragon attack, as well. I was entirely alone... I took on the role of sin-eater once more and made sure to purge all of their sins so they would be able to enter the afterlife."

The griffon closed her eyes, looking down. "I never admitted it to anyone, never even to myself, but... I felt so guilty for what happened. I was powerless, it was out of my control, and yet... I felt like I could have done something, somehow, that I didn't do, or forgot to try, even though I did everything I could, but I refused to accept it. And so... I silently promised myself that I was going to spend the rest of my life out here in this forest, in this canyon, protecting others like us as atonement for being unable to save my family..." she explained.

Adia sighed. "... But... After seeing all the improvements here, and upon realizing that maybe we all really can make it out of here, after all... I started to second guess that... I finally saw how much I'd really done for all these different people for so long... How I changed their lives... How... If I did nothing, didn't offer them help after saving them from dragon attacks, they wouldn't be alive... That guilt... Started to wash away..." she smiled, looking at Trixie. "And so, thanks to all of you... I'm going to give the modern world a chance. When all is said and done, I'll go there... I could always come back here if I decided I didn't like it, but, somehow I doubt that will be the case... So... Thank you."

Hope cuddled against Trixie's side. "You know how you had a secret, special Hearth's Warming present for me, Trixie?"

The unicorn smiled at her, nodding.

"Well... I have one for you, too..."

Trixie's ears perked, surprised. "Oh, really?"

Hope happily nodded. "Mmhm! Gilda helped me make it and everything! It's even in a secret place, because it's a secret present!" She grabbed one of Trixie's forelegs with both of her own. "Can I take you to go see it? Please?"

Trixie chuckled. "Sure, Hope."

The showmare was surprised to find that Hope was leading her to the cave where the camp had hidden the wagons they were building to take for their eventual escape from the canyon. Trixie had to use an illumination spell to help them see.

"Where is it?" she asked.

"It's over there," Hope said, pointing a forehoof towards Trixie's traveling show wagon near the back.

As they got closer, Trixie was surprised once she immediately noticed what Hope was talking about.

The purple sign with Trixie's cutie mark hanging off of the brass pole in the front now had yellow and blue stars painted on beside it.

"Now it's just like your cape!" Hope chimed.

"... That's so wonderful, Hope," Trixie said, deeply touched by the gift.

"Ooh! Check inside, too!"

They walked in, Trixie's horn still lighting the way, and found that she had some new additional background decorations as well, intended for use whenever the wagon would unfold to function as a stage. The blue planet prop now had three large yellow stars above it, supported by springs, and the other purple sign with Trixie's cutie mark directly below it was now adorned with yellow and blue stars as well.

"This is so nice... Thank you so much for doing this..." Trixie trailed off, overwhelmed by how heartwarming the new additions were to her.

As they got outside of the wagon and started to walk away, Hope called out, "Wait! You forgot one!"

Trixie turned back to face her. "Huh?"

"Look here," Hope instructed, pointing her forehoof at the two wooden doors on the wagon's side that could function as a window.

Trixie walked closer to inspect it, and found that both wooden doors had a purple heart painted onto them.

Hope hugged her again. "It's meant to show how much we care about each other... How much we always have... Because we love each other, like we're sisters..." She looked up at her hero joyously. "Now, no matter where we are, we'll always be together, just like your hat and cape... Do you like it?"

"I love it!" Trixie exclaimed. She hugged Hope back, pulling her close to her.

The filly giggled. "Good... All I want is to make you as happy as you make me..."

"You do, Hope," Trixie said. "You do..."

Suddenly, she remembered something. "Hey... I was just talking with Adia earlier... Guess what she told me?"

"What?"

"We're going to have all these wagons up and running not too long from now... Do you know when we'll get to go?"

"No... When?..."

"On your birthday!"

Hope exclaimed. "Oh, that's wonderful!"

Trixie nodded. "I know! And when we do... I'll take you to the carnival in Hoofington right away. After we're done with that, we'll start our traveling shows together... And then one day, in a few years, we'll greet Princess Luna when she comes back... Okay?"

Hope was jumping for joy. "All right!!!"

The unicorn was barely able to contain her own glee.

She used to feel sad on Hearth's Warming Eve, remembering only the death of her father. Gilda had noticed, and told her that he would be proud of her if he could see her now. But this Hearth's Warming Eve was completely different. It was full of joy and peace, the way it was supposed to be.

Trixie couldn't wait to see the look on Hope's face when she gave her the lachrylus for her birthday.

It was going to be perfect. Next Chapter: 10. Happy Birthday Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 52 Minutes