"Gifts?" Nightmare Moon asked. "Ponies exchange gifts on Hearth's Warming? I thought it was about the bonding of the kingdoms and stopping the windigoes or something."

"It is," Chocolate Cherry said, "but somewhere along the way, ponies started exchanging gifts to express how much they mean to each other."

"Really?" Nightmare said, looking at Cherry. "Then I should get you something." She paused, thinking. "Do... you have any suggestions?"

"Oh, Nightie," Cherry replied with a grin, "anything you pick out for me will be fine because it's from you." She then kissed Nightmare Moon on the cheek.

Nightmare Moon had not accepted that however. As far as she was concerned, any gift she gave would have to be absolutely perfect. Something that was on the scale of the likes of her getting for another. Something so impressive that no pony could ever top it.

Okay, maybe not that last part. After all, if it was something that nopony could top, that would include her. Still, it would have to be something wonderful and incredible. Something she knew that Chocolate Cherry would love. Especially since Cherry would be getting Nightmare something incredible.

So Nightmare had spent the days -- weeks even -- trying to figure out the best gift for Chocolate Cherry. She had also spent some time picking up gifts for Twilight Sparkle and her little dragon. But those two were more than easy.

After much thought, consideration and searching, Nightmare Moon had finally found what she thought would be perfect for her friend: an autographed first release of DJ Pon-3's debut album Wubbin' Your Flank. In the afternoon, the two of them would meet up and exchange gifts. Chocolate Cherry even talked about the two of them having a snowball fight. Something the other mare had been teasing Nightmare about since the first time they saw some foals having one.

"What are they doing?" Nightmare asked as they saw a group of foals hiding behind a wall of snow, popping out to throw balls of the material at another group not far away.

"They're just having a snowball fight," Cherry answered.

"And they are using practically no strategy in the matter. Just look at them." Nightmare motioned at the playing young ponies with her wing. "Both sides are playing from a purely defensive position, with pretty much no fortifications I might add. There's no strategy or planning. Merely to throw the projectiles at their opponents before retreating for cover. Plus, neither side seems to be taking advantage of either their individual or race related talents of skills, to say nothing of doing so for maximum effectiveness. These are not effective combat tactics."

"They're just foals having some fun," Cherry stated.

"Victory is fun," Nightmare declared. "Defeating your opponents through a cunning master strategy. Especially one that shows themselves to be a challenge. One that is a worthy adversary with skilled plans of their own. GAH!

The rest of her statement came to an abrupt end as something cold and wet hit the side of her face. The sound of laughter filled her ears.

"You mean like a sneak attack while your opponent is distracted?" Cherry asked, still giggling.

Nightmare glared down at Chocolate Cherry before breaking into a chuckle herself.

"Indeed," Nightmare conceded, "and a well played maneuver Cherry." Her eyes narrowed as her grin widened. "One that merits retaliation."

"Well if you want to have a proper snowball fight, just let me know," Cherry retorted. "I may not be a master strategist, but I bet I can hold my own."

"We shall see, but another time."

That would be in the afternoon however. This morning she would be stuck spending it with Twilight Sparkle and Spike. The three of them would have breakfast, then exchange gifts. Then after enjoying one of the best things Nightmare discovered about winter -- a hot beverage made of milk mixed with melted chocolate and having marshmallows covering the top -- Twilight and Spike would head off to the train station to go to Canterlot.

The breakfast was surprisingly basic. Just oatmeal with some choices of fruit to add to it.

"Normally families have a really big meal later in the day," Spike explained. "Kind of like a late lunch early dinner type of thing with the whole family. So it's kind of a bad idea to have too big or heavy a breakfast. Some even skip it altogether."

The explanation brought a pause to Nightmare Moon. Neither she nor Chocolate Cherry had said anything about a large meal later in the day. Was it to be a surprise on Cherry's end? Now that she thought about it, Cherry had never said why she was not going to be with her family for Hearth's Warming. And Nightmare had never thought to ask. Caramel was spending the afternoon part with The Apple Family ("They invited me when I was working to help out the first time," he explained. "Pretty sure they invite any pony they know who doesn't have a family to spend it with."), so it would just be Nightmare and Cherry. In their time together, neither of them had really done much cooking.

The thought was put aside for the time being. It would be something that could be dealt with later, and pondering on the matter would do no good. She could discuss it with Cherry when the two of them were together.

After breakfast and the dishes, came the exchanging of gifts. Twilight went first with giving Spike something called a "harmonica." This particular one was supposed to be made of heat resistant materials and enchanted so it would be unaffected by his flames. He even gave it a couple of puffs to try it out.

Then he gave his gift to Nightmare Moon. It was a book of the complete fictional works well-known horror and science fiction author, H.P Lorecrafter. It was still odd to Nightmare that there were times when ponies actually wanted to be scared. It turned out that some actually made a living by writing stories that were designed specifically to frighten ponies. It had been quite a shock to Nightmare when Twilight had brought one such book to the hospital for Nightmare to read while recovering.

Since then, she had been reading all sorts of horror stories. Some of them were quite interesting. She even recognized a small number of them from her time in the dream realm. Although whether it was the author having a dream that inspired the story or a pony having a nightmare because of reading the story, she could not say.

In exchange, Nightmare Moon gave Spike the gift that she had gotten for him. They were silvery colored gemstones. The pony that Nightmare had gotten them from claimed they were called "Moon Crystals." Supposedly they grew in the regions where the bat-ponies lived and had disappeared along with them, only returning when they were serving Princess Luna once again. Nightmare was skeptical of the story, but she had never seen such crystals herself before. Even if Spike had, she figured that he would be more than happy to eat or hoard them all the same.

The present Spike gave Twilight Sparkle was a published version of the letters that Twilight -- and later her friends -- had sent to Princess Celestia regarding friendship. It turned out that Spike had been working with Princess Celestia and the publisher to get the book made, filling in parts of the stories that explained why each of the letters had been written.

"Just think," Spike said excitedly. "There will now be a book out there that ponies can study to learn about friendship, and most of it will be based on your research."

"I never thought about that," Twilight said. "It does sound exciting. Ponies could be reading about me for years in the future."

"You could be like the next Starswirl The Bearded," Spike nearly shouted.

The book Nightmare gave Twilight was -- in her opinion -- nowhere near as impressive. It was merely a book on pegasus magic and some of the theories behind it. Great for a pony that wanted to study pegasus magic, or for parents of a pegasus that were not ones themselves to help teach the foal about their abilities. It was unlikely -- although not impossible -- that Twilight would need it for the second reason. Although perhaps it would help her better expand her own powers. Alicorns were supposed to have abilities similar to those from all three tribes after all.

"I actually have two gifts to give you," Twilight Sparkle said as her horn started to glow. She held a package out to Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare took a hold of the gift and began to unwrap. Inside was a book with a black cover. On the front of it was an image that looked like her eye. Opening it, she found that the first pages were a re-telling of her first appearance over a thousand years ago. Next came her return a thousands years later, and subsequent defeat by Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

"It's a journal of your life," Twilight explained. "I filled in the parts of it that I could already."

Nightmare continued to flip through, finding her return and possession of Rarity as well as the following defeat, her incarnation into a limited physical form by Twilight, and even a section that was about her performance in Nightmare Night. That one was interesting because it had actual photographs of her with it. After that, it was just blank pages.

"I figured it would be a good idea to have you tell your story," Twilight said. "Give your perspective on history, record your experiences, even share what you've learned about being mortal. You could also record what you learn on your travels."

"Travels?" Nightmare Moon asked, looking up from the book. "Am I going somewhere?"

"Only if you want," Twilight answered. "That's kind of the big present."

Straightening up, Twilight Sparkle's horn began to glow with magic. The bright rose colored aura then enveloped the collar around Nightmare Moon's neck. There was an audible click as the collar came loose, falling to the floor.

"What?" Nightmare asked, looking down between the collar and her now bare neck.

"Luna and I have been discussing it for a while now," Twilight explained. "You haven't done anything actively evil or malicious... even if you have been a bit snarky from time to time. You have a relationship with Chocolate Cherry and were protective of Sweetie Belle, so you have shown that you can and are willing to care for others. Although Nightmare Night ended pretty bad, you did spend the earlier part having fun and making it entertaining for others. And while you were in the hospital and medicated, you seemed more interested in trying to open a pancake house instead of taking over Equestria."

Nightmare's ears pulled back at that last part, but she did not say anything.

"It all seems to indicate that you are well on your way to becoming a part of pony society and not trying to take over," Twilight said. "So Luna and I agree that it's a good time to bring an end to your probation. Technically you can go and do whatever you want now. You can also stay here as long as you like. You're more than welcome. If you do decide to leave, you can always come back, and I'd appreciate it if you would keep in touch."

"'Keep in touch?'" Nightmare repeated. "You mean allow myself to keep being monitored willingly so you can be sure I'm not relapsing into my old ways."

"I wouldn't say that," Twilight said.

"I would," Spike called out.

"Look, I have considered it," Twilight admitted, "but I also figured that you more than likely would not write about doing something to usurp the throne in a letter to me."

"Not unless I was certain that you could do nothing to stop it," Nightmare added, grinning.

"Of course," Twilight mumbled before speaking up. "I know we don't exactly get along, but I do think of you as a friend, and I know you think of me as one too... even if you were only willing to admit to such while under the influence of strong medications. I care about you and want to make sure you're okay. Plus, I kind of owe being in a relationship with Big Macintosh to you."

"Somepony say my name?" a deep voice asked, getting the attention of the others in the room.

"Big Macintosh?" Twilight asked, getting up and walking toward the large red stallion. "What are you doing here?"

"Figured I'd walk ya to the train station," Big Macintosh answered.

"And everypony is okay with this?"

"Granny pretty much shoved me out the door."

"Well it's not time to go yet," Twilight stated, "and I'm in the middle of something with Nightmare Moon."

"Not really," Nightmare stated. She shut the book and stood up.

"Nightmare," Twilight started.

"No," Nightmare cut in. "I get it. You're my friend, I'm your friend, it's all overly emotional and so forth. I can stay if I want, but I'm now free to leave. There is really no more to say." She picked up the books, tucking them under one wing.

"I'm going to put these away and then take Gibbous for a walk before going to Cherry's." She turned and looked at Twilight. "Perhaps you should have Macintosh help finish the rest of the hot chocolate before the three of you leave."

"Oh?" Twilight asked as she looked at Nightmare a moment. "Uhm... okay?" She then turned to Big Macintosh. "Would you like some hot chocolate?"

"Eyup," Macintosh replied. He then followed after Twilight Sparkle to the castle's kitchen.

Nightmare watched them a moment, before turning to head for the stairs. She stopped as she found Spike suddenly in front of her.

"Pretty clever move there," he said, narrowing his eyes.

"There was nothing clever about it," Nightmare stated. "I merely didn't wish to hear one of Twilight's rambling speeches on friendship, and there was no point in letting the hot chocolate go to waste."

"Uh-huh," Spike said, shifting. "And the fact that it gave the two of them more time alone had nothing to do with it?"

"Don't you have some bags to septuple check or something?" Nightmare snapped, shifting her own gaze to glare down at the young dragon.

"Fine," Spike said as he turned to walk away. He stopped to turn back. "But I saw the tear." He then ran off.

"If you tell anypony," she shouted after him, "not only shall I deny it, but I shall find a way to send you to the moon myself!"

With a huff, Nightmare rubbed at her face, making sure that there were no signs of tears left. It was foolish to get emotional over Twilight Sparkle caring for her. The important thing was that now she was free. She was no longer confined to Ponyville or whatever limit Twilight chose to set on her. She could go where she desired when she desired with whom she desired. Nothing Twilight could do would be able to stop her now. She could even resume her quest to find artifacts to regain more of her power if she so desired. Now that she could actually go seek them, it was no longer a mere fantasy limited to research in the books that were available.

All of that, however, would have to wait. For now, Nightmare Moon had more immediate matters to attend to. Although now there was something more for her to celebrate with Chocolate Cherry: freedom. Perhaps -- if Nightmare decided to leave Ponyville shortly -- she could convince her friend to go with her.

That idea actually sounded like it would be quite fun.