Gold-tinted lenses.

Imported Gryphonian fur lining.

A patented no-stretch black leather strap.

Rainbow Dash’s tail swayed back and forth in excitement as she stared through the shop window at the greatest flight goggles ever designed: the Wonderbolt 260. She’d been waiting months for this day—the day she’d finally get her hooves on the very goggles that Spitfire, Captain of the world-famous Wonderbolts, had designed for her flight team. Today was the day they released to the public, and Rainbow Dash wasn’t going to waste a single moment before they were hers. Her hoofprints were tracked in the snow all over the sill; the window was shrouded and blurred from the dozens of times she’d wiped the fog from her breath away, and still Rainbow couldn’t help but stare at the aviator goggles with utter rapture.

A shiver ran down her spine. She could already see herself bolting through the skies with those bad boys wrapped snugly around her face, performing dazzling tricks and daring stunts with the rest of the Wonderbolts in a sold-out super-stadium. Oh, how crowds would cheer for her, calling her name as she tore the sky to pieces with the Buccaneer Blaze before lighting it up with her fantastic Filly Flash. And it was almost time. Dash glanced at the enormous clocktower overlooking town square and fixed her scarf. Just two minutes left before the shop opened. She could do this!

“Rainbow Dash!” An excited shout boomed from across the street.

Rainbow blinked and turned around, smiling out of sheer habit at the sound of her best friend’s cheerful tone. The pink mare was bounding toward her in bright blue boots, kicking up a fresh snowstorm behind her with a wild grin plastered on her face. A small mountain of presents teetered dangerously on her back, wrapped in a light blue glow as an alabaster unicorn gave chase through the throngs of ponies wandering around town.

“Pinkie Pie!” the unicorn said between gasps, sending a fresh wave of magic at the top part of the pile—which was nearly level with the shop’s roof—and preventing a large box wrapped in cartoon snowpony covered paper from toppling to the ground. “Be more careful!” The ball of her red Hearth’s Warming hat hung limply next to her face, and she blew it out of the way as she bent over to catch her breath.

“You should really stop breathing so heavily, Rarity,” Pinkie chided with a happy bounce of her tail. “All that huffing and puffing might knock over our presents!”

“Luna forbid . . .”

A chuckle escaped from Rainbow as Pinkie agreed vehemently, nodding hard enough to send a fresh shockwave up the precariously piled gifts. “You guys heading down to Twilight’s place?”

“Yep!” Pinkie cheered, eyes squeezed shut with excitement. “Gotta get these babies to the gift table before the big party starts!” She punctuated her sentence with a joyous bounce into the air, sending the packages on her back skyward, where they tumbled back down and landed in a rapid succession of thunks as perfectly as if they’d never moved at all.

Rarity stared at the stack, open-mouthed, for a long moment before shifting her gaze to Rainbow. “You are coming tonight, aren’t you, Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh yeah!” Rainbow said, waving a hoof nonchalantly. She shifted her weight and brushed her bangs out of her eyes as Rarity’s tired breathing eased back into a gentle smile. “I already dropped off most of my presents at Twilight’s the other day, but I still gotta drop these books off.” She swung her hoof over her shoulder, indicating the heavy canvas saddlebags hanging on her back.

“Great!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be almost vibrating with delight. “This is going to be the greatest Hearth’s Warming party ever!”

Rainbow shook her head at Pinkie, even as another chuckle tickled at her throat. “Yeah,” she said with a smirk, watching Rarity readjust Pinkie’s stack of presents with her magic again. She let her thoughts drift to the only present she hadn’t brought to Twilight’s yet. It wasn’t ready, so it was sitting in her room at home, waiting to be boxed up and wrapped, but the very thought of giving it away made her mouth as dry as cotton. “It’ll be pretty cool.”

Pinkie grinned. “So what are you up to anyway?”

Aiming a hoof at the window, Rainbow pointed out the goggles on the stand. It was all she could do not to bounce in place. “I’m buying that!” she said, wings fluttering madly. “The Wonderbolt two-sixty sky mask!”

“Flight goggles?” Rarity tittered. “That’s what’s got you so excited?”

“Not just any flight goggles!” Rainbow said drawing herself up in a huff. How could Rarity—who made dresses and hats and other fancy schmancy stuff—just blow off something as awesome as this? Her tail snapped to the side indignantly. “They’re the Wonderbolt—”

“Two-sixties,” Rarity finished with a giggle. “I’ve heard. But are you sure you want to buy them today? You never know what you might get for Hearth’s Warming.”

“They’re awesome!” Dash said firmly. “They’ve got all kinds of sweet tech! Night vision, air current readers, an internal compass, an FM radio—”

“Look out!” somepony hollered.

There was a blur of blue and brown, and a mailpony stormed by at full speed, a look of desperation etched onto his face as he pulled a large cart absolutely overflowing with brown packages. One of the wheels jumped the curb as he raced by and bumped into Pinkie Pie, spinning her around in place. She shrieked with delight as she slid into the store window, and the stack of gifts swung almost sideways before it was wrapped in another field of bright blue magic.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” Dash roared, watching the wagon tear down the sidewalk at full tilt. Several more ponies dove out of the way before the driver suddenly jerked to the side and rounded the corner. Rainbow growled and turned back to Pinkie, who Rarity was helping up.

“Darling, are you alright?”

“Super duper!” Pinkie laughed, her face split by an enormous grin. “Can we do that again?”

“What a jerk!” Rainbow snapped, still glaring daggers down the street.

“Aww, he didn’t mean it, Dashie!” Pinkie giggled, turning around and staring into the window without a second’s hesitation. “He’s probably just got all kinds of presents to deliver!”

“He could hurt somepony!”

Pinkie just stared into the window. “Woooooooow . . .” she whistled.

Rainbow groaned and shook her head. I’m gonna regret this . . . “Wow what?”

“These goggles are really expensive!” Pinkie answered, wide-eyed. “Are you sure you can afford them?”

“Hey!” Rainbow protested, wings flaring out. Of course they were expensive. Of course she knew they were expensive—they were designed by Spitfire, for crying out loud! She fixed Pinkie with a stern look. “What are you trying to say, huh?”

Rarity concurred with a nod. “Darling, that’s a rather rude question, don’t you think?”

Pinkie’s lip pushed out in a pout.“I just wanna make sure you still have money for everypony else on your Hearth’s Warming list!”

“I already said I took care of all my presents for this year, Pinkie!”

“You sure?” Pinkie said, rounding on Rainbow, her face unusually austere. The action caused her stack of presents to once again sway, and a wide-eyed Rarity lept to the side, throwing up a fresh burst of magic in an effort to balance it out.

“Uh, yeah!” Dash answered, her nostrils starting to flare. She shot Rarity a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure I got all my friends presents for Hearth’s Warming.”

Pinkie Pie paused, giving Rainbow a long, steady look that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Finally, after several moments during which Rainbow swore she could hear her own heart beating over the sounds of ponies rushing through town square, Pinkie nodded satisfactorily. “Okie dokie lokie,” she said, “But remember, your present tells your friend how much you care about them. It’s absolutely, super-duper ultra important!”

Rainbow couldn’t help but giggle at the stony face Pinkie was giving her. “I know, I know,” she said holding a hoof up placatingly and offering Pinkie a smile. “Trust me, all my friends are getting killer gifts this year.”

Pinkie nodded. “Good!”

“Besides,” Rainbow said with a sigh. “I’ve needed new goggles for a long time, now. The strap on my old pair snapped after I flew in the opening for the Royal Garden in Canterlot.”

Rarity nodded. “I remember, darling,” she said sympathetically. “I’m surprised they lasted as long as they did—it looked like there was more tape than strapping holding them together.”

“Yeah, I know . . .” Rainbow shrugged. It had sucked, but there really wasn’t anything else she could do to fix them. Throwing them away had been hard, but at least she could replace them with something totally awesome now. “I had ‘em for years. They were my very first pair, actually. I guess I lucked out that it didn’t happen mid-flight.”

Just then, a bell tinkled, and the door to the shop opened up. Rainbow’s heart skipped a beat as the grinning head of a light blue stallion with a fiery orange goatee appeared from the other side.

Was it finally time?

“Yo, Dash,” he said, adjusting his sunglasses with a hoof. “We’re open now.”

It was!

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash cheered, spinning into the air with a shriek of delight. After three months of waiting, it was finally time to get her new goggles! “Gotta go, guys!” she said quickly, darting passed Rarity, who found herself spinning around like a top. Dash wrenched the door the rest of the way open and jumped around the shop owner. “See ya tonight!” she tossed over her shoulder. As she started for the window display, just beyond the racks of snowboards and other athletic apparel, the door slammed shut with a violent CRASH!

Rainbow winced. That didn’t sound good . . .

“Uh, Dash?” the shopkeep said uneasily.

Rainbow nodded and turned around with a gulp. Reaching a hoof back onto the doorknob, she poked her head back out into the biting cold.

The ground was littered with multicolored packages of various shapes and sizes. Ribbons and wrapping paper were everywhere and, out of the largest pile of them, Rarity was glowering at her unblinkingly. “Rainbow Dash . . .” she said through gritted teeth as Pinkie’s giggling head popped out of the pile.

Dash chuckled sheepishly and closed the door a bit more to escape Rarity’s fiery gaze. “Heh, sorry?