Authors Disclaimer: This doesn't actually affect the plot in any way. You could place this at any point in the story, really. This is just something festive I did for the sake of it. I hope you enjoy!

Ponies trotted through the streets of Canterlot, the majority of them last minute shopping. Ponies who had forgotten or had lacked the time to buy gifts for friends and family were doing so now.

They were a source of amusement for Nightshadow.

'You'd think if they just got their gifts on time like the other eighty percent than they wouldn't have to stress so much.' He chuckled as he extended his wings and took off.

Nightshadow had never celebrated hearths warming before, but this year was a special occasion. This year he had more than one pony to care about. His horn glowed, while nopony else could see it. He pictured the spot in his mind. The same spot he always chose when visiting them.

He appeared along the edge of a forest and waited.

A dog like creature emerged. It stumbled around for a bit, obviously not used to being above ground, and than bowed before Nightshadow.

"Master." It said, eyes never leaving the ground.

"Rise." It did as he commanded. "How has your tribe fared in my absence, courier?"

"Well, sir. The other tribes have given us no trouble since you were last here."

Nightshadow smiled.

A long time ago Nightshadow and his sister had stumbled upon a group of Diamond dogs acting slightly more intelligently than normal ones. They were, ironically, living in a group of warring tribes among a series of tunnels. When they saw him, they at first feared him. He took pity on the creatures, using his magic to increase their intelligence further, as well as scaring the other tribes into neutrality. They quickly gained dominance, and now led peaceful lives in the tunnels. In return for what he has done, the creatures all gave themselves to Nightshadow in servitude. Once a year he would come to this spot. If there were any fires that they couldn't put out, he did. He had made a special request this time however.

"We found an amethyst matching his master's specifications, and fashioned it into a gem worthy of being a part of the royal crown. We also found the sapphire you requested as well, and as ordered have left it untouched." The courier presented a small box. Nightshadow levitated the box out of the creatures paws and into a bag, which he than teleported to a safe location, giving the courier a warm smile.

"Tell your people that I am most pleased. Thank you, young one." The courier bowed than scampered off into the forest.

Shadow already had his sister's present. It was a book, "Pranks involving ancient magics". He had... appropriated it from the forbidden library in Canterlot Castle. If anything that alone would bring a smile to her face.

He was still closer to Canterlot than he was to Ponyville, so he decided that this would be his second stop. He pictured exactly where he wanted to go, and in a flash of magic he was gone.

Shadow reappeared right where he wanted to be, in the middle of Canterlot castle. He quickly cast his invisibility, than slowly made his way through the halls.They were decorated with wreaths and magical lights and all of those other festive decorations. Nightshadow paid them no mind as he trotted leisurely towards his destination.

And there he was. Nightshadow looked at the two bat-winged guards flanking the door. He chuckled as he undid the invisibility spell. Both guards gasped and raised their weapons, only to realize who it was and stand down. He gave them both a curt nod, which they returned in kind.

He entered Luna's chambers. She was away at the moment, likely spending time with her sister. He summoned the box from his hiding place. He carefully opened it and levitated the first gem out. It was a large, uncut sapphire. He specifically requested that the one they find be as naturally flat as possible. The gem had small depressions, which made it appear to have craters. Like the moon. He willed another object into existence, a red box with a blue festive tie. He carefully placed the gem inside the box and wrapped the box up with the tie, leaving the present on the moon Princess' dresser.  He found a small paper and parchment and wrote a short message.

Begin Note:

I figured this was something you would appreciate.

Be safe Moon Princess.

From- Another Friend of the Night

End Note

"Okay. Two more to go." Ponyville was his next destination. He concentrated on his usual spot, the single white cloud in the sky at this time of year, where as most of the overcast clouds had become a dull grey.

Nightshadow entered existence once again, this time with a loud poof. He had to expend slightly more energy, but he was more than capable of teleporting farther. He was high above the sky, on his sister's cloud. He smiled, his sister was slumped over on the cloud, snoring loudly. Alicorns don't need to sleep, when they do it is more for the experience of dreaming than physiological requirement. Still, it would give Shadow the opportunity he needed.

He willed his sister's present next to him, as well as wrapping paper and another blue tie. He carefully wrapped it, just like the sapphire, and left it on the cloud. That was where Nightshade would probably find it anyway.

'One last stop...'

Morning.

Luna came back to her chambers later that night, having already lowered the moon for her sister, she was ready for a good 'days' sleep.

She was greeted with the sight of a colorfully wrapped gift.

"Guards?" The two ponies near the door stiffened. "Did anypony stop by earlier today?" She had been working towards getting rid of her 'accent', and had done a good job of it tonight.

"No, your Highness." She could tell just by the way he spoke that they were lying.

She levitated the box over to her, and unwrapped the gift carefully from a distance. Satisfied it wasn't some sort of assassination device, she observed the sapphire before reading the attached note.

Smiling, Luna moved to her desk and began to write a letter...

Nightshade awoke on the cloud with a loud yawn. She took in a deep breath and shouted:

"GOOOOOD MORNING EQUESTRIA!" She unfurled her wings and was about to take off to find Shadow when she bumped into something.

It was a strange square wrapped in colorful paper. She remembered one Hearth's warming where she saw a group of young colts and filly ripping the paper open, discovering presents inside.

Nightshade squeed and levitated the square towards her face to get a better look at it. There was a short note attached that said. "Courtesy of Nightshadow and the Royal Library." Nightshade unwrapped the present and smiled.

"You stole this, didn't you Nightshadow?" She giggled and left the book on the cloud, taking off to find her brother.

Twilight Sparkle awoke on Hearth’s Warming day to a surprise, Spike shaking her.

She slept in for a very good reason, even last night on hearths warming eve she had been studying feverously. And now her assistant was waking her up after what was probably three hours of sleep.

“Spike…” She said, still groggy “…you better have a good reason for waking me up so early...”

Spike sighed at his “sister’s” demeanor. “Someone dropped something off a while ago.” He picked up a small brown box with a roll of parchment tied to it. “They said not to read the note, that it was for you.”

Twilight blinked a few times, now completely awake. “Who dropped it off, Spike?”

Spike shrugged. “I dunno. They didn’t say.” He made his way down the stairs and prepared breakfast for the two of them. Twilight unstrung the paper from the box and unrolled it.

Begin Note:

“From somepony who wishes they could give it to you in person.”

End Note.

Twilight eyed the box curiously, slowly opening it with her magic. She dumped the contents out onto her bed and gasped.

It was a beautiful gem, an amethyst cut in the shape of a star. It had five pony figures etched into the ends of the ‘star’.  Twilight picked it up in her magic to get a closer look at it and immediately dropped it.

When she had levitated it, the shapes engraved on it had … moved.

She tried levitating it again, and sure enough the shapes moved once more. Each one did something different. One seemed to be bouncing up and down. Another was hovering in the air, flapping “wings” as if to keep it adrift. Another was floating too, but also doing flips and other tricks. One seemed to be… aware of its prison. It almost seemed to inspect the amethyst it was carved upon. The last one was playing with what appeared to be a string.

She levitated the gem closer. As she did she could see words, barely legible, scribed in the middle of the creation.

“To always remind you of your friends and to give you the gift of a challenge.”

She smiled, knowing exactly what the message meant. It was a magical marvel. So many different objects doing so many different things at once, animated from her own magic. She would be studying this for a while…

Nightshadow sat atop his cloud, watching the residents scurry below. It was a beautiful day, and if anything the snow just made it better.

He heard a small poof and looked above him to see a small piece of paper floating down towards him. He seized it telekineticly and brought it closer to read it.

Begin note:

"Thou doesn't haft to be so discreet, Nightshadow."

Merry Hearths warming.

End note:

Nightshadow smiled, setting the note aside. Another poof was heard, this time from behind him. He looked over to see his sister slowly phasing into existence.

"Good morning Shadow!" She smiled warmly.

"Good morning Shade. Did you sleep well?"

She nodded and levitated a small, rolled up parchment to him. "For you!" She said excitedly.

Nightshadow chuckled. He grabbed the paper and began to unroll it.

It was a picture, something Nightshadow had not expected. It showed a depiction of Luna raising the moon. When he squinted at it, the picture suddenly changed to Celestia raising the sun.

"It's quite beautiful Shade."

She giggled again. "Watch this!" Her horn glowed and she zapped the paper with energy. The picture changed again, but this time it was a different depiction entirely. It showed two black alicorns on either side, flanking the moon, playing their own little tug of war with it. Symbolic with their cutie marks, one had the left half of the moon, the other the right.

Nightshadow smiled. "Thank you sister, it really is quite nice."

"Oh it's the least I could do." She gave him a knowing smile."So what are we doing today, Shadow?"

"I was going to do the same thing I do every day."

She frowned for a moment, than looked around her.

"Yknow.... It is a nice day for sightseeing." She formed a cloud next to her brother and mimicked his position on it. Too bad, she had an awesome plan for the mayor earlier, which  enough oddly she couldn't remember now. It had something to do with piranhas. Maybe if they saw her she'd just chuck a piranha at her for the sake of it?

From Canterlot, Celestia watched Ponyville. Specifically, she watched two certain ponies.

"Everypony deserves some respite this year..." she thought aloud. "Even you..."

They thought she wanted revenge.

They were wrong.

Celestia looked to a small glowing orb, unsure of what she would see.

She used to do this every year, she would look into the future to see what grand events would occur that year. These visions used to be filled with wonder, with peace, with harmony.

She cast the spell, all too certain of what she would see.

And that is what she saw.

"Darkness... neither sun nor moon... darkness...

This... probably isn't the best thing I've made, but I decided to do something festive, so here it is!