Twilight Sparkle stirred in her sleep, snuggled into her husband's side and sighed in contentment. She blinked dreamily; it was a wonderful Hearthswarming Eve night.  The Hearthwarming Tree was glowing with fairy lights down in the den; presents were piled under the tree, the stockings were hung by the chimney with care-- and for once nopony had stressed over the rationale of ponies wearing stockings OR hanging them beside a fireplace inside a giant tree; fat flakes of snow floated down in the moonlight outside the window; two eager turquoise eyes glowed at the foot of the bed...

Twilight came a little more awake. Blinking blearily she re-assessed her previous impression. Yup; two glowing turqoise eyes. Belonging to one little alicorn filly who almost disappeared entirely in the dark. "Hey Mom," Nyx whispered. "Is it Hearthwarming yet?"

Twilight groaned inside. She'd been warned...

This, by Twilight's own reckoning, was Nyx's first "real" Hearthwarming. Nyx's first year, Equestria had still been recuperating from Nightmare Nyx, and they had still been estranged from Twilight's family. So the Hearthwarming celebration had been rather... subdued; just the three of them (five counting Peewee and Owlowiscious), a single small gift each and a little quiet time all together.

But this time, Hearthwarming came around again, and blew Nyx's little socks right off. The decorations. The goodies. The presents! For the first time she'd gotten a good idea why the other foals got so excited about the holiday.

This year  they were having the first real, classic, whole-family blowout. The whole family was together at Friendship Castle; Grandma Velvet, Grandpa Night Light, Uncle Shining Armor, Aunt Cadence-- and the staff, too; the family guards Sundiver and Lightning Blitz, the Quartet,  even Bright Eyes and Roller Reel... the moment they'd arrived Grandma and Grandpa Sparkle had brought out the big guns. Between them and the Quartet, they had turned Friendship Castle into a holiday wonderland. The table in the dining room was going to be groaning under a holiday feast--- it was already in structural peril just from the cookies, cakes, pies, and other baked treats that had already been procured. There wasn't so much presents under the tree as there was a tree perched on a small mountain of presents (sneaked there shortly after a certain little filly went to bed.) Night Light ( with the aid of Sundiver and Lightning Blitz) had hollied, candy caned, garlanded and fairy-lighted the castle to a fare-thee-well; he had even managed to string a few thousand miles of fairy lights through the branches of the giant castle tree itself before Twilight could stop him. It was a good thing Twilight was a princess; the electric bill was going to look like the GDP of Zebrabwe.

And of course her dear parents and brother and sister-in-law had spent the entire week getting Nyx more wound up than a thirty-day clock. Twilight was going to get them all for that.

"Well? Is it Hearth Warming yet, Mom?" Nyx whispered eagerly.

Twilight squinted at the clock ticking away on the nightstand. "It's barely 2:30, Nyx," she said.

"That's technically tomorrow--" Nyx argued.

"Nyyyyyx," Twilight pleaded. She sighed and rubbed her head, thinking. "It's still too early. Santa still has to make all his deliveries yet, remember?"

"Oh." Nyx pooched out her lip, but accepted the rationale. "...can I go check?"

"Um, no, you... don't want to scare him off, do you?"

"Scare him off?" Nyx scrunched up her nose at that.

"Yes, he's... very shy. Hates being a celebrity, ponies asking for his autograph and things... so. If you let him work in peace and quiet, the better it is! Okay, back to bed." Grumbling, Nyx retreated. Twilight listened to the clip-clop of her little hooves as she trotted back to her room.

It was one hour later to the minute. The eyes had returned. "Mom?" The whisper was a little anxious.

"It's still too early, Nyx," Twilight groaned.

"But--" Nyx hesitated. Twilight could almost hear her gnawing her lip. "Are you sure Santa's going to come? I mean the other foals said he only comes for good little colts and fillies and..."

Twilight smiled wearily. Poor filly; her past was going to give her a complex. "Yes, Nyx," she said patiently. "He'll come. And yes, you have been a very good filly this year."

"But what if he misses our house?" Nyx fretted. "I mean everything in town has changed and the aerial topography Rainbow Dash showed me is totally different now and--"

"If Santa misses THIS house," Twilight grunted, "he's blind as a bat. Thanks to your grandfather we're visible at night clear to Canterlot."

"Oh, that's good," Nyx said, relieved. "But... can I go down and just take a peek to see if...?"

"No, Nyx! Now back to bed," Twilight said firmly. Groaning, Nyx complied.

Twilight let out a whoof of air and flopped back on the pillows. Ink Spot opened one eye a slit. "You get to tell the truth about Santa to her," he mumbled. "I saw Nightmare Night and I'm not touching it."

"Oh go back to sleep," Twilight muttered.

And yet another hour passed. And yet again, the filly reappeared. "Mom--"

"Nyx." Twilight drew out the word. "Noooooooooo."

"But it's been hours and hours and hours!" Nyx lamented. "It's driving me bonkers!"

"It would go faster if you lay down and went to sleep," Twilight promised desperately.

"But--"

"No more, Nyx," Twilight said, pointing to the bedroom door. "We are not getting up until sunrise, at the EARLIEST. And that's my final word!"

"Awww..." Head hanging, the alicorn filly sulked her way out of the room.

"Not till sunrise. Got it?"

"Got it," Nyx muttered rebelliously in the doorway.

Sighing in relief, Twilight lay back down. She listened to her daugher clip clop her way back down the hall to her own bed.

"Aww, man," she heard Nyx say faintly. "This night is gonna last FOREVER!"

Twilight laughed so hard she woke Ink Spot shaking the bed.