Hearth's Warming Party~

Night got up to pour herself a glass. She went with the non alcoholic, she didn't want to ruin Icarus's party by being an ass.

Taking a sip before returning to the fire she grinned at Icurus. "You did a lovely job."

Shala waved away at Iccy. "Its good enough. A bit light for my tastes." She shrugged and glanced an eye at Intel. She felt the need to draw his attention, but not here in public. There was too much exposure here.

Indigo stole a glance at Night. He couldn't get over the ridiculousness of Night's getup and hair.

"I think I could sip on this all night and not get too drunk. You did good, Icarus."

Intel glanced at Shala quickly, then repeated the action to confirm what he saw. He didn't want to be caught staring at her so he walked over to the non-alcoholic punch and poured himself a glass. And sipped. It was good, the other ponies weren't just being polite.

"So remind me, who are the ponies invited to this little event?"

He looked around the room at the other ponies, lingering on one a little more than the others. A wish of actually trying to look decent for the evening sprung at the back of his mind, but he was already running late for that.

Night saw Indigo Glance at her and grinned. Stroking back her Mohawk so that the spikes bounced back into place she asked. "To you like it? Its only temporary, it will was out In a few days."

Taking another sip of her Punch She turned to Shala. "How have you been feeling dear?"

Night would find Shala glancing at Intel a bit before being startled. "Oh. I'm doing rather...dreamy."

She had no idea what in all of ponyville had led her to use that word. She blushed and recovered from her moment of silence. "...Since the spa i mean. It was very...relaxing."

This is going to be a hard party.

Indigo grinned.

"Oh yeah, it's really festive. You may as well be the tree."

"I'm Glad It stuck with you, feel free to come back anytime!" She did nothing more then raise an eyebrow at Shala's slip.

Sipping her punch She grinned and raised her front legs, showing the full glory of her Hearths warming sweater. It was decorated with trees and candy canes, and far to much glitter.

"Growing up I was only aloud unisex clothing. Now as an adult I can be as flamboyant as I want!"

Icarus shuffled his hooves. "T-The only p-pony not h-here is M-Minty..." He explained, Glancing at the door with a sigh. "A-And I'm n-not even s-sure she's c-coming..."

Indigo laughed at her overt festiveness.

"Oh that is just too gaudy! Ha!"

He motioned to his mane and flicked his equally tangled tail.

"Would you believe all this was once cut prim and proper?"

"No." Shala said very bluntly. More blunt than usual. She sipped her punch but found it was empty. Reflexes took over and she got up to claim more of the elixer.

She was half way there when she realized Intel was still next to the punch table. Her route veered for a moment, as if to go somewhere else, but who was to defy her want of alcohol?

Slowly she approached the table and looked to Intel after avoiding eye contact for so long. "Umm...Hi..."

Moments later she remembered why she was here and quickly started to fill her cup.

Laughing Night shrugged. "Its only for once a year. Its fun not being a formal."

She raised her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side. "I would have to see your mane tamed before I believe that sir!"

Intel smiled weakly at Shala. "Hello."

Why did he feel awkward now? Is it because she took the the time to look classy for this occasion? Is it because of the occasion itself? Random fluctuations in the ambience of the room?

No, it was probably the rather horrible 'date' they had after that snowball fight. Goddesses, that was a disaster. In retrospect, having a date when being utterly exhausted from a snowball fight was not a great idea. The fact that his wallet didn't get as punished as much as the first date did little to help his wounded pride, which was already close to death.

"So...how do Hearth's Warming usually go for you?"

Indigo grinned.

"Unbelievable, isn't it? My mane actually doesn't get that curly... until it hits a certain length. I figured that out when I decided to stop getting it cut. Really made my dad mad."

Icarus Switched the Record, Turning onto a new set put out by that Popular DJ, And sat down by the stove, sighing softly as he watched everyone (as in, 4 ponies not counting himself,) Mingle.

Shala shrugged uncomfortably. She also was getting that awkward feeling. The dates were one thing, but here it was all too public. Shala liked keeping things this personal to herself. It was her inner softer shell she kept hidden away. Or as Night would put it, whats under the 'makeup'.

"I...Didn't really celebrate it before. I honestly...uhh...Didn't even know about it until Iccy told me at the tavern." She looked away a bit, fully expecting to get a fair bit of trouble for that.

"You managed to avoid the constant bombardment of tacky commercialism and absolutely horrible renditions of old Hearth's Warming folk song being hollered out of tune down every main street?" Intel asked in surprise. He took a sip of punch. "You're far too lucky."

He considered the traditions of family closeness and goodwill towards everypony, but somehow he didn't think that would exactly mesh with Shala.

His ears perked up at the sound of the new track. "Hey, that's one of the songs from that mare, whatsherface. Um..."

Minty squeaks, knocking gently on the door. " You're so stupid, Minty. Always late..." she muttered under her breath.

Night Flare gave Indigo a looking over. "I can't even fathom a guess on how much straightener it would take to get a mane like that to lay flat." Night Flare laughed before emptying her punch glass. She looked at the punch table and say Shala and Intel there. She could wait to get a refill.

Her ears flicked as she heard the knock on the door. "Ah Icurus, maybe that's your Minty now!"

Icarus blushed, rushing to the Door and opening it. "H-Hey t-there, u-um, M-Minty..." He said, bright red.

Indigo spoke while Night glanced over the punch table.

"It'd probably be best to just cut it all out. It's so tangled, using a brush on it would count as assault."

He turned his head toward the door.

"Minty's here?"

"Well from a stylist point of view it might be best to cut it down to a point that you can manage. Dreads like that are a haven for all sorts of nasty things." Putting on her best sales pony grin she fluttered her eyes at him.

"We just so happen to offer that service at the spa~" At the mention of minty Night turned to see who this new pony was, not having met her previously.

Shala shrugged, not really sure what the holiday was really like. But she did like that music.

"DJ P0n3? She has actually visited the tavern before. A very colorful fun mare. Sort of on the lightweight side though."

Shala was happy for a distracting train of thought.

"Really?" Intel mused, interested.

This train of thought was interrupted by the new arrival. "Hey," Intel said to Shala, "Is that Icarus' date?"

Indigo turned his head back from the door and to his drink after seeing Minty. He decided to let Icarus handle the shy mare till she made it inside the building proper.

"At the spa, huh? I haven't had a haircut in so long I don't know what style I'd even want, or if I'd be able to direct you at all."

Another sip and a chuckle.

"Heh, if I had dreads I'd get dread rot sooner than anypony. Those are too high maintenance will all the oil and soaking... I wash it all the time and the only things that are in it are braids that Shala made drunkenly the first night at the tavern. I'm still finding the things."