Hearth's Warming Party~

Night Flare grinned, playing with her empty cup. "I can see three braids from here." She giggled.

Her face turned a bit more contemplative as she took a few steps closer. to give his mane a better inspection. "I could probably get it to be a mid length cut, It would take hours though, working out all though knots..."

Indigo rolled his eyes.

"It's almost like the damn things multiply."

He kept an eye pointed at her as she inspected his mane.

"Exactly why I think it'd be best to cut most of it off."

Minty smiled, blushing softly. "Sorry Im late, got caught up doing some things", she said.

Shala was hardly that distracted with the new arrival. She recognized her from the bar when Iccy invited her. She focused more on Intel, perhaps too much as her punch was drained in moments. Sighing, she pulled out a flask from her mane and poured some into her cup before adding more punch.

This should liven it up a bit.

Several gulps later she had to take a short breather. Something on the table caught her attention and she levitated it up in front of her.

"Hmm...Is this...Mistletoe?"

Icarus Blushed, closing the door behind Minty as he led her inside. "I-It's o-okay... u-um... W-We g-got punch, a-and, u-um, W-We're d-doing a g-gift e-exchange... I-It's o-okay i-if you d-don't w-want t-to, b-butId-didgety-yousomething..." He explained the last part really quickly, bright red.

Intel stared at it. The horrid little thing. The bane of all his HWs. He instinctively took a step back. "Oh no," he muttered, "Icarus wouldn't have...." He glanced over at the inventor talking to the mare. A devious thought came into his mind.

No! Intel, Bad! This would only cause unnecessary drama!

"I hope he wasn't trying to do anything with that," Intel said.

"It could be fun, like a challenge dear, to see how much could be saved."

Night Glanced back to the punch bowl, wondering if it had cleared yet. Seeing the little twig of berries an evil grin crossed her face. "Oh dear, I don't think little Icarus is as innocent as I thought he was." She grinned at Indigo and pointed at the mistletoe.

Indigo snickered. This was going to be good.

"Hey! You're both under the mistletoe!"

Shala enjoyed keeping to herself. And she enjoyed keeping her relationships on a need to know basis. But that look on Intel's face, the discomfort and vulnerability, was too much for Shala to ignore. She had to capitalize on it. It was moments like these with Intel that made her call him nicknames and smile so much. Her blunt honest nature beat out her want of privacy and Shala leaned in closer to Intel with her smirking half lidded gaze.

"Catch." She tossed the mistletoe at him. Before got a chance to figure out what was going on, she advanced on him. It was too late for him to protest, as she already had her lips to his, pressing him back until he resisted no more.

Intel fell for it, concentrating on catching the cursed thing, so when Shala kissed him, he was taken completely by surprise.

"MMPH!" he protested, before giving up.

When the kiss ended, he stared at Shala. Then he stared at the rest of the room. Then at the mistletoe, still hovering above him.

"I cannot believe you guys," he mock moaned, tossing it in a random direction.

If Indigo's glass was in his mouth, he'd have a mouth full of glass. He bit down hard on his lip to keep himself from laughing, but wound up emitting a huge roar of laughter, not even noticing that the mistletoe had gotten caught in a decoration ordaining a rafter just above Indigo and Night...

She blushed, "um... Getting gifts slipped my mind... I don't know if I could accept without giving a gift in return", she said, looking down ashamedly

Icarus blushed, and was about to assure Minty, when Laughter roared from behind him, Making him jump and see the mistletoe dangling above Night and Indigo.

Night tracked the Mistletoe with her eyes, while enjoying a little chuckle at the antics of Shala and Intel. When it landed above her and Indigo her laughter died out.

Grinning and blushing a little she leaned in closer to Indigo. "Well that is one way to break the ice..."

Shala raised an eyebrow at Intel's downplay. "Cannot believe what? Hmm?" Shala smiled. "You think you need mistletoe for that?"

She leaned forward again and pushed a kiss onto Intel once more. This one was longer and more affectionate than the last one. They already got this far. She wouldn't let Intel try to weasel out of it.

As Night got closer Indigo's laughter subsided.

Oh no, no no no no.

He raised both of his hooves up to cover his mane, oblivious of her real intentions.

"You stay away from my hair."

Night Laughed, as she wrapped her front legs around his neck, Pulling him closer so she could press her lips against Indigo's.

She was gentle, didn't want to startle him after all, She kept her eyes open, staring into Indigo's eyes.

Night may not have wanted to startle Indigo, but she did. Even though his brain was wired to think of nearly every possibility, the relaxed atmosphere of the party and the booze left him very, very unprepared to deal with this. As such his eyes were now wide as saucers with surprise. He looked at her in disbelief, for a little while at least. If a large attractive mare was going to kiss him, he may as well indulge her. Which he did to some extent, still thoroughly surprised.

Minty looked back up, blushing, and giggling at all the display of affection going on in the room.

Icarus chuckled, going down and laying down by the Wood Stove, relaxing a bit, daring to close his eyes...

For the second time, Shala got Intel into a kiss. This time, when it broke, he looked at her with a conflicted expression. While it did feel nice...

"How did you know about-" he looked over to where the mistletoe had landed, eyes widening at Indigo and Night, "-the mistletoe thing? I thought you hadn't celebrated Hearth's Warming before!"

Parts of Intel's mind started to groan in irritation. It wasn't even that late into the party for Goddesses sake! Why was the whole kissing thing already occurring?

It did feel nice, though, especially when it was-

No! Focus! Concentrate! Keep you're mind focused lest the Hearth's Warming party falls to pieces and you wake up wearing a silly hat!

Shala laughed a little and shrugged innocently. "Oh, i may have done some shopping and learned about it from an earth pony vendor. I might have bought some and put it in my house for a special occasion. You know..." She waved a hoof at him.

The kiss was awfully nice. It was putting Shala in good moods she did not know she was capable of. At this rate, she had no idea where things were going.

The other ponies kissing made her grin even more. "Wow, I didn't think we would start a trend. Want to try taking it up a notch and see if they follow suit?" Shala flirted shamelessly.

Night pulled away but left her arms around Indigo's neck. She did enjoy a good kiss, even if it was just in fun. Pointing up to the mistletoe with her eyes she grinned. "We wouldn't want our host and our newest guest to be left out. Seeing as your the one with the magic." Her grin might have seemed evil in another light as she playfully tugged on one of the braids.

Indigo looked up to see the mistletoe and grinned. He quietly levitated it off the decorations and held it just above himself and Night. He firmly nudges her away from his braid to kiss her again with more confidence now that he had recovered from his initial shock. He then quickly moved the tree parasite to hover between Icarus and Minty.

Icarus, with his eyes closed, Didn't even notice the Mistletoe moving over to him and Minty. Probably wouldn't until something happened.