Author's Note

As promised in the blog, here's a special bonus chapter as thanks for the active interest that made the story that much funner to work on. I won't lie, this is mostly an excuse for me to try writing family interactions and cute moments. If someone makes a comment about cuteness overload I will consider it a venture well made.

And surprisingly this whole chapter seems to be family friendly. Enjoy, and leave comments on what you think as always.

Edit: Warning: The coming potential cute moments might be so great that a medical aid is recommended to be close by. By just doing some minor touch ups to this chapter I, the author, experienced near heart ceasing moments of cuteness.

Also for those of you who want to turn any of this into art, go for it. Just send me a copy or link to the piece when you're done and don't be afraid to ask me questions related to the creation of the piece.

Bonus Chapter: Hearth's Warming in Canterlot

For the first time since the girls had hatched Chrysalis and Spike were awoken by three bouncing bundles of energy repeatedly, and a little rapidly, babbling about it being Hearth's Warming Eve. It also had turned out Velvet's hopes had come true, Twilight ended up in the hospital to give birth three days prior and recently returned to her parents' house with her husband and newborn daughter. Spike had apparently gotten used to the kind of treatment the girls were giving because after about five seconds of the girls' excitement he went back to sleep, Chrysalis, on the other hand, was more than happy help quell the unbridled excitement and joy of her daughters (until she saw that the clock said it was three in the morning). Since Chrysalis was now up, and would take some time to go back to sleep, she decided to get her daughters to understand a few things. Getting out of bed she revealed her lavender and pink accented blue nightgown adorned with with green dragon flames on the chest and upper back as she motioned for her daughters to follow her.

Since she couldn't take them into the family room, since that was where the Hearth's Warming gifts were, and some had yet be placed 'by Santa' she had to think of an alternative place to explain things, she chose the kitchen. After taking the girls to the kitchen, in a way that made sure they didn't see the family room, Chrysalis set them down near the counter and got some things out of the fridge she knew that would help make her offspring drowsy.

While making them a 'sleepy time' snack she started humming the same wordless, soothing tune she had when she had been carrying their egg sacks in her short pregnancy, she also started doing a little kitchen dance as she prepped the snacks. The girls started dancing along with their mother in their cute, yet awkward way as they awaited the early morning snacks their mother was preparing for them.

Even after she finishing the simple sandwiches she had decided to make, and while putting the ingredients away, Chrysalis continued her tune and dance. She, and the girls, only stopped after she noticed Twilight Velvet in the kitchen doorway watching the scene, the girls were dancing as they ate the snacks their mother had made for them. Chrysalis had an embarrassed look the moment she saw Velvet, which only intensified when she saw Cadance and Skyla.

“What time is it?” Was all Chrysalis could muster to say, the embarrassment quite present in her voice.

“Four-thirty,” said Skyla with amusement on her face and a giddy tone to her voice.

Chrysalis sighed and said, “The girls woke me up an hour and a half ago, I didn't expect to be up this long. I thought we'd all be up twenty minutes as I made their snack, it would take another ten minutes for them to down them, then I'd tuck them into bed and that would be it.”

“Don't feel too bad,” said Cadance, “Skyla always wakes me up this early, I just didn't expect your new additions to beat her to the punch their first year.”

“It really was a lovely sight, dear,” said Velvet, “I've never heard that melody before.”

“Same here,” said Cadance, “and I've heard a wide variety of musics over the years.”

“It's the tune I would hum when I was carrying the girls,” said Chrysalis, still a little embarrassed, “I never heard it before I first started humming it, even though it surprised me it also felt right. It's just a simple tune to sooth and relax.”

“A perfect Hearth's Warming melody,” said Skyla, “I want to join my cute, little cousins in that adorable dance they were doing, it also gave me an idea for just what to give them.”

Chrysalis looked back at her daughters in their overly large nightgowns, which were themed similarly to the winter outfits they had sported on their arrival day to the house, and gave a smile. Gesturing for the three to come closer, which they did eagerly (while still trying to eat their sandwiches), she said, “Girls, your big cousin, Skyla, wants to spend Hearth's Warming morning dancing with you, do you want to dance with her?”

While still trying to consume their food Dusk and Satin nodded vigorously while Novel shook her head gently. Smiling Cadance said, “Looks like you have two takers, I wonder what Novel wants to do.”

“What do you want to do while your sisters and cousin dance?” Said Chrysalis in her gentle maternal voice to Light Novel. The changeling foal kept munching on her snack while pointing to Cadance with one of her hands. “You want another Hearth's Warming tale from your auntie Cadance?” Novel nodded vigorously, while still trying to consume her snack with fervor. “Velvet, could you go setup the dining room for the girls? Cadance, maybe it would be best if you carried Novel somewhere that won't cause her to 'accidentally see Santa' and settle in for a comfortable story session.”

“Kly chwan't vwee shwee Zanka?” Said Light Novel with her sandwich still in her mouth.

“It's not polite to talk with food in your mouth dear,” said Velvet, “especially when you're filling your mouth with said food, no matter your age manners are always important.”

Novel looked like she was thinking it over, which was made all the more adorable by her stopping her eating the sandwich mid-chew, before giving Velvet a curt nod and toddling over to Cadance.

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A few minutes later half the dining room was a cleared space with Chrysalis and Velvet acting as the gatekeepers for the side with furniture, a line of chairs made a makeshift 'wall' with the two mares occupying two of the chairs. Chrysalis started humming her tune again and the girls started their early morning dance. Velvet moved her hands back and forth like she was trying to keep the tempo as she listened to the tune with a smile.

Night Light, Shining Armor and Spike were up and out of bed a few hours later, at almost seven in the morning (mostly to play the part of 'Santa' while the rest of the house was occupied, they knew very well that Velvet and Cadance were up with Skyla). On their way to the 'hidden caches' of gifts they found Cadance in full sitter mode telling the tale of the first Hearth's Warming to an overjoyed Light Novel, Spike took a mental note of this because if one of his girls was up this early then the others were too and that meant their mother was as well. That's when they heard Chrysalis's soothing tune, Spike recognized it instantly as the one she hummed to the eggs before the girls had hatched, when they entered the dining room they found the rest of the girls dancing with Chrysalis humming the tune with her eyes closed in bliss. When Velvet noticed the stallions she reached behind her and held up a sign that read

After you place the gifts get the home recording equipment, this is top priority

The three silently nodded and left the two mares to what they were doing. Twilight, with her daughter in her arms, entered to the sound and sight a few minutes later. “How did everyone sleep?” Asked Velvet as Chrysalis continued her tune.

“Pretty well,” Twilight whispered back after she seated herself next to her mother, her little orange unicorn filly with a mane of indigo with pink and dark blue stripes at the edges of her mane, held close, “Luminous Seeker hasn't made all that many sounds since she was born, she'll make noise when she wants to be fed, but other than she's a quiet little angel.” She turned to the sight of her nieces doing their own little improvised dance maneuvers before them, “We should start every Hearth's Warming this way, the girls dancing to a soothing melody I mean, have you discussed it with Chrysalis yet?”

“No,” Velvet whispered back, “she's the one providing the music, and I just don't have the heart to end the tune, I'm afraid as soon as the music ends the girls will stop dancing. Cadance and I caught her humming the tune and doing a little kitchen dance as she made her girls a snack, it was so precious I'm sorry she stopped when she noticed us.”

Twilight nodded and whispered something to her half-awake daughter, the filly came fully awake and babbled something in her foalish language, Twilight seemed to understand and brought her daughter to suckle, the filly eagerly ate her morning meal. The only thing that almost ruined it was Flash entering the room half asleep, fortunately, Velvet stopped him with her magic before it got that far. Twilight looked at her husband with her suckling daughter still to her chest and gave him a look that silently asked the question as to what he wanted.

Flash gestured for Twilight to join him outside the room, she nodded and tapped their daughter on the crown of her head (it was something she had discovered by accident, it seemed Luminous Seeker would stop what she was doing when she was tapped on the crown of her head, Twilight hoped the filly would grow out of that). With the filly having forcibly finished her morning meal Twilight passed her daughter to Velvet and left the room in such a way to not disturb Chrysalis or her dancing nieces. Once they were in the family room Twilight said, “This better be important, Flash, it's a holiday, and I was enjoying a wonderful new family moment for said holiday.”

“Twilight,” said Flash, “you asked me to remind you that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would be dropping by for a 'surprise' visit the moment I got up, mostly because you would be getting caught up in early morning family activities, I would also like to remind you that you didn't give a specific time for the visit, but I would assume it would be some point after sunrise.”

Twilight looked at the clock and gasped, “It's almost eight in the morning, we're usually making holiday cookies in the kitchen by now, but the girls are having a fun time dancing to Chrysalis's soothing melody,” she gave an exasperated groan, “mom probably wants to make it a new tradition now, and I just can't say no to her and three very young fillies. If it were just her maybe, but throwing foals into the mix means they might start a crying contest if they're upset, and I don't want to be known as the pony who almost ruined the holiday, and to top it off sunrise is in a half-hour, and I can't send either of them a message saying to keep away from the house for a few hours, that would ruin the apparent spontaneity of their visit.”

“Not to mention Discord could just poof everyone here in an instant, no need to be at the door when you can be in the house on a whim,” said Flash.

“You're right,” said Twilight, “Discord and Celestia have been married for the past decade now, I almost forgot about that.”

A bright flash in the room heralded The arrival of Celestia, Luna, Discord, and Lucent. “Hi everyone,” said Lucent in a subdued cheery voice, then noticed the lack of occupants in the room, “where is everypony?” She looked around a bit as she asked the question.

“Cadance is telling Light Novel Hearth's Warming stories in the hall,” said Twilight with a tone that indicated she was annoyed their arrival was before sunrise, “the rest of the girls are dancing in the dining room."

“Ooh, mommy, can I join the other girls in dancing?”

“Of course sweetie,” said Celestia, “just be sure you aren't disruptive.”

The young hybrid nodded with excitement and dashed off. Everyone looked at Discord expectantly, “What, you think I'd encourage her to ruin something I've been trying get her to go for all month? Shame on you, she's had absolutely no interest in dancing 'til just a moment ago.”

“It's true,” said Celestia, “she's a little hard to predict, like her father,” she gave a sly grin.

Twilight gave another groan before saying, “Alright, let's see what the damage is.” They all made their way to the dining room.

When they got their Luna burst out laughing, which surprisingly didn't interrupt anything. The side of the dining room that had to be turned into an impromptu dance hall now looked like a real dance floor with all four fillies dancing in the most awkward, yet adorably amusing, manners. While all the adults (including Discord, surprisingly), Skyla and Lucent were all dressed for the holiday it could be seen that Dusk and Satin were not really dressed for the holiday seeing as they were still dancing in their nightgowns.

“This is very precious,” said Celestia, an overjoyed Luna was having her own moment next to Celestia, “and it seems my sister agrees. Discord, if you aren't recording this you should.”

“Way ahead of you,” said Discord, Twilight and Flash turned their heads to notice Discord in a red and green beret sitting in a director's chair, turning their attention back to the dancing fillies they noticed a series of self-operating 1940s style movie cameras moving along the wall recording the dancing fillies from six different angles, “this will be our greatest masterpiece of home cinema, I believe I will call it, 'A Hearth's Young Dance', yes that seems to be good.” Celestia held back a snicker as the fan he conjured up turned into a massive candy cane fan.

“What's the air in director's chair smell like,” inquired Celestia as she hid a snickering smile with her wing.

“Pine, as always,” said Discord seeming to have not noticed his hand fan, “with a... rather large hint of cinnamon and spearmint?” He turned his attention to the fan in his talon before saying, “Well, apparently the wood and paper fan I was going for got swapped for... something a bit more festive, I suppose I have our daughter to thank for that one.”

“She's still getting a handle on the kind of magic you use, honey,” said Celestia, “she's barely gotten a handle on the pony magic side of things, she has two different kinds of magic to work with and needs to find the happy medium herself.”

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After another hour of dancing fillies, and Chrysalis's soothing humming, it was all brought to an end, much to Velvet's dismay the guys had returned with non-functional audio recording equipment, which Discord promptly turned into foal friendly gifts for the girls. Cadance also returned to the rest of the family holding a very happy, and much less energetic, Light Novel. Skyla got a pair of ballet shoes, much to her amused annoyance; Satin Care got a plushy version of Discord, much to his own amusement (seemed he wanted to be as surprised as everyone else); Dusk Sentinel got a toy shield and new armor inspired pajamas, the sight of which started giving Shining Armor a few ideas of what to do with his niece; and Light Novel got a small collection of pocket notebooks, which she promptly started hugging (much to the amusement of everyone, the sight also brought a larger smile to Twilight's face). Lucent asked her father where her gift was, he responded by saying that those gifts were only intended for the Sparkle family. Lucent almost pouted, but was stopped by the three-month-old Dusk wanting to be picked up.

“Alright little Dusk, what do you want?” Said Lucent, the changeling foal just responded with a boop on Lucent's nose and a giggle, “I see, you raise a good point,” responded Lucent before blowing a raspberry into the infant's belly, which in turn earned her more giggles of delight. After that display of cuteness, everyone made their way into the kitchen, after making Discord and Lucent promise to not do anything to anything made in the kitchen.

While Twilight's parents, Cadance, Shining Armor and Skyla got busy on the holiday confections Chrysalis got started on the preparations for the coming evening meal, she started humming a sort of relaxing kitchen tune and once again started doing a kitchen dance as she went about working, her three daughters once again started their little dance in the kitchen. Celestia elected to help Chrysalis, doing her own sort of kitchen dance, along with Lucent after giving Discord the 'very important job' of getting as much of the dancing fillies on record as possible without interrupting the happenings in the kitchen. Before long all the mares, and Skyla, were humming Chrysalis's little kitchen tune while Discord did his best to capture as much of the precious moment of three small changeling foals dancing in the kitchen, while surprisingly keeping out of the way (it was almost as if they knew where they needed to be in order to not cause anyone problems).

After looking over the dinner preparations and nodding to each other Chrysalis and Celestia moved their work into the fridge to keep it from going to waste before turning to their work stations and starting on everyone's breakfast. A simple breakfast of pancakes made like gingerbread with a hint of peppermint, had its scents fill the kitchen in almost no time. The two got to work making holiday images out of the cooking batter, and before long four plates of the delectable treats were stacked and on the table of the dining room (after said room was back in order and all the furniture was where it was supposed to be).

Each of Chrysalis's girls got stacks of four hotcakes, piled from largest to smallest, Skyla and Lucent got six, stacked the exact same way. They all thanked Chrysalis for serving the overly sweet breakfast. The adults had to serve themselves, much to Discord's dismay (he was partially hoping Chrysalis would drop a few of the dark brown holiday hotcakes on his plate, so he just had the foodstuffs do it for him and Celestia).

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After breakfast came the official gift giving, much to the joy of everyone under the age fifteen (in other words, all the kids). Skyla was the first to open a gift, she surprised everyone by choosing the gift Chrysalis had chosen to give her (the surprise was quite evident on her face when she read the giver's name). Carefully pealing away the wrapping paper she was treated to a little pink book that said “Holiday Observations, Practices that need more Exploring” Skyla gave Chrysalis a confused look.

“It's a copy of the holiday notes I made when I was your age,” said Chrysalis, “I thought you might want to see what the impressions of the holidays are like to an outside observer,” she started rubbing her left arm like she was uncomfortable, “I know it's not much and you probably won't read it, it seems more like something Twilight would be interested in, but I already gave her a copy before the girls hatched.”

“No, it's perfect,” said Skyla with a smile, “it'll help me understand and give a better understanding of perspectives, mom says we need to understand perspectives more in order to better represent ponies, this is just the kind of reading I need to help with that. I was actually wondering how I could better understand things from a non-Equestrian view, this is beyond ideal for everything. Why is the cover pink?”

“I thought you might like it, since its the color of your mother's coat, and yours,” said Chrysalis.

The sound of paper getting torn and squeals of delight soon reach everyone's ears, “Sounds like Chrys's brood just finished finding out what they got,” said Twilight, “normally I wouldn't trust any pony under the age of three to open their own gifts, but Chrysalis's girls just seem to be fine with it.

Looking over Chrysalis saw her girls with what looked like a small collection of plush versions of the family, she then started floating the ribbons and wrapping paper away from the infants when she noticed them going to chew on the gift coverings. “So long as what the gifts are wrapped in are removed from their reach shortly after,” said Chrysalis. They all shared a merry laugh.

Lucent found that her aunt Luna thought it would be funny to give her a small collection of mane and tail brushes, Celestia was treated to a book of cakes from Discord (that was enchanted with his magic to bring any cake she touched on certain days, mainly Hearth's Warming Day and her birthday, into physical existence next to her, she then just tackle-kissed him [much to the disgust of their daughter, and amusement of everyone else that was older than five]).

Twilight, surprisingly, didn't give Flash a book, but instead a special armor polish she had developed and tested for an extended period of time in secret from him all for the expressed purpose of surprising him when she finished her first genuinely successful batch. Flash presented Twilight with a book on foalcare he had found on the way to the hospital, which was a little ironic. Luna opened a gift from Chrysalis that was a book of popular foal games that spanned the last thousand years (that Chrysalis had compiled it from the time she was growing up to the time she started planning her failed invasion), Chrysalis was clued on how her gift was also a subtle joke when she was in the middle of wrapping it.

After they all opened many more presents, mostly undergarments for some bizarre reason (even if it was stated to be a tradition by that point Chrysalis still felt the need to point out the bulk of gifts being socks and underwear was a bit odd). Chrysalis's girls, being the interested little scamps they were, actually tried climbing all over Discord and Celestia (this caused their daughter to laugh with merriment, mostly because she got to see her parents seeming to be overwhelmed by three curious foals). It proved to be a most amusing, and enjoyable, morning. While all the girls decided to have collective afternoon nap Velvet popped the question she'd been holding since she first saw the girls dancing.

“It was so precious seeing the girls dance around like that, do you think you could start our Hearth's Warming mornings off like that every year.”

“Two and a half hours,” said Chrysalis, “stop it at two and a half hours, no matter how precious or how much of a crime you think it would be to end it all. We ended up getting behind in your holiday traditions this morning, I'm going to go get lunch started,” she rose and headed for the kitchen.

“I'll help,” said Velvet, “we can hammer out the details for the coming years as we work. So, what you want to make for this holiday lunch?”

“Let's keep it simple,” said Chrysalis, “make dinner look all that more impressive, I'm thinking a nice vegetable stew and some winter flower sandwiches.”

“Simple, yet elegant,” said Velvet as they stepped into the kitchen and could no longer be heard by everypony else, except maybe Discord.

“Should we be worried? Something tells me we should,” said Twilight as she did her little ritual to keep her daughter asleep with her cousins.

“Honestly,” said Spike, “Chrys is a decent cook, she somehow manages to make leftovers exciting and when she makes things herself they're pretty good.”

“I'm still trying to figure out how she managed to make those tasty gingerbread pancakes for breakfast,” said Flash, “maybe we should make that a Hearth's warming tradition, the making and eating gingerbread pancakes I mean.”

“Well,” said Cadance, “she'll probably share the recipe with us before heading home, it's pretty impressive how fast she integrated into the family.”

“I'm to blame for that,” said Spike with an embarrassed look, “she's taken quite a few of my traits, but she also seems to have developed new habits around them. Yeah, I liked working in the kitchen from time to time, but I never sang or danced in the kitchen all that often.”

“And she's far more graceful than you when she dances in the kitchen,” Twilight teased, “last time I saw you dance in the kitchen you tripped over your own foot and felt like having your face meet the oven door.”

Spike gave a polite cough, “Yes, well no matter the reason for it all, the girls are our pride and joy,” he gave the three sleeping changeling fillies a smile of joy, "and to think there are twenty-one more waiting to hatch back home.”

Nightlight looked at Spike with surprise, especially since the dragon had said it very casually, “We have twenty-one grandfoals waiting to hatch? I know Velvet wanted a lot of grandfoals, but that's pushing it a bit.”

“They might have a few more than that in the coming years,” said Twilight as she held her sleeping in daughter in her lap.

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Lunch was turned into a far more entertaining affair with the children, all of the children, playing games around their food, this was exasperated further with the aid of Discord's chaos magic making it so that every time one of them took a bite of their stew it made them take on a persona tied to how their spoon was held. Twilight, Flash, Shining and Velvet were all very unamused. Spike, Chrysalis ad Night Light (much to the displeasure of his wife, daughter, son and son-in-law), and Cadance (much to the lack of amusement shown by the majority of her adult family) were actually trying different holding methods with the stew for the kids in order to see what they'd get next. Celestia and Luna just sat there with looks of amusement while doing their best to hide it, and Discord did a failed job of feigning innocence in the matter.

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After some more play time after lunch, they soon found the time was passing quicker than anticipated. Velvet, Cadance, and Chrysalis got started on making dinner (a full two hours earlier than usual in household when came time for the holiday) while the rest of the adults did their best to keep the kids occupied, Twilight was a little put off by the fact she had an infant that demanded her attention so much she couldn't help in the kitchen (the making of the holiday dinner with her mom had always been one of her favorite activities of Hearth's Warming). At a half hour to dinner, after Celestia had lowered the sun and Luna raised the moon, it was time for the holiday's final meal.

The girls seemed to get enjoyment out of treating the bread sticks that Velvet put a great deal of effort into like dueling accessories, much to the amusement of everyone who wasn't Velvet. The spread at the table was enough for a seven-course meal, more if Discord decided to do an 'endless buffet' contingent, which he did. After the girls had overstuffed their tummies they fell asleep and were carried by their parents to their rooms, after they were tucked in and given a goodnight kiss the parents retired to the family room for some conversation before retiring to bed.