Hearth’s Warming was near, which meant Ponyville turned into a hub of warmth and celebration during these cold months. As ponies and other creatures dashed to and fro outside, Rarity sat comfortably inside her new cottage after a long day at Carousel Boutique.
The unicorn hummed lightly inside a square of short fencing surrounded by toys, then squeaked in appreciation as a baby unicorn bumped into her belly and rubbed her face against it, while another babbled a bit away.
Lavender and Amethyst were identical twin foals, already with luscious manes of a solid color just a bit darker than Rarity’s own. Unusually, their coats were a mix of colors, with a base color matching the purple of Twilight’s coat but with a band of white around their midsections just above their diapers, white at the end of their legs, and a white stripe going from their snouts to the tips of their horns. Their manes were styled differently to make them easier to tell apart, but Rarity found it quite unnecessary. There were subtle differences in the patterns on their fur, and already, some notable differences in their behavior.
For one thing, Amethyst was reading a book on her own! To the extent that such a thing was possible at this age. She clumsily fiddled with the thick cardboard pages of a book about colors, turning to a page about the color yellow, showing different objects with that feature. The foal gurgled curiously, then leaned forward and tried to put a pictured hard hat into her mouth.
Lavender, meanwhile, was acting listless and needed some personal attention. With a smile, Rarity lifted a red dragon plushie with her magic, which immediately caught the foal’s attention. Rocking it side to side, Rarity sang,
“I’m a dragon, I’m a dragon
Yes I am! Yes I am!
Look at my cute tail, look at my cute tail
I’ll give you a boop! I’ll give you a boop!”
With that, she pressed the dragon toy against Lavender’s snout, making her giggle. She then took the dragon in her front legs and chewed on the tail.
“Would you like me to sing some more?” Rarity asked, to no obvious acknowledgment. “Very well then.” She ahemed and started, “Thread by thread…”
Before she could continue, the door opened, making both foals stop what they were doing and dash for the fence. They reared up and leaned against the bars, squealing for attention.
With speed that still surprised Rarity, the twins’ other mother rushed to the playpen and fluidly scooped the babies up in her magic. The princess still wore her regalia, though she had flung her crown to the ground a second earlier. Pushing up her semi-ethereal hair, Twilight nuzzled Lavender and Amethyst simultaneously, sighing contently—the foals, however, were more interested in looking around with their new vantage point.
“Oh my babies,” Twilight said. “I missed you so much.”
Rarity giggled, still sitting down. “Heavens, you’d think it’s been more than a few hours since you saw them last.”
Twilight smiled at this, but quickly shifted to a serious expression as she removed her royal trappings while still holding the foals close. “Did they cause Silverstream any problems while you were at the shop?”
“No, they were perfect little ladies. It seems the doctor was right that they were crying so often precisely because we kept checking in and they wanted to get our attention.”
Twilight sighed. “That’s good, though I have to tell you, I was biting my hooves not being able to teleport back to check them. So that means no teething problems either?”
Rarity shook her head. “And no magic surges either. That’s three days now, so I believe we can finally take them out tonight.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up. “That’s great! Let’s get them ready now.”
Before Twilight could leave with the foals, Rarity grasped her shoulders with her magic. “Darling, slow down! My goodness, it isn’t even dark out yet.”
Twilight’s eyes flitted back and forth. “Oh, but, there’s such a small period between when the lights would turn on and when we’d need to get them ready for bed. I was thinking we’d set up early, maybe.”
Narrowing her eyes, Rarity simply patted the floor next to her. Knowing not to argue, the princess dutifully stepped over the fence and sat next to her wife, carefully setting down the foals.
“Now, dear, tell me about your day—ack!”
Twilight laughed as the babies both lunged for Rarity’s mane, tugging at it with their hooves with wide eyes while making curious noises.
“Darlings, no!” Rarity said lightly as she pulled her mane out of reach and quickly put it up in a bun. Even so, they kept reaching for stray strands, which she dutifully but gently deflected their hooves from. “Oh, you little gremlins. Goodness, I don’t know why you never go for your mommy’s mane.”
“Their mama’s mane is much prettier,” Twilight explained.
“But yours is all magic and shiny.”
Twilight smiled. “Still prettier.”
Rarity sighed in simultaneous defeat and victory. “Yes, you are correct as usual.”
Amethyst kept reaching for any hair she could, but Lavender lost interest and started looking around, eventually focusing on a rattling ball toy.
Twilight pulled Amethyst closer to her and relaxed a bit more. “Anyway, it wasn’t too bad in Canterlot really. We made some big headway on that tax overhaul and I had a nice lunch with Sunset. It’s just that right as I was about to leave, there was an interdimensional warlock I had to deal with, and of course she hates Hearth’s Warming.” She rolled her eyes.
“Was she a big problem?”
“No, but she is why I’m so late. Sorry you had to give them dinner on your own.”
Rarity touched her hoof. “It’s no problem at all, Twilight. If you must know, I had a problem of my own with a—”
The foal playing with a ball toy made an unintelligible shout and looked right at her mothers.
“Yes, dear?” Rarity asked.
She continued making noises that didn’t quite form into speech.
Twilight giggled. “That’s very interesting, Amethyst—wait, Amethyst?!”
Both mothers looked back and forth at the twins and discovered that the foal sitting between them was now Lavender.
“Good heavens, when did you two switch places? Did you see it happen, Twilight?”
The princess shook her head. “It must have been when I was talking to you, but I wasn’t looking away for long.” She hummed and tilted her head. “A magic surge, maybe? No, I would have detected that.”
“If they’re going to keep being this sneaky, we’ll be in trouble,” Rarity said with a smile, patting Lavender’s mane.
“Maybe this will keep you two busy.” Twilight levitated a picture book about numbers in front of the twins and they both reached for it. Once it was on the ground, they fiddled with and sucked on the cover.
Rarity sat up. “You know, my star, Amethyst was actually reading a book earlier! That one about colors.”
Lavender looked up and said, “A boof.”
Her mothers stared at her slack-jawed.
Quickly, Amethyst followed her sister’s lead, though saying it with significantly more spittle. The babies continued repeating those words until finally Rarity looked at Twilight with amazement and laughed lightly. “I should have figured this would be their first words.”
Broken out of her spell, Twilight leaned forward. “Book! Can you say ‘book’?”
A ‘k’ sound came from the babies, though they kept the ‘f’. “A-boof-ka,” they started repeating, and then they added more, forming, “A-boof-ka-ha.”
Rarity hummed. “Are they trying to say something else? ‘Case’ like ‘bookcase’, perhaps?”
Twilight tilted her head. “Wait, maybe they aren’t saying anything at all. Rarity, did you talk to anyone in front of the babies today?”
Rarity sighed. “Oh yes, Pistachio visited before I left and he told me about the most horrid new trend coming out of Fillydelphia—I’ll spare you the details—and I said, nearly spitting out my tea, ‘A-boof-ka-ha, how wretched!’ and—oh, now I see.”
“A-boof-ka-ha!” the twins shouted.
Twilight patted their heads in turn. “Good job, you two! You’re amazing at listening to us!”
Rarity deflated slightly. “I suppose I should watch my tongue around them, then.”
Her wife waved dismissively. “You’re fine. It’s good to have them practice different sounds anyway. Besides, even if it wasn’t a word, they still copied what you said. They’ll be talking like you in no time!”
Rarity giggled at the thought. “Yes, yes, wouldn’t that be something.”
The mares continued playing with their daughters while chatting about their days, interrupted by a pair of diaper changes, and in time, the sky outside started to darken.
With a grunt, Twilight got up. “Alright, my darlings, time for a trip!”
Rarity held a hoof to her chest and gave a smitten smile. “I still love how you call them your darlings.”
Twilight smiled back at her wife and lifted the babies with her magic, making them giggle. Then she lifted them higher and higher, and started moving them in circles, and then released her magic only to catch them again a half-second later. The alicorn glanced at Rarity, who conspicuously looked everywhere but the frighteningly airborne babies, and finally elected to settle them into their carrier.
While Rarity quickly cleaned herself up, Twilight loaded a camera onto the carriage’s underside. “I’m going to take pictures of their reactions.”
“That’s very sweet, but won’t they react more to the camera than the lights?”
Twilight hummed. “Maybe. But it’ll still make for cute pictures.” As Rarity walked out in a cozy sweater, Twilight slipped on a scarf. “Oh, did you mean to keep your mane up?”
Rarity hummed then fiddled with her hair until her bun came undone and she shook her head slowly and deliberately, strands falling in sparkling cascades. She gave her wife a wink, who then stood there with her mouth agape.
There was a flash of light and Twilight blinked rapidly. Rarity was now holding the camera, and with a smirk she said, “Glad I still got it.”
Blushing, Twilight said, “Like there was any doubt.” Flapping her wings slightly, she continued, “Anyway, let’s save some film for the babies.”
The snow fell lightly as they stepped outside. Twilight pushed the baby carriage with her magic, in which the twins were bundled under a blanket with their heads exposed and elevated to make sure they’d have a good view. The town’s holiday change was already obvious during the day, with snow covering the roofs and wreaths and other festive decorations at every home, but it truly transformed at night. The darkness lit up with rainbows emanating from all corners. Holiday lights crisscrossed above them, creating stars in the otherwise cloudy sky.
However, the two mares didn’t pay much attention to the lights, but rather stared directly at their babies.
“Look, dear! They’re looking!” Rarity said with glee.
Twilight nodded excitedly. “Lavender, Amethyst, isn’t Ponyville during Hearth’s Warming amazing?”
In truth, it was hard to tell if the twins were notably more amazed by the outside world than they were during any daytime walk, but their curious looks were more than enough for their mothers.
“Let’s head to City Hall, and then we’ll head home right after that,” Twilight suggested.
“Oh, but let’s go to Carousel Boutique first. Yona and Sandbar put up some nice decorations there.”
It was a quick stroll from the cottage to Rarity’s store, even at the slow pace they pushed the carriage. In Rarity’s typical style, it was covered in ribbons, wreaths, and dangling lights, along with highlights of soft and reflective silk with scattered seashells that served to emphasize the holiday warmth—additions from her employees. Also, on either side of the door were smashed piles of wood, stone, and snow.
As Twilight raised her eyebrow, Rarity paid no heed and addressed the babies. “Now you two have been here before, but it certainly looks different now, doesn’t it?”
After giving it a bit of thought, Twilight’s face quickly lit up. “Ah, so Yona turned her Snildar Fest celebration into decorations!”
“I knew you’d understand,” Rarity said. “Yona constructed some wonderfully elegant statues earlier this week, then destroyed them this morning. So, my gentle princess, would you like to take part in the tradition?”
“Would I?” Twilight said as, without waiting, she coated one of the piles in her magic, lifted it up, and dashed it into the ground with a thunderous thud. Even as her wife shied away from this sudden aggression, the babies laughed and cheered. “Phew. That helped even more than I thought it would.”
With a light laugh, Rarity said, “I’m sure any interdimensional wizards watching are going to think twice about coming here.”
The alicorn looked back over her shoulder. “And how about you, my eternal love?” she asked while fluttering her eyelashes.
Rarity shook her hoof. “Well, I don’t have all that much pent up frustration—oh, who am I kidding?” With her teeth bare, she grunted loudly as she levitated the other pile in the same way as Twilight and yelled as she flung it into the snow.
The babies laughed again at this and Rarity turned to them with a smile, swishing her mane. “Did you like that, sweeties?”
“Aun’ Swee-ee,” said Lavender.
Twilight beamed at this, but Rarity looked decidedly less impressed. “Between us, let’s pretend your first real words weren’t your auntie’s name.”
“Aun’ Swee Beh,” said Amethyst.
Rarity lightly tapped the foal’s snout as her wife giggled. “Now that’s enough of that.” With an exaggerated sigh, she added, “Sw—My sister will never let this go if she hears about it. Alright, the next ones will be their real first words.”
As they rejoined the main street, a small yellow and pink pony galloped past them.
Waving, Twilight shouted, “Lil’ Cheese, where are you off to in such a hurry?”
As the filly skidded to a stop and trotted backwards to them, the babies both shouted, “A-boof-kah-ha!”
Cheese waved his hoof to his forehead. “A-boof-kah-ha to you too! Anyway, sorry aunties, but I’m in a bit of a hurry. There’s a Die Hard happening at Sugarcube Corner!”
The mares both looked at each other in confusion. “A Die Hard?” Rarity asked.
By the time they looked back, all that was left of Lil’ Cheese was a dust cloud in his shape.
Twilight shrugged. “Well, Pinkie will handle it. That’s where her party tonight is going to be, after all.”
Rarity twisted her mouth. “Still, probably best not to go in that direction.”
Rather than follow Cheese, they turned down a side road.
“That filly has so much energy,” Rarity said idly. “Hard to imagine that Lavender and Amethyst will be running around like him in just a few short years.”
“They already run around so much when we let them out of their playpen,” Twilight said with a mix of wonder and dread. “At least they’ll stop having magic surges then. Unless they’re like Flurry; she kept getting surges until she was five.”
Rarity bumped against her. “If our friends and family could handle raising their children, we’ll be able to handle ours. Plus, and this isn’t a competition, we have by far the most adorable children, so I’ll forgive some wildness.”
Twilight laughed lightly. “Alright.”
Avoiding Sugarcube Corner didn’t add too much time in the grand scheme of things, but it was precious extra moments of gentle movement that proved too much for the twins to handle. Their expressions turned dull and their eyelids became heavy, with each new bright decoration only momentarily causing their eyes to brighten again.
“Twilight, they’re falling asleep!” Rarity said.
“Almost there,” Twilight responded, speeding up a bit but still restraining herself to not jostle the babies.
While the streets were fairly empty to this point, the town center was packed with ponies, requiring them to start and stop in order to get enough space to move the carriage. Twilight and Rarity were briefly worried they wouldn’t find an appropriate space to stop, but they quickly found an empty bench and leapt for it like they were catching a fly ball.
“Phew,” Rarity said as she sat up. She peered into the carriage curiously. “Are they…?”
Both babies laid with shut lids and soft breathing.
Rarity squeaked in disappointment, but Twilight responded, “It hasn’t been long, I think it’ll be fine to wake them up.”
Lighting her horn, Twilight gently nudged Lavender and Amethyst’s cheeks, making them blink tiredly, but soon their eyes were wide open.
All of Ponyville shone brightly ahead of them, with strings of light leading directly to City Hall and spiraling down its thin wooden pillars. A parade of carts coated in blinking lights traveled around the perimeter, one red, the next green, and suddenly they swapped colors. Balloons in the shape of snowponies and reindeer mingled in the air as pegasus foals and a tiny griffon cub flew past them. All around them, creatures laughed and ran, creating a kaleidoscope of colors on their own.
Twilight leaned her head into the carriage and nuzzled the twins in turn. “Lavender, Amethyst, this is Hearth’s Warming.”
The twins gurgled and cooed at the warm view in front of them.
As the alicorn returned to her seat, shaking slightly, Rarity took her hoof. “You can say it dear.”
“Well it’s the day before Hearth’s Warming Eve, technically,” Twilight spat out, obvious relief appearing on her face. Rarity simply smiled back at her.
Minutes passed as the family sat and observed the festivities. Occasionally the parents took note of something an older foal was doing that could be fun for the twins in the future, but mostly they sat back and relaxed.
“This is really nice,” Twilight said.
Rarity hummed in response and leaned against her.
Suddenly, there was a thud in the distance followed by several popping noises. Then came a distinctly Pinkie voice shouting, “Welcome to the party, pal!”
“Sounds like Pinkie’s starting her party,” Rarity said. “She must have fixed that Die Hard or whatever it was.”
They peeked into the carriage and saw that the twins were solidly asleep and cuddled up together, Amethyst drooling on her sister. With a smile, Twilight magically summoned a cloth and gently wiped them. “Let’s head home,” she said.
Twilight and Rarity stepped into the warm air of their home with a sigh, taking off their winter clothing and setting them aside.
“That went very well,” Rarity said.
“Yeah, they had such cute reactions to the—” Twilight’s eyes went wide “—oh no! I completely forgot to take pictures!”
“It’s just as well. While it was good for them to see all of that, we can get the same expressions by dangling a toy in front of them.” Rarity hummed as she adjusted her makeup in the bathroom mirror. “With proper lighting, we can easily make it look like we took the photos there.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow and smirked. “You’ve been thinking about this, huh?”
“It’s only natural. If you want good realistic-looking photos, they need to be staged.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“As always!”
Twilight rolled her eyes lightly then focused her attention back on the twins. “With how they’re sleeping, it’s best if we just put them straight in the crib.” She lifted them and sniffed their diapers. “They’re still clean.”
“Sounds good, dear. We just have to wait for Maud to show up to watch over the babies and we’re good for Pinkie’s party, right?”
“Ma…” Amethyst gurgled in her sleep.
“... Ma,” Lavender finished.
Rarity gasped and rushed over, still in the middle of applying makeup. “They said it! They finally said ‘mama’! Their first words!”
Twilight smiled warmly, then her expression shortly gained a mischievous element. “Well, given precedence today, they were probably trying to say ‘Maud’.”
Rarity pressed her hoof to her wife’s mouth. “Hush now.”
As the snowfall reflected the rainbow lights of Ponyville, the two mothers placed their babies in their crib and silently watched over them.