Winter Bells

Winter Bells is the third installment of Pen Stroke's In The Family side story trilogy of Past Sins. In the story Twilight Sparkle decides to take Nyx to visit her relatives in Canterlot for Hearths Warming's eve.

Style
The story is written in the third-person, present tense, from varying perspectives. Mostly it involves Twilight Sparkle, however sometimes it may switches to some other character. Curiously enough, Pen Stroke is posting the story chapter by chapter as he writes them, something he actively doesn't do on purpose.

Home for the Holidays
The story starts with Applejack seeing Rarity about getting a re-size on their Hearths Warming's eve performance costumes. During their idle conversation, Applejack finds out Twilight has taken Nyx and Spike in advance.

The scene then cuts to the trio in question riding the train to Canterlot. After arriving at the station, but before leaving the train, they notice a swarm of reporters outside. Twilight then implements a disguise to slip past the reporters, and rendezvous with her dad before hiding to her house.

Twilight's initial fears that her parents would be un-accepting of Nyx are proven wrong, however she finds that they still think that she is too young to be raising a foal. Twilight on the other hand insists that she has every reason to be doing so.

The scene then cuts to Shining Armor and Princess Cadence sharing an intimate moment on their own train ride. After Princess Cadence goes to sleep however, Shining Armor pulls out and reads a medical report detailing his physiological status after having been under Nightmare Moon's mind control spell.

A Day with Family
Shining Armor and Princess Cadence arrive at Canterlot to give the exact reactions that were foreshadowed on the train ride. Shining Armor shuns Nyx while Princess Cadence tries to make friendly conversation which somehow brings up mention of the rebel army she was building during Nightmare Moon's reign.

The group then makes their way to buy a tree. There, Nyx meets the store owner, Lumberjack, who gives her his customary treatment. He gives her a nickname, Little Snowflake (due to her current disguise making her cot white), and tells her a story which details his business at the same time. The trees he sells are burned to make colorful fires. Twilight's father picks a pink fire every year, and the one he picks is then sold at a higher price.

After they pick their logs, Princess Cadence, Twilight, and Nyx are then ambushed by a group of reporters who are there to harass the Princess. Shining Armor roughs them up and scares them away, but makes it clear to Nyx that he holds her responsible for the incident without letting anypony else know.

Dinner at the Pranceston
The scene then jumps to the family on their way to a dinner event at a famous hotel, hosted by Twilight Velvet's boss, Print Press. Nyx is forced to wear a cheap knockoff of a dress rather than one Rarity made for her. When they all arrive, it doesn't take Twilight too long to figure out that her mother is trying to appeal to the owner of the company that publishes her stories in the hopes that her story won't get turned away by the company editor. Twilight is confronts her mother about this, and after a short argument, simply decides to play along. During the dinner, Print Press seems intent on starting an argument by picking up sensitive topics. However, Twilight Velvet does everything in her power to ensure that the dinner goes by smoothly. She also seems to play a lot off the fact that she is the mother-in-law of a princess. By the end of the dinner, the publisher takes Twilight Velvet aside and tells her that she has been the one turning down her story, not the editor. She also voices her disappointment in the fact that Twilight's mother would stoop so low as to her actions during the dinner. Print Press then demands that Twilight Velvet rewrite the ending to her story, else she will be fired.

Pictures
The scene then jumps forward in time to where Twilight's family reflects on how Twilight Velvet had gone hysterical o the journey back home, worrying about inconsequential things, and spouting off insanely ridiculous scenarios ending in her doom. While Twilight Velvet stays in bed, the rest of the family goes out to do some grocery shopping, opting to complete Twilight Velvet's to-do-list. Spike and Nyx however stay at home. Nyx then delivers a sandwich to Twilight Velvet made by Spike. Twilight Velvet however, doesn't feel altogether comfortable with how Nyx simply stares at her immediately afterward, and so gives her the picture album Night Light had used to calm her down the night prior to entertain the little filly. She shares the stories behind many of the pictures in the album, and soon finds herself becoming rather attached to Nyx.

Later, the family comes back home to find Twilight velvet up and about, something they all were not expecting. Shining Armor has suspicions that Nyx brainwashed his mother into liking her. They all then prepare to light the logs they bought in the fireplace. However, while they wait for Night Light to stack them, Twilight, Cadence, and Nyx decide to set off Nyx's smaller ember in the barbecue pit out back. After they do so, Cadence puts out the fire and goes into the house. The two reporters then pop out of the snow they were hiding in and set about eavesdropping on the family. However, one of them re-lights the fire in the barbeque pit in an attempt to warm himself. The other reporter doesn't take kindly to this, and so he throws the ember away. It falls onto a large pile of the other logs the family bought howver, and soon enough there is a humoungous clounm of flame in the family's backward. The two reporters then escape without leaving a trace.