//------------------------------//
// Mom? 
// Story: Fear Me, for My Name is Twaith! 
// by Michael Hudson 
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	“Waaah! Waaah!”

Celestia grit her teeth as Spike started howling for the fourth time in the same hour. She had fed it some ice cream, made sure it had burped, and even given it some hot milk, but nothing kept it quiet. It doesn’t help that this seems to be a growing trend as of late.

She trotted over to the the small creature while her magic kept a quill furiously signing papers for Luna’s reinstatement. He latched onto the hoof Celestia lowered and she gave him a weak smile. “It’s very stressful on all of us, so please, please, Spike, just calm down. We’ll go see your mommy soon, okay? Maybe that will calm you.”

For a few seconds, all was quiet while Spike let out a small, green flame against her hoof. She kept her breath in though, and wasn’t entirely surprised when Spike started howling again. While she wasn’t surprised though, Celestia had had enough.

“Stop!”

The entire castle shook as Celestia slammed her hooves onto the ground and accidentally let out a burst of magic. Spike’s crib started to spin away, quickly approaching a wall. Her eyes went wide as she realized what was to happen and galloped towards him. She was just too late to stop the inevitable though.

Crash!

Celestia stared at the fragments of the crib as it scattered about. Her eyes searched for the little one she absolutely had to save. She could never live with herself if Spike had actually been hurt. That was when she heard a thud right next to her, and saw the young dracolich’s skull with a crack in its jaw.

She stepped closer to it and lowered herself. One of her hooves pulled it closer and rubbed the side as she felt her cheeks flush. “No, no, no, no, no.” She pulled it to her stomach, now entirely coiled around it. “Please, I just got my sister back. I know I was annoyed, but… but I didn’t mean to!”

The skull tried to slip out of her grasp, but she wasn’t about to let it go, so she strengthened her grip on it. A small cracking sound caused her to jump, afraid that her strong forehooves had damaged it. More cracks came from the skull as it started to roll, the bone becoming larger, rounder, and the spikes becoming more prominent.

Slowly, all of the bones came back together. First, a layer of ice formed over each joint as they connected with one another. They would then flex as darkness poured itself over the structure, putting the dracolich’s skin back on. Finally, gouts of green and black magic came from its mouth and eyes before the auras coiled back over the whole body.

The magic was only just beginning to fade when Celestia trotted over. Turning him over, she could see that Spike had grown, though not by much if she were honest. He still wore his faded greens and purples, with the bones of his claws now entirely showing. His eyes opened and glowed green, before a blink got the magic to settle back in him, though his irises still shone with that earlier light.

The two made eye contact and Spike smiled. “Mommy?”

Her heart almost stopped as she slowly opened her mouth. Twilight was technically his mother, but she was in Ponyville. And even when she was here, she didn’t spend that much time with Spike, at least not as much time as she should. She shut her eyes and swallowed hard. She still is his mother, not I.

“N-no. I’m sorry.”

Spike shook his head as he stood. Celestia’s chest swelled with pride and she had to stop the tears in her eyes from coming back. She stepped away from him as he took an unsteady step forward, but immediately zoomed forward as Spike started to fall. He wrapped his claws tight around her foreleg. “I got you.”

Celestia started to tremble as she wrapped him into her hooves. “Yes. You’ve got me.”

“I love you, mommy.”

Not even a near goddess like herself could stop herself as she cried like the baby in her arms.