“Hip-ungh,” moaned Flurry Heart upon finishing off her bottle.
Spike had managed to suck the jewel into his mouth enough to begin chewing it as he removed the empty bottle from baby Flurry Heart’s mouth.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he gulped down the last of the jewel.
“Ungh… Hip!” hiccupped the infant Alicorn as she began to cry while moving her hooves along her stomach.
Spike thought quickly back on the instructions on caring for a foal that Twilight had given him.
“This could be one of two things,” he said with a gulp. “And both are messy.”
“Hip-up, ungh…,” gasped a tearful Flurry Heart. Her eyes were fixated on Spike with a look of desperation to stop whatever it was that was making her hurt so much in her tummy.
“Okay,” said the purple dragon as he gently positioned Flurry Heart against his chest, helped her to move her head over his shoulder, and supported her bottom with one of his hands. “Here goes…”
PAT-PAT-PAT-PAT-PAT
Flurry Heart moaned as she felt something build up inside her.
“Hip-bwah!” spit the powder-pink colored Alicorn as undigested milk flew out of her mouth, landed on Spike’s shoulder, and began to run down his back.
Spike cringed upon feeling the spit-up that was now oozing down himself. He wanted to get it off, but he remembered that he needed to continue to pat the baby’s back until she stopped sounding upset.
***
A few innocent burps later, Flurry Heart became silent.
“Are we good?” asked the green-bellied dragon as he held Flurry Heart over so he could face her. His forced smile hopefully not coming off too obvious as he resisted the urge to run for the bathroom to get the spit-up off his scales.
“Hee!” grinned the little Alicorn as a rush of sour-milk scented breath met Spike’s nose.
Spike felt the muscles in his cheeks strain to retain the smile he was forcing as he tried to resist coming off offensive to the baby Alicorn. He could already smell the spit-up that was on his shoulder, but the scent of it from her mouth right to his nose made him just want to gag. However, he knew babies were very sensitive to how their caretakers reacted to them. The last thing he wanted to do was upset her over something she couldn’t control.
“Ungh,” Flurry Heart suddenly grunted while closing her eyes and growing a bit red in the face.
“Oh, no!” exclaimed Spike. “Both ends?”
Spike stood up and carefully held Flurry Heart under her front hooves as her face grew redder and the grunts grew more consistant.
“Bathroom,” panicked Spike. “Bathroom.”
***
A newly unwanted scent had begun to fill the air as Spike and Flurry Heart entered into the bathing chamber.
“Unnngh,” the baby Alicorn strained.
“This is one of those situations I have to help her, isn’t it?” Spike asked himself as he remembered another part of his babysitting training. You definitely wanted a foal to have at least one ‘movement’ per day, but you didn’t want them to hurt themselves while doing it. So, as he also had to practice on his Rarity plush, he knew he had to hold her and perform the ‘Tummy Massage’ he was taught.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he gulped as he cradled the grunting foal and started to gently use one of his claws to make soft, circling motions upon her stomach.
SPLAT
Spike blushed as he knew, and smelled, what just happened in Flurry Heart’s diaper. However, her face looked a lot less red and her straining had gone down considerably.
***
After Flurry Heart finished with her ‘business’, Spike went about the task of cleaning her up and changing her diaper. Fortunately, he knew how to keep her from fussing as he went about this particular activity. So, with pursed lips, the emerald-eyed dragon spewed his ethereal breath above the foal as he rushed to ensure she was as clean and happy as she could be.
“This works for me, too,” grinned Spike while using the lavender-scented wipes to wipe off the spit-up from his shoulder and back. He thought about taking another bath, but he was too tired to go through what he had earlier and he definitely didn’t feel he had enough strength in his lungs to do another fire breath performance.
“How’s about…,” he started to say while yawning. “A nap, little princess?”
Flurry Heart smiled as she, too, let out a yawn.
“Okay, let’s get you to bed.”
***
Flurry Heart offered no resistance to Spike as he carried her against his chest back to her nursery. If anything, she was helping him by continuing to nuzzle and press herself against his body while they made their way into the room.
“Okay,” yawned Spike. “Here we are.”
Spike moved to place Flurry Heart into her crib, but she immediately whimpered and pressed herself even more firmly against the dragon’s chest.
Not feeling up for a struggle, Spike first thought about resting in the rocking chair with her. However, he remembered how Shining Armor shared a frightening story of a time he did this and she rolled out of his hooves onto the floor. The next thought was to lie with her on the floor, but that didn’t sound very comfortable.
“Why not,” sighed Spike while using his free hand to lower the crib gate before sliding himself and Flurry Heart inside. He then raised the gate, turned the baby Alicorn’s baby blanket into a makeshift pillow, and rested himself upon his back while supporting the infant crystaling against his chest.
“This is harder than I thought,” remarked Spike with a whisper as he closed his eyes. “And this is only the first day.”
***
Spike and Flurry Heart quickly fell asleep together. The warmth of her fur and body easing Spike while his steady heartbeat and breathing soothed the tiny filly.
This peace would certainly be short lived, but it definitely gave Spike the briefest of moments before succumbing to slumber to wonder if he was just as much of a handful when he was a baby.