Twilight Sparkle the Foalsitter

by Hawk Noctis

Chapter 1: Arrival of the Guests

Twilight Sparkle the Foalsitter
By Hawk Noctis

Chapter 1: Arrival of the Guests

“Did you clean the shelves?!” Exclaimed Twilight frantically as she ran back and forth, making sure everything was in place. Spike sighed and rolled his eyes as he swept the dust off of the table.

“For the seventh time, yes. I took care of the shelves half an hour ago,” said Spike. He hopped off the chair and approached his adoptive sister. “Twilight, you really need to relax. It's just...” Spike was cut off as Twilight teleported directly in front of him, her eyes wide with panic.

“Relax? RELAX?! How can I relax when my brother and Cadence are going to be here soon?! Neither of them have ever been here before and I want this to be a good first impression!” Cried Twilight.

“Ah, right. We visited them in Canterlot three years ago when Blazing Star was born, and then of course his birthday party and the Hearth's Warming Eve party last year.” It hadn't been long after the wedding that they received the news that Cadence was expecting. A little less than a year later, the entire gang had gone up to visit the couple when their son was born. The young dragon glanced toward Twilight Sparkle and raised an eyebrow. “It's not like this is the first time we are meeting them. There really is no need to clean the place till it shines.”

“I don't want Cadence to stay in a dusty place! She is still royalty you know!”

Spike rolled his eyes again and put away the dust mop. “Twilight, I really don't think that Cadence will think less of you if she spots a spec of dust on your copy of Advanced Unicorn Spells Volume 7.”

“Well what about Blazing Star?! I don't want him thinking his Aunt is messy!”

“Yeah, somehow I doubt he will care for much beyond his next meal and playtime.” There was a knock on the door. Twilight's tail straightened out and went rigid. She then began to run back and forth, checking shelves and looking under chairs to make sure it was clean.

“Oh no oh no oh no oh no! Oh no!” Exclaimed Twilight in a tone of panic. “We're not ready yet!”

“Oh quit it would ya? Everything will be fine Twilight, you really don't need to make a big deal out of this,” said Spike as he walked toward the door. He opened the door and smiled as he saw who was on the other side. “Hey you guys! It's great to see you two.” Twilight looked over and rushed to the door as she saw Shining Armor and Princess Cadence standing there. Standing next to Cadence was a small light purple unicorn colt. He had dark blue hair with streaks of violet that went down the back of the young pony's neck. His big steel blue eyes starred up at Spike with awe.

“Mommy, is that a dragon?” He asked as he continued to stare at Spike.

“Yes it is. That's Spike, Twilight's Number One Assistant from what she has told me,” said Cadence as she smiled warmly at her son.

“You've met Spike before, I guess you were too young to remember it though,” added Shining Armor. Twilight grabbed Shining Armor and Cadence into a big hug.

“How are you two? It's been awhile!” She exclaimed happily, forgetting all the anxiety she had felt less than a minute prior to their arrival.

“It sure has Twilie! How have you been sis?” Asked Shining Armor.

“Same as ever. Studying, hangout out with my friends, you know... the usual. How about you and Cadence?”

“Well there has been some unsettling reports coming from the northern border of Equestria, but aside from that things are going well in Canterlot. I have to deal with the usual royal duties that come with being a Princess and all,” said Cadence.

“...Unsettling reports?”

“Yeah, for the past six months we have been getting more and more reports that...” Started Shining Armor.

“I'd rather we not go into detail about this in front of our son. He's too young to know about them,” interjected Cadence in a quiet tone. “We can talk about this later tonight.”

“Aw come on Cadence, he's old enough to...” One death glare from his wife was enough to silence Shining Armor. “Uh... I think I'll tell you later sis,” finished Shining Armor as he chuckled nervously.

A chill went up Twilight's spine at the mention of the northern border of Equestria. It was now common knowledge to ponies everywhere that the Changelings had come from the north miles away from Equestria. Pegasus scouts had confirmed the existence of massive hives in those lands, but no pony dared get too close to the hellish structures to do any further reconnaissance. Shortly after the incident at the Royal Wedding, Princess Luna and Celestia approved a new law that forbid passing beyond the border without royal permission. It was not strictly enforced however, there was no need. Few ponies or other creatures that ventured too far beyond the northern border returned home to tell the tale. Twilight shrugged off the grim subject and smiled at her guests.

“Well the party won't start for at least four or five hours. What are you two going to do until then?” Asked Twilight.

“We were thinking of walking around Ponyville for a bit, maybe grab a small meal at one of the restaurants,” said Cadence.

“Sounds like fun! I'm sure Blazing Star will enjoy himself!”

“Actually... if it's alright we were hoping you and Spike could look after Blaze for a little bit while we explore Ponyville for while. It's been awhile since we had time to ourselves,” said Shining Armor as he and Cadence gently rubbed their horns together. He then nudged Blazing Star playfully. “That and I'm sure Blaze doesn't want to hang around with Mom and Dad all day when he could spend time with his Aunt.”

“Yay! Auntie Twilight!” Exclaimed Blazing Star as he began to hop around in circles. Twilight hadn't expected to spend some quality time with her young nephew. She hadn't planned on it, but it would certainly be a great break from the intense studying she had done the previous day.

“Sure I don't mind. I haven't seen Blaze since the Hearth's Warming Eve party last year,” said Twilight as she watched the young colt continue his happy hop around the library.

“Great! Thanks Twilie,” said Shining Armor.

“You sure you can handle being a temporary foalsitter?” Asked Cadence. “Blaze can be a bit of a live wire at times.”

“Don't worry, it's only a few hours,” said Twilight. Twilight gazed down as she saw her young nephew starring up at her with his big eyes. “Besides, it'll be nice to spend some time with my first nephew,” she said as she gave the young colt a hug.

“Alright, then we will see you and your friends later today,” said Cadence.

“Okay, have fun you two!” With that, Cadence and Shining Armor left the library to see what Ponyville had to offer for tourists. As soon as the door closed, Twilight used her magic to pull out a series of books from one of the nearby shelves and hovered them just above Blazing Star. “You are in luck today Blazing Star! I've got plenty of books written just for young colts like you.” The colt's eyes shifted toward each book as he read the covers. He frowned after he had read all the covers. “Err... what's wrong? Don't see anything you want to read?”

“Reading is boring! I wanna do something else,” said Blazing Star.

“What? Reading? Boring? Reading a book is so much fun!” Exclaimed Twilight, completely baffled that there was a pony out there that didn't like reading. She placed the pile of books down onto the nearby table.

“Mommy says that all the time too. But I still think it's boring.” His eyes shifted toward Twilight's cutie mark and then he looked back up toward his aunt. “Could you teach me magic? I really really really REALLY want to learn how to use magic!” Exclaimed the little unicorn gleefully. Twilight was afraid that he was going to ask that. Cadence had told her in a letter from a year ago that Blaze was fascinated by magic and kept bugging his parents to teach him. Since her former foalsitter never exactly specified if her son had been taught anything yet, Twilight sided against the idea.

“I don't know if that's a good idea...” She said. Blaze lowered his head sadly and let out a disappointed sigh. Before Twilight could say anything else there was a knock on the door. “Hey Spike, see who is at the door.”

“On it,” said Spike as he approached the door. He opened it up, and there stood a young colt with white fur and large patches of brown fur on various parts of his body. He had a brown mane and big eyes of the same color. The colt had an ocean wave for a cutie mark. He wore a small saddle back with a big hardcover book sticking out. “It's Pip,” said Spike.

“Oh hey Pip. Are you here to return that book you borrowed?” Asked Twilight as she walked over toward the door.

“Yes I am!” Declared the young earth pony. He opened his saddle bag with his mouth and pulled out the copy of The Sea Pony: Fact or Fiction? that he had borrowed. Twilight enveloped the book with her magic and placed it on a tray to be sorted back in with the other books later. By now, the new visitor had drawn Blazing Star's curiosity. The young unicorn walked over to see the visitor up close.

“Wow you are an earth pony, right? I don't see many of them back home in Canterlot,” said Blazing Star.

“Yep, my name is Pipsqueak! But everyone calls me Pip for short.”

“I'm Blazing Star! Everyone calls me Blaze though.”

“Blaze is my nephew. My brother and his wife brought him along for a party we are having later today,” said Twilight. Suddenly, a loud growl came from Blaze's stomach. Twilight seemed startled at first by how loud it was, but then she started to giggle. “Hungry?”

“Yeah, we didn't get a chance to eat lunch before we came here. Mommy and Daddy were too busy with stuff.”

“Well there is a solution to that. I'll make you a daisy sandwich. Would you like one too, Pip?” Asked Twilight.

“I haven't eaten lunch yet either... but I only came here to return that book. I don't wanna intrude or anything.”

“Oh don't be silly, I'm sure Blaze would love to have some company closer to his age. It would be no trouble to make you a sandwich at all. Come on in, Pip.”

“Gee, thanks Twilight!” Exclaimed Pip as he walked in to the library and closed the door behind him.

“You are just saying that to keep Blaze from pestering you for lessons or reading through the books on m...” Spike was cut off as Twilight used her magic to pull a large book off the shelf, open it, and then close it shut on Spike.

“Come on in to the kitchen you two. Your sandwiches will be ready shortly!” The two colts followed Twilight into the kitchen and sat down at the small table.

“You are so lucky to have Twilight for an Aunt. She's really nice!” Said Pip as he looked over at Blazing Star.

“Mommy and Daddy always talked fondly about her. They say she's super smart and knows lots of stuff!” Declared Blaze. “Speaking of which, what do dragons eat Auntie Twilight? Will you be making a sandwich for Spike as well?”

“Well dragons can eat the same things that ponies do, but it's not their preferred choice of food. They mostly eat gemstones like rubies and sapphires.”

“And they are delicious!” Said Spike as he walked into the kitchen, eating an emerald. “Hay fries aren't too bad though. They make a fairly close second.” As Spike finished off his emerald he looked back toward the stairs that lead to the second level. “I'm still kinda hungry, I think I still have a sapphire in my collection somewhere.”

Before Spike could leave the kitchen, he suddenly belched out a scroll from Princess Celestia. He opened it and quickly skimmed the contents before handing it to Twilight. “Looks like Celestia sent feedback on your paper about theoretical spellcrafting.” Twilight took the document and began to read it for herself. Less than a minute later a wide grin appeared across the mare's face.

“She agrees with me! Not just with the advantage of safety but also the idea of preparing and researching before actually attempting to use the new spell!” Exclaimed Twilight happily. She then began to jump around happily and then took the document up to her room where she kept all her papers. She placed it down on her desk and was about to go down to the first floor when she saw Spike walking up the stairs.

“I'm surprised you can maintain that enthusiasm Twilight,” said Spike as he opened his small storage box of gems, looking for the last sapphire. “You get an A+ all the time on basically every single assignment. Wouldn't that become not as exciting after awhile?”

“Of course not Spike. This isn't praise from just anypony. It's from Princess Celestia herself!” Said Twilight cheerfully. “Now let's see if Blazing Star will find Daring Do boring! One little read aloud session and he'll be hooked on reading for sure!” She took her copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone and brought it downstairs. “Hey Blaze, I think I found something you would want to...” Twilight stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that Blaze was no longer in the kitchen. His plate had been placed in the sink but there was no trace of him. “Blaze?”

Twilight looked around the kitchen, but could not find the young colt. She searched the side rooms and all of the first floor, and still there was no sign of Blaze. Twilight's ear started to twitch in panic. “He must have gone upstairs to follow Spike. I just... didn't see him. He's probably up there!” Exclaimed Twilight frantically. In her panic, Twilight didn't notice Pip trying to get her attention.

“Um... Twilight. Blaze said...” Before Pip could finish, Twilight had already ran upstairs to look for the lost colt. Using her magic, Twilight began to throw various objects around the room as she searched for Blaze.

“Where could he have gotten to?! He can't have left the library!” Exclaimed Twilight. Blaze wouldn't possibly leave the library, right? There was no way he could have left without Twilight knowing about it. Then Twilight's eyes shifted over toward the balcony on the second level. As she got closer to the door she realized it was ajar. An alarm went off in Twilight's head as she began to panic even more. “Oh no! Spike!” Yelled Twilight at the top of her lungs. Several seconds later the young dragon came walking up the stairs.

“What is it Twilight? Pip was trying to tell me something before you...”

“It's Blaze! He's managed to get out of the library while we weren't looking!” Exclaimed Twilight fearfully.

Author's Note: Well that's the first chapter. I'll have the second chapter finished as soon as possible when I get the chance to work on it some more.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Uh oh, Twilight's already in over her head.

[Moon_Dew]

689501 And that's surprising how?

[SuperPinkBrony12]

690671 I never said I was 'Surprised' so to speak.

Also I think Pip MIGHT know something about where Blazing Star disappered to.

[AlTheDragon]

My theory, it ends with pip telling twilight something stupid like: "blaze said he was going to the bathroom", or " hes in the basement", "or hes reading a book". my guess then twilight is gonna twitch and have a convulsion or sometin and then

[fluttershywriter]

I've been waiting for the "Twilight-thinks-she's-responsible-enough-to-foalsit-and-ends-up-failing" story. This looks like it's going to be fun!