Twilight Sparkle armored herself with a tough smirk and a schoolmarm’s stern, hardened demeanour. It came natural now, like second nature, even after her long sojourn. She could be a foalsitter… or a nanny… or even a governess, she was sure of it. The Royal Brood wasn’t so scary. Holding her head high, she watched as Spike returned alone, after being sent to fetch Starlight Glimmer.
In his claws, he clutched a note, which he passed to her.
Unfolding it, she held it aloft in her magic, and read its words aloud, “Sorry, had to help with the preparations for the Crystal Cotillion in the Crystal Empire. If you don’t believe that, I ran out of coffee! My wagon wheel broke! I didn’t have the bits for train fare! I lost my gown at the cleaners! I locked my keys in my saddlebags! Sunburst came in from out of town! Somepony stole my wagon! Sumac and Vinyl caused another earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO CELESTIA!”
With her lip curling back into a snarl, Twilight crumpled up the note, set it ablaze, allowed it to burn, and her eyes narrowed into dangerous looking slits. “I have been betrayed by mine own student. I shall deal with her… later…”
Cringing, Spike wrung his claws together. “Twilight, what do we do?”
“Same thing we always do, Spike.” Twilight looked down at her beloved assistant, and saw fear in his eyes. “I boldly go into the face of danger, ignorant and oblivious to the peril ahead, and you do your best to keep me from having a nervous breakdown while I go in further and further over my own head.”
“Okay,” Spike said, and he offered up an apprehensive nod. “You’ve changed, Twilight. I like this new, honest approach.”
On the spot, Twilight made a plan, dubbing it ‘Operation Bedtime.’ “Spike, you’re going to bathe Nuance. Just humour him. He likes baths and you like baths, so work from that angle. He shouldn’t be too much trouble. I am going to go and try and quiet Corbie, because she’s still crying—”
Both Spike and Twilight took a moment to listen to the wailing echoing through the castle.
“—and I think that Seville can put Radiance to bed.”
“Do you think this will work?” Spike asked.
“What could possibly go wrong?” Twilight responded, and she fought to keep the quaver out of her reply. “Now, go on! Look after Nuance. Pamper him with a bubble bath. Do whatever it takes, just try to get him in bed by a reasonable hour.”
“Okay.” Spike sighed, then nodded as he turned about.
Twilight watched him waddle off and she took a deep breath. How hard could it be to make Corbie stop crying? Surely she could quiet the little pegasus filly, and when she did, Corbie could and would be tucked into bed with a loving smooch. Everything would be fine, just fine, and the pegasus trick of calming a little pegasus foal by sticking their head beneath a wing didn’t seem hard at all. In maybe a minute or two—five tops—Corbie would be quieted down and calmed.
“I have a bath-servant.”
Spike didn’t roll his eyes and—somehow—he maintained his seriousness, determined to let Nuance think whatever he might like. So far there hadn’t been a problem, and the colt was gleeful to be getting a bath. This was going to be easy, so very easy, and Spike suspected that, between himself and Twilight, he had the much easier task .
“I demand lavender and eucalyptus bubble bath,” Nuance said and he tossed his head back while letting out a tiny, dignified snort.
Nodding, Spike figured he could do that. He liked lavender and eucalyptus bubble baths himself; something about them was calming after a stressful day. Nuance was following him, the colt a little slow, a little hesitant perhaps, and Spike had a genuine concern about Nuance being hurt after having been kicked by his bigger, stronger brother.
“It’s nice having a dragon servant,” Nuance said, being conversational.
Something almost came out of Spike’s mouth, but then he realised that this was Nuance being nice. The colt was being pleasant enough, and he wasn’t being too snotty. For the sake of peace, Spike decided to just remain quiet and let Nuance talk. This was a task where patience would be rewarded, and when it was done, he would have the satisfaction of a job done well.
“You’re not going to leave me alone in there, are you?” Nuance asked, and there was fear in his voice.
“No,” Spike replied. “Why?”
“I’m not very strong.” Nuance licked his lips, nervous. “If I go under, I have trouble pulling myself up out of the water. It’s scary.”
“I’ll get into the tub with you,” Spike offered.
“I’d like that.” Nuance’s voice now sounded strange, strained maybe. “Once, Rad held me down underneath the water. I almost died. He was punished.”
Spike wasn’t so sure he believed Nuance, but he said nothing as he continued down the hall. Walking past Starlight’s door, he scowled, resenting her just a little for fleeing during a time of crisis. Okay, maybe this wasn’t quite a crisis, but this was a time when having help around was a boon, and now she was off in the Crystal Empire, no doubt snogging Sunburst.
Disgusting.
The sounds that came out of her room when Sunburst came to visit. Gross!
“Here we go.” Spike pointed with his claws at a door. “This is the bathroom for this wing. There is just a bathtub in there. The toilet and the sink is behind the next door over, and there is a door connecting the two rooms. Always knock.”
“The bathroom must be shared?” Nuance came to a halt and stood there, agast.
“Yes. And if you need any help for any reason, you come and find me. Got it?” Spike folded his forearms over his chest and gave the thin little colt a good squint.
“Um, the toilet…” Nuance shuffled his hooves against the floor. “Corbie has a big fat butt and Rad is so much bigger… it isn’t fair!” The colt looked down at his front hooves. “I’m so small, it’s kind of dangerous up there and it is hard to balance on the edge and I—”
“I understand,” Spike said, keeping his voice neutral. “Like I said, if you need help with anything, you come and find me.”
“Thank you.” Nuance lifted his head and stared at Spike with a strange, unreadable expression.
It wasn’t working. Twilight blinked, not sure what to do. She was sitting on a couch with Corbie, who continued to cry even with her head tucked beneath Twilight’s wing. Things were getting snotty and gross under there, which meant that Corbie was getting slimy and gross. She would need to be cleaned up when this was finally over.
If it ever ended.
Like most little pegasus foals, and even quite a few pegasus ponies, Corbie was a clingy, physical creature, one who did not put much stock in something like equinal space. Turning her head, Twilight looked over at Corbie’s glasses, which sat on an ornamental table beside the couch. She wracked her brain, trying to figure out what she was doing wrong even as Corbie’s powerful lungs allowed the foal to continue to wail with considerable volume.
Rainbow Dash too, was a clingy, physical creature, prone to flopping down atop another pony and taking a nap. And according to the book Twilight had read, it was rude to wake a napping pegasus, as they were peculiar and trusting about where they took their naps. There was an etiquette she was still unfamiliar with, and might have even forgotten a little during her long trip.
Much to Twilight’s relief, she saw Seville. The sunny yellow-orange earth pony strode with a quiet confidence, and she hoped that maybe he knew how to quiet Corbie. Being Gosling’s best friend and constant companion, he had to know how to quiet Corbie. When he drew nearer, Twilight lifted her head and gave him a frazzled, twitching smile.
“How is Radiance?”
“Little Rad?” Seville looked as though he was musing over the question before offering his answer. “The little guy was asleep before his head hit the pillow. He is not a night pony. When the sun goes down, so does he.”
“And when the sun comes up?” Twilight felt a prickle of fear.
“Oh, he is there to greet it.” Seville looked Twilight in the eye. “You don’t like sleeping in, do ya?”
Swallowing, Twilight did not reply. When the nights were long, sleeping in was a treat, and sometimes, a necessity. With light, quick movements, Seville lept up onto the couch and settled in. After squirming a bit, he settled into the pony-loaf position, and then focused upon Corbie with a patient, calm expression.
“Crying won’t bring him back,” he said to the distressed filly.
Twilight saw Seville look up, and for a moment, their eyes met. She felt a spark, a tingle, what could only be described as a pang of curiousity. It only lasted a moment before Seville looked away, and she was left wanting, needing to look into those green eyes once more. Just as she was about to say something, maybe even something profound, another pony entered the room.
Pinkie Pie looked a little tired, a bit droopy, and she waved at both Twilight and Seville. Sighing, her hooves dragging, she made her way to the couch and flopped down on the other side of Twilight. She lay on her side, exhausted, and began taking deep, heavy breaths to fill her lungs.
“Sly… he’s a little... boisterous? Is that a good word, Twilight?”
Taking some time to consider Pinkie’s question, Twilight mulled it over, giving it actual thought. Boisterous was a good word, she thought. Conviviality would work too. Sly was a lot of fun to play with, but also exhausting. He kept his mother, Maud, in peak physical fitness. Somehow, Pinkie Pie remained nice and jiggly even with all of the running she did, but it was obvious from how she panted that she was out of shape.
It was then that Twilight realised that Corbie wasn’t crying. It had stopped at some point, and she had failed to notice when. How was this possible? Beneath her wing, she could feel Corbie sniffling and Twilight could feel the filly’s face against her ribs. Everything felt gross, wet, and sticky. Was this what motherhood was supposed to feel like?
“Do you have my spoon?” Corbie asked in a faint, squeaky voice.
“Spoon?” Both of Twilight’s eyebrows lifted.
“Yes, you little knucklehead, I checked your bag. Your spoon was packed.” Seville turned to look at Twilight once more. “Goose entered an ice cream eating contest. Almost gave himself terminal brain freeze. Got third place. His prize was a souvenir silver spoon with the city crest of Tall Tale on it.” Seville paused, his eyes grew unfocused, and he reminisced in silence for but a moment.
“Corbie stole his spoon every chance she got, so one day, Goose, he ties a pretty purple ribbon around the stem of the spoon and he gives it to her, saying she can keep it. Sometimes, she sings to it when she’s missing her daddy—”
“Stop embarrassing me!” Corbie whined from beneath Twilight’s wing.
“I just got done helping to give one foal a bath, and my Pinkie-Sense says another foal needs a bath.” Pinkie Pie let out an exasperated huff, rubbed the side of her face against the couch cushion, and scratched at her ribs with one hind hoof. “I have the itchies. There’s bugs outside.”
“You finally caught Sly. Did he get bored or tired?” Twilight pulled her gaze away from Seville to look over at Pinkie.
“”He stopped to ‘meep meep’ poor Lily and she just about fainted. He felt so bad that he just stood there, looking all sad, and he let us catch him. He apologised to Lily for spooking her. That took most of the run out of him. See, I keep telling ponies that Sly Pie isn’t a bad sort, he’s just… um—”
“Boisterous,” Twilight said, picking up where Pinkie had trailed off.
Pinkie Pie continued to scratch her ribs with her hind hoof, making slow, methodical strokes that went from rib to rib. “Yeah, that’s a good word, I wish I had thought of it.”
Hearing this made Twilight smile. “Pinkie Pie, how about you help me give Corbie a bath, and then we’ll tuck her into bed?”
“Okay, but then, you have to tuck me into bed, not laugh at my onesie pajamas, and read me a story,” Pinkie replied.
“I make no promises about not laughing at your onesie pajamas…”