One of the greatest gifts that Fluttershy had ever given to Yosh was a pet duck who got all the frozen peas and feed corn it ever wanted in exchange for being an alarm clock.
QUACK-QUA-QUA-QUACK!
“Oh!” gasped Yosh as he was snapped out of a dream. In it he vividly saw a pony named Rainfeather who had a magical feather that could make it rain. The two were playing with other ponies alongside blue ducks in a warm summer rain.
QUA-QUACK-QUACK!
“Thanks, Mel,” spoke a very sleepy dragon-duck as he toddled over Spike, past a still awake Twilight, and opened a drawer in his dresser containing a bowl of feed corn he had prepared the night before.
QUA-QUA-QUA
The mallard duck quacked lightly as Yosh placed the food bowl at the edge of his window. It was usually around this time when the dragon-duck remembered anything he thought he saw was nothing more than a hallucination of his brain trying to compensate for his non-functional eyes.
“I see Mel is ‘quacking’ out for you?” joked a very over-tired Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“Yeah,” he replied lightly as he checked to see if he needed to change his diaper. He had noticed that he was starting to genuinely catch if he had to go before he made a mess of himself. It was a nice feeling to have control over something. However he wasn’t so fortunate this morning.
“Make it stop,” griped Spike as he swatted at the air. “I need more sleep.”
“Sorry, Spike,” chuckled Twilight as she lifted the blanket from her assistant to reveal him all curled up with his Rarity plush. “We did tell Mel to wake us so we had enough time to get our things together for our big trip.”
“And let me guess…,” yawned the green-spiked dragon. “You were up all night studying Canine Crossroads?”
“I was,” gleed twilight. “There’s not much known except that the Diamond Dogs left feeling there was no future there without a stable leader.”
Spike rolled onto his back and watched Mel peck at his corn.
“And they feel they have good leadership now?” he pondered. “Rarity threw them all off just by being her beautiful and wonderful self. Plus they smell, hide in caves, and barely ever barter their gems for anything useful.”
“Now don’t judge,” corrected Twilight. “We don’t know the whole story and we may be able to make some great new friends by helping out at their hometown.”
Yosh toddled out in just a diaper that featured Rarity’s cutie mark, three blue diamonds, at its sides.
“Still having potty problems?” asked Spike as he tried to hold back his displeasure that anyone would ever soil something of Rarity’s creation.
“I think I’m getting better?” the duck-dragon asked with a finger to his bill. “It’s the ones that get me more than the twos.”
QUACK, QUACK
“Good to go, Mel?” asked Yosh as he made his way towards the window to see his friend off. “Doodle Noodle will be by to feed you until I get back.”
“I understand having Mel wake you in the morning,” stated Spike as he started packing his Rarity plush into his backpack. “But why do you need him to quack at you before bed?”
Yosh shrugged as twilight perked her ears.
“I really can’t tell the difference between day and night,” he replied. “So Mel is like my way of knowing when to wake up and when to go to bed.”
“At least he doesn’t tell you to stop reading comic books or wake you up too early to help sort notecards,” quipped spike.
“Ha, ha,” shrugged Twilight while using her magic to put all her things into a pair of saddle bags. “Now if you want any breakfast before we leave you better get yourself up-and-at-em.”
“I’m good to go!” cheered Yosh as he finished putting on his clothing. He had a laundry system that allowed him to know exactly where things were so he could easily get to his outfits. However most of his clothing sets were blue shorts, a white T-Shirt with a star on it, and a blue vest.
“I keep forgetting what a morning dragon you are,” moaned Spike as he worked to ensure all his supplies were with him. He took extra care with the Rarity plush to make sure ‘she’ didn’t feel all smushed.
“Starlight says Princess Celestia makes delicious pancakes,” grinned Twilight. “Not that I’d know as that happened on ‘her’ friendship mission. After all, Starlight had everything under control and the map did choose her instead of me and…”
Yosh and Spike laughed and joked to themselves as their walk to the kitchen was filled with every possible explanation from Twilight except, “I couldn’t stop freaking out so I was nosy and got some free pancakes out of it.”.