//------------------------------// // The Centerpiece // Story: Bugsydor's Cryogenic FicFrag Storage // by Bugsydor //------------------------------// "Rarity, did you hear?" Spike said, waving his arms frantically. "The Cakes just had twins!" "That's wonderful news, Spikey-wikey. Hmm... What to bring them as a gift? I could always go with a gold nugget, I suppose. It's traditional, but it's just so impersonal." "Tradition?" Spike replied, raising one scaly eyebrow. "I guess it is sorta their birthdays, but aren't they a little too small to appreciate presents right now?" Rarity tittered. "Nonsense, Spike. Every hoard needs to start somewhere, and it's my responsibility as a friend of the family to do my part. At least, that's how it was explained to me when we did this for Sweetie Belle. Friends and extended family crawled out of the woodwork from all over to pitch in for hers. And for mine too, I suppose. "Come now, Spike!" she said, prancing over to what could only be described as a treasure chest and unlocking it with her magic. "If we pick out something just right for one of the foals, it could end up as their hoard's centerpiece!" And then various beautifully crafted odds and ends began to spill into the air, each one wrapped in her telekinesis's blue glow. 'It's funny,' Rarity mused as she and Spike rummaged through the chest of semi-valuables for something appropriate, 'I never saw any eggs around the Cakes' residence. They must have been keeping them warm in the oven.' "Aha!" she cried out, holding her prizes aloft: a crystalline mallet and a topaz-encrusted tiara. "They're perfect." "You sure? How do you figure? And aren't those a little big for foals?" "In reverse order: Three, they'll grow into them later, and they're going to be kept in a hoard most of the time anyway. Two, a mare just knows these things, Spike. And one, absolutely. "Now let's go and see these precious foals!" She flounced to the front and slammed the boutique's doors open dramatically, before some of the certainty evaporated from her eyes. "Actually, where are they?" "They were just born, so, at the hospital?" "WHAT?!"