The sun crested over the horizon of Canterlot, Princess Celestia dutifully raising the yellow orb into the sky to begin another day for her citizens. Inside the Sparkle household, all ponies were still sleeping peacefully. Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Shining Armor, and Twilight Sparkle all dreamed without care. But one member of the household was stirred awake by the sunbeam hitting his eyes as he slept.
Spike The Dragon, just barely out of his hatchling years and now more of a toddler, yawned and stretched, blinking at the world around him. Asleep atop Twilight Sparkle, he rolled off of her and onto the bed, before he shook her awake with his tiny claws.
Twilight groaned. “Five more minutes.” She mumbled, turning onto her side.
Spike wouldn’t have it, and shook her again, babbling things that might have been actual words but Twilight’s sleep-addled mind couldn’t make sense of. Twilight sighed and sat up.
“Okay, Spike, okay I’m up.” She mumbled, and climbed out of bed onto her hooves, only for her baby dragon to hop onto her back, as was their custom. Twilight trudged out of her room and into the hall bathroom to use the toilet, settling Spike on a plush rug nearby as the young dragon sucked his claw. When she was done on the toilet and washed her hooves, she turned her attention to the tiny dragon. Spike, though a toddler now, was still in diapers. Potty training for him was scheduled to be in a few weeks, and she could only imagine the stars she would earn for completing that task. For now though, she might as well earn as many stars for taking care of Spike’s diapers.
She had opened the bathroom door to float in some supplies to change him, and so it was open when her parents came down the hall when hearing the door creak. They looked in to see their daughter in the midst of changing Spike’s diaper, and smiled.
“Looks like Twily’s getting an early start on earning her stars for the sibling supreme weekend.” Commented Velvet.
Twilight’s head whipped around, eyes bright and excited. “Really?!”
Nightlight nodded. “Taking care of a baby is a big chore, and a very responsible thing. I think you’ve earned you’re first star of the day, missy.”
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” Twilight squealed. She eagerly finished taping up Spike’s diaper.
Shining Armor moved grumpily out of his bedroom. “Can you please keep it down? Some of us are still trying to sleep.”
“Suuuure I’ll keep it down, Shiny. You can sleep the whole day away while I win the sibling supreme crown for the weekend! I’m already beating you for it!” She grinned.
“What?!” He looked to his parents for an explanation.
“She changed Spike’s diaper for the morning.” Nightlight explained.
“Oh!” He groaned. “Come on, that’s not fair! She gets stars all the time for taking care of Spike! That’s only one thing! I have to do a whole bunch of different things for my stars!”
“Now Shiny, you can either keep complaining about this, or you can help me make breakfast and earn your first star of the day. You want to win, don’t you?” Velvet said in a motherly tone.
His ears perked up at the mention of earning a star. “I’ll be right there!” Shining said, and dashed out of the hall.
Twilight giggled at the sight, and Spike managed to climb up onto her back on his own. She looked surprised.
“Wow, Spike! You’ve never done that before! Good job!” She grinned.
The dragon giggled and clapped from his place perched upon her back. Twilight trotted down the hall to where the chart for Sibling Supreme was kept, and happily added a star to her chart. She barely noticed Spike getting off of her back, picking up a yellow crayon, and clumsily drew a star for himself. He admired his work, before dropping his crayon and looking to Twilight. She looked down at him and giggled.
“Come on, Spike. Let’s get some breakfast.” She said.
The pair went to the kitchen where Shining Armor and Twilight Velvet were in the midst of making scrambled eggs for breakfast. When the eggs, perfectly fluffed, were slid onto plates, Shining was awarded his first star of the day. The competitive part of Twilight flared up, wanting to outdo her brother, so she offered to clear the table once she was done feeding Spike his breakfast. Both activities were worthy of stars, so the score thus far was Twilight with three and Shining with one.
As Twilight cleared the table, Spike watched with interest at the two competing siblings. He was still a baby, and thus didn’t completely understand all that was going on, but he understood a few things. The stars were good, and a big shiny crown was the reward. Those points of thought were able to be pieced together in his mind. He wanted the shiny crown! But… A lot of the time Twilight got the good stars for taking care of him. Much as he wanted the stars and the shiny crown, he wanted Twilight to be happy. Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t do good things too. So, when Twilight came back to get his tiny plate and silverware, he gathered them up and handed them to her like he’d seen her do at the table.
“Thank you, Spike!” She smiled, and nuzzled him quickly before taking his plate to the sink.
Spike smiled and clapped, satisfied with himself. He was going to get stars!
Breakfast soon transitioned into Playtime for the household’s younger members. Though Shining was in his pre teens now, he highly enjoyed playing with his little sister and her baby dragon. Playtime always came as an opportunity for more stars, too, so that didn’t hurt. Velvet and Nightlight watched over them as they tried to solve a puzzle together. That earned Shining a star for helping Twilight, and another one for stopping Spike from chewing on one of the pieces and giving him a teething ring instead. That tied up the score.
After the puzzle was done, board games were played, and they both earned stars for being good sports. Spike gave himself a star for not putting the small pieces in his mouth like he sometimes wanted to. By that point, it was nearly eleven in the morning. Twilight, Shining, and Spike all turned their heads in unison when they saw their mother carrying saddlebags.
“Mommy? Where are you going?” Asked Twilight.
“I’m afraid I have to go to the book store for a signing.” She said, looking sympathetically at her children.
“Does that mean I’m in charge?” Shining asked, chomping at the bit to earn more stars for being a good leader and foalsitter.
“Shiny, Daddy will still be here. But I wouldn’t leave him without an extra helping hoof, so Twily, Cadence is coming over to help look after you.”
Twilight squealed at the mention of her foalsitter, and Shining deflated at not being put in charge.
Velvet simply laughed at her children’s completely polar opposite reactions as she kissed each of her babies on the head as she went to leave, Shining blushing a little at that- seeing as how he thought he was too big to be kissed by his mother. Velvet simply shook her head at his folly. Someday when he had a foal of his own, he would understand.
“Be good!” She called to them before she headed out the door.
“Bye, Mommy!”
“Bye, Mom.”
When the door shut, Nightlight felt the spotlight of parenting turn to him. Luckily, he knew how to handle it.
“Alright kids, let’s try and do something outside. It’s a beautiful day out today, and I want you to enjoy it!” He said.
Shining and Twilight didn’t need any more provocation than that, and with Twilight scooping Spike upon her back, the three of them raced out the back door.
Spike laughed as Twilight trotted along, enjoying the way he bounced slightly on her back. He loved to be outside. They had a small sandbox in the yard, and Twilight immediately challenged her brother to building sandcastles. While the two of them went at it, Spike was happily digging holes in the sandbox, giggling as he pretended to dig for whatever treasure might be there. And there very well might be treasure there. Twilight’s parents hid small toys or plastic gold coins in the sandbox fairly often to surprise them and make all of them feel like they found something. Spike dug his hole, sometimes with a tiny shovel, and other times simply with his claws, loving the feel of the warm sand between his fingers. He barely noticed the competition going on at all, he was so focused on his own digging, but when he thought he saw a star shape on one of the castles, he remembered what was going on. He stopped digging his hole, and made his way to Twilight, pulling lightly on her small tail.
Twilight turned to him. “What is it, Spike?” She asked.
Spike pointed to the star shape she had drawn on her castle, and then to himself.
Twilight smiled. “Oh! Do you want to guard my castle?” She asked.
Spike shook his head no, and pointed to the star again with a little whine.
“The star? You want-“
She was interrupted by another voice. “I hear there’s a sandcastle contest going on here!”
Twilight immediately reacted, squealing jubilantly as she turned to see Cadence there. She got up out of the sandbox and went to hug her. Cadence chuckled and hugged her back. Then, they did their traditional greeting.
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” They said together as they did the appropriate motions. When it ended and they both stopped giggling, Cadence spoke.
“Do you two need a judge for the sandcastle contest?” She asked Twilight.
“Please?!” Twilight begged.
Cadence nodded and went over to the sandcastles. Shining’s castle was more architectural, with a moat, several smaller castles atop the base, and some texturing. Twilight’s, by contrast, was simpler but more decorated. An amalgamation of Twigs, leaves, flowers, and small stones decorated her castle, with a leaf put on a stick on the top to make a flag. Cadence studied both castles for a long time, and eventually declared it a tie. They both got a star for it.
A round of kite flying followed, Cadence helping Twilight with hers and giving them an edge, to where they got a star for working together by Nightlight. Shining had pouted about that, but he had to admit that it was a nice kite.
The competition continued on, rolling into lunch. Shining and Cadence ended up making lunch, while Twilight got Spike changed. She fed the baby dragon his lunch, while Shining mumbled complaints about Twilight getting extra stars for caring for Spike, until he was silenced by his father asking him to Clear his plate. When Shining immediately complied, Nightlight smirked. He knew when to use diversionary tactics. He’d have to tell Velvet about this later. She’d appreciate it, he knew.
After lunch was a whirlwind for Spike, who was caught up in the hurricane of sibling rivalry, healthy as it might have been. Contests, competitions, stars going up on boards so quickly it made him dizzy. Velvet returned just before dinner, and Cadence stayed with them, leaving shortly after.
Not long after Cadence’s departure, it was time for Spike to head to bed. Twilight tucked him into bed, and soon fell asleep herself, with the day’s activities done. Shining went to bed, and they all slept, smiling in anticipation for the next day.
Sunday seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. It was chore day around the house, so Twilight and Shining earned their stars by helping their parents. Shining swept the porch, Twilight helped her father make a chart for a meeting, and Spike colored said chart with the crayons provided. It was impressive that he managed to say mostly inside the lines. Shining swept, Twilight mopped, Spike helped dust with his tiny tail, and they all went to the park for a picnic lunch as a treat for getting their chores done so quickly. Lunch quickly devolved into contests, with Twilight and Shining competing to see who could swing the highest while Spike was pushed on a baby swing by Velvet’s magic.
When the time at the park was over, multiple stars were earned, a few by Spike himself. This evolution continued into dinner, and on until it was nearly time for him to go to bed. Sunday was when they crown of Sibling Supreme was awarded, and they always did it before Spike’s bedtime so he could feel like he was a part of it. A lesser part of it might have been that they did not want to leave him on his own while they went to award the crown, but they liked to think of the first as the primary reason.
Twilight Velvet held the crown in her magic. “This week’s Sibling Supreme goes to… Twilight Sparkle!” She cheered, and floated the crown onto Twilight’s head.
Spike giggled and clapped for her, proud that she felt so accomplished. He watched Twilight give a somewhat boasting smirk to Shining Armor, who simply rolled his eyes.
“Next week, Twily, you won’t be so lucky."
“Luck had nothing to do with it!” Twilight said. “I learned!”
Shining allowed himself a partial smirk at her words. “You did. But you don’t know everything.”
“Yet.” Twilight added with a sly grin.
Twilight went over to Spike, picking him up and settling him on her back as she prepared to take him upstairs to bed. She kissed her parents goodnight, gave her brother a (mostly) earnest hug, and turned to leave.
As Twilight left the basement, Spike was staring at the chart. Twilight and Shining both had lots of stars, but that wasn’t what caught his eye. He had a lot of stars too! More than he had ever had before! He couldn’t help but think that someday, when he was a big dragon, he would get the Sibling Supreme crown. He liked how shiny it was, and he wanted to be just like Twilight and Shining Armor. Someday, it would be on his head.
Twilight took him to the bathroom to get him changed into his nighttime diaper, and he found his eyelids closing. He was moved, feeling like he was floating, onto Twilight’s bed to snuggle with her. He wasn’t quite ready to have his own bed yet. As she tucked him and herself into bed for the night.
Twilight gave him a kiss. “Goodnight, Spike.”
Spike smiled very faintly, a claw entering his mouth as he drifted off to slip. That night his head was filled with dreams. Someday, he would be the Sibling Supreme. He just knew it.