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// Diamonds aren't just for fillies 
// Story: A Butterfly and her Dragon 
// by Writer-0 
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Taking in the rather small reptile was something of a small event for the household. The Shy's meant to keep it on the down low for as long as possible, but when you have to deal with the regular trials of a newborn, your house would be anything but quiet.

It didn't help either that Spike would burp fire almost every hour on the hour. Fortunately, the hole he created in the house wall made a rather convenient window, so anytime he showed the signs, Fluttershy would take him to it so he could let it out. Great for the house, not so great for the occasional victim.

Nobody really gave them a hard time for their choice to take the dragon in, except for the occasional concerned citizen and Zephyr, who had yet to stop complaining about his burnt mane. Rainbow's parents also initially held some reservation about their daughter hanging out with Spike, though she was able to calm their worries with ease, no matter how sore her hoof still felt. The little dude was now someone important to Fluttershy, so now she would stick by his side as she would by Fluttershy's.

Boy was she regretting that decision right about now.

"Oh come on!" As if trying to bite her hoof off wasn't annoying enough, she now had to worry about losing her tail too. The baby thankfully only bit for a second, but the pain was still enough to cause momentary grief. "Do I look like a buffet to you? I'm candy colored, not candy flavored."

"Sorry Rainbow, he's teething." Fluttershy apologized as she held a small green container with a spoon inside. "Time to eat, little Spikey. Here's something yummy to keep you strong." The baby refused, holding his head high to avoid any contact with his mouth. "Spike, you need to start eating. You'll get sick if all you do is chew on Rainbow.."

"Trust me, I'm already sick of it."

Spike remained defiant, knocking the spoon out of his caretaker's hoof. The consequences were unavoidable after that.
"Now Spike, I've been very, very patient with you." Fluttershy's voice lowered but the volume increased. "I loved taking in that sweet, adorable dragon to my family, and I love you. The least you can do is eat something." Spike eyes were now forced onto Fluttershy's eye's as they were now wide eyed and angry. For a good 20 seconds, the hatchling felt alone and terrified, like every scary thought he could ever conceive was now appearing right before him in some kind of horrible amalgamation of horror. "Otherwise, I wont be happy, and when I'm not happy, then you won't be.."

The dragon practically swallowed the entire spoon before she could finish. It felt icky and slimy, but the less he saw the filly in whatever state this was, the better.

Rainbow herself held her jaw at the scary sight, not sure if this was impressive or terrifying. She wasn't sure if it was the passive or aggressive side of her speech that made her feathers stand on the edge. "Flutt-Fluttershy, what was that?"
"It's something I've been working on ever since I got my cutie mark. I just focus really hard and ask." Fluttershy said with absolutely no trace of the tone she had before.

'Should I be worried about this?'. Fluttershy not being walked over was a nice thing, but that little performance actually made her feel sorry for the dragon. "I'm not going to see that every time I come over, will I?"

"Oh, I certainly hope not. I find it a tad too extreme to use. I just really needed to get him to eat something." Fluttershy let out a long breath, sinking to her stomach before turning on her back. It was here that Rainbow Dash was finally able to get a close look at her friend. Her mane was very unkempt, even more so than her own, and her eyes were a little dark and heavy. "He keeps rejecting everything I give him.

"Whoa, Fluttershy, I know you're the one that brought him here, but shouldn't your parents be taking care of this kind of stuff? You look like you haven't slept in a while."

"Mom and Dad are still getting used to living with a dragon. It's hard enough trying to get them in the same room together." For as supportive as they were, it was hard to appreciate it when her parents were doing it from a distance. "It wouldn't be much of a problem if I knew what he needed to eat, but none of the baby food my parents bought seems to make him happy."

"Aren't there books on this type of thing? I mean, I'm not exactly an egghead, but shouldn't there be some sort of instruction manual on how to train your dragon or something at the library?"

"No, no. I haven't found anything. Ponies are too scared too actually get close enough to study." Being so close to Spike now, that almost felt like a silly superstition. "I didn't think about this long enough. How am I going do this?"

Before Rainbow Dash could offer a comforting wing, the door to Fluttershy's room got busted wide open, and the mild severity of the situation seemed to have gotten sucked out the window and replaced with something much worse.

"HEL-LO EVERY-PON-Y!" Zephyr exclaimed as the older fillies rolled their eyes. The light green colt intruded with a wide smile. Fluttershy had hoped his annoyance at Spike would've discouraged him from coming into her room so often. Obviously, Zephyr was not one to learn his lesson. "Check out my sweet new crown!"

Indeed, Zephyr had something on his head covered in small but shiny jewels, but all Rainbow could do was snicker. "Ah, I'd hate to burst your bubble, except I don't, but that's a tiara."

"Whatever." He said with disbelief. "Don't be hating just because I already have that royal look about me.."

"Yeah, if you're trying to be the Princess of annoying.." Rainbow muttered.

"You say tomato, I say potato."

"That's not even close to being right." Rainbow once again had to roll her eyes at the little brother's denseness. "Nobody cares about your bald spot, so can you take a hint and leave?"

Little did either know that Fluttershy was attempting to sneak past them, with little Spike being dragged along from grabbing onto her tail. For whatever reason, Zephyr would insist on tagging along everywhere whenever Rainbow was around, which baffled her considering all they ended up doing was bicker with each other. As she tried to drown out the pointless argument, Spike's attention was fully on the small ornaments of Zephyr's tiara. The shiny luster called to the baby dragon, making him lick his lips.

"First of all, it's not a bald spot, it's just an unfortunate haircut." Spike finally let go of Fluttershy's tail. "Second, I can't help if the situation demands my presence. You two would be hopelessly bored without me to spice up your life." The baby had curled up its body before forming it into a pouncing position. "Come on Rainbow, it's not like there's anything better for you to do."

Spike sprang into the air as soon as he finished speaking and snatched the tiara from Zephyr's mane, and immediately began chewing it into bits. Zephyr could only stare in silence as he began crying on the inside. "That, that cost me 10 bits. It had real gems and everything." A single tear fell from the ground.

"I don't know, watching this seems be pretty entertaining." Rainbow smugly smiled with pride. "Well, what do you know? Spike has a great sense of humor."

"I don't think that's it." Fluttershy flew closer, inspecting the bent and broken crown. It was beyond repair for sure, but what caught the filly's attention was it's lack of glimmer. It looked like the baby bit around the crown to get the little gems out from it. Lookin back to Spike, a small crunch could be heard from within his chewing mouth. The baby's satisfied smile was all she needed to know. "He just wanted to eat the gems."

"AND HE HAD TO DISTROY MY CROWN FOR THAT?" Zephyr screeched, though Rainbow easily pushed him to the side.

"Okay, that answers that, but what are we going to do now? It's not like we can go to the jewelry store for every meal."

"He can eat other foods, it just looks like gems are his preference." Fluttershy eyes lit up. "Zephyr, you wouldn't happen to have more tiara's?"

"Well, yes, but.." He wasn't even given that chance to finish as Rainbow dashed out of the room and came back with a whole trunk full. "I spent a lot of bits.."

"Put a sock in it. We'll pay you back eventually." Rainbow reached into the chest and flung another tiara to her friend.
"Thank you Rainbow. And thank you Zephyr. Spike really appreciates it."

"Like I care what.." Rainbow shoved him out of the room, leaving nothing but frustrated muffles from behind the door. As satisfying as that was, Fluttershy had to get back on track. Holding the baby food from before in one hoof, she held the tiara in the other, presenting both before the young drake. As she expected, the baby was going for the tiara.

"Now, now, Spike, you can have one gem." Shaking the headwear, she shook it until one of the jewels fell out. She made sure his eyes were glued to the gem as she placed it in the baby food. "You can eat that gem, but you'll have to eat everything else in order to get it."

Annoyed, Spike opened his mouth wide so that another spoonful could enter his mouth. He nearly gaged. It sloshed around his mouth, but their was no gem. "Again." Spike relented, allowing another spoonful in. Still no gem.

That's how it went, again, and again, and again. Mouthful after mouthful, more of the green goop was poured into the drake's mouth. Spike belly filled up rather quickly. As much as the thought of having more of those tasty stones pleased him, he really couldn't take another bite.

Fluttershy smiled as Spike refused to take another bite, even though the gem was right in the middle for him to see. "Good Spike, maybe next time you'll actually eat it."

"You totally made sure to avoid that gem, didn't you?" Rainbow was strangely proud of her friend. "Now that's just cruel."

"Not at all. I just do what I can to take care of what I love." She turned back to the now full dragon, already drifting into slumber. "Okay little one, time for your nap." Grabbing ahold of him, she ducked under her bed and grabbed a single blanket and pillow from underneath. With no fight in him, Spike embraced the soft coziness of his 'bed', sleeping immediately upon contact.

"Why do you have a pillow and blanket under your bed?" Rainbow tilted her head. Definitely not one of the weirdest things she'd been exposed to within the past week, but odd nonetheless.

"Uh, sometimes when it gets a little too stormy, or too dark, or too noisy, I sleep underneath to protect myself. That's not too weird, right?"

"It's more normal than living with a baby dragon, so there's that. I mean, it's not like you live under there." Rainbow took a glance under the bed. She found herself dumbfounded. "Why is there a lamp stand under here? And how did you fit in an entire bookshelf?"

"I'm afraid of the dark. I don't spend a lot of nights sleeping, so there was plenty of time."