//------------------------------// // They Arrive Pt.1 // Story: Little Dragon Daycare // by TAD2 //------------------------------// Spike opened the door and walked into his apartment. As he entered his home he sighed as he remembered how he got it. Originally his grandfather Scorpan owned it, he was the adventurous one of the family, he had traveled for most of his life, and when he did return it was always accompanied by a new story to tell. The one person Scorpan loved to tell his stories to the most was his only grandchild, Spike. Scorpin was a man of many secrets, but the stories he told were always the best, stories with, demons, dragons, magical talking ponies, and all manner of monsters. But no creature is immune to the effects of time. When Spike turned 22 his grandfather passed on, and in his will he asked for all of his stuff to be donated or sold, all except for his apartment and a large building both which he wanted Spike to have. Spike had always wanted to take care of children, so after getting a degree in child development, he decided to open up a daycare, and taking inspiration from one of the stories Scorpan told, Spike decided to call it The Little Dragon Daycare. The only problem was to have a daycare you need to have a place for it. So Spike made a choice, he would utilize the last gift from his grandfather to start his dream. When Spike drove from his new apartment and arrived at the address of the building Scorpan had given Spike, there was a note and a small baggie with 2 keys, one gold and one silver, taped to the door. Spike grabbed the bag and pulled out the keys, both glowed green, which freaked out Spike, so he dropped them. Spike panicked as he grabbed the note on the door and began to read it. "Spike, if your reading this then I'm going off to my last adventure, one of which I no doubt will not return from. The building in front of you is special, and what I'm about to tell you will no doubt sound like the writings of a mad man, but knowing you, you probably went for the keys first, so lets start there. The 2 keys I left you are no ordinary keys, they have been imbued with magic from a race of anthropomorphic magical ponies. The gold key is mine, I had the maker link the key to the front door to my apartment, the door to my office in the building, and the front door of the building, as well as all the doors that have a lock. The silver key is just a spare, that unlocks all the doors of the building. If you touched them then they are now linked to you and you alone, this will allow you to easily travel between the two. And before you gasp at how crazy this all sounds take a key and go inside. I left another note on the office door for you." Spike sighed and decided might as well, he drove 2 hours for this. Spike picked up both keys from the ground and placed the silver one in his pocket. Using the gold key Spike opened the front door and walked inside, but instead of finding a room full of junk, it was completely empty aside from a single note taped on the door opposite of the front door. Spike walked over to the new note. "Spike, if your reading this note, means you decided to actually come in, I see your just like me, adventurous. Good that will help you soon. There is one more note I left you on my desk behind this door but first I need to teach you how to use the key. Step one take the gold key in grab it on the head and tip." Spike followed the instructions. "Step two, turn the head of the key, until the word 'Office' glows on the stem." Spike turned the key and become shocked when the word 'Home' glowed but as he turned the key head the word changed to 'Office'. Spike turned it more and the word changed again to 'Front' and then to 'Normal' then back to 'Home'. Spike looked back to the note. "But knowing you as well as I do, you probably decided to see what the key could do, but stop messing around, all this writing is giving me a cramp. Once you get the word 'Office' put the key into the lock and go inside." Spike turned the key to 'Office' and opened the door. Spike walked in and right in front of him was a large mahogany desk with a large leather chair, sitting on the desk was a single lamp that was left on, and Scorpans last note. Spike took a seat in the chair and picked up the note. "Spike. My boy, you are the only one in the family that ever actually listened to any of my stories, but I doubt that even you believed them, but the truth is, every thing I told you in those stories were all true, dragons, demons, ponies, magic, other worlds, all that jazz is real and this building is the focal point for all of it. Every day I would travel to another world and explore, to access the..." Spike then became confused when there was just a large blob of running ink, he read the next paragraph hoping for some explanation. "Sorry about the blob. I fell asleep while writing, give me a break I'm writing this at 92 years old, falling asleep randomly is common for people my age...Where was I... Oh right, the front door is the main gate way, between all the worlds, and be prepared for creatures to randomly pop in, but don't worry the worst thing that will happen, is a dragon will sneeze and you need to go to the hospital, or a demon tried to suck out your soul energy, or you get bucked by a pissed off centaur, or... actually you know what its a learning curve. I don't want to see you for at least another 70 years. Spike, I know you are able to work with this, and I hope you make the most of this gift I have given you, I know you'll make me proud, I love you Spike. From Grandpa Scorpan. P.S You will always be my favorite little dragon." Finished Spike. Spike sat back in the chair as he tried to process all of this. "Well, he was right, I can work with this." Said Spike as he was devising a plan. Back to the present, Spike was brought out of his memories when he heard a knock on the door behind him. He turned around and saw Cadence standing there in the door way looking upset. "Spike you left the door open, and you've been standing there for the last five minutes." Spike scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, just remembering how I got all of this started." Cadence sighed at her boss. "Yeah, I've heard the story, your grandfather gave you access to a magical building that allows for cross dimensional travel, and instead of using it to explore like your grandfather, you decided to turn it into a multidimensional daycare, that might I remind you opens in less then an hour, one of which after your first week of opening, you had to place a ad in the paper looking for a assistant, where instead of putting the truth of what this job entailed, you wrote 'looking for a person with a lot of babysitting experiences and good with 'special' children'." Spike chuckled. "Well, its not like I was going to get any responses if I put, 'Need help taking care of the children of creatures from different worlds, must be able to work weekends. Nobody likes to work weekends." Said Spike, knowing exactly what part Cadence was talking about. Spike sighed. "But then a beautiful, smart, caring, sweet... How much more do I need for you to stop giving me that look?" "Three more." "Attentive, playful, well trained, teenager walked in to my daycare looking for her first job in the field of child development. She just got lucky that she was perfect for this special job." Said Spike. Cadence sighed as she dropped the upset look. "Ok, but seriously, I cant get to the play area while your door is open." Said Cadence as she pulled out Spikes key and tossed it to him. "I expect to see you back in the office in twenty minutes with a ferret in your apron." Said Cadence as she closed the door to Spikes apartment. Spike sighed. "I really am lucky to have her with me." Said Spike, but what she said was true, the daycare is opening soon and Spike needed to be ready for a long day, Spike walked to the bathroom in his apartment and started the shower, removed all his clothes showing off his well toned body, he placed all of the dirty clothes in a hamper and walked into the shower to cleanup. Spike walked back into the Little Dragons office dressed in a fresh pair of clothes with a small wire cage inside of the cage was a small hamster bottle hooked on to the cage, as a 20 inch long female ferret was curled up in a ball. Spike sighed as he walked over to the desk and placed Silvia's travel cage on it, Spike opened the cage door, stuck his hand into the cage, and gave the ferret a small scratch on her tube like body. "Silvi, its time to wake up." Silvia yawned as she stretched her body, she scurried to her bottle and took a few gulps of water, she then ran back to Spikes arm, and rubbed her head on Spikes middle finger. "Good morning Silvia, did little Sophie take good care of you last night. I'm sorry I couldn't come home last night, Smolder had to stay here for a lot longer then normal." Spike then laid down his hand, Silvia boarded her owners hand and using her small claws she scurried up his arm, down his apron, and took her position inside of Spikes apron pocket. Spike sighed as he watched his roommate going back to sleep. "You are the worst roommate of all time, you don't pay rent, you can't do the dishes, and you're too noisy." Just then Cadence walked into the office and saw Spike standing there. "Hey Spike, feeling better after a good shower?" Asked Cadence. Spike turned around and nodded. "Yeah, sorry for making you clean the play area by yourself, but by the time Garble came to pick Smolder up it was way to late, and I was going to collapse." Said Spike. Cadence nodded in understanding. "It's fine, Smolder can be a handful when she's alone, you know that she likes to have Yona, Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus, and Silverstream around." "Yeah, I know." Suddenly the bell tied to the front door chimed. "And that's our cue." Said Spike. In the magical world of Equestria, a gray coated unicorn mare with gray and purple mane and tail was walking down the street with her lavender colored unicorn daughter, who was dressed in a little yellow sundress. This was Twilight Velvet and her daughter Twilight Sparkle. Velvet looked at her excited daughter. "So Twilight are you ready to go see Spike today?" Twilight nodded. "Yes mommy, I hope Cadence will be there to, and all my friends." Said the little filly. Velvet giggled at Twilights giddiness. "Well, you won't have to wait long." Said Velvet as she pointed to a building with a small cartoon dragon, (yes its Spike) painted on the glass door. "There it is." "Yay." cheered Twilight as she ran to the door and used her magic to push open the door to the establishment, but she was still a little filly and her magic was not so powerful besides the moments when she would have a surge of magical power. Velvet caught up to her struggling daughter and giggled at the sight of her trying to concentrate, "Sweetie, your going to get a head ache, if you keep trying to over do it." Said Velvet as she pushed open the door to the day care. Spike walked out of the office and smiled at todays first arrivals. "SPIKE!" cheered Twilight as she launched herself straight for him. Spike was fully aware of the fillies usual greeting so he caught her mid air and let her latch herself around his neck as he supported her legs with his arm. "Hi Twi, how are you today?" Asked Spike. Twilight giggled. "I'm great, but mommy has to go to work." Said Twilight. "Aw, that stinks, but at least you can spend some time with me today, doesn't that help a little?" Twilight nodded. "Yeah, but I want mommy to know how great you are, but all she see's is you smiling and then she leaves." Spike nodded. "I know, but maybe she already knows how great I am, she lets me take care of the worlds greatest filly after all, and that's a big responsibility." Said Spike as he walked over to Velvet. "Isn't that right Ms. Velvet?" Velvet giggled at how silly her daughter and Spike could be together. "Yes, she is a big responsibility, and I only trust the greatest to look after her. So Spike, here is her current story book." said Velvet as she teleported a large chapter book into her arms. "Her new favorite toy, Smarty Pants." a raggedy horse plushy with a small wood book and a pair of polka dotted pants was added to the pile. "Her blanket." A purple and pink blanket with stars was added to the pile. "And here is Twilights fee for this week." Finished Velvet as she placed a sack of 20 gold bits, onto the book. Spike smiled. "Thanks Velvet." Spike then looked down at the filly vice around his neck. "Twi, your mommy is about to leave, aren't you going to say goodbye?" Twilight gasped as she let go of Spikes neck and turned around on his arm, she reached out her arms for her mother. Velvet walked closer to Twilight as the little filly latched herself around the mares neck. "I love you mommy, have a good day at work." Said Twilight. Velvet giggled as she returned the hug. "I will, now be good for Mr. Spike, and no more magic, I don't think he wants to look like your friend Rainbow Dash, and besides green is his color." Said Velvet. Twilight nodded. Suddenly the door bell rang and in walked a pair of centaurs, one was over 7 feet tall with long flowing but slightly curly orange hair and tail, with a skin color fur lower half, she was dressed in a T shirt with a big red apple on the chest, and a set of saddle bags on her lower body, next to her was a 4 foot tall centaur with a blond mane and tail while her fur was a orange color, she was dressed in a small T shirt with a trio of little red apples and a cowboy hat a few sizes to large for her. Velvet lowered her daughter to the ground as she greeted the older centaur. "Hello Pear." The older centaur looked over at Velvet, she cantered up to the mare and pulled her into a small hug. "Hey Velvet, If your here that means Twilight is here to." Said Pear Butter as she looked at the small filly next to her mother. "Hi Twilight." Twilight waved. "Hi misses Pear." Twilight then ran up to the smaller centaur and wrapped her arms around the front 2 legs of the little centaur. "Hey AJ." The smaller centaur smiled at the filly as she returned the hug . "Hey Twi, you the only one here?" Asked AJ. Twilight nodded, them she grabbed AJ's hand and the two ran off into the play area. Spike looked at the two run off as he chuckled, he looked back at Velvet and Pear Butter who were just talking about their husbands, aside from a daycare, the place was the unofficial interdimensional moms gossip club. The 2 women giggled as Velvet waved at a smiling Twilight, she looked at Spike. "Spike, I'll be back around 5 tonight, but if Night Light gets off early he will be by to pick up Twilight, call me if that happens, Ok?" Spike nodded. "Of course, have a good day at the book store, and thanks for donating all those picture books, the other kids love them." Said Spike, as Velvet walked out of the establishment, Spike looked over to Pear Butter. "Hi Mrs.Pear." Said Spike. Pear butter sighed. "Spike, please just call me Pear." Spike chuckled. "I would but Bright Mac might kill me if I do, I know how he gets when some one gets close to his Buttercup." Pear growled at the man. "But right now, I'm more scared of you, Pear." "Better. So..." Said Pear as she reached into the saddle bags and started to pull out everything for Apple Jack. "Here is this weeks order of AJ's dried apple bites." Said Pear as she handed a large bag full of dried apple wedges. "Here is her blanket for nap time, freshly cleaned and washed..." she handed Spike a large blanket with little apples design. "Her brush." She pulled out a brush from the bag in the shape of, you guessed it an apple, "And here is her latest Epi pen. Thanks for letting me know the one you guys had was expired." Said Pear handing over AJ's emergency Epi pen. Spike nodded. "On it, I'll go place it in the medical cabinet right now. Would you mind looking over them for one minute so Cadence can finish up in the back, I'll be right back." Pear nodded as Spike walked to the office, pulled out his key and opened the door. A few moments later Cadence walked out of the office, where she was immediately tackled by the small but albeit powerful little filly. "Cadence!" cheered Twilight as she sent Cadence to the floor. She looked at Cadence with big eyes as she latched herself around the teenagers neck. "HI!" Cadence giggled at the little filly as she returned the hug. "Hi Twi." She looked over the other rooms occupants and smiled. "Hi AJ. Hi Pear." "Good morning Cadence." Said Pear. AJ walked over to the teen and smiled like Twilight. "Hi Cadence." Said AJ as she gave Cadences waist a small hug. A few moments later Spike walked back into the play area, and saw his assistant on the ground but smiling with a little filly neck tie and a centaur belt. Spike chuckled at the sight as he walked pass the human, pony, and the in between, and walked over to Pear. "Ok, I did a small check of what we had in the fridge, Gallus's lunch is the only one with strawberries this week, so we should be fine. But if something does happen I'll call you." Pear nodded as she waved at her daughter. "Thanks Spike, I'll be back around 5 as well. Have a good day." Said pear as she tried to push open the door but she couldn't budge it open. She sighed, "Someone is trying to come in." Spike nodded. "Looks like it." Said Spike, the doors have a fickle rule to them, if two people are trying to use it at once it just locks itself. Spike walked over to Pear and pulled her away from the door, and when he did a pair of small little creatures flew in to the daycare. The 2 flew over to Spike and landed on his shoulder. The first one was a women with crimson red hair, daisy ear rings, a small dress made of leaves, and a set of fairy wings, this was Posey and next to her was a smaller fairy girl with pink hair in a dress made of leaves, and this was her daughter Fluttershy. Spike smiled at the 2 as he whispered to them. "hi Posey, hi Fluttershy. Sorry about that, Pear was just leaving and the door is very finicky." Posey smiled as she nodded. "Its fine Spike, this usually happens every time to at least one family, but I'm sorry for the interruption." Said Posey looking sad. Spike sighed as he used his finger to lift the woman's head up. " Posey it's fine, if anything my grandfather should be the one to apologiz. He then smiled at Fluttershy. "Hey Shy, guess what?" Fluttershy looked at Spike confused. "What?" Spike smiled as he reached into his apron and let Silvia crawl her way up to Spikes other shoulder. "I brought Silvia today." Fluttershy gasped in surprise, as she flew straight for the ferret, and embedded herself onto the ferrets nose as she hugged Silvia's face. "SILVIA!" Cheered Fluttershy. Spike chuckled at the little fairy's change in attitude when she is near animals. Normally Fluttershy was very quiet, and over all shy, living up to her name sake, but when she's near animals she does a full 180. Spike watched as Fluttershy flew onto Silvia's back as she grabbed a hand full of Silvia's fur. Silvia then reared up on her back legs like a horse as Fluttershy cheered. "Hi Ho Silvia, Away!" Then Silvia scurried down Spikes back, and legs, once they were on the ground Silvia galloped straight for the others in the play area. Posey sighed at her daughter. "I'm sorry Spike, but she has always been the outgoing one in the family." Said Posey. Spike laughed fully. "Its fine Posey, but honestly its my fault, last time it was raining, I decided to rummage around in the basement and I found my grandfathers old projector and a set of western films from my world. Fluttershy took a liking to the Lone Ranger and now she's the Lone Flutters, with her faith full ferret steed, Silvia." said Spike. "Do you have Fluttershy's stuff for the week?" Posey nodded as she pulled out from her dress a small blanket the size of a tissue, but this had butterfly's, then a small which was micro sized for Spike, rabbit plushy, and lastly a bag of Fluttershy's favorite snack, sunflower seeds. "Remember she only gets two a day at most, anymore and she won't eat dinner." Spike nodded. Posey then flew from Spikes shoulder to Pear's as the 2 greeted each other, Posey hugged Pears ear, as Pear used her pinkie finger and wrapped Posey around her back. "Hi Pear." "Hi Posey, how are you?" "I'm good, but I got big news." "Really, what is it?" Posey flew up to Pears ear and whispered the secret. Pear gasped as she looked at Posey who just nodded. "REALLY! That's fantastic, does Fluttershy know?" asked Pear while trotting in place. "No, not yet, but I was planning on telling her soon." Said Posey. Spike was a little confused at the interaction between the two. "Um...I know its not my place to snoop into my clients business, but I have the feeling that its something big." Said Spike. Pear walked over to Spike and whispered into his ear. Once she was done Spike looked at the fairy and nodded. "Congratulations, I promise not to tell Flutters." Just then Spike heard the phone in the back start ringing, meaning someone was coming in or something had changed. "Sorry I got to take that." Both women nodded as Posey flew off of pear and on to Spikes shoulder. "It's ok I need to get back to Gentle, I'll be back in around 5." Spike nodded as Posey flew to the door and left, once the door closed Pear pushed open the door and left as well. Spike looked at Cadence who was reading a story to all the kids. "Twilight your in charge, don't let Cadence do anything stupid while I'm gone." Twilight gasped as she saluted Spike. "Yes sir." Cadence rolled her eyes. "Oh real confident in my abilities there boss, now go answer that call." Said Cadence. Spike chuckled as he went into the back to answer the call. Cadence returned to the story she was telling. "Ok where was I...Oh, so the overworked dragon was sleeping on a mountain of papers while his beautiful, kind, smart, and attentive assistant had to pick up his cave for him..." Spike walked into the office, headed for his desk, and searched through the pillow of papers that Spike still needed to organize, all while the phone was ringing. Spike was going to regret his next action but it was a necessary evil, Spike swept his arm over the top of the desk sending the papers to the floor and about 20 feet to the left. But the plan was a success if the phone was actually on the desk, which it wasn't, it was hanging on the wall right by the office door. Spike sighed, walked over to the phone and picked it up. "Hello, this is Little Dragon Daycare, Spike speaking." "Hello, my name is Moonlight Sonata, I was wondering if you would be willing to look after my little Moondancer, I talked to some of my friends and all of them recommend the Little Dragon?" Said a women's voice. "Of course." Askes Spike as he pulled open a drawer on the desk and started to fill out a application form. "Let me ask a few questions before hand. Does Moondancer have any allergies?" Askes Spike. "No, not that I know of." "Ok, what are some of her likes and dislikes?" "Well she likes to read and sing, but she hates mushed peas, everything aside from that she is ok with." "Noted, what species are you, Moondancer, and her father?" "Oh, I'm a Unicorn, My husband is an Earth pony, but Moondancer is a Unicorn also." "Ok." Said Spike as he flipped to a page with common question for unicorn applicants. "Ok, how old is Moondancer?" "She's 4 years and 5 months old." "When was the last time she had a magical surge?" "Is that really necessary to know." "It is, one of the kids I look after turned my normal brown hair and eyes to a light shade of green on her first day." "Oh, the last one that I knew about was a few weeks ago, she accidently turned the small pond at the park nearby our house into jello." Spike muffled a laugh. "Ok, one last question. What day would you like to bring her in to let her get a feel for the place?" Asked Spike. "Um... yeah about that, I'm kinda in a rush, and I need to drop her off right now." Spike sighed. "Ma'am, I cant possibly allow you to bring her into day." "Please, Velvet recommended you, saying that Twilight refused to let anyone else take care of her." "Wait you know Velvet?" "Yes, I'm the co-owner at the book store we run." Spike sighed. "Ok, but our policy is emergencies cost double the daily rate, so instead of 3 bits its going to cost 6." "Oh, thank you so much, is Twilight there?" "She is, but she's with my assistant and 2 other clients children plus a ferret. Don't ask." "Perfect. Thank you again, I'll be there in less than an hour, again thank you so much." Spike sighed. "Not a problem, we close at 6pm so be here before hand or give me a call to inform me if I need to make her some dinner." "Wow, Velvet wasn't kidding, you really do everything." Spike chuckled. "Thanks, have a nice day Mrs. Moonlight Sonata." "It's actually Miss, my husband died three years ago." "Oh I'm sorry." "Its fine, I have moved on, but I will always love my Moonballad." "Of course." Suddenly there was a large crashing sound from the play area. "I got to go, it looks like my next client has shown up, talk to you when you get here." Said Spike as he placed the phone on the receiver. Spike sighed one last time as he walked out of the office, but he was hit with a small ball of blue feathers, with the slightest hint of what looked like a rainbow, it hit Spike right to the face, sending him to the ground. Everyone gasped when they saw Spike go down, Cadence walked over to Spike and pulled the little ball of feathers off of him, as a woman with a light scarlet and orange short bowl cut hair style, moderate cerise eyes, two large cornflower blue wings, and two large bird like legs ran over. "Spike, I'm so sorry, can you hear me?" Spike was dazed as he looked at the woman. Spike chuckled. "Sorry grandpa, but I'm coming for a visit, I see an angel in front of me." Then Spike groaned as the world came back into focus, he looked at the woman looking over him. "Hi Windy, where's rainbow Dash, and why did someone throw a ball of feathers at me?" Windy sighed as she propped Spike up. "Spike, I'm sorry that Rainbow ran into you." Windy shot the ball of feathers a glare. "I keep telling her that molting is a normal thing in every harpy's life, but she refuses to believe me." Spike sighed. "Ok, that explains the ball of feathers, but not the hitting me in the face." "Well the moment she saw her friends she bolted out of my arms, and might of flew into the wall, then into you." Spike groaned. "Is there any one hurt?" Windy laughed. "Aside from Rainbows ego and you, no." Spike sighed in relief. "Good." Spike looked at the ball of feathers. "Rainbow, come here." Said Spike. The ball of feathers whimpered a little, but complied, as a pair of blue wings sprouted out of the ball and it flew to Spike, landing on his lap, then two magenta eyes popped out of the ball looking sad. "I'm sorry Spike, but I don't want the others to think I'm uncool." said the ball as tears pooled at the corner of its eyes. Spike sighed as he looked at Rainbow Dash. "And why would something so natural as molting make you uncool?" "Because...I don't know it just does." "So, just because you look different on the outside, you think all your friends who like you for you, will turn on you for seeing you go through something that just means your growing up?" "Well, I, um." Rainbow growled as she latched her arms right around Spikes neck. "I'm sorry, ok, I hate it when your right." Spike returned the hug. "Rainbow, if someone only likes you for what you look like, then their not actually your friends, people who like you for you are your true friends, no matter what your going through." Said Spike, as he removed the little harpy from his neck and wiped her eyes. "But, instead of running in to me first, maybe you should ask them how they feel about your current look." Rainbow turned around and looked at her friends, who were all just smiling. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions, I really like spending time with you guys, and the thought of you not liking me anymore was scary." Said Rainbow. Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy all walked over to Rainbow. "Don't worry, Rainbow you are our friend, we will never not like you." Said Twilight as she gave Rainbow a hug. "And besides your cute this way, but your still you underneath." Added Fluttershy. "But you will always be the same slow overgrown canary as always." Finished Applejack. When Rainbow heard that comment from the centaur as she flew right into AJ's face. "Oh you want to go at it cowpony?" Said Rainbow in her usual tone. Spike smirked as did both women. "Awe, but I don't want to make the little humming bird cry." Retorted AJ. "That's it, you, me, three laps, winner gets to- Nope!" interrupted Spike. "No one is having a race right now." Both girls looked at him. "But why?" asked the two in unison. Spike got to his feet and offered Windy his hand to help her up. "Because the last time you two had a race it ended with me needing to get the wall repaired." Said Spike. Both Rainbow and AJ winced at the memory. "We are still waiting for Pinkie and Rarity to arrive, then we got a new friend coming in for her first day, I need you 2 to be on your best behavior, then after she gets settled in, I'll make everyone lunch, only then are we going to go outside and play." Rainbow huffed. "Fine."