When Spike and Ember walked back into the daycare, standing right in front of the door was a dark-skinned elf with long deep blue hair, dressed in a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt with an elf band on it. She was holding a lunchbox in her hands and from what Spike could tell, a very upset look on her face. "Um... Can I help you, ma'am?" Asked Spike, a little wary of this person in the room. She didn't have a kid with her, and she looked way too young to be a mother even to a baby.
The elf looked at Spike and got a lump in her throat when she saw him, and she couldn't help but blush at the sight of him. "Ma'am, if you don't have business here, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Said Spike.
The elf opened her mouth and tried to say that she was here to give her sister her lunch, but nothing was coming out. Thankfully, the truth about why she was here came in the form of Celestia when she noticed Spike standing in the greeting area of the daycare. "Spike, what's… Luna, what are you doing here?" Asked Celestia as she noticed that her little sister was standing in the daycare.
Spike looked at Celestia. "Luna? As in your little sister Luna?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes." Said Celestia as she looked at Luna. "Luna, what are you doing here?"
Luna looked at her older sister. "’ Tia, I'm sorry, but you ran out of the house without your lunch, and I wanted to make sure that you could eat." Said Luna as she held out a lunch box.
Celestia smiled at Luna. "Luna, I told you, you don't need to make lunch for me; some of the kids have allergies." Celestia looked at Spike. "Spike, I'm sorry for this."
Spike smiled as he does. "Celestia, it's fine." He looked down at Ember. "Ember, this is Celestia. She’s the new hire I brought on, so please don't get mad if she calls you... actually, I suddenly forgot that word." Said Spike, he didn't want to get a right hook to the face.
Ember looked at Celestia. "Hi, I'm Ember Torch, it's nice to meet you." Said Ember holding out her hand.
Celestia smiled. "Celestia, and the same." Celestia took the hand and gave it a shake.
Spike sighed in relief. "Ember, Rarity, Sunny, and AJ are here already, Pinkie isn't coming; she's sick, but we're going to make her a card from all of us." Ember nodded. "Good, now go talk with the others."
Ember ran off to go talk with her friends, giving Spike a chance to deal with Luna. "Sorry about that." Said Spike as he looked at Luna. "It's nice to meet you, Luna, my name is Spike, and this is the Little Dragon Daycare."
Luna blushed. "It's nice to meet you... Thank you for hiring ‘Tia."
Spike smiled. "No need, she's already shown she's worth it."
Luna smiled at hearing that Celestia was already pulling her weight. "That's good to hear." Luna looked to Celestia. "’ Tia, I'm sorry for bothering you at work. I'll just be heading home, my class starts in an hour."
Celestia smiled and nodded. "Okay, Luna. Have a nice day at school."
Luna smiled as she went for the door, but it wouldn't budge. "What the? Why won't this thing work?"
Spike sighed. "I swear, at least once a day this happens." Spike walked over to Luna, picked her up with ease, and allowed the door to open for the next kid to come in.
The door opened and in walked Velvet, Moonlight, Twilight, and Moondancer. Velvet looked at Spike with Luna in his arms. "Ok, Cadance got hit with something, but I'm pretty sure Twilight or Moondancer didn't do it."
Spike nodded at the mare. "First off, sorry about the door, Velvet. Second, this isn't Cadance, this is Luna Solaris, the little sister of number three. Celestia, come meet Velvet and Moonlight." Spike stepped aside for the elf to meet the ponies.
"It's nice to meet you both. As Spike said, I am Celestia Solaris, it's nice to meet you both." Said Celestia holding out her hand.
Velvet smiled as she took the hand. "So you're the reason why Twilight was so excited all morning. It's lovely to meet you, my name is Twilight Velvet, but just call me Velvet." Celestia nodded. "And just a little heads up, I'm sorry for any color changing, transformations, tossing through a wall, and poison food my daughter or niece will cause." Said Velvet.
"MOM!" Cried Twilight.
Velvet giggled. "Sorry Sweetie, but it's the truth." She looked at Celestia. "But she seems to like you just as much as she likes Spike, so I'm not worried."
Celestia smiled. "Thank you."
Spike smiled. "Twi, Moondancer, some of the girls are here already. Go play for a while until everyone shows up." Twilight and Moondancer smiled as they ran off to go play.
Spike sighed as he looked at Velvet and Moonlight. "Ok, little heads up, Sunny and Ember are here today, so lunch will contain meat, but I'll give them the vegetarian plan."
Velvet nodded. "Good. I know you take meat-eaters, but I can't stomach it."
Spike smiled. "Don't worry, I have this handled."
Celestia then noticed that Spike still had Luna. "Well, could you please stop handling my sister, Spike?"
Spike looked down at Luna, who was blushing like the sun and giggling like a fool. "Luna, I'm so sorry, are you ok?"
Luna giggled. "Hunky." Then she shook her head to focus. "What, oh, yes, I’m fine, Spike, but why couldn't I open the door?"
Spike sighed. "Ever try to open a door from both sides? Both sides are push doors and add whatever this place uses, it's impossible to open the door from both sides at the same time." Spike placed Luna down on the ground and noticed that the area was getting crowded. "Ok, I think it's time for someone to leave. The next family should be coming in soon." Suddenly the door opened. "Seriously, that was way too covenant." Said Spike, but at least it was the best one for this moment.
Fluttershy and Posey flew onto Velvet's shoulder. "Oh my, I'm so sorry, Spike, I didn't know it was this crowded. Fluttershy and I can wait outside if you need us to."
Spike sighed. "Posey, it's fine. You and 'Shy are the best outcome for this right now." Spike looked at Luna. "Luna, I'm sorry, but any more people and it could be dangerous, so could you please leave?"
Luna nodded. "Sure, I'm sorry for causing a problem." Luna looked at Celestia. "I love you, ‘Tia"
Celestia smiled. "Love you too, Lulu." Luna opened the door and walked through it.
Moonlight sighed as she dug out a little list for Spike. "Spike, I'm going to leave as well, but here is that list I promised to make. It’s pretty small, but tell me if there is anything I'm missing."
Spike grabbed the note, he read it and three things were missing. "Ok, we can do those days, but can you bring a blanket for nap time, any emergency numbers, and lastly any spare hygiene tools she may need tomorrow?"
Moonlight nodded. "Sure."
Spike nodded. "Cool, that clears that up, and Moondancer is now one of my little minions." Said Spike as he folded the note and placed it into his apron pocket.
Moonlight smiled at hearing that Spike was letting Moondancer in. "Thank you, Spike." She looked at Velvet. "Velvet, I'm headed to the bookstore, I'll meet you there."
Velvet nodded. "Sure, oh, this is Posey and her daughter Fluttershy. Posey, this is my sister Moonlight."
Posey smiled at Moonlight. "Greetings."
Moonlight smiled. "It's nice to meet you, but sorry to say, I have to run."
Posey nodded. "It's fine, I'm sorry for keeping you here." Said Posey.
Moonlight nodded. "It's fine." She waved goodbye to Moondancer and left the daycare.
Spike sighed. "Ok, better." Spike looked at Fluttershy. "’ Shy, we have a big day today, so why don't you go see the others before everyone comes in?"
Fluttershy nodded, she then hugged her mother. "Bye, Mommy, I'll see you tonight."
Posey smiled. "Love you, too, Sweetie." Fluttershy flew off of Velvet's shoulder and landed onto Sunset’s head.
Spike looked at Posey. "Posey, I would like to introduce you to Celestia. She’s the new assistant I hired."
Celestia smiled at the little woman and stuck out her finger. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Fluttershy is such a sweet girl."
Posey smiled and took the finger. "Thank you, she is such a good girl."
Spike smiled at letting everyone that needed to meet Celestia that missed the chance yesterday accept her with open arms. But the door opened, and when it did, Spike was sure he was going to die. Windy walked into the daycare with Rainbow, and she was glaring at him. "Spike." Said Windy.
Spike gulped. "Windy, you seem to be doing much better."
Windy just kept glaring at Spike. "Posey, Velvet, mind if I borrow Spike for a moment?" Asked the harpy.
Spike's eyes went wide, he was sure he was safer with the others. "Oh, where are my manners? Windy this is Celestia Solaris; Celestia, this is Rainbow's mother, Windy."
Celestia noticed Spike's change in mood and decided to go with it, she smiled at the harpy. "It's nice to meet you."
Windy smiled at Celestia as she bowed her head. "And you, too. I hope you like it here." She then went back to glaring at Spike. "Spike, let's have a nice little chat outside."
Spike looked really worried. He wasn't dressed for the harpy world, and he was pretty sure he didn't want to go there. "Oh, Windy, look at the time, I'm way too busy to leave the place."
Windy softened her glare. "Spike, I want to tell you something. I'm not mad that you had to dart me; the doc at the aviary told me the truth about my wing."
Spike sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I was worried that you were going to toss me off the cliff."
Windy giggled at the joke. "Spike, how would I toss you? I'll kick you off it, but not today."
Spike gulped, but he followed the harpy through the door.
Once on the other side of the door, Spike was instantly cold. The door in the harpy world was located in the dumbest place imaginable, on a small rocky outcrop in the middle of the sea, about half a mile from where Feather Cove is located, the location of Bow and Windy's cove. Scorpan actually found Spectrum here one day after he had to take shelter for a storm. The story got passed down to Bow, who wanted to thank Scorpan, but instead, he found Spike. But standing in front of him was Rainbow and Bow. Spike looked at Rainbow and smiled at her. "Hey, Rainbow, I see you didn't throw too much of a tantrum about last night."
Rainbow huffed. "Hey, I'm a big hen now. I don't care if I missed something so awesome."
Spike smiled as he ruffled her top feathers. "Well, then a big hen wouldn't care if during lunch we start up where we left off?"
Rainbow beamed as she hugged Spike's chest. "You're the best, Spike."
Spike laughed as he smiled at the little girl. "Tell that to your mother. I think she's planning on killing me."
Rainbow giggled as she shook her head. "No, she won't do that."
Windy sighed as she looked at Rainbow and Spike. "Spike, I want to give you something. I'm sure somewhere you've read about the exchange of a feather, correct?"
Spike nodded. "Um... yeah, it's something chicks do when they like a boy or girl, right?"
Windy shook her head. "No… well, yes, but it means something more important. It shows that they wish to be family. How it became some chickhood sign of affection is beyond me, but after what you did I want to give you one of mine." Windy then plucked out a single wing feather from her wing, it was one foot long and perfectly straight. "Spike, I'm sorry for fighting you, I'm sorry for scaring you, and I'm sorry for making you take care of Rainbow last night. So I want you to know that after everything you have done for me and my family, I want you to be a part of it."
Spike looked at the feather. "Wait, give me one second." Said Spike as he turned around with Rainbow still on his chest, and using her, he opened the door to the daycare.
Spike walked into the daycare with Rainbow. "Rainbow, I need to head to my place for a moment, can you let go?" Asked Spike.
Rainbow blushed as she flapped to the ground. "Sorry, Spike, but why do you need to go back to your place?"
Spike smiled. "For something important." He looked at Celestia. "Celestia, keep things in one piece for a minute." Said Spike as he pulled out his key and used it on the front door.
Spike walked into the apartment and headed for the study. Spike had kept this room pretty much the same since he loved his grandfather, but the most important thing was sitting on the desk. "So this is where you got this pen, Grandpa." Sitting on the desk was a large blue feather pen in a little inkwell. Spike smiled at the feather as he took it and returned to the daycare.
Spike closed his door and placed his left hand on the top corner, while his right foot was pressed on the middle of the door. He pushed it open and stepped into the Harpy world again. Bow and Windy were still there, so Spike, due to his lack of feathers and a warm Rainbow hug, decided to get close to Bow for warmth. "Sorry, Bow, I'm freezing."
Bow smiled at Spike. "Don't worry, Spike, but where did you go?"
Spike showed the feather pen. "Been family for a long while, it turns out,” laughed Spike. Bow looked at the feather and it was no doubt his grandfather’s. "Sorry, this is the best I can exchange."
Bow sighed. "Spike, we kind of planned for you to just take the feather, so please keep my grandfather’s as well."
Spike shivered. "So, I'm freezing my butt off again for nothing?"
Windy giggled but she nodded. "Yep, now please take the feather and get back inside before we have a Spikesickle."
Spike nodded as he ran for the door and created a link. He pushed open the door and rushed into the daycare.
When Spike got back into the daycare, it was so much better than the cold chill of the harpy world. Spike sighed as he felt the warm air of the daycare's system warming him back up. Everyone looked at Spike. "The harpy world is cold." Said Spike.
Everyone nodded in understanding, and once Spike was better he looked at the group of kids. "Ok, that leaves Sunshine and Moonlight."
Velvet shivered at the mention of those two. "I'm leaving, I don't want a relapse of what happened last time."
Spike nodded. "Ok, Velvet, but please don't hold it against them. They didn't know you were going to be right there."
Velvet nodded. "I know, but you try having no control of your body and two more voices in your head. It’s not fun. They are sweet girls, but possession is not so nice."
Spike nodded. "I know. Have a good day, Velvet, I'll see you or Night Light tonight."
Posey flew off Velvet and started to hover. "I must leave as well. One of the roots is poking out of the soil and we need to make sure it's secure."
Spike smiled at the little fairy. "Sure, have a nice day, Posey." With that, Velvet left first and once the door was closed Posey opened it, she then flew back to her world and closed the door. "Okay, Celestia, head to the pantry and grab the two large dolls that are hanging on the wall. I checked them earlier, and they're fine." Spike handed Celestia the key.
Celestia nodded, took the key, and walked to the back door. She walked into the area and headed for the pantry. She opened that door and hanging on the back door were two filly sized dolls, both made of wood, but treated so they were strong. Celestia used her magic to pick up the dolls. One was made from light-colored wood, the other was made from dark wood, but both had fully adjustable limbs and synthetic manes. One was short, blond, and crazy looking, the other had a dark mane that was slightly curled and looked almost like Luna's. "These must be them."
Celestia walked out of the room with the dolls and headed back to Spike. "Are these them?" Asked Celestia.
Spike nodded as he did one last check. "Yep, all oiled, scratch-free, and really customized for them. Also a little warning, ghosts can touch things but it's hard for them, so they normally fuse to open the door."
"They can fuse?"
Spike nodded. "Yep, Eclipse and Sunlight can take one of the girls in, and then they fuse into one ghost." Suddenly the door opened. "I wonder who's in control today."
Soon a single pale figure with no distinguishing feathers floated into the daycare, Spike walked up to the figure with a smile. "Good morning everyone, who am I talking to?"
"It's me, Spike. Mommy and Daddy gave me control today to see if me and Sunshine are ready to fuse." Said a young girl's voice.
Spike smiled at the figure. "And?"
"It's really hard." Said the voice.
Spike chuckled. "Well, you did a great job. Why don't you and Sunshine come out and get into your dolls?" Soon the figure popped out a dark blue ball and a light yellow ball, and it shrunk down.
The dark blue ball flew to her doll and the yellow one followed. Celestia was a little freaked out and accidentally touched the yellow ball and it went into her body. Spike looked at Celestia. "Oh, crud."
Celestia blinked as she looked down at her body. "Spike, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to possess her." Said Celestia with a younger voice. She then grunted but nothing happened. "Spike, I can't get out, I don't know why?"
Spike walked over to Celestia. "Sunshine, it’s okay. She’s an elf, meaning she has magic."
Sunshine groaned in the body. "Really? Do you have any tags?"
Spike nodded as he looked at the little girl in the woman's body. "I do, stay still for a few moments while I go get one." Spike walked over to the back door, over to his desk, and opened the middle drawer. Sitting in the drawer was a stack of Chinese exorcist tags, Spike grabbed a tag, and closed the drawer, walked out of the backroom, and turned to Celestia. "Sunshine, are you ready?"
Celestia's body nodded. "Ready." Spike slapped the tag onto Celestia's head and started muttering a chant, and soon the same yellow orb flew out of Celestia's chest and into the other doll.
The doll started moving and the same voice came out. "I'm in."
Spike smiled as he ripped the tag off of Celestia's head. "Celestia, you back in control?"
Celestia blinked and she then shivered. "What the heck happened?"
Spike smiled as she sounded back to normal. "Sunshine accidentally possessed you, but I got her out."
Sunshine moved her doll over to Celestia. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to."
Celestia smiled at the little doll. "Don't worry, sweetie, no harm done, and I'm not hanging from the ceiling. I'm Celestia Solaris, it's nice to meet you."
"Sunshine Smiles." Sunshine then pulled the second doll over to Celestia. "And this is my twin sister Moonlight Raven."
"Hi, sorry about that, my sister has a habit of leaping first." Said the second doll in a depressed tone.
"Well, it’s lovely to meet you both. I hope to get to know you both well." Said Celestia.
Spike smiled at seeing that everyone was good with the little mishap. Spike turned to the still figure and smiled at them. "So, do you have this week's payment?" Asked Spike.
"We do, Spike, here's a vial of ghost tears." Said the figure as a vial popped out of the body.
Spike took the vile and looked at the liquid inside. It was clear and glowing a slight blue color. "Thanks, guys." Ghost tears are a powerful form of spirit medicine and something that cannot be taken lightly. A single drop can fix cuts, two drops can fix a bone, three drops can fix major damage, and four drops can fix everything by making it not a problem again because you would leave your body permanently. Spike was careful about this stuff, but it had saved him a few times, mostly with Ember during her greed moments when he got first degree burns from her shooting a fireball at him. This stuff didn't even go into the medical cabinet; it went into a lockbox in the desk. Spike placed the vial in his apron and planned to store it with the other one when he could.
"No problem. Spike, just please be careful with that stuff."
Spike nodded. "I will."
The figure smiled and looked at the two dolls. "Girls, we're going to work now, be good for Spike."
The two dolls only turned their heads around. "Bye Mommy, bye Daddy." Said the two in unison.
The two ghosts smiled in the single body and walked out of the daycare. Spike smiled at seeing that was everyone for the day. "Okay, let’s get today started."
