“Those two did WHAT to him?!” Rainbow asked Starlight in the teacher’s lounge in the School of Friendship. Starlight had just finished telling Rainbow, as well as everypony else, what Twilight told HER in a Horn Pulse.
Starlight nodded. “Yeah. They grabbed Kicker last night, took him to Sweet Apple Acres, and tried to kill him. Thank Faust Sparkler stopped them.”
Rainbow shook her head in disgust. “Man. Kicker’s gonna make it right?”
Starlight shrugged. “I actually don’t know. The last I heard from Twilight was REALLY early this morning when she told me she was staying at the hospital with Sparkler.”
Fluttershy was on the brink of tears. “I can’t believe ANYPONY would do that to a foal. It’s just awful!”
Rarity nodded. “The nerve of those ponies. It was bad enough they foalnapped him the first time. But THIS?! I can’t even.”
“Twilight told me how Sparkler was on their tails in no time flat last night. And this morning when I got out to where the encounter happened, two trees were broken off their trunks. I didn’t need to be a genius to figure that Sparkler slammed them into them. Sparkler must’ve been right ticked.” Applejack commented.
Pinkie smiled widely. “But girls! Look on the bright side, with those meanie butts arrested they can never hurt Kicker again! He’s finally free to live his life! Ya know what that calls for!”
Everypony chuckled at Pinkie’s excitement. They all knew what she was thinking.
“Maybe hold off on the party for when Kicker is out of the hospital Pinkie.” Spike said. “I doubt they’ll appreciate a party after the LAST one you had there for a patient.”
Pinkie laughed. “Oh don’t you worry Spike. I’m gonna hold off until Sparkler adopts him. Then I can throw him the biggest, bestest, most awesomest party he’s EVER had! Ooh! I better start planning it!” Pinkie turned to race out of the room, but was stopped by Starlight keeping her in place with her magic.
“Hold it Pinkie. Before you race off. You girls think Kicker would like a visit from all of us after school?”
Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “Last night’s events probably traumatized him. I’m sure he could use some friends right now.”
Applejack nodded. “I’m sure our sisters would like to visit him too. They sure had fun with him that one day.”
Everypony nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I say we pay him a visit. See how he’s doing.”
“Right. So after school?”
“After school.”
“No way. You actually blasted a bugbear out of town with one shot Sparkler?” Kicker asked.
Sparkler chuckled and nodded. “Yeah. I did.”
“She just lit up her horn and blasted the bugbear like it was nothing.” Twilight commented.
It was now a couple of hours since Kicker woke up and Celestia had since returned to Canterlot, while Flappy and Mina went off to do their own thing, leaving Twilight and Sparkler with Kicker. They were having fun telling him stories.
“That’s so awesome!” Kicker exclaimed.
Sparkler smiled sheepishly and nodded. “Yeah. I suppose that’s pretty awesome. All I was trying to do honestly was save the house from destruction on my first day.”
Twilight chuckled. “That would not be the best start to a new life in a new town.”
Sparkler shook her head. “No it would not.”
Kicker giggled. “What else can you do that Twilight can’t Sparkler?”
Sparkler took a quick glance at a giggling Twilight before chuckling herself and turning back to Kicker. “I can teleport onto a cloud without needing to fly.”
Kicker’s eyes widened in awe. “Whoa.”
Twilight chuckled. “Yeah. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. You said your dad taught you the teleportation spell, but when they last visited he said he couldn’t teleport onto a cloud, and I certainly never taught you because I don’t know myself.”
Sparkler shrugged. “I don’t know how I can. I just discovered that I could one day.”
“You must super powerful Sparkler.” Kicker commented.
Sparkler shrugged. “Eh, I’d give myself a six or seven out of ten.”
Twilight chuckled. “I’d give you an eight or nine. I can tell Sparkler. You’re more powerful than you think.”
Sparkler blushed at that and smiled sheepishly. “Oh...y-you think so?”
Twilight nodded. “Given time I dare say you could be on equal ground with me eventually.”
Sparkler’s eyes widened in shock. Never had she expected Twilight to say that! “You aren’t just saying that are you Twi?”
Twilight chuckled and shook her head. “I most certainly am not. I mean it Sparkler. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.”
Sparkler didn’t know why, but that made her eyes glisten as she rushed in and hugged Twilight. “Gosh darn it how do you always bring me to the brink of tears? You have a way with words you know that?”
Twilight chuckled. “Just speaking the truth Sparky.”
And the moment was ruined when they heard giggling. They turned to see Kicker smiling at them and snickering. “Aww. You two are cute together.”
Sparkler and Twilight quickly separated and was about to say they weren’t together, before stopping themselves so they wouldn’t say it in unison. Twilight motioned for Sparkler to tell him, which she did. “We’re not together Kicker. Get yer head out of the gutter.” She said as she tried to hold in her laughter along with Twilight. Kicker just reaffirmed to Sparkler that he didn’t mind them being together, by joining the rest of their friends in teasing them. She should’ve been frustrated like anypony else, but the fact that Kicker was having fun was a good sign that he wasn’t suffering any brain damage, something that Sparkler was relieved for so she let it slide.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and while Kicker tensed up and his behavior became nervous. The door opened and the doctor poked his head in. “Hey everypony. How’s it going? Mind if I come in?”
Sparkler calmed Kicker down while Twilight nodded. “Sure.”
The doctor nodded and entered the room, holding a clipboard. He smiled. “I just thought since everypony was now awake and alert we can take a look at what exactly Kicker’s state is. How long we’d like him to stay...things like that.”
Sparkler nodded. “Sure thing doc.”
“I-I’m gonna be ok...right?” Kicker asked nervously.
The doctor smiled at him. “Don’t worry kiddo. You should be back to normal in two weeks. No permanent damage as far as we can tell.”
Kicker smiled. “Good.”
The doctor nodded. “As I stated last night, his legs and hooves are broken, ribs sprained and he may have a concussion. But again, can’t be too sure on that one.”
“I think we don’t need to worry about the concussion.” Twilight said. “He doesn’t seem to be suffering any known concussion symptoms.”
The doctor smiled. “That’s great then.” He glanced back to his clipboard. “We would like him to stay the next two nights for observation, after that if everything checks out we’ll discharge him.”
Sparkler nodded. “The sooner the better.”
“Now, onto the less obvious.” The doctor said. “He’s malnourished for a foal his age. Has he had trouble eating by any chance?”
Sparkler shook her head. “No. He hasn’t. He just—“
“The ponies that I lived with before Sparkler barely fed me the last three years.” Kicker cut in.
Everypony gave him a shocked look. The doctor cleared his throat after a second. “Ahem. Yes well, due to his broken limbs it’ll be even harder for him to eat these next two weeks.”
Sparkler nodded. “Is there something you could recommend he eats that could help?”
“I can get a nutritionist in here after we’re done here and they can recommend a good formula.” The doctor replied. “The other thing we noticed was several scars on his body that were present even before we got our hooves on him. Nothing to be too concerned about but I just wanted to bring it to light.”
Sparkler bit her lip. Scars...that I didn’t notice.
“He didn’t have the best life before he was found by Sparkler doctor.” Twilight said. “His previous hosts were...not as caring as his birth parents.”
It seemingly clicked with the doctor and his eyes widened. “Oh...is that what the um, the CPD stallion I saw earlier was...”
Sparkler and Twilight nodded. The doctor understood and cleared his throat. “Right. So yeah. We’ll discharge him in a few days, we’ll have a nutritionist recommend a good diet and we’ll set up an appointment after discharge for a check up and to hopefully cut him out of the cast.”
Sparkler and Twilight nodded. “Sounds good.”
“Thanks doc.”
The doctor nodded and turned to Kicker. “Got any questions for me little one?”
Kicker shook his head. “No.”
The doctor smiled and nodded. “In that case, I’ll just leave you to whatever you were doing. Have a nice day.” With that, he left the room.
Sparkler let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and turned to smile at Kicker. “That wasn’t so bad.”
Kicker nodded. “Hey Sparkler?”
“What is it Kick?” She asked.
Kicker’s smile faded as he sighed. “What’s gonna happen to me now?”
Sparkler recoiled from that question. She knew where it was gonna lead, and while she had promised to bring up adoption, she didn’t feel ready for it. Stop hesitating! You can’t put this off any longer. Especially since he’s gonna learn EXACTLY what’ll happen to him one way or another.
“Well...what do you WANT to happen?” Sparkler asked.
Twilight sensed what was coming and discreetly gave them some space for them to have their moment. THE moment. Just don’t hesitate Sparkler.
“I-I want to stay with you. I want you to tuck me in at night, care for me when I’m sick, cheer me up when I’m sad...I, I want to keep living with you...forever.”
Sparkler’s mind was racing, if she was hearing what she THOUGHT she was hearing...”You mean, you want me to be your mom now?” She asked hopefully.
Kicker nodded without a second thought and smiled. “Yeah...I’d like that. If you want to...”
Sparkler had to actively force herself to A, not suddenly jump for joy and scare Kicker, and B, not scoop him up for a hug, because he was in a cast. He just asked her to adopt him! He really did see her as a mother after all! Instead of a hug, she just gave him the biggest smile she could as her eyes glistened. “Kicker, I’d be honored to be your mom.” She leaned in and nuzzled the foal she had come to think of as her son on the cheek.
Kicker smiled as she nuzzled him as his little heart burst with excitement. She was actually gonna adopt him! She said yes! Unable to hold back anymore, he just went for it. “I love you, mom!”
Sparkler’s eyes widened and she pulled back to stare at Kicker. Did...he just... Her mind was racing. While the first two times he called her mom may have been slip ups, she knew this one was intentional. And it brought her to tears of joy. She smiled and she leaned in to give Kicker a kiss on the cheek. “Aww! I love you too Kicker!”
Away from the two, Twilight had a few tears of her own as she watched the beautiful moment. She smiled. Now all that stands in their way to being a family is the FPS and Foster Care. She smiled as she made the note to go through every book she could to find a way to ensure Sparkler’s adoption of Kicker. Nopony’s gonna get in their way if I have anything to say about it.
Sparkler couldn’t stop smiling. She and Kicker were really going to be a family! I can’t wait for Flappy to hear about this!
To be continued...