Chapter 2 – Training a pro
Your eyes hold a half closed and slightly far off stare as you hold your gaze to the bowl of soup in front of you. Its not that the soup is bad in fact you're surprised Twilight made something that wasn't burnt or undercooked...but it most likely would be hard to mess up a soup. But despite Twilight's comment about her mother always saying soup was the best thing for a cold this in no way was a family recipe...Unless her family just so happened to write the cook book Twilight used.
The mostly tomato soup has a decent amount of carrots, green things and other vegetables you can't name mixed in giving it a unique flavor that actually is pretty good. But you can't imagine Violet liking it too much.
You shift your eyes to the light purple filly sitting in the chair across from you with the smaller grey stuffed doll sitting beside her. From Violet's slightly confused stare that's pinned to the soup there's no doubt she's regretting trying to copy your breakfast instead of just sticking with pancakes.
A smile crosses your face as you look over the filly, you know all she did was pick out and eat all the zap apple bits, but you can't really blame her seeing as how that's pretty much what you did. Although eating the magical apple might not have been the best idea, seeing as how you now have a weird craving for chicken soup. Which you can't figure out how or why you would keep a bird in a bowl seeing as how it would be just mindlessly flapping about trying to get out of the soup. Note to self, get a chicken?
You push the strange thought aside as you listen to the lavender mare's voice coming from beside you. Twilight has already rushed through her breakfast along with Spike as they continue to hold the conversation they started earlier, "...No Spike for the hundredth time, we are not going to keep another dragon if Violet's test is hatching a dragon."
Spike still holds his arms crossed and his boyish voice to a slight heightened tone as he speaks up, "But you admit there would be another dragon?"
Twilight's voice comes back with a slight groan as she shakes her head, "Like I said Spike I don't know, every ponies test is different. It could be a phoenix egg for all I know."
To the words Spike uncrosses his arms as he pokes his claw to his chest, "What does a phoenix have that I don't? They don't even have claws."
Don't have claws? You squint to the comment as you think to yourself, phoenix, fiery bird thing...birds have claws. A smile comes over your face as you float the spoon back to the soup, yep, i'm smarter than a dragon.
"You shouldn't use magic for something so simple."
You turn your head to Twilight's stare as you float the spoon to your hoof, as you do this your hoof's grip to the spoon becomes lapsed and you instead watch the silver spoon fall into the red slosh and disappear. A faint sigh comes over you as you stare to the void that has swallowed your spoon.
Twilight's stare has shifted back to Spike as her voice continues to the purple dragon, "And Spike you know you're more than just my assistant, you're my family two."
Spike's quite for a moment as he nods his head, but his claw comes back to Twilight as he speaks up, "Thats number one assistant by the way."
A slight giggle comes from Twilight as she nods, "Of course you are Spike."
As her giggle comes to an end Spike moves from the table with his head up with a sense of pride as he carries his plate towards the kitchen.
You look up from the table as you hold a slight confusion to their conversation, your voice is still slightly stuffy but not as bad as earlier, "So Celestia's test is hatching an egg?"
The comment brings a quick reaction from Twilight as she turns her head to yours, "No, there's all kinds of test..." Her eyes drift away from you as she starts to tap her hooves together, "There's breaking enchantments, creating enchantments, hatching a randomly selected egg with a form of magic..." She squints her eyes for a moment as she continues, "OH!" Her spaced out stare comes back to you as she smiles, "That reminds me! There's a few test that are just demonstration spells, like teleporting."
Her voice trails on as she turns back towards the filly, "Violet should hav-..." Her voice stops as you start up in a slight chuckle.
In the few seconds you and Twilight turned your gaze away from the little filly, Violet has placed Ms. Smarty Pants into the bowl and the stuffed doll has taken on a slightly sloppy red color from the soup its soaked up.
"Violet!" Twilight's stare turns a little hard as she looks to the soaked toy. But her voice comes back to her in a more calmed down tone as she sighs and floats the soup filled doll from the bowl, "Violet you shouldn't play with your food.
Violet holds a smile as she holds her hoof towards you, Twilight follows the filly's hoof as she turns her eyes to you.
From the lavender mare's stare you freeze for a moment as you take your hoof from the bowl and quickly abandon your search for the lost spoon, "Uh..."
Twilight rolls her eyes as she trots it to the kitchen with the dripping doll still floating beside her.
As the mare moves from the room you turn your eyes back to the happily wheezing filly as she lightly taps her hooves to the table to increase her child like joy.
You squint to her laugh as you push the bowl a little away from you, "I wasn't playing with my food."
To your voice Violet stops her giggles as she looks to you a little confused, as she taps her left hoof to her right and then brings her right hoof to run along her throat.
You blink to the motions as you think them over for a second, "Daddy's voice is different because he's sick."
The filly blinks to your words as she stares to the table for a second, but her hoove's silence doesn't last long as she again runs her right hoof through the length of her throat followed by another hoof motion.
You lose your smile as you think over her question silently to your mind, am I sick...You and Twilight both have dreaded the day Violet would start really asking about her own voice. You've kind of known the time would be coming soon seeing as how Violet has become a lot more aware of the world around her and the ponies around her.
But your heavy thoughts end fast as you shake your head, "No, there's nothing wrong with you."
The filly is silent for a second as her blue eyes move back to the table in thought, you look over her new expression as you quickly move your hoof to your failsafe.
You move the small plate with the rest of the uncut zap apple on it closer to you as you watch Violet's eyes quickly take hold on the magical fruit.
A faint smile comes over your face with a slight sigh as you savor the idea of being able to distract her, even for just a few minutes.
You move your eyes to where Twilight is for a second, but the coast is clear as you float the considerable apple part towards Violet, "Do you want me to cut it up for you?" You know she doesn't really need it cut up but its still something you feel the need to say.
The little filly shakes her head as she gets a happy grin and takes the apple to her front hooves. A part of you thought she would try to prove to you she's a big filly and cut it up herself, but instead she just brings the apple to her mouth as she bites to it whole.
Her eyes close as the crunch of the juice apple runs through the room, but her closed eyes don't stay closed for long as they burst back open to a wide almost shocked stare.
You squint to her sudden change in expression but the point of her quick change comes back as she takes the apple from her mouth and moves it in front of her face.
You look over the apple with a faint smile as you notice two little teeth sticking to the piece of apple. But to Violet the sight of her teeth not in her head sends the little filly into a quick and confused lip quiver as she turns the apple towards you still trying to hold her building emotion back.
You can't help but chuckle to the filly's upset and confused face but your fatherly instincts kicks in as you take the apple form the filly's slightly shaky hooves, "Its alright Violet, its just baby teeth."
The filly doesn't stop her silent whine as she brings her hooves to her mouth as her blue eyes start to flutter like shes about to cry.
To her new upset face you move from your seat across the table as you quickly move to the one next to her, you move your hoof to the filly's mane as you rub it trying to calm her, "It's alright Violet all little fillies loose their baby teeth."
Violet's quivering lips and fluttering eyes start to calm down a little as she continues to hold her hooves over her mouth, but as her soft blue eyes focus on your face she begins to calm down.
You give another slight chuckle to her as you continue to rub her mane, your stuffy nosed voice doesn't really give you the opportunity to give a good baby like voice but you push through it anyways, "I bet Mommy's going to be upset she wasn't here to see you lose your first baby tooth." At the end of your words Violet's eyes change a little back to their normal happier shine.
But your voice that rings through the house causes another to start up in a loud and almost fearful tone, "Violet lost what!"
End of chapter 2