Sweetie Belle shifted a hand slowly from the side of her hips to her back and quickly thought up of an answer. With Spike, Twilight and Rarity all laying eyes on her she felt a lump going down her throat along with a bead of sweat making it's way down.
Rarity tapped her foot impatiently and crossed her arms, despite having Spike also on her lap who stared at the girl in the room, he mindlessly shoved his thumb into his mouth and kept quiet.
Sweetie slowly moved herself a little closer to the couch and stood inbetween Rarity and Twilight, she kept her eyes down on the floor and stood perfectly still.
"Well?" Rarity began to speak. She leaned back slightly and loosened her grip on Spike.
"Sorry." Sweetie Belle gulped. "I went outside and had breakfast at Applebloom's house. I swear I was going to come back faster than this! Honest!"
Rarity blinked.
"You left my Boutique unattended? Sweetie. We have all sorts of food here, not to mention that special cereal you like, but why in the name of Abbacus would you eat at the Apple residence?" Rarity sighed and nodded quietly. "Was it because of me? You don't have to lie or hold anything back, it's better to get everything out of the way right now before this turns into an argument."
"Yeah." Sweetie mumbled. She twiddled her thumbs and looked up at her sister. "I don't like it when you drink that wine stuff. Applebloom invited me to come over... And stuff..."
Brief silence went through the room and Sweetie Belle put her head down again. Rarity bit her lip and sighed.
"Okay. Okay. This is a conversation for another time, despite what I just said. Listen, Sweetie Belle, to make it up to you, why don't you go upstairs with Spike and practice the things you learned from Cheerilee at school." Rarity offered.
"Wait a minute." Twilight leaned forward. "I'm not too sure about this." She quipped.
Sweetie Belle, upon hearing the idea, turned her frown upside down and let out a beaming smile. She wriggled with excitement and held her hands together and got down on her knees in front of Spike.
"Oh please! Let me look after him! Please! I'll do my best! I'll hug him! Change him! Feed him! Anything!" Sweetie Belle quickly put an arm round Spike and pulled him into a hug, whether he liked it or not. He pulled his fingers out of his mouth and let out a bunch of giggles and gibberish and reached for her hair and pulled on it.
Twilight looked at the pair cautiously and gulped.
"Okay. You win Sweetie Belle. You can look after Spike, but only on one condition." Twilight tried to smile.
"Uh-huh." Sweetie Belle nodded.
"Keep him in the living room and if he needs a change, tell me."
"No worries. I can change him. Cheerilee taught me how to look after a baby."
"I'm not too sure about that." Twilight replied. "He can be quite the little stink bomb."
"If anything, Twilight." Rarity snickered. "He won't be as bad as Sweetie Belle when she was his age."
Sweetie Belle felt her cheeks suddenly go red and flame up on the inside, she quickly unwrapped her arm around Spike and recoiled away from her sister. Her mouth was left wipe open in surprise.
"Sis! I thought you'd never tell!" Sweetie whined.
"I'm only joking, Sweetie. You always used to smell of peaches and cream." Rarity chuckled loudly and moved Spike onto the couch, she rose off her seat and stood up and corrected her hair. "Now, that you're going to look after Spike, Sweetie. Then me and Twilight are going to be in the kitchen if you need us."
"Why?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"We're adults so we're going to talk together in private about things." Rarity walked over to the entrance to the kitchen and leaned against the wall. Twilight rose up from her seat and slowly walked over to Rarity, she kept her eyes on Spike, but he didn't look at her.
Spike had his eyes on Sweetie Belle, his mouth was open and drool escaped from it, he held his arms up in the air and reached out for the girl.
Twilight stopped in her tracks and walked back over to the couch and leaned down to Spike's level, both of them met eye to eye. She leaned forward and lightly kissed him on the forehead she then pulled herself back with a humble smile.
"Be a good boy, Spike." She got back up on her feet and walked off, giving a little wink and a wave to her baby brother who smiled as she walked into the kitchen next door.
Sweetie Belle quickly leaned to one side and cupped a hand around her ear, she heard the faint noises of Twilight and Rarity talking along with the sound of the kettle turning on. She was now excited to be left in a position of responsibility with an infant, the first of her kind.
Her mind was buzzing with all sorts of ideas and the knowledge she learned from school about babies, Sweetie sat down on the couch beside Spike and took a hard long gaze at him. Spike also stared back at her with a big dumb grin and a collection of spittle and drool going down his onesie.
Sweetie Belle slowly placed her hands around Spike's hip and tightened her hold on the baby boy, she felt his soft pudgy belly under the thin cotton material. It felt weird for her to pick up Spike but she initially took a moment and slowly lifted him up into the air, his feet dangled about and he giggled with each passing second.
He was soon put down onto her lap and was made comfortable using the space that was given to him. The first thing Spike did was immediately tug on Sweetie's dress and continue to smile.
"Aww..." Sweetie Belle leaned back into the pillow behind her. "You like my clothes, don't you?"
"Ta-ba-da!" Spike pulled even harder on her white dress and giggled.
"If you like my clothes so much- Ooh! I know! We could play a game together!" Sweetie suggested.
Spike nodded in reply.
"What game should we play together? Tickle Monster? Hide n' Seek? Ball?"
"Ga!" Spike gurgled.
"That's great." Sweetie Belle pretended to agree with him. A little smirk came on her face and she wrapped her arms around him. "Dress up it is!"
The second those words hit Spike's little ears he quickly stopped and kept motionless, his mouth dropped open and he tried to crawl off her lap as quick as he could. But a pair of hands pulled him back before he could even move out of the way.
"Don't worry Spike, it'll be pretty fun, I've got loads of baby clothes for you to try on."
Before Spike knew it, he was shuffled closely to Sweetie's chest, she got up on her feet and headed for the stairs.
Spike couldn't escape from his captor and knew what was coming, but as he ascended up the stairs there was only one thing he could do. Accept his fate and try not to cry.
Meanwhile...
"... Sweetie Belle won't do any harm to Spike, I can assure this with my life deary, if I knew that she would make a mistake somewhere along the road then I'd take Spike away from her even behind she could lay eyes on him. I think you need to stop worrying and allow yourself to calm down and rest."
Twilight rested her eyes for a moment and nodded slowly. She reached for her cup of tea and lifted it up to her mouth and sighed, the cup ebbed closer to her lips and she took a little sip of the warm liquid. Twilight placed the cup back down on the kitchen table and cleared her throat.
"Yeah..." Twilight coughed. "I guess I've got to stop being so overprotective over Spike."
Rarity nodded in reply.
"I'm just starting to worry about him all the time and it takes a lot of my day to make sure that he's fed, changed, burped and even put to bed at the right time. And not to mention, my family is going crazy. Shouting, name-calling and even downright lying to try and make them look better than one another."
"Oh yes... Your family. You don't have to tell me if you don't want me to get involved, like you said last time."
"It's okay, Rarity. Things have died down a little, well, for me personally so I can get back on track with my life."
"I see." Rarity nodded. "Has Spike been a pain for you? I remember when Sweetie Belle was only around the same age as Spike, she never used to stop crying unless I came into her room and tended to her needs. My Mother and Father couldn't understand why she always preferred me over them. I guess it's just a sister thing."
Twilight felt a little smile coming over her, she couldn't help but let out a small chuckle right before taking another sip of her tea.
"Oh boy... He's been such a little angel and at the same time he's also a little hell spawn. I think I initially got off on his bad side, tantrums, screaming, crying for no reason all of that stuff. But ever since I took Spike into my care, Mrs. Cake has been there to try and help me get Spike into a happy mood. I've learn't so much from her I don't know how to thank her."
Rarity smiled. She leaned back in her seat and chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Twilight asked.
"Mrs. Cake taught you too?" Rarity picked up her cup and took a sip.
"What?" Twilight didn't understand.
"Few years ago dear." Rarity stopped and cleared her throat. "Sweetie Belle was an uncontrollable mess. Punishment wouldn't do anything, taking her toys off her wouldn't do anything. Just when I was about to give up, Mrs. Cake came out of the blue and decided to help me and teach me things that could help me bond closer to my little sister. And this was before she gave birth to the twins mind you."
"I didn't know." Twilight gasped.
"You don't have to work yourself over something like that. I can understand the troubles you're having, except that I've spent nearly ten years looking after Sweetie Belle and you have just started looking after your own."
"That's amazing, Rarity." Twilight gasped.
"Not exactly. We're only sisters, yet Sweetie Belle has gotten used to me. Our parents are very busy all year round on different trips to all sorts of countries, shame though, I wonder what goes through her head from time to time with the lack of real parents around her to comfort her or even quell her needs."
"But she's got you."
"Yes. In fact..." Rarity's cheeks went red slightly. "Sweetie Belle has occasionally slipped from time to time. She has called me Mommy here and there, doesn't happen often. I tend to look the other way or simply ignore it. However, I take it as a compliment, knowing that she appreciates me similar to how a child does to their own mother."
"That's so-"
Before Twilight could finish, they were both stopped by a loud scream and a series of bangs that came from upstairs. Rarity and Twilight both looked at each other slightly confused. Rarity got up from her seat and groaned quietly. She put her tea down back on the table and walked over to the kitchen door.
"Wait. I need to check on Spike." Twilight slowly rose from her chair and stood up, but was quickly halted by Rarity.
"I'll go. It's the least I can do." She insisted.
Twilight thought about this for a moment and slowly nodded. Rarity also nodded and proceeded to leave the kitchen.