Welcome, My Little One: Family Time
"He's grown up so fast, Twilight."
Spike and Twilight were sitting together out on a hill in Ponyville Park, watching Northern Lights and Flash playing catch with a hoofball together in an open field. Northern Lights was now six years old, and had grown to a third the size of his father.
"He has. Almost too fast," Twilight said. "But you've grown too, Spike."
Spike had nearly grown by half of his original size from when Northern Lights was born. His voice had dropped a couple of tones, and his body had grown more definition.
"Yeah," Spike agreed. "I'm not a little baby dragon anymore. I kinda wish I still was. We had a lot of good times when I was younger."
Twilight smiled, and gave Spike's cheek a brief, affectionate rub. "We still do have a lot of good times, Spike."
"I know," Spike said. "I just don't like thinking that just six years ago, I was waiting for you to come home like I bet Northern Lights would do today. He's kinda like the new me back then."
"Oh, don't say that Spike." Twilight gave Spike a quick, reassuring hug. "Northern Lights is my foal, but he'll never replace you. You'll always be my number one assistant."
Spike smiled at that. "Thanks, Twilight." He sighed. "I just don't like thinking about how I won't be around forever. There's gonna be a day when I gotta go fly back with the other dragons. I just hope you'll be alright without me."
Twilight smiled again. "I will be, Spike. I'll miss you every second of my life, but you have to grow up someday. So does Northern Lights." Twilight looked back at her family in the field. "But I don't regret having either of you."
Spike smiled again. "I know this is gonna sound kinda weird, but I couldn't have asked for a better mom." Twilight smiled, shooting Spike a loving glance. "I would've asked for Rarity, but I'd probably would've had a crush on you instead." Spike cringed. "Ugh... Awkward." Twilight and Spike both laughed.
Twilight took that moment to think back for a minute.
Six years. It had already been six years. Northern Lights had already grown so much, but he still had so much more to do. He still hadn't learned to fly yet, and he didn't have his cutie mark. Twilight remembered the first day she got her own cutie mark. Her first day in Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. She wondered if Northern Lights would accomplish as much as she did. Although, she did hope that he wouldn't have to have the fate of Equestria put into his hooves. Twilight had experienced that several times, and she'd been glad for the experiences that they were, but she just thought that wasn't what she wanted for her foal.
"What do you think he's gonna be when he grows up?" Spike asked.
Twilight thought about that for a moment. "You know, Spike, I don't know. He says he wants to be a Wonderbolt, but almost every Pegasus in Equestria's wanted that when they were a foal. He might join the weather team, but he might get one of the many jobs available to anypony." Twilight just placed one front hoof over the other. "I just hope that whatever he does, he's happy."
"Did you think you were gonna own a library when you were a foal?" Spike asked.
Twilight thought about that, along with all she had been through, and smiled. "I didn't think I was gonna do anything that I've done when I was a foal, Spike. I never thought I'd own a library, be a personal student to Princess Celestia, save Equestria countless times with my five friends, travel to a strange world where I first met my husband." Twilight paused, then she smiled. "And, of course, I never thought I'd raise a baby dragon that looks up to me as a mother."
Spike smiled again, and quickly hugged Twilight's neck. "Thanks, Twilight. I'll never forget that."
Twilight returned the hug and closed her eyes, letting the moment between her and her number one assistant drag out for a moment. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw Flash standing in front of her, smiling, along with Northern Lights standing on his back with a hoofball wrapped in one leg.
Twilight stood up, and levitated Spike onto her back. "Hey, you two," she said. "You have fun?"
"Northern Lights here was wondering if he could play with Spike for a bit."
Northern Lights started jumping up and down on Flash's back, mumbling something that sounded like "yeah!" several times.
Twilight looked back at Spike. "I dunno. You'll have to ask Spike yourself, Northy."
Northern Lights spat the hoofball from his mouth, and jumped off of Flash's back. "Wanna pway wif me, Unca Spike?"
Spike smiled, and jumped off Twilight's back, picking up the hoofball. "Alright, you little scamp. Go long!"
Northern Lights cheered, and ran off into the field. Spike ran off after him, and Flash had laid down on the grass next to Twilight.
"I'm so glad Northern Lights has a playmate like Spike," Twilight said. "I've never seen Spike have so much fun with another pony."
"Yeah, I'm glad, too," Flash agreed. "But I still hope that one day, he'll be friends with other ponies, too."
"Oh, I'm sure he will," Twilight said. "He's so friendly with every pony he meets. And he's not obsessed with books like I was, so I don't think he'll be hiding in some house far away from here like I was."
"We've both done things we hope he won't do, Twilight," Flash said. "All parents have. He's gonna have things he won't wanna pass on, too."
"We just gotta give him more things he will want to pass on, right?" Twilight asked. Flash smiled.
"I think your smarts is gonna be one of those things," he said. Twilight smiled at that.
Twilight was about to say something, when she heard Spike yell, "Touchdown!" from across the field. Twilight and Flash looked over to see the dragon holding his hands straight up in the air, while across the field, Northern Lights was jumping up and down, squealing in happiness with the hoofball in his hooves.
"Looks like Spike's got a few things of his own to pass on," Flash said.
"I guess I raised him right," Twilight replied. "Now, he gets to help me raise Northern Lights. And Northern Lights doesn't seem to mind that Spike's a dragon."
Flash nodded. "Guess Spike really is like an uncle to him. I'm glad you let him call Spike that."
"Well, Spike's part of our family, too," Twilight said. "He's lived with me since he was just a baby, and he looks up to me like a mother."
"So what's that make me to him?" Flash asked.
Twilight thought about that for a moment. "I dunno," she finally said. "You should ask him sometime. I'm sure he wouldn't mind telling you."
"Yeah, I will sometime," Flash said. "Maybe not soon, though. It'd seem kinda sudden. One day, though, I will."
Twilight nodded. She thought that Spike looked up to Flash like a step-dad. Spike had known Flash for a big part of his life, and Spike probably looked up to Flash in some way or another by then. Flash had married the closest thing Spike had to a mother, so step-dad just kinda made sense.
Twilight thought about that for a moment. Two ponies who met in some distant universe and a dragon that Twilight raised herself all caring for the same foal.
"You know. Flash," Twilight said. We have a really strange family."
"What do you mean?" Flash asked.
"If you were Northern Lights, wouldn't you think it was kinda weird that your parents met in some other dimension, your mother is immortal, and your uncle is a dragon?"
Flash thought about that, then smiled. "Yeah, we've got one messed up family." Flash shuffled over to Twilight, and put one leg over her haunches, pulling her against him. "But it's our messed up family."
Twilight's smile in that moment was warmer than any others she had since the birth of Northern Lights. Her family was different from most others, but she was happy with different. Perfectly happy with it.
"And I love our family just the way it is," Twilight said.
"Me too," Flash agreed.
And Twilight's "different" family would share that love for many years to come.