“All I’m saying is,” Rainbow Dash said the next morning at the library, “you might wanna think about a helmet.”
She ducked as her pet tortoise, Tank, hovered precariously overhead without direction via his magic-powered propeller, fastened to the back of his shell.
“Yeah, you only wanna get hit in the head by a flying tur- Sorry, tortoise once,” Soarin added as he opened the carrier he’d brought and out slithered a serpent of shimmering scales and feathered wings colored shades of blues and greens.
“Also, be mindful of Skye’s wings, she tends to molt when she gets nervous but a kiwi or two will calm her down.”
“A thousand plus karats of pure deliciousness…” Spike looked dreamily into his cookbook, not really paying attention when Tank accidentally knocked off his chef’s hat while everypony else arrived with their pets.
“Looks like our lil’ Spike’s got himself a regular pet daycare here, eh Big Macintosh?” Applejack commented as she led in Winona, who quickly went over and gave Spike a friendly lick, Mac nodding, “Eeyup” as he gently set down Goldilocks, who awkwardly began to explore the room.
“Now be sure to get Winona some playtime,” Applejack reminded Spike while hoofing over the leash. “She tends t’ get a lil’ wild if she don’ get `er exercise.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Spike waved off, only for somepony to whirl him about face to face with a serious-looking Blueblood.
“Now, Spike, I am entrusting you with the care of my fine Splendor,” he held out his hoof to reveal his pet peacock, the gorgeous bird already fanning his magnificent tail.
Blueblood poked his hoof against the little dragon’s belly, sternly saying, “If I come back to find so much as one tail feather damaged or missing, so help me, young drake…!”
“Blueblood, dear!” Rarity held her stallion’s cheek reassuringly, “I have every confidence my little Spikey-wikey is up to the task of giving Splendor and my precious Opal-wopal all the tender loving care they’ll need.”
“Well… if you’re certain, perfect,” Blueblood smiled sweetly at his Rarity but once the fashionista had turned away, he discreetly threatened Spike, “One …! Feather…”
Blueblood followed Rarity, Spike making a face at him when there was an oddly high sound he almost didn’t hear and he gasped to see a few of his gems crack.
“Augh! What happened to my gems?!”
“Sorry about that.”
He looked up to see Thunderlane, putting a bag down while holding his wing out, “My little buddy here has quite a set of pipes.”
“Who?” Spike gave him a look.
Thunderlane answered by whipping his wing up and out flapped a bat shrilling as it quickly made for a shadowy corner above a bookshelf.
“That’s Soundwave, usually he prefers to be asleep during the day. So just feed him his feed in this bag here when he wakes up and let him fly about a bit in the room, he won’t be much trouble.”
“Uh-huh…” Spike glared at the flying rodent for nearly ruining his baking plans but he was satisfied to see only a few of his gems had cracked and they were still in one piece.
“I don’t remember seeing critters on the invite list.”
All eyes turned to see Twilight with Owlowiscious on her back and her saddlebags strapped to her barrel.
“That’s because Spike was kind enough to offer his services in critter-sitting for them,” Midnight informed her, Dreamer at his side, but the tone of his voice caused Twilight to regard Spike suspiciously.
“Is that so…?”
Spike smiled innocently, only to get tickled by Soarin’s feathered serpent Skye, making him yelp when in trotted Fluttershy with Angel on her back.
“So sorry I’m late, silly bunny had hidden his brush!”
She showed Spike a basket of Angel’s toiletries, “Be sure you get plenty on his tail or it won’t get as poofy as he likes it.”
“Come on everypony!” Applejack called as she stood by the door, “Or wer’ gonna miss th’ train!”
The pet owners all started giving their critters farewells while Spike said to Twilight, “So! …What’re you thinking about that hooting little friend of yours? S’pose you’ll want me to keep an eye on him too!”
“And I’m certain a loyal and generous #1 Assistant would be more than happy to do such for Twilight… free of charge!” Midnight glared at Spike, making him sweat.
“It would be nice,” Twilight considered, “but I’m not so certain, Spike. You barely managed to convince me you could be responsible for Peewee after that ice-cream incident.”
“You honestly think you can tackle the responsibility of twelve different kinds of pets?” Midnight added with a raised brow.
“Oh pshaw… I’ll be fine!” Spike ushered them all out.
“You’re absolutely sure you can do this?” Twilight asked again, still uncertain.
“Of course! Wouldn’t have agreed to it if I couldn’t, piece of cake!” Spike replied confidently before he pulled up a cookbook “Speaking of cake…I’ve got a little something I need to attend to.”
“Yes, Spike, you do have something to attend to,” Midnight said with a warning tone, “a houseful of critters that need a lot of attention!”
Spike flinched at Midnight’s tone and quickly recovered, “Uh- Yeah! Exactly what I was saying. Relax! Go to your welcoming thing in the Crystal Empire!”
Midnight and Twilight started to leave, Spike adding, “Spike’s got it all under control.”
Twilight gave Spike a smile and for a moment was assured… up until the library door closed. Almost immediately, from within the library sounded like a circus gone haywire, making Midnight and Twilight flinch in worry!
But before the two could check into it, Midnight felt a tug at his tail, Soarin yelling, “Hurry up, you two! The train’s getting ready to leave!”
As they stepped onto the train platform, the conductor was already asking for tickets as the passengers stepped aboard.
“Oh, this is gon’ be a real treat!” said Applejack.
“Not just for us. Cadance said that the Crystal Ponies are very excited!” agreed Blueblood.
“Duh! Of course they’re excited!” Rainbow Dash spoke up.
“They’re up for the Equestria Games! The biggest, most awesome sporting event in the nation!” added Soarin.
“Didn’t Cloudsdale host the Equestria Games one year?” inquired Rarity, only to get a big fat “No!” from both Dash and Soarin.
“Cloudsdale should’ve hosted the Games that year,” Soarin grumbled like a pouting colt.
Rainbow gloomily fluttered down before she said, “I’ll never forget the day when we got the bad news… I was just a filly, around the squirt’s age probably. There I was, standing on my dad’s back, eagerly awaiting the announcement, and it came… and when it did I wish it hadn’t! The games that year were held in Fillydelphia! I screamed ‘no’ in disappointment!”
“That was you?!” Soarin gaped at her before he despondently said, “I was there too! I cried my eyes out when the announcement came!”
“Well there won’t be a tear from the Crystal Ponies!” Rainbow declared, “They already lost a thousand years because of an evil curse. They’ve had enough bummers, so we’re gonna make sure they don’t feel the same pain we did that fateful day, Soar!”
“You’re damn right we are, Dashie!” Soarin and Dash locked hooves and growled determinedly as they held each other’s game face, the passion making everypony step back one to be on the safe side.
“You guys are right!” Midnight smiled confidently as he said, “Princess Cadance is counting on us to do our parts in convincing the Games Inspector to choose the Crystal Empire!”
“And we are not gonna let her down, are we?” Twilight agreed.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO….!!!!”
Pinkie Pie then noticed the looks everypony was giving her, “What? I was just answering Twilight’s question.”
“Pinkie Pie? You are so random,” deadpanned Blueblood.
Pinkie shrugged when Rainbow up and pointed her hoof in Pinkie’s face “And don’t make it sound like we failed, got it?”
“Mhhm.” Pinkie just nodded.
The train ride took a while so the friends discussed what they could do to impress the games inspector, during which Pinkie had suggested some kind of cheer routine.
“I think a cheer sounds like a splendid idea,” Rarity commented.
“Mm, it sounds like a good opening thing,” Soarin considered, “but Ms. Harshwhinny is very difficult to please! I wonder if we can work some Wonderbolt magic into this…”
“Oh you guys won’t be a part of the cheer, Soarin,” Twilight spoke plainly, Soarin gaping at her incredulously. “I think the girls and I should handle the welcoming committee, otherwise Ms. Harshwhinny will feel crowded if it’s all eleven of us!”
“She has a point,” Midnight agreed with an apologetic smile to Soarin, who huffed. “Besides, too many viewpoints would be rather confusing if we all just yapped about this and that.”
“Also…” Twilight spoke up hesitantly. “Big Mac, you really don’t say any more than you have to and you and Thunder don’t really know much about the Crystal Empire, Soarin, being a Wonderbolt you could draw undue attention which would impede our tour and Midnight…”
She looked at him and he waited expectantly when she shrugged, “Well there’s nothing really wrong with you, actually.”
The other stallions raised their brows while the girls sans Rainbow Dash giggled at the way their two favorite unicorn mages blushes and nuzzled cheeks.
“So then, ladies!” Rainbow spoke up, “Let’s get our cheer on!”