//------------------------------// // Parenthood // Story: The Origin Chronicles Vol. 3 // by SmokeShadow95 //------------------------------// Ten years. Ten years had passed since then. Spike could hardly believe sometimes. Ten years since he had fought the Darkness and destroyed it. Ten years had passed since he had lost nearly all of his mystical powers. Ten years had passed since he had been with the one that he loved. “And this one is already going by so fast,” He said to himself, with only the night air to hear him. “You say something, dear?” He heard from behind him. He turned around to see Luna approaching, ever beautiful as the day he first realized he loved her. Spike smiled as Luna came closed. He leaned in for a quick kiss. “Nothing, dear,” He said. “Just talking to myself is all.” “Oh, a good talk was it?” Luna teased him. “Not too one sided?” Spike couldn't help but laugh at the bad joke, “I just can't believe it sometimes. Ten years.” “I know what you mean,” Luna said as she stood beside him. Luna stood with him and she lay her head on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her and together they looked out over the city of Canterlot and the lands that lay beyond. Spike's eyes drifted off towards he direction of Ponyville. He hadn't been back in a long time. “You're thinking about going back aren't you?” Luna asked. “You know me too well,” Spike replied. “I am your wife after all,” Luna retorted playfully. “Isn't it part of the job to know my husband?” “I suppose,” Spike said. “I was thinking of going back. It's been too long. Almost five years now.” “Then go,” Luna said. “I will still be here when you get back.” Spike turned his head to face Luna. She was looking up at him. The moon shone down on them and for a moment it was like they were the only two beings that existed in the entire world. Spike leaned in for a kiss. His lips were so close to making a connection with Luna's, only to be soundly interrupted by a hoof at their chamber doors. With the moment shattered and the connection lost for the moment both Luna and Spike let out a small, shared sigh. Another knock on their doors brought their attention to the matter at hand, or hoof. “Enter,” Luna said. The door handle moved after a solid second to reveal two of the castle guards. One of them being of Celestia's royal guard, the ponies that were stationed all over the city and the especially the castle. The other was a thestral, a member of Luna's personal guard ponies that watched the night when the rest of the royal guard could not. “Beg your pardon, Highness,” Said the thestral in a raspy voice, “But it is a matter of utmost urgency.” “What is it?” Luna asked with a notable touch of worry in her voice. “Your daughter,” The pony replied flatly. “We caught her attempting to leave the castle ground once again.” “Oh,” Luna said. “And where is she now?” The two guard ponies stepped aside and out of the doorway. Behind them stood a small, young filly. She slowly inclined her head upward until she was looking up at Luna. A small smile slowly appeared on her face. That kinda smile only a kid could pull off. That smile that says they're still all innocent and stuff. This little filly was pulling it all off. She even had the eyes to go with it. However, Luna was a powerful Alicorn Princess and was able to resist her charms. “Get in here,” She said sternly at the young filly. The filly's smile quickly disappeared as she got to her hooves and trudged on in to the room that belonged to her parents. “Thank you,” Spike said to the guard ponies as they left. They each responded with a curtly nod and kept moving. “Oh, come on, Mom,” The young filly cried out. “I am the daughter of the Princess of the night. And my dad is possibly Equestria's greatest hero. Why can't I stay up just a little bit later?” “Star Shadow,” Luna said. “My dearest Star Shadow, we have talked about this. You are still a young pony, and young ponies need to go to school. Your school is only open during the day. Therefore, you need to sleep at night.” “Ugh, come on, Mom,” Little Star Shadow complained, “Not this again. I've heard a million times already.” “And I will tell you a million more times if I have to,” Luna said in a very motherly tone. That tone that was half joking but at the same time Star knew she would enforce that threat in a heartbeat if she pressed the issue. “Fine,” She finally conceded with a pout. “Guess I'll go back to my room then.” “Not alone, you won't,” Spike said, finally chiming in on the exchange, “I will walk with you.” “Seriously?!” Star blurted out, not expecting her father to say that, “My room is only, like, a hallway away. Do you really need to go with me?” “Yes, I do,” Spike said as he gestured for her to get her butt moving towards the door. As he left with little Star he looked back over his shoulder and gave Luna a small wink. She smiled in response and turned to get back to her nightly duties. The two of them walked down the long castle corridor side by side. Neither of them said a word to each other. Spike glanced over at his daughter ever few moments. Her head was low as she was getting really into her pouting. She didn't seem to notice Spike looking at her. He looked ahead, they still had a a few moments before they reached her room. Spike got an idea. He may have lost the vast majority of his magical prowess, but that didn't mean Spike lost all his tricks. He was a dragon after all. Carefully he maneuvered his long, prehensile tail behind and around his daughter. Swiftly he reached around her with it, ever watchful to not be seen by her. He did this all to give her a quick tap on the shoulder, at which point he even more quickly recoiled his tail back and behind himself. Star quickly turned her head around to her right side, the same side Spike had tapped with his tail. All she saw when she looked was the wall, and only the wall. She didn't let it bother her and set her eyes in front of her again. Spike smiled slightly and raised his tail just barely an inch in the air. “I know that was you, Dad,” Star said suddenly. Spike stopped, caught of guard by his own daughter, “I don't know what you mean.” He finally stammered out. “Come on, Dad,” Star said with a small yawn. “I know it was you. Just admit it.” Spike couldn't help but smile at his daughter. She was barely awake as she walked alongside him. “You must be tired.” Spike said as he reached down and scooped her up in his scaly arms. “You're starting to talk all crazy like.” There was no more fighting it. Star Shadow finally gave in. She let out a big, adorable yawn and nestled her face into Spike's chest. “I am your daughter after all.” She said as she closed her eyes. It was only another few paces to her room. Spike used his tail to gently push the door open as he held Star Shadow in his arms. The room itself was quite dark but Spike did have some excellent vision from him being a dragon and all. Not to mention he pretty much knew the layout of this room by heart. He and Luna both spent many a night in here during the first several years of their young daughters life. Even though Spike knew the room, what he didn't expect was the mess his daughter had made. Spike was barely into the room when he saw it. He was in the middle of his step, he couldn't avoid it. His foot was already coming down when he first saw the glare. It was small, nearly imperceptible. But he did see it, and all he could do was prepare himself for it, mentally if not physically. Spike bit his lower lip to hold in the groan of pain that would have otherwise escaped from him in that moment. Balancing himself on one leg and against the door frame behind him Spike lifted his foot up. He used his tail to quickly brush off the small building block toy Star had left on the floor. How do those things always hurt, even through dragon scales? Spike thought to himself. He let the thought go as he looked deeper into the room. “It's a frickin' minefield in here,” He whispered under his breath. Star made a noise as she rest in his arms but she didn't wake. Spike breathed a breath of relief and carefully moved farther into the room. One would think this to be a simple and trivial thing for someone like Spike, Dragon hero of Equestria, former master of Dragon magic, and all around awesome person. However, more than once Spike found himself wishing he had his full magic potential back. He curse the air itself more than once that night, but he did finally make it to the bed where he lay down the little Star. “Goodnight, my little Star Shadow,” He said as he gave her a gentle kiss to her forehead. === “Well, that took longer than I expected,” Luna stated soundly as Spike entered the chambers they shared. “That would be because I had to navigate our daughter's bedroom,” Spike replied to Luna. She turned her head just enough to let him see her raised eyebrow. That was all he needed to see to know she wanted a further explanation. “Our daughter didn't clean up her room like we asked her to today.” “You mean like I asked her to,” Luna said, emphasizing a single word to make a point. “Yes, dear, like you asked her to” Spike replied. He walked up to Luna and stood next to her on the balcony. He placed both hands on the railing and wrapped his fingers around the metal bars, letting the cool night air roll over his scales. “I'm sorry I was so caught up with my own things today. I should have been there to help out more with Star.” Luna came in a bit close to Spike and she leaned up against him. “It's alright, Spike. I understand. You have your own duties, as I have mine. We both knew this before Star was even born. And we talked about it.” “I know,” Spike said. “We didn't want her to be raised by sitters and servants. We were going to be in her life as much as possible. And we have been, for the most part. We make time for her.” “Yes,” Luna reassured. “We have been there for her.” Luna breathed deeply as the both of them just stood there. She lifted her head off Spike's shoulder just long enough to point her horn towards the moon in the sky. She took a moment to let the magic in her flow into it and then she sent out a magical pulse that traveled outward in all directions, covering all of Canterlot and the lands of Equestria beyond. This pulse would come back and let her know if there were any ponies out there suffering from terrible nightmares and the like. Anything she could do to help these ponies she would. Spike liked to refer to this method of hers as her Slumbering Sonar. At first she thought it sounded ridiculous, but it came to grow on her. Together they smiled, and they stared out into the night sky. Eventually, Spike succumbed to the night and went to bed. Even after nearly ten years he still wasn't completely nocturnal. There were times where he could stay awake for three days straight with no sleep and suffer from no ill effects. Other times he could barely make it through one day without yawning and/or nodding off for a quick power nap. This night he fell asleep quickly and slept quite soundly for some hours. The morning came around, as it always did, and Spike rose up from the bed. He stretched his body and let out one last yawn. He turned to Luna's side of the bed to give her a morning kiss before he got ready for his day. When he turned, though, all he found next to him was an unkempt bed and empty air. That was quite unusual, as he usually woke before Luna did. “Luna?” Spike called out her name, hoping that she was somewhere in the chambers. He got no response. A small amount of panic crept into his mind. He knew it was probably nothing, that she was just out with Celestia or something, but there was still that small part of that thought it. That small part in the back of his mind that wondered, what if it wasn't? Spike threw the blankets off himself and practically leaped from the bed. His blood was already pumping as he made his way around the large bed. He bounded for the door as quickly as he could without actually running. His clawed hands reached for the doorhandles just as another, outside force opened them. The doors swung open to reveal that it was none other than Luna herself standing in front of Spike. “Oh, hello there, Spike,” Luna said with a chuckle as she saw Spike standing there with his hands out and a somewhat disheveled look about him. “Are you alright? You don't look so good." Spike took a moment to correct himself. He stood up straight and brought his hands back to him. “Yeah, sorry. I had a rather bad dream, and then I woke up without you next to me. I guess I kinda panicked a bit.” “No need to be sorry, dear,” Luna said as she moved past him. “I understand. I wasn't in bed because I didn't go to sleep last night. I was going to, but then I remembered something of the utmost importance and I had to start working on it.” Only then did Spike notice the papers Luna was carrying with her. She moved over and placed them on her desk before heading off to the bathroom. “What was that was so important?” He asked. “Don't tell me you don't remember what day is coming up,” Luna quickly replied, stopping just before the bathroom door. “Yes, I know Star's tenth birthday is coming up soon,” Spike said. He was going to continue when a thought formed in his mind. He stopped mouth still open and Luna just watched as the gears turned in his head. It took him mere seconds but he finally got it. “And we have absolutely no idea what to get her for a present this year,” He said with a sigh. He dragged a hand down his face as if to wipe away the feeling of failure he was feeling. “Don't worry, Spike, I have some ideas,” Luna said as she swished her tail in the direction of her desk, and the papers she had just placed on it. “Why don't you look through those why I take a shower.” Spike could tell it was a statement and not just a suggestion. He gave his wife a nod and strolled over to the desk. He grabbed the papers and sat down in a nearby chair to look through them. “What do we have here,” He said to himself as he flipped through the pages, “Jewel encrusted tiara, personal chariot for the young one, personal library with many rare books (librarian included), etc.” The rest of the list went on similar to the these items. Spike couldn't help but cringe a little bit as he came to the end of the list. He was worried. Luna came out of the bathroom still with her hair done up in a towel. She could easily see the worry on his face with just one look. “What's wrong? You don't like any of the ideas?” “Umm, well,” Spike struggled to find the right words, “I just think they all might be a little, uh, not right, I guess.” “Not right? What do you mean?” “Well, this is her tenth birthday. I want her to get something that really means a lot, from the both of us. Something that has meaning to it.” Spike said. “All these ideas seem more like some something, a friend of the family would give her, not something her own parents should be giving her.” Luna quickly grabbed the papers out of Spike's hand with magic. She held them in front of her and scanned through them once again. She was quick and when she was done, she threw them all up in the air and let them fall around in a mess. She slumped down in the middle of this paperwork pile and pouted. “Oh, you're right Spike,” She cried. “I was just so worried we didn't have anything for and this was all I could come up with.” “Don't worry, my dearest Luna,” Spike said as he came over and consoled Luna. He sat down next to her and draped an arm around her before pulling her closer to him. He sat there for a moment before an idea came to him. He turned his eyes to a chest on the far wall. One of the few possessions he had that spoke of true dragon heritage. He raised a hand and concentrated on just that chest. He threw his hand up wit ha flick of his wrist and the lid of the chest slowly opened up. It fell back and hit the hard wall behind it with a thud. That brought Luna's attention to it. Spike concentrated once again, but this time on a single item inside of the chest. He knew exactly what it was and where it was. He had placed it in that chest himself and it hadn't been touched since then. It was probably pretty dusty by now. Spike raised his hand slowly as he dragged this item out into the light of day. After a moment a large book rose from the chest and floated over to them. It dropped right in front of them as Spike let out a heavy breath. “What is this?” Luna asked as she reached for the book. “A story,” Spike said. “My story. And yours as well. From the very beginning, that one day that started it all. The day I found that book on dragon magic, and everything that happened after that.” “Spike,” Luna said as she flipped open the cover of the book. “When did you do all of this?” “I started a few years after I defeated the Darkness, and lost my magic,” Spike replied. “Remember all that work I was doing. It was this. I had to travel around to get some eyewitness accounts and outside views for everything.” “You didn't ask me about any of this,” Luna stated, half a question and half a statement. “I wanted it to be a surprise,” Spike said. “For either you or Star. Why not give it to her for her tenth birthday?” “I think it's a wonderful idea, Spike,” Luna said, right before leaning in to give Spike a passionate kiss. One which he returned in kind.