//------------------------------// // Who's Hungry? // Story: Spike's Crystaling // by Yosh-E-O //------------------------------// Spike and Flurry Heart were greeted with smiles from all the guards who patrolled the halls of The Crystal Palace as they made their way towards the ‘Crystal Kitchen’. “Is that you, Spike: the Brave and Glorious?” asked the on-staff chef while the pair entered the large cooking area. “Why, yes!” the purple dragon beamed with pride. “You truly are a hero,” the Unicorn chef grinned while continuing about his work. “That statue of you with the Crystal Heart is certainly very fitting for such a heroic, kind, and helpful dragon, like yourself.” Spike felt his ego growing. However, he was knocked out of his self-admiration by another bonk to the head by baby Flurry Heart’s rattle. “Right,” said Spike . “Does Princess cadence keep the bottles for Flurry Heart in one of the refrigerators down here?” The chef nodded before using his magic to open one of the smaller fridges that had a sign posted to it that read, “’Flurry Heart’s Baby Bottles’. “Oh,” blushed Spike upon spotting the large-print note on the fridge. “I knew that.” “Just let me know if you need any help,” said the duty-focused Unicorn as he used his magic to cut up a number of carrots. “I’m ahead of schedule for having dinner ready for the castle staff.” Flurry bonked Spike again with the rattle as she giggled from the, “Ow!”, reaction the young dragon gave while wincing with pain. “Bottle warmer and timer are right by the fridge there,” stated the Unicorn while he seamlessly went about his work. “The Crystal Princess usually sets it to warm for about five minutes. HoweverPrince Shining Armor prefers to ‘test sample’ the milk before serving it to Princess Flurry Heart.” “Got it!” announced Spike as he went about doing as the chef had instructed. All of this, with the exception of Shining Armor’s ‘sampling’, was in his notes from Cadence. *** Flurry Heart swapped whacking Spike with the rattle for oohing-and-awwing at the gurgling, bottle warmer. Spike then did the ‘Drip Test’ where he allowed some of the milk to drip onto his hand to make sure it wasn’t too warm for the baby Alicorn. “Everything okay over there?” the chef asked. “Yeah,” said Spike as he adjusted Flurry Heart over his shoulders. “I’ll be taking Princess Flurry Heart back to her room to eat since Princess Cadence told me she gets sleepy after eating.” “Sounds about right,” the chef replied before opening a cupboard and levitating a small basket towards the dragon. “The Crystal Princess informed me that you prefer to eat jewels. So, as your duty is to the Crystaling, I arranged some for you to take back to eat as you care for her in Cadence and Shining Armor’s absence.” Spike took the basket, which contained various jewels of different sizes, placed the bottle into it, secured Flurry Heart’s hoof with one claw, and carried the basket with the other. “Thanks!” announced Spike. “You’re welcome,” the chef replied. “My shift ends at eight and it is important you know what you may need if the Crystaling wakes in the night.” Spike thought on how Twilight and Cadence had mentioned that babies aren’t known for sleeping the whole night through. He then recalled when he saw Shining Armor after Cadence had just given birth to Flurry Heart and seeing how totally exhausted he was from the experience of being a dad. “Oh, boy,” he sighed while heading back towards Flurry Heart’s nursery. *** Spike could feel the baby Alicorn suckling on his head spikes as they returned to her room. He also got to feel how the powder-pink foal had more strength than he thought as she lifted him from the ground and swung him about as she flapped her immense wings. Fortunately, just like when she bounced him around earlier, he was able to work through it. He came close to tripping and falling flat on his face a few times, but his panic and stumbling did distract the infant from her uplifting efforts. “Here we are!” cheered Spike as he walked towards a rocking chair and sat down. He then adjusted himself to cradle Flurry Heart in the way he was instructed for feeding her. “Here you go,” smiled Spike while moving the nipple of the bottle towards Flurry Heart’s mouth. “Ba!” she exclaimed while snatching the bottle from Spike’s hand and placing the nipple in her mouth. The bottle would’ve fallen if the dragon didn’t make an epic effort to lean forward and catch it before it rolled out of her mouth. “Phew,” he sighed while beginning to rock in the chair. His one hand holding the baby Alicorn gently against his belly while the other kept the bottle at the angle he had practiced on his Rarity plush. He was very embarrassed to do such a practice, but Twilight insisted if he practiced on something he cared about he’d be able to do it perfectly for the Crystaling. Flurry Heart ceased her fussing as she took in the warm milk. SQUICK-SQUICK-SQUICK Spike felt his stomach rumble as he watched the infant eat her liquid meal. He knew he had to help support her and the bottle, but he really wanted a gem. “Hold on,” he said while moving the bottle out of Flurry Heart’s mouth so he could free a hand to reach for one of the jewels. This caused the infant to fuss, which made Spike go with the first one his claws came into contact with. “Okay,” he replied with a muffle as an elongated gem partially made its way into his mouth. SPOP-SPOP-SPOP SQUICK-SPOP-SQUICK-SPOP Flurry Heart suckled her bottle as Spike sucked upon the gem he was only partially able to get into his mouth. “This works,” thought Spike while he enjoyed the taste of the jewel as it gradually melted in his warm mouth. “She’s happy and I’m happy.”