//------------------------------// // Pride and Pressures // Story: Adventures in Royal Foalsitting (A fic I Extremely Hate) // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// ACT ONE As Twilight rolled up the list, Cadance and Shining Armor bid their daughter goodbye. “I’ll miss you so much.” Cadance cooed and pecked her child on the head. “You be good for Auntie Twily…” added Shining Armor as he stroked his daughter softly and kissed her head too. Then he hugged his sister goodbye, and Cadance hugged her too “We’ll be back in a couple of days.” “Don’t worry, everything will be just fine.” said Twilight, but then she noticed her relatives still standing there, unable to move or take their eyes off their precious little foal, as if they couldn’t bear to leave. So, Rainbow and Applejack dragged them both by the tails to the doors and practically had to push them outside. “I love you Flurry Heart!” Cadance called. The ponies finally shut the door, and the heard the couple leave. That’s when the baby began to cry, and Twilight rocked her going “Oh, there-there Flurry Heart. It’s okay, they’ll be back.” Fluttershy came up to her and patted the baby’s little head, and sure enough the baby calmed down a bit, but she still seemed a little sad. “Oh, I can’t stand to see a baby pony like that.” said Fluttershy. “Me either…” said Pinkie “So…” and instantly she slapped a pie in her face, hopped up and down and blew up three balloons at once, and then burst them releasing confetti all over, which amused Flurry greatly, but Twilight insisted Pinkie tone it down… making Pinkie feel low down. Spike approached the small bag, “I wonder what they could’ve possibly brought in this little thing.” He wondered, and he reached to open it. “No, Spike, don’t!” cried Twilight, but Spike had already unclipped the bag, and it burst open, and many things spilled out in a magical glow…A crib, playpen, toys, baby foods, and loads of packs of diapers; all of which piled on top of Spike. “Oh, my goodness; Spike…!” cried Rarity. “Let’s get him out!” added Applejack, and she and the others helped digging through the big pile. Twilight even helped after setting Flurry Heart down by the rolled up list. The girls dug Spike out, and the poor little dragon looked flat with stars around his head, but he was okay. “What was that?” he groaned. “It’s a magical All-In-One Bag…” Twilight said, and she used her magic to levitate a nearby book over to everyone and showed them the images “It’s the only thing to use when you want to fit so much into one little suitcase.” “Shucks, talk about light travel for so much.” said Applejack. “Imagine all the party things I could fit into one of those.” added Pinkie. Rarity seemed to take the most liking to the bag, thinking of all the dresses and outfits she could pack away. Suddenly she gasped, “Idea…!” she cried “I could start a whole line of fashionable clothing to go with this gorgeous bag. I must get home and start before I forget… Ta-ta!” Then she was out the door in a flash. “Well, I better go too…” said Rainbow “I promised the Wonderbolts I’d sweep up the runway in Cloudsdale and they’d let me in their next exhibition. Later.” Then she was gone. The others didn’t really have to leave, and asked Twilight if she was sure she could handle this, “I’ve got it all worked out.” Twilight said “I’m sure Flurry Heart and I will be--” then she remembered she set the baby down, and turned round to see her messing with the list her parents had left for her… even chewing off the end of it. “Oh, no!” cried Twilight, and she quickly scooped up her niece, and Flurry dropped the drool splattered piece of paper out of her mouth, onto the floor. The others snickered softly, feeling Twilight would need help. “We’re fine…” Twilight said. “Well, okay…” said Applejack. “I guess we’ll be going then.” added Fluttershy “Are you coming, Pinkie? Pinkie Pie…?” But Pinkie was playing one of her favorite games to play with babies… “Where’s Pinkie Pie?” she called before leaping out from behind a large set of drapes shouting, “…Here I am!” then ducking back and forth doing it over, and over. The baby found it amusing, but Twilight and Spike found it a bit annoying, and Applejack came and pulled Pinkie along by the tail saying “Come on, Sugar Cube.” “Here I am! Here I am! HERE I GO!!” Pinkie kept shouting, until she was dragged out, and the baby cried again. Twilight tried to calm the baby down by rocking her gently, but it didn’t work so well this time. “Do you really think we can handle this?” Spike shouted over the crying. “Well, first we better get her settled in.” Twilight shouted. Soon they had set Flurry Heart’s things up in Twilight’s room, and even brought the list with them, but the baby was still crying, and Twilight and Spike went through the list of things to do if Flurry was crying, one thing at a time. “It’s not a diaper change, she’s not hungry, she doesn’t need to be burped, I’ve tried making funny faces… what else?” cried Twilight. “I don’t know…” Spike said as he hopped into crib near the baby, holding his ears tight to muffle her loud crying, and he picked up the rattle and began to shake it in front of her. …it worked!! Fluffy just wanted to play some more. “Whew!” Twilight sighed, and she checked the list, and surprisingly found that was the next thing; “Play with her” “That’s better.” Twilight said “I’m still sure things will go fine.” As the day went by, Twilight and Spike was busy tending to Flurry Heart’s every need. It seemed they couldn’t leave her alone for five whole seconds without her crying for more attention and care. Twilight managed to do much of the work, even without Spike’s help as she preferred to stick to her own promise to watch over the baby, that included the following… Feeding her… Flurry refused her bottle and pushed it away from her, or spewing out the food Twilight fed her from the jars of baby-food. Bathing her… as much as Flurry loved bath time, she splashed about so much that it was more Twilight getting the bath than her, but Twilight could only take it with soft humor. Changing her diaper… though Twilight had read up a lot about childcare, there was difference between a book and experience, and she managed to get the diapers al twisted, turned, even cuffing her own hooves together, much to the baby’s amusement… even Spike couldn’t help but laugh a little. Easily, the hardest thing of all was keeping the baby out of trouble. Though her magic was blocked due to the charm round her horn, but as an Alicorn she could still fly about with her wings. Twilight became more and more frazzled for only half a day’s work. She felt and looked as if she had been working for a whole year. Her mane was all frizzy, her eyes were red and baggy, and her wings were all droopy… …worst of it, Flurry heart was still crying, not wanting to go to sleep at night. “Oh, please, Flurry…” Twilight groaned “Can’t you just fall asleep… so I can?” Flurry just continued to cry, and Spike walked into the room dragging his blanket behind him, rubbing his eyes and groaning “…Have you tried singing to her?” Twilight’s eyes dropped, but mainly because she was so tired, and she tried, groggily, singing “Hush Little Pony” …Flurry still cried. Spike could hardly take this anymore and he took in a huge breath… “QUIET…!!!!!!” He practically made the whole surrounding area shake, and would you believe… Flurry heart was out like a light, sleeping peacefully. Twilight was most surprised and her jaw hung open. Spike sighed softly, “After all, enough is enough! Goodnight!” and he walked off to bed dragging his blanket behind him. As for Twilight, she was so tired, that she just flopped onto her couch and drifted right off to sleep.