The Mane Six Chronicles Book 5: The Long Vacation

by KorvasTerindar

Chapter 3

Spike sat on the kitchen table, watching in amusement as Twilight sprinted around the table with a small pink blur following behind her. It had been two weeks since their day trip to the beach and not much had changed during this time. On occasion, they would accept the offer to babysit one of the many young children of their friends.

Pinkie Pie had asked this time and Twilight had gladly accepted but was now more than likely regretting her generosity. Rose, Pinkie's daughter, had nearly twice as much energy as her mother, which was saying something. Twilight and Spike had attempted to wear the small pony out through rigorous play time, rough housing, tag, hide and seek, all kinds of games. But so far nothing had even remotely dented the child's energy.

They had soon realized that if they played with her together that they'd both be worn out well before Rose did, so they had taken turns. This last turn was Twilight's and she had decided to play another game of tag with the child. It seemed like a good idea at the time but as Twilight was breathing as if she had just run a ten mile marathon, Spike figured it was time to stop. Spike slid off the table in front off Rose's path, raised a claw and said, "Okay Rose, I think that's..."
WHAM!
Spike was sent reeling as the pink comet collided with him at full speed, winding him completely. Rose expertly landed on top of him and squealed, "Tagged you!, My Turn!"
Before she could run off Spike managed to gasp, "No! Lets take a break."
Rose immediately deflated with a resounding, "Awwwwww! Your no fun!"
Twilight, who had collapsed to the floor in a heap said in a muffled voice with her face pressed against the floor, "Rose dear, we've been playing for over three hours, both Uncle Spike and I would like a break."

Rose seemed not to hear her as she bounced up and down on Spike Squealing, "Play! Play! Play!"
Spike gave Twilight a look that clearly said, "This is your fault." and proceeded to try and negotiate with the ball of energy bouncing on his chest. "Rose, its nap time."
Well, that got Rose off of him, but it didn't have the desired effect as she bolted to the living room squealing, "NO! Play time!" Spike sighed as he wearily pulled himself to his feet and followed after her, "No Rose, its nap time" Spike followed after the little pony and found her hiding under the living room table. He bent down and said, "Okay Rose, lets go take a nap."

Rose shook her head vehemently and declared, "No! Play Time!" For such a small child she had boundless energy and a stubborn streak to boot. Spike hoped he wouldn't need to do this but he looked her square in the eye, a faint blue glow encircling his irises. "Rose, what time is it?"
Rose suddenly yawned broadly and said wearily, "*Yawn* Nap time."
Spike smiled and motioned for her to come to him. She did so, climbing into his arms and snuffling as she curled up against him, falling asleep as soon as she was comfortable.

He walked out of the living room and back into the Kitchen with the sleeping child in his arms saying, "I think we can take our break now." Twilight looked at the sleeping child and rolled her eyes, "You didn't have to use magic, I'm sure we were wearing her down." Spike snorted as he gently sat down at the kitchen table, "Yeah, sure and when we collapsed from exhaustion, you can explain to Pinkie why we were unconscious rather than watching Rose."

Twilight began giggling but quickly stopped for fear of waking Rose up. She looked at the small child, dozing peacefully in Spike's arms, her smile widening as she compared Spike to the image of a proud father. She had no doubt that he'd be a good father and his skill in tending to the children they babysat together was further proof of that. He was never angry or aggressive but rather, firm, calm, and collected. Every time a child disobeyed him, he need only give them the look, the one that silently told them of his disappointment and generally they would listen afterward.

Twilight had suspected that he was bewitching the children to listen to him, but having closely observed him during the times they babysat, she knew that only two of the tots they looked after required magical influence, Rose and Rainbow Dash's little boy, Blitz. Both of these kids were full of incredible amounts of energy to the point that even their parents couldn't keep up. If it hadn't been for Zecora and her sleep aids, Twilight very much doubted that either Rainbow Dash or Pinkie pie would be getting any sleep at all. Spike had started rocking slightly in his chair looking curiously at Twilight, who had been starring at him for the past 20 minutes, "Something on your mind?"
Twilight started slightly and focused her attention on the dragon. "What? Oh its nothing Spike, just thinking of how good a father you'll be one day."

Though slightly taken aback by this he smiled and said, "Thanks, its good to know you think so. Of course you will be a good mother."
Twilight blushed at the compliment and replied, "I hope so, I just hope I get the chance, not a lot of guys are attracted to bookworms like myself."
Spike shook his head at this, dismissing her statement entirely and saying, "Rubbish, any male who can look at you and say your not lovely is blind and stupid. Your very beautiful."
Twilight's blush deepened at this compliment and she only managed a smile as a response.

The expected uncomfortable silence never came as they continued to chat about what kind's of parent's they'd be, what they'd teach their kids and how they'd raise them. Surprisingly, they had many of the same views about the matter and the minutes began to stretch into hours as they began to discuss schooling. Twilight wanted to teach her kids everything that Celestia had taught her and everything she had ever learned. Spike meanwhile wished for his kids to learn from Twilight, seeing as she could teach everything that a child could possibly need to learn.

After a while Rose began to stir and thankfully, just as Pinkie came in. She was followed by her husband, a tall palomino with a light gray coat. He stood taller than pinkie and currently had a look of some one who was very tired. Pinkie bounded up to Twilight and asked, "So, where's my little Rosie?"
In a split second after completing her sentence Pinkie Pie was flattened when her daughter flew from Spike's arms and straight to her mother, knocking her down with a high pitched, "Mommy!"

Pinkie laughed as her daughter rolled off her and Spotted her father and promptly screamed, "Daddy!"
He winced as he braced himself for what was coming, but even braced he was still knocked over as his daughter collided with him. Pinkie picked herself off the floor and smiled as her husband vainly attempted to wrestle with his little girl and said, "Thanks, for watching Rosie, I just hope we don't pass out before we get home."
She trotted lightly over to the door and said, "Come on dear, time to go home now."
Her husband got up and followed after Pinkie, the little ball of energy was hanging of his tail squealing in delight as he swung it back and forth.

When the door had snapped shut behind the happy family Twilight let out a relieved sigh and said, "Whew, I'm glad that's over. I thought we were going to have to babysit her all night."
Spike stretched wearily and answered with a sarcastic grin, "Well, Why not? It'll be good training for when you have kids." Twilight laughed and hitched a look of mock indignation on her face as she said, "You think my kids will be that hyper, well then I'll go get Rose again and you can help me raise her."

Spike shook his head vehemently and said, "No No NO! You win. Your kids will be bookworms like you."
Twilight laughed again as she said, "Gee, thanks." She turned towards the entrance to the second floor and said, "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm tired. I'm going to wash up and then head to bed."
Spike closed the distance between himself and Twilight and blocked her passage. Twilight was more than a little confused by this and asked, "Spike? Something upstairs I should now about?"

Spike shook his head slowly. There was nothing physically wrong with the upstairs of the house, but Spike had formed a surprise for Twilight and he wanted to now give it to her. A few days earlier, on a rather Stormy day, Twilight had had virtually nothing to do. With the ward still in place around the books in the library, she couldn't read anything to pass the time. Spike knew that it was unlikely that she'd be able to go the remaining four and a half months of her vacation without doing something intellectually stimulating. To that ends he'd come up with a plan. Tonight was supposed to be the night of the Millennial Shower, a star shower that took place once every thousand years.

This night was to be the clearest for a while and he had intended to star gaze with her tonight.
"Twilight, I have a surprise for you.." Twilight perked up as she asked, "What is it?"
Spike smiled widely and asked, "Do you know what happens tonight?"
Twilight was silent for a moment as she thought. It wasn't his birthday or hers, it wasn't any holiday she was aware of, so what could happening tonight? She shook her head gently and said, "I'm sorry Spike I don't know, what is happening tonight?"

Spike wasn't surprised that she didn't know, he'd only heard about it from Celestia, who had told him of it. As old as Celestia undoubtedly was, he trusted that she was right about the date of this spectacular event. Spike smiled if possible a little bigger as he said, "I thought that we'd do a little stargazing tonight, map the constellations, work the mind."
Twilight smiled broadly and nodded vigorously. He'd planned to surprise her with a little work, for that she was both grateful and relieved.

She rushed over to her desk and Spike briefly lifted the wards to allow her to gather writing materials. After grabbing all the needed material Spike replaced the ward and she dashed through the front door with Spike following behind. The walk through the town was relatively quite, it was about 9 pm and most everyone was either at home preparing for bed or heading that way. Not much had changed in the last 17 years, the town had gotten bigger with the new residents and families, but it was often pleasant and quiet.

The stars were quite beautiful tonight and there was no place better for it than the fields on the outskirts of town. The walk was pleasant, the breeze swaying the fall wheat and carrying the smells of the Apple orchard as well as the evening dew. Twilight settled on onto the ground beneath the oak tree that Spike liked napping under on his days off. She rolled onto her back and began to search for the constellations in the night sky, the paper, pen and ink floating in front of her. Spike laid down next to her and help her, anxiously waiting for that magic moment when the Millennial Shower began. Within twenty minutes Twilight had identified over fifteen constellations and drawn them in on her paper.

Spike was beginning to get worried that perhaps he'd gotten the days wrong when he saw something. High in the northern sky was a small streak of blue, the first star to fly through the sky. He reached over and nudged Twilight, "Twilight, look."
Twilight looked over the top of the paper as a red streak flew through the sky, followed by a yellow one, then green and soon the sky was a multicolored tapestry of lights, painting a different picture with every minute.

The awed sound that Twilight made was conformation enough that his idea had worked. He stared into the sky which was alight with thousands of stars streaking through it, truly a sight to behold. It was a few minutes before he realized that He had scooted closer to Twilight, her head resting on his arm as the lights continued to shine. Twilight looked up at Spike and asked, "You knew this was coming didn't you?"

Spike smiled and nodded, his arm curling around her neck, "Yes, I did, I thought you'd enjoy this, it only happens once every thousand years." Twilight smiled broader as she resumed staring at the sky, her head resting on her comfortable pillow as the star shower slowly began winding down.

Despite the stargazing having been a setup for something greater, Twilight couldn't help but be overjoyed at how beautiful this night was, and not just the stars, or the star shower, but the fact that Spike had done this for her. He truly was a one of a kind friend. She yawned gently and soon found herself dozing peacefully as the shower finally came to an end. "Well, that was incredible, don't you think Twilight?"

She didn't respond as he looked at her and it didn't take long for him to realize that she'd fallen asleep. Spike grinned and gently removed his arm from under her. With great skill and strength, he picked her up and carried her gently back to the house. After finally managing to get through the front door and up to the second floor with Twilight in his arms he eventually laid her gently into her bed and whispered into her ear, "Good Night Twilight."
She smiled in her sleep and curled up in bed as Spike tucked her in.
As he left her room he clearly heard her say, "Thank you, Spike."
He smiled and nodded as he closed the door. In his mind, the night could not have gone any better.

Comments

[Snow and Fire]

I love this!