Family Meeting
Spike, Macintosh, and the girls were all sitting in the living room as they had been for the last half-hour. Everypony was being as quiet as possible as Pearl was asleep in Macintosh's hooves. They were awaiting the arrival of the eldest princesses who would no doubt want to meet Pearl. Spike was actually getting kind of worried, he had expected Luna and his mother within minutes if not seconds. Everypony was distracted from Pearl's diabetes inducing nap-time as the ceiling moved. To be more specific, a large part of the ceiling was slowly descending to the floor. The normal plaster of the ceiling gave way to a set of large, perfectly smooth steel doors.
The doors continued down, and as they ended numbers could be seen above them. It seemed to be an elevator coming down from nowhere as the house was only one floor. As the impossible lift touched down a soft bing bong could be heard from a nonexistent sound system. The doors opened up to reveal Discord, dressed in a bellhop's uniform of deep red with gold trimmings. Had he not been a crazy chimera he would have looked right at home working in a fancy hotel.
"Third floor, Spike's house. Elements of harmony, heartwarmingly adorable baby dragon, proud pa's." The trickster god uttered happily as he stepped out revealing not only the royal sisters, but Shining Armor and Cadence as well.
Spike struggled to shush the draconequus behind the powerful grin of happiness and pride he wore. He pointed to the sleeping baby Pearl in Mac's forelegs, extracting a collective d'aww from the newcomers. Unfortunately it was enough to stir the little dragon from her slumber. She opened her eyes half way and surveyed the new sets of eyes looking her over intently. She yawned widely and fluttered her little wings as she stretched.
Celestia was currently pretty close to the breaking point right now. She desperately wanted to scoop up the infant and cuddle her forever, but new she was still a baby and too fragile hug properly. She settled for taking a seat near the sofa and watching her granddaughter. Pearl's eyes still seemed heavy, but she made no attempt to drift back off to sleep. Instead she looked to Spike and made a mid-pitched whine, apparently she remembered it was him who had fed her earlier. Spike smiled and handed his daughter another gem from the nearby bag, she accepted happily and began slowly crunching it up.
"We're sorry we woke her Spike, but she's just so cute." Cadence said, not bothering to take her eyes from the hungry dragon baby.
"It's alright, she's supposed to be eating right now anyway. Her name is Pearl, she's our little treasure." Spike replied as he proudly puffed out his chest.
"A wondrous beauty already, she will truly be a sight in years to come. I suppose it is a good thing she has two fathers to chase off the suitors." Luna joked.
"They're welcomed to try and get past the three of us." Spike said flatly.
"Three?" Shining questioned uncertainly.
"Me, Mac, and the hammer." Spike replied with a predatory grin.
"Yikes. Warn a guy when you're gonna bring out the teeth." Shining replied as he backed up a step.
"He gets it from me I suppose, I once banished a maid to Zebrica for hurting his feelings when he was a boy." Celestia added from her seat a few feet away.
"And you nearly gelded that private tutor that made a pass at me." Cadence said without meeting Celestia's gaze, the memory was... graphic.
"I get it, I'm overprotective. I spend so much time pretending to be the calm but warm ruler I go overboard when I show real emotion. We can find me a therapist later, this is about Pearl." Celestia replied obviously annoyed at the topic shifting to her.
"I suppose that is as good a cue as any to bring out my gift for the young one." Luna interjected.
Luna took a box from her ethereal mane and floated it over to Macintosh. It was pink with dark blue ribbon and was topped in a splendidly ornate bow. Macintosh unwrapped it carefully, it would be a shame to just rip open such a thoughtfully wrapped present. It took a moment, but inside was a beautifully designed black wood box with silver trim. It was about three hoof-lengths long and about one and a half wide. Macintosh opened it carefully revealing a silver telescope. Unlike the box it was worn and didn't seem very well made and was rather worn. All the ponies looked back to the princess of the night upon seeing the unusual gift.
"That, is the first functional telescope ever created. I made it myself when I was just a foal, before I learned to move the heavens. It was looking through that primitive spyglass that inspired me to shape the heavens I saw above. I know she won't appreciate it for some time, but I hope one day it could also inspire Pearl. As soon as she's old enough I'll be sure to get her a proper telescope. That old thing is just for show." Luna explained with a youthful glimmer in her eyes.
Everypony was silent and some were teary eyed, that was a truly heartwarming story, and a truly thoughtful gift. According to what Luna had said before, Spike knew she was at least thirty-five hundred years of age. That meant it was incredibly old and without a doubt valuable.
"Are you sure about this Luna? Isn't this important to you?" Spike asked.
"I know that there is no safer place for treasures than with a dragon, I have no doubt you and Pearl will keep it safe so that it may hopefully inspire future generations. Perhaps Pearl will pass it on to her progeny in the future." Luna replied warmly, she wished to see the telescope be used for good rather than collect dust.
"Thank ya, we promise to take good care of it." Macintosh said gratefully. He closed the lid and carefully set the box on the end table beside him.
"I'd like to go next if it's alright?" Celestia asked looking around the room. Nopony seemed to object, as in all honesty they had expected her to go first. The other's had all given their gifts while Pearl was unhatched, making sure that the royalty of the family would have more time.
Celestia took a moment to light her horn, she summoned up a short square white box wrapped in pink ribbon. It was fairly large, despite it's stumpy appearance. She floated it to Macintosh as well, Spike still had his claws full with Pearl. Macintosh repeated the slow unwrapping, wanting to keep the beautiful ribbon intact. He removed the lid to find a large, deep red book with three blank spots on the cover, presumably for photographs.
"It's a baby book, but I think it would be better to use it to document the time you three spend with each other. I had it custom made so you could put a picture of each of you in the front. It's also enchanted, nothing in it will fade, burn, or be able to be damaged by water. I know memories are wonderful things, but sometimes they need a push." Celestia told the couple.
"It's great mom, we'll definitely use it. Might have to buy another down the line, lots of memories to make." Spike said before craning his neck down to plant a kiss on Macintosh's cheek. He planted another on Pearl's forehead, causing the little dragoness to grab his snout.
The collective d'aww returned with a vengeance. Spike lifted his neck back up, but Pearl clung to him tightly. He chuckled lightly, she was too adorable to do anything but. She seemed to enjoy this, and sat happily atop his nose and returned to her snack. Spike turned the dial back up slowly, making himself larger again without frightening her. This way, Pearl could sit there without his neck getting tired. To his full size she weighed no more than a hat would.
"Anypony else need some insulin right about now?" Trixie piped up from her seat beside Twilight. Near everypony in the room nodded.
"There's actually something in the book too." Celestia added.
Spike used his now freed hands to open the cover of the album. Inside was a check, a very hefty check. Spike's jaw dropped considerably, Macintosh's soon followed as he looked to the incredibly valuable document. It was much more than Spike's stipend paid him per year, even with the raise for being the knight protector had brought him.
"Mom, why the hay would we need this much money? We were well off to begin with, but after the extra from Pearl's biological parent's hoard we don't really need any more." Spike asked handing it off to Mac. He was concerned that if he held onto the check for too long he'd get greedy.
"That's a little more than the cost of a full four years at the finest college in Canterlot. She doesn't have to go there, or at all if she doesn't want to, but now she has the option. I'm paying it out of pocket of course." His mother replied.
"Ah don' like the idea a' acceptin money from family, but if'n it's fer Pearl's education ah suppose it's okay." Macintosh relented.
"Yeah, alright. But no more monetary gifts, I'm worried about getting greedy. Eveypony needs to remember not to give birthday gifts in the future too. We're giving her one a year, and do the dinners like we do with me. I wish we could give her more, but I do not want to watch my little girl destroy Ponyville." Spike said seriously, he still had the occasional nightmare about his own incident.
"Trust us, we don't wanna see that either. You stopped the Wonderbolts in no time at all, that's crazy." Rainbow Dash replied as she held an icepack to her head. She had injured herself slightly when she fainted earlier. Spike's expression fell a little when Dash mentioned that. Cadence however took notice and stepped up to give her and Shining's gift to cheer him up.
"We brought somethings along too." Cadence added as she nudged her husband.
Shining reached into his military uniform with his magic and pulled out three objects. One was obviously a rattle, another was a very thick stack of envelopes bound with twine, and the last was a laminated piece of paper. It was facing away from the group so whatever was on it couldn't be seen. Shining levitated the toy up to Pearl who sniffed it experimentally. She took the floating object by the handle in her mouth, trying in vain to eat it. She shook her head trying to destroy the uncooperative snack. To her surprise it produced a somewhat jingly noise. She shook her head again and again, giggling at the repetitive noise.
"It's indestructible, we dropped a crystal block on it that weighed six tons to test it out. Not even baby dragon teeth are getting through it." Cadence replied over the somewhat annoying noise.
"These are from the ponies of the empire, everypony in every family each signed one and sent them to the castle. They're congratulation cards." Shining said as he floated the bundle over to Spike.
"Wow, that's a lot of cards. We'll need to write an awful lot of thank you's." Spike said as he felt the hefty bundle, there were at least fifty letters tightly packed together. Luckily, the empire was a small country made up of one immense city, otherwise he'd never finish the replies.
"This last one isn't exactly a gift, so much as an announcement." Cadence told the group before levitating the paper to Celestia. The solar princess's eyes went wide as soon as she saw it.
"I-is this?" Celestia asked shakily as she turned the mysterious document for all to see. It was a hazy black and white image instantly recognizable to nearly everyone.
"It's a sonogram, Cadence is two months along." Shining said proudly.
All the mares in the room let out a shriek of excitement that deafened all the stallions in the room, Pearl didn't even flinch despite having no idea what was going on. Apparently males and windows are the only ones effected by power shrieks.
"Huzzah! The infants have been doubled!" Luna bellowed in the royal Canterlot voice. Spike had to catch Pearl as the unnatural volume blew her off of his snout. It was a safe assumption that all the windows in the house would soon need replacing. Luna placed a hoof over her mouth and adopted a blush that pierced the dark color of her coat.
"That's another bit for the jar Luna." Celestia said as she silently hoped she didn't have tinnitus.
"My apologies, I have always loved children." Luna said sheepishly.
"Yes well, there's more." Cadence said as she took the sonogram back from her aunt.
"See here, and here? The doctor says it's wings and a horn. The development isn't far along enough to be certain, but those are the starting signs for both unicorns and pegasi. Our baby may very well be an alicorn." Shining demonstrated, his voice practically dripping with pride.
"Knew you had it in ya Shining, we'll have to take Pearl to see her cousin as often as possible." Spike replied as he handed Pearl her rattle, she had dropped it during the sonic bombardment of her great aunt.
"This is great! I get to be an aunt twice in one year!" Twilight blurted giddily.
"Yeah, and now Velvet's gonna be down your throat about settling down even more so than normal Twi." Spike smirked as Twilight was hit by the realization about her mother's nagging.
Twilight and Trixie shared nervous looks at each other complete with full blush. Rainbow and Pinkie each took place behind one of them and made kissy faces so the mare opposite could see them. Unbeknownst to nearly everypony Fluttershy scooted just a little bit closer to Discord who placed his tail around the timid mare.
Dunno if I can ever get used to that idea. Spike thought to himself.
The group devolved into happy chatter soon after the gifts had been given, Celestia and Luna played with Pearl and fed the hungry infant the remainder of the gems while Spike and Mac supervised. Cadence commissioned Rarity to design some maternity clothes that wouldn't make her look like a hot air balloon. Fluttershy and Discord joined in the fun with Pearl before mysteriously disappearing together. Rainbow and Pinkie played video games while they waited for their own turn with Pearl. Twilight and Trixie talked with Shining Armor while Cadence was busy, and the Apple sisters cuddled their niece before running off to finish Mac's chores for him, he deserved some time off after all. The gathering lasted several hours before Pearl fell back into her slumber.
"Thank y'all fer the wonderful presents an' all, but ah think we're gonna put little Pearl here to bed. She's had a big first day." Macintosh announced to the assorted ponies. Everypony said their goodbyes, and left or teleported with the alicorn sisters, as Discord was still nowhere to be seen.
Spike carried the sleeping baby Pearl to the guestroom they had converted into a nursery. It was now a pale pinkish color, with baby blue trim. It was furnished with little more than the crib, a dresser, and a large bean-bag chair for either Spike or Macintosh to sit on if need be. The crib itself was also baby blue, and there was a mobile hanging down above it. It had hearts, stars, comets, horseshoes, clovers and blue moons, hourglasses, rainbows, and red balloons. For some reason Spike got hungry whenever he watched it spin.
He placed Pearl in the crib carefully, he couldn't live with himself if he somehow hurt her. Macintosh stayed by his side, both of them watching their baby girl sleep for a moment.
"Mac, I'm happier than I've ever been, but I'm pretty scared right now." Spike admitted shakily.
"Ah know, this is a big deal. We can handle it though. We ain't alone, we got friends, an' family." Macintosh replied just as nervously, though he masked it with conviction.
"I know, I'm just worried about failing as a parent. I didn't say anything until now, but dragon fathers leave after they hatch the eggs. I don't ever want to leave you, or Pearl but I can't stop myself from doubting my parenting skills." Spike sulked guiltily.
"If yer still here, that means yer instincts don' matter none. What matters, is that yer willing t' do all ya can fer yer family, an' ah know you are." Macintosh said without a doubt.
"I love you Mac, and I love our little treasure too." Spike told Mac as he pulled him into a hug.
"Ah love you an' Pearl too. Now, we got a whole lot to look forward to. Let's get some shuteye." Mac replied under the crushing pressure of his husband's hug.
"You go ahead, I'm gonna set up the baby monitor." Spike said before planting a kiss on Mac's cheek. Mac smiled and gave him a nod before walking out to their bedroom just across the hall.
Spike took the baby monitor from the top drawer and used a claw to remove it from it's plastic packaging. The included batteries went in easy and Spike placed the first of the pair atop the dresser. He turned to the door, but stopped himself. He turned back and stood over Pearl for a moment, just letting her sleep. She was so content, just sleeping in her warm bed. She had her whole life ahead of her, and he was lucky enough to get to see it happen.
"Get some rest sweetie, you've got a lot of life to live." Spike said with a smile on his face, and tears of happiness in his eyes as he headed to bed were Macintosh was waiting.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- DraconequusMaximus · 64k words · 108 30 · 1.9k views
- DraconequusMaximus · 45k words · 96 27 · 3.6k views
- DraconequusMaximus · 35k words · 240 63 · 5.9k views
- DraconequusMaximus · 15k words · 127 23 · 4.7k views
- DraconequusMaximus · 8.8k words · 50 14 · 1.6k views
- DraconequusMaximus · 21k words · 55 16 · 2.4k views
- DraconequusMaximus · 23k words · 87 21 · 2.6k views
- Thebravenorse · 6.2k words · 75 34 · 4k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.109 seconds
Total duration
1,038 users online
1,488,705 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
dawww.
now we need a new story lol with pearl as a child.
Nice story. I hope for the next one to come out. I say you can end this one, and have another one being the adventures of Pearl, if you want to jump into the future.
4379036 Already drawing up plans.
4379173
yes!
99 folower with this is to be exspected
Rather this is the finish or not I still love it!! AMAZING WORK AS ALWAYS!!!
Your fics are really well written and I don't know why you get so many dislikes and not enough likes. If it was allowed I would promote you and your stories!
Awww, such a sweet final chapter!
I think I'll go ahead and be your 101 follower and see what you have planned next! I'll check out your other stories too. :)
Fukcing want some Lucky Charms now.
Fantastic story, little grammar bumps here or there, but was filled with many a dawwww.
4418599 OMG You're like the first person to say something about that! I thought people would be all over that.
I'll be waiting now for the new story. This story is so amazing, I LOVE IT!!!
4811686 I love swords and all, and sythes are awesome but it was Luna's originally and everybody is always putting swords in fanfics.
I wanted to be at least a little more creative. Plus the hammer is unbelievably heavy, and good for a dragon and nobody could take it from him or knock it away easily.
Also I liked the idea that if you couldn't cut a dragon's hide why not break it's bones?
That, and I totally could picture Luna/Nightmare Moon using it to crush stuff.
4868748 It was only one of the fireproofing potion's ingredients. They let it go too long and the effect changed, magic is weird.