Silver Spoon Adopts a Naga

by Halira

Chapter 24: Apple Bloom's Wild Plan

Silver felt anxious as she and Twist approached Apple Bloom's house. "I hope that Sisstet is okay. He isn't used to going without adult supervision."

Twist gave Silver a long-suffering look. "Applejack and Rainbow Dash will be with them at least part of the time, and I'll be checking in on them periodically. They're basically letting him play in their yard. Other foals his age go out on their own for an hour or two at a time, provided they tell their parents where they are going. We have to start giving him a little freedom. It isn't good to over-shelter him."

"I know, but we've only had him a few days. It isn't like we sheltered him that much so far," Silver whined.

"And we aren't going to fall into the habit of being too sheltering, now are we?" Twist asked with a tone of finality.

"He is going to have to be away for a few hours at a time here and there, no matter what," Twist said with a sigh. "You saw that list of things we needed to remodel that Cozy Glow gave us. He can't be slithering underhoof when the workers come in to do that."

"Yeah, I know," Silver replied. She scrunched up her muzzle. "I can't believe it is so extensive! We wouldn't need that many things done if one of us were giving birth to a foal. Such as moving our windows and making them bigger, seriously?"

"Whatever Cozy Glow wants. At least your parents are going to be taking care of the bill," Twist replied. Her ears then sagged. "Sorry that I won't be able to be there when you first arrive to have him visit them tomorrow. I can only take off work for so long, and this past week was kinda last minute."

"It's okay. Let's focus on this visit first before worrying about that visit," Silver said and then knocked on Apple Bloom's door.

The door opened quickly to reveal a very frazzled looking Scootaloo. "Relief at last! Thank Twilight! You have no idea how good it is to see you two."

Silver laid one ear back. "Is it that bad?"

Scootaloo dejectedly shook her head. "I don't know. Sweetie has been pointing out that I usually am so good with kids, but I normally deal with older kids that I can give lessons, pep talks, and advice. I can't do that with babies. Babies don't understand what I'm saying. I feel so lost when they start crying because I can't calm them by talking them through whatever their problem is."

Silver perked her ears up. "It sounds calm right now."

Scootaloo snorted and muttered. "Right now, yeah, but that can change at any moment. Maybe this is why I should stay single and never have any kids. I can't do the whole mom job like Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom." She looked back briefly into the house. "Apple Bloom's sleeping again. She really shouldn't have gone out today, not after the delivery she went through, but there was no stopping her. Try to keep the noise down and don't bother her."

Silver and Twist stepped past the pegasus as she stepped aside. "Will do," Silver replied. "Who else is here?"

"Tender, Sweetie, and Sweetie's kid," Scootaloo answered as she gently shut the door. "Sweetie's niece was here for a little while, but Sweetie got so fed up with her attitude that she just told her to go home. Rarity is going to be mad—not at Sweetie Belle, but at that bratty filly. It's hard to believe they're even related."

The living room of the house had a cornucopia of decorations and items. There were the regular sofas and table, with knitted cloth coverings, but the things up against the walls and on the walls were always more eye-catching. There were three large bookshelves, two of which were packed with books dealing with every arcane subject a pony could think of; the third had an assortment of trophies from various dance competitions. Most of the awards bore just Tender Taps' name, but there were a few that were dedicated to the best couple and had Apple Bloom's name included. Hanging on the walls were photos of the couple, along with a few scattered pictures of each of their families. Silver also counted six stylized medicine masks—one more than her previous visit, similar to the ones that Zecora once kept in her hut. At least one of them, she was sure, must have come directly from the zebra since it looked older and was hung in a place of honor above the fireplace.

Scootaloo led them up the stairs to a hallway with four doors. One of the doors was padlocked and had a sign hanging on it saying Apple Bloom's Workroom; Danger Keep Out!. The other three doors were open. One was a bedroom where Apple Bloom was sound asleep. Another door was to a bathroom. The final door led into the nursery, where everyone was gathered.

Sweetie Belle, wearing her knitting glasses—why anyone needed glasses for knitting was a mystery to Silver— looked up from her crochet as they entered and held a hoof up to her mouth in a shushing noise. "Keep your voices low. It took a lot of work, but all three of them are finally napping together. I thought we'd never get them all down."

Silver smiled as she walked towards the large crib holding the three colts. "Having three newborns is a lot to deal with. I hope Apple Bloom isn't planning on having any more soon."

Tender Taps eyes dilated. "Sweet Twilight, no!" he whispered fiercely. "We had been trying for a while, and she finally decided to brew a fertility potion. It worked—worked better than expected. I never imagined we would end up having triplets."

"That was a pretty potent potion," Twist said in amazement. "She could probably bottle that stuff up and sell it on the open market for a lot of money."

Silver felt a tapping on her back leg and looked back to see Silk Sheen. "Miss Silver Spoon. Did you know that used to be my crib?"

She smiled at him. "I know. You got too big for it. I'm told you got a new bed. Do you like your new bed?"

Silk nodded. "I like my new bed. It is really big and really bouncy."

Sweetie Belle smiled softly at her son. "Miss Silver Spoon gave that bed to us. You need to tell her thank you."

"Thank you, Miss Silver Spoon," Silk Sheen said in a rush. "Miss Silver Spoon. Did you know there are babies in the crib?"

Silver suppressed a laugh. Oh, the scandal, babies sleeping in his old crib! "I kinda guessed that. That is what is normally in a crib."

"But-but...I'm not a baby anymore, so I sleep on a bed now," Silk continued to explain, full of seriousness. It was amazing how small foals could explain things that were obvious to the adults as if they were complete news to the adult. It was a little sad that she never got an opportunity to deal with Sisstet at this development stage. Something was endearing about a foal explaining basic concepts. Well… it might get annoying after a while, she supposed, but it was still adorable in small batches.

"Silk, how about you go back to playing with your blocks for a minute, and let Miss Silver Spoon look at the babies," Sweetie suggested. "Do you think you can build us a little house?"

Silk nodded enthusiastically and ran over to his blocks in a corner. "I can build a big house!"

"Keep your voice down. You don't want to wake the babies," Sweetie said in a hushed voice.

"Okay, Mommy," Silk replied, and went to work stacking his blocks.

"See, that I can deal with. Perfectly reasonable," Scootaloo asserted.

Sweetie Belle gave her old friend a flat look over the rims of her glasses. "If you think he is perfectly reasonable whenever he gets tired and grumpy then you're in for a shock. You've also never had to deal with a toddler who has been told that can't leave the table until they finish their peas."

"Peas are yucky!" Silk declared.

Sweetie Belle laid her ears back as she looked at her son. "Your opinions on peas are noted. You're still eating them."

"Nuh-uh," Silk replied with a giggle. His mother did not seem to think it was funny, but didn't press the issue further for the moment.

Scootaloo held up a wing to muffle her voice as she whispered to Silver. "I personally agree with him. I can't stand peas. I used to hide them in my mane and then dump them down the toilet the first chance got. Aunt Holiday was furious when she finally caught me, but Auntie Lofty thought it was hilarious."

Silver gave Twist an eyebrow. "You'll back me if there is ever any sort of disagreement like that with Sisstet, right?"

Twist looked away. "Of course." That did not seem promising. She should have expected as much out of a candy maker. Still, they'd work it out.

Silver turned her attention back to the crib. Two of the colts looked almost identical, and had their Aunt Applejack's coloration of fur and manes. The third colt looked nothing like his brothers. He had a dark green mane and bluish-green fur.

Tender Taps came up beside her and pointed to each colt. "Our oddball there is Tangle Bloom. The other two are Soft Shoe and Apple Delicious… I had blankets to identify each of them on them, but it looks like they've pushed them off. I'm not really sure which one of them is which right now. Their mother can tell them apart."

"I get Tangle Bloom's name comes from his mother, and Apple Delicious is carrying on the Apple family name, but where does Soft Shoe come from?" Silver asked.

"It is a type of tap dance dome without horseshoes," Tender explained. "It was the name I picked out. Apple Bloom picked Tangle Bloom's name out, and we picked out Apple Delicious together when we wanted to honor his Apple roots."

"Makes sense," Silver replied. "They're all adorable. Most ponies make a big family over time. You two did it all at once."

"We ain't done yet. Ah plan on having at least one filly still," Apple Bloom said sleepily as she stepped into the room. She was in the old scarf she often wore, and it looked like she had slept in it.

"You can't be serious!" Twist said in a hushed exclamation. "Three colts aren't enough to keep you busy?"

Apple Bloom yawned and walked over and looked into the crib with a smile. "Oh, ah reckon they'll keep me plenty busy, but I promised ma Great Auntie Goldie that I would pass this here scarf she gave to me before she passed onto mah own daughter. Ah gotta have a daughter to do that. Ah don't mind. Ah like the idea of a big family. At least any future foals we have will know they have three big brothers to protect em."

"No offense, Apple Bloom, but how will you continue to teach at the School of Friendship if you have that many foals to take care of?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I feel like I have my hooves full with just Silk."

Apple Bloom shrugged. "Figured ah might have ta retire and be a stay-at-home ma."

"Retire!" Scootaloo shouted, and instantly had every pony in the room shushing her. She continued in a whisper. "You can't retire! We're a team. We all teach at the school together. Who will be the honesty professor? Who will teach potions? Who will tell us how to deal with stuff from the Everfree Forest?"

"Ah can still be consulted, and there's plenty of creatures who can teach honesty," Apple Bloom replied. "Ah've got more than one creature that ah've taught potions to over the years who are qualified to continue where ah left off. As for Everfree lore—ah got a plan for that."

"What plan?" Sweetie asked. "No creature knows as much about the Everfree as you do. You're irreplaceable when it comes to that. Unless you are going to go hunt down and drag Zecora back to Ponyville."

"Silver Stream knows a fair bit about the Everfree, and Petunia has been pestering meh to learn more since she got hired. Ah plan on teaching both of em," Apple Bloom said calmly, then looked towards Silver for some reason. "Ah'm also considerin' teachin' mah niece and her friends about it."

"Candy Apple?" Silver asked in confusion. Then her eyes went wide. "You said and her friends. You don't mean to include Sisstet too, do you?"

Apple Bloom nodded. "Candy has shown a knack for gettin' herself into sticky situations, and gettin' into those situations in the Everfree. I reckon she'll drag her friends into misadventure with her sooner or later. Forbiddin' her won't help, she's too headstrong for that. Bannin' her and her friends from seein' one another to try to protect them just hurts everycreature involved and encourages disobedience. What ah need to do is make sure she and her friends actually know how to recognize danger and how to avoid it. If they understand and respect the forest they're far less likely to become victims of it. Ah don't intend on settin' them loose in there willy-nilly— ah'd supervise to keep them safe."

"But they're so young," Silver said breathlessly. "It might not be a bad idea, but surely it can wait a few years."

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. "And how many times has mah niece gone into the Everfree this year? Last time she brought Cheese with her. They almost got killed. Ah can be mad and upset, and have every right to be, but ah'd rather they understood the dangers. That takes educatin' them. Ah started learnin' when ah wasn't much older than they are now."

"And you said you would be teaching Silver Stream and Petunia Paleo at the same time, right? So, there would be three adults with them at all times," Scootaloo added on. "I know Silver Stream can handle herself fairly well, and Petunia may not be a fighter, but she is very alert and observant."

Sweetie sighed. "I don't believe I'm saying this, but you might want to teach Flurry Heart and Luster Dawn too. Flurry could stand to learn to be more responsible in the wild, especially after her fiasco the other day with the cockatrice. Luster is Twilight's star pupil, and it stands to figure Twilight might eventually send her on more dangerous missions. Knowing how to handle herself in dangerous places would be good for her to start learning now, since most of her education has been just book work and lab work. The two of them combined add extra magical muscle to keep the foals safe."

"We haven't agreed this is alright, yet," Silver reminded them. She shared a look with Twist. "I think we need to have a long talk about this."

Apple Bloom nodded. "And I need to talk to all the other parents involved to get their permissions. Take your time discussing this. I know it is going to take me time to speak to everycreature else."

Silver frowned. She was fairly sure both she and Twist would be in agreement that this was far too dangerous for Sisstet, but they'd discuss it.

Comments

[Darksoul85]

This is getting good can't wait to see sissets goes or not

[Boopy Doopy]

Good chapter, thank you c: